startup
Latest
DoorDash eyes autonomous food delivery with latest acquisition
It's no secret that DoorDash wants to deliver your food with autonomous vehicles. Early this year it partnered with GM to test deliveries via self-driving Cruise vehicles, and in 2017, it was part of a Starship Technologies trial that sent deliveries scurrying about in six-wheeled robots. Now, DoorDash is getting a bit more serious. As The Verge reports, the company just acquired Scotty Labs, a startup that makes autonomous and remote-controlled vehicle technology.
SEC approves a stock exchange built for tech startups
For tech companies, going public is often fraught with pressure -- they're suddenly expected to deliver positive news every quarter, and they might push innovation to the wayside in the quest to become proftiable. They should soon have a better alternative, though. The SEC has approved the creation of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, a Silicon Valley-based platform aimed at tech startups that want to go public while taking their time to develop products and services. The exchange will have rules to limit executive bonuses, require more disclosure for milestones and reward long-term shareholders with more voting power.
Airbus startup aims to make satellite imagery easier to use
Airbus might just make it easier to use the growing treasure trove of high-res satellite imagery. The aerospace giant has launched a space tech startup, UP42, that promises to make satellite (and drone) image data accessible to individuals and small shops. In addition to providing the imagery itself, the fledgling firm offers "ready-to-use" algorithms that can do everything from detecting clouds to revealing changes like new buildings and shrinking forests. You wouldn't have to bend over backward to use overhead photography in an app, even you're on a relatively tiny budget.
Anki is closing the doors on its toy robot business
Anki, the startup responsible for adorable robotics, is closing its doors and will terminate nearly 200 employees Wednesday. CEO Boris Sofman broke the news to staff today, Recode reports. In a statement provided to Engadget, the company said, "A significant financial deal at a late stage fell through with a strategic investor and we were not able to reach an agreement."
Windows 10 can automatically uninstall updates with serious bugs
If a recent update is wreaking havoc on your computer, Windows 10 may automatically uninstall it, according to Microsoft support. A support note states some updates might be incompatible with your system or have other major bugs. If Windows can't repair the problem through other means, it could uninstall updates as a last resort.
Brie Larson's new Netflix film tackles sexism in internet startups
Brie Larson is set to star in a Netflix movie that highlights startup sexism as part of a two-film deal with the streaming service. Lady Business is based on a Fast Company article about two female entrepreneurs who invented a fake male cofounder in order to be taken seriously in the patriarchal business world.
Mystery company buys Meta's augmented reality tech
After a promising start, AR startup Meta's assets have been sold to an unknown buyer, reports TechCrunch and other sites. Meta fell on hard times in September after a promised $20 million investment from a Chinese company fell through over trade tensions between the US and China. The company has promised that its current products, mainly its latest Meta 2 AR headset, will continue to be supported.
FenSens gives your clunker the same backup sensing as modern cars
Remember when CES wasn't flooded with car news? We don't. None of us are about to complain about cars becoming more intelligent and customizable, but these advances do little to help people who have cars that are more than a few years old. That's where FenSens comes in: this Seattle-based startup has developed an aftermarket rear sensor you can stick to the back of your car, just to make sure you don't take anyone out when you're about to leave the grocery store.
Neofect's robotic glove is nearly ready to help those with hand paralysis
Considering the level of spectacle you can find at CES, it's easy to forget that some companies here would rather build products that help people instead of flashy displays. Consider Neofect: we met this startup last year and found a lot to like about its NeoMano glove, a wearable that helps people who suffer from specific kinds of paralysis regain some use of their hands.
Artificial meteor shower displays are coming
Fireworks. So passé, right? That could well be the thinking of one Japanese start-up, which is developing shooting stars on demand, and plans to put on the world's first artificial meteor shower in early 2020.
Inside the automotive startup taking EVs off-road
The Tesla Model X is the "least capable SUV ever made," according to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. It sits too low to the ground, for one, and yet, somehow, most American garages aren't tall enough for the rear doors to open. It's something that looks great sitting next to a Lamborghini or a Porsche, but it's more style than substance. It's an SUV in name alone. You won't take your Model X to ride the sand dunes for a weekend, but that's precisely what Scaringe wants you to do with anything his startup makes. It's understandable if you don't know who or what Rivian is. The company, founded in 2009, has around 350 employees, and its executive team is composed of designers and executives from Hummer maker AM General, Chrysler, McLaren and others. Its design headquarters are located outside of Detroit; there's also a pair of tech and research centers in California split between the San Francisco Bay Area and Irvine. Rivian is led by Scaringe, a 35-year-old MIT grad. Previously he founded Mainstream Motors, working on a fuel-efficient vehicle before pivoting to EVs in 2012. Even more than other tech companies, this one's plans have been shrouded in secrecy -- it was important to Scaringe that his company have something to show before making promises he couldn't keep.
