Amazon’s slow push into mobile is getting a lot more real this morning with the addition of voice integration into its Android app for Alexa. Up to now, the app has been little more than a way to manage settings for the Echo and other smart home devices built around its smart assistant. The addition of voice commands means users can speak directly to their handset the way they would an… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Spotify says advertisements that recently appeared to paying subscribers of its music streaming service were loaded by mistake. Over the past few days, a number of Spotify customers complained their music listening experience was interrupted with ads inserted into their playlists.
To be clear, the ads being weren’t those from third-parties, but were rather in-house promotions for… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
SoftBank’s $1.2 billion primary direct investment deal has officially closed, according to Uber itself, which confirmed the deal closure and provided the following statement to TechCrunch via a spokesperson:
We’re proud to have SoftBank, Dragoneer and the entire consortium in the Uber family. This is a great outcome for our shareholders, employees and customers, strengthening… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Dell is about to start selling an augmented reality headset that seeks to rival Microsoft’s HoloLens. The $1,495 augmented reality headset dev kit comes from the startup Meta and will soon be available for purchase on Dell’s website. It had previously only been available for order on Meta’s site. Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Assembla, which offers a version control service for the enterprise with a strong focus on Subversion, today announced that it has acquired Cornerstone, one of the most popular Subversion clients for MacOS. Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
We’re thrilled to be heading to Dubai, but as it turns out, it will be a little later than expected. Because of scheduling changes, Startup Battlefield Dubai, originally slated for April 2018, will now take place in January 2019. This will give us even more time to make this an incredible event in a truly exciting region for tech and startups. Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
WhatsApp today officially launched its new WhatsApp Business app in select markets, including Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., ahead of its planned worldwide rollout. The addition of business profiles and new messaging tools aimed at business customers is part of the company’s broader plan to generate revenue by charging larger enterprises for advanced tools to… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Twitch today announced its co-founder Kevin Lin will be stepping down from the COO role at the company, amid a series of new executive hires. Lin will continue to work at Twitch in a newly developed, and still unnamed, role leading “Culture, Strategy & Innovation” which reports directly to Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. Replacing Lin as COO is former Pandora COO Sara Clemens, who… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Amazon announced its intentions to launch the Echo down under during its big AWS Re:Invent show back in November. Details were pretty light on the offering at the time, but now the company’s back with specifics around, a few weeks ahead of availability. The new Echo, Echo Plus and the Echo Dot are currently up for pre-order and will be launching in in Australia early next month, priced… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Apple is about to give the U.S. economy a huge boost in the form of a $350 billion five-year investment. As part of that, it will commit $55 billion this year alone and plans on adding 20,000 new jobs over that time frame. Following in the footsteps of Amazon, it also plans to add a new campus somewhere in the U.S. this year. There is a lot of news here. Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
