Month: February 2020

So far this year, one of the most eye-popping startup exits has been Visa’s $5.3 billion acquisition of fintech data services platform Plaid. It’s a major exit in the white-hot fintech space, and while that transaction is still going through regulatory reviews, already some current Plaid employees are becoming alumni and fanning out into the
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Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends It’s been a while since the Samsung Galaxy S9 range was released, and with the Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, S20 Ultra, and the Samsung Galaxy S10 range sitting atop the Galaxy S pile, you might think Samsung’s 2018 phones are now dreadfully outdated. But you’d be wrong to think that, because
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Petnet, the smart pet feeder backed by investors including Petco, recently experienced a week-long system outage affecting its second-generation SmartFeeders. While the startup’s customer service recently tweeted that its SmartFeeders and app’s functionality have been restored, Petnet’s lack of responsiveness continues to leave many customers frustrated and confused. Petnet first announced on Feb. 14 that
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Clockwise from top left: Getty, Getty, Benjamin Currie (Gizmodo) and Benjamin Currie (Gizmodo).Image: Various I don’t know about you all, but I never win anything when I enter Instagram giveaways or contests. I’ve often wondered if anyone really does or whether they’re all scams. Although I don’t know the answer to that question, I do
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Snap Inc. launches two new ground-sensing World Lenses on iOS and Android.  Though advertised as a multimedia messaging app focused on user privacy, Snapchat has quickly established itself as one of the leading innovators in AR technology thanks to its ever-growing lineup of reality-warping World Lenses. What began as simple face filters and dancing hotdogs
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Apple may be gearing up to launch its own branded over-the-ear headphones, the long-rumored StudioPods. According to a tweet from tech analyst Jon Prosser, employees at retail giant Target have found a listing for a new version of Apple AirPods in the company’s internal systems. This listing could refer to Apple producing its own over-the-ear StudioPods headphones,
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The production of the rumored cheaper version of Apple’s AirPods Pro, dubbed the AirPods Pro Lite, is reportedly moving forward even while the coronavirus outbreak has gripped the mobile device industry. Earlier this month, an unverified report from DigiTimes via MacRumors claimed that Apple is preparing cheaper AirPods Pro. The device was mentioned within Apple’s
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Active Esports Arena Eindhoven promises a competitive VR experience that’s as much fun to watch as it is to play.   This week marked the launch of Active Esports Arena Eindhoven, a full-body VR esports facility that blends immersive gaming with physical sports.  Developed by Pillow’s Willow VR Studios in partnership with PSV and Sportscloud, Active
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Countries, regions, and streets change slowly over time, but the mobile apps charting them are constantly evolving, both in competition with each other and in seeking to provide the most comprehensive and easiest to use service designed to anticipate your every navigational need. Google Maps and Apple Maps, the most popular mappers on the planet,
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[Editor’s note: Want to get this weekly review of news that startups can use by email? Just subscribe here.]  How well do Robinhood’s financials stack up against incumbent online brokerages? While we wait for the seven-year-old company’s long-planned IPO, Alex Wilhelm examined Morgan Stanley’s big $13 billion purchase of E-Trade for fresh data comparison points. Robinhood
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Financial services startups raised less money in 2019 than they did in 2018 as VC firms looked to back late stage firms and focused on developing markets, a new report has revealed. According to research firm CB Insights’ annual report published this week, fintech startups across the world raised $33.9 billion* in total last year
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As Samsung (re)unveiled its clamshell folding phone last week, I kept seeing the same question pop up amongst my social circles: why? I was wondering the same thing myself, to be honest. I’m not sure even Samsung knows; they’d win me over by the end, but only somewhat. The halfway-folded, laptop-style “Flex Mode” allows you
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The Trump administration’s Huawei clampdown left a lasting scar on Chinese phone makers’ relationship with the West. The ban sent them scrambling for alternatives to U.S.-based services like Google and Android, as it continued to underline how dependent their businesses were on U.S. partnerships. Inevitably, the effects of those strains have now begun to take
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Nearly 2 billion people watch up to 5 billion YouTube videos each day. Logan Paul and similar celebrities stand at the forefront of its cultural conscience. They’re followed by millions and are highly influential both in and out of the internet bubble. Yet with all this content — more than 500 hundred hours uploaded each
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Clearview AI founder Hoan Ton-That.Screenshot: PBS Canadian authorities are investigating shady face recognition company Clearview AI on the grounds that its scraping of billions of photos from the web might violate privacy laws, Reuters reported on Friday. According to Reuters, privacy commissioners from the Canadian federal government and of the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta,
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