New Technology News

Monday, March 31, 2014

Industrial Toys, the tablet and mobile gaming studio led by Alex Seropian (founder of Bungie Studios, creators of the enormously successful Halo franchise), is announcing that it has raised a $5 million Series A from Accel Partners. Accel's Vasant Natarajan, who's joining the Industrial Toys board, suggested that when there's "a big platform shift" in gaming, it creates new opportunities to build… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Industrial Toys Raises $5M From Accel To Build Tablet Games For Serious Players

9:21 PM

Unknown

Industrial Toys, the tablet and mobile gaming studio led by Alex Seropian (founder of Bungie Studios, creators of the enormously successful ...

Looks like instead of being acquired, wrist and speaker hardware company Jawbone is doing some acquiring, scooping up social and personalized music playlist app Playground.fm, according to a well-placed source. Last time we heard something about Jawbone, it had closed a new financing round of about $250 million at around a $3 billion valuation. Kara Swisher and Re/code had reported a similar… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Jawbone Snaps Up Playground.fm

7:42 PM

Unknown

Looks like instead of being acquired, wrist and speaker hardware company Jawbone is doing some acquiring, scooping up social and personalize...

Microsoft's Office suite for iPad continues to dominate the iOS app store days after its release, retaining the top three free slots in ...

It's the end of another March here in the Linux blogosphere, and that can mean only one thing: the arrival of another April Fools' Day. As if on cue, Microsoft recently made an eminently Fools' Day-worthy move. "On Tuesday, we dusted off the source code for early versions of MS-DOS and Word for Windows," wrote Roy Levin, distinguished engineer and managing director for Microsoft Research Silicon Valley, in a blog post last week. "With the help of the Computer History Museum, we are making this code available to the public for the first time."

testfinaltechnews

Microsoft's Merry-Making MS-DOS Code Caper

11:17 AM

Unknown

It's the end of another March here in the Linux blogosphere, and that can mean only one thing: the arrival of another April Fools'...

Photo-sharing app Frontback just received an update in the App Store. The company revamped user profiles to make them a little more informative. Now, you can see an avatar, the nickname and full name, a user description and a location. You can also easily access followers and following lists. Finally, you can block someone if you don’t want this particular person to see your Frontbacks. As a… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Frontback Update Adds Better User Profiles

10:34 AM

Unknown

Photo-sharing app Frontback just received an update in the App Store. The company revamped user profiles to make them a little more informat...

Microsoft today announced that it has added data about 150 million new entities to Bing's entity engine -- the company's rough equivalent to Google's Knowledge Graph. Over the course of the last few months, Microsoft said today, it has added real estate listings, as well as information about lawyers, doctors and dentists to the service. Bing also added more data about "web actives" -- that is… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Microsoft Adds Data About 150M New Entities To Bing

10:34 AM

Unknown

Microsoft today announced that it has added data about 150 million new entities to Bing's entity engine -- the company's rough equiv...

Twitter is adding more global firepower to its ambitions to cosy up to broadcasters and TV advertisers: it is buying France's Mesagraph, and it is also acquiring SecondSync in the UK. It is also teaming with with Kantar, the market analytics firm owned by WPP who was also an investor in SecondSync, as part of its string of announcements today to further its global reach with its social TV… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Twitter Buys France’s Mesagraph And UK’s SecondSync, Inks Deal With Kantar To Ramp Up Social TV Efforts In Europe

10:34 AM

Unknown

Twitter is adding more global firepower to its ambitions to cosy up to broadcasters and TV advertisers: it is buying France's Mesagraph,...

When Obamacare passed the 6 million-person sign-up mark, we pointed, with our tongues half-cheeked, to President Obama's Between Two Ferns appearance with Zach Galifianakis. Turns out we were mostly on point. Recently, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius told the Huffington Post that the government "definitely saw that Galifianakis bump." Read More

testfinaltechnews

HHS Secretary Sebelius: HealthCare.Gov “Definitely Saw The Galifianakis Bump”

10:13 AM

6:48 AM

Unknown

Findaway World was founded back in 2006 with the aim of selling MP3 players preloaded with audiobooks. (One of its more noteworthy customers...

The Nymi armband from Toronto-startup Bionym is edging closer to reality, and a new partnership announced today helps make it more clear how it’ll be useful to everyday consumers. Bionym is teaming up with PasswordBox to make it possible to authenticate your mobile logins using your heart rate automatically, for super fast access to sites, devices and services. PasswordBox is a login locker,… Read More

testfinaltechnews

PasswordBox Partnership Lets The Nymi ECG Wristband Log You In Anywhere On Mobile

6:28 AM

Unknown

The Nymi armband from Toronto-startup Bionym is edging closer to reality, and a new partnership announced today helps make it more clear how...

ECS -- Nvidia's Emerging Companies Summit -- is a place to check out some of the firms that could become the next breakout company. It didn't disappoint this year. Among the highlights: A firm that could redefine advertising connected to Web pictures and videos; a company that could put your entire desktop and gaming experience in the cloud; one that could help you actually hear that TV you see at a restaurant or bar (one of my favorites); and one that equips a little box to do a workload that typically would require a server farm.

testfinaltechnews

Nvidia's ECS: Some Amazing Little Companies to Watch

6:28 AM

Unknown

ECS -- Nvidia's Emerging Companies Summit -- is a place to check out some of the firms that could become the next breakout company. It...

Texting while walking can be dangerous, but Apple could be aiming to make it less so, judging from a patent awarded Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple has found an innovative way to use an electronic communication device's camera to continuously capture and present video images as background within a text-messaging session, its patent application 20140085334, titled "Transparent Texting," suggests. The device's rear-facing camera could be used to make it appear the user was looking through a transparent screen.

testfinaltechnews

Apple Patent Addresses Texting-Walking Risk

6:28 AM

Unknown

Texting while walking can be dangerous, but Apple could be aiming to make it less so, judging from a patent awarded Thursday by the U.S. P...

After announcing a partnership with Intuit QuickBooks last Fall, Square is debuting a new integration with rival accounting software Xero. Similar to the announcement with QuickBooks, this API deal allows for the mobile payment service to feed data from transactions into their financial books on Xero. Read More

testfinaltechnews

Square Debuts New Software Partner Platform, Integrates With Xero For Seamless Merchant Accounting

6:09 AM

12:20 AM

Unknown

Medifund, a crowdfunding platform for medical students, has relaunched as a non-profit. The site, which is based in the Philippines but open...

On-demand services marketplace Bizzby has raised $10 million, and claims to have reached 40,000 users its first three months of operation this year with a smartphone app resembling TaskRabbit-style services. The investors was undisclosed but sources say the investor is a US-based Hedge Fund with over $25B under management. Bizzby offers on-demand access to tradespeople such as cleaners, plumbers,… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Bizzby Raises $10M From Hedge Fund To Take On TaskRabbit In UK

12:20 AM

How To Run Live User Testing, Part 3: The Debrief

9:25 PM

7:38 AM

Unknown

Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to have a little fun. Virtual reality itself used to be a punchline. Now, Facebook and its latest p...

Did you know that, to quote an angry hacker: The Internet from every angle has always been a house of cards held together with defective duct tape. It's a miracle that anything works at all. Those who understand a lot of the technology involved generally hate it, but at the same time are astounded that for end users, things seem to usually work rather well. Today I want to talk about all of… Read More

testfinaltechnews

The Internet Is Held Together With Bubble Gum And Baling Wire

6:03 AM

2:35 PM

Unknown

Tesla can keep its dealerships in the state of New York. An agreement was made between the auto maker and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that wi...

Once the Facebook hangover had lifted, Marketo and Tableau had big openings, and Twitter smashed the world on its opening day, the door for IPOs appeared to be wide open. King Digital and Aerohive both pulled the trigger, and Box is on deck. The market reaction to Aerohive and King has been flat to negative. Even more, Aerohive mentioned that it saw a "deterioration" in the market during its… Read More

testfinaltechnews

The Shifting IPO Market

2:18 PM

Unknown

Once the Facebook hangover had lifted, Marketo and Tableau had big openings, and Twitter smashed the world on its opening day, the door for ...

testfinaltechnews

Apple Patent Addresses Texting-Walking Risk

1:41 PM

Unknown

Texting while walking can be dangerous, but Apple could be aiming to make it less so, judging from a patent awarded Thursday by the U.S. P...

Gillmor Gang - Danny Sullivan, Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording session today at 1pm Pacific. Live FriendFeed chat is here Read More

testfinaltechnews

10:50 AM

5:58 AM

Unknown

In what seems to be the beginning of a real-life Wall-E situation, Philips has introduced an even easier way to control your home’s Hue smar...

Is the company blog dead? Instead of posting on the Tesla blog, Elon Musk announced a significant new Model S feature on the personal blogging site Medium. Read More

testfinaltechnews

4:48 AM

Unknown

French startup Tapvalue raised $2.2 million (€1.6 million) to boost its international growth and keep iterating on the product. Tapvalue is ...

Nearly 120,000 people in the United States are on the waiting list for an organ transplant that may save their lives, according to the American Transplant Foundation. "In the short term, we need many more people to register to be a potential organ donor," said Jordan Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice University. However, donor organs require immunosuppressive therapies, which can limit the recipient's quality of life, so over the long term, the medical community is "extremely excited" about 3D printing's potential.

testfinaltechnews

Bioprinting, Part 2 - The Ethical Conundrum

4:28 AM

2:50 PM

7:19 AM

Unknown

App developer UpTo is launching a free calendar app on iOS to give users a way to see what's going on around their lives, not just in th...

High above a scorched Earth, in a sleek yacht tethered to the tip of the Terra Two spindle, Chancellor Herman Worthy was doing paperwork. His cleaner bots were all asleep and his assistant, a lithe android build to look like a long-dead 2000s era actress, was in her charging case. It was good to be alone. Read More

testfinaltechnews

12:09 AM

Unknown

LinkedIn is introducing some new tools for businesses hoping to attract a following with their LinkedIn content. First up, there's a con...

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Social customer service company Lithium Technologies will announce on Thursday morning that it has acquired Klout for almost $200 million in cash and private stock, says Fortune. Read More

testfinaltechnews

Lithium To Acquire Social Influence Scoring Site Klout For $200M

8:03 PM

Unknown

Social customer service company Lithium Technologies will announce on Thursday morning that it has acquired Klout for almost $200 million in...

Aereo has today filed its response brief with the Supreme Court in a case that will make or break the streaming TV startup. So far, we're in the preliminary stages of this particular case, with the broadcasters filing their initial briefing in March, arguing that Aereo violates Copyrights by retransmitting broadcast signals as a "public performance." Read More

testfinaltechnews

Aereo Says A Win For Broadcasters Would Have “Chilling” Consequences To Cloud Computing

7:24 PM

Unknown

Aereo has today filed its response brief with the Supreme Court in a case that will make or break the streaming TV startup. So far, we'r...

I suck at grocery shopping, at least compared to some of my friends. One knows exactly what vegetables go into a killer get-the-hell-out-of-bed smoothie. A gymrat buddy can suggest a healthier alternative to every food. And my favorite drunk has the cocktail bar essentials memorized. Some of them already use grocery delivery service Instacart. Now I want them to be able to do the shopping for me. Read More

testfinaltechnews

Yo Instacart, Can I Get Some Shareable Grocery Lists?

7:24 PM

Unknown

I suck at grocery shopping, at least compared to some of my friends. One knows exactly what vegetables go into a killer get-the-hell-out-of-...

Today at its Box Dev developer event in north San Francisco, Box, a cloud file storage and enterprise collaboration company, announced a number of product changes, new pricing schemes, and some new code. Especially in light of its impending IPO, understanding what Box is up to matters. Let’s dig in. Pricing And Growth Financial quibbles aside, Box has grown quickly in terms of product usage.… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Box Unveils First Standalone Product And New API Pricing At Inaugural Dev Conference

6:50 PM

Unknown

Today at its Box Dev developer event in north San Francisco, Box, a cloud file storage and enterprise collaboration company, announced a num...

Instacart, the grocery delivery service popular in Chicago, San Francisco and other locations, landed in New York City today. I spoke to Instacart this morning about the New York City addition, which it described as something of an evolution. Each city is unique in its makeup, design, weather and so forth, but it seems that New York City is more unique than other municipalities. To serve the… Read More

testfinaltechnews

With Revenue Up 2.4X In The Past Two Months, Instacart Lands In NYC

4:51 PM

2:55 PM

Unknown

Among everything else that’s driving e-commerce growth in India, the ease of buying things sitting inside homes, avoiding the hazards of tra...

Twitter has been testing designs furiously all winter, including a tile-like format for tweets and a Facebook-style profile page on the web. But TNW has spotted an update in the Twitter app (which is being partially rolled out as a test, considering my version of the app doesn't show the change) that brings the same profile look to mobile. Read More

testfinaltechnews

Twitter Tests More Inviting Profile Designs On Mobile

2:37 PM

12:49 PM

Unknown

The story goes BlackBerry senior vice-president for software Sebastian Marineau-Mes resigned from his post in late December 2013 after Apple...

