Remember that story we posted earlier today about Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight scheduled to launch in September? We may have spoken too soon. This afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was grounding all Virgin Galactic flights until further notice, pending the results of the investigation into the company’s July 11 crewed flight. “Virgin
Read MoreRomain Dillet / TechCrunch: Neobank Point raises $46.5M Series B led by Valar Ventures, bringing its total raised to $60M — Challenger bank Point has raised a $46.5 million Series B funding round. The company offers an account associated with a debit card. And the startup positions itself as a premium debit card company …
Read MoreMuyao Shen / CoinDesk: A doge meme NFT that sold for $4M in June is now valued at $225M+ after it was fractionalized into nearly 17B tokens and sold in a one-day auction — Just three months after a non-fungible token (NFT) representing an image of the original Shiba Inu dogecoin meme sold for about
Read MoreIllustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has announced that it has 50 million users subscribed to or trying YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, which is a marked increase from the 30 million subscribers it reported in December 2020. This seems to mark a continued trend in people looking to make the jump from
Read MoreThe number of connected medical devices – the ones communicating with other systems via the Internet – is growing steadily. These smart things gather and transmit a mountain of healthcare data. Even such small gadgets as fitness trackers and smartwatches can provide quite a bit of health-related metrics, including heart rate, sleep patterns, calorie consumption,
Read MoreI want to preface this post by saying I will never pretend to understand why corporations do some of the things they do. I was simply minding my own business, looking for information on BMW’s new concept scooter on the German automaker’s press site, when… well, here, look: “BMW launches new streaming platform JOYTOPIA narrated
Read MoreJackie Davalos / Bloomberg: Dallas-based Match Group creates a fund to help cover costs for staff and dependents who need care outside of Texas after the state’s near-total ban on abortion — Match Group Inc. is creating a fund to support employees impacted by Texas’s new near-total abortion ban that was allowed …
Read MorePhoto by Mario Tama/Getty Images General Motors, parent company of Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, said it was temporarily halting production at six of its North American factories as a result of the global chip shortage. It’s the latest major automaker to be affected by the tight supply of essential computer chips. Four of GM’s
Read MoreA screenshot from Horizon Forbidden West. | Image: Sony Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to the much-beloved Horizon Zero Dawn, is now available for preorder ahead of the game’s newly announced February 18th, 2022, release date for both PS4 and PS5. But if you’re planning to play the game on PS4 and eventually try it
Read MoreBeleaguered electric truck developer Nikola Corp. has inked a new agreement with Bosch for its hydrogen fuel cell modules. The modules will be used to power two of Nikola’s hydrogen-fueled semi-trucks, the short-haul Nikola Tre and Nikola Two sleeper. “This announcement is the result of a multi-year working relationship with Bosch,” Nikola CEO Mark Russell said
Read MoreGenerating the real-time images required for augmented reality (AR) goggles usually requires a fair amount of processing power, to the point that DIY efforts based around the Raspberry Pi often have trouble keeping up. But what if your AR aspirations don’t require fancy high-resolution graphics? If text and the occasional icon is enough to get
Read MoreAndrew J. Hawkins / The Verge: General Motors says it is temporarily halting production at six of its North American factories due to the global chip shortage — ‘The situation remains complex and very fluid’ — General Motors, parent company of Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, said it was temporarily halting production …
Read MoreI was fascinated by Roli the first time I saw founder/CEO Roland Lamb bending the keys of the Seaboard back at SXSW in 2013. Over the years, the London-based company has continued to offer creative musical solutions, including 2016’s modular Blocks system. Of course, creativity and runaway startup success don’t go hand in hand as
Read MoreMary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: Jeeves, which is building tools to help startups manage expenses, raises $57M Series B at a $500M valuation, after raising $31M equity and $100M debt in June — The founders of a dozen unicorn companies join VCs in Series B — Last summer, Jeeves was participating in Y Combinator’s summer
Read MoreShepherd, an insurtech startup focused on the construction market, has closed a $6.15 million seed round led by Spark Capital. The funding event comes after the startup raised a pre-seed round in February led by Susa Ventures, which also participated in Shepherd’s latest fundraising event. Thinking broadly, Shepherd fits into a theme of neoinsurance providers
Read MoreDean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Facebook Gaming expands its program that lets streamers play some copyrighted music during live streams from 1,000 to 100,000 streamers — A new GamesBeat event is around the corner! Learn more about what comes next. — Facebook Gaming is expanding streamers’ access to a library …
Read MoreImage: Audi Automakers love concept cars that tease a future in which very rich people ride around in autonomous vehicles that look like luxurious living spaces. The latest is Audi’s Grandsphere, a spacious electric sedan with an interior that looks like it was designed by a Kardashian. The car is designed to be adjustable based
Read MoreJonathan Metrick Contributor Share on Twitter Jonathan Metrick is the chief growth officer at Sagard & Portage Ventures, where he helps build some of the world’s leading fintech companies. Cohort analysis is a way of evaluating your business that involves grouping customers into “cohorts” and observing how they behave over time. A commonly used approach
Read MoreThe tech industry is staring down the barrel of an urgent staffing issue. By 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the deficit of software developers alone will eclipse 1.2 million. As demand for skilled workers continues to rise, companies with the deepest pockets and most cachet will have an enormous advantage. Netflix is one of those
Read MoreMary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: Panorama, which provides K-12 education software to 50 of the largest 100 school districts in the US, raises $60M Series C, bringing total funding to $105M — Panorama Education, which has built out a K-12 education software platform, has raised $60 million in a Series C round of funding led
Read MoreIllustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple will start asking for permission to enable Personalized Ads in iOS 15, the company’s method of serving relevant ads in the App Store and Apple News by analyzing what you read, purchase, and search for on your device (via 9to5Mac). The company used to collect that information
Read MoreCredit: Amazon The smart home race comes down to two main players — Amazon Echo and Google Nest. If you’re keen to upgrade your home tech and make Alexa the voice of your home, it just might help to look into a new Amazon Echo speaker. Here are the best Amazon Echo deals you can
Read MoreAs one of the frontrunners in the race to build the metaverse, Roblox is thinking ahead to what virtual worlds really need. And while the platform has had no shortage of growth on its current course — as of July, it boasted 47 million daily active users — it’s looking to chart a course toward
Read MoreCredit: Asus Asus announced a flurry of new laptops across its ProArt, Zenbook, and Vivobook lines. The upgrades include new AMD and Intel chipsets, OLED screens, and creator-focused additions. The laptops will be available to purchase from Q4 2021, starting at $919. Asus is rolling out a host of new products this week, from motherboards
Read More#ADayOffTwitch and dozens of subreddit blackouts were organized separately, but together they show the potential power of collective action by users.
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