Have you tried the Quartz News app, yet? Please do. Imagine a text conversation with a bot that sends you a news topic. You’re then presented with two choices: Either tap a string of relevant (and surprisingly entertaining) emojis, which is like pressing “learn more,” or tap an “anything else?” button to have another topic served. Read More
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“You’ll notice we have many more startups that aren’t in the traditional software category,” said Y Combinator President Sam Altman at the start of its Winter 2016 Demo Day 1. While once upon a time YC was known for legions of social and marketplace apps no one needed, it’s branched out. Now Silicon Valley’s top accelerator features tons of hardware… Read More
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The Famous app got itself banned from Apple’s App Store about a month ago. They sidestepped the ban by promptly launching an Android version instead, and is today back on an iOS device near you in the form of a web app. For the new version, the company recycled much of the game mechanics, minus the commenting and chat functionality that made it prime bullying real estate. Read More
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Truebill, a startup that helps people track and cancel their subscriptions, announced it has raised a small round of seed funding.
The round includes $120,000 from Y Combinator, with additional funding from angel investors like David Marcus (formerly a PayPal executive and now vice president of messaging products at Facebook), KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah and Saba founder Bobby Yazdani… Read More
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Electric vehicles come out of the gate with green cred. They don’t even have tailpipes because they don’t have any emissions while they’re driving. But do EVs deserve their goody-too-green rep? A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists says they do indeed. Even if you take into account the battery, the manufacturing process and even the recycling and disposal process,… Read More
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Adobe unveiled a new push for cross-device targeting today at its Adobe Summit. Amit Ahuja, the general manager of data management for Adobe Marketing, explained the product to me beforehand, and he laid out the problem in a pretty straightforward manner: “If you don’t know who the user is across different devices, clearly that’s broken.” So at a basic level, the aim… Read More
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Blackberry-loving device clutchers are facing a tricky choice if they wish to continue to interact with their friends: WhatsApp, Facebook and Facebook Messenger hit the “unfriend” button on the struggling phone maker’s latest operating system. WhatsApp made a half-hearted debut on the Blackberry platform three years ago, and announced at the tail-end of last month an end to… Read More
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Utah-based Domo has been a force in the enterprise space for a few years with its data management platforms, but the team is poised for growth with an additional $130 million in Series D funding from existing and new investors, including BlackRock, Credit Suisse and others. These $130 million are an addition to Domo’s previously announced $200 million Series D round. The company says it… Read More
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Music startup 8tracks has always had a strong sense of community. But the startup is taking this one step further by raising $30 million from its own community. Instead of asking money from venture capitalists, the company has started an equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest and it’s been working well.
Around 30,000 community members have committed to invest $1,000 each to get a… Read More
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Apple’s newest addition to the iPhone family may be its cheapest phone yet at $399, but the four-inch iPhone SE isn’t likely to move the needle in emerging markets, where the lion’s share of growth in the handset industry lies.