Less than two years ago, Oculus raised 2.5 million dollars on Kickstarter. Yesterday, they were acquired by Facebook for $2 billion. Oculus has definitely generated its fair share of buzz in its short lifespan — yet many people are hearing about them for the first time this week. For them, and for those who might've missed some details along the way, here's Oculus' story so far. Read More

testfinaltechnews

A Brief History Of Oculus

12:49 PM

10:56 AM

Unknown

Adam Draper and Brayton Williams launched Boost.vc in 2012 at a time when the accelerator market was beginning to burst at the seams with ne...

Education technology-focused startups raised over $488 million already in the first quarter of 2014, marking the single biggest quarter for capital committed to the sector in the past five years. What began as a trickle in 2009, with 17 companies raising $63.9 million at the beginning of the year, is now a flood as funding leapt to $488.8 million in 84 venture-backed startups, according to… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Education Technology Startups Raised Nearly Half A Billion Dollars In Q1

10:56 AM

Unknown

Education technology-focused startups raised over $488 million already in the first quarter of 2014, marking the single biggest quarter for ...

NASA is asking people to vote on their favorite design for the outer shell of the new Z-2 spacesuit. While the Z-2 models may descend from their Apollo 13-style ancestors, there are some decidedly 21st Century twists. The "Biomimicry" design, for example, has a reptilian flare; "Trends in Society" has a more everyday look -- at least, as far as spacesuits go; and "Technology" has electroluminescent wire and exposed rotating bearings, among other features.

testfinaltechnews

Rocket the Vote! NASA Asks People to Vote on New Space Threads

10:38 AM

Unknown

NASA is asking people to vote on their favorite design for the outer shell of the new Z-2 spacesuit. While the Z-2 models may descend from...

AppGyver, an HTML5-centric development platform for quickly building mobile apps, today announced that it has raised a $2.5 million funding round led by Initial Capital, an early investor in companies like Supercell, with participation by Finnish VC firm Open Ocean Capital, which was established by the founders of MySQL. Read More

testfinaltechnews

AppGyver Raises $2.5M Funding Round To Expand Its App Development Platform

10:20 AM

Unknown

AppGyver, an HTML5-centric development platform for quickly building mobile apps, today announced that it has raised a $2.5 million funding ...

Twitter has just announced that it has formally joined the cause of those defending use of its service in Turkey, by filing petitions for lawsuits in a number of Turkish courts after working with its Turkish attorney over the course of the past few days. The petitions ask that the ban be lifted formally, and join the existing chorus of Turkish legal community members, citizens and journalists who… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Twitter Files For Lawsuits In Turkish Courts To Challenge The Country’s Access Ban

7:04 AM

Unknown

Twitter has just announced that it has formally joined the cause of those defending use of its service in Turkey, by filing petitions for la...

Subscription e-book startup Scribd is announcing a deal with famed travel publisher Lonely Planet. Scribd started out as a service where users could share different types of written content (writers at TechCrunch still use it to share documents that we want to embed in our posts), but last year the company announced its intentions to become a Netflix-style style subscription service, where… Read More

testfinaltechnews

Scribd’s Subscription E-Book Service Moves Into Travel With The Full Lonely Planet Library

6:44 AM

Unknown

Subscription e-book startup Scribd is announcing a deal with famed travel publisher Lonely Planet. Scribd started out as a service where use...

Hardware continues to be a hot sector in the startup community, with a number of investment firms backing startups that make physical goods to change the way we live. Lemnos Labs is one of those firms, and it has raised a $20 million fund and opened up a huge new warehouse space to exclusively support early-stage hardware startups. Read More

testfinaltechnews

4:55 AM

Unknown

"All the News That's Fit to Print" was a viable business model for many years for the New York Times, but these days, as newsp...

LG Electronics on Monday unveiled a light bulb designed to illuminate consumers lives in a more intelligent way. The Smart Lamp, which can be controlled by an iOS or Android device over Bluetooth or WiFi, debuted in LG's home market of South Korea. The 10W LED bulb is 80 percent more energy-efficient than other incandescent bulbs, LG claimed, and will last for up to 10 years when used for around five hours per day. Users can alter the lighting in their homes according to a range of preferences.

testfinaltechnews