Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast (now on Twitter!), where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This week Natasha was on vacation, so Danny and your humble servant had to endeavor alon…
There are regular onions, and then there are onions too sexy for Facebook, a Canadian seed and garden supply store recently discovered.
The Seed Company by EW Gaze, in St John's, Newfoundland, had wanted to post a seemingly innocent adv…
High-end speaker manufacturer Devialet is launching its first pair of earbuds called Devialet Gemini. The in-ear earbuds feature active noise canceling and cost £279 in the U.K. — they will be available in the coming weeks.
The Devialet…
Android phones can now notify you when they detect certain sounds, which could notify people who are deaf or hard of hearing about important sounds nearby.
If you turn on the feature, called Sound Notifications, you can have your Androi…
Waymo on Thursday will relaunch and expand its fully automated, robo-taxi ride hailing service in Phoenix, rebooting its effort to transform years of autonomous vehicle research into a revenue-producing business.
Waymo, the self-driving…
Indonesia has added eight more technology companies, including Alibaba Cloud (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Microsoft Corp, to a list of businesses that must pay a 10% value-added tax (VAT) on sales.
The country’s tax authority has named 36 co…
Pakistan’s telecom regulator blocked TikTok on Friday for failing to filter out “immoral and indecent” content, another blow to the social media app that has come under increasing scrutiny as its popularity has surged across the globe.
…
A new leak has provided extensive details about what Apple could announce at its October 13th event. In line with previous rumors, the leaker Kang predicts we’ll see Apple announce four new iPhone models at its event, but says we’ll also s…
Orange and Proximus have picked Nokia to help build 5G networks in Belgium as they drop Huawei amid U.S. pressure to exclude the Chinese firm from supplying key telecoms equipment.
The moves are among the first by commercial operators i…
The US Army has shown off augmented reality goggles for combat dogs, designed to let them receive orders at a distance.
The technology, made by a firm called Command Sight, is managed by the US Army Research Laboratory.
Military dogs…
Microsoft is planning to bring its Xbox game-streaming service to iPhones next year despite a public row with Apple over the app.
The Game Pass streaming service was launched for Android phones last month.
But Apple barred the app fr…
Active Road Noise Cancellation helps remove unwanted sounds from the cabin
Reducing low-frequency noise exposure can help prevent driver fatigue on longer journeys
Tiredness increases average driver reaction time by 16%*
…
YouTube has long allowed its users to test new features and products before they go live to a wider audience. But in a recent change, YouTube’s latest series of experiments are being limited to those who subscribe to the Premium tier of Yo…
Former Apple software engineer and designer Ken Kocienda, whose work included the original iPhone and the development of touchscreen autocorrect, has created his first iOS app, Up Spell. The fast-paced, fun word game challenges users to sp…
International Business Machines Corp IBM.N is splitting itself into two public companies, capping a years-long effort by the world's first big computing firm to diversify away from its legacy businesses to focus on high-margin cloud comput…
Alibaba-backed Indian fintech firm Paytm is aiming for a million apps on its “mini app store” by the first quarter of 2021, it said on Thursday, seeking to challenge the dominance of Alphabet’s Google in India’s mobile web economy.
Payt…
Major advertisers including Procter & Gamble PG.N, Danone DANO.PA and Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG.N are committed to spending on TikTok even as the hot Chinese-owned video sharing platform faces a possible ban in the U.S. after the governm…
People in the UK spent much longer chatting on the phone in the first weeks of lockdown, research suggests.
Time spent talking on mobiles "rose significantly" - by almost 50% - after the announcement of strict measures in March, media r…
Datacentrix tackles digital transformation in local mining sector, with first virtual Mining Indaba event
With a focus on how technology can help move the local mining sector into the future, high performing and secure ICT solutions pro…
Measuring the Banking Industry’s Risie to the New Normal
At HUAWEI CONNECT 2020, International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, tel…
Popular caller-identification service Truecaller has amassed 250 million monthly active users and 200 million daily active users, demonstrating an accelerated pace of growth in recent quarters even as a global pandemic has hurt most busine…
Language learning company Reverso is launching its desktop app for macOS and Windows. Like on mobile, it lets you access a translation dictionary and get examples in context. The company has attracted 40,000 downloads in two days.
While…
Electric cars will likely make up 90% of Volkswagen AG's VOWG_p.DE sales in Norway next year and could completely replace diesel and petrol engines in the Nordic country by 2023, the German auto maker's local importer said on Wednesday.
…
At its (virtual) Kong Summit 2020, API platform Kong today announced the launch of Kong Konnect, its managed end-to-end cloud-native connectivity platform. The idea here is to give businesses a single service that allows them to manage the…
Microsoft is being questioned by the US government over whether a diversity initiative amounts to racial discrimination.
The Department of Labor has singled out the firm's pledge to double the number of "black and African American" seni…
France has introduced a new law to protect young social media stars.
The legislation aims to regulate the hours under-16s can work online and what happens to their earnings.
It also enshrines the right to be forgotten, meaning that p…
A joint battery venture of Toyota Motor Corp and Panasonic Corp on Tuesday said it will produce lithium-ion batteries for hybrid cars at a plant in Western Japan from 2022 to meet growing demand for electric vehicles (EV).
The productio…
Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O con Tuesday announced Google Workspace as the new name for its package of business tools including email and document editing, replacing the G Suite brand introduced in 2016.
The rebranding coincides with the lau…
Twitter is rethinking how the labels it applies to misinformation look and work, its head of site integrity told Reuters in an interview, as the social media company tries to make these interventions more obvious and cut its reaction times…
President Trump may be threatening to shut TikTok's US operations and Joe Biden's campaign squad have effectively been barred from using the video-sharing app - but that hasn't stopped their fans using it to connect with young voters.
T…
Anti-virus software entrepreneur John McAfee has been arrested in Spain and faces extradition to the US where he has been charged with tax evasion.
Prosecutors say he failed to file tax returns for four years, despite earning millions …
Apple is suing a company in Canada it claims resold more than 100,000 devices it sent to be recycled.
The technology giant sent more than 500,000 old iPhones, Watches and iPads to Geep Canada from 2015 to 2017.
But after carrying out…
Data centres key to firing up Africa's digital revolution
The Data Route - virtual Africa Tech Festival to host Data Centres Africa
Africa is on the verge of realising its economic potential, as IT investment explodes across the c…
WORLD-FIRST robotics technology is being developed which will help a key component in the renewable energy sector operate more efficiently.
A lightweight robot capable of carrying out an X-ray maintenance survey of wind turbines - offsh…
Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O is to build a data centre hub in Greece as it invests in cloud services infrastructure in the country, a boon to an economy weakened by a decade-long debt crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at a virtual…
Alphabet Inc’s Google has extended its deadline for Indian app developers to comply with a new billing system for commission fees by six months, it said on Monday, days after local startups voiced anger about the charges.
Google will no…
A designer has earned more than $100,000 (£77,000) in less than a week, after posting a tweet showcasing his collection of iPhone app icons.
The creator, known online as Traf, says he produced "the right content, at the right time" and …
A hack on Grindr allowed anyone with the email address linked to a valid account to reset the user's password and take over their profile.
Security experts revealed the vulnerability online - and reported it the LGBT dating app.
It e…
Transport for London (TfL), the capital's transport authority, has not renewed the licence of Indian taxi app Ola over public safety concerns.
The cab company has been operating in London since February.
TfL said the firm reported a …
YouTube has apologised and deleted a tweet from its official Twitter account in which it mocked content creators for making videos that were too long.
Under its own rules, adverts can be placed in the middle of videos at least eight min…
New Offering to enable enterprise agility in The Volatile Energy Market, Improving Supply Chain Visibility and Providing Timely Crude Oil Quality Information
AVEVA, a global leader in engineering and industrial software, today announce…
Screenshots are handy. You can use them to show your grandparent how to use a new app. You can use them to send a shot of that strange error message to your company’s IT department. You can use them to capture tweets — yours or someone els…
Auto Mode is a new feature coming to Amazon’s Alexa app that turns your phone into a “driver-friendly display” when used with Alexa auto accessories like the Echo Auto, the company says. As well as offering access to Alexa’s typical voice …
Google is adding a few notable new features to Live View, the augmented reality mode of Google Maps that lets you hold your phone up and see visual overlays over the real world as its captured by your mobile camera’s viewfinder. The bigges…
Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC, will use a pair of drones to disinfect fan seating and other areas after upcoming events. The purpose-built D1 disinfecting drones are being provided by Lu…
In an interesting development in the wake of a bias controversy over its cropping algorithm Twitter has said it’s considering giving users decision making power over how tweet previews look, saying it wants to decrease its reliance on mach…
Facebook today says it has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against two companies that had engaged in an international “data scraping” operation. The operation extended across Facebook properties, including both Facebook and Instagram, as well …
Small rivals of Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O Google say signs are emerging of more benevolent behavior from the online advertising leader amid accusations by the U.S. government and states that the company uses its dominance to thwart competitio…
E-scooters should be legalised on roads but riding on pavements should be prohibited, the Transport Committee of MPs has said.
Currently, privately-owned e-scooters are banned to use in the UK anywhere except on private land.
The com…
The US Senate Commerce Committee has voted to subpoena the heads of Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
It means that Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey face being quizzed by senators about their policies on different types of co…