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Phone customers will be able to switch providers with a single free text under new rules. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2XGGA9g

Social media has "downsides" but also helps to "share the good news of Jesus Christ", the Church says. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2XcO3J4

French startup Cozycozy.com wants to make it easier to search for accommodation across a wide range of services. This isn’t the first aggregator in the space and probably not the last one. But this time, it isn’t just about hotels. When you plan a trip with multiple stops, chances are you end up with a dozen tabs of different services — on Airbnb to look at listings, on a hotel review platform and on a hotel booking platform. Each service displays different prices and has a different inventory. While there are a ton of services out there, most of them belong to just three companies: Booking Holdings (Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, Agoda…), Expedia Group (Expedia, Hotels.com, HomeAway, Trivago…) and TripAdvisor (TripAdvisor, HouseTrip, Oyster…). They all operate many different services in order to address as many markets and as many segments as possible. Cozycozy.com wants to simplify that process by aggregating a ton of services in a single interface — you can find hotels, Airbn

Hello, weekend readers. This is Week-in-Review where I give a heavy amount of analysis and/or rambling thoughts on one story while scouring the rest of the hundreds of stories that emerged on TechCrunch this week to surface my favorites for your reading pleasure. Last week , I talked about how YouTube was letting its commenting system turn from a festering wasted opportunity into a liability. The big story Plenty happened this week, though most of the news signified something larger looming on the horizon, more on that in a bit. One undoubtedly meaty news item was that Jony Ive, Apple’s most iconic executive persona, announced that he was leaving the company this year. Ive has undoubtedly been a powerhouse of industrial design who has helped craft some of the most iconic products from one of the most influential tech companies. The issue is perhaps what Apple’s vision of industrial design transformed into in his final years at the helm. Jony Ive is leaving Apple to launch a ne

Huge group chats with real-time voting let demonstrators decide what steps to take next. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2XEoYe7

Startups depend on the angel lifecycle. A few flush post-exit individuals put the first cash into a fresh venture. With some skill and plenty of luck, the early team grows the company into a big success. It sells or goes public and those team members earn a fortune. They then pay it forward by investing in the next generation of startups. If they hoard their spoils they starve the early-stage ecosystem or leave founders stuck with dumb money from non-strategic financiers. If they redistribute their winnings, they can influence startup culture by deciding what, and more importantly, who gets funding. But how does a co-founder or VP learn to be a mini-VC? That’s the goal of First Round Capital’s Angel Track , a free three-month workshop series in San Francisco and New York for learning how to source, vet, close, and support angel investments. A scene from Angel Track’s first cohort Every two weeks, an expert on some part of the investing process like finding deals or interviewing f

As autonomous cars and robots loom over the landscapes of cities and jobs alike, the technologies that empower them are forming sub-industries of their own. One of those is lidar, which has become an indispensable tool to autonomy, spawning dozens of companies and attracting hundreds of millions in venture funding. But like all industries built on top of fast-moving technologies, lidar and the sensing business is by definition built somewhat upon a foundation of shifting sands. New research appears weekly advancing the art, and no less frequently are new partnerships minted, as car manufacturers like Audi and BMW scramble to keep ahead of their peers in the emerging autonomy economy. To compete in the lidar industry means not just to create and follow through on difficult research and engineering, but to be prepared to react with agility as the market shifts in response to trends, regulations, and disasters. I talked with several CEOs and investors in the lidar space to find out how

Private rocket launch startup Rocket Lab has succeeded in launching its ‘Make It Rain’ mission, which took off yesterday from the company’s private Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. On board Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket (its seventh to launch so far) were multiple satellites flow for various clients in a rideshare arrangement brokered by Rocket Lab client Spaceflight. Payloads for the launch included a satellite for Spaceflight subsidiary BlackSky, which will join its existing orbital imaging constellation. There was also a CubeSat operated by the Melbourne Space Program, and two Prometheus satellites launched for the U.S. Special Operations Command. Rocket Lab had to delay launch a couple of times earlier in the week owing to suboptimal launch conditions, but yesterday’s mission went off without a hitch at 12:30 AM EDT/4:30 PM NZST. After successfully lifting off and achieving orbit, Rocket Lab’s Electron also delayed all of its payloads to their target orbits as planned. Later th

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy startups & venture capital news. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I wrote about scooter companies struggling to raise cash . Before that, I noted my key takeaways from Recode + Vox’s Code Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Remember, you can send me tips, suggestions and feedback to kate.clark@techcrunch.com or on Twitter @KateClarkTweets. If you don’t subscribe to Startups Weekly yet, you can do that here . I’m sure you’re familiar with the co-working behemoth WeWork at this point but if not, here’s a quick primer: The real estate business posing as a “tech startup” offers office spaces to individuals and companies across thousands of co-working spots scattered across the globe. Led by an eclectic chief executive by the name of Adam Neumann, WeWork made headlines this week after announcing its acquisition of building access app Waltz . The deal

