Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
The Latest
Media & Entertainment
HTC’s Next One Smartphone Will Be Revealed March 1
6:14 am PST • January 16, 2015
HTC is gearing up to launch something new on March 1 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and we’ve heard from a person familiar with the matter that what’s on tap…
The U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron is in Washington DC this week, lobbying the U.S. President on the need for circumventing the strong encryption of Internet services. So why is…
A few years ago we wrote about something called a Kuratas, a robotic mech suit that allowed the wearer to fire a BB Gatling gun whenever they smile at their…
Transportation
Carpooling.com Teams Up With Uber In Germany For First And Last Mile Rides
4:25 am PST • January 16, 2015
Uber, the fast-growing, sometimes-controversial car-service business, has been no stranger to trouble in Germany, last year getting banned from operating certain services in big cities over regulatory violations. Today the company is…
Holtzbrinck Ventures Closes $331M Fund To Back More Consumer And E-Commerce Startups
3:08 am PST • January 16, 2015
One of the more prolific VCs in Europe with close ties to e-commerce startup factory Rocket Internet has closed another fund — its biggest yet — to back more consumer…
Startups
Lexoo Scores $400K For Its Lawyer-Matching Service For Small Businesses
1:00 am PST • January 16, 2015
During my own startup adventures, I came to the conclusion that, succeed or fail, the only people guaranteed to make money are cloud providers and lawyers. With regards to the…
UC Web Partners With Facebook For In-Browser Mobile Notifications
11:32 pm PST • January 15, 2015
UCWeb, which makes the world’s largest third-party mobile browser by pageviews, has partnered with Facebook in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia and other markets so users there can get the social…
China’s government will launch a new 40 billion RMB (about $6.5 billion) venture capital fund to invest in seed-stage tech startups. The news comes as investor interest in Chinese VC…
China’s Xiaomi outed its latest smartphone, the Mi Note, yesterday, and we managed to get our grubby mitts on the 5.7-inch screen device.
Samsung Electronics’ New Design Lead Is An Alum Of Jony Ive’s Former Consulting Firm
7:28 pm PST • January 15, 2015
Remember the trypophobia-inducing Galaxy S5 design that Samsung released to near-universal horror last year? The South Korea tech giant hopes to avoid similar debacles in the future with the hiring…
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Chinese Taxi App Company Kuaidi Dache Raises $600 Million Led By SoftBank
6:45 pm PST • January 15, 2015
China’s top taxi-booking apps are locked and ready to go for 2015 after Kuadi Dache became the fourth company in its space to raise new funding in the past month.…
Startups
Ousted Founder Gurbaksh Chahal Raises His Offer To Acquire RadiumOne
4:41 pm PST • January 15, 2015
Founder Gurbaksh Chahal isn’t giving up on his efforts to acquire RadiumOne, the ad-tech company that fired him last year. Back in April, Chahal was ousted from his role as…
Alleged Silk Road Mastermind Claims Head Of Mt. Gox Was The Real Dread Pirate Roberts
4:35 pm PST • January 15, 2015
If you read the headline above and said “Huh?” then you are not alone. It seems Ross Ulbricht, the alleged head of Silk Road, was not the real owner of…
Back in November, Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox One down to $349 as part of a “promotion” (read: market test) through the holidays. It did great! Hell, it…
Media & Entertainment
Get Out Your Burn Book Because Mean Girls The Mobile Game Is Coming To iOS
2:57 pm PST • January 15, 2015
Have you been personally victimized by Regina George? You can now play her in a game. The aptly named gaming company So Much Drama is bringing a reimagined version of the film…
Media & Entertainment
This App Turns Your Phone Into A Disposable Camera, Hiding Your Photos Until They’re Delivered To Your Door
2:56 pm PST • January 15, 2015
Remember the good ol’ days of personal photography? The days of limited film rolls; of crappy yellow cameras you bought at the drug store? None of this “Oh, you blinked?…
Media & Entertainment
SMS-Based Recommendation Engine Cloe Aims To Outsmart Siri
2:49 pm PST • January 15, 2015
Despite being on our phones for years, Siri still often gets confused by our questions. Cloe, an SMS-based recommendation engine, adds a human understanding that provides context to our queries.…
Media & Entertainment
Game Developers Report Growing Profits And Interest In Esports
2:47 pm PST • January 15, 2015
The gaming industry appears to be in strong shape, according to a recent survey of 2,000 North American developers. The study, conducted by the Game Developers Conference, states that 41…
Intel Dips After Its Weak Q1 Guidance Overshadows Strong Q4 Results
2:09 pm PST • January 15, 2015
Intel reported its fourth-quarter financial performance today, including revenue of $14.72 billion and profit per share of $0.74. Both figures beat expectations: The street had expected $14.70 billion in revenue…
The Sentiment On Sharing Is Shifting
2:00 pm PST • January 15, 2015
Cities make the sharing economy work. The overall sentiment toward sharing is shifting as traditional industries are upended and local regulatory environments are disrupted, while the sharing economy serves as…
