 Hologram-Like Device Animates Objects Using Ultrasound Waves
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Researchers in Southampton have built a device that displays 3D animated objects that can talk and interact with onlookers. A demonstration of the display showed a butterfly flapping its wings, a countdown spelled out by numbers hanging in the air, and a rotating, multicolored planet Earth. Beyond interactive digital signs and animations, scientists want to use it to visualize and even feel data. While the images are similar, the device is n
|
|
|
GitHub Faces More Resignations In Light of ICE Contract
TechCrunch reports that another employee, engineer Alice Goldfuss, has resigned from GitHub over the company's $200,000 contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). From the report: In a tweet, Goldfuss said GitHub has a number of problems to address and that "ICE is only the latest." Meanwhile, Vice reports at least five staffers quit today. These resignations come the same day as GitHub Universe, the company's big product conference. Ahead of the conference, Tech Workers Coalition
|
|
|
John Carmack Stepping Down As CTO of Oculus To Work On AI
Oculus CTO John Carmack announced Wednesday that he is stepping down from the augmented-reality company to focus his time on artificial general intelligence. The Verge reports: Carmack will remain in a "consulting CTO" position at Oculus, where he will "still have a voice" in the development work at the company, he wrote. Recent comments from Carmack suggest he may have soured on VR. Carmack was a champion of phone-based VR for years at Oculus, but in October, he delivered a "eulogy" for Oculus'
|
|
|
|
|
 John Carmack steps down at Oculus to pursue AI passion project 'before I get too old'
Legendary coder John Carmack is leaving Facebook's Oculus to focus on a personal project — no less than the creation of Artificial General Intelligence, or "Strong AI." He'll remain attached to the company in a "Consulting CTO" position, but will be spending all his time working on, perhaps, the AI that finally surpasses and destroys humanity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apple Is Finally Willing To Make Gadgets Thicker So They Work Better
Apple has started to make its products thicker in an effort to give people what they want: functionality over form. This is a good thing. There are two recent examples: this year's iPhones and the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. Todd Haselton writes via CNBC: This is a theory, but it seems this may be that there are some design changes being made after the departure of Apple's former chief design officer Jony Ive. Ive was known for creating gorgeous products but, sometimes as we've seen with the older
|
|
|
|
|
The NYPD Kept an Illegal Database of Juvenile Fingerprints For Years
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: For years, the New York Police Department illegally maintained a database containing the fingerprints of thousands of children charged as juvenile delinquents -- in direct violation of state law mandating that police destroy these records after turning them over to the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services. When lawyers representing some of those youths discovered the violation, the police department dragged its feet, at first denyi
|
|
|
|
|
GitHub Places Open-Source Code In Arctic Cave For Safekeeping
pacopico writes: GitHub's CEO Nat Friedman traveled to Svalbard in October to stash Linux, Android, and 6,000 other open-source projects in a permafrost-filled, abandoned coal mine. It's part of a project to safeguard the world's software from existential threats and also just to archive the code for posterity. As Friedman says, "If you told someone 20 years ago that in 2020, all of human civilization will depend on and run on open-source code written for free by volunteers in countries all arou
|
|
|
|
|
|
YouTube's New Kids' Content System Has Creators Scrambling
As of Tuesday afternoon, YouTube is requiring creators to label any videos of theirs that may appeal to children. If they say a video is directed at kids, data collection will be blocked for all viewers, resulting in lower ad revenue and the loss of some of the platform's most popular features, including comments and end screens. It's a major change in how YouTube works, and has left some creators clueless as to whether they're subject to the new rules. The Verge reports: Reached by The Verge, G
|
|
|
SpaceX completes key Crew Dragon launch system static fire test
SpaceX has confirmed that it ran a static fire test of its Crew Dragon astronaut capsule launch escape system. That’s a key step that it needed to run, and one that is under especially high scrutiny because a static fire of its thrusters back in April resulted in an explosion that destroyed that spacecraft. After […]
|
|
|
|
AWS, Salesforce join forces with Linux Foundation on Cloud Information Model
Last year, Adobe, SAP and Microsoft came together and formed the Open Data Initiative. Not to be outdone, this week, AWS, Salesforce and Genesys, in partnership with The Linux Foundation, announced the Cloud Information Model. The two competing data models have a lot in common. They are both about bringing together data and applying a […]
|
|
|
 The best Black Friday deals at Kohl's - CNET
We've rounded up everything you need to know about Kohl's Black Friday sales, including the official ad and deals on TVs, speakers and more that you can get right this minute.
