Weekly Roundup: Apple to reset the Mac Pro, Tesla most valuable U.S. automaker

 Apple reveals that it will be resetting its approach with the Mac Pro, the Waymo vs. Uber lawsuit moves forward and Tesla surpasses GM to become the most valuable U.S. automaker. Here are the top stories of the week, and you can also receive this post as the Weekly Roundup newsletter. 1. At a small event addressing a group of reporters, Apple revealed that it is pushing the reset button on… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Microsoft Maluuba teaches management 101 to machines in its first paper since being acquired

 In mid-January, the ongoing race for AI put Montreal-based Maluuba on our radar. Microsoft acquired the startup and its team of researchers to build better machine intelligence tools for analyzing unstructured text to enable more natural human computer interaction — think bots that can actually respond with reasonable intelligence to a text you send. The team dropped its first paper… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

About this stabbing machine

 Thank you for joining me, ladies, gentlemen. Researchers have created a “stabbing machine,” with which they intend to “simulate stabbing events,” with the further intention of getting to the heart of knife-related crimes. Now, I don’t have a problem with teaching robots knifeplay per se, but we must be circumspect. We must be careful. We must not teach them poorly. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Transcript: Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi and John Ternus on the state of Apple’s pro Macs

 You have already read the news. But we thought we would also use this opportunity to share a transcript of the interview with Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing; Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering; John Ternus, Vice President of Hardware Engineering. Bill Evans from Apple PR was also in attendance. It was lightly edited for length and… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

A first-time wearables user reviews the Fitbit Alta HR

 Fitbit has eight different fitness trackers on the market right now. And while the company’s financials are downright troubling, it’s still shipping more product that every other wearable company. That’s due in part to tremendous name recognition, solid product design and mainstream appeal. The company offers eight different tiers of products, but they’re all design… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Udacity spin-out Voyage aims to build a full self-driving taxi business

 Udacity’s self-driving car program has been focused on training engineers and helping progress the field with open source contributions, but now Udacity Vice President Oliver Cameron is striking out with a new company called Voyage, which was born out of Udacity’s autonomous efforts. Voyage wants to put self-driving cars on the road as part of a fleet of taxis, created using… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

GM’s Maven car sharing service launches in Baltimore

 GM’s car sharing brand has expanded to another U.S. city – Baltimore, Maryland. The new city will offer 20 pick-up points and 40 vehicles across the downtown area, with rental rates starting around $8 per hour, including gas, and without requiring any regular membership fees. The Maven fleet includes Chevy Cruze and Cruze Hatchback, as well as Malibu, Tahoe and the GMC Acadia, all… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Microsoft launches “Who’s In,” a social event planning app for iMessage

 Microsoft’s name isn’t exactly synonymous with social networking, though that hasn’t stopped the company from finding angles into this space – generally, with more of a focus on the business side of socializing, as with its LinkedIn and Yammer acquisitions. It’s own efforts in social, meanwhile, have failed, as with last month’s shuttering of its social… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

ffVC and NYU are mixing researchers with investors in the name of machine intelligence

 The timing was perfect. Just as startups were settling into NYU and ffVC’s new brains-meet-money accelerator, “AI Nexus Lab,” Uber acquired Geometric Intelligence. In a stroke of luck, the startup that would become Uber’s AI lab happened to have been raised by NYU Tandon’s Data Future Labs. Uber’s interest in Geometric helped solidify New… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch