 'Digital Key' Standard Uses Your Phone To Unlock Your Car
The Car Connectivity Consortium, a mix of major smartphone and automotive brands, has posted a Digital Key 1.0 standard that will let you download a virtual key that can unlock your vehicle, start the engine and even share access with other drivers. Engadget reports: Unsurprisingly, the technology focuses on security more than anything else. Your car manufacturer uses an existing trusted system to send the digital key to your phone, which uses close-range NFC to grant access to your ride. You ca
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Alzheimer's Link To Herpes Virus In Brain, Say Scientists
Tests of brain tissue from nearly 1,000 people found that two strains of herpes virus were far more abundant in the brains of those with early-stage Alzheimer's than in healthy controls. "[S]cientists are divided on whether viruses are likely to be an active trigger, or whether the brains of people already on the path towards Alzheimer's are simply more vulnerable to infection," reports The Guardian. From the report: "The viral genomes were detectable in about 30% of Alzheimer's brains and virtu
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 You'll Soon Be Able to Sponsor Your Favorite YouTube Creators for $5 Per Month
Fans of popular YouTube personalities will soon have a new way to show their support for their favorite creators. YouTube announced Thursday several new tools for YouTubers to generate revenue, including a Channel Memberships feature that will allow viewers to subscribe to channels for a monthly fee.Read more...
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Minecraft Is Coming to Adventure Time for a Very Blocky Episode
Adventure Time already came to Mojang's survival game/block building phenom Minecraft last year, and now the animated series is returning the favor with a special episode that sees Finn and friends having fun in a much more angular version of the Land of Ooo than they're used to.Read more...
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 Labstep wants to fix the way science experiments are recorded and reproduced
Labstep, an app and online platform to help scientists record and reproduce experiments, has raised £1 million in new funding, including from existing investors. The company, whose team has a background in commercial R&D and academic research, including at Oxford University, is backed by Seedcamp and says it plans to use the new capital to […]
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There's a Very Good Reason Incredibles 2 Is So Similar to the First Film
Incredibles 2 is a stunning, delightful film for a number of different reasons, but one that we haven't really talked about much is the fact that, in many ways, it feels a lot more like a remake of the original film rather than a full-on sequel. While that may sound like a problem, it turns out Pixar—as usual—knew…Read more...
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How Twitter Made the Tech World's Most Unlikely Comeback
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed: Two years ago, people were writing eulogies for Twitter. Rudderless and without product direction, the company was losing users and advertisers, and seemed unable to contain a metastasizing trolling crisis that was destroying its credibility. Employees left by the dozens and then got laid off by the hundreds. It tried to sell, and failed at that too. The press, Wall Street, and the public were merciless. The New Yorker declared it "The End of Tw
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Twitter 'smytes' customers
Twitter today announced it was acquiring the “trust and safety as a service” startup Smyte to help it better address issues related to online abuse, harassment, spam, and security on its platform. But it also decided to immediately shut down access to Smyte’s API without warning, leaving Smyte’s existing customers no time to transition to a new […]
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SpaceX Wins $130 Million Air Force Launch Contract, Marking a First For Falcon Heavy
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $130 million firm-fixed-price contract to SpaceX for the launch of its classified AFSPC-52 satellite on a Falcon Heavy rocket. From a report: It's the first national security contract won for SpaceX's heavy-lift rocket, which had its first test flight in February. AFSPC-52 is tue to lift off in 2020 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch will support the Air Force Space Command's "mission of delivering resilient and affordable space capabilities to our
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Startup Battlefield is coming to the Middle East and North Africa, apply today
TechCrunch is hosting its first startup competition for entrepreneurs across the Middle East and North Africa! We've wanted to bring TechCrunch to the region for a long time, and now thanks to our sponsor Facebook, TechCrunch is bringing the Startup Battlefield competition to Beirut on October 3 this year, hosted at the Beirut Digital District […]
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Announcing the agenda for The Europas Unconference, July 3, London
There are only 10 more days until The Europas where the winners of this year's startup awards will be announced at our gala dinner, in association with TechCrunch! The Europas half-day "Unconference" will have a fantastic lineup of panels taking place in the afternoon before the awards. This year, we've done away with mainstage lectures, […]
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Algeria Shuts Off Entire Country's Internet To Stop Students From Cheating
Algeria has begun instituting nationwide internet blackouts to prevent students from leaking high school diploma exams online. Gizmodo reports: The country will turn off mobile and landline internet service across the country for an hour at a time during the exam period, which started on Wednesday and runs through June 25. The 11 blackouts are scheduled for an hour after each exam begins. In 2016, exam questions were reportedly leaked online and authorities were dissatisfied with a less stringen
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The iPhones of the Future May Be Wireless, Portless and Buttonless
The first iPhone to shed its headphone jack was the iPhone 7, which launched in late 2016. Now it seems like the Lightning port may be the next to go. CNET reports: Apple has considered removing the Lightning port on the iPhone X, according to Bloomberg, citing unnamed "people familiar with the company's work." While earlier rumors suggested that Apple would remove the Lightning port in favor of USB-C, Apple's goal may be to remove all ports entirely.
Bloomberg's report is about the challeng
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Nintendo and Microsoft Team Up To Promote Cross-Play, While Sony Remains Silent
Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch is getting a big update today that will enable cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones -- but notably not the PlayStation 4. "Sony is blocking cross-play for Fortnite, Rocket League, and Minecraft so PS4 players can't play against Xbox One or Nintendo Switch owners," reports The Verge. "Meanwhile, Nintendo and Microsoft are partnering to utilize cross-play as a marketing weapon today." From the report: The Minecraft cross-play trailer specifically focuses
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Why Antarctica Is Getting Taller
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Live Science: Bedrock under Antarctica is rising more swiftly than ever recorded -- about 1.6 inches (41 millimeters) upward per year. And thinning ice in Antarctica may be responsible. That's because as ice melts, its weight on the rock below lightens. And over time, when enormous quantities of ice have disappeared, the bedrock rises in response, pushed up by the flow of the viscous mantle below Earth's surface, scientists reported in a new study. These
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Stonehenge Builders Used Pythagoras' Theorem 2,000 Years Before He Was Born
According to a new book entitled "Megalith," which was released on June 21 to coincide with summer solstice, ancient humans who designed Stonehenge followed Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before his birth, around 2500 B.C. The theorem states that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the other two squares on the triangle. TechTimes reports: [The theorem] was developed by ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras, who was born in 570 B.C. However, Stonehenge was assembled 2,000 years
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Bitcoin Makes Historic First Appearance In US Supreme Court Opinion
hyperclocker shares a report from CCN: Thursday marked a historic day for bitcoin, as the flagship cryptocurrency made its first appearance in an opinion published by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States, did not involve bitcoin's regulatory or legal status. Rather, it examined whether employee stock options represent taxable compensation under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act of 1937. That may seem like an unlikely place for a discussion of bitcoin to appear,
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Burger Robot Startup Opens First Restaurant
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Creator's transparent burger robot doesn't grind your brisket and chuck steak into a gourmet patty until you order it. That's just one way this startup, formerly known as Momentum Machines, wants to serve the world's freshest cheeseburger for just $6. On June 27th, after eight years in development, Creator unveils its first robot restaurant before opening to the public in September. Here's how Creator's burger-cooking bot works at its 680 Fols
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PayPal to buy Simility, a specialist in AI-based fraud and risk management, for $120M
Payment provider PayPal continues apace with its acquisitions streak to bring more modern tools into its platform to serve its 237 million customers. Today the company announced that it is buying Simility, a fraud prevention specialist, for $120 million in cash. PayPal had been an investor in Simility (it owns three percent of the company, […]
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Here's The Wild Email Exchange Between Tesla's Alleged 'Saboteur' And Elon Musk
Late Wednesday, after Tesla filed a lawsuit against former Gigafactory technician Marty Tripp, the ex-technician shared emails with the Washington Post that highlighted a heated back-and-forth between him and CEO Elon Musk. At first, it seemed like Musk fired off a quick jab before the suit was filed, calling Tripp a…Read more...
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A huge spreadsheet naming ICE employees gets yanked from GitHub and Medium
A massive database of current U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees scraped from public LinkedIn profiles has been removed from the tech platforms hosting the data. The project was undertaken by Sam Lavigne, self-described artist, programmer and researcher in response to recent revelations around ICE’s detention practices at the southern U.S. border. Lavigne posted […]
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Fake Fortnite Android Apps Spread Across Internet
Fake Fortnite Android apps are spreading around the internet, even though the game has not been officially released for the platform. From a report: Videos on YouTube with links to scam versions of the popular game have been viewed millions of times, according to security experts. None of the fake apps has made it on to the Google Play Store, but they are easy to find on search engines. According to one security firm, the apps look legitimate. Talking about one particular fake app, Nathan Collie
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Bag Week 2018: Mission Workshop's Radian rolltop starts simple but grows piece by piece
I've always been wary of modular, rail-based bag systems. They've always struck me as rather military and imposing, which I suppose is kind of the point. Even Mission Workshop, whose other bags I have always enjoyed, put out one that seemed to me excessive. But they've tempered their style a bit and put out the Radian, a solid middle ground between their one-piece and modular systems.
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Google StreetView cars to help map pollution in London
From next month two Google StreetView cars will be driving around London’s streets fitted with sensors that take air quality readings every 30 meters to map and monitor air quality in the UK capital. There will also be 100 fixed sensors fitted to lampposts and buildings in pollution blackspots and sensitive locations in the city […]
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A CO2 Shortage is Causing a Beer and Meat Crisis in Britain
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is used in the production of a wide variety of food and drink products. But with at least five CO2 producers across northern Europe offline, a shortfall in the gas is causing shortages in beer, fizzy drinks, and meat. From a report: Britain is particularly affected because the seasonal shutdown of the plants has meant that the UK has only one big plant producing CO2 left. The British Beer and Pub Association, along with individual beer producers and pubs, has warned of the c
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Days After Buying Time Warner, AT&T Launches New TV Service
AT&T is launching a new streaming service incorporating television networks from the Time Warner company it just bought. From a report: The WatchTV service, a cable-like package of more than 30 TV channels delivered over the internet, is an example of the "skinny bundles" coming from telecom and broadband providers as more people watch TV online. Competitors include Sling TV, PlayStation Vue and AT&T's own DirecTV Now. WatchTV will be free for subscribers of two unlimited wireless plans
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Extinct Gibbon Species Found in Tomb of Ancient Chinese Noblewoman
A certain Chinese noblewoman—potentially Lady Xia, grandmother to the first emperor of China—had a menagerie buried with her in her tomb: a leopard, a crane, an asiatic black bear, a lynx, and, most notably, a gibbon. That gibbon was part of newly identified, now-extinct genus and species, researchers reported Thursday…Read more...
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Bag Week 2018: Chrome's Yalta 2.0 is a roomy rolltop that keeps up
At first, I didn’t know where the Yalta fit in. With a 30L capacity, the Yalta 2.0 (Chrome Industries, $96) is not a small bag but it’s not massive either. It’s a little bulkier on the bottom than the top, an inversion of most bike-friendly bags that usually crunch most of your carry weight high […]
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Happn takes on Tinder Places with an interactive map of missed connections
Dating app Happn, whose “missed connections” type of dating experience connects people who have crossed paths in real life, is fighting back at Tinder. Seemingly inspired by Happn’s location-based features, Tinder recently began piloting something called Tinder Places – a feature that tracks your location to match you with those people who visit your same […]
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Search is on For Cobalt-Free Batteries As Metal Gets Increasingly Rare and Expensive
An anonymous reader writes: Conamix, a little-known startup based in Ithaca, New York, has raised several million dollars to accelerate its development of cobalt-free materials for lithium-ion batteries, the latest sign that companies are eager to find alternatives to the increasingly rare and expensive metal. The problem: The price of cobalt has more than doubled in recent months, as global demand skyrockets for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and smartphones. It's also b
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Hinge sells 51 percent of shares to Match Group
Match Group, parent company of dating apps Tinder, OkCupid and Match, announced yesterday that it has acquired a 51 percent stake in Hinge. With this new acquisition, Match Group has the right to acquire all remaining shares of Hinge within a 12-month period. Match Group says its interest in Hinge began in 2017 after a […]
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YouTube introduces channel memberships, merchandise and premieres
YouTube creators are gaining a number of new tools to generate revenue from their videos outside of traditional advertising, as well as those that will help them better engage their fans, according to news the video streaming site announced today at the VidCon conference in Anaheim, California. This includes the rollout of channel memberships, merchandising, […]
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Supreme Court Rules States Can Require Online Retailers To Collect Sales Tax
New submitter zippo01 shares a report: Online shopping will soon become more expensive after the U.S. Supreme court ruled Thursday that states can require internet retailers to collect sales taxes. The 5-4 decision broke with 50 years' worth of legal rulings that barred states from imposing sales taxes on most purchases their residents make from out-of-state retailers. The decision was a victory for South Dakota, which had asked the court to uphold its recently passed law imposing an internet sa
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MoviePass introduces surge pricing for the summer
Starting in July, you might have to pay a little extra to see the newest blockbusters when using MoviePass . The movie subscription service has plans to instate surge pricing for non-annual subscribers starting at $2 for movies and times the app deems “very popular,” Business Insider reports. This comes one day after AMC announced its […]
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The US Startup Is Disappearing
Dan Kopf, writing for Quartz: Historically, startups have been the engine of US economy. By creating new jobs and surfacing new ideas, startups play an outsized role in making the economy grow. It's too bad they are a dying breed. While companies that were less than two years old made up about 13% of all companies in 1985, they only accounted for 8% in 2014. From around 1998 to 2010, the share of private sector workers in companies that were less than two years old plummeted from more than 9% to
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The Man Who Was Fired By a Machine
"It wasn't the first time my key card failed, I assumed it was time to replace it." So began a sequence of events that saw Ibrahim Diallo fired from his job, not by his manager but by a machine. From a report: He has detailed his story in a blogpost which he hopes will serve as a warning to firms about relying too much on automation. "Automation can be an asset to a company, but there needs to be a way for humans to take over if the machine makes a mistake," he writes. The story of Mr Diallo's s
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Nvidia Appears To Have A GPU Inventory Problem
Reports out of Taiwan now suggest that Nvidia has a gaming GPU inventory problem. An anonymous reader writes: Tech news site SemiAccurate which covers the GPU space pretty closely, and has broken stories like AMD's acquisition of ATI Technologies and Nvidia's Bumpgate, just published an article on why Nvidia has delayed their new gaming GPUs. It seems the Hot Chips 30 agenda cancellation and Jensen's no new GPUs for 'a long time' comment have created enough of a stir to get journalists and indus
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Google adds a search feature to account settings to ease use
Google has announced a refresh of the Google Accounts user interface. The changes are intended to make it easier for users to navigate settings and review data the company has associated with an account — including information relating to devices, payment methods, purchases, subscriptions, reservations, contacts and other personal info. The update also makes security and […]
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Plexus gloves bring VR sensations to your fingertips
Bringing a user’s hands into VR has been a pretty logical move for ambitious companies in the space. The mouse and keyboard just don’t make sense, and while more conventional physical controllers make sense for games like first-person shooters, gloves bring a lot to use cases that require a bit more finesse. We’ve seen glimpses […]
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Intel CEO Brian Krzanich Resigns Over Relationship With Employee
Intel has announced that CEO Brian Krzanich has resigned from the company effective immediately. From a report: CFO Robert Swan is now Intel's interim chief executive officer. "Intel was recently informed that Mr. Krzanich had a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee," the company said in a press release. "An ongoing investigation by internal and external counsel has confirmed a violation of Intel's non-fraternization policy, which applies to all managers." Krzanich's immediate resi
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Microsoft backpedals on VR promise
If you were still waiting patiently for the virtual reality features that Microsoft promised in 2016, then I have some bad news for you. During E3 last week, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer for gaming, Mike that the company had no plans to fulfill that promise. “We don’t have any plans specific to Xbox consoles in […]
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The Dust Storm on Mars Is So Huge It Now Encircles the Entire Planet
For the past two weeks, a massive dust storm has churned on Mars, forcing NASA to put its Opportunity rover into hibernation mode. But Curiosity, a rover on the other side of the planet, is now feeling the effects of the storm as well, revealing the dramatic, planet-size scale of this dusty weather system. Read more...
