Hong Kong may become the next country to regulate crypto exchanges after its securities regulator announced that it is exploring ways to apply quality control and protect consumers from the volatility and uncertainties of digital currencies. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said it is “setting out a conceptual framework” that could be used to regulate crypto…
It won’t be long now before thousands of startup fans — the TechCrunch crew included — head to Germany for Disrupt Berlin 2018, which takes place on 29-30 November. We’re so excited we need to let off a bit of steam, so we’re thrilled to announce the full line up of companies that will exhibit in Startup…
Apple’s quarterly financial calls are heavily anticipated by many, as the trillion dollar company doesn’t just disclose revenue, but also shares how many iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices it sold. The company’s CFO Luca Maestri announced this in Apple’s Q4 2018 call: Starting with the December quarter, we will no longer be providing unit…
Joshua Adam Schulte, a 30-year-old former CIA computer programmer who was indicted over four months ago for masterminding the largest leak of classified information in the agency’s history, has now been issued three new charges. The news comes just hours after Schulte wrote a letter to the federal judge presiding over his case, accusing officials at…
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a semantic parser that learns through observation, mimicking a child’s language-acquisition process – with the potential to greatly extend computing’s capabilities. Traditionally, language-learning computer systems are trained on sentences annotated by humans that describe the structure and meaning behind words. These methods underpin web searches, natural-language…
Zume, the robotics and logistics company that got its start slinging pizza, just raised $375 million from SoftBank, the WSJ first reported. Another firm is also looking to invest an additional $375 million, which would value the company at a $1.5 billion pre-money valuation, a source close to the matter told TechCrunch.* The round comes a…
Instagram hopes dollars from the long-tail of small businesses and social media stars can help it pull its weight in the Facebook family. A new ad type called “Promote” for Stories allows Instagram business pages to show their ephemeral slideshows to more users without doing much work. Admins can choose to auto-target users similar to…
A list of 50-plus companies, including some of tech’s top names, joined forces this week to pen a letter calling out the Trump administration over a reported plan to narrow gender definitions. Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and more drafted the letter (full text below) in response to a recent New York Times story…
The continuing die-off of the world’s coral reefs is a depressing reminder of the reality of climate change, but it’s also something we can actively push back on. Conservationists have a new tool to do so with LarvalBot, an underwater robot platform that may greatly accelerate efforts to re-seed old corals with healthy new polyps.…
Edo, an ad analytics startup founded by Daniel Nadler and actor Edward Norton, announced today that it has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Nadler and Norton have both had startup success before — Nadler co-founded and led Kensho, which S&P Global acquired for $550 million. Norton invested in Kensho and co-founded CrowdRise, which…
