blogger better: 2017-08-06

Saturday, August 12, 2017

OpenAI bot remains undefeated against world’s greatest Dota 2 players

Last night, OpenAI’s Dota 2 bot beat the world’s most celebrated professional players in one-on-one battles, showing just how advanced these machine learning systems are getting. The bot beat Danil “Dendi” Ishutin rather easily at The International, one of the biggest eSports events in the world, and remains undefeated against the world’s top Dota 2 players.… Read More

http://ift.tt/2vZ0mzc OpenAI bot remains undefeated against world’s greatest Dota 2 players http://ift.tt/2wDKYFE

If you don’t care too much about loyalty programs, chances are that you’ve been relying on platforms like Booking.com and Expedia to find the cheapest flights and hotel rooms. Moneytis wants to do the exact same thing, but for foreign exchange services. TransferWise is arguably the biggest consumer brand in international transfers. Instead of telling your bank to send money to… Read More

http://ift.tt/1LFop6i Moneytis is like a travel fare aggregator, but for sending money abroad http://ift.tt/2wRN2ZT

Another record low for Snap after 14% drop post earnings

Snap, the Snapchat parent, has had a very difficult ride in the stock market since debuting in March. After pricing its IPO at $17 and then reaching highs of $27, the company has fallen to less than half that. After losing 14% of its value in a single day’s trading, Snap closed Friday at $11.83. The growing social media company revealed on Thursday that it has 173 million daily active… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2v6Iyit Another record low for Snap after 14% drop post earnings Katie Roof http://ift.tt/2uxNFHo
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A wise man once said “The hat mighta had a L V on the back but at the swap meet that ain’t jack” and now researchers can ensure that the Louis Vuitton or Prada or Coach you bought is the real deal. The system, which essentially learns the difference between real and fake products over time, uses a small microscope connected to a phone. “The underlying principle of… Read More

http://ift.tt/2hRQCRd Machine learning can tell if you’re wearing swap meet Louie http://ift.tt/2wCrbGz

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is concluding his tech tour of the West Coast today with a visit to Google’s Mountain View campus. Mattis spent time at Amazon and the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, earlier in the week. His key takeaway from all the socializing with tech leaders is that the Department of Defense needs to embrace technology coming out of the private sector… Read More

http://ift.tt/2wPSvkf The US government must work with tech companies if it wants to remain competitive in AI http://ift.tt/2uO1EIx

Y Combinator backed Plasticity is tackling the problem of getting software systems to better understand text, using deep learning models trained to understand what they’re reading on Wikipedia articles — and offering an API for developers to enhance their own interfaces. Read More

http://ift.tt/1UIwtsf Plasticity wants to help chatbots seem less robotic http://ift.tt/2hRDITa

Hey startups! Disrupt San Francisco (September 18-20) is just a few weeks away and registration is open for startups looking to showcase their product or company to thousands of people on the Disrupt floor. Read More

http://ift.tt/2vWugnY Why exhibit in Startup Alley at Disrupt SF? http://ift.tt/2vq9P0Y

SoundCloud has just closed the necessary funding round to keep the struggling music service afloat. CEO Alex Ljung will step aside though remain chairman as former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor replaces him. Mike Weissman will become COO as SoundCloud co-founder and CTO Eric Wahlforss stays as chief product officer. New York investment bank Raine Group and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2ux9eIc SoundCloud saved by emergency funding as CEO steps aside Josh Constine http://ift.tt/2vpRMrU
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SoundCloud has just closed the necessary funding round to keep the struggling music service afloat. CEO Alex Ljung will step aside though remain chairman as former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor replaces him. Mike Weissman will become COO as SoundCloud co-founder and CTO Eric Wahlforss becomes chief product officer. Raine Group and Temasek have stepped in to lead the new Series F funding round of… Read More

http://ift.tt/2ux9eIc SoundCloud saved by emergency funding as CEO steps aside http://ift.tt/2vpRMrU

Sleeperbot, which has raised about $2M in seed funding from Birchmere VC and Expa, and boasts hundreds of thousands of users, calls itself Slack for sports. It’s essentially an app (and website) that lets sports fans have conversations around different subjects they’re passionate about. These discussions happen in channels – some of which are created by the company and are… Read More

http://ift.tt/2uvigcP Sleeperbot is the best place to host your fantasy football league this season http://ift.tt/2uvnR2E

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s weekly venture-themed podcast where we dive into the numbers behind the noise. Forget the summer lull, friends. This week was chock full of news that broke right up until the very last minute. Matthew Lynley was off this week, but Katie Roof and myself were incredibly lucky to have Kate Mitchell, co-founder and partner at Scale Venture… Read More

http://ift.tt/2m6li35 Equity podcast: Benchmark sues Kalanick, and what’s next for IPOs after Snap and Blue Apron’s very bad day http://ift.tt/2uvla1c

Ulysses is one of the most popular apps for writers. It lets you write, edit, organize, sync and export all your writing in a single, unified interface. That’s why it’s interesting to see that it is switching to a subscription-only business model. I’ve already written about Ulysses a few times. It’s a rock-solid, well-designed writing app for iOS and macOS. It relies… Read More

http://ift.tt/24YkFpx Popular writing app Ulysses switches to subscription model http://ift.tt/2wP2Gp2

In an example of more revolving doors in London’s heated fintech space, TechCrunch has learned that Curve co-founder Tom Foster-Carter is joining Monzo. As of Monday, he takes up the role of COO at the digital-only challenger bank, with some aspects subject to regulatory approval. Read More

http://ift.tt/2hRclJ6 Curve co-founder joins challenger bank Monzo as COO http://ift.tt/2vWnmOT

WeWork acquires Israeli startup Unomy to boost its enterprise sales efforts

Global coworking behemoth WeWork is best known for providing flexible office rentals to startups and other small businesses, but enterprise clients are becoming an increasingly large portion of its business. With that in mind, WeWork has acquired Israeli startup Unomy to help its team sell enterprise clients on the idea of opening up offices in its workspaces around the world. Read More

http://ift.tt/2vUpqHB WeWork acquires Israeli startup Unomy to boost its enterprise sales efforts http://ift.tt/2wNoQb1

LaterPay is offering media companies a business model that goes beyond subscriptions and ads. Cosmin Ene, the German startup’s founder and CEO, argued that while some publications are having success with paywalls and online subscriptions, it’s an approach that only convinces the most loyal readers to pay. So LaterPay is trying to help monetize “the vast space”… Read More

http://ift.tt/2e4oaFP LaterPay brings its media payment technology to the US http://ift.tt/2uuzpPT

Snap has an awful Q2 earnings report…but at least its dancing AR hot dog was viewed 1.5 billion times. To prove their confidence, co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy have agreed not to sell any shares this year, and the company will withhold shares they’re owed to pay for any necessary taxes. Of course, there’s only five months left in the year, so this isn’t… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2jeY61b Snap founders won’t sell shares despite plummeting price Josh Constine http://ift.tt/2vTy88o
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Snap sold under 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

{rss:content:encoded} Snap sold under 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2 http://ift.tt/2fx08IZ http://ift.tt/2uuRH3l August 10, 2017 at 11:43PM

Snap’s Spectacles sunglasses may prove to be more of a fad than must-have device. Snap revealed during its call following weak Q2 earnings that it generated $5.4 million in “Other” revenue, which would equate to around 41,500 pairs of its Spectacles camera sunglasses at a $130 price point. That’s compared to $8.3 million in Other revenue in Q1, or less than 64,000… Read More

Snap founders won’t sell shares despite plummeting price

{rss:content:encoded} Snap founders won’t sell shares despite plummeting price http://ift.tt/2vTy88o http://ift.tt/2jeY61b August 10, 2017 at 11:19PM

There are a million and one services for voice transcription on the market. But even with just one job to do, I’ve never seen a service that can handle the long tale of vocabulary used in the real world. This is particularly challenging if you’re a startup trying to sell your service to enterprises that rely on accurate transcription for their operations. Jon Goldsmith, co-founder… Read More

http://ift.tt/2wyjj97 Tetra raises a $1.5M seed round to bring deep learning to voice transcription http://ift.tt/2wyI8l8

For the past decade the Peruvian economy has been one of the fastest moving in the region — but it’s apparent Peru’s technology ecosystem is still in its infancy. Economically driven by mining, Peru invests just 0.08 percent of its GDP in innovation. By comparison, Chile invests 0.37 percent. Yet Peru refuses to be left behind. Read More

http://ift.tt/2vTiTw2 Peru is on a bid to catch up with its innovative Latin American neighbors http://ift.tt/2uuVayE

8 ways to fix Snapchat

{rss:content:encoded} 8 ways to fix Snapchat http://ift.tt/2hNNfL8 http://ift.tt/2fwIoxk August 10, 2017 at 09:10PM

Snap’s cool factor is wearing off. It needs new ways to entertain teens and score ad dollars. That means challenging some of its deepest-held philosophies about who Snapchat is for and how it works. From changing its feed to seducing influencers to fighting Facebook, here’s what we think Snap needs to do. Read More