Darrell Etherington
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The Latest from Darrell Etherington
Ikea doubles down on smart home tech with new business unit
Ikea’s smart home investments to date have been smart but scattered – now the Swedish home goods brand says it’s going to amp up its smart home bets with a brand new dedicated business u
SoftBank reportedly plans to lend employees as much as $20 billion to invest in its VC fund
SoftBank has a plan to loan up to $20 billion to its employees, including CEO Masayoshi Son, for the purposes of having that capital re-invested in SoftBank’s own Vision venture fund, according
Next Apple Watch could include new ceramic and titanium models
Apple’s next Apple Watch revision could include new materials for the case, including titanium and ceramic. That’s according to new assets pulled form the latest watchOS beta release, as u
Northrop Grumman to build its OmegA rocket at NASA’s VAB as first commercial tenant
NASA is celebrating alongside Northrop Grumman at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the latter becomes the first commercial partner to make use of the Vehicle Assembly Building on-site at the base.
Postmates lands permit to test its Serve autonomous delivery robots in SF
Postmates has officially received the green light from the city of San Francisco to begin testing its Serve wheeled delivery robot on city streets, as first reported by the SF Chronicle and confirmed
What will Tumblr become under the ownership of tech’s only Goldilocks founder?
This week, Automattic revealed it has signed all the paperwork to acquire Tumblr from Verizon, including its full staff of 200. Tumblr has undergone quite a journey since its headline-grabbing acquisi
Spotify will reportedly test a price hike for its premium service in some markets
Spotify is set to test a price increase for its family plan, upping the cost by around 13% in some Scandinavian markets, Bloomberg reports. The price increase is designed as a limited test to figure o
Kitty Hawk’s Flyer personal VTOL has now flown over 25,000 times
Flying cars, or at least their functional equivalent, edge closer to reality every day — and startup Kitty Hawk wants you to know it’s putting in the flying time to make it happen. The com
Peer-to-peer boat rental marketplace Boatsetter raises $10M as it looks to grow globally
Obviously, not everyone owns a boat, and boat ownership is far more unique than car ownership — which makes it maybe an ideal category for peer-to-peer marketplace rentals. P2P boat rental start
Oru’s new foldable kayak weighs under 20 lbs and assembles in just 2 minutes
California-based kayak maker Oru has built a great brand on the strength of its origami-inspired folding kayaks, and now it’s launching its lightest and most portable model yet with a new Kickst
The ClockworkPi GameShell is a super fun DIY spin on portable gaming
Portable consoles are hardly new, and thanks to the Switch, they’re basically the most popular gaming devices in the world. But ClockworkPi’s GameShell is something totally unique, and ent
Nvidia breaks records in training and inference for real-time conversational AI
Nvidia’s GPU-powered platform for developing and running conversational AI that understands and responds to natural language requests has achieved some key milestones and broken some records tha
Snap introduces Spectacles 3, with two HD cameras and 3D effects on Snapchat
Snap has introduced a third generation of its Spectacles wearable sunglass cameras, and these include new 3D effects for use in Snapchat: You can capture 3D snaps, with a slight side-to-side depth eff
SNES controller for Switch shows up in FCC filing, hinting at SNES games for Nintendo Online
Nintendo looks set to release wireless SNES controllers for the Nintendo Switch, which likely means it’ll also be bringing classic SNES titles to its Nintendo Online virtual gaming library. The
SpaceX, Blue Origin, ULA and Northrop Grumman bid for US national security launch contract
The U.S. Air Force is looking to lock in its launch providers for national security satellite missions to take place between 2022 and 2026, and the bids for this so-called “Phase 2” procur
Bosch is working on glasses-free 3D displays for in-car use
German auto industry giant Bosch is developing new technology that will add glasses-free 3D imaging to future versions of its in-car digital display technology. These 3D displays use passive 3D tech,
Original Content podcast: ‘Another Life’ is no masterpiece, but we want a second season anyway
Most critics haven’t found much to like in “Another Life,” a new space opera on Netflix, but look: We had a good time with it. The show stars Katee Sackhoff (best known as Starbuck o
Autonomous air mobility company EHang to deploy air shuttle service in Guangzhou
China’s EHang, a company focused on developing and deploying autonomous passenger and freight low-altitude vehicles, will build out its first operational network of air taxis and transports in G
ULA successfully launches fifth US Air Force-protected communications satellite
The United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint-effort commercial launch service provider set up by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, succeeded in launching a U.S. Air Force communications satellite to orbit toda
Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson joins Disrupt SF to talk about US crewed spaceflight
The space race is back on, but this time it’s closer to home: A number of U.S. companies are vying to become the first to return Americans to crewed launches, after an eight-year hiatus marked b