blogger better: 2017-10-29

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Quantifying the driverless startup boom

For driverless car startups, raising capital seems to happen on autopilot. Investors and acquirers have put billions into the space over the past couple of years in the race for early-mover advantage. They’ve shown no desire to hit the brakes lately either, as indicated by a spate of recent deals. Read More

http://ift.tt/2AhxCkp Quantifying the driverless startup boom http://ift.tt/2hbsM3o

Three prominent tech thinkers recently declared the end of the startup era, questioned the future of tech innovation generally and heralded the rise of the “Frightful Five” — Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — who will dominate the future of tech. All of the posts make credible arguments, but ignore how consolidation could be good, even great, for startups. Read More

http://ift.tt/2lRu98U Why the ‘end of the startup era’ could be great for entrepreneurs http://ift.tt/2ywmzq2

4 TechCrunch writers bought the iPhone X. Here are our thoughts

{rss:content:encoded} 4 TechCrunch writers bought the iPhone X. Here are our thoughts http://ift.tt/2itZ06K http://ift.tt/2xtDi94 November 04, 2017 at 12:08AM

Happy iPhone X day! A few of us over here at TechCrunch received our new toys today and wanted to share some initial thoughts with ya’ll. Leggo. First up, Megan Rose Dickey, the lunatic who at one point told co-workers she felt like she was on drugs during her initial iPhone X exploration. I could barely sleep last night because I knew that at some point today, my iPhone X would arrive. Read More

“Make No Small Plans” is the Summit Series motto, and it doesn’t. The “Burning Man meets Davos” event company has bought a mountain, rented cruise ships, and this week, is taking over Los Angeles. If you can get an invite, Summit Series could see you learn to free dive or meditate, watch Quentin Tarantino or Kendrick Lamar debate art, take a class on polyamory… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2iZ4OZR Inside Summit Series, the invite-only getaway striving for altruism Josh Constine http://ift.tt/2ysapyF
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President Trump’s Twitter account was deactivated on Thursday for 11 minutes at the hands of a rogue employee on their last day at the company. While many cheered the attempt at halting the controversial tweets, others expressed concerned at the lack of control Twitter had over its own service. In a tweet on Friday, Twitter said it has “implemented safeguards to prevent this… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2vpdvgz Twitter says it has “implemented safeguards” to prevent Trump account deactivation Katie Roof http://ift.tt/2irBtTX
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iPhone X teardown finds major changes inside the gleaming exterior

{rss:content:encoded} iPhone X teardown finds major changes inside the gleaming exterior http://ift.tt/2hCdLom http://ift.tt/2ytU6RN November 03, 2017 at 07:48PM

The iPhone 8 may have been filled with the expected kit, but we’ve all been looking forward to finding out what fun Apple’s engineers had putting together the all-new iPhone X — and it doesn’t disappoint. iFixit’s excellent-as-always teardown finds a wealth of strange new components inside the biggest redesign of the device in years. Read More

Unubo, a new U.K. startup soft-launched a couple of months ago, is pretty meta: a software-as-a-Service to help you track the cost of SaaS and other subscription-based products or services you are signed up to. Read More

http://ift.tt/2xY2Pr4 Unubo makes it easy to track what you or your startup spends on subscription services http://ift.tt/2zvcXMz

Niantic, the company behind the hit mobile game Pokémon Go and its predecessor, Ingress, announced today it has acquired the team from the startup Evertoon to help it further build out its mobile products. Deal terms were not disclosed, but from how it’s described, the move seems to be more of an acqui-hire focused on gaining access to talent, rather than Evertoon’s IP. Launched… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2A59zEu Niantic acqui-hires Evertoon to add a social network to Pokémon Go and other apps Sarah Perez http://ift.tt/2hCP23b
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Niantic acqui-hires Evertoon to add a social network to Pokémon Go and other apps

{rss:content:encoded} Niantic acqui-hires Evertoon to add a social network to Pokémon Go and other apps http://ift.tt/2hCP23b http://ift.tt/2A59zEu November 03, 2017 at 06:50PM

Niantic, the company behind the hit mobile game Pokémon Go and its predecessor, Ingress, announced today it has acquired the team from the startup Evertoon to help it further build out its mobile products. Deal terms were not disclosed, but from how it’s described, the move seems to be more of an acqui-hire focused on gaining access to talent, rather than Evertoon’s IP. Launched… Read More

http://ift.tt/2A59zEu Niantic acqui-hires Evertoon to add a social network to Pokémon Go and other apps http://ift.tt/2hCP23b

Twitter today published a new version of its rules, in an effort to further clarify its policies about abuse, spam, self-harm and other topics, as well as to better explain how it determines the appropriate action – like suspending an abuser’s account, for example. The company says the updated documentation doesn’t represent changes to the “fundamentals” of its… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2svUVGq Twitter posts a new version of its rules with updated sections on abuse, spam, violence and more Sarah Perez http://ift.tt/2zdhXEM
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Going from food delivery to data integration might seem like an unlikely progression for a startup team, but it was a natural fit for Hevo Data’s founders. Manish Jethani and Sourabh Agarwal previously launched SpoonJoy, an on-demand restaurant delivery app in India. The challenges they encountered while analyzing data in order to improve SpoonJoy’s service inspired them to create… Read More

http://ift.tt/2lLT6Tc Hevo Data gets $1M in seed funding to streamline data integration http://ift.tt/2yqmqod

As Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, gears up to report its quarterly earnings next week, it looks like the company is making some moves to beef up its primary business line, advertising. TechCrunch has learned that the company has acquired Metamarkets, an ad tech startup that provides programmatic ad data-related services to marketers, such as a data dashboard to measure how campaigns… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2lLo9yz Sources: Snap has acquired Metamarkets for less than $100M to step up its ad tech play Ingrid Lunden http://ift.tt/2AhPBXG
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I’ll be rolling through Oman next week for a conference and I thought it would be fun to see what the region has to offer. I’m holding one of my patented MicroMeetups in Muscat, Oman on Thursday November 9th from 3pm to 6:30pm. We will meet at the Sheraton Oman. There is no RSVP list so just show up! You can also apply to pitch on stage. If you do not receive an email that you… Read More

http://ift.tt/2ipRx8o Let’s meet in Muscat http://ift.tt/2h9JC2O

Snapchat fell out of the top 10 for first time this year in Q3

{rss:content:encoded} Snapchat fell out of the top 10 for first time this year in Q3 http://ift.tt/2hATuzw http://ift.tt/1F18XxG November 03, 2017 at 03:11PM

Snapchat’s mobile app fell out of the top 10 for the first time this year during Q3 2017, according to a recent report from Sensor Tower. The app, which had been ranked at #8 during Q2 2017 dropped to #18 on iOS during the quarter, but remained ranked at #2 on Google Play. Combined, that gave the app an overall ranking of #5 for the quarter, the report noted. Sensor Tower’s data… Read More

Query friends or fans with new GIF and photo Facebook Polls

{rss:content:encoded} Query friends or fans with new GIF and photo Facebook Polls http://ift.tt/2h07D8t http://ift.tt/2h0Wjcw November 03, 2017 at 03:07PM

Facebook Questions first launched in 2010 as a Quora wannabe before shifting into lighter-weight polls, but Facebook shut the feature down in 2012. Apparently it was just ahead of its time as Facebook went poll-crazy this year, adding them to Instagram Stories and Messenger group chat as well as buying hit teen anonymous polling app tbh. Plus it’s had bare-bones multiple-choice text… Read More

Kar Kinkead and Peter Weijmarshausen met at their old company, Shapeways. Weijmarshausen recently stepped down as CEO and was looking for something cool to do when he and Kinkead realized that the most popular application of 3D scanning and printing was in 3D figurines. These tiny action-figure-like representations were wildly popular print subjects back at Shapeways but they were… Read More

http://ift.tt/2yruTYa Beheld is a new startup that lets you scan, send, and print yourself http://ift.tt/2zhkg9x

Fintech startup N26 is announcing yet another international expansion move. The company plans to launch its bank of the future in the U.K. at some point during the first half of 2018. As N26 already has a German banking license, the company can also operate in the U.K. Without getting a separate license. British customers will get an account in GBP, a debit card and personal account… Read More

http://ift.tt/2mIzPit N26 is launching its bank in the UK in 2018 http://ift.tt/2xW1Lnw

Qualcomm sues Apple, alleging it shared chip code with Intel

{rss:content:encoded} Qualcomm sues Apple, alleging it shared chip code with Intel http://ift.tt/2iXLuft http://ift.tt/2k4EX1n November 03, 2017 at 12:48AM

Qualcomm has levied another lawsuit against Apple, this time alleging that the iPhone maker took advantage of its “unprecedented access” to Qualcomm’s code to aid Intel, Bloomberg reports. The news lends credence to a report in Reuters that Apple has designed iPhones bereft of Qualcomm technologies that it could ship as early as next year. Read More