Crunch Hype

Until now, the Exodus 1 has, fittingly, only been available for purchase with cryptocurrency. Starting today, however, interested parties will be able to pick HTC’s blockchain phone up through more traditional means, including USD, which prices the handset at a not unreasonable $699. One assumes, of course, if you’ve got enough of an interested in […]

Walmart, the world’s biggest brick-and-mortar retailer, today made an acquisition that speaks to its ongoing efforts to build out its e-commerce experience to better compete with Amazon. Today, the company announced that it acquired Aspectiva, a startup out of Israel whose AI-based technology analyses user-generated content, like customers’ product reviews, and combines it with a […]

Pinduoduo, the latest challenger to China’s ecommerce dominators Alibaba and JD.com, wants to bring affordable, imported items to shoppers in China’s smaller cities and rural areas. The three-year-old Tencent-backed ecommerce upstart is recruiting importers to set up shop on its marketplace, shows a message on its website. The business is known for offering cheap, sometimes […]

Los Angeles medical center Cedars-Sinai is currently piloting a program that places Amazon Echos in more than 100 patient rooms. The smart speakers use Aiva, a voice assistant platform for healthcare, and is intended to help patients communicate with their caregivers. Letting patients use Alexa to perform basic tasks like changing TV channels also frees […]

You might hear stories that TechCrunch favors venture-backed companies, or will only write about startups that have raised from certain VCs. Well, I can tell you that is totally untrue. In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Speaking for myself, I really enjoy talking to successful bootstrapped companies. Raising money can be a […]

Whether protected through copyright, trade secret, trademark, or patents, software technology companies depend on IP more so than perhaps any other business type in history. It is surprising, then, just how little founders think about protecting their own IP. Sure, “product-market fit” is an all-engrossing search for truth that tolerates no distraction, but that is […]

Blossom Capital, the venture capital firm co-founded by ex-Index Ventures and LocalGlobe VC Ophelia Brown, is announcing that it has raised an $85 million fund to invest in European tech startups at the Series A stage. LPs in the new fund, which TechCrunch reported early details of 12 months ago, are said to span leading […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked a judge to hold Elon Musk in contempt for violating his October 16 settlement with the agency. Bloomberg News first reported the news; we’ve since obtained the agency’s complaint, though it is declining comment. Tesla has not responded to our requests for more information. At the crux of […]

We all know climate change is affecting weather systems and ecosystems around the world, but exactly how and in what way is still a topic of intense study. New simulations made possible by higher-powered computers suggest that cloud cover over oceans may die off altogether once a certain level of CO2 has been reached, accelerating warming and contributing to a vicious cycle.

Ford is partnering with what3words to give drivers access to the startup’s novel addressing system. Under the partnership, drivers will be able to connect to the free what3words app — on an iOS or Android device — to their vehicle via their SYNC 3 infotainment platform. Drivers can find the three-word address on website contact […]

Microsoft won’t stop its work on a nearly half-billion-dollar government contract designed to bring HoloLens augmented reality tech to the U.S. Army. “We made a principled decision that we’re not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy,” Satya Nadella told CNN in an interview. […]

If you thought Fortnite was looking mortal, you might want to reconsider. New numbers from SuperData show that the Fortnite juggernaut lagged by one meaningful measure at the start of this year. Revenue from the game across platforms dropped by a hard-to-ignore 48 percent between December 2018 and January 2019. As the report notes, December […]

Last month I wrote about Ubiquitilink, which promised, through undisclosed means, to provide a sort of global satellite-based roaming service. But how, I asked? (Wait, they told me.) Turns out our phones are capable of a lot more than we think: they can reach satellites acting as cell towers in orbit just fine, and the company just proved it.

One of the big challenges of developing a machine learning project can be simply getting enough relevant data to train the algorithms. That’s where Superb AI, a member of the Y Combinator Winter 2019 class, can help. The startup helps companies create customized data sets to meet the requirements of any project, using AI to […]

With an angle on a long-neglected part of the shipping industry — the short-haul movement of cargo from docks to logistics centers — Dray Alliance is joining a growing startup scene for logistics businesses based in Los Angeles. With some of the nation’s largest ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Southern California region […]

Leslee Cohen has been practicing law for decades in her hometown of Chicago. She’s been working with more and more startups over the last ten years, after co-founding her own firm (Hershman Cohen) and expanding along with the city’s tech scene. On her approach: “I have one partner and we have now hired two other […]

