Machina Labs today announced a $14 million Series A for its robotics and AI-based manufacturing. The round, led by Innovation Endeavors and featuring Congruent Ventures and Embark Ventures, brings the Los Angeles firm’s total funding to $16.3 million to date. The news also finds the company effectively coming out of stealth, following pilots with NASA […]
Why MoviePass’ co-founder bought back the brand
News broke yesterday that MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes purchased ownership of the beleaguered brand for an undisclosed sum. The transaction follows one of the more spectacular tech flameouts in recent memory. The service was plagued by ever-changing price tiers, blowback from the country’s biggest theater chain and major issues with its app. Spikes tells TechCrunch […]
CMU’s new Robotics Institute director on the future of robot research
After two years serving in an interim capacity, Professor Srinivasa Narasimhan will be stepping aside as Carnegie Mellon welcomes the sixth director of its Robotics Institute. A graduate of CMU’s School of Computer Science in 2005, Matthew Johnson-Roberson arrives at the school after stints as an associate professor of engineering at University of Michigan’s Department […]
Amazon is adding a Venmo checkout option next year
PayPal today announced that Amazon.com will be adding a Venmo option to checkout for users in the U.S., starting next year. The news arrived as the online payment giant announced solid third quarter results, with a 13% year-over-year revenue increase. Beginning at some point in 2022, Amazon shoppers will be able to link their accounts […]
Mixing the personal with the professional in startup fundraising
For CapitalG’s Laela Sturdy and Webflow’s Vlad Magdalin, the investor/startup relationship has become a kind of genuine friendship.
Teaching robots to socialize
Politeness doesn’t really amount to much when you’re programmed to get from point A to point B. But if robots are going to play an increased role in human society, questions arise around how precisely they’ll get along with the rest of us. “Robots will live in our world soon enough and they really need […]
Meta (Facebook) is buying Within, creators of the ‘Supernatural’ VR fitness app
A day after Facebook’s rebranding as Meta (and simultaneous and unceremonious dropping of the Oculus brand), the company announced that it is acquiring Within. The Los Angeles firm is the developer of Supernatural, a Beat Saber-style workout app, Supernatural has been one of the real success stories in virtual reality fitness, with movement-based high-impact cardio […]
macOS Monterey is now live
The last year and a half has been a major eye opener for countless industries. As many white-collar employees have moved from offices to remote work, it has drawn into sharp focus just how ill-equipped many home setups are for hour after hour of Zoom calls. Even as sales of PCs and tablets saw a […]
Google revamps its smartphone line with the Pixel 6
May of 2020 marked the end of an era for the Pixel. Google’s team lost a few key players, as it looked forward toward a transformative future. Understandably so. The Pixel has never been bad a phone (though it’s had some struggles through the years), so much as an unremarkable one. But in an era […]
Facebook Portal Go review
Since its earliest days, the Portal line has been plagued by one major question: why? Not so much why did Facebook make it (for that I give you the following: $$$), but rather, why should people be interested, given Amazon and Google’s respective head starts in both the smart assistant and display categories? In addition […]