Latest Technology News & Updates

A cursory search under “headphone management” will bring up virtually hundreds of products. Spoolee’s novel contribution to the category is a twig adrift in an ocean of competition. This seems like a small and unusual product for us to cover but there are three things that make this product stand out and that are worth mentioning: The industrial designer who created it—Ray Walker—quit a lucrative day job to go after this startup dream of his. That’s mostly what I want to talk about. It is pretty clever…definitely filed under “holy crap, why didn’t I think of that.” It mostly works as advertised. But first the basics: what is it and how does it work. According to Ray, the idea for Spoolee came pretty quickly as he was solving a problem mentioned to him by his wife: her headphones kept getting knotted up and that was annoying. We’ve all been there. So Ray created Spoolee—which recently completed it’s Kickstarter for funding—to solve this problem. Spoolee is a neoprene loop that...

Thanks to a string of big exits over the past year, Israel’s technology companies are moving the country from a startup nation to an exit nation. With nearly $15 billion in exits through mergers and acquisitions and public offerings, 2014 was an all-time record year for the Israeli hi-tech industry, compared with a mere $1.2 billion raised in 2013, according to a PwC report for 2014. The exits were spread out between a variety of tech industries, including Internet, IT, life sciences, communications and semiconductors. Semiconductors had a 38% of the share, but just one semiconductor IPO out of the 18 in total. The road accident avoidance technology developerMobilEye raised $1.023 billion in its August IPO, a record an Israeli company. As for new giant exits emerging, most argue that Israel’s hi-tech diversity is its strength. “While there seems to be a general hype around IoT, security and fintech, I find Israel to be a very unique place in the fact that entrepreneurs don’t t...

Not content with spinning out apps for stickers inside Messenger, Groups and new addition Rooms, Facebook has launched another standalone app. Facebook Lite, which some may recall as a simplified version of its mobile website from 2009-2010, is specifically designed for low-end Android devices in emerging markets. TechCrunch understands that the app was quietly launched in a handful of countries in Asia and Africa over the weekend — Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zimbabwe to be precise — where it is being testing with a view to further expansions. That said, a wider launch is not a certainty and Facebook could quietly can the project if it doesn’t believe it is worth pursuing. The app has been built to accommodate low-end and dated Android devices — it is just 252 KB in size — and those on 2G/poor quality internet connections. It’s based on Snaptu, Facebook’s feature phone client, but includes some native Android features, such as push not...

Google's security researchers have published another pair of Windows security flaws that Microsoft hasn't got a fix for, continuing the disagreement between the companies about when and how to disclose security bugs. The first bug affects Windows 7 only and results in minor information disclosure. Microsoft says, and Google agrees, that this does not meet the threshold for a fix. Windows 8 and up don't suffer the same issue. The second bug is more significant. In certain situations, Windows doesn't properly check the user identity when performing cryptographic operations, which results in certain shared data not being properly encrypted. Microsoft has developed a fix for this bug, and it was originally scheduled for release this past Tuesday. However, the company discovered a compatibility issue late in testing, and so the fix has been pushed to February. Read More

Last week, the American Chemical Society released the results of a 2011 study that analyzed water contamination levels measured before, during, and after a massive music festival in Taiwan. In news that shocked roughly 27 parents, the 600,000-plus crowd of young people who stormed that year's Spring Scream fest introduced considerable amounts of MDMA (ecstasy), caffeine, and antibiotics into nearby rivers, along with a range of over-the-counter, prescription, and illegal drugs. What was less obvious, according to the study (which was coordinated by multiple medical research facilities in Taiwan), was the intense impact an isolated, highly attended event could have on a region's ecology. "To our knowledge, up to now no study has comprehensively dealt with Emerging Contaminants (ECs) residues and demonstrated the impact of tourism—especially of a time limited mass event," the report stated. The study collected water from 30 sampling sites on many dates throughout ...

When groups of people come together and pool their resources, great things can be accomplished (flinging humans onto the Moon comes to mind). In the US, the National Science Foundation is a factory of great things. It guides billions of tax dollars into university research projects each year (in 2015, $7.344 billion to be exact). And since science costs money, one unhappy necessity of the academic lifestyle is securing funding to keep the lights on and the lab running. (Give a kid a grant-writing kit to go with their chemistry set for Christmas. See if they play with it.) NSF grants are the lifeblood of many fields of science. Getting a grant isn’t easy. In 2012, for example, NSF reviewed more than 48,000 grant proposals—each representing work that researchers were chomping at the bit to do. Less than 12,000 won approval. A number of researchers volunteer their time each year to go review grant proposals in their field, recommending the proposals they feel to be the best use of th...