As subscriptions continue to grow into a sizable revenue stream for mobile app developers, Apple has had to make adjustments to its guidelines, rules and even its tools for subscription management in recent weeks. It issued stricter guidelines around how subscriptions are to be presented to consumers, and it made the setting for canceling existing […]

On Tuesday, Coinbase announced that XRP will be the latest cryptocurrency to hit its pro-level trading platform. Coinbase Pro will allow users to transfer XRP to the platform right away (“After 10am on February 25”) but there will be at least a 12-hour delay before trading is enabled. Support for XRP will be available for […]

Anthem is the first attempt by Bioware (of Mass Effect and Dragon Age fame) to tap into the well of cash supposedly to be found in the "game as platform" trend that has grown over the last few years, with Destiny, Warframe and Fortnite as preeminent exemplars. After a botched demo weekend dampened fan expectations, the final game is here — and while it's a lot better than the broken mess we saw a few weeks ago, it's still very hard to recommend.

China is facing a challenging juxtaposition in the coming years: can the government remain in control of business and media while also opening up the country to the knowledge economy? China has uplifted more humans in a shorter period of time than any other country in the history of the planet. That mesmerizing growth engine, […]

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Say hello to Microsoft’s new $3,500 HoloLens with twice the field of view Microsoft has unveiled the latest version of its […]

Narrative, a startup that makes it easier to buy and sell data, is announcing that it’s raised $3 million in additional seed funding. The round was led by Glasswing Ventures . XSeed, Tuhaye and Revel also participated. When I first wrote about the company two years ago, it had already raised $2.25 million, and its […]

HAX today announced the launch of an initiative targeted at helping startups advance the state of tech for people over the age of 65. The program was developed in conjunction with Centrica, the energy company behind the newly launched Hive Link, a smart home service for people with elderly family members. The program will invest […]

“High Flying Bird,” the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh, isn’t an easy movie to categorize. For starters, it’s a basketball movie without any basketball. Instead, the story focuses on agent Ray Burke (played by Andre Holland), and his efforts behind the scenes during an NBA lockout. It becomes surprisingly political, portraying the pro sports […]

Mobile World Congress is underway, which means there are a handful of brand spankin’ new 5G phones hitting the market soon. How ever will you decide? Here’s a look at all the 5G phones announced thus far: Huawei Mate X The Mate X is a foldable 5G phone with one 4.6-inch screen, another 6.6-inch 2480×1148 […]

The FTC announced this morning it has approved the final consent order with online student loan refinancer SoFi, which resolves the allegations around SoFi’s deceptive advertising practices. Last October, the FTC issued a complaint stating that SoFi had been misrepresenting how much money student loan borrowers could save in its online, TV and direct mail […]

Target this morning announced Target+, a new initiative designed to expand the assortment on Target.com with merchandise from third-party sellers. But unlike with Walmart and Amazon’s marketplaces, Target is taking a more curated approach as to how sellers will be added to its program. The retailer says it’s starting with “thoughtfully selected” additions in areas […]

The European Commission’s digital commissioner has warned the mobile industry to expect it to act over security concerns attached to Chinese network equipment makers. The Commission is considering a defacto ban on kit made by Chinese companies including Huawei in the face of security and espionage concerns, per Reuters. Appearing on stage at the Mobile […]

OnePlus promised us a 5G handset this year. At Mobile World Congress this week, the company kind of, sort of delivered. Unlike the sea of other 5G devices unveiled at the show, however, the company’s offering is still very much in the prototype phase — like, behind protective glass with all of the interesting bits […]

The FIDO Alliance and Google today announced that Android (from version 7.0 up) with the latest version of the Google Play Services, is now FIDO2 certified. At first glance, that sounds rather boring, but it will enable developers to write apps that use a phone’s fingerprint scanner or a FIDO security key to authenticate users […]

Telecom company Sprint has shared some of its plans when it comes to 5G service in the U.S. The company announced at MWC in Barcelona that mobile customers in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City can expect 5G service as soon as May 2019. If you don’t live in one of those cities, maybe you […]

SME lending was a hot topic in Southeast Asia last year, and companies continue to attract investor dollars in 2019. The latest to pull in capital of its own is Singapore-based Validus Capital, which today announced a SG$20.5 million (US$15.2 million) Series B that’ll go towards regional expansion. Founded in 2015, Validus is focused on […]

Like every year, Facebook is using MWC Barcelona to focus on its infrastructure projects. While you may mostly think of Facebook as a social network, the company started launching infrastructure projects for connecting bringing more people online (and onto its network) many years ago. These projects include things like the (now-cancelled) solar-powered Aquila drone and […]

