Tech

Kuo: Apple Aiming to Keep Mixed Reality Headset's Weight Under 150 Grams

Apple is planning to adopt a hybrid Fresnel lens design for its mixed reality headset, a move that will improve optical performance while allowing for a broad field of view and keeping the headset's weight under 150 grams (a third of a pound), according to a new report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo seen by MacRumors. Kuo notes that most virtual reality headsets use Fresnel lenses, first invented some 200 years ago to focus lighthouse beams, to enable ultra-short focal lengths, but that these head...
Tags: Apple, Featured, Ming Chi Kuo, Kuo, AR/VR, MacRumors Kuo, TF International Securities, Genius Electronic Optical, Ming Chi Kuo TF International Securities

Personal Archives Reveal Douglas Adams Found Writing Torturous

New submitter dkoneill writes: A soon-to-be-released, crowdfunded book based on the personal archives of Douglas Adams (author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, episodes of Doctor Who and other beloved science fiction), reveals that he occasionally found writing torturous. In a "General note to myself" the author states, "Writing isn't so bad really when you get through the worry. Forget about the worry, just press on. Don't be embarrassed about the bad bits. Don't strain at them." "Writi...
Tags: Tech, Ford, Marvin, Douglas Adams, Don, Jane, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Arthur Dent

This Startup Is Using Drones to Conduct Airplane Inspections

Aircraft inspection is the important, federally-mandated process of checking recently flown planes for signs of damage. Commercial airliners incur all sorts of wear and tear as they travel the skies, so it’s crucial to identify and track what it looks like. In recent years, the aviation industry has sought to…Read more...
Tags: Google, Science, Technology, Articles, Quality, Airplane, Lidar, Science and Technology, Inspection, Google Cloud, Emerging Technologies, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Ascent Aviation Services, Colby Harvey, Draftmainblades Bv

When gaining help means losing control

A guest post by Linda McGivern Here goes—though I really don’t want to admit it because you’ll hate me: I have a gardener. At my winter home in the Caribbean. There. Now that’s out of the way, let the ranting begin. I am sure we who love gardening can agree that when it comes to our landscapes, there is a certain level of, shall we say, control that we like to exert over our plant dominions. Having someone else come in to do one’s garden work not only disrupts the finely tuned supervised coming...
Tags: Google, Gardening, Wikipedia, US, United States, Caribbean, New England, Trinidad And Tobago, Bonaire, Milton, Sandra, Ministry of Controversy, Guest Rants, Linda McGivern, Real Gardening

Google's boss for the next billion users bails after beating that target handily

Caesar Sengupta says it's time to take off Google's 'training wheels' as he both literally and metaphorically plans his next bike ride Caesar Sengupta, Google's vice president and general manager for Payments and the Next Billion Users initiative, will leave the company.…
Tags: Google, Software, Caesar Sengupta, Caesar Sengupta Google

YouTube test detects products in videos to make recommendations

Reports last year suggested Google was looking to make YouTube into more of a shopping hub, but we’ve seen little progress in that arena since. That’s changing a bit today, as Google announced it’s testing an automated list of products detected in videos. Here’s the short bit of text directly from YouTube’s test feature support page: [March 22, 2021] Testing automated list of products detected in videos:We are experimenting with a new feature that displays a list of products detected in some vid...
Tags: Google, Startups, Youtube, Insider, Plugged

Jack Dorsey Sells First Tweet As NFT For $2.9 Million

phalse phace writes: Twitter boss Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for just over $2.9 million on Monday. The tweet -- "just setting up my twttr" -- was Dorsey's first tweet, made on March 21, 2006. The NFT was sold via auction on a platform called Valuables, which is owned by the U.S.-based company Cent. It was bought using the cryptocurrency Ether, for 1630.5825601 ETH, which was worth $2,915,835.47 at the time of sale, Cameron Hejazi, the CEO and co-founder of Cent confirmed. Cent co...
Tags: Twitter, Tech, Malaysia, Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Reuters, NFT, Cent, Cameron Hejazi, Sina Estavi Estavi, Bridge Oracle Estavi

Using AI To 'Clap Back' At Phone Scammers

New submitter ytene writes: As covered by a fascinating and hilarious video from the BBC, Twitch Streamer and YouTube star, Kitboga, has teamed up with some software developers to produce an AI that can interact directly with phone scammers. Although only brief samples of the solution at work were shown in the clip, the reporter suggests that it has worked for periods of up to 30 minutes. Will this be enough to finally put an end to the phone scammers, or do you think even more drastic steps wil...
Tags: Youtube, Tech, Bbc, Kitboga

