These tiny sensors can hitch a ride on mothback
Everyone is familiar with carrier pigeons, but what about carrier moths? This research project uses the nocturnal insects as a delivery service for tiny electronic packages that weigh less than a hundredth of an ounce.
The system was created by graduate students at the University of Washington and
Waymo and TuSimple autonomous trucking leaders on the difficulty of building a highway-safe AI
TuSimple and Waymo are in the lead in the emerging sector of autonomous trucking; TuSimple founder Xiaodi Hou and Waymo trucking head Boris Sofman had an in-depth discussion of their industry and the tech they’re building at TC Mobility 2020. Interestingly, while they’re solving for th
Tech’s role in the COVID-19 response: Assist, don’t reinvent
The pandemic has affected just about every business in the world, but tech has also geared up to fight back in its own way, as we found out from speakers at Disrupt 2020. But technology has opted to take a back seat to frontline workers and find ways to support them rather than attempt to “so
Affirm files confidentially to go public
This afternoon Affirm, a startup focused on providing point-of-sale credit to consumers making online purchases, announced that it has filed to go public.
The filing is confidential, so there’s little to be gleaned about the company’s performance from the news. That Affirm was exploring
These 3 factors are holding back podcast monetization
Podcast advertising growth is inhibited by three major factors:
Lack of macro distribution, consumption and audience data.
Current methods of conversion tracking.
Idea of a “playbook” for podcast performance marketing.
Because of these limiting factors, it's currently more of an art than
Podcast advertising has a business intelligence gap
There are sizable, meaningful gaps in the knowledge collection and publication of podcast listening and engagement statistics. Coupled with still-developing advertising technology because of the distributed nature of the medium, this causes uncertainty in user consumption and ad exposure and impact
Killer Mike, former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young and Bounce TV founder Ryan Glover launch a digital bank
A group of Black Atlanta businessmen, politicians and entertainers — including former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, the entertainer Michael Render (better known as Killer Mike) and Bounce TV founder Ryan Glover — have launched a new digital bank focused on developing and promoting local c
Apple is extending some Apple TV+ subs through February 2021 for free
Apple told me today that it will be extending Apple TV+ subscriptions that are set to end November 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021 through their billing date in February of 2021.
The basic situation is that Apple gave away a free year of Apple TV+ to new device purchasers last year and those are a
Google Assistant can now control Android apps
Google today announced it’s making it possible to use the voice command “Hey Google” to not just open but also perform specific tasks within Android apps. The feature will be rolled out to all Google Assistant-enabled Android phones, allowing users to launch apps with their voice
Enhanced computer vision, sensors raise manufacturing stakes for robots as a service
For more than two decades, robotics market commentaries have predicted a shift, particularly in manufacturing, from traditional industrial manipulators to a new generation of mobile, sensing robots, called “cobots.” Cobots are agile assistants that use internal sensors and AI processing to oper
Blissfully expands from SaaS management into wider IT services aimed at midmarket
When Blissfully launched in 2016, it was focused on helping companies understand their SaaS usage inside their organizations, but over time the company has seen that there is a wider need, especially in midmarket companies, and today it announced it was expanding into broader IT management.
Company
Millennial Media’s Paul Palmieri launches Tradeswell, a startup promising to fix e-commerce margins
A new startup called Tradeswell said it’s using artificial intelligence to help direct-to-consumer and e-commerce brands build healthier businesses.
The company is led by Paul Palmieri, who previously took mobile advertising company Millennial Media public and then sold it to technewss’
Instacart raises $200M more at a $17.7B valuation
Instacart announced today that it has raised $200 million in a new funding round featuring prior investors. D1 Capital and Valiant Peregrine Fund led the investment. Instacart is now worth $17.7 billion, post-money, or $17.5 billion pre-money. The plan is to use the funding to focus on introducing
Waymo starts to open driverless ride-hailing service to the public
Waymo, the Google self-driving-project-turned-Alphabet unit, is beginning to open up its driverless ride-hailing service to the public.
The company said that starting today, members of its Waymo One service will be able to take family and friends along on their fully driverless rides in the Phoenix