Today MWC Barcelona the SD Association unveiled microSD Express that will allow future mobile devices to consume and create content at even faster speeds. This new microSD card platform boosts incredible transfer speeds while consuming less energy used by previous formats. The new format will be available in the flavors of microSDHC Express, microSDXC Express […]

Another name to add to the ever-lengthening list of 5G phones hitting Barcelona this week. ZTE just announced the Axon 10 Pro 5G, which is due out in the first half of 2019 — in China and Europe, at least. The States are a different question altogether, of course. ZTE hasn’t been quite the same […]

Even after years of using systems like the Google Assistant or Siri, talking to inanimate objects can still feel weird. In cars, the early voice recognition systems were typically close to unusable, with a user experience that was often eclipsed by the worst of customer service phone trees. Nowadays, though, AI has made for a […]

The version of Nubia’s “wearable smartphone” that was on display last year at IFA was an unwieldy thing. This year’s model of the Alpha, however, is certainly a step in the right direction. It’s still bulky, so far as smartwatches go, but at very least, you could probably walk down the street in the thing, […]

Samsung decided to forgo the Mobile World Congress pomp and circumstance, instead opting to through its own part last week in San Francisco. I’ve been carrying around a Galaxy S10 for a few days now, so more on that soon. In this meantime, here’s the device everyone is really interested in. As promised, the Galaxy […]

Robotics have long been a bit of a white whale for Qualcomm. The burgeoning field is a pretty logical next step for the chipmaker, which seems to have its foot in every other aspect of electronics, these days. We’ve seen a few robotics here and there that support the company’s chips — Anki, Sony and […]

Qualcomm today announced new 4g and 5g chipsets for connected vehicles. The chip maker sees the advanced communication platforms powering the next wave of in-vehicle experiences and telematics features including advanced automotive safety features and self-driving cars. Qualcomm says vehicles equipped with these chipsets are planned for production in 2021. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive 4G […]

Qualcomm wants to create a new device category, XR viewer headsets, that combine the compute power of its current Snapdragon 855 platform with the speed of 5G on a smartphone to provide you with mobile VR and AR experiences — or ‘Extended Reality,’ as Qualcomm likes to call it — with six degrees of freedom […]

Oppo VP Brian Shen took to Weibo today to unveil the company’s foldable phone concept. It looks like the same kit used by Huawei and it’s unclear if Oppo will release the device. Shen notes the company doesn’t think a foldable phone improves the user experience, which is why the company is hesitant to move […]

As the rate of smartphone sales continues to slow down and decline, a software startup called KaiOS — which launched in 2017 from the ashes of Mozilla’s failed Firefox OS mobile project as a provider of an internet-based feature phone OS, feature phone apps, and corresponding HTML5 app store that all work over advanced mobile data […]

It’s only been a few weeks since Google brought the Assistant to Google Maps to help you reply to messages, play music and more. This feature first launched in English and will soon start rolling out to all Assistant phone languages. In addition, Google also today announced that the Assistant will come to Android Messages, […]

At MWC Barcelona, Google today made a few announcements around its Assistant. A lot of these center around support for KaiOS, the operating system for low-end feature phones that Google invested in last year, and additional language support. While KaiOS, which was born out of Mozilla’s failed FirefoxOS project, may be for the very low […]

Two years ago, aspect ratios were all the rage. These days, it’s 5G and foldable all the way down, making the Xperia 1 a bit of a throwback. These days, the company’s getting even longer, with a 21:9 display on Sony’s new flagship. The idea is to make things as cinematic as is possible for […]

“Roma” took home three Academy Awards tonight — though not Best Picture, which went to “Green Book.” Alfonso Cuarón did win an Oscar for directing the film. It was his second victory in the category, following his previous award for “Gravity.” And it marks the fifth time in six years that Best Director has gone […]

It’s Oscar night! Do you care? If you’re me, and/or the statistically average watcher, the answer is: a whole lot less than you used to. Last year’s viewership hit an all-time low. Whither Hollywood, which just does not dominate the cultural conversation the way it used to? Oh, at first glance it’s doing just fine […]

Traditionally, the Google Assistant always lived under the home button on Android phones, but as the company announced at MWC today, LG, Nokia, Xiaomi, TCL and Vivo are about to launch phones with dedicated assistant buttons, similar to what Samsung has long done with its Bixby assistant. The new phones with the button that are […]

We’ve already known about the G8 ThinQ for some months now. And a few weeks back, LG made the whole camera rig official, announcing that the handset would be getting a ToF image sensor on its front-facing camera, bring, among other things, advanced face unlock technology. The company did manage to save a few tricks […]