Android apps are crashing for some, but Google is working on a fix

Uninstalling Android System WebView reportedly fixes things.
Tags: Google

Remember Apple's disastrous butterfly keyboards? These lawsuits against the iGiant just formed a super class action

Ittt i so hrd to tpe onnnnnnnnnnn th bloddy thng Lawsuits alleging Apple knowingly sold laptops with its defective butterfly keyboard mechanism will go ahead as a single class action.…
Tags: Apple, Software

Tencent Music now has joint labels with all ‘big three’ record labels

The music streaming arm of Tencent is further tightening its ties with the “big three” record label companies, its major licensing partners. Tencent Music Entertainment announced Tuesday that it has formed a new joint label with Warner Music Group, following similar deals with Universal Music Group in August 2020 and Sony Music Entertainment in early 2018. The collaboration will take advantage of “Warner Music’s global resources and experience in supporting artists’ careers, as well as TME’s mas...
Tags: Asia, Spotify, Media, Entertainment, China, Tech, Tencent, Warner Music Group, Warner Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Streaming Services, Universal Music Group, Umg, Universal Music, WMG, Record Labels

Hospitals Hide Pricing Data From Search Results

According to a Wall Street Journal investigation, hospitals are blocking confidential prices from web searches with special coding embedded on their websites. It's problematic because pricing information for hospital services must be disclosed under a new federal price transparency rule that went into effect on Jan. 1. Becker's Hospital Review reports: The code prevents pages from appearing in searches, such as a hospital's name and prices, computer experts told the Journal. While the prices are...
Tags: Tech, Wall Street Journal, University of Washington, Novant Health, Chirag Shah, Northern Light, Becker s Hospital Review, HCA Healthcare and Universal Health Services, Journal After the Journal, Avera Ballad Beaumont

Indian beauty e-commerce Purplle raises $45 million

Purplle, an e-commerce platform for beauty products in India, said on Monday it has raised $45 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its presence in the world’s second largest internet market. The new round, a Series D, was financed by Sequoia Capital India and existing investors Verlinvest, Blume Ventures, and JSW Ventures. The new round values the Indian startup — which has raised $95 million to date — at about $300 million, up from $150 million in its 2019 Series C round, a p...
Tags: Amazon, Ecommerce, Asia, India, Funding, Tech, Goldman Sachs, Blume Ventures, IvyCap Ventures, Nykaa, Sequoia Capital India, Purplle, Verlinvest Blume Ventures, Vikram Gupta, IvyCap Ventures Eight, Manish Taneja

The Myth of the Mutiny in Space

It's been almost half a century since the three astronauts on board the Skylab 4 space mission famously fell out with mission control. Soon afterwards, reports began to circulate that they went on strike. But Ed Gibson, the only one of the crew still alive, says the idea that they stopped work is a myth. From a report: Bill Pogue got sick soon after the three astronauts arrived at the space station. It came as a surprise because Bill had been nicknamed "Iron Belly" during training at the Johnson...
Tags: Tech, Nasa, Earth, Ed, Bill, Carr, Alan Shepard, Houston Texas, Johnson Space Center, Ed Gibson, Pogue, Jerry Carr, Bill Pogue, Astronaut Office, Ed Al

Summers Could Last Half the Year By the End of this Century

Summers in the Northern Hemisphere could last nearly six months by the year 2100 if global warming continues unchecked, according to a recent study that examined how climate change is affecting the pattern and duration of Earth's seasons. From a report: The study, published last month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that climate change is making summers hotter and longer, while shrinking the three other seasons. Scientists say the irregularities could have a range of serious i...
Tags: Tech, Earth, Northern Hemisphere, Geophysical Research Letters, Guan, Yuping Guan, State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences People argue

Mozilla Firefox Tweaks Referrer Policy To Shore Up User Privacy

Mozilla Firefox will soon include a revised Referrer Policy to tighten up queries and better protect user information. From a report: Firefox 87, due to ship on March 23, will cut back on path and query string information from referrer headers "to prevent sites from accidentally leaking sensitive user data." In a blog post on Monday, developer Dimi Lee and security infrastructure engineering manager Christoph Kerschbaumer said the latest browser version will include a "stricter, more privacy-pre...
Tags: Firefox, Tech, Mozilla Firefox, Dimi Lee, Christoph Kerschbaumer

