Lucas Matney
Lucas Matney is a Writer at TechCrunch covering all of the startups and major players in the virtual/augmented reality space. He’s particularly interested in startups tackling input and optics on the VR/AR hardware side as well as UI/UX design and mapping on the software side.
He’s also a big fan of headphones/home audio and random well-designed gadgets.
If you’d like to contact Lucas and tell him about the cool stuff you’re working on or would be interested in having him speak at an event/conference, reach out at: lucas@techcrunch.com
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Latest from Lucas Matney
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Matterport grabs $5M more to accelerate deep learning development for their 3D capture tech
Matterport is picking up new funding as it looks to speed the development of deep learning tech in its capture technology which brings immersive views of spaces into 360-degree 3D The company, which largely specializes in scanning spaces for commercial and real estate purposes, announced today that they’ve picked up $5 million in funding from Ericsson Ventures. This strategic raise… Read More
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All 50 startups from Y Combinator’s Summer 2017 Demo Day 1
Biotech and artificial intelligence have emerged as the top startup trends at Y Combinator‘s 25th Demo Day. The 124 companies presenting at the entrepreneur school’s twice-yearly graduation event compose YC’s largest batch from its 12.5 years running. YC partner Michael Seibel kicked off the event by reiterating the accelerator’s commitment to advancing diversity in… Read More
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Google Home finally gets bluetooth audio playback
Google Home is quietly gaining support for a number of the features announced at I/O earlier this summer that bring the company’s home assistant more on-par with the older and wiser Amazon Echo. Last week, the company began rolling out hands-free calling and Spotify free support for the device. Over the weekend, Google Home gained support for bluetooth audio playback as well. Previously… Read More
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HTC drops price of Vive by $200 as it looks to compete with Facebook’s aggressive VR pricing
Just as reality appears to be getting worse by the day, VR companies are doing the lord’s work and making the price of escaping it a bit more accessible. HTC is dropping the price of its Vive virtual reality system from $799 to $599 as the Taiwanese tech giant seeks to compete with aggressive price cuts coming from Facebook-owned Oculus and their Rift headset. At the beginning of the… Read More
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Leaked image suggests a new Nest thermostat is on the way
Alphabet-owned Nest has taken some pretty safe choices in the IoT space, building products that rely on a their Internet connectedness to function. Their most recognizable product, the Nest Learning Thermostat hasn’t gotten a cosmetic upgrade since it was released nearly six years ago, though it has received some hardware tweaks to make setup and connection more simple. A leaked image… Read More
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YouTube starts delivering ‘breaking news’ on its homepage across platforms
YouTube has started rolling out a “Breaking News” section in people’s feeds today across platforms as Alphabet continues to tailor custom content playlists to users logged into Google Accounts, Android Police reports. For most, YouTube is a place to hop from one video to the next and descend down rabbit holes, but browsing anything like a feed has become less… Read More
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Monster brings a music-centric voice assistant to its headphone line
Monster isn’t exactly regarded as the most innovative force in tech, but it has decided to get in on the voice assistant game by baking support for a helper called Melody directly into their headphones. Read More
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Google Home now works with Spotify free accounts
For all the talk of how voice assistants could be the future of IoT or computing in general, the only consistently engaging use of home assistants like Echo or Google Home seems to be audio playback. Today, Google is making it a bit easier for the cheapos to get in on the action, as it’s beginning to roll out support for Spotify free accounts on its Home platform. Read More
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Immersv raises $10.5M to shake up mobile advertising with some VR flair
While VR has shown consumers a great deal of what’s possible when it comes to immersive experiences, the world of potential that VR opens to advertisers has not been explored so heavily, Immersv, a mobile 360 VR ad network, wants to use the strengths of VR to improve mobile advertising, not only on headset but smartphones as well. For now, the startup is focusing on pre-roll and… Read More
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Travis Kalanick strikes back against Benchmark lawsuit, calling it a ‘public and personal attack’