The leaders of the two countries reach an agreement to ease a row that has fuelled an economic slowdown. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2XgdKgp

Fake accounts trying to capitalise on social media campaigns are rife on the photo-sharing platform. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2RIFYL5

Billions over budget, years late in opening, and still being rebuilt before a single plane has landed. What's gone so wrong at the new Berlin airport? from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2ZWN29M

Video games insiders explain why too many games are let down by their leading character's look. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2FH74gF

Google’s vice president of finance, has joined Postmates’ board of directors, the latest sign that the on-demand food delivery startup is prepping to take the company public. Postmates announced Friday that Kristin Reinke, vice president of Finance at Google, will join the San Francisco startup as an independent director. Reinke has been with Google since 2005. Prior to Google, Reinke was at Oracle for eight years. Reinke also serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Economic Advisory Council. Her skill set will come in handy as Postmates creeps towards an IPO. Earlier this year, the company lined up a  $100 million pre-IPO financing that valued the business at $1.85 billion. Postmates is backed by Tiger Global, BlackRock, Spark Capital, Uncork Capital, Founders Fund, Slow Ventures and others. Spark Capital’s Nabeel Hyatt tweeted the news earlier Friday. Happy to welcome Kristin to the board of @Postmates . Great times ahead. https://t.co/nEqu3A2YkE — Nabeel

Google’s vice president of finance, has joined Postmates’ board of directors, the latest sign that the on-demand food delivery startup is prepping to take the company public. Postmates announced Friday that Kristin Reinke, vice president of Finance at Google, will join the San Francisco startup as an independent director. Reinke has been with Google since 2005. Prior to Google, Reinke was at Oracle for eight years. Reinke also serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Economic Advisory Council. Her skill set will come in handy as Postmates creeps towards an IPO. Earlier this year, the company lined up a  $100 million pre-IPO financing that valued the business at $1.85 billion. Postmates is backed by Tiger Global, BlackRock, Spark Capital, Uncork Capital, Founders Fund, Slow Ventures and others. Spark Capital’s Nabeel Hyatt tweeted the news earlier Friday. Happy to welcome Kristin to the board of @Postmates . Great times ahead. https://t.co/nEqu3A2YkE — Nabeel

These South African teenagers built their own plane and are flying it from Cape Town to Cairo. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2JbVqLD

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the now-defunct biotech unicorn Theranos, will face trial in federal court next summer with penalties of up to 20 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. Jury selection will begin July 28, 2020, according to U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila, who announced the trial will commence in August 2020 in a San Jose federal court Friday morning. Holmes and former Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were indicted by a grand jury last June with 11 criminal charges in total. Two of those charges were conspiracy to commit wire fraud (against investors, and against doctors and patients). The remaining nine are actual wire fraud, with amounts ranging from the cost of a lab test to $100 million. According to Bloomberg , Holmes’ legal team plans to argue that The Wall Street Journal’s John Carreyrou “had an undue influence on federal regulators,” and “went beyond reporting the Theranos story.” “The jury should be aware that an outside actor, ea

A malfunction in Facebook’s Software Development Kit that lets apps add Login With Facebook, sharing, and other features is causing apps that integrate it like Timehop to repeatedly crash. TechCrunch received a tip that developers were getting tons of user complaints and crash reports starting around noon pacific today due to a problem with the Facebook for iOS SDK. TechCrunch’s testing verified that products like TimeHop, Joytunes’ Simply Piano, Momento GIFs, and more keep breaking when users access Facebook features or in some cases just open the app. This is a big issue for Facebook because it relies on these apps to drive user lock-in. If people use Facebook to log into or share from other apps, they’re less likely to delete their account. But if the Facebook developer platform screws up like this morning, developers could instead highlight sharing via Twitter or SMS, and divert ad buys to other platforms. Most problematically, the bug could push developers to other login platfor

A security flaw in Jack'd left private intimate photos publicly exposed on the internet. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2XfuMeS

Back in 2013, Apple announced that it would it would be assembling its high-end desktop in the U.S. After manufacturing had mostly moved out the country, the company made a point of touting its use of its Texas plant to help produce the Mac Pro. When the long-awaited followup was announced earlier this month at WWDC, many wondered whether the company would return to Austin. Apple didn’t comment on its plans at the time, but a new report from The Wall Street Journal claims that the desktop will be produced by Quanta Computer Inc. in a plant outside of Shanghai. Apple hasn’t denied the report, which comes courtesy of “people familiar with its plans.” Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the company highlights the other parts of the production process, “Like all of our products, the new Mac Pro is designed and engineered in California and includes components from several countries including the United States,” the statement reads. “We’re proud to support manufacturing facilities i

