February 2017
Super Smash Borg Melee: AI takes on top players of the classic Nintendo fighting game
You can add the cult classic Super Smash Bros Melee to the list of games soon to be dominated by AIs. Research at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory…
The NBA gets high-tech with VR, drones and futuristic dreams
This past weekend, something kind of incredible happened; basketball aficionados from across the globe were able to don high-tech goggles to live-stream stereoscopic virtual reality of a highly paid athlete receiving a…
Announcing the Startup Battlefield Scholarship Fund for Disrupt NY 2017
After the success of the Startup Battlefield Scholarship Fund at Disrupt SF and Disrupt London, we are pleased to announce that we will once again be offering scholarships to Startup Battlefield companies…
Uber says it’s ‘absolutely not’ behind a smear campaign against ex-employee Susan Fowler Rigetti
Uber is under attack once again today as the Twittersphere quickly concluded it was behind a smear campaign against a former engineer for the company, Susan Fowler Rigetti, who dropped…
DARTdrones pitches Shark Tank to build a flight school for drone pilots
Entrepreneurs who pitch on ABC’s Shark Tank typically make packaged goods and apparel. Occasionally, the high tech breaks through. XCraft, the company behind the PhoneDrone Ethos, scored a rare investment from all of the…
Smart cities must be people-centered, equitable cities
Technology has always been a critical force deeply intertwined with the evolution of cities. The development of smart cities builds upon this strong historical foundation with a digital foundation that…
Extra early-bird ticket deadline extended until March 3
Want to attend Disrupt NY 2017 but missed the early bird ticket deadline? You’re in luck! We’re giving you a few extra days to get your hands on deeply-discounted extra early-bird…
When Apple decided to strip its flagship phones of the headphone jack, certain people were angry. Those relying on the headphone jack for non-music things were grumpy, but so were…
Tech companies are filing a brief supporting transgender youth in upcoming SCOTUS case
Tech companies are preparing to go to bat for transgender rights when the Supreme Court takes on the issue next month. As Axios reports, led by Apple, a number of…
Facebook’s mobile prodigy launches video charades game
Michael Sayman was just 17 when Facebook hired him, but he’d already built 5 apps. Now 7 years after his first launch, the Facebook product manager has just released Show…
VR social productivity app Bigscreen raises $3M in round led by Andreessen Horowitz
While there is much ink spilled over the hunt for VR’s “killer app,” over the past year a number of social apps have emerged out of the VR community that…
FCC prepares to pull broadband privacy rules adopted last year
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced his intention today to block a privacy rule adopted by the Commission late last year. Citing its disharmony with existing FTC rules, Pai intends to…
U.S. healthcare might learn a thing or two from the modus operandi of Google’s fleet of autonomous vehicles — the information and skills that self-driving vehicle systems must share represent…
SoFi confirms $500 million in new funding as it pushes beyond lending
Online finance startup SoFi got its start refinancing student loans but gradually has been adding other services to members. To expand into new regions and move closer to becoming a…
Elon Musk addresses working condition claims in Tesla staff-wide email
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has shared the results of his own investigation into factory working conditions at the carmaker, following accusations by employee and union advocate Jose Moran made in…
Weekly Roundup: Uber responds to sexual harassment claim, NASA discovers Earth-like planets
Tech news was heavy this week. Uber is facing a sexual harassment claim as well as a lawsuit from Google, NASA discovered planets with what could prove to be Earthlike…
While tech giants hire, startups fret — Has Brexit Britain become La La Land?
If you’ve read the latest headlines about Britain’s tech industry, you’d think the country hadn’t been rocked by the greatest political and economic uncertainty since the Second World War. Not…
Communication platform Layer raises $15M and acquires interactive messaging startup Cola
Layer, the messaging platform that won TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield back in 2013, is making two big announcements today: It’s raised $15 million in Series B funding, and it’s acquiring another…
Volkswagen’s e-Golf gets a range boost to 125 miles for 2017
The e-Golf, Volkswagen’s electric version of its popular compact car, officially gets around 50 percent more range this year than it did in the previous model. That means it now…
Today is the last day to save $1,200 on Disrupt NY Tickets
If you’re looking to attend the hottest startup show in the Big Apple, you’re going to want to act fast. Today is the final day to get extra early-bird Disrupt tickets…
Embark’s self-driving truck is ready to assist human drivers
Self-driving trucking startup Embark is revealing its tech for the first time, showing off a competitor for Uber’s Otto that uses neural networks and deep learning to teach trucks how…
Uber female engineers to Travis: ‘there’s a systemic problem with sexism here’
Following accusations of sexism being ingrained into the culture of ride-hailing company Uber, after a female ex-employ detailed her experience in a blog post earlier this week, CEO Travis Kalanick…
Here are the startups pitching at the MWC TechCrunch Meetup next week
TechCrunch is holding a Mini-Meetup during Mobile World Congress, on Tuesday Feb. 28. We will hold a “Pitch-Off” of startups at the event. Tickets are sold out but you can…
Shine gives up on mobile network ad-block threats, wants to play nice
So much for sticking “nuclear weapons” in carriers’ dumb pipes. Shine, last year’s enfant terrible of mobile ad blocking is pivoting (again!) — in both tone of voice and business…
Stayzilla, India’s Airbnb for homestays, closes its service
Stayzilla, an Airbnb for homestays in India, is closing down its service. The company was founded six years ago and had raised $34 million from investors, including a $20 million…
Rocket Internet’s Zalora is retreating from two more countries in Asia
Zalora, the Rocket Internet-backed online fashion store, is continuing its retreat from Asia. The firm sold off its businesses in Vietnam and Thailand last year, and now it is withdrawing…
RCS, Google’s answer to iMessage, expands to 27 more carriers and OEMs
While messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat and WeChat rake in ever more users, features and relationships with key brands, and Apple’s iMessage continues to play strong with iPhone users, Google today…
Crunch Report | DeviantArt Acquired by Wix
DeviantArt gets acquired by Wix, AirMap raises $26 million, Airbnb buys Tilt, Google releases perspective for comment toxicity rating and more. All this on Crunch Report.
Major Cloudflare bug leaked sensitive data from customers’ websites
Cloudflare revealed a serious bug in its software today that caused sensitive data like passwords, cookies, authentication tokens to spill in plaintext from its customers’ websites. The announcement is a…
How a political strategist and former NAACP advisor became Silicon Valley’s Olivia Pope
People in government are organizers and hustlers with deep industry knowledge and skills that are applicable across a variety of roles in tech.
