Mauricio Rubio

Alibaba leads $1.1B investment in Indonesia-based e-commerce firm Tokopedia

Alibaba has continued its push into Southeast Asia after it led a $1.1 billion investment in Tokopedia, an e-commerce firm based in Indonesia.<p>A valuation for the deal was not announced, but the companies did say that Alibaba has become a minority shareholder.<p>Tokopedia, which was founded in 2009, …

Google Buys 'Computer Vision' Startup

Google just bought AIMatter, which, as <i>TechCrunch</i> notes, “has built both a neural network-based AI platform and SDK to detect and process images …

Why European IPOs Are Surging In 2017

Once risk-averse, a growing number of E.U. founders are taking their companies public.<p>You might be familiar with Delivery Hero, the Berlin-based food service that recently went public at a more than $5 billion valuation. But it's less likely that you've heard of Alfa Financial Software--which, when …

Wordpress.com's new Paypal integration makes it easier for bloggers to sell stuff online

Selling goods and services on WordPress.com just got a lot easier. Yesterday, Automattic announced the launch of a Simple Payment button that allows users of the hosted blog/site/CMS service to accept Paypal payments in just a few clicks.<p>The feature is currently available to users on the paid …

Police in Luxembourg are ready to use Tesla’s Model S as a patrol vehicle

After the Los Angeles Police Department flirted with the idea of adding a slew of Model S vehicles to its fleet, the Grand Ducal Police in Luxembourg …

Motorola has patented a smartphone display that can heal itself of cracks

Smartphones are pretty expensive, but they’re also fragile. A simple drop can sometimes result in a shattered, unusable phone. Motorola has pushed forward in fixing this problem fir consumers by introducing a technology it calls ShatterShield on phones like the Moto Z2 Force, but it seems like that …

AI creates fictional scenes out of real-life photos

AI's not quite ready to build photorealistic worlds on its own. But it's getting pretty close.<p>Researcher Qifeng Chen of Stanford and Intel fed his AI system 5,000 photos from German streets. Then, with some human help it can build slightly blurry made-up scenes. The image at the top of this article …

Total solar eclipse 2017: 6 best apps for the big event

On August 21, 2017, North America will be in the direct path of a total solar eclipse, which happens when the Moon completely covers the Sun.<p>In the U.S., the path of the total eclipse will extend from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina.<p>If you’re not in the relatively narrow …

Buy Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and more

Australia's First Bitcoin EFTPOS Card Will Allow You To Buy Your Groceries

SYDNEY — An Australian company is trialling a bitcoin EFTPOS card, allowing customers to spend the digital currency in retail stores.<p>CoinJar, a Melbourne-based bitcoin platform, is taking the next step to make bitcoin more accessible to the public with the release of Swipe cards.<p>CoinJar Swipe cards …

Bitcoin: will 2015 be a make-or-break year?

It is barely understood by the general public, its value is in freefall and it has a serious image problem. Daniel Roberts asks can the currency survive 2015?<p>Last year was an annus horribilis for bitcoin. Its price, once up above $1,200, sunk below $250. The second-largest bitcoin exchange had to …

CoinJar Launches New Peer-to-Peer BitCoin iPhone App

To make managing bitcoin easier, CoinJar has launched the CoinJar Touch app for iOS today. Now CoinJar users can buy, spend or cash out to a bank account from their iPhone. The Android version will be rolled out in the next few months.<p>CoinJar is one of Australia’s first bitcoin companies, with more …

Android phones could swipe the iPhone 8's most important new feature

Android phones sometimes follow Apple's lead when it comes to key functionality features, and the next generation of smartphones could be no different. Future Android devices are expected to mimic one of the upcoming iPhone 8's most anticipated new features: 3D facial scanning.<p>Qualcomm's next …

Obama's Response to the Charlottesville Violence is the Most Liked Tweet of all Time

Former President Barack Obama's response to the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va. over the weekend is officially the most liked tweet …

The 19 most interesting ad-tech upstarts of 2017, ranked

• <b>Ad-tech funding has dried up and the IPO market is quiet.</b>• <b><br>But there are many companies making waves, particularly startups focused on marketing data, brand safety, and the future of TV ads.</b><p>In ad tech, things have changed.<p>You can see it in the slowdown in VC funding. The growing power of Google and …

Smiley emoji in your work emails are making you look incompetent :(

Emoji have invaded our texts, Slacks, and even our business emails. But, a new study suggests that including emoji in your work emails may be making you look incompetent. Not ideal, TBH.<p>Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel found that professional emails which feature "smiley" …

Andy Rubin's Essential Phone is now ready to ship in seven days

The Essential Phone is finally ready to go out to customers.<p>Andy Rubin's smartphone startup Essential announced last week that it secured $300 …

Essential Phone preorders to start shipping in 7 days

After Essential missed its first shipping target, preorders of the highly-anticipated phone from the father of Android are set to ship within a week.<p>That new Essential Phone you've been eagerly awaiting? Essential has promised preorders will start shipping within a week.<p>The announcement, sent today …

Color Genomics raises $52 million

Color Genomics, a Silicon Valley startup that provides genetic tests for consumers, has raised nearly $52 million, according to an SEC filing. The …

Amazon’s private label business is booming thanks to device sales, expanded fashion lines

Amazon has been doubling down on its private label business in recent months, though many of its own brands aren’t easily identifiable to consumers as they don’t indicate they’re Amazon-made products. But these private labels have been gaining steam, according to a new report out this week from …

These AI Gliders Hunt for Updrafts to Fly Forever

If a bird can ride a thermal, why can't a robot?<p>Microsoft is working on an autonomous glider that aims to replicate the patterns of birds. The hope is that if these gliders can learn enough from our feathered friends, they can fly basically forever and turn into node for wide-ranging wireless …

The founder of Glassdoor's biggest tip for entrepreneurs: 'Focus, focus, focus'

LONDON – Glassdoor, founded in 2007 in San Francisco, has grown from nothing to become the second biggest jobs website in North America and one of the fastest-growing job listing websites in the world.<p>The company, known for its anonymous reviews of companies by staff, employs over 700 people and …

10 best driving apps for Android

Driving is a major form of transportation all over the world. You already knew that, though. It’s generally good practice to not use your smartphone while driving. However, there are some apps that can be genuinely helpful. We’re telling you here and now, don’t text and drive. Have one of these …

Waze's latest update might help the next time you get a flat tire

Google bought Waze quite a while back, and though many of us suspected it would quickly be folded into Google Maps, it's remained a separate service …

An inside look at Ford’s $1 billion bet on Argo AI

In the race to launch autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence expertise is the prize<p>Somewhere between the 14th and 15th floors in a concrete stairwell, Bryan Salesky pauses, searching for the right words to explain his mission for the foreseeable future. He wants to give cars the eyes, ears, …

White Supremacist Platforms Are Being Targeted By Hackers And Rejected By Hosts

Several white supremacist websites appear to have been targeted by hackers in the wake of the Charlottesville violence.

Ghost, the open source blogging system, is ready for prime time

Four long years ago John O’Nolan released a content management system for bloggers that was as elegant as it was spooky. Called Ghost, the original app was a promising Kickstarter product with little pizazz. Now the app is ready to take on your toughest blogs.<p>O’Nolan just released version 1.0 of …

Apple is bringing a billion-dollar checkbook to Hollywood, and wants to buy 10 TV shows

Game on.<p>Apple is officially open for business in Hollywood.<p>The company is telling content makers it wants to spend $1 billion on its own stuff over the next year. That’s music to studios’ ears, and a tune they have been expecting for some time — especially after Apple hired two top Sony TV …

Nokia finally has a flagship Android phone and it's beautiful

At last, Nokia has a true flagship Android phone to get excited about.<p>It's called the Nokia 8 and unlike Nokia's existing Androids -- the 3, 5 and 6 -- this one is a real powerhouse.<p>At its core is a top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB of RAM. I've already run some benchmark tests and …

Barack Obama's Charlottesville tweet is now the most-liked in history

A tweet sent by former US President Barack Obama last week just became the most-liked in Twitter’s history.<p>The tweet was made in response to the tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left three people dead. It shows a picture of Obama greeting several children of different ethnicities, …