|
|
|
Stadia Launch Developer Says Game Makers Are Worried 'Google Is Just Going To Cancel It'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google has a long and well-documented history of launching new services only to shut them down a few months or years later. And with the launch of Stadia imminent, one launch game developer has acknowledged the prevalence of concerns about that history among her fellow developers while also downplaying their seriousness in light of Stadia's potential. "The biggest complaint most developers have with Stadia is the fear that Google is just goi
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Facebook Says Government Demands For User Data Are at a Record High
Facebook's latest transparency report is out. The social media giant said the number of government demands for user data increased by 16% to 128,617 demands during the first-half of this year compared to the second-half of last year. From a report: That's the highest number of government demands its received in any reporting period since it published its first transparency report in 2013. The U.S. government led the way with the most number of requests -- 50,741 demands for user data resulting i
|
|
|
|
Freshworks raises $150M Series H on $3.5B valuation
Freshworks, a company that makes a variety of business software tools, from CRM to help-desk software, announced a $150 million Series H investment today from Sequoia Capital, CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) and Accel on a hefty $3.5 billion valuation. The late-stage startup has raised almost $400 million, according to Crunchbase data. The company has been […]
|
|
|
| | | |
|
Extra Crunch members get free Zendesk for 6 months
We're excited to announce a new Extra Crunch community perk from Zendesk. Starting today, annual and two-year Extra Crunch members that are new to Zendesk and located within the U.S. or Canada can receive a credit for six months of unlimited licenses for any combination of Zendesk Support, Talk, Chat, Guide and Sell products, for […]
|
|
|
More Than 10 Million Sign Up For Disney+ in First Day
The Walt Disney Company said Wednesday that its new streaming service Disney+ had 10 million sign-ups since it launched Tuesday at midnight. From a report: Disney wouldn't release the number if the company didn't think it represented a major milestone. Disney told investors in the spring that it hopes to reach 60 million to 90 million subscribers by 2024. The number is also notable, considering the service launched with a few hiccups. Early reports on Tuesday suggested the technology for Disney+
|
|
|
|
The Math of Sisyphus
"There is but one truly serious question in philosophy, and that is suicide," wrote Albert Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus. This is equally true for a human navigating an absurd existence, and an artificial intelligence navigating a morally insoluble situation.
|
|
|
Health Websites Are Sharing Sensitive Medical Data with Google, Facebook, and Amazon
Popular health websites are sharing private, personal medical data with big tech companies, according to an investigation by the Financial Times. From a report: The data, including medical diagnoses, symptoms, prescriptions, and menstrual and fertility information, are being sold to companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Oracle and smaller data brokers and advertising technology firms, like Scorecard and OpenX. The FT analyzed 100 health websites, including WebMD, Healthline, health insura
|
|
|
Micromobility's next big opportunities
Launching and operating shared bikes and scooters has lost its novelty. Worldwide, numerous companies are operating shared micromobility services — so many that the industry is well into a consolidation phase. In Latin America, Grow Mobility formed as part of a merger between micromobility providers Grin and Yellow. In the U.S., Bird acquired Scoot. And, […]
|
|
|
Daily Crunch: Meet Apple's new MacBook Pro
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. MacBook Pro 16" first impressions: Return of the Mack Over the past few years, Apple's MacBook game had begun to suffer […]
|
|
|
Apple Music introduces Replay, a playlist of your top songs of the year
Apple Music is taking on Spotify with the launch of a new feature, Apple Music Replay, that will allow subscribers to take a look back at their favorite music from 2019. The feature is similar in some ways to Spotify’s popular year-end review, known as Wrapped, but Apple’s version is more than just an annual summary […]
|
|
|
Atlassian expands Jira Service Desk beyond IT teams
Atlassian today announced a set of new templates and workflows for Jira Service Desk that were purpose-built for HR, legal and facilities teams. Service Desk started six years ago as a version of Jira that was mostly meant for IT departments. Atlassian, however, found that other teams inside the companies that adopted it started to […]
|
|
|
The Curiosity Rover Detects Oxygen Behaving Strangely on Mars
NASA's Curiosity rover sniffed out an unexpected seasonal variation to the oxygen on Mars, according to new research. From a report: Since it landed in Gale Crater in 2012, the Curiosity rover has been studying the Martian surface beneath its wheels to learn more about the planet's history. But Curiosity also stuck its nose in the air for a big sniff to understand the Martian atmosphere. So far, this sniffing has resulted in some findings that scientists are still trying to understand. Earlier t
|
|
|
What AI startups need to achieve before VCs will invest
For AI entrepreneurs, there are additional factors that must be addressed. Why? It is fairly clear that we're in the early stages of this burgeoning industry which stands to revolutionize sectors from healthcare to fintech, logistics to transportation and beyond.
|
|
|
Boston Dynamics CEO on the Company's Top 3 Robots, AI, and Viral Videos
In a rare interview, Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert talked about the three robots the company is currently focused on (today -- Spot, tomorrow -- Handle, and the future -- Atlas), its current customers, potential applications, AI, simulation, and of course those viral videos. An excerpt from the interview: "Today," for Raibert, refers to a time period that extends over the course of the next year or so. Spot is the "today" robot because it's already shipping to early adopters. In fact, it's on
|
|
|
TPM-FAIL Vulnerabilities Impact TPM Chips In Desktops, Laptops, Servers
An anonymous reader writes: A team of academics has disclosed today two vulnerabilities known collectively as TPM-FAIL that could allow an attacker to retrieve cryptographic keys stored inside TPMs. The first vulnerability is CVE-2019-11090 and impacts Intel's Platform Trust Technology (PTT). Intel PTT is Intel's fTPM software-based TPM solution and is widely used on servers, desktops, and laptops, being supported on all Intel CPUs released since 2013, starting with the Haswell generation. The s
|
|
|
Rocket Lab's new 'Rosie the Robot' speeds up launch vehicle production — by a lot
Rocket launch startup Rocket Lab is all about building out rapid-response space-launch capabilities, and founder/CEO Peter Beck is showing off its latest advancement in service of that goal: A room-sized manufacturing robot named “Rosie.” Rosie is tasked with processing the carbon composite components of Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle. That translates to basically getting the […]
|
|
|
GitHub launches a mobile app, smarter notifications and improved code search
At its annual Universe conference today, Microsoft -owned GitHub announced a couple of new products, as well as the general availability of a number of tools that developers have been able to test for the last few months. The two announcements that developers will likely be most interested in are the launch of GitHub’s first […]
|
|
|
Volkswagen's $800M Tennessee factory expansion to include battery pack plant
Volkswagen said Wednesday it will build a battery pack assembly facility as part of an $800 million expansion project that will turn the Chattanooga, Tenn. factory into its North American base for manufacturing electric vehicles. The Chattanooga factory expansion, which is includes a 564,000-square-foot addition to the body shop and is expected to create 1,000 […]
|
|
|
Disney+ has already attracted over 10 million subscribers
Disney’s launch of its premium subscription streaming service Disney+ was not without issues - high demand resulted int content not being accessible for hours on its first day of availability. The company cited higher-than-expected demand as a factor, and now we have a rough estimate of the size of that demand - Disney has revealed […]
|
|
|
Google Maps adds a new translation feature that speaks place names out loud
Google Maps is adding a feature that will make it easier for people traveling in foreign countries where they don’t speak the local language: built-in translation with text-to-speech support. The feature will allow users to tap on a new speaker button next to a place name or address, to have Google Maps say the name […]
|
|
|
Silicon Valley's Singularity University Is Cutting Staff, CEO Exits
Singularity University, a Silicon Valley institute offering education on futurism, is reckoning with its own uncertain future. The chief executive officer is stepping down, and the organization plans to eliminate staff. From a report: The changes were outlined in an email Tuesday reviewed by Bloomberg that was sent to faculty by Erik Anderson, the executive chairman. They mark an extended decline for the company, which has in recent years lost an annual grant from Google and faced allegations of
|
|
|
|
After selling enterprise biz, Docker lands $35M investment and new CEO
In what’s proving to be an interesting day for Docker, it announced it has received a $35 million investment from existing investors Benchmark Capital and Insight Partners. It also announced the company has named long-time Chief Product Officer, Scott Johnston as CEO. Johnston is the third CEO at Docker this year, replacing Rob Bearden, who […]
|
|
|
|
Facebook says government demands for user data are at a record high
Facebook’s latest transparency report is out. The social media giant said the number of government demands for user data increased by 16% to 128,617 demands during the first-half of this year compared to the second-half of last year. That’s the highest number of government demands its received in any reporting period since it published its […]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mozilla, Intel, and More Form the Bytecode Alliance To Take WebAssembly Beyond Browsers
slack_justyb writes: Mozilla has been heavily invested in WebAssembly with Firefox, and today, the organization teamed up with a few others to form the new Bytecode Alliance, which aims to create "new software foundations, building on standards such as WebAssembly and WebAssembly System Interface (WASI)." Mozilla has teamed up with Intel, Red Hat, and Fastly to found the alliance, but more members are likely to join over time. The goal of the Bytecode Alliance is to create a new runtime environm
|
|
|
|
Mirantis acquires Docker Enterprise
Mirantis today announced that it has acquired Docker’s Enterprise business and team. Docker Enterprise was very much the heart of Docker’s product lineup, so this sale leaves Docker as a shell of its former, high-flying unicorn self. Docker itself, which installed a new CEO earlier this year, says it will continue to focus on tools […]
|
|
|
Yahoo Japan and Line are reportedly going to merge
According to Nikkei, messaging app Line and Yahoo Japan are about to merge and form a single tech company. Despite the name, Yahoo Japan is currently 100% owned by Z Holdings, a company that is controlled by Japanese telecom company SoftBank (Yahoo Japan isn’t related with TechCrunch's parent company Verizon Media). Line Corporation is owned […]
|
|
|
Techstars launches a virtual space tech accelerator with USAF, the Netherlands and Norway
Techstars is following up the first class of their Starburst space-focused program with a new, virtual accelerator program that is being run in partnership with the U.S. Air Force, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and the Norwegian Space Agency. It’s called the Techstars Allied Space Accelerator, and its focus is […]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|
|
Apple's Phil Schiller Takes Shots at Chromebooks, Says They're 'Not Going To Succeed'
In an interview about the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller made a direct attack on Chromebooks. When asked about the growth of Chrome OS in the education sector, Schiller attributes the success of Chromebooks to their being "cheap." He said: Kids who are really into learning and want to learn will have better success. It's not hard to understand why kids aren't engaged in a classroom without applying technology in a way that inspires them. You need to have these cut
|
|
|
|
Netflix and Nickelodeon partner on original programming, following Disney+ launch
Netflix is taking on the Disney+ threat by partnering up with kids entertainment giant Nickelodeon, which will produce original content, including films and TV shows, for Netflix’s streaming service. The company announced this morning it has entered into a new, multi-year output deal that will produce animated feature films and shows that will include both […]
|
|
|
Brave launches version 1.0 of its privacy-focused browser
Brave, the company co-founded by ex-Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich after his ouster from the organization in 2014, today launched version 1.0 of its browser for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. In a browser market where users are spoiled for choice, Brave is positioning itself as a fast option that preserves users’ privacy with strong […]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transcription Platform Rev Slashes Minimum Pay for Workers
Rev, one of biggest names in transcription -- and one of the cheapest services of its kind -- opted to alter its pay structure with little warning for thousands of contractors on its platform, some of whom are furious at what they expect will be smaller paychecks from here on out. From a report: Launched in 2010, Rev made a name for itself by charging customers who wanted transcriptions of interviews, videos, podcasts, or whatever else the bargain-basement price of $1 per minute of audio. That's
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Next in Google's Quest for Consumer Dominance -- Banking
Google will soon offer checking accounts to consumers, becoming the latest Silicon Valley heavyweight to push into finance. The Wall Street Journal: The project, code-named Cache, is expected to launch next year with accounts run by Citigroup and a credit union at Stanford University, a tiny lender in Google's backyard. Big tech companies see financial services as a way to get closer to users and glean valuable data. Apple introduced a credit card this summer. Amazon.com has talked to banks abou
|
|
|
JetPack Aviation raises $2M to build the prototype of its flying motorcycle
Flying cars are fine — but why use a car when you can have a motorcycle instead? YC-backed startup JetPack Aviation wants to answer that question with the world’s first flying motorcycle, a personal aircraft dubbed “The Speeder,” a name that Star Wars fans will surely appreciate. Now, JetPack has raised a seed round of […]
|
|
|
Apple Unveils New 16-inch MacBook Pro With Improved Keyboard, Starting at $2,400