Uber co-founder, former CEO and current board member Travis Kalanick fired back at Benchmark Capital in legal documents filed Thursday, arguing that the venture capital firm’s lawsuit was initiated “as part of its public and personal attack” on him. The legal filing, first spotted by Axios, also posits that Benchmark’s claims are subject to mandatory arbitration, and… Read More
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Social virtual reality startup AltspaceVR may not be dead after all
What is dead in VR may never die, perhaps? Social VR startup AltspaceVR may not be shutting down after all. The company, which raised more than $15 million in funding from GV, Comcast Ventures and others, announced last month that it was unexpectedly closing its virtual doors after a funding deal fell through “at the last second.” But oddly, less than a month later, the startup… Read More
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Mobalytics launches open beta of its gaming analytics coach
As the lines blur between esports and traditional sports, Mobalytics wants to become your personal trainer. Today, the LA-based startup, which took home the TechCrunch Disrupt SF Startup Battlefield cup last year, is launching an open beta of its gamer performance tool. Read More
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Google’s new fashion-focused VR series takes you inside Kendall Jenner’s closet
Google’s latest virtual reality video series for Daydream is all about fashion and jumping into the closets of celebrities known for their bold choices in clothing. Supermodel Closets, which Google is releasing in partnership with Vogue, drops you into the wardrobes of models like Cindy Crawford and Kendall Jenner to see what they wear and hear their perspectives on fashion. Virtual… Read More
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UPS is developing virtual reality tech to train its drivers
UPS drivers preparing to get behind the wheel will soon be using virtual reality to do so. The company’s new VR training program will be rolling out next month at nine of the company’s training facilities, simulating some of the uncertainties and challenges of delivering packages on city streets. Trainees will interact with the content using voice commands to identify obstacles… Read More
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Snap financial documents confirm its acquisition of social maps app Zenly for $213M
Snap took a beating yesterday in its Q2 earnings, but in the midst of the disappointing financials and user growth numbers, the company’s 10-Q SEC document filed today also confirms that it purchased social maps app Zenly for $213 million, as TechCrunch first reported. After Snapchat rolled out its location-sharing Snap Map feature in June, many were quick to point out the interface… Read More
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Uber shareholder group asks Benchmark to step down from board following Kalanick suit
In what is rapidly devolving into an all-out brawl on the board of the world’s highest-valued private company, a group of Uber shareholders have asked the venture capital firm Benchmark to step down from the board of directors. This move comes only a day after Benchmark took the aggressive step of filing suit against Uber’s former CEO Travis Kalanick. Read More
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Update: FaceApp pulls ill-advised ‘ethnicity filters’
FaceApp, ignoring its own previous missteps and those of others, has wandered back into controversy with a new update launching today that adds “ethnicity change filters,” allowing users to see what it would look like if they were Caucasian, Black, Asian or Indian. Read More
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Here Be Dragons VR studio closes $10 million Series A led by Discovery
Here Be Dragons, an immersive production studio focused on virtual reality content, has closed a $10 million Series A round led by Discovery Communications with participation also coming from David Droga and David Jones. The raise sets the virtual reality studio’s valuation at $55 million pre-money. Read More
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U.S. Trade Commission now investigating Apple in Qualcomm patent dispute
The U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating Qualcomm’s claims that Apple is violating several of its patents related to mobile technologies in several of its iPhone models. Qualcomm is seeking a ban on imports of the iPhone models that allegedly infringe on its IP. Read More
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Firefox for Windows gets native WebVR support, performance bumps in latest update
Today, Mozilla is launching its latest update to Firefox for Windows and the hallmark feature is WebVR support that will enable desktop VR users to dive into web-based experiences with ease. WebVR is a standard that allows people utilizing supported browsers the ability to click a link that takes them directly into a VR experience. With the updated Firefox, all you have to do is click a… Read More
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