Fleex now lets you learn English by streaming Netflix shows
When I first covered Fleex, it was a neat little video player that let you learn English using your favorite movies or TV shows. Since then, Reverso has acqu-hired the team behind Fleex and now plans to relaunch the language learning platform with a new killer feature — Netflix shows. Maybe I’m biased because it’s basically how I learned English, but I think watching all… Read MoreAmity’s interactive messaging app one-ups iOS 10’s iMessage, and works on Android, too
With the forthcoming arrival of iOS 10, iMessage is finally getting a much-needed revamp that will see it incorporating third-party apps, as well as more engaging and interactive features like message bubbles, animations, handwriting, tapbacks, invisible ink, and more. But unless your friends are also on iOS 10, you won’t be able to use these additions in your group chats. However, a… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
Stop applying tech principles to consumer startups
When you hear “startup,” you probably think of Facebook, Airbnb or Uber before Casper or Blue Bottle Coffee. But while companies that produce tangible goods like food and clothing receive less media attention, they’re proving just as innovative as their more high-profile tech counterparts. Read More Molotov raises $4.5 million from Sky as part of a bigger round
British media company Sky just disclosed an investment of $4.5 million (€4 million) in French startup Molotov. From what we’ve heard and according to Sky’s statement, this is just a fraction of a bigger round that is going to be announced at a later date. “This investment is part of a larger Molotov financing round,” the release says. The reason why Sky is announcing… Read MoreRobots and on-board ovens deliver on Zume’s promise of better pizza
Today, in a world of bacon-wrapped crust and custom-modified Chevys with pizza warmers, being excited about pizza is just not as easy as it used to be. Zume Pizza founder Julia Collins and her Elon Musk-esque approach to pizza doesn’t care much for the rest of the pizza industry. In her mind, the pizzavations of the previous decades are irrelevant if the pies arrive soggy, cold and… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
Star Trek and Harry Potter have ruined business travel
Most of us techies agree that optimal travel is teleportation or apparition. The dream is instantaneous point-to-point transport. All business transportation should be evaluated based on how close it comes to this ideal. Because modern travel isn’t instantaneous, our main metrics are productivity and convenience. Optimizing travel requires balancing speed with simplicity and flexibility. Read More Blue Apron’s “Farm Egg” makes me question everything
Farm egg. It may seem as simple as just that. An egg. The food that Atkins and Paleo diets made popular once again. The food that draws one of many dividing lines between vegetarians and vegans. But this particular egg is one of the more layered, even scrambled (if you will), symbols of Silicon Valley startup-dom. It’s easy to dismiss the Yos of the tech world as outliers, but much harder… Read MoreAd-blocking browser Brave launches payments, so you can support sites with cash, not ad clicks
The ad-blocking web browser Brave, co-founded by Mozilla’s former CEO Brendan Eich, is today rolling out its grand experiment “Brave Payments,” which will encourage web users to reward their favorite sites by automatically and anonymously sending them Bitcoin-based micropayments. The idea here is fairly radical — online publishers have always relied on ad revenue to… Read MoreNetatmo launches valves to turn your dumb, dumb radiator into a smart one
Turning your good old radiator into a connected, smart radiator could be a dream of yours. Imagine being able to control the temperature of each radiator individually without having to move from the couch! If that’s your thing, Netatmo just announced Netatmo Valves. As the name suggest, these devices replace the existing valves on your radiator. Netatmo has already released a smart… Read More
Boku locks down