We’re already halfway through the year, which means it’s time for another batch from 500 Startups to start rolling out. This year, 46 companies are going through 500 Startups’ 18th batch, ranging from traditional B2B tools to a smart pill case that helps track whether or not people are taking their medication.
500 Startups has been dipping its toes beyond its traditional… Read More
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No one wants to fight a land war in Asia, not even Uber. It could have burnt mountains of cash battling for market share with local ride app juggernaut Didi Chuxing, between marketing, discounts, and driver incentives. Instead, Uber surrendered. It’s sold its UberChina operation to Didi in exchange for a 20% stage in the merged company, while Didi has invested $1 billion into Uber at… Read More
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OmniVirt is promising to help publishers and advertisers tap into the potential of virtual reality. It’s not the only startup working on VR/360-degree ads (competitors include Immersive Media and VirtualSky), but co-founder and COO Michael Rucker said OmniVirt stands out by offering a 360-degree ad experience in the mobile browser — users don’t have to buy a fancy headset,… Read More
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Apple dropped a new iOS 10 beta today. I was expecting a bunch of bug fixes, and at best a couple of tweaks. But it became clear after just a few minutes that the iOS 10 developer beta 4 isn’t your average beta. Apple packed a nice surprise with the update. With the release of iOS 10 in September, Apple is introducing a groundbreaking technology breakthrough. iOS 10 will get over a… Read More
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When you think about it, the ability for someone to put a “lure” on a spot of their choosing and attract young Pokémon fans to their location is slightly disturbing — which is why New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is trying to ban paroled sex offenders from playing Pokémon GO and other online games. Read More
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Salesforce is continuing its buying spree to expand the kinds of cloud-based apps and services that it offers to its customers beyond basic CRM. The company has just announced that it is acquiring Quip, the cloud-based word processing app that was co-founded by Bret Taylor, formerly CTO of Facebook. We understand from two sources very close to the deal that the total price is $750 million.… Read More
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Let’s be honest — Apple Maps has had a rough start. Four years later, the company is still working hard on improving its location app with more data and features. Many people still prefer Google Maps over Apple Maps, but it’s clear that Apple is in this game for the long haul. Read More
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Hot off the heels of its acquisition of Yahoo last week for $4.8 billion, today Verizon announced another huge purchase: it’s buying Fleetmatics, a telematics company based out of Dublin, Ireland, for $2.4 billion in cash, to build out the products that it offers to enterprises in the areas of logistics and workforces that are on the move. The deal will make Fleetmatics a part… Read More
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Apple just released the fourth beta for the next iteration of iOS, tvOS, macOS and watchOS. In particular, there’s a groundbreaking addition in this release. The company has updated or redesigned over a hundred emoji. 
The current messaging hype is overstated. There are certainly some interesting and unique opportunities for messaging as an interface, but I contend the number of practical use cases is a fraction of what the current hype cycle suggests.