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HQ Trivia had a weird night
HQ Trivia was removed from the App Store following a controversial ending to a $25K game on Sunday night, according to Business Insider. HQ has introduced a new high-stakes version of the game where one winner takes home a larger prize. However, on Sunday night, no one won the $25K. The company posted on its…
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Google alums launch Maslo, a digital companion to mediate technology’s uncanny valley
Earlier this month, two former Google staffers quietly launched a new app that’s designed to help users overcome technology’s uncanny valley and develop a more healthy relationship with the ubiquitous electronic assistant that “lives” in our pockets. Called Maslo, the new app (and the company behind it), in the words of its founders, was built…
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Here are 64 startups that launched today at Y Combinator’s W18 Demo Day 1
Biotech, robotics, and fintech startups took the spotlight today at Y Combinator’s 26th Demo Day. This batch features 141 total companies from 23 countries, with presentations spread over two days. The house was packed at Mountain View’s Computer History Museum with wealthy investors forced to stand in the back or sit on the floor. Meanwhile,…
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Bumble responds to Match’s patent lawsuit
Yesterday we reported that Match, the parent company of Tinder, was suing Bumble for patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property. Specifically, Match alleged that Bumble “copied Tinder’s world-changing, card-swipe-based, mutual opt-in premise” for which a patent was filed in 2013 (before Bumble was founded) but just granted a few months ago. Today Bumble has responded to…
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Mythic nets $40M to create a new breed of efficient AI-focused hardware
Another huge financing round is coming in for an AI company today, this time for a startup called Mythic getting a fresh $40 million as it appears massive deals are closing left and right in the sector. Mythic particularly focuses on the inference side of AI operations — basically making the calculation on the spot…
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European, UK and US pols summon Zuckerberg as FTC eyes probe of Facebook over data violations
The fallout from the story concerning Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, the misuse of personal data and how much Facebook knew about all this, has quickly made its way into the halls of government — and with it Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is getting a lot of invitations in his inbox. This afternoon, Antonio Tajani, the president…
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Wayfair’s Android app now lets you shop for furniture using augmented reality
AR-enabled shopping is expanding again today. This time, online furniture retailer Wayfair is introducing an augmented reality feature in its mobile app for Android that will allow customers to visualize furniture in their own home ahead of purchase, just by holding up their smartphone. The feature, called “View in Room 3D,” was previously available on…
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Google’s simple new app lets you draw white lines
Today, a bunch of app developers showed off their latest AR apps for Google’s augmented reality platform, but Google didn’t stay too still either. The team at Google released what could be one of its simplest apps ever. It’s called an “experiment,” and with good reason — it’s literally just an app for drawing white…
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Facebook knows literally everything about you
Cambridge Analytica may have used Facebook’s data to influence your political opinions. But why does least-liked tech company Facebook have all this data about its users in the first place? Let’s put aside Instagram, WhatsApp and other Facebook products for a minute. Facebook has built the world’s biggest social network. But that’s not what they…
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Telegram chalks up 200M MAUs for its messaging app
Another usage milestone for messaging platform Telegram: It’s announced passing 200M monthly active users “within the last 30 days”. The platform passed 100M MAUs back in February 2016, when it held a lavish party at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona to celebrate the metric. At the time it said it was adding 350k new…
