Each week, Extra Crunch members have access to conference calls moderated by the TechCrunch writers you read every day. This week, security reporter Zack Whittaker discussed his exclusive report about Tufts University veterinary student Tiffany Filler who was expelled on charges she hacked her grades. Being Canadian and therefore in the U.S. on a student visa,…
Soft, biologically inspired robots have become one of the field’s most exciting offshoots, with machines that are capable of squeezing between obstacles and conforming to the world around them. A joint project between MIT CSAIL and Harvard’s Wyss converts those learnings into a simple, soft robotic gripper capable of handling delicate objects and picking up…
Google is shutting down its Emmy Award-winning VR film division, Spotlight Stories, after six years of building out content, Variety reports. We’ve reached out to Google for confirmation. “Google Spotlight Stories means storytelling for VR. We are artists and technologists making immersive stories for mobile 360, mobile VR and room-scale VR headsets, and building the…
Ford has already set out its ambitious plan to launch taxi and delivery services using autonomous vehicles by 2021, and is working steadily in a bid to achieve its goal. Already testing its autonomous technology in Detroit, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., the car giant is now preparing to extend its operations to Austin, Texas,…
When you live with roommates or go out often with friends, it’s common for someone to front the payment — be that for utilities, the cable bill, rent or the restaurant bill — and have everyone else pay them back via cash, Venmo or Apple Pay. But Ysplit, a company launching out of Y Combinator,…
Ford is preparing to open an autonomous vehicle program in Austin as the automaker continues to ramp up testing ahead of launching a self-driving taxi and delivery service in 2021, according to sources familiar with the development. A new job listing for an autonomous vehicles “market specialist” based in Austin validates the information. Austin is…
Uber is in negotiations with investors, including the SoftBank Vision Fund, to secure an investment as large as $1 billion for its autonomous vehicles unit. The deal would value the business at between $5 billion and $10 billion, according to a Tuesday report from The Wall Street Journal. Uber declined to comment. The news comes…
Keith Wright is a Villanova School of Business instructor of Accounting and Information Systems, founder of Simplicity On-Demand LLC and former Senior Vice President for Global Sales Operations for SAP. There is no question that the arrival of a fragmented and divided internet is now upon us. The “splinternet,” where cyberspace is controlled and regulated…
As soon as Mark Zuckerberg said in a lengthy 3,225-word blog post to not build data centers in countries with poor human rights, he had already broken his promise. He chose to ignore Singapore, which the Facebook founder had only months earlier posted about, declaring the micro-state home to the company’s first data center in…
This week has been all about Barcelona and MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2019. Mobile phones make most of the headlines—foldable phones, anyone?—but beyond the flashy new smartphone screens and improved smartphone cameras, several trends, product announcements, and innovations are relevant beyond the mobile phone sphere in the greater IoT (Internet of Things) space. The post…
