OpenSea UX teardown: 3 key takeaways

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital assets — like an image, a song or even a tweet — that are stored on a blockchain. The biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, hit a $1.5 billion valuation earlier this year, raising money from Andreessen Horowitz, Kevin Durant and Ashton Kutcher, to name

Daily Crunch: Internet watchdog Citizen Lab says iPhone spyware dodges Apple’s security measures

To get a roundup of technewss's biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for August 24, 2021. Today's news cycle was particularly beefy, so we have a lot of ground to cover. Especially if you want

Ai Palette raises $4.4M to help companies react faster to consumer trends

Developing new packaged foods and consumer goods can take a couple years as companies research, prototype and test products. In a society that runs on social media, however, people expect to see trends land on store shelves much more quickly. Founded in 2018, Ai Palette uses machine learning to hel

Digital locker app Movies Anywhere adds AI-powered lists to organize your library

Movies Anywhere, an app that allows you to centralize your digital movie collection from across services, is rolling out a new feature that will help you make better sense of your growing library. The company today introduced an AI-powered feature called “My Lists,” which automatically

Linktree partners with PayPal to allow users globally to accept direct payments

Linktree, the popular “link in bio” service with more than 16 million users, is partnering with PayPal to expand its recently launched “Commerce Links” tools for direct payment on Linktree globally. The Melbourne-based startup says creators in over 200 countries where PayPal operates can no

ForgeRock files for IPO as identity and access management business grows

ForgeRock filed its form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this morning as the identity management provider takes the next step toward its IPO. The company did not provide initial pricing for its shares, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FORG. The

You can now buy the $299 Oculus Quest 2 with 128GB of storage

Following its announcement late last month, Facebook's new 128GB model of the Oculus Quest 2 is now available to buy. You can purchase the VR headset from the company's website for the same $299 price as the previous 64GB base model. “Long story short? We've created this 128GB model s

Ramp and Brex draw diverging market plans with M&A strategies

Earlier today, spend management startup Ramp said it has raised a $300 million Series C that valued it at $3.9 billion. It also said it was acquiring Buyer, a “negotiation-as-a-service” platform that it believes will help customers save money on purchases and SaaS products. The round and deal w

Flockjay cuts at least half of its workforce as it pivots away from bootcamps into B2B SaaS

Flockjay, a bootcamp startup that helps laid off people and job seekers break into tech, cut half of its own employees amid a broader pivot to a B2B SaaS platform, technewss has learned from sources close to the company. The layoffs impacted every nontechnical team at Flockjay, including admission

Fika Ventures nearly triples its assets under management: ‘It’s definitely a crazy time’

Fika Ventures is a five-year-old, LA-based seed-stage fund that has been funding mostly business-to-business startups, as well as fintech companies and a sprinkling of healthcare IT startups — as long as they don’t involve hardware or FDA approval. The firm’s investors apparently

Microsoft will bring cloud gaming to Xbox consoles this holiday season

Microsoft is moving into the next phase of its plan to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to as many devices as possible, and it’s one of the most important steps yet. Starting this holiday season, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will have access to cloud gaming on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One conso

Bankers chase Byju’s for IPO, valuation pegged up to $50 billion

Nearly every top investment bank is chasing Byju's and nudging the most valuable Indian startup to seriously explore the public markets as soon as next year. Most banks have given Byju's a proposed valuation in the range of $40 billion to $45 billion, but some including Morgan Stanley have

Ispace unveils bigger moon lander capable of surviving lunar nights

Ispace, a Japanese space startup that aims to lead the development of a lunar economy, has unveiled its design for a large lander that could go to the moon as early as 2024. Tokyo-based ispace said this next-gen lander, dubbed Series 2, would be used on the company's third planned moon mission.

Paxos renames its stablecoin from PAX to USDP

Paxos, the company behind the Paxos Standard stablecoin (PAX), has announced that it is changing the name of its crypto asset. Paxos Standard is now Pax Dollar, and you'll soon be able to identify it on your favorite cryptocurrency exchange, wallet or explorer under the USDP ticker. Other than