Startup News
The infuriating design of Pathfinder: Kingmaker shows the value of a Dungeon Master
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 01:10
OPINION: Here’s the kind of game Pathfinder: Kingmaker (Owlcat Games, PC) is. It opens with a fairly linear tutorial that lasts about an hour, introducing players to mechanics, characters, and the effects of choices. I...
Windows gets DirectX Raytracing for that $1,200 video card you bought
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 23:48
Microsoft has a major update going out for Windows 10 right now. The October 2018 update includes DirectX R (DXR). This is the newest version of Microsoft’s DirectX graphics library, which enables developers to access ...
Microsoft announces Surface Headphones with Cortana
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 23:11
At its “A moment of your time” event in New York City today, Microsoft unveiled wireless Surface Headphones with Cortana built-in. While the Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Pro 6 also announced at the event can be preor...
Microsoft refreshes Surface Laptop and Surface Pro with updated specs and black variants
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 22:28
At its “A moment of your time” event in New York City today, Microsoft refreshed the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro with updated specs and a black color option. The price tags have changed slightly: the Surface Lapto...
Microsoft is bringing screen mirroring to Your Phone app and To-Do to Outlook
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 22:22
A refreshed Surface lineup (see: the Surface Studio 2, Surface Laptop 2, and Surface Pro 6) and Cortana-powered Surface Headphones weren’t all Microsoft announced at its event in New York City this evening. It also too...
Microsoft starts rolling out Windows 10 October 2018 Update
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 22:11
Microsoft today announced that the free Windows 10 October 2018 Update is rolling out today. For those keeping track, this update is Windows 10 build 17763 and will bring Windows 10 to version 1809. Windows 10 is being d...
Clash Royale League World Finals head to Tokyo on December 1
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 22:00
Mobile game giant Supercell said the Clash Royale League World Finals will take place on December 1 in Tokyo, where the Finnish company will give away the lion’s share of its $1 million prize pool. The Helsinki-based S...
Massachusetts towns may sue FCC over capped 5G fees and review times
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 21:58
Angered by the FCC’s recent passage of an order capping the fees and times municipalities can set for 5G tower approvals, Boston and neighboring towns may sue the commission — a step that could delay the rollout of 5...
Google acquires AI customer service startup Onward
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 21:55
Blink and you might have missed Google’s acquisition this morning. The search giant bought Onward, a customer service automation startup, for an undisclosed sum. Cofounders Rémi Cossart and Pramod Thammaiah will join ...
Foursquare raises $33 million for ad and location analytics
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 21:00
You might not realize it, but you’re probably a Foursquare user. Snapchat uses the firm’s location data for its geofilters, and Uber sources it for business names. In all, Foursquare counts more than 120,000 companie...
Ford proposes standard language for automated vehicle system intent
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 20:57
Self-driving cars have a perception problem. In a pair of surveys published by the American Automobile Association in January and Gallup in May, 63 percent of people reported feeling afraid to ride in a fully self-drivin...
Overwatch, in block form! Blizzard partners with Lego
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 19:36
Overwatch is one of the most popular gaming properties to launch in the last couple of years. Now, it’s getting what comes to all beloved brands: Lego merchandise. Publisher Blizzard Entertainment revealed today that t...
DeepMind AI can generate convincing photos of burgers, dogs, and butterflies
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 19:15
A system that can produce convincing photos out of whole cloth is the holy grail of image synthesis, and thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), researchers at Google subsidiary DeepMind and Heriot-Watt University believ...
Huawei begs FCC for 5G role, claiming delayed deployment and higher prices
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 19:02
U.S. officials have spent the entirety of 2018 working to block China’s Huawei from installing next-generation 5G cellular gear inside the U.S. — or its allies — but the company isn’t taking no for an answer. Aft...
Uber Eats and the $6 billion bookings run rate: The AI success story no one is talking about
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 18:55
VB EVENT: Food delivery has become a $100 billion-plus market. Uber Eats is the fastest growing U.S. meal delivery service, posting a $6 billion bookings run rate within just four years of getting started, according to U...
Facebook launches PyTorch 1.0 with integrations for Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure Machine Learning
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 18:30
Facebook today announced the release of deep learning framework PyTorch 1.0 in developer preview, which includes a series of tools and integrations to make it more compatible with popular services from Google Cloud, Amaz...
Facebook users can now ask for a 'second look' at content moderation decisions involving bullying
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 16:56
Facebook today announced that it’s beginning to implement a slew of features aimed at helping users keep bullying and harassment out of their News Feed. Most notably, Facebook will extend the option to ask for second r...
Tile's new Tile Pro can track objects up to 300 feet away
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 16:50
The average person loses about $47 billion worth of items a year. That’s according to Tile, the startup behind the eponymous brand of Bluetooth trackers which recently attracted investment from Comcast. Today, six year...
iPhone XS camera tests explain Beautygate selfies and low-light 'voodoo'
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 16:28
Though some observers saw few obvious modifications to the iPhone XS camera system from that of the iPhone X, our iPhone XS review confirmed that Apple’s latest phones actually feature non-trivial improvements in image...
Mega Man 11 -- 5 tips for facing Dr. Wily's robot rascals
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 16:00
Mega Man 11 is now out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. For fans of the series like me, this is a happy time. After a hiatus of over eight years, the Blue Bomber is back in an original title, and his new adve...
Vayyar's 3D sensors can capture a car's environment to improve driver safety
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 15:30
Vayyar Imaging is announcing that its millimeter wave radar sensors can create 3D imaging of the environment inside and around a car to improve driver safety. Vayyar has created 3D radar sensors that can see through wall...
Petal raises $34 million and launches credit card for people without credit scores
Venture Beat - 2 Oct 2018 15:13
Fintech startup Petal has raised $34 million in a round of funding from investment bank Jefferies and Silicon Valley Bank, as the New York-based startup officially launches its alternative credit card to the public. By w...