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Facebook expands fact-checking program, adopts new technology for fighting fake news
Facebook this morning announced an expansion of its fact-checking program and other actions it’s taking to combat the scourge of fake news on its social network. The company, which was found to be compromised by Russian trolls whose disinformation campaigns around the November 2016 presidential election reached 150 million Americans, has been increasing its efforts […]
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Mature Fish Are Found In Deeper Water Because of Humans
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: When studying populations of a flounder-like North Sea fish called plaice in the early 1900's, a man named Heincke noticed that older, larger fish are found deeper in the water than younger, smaller fish. The same phenomenon was subsequently found for other North Atlantic species like cod, haddock, pollock, and some species of flatfish; it was thus dubbed Heincke's Law and treated as an established fact. Biologists assumed it was ontogenic i
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Ajit Pai Is Apparently a Comedy Vlogger Now
Telecom shill and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is on some sort of Mark Zuckerberg-style tour of America's heartland, and he's uploaded his first vlog that he's labeled as "comedy."Read more...
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Urban Airship raises another $25M
Urban Airship has raised $25 million in Series F funding. The company started out as a platform supporting push notifications, but has since expanded to include other marketing channels like email, SMS, mobile wallets and voice assistants. The goal is to be the platform managing messaging and unifying customer data across all these channels. Altogether, […]
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The future of AI relies on a code of ethics
As the AI revolution continues to accelerate, new technology is being developed to solve key problems faced by consumers, businesses and the world at large. Our reliance on AI will deepen, inevitably causing many ethical issues to arise as humans turn over to algorithms their cars, homes and businesses.
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SpaceX nabs $130 million to launch an Air Force satellite with Falcon Heavy
SpaceX beat out one other competitor to land a $130 million launch contract with the U.S. Air Force using its Falcon Heavy rocket. The award is an important validation of the Falcon Heavy, one of the most powerful rockets ever made. Under the contract, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based rocket company founded by Elon Musk will launch the […]
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Taste test: Burger robot startup Creator opens first restaurant
Creator’s transparent burger robot doesn’t grind your brisket and chuck steak into a gourmet patty until you order it. That’s just one way this startup, formerly known as Momentum Machines, wants to serve the world’s freshest cheeseburger for just $6. On June 27th, after eight years in development, Creator unveils its first robot restaurant before opening […]
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Europe Already Has A Solution For Too-Quiet Electric Cars
One of the big issues concerning electric vehicles is how pedestrians struggle to hear an oncoming, naturally-silent electric car in the streets. Following my recent first drive of the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace in Portugal, I think Europe already has this figured out.Read more...
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Wait, What the Hell Happened to Apple AirPower?
When Apple debuted the iPhone X last fall, the company also announced AirPower, a wireless charging pad with special Apple magic that would let you charge three devices at once faster than traditional Qi wireless chargers. But now, nine months later, AirPower still isn't here, and it's not clear when it will actually…Read more...
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Bogong Moths Are First Insect Known to Use Earth's Magnetism to Navigate at Night
Every spring in Australia, millions of bogong moths emerge from their pupae and embark on a 600-mile trip to the Australian Alps, the highest mountain range in Australia. For weeks, the insects rest during the day and take to the skies at night to reach the Alps, where they cram into caves and rest for the hot summer. Read more...
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Malaysian CEO's Death Reportedly Caused by Exploding Phone
Nazrin Hassan, the CEO of a Malaysian venture capital fund, died after one of his cellphones reportedly caught fire while it was charging in his bedroom. Conflicting reports have attributed his cause of death to blunt force trauma and smoke inhalation, but authorities say that they need more time to investigate…Read more...
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Algeria Shuts Off the Entire Country's Internet to Stop Students From Cheating
Predictably, cheating in school has advanced with time. Students have hacked servers, hit schools with DDoS attacks, and purchased schoolwork on the dark web. In an extreme measure to prevent students from leaking high school diploma exams online, Algeria has begun instituting nationwide internet blackouts.Read more...
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Terminator 6 Set Photos Reveal Our First Look at Sarah Connor's Triumphant Return
New set pictures from the next Terminator give us our first look at Linda Hamilton back in action. Zachary Quinto offers a brief hint on the next Star Trek film. George Clooney could direct a new scifi movie. Plus, Swamp Thing casting rumors, and Cheo Hodari Coker on the villains of Luke Cage season two. Spoilers,…Read more...
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More tickets available to the TechCrunch Summer Party at August Capital
We hope you've saved the date for the TechCrunch Summer Party at August Capital on July 27, because we're releasing our second batch of tickets today. Jump on this opportunity, folks, because our first group of tickets sold out in a flash — and these babies, available on a first-come, first-served basis, won't last long, either. […]
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