Daily Crunch: Investors back away from Dispo

Dispo is in the midst of a sexual assault controversy, Zoom introduces an SDK and Android owners will have to continue waiting for Clubhouse access. This is your Daily Crunch for March 22, 2021. The big story: Investors back away from Dispo After a recent story in Business Insider brought allegations to light that a member of David Dobrik’s vlog squad had sexually assaulted an extra during a shoot, Spark Capital announced that it would “sever all ties” with Dobrik’s photo-sharing startup Dispo, ...
Tags: Apple, Google, Startups, Microsoft, US, Tech, Epic, Tim Cook, Venture Capital, Minecraft, Atari, Sdk, Spark Capital, SPAC, Tim Sweeney, Caesar Sengupta

Do we need so many virtual HQ platforms?

Teamflow, founded by ex-Uber manager Flo Crivello, has raised an $11 million Series A just three months after raising a $3.9 million seed for its virtual HQ platform. The latest round in the startup was led by Battery Ventures, with Menlo Ventures leading its previous financing event. Teamflow’s raise comes just days after competitor Gather announced a $26 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital. Another company, Branch, has raised a $1.5 million seed round from investors such as Homebrew ...
Tags: Startups, TC, Tech, Remote Work, Gumroad, Menlo Ventures, Virtual, Battery Ventures, Mills, Sahil Lavingia, Recent Funding, Crivello, Dayton Mills, Teamflow, Virtual Hq, Flo Crivello

Ro raises $500M to grow its remote and in-home primary care platform

Healthcare tech startup Ro has raised $500 million to help fuel continued growth of its hybrid telehealth/in-home primary care platform, which also includes a growing pharmacy business as the company pursues a strategy of vertical integration to optimize delivery and reduce costs for clients. The company’s latest raise is a Series D round, and means it has now raised over $876 million since its 2017 founding. That may seem like a lot of money, but as Ro co-founder and CEO Zachariah Reitano told ...
Tags: Health, TC, Technology, Funding, Articles, Tech, Ceo, Depression, Diabetes, United States, Healthcare, Healthcare Industry, Health Insurance, Telemedicine, Pharmacy, Physician

Cuts and budget delays are undermining UK science sector, warns Labour

No funding earmarked for research agency and Europe’s Horizon scheme despite imminent start to financial yearThe government risks creating a serious funding gap for science, Labour has warned, saying that delays over budgets and cuts to research are undermining the sector and giving the lie to ministers’ boasts about Britain’s status as a science superpower.The party has highlighted a continued standoff over post-Brexit funding for collaboration with European scientists via the Horizon research ...
Tags: Europe, Politics, UK, Science, Technology, Research, Conservatives, UK News, Britain, Labour, Science policy, Horizon, Research funding, Kwasi Kwarteng, Arpanet

Coursera set to roughly double its private valuation in impending IPO

In a new S-1/A filing, Coursera set an initial IPO price range between $30 and $33 a share, signaling the market views its edtech business warmly ahead of its impending public offering. Coursera will have 130,271,466 shares outstanding after its IPO, or 132,630,966 including its underwriters’ option. At $30 per share, the low end of the company’s IPO range and a share count inclusive of 2,359,500 shares reserved for its underwriting banks, the firm would be worth $3.98 billion. That number rises...
Tags: Fundings & Exits, Startups, Education, Ipo, Tech, S-1, Edtech, Coursera, Mooc, Renaissance Capital, EC News Analysis, EC Edtech

British Army To Be Reduced By About 10,000 Soldiers As Part of Move Towards Robots, Drones, and Cyber Warfare

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The size of the Army is to be reduced to 72,500 soldiers by 2025 as part of a move towards drones and cyber warfare. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said "increased deployability and technological advantage" meant greater effect could be delivered by fewer people. He set out plans for new capabilities such as electronic warfare and drones in a command paper in the Commons. Labour has warned that "size matters" when it comes to defence. Announcing...
Tags: UK, England, Tech, Bbc, Army, North West, Defence, Ben Wallace, Wallace, Commons Labour, National Cyber Force

This Watch Is Actually an Undercover Metronome for Musicians

There are wearables that measure your heart rate, your sleep patterns, and your blood oxygen levels. But then there’s a wearable that will let you know if you’re rushing or dragging on “Caravan,” which could be a life-saver in its own right.Read more...
Tags: Science, Technology, Smartwatches, Tempo, Wearable Devices, Metronome, SETH THOMAS, Pendulums, Ubiquitous Computing, Wearable Computer, Humancomputer Interaction, Entertainment Culture, Distributed Computing Architecture

Zoom paid $0 in federal taxes on $664 million in pandemic profits, mostly by paying executives stock options

Zoom paid $0 in US federal income taxes last year despite making $663.9 million in US pre-tax profits. Kena Betancur/Getty Images Zoom said it paid no federal income taxes last year, despite $664 million in US pre-tax profits. In SEC filings Friday, Zoom said it saved $302 million on taxes by paying execs' stock options. While legal, the move reignited calls from Sen. Bernie Sanders and others to close such loopholes. See more stories on Insider's business page. Zoom emerged as one...
Tags: Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Enterprise, Microsoft, US, Trends, Joe Biden, Netflix, Treasury, SEC, Janet Yellen, Biden, Donald Trump, Securities And Exchange Commission, Zoom

Apple Can't Possibly Be 'Surprised' That Developers Are Unhappy

Developers aren’t the biggest fans of Apple’s App Store policies—a sentiment that’s apparently left Apple “surprised” that developers have “legitimate concerns” with its infamous app review process. Read more...
Tags: Apple, Science

Apple’s next HomePod may come with a screen and camera

Apple is reportedly “developing new speakers with screens and cameras,” according to the ever-reliable Mark Gurman reporting for Bloomberg. (This news is sure to make my colleague Callum, who just wrote a piece wishing for a HomePod with a screen last week, rather happy.) The company had reportedly been developing an updated HomePod for a 2022 release before the line was discontinued. It appears the display-enabled model might eventually serve as a replacement, however, “such a launch isn’t immi...
Tags: Apple, Startups, Bloomberg, Mark Gurman, Insider, Callum, Plugged, Gruman

Long Form – A chat with the Bootstrapped Podcast

Itamar Weisbord and I were introduced in 2008 by a mutual friend. He was the founder of Cellogic, an early stage of an Israeli startup that created a lock screen app (a bit ahead of its time) and I was a senior product manager at Ask.com. We remained friends and caught up regularly on the ups and downs of startup life. Fast forward, Cellogic became Deeplink.me and Itamar sold his startup to Yahoo! where he now works as Director of product management, leading a team in Israel. So, when he inv...
Tags: Google, Podcast, London, Yahoo, Israel, Uncategorized, Trends, Venture Capital, Itamar, Deeplink, Hillel Fuld, Bootstrap Podcast, Itamar weisbord, Cellogic, Guy Malachi

How to factory reset your iPhone and wipe its data, whether you're selling it or troubleshooting issues

It's easy to reset your iPhone to its factory defaults, but before you do, make sure to back up all your data. Moyo Studio/Getty Images You can reset your iPhone to its factory settings and erase all the information stored on the device. You may want to factory reset your iPhone if you're getting rid of it or troubleshooting issues. Before you reset your iPhone, be sure to first back up your data so you can restore it later. Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more sto...
Tags: Iphone, Apple, Trends, Backups, Reset, Factory Reset, Icloud, Apple Id, Tech Insider, BI-freelancer, Tech Reference, Software & Apps (Reference, Tech How To, Newsroom Affiliate How To, Smartphones (Reference, William Antonelli

SF Poop-Testing Startup, Once Compared to Theranos, Charged in $60 Million Fraud Scheme

A married pair of San Francisco entrepreneurs were indicted Thursday on multiple federal charges, the latest twist in the saga of a once trendy, now bankrupt fecal matter-testing startup. From a report: Zachary Schulz Apte and Jessica Sunshine Richman, co-founders of defunct microbiome testing company uBiome, are accused of bilking their investors and health insurance providers, federal prosecutors said. They were indicted Thursday on multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to commit secu...
Tags: San Francisco, Tech, Richman, Apte, Zachary Schulz Apte, Jessica Sunshine Richman, SF Poop Testing Startup Once Compared, Gut Explorer Customers

Why Trump’s social media network will be an epic failure

I’ve seen a lot of dumb startup pitches in my day, but a Donald Trump-branded social media network takes the stupid cake. All I can figure is, we’re exactly two months away from the FBI’s birthday and team Trump’s determined to get the old agency the perfect gift this year. Or maybe Trump just really likes losing money.  For those out of the loop here’s a video of Trump’s spokesperson discussing the matter yesterday: Donald Trump spokesman Jason Miller: “I do think that we’re going to see Pres. ...
Tags: Startups, Facebook, Twitter, Opinion, Social Media, Tech, Fbi, Donald Trump, Trump, Jason Miller, Pres Trump