Distributed applications, teams, genes and geographies will shape the future of VC in 2018

Hands around finance data inside of crystal ball As the New Year dawns, new opportunities are emerging for savvy venture capitalists in a number of different fields. From new companies building businesses based on the genome, to businesses built on the blockchain; distributed applications, teams, genes and geographies will shape the future of the venture capital industry. 1 – A,T,G,C We are moving from a world based upon the 0s and 1s… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

App revenue climbed 35 percent to $60 billion in 2017

 Global app revenue climbed 35 percent in 2017 to reach nearly $60 billion, according to a new report today from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which measured paid apps, subscriptions, and in-app purchases across both Apple’s App Store and Google Play. However, Apple is the one pulling in the most revenue, the report found – at nearly double that of Google Play.
Specifically… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Spotify’s chief content officer is out

 Ahead of going public, Spotify Chief Content Officer Stefan Blom announced today he’s leaving the company, Recode first reported. “We are grateful for Stefan’s many contributions to the company over the years and we wish him the very best,” a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

LG’s new robots deliver food and double as shopping carts

 Robots are hard. Softbank has pumped a bunch of money into them, and the best it’s come up with so far is Pepper, a friendly humanoid that stands outside of stores and restaurants, tablet in-hand. LG announced this time last year that it was planning to move before vacuuming cleaners, into a wider world of robotics, and thus far, its own products have followed a similar route.
Last… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Lea’s live event assistant for Messenger makes buying tickets easier

 Buying event tickets online isn’t a great experience. Sites like Ticketmaster are the default, but are difficult to use and expensive. A startup called Lea wants to offer a more modern experience by combining event search, discovery, seat selection and payment all in a single application that works right in Facebook Messenger. Yes, that’s right – Lea is a chatbot. And while… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

This $319 thermostat has Cortana built-in

 Microsoft’s in a weird spot with Cortana. The company’s smart assistant is deployed on countless PCs, by way of Windows 10, but it’s constantly playing second fiddle to the likes of Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. That’s in no small part because that the company hasn’t done a great job moving beyond the desktop and laptop to devices where voice control makes a… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Ethereum breaks new record by reaching $1,000 for the first time

 Ethereum tokens (ethers) have reached $1,000 on multiple major exchanges for the first time ever. This is an all-time high and the result of a multiple-day rally. The total market capitalization of ethers currently available is now $100 billion. And yet, ethers only represent around 13 percent of all cryptocurrencies out there. 2017 may have been a huge year for cryptocurrencies across the… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Google Cloud launches preemptible GPUs with a 50% discount

google data center Google Cloud today announced the launch of preemptible GPUs. Like Google’s preemptible VMs (and AWS’s comparable spot instances), these GPUs come at a significant discount — in this case, 50 percent. But in return, Google may shut them down at any point if it needs these resources. All you get is a 30-second warning. You also can only use any given preemptible GPU for up to… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Apple Developer Program fee waivers are now available for nonprofits, schools and government

 Apple announced today it will begin allowing select publishers to waive the membership fees associated with its App Developer Program. Specifically, the new fee waivers will be offered to “nonprofit organizations, accredited educational institutions, and government entities,” says Apple. For starters, the waivers will be available in the U.S., but the company had said in December… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch