Lucas Matney
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The Latest from Lucas Matney
Illumix raises $8.6M to build more dynamic phone-based AR games
As iOS12 drops, we are again reminded that phone-based AR is on hundreds of millions of phones but we still haven’t seen any big successes built on the new technologies. Illumix is hoping that i
Mozilla’s Firefox Reality web browser is now available
Mozilla’s vision of a VR-first web browser is ready for consumers to download and judge. Firefox Reality is a browser built entirely for virtual reality. While you may have read about desktop Fi
Hear how Oculus is minimizing VR’s content problem at TC Sessions: AR/VR
In 2018, VR adoption has plenty of demons to chase as it looks to build a larger, more mainstream audience. In 2017, the chief concern for most in the industry was the lack of content available for he
Shopify is bringing Apple’s latest AR tech to their platform
Shopify is leaning on phone-based AR to make online purchases look a little more lifelike for users. The Canadian commerce company announced today they have added support for AR Quick Look, one of App
Announcing the agenda for TC Sessions: AR/VR in LA on October 18
TechCrunch is heading to UCLA on October 18 and we’ve assembled some of the AR/VR industry’s most prescient founders, investors and executives to chat about the startups and trends driving
Nintendo finally announces some new games for the Switch
Nintendo is at last (at last!) bringing some new content to the Switch! Yes! In a Nintendo Direct, the company let fly a number of games and a couple of original titles. The biggest Nintendo-produced
Everything Apple announced at its iPhone XS event
Today was Apple’s big hardware event, and the trillion-dollar company had quite a lot to share about the future of some of its most profitable product lines. While Apple boasted how its products
New iPhones courageously ditch the free headphone dongle
Apple is under the impression that its “courage” has already paid off and that it no longer needs to ship a headphone dongle with its new phones. Mission accomplished! The new iPhone XS an
Where the heck is Apple’s AirPower wireless charging mat?
With a full year since its last mention onstage at Apple’s last hardware event, Apple’s AirPower wireless charger mat is still missing. At the company’s iPhone event this morning in
Facebook’s ‘Rosetta’ system helps the company understand memes
Memes are the language of the web and Facebook wants to better understand them. Facebook’s AI teams have made substantial advances over the years in both computer vision and natural language rec
Impossible Aerospace raises $9.4M to sell drones stuffed with battery cells
Much like smartphone manufacturers, drone companies have been adding to devices plenty of features over the past several years while making only modest improvements to battery life. But while your pho
Fast-growing game engine startup Unity loses its CFO
Unity Technologies, the highly valued startup behind one of the most popular game development tools, lost its CFO Mike Foley last week, Business Insider (paywalled) reported. A company spokesperson co
Pretty art screen startup Meural gets acquired by ugly wifi router company
The startup behind the Meural art frame has been acquired by Netgear. The deal was announced during the router company’s analyst day and was confirmed to TechCrunch by a Meural spokesperson. T
Skydio announces autonomous drone developer platform, new $1,999 price point
Skydio launched their self-flying R1 drone a few months back, now the startup is launching a developer platform that will allow users to design and share their own skills for the device, potentially o
HTC leans on Facebook’s Oculus as it tries to sell a VR subscription product
HTC is cozying up to its main competitor in the VR space, Facebook-owned Oculus as it looks to find a business model that will wrestle it out of the VR market doldrums. Today, the Taiwanese hardware c
Amazon strikes $1 trillion market cap, 4 weeks after Apple did the same
Amazon just joined the exclusive $1 trillion club (briefly). The e-commerce behemoth jumped above a trillion dollar market cap on Tuesday during intraday trading. Its share price hit an all-time high
Uber’s chief diversity officer is coming to TechCrunch Disrupt 2018
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2018, Uber’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Bo Young Lee will be joining us to talk about the ride-sharing company’s efforts to put detoxify its corporate cult
Leaked shots show off new Google Pixel 3 design, specs
The Google Pixel 3 XL has had a truly comical amount of leaks to date, but for the most part its younger, smaller brother has been a bit a more camera-shy. Well, today we finally have some purported p
Huge leak shows off the new iPhone XS
Get ready for a leaked look at the new iPhone XS. 9to5Mac has gotten its hands on an image of Apple’s next generation of iPhone hardware, and the future looks pretty swanky. The leaked image sho
Apple buys Denver startup building waveguide lenses for AR glasses
Apple has acquired Akonia Holographics, a Denver-based startup that manufactures augmented reality waveguide lenses. The acquisition was confirmed by Apple to Reuters who first reported the news. An