Google Cloud launches a managed Memcached service
Google today announced the beta of Memorystore for Memcached, a new service that provides a fully managed in-memory datastore that is compatible with the open-source Memcached protocol. It will join…
Forward launches ‘Forward At Home’ primary care service to address COVID-19 healthcare crunch
The global coronavirus pandemic has already caused a tremendous strain on healthcare resources around the world, and it’s leading to a shift in how healthcare is offered. Startup Forward, which…
Cloudflare CEO pledges to double 2020 internship class
Internet security company Cloudflare has pledged to double its Summer 2020 internship class, and make the entire program remote if necessary, in response to cancellations of internships programs across the…
Google to shut down its India-focused Q&A app Neighbourly
Google is shutting down Neighbourly, a Q&A social app that it launched in Mumbai two years ago, the company has informed users. A spokesperson confirmed the move to TechCrunch. The…
‘A perfect storm for first time managers,’ say VCs with their own shops
Until very recently, it had begun to seem like anyone with a thick enough checkbook and some key contacts in the startup world could not only fund companies as an…
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Mobile payments firms in India are now scrambling to make money
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and chief executive of India’s most valuable startup, Paytm, posed an existential question in a recent press conference. “What do you think of the commercial model for digital mobile payments. How do we make money?” Sharma asked Nandan Nilekani, one of the key architects of the Unified Payments Interface that created…
An EU coalition of techies is backing a ‘privacy-preserving’ standard for COVID-19 contacts tracing
A European coalition of techies and scientists drawn from at least eight countries, and led by Germany’s Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute for telecoms (HHI), is working on contacts-tracing proximity technology…
Self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski files motion to force Uber into arbitration
Anthony Levandowski, the star self-driving car engineer who was at the center of a trade secrets lawsuit, has filed a motion to compel Uber into arbitration in the hopes that…
YouTube sellers found touting bogus coronavirus vaccines and masks
YouTube has been criticized for continuing to host coronavirus disinformation on its video sharing platform during a global health emergency. Two US advocacy groups which campaign for online safety undertook…
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What does a pandemic say about the tech we’ve built?
There’s a joke* being reshared on chat apps that takes the form of a multiple-choice question — asking who’s the leading force in workplace digital transformation? The red-lined punchline is not the CEO or CTO, but: C) COVID-19. There’s likely more than a grain of truth underpinning the quip. The novel coronavirus is pushing a…
Microsoft today announced the launch of Azure Edge Zones, which will allow Azure users to bring their applications to the company’s edge locations. The focus here is on enabling real-time…
Bay Area effort to help restaurants feed hospital workers partners with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen
An effort I’ve been following in the Bay Area to deliver meals to front-line hospital clinicians dealing with the results of COVID-19 is announcing a big new partnership today that…
Alphabet’s Verily debuts a COVID-19 community testing toolkit as it scales its own testing efforts
While the origins of its coronavirus testing program were muddled by President Trump’s misleading announcements attributing its efforts to Google and inflating its scale, Alphabet’s Verily health sciences subsidiary has…
Videoconferencing apps saw a record 62M downloads during one week in March
Work-from-home policies, social distancing and government lockdowns have increased the demand for video conferencing apps, for both business and personal use. According to a new report from App Annie, out…
Daily Crunch: FDA clears procedure for N95 mask decontamination
The FDA approves a new procedure that could allow healthcare workers to reuse N95 respirator masks, Microsoft divests from a facial recognition startup and Saudi spies have been taking advantage…
Microsoft Teams is coming to consumers — but Skype is here to stay
Microsoft today announced that later this year, it will launch what is essentially a consumer version of Teams, its Slack-like text, audio and video chat application. Teams for your personal…
Microsoft Edge is getting smart copy and paste, a password monitor and vertical tabs
Microsoft today announced a ton of new features for its productivity apps, but it also used today’s release to highlight a few new features that are coming to its Chromium-based…
Microsoft brings Teams to consumers and launches Microsoft 365 personal and family plans
Microsoft today announced a slew of new products, but at the core of the release is a major change to how the company is marketing its tools and services to…
Elizabeth Warren for President open-sources its 2020 campaign tech
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren may have ended her 2020 presidential run, but the tech used to drive her campaign will live on. Members of her staff announced they would make…
Test and trace with Apple and Google
After the shutdown, the testing and tracing. “Trace, test and treat is the mantra … no lockdowns, no roadblocks and no restriction on movement” in South Korea. “To suppress and…
Startups Weekly: A new era for consumer tech
TechCrunch is out hunting for bright spots in the startup world as we all come to grips with the pandemic — particularly where checks are actually being written despite everything.…
As the US shuts down, StockX’s business is booming, says its CEO
StockX, the high-flying resale marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of sneakers, streetwear, handbags and other collectible items, has seen its fortune rise along with the $6 billion global sneaker…
Attract, engage and retain employees in the new remote-work era
Having the right technology in place to sustain work-from-home practices is more important now than ever before.
Google sets aside $800M in ads and loans to help in COVID-19 fight
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced Friday that his company would be donating more than $800 million in ad credits and loans to help government orgs and small businesses respond to…
Tesla to reduce on-site staff at Nevada gigafactory by 75%
Tesla is reducing the number of on-site workers at its Nevada gigafactory by 75% in response to the growing spread of COVID-19, according to an update from Storey County, where…
EPA relaxes enforcement of environmental laws during the COVID-19 outbreak
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday that it is temporarily relaxing enforcement of environmental regulations and fines during the COVID-19 outbreak. The “enforcement discretion policy” applies…
Smart telescope startups vie to fix astronomy’s satellite challenge
Smart telescopes and shutter units will save observatories time and money by protecting images that are incredibly complicated to generate.
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Inside Udaan’s push to digitize India’s B2B retail market
During a recent visit, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella reiterated his company’s commitment to India and revealed a new fund to help SaaS startups in the country. And then Nadella and Anant Maheshwari, president of Microsoft India, discussed the success story of B2B platform Udaan in three separate onstage public appearances. Headquartered in Bangalore, Udaan…
Stocks shoot upward as ‘Phase Three’ stimulus passes Senate and unemployment skyrockets
Stocks soared on Thursday even as the U.S. reported its worst unemployment numbers in 50 years of tracking data. The pain felt on Main Street was offset for investors by…
Google, Amazon and Microsoft are the landlords. Amidst the coronavirus economic crisis, startups need a break from paying rent. They’re in a cash crunch. Revenue has stopped flowing in, capital…
