Brian Heater
Hardware Editor
The Latest from Brian Heater
Stacey Abrams co-founded fintech company Now raises $9.5M
After co-founding Insomnia Consulting, Stacey Abrams and Lara O’Connor Hodgson started Nourish to address a personal problem. “We were at a meeting, I think for one of my campaigns,” explains Ab
Turntable.fm competitor tt.fm launches beta app for iOS and Android
You’d be forgiven for being confused. I’ve been following this story and am currently writing it and I’m still fairly confused. But Turntable (or tt.fm), not to be confused with Turntable.fm
Sony’s best-in-class noise-canceling earbuds finally get a pricey upgrade
It’s been two years since Sony raised the bar for wireless earbuds. Six months before Apple upped its own game with the AirPods Pro, the WF-1000XM3 set a new standard for sound and active noise canc
Nuggs creator Simulate raises $50M
New York-based Simulate today announced a $50 million fundraise. Led by Alexis Ohanian’s 776, the Series B brings the meat alternative’s total funding to north of $60 million and values it at $260
Apple unveils macOS 12 Monterey
The past year has seen some of the most dramatic updates to Macs in recent memory. At last year’s WWDC, Apple announced its long-awaited move from Intel chip’s to its own first party silicon. By t
watchOS 8 brings new mindfulness features and respiratory tracking
You weren’t expecting to make it through this year’s WWDC without some big watchOS news, were you? Apple’s wearable isn’t quite doing iPhone numbers, but Watch has been massively successful fo
Apple refines iOS 15 notifications with Focus, Summary features
As part of the update to iOS 15, Apple will allow iPhone users to better customize how they want to be notified about incoming calls, texts or updates from apps based on their current status. With the
Live from Apple’s WWDC 2021 keynote
And we’re back. Well, not back-back. But we’re here in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center of the mind. The parking is awful and the hotels all got booked up five months ago, so we’re taking
Global smartphone market continues rebound with 26% Q1 bump
There are more signs of the global smartphone market righting the ship after a disastrous 2020. New figures from Gartner point to 26% increase in global sales year over year for the first quarter of 2
What to expect from WWDC 2021
All things considered, Apple put together a pretty slick all-virtual WWDC last year. Where other companies like Microsoft and Google have opted for a more live (or live-style) experience, the company
Google’s Pixel Buds A Series are an exercise in earbud cost cutting
Google does a lot of things well. But hardware strategy has never really been among them. The last several years have seen the company at least finding some consistency with its Pixel and Nest devices
Delivery, drones and DHL
Locus (not to be confused with this Locus) is one of those names that’s been popping up a lot in the news — and this roundup — over the past year. Last time we spoke to the Massachusetts
Realtime Robotics raises a $31M Series A
Boston-based Realtime Robotics this morning announced a $31.4 million round. The funding is part of the $11.7 million Series A the company announced all the way back in late 2019. Investors include HA
Rideshare drivers gather in NYC in hopes of unionizing
Protesters gathered in bright red t-shirts and matching masks bearing the Independent Drivers Guild logo. Placards bearing slogans like “Freeze Hiring, Reactive Workers Now!” and “Unlock Uber”
Taking Lyft’s new e-bike for a spin
The bike had none of the usual signage when I took it for a spin around the chaotic and construction-filled streets of Manhattan. It very much looked like a prototype, with visible soldering on the jo
DHL will deploy 2,000 Locus Robotics units by 2022
DHL today announced that it will be expanding an ongoing partnership with Locus Robotics. Last year, the logistics giant announced plans to deploy 1,000 of the Massachusetts-based startup’s robots.
Experts from Toyota, Ford and Hyundai will discuss automotive robotics at TC Sessions: Mobility
The events of the past year have only served to accelerate interest in all things robotics and automation. It’s a phenomenon we’ve seen across a broad range of categories, and automotive is certai
Between a rock and a farm raise
Something I think that gets lost in the conversation around robotics is just how many different tasks can — and at some point will — be automated. Here I’m talking specifically about agt
Rock-picking robotics startup TerraClear raises $25 million
Rock picking is probably not the first thing you think about when you think agricultural robotics. Understandably so. There are a number of companies out there looking to automate aspects like fruit a
Amazon is buying MGM Studios for $8.45B
The big media consolidation continues — days after rumors swirled around Amazon’s acquisition of MGM, the online massive retailer confirmed today that it will be acquiring the nearly 100-year-