Toyota AI Ventures, a subsidiary of Toyota Research Institute, has a new $100 million fund that will focus on finding and investing in early-stage robotics and autonomous technology startups. This second fund, aptly dubbed Fund II, brings the firm’s total assets under management to more than $200 million. “The growing interest in automated systems has…
World Password Day is coming up on May 2, and this will provide the perfect excuse for media outlets—Connected World among them—to talk about authentication and device security. The same password best practices are often regurgitated over and over again when this subject arises, in part because people still aren’t following the most basic of…
Looking for a solid printer for an extra low price is like panning for gold: A real pain in the neck. But we’re here to help. Our favorite pick is the Canon Pixma iP8720 which sports excellent features at an affordable price. After reviewing over 60 of today’s best printers, this stands out as one…
Live Conference Call: Josh Constine and Frederic Lardinois talk all things F8 in just a bit Facebook’s annual F8 conference is in full swing, with major redesigns of the company’s apps and all sorts of news trickling out of San Jose. We have Josh Constine and Frederic Lardinois on the ground talking to everyone, and…
Fitbit’s financial rebound continued in the first quarter, as the company generated $271.9 million in revenue, beating Wall Street expectations of $259.7 million. The good news is almost exclusively the domain of the company’s increased focus on smartwatches, which grew 117% year over year. That, in turn, is thanks to this year’s debut of the…
After Square issued weak guidance in Q4, all eyes were on the payments company to see what kind of growth it really had in Q1. Results reported today underscored some of the challenges the company is facing. Square’s adjusted revenues were $489 million, up 59% year-on-year, with adjusted earnings per share of $0.11. Both figures beat analysts’ estimates.…
Bird and Lime are scooting along, backed by hundreds of millions in venture capital. But there are still plenty of companies hoping to dominate the still-nascent micro mobility market, given the financial opportunity it’s promising. Among them: Bond Mobility, a three-year-old Palo Alto, Calif.- and Zurich, Switzerland-based startup that says its “high-performance” dockless electric bikes…
Podcast monetization company Acast is launching a new way for publishers to put their podcasts behind a paywall. Until now, podcasts have not been well-suited to subscription paywalls, due to the fact that they’re distributed via RSS feeds that can be accessed by any podcast player. So instead we’ve seen workarounds like Substack building a…
Many people are just starting to realize some of the challenges facing cities and states as they grapple with ways to solve their various transportation problems. It is without a doubt—one that everyone who lives in a city or commutes to one ought to be interested in. Slightly more than half of all people live…
Drone technology is increasingly proving itself across a variety of industries, including the medical field where the machine’s ability to be quickly deployed and move at speed across urban areas for vital deliveries can be a life-saver. In what’s believed to be a world first, researchers at the University of Maryland this week announced the…
