Princess Leia’s hologram message to Obi-Wan is getting closer to reality, at least augmented reality. Magic Leap announced yesterday that they’ve agreed to acquire Belgian startup Mimesys. The team has been working on bringing Star Wars-esque volumetric video calls to the Magic Leap platform, and it seems that the Florida AR startup liked what they…
In celebration of Minecraft‘s tenth anniversary, Microsoft played its Pokemon GO card and released an augmented reality phone app that shows the game pasted over the real world, called Minecraft Earth. This is perhaps the most novel way of incorporating AR into a game since the original Pokemon GO, but it just makes sense, doesn’t it? Minecraft is an exaggerated version of our…
The German software company behind TeamViewer, one of the most popular software in the world that allows users to access and share their desktops remotely, was reportedly compromised in 2016, the German newspaper Der Spiegel revealed today. TeamViewer is popular remote-support software that allows you to securely share your desktop or take full control of…
Tutor House, a U.K.-based startup that operates a marketplace to let parents find an online or in-person tutor for their children, has raises £2 million in funding. Backing the round, the first for the young company, is Fuel Ventures, the London-based VC and startup builder set up by Mark Pearson of MyVoucherCodes fame. Fuel Ventures…
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week was something a bit special for the team, albeit in a sad way. It marked the last episode in which we’d all be together in the current TechCrunch office. It’s a place we’ve spent so much…
As its once-strong mobile division continues to slide, LG is picking up its focus on emerging tech. The company has pushed automotive, and particularly its self-driving capabilities, and today it doubled down on its smart home play with the announcement of its own artificial intelligence (AI) chip. LG said the new chip includes its own…
Health[at]Scale, a startup with founders who have both medical and engineering expertise, wants to bring machine learning to bear on healthcare treatment options to produce outcomes with better results and less aftercare. Today the company announced a $16 million Series A. Optum, which is part of the UnitedHealth Group, was the sole investor . Today,…
When your game tops a hundred million players, your thoughts naturally turn to doubling that number. That’s the case with the creators, or rather stewards, of Minecraft at Microsoft, where the game has become a product category unto itself. And now it is making its biggest leap yet — to a real-world augmented reality game…
European restaurant delivery giant Deliveroo this morning announced that Amazon would be gobbling up a share in the company, by leading a new $575 million round of funding in it. But it looks like the e-commerce giant may be facing a little indigestion ahead. Tom Watson, MP and deputy leader of the Labour Party, today…
Odds are decent that you’re reading this post right now on a smartphone. And if we wanted to roll those odds into another bet, we’d wager it’s not the first time you’ve checked out what’s happening on your phone today. In fact, researchers found Americans look at their phones over 50 times a day. Multiply…