Ishveen Anand Contributor Ishveen is the CEO+Founder of OpenSponsorship.com , a marketplace she founded after her experiences being a successful sports agent, to bring transparency and affordability to the sports marketing industry, namely between brands and athletes. Influencer Marketing has ballooned into a $25 billion industry, yet many marketing managers are left confused by this, because for them, it’s really not delivering the results to justify the hype. Here’s the thing. Influencer marketing is not a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy such as Facebook or Adwords advertising. Each company needs to take a closer look at what influencer marketing can achieve, where it falls down, and how you can do a better job with this latest form of marketing that delivers, on average, $6.50 of value for every $1 spent. The analysis below relies on clients and case studies from our experience at OpenSponsorship.com (my company) which is the largest marketplace connecting brands wit

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here . 1. Jony Ive is leaving Apple to launch a new firm The man who won over decades of Apple fans with iconic product design and his pronunciation of “aluminum” is out at the company. The executive will begin transitioning away from Apple at the end of 2019, launching a new project titled LoveFrom next year. In a press release, Apple noted that it will remain a client of his new design firm. 2. Amazon launches Counter in-store pick-up in the US, starting with 100 Rite Aid locations The longer-term plan for Amazon is to expand the pick-up option to 1,500 stores (including non-Rite Aid partners) by the end of 2019 — a very quick ramp-up in the next six months. 3. Google Maps can now predict how crowded your bus or train will be This is a new prediction technique Google has been perfecting for ove

By CADE METZ from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2NhoZRl

Hello and welcome back to  Equity , TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Our esteemed co-host Alex Wilhelm was out again this week, but Kate Clark was in the studio with the lovely TechCrunch editor Connie Loizos and Canvas Ventures’ general partner Rebecca Lynn . The wonderful Chris Gates is on vacation this week, so TechCrunch’s Megan Rose Dickey sat in the producer’s chair. That made this episode extra special, as it was our first all-female group on the mics and behind the scenes. First on the docket was news from StockX and Cameo. The buzzy startups both raised big rounds this week. The former, a sneaker resale marketplace, closed on $110 million at a $1 billion valuation , while the latter attracted $50 million at a reported $300 million valuation . Rebecca shared her thoughts on the rise of influencer marketing and how its made way for the success of mobile apps and websites like Cameo, which caters to celebritie

With the rollout of Apple’s public beta software previews of macOS and the new iPadOS , I’ve finally been able to experience first-hand Sidecar, the feature that lets you use an iPad as an external display for your Mac. This is something I’ve been looking to make work since the day the iPad was released, and it’s finally here – and just about everything you could ask for. These are beta software products, and I’ve definitely encountered a few bugs including my main Mac display blanking out and requiring a restart (that’s totally fine – betas by definition aren’t fully baked). But Sidecar is already a game-changer, and one that I will probably have a hard time living without in future – especially on the road. Falling nicely into the ‘it just works’ Apple ethos, setting up Sidecar is incredibly simple. As long as your Mac is running macOS 10.15 Catalina, and your iPad is nearby, with Bluetooth and Wifi enabled, and running the iPadOS 13 beta, you just click on the AirPlay icon in yo

Furore brings shutdown of app that used artificial intelligence to make convincing nudes of clothed women. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2YrQHMx

By JAMIE CONDLIFFE from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2J9lB5L

Jony Ive famously designed some of Apple's best-selling products - but he has other strings to his bow. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2X4NcKo

Nasa will fly a $1bn drone helicopter on Saturn's moon, Titan, in the 2030s. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2Ja6w3U

Large racks of the computers constantly mining Bitcoin have led to a spike in electricity consumption. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2xg1Eoh

By RAYMOND ZHONG from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2Yld3PE

It's high-tech, it's cheap, and it's been designed for amputees in the developing world. from BBC News - Technology https://ift.tt/2NfEj0F

By NEIL VIGDOR and LAURA M. HOLSON from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2Jei464

French startup Ornikar is raising a $40 million Series B round (€35 million) from Idinvest and Bpifrance. The company competes with traditional driving schools in Europe with an online marketplace of students and teachers. And Ornikar has been a massive success in France. Overall, 35 percent of driving school registrations in 2019 are handled by Ornikar. There are many advantages in choosing Ornikar. For driver students, Ornikar is much more flexible than a traditional driving school. Driving schools in France are usually pretty small with only a handful of employees. It’s sometimes hard to book lessons, especially if you have a full-time work. When you sign up to Ornikar, you can connect to your Ornikar account and book an hour or two from there. Ornikar works with a pool of 650 instructors so that you get to study at your own pace. Ornikar is also cheaper than a traditional driving school. By automating the administration work as much as possible, the startup says that it is 35