Orlando

Orlando has all the ingredients to be the next big startup hub

TechCrunch conducted a vibe check to see what’s happening right now in Orlando’s burgeoning venture scene, as well as what needs to occur for it to continue thriving.

This Week in Apps: Twitter’s edit button, BeReal clones, Trump’s Truth Social gets blocked

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached $65 billion in th

Disney and Amazon partner on a custom voice assistant, ‘Hey, Disney!’ and Echo rollout to Walt Disney World Resort hotels

Amazon, for the first time, is making another voice assistant available on Echo devices. The company at its fall event today announced a new voice assistant, “Hey, Disney,” developed by Di

Amazon expands same-day Prime delivery to 6 more US cities

Amazon announced this morning it’s expanding its faster, same-day delivery service to half a dozen more U.S. cities. The service, which the retailer has been working to make same-day delivery ev

Proving voicemail doesn’t have to be wack, the Slack-backed startup Yac raises $7.5 million

Yac, the Orlando, Florida-based startup that’s digitizing voice messages for remote offices, has raised $7.5 million in a new round of funding. The company’s service has garnered enough at

Investors back Pacific Consolidated Holdings to merge leading LA-based liquor and weed-delivery companies

There’s a new company that’s sitting on top of some of the fastest growing consumer-facing businesses in the world — liquor and marijuana delivery — and its name is Pacific Con

Track autonomous vehicle testing in your state with this new tool from the US government

The U.S. government rolled out a new online tool Wednesday designed to give the public insight into where and who is testing automated vehicle technology throughout the country. The official name of t

Uber’s latest feature lets riders book by the hour and make multiple stops

Uber is bringing a new feature to the U.S. that lets users book rides for $50 an hour and make multiple stops as the ride-hailing company tries to respond to changing consumer needs during the COVID-1

Spin restarts scooter business in four markets

Spin, the electric scooter startup acquired by Ford in 2019 for nearly $100 million, has restarted operations in four U.S. markets as COVID-19-related closures begin to ease. The company has resumed o

Instacart has a problem with third-party apps letting shoppers pay for early access to orders

Kara Carmichael has been an Instacart shopper for years in Orlando, Fla. It’s how she’s been able to support her family, she told TechCrunch. But she says she has noticed an increase in th

News-reading app Flipboard expands local coverage, including coronavirus updates, to 12 more US metros

Earlier this year, personalized news aggregation app Flipboard expanded into local news. The feature brought local news, sports, real estate, weather, transportation news and more to 23 cities across

Wheels pauses shared bikes service to try to limit spread of COVID-19

In light of growing concerns around COVID-19, Wheels has decided to pause its pedal-less e-bike operations until the end of March, the company announced today. “After weighing the pros and cons,

Airlines start canceling more flights from Europe as new restrictions go into effect

With the White House’s surprise decision to bar foreign nationals from Europe from entering the United States, the already battered airline industry is facing yet another challenge. Unsurprising

Max Q: SpaceX and Rocket Lab launch rockets and X-Wings take flight

Sign up here to receive Max Q weekly in your inbox, starting December 15. This week saw a ton of activity in the space industry, with multiple launches, key preparations for commercial crew missions,

Microsoft’s Azure Synapse Analytics bridges the gap between data lakes and warehouses

At its annual Ignite conference in Orlando, Fla., Microsoft today announced a major new Azure service for enterprises: Azure Synapse Analytics, which Microsoft describes as “the next evolution o

Bestmile raises $16.5 million to manage human and AI-driven fleets

Bestmile, a transportation software startup, has raised $16.5 million in a Series B round led by Blue Lagoon Capital and TransLink Capital. Existing investors Road Ventures, Partech, Groupe ADP, Airbu

Waymo self-driving cars head to Florida for rainy season

Waymo is taking some of its autonomous vehicles to Florida just in time for hurricane season to begin testing in heavy rain. The move to Florida will focus on testing how its myriad sensors hold up du

Traffic on Memorial Day: Here’s what 37.6 million road trippers can expect

How, and if, people travel on Memorial Day weekend can provide a fleeting glimpse at the state of the U.S. economy, or at least provide insight into consumer confidence. The upshot this year: a near r

Apple CEO Tim Cook talks WWDC student program, coding initiatives and SAP

For the past few years, Apple has been inviting student developers to attend its WWDC conference, which centers on development topics and software. A few students from this year’s batch are getting

Audi’s new V2I feature helps drivers hit every green light

Audi has added a new feature to the vehicle-to-infrastructure technology embedded in its newer models that’s designed to help drivers catch every green light. The tech, called GLOSA, or Green L
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