The Information reported on Monday that, according to “several people familiar with the talks,” Google is considering investing in SpaceX to support its plan to deliver hundreds or thousands of micro satellites into a low (750 mile) orbit around the globe to serve Internet to rural and developing areas of the world. The Information's sources indicated that Google was in the “final stages” of investing in SpaceX and valued the company at “north of $10 billion.” SpaceX is apparently courting other investors as well. Ars has contacted both SpaceX and Google for comment and will update when we receive a response. Musk on Friday told a gathering in Seattle that SpaceX's new office in that city would be dedicated to this satellite Internet service. Musk's announcement came just days after another competing satellite Internet company, OneWeb, announced its own investments from Richard Branson's Virgin Group as well as Qualcomm. Both companies are in the early stages of...

Tensions between Russia and the U.S. over Crimea are spilling into the world of tech: developers are reporting that Apple is sending out notices of termination to people whose accounts are registered in Crimea, citing sanctions that the U.S. has ordered against the region as a response to Russia annexing it earlier in 2014. This means the developers cannot create nor publish apps in Apple’s App Store. The move follows Valve apparently also terminating access to its Steam games distribution platform in Crimea, too. Apple’s note, which has been reproduced in more than one place online (including here, on Russian-language tech site Habrahabr and here), says that the termination is effective immediately and requires the developers to cease all use of Apple software and destroy related materials. It’s also blocked their access to its developer portal. Read More

A newer, much-debated social network called Tsu has launched a workaround to Apple’s longtime ban on “incentivized” app installs (aka pay-per-installs). Technically, users are being rewarded for creating content on Tsu and inviting others to join, but the money they earn for this activity comes from Tsu’s advertisers. That means Tsu serves as something of a middle man for companies that would otherwise want to buy app downloads, if that wasn’t in violation of Apple’s terms. Though the addition of app install ads on Tsu is still relatively new, the service has already snagged advertisers like Twitter, Lyft, Taco Bell, Pandora, and others. Tsu’s service, in case you missed it, launched last year.  A social network that “pays you to friend,” proclaimed The New York Times. A social network “which pays users to post,” said Re/code. Calling itself a “social and payment network,” Tsu basically pays its user base for their in-app activity and for helping it grow. While social medi...

If you live in the U.S., the chances are that your definition of the biggest rival to Uber is Lyft. The ride-sharing service operates in many of the same U.S. cities as Uber, and the two have a keen rivalry, which includes some less-than-ethical practices on both sides. But a new, less obvious, force has emerged out of Asia to offer Uber its stiffest competition yet: and surprisingly it is a telecom company. SoftBank had no business in taxi-hailing apps until October 2014 when it led a $210 million investment in India’s Ola. That deal was announced as the first investment in SoftBank’s program to put $10 billion into startups in India. At the time, Ola appeared to be just one of a number of deals in India — while that is true, it also turned out to be the first of an expensive set of investments in companies rivals that rival Uber. SoftBank went on to invest $250 million in GrabTaxi in Southeast Asia, and last week it closed a third deal, leading a $600 million financing round f...

Minh Nguyen, who co-founded the contact management and social networking startup Plaxo (along with Sean Parker and others), has been charged with first-degree murder, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. DCInno and NBC Washington both reported the victim’s identity as Corey Mattison, who recently married Nguyen’s ex-wife. The sheriff’s office says Nguyen entered his ex-wife’s home in Ashburn, Virginia on Thursday night, where he allegedly shot and killed Mattison. Although two children were home at the time, and Nguyen’s ex-wife and another child returned home during the shooting, no one else was injured. Besides being the co-founder of Plaxo (which was acquired by Comcast in 2008), Nguyen’s LinkedIn profile also lists him as a venture advisor at TandemNSI (an organization that connects entrepreneurs with government agencies), founder and chairman at startup Syllabuster (which appears to be defunct), and founding CEO at app creation platform App Press. His career...

