Microsoft starts selling a $799 Surface Laptop

 Here’s a pretty good way to help spark sales in the post-holiday doldrums of early February. This week, Microsoft rolled a handful of new configurations that drop the entry level pricing on a few of its Surface products, in an effort to help drum up some sales during a particularly  slow time of year. The updates were spotted by Windows Central — after all, Microsoft’s… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Sure looks like China has a ship-mounted railgun

 Ever since Eraser, everyone wants a railgun. Turns out China is no exception. Some photos posted by Dafeng Cao, a Twitter user who keeps close tabs on Chinese military developments, show a ship-mounted gun that could very well be the country’s very own homegrown electromagnetically propelled mass driver. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Storyline lets you build and publish Alexa skills without coding

 Thirty-nine million Americans now own a smart speaker device, but the voice app ecosystem is still developing. While Alexa today has over 25,000 skills available, a number of companies haven’t yet built a skill for the platform, or offer only a very basic skill that doesn’t work that well. That’s where the startup Storyline comes in. The company is offering an easy to use… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

The iced tea company that changed its name to include ‘blockchain’ retracts on bitcoin mining operation

 Remember the iced tea company that changed its name to Long Blockchain and immediately shot up by 500 percent on the stock market? Well, it turns out it may not be getting into the blockchain after all. The company has decided to back off from its pledge to buy 1,000 bitcoin mining machines — just six weeks after it said it would be doing so. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Airbnb CFO Laurence Tosi is out

 Airbnb CFO Laurence Tosi is leaving the company, Airbnb announced today. This comes shortly after The Information reported there were some tensions brewing between Chesky and Tosi over the future of the company. In a blog post, Airbnb said Tosi “has decided to dedicate his full time and energy to his investment fund, Weston Capital Partners, and dedicate time to the several external… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

The MB&F MoonMachine 2 reconnects you with the celestial

 If and when your crypto investments go back up feel free to spend about $100,000 on one of these new creations from the watchmakers at MB&F and noted horologist Stepan Sarpaneva. The watch, called the MoonMachine 2, has a “heads-up” time display on the back end of the case where you see the hours and minutes in bold numerals along with a Sarpaneva-style moonphase display that… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

My Tesla Model X test drive made me an Autopilot superfan

 This past week, I’ve had the chance to try out a brand new Tesla Model X P100D, on loan from Tesla for my use during a trip in and around San Francisco.
Needless to say, the car got a lot of attention, especially given its all-black exterior and high contrast all-white leather cabin styling. And of course, the P100D’s instant, extreme acceleration was a blast to use first-hand… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

500 Startups-backed Tamatem raises $2.5M to localise games for Arabic-speaking market

 Tamatem, a startup backed by 500 Startups that creates localised versions of popular games so that they resonate better with users in Arabic speaking countries, has picked up $2.5 million in Series A funding. The round is led by Wamda Capital, with participation from Discovery Nusantara Capital, Raed Ventures, Vision Venture Capital, and Seed Equity Venture Partners. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch