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Etsy warns of merchant payment processing delay due to Silicon Valley Bank collapse
Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Etsy is warning sellers it may take longer than usual for the company to process some payments.
Roku says it could lose 25 percent of its cash after Silicon Valley Bank fails
The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has put more than a quarter of Roku’s cash at risk.
Nevada governor backpedals on plan to allow tech companies to form local governments
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak is retreating from his plan to introduce legislation that would have allowed tech companies to form local governments within the state.
Peloton will pay $420 million to acquire fitness equipment maker Precor
In a press release, Peloton today confirmed its plans to acquire Precor, a maker of home and commercial-grade workout machines, for $420 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021.
Magic Leap layoffs reportedly affect about half its workforce
Magic Leap announced that it's laying off employees at every level of the organization, after compounding financial troubles.
Senate bill aims to make user data 'portable' across social networks
Three senators think they have a way to address some of the antitrust concerns around social media companies. Today, Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) will introduce a bill that would force social media companies to make user data "portable," so that it can be easily transferred to competing (read: smaller) services.
SpaceX 'rideshare' program launches satellites for just $2.5 million
For space tech startups and other small companies doing research, one of the biggest hurdles is actually getting to space. SpaceX is looking to change that. Today, it announced a SmallSat Rideshare Program, which will allow small satellite operators to book a spot on regularly scheduled Falcon 9 launches.
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.
How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
On Wednesday a story about two ex-Google employees receiving an obscene amount of money for a bad idea hit social media and was met with a level of outrage you could feel through the screen. If you're online in any way whatsoever, you likely know I'm talking about Bodega. The excellent article, Two Ex-Googlers Want To Make Bodegas And Mom-And-Pop Corner Stores Obsolete, hit several raw nerves with a wide range of people. This fury is so crystallized because "Bodega" -- an overfunded, probably doomed, glorified vending machine startup positioned as a bodega killer -- stands for everything Silicon Valley represents to us. Whereas in reality, the very concept of a bodega stands for the absolute opposite of Silicon Valley.
People won't stop stealing this company's rentable umbrellas
Sharing E Umbrella, a Chinese startup that allows people to share umbrellas as they would bicycles has run into some early problems with its business model: specifically, people don't bother to return the items once they are out of the rain. According to a report in the Thepaper.cn last Thursday, the company announced that most of its umbrellas had gone missing within just weeks of the sharing scheme's launch.
Pursue startup success at any cost in 'The Founder'
If you've ever wanted to play through a cynical take on Silicon Valley in a Sims-like fashion, Francis Tseng has a game for you. It's called The Founder and this dystopian look at the founding and success of a startup comes in the form of a browser-based game. You start out in 2001, plotting to take over the world after naming your company, picking a business and adding your first employee. Of course, you're working in an apartment like all new companies do.
Why is Johnson & Johnson getting into startups?
Everyone knows Johnson & Johnson, the conglomerate behind Band-Aid, Tylenol and Johnson's Baby Shampoo. By comparison, very few folks outside the tech industry will have heard of Hax, a Shenzen-based startup incubator. Now, however, the pair are hooking up to find, develop and invest in startups that want to develop a consumer healthcare device. If you're dreaming up a gadget that'll help keep babies safe, ease period pain or seal wounds faster, then applications are due before the end of the year.
A tech accelerator grows in Brooklyn
At its peak, the Brooklyn Navy Yard employed as many as 70,000 people, building maritime vessels like the USS Maine, Missouri and Monitor. Military shipbuilding isn't coming back to Brooklyn anytime soon, and neither are those particular jobs. But industry is returning to the borough -- just not shipping in the military sense. Think more along the lines of product shipping, thanks to facilities like New Lab. This is about more than giving startups a place to set up shop. New Lab is about building a community -- not just to employ more New Yorkers, but to spur further innovation in one of the largest cities in the world.
Google is opening a dedicated space for startups in San Francisco
With its close ties to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Google naturally has its hands in the region's huge startup economy. To further its involvement, the company has announced plans to open a 14,000 square foot space right in the heart of San Francisco to work directly with various startups and developers. Google hasn't released a ton of details yet, but it says that the space will hold events including the company's Codelabs, Design Sprints and Tech Talks. It'll also host meetups of the Google developer community.
Amazon announces category just for Kickstarter projects
Looking for a crowd-sourced gadget, but don't actually want to run the risk of backing a Kickstarter? Good news: Amazon just launched a hub for completed, successful Kickstarter products. The product category lives on Amazon's Launchpad page -- a digital store for start-ups that sell crowdfunded and first run products on consignment. Kickstarter projects have always been present on Launchpad, but now they have there very own category and landing page.
Google confirms a new in-house startup incubator
Big companies have always supported startups to do the nimble and risky innovating they could not, even building their own investment arms to directly fund them. But sometimes those startups are founded by ex-employees of big companies that break out of corporate limitations. Following rumors last month, Google officially confirmed that it will launch its own in-house incubator, likely as a way of retaining entrepreneurs and keeping marketable ideas in-house.
LG converts its smaller, crazier projects into startups
For every idea a big corporation decides to show to the public, there are thousands sat in a vault down in its R&D labs. LG is the latest to decide that it might be worth trying to spin a profit from some of the projects that were previously consigned to the bin. The Korean conglomerate has announced that it's spinning out two startups that'll live or die on the strength of their execution. Much like Sony's toe-in-the-water approach to crowdfunding, the setup is all about throwing niche concepts at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Google and AOL team up to stop tech talent leaving NYC
New York City may be the Big Apple, but it plays second fiddle to Silicon Valley when it comes to technology. That's why a number of companies located there including (Engadget's parent company) AOL, Bloomberg and, yes, California-based Google and Facebook have formed an advocate association called Tech:NYC. In a blog post, AOL's Tim Armstrong and New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson say "we feel that the NYC tech community deserves a more formal organization to represent itself before local and state governments and the business community and civic sector."
HTC's Vive X program will invest $100 million in VR startups
HTC is aiming to jump-start VR development with its new Vive X fund, an accelerator that will support and promote startups working in the new medium. Vive X is backed by a $100 million investment fund (mostly from HTC), and it'll kick off in Beijing next month (with San Francisco and Taipei to follow). As with most accelerator programs, it'll offer mentorship, work space and, naturally, some investment capital to a selected group of startups. After a few months, the chosen companies will show off their projects at celebratory demo days (again, something common to this type of program).
On the Brink of Greatness: Senior Startup Challenge
Silicon Valley is a young, vibrant place that values youth as a commodity above all else, so what can it do for older people? Can technology offer something for the folks that aren't scooting around on self-balancing skateboards? That's the question Steve Goldbloom and his crew want to ask with this week's episode of mockumentary On the Brink of Greatness. He's taken representatives from five local startups to the Piedmont Gardens retirement community to face the wrath of a shark tank.