Data from wearables helped teach an AI to spot signs of diabetes
In a new study conducted with the UCSF Department of Medicine, a neural network developed by a startup called Cardiogram was able to detect diabetes with nearly 85 percent accuracy, just by looking at people's heart beats over time. And the kicker? As always, the study didn't require any fancy medical hardware — just Apple Watches, Fitbits, Android Wear devices, and other wearables with heart rate sensors.
AI helps Danish emergency dispatchers diagnose heart attacks
Emergency dispatchers have a tough job assuring callers while trying to ask questions that could save the patient's life. But soon they could get backup from AI. Starting in 2016, dispatchers in Copenhagen began getting help from an artificial intelligence named Corti that understands the words and sounds during calls to recognize cardiac arrest, then prompts the emergency professional with the right questions to get a more accurate diagnosis.
Mexico's CES 2018 presence is the start of something big
For many technology entrepreneurs and startups, CES is where dreams are born. It's the place where their concepts and products are showcased to the masses for the first time ever, all with the hope of making a dent in one of the most thriving industries at the moment. Over the past 12 years, that's been the case for Manuel Gutiérrez-Novelo, a 47-year-old Mexican entrepreneur and inventor who has been attending the show since the 2000s. Gutierrez has launched a number of products throughout the years at CES, including what he calls the world's "first" virtual reality viewer connected to a computer, in 2006.
Mesh WiFi startup Eero lays off a fifth of its workforce
Mesh WiFi pioneer Eero has laid off 30 employees in a bid to "focus on its core business". The company, which launched in 2015, has played a pivotal role in changing the face of home WiFi with products that blanket spaces in coverage, designed to replace old-school systems of routers and extenders.
Smart lock maker Otto folds before releasing its first product
On a landscape increasingly driven by smart devices, a digital smart lock seemed like an obvious addition to the raft of home automation products already on the market. But Otto, the company that came closer than any other to making the product a sellable reality, has now closed its doors -- just four months after showing off its device to the world.
A fifth of startup founders think sexism reports are 'overblown'
Despite the pervasive issue of sexism and harassment in Silicon Valley gaining prominence in recent times, it seems the industry still has a long way to go in acknowledging the problem. A survey by venture firm First Round Capital polled 800 startup founders and found that 19 percent of respondents (that's nearly a fifth) believe sexual harassment in tech has been "overblown" by the media, while 40 percent say the issue is "more significant than the media is reporting". Meanwhile, 53 percent say they, or someone they know, has personally experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.
HTC's latest VR investments include a brain control startup
HTC is continuing its quest to fund promising VR startups, and its latest batch includes a few pushing the boundaries of what's possible in virtual spaces. The Vive X program is backing 26 companies that include Neurable, the company building a brain control system for the Vive headset -- they'll have help fulfilling their vision of wand-free VR. Other notable investment targets include eLoupes' light-field based surgery imaging system, QuarkVR's 4K-per-eye simultaneous video streaming and Wewod's location-based VR (which has served customers like Disney and Nintendo).
Surprise: This $20 home monitoring camera actually doesn’t suck
Most of the low-end connected cameras you'll find on store shelves will run you at least $50, and more feature-rich options like Amazon's Cloud Cam and Logitech's Circle 2 are north of $100. The prospect of kitting out your house with connected cameras doesn't need to be that expensive, though. On the opposite end of the price spectrum sits the WyzeCam, a super-cheap connected video camera ushered to market by — who else? — a handful of Amazon alums. Each camera will set you back a whopping $20, but don't let the price tag fool you: the WyzeCam is a surprisingly capable bargain.
Men's health tech creates shame-free ways to get treatment
About 50 percent of men have erectile dysfunction. That's not to say that half of all men around you at any given time have ED. The statistic is aggregated across age groups, with the condition being more prevalent in older men -- 30 percent of men in their thirties, 40 percent in their forties and so on. But despite all the men it affects (not to mention their partners), ED isn't something people talk about much. It remains a taboo subject -- so much so that men even have trouble broaching it with doctors.
