Brian Heater
Hardware Editor
The Latest from Brian Heater
No new Galaxy Note this year as Samsung’s foldables gain S Pen functionality
Samsung sent out invites for its August 11 Unpacked event last week. While it’s clear this is going to be packed (somewhat ironically) even by the company’s standards, the event may well be as not
Alphabet’s Intrinsic aims to make industrial robots more capable
Alphabet’s public-facing history with robotics has, thus far, been a spotty one. Most notably, Google X’s big acquisition push culminated in its selling Boston Dynamics to SoftBank (who eventually
Leaving the cube
I did a bit of a double-take on this one: $100 million is a big number at any point, but two-and-a-half months after a $56 million round is pretty wild. At the very least, we know Path Robotics is rea
OnePlus announces $150 Pro noise cancelling earbuds
With a couple of generations of wireless earbuds under its belt, OnePlus finally has the AirPods Pro — and the rest of the premium market — in its sights. As part of an event today that al
Fi’s smart collar adds sleep tracking for dogs
Conventional wisdom holds that one ought let sleeping does lie. But no one says you’re barred from tracking them while they do. New York-based smart collar maker Fi announced today that it’s a
Obé Fitness raises $15M for its personality-driven exercise platform
Obé Fitness’ co-founders/co-CEOs Mark Mullett and Ashley Mills toss around the word “entertrainment” a lot. For the record, it’s not a reference to the Butler County, Ohio-based amusement par
LiveControl raises $30M to help venues livestream events
One thing seems certain: The past year-and-a-half has fundamentally transformed the world of live events. The pandemic left plenty of venues scrambling for alternative revenue streams and, in many cas
Samsung will announce new foldables on August 11
Samsung just sent out invites for its next Unpacked event. There are those companies that like to sneak hints into their invites — and then there’s Samsung. The note leads with the big, bold w
Metal 3D printing company Fabric8Labs raises $19M
Fabric8Labs this morning announced that it has raised $19.3 million. The Series A was led by Intel Capital and features Lam Capital, TDK Ventures, SE Ventures, imec.xpand, Stanley Ventures and Mark Cu
Path Robotics raises another $100M
In May, Path Robotics announced a $56 million Series B. It was a sizable raise, as far as robotics rounds go. But the Columbus, Ohio-based startup is already back for more, raising a “pre-emptive”
CityRow raises $12M for connected rowing machines and studios
Founded in 2014 as an in-person rowing studio, CityRow was relatively early to adopt the at-home connected model. The New York-based company launched a digital platform in 2018, two years before the p
Inkbit raises $30M for its self-correcting 3D printing technology
MIT CSAIL spinout Inkbit this week announced that it has raised $30 million. The Series B, led by Phoenix Venture Partners LLC, brings the firm’s total funding up to $45 million. PVP joins existing
Breakr raises $4.2M to connect influencers with emerging musicians
Music app Breakr this week announced a $4.2 million seed round, led by Slow Ventures. The latest raise follows $700,000 in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz’s TxO fund –a round the people beh
Xiaomi global shipments push past Apple for No. 2 spot
A banner quarter for Xiaomi helped the Chinese mobile company snag the No. 2 spot in global smartphone shipments, according to newly posted Q2 numbers from research firm Canalys. It’s pretty stunnin
Valve launches Steam Deck, a $400 PC gaming portable
A new challenger has emerged in the gaming hardware category. Game distribution giant Valve today announced the launch of Steam Deck, a $399 gaming portable designed to take PC games on the go. The ha
The latest distraction-free Freewrite features an Ernest Hemingway monogrammed attaché case
In our review last year, we called the Freewrite Traveler “outstanding, but expensive.” The latest version of Astrohaus’ distraction-free word processing hardware tool does little to address the
The road to a cheaper prosthetic hand
Alt-Bionics made waves back in late 2019 when the brand new startup competed at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Tech Symposium. The company finished second to 3BM’s infrared paint-curi
Emergence Capital’s Doug Landis explains how to identify (and tell) your startup story
Doug Landis joined the TechCrunch Early Stage: Marketing and Fundraising event to discuss the value of storytelling for startups -- and how to do it.
Verve Motion raises $15M following exosuit pilot with grocery workers
The exoskeleton/exosuit category has been heating up over the past few years. It makes sense, really. There are two giant — and dramatically different — potential customer bases. On one en
An Echo Dot designed by Diane von Furstenberg? Yeah, sure, why not
Earlier this year, Amazon launched Build It, a fun little program that lets customers preorder concept devices. Think about it like Indiegogo or Kickstarter, where the company will only actually make