Apple today launched a new 16-inch MacBook Pro. The starting price of $2,399 is the same price as the previous 15-inch MacBook Pro, which this one replaces. It has new processors, better speakers, a larger screen, and (finally) a better keyboard. The base model is powered by a 2.6GHz 6-core 9th gen Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 4.5 GHz) coupled with AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU with 4GB of GDDR6 memory, 16GB of 2666MHz DDR4 RAM, and 512GB PCIe-based onboard SSD. John Gruber, writing abo
|
|
|
Apple's Mac Pro ships in December with maximum 8TB of storage
Apple is making its Mac Pro and Apple Pro Display available in December, it announced today. The machine was announced earlier this year, but no availability window had been set. In addition to the previously announced specs, Apple also noted that it would be able to be ordered with up to an 8TB SSD. Apple's […]
|
|
|
MacBook Pro 16” first impressions: Return of the Mack
In poker, complacency is a quiet killer. It can steal your forward momentum bit by bit, using the warm glow of a winning hand or two to cover the bets you're not making until it's too late and you're out of leverage. Over the past few years, Apple's MacBook game had begun to suffer from […]
|
|
|
These sneakers vibrate
Sometimes it seems like you can hear a song all the way in your toes. With these new sneakers, you actually can. Meet the new EP 01 sneakers out of DropLabs. Yes, you read that right. We’re talking about sneakers. Invented by a man named Brock Seiler, and led by former Beats by Dre CEO […]
|
|
|
Dutch Court Orders Facebook To Ban Celebrity Crypto Scam Ads
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A Dutch court has ruled that Facebook can be required to use filter technologies to identify and preemptively take down fake ads linked to crypto currency scams that carry the image of a media personality, John de Mol, and other well known celebrities. The Dutch celerity filed a lawsuit against Facebook in April over the misappropriation of his and other celebrities' likeness to shill Bitcoin scams via fake ads run on its platform.
In an i
|
|
|
Google to offer checking accounts in partnership with banks starting next year
Google is the latest big tech company to make a move into banking and personal financial services: The company is gearing up to offer checking accounts to consumers, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal, starting as early as next year. Google is calling the project “Cache,” and it’ll partner with banks and credit […]
|
|
|
Less than 72 hours left to buy early-bird passes to Disrupt Berlin
Pull your heads out of the trenches, startup fans. You have just 72 hours to save up to €500 with early-bird pricing on passes to Disrupt Berlin 2019. When the clock strikes 11:59 p.m. (CEST) on Friday, 15 November, the early bird is no more. Three days will fly by in a flash, so don't wait. […]
|
|
|
Convoy raises $400 million to expand its on-demand trucking platform
Convoy, the digital freight network that connects truckers with shippers, has raised $400 million in a Series D funding round as it aims to scale its business amid an increasingly competitive market. The funding round brings Convoy’s post-money valuation to $2.75 billion. The round was co-led by Generation Investment Management and previous Convoy investor T. […]
|
|
|
Dell Unveils Subscription Model To Counter Amazon, Microsoft
Dell is planning to offer business clients a subscription model for products like servers and personal computers, "seeking to counter the lure of cloud services from Amazon and Microsoft," reports Bloomberg. From the report: Dell and its hardware peers have been under pressure to offer corporate clients the flexibility and simplicity of infrastructure cloud services. Public cloud titans such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure have cut demand for data-center hardware as more businesses lo
|
|
|
The Garage is a new blockchain-focused incubator based in Paris
Meet The Garage, a new incubator in Paris that is all about blockchain projects. Co-founded by Cyril Paglino from Starchain Capital, Fabrice Le Fessant from Dune Network and Oussama Ammar from The Family, the company will support blockchain startups, help big companies launch blockchain projects and educate engineers about blockchain development. The Garage is a […]
|
|
|
Plum, the 'AI' money management app, raises $3M more and comes to Android
Plum, the U.K.-based “AI assistant” to help you manage your money and save more, has raised $3 million in additional funding — money it plans to use for further growth, including European expansion. The London company has also quietly launched its app for Android phones, adding to an existing iOS app and Facebook Messenger chatbot. […]
|
|
|
|
:origin()/pre00/58e8/th/pre/f/2018/167/d/4/zayel___wh40k_by_shurakrgt-dcejinh.jpg)
:origin()/pre00/d84c/th/pre/i/2018/076/1/8/how_to_draw_a_huge_ass_tutorial___read_dec___by_super526-dc65ky5.png)
:origin()/pre06/b04f/th/pre/i/2017/032/3/9/super_saiyan_kanna__by_kazenokaze-daxh8ws.png)
:origin()/pre00/1f8e/th/pre/i/2017/343/7/c/commission__mechus_by_silverdeni-dbw8sps.png)
