Fitbit launches a $330 Apple Watch competitor
Fitbit would be the first to admit it was late to the smartwatch game. When it did finally launch a proper smartwatch with the Ionic, it was something of a misfire. But the Versa helped the wearable pioneer make up for some lost ground, courtesy of a solid, Android-compatible device at a good price
Fitbit intros the Versa 3 and Inspire 2
Fitbit's big news for today was the launch of the Sense, a new, more premium smartwatch line designed to compete directly against the likes of Apple and Samsung. But Fitbit has never been one for solitary product launches. As such, two of its biggest lines are also getting key updates.
First of
Nomad’s Base Station Pro with Aira FreePower tech finally realizes the promise of wireless charging
Accessory maker Nomad has a long history of delivering great accessories for iOS and Android devices, using great quality materials and craftsmanship. Now, the company is partnering with wireless charging technology startup Aira to debut the latter’s premiere product: FreePower, a position-fr
Despite COVID-19, 5 Chicago VCs say region is poised for success
Chicago has a long history of creating industry-leading companies and it doesn’t seem COVID-19 is slowing down the city. technewss surveyed Chicago venture capitalists who remain optimistic despite the current crisis. COVID-19 could be good for Chicago, they told technewss throughout their
Netgear debuts a new 15.6-inch Meural WiFi Photo Frame with automatic album syncing
Smart frames as a gadget category might seem like they’ve already had and passed their moment in the sun, but Netgear’s Meural line, which originated with large connected smart canvases, has a new entrant that breathes new life into the concept. The Meural WiFi Photo Frame is a 15.6-inc
Visual collaboration startup MURAL raises huge $118M Series B
This morning MURAL announced it has raised $118 million in an outsized Series B. The visual collaboration startup provides a whiteboard-like digital environment that allows for users to cooperate and brainstorm.
MURAL announced it had raised $23 million earlier this year, though that investment clo
Self-charging, thousand-year battery startup NDB aces key tests and lands first beta customers
Pleasanton-based green energy startup NDB, Inc. has reached a key milestone today with the completion of two proof of concept tests of its nano diamond battery (NDB). One of these tests took place at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and saw NDB’s battery tech manage a 40% charge, wh
Amazon rolls out a new AR shopping feature for viewing multiple items at once
Amazon is rolling out a new augmented reality shopping tool, Room Decorator, that will allow you to see furniture and other home décor in your own space. While the retailer had experimented with AR tools in the past, what makes Room Decorator different is that it’s capable of virtually addin
Google Cloud Anthos update brings support for on-prem, bare metal
When Google announced Anthos last year at Google Cloud Next, it was a pretty big deal. Here was a cloud company releasing a product that purported to help you move your applications between cloud companies like AWS and Azure — GCP’s competitors — because it’s what customers
Level Home introduces Level Touch, a sleek smart lock that doesn’t advertise its intelligence
Hardware startup Level introduced their first product earlier this year, and now they’re already following it up with a brand new smart lock. The original Level Lock broke new ground in the smart lock category with an invisible design that works with a range of standard doors and existing dea
UK immersive music startup MelodyVR buys Napster for $70M in reverse takeover
Napster, the pioneering digital music brand from way back when, is changing hands once more. Today, a U.K. startup called MelodyVR, which creates immersive live music experiences that you watch either through VR headsets or phones, announced that it has acquired Rhapsody International — the c
Eduardo Saverin on the ‘world of innovation past Silicon Valley’
Eduardo Saverin will forever be known for co-founding Facebook 16 years ago with four other Harvard classmates (one of whom is still running the company).
But even before leaving in 2009 for Singapore with his shares of the company, Saverin’s attention was on startup investing, and since 2015
Apple ordered to not block Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, but Fortnite to stay off App Store
A district court denied Epic Games’ motion to temporarily restore the Fortnite game to the iOS App Store, but also ordered Apple to not block the gaming giant’s ability to provide and distribute Unreal Engine on the iPhone-maker’s ecosystem in a mixed-ruling delivered Monday eveni
After restricting a group critical of Thailand’s monarchy, Facebook says it will take legal action against the government
After restricting access to a popular group with posts critical of Thailand's monarchy, Facebook is planning legal action against the Thai government, which the social media giant says forced it to restrict content deemed to be illegal.
On Monday, Reuters reported access to Royalist Marketplace