Thursday 31 March 2016

Why the Oculus Rift won’t go the way of Google Glass

image1 On a recent episode of our podcast we spoke about the VR industry with Matt Hartman, director of seed investments at Betaworks. When evaluating VR companies, Hartman looks for whether the company is delivering a “10X experience.” Ultimately, can you deliver 10 times the value of comparable offerings with your solution? For VR companies, the vision of their given solution may not… Read More

ACLU map shows locations of 63 ongoing phone-unlocking cases

iphonecases In case you thought the recently and abruptly terminated fracas in San Bernardino was an isolated incident, the ACLU has put together a handy map of cases around the country where the All Writs Act has been used to justify an order to unlock a smartphone. Read More

Citizen scientists, you can now DIY your own DNA analysis with Bento Lab

bento-lab-compact-portable-affordable-dna-testing-lab-1200x630-c Want to know if you have the “athlete gene” or if you’re actually related to the weirdos who claim you as a family member? Get your collection tubes ready, citizen scientists, Bento Lab’s DIY DNA analysis kit is here and ready for the in-home lab. Normally you’d order a kit somewhere like 23andMe, spit in a tube and mail it off for results in six to eight weeks. Read More

Dyson’s new purifier fan purportedly tackles the problem of home air quality

d92d5cae-6edd-4e68-8769-44c85f0b887b “Fresh air” is a concept most often associated with the “great outdoors”. Dyson is looking to make your home nature fresh by ridding it of indoor pollutants with the Pure Cool Link purifier fan. Hopefully, the engineering that went into James Dyson’s new gadget is better than the branding. The company’s proposed ingenuity is that the Pure Cool Link is a… Read More

Sure, why not? FBI agrees to unlock iPhone for Arkansas prosecutor

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 23:  The official seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen on an iPhone's camera screen outside the J. Edgar Hoover headquarters February 23, 2016 in Washington, DC. Last week a federal judge ordered Apple to write software that would allow law enforcement agencies investigating the December 2, 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, to hack into one of the attacker's iPhone. Apple is fighting the order, saying it would create a way for hackers, foreign governments, and other nefarious groups to invade its customers' privacy.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The FBI, which just a few days ago was attempting to convince the country of its helplessness in the face of encrypted iPhones, has generously offered its assistance in unlocking an iPhone and iPod for a prosecutor in Arkansas Read More

Airware snatches $30M to sell complete drones to the Fortune 500

Airware Airware used to sell drone operating systems. Now it’s swiveling to sell the whole flying kit and caboodle: drone hardware, the software to control them, and the cloud where their data goes. It discovered that big enterprise companies didn’t know how to piece together drone systems themselves, so they were slow to adapting to the tech that could save them money and keep employees… Read More

Wednesday 30 March 2016

Google Fiber’s latest innovation is a landline

fiber Google Fiber may be the holy grail of Internet service for many, but many people still rely on landlines for everyday communication purposes or emergency use. In order to allow its subscribers to sever connections with the old local ISPs and telecoms completely, Google will soon offer home phone service for Fiber subscribers. Read More

What’s trending in the IoT space

shutterstock internet of things Our team has been active as investors in the Internet of Things and hardware space over the past two years. We’ve read pitches from hundreds of companies, met with dozens, read hundreds of research reports and spoken with various experts. We’ve invested in six IoT/hardware companies from our global seed fund and seven from our startup accelerator. With this accumulated knowledge,… Read More

Apple strikes a deal with MLB to put iPads in dugouts

14387649210_0da6a0fa03_k The MLB is taking a page from the NFL’s playbook and equipping teams with tablets to use during games for the 2016 season. But, instead of Microsoft Surface Tablets, the MLB has made a deal with Apple to provide all 30 MLB teams with iPad Pros to use. The iPads will give coaches the ability to get historical game statistics, pull up video from previous games, and even simulate… Read More

Parrot’s Henri Seydoux to talk about the future of drones at Disrupt NY

Henri Seydoux Parrot has been a pioneer in the drone industry. The company started working on drones nearly ten years ago before it was cool. That’s why we’re glad to announce that Parrot founder and CEO Henri Seydoux will join us on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt New York on May 9-11, 2016. Read More

Watch the Microsoft Build 2016 keynote live right here

O92A2624 Microsoft is holding its annual Build developer conference in San Francisco this week and the company is kicking off the event with its first of two major keynotes this morning. You can watch the live stream right here. The keynote is scheduled to start at 8:30am Pacific, 11:30am Eastern, and 17:30 Central European Time. Read More

Tuesday 29 March 2016

Watch us unbox and poke around the Oculus Rift for the first time

unbox After years of build up and pre-release developer kits, the first deliveries of the consumer version of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset started arriving this morning. Join us as we take our first steps into this crazy new future we’re in, won’t you? Read More

China’s Xiaomi unveils a $150 smartphone-controlled rice cooker

Mi_IH_Pressure_Rice_Cooker_2 China’s Xiaomi has launched the smart home product that many people have been waiting on: a smart rice cooker. Read More