I bear bad news if you’d rather not walk around feeling like you have a brick in your pocket: Apple seems to be bailing on its smallest smartphone … again. That’s right: The $2.5 trillion company’s big fall event came and went today with no mention of a new iPhone Mini. Instead, Apple is “going
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YouTube TV announced on Twitter yesterday that it now supports 5.1 audio on Apple TVs and Amazon Fire TV devices. With the update, users can enjoy a movie theater-like experience in their homes. Surround sound is only available on compatible YouTube TV programs, and the feature is free for all subscribers. Note that you need
Last month, Y Combinator said that it had intentionally reduced its summer cohort by 40%. According to the accelerator, the decision to downsize the S22 batch — significantly smaller than its most recent batches — was a result of the economic downturn and changes to the venture funding environment this year. It was the latest
UBS and Wealthfront last week called off a planned deal to sell the robo-adviser startup to the financial giant for $1.4 billion. Instead, UBS invested $69.7 million in the company at a valuation that Wealthfront described as $1.4 billion. In its note discussing the end of the transaction and its latest fundraise, Wealthfront shared some
There’s been a lot of talk about remaking the electric grid in the U.S. and in Europe, preparing it for a tidal wave of intermittent renewable power and instant-on batteries. It’s happening in fits and starts, with utilities themselves alternately embracing and pushing back against the new, more distributed future. That’s been complicating grid upgrades.
Berlin-based agriTech startup Klim is in a hurry to get farmers adopting so-called ‘regenerative’ methods — which are touted as less harmful to soils and biodiversity than conventional farming — arguing this evolution offers the best chance to shrink the global carbon footprint of agriculture fast enough to tackle the climate crisis. Its digital platform,
GPS in its many regional flavors has become a ubiquitous feature in phones, smart watches, cars and other connected devices, but for all the location-based features that it helps enable (mapping being the most obvious) it has a lot of shortcomings: it can be slow and inaccurate, it can contribute to faster battery drain and,
Today is Disney+ Day, and, as part of its perks, the company is offering Disney+ subscribers a new AR experience in conjunction with the short film “Remembering,” starring and produced by “Captain Marvel” Brie Larson and directed and written by filmmaker Elijah Allan-Blitz. The eight-minute-long movie features a companion augmented reality app that allows users
Cloud storage is expensive (especially in this economy), but many companies often over-provision, cutting their full return on investment. Lucidity was created to help them manage block storage more efficiently with a set of automated tools. The startup announced today that is has raised $5.3 million in seed funding. The round was led by AlphaWave
In recent years, there’s been an explosion in the usage of APIs — the interfaces that software apps use to communicate with each other. When asked to predict API usage in 2022 in a recent survey, 90.5% of developers responding said that they expect to use APIs more or the same as in 2021, while
A new nonprofit “startup” is emerging from stealth today with $15 million in funding from Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, with a focus squarely on studying and treating Long COVID. While the global pandemic may have neared something close to a conclusion for many, millions of people around the world are still suffering long-term effects from
Earlier today I wrote a piece about Apple Watch Ultra’s new Scuba diving feature, and a lot of folks came out of the woodwork to tell me they wouldn’t trust a ‘dive toy’ to keep them safe under water. I respect their opinion, but I figured I’d share why I feel fully comfortable trusting Apple
America’s favorite reality star is leveling up her repertoire and levering up businesses. Kim Kardashian, who passed the “baby bar” exam in preparation to become a lawyer last year, just added another job title to her lineup — private equity investor. Kardashian is launching private equity firm SKKY Partners in conjunction with ex-Carlyle consumer head
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. It’s Wednesday, which today is known as Apple iPhone 14 (here’s all our stories from the Apple event) and Y Combinator Demo Day…day. As you can see, our team was at one
There’s a large education gap in Vietnam between urban centers, which have access to more resources, and the smaller cities and rural areas where 80% of students live. Edupia, an online learning platform, is bridging that divide with its live classes and private tutoring. The startup announced today it has raised a $14 million Series
Weather officials are predicting more monsoon rains in Bengaluru, complicating prospects for a quicker recovery for India’s Silicon Valley where floods have wrecked many slum houses, cut transportation links, knocked down power and disrupted business operations in parts of the city. The disruption has exposed the poor infrastructure in the city, home to more than
For those watching the slow motion unpicking of surveillance advertising in the European Union here’s a fresh development on the long and winding road to a long-overdue legal reckoning: Multiple grounds for appeal lodged by industry body, the IAB Europe, against a breach finding earlier this year against its self-proclaimed “best practice” framework for obtaining
Yes, I missed Bose’s big news this morning. I was busy with…other stuff. You, too, would be forgiven for missing the QuietComfort Earbuds II launch, under the deluge of Apple news (including its own new buds), but Bose makes very good headphones, and any new version of its flagship products deserves a mention. The new
So you’re sitting there watching all of the new gadget news from Apple this afternoon — a new Apple Watch Series 8, SE, Ultra, new AirPods Pro…and then, wait — is that Helly R.? If you’re a fan of the Apple TV+ series “Severance,” you might have caught a little Easter egg or two during
Y Combinator’s latest cohort of founders have opinions on the future of fintech. One-fifth of the accelerator’s Summer 2022 batch, which spans 240 companies, is working on solving issues in the financial space. The pitches range from building the Square for micro-merchants in Latin America to creating a way to angel invest in your favorite
Y Combinator said the market downturn was the reason for a smaller summer batch compared to recent cohorts. But does the exclusivity come at the cost of the ecosystem’s most diverse talent? These entrepreneurs are young, hungry, and represent more than 30 countries, including Italy, Israel, and Indonesia. The 240-company cohort is noticeably smaller than
When it comes to consumer-facing climate tech, electric vehicles and solar panels may get all the attention, but every home has some even lower-hanging fruit — HVAC, or heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Residential and commercial buildings produce about a third of the carbon emissions in the U.S., and much of that comes from heating
French startup Sorare originally launched a fantasy football (soccer) game. This year, the company is expanding to new sports. After partnering with Major League Baseball earlier this year, the company is announcing a new partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). Thanks to this multi-year partnership, Sorare will launch
In addition to the Apple Watch Series 8, Apple unveiled a brand new Apple Watch model at its press conference. The Apple Watch Ultra has been specifically designed for intense sports tracking. It is a larger model with better battery life. It also has a different body that should resist extreme weather conditions. The case
“Morbius” was one of the most talked-about films of the summer for internet denizens, but not for the reason you’d think. Now, “Morbius” is getting its third (yes, third) act as it debuts on Netflix for viewers in the U.S. and India. A new installment in the Marvel Comics Universe, “Morbius” was probably expected to
Hamburg-based Localyze is gearing up to launch in North America in the coming months — powered by a fresh raise of $35 million in Series B funding that’s being announced today, a little over a year after it disclosed a $12M Series A. The Series B is led by US VC fund, General Catalyst. Other
A kiryana owner with one of SnappRetail’s point-of-sale devices The number of global retailers, department stores and supermarkets operating in Pakistan is increasing, which spells convenience for consumers, but trouble for kiryanas, or small general stores. According to a report by the State Bank of Pakistan, general stores’ growth will slow down, especially in urban
Google announced today it is expanding its options for eco-friendly routing on Google Maps to 40 more countries across Europe. Eco-friendly routes, first introduced to U.S-based users last year, offer to show more fuel-efficient routes instead of the fastest ones. Users can see the eco-friendly route marked with a leaf label. To adjusts settings for
Companies like Redwood Materials (raised $792M), Li-Cycle, (Canada, raised $667.7M) and Green Li-ion (Singapore $15M) have made a name for themselves in recycling batteries. The activity of recycling existing lithium batteries remains one of the hardest nuts to crack as the world tries desperately to move to more renewable, clean, sources of energy. Right now
Somehow, we all became livestreamers during the pandemic, even if it just meant rearranging our office shelves for a better Zoom background. But the pandemic was also a boon for those catering to clients with slightly more advanced needs, such as those who needed dedicated hardware, be that fancy streaming lights, capture cards or entire