If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em. Apple is in discussions with Tidal about acquiring its music streaming app, which offers exclusives and early releases from big artists like Beyonce and Kanye West. The Wall Street Journal reports that the talks are still early and might not end in a deal, but Apple wants those exclusives to bolster its Apple Music streaming app that’s… Read More
After nearly 30 years of dutiful serve to New York City’s Apple community, Manhattan-based retailer Tekserve will be closing its doors for the last time later this summer. It’s yet another sign of the times for a computer market that has shifted dramatically since Apple took computer selling into its own slick and well-lit hands back in 2001. “This is a cultural… Read More
Figuratively, of course. The companies are at it again, and this time it’s not only bothersome to the businesses themselves, but to the end consumer. Going to the next level in an on-going spat over Apple’s subscription rules, it would appear that Apple has rejected Spotify’s latest update to its app in late May, citing business model issues. Shortly before that, Spotify… Read More
Google is bringing long awaited multi-stop directions to mobile with its new summer update. Travelers can now hit as many tourist traps as they want on their cross country treks. Just like in the web version, users can swiftly rearrange the order of stops. Android users will get the feature first, followed by iOS in the near future. The summer update caps off an active week for Maps.… Read More
When people participate in events like the AIDS Walk San Francisco, which raises money for Bay Area organizations that are fighting the AIDS epidemic, you often see people post on Facebook that they’re looking for donations. Today, Facebook is rolling out the ability for everyday people to fundraise on behalf of non-profit organizations. This user-focused tool is an extension of a… Read More
Tax authorities in Spain have raided Google’s offices in Madrid as part of an investigating into tax evasion and fraud, TechCrunch understands. Local press and the Reuters news agency are also reporting the raids. Read More
If you live anywhere near an earthquake zone (hello, San Francisco!), chances are you’ve occasionally wondered whether what you felt was an earthquake or just the rumbling of a heavy truck driving by (or whether it was a minor nearby earthquake or a big one farther away). Starting today, you can simply use Google (desktop and mobile) and search for ‘earthquake’ or… Read More
Google started making investments in a number of undersea cables back in 2008, but one of its largest investments was the $300 million it invested in the FASTER cable between Japan and the U.S. West Coast. Back in 2014, Google announced that it was joining a consortium of six companies, including NEC, China Mobile, China Telecom, Global Transit and KDDI, to better connect the two countries.… Read More
Those core values are that friends and family come first, that the feed should inform and entertain, that Facebook is a platform for all ideas, that authentic communication beats spam, that you have the controls to hide or highlight what you want, and that Facebook will keep iterating to improve the experience. Facebook is also making a feed ranking change today that literally puts its… Read More
The aptly named Ok-Google.io is the big ol’ massive list of “Ok, Google” commands that Google is too proud to build right into Android. It’s gorgeous, it’s easy to navigate, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to teach you at least one trick you didn’t know Google Now could handle. Read More
This weekend was the annual San Francisco Pride Parade. The event drew over a million spectators and participation from many of the tech world’s most recognizable companies. Over 30 tech companies marched in this year’s parade. Whether you were there in person or in spirit, SF Pride withdrawal has already started. We here at TechCrunch decided to do a recap of some of the… Read More
These days, if a celebrity launches their own game, it is likely with Glu Mobile. Known for their free-to-play mobile games, the publicly traded company lists more than 100 games, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Transformers, Guitar Hero and Deer Hunter. But since late 2014, the team has moved away from building known gaming titles to new personalized star-focused franchises. After topping… Read More
Twitch announced Monday that users would soon be able to “cheer” their favorite streamers — in the form of expendable emoji purchasable with real-world money. Details were rather scarce so I pressed them — and then, almost certainly unrelated to that, the company provided more details. (It’s a penny per bit.) Read More
Does Facebook suggest new friends based on your location? The answer seems to change day by day. Yesterday, Fusion reported that Facebook uses location data to make friend suggestions and pointed out that this could lead to unfortunate privacy mishaps. Users could find themselves outed in situations that ought to be anonymous (for instance, Facebook might recommend that a user add a friend from… Read More
People who love Google+ sure love Google+. That hasn’t changed since Google first launched what at the time seemed like a credible Facebook competitor back in June 2011. If you’re a Google+ fan, today is a day to celebrate: Against all odds, your favorite social network turned five today. For everybody else, the fact that Google+ is still online may come as a surprise. The number… Read More
People who love Google+ sure love Google+. That hasn’t changed since Google first launched what at the time seemed like a credible Facebook competitor back in June 2011. If you’re a Google+ fan, today is a day to celebrate: Against all odds, your favorite social network turned five today. For everybody else, the fact that Google+ is still online may come as a surprise. The number… Read More
Apple knows that the battle for people’s pockets is going to be fought in part in the photography space. With iOS 10, the company is making it even easier to get to the camera in a hurry, but in an effort to remind people that they’re already carrying a great camera around with them, Apple is launching a new round of its popular Shot on iPhone advertising campaign. Read More
Apple knows that the battle for people’s pockets is going to be fought in part in the photography space. With iOS 10, the company is making it even easier to get to the camera in a hurry, but in an effort to remind people that they’re already carrying a great camera around with them, Apple is launching a new round of its popular Shot on iPhone advertising campaign. Read More
Facebook colonized the internet with its Like button that sees 10 billion views per day around the web. Now it’s getting a makeover for mobile alongside the launch of two new Save and Share Chrome extensions that let you capture content from any site. Together, these updates should help fill the News Feed with news stories from around the web, and turn Facebook into a more… Read More
This week is the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference in Las Vegas, and Google researchers have several accomplishments to present. They’ve taught computer vision systems to detect the most important person in a scene, to pick out and track individual body parts, and to describe what they see in language that leaves nothing to the imagination. Read More
Next-gen edtech and virtual reality are both high-stakes platforms that have quite a bit of potential when it comes to defining our near-future. The marriage of the platforms may be far from ready for primetime, but there is a lot of flirtation happening in the space right now thanks to some major players. Today, Google for Education announced that it will be adding integration of… Read More
Facebook is testing a new option designed to highlight the company’s ability to handle person-to-person payments through its Messenger chat application. The company confirmed it has added a new option in its flagship app’s main navigation titled “Send or Request Money.” The feature will move Facebook users into Messenger in order to manage payments, or it sends them… Read More
Twitter is in trouble. In a move out of a middle school flag-football game, Microsoft selected LinkedIn to join its team. The sheer size of the transaction has reignited conversations about who will be picked next to join the super special circle of public mega-cap tech companies. Vultures have been circling Twitter for well over a year, but the company has defied all experts who have… Read More
Twitter is in trouble. In a move out of a middle school flag-football game, Microsoft selected LinkedIn to join its team. The sheer size of the transaction has reignited conversations about who will be picked next to join the super special circle of public mega-cap tech companies. Vultures have been circling Twitter for well over a year, but the company has defied all experts who have… Read More
550 million people use Facebook Events each month, with 60% of connections to events happening serendipitously in the News Feed. But Facebook is giving hardcore extroverts seeking more parties a new Featured Events list full of hand-picked gatherings. Starting today, iOS users in 10 US cities will see the option for Featured Events in a carousel atop their list of upcoming soirees. Read More
