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Google gets into game streaming with Project Stream and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in Chrome

Published October 1, 2018

Earlier this year, we heard rumors that Google was working on a game-streaming service. It looks like those rumors were true. The company today unveiled “Project Stream,” and while Google calls this a “technical test” to see how well game streaming to Chrome works, it’s clear that this is the foundational technology for a game-streaming service.

To sweeten the pot, Google is launching this test in partnership with Ubisoft and giving a limited number of players free access to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for the duration of the test. You can sign up for the test now; starting on October 5, Google will invite a limited number of participants to play the game for free in Chrome.

As Google notes, the team wanted to work with a AAA title because that’s obviously far more of a challenge than working with a less graphics-intense game. And for any game-streaming service to be playable, the latency has to be minimal and the graphics can’t be worse than on a local machine. “When streaming TV or movies, consumers are comfortable with a few seconds of buffering at the start, but streaming high-quality games requires latency measured in milliseconds, with no graphics degradation,” the company notes in today’s announcement.

If you want to participate, though, you’ll have to be fast. Google is only taking a limited number of testers. Your internet connection has to be able to handle 25 megabits per second and you must live in the U.S. and be older than 17 to participate. You’ll also need both a Ubisoft and Google account. The service will support wired PlayStation and Xbox One and 360 controllers, though you can obviously also play with your mouse and keyboard.

While it remains to be seen if Google plans to expand this test and turn it into a full-blown paid service, it’s clear that it’s working on the technology to make this happen. And chances are Google wouldn’t pour resources into this if it didn’t have plans to commercialize its technology.

Subscription startup Bespoke Post is creating its own brands and products for men

Published October 1, 2018

Bespoke Post says it has more than 100,000 subscribers signed up to receive a monthly “box of awesome” (that’s what it calls its bundles of curated men’s products). Next up: Creating brands and products of its own.

It’s a common move for retailers and e-commerce companies to launch their own brands, but it sounds like Bespoke Post isn’t just looking to create generic versions of stuff you’re already buying.

Instead, it says its “brand development studio” the Foundry will identify opportunities for men’s products that don’t exist, work with manufacturers to create those products and improve them with feedback from Bespoke Post customers.

The company is also unveiling its first new brand, Base Light, which creates grooming products for men, starting with a line of bar soaps. How is this different from any other soap? Bespoke Post says the bars are handmade in the United States, without “harsh” ingredients like synthetic dyes, parabens, sulfates or phthalates.

Base Light soaps are available for purchase individually, or as part of the company’s Refresh Grooming Box. There also are plans to launch Base Light-branded face wash, face scrub, face moisturizer, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and beard oil products this fall.

“Each month, we deliver hundreds of thousands of unique box experiences filled with everything from apparel and grooming products to home goods and cocktail kits,” said Bespoke Post co-founder Rishi Prabhu in the announcement. “We know the kinds of products our customers will love and can spot market opportunities for products that don’t exist yet.”

Bespoke Post says it will also launch brands in categories like homewares, apparel and shoe care.

Watch this humanoid robot install drywall

Published October 1, 2018

The HRP-5P is a humanoid robot from Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology institute that can perform common construction tasks including — as we see above — install drywall.

HRP-5P — maybe we can call it Herb? — uses environmental measurement, object detection and motion planning to perform various tasks. In this video we see it use small hooks to grab the wallboard and slide it off onto the floor. Then, with a bit of maneuvering, it’s able to place the board against the joists and drill them in place.

“By utilizing HRP-5P as a development platform of industry-academia collaboration, it is expected that research and development for practical use of humanoid robots in building construction sites and assembly of large structures such as aircraft and ships will be accelerated,” write the creators.

The researchers see the robot as a replacement for an aging population and a declining birth rate. “It is expected that many industries such as the construction industry will fall into serious manual shortages in the future, and it is urgent to solve this problem by robot technology,” the write. “Also, at work sites assembling very large structures such as building sites and assembling of aircraft / ships, workers are carrying out dangerous heavy work, and it is desired to replace these tasks with robot technology. However, at the assembly site of these large structures, it is difficult to develop a work environment tailored to the robot, and the introduction of robots has not progressed.”

Considering there are 6 million contractors in the U.S. alone, robots like this one could be a boon or a curse. What happens when we can easily replace humans in shipping, logistics and construction? Let’s just hope Herb here needs a supervisor.

Ettitude targets eco-conscious shoppers with its organic bedding

Published October 1, 2018

Ettitude, recently graduated from the ERA accelerator, is looking to ride the growing wave of e-commerce by offering eco-friendly sheets.

The company offers bamboo lyocell sheets and pajamas, which feel like a hybrid between silk and cotton, and stay cool longer than cotton or other fabrics.

Bamboo lyocell fabric is essentially organic fabric made from weaving together tiny fibers of organic bamboo material or pulp. Ettitude says that the fiber yield per acre from bamboo is about 10 times higher than cotton and requires less than 10 percent of the water to grow.

I tried out the Ettitude sheets and found that they were indeed soft and kept me cool in the hot NYC summer, but they also require slightly more attentive laundering. Ettitude sheets should be washed in cold water and separately (or in a laundry bag), which is a slight departure from throwing your sheets in with the regular wash.

Still, the company is growing. Ettitude, a predominantly bootstrapped company, first launched in Australia and gained traction via ecommerce channels. Late this summer, the company launched in the U.S. and has sold “tens of thousands” of units, with a 20 percent month over month growth rate.

Ettitude has taken some investment from friends and family, and also received $100,000 in investment from Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator .

While the consumer side of the business seems to be growing, Ettitude is also receiving inbound requests from enterprise brands such as airlines to get involved with the brand. Qantas, the largest airline in Australia, has started selling Ettitude in its online portal to frequent fliers.

Ettitude Queen set sheets cost $178.

Google Maps adds ‘Commute’ tab and music controls

Published October 1, 2018

Google just announced new features for Google Maps on Android and iOS. The update is rolling out this week and features a bunch of new features focused on commuting, music and getting more personal data from you.

While Google Maps is particularly useful for road trips and vacation, the app also can be useful for stressful commutes. Google is resurfacing some of those features with a new “Commute” tab.

After setting up your home and work address, the app will help you know what to expect in the morning and the evening. If you drive to work, Google Maps now tells you how long it’s going to take and if there are any alternative routes. It works pretty much like Waze’s ETA screen and tells you if it’s going to be faster or slower in 30 minutes or an hour.

If you take the bus or train to work, Google Maps can help you find out when you should leave. The app takes into account the walk or drive to the station. Those public transit features compete directly with Citymapper and most likely relies on a lot of open data.

Talking about public transit, you’ll be able to see your bus or train on the map, slowly moving closer to you. The app also tells you how long you have to wait. This feature will be available in 80 regions around the world. In Sydney, the app tells you how full the next bus is going to be.

Unfortunately, this update comes with a privacy drawback. Until very recently, you could associate your home and work address with your Google account in Google Maps.

Now, you need to activate “web & app activity,” the infamous all-encompassing privacy destroyer — I used to store my home and work address and I can no longer change those addresses without enabling that. If you activate that setting, Google will collect your search history, your Chrome browsing history, your location, your credit card purchases and more.

And Google nudges you to activate that “feature” all the time. You need to turn on “web & app activity” to use Google Assistant on an Android device for instance. It’s becoming quite clear that Google is monetizing its newest features with your data.

Lame: if you want to save a home or work address in Google Maps, you now have to allow activity tracking throughout Google services. pic.twitter.com/OhFkXsUOmc

— Jonathan Mayer (@jonathanmayer) September 24, 2018

In other news, Google also is adding music controls in Google Maps. You’ll be able to control Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play Music. It looks like the company is taking advantage of taller screens to add a banner near the bottom of the screen with the current song and the ability to skip a song or pause the music.

There will be a new button on the right to open your music app, as well. Spotify users on Android also will be able to browse the Spotify library from Google Maps directly.

Rockstar releases second Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay trailer

Published October 1, 2018

We are less than a month away from the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, the sequel to one of the most popular games of the PS3/Xbox era. Red Dead Redemption launched in 2010, meaning that fans of the franchise have waited for almost a decade to continue their adventure through the early American frontier.

Today, Rockstar Games has released a little over 4 minutes of gameplay footage, showing off a special glimpse of first-person mode. Usually a third-person game, Rockstar has let slip that the next game will have a first-person mode for folks who want to fully immerse.

Watch Gameplay Video Part 2: https://t.co/ZlRCx5DyC7

Red Dead Redemption 2: Coming October 26, 2018.

Pre-Order Now: https://t.co/Dse5wKDeZr pic.twitter.com/Rh7TIhD7Md

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) October 1, 2018

Part of the draw to RDR comes from the beauty of its open world experience. With RDR2, Rockstar has challenged itself to make everything bigger, better, and more dynamic. In this trailer, the company shows off small but significant details like the dynamic weather (see Arthur Morgan’s frosty breath in the snow) and also gives us a deeper look at important game mechanics like Dead Eye.

As part of the expansion of the RDR world itself, players are also getting even more customization options, with the ability to decide what Arthur wears, eats, and how well he handles his own physical hygiene. Though it’s not show in this particular trailer, we’ve also learned that players can customize their horses as well.

You can check out the full gameplay trailer below. Red Dead Redemption 2 is available starting October 26.

Let’s meet in Vancouver

Published October 1, 2018

I’d like to meet some high-tech folks in Vancouver this week and I need your help. I’d like to hold a micro meet up at about 7pm on October 4 and I need a recommended place. If we can manage it we might be able to have a pitch off as well so let me know if you Vancouverians (Vancouverites?) know of any place with a bar and maybe a little stage and a microphone.

Please let me know if you can think of any good spots and I’ll finalize the meetup tomorrow. Email me at john@techcrunch.com or Tweet me @johnbiggs with ideas/help. If you’d like to pitch please fill this out. I’ll contact the people who are selected to pitch on Wednesday.

See you soon, eh!

Babbel CEOs to talk about language and startup lessons at Disrupt Berlin

Published October 1, 2018

The slow and steady rise of Babbel has been impressive on many fronts. The company is now managing the top-grossing language learning app in the world. That’s why I’m excited to announce that we’ll have founder and CEO Markus Witte as well as CEO U.S. Julie Hansen at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin.

Babbel has been around for over a decade. The company started with a web-based language learning service. It was based on Adobe Flash and HTML. Now, most Babbel users interact with the service using the company’s mobile app.

And Babbel also represents a European success story. Thanks to the European Union, many people live, work and travel all around Europe. It creates a unique market opportunity as the continent is a highly fragmented market when it comes to languages — there are dozens of different languages. That’s why building a language learning startup in Berlin is the perfect fit.

Babbel operates with a freemium, subscription-based model. Downloading the app is free, but you need to pay a subscription to unlock all the features.

More recently, Babbel has been betting on the U.S. as its next market opportunity. Many Europeans want to learn English, and it’s also true in the U.S. Immigrants want to improve their knowledge of English.

It’s a different market that causes a different set of challenges. That’s why the company has named Julie Hansen as CEO of the U.S. division of Babbel.

If you want to hear both Hansen and Witte talk about Babbel’s past ten years and the company’s next ten years, you should come to Disrupt Berlin.

Buy your ticket to Disrupt Berlin to listen to this discussion and many others. The conference will take place on November 29-30.

In addition to fireside chats and panels, like this one, new startups will participate in the Startup Battlefield Europe to win the highly coveted Battlefield cup.

Markus Witte

Babbel Founder and CEO

Markus Witte is CEO and founder of Babbel , the world’s top-grossing language learning app. He describes Babbel as a learning company inside and out: “Heading a team in which each and every person, as well as the organization itself, is constantly learning new things is incredibly fulfilling.”

Markus began his career at NYU, and later lectured at Humboldt University in Berlin, where he discovered his passion for teaching. Following his time as an academic, he led the development of online marketing and web infrastructure and managed the online and systems teams at music software company Native Instruments. Coming back to learning and teaching, he founded Babbel with three others in 2007.

Julie Hansen

Babbel CEO U.S.

Julie Hansen is CEO U.S. at Babbel. Based in the company’s New York office she is leading the US expansion of the world’s top-grossing language learning app.

Before joining Babbel, Julie was the COO and President of Business Insider. Under her leadership the news site became the most visited business outlet on the internet. Prior to Business Insider, Hansen held top management roles at sports site NCAA.com, Condé Nast Publications, and Time Inc. Julie has over two decades of experience growing digital media companies, launching interactive web sites, deploying mobile apps, and leading online and offline marketing campaigns. She began her career at Penguin Books, publishing learning software for literature among other products.

Carpooling service Klaxit partners with Uber for last-minute changes

Published September 30, 2018

French startup Klaxit connects drivers with riders so that you don’t have to take your car to work every day. And the company recently announced a new feature with the help of Uber. If your driver cancels your ride home, Klaxit will book an Uber for you.

Klaxit is a ride-sharing startup that focuses on one thing — commuting to work. And this problem is more complicated than you might think. You can’t just go to work with the same person every day because you don’t always go to work at the same time. Similarly, sometimes your driver has to leave work early, leaving you at the office with no alternative.

As a driver, you want to take the quickest route to work. So you want to be matched with riders who are exactly on the way to work.

Klaxit currently handles 300,000 rides per day. In particular, the company has partnered with 150 companies, including big French companies such as BNP Paribas, Veolia, Vinci and Sodexo.

Klaxit can be particularly useful for companies with large office buildings outside of big cities. Promoting Klaxit instantly fosters supply and demand from and to this office. But you don’t have to work for one of those companies to use Klaxit.

Local governments can also financially support Klaxit to improve traffic conditions and mobility for users who don’t have a car or a driver’s license. “Subsidizing rides on Klaxit is 8 to 10 times cheaper than building a bus line,” co-founder and CEO Julien Honnart told me.

One of the biggest concerns as a rider is that you’re going to be stuck at work in the evening. Klaxit is now asking its users to request a ride with two other drivers. If they both decline your request, Klaxit will book you an Uber ride to go back home.

You don’t have to pay the Uber ride and then get reimbursed, Klaxit pays Uber directly. You don’t need an Uber account either as Klaxit is using Uber for Business. MAIF is the insurance company behind this insurance feature, and also one of Klaxit’s investors. This is a neat feature to convince new users that they can trust Klaxit.

Klaxit competes with other French startups on this market, such as Karos and BlaBlaCar’s BlaBlaLines.

Relike lets you turn a Facebook page into a newsletter

Published September 30, 2018

French startup Ownpage has recently released a new product called Relike. Relike is one of the easiest ways to get started with email newsletters. You enter the web address of your Facebook page and that’s about it.

The company automatically pulls your most recent posts from your Facebook page and lets you set up an emailing campaign in a few clicks. You can either automatically pick your most popular Facebook posts or manually select a few posts.

Just like any emailing service, you can choose between multiple templates, decide the day of the week and time of the day, import a database of email addresses and more. If you’ve used Mailchimp in the past, you’ll feel right at home.

But the idea isn’t to compete directly with newsletter services. Many social media managers, media organizations, small companies, nonprofits and sports teams already have a Facebook page but aren’t doing anything on the email front.

Relike is free if you send less than 2,000 emails per month and don’t need advanced features. If you want to get open rates, click-through rates and other features, you’ll need to pay €5 per month and €0.50 every time you send 1,000 emails.

The company’s other product Ownpage is a bit different. Ownpage has been working with media organizations to optimize their email newsletters. The company is tracking reading habits on a news site and sending personalized email newsletters.

This way, readers will get tailored news and will more likely come back to your site. Many big French news sites use Ownpage for their newsletters, such as Les Echos, L’Express, 20 Minutes, BFM TV, Le Parisien, etc.

Ownpage founder and CEO Stéphane Cambon told me that Relike was the obvious second act. Using browsing data for customized newsletters is one thing, but many talented social media managers know how to contextualize stories and maximize clicks (even if it means clickbait, sure).

The startup was looking at a way to get this data, and ended up creating Relike, which could appeal to customers beyond news organizations. For now, both products will stick around. In the future, the company plans to add Twitter and Instagram integrations as well as better signup flows for newsletter subscribers.