When Google announced it was ending the Glass Explorer program yesterday and handing over the reins to Nest’s Tony Fadell, it seemed to exit with more of a whimper than a scream. Let’s face it, from its earliest days, people loved to hate Glass. In fact, from the moment Google announced Glass, people reacted harshly to the new technology. They simply hated the idea of nerds with computers on their faces who could take photos or videos surreptitiously. A new word, Glassholes, entered the popular lexicon to describe folks who wore Glass. It didn’t seem to matter that we were in the public eye with smartphones all around us taking video and pictures. The idea of a wearable optical device seemed to rub folks the wrong way. And Google encouraged a sense of elitism by creating the Glass Explorer program, an exclusive club where for the price of $1500, if you were chosen, you could own your very own Glass. The Explorer program was really a stroke of marketing genius. Google got p...

China’s government will launch a new 40 billion RMB (about $6.5 billion) venture capital fund to invest in seed-stage tech startups. The news comes as investor interest in Chinese VC firms recovers after several years of decline. The Chinese government said the fund will include capital from the government as well as private investors. In an announcement earlier this week (link via Google Translate), Li Keqiang, premier of China’s state council, said that the purpose of the fund is to support development of emerging industries, which the government hopes will eventually translate into greater economic growth. As the Financial Times notes, the launch of the government-sponsored VC fund fits into China’s efforts at financial reform by increasing investment in private sectors and reducing its economy’s reliance on fixed asset investments in infrastructure and property. Since 2011, venture firms in China have struggled to raise funds, due in large part to a freeze on IPOs that ...

Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk has gone on record before proclaiming the potential risks of artificial intelligence, and now he’s putting his money where his mouth is. The intrepid inventor and entrepreneur announced a donation of $10 million to help fund research to “keep AI beneficial” to humanity today. The funds go to the Future of Life Institute (FLI), an organization run by volunteers dedicated to research aimed at “mitigate[ing] existential risks facing humanity,” and specifically those related to our ongoing progress towards AI that can approach human capabilities. Musk offered a statement along with the announcement, noting that he is in agreement with a long list of prominent AI researchers who have signed an open letter calling for exactly the type of work the FLI is doing. “Here are all these leading AI researchers saying that AI safety is important”, said Elon Musk in the statement, referring to this letter originally put forward by FLI founder and MIT p...

However, just seven days after officially launching on November 19th 2014, they’d reached the number one spot in their home country of Germany. A success that would soon be replicated in 29 countries, including the UK, France and Holland. “Early in our prototyping phase in October, we already got very positive feedback that made us feel that we found something valuable to many people,” Dubsmash co-founder Roland Grenke tells TechCrunch. “A first strong indicator for a ‘hit’ was reaching the number one position in Germany within a week after official release. Repeating this situation in different markets confirmed that Dubsmash can be internationally successful.” Let’s Pivot Again Despite Dubsmash’s seemingly overnight success, it is actually the team’s third attempt at an app since starting the company in mid-2013 after the three founders met at a hackathon in Berlin the previous year. The most recent effort prior to Dubsmash was Starlize, an app that let you create personal...

Kixeye, the San Francisco-based online gaming giant, held layoffs yesterday as part of a larger reorganization of the company, sources tell TechCrunch. According to two sources, more than 100 people representing as much as 25 percent of Kixeye’s staff have been let go. The layoffs were conducted across the board, we’re told, and included entire teams in the engineering department. We’ve emailed Kixeye for more details and an official comment, and will update this post with any additional information the company provides. While Kixeye has been one of the highest flying startups in the online game development space in recent years, the gaming industry as a whole is known for being just as fickle as it can be lucrative. The good news is, where one door closes, another opens: Twitter is buzzing with messages from other gaming companies keen to hire former Kixeye staffers. Read More

There’s a Chromebook for virtually every need and budget. And while we’ve been looking at some of the newer form factors (like the all-in-one desktop), it’s time to go back to basics. Smooth performance and a budget friendly price – is this the Chromebook you’re looking for? At the end of this review, you’ll be able to enter a giveaway for a chance to win the Acer C720 and C720P (we have one of each to giveaway). About the Acer C720 and C720P The Acer C720 ($199) is currently among the cheapest Chromebooks on the market, joined by the Asus 11.6″ model and a few others with a similar form factor. Though similar on paper, I’d be inclined to recommend the ASUS Chromebook over the C720 due to its superior build quality and keyboard, and larger trackpad. The C720P ($309) differs only in that it has a touchscreen – and while it represents great value for money, there are slightly cheaper models that also have a touchscreen, such as the Lenovo Chromebook (review). Read More

Last year Samsung released an eight-core version of the Galaxy S5, and now it has outed a dedicated octocore smartphone in its own right: the Galaxy A7. Korean firm teased the phone in 2014 and showcased it last week, according to a report, but now it is official with dual 1.8GHz and 1.3GHz quad-core processors (or 1.5GHz and 1.0GHz in the dual-SIM version) and a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. Those eight cores are great for handling multiple tasks, on paper, and are backed up with 16GB of memory, 2GB of RAM and a large 2,600mAh battery. There’s no word on launch dates, initial markets or pricing, although reports last week pegged it at around $420 off contract. The phone runs Android KitKat and sports a 5.5-inch screen, making it larger than the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A7 that were announced back in October. Like those two products, it is another slim, metallic bodied release from Samsung, which has long been criticized for using all-plastic bodies, including faux leather. S...

I have a USB Type-C cable—yeah, the reversible one. I can't connect it to anything I own yet, but it's a real thing that's in production and shipping to companies. Most of CES amounts to so much smoke and mirrors and vague hand-waving about the Future, but I can say with confidence that this little port is a thing that everyone reading this will start using in the next couple of years. I got the cable from the USB Implementers Forum as part of a general update on the state of both USB 3.1 and the new reversible Type-C connector. There wasn't much information about either spec that we haven't already heard, but the difference is that the connector and spec update are very close to being in our hands. Early adopters, and where we'll see Type-C connectors Products using either the Type-C connector, the USB 3.1 spec, or both are already floating around CES—there's the Nokia N1 Android tablet on the mobile side, and MSI's new USB 3.1 laptop and mothe...

Play retro DOS games in a couple of clicks, thanks to The Internet Archive. The site, in an effort to help preserve the fading games of yesterday, is offering over 2,300 classic DOS titles, without the need to download anything. You’ll be playing in two clicks. Head to the collection right now! Version 2 of the Archive’s interface gives you a quick way to browse and search games. Read More

The Federal Trade Commission cannot prevent AT&T from throttling unlimited data customers because of AT&T’s status as a common carrier, the company claimed in a motion to dismiss an FTC lawsuit this week. Mobile voice is a common carrier service—similar to the utility status of the traditional wireline telephone network—placing it under the Federal Communications Commission’s jurisdiction. The FTC’s October 2014 lawsuit against AT&T applied to mobile broadband, which is not a common carrier service. However, AT&T claims that mobile voice’s common carrier status prevents the FTC from taking action against the cellular data portion of its business. AT&T pointed to a provision in Section 5 of the FTC Act which exempts common carriers from the commission’s jurisdiction. “AT&T plainly qualifies as a ‘common carrier’ for purposes of Section 5 because it provides mobile voice services subject to common-carrier regulation under Title II of the Communications Ac...

Look — I love my job. But damn do the folks at Disney’s research labs have a fun looking gig. We’ve seen them build systems that let them 3D print impossible spinning tops, software to turn 3D models into massive parade balloons, and solutions for doing motion capture outdoors with nothing but a few GoPros. Now they’re building robots that can draw sprawling pictures across the beach. The robot — aptly called “Beachbot” — works by dragging a set of pins through the sand, sort of like a rake. Each pin is individually raisable, allowing the bot to draw lines of varying thicknesses. More pins down = thicker lines drawn. Read More

“Anonymous from around the world have decided to declare war against you, terrorists” a purported member of the hacktivist group said in a video uploaded to YouTube, referring to the killers responsible for the attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Speaking in French on Anonymous’s Belgian channel, the cybervigilante warned terrorists, “We will track all your online activity, we will close your accounts on every social network.” A post to text board Pastebin associated with the message states that “We will fight always and everywhere the enemies of freedom of speech…Freedom of speech and opinion is a non-negotiable thing, to tackle it is to attack democracy. Expect a massive frontal reaction from us because the struggle for the defense of those freedoms is the foundation of our movement.” The video message to the Charlie Hebdo attackers roughly translates to “We will find you until the very last one, destroy you. You killed innocents. You won’t bring Shariah to our ...