Startup News
Amazon's Echo Sub is a product for no one
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 23:52
OPINION: You’ve probably heard the news: Amazon announced a premium smart speaker that’s meant to go head-to-head with Apple’s HomePod and Google Home Max. It’s called the Echo Sub, and it pairs with existing Ech...
12 ways Alexa is getting smarter
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 23:16
In a presentation atop its biodome in Seattle today, Amazon debuted nearly a dozen new products, ranging from next generation versions of popular speakers like the Echo Show and Echo Dot to a microwave, smart plug, and E...
Yes, stablecoins are viable
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 23:10
GUEST: In 1992, Professor Barry Eichengreen made waves among economists with his book Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression. In it, he argued that gold-backed currencies caused the Great Depression. ...
Ring of Elysium is more interesting than Call of Duty's battle royale
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 21:31
Like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds or Fortnite, Ring of Elysium is about finding good loot to improve your chances of survival against other players in a massive open-world map. But Tencent changes this in a few key way...
Crytek's CryEngine update focuses on novice game devs
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 20:46
CryEngine is the other major game-dev toolkit. To continue competing with Unreal and Unity, Crytek has updated it to version 5.5 with 1,000-plus improvements.
Alexa Guard alerts you when it hears glass breaking or the smoke alarm
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 20:42
Amazon today introduced about a dozen different devices, including a new Echo Dot and Echo Show, as well as several new features such as Alexa Guard, which sends users notifications when their Echo smart speakers hear th...
Amazon debuts Fire TV Recast DVR and Echo Auto in-car system
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 20:40
Amazon, not content to wrap up a hardware event with all-new appliances and a host of high-end audio products, debuted something of a surprise today: the Fire TV Recast, a DVR for over-the-air television, and the Echo Au...
Amazon reveals redesigned 2018 Echo Dot, Echo Plus, and Echo Show
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 20:33
Amazon today introduced nearly a dozen new Alexa-powered devices, from a second-generation Echo Dot to the Echo Sub for amplifying sound for previously existing speakers, the latest set of initiatives to spread Alexa eve...
Amazon debuts AmazonBasics Microwave and Echo Wall Clock
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 20:12
Amazon’s getting into home appliances. Seriously. At its largely Echo- and Alexa-focused event in Seattle today, the company announced the AmazonBasics Microwave, a voice-enabled microwave oven that taps Amazon’s Das...
Instagram taps Giphy to let you send GIFs to friends in private messages
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 19:00
Instagram will now allow you to search for animated GIFs through a tie-up with Giphy. The new integration will enable Instagram users to search for GIFs from Giphy’s extensive library and share with friends in private ...
Why Capital One is turning to chat to improve customer experience (VB Live)
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 18:20
VB LIVE: Financial services companies are racing to implement flexible, contextualized conversational technologies, but how much do they really drive digital engagement? Join this VB Live event to learn how advances in c...
Walmart buys 17,000 Oculus Go VR headsets to train a million employees
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 17:59
Thanks to the affordability of Oculus Go standalone virtual reality headsets, Walmart announced today that it will use Go hardware and STRIVR software to train over one million of its U.S. employees. The retailer says it...
Deezer's AI can classify songs by mood and intensity
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 17:48
Human ears have no trouble sussing out the sentiment of songs — say, the melancholia in Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven,” or the passion in Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” Machines do, however. In an att...
Wearable Tap Strap keyboard now lets Windows users type in VR
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 16:39
Tap Systems released a unique “wearable keyboard” last year, turning five connected rings and accompanying software into a Bluetooth typing and control solution. Today, the company announced that its Tap Strap is com...
Tilting Point will spend $29 million to promote Disruptor Beam's mobile game Star Trek: Timelines
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 16:00
Game developer Disruptor Beam announced today that it has teamed up with publisher Tilting Point to bring its mobile game Star Trek: Timelines to more audiences. Under the deal, Tilting Point will spend $29 million to pr...
Red Dead Redemption 2 hands-on -- What happened when I accidentally shot a dog in the Wild West
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 16:00
Things were going great in my first preview of Red Dead Redemption 2, the big Wild West game from Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive coming on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One on October 26. Until I accidentally s...
IDrive adds facial recognition to automatically organize your photos
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 15:50
EXCLUSIVE: Organizing digital photo albums isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time — particularly if you’re the type who insists on keeping gigabytes of blurry snapshots around for posterity. Thanks to artificially ...
Fraunhofer says microdisplays will end VR motion sickness and headaches
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 15:43
A small but significant fraction of people experience motion sickness or headaches when using virtual reality headsets, an issue Fraunhofer believes can be remedied with high-speed microdisplays that come closer to users...
Square's Solutions Partner Program helps connect businesses with resellers, agencies, and systems integrators
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 15:30
If you’re a seller who’s had a tough time connecting with a reseller, agency, or systems integrator lately, Square has designed a platform for you. The San Francisco financial services firm today announced the Soluti...
Ghostbusters World AR game lets you capture ghosts anywhere
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 15:01
PREVIEW: Ghostbusters World is the latest game to try to get you hooked on its gameplay anywhere in the world. It’s an augmented reality game, like Pokémon Go and Jurassic Park: Alive, where you can use your smartphon...
Intel and Alibaba announce cloud partnerships at Yunqi Conference
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 15:00
Cloud computing can be an absolute bear sometimes, particularly for enterprises of a certain size. But Alibaba and Intel are teaming up to make it easier by deepening their ecosystem partnerships. At the Yunqi Conference...
Online publishing platform Minute Media acquires Mental Floss entertainment media brand
Venture Beat - 20 Sep 2018 15:00
Minute Media has raised $17 million in funding back in May, and now it is investing that money with the acquisition of consumer media brand Mental Floss, which will help the company continue its vision of targeting mille...