YouTube Live gains automatic captions, chat replay and more

 YouTube today announced several new features designed to improve the live streaming experience for both creators and viewers. The most notable additions include the ability to play back a live chat after the live stream ends, and the launch of live automatic captions on videos. YouTube began offering automatic captioning back in 2009, and has since added captions to a billion videos, the… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

We went for a ride in a Huawei smartphone-controlled, self-driving Porsche

 Huawei didn’t have a new phone to show at MWC this year, so it did what any good smartphone maker would: it put the Mate 10 Pro in an autonomous car and drove it directly at a dog. Of course, the promotional video was a lot more dramatic than what the company was actually demoing at the show itself. And while the company insisted to us that the dog in the video was, indeed real and not… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Nokia acquires Unium, a mesh WiFi startup that works with Google Fiber, as part of big home WiFi push

 While Nokia’s former handset business forges ahead with its new device strategy under licensee HMD, Nokia itself has taken one more step to build out its business with carriers in a new wave of services. To coincide with MWC in Barcelona and a bigger step into the WiFi business, the company today announced that it has acquired Unium, a startup out of Seattle that builds technology for… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

The rise and rise of supergiant rounds

 With more money flowing into a shrinking number of deals, the average startup funding round is getting bigger. And it’s not by a small margin, either. Supergiant funding rounds are coming to dominate the funding landscape at all stages. Here we take a look at this growing phenomenon, what it means and what might be happening “under the hood” in supergiant seed rounds. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Samsung’s AR Emoji taps creepy avatars and Disney characters to compete with Animoji

 We’ve known for a while that Samsung’s been planning an Animoji competitor for its latest handset. Now that we’ve actually seen (the admittedly clunkily named) AR Emoji in action, we can testify to the fact that it’s some combination of compelling and creepy. That last part first. Like the iPhone X, the Galaxy S9 takes advantage of its on-board face scanning technology… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

A ‘Black Panther’ moment

 This week we’re bringing you a special edition of CTRL+T, the podcast that examines TechCrunch stories through a cultural lens. You might have heard that Marvel released a film called Black Panther last week and it saw near-record crowds descend on theaters all over the world. The CTRL+T podcast team was among them. We headed to Oakland on an unseasonably cold-for-California evening… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Samsung’s DeX docking station gets revamped, turning a smartphone into a trackpad

 If you were having any doubts about Samsung’s commitment to its DeX, consider them assuaged. The company introduced its smartphone docking hardware with the Galaxy S8 and has talked up a new version for every big phone release since then — and today’s big Galaxy S9 reveal is no different. We were pretty lukewarm on the idea — or at least skeptical of how big a niche such… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

What does it take to be a startup that raises huge sums quickly?

 Some founders toil for years to secure a meager seed round. Others seem to go from launch to a massive fundraise in no time. Why is that, and how does one get into that second group? There’s no single formula, of course. But data indicates it helps to be famous, involved in a hot technology sector or working to cure cancer. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Liquid democracy uses blockchain to fix politics, and now you can vote for it

 Abraham Lincoln famously said that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” but looking around these days, you would be forgiven if you thought representative democracy had already been buried alongside Washington, Jefferson, and Roosevelt. Confidence in Congress remains pitifully low, driven by perceived low ethical standards and… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

The Rite Press takes low-tech coffee making to high-tech highs

 If coffee be the food of innovation, pour on. Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die. And if you wish to pour me coffee, do so from the Rite Press, a clever hack on the traditional French press that adds a few features that even high-end models don’t have. The press – which costs $35 for a half-liter model and $40 for the liter model – has… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch