Startup News
Valve registers the domain for Steam.tv (update: it's streaming Dota 2)
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 23:49
It looks like Valve has registered for the Steam.tv domain, as SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik first spotted. By looking at the source data for the webpage (which you can do by hitting F12 in Chrome), Djundik found that St...
U.S. government wants Facebook to break Messenger encryption for a criminal investigation
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 23:33
(Reuters) — The U.S. government is trying to force Facebook to break the encryption in its popular Messenger app so law enforcement may listen to a suspect's voice conversations in a criminal probe, three people briefe...
Motorola reportedly plans a Baidu smart speaker for China
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 22:16
What do Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Huawei all have in common? They're working on smart speakers with built-in voice assistants. And soon Motorola, not to be outdone, might join the fray with a Baidu-powe...
Mad Machines is launching its robotic Rocket League-like 'First on Discord'
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 20:26
The Discord Store is still in a limited soft launch in Canada, but developer Hero Blocks is already planning to bring its upcoming robotic-sports sim Mad Machines to that service as part of its First On Discord program. ...
Website builder Wix adds PumaPay cryptocurrency payments
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 20:11
The cryptocurrency payments industry is not all about Bitcoin and Ethereum. Earlier this year, Cyprus-based blockchain company Decentralized Vision ended the private sale of its PumaPay project after raising $117 million...
ProBeat: Of course Google is tracking you
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 19:30
OPINION: Google tracks your every move. But you already knew that — even if you’ve never explicitly thought about it. The notion is completely understandable and explainable, for it is in Google’s interest to do so...
AI Weekly: Alexa and Cortana may be working together, but the smartphone is still king
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 18:51
After nearly a year of waiting, Amazon and Microsoft this week brought Alexa to Windows 10 PCs and Cortana to Echo speakers. Overnight, the move delivered Cortana to millions of Echo speakers and Alexa to hundreds of mil...
Samsung's new Odyssey+ headset could fix its muddled VR vision
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 18:28
OPINION: As one of the world’s most technologically innovative companies, Samsung should be leading the pack in VR — one of the decade’s top transformative technologies. Instead, it has largely let Microsoft and Fa...
Google puts AI in charge of data center cooling systems
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 18:25
Artificial intelligence (AI) is running one of Google's data centers -- or at least the cooling system in said data center.
The DeanBeat: Crazy Rich Asians raises hopes for better representation in media
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 17:00
The Asian Americans that I know are hopeful that Crazy Rich Asians, Hollywood’s first major romantic comedy about Asians with an Asian American director (Jon Chu) and a near-all-Asian cast, will open doors for better r...
Spyro Reignited Trilogy delayed two months to November 13
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 16:48
Activision Blizzard announced today that Spyro Reignited Trilogy will now be coming out on for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 13, about two months later that its planned release date of September 21. Spyro Reigni...
Google is reportedly developing its own Amazon Echo Show
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 15:50
Google's ostensible answer to Amazon's screen-touting Echo Show and Amazon Echo Spot launched earlier this year: smart displays. But if rumors are to be believed, the Mountain View company is prepping a first-party produ...
Apple reportedly redesigned basic MacBook after Intel chip issues
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 15:47
Though rumors of a new entry-level MacBook laptop have circulated for quite some time, few concrete details have actually been confirmed. Today, a supply chain report from Taiwan’s hit-and-miss DigiTimes purports to sh...
Angry Birds maker Rovio says revenue plunged 17% in Q2 but games showed signs of recovery
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 12:38
Finland’s Rovio reported a sharp drop in revenue for the three months ending in June as revenue from the hit Angry Birds movie continued to ebb. But the company said gaming revenue jumped 6.4 percent in the quarter, of...
Elon Musk's pity party: 'This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career'
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 11:01
In perhaps one of the stranger interviews ever given by the CEO of a publicly traded company, Tesla’s Elon Musk wants you to know that this has been a very, very, very tough year for him, which is the reason for his so...
Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview with Narrator changes and improvements
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 04:13
Microsoft has released Windows 10 build 18219 from the 19H1 branch. The only highlight is that the Narrator has received changes and improvements.
Pay TV DVRs waste energy, mislead consumers
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 04:10
GUEST: Have you ever pushed the close button in an elevator and the door didn't close? That's because most of them don't work. Twenty-five years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act mandated longer wait times before ...
Nvidia sees lower Q2 2019 revenue as crypto demand evaporates
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 03:31
(Reuters) — Nvidia shares fell as much as 5 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday after the chip maker said cryptocurrency-fueled demand had dried up and it forecast sales below Wall Street targets, overshadowing ...
Red Kite Games shows that work-for-hire can be rewarding -- and without crunch
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 02:37
External development studio Red Kite Games has worked on smaller mobile games like GameDigits’ Dream Machine as well as Activision’s Call of Duty: Strike Team and Santa Monica Studio’s God of War. And all the while...
Razer launches new $90 Mamba Elite gaming mouse
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 01:11
I was in the grocery store last night, and I already saw Halloween candy. Why am I telling you this? Because the calendar may say August, but retailers and product companies like Razer are getting ready for the fall. And...
Microsoft's Walmart partnership isn't about retail -- it's about streaming
Venture Beat - 17 Aug 2018 00:30
GUEST: When Walmart and Microsoft announced they had entered into a strategic partnership for wider use of cloud and artificial intelligence technology, everyone stated the obvious: Two major rivals of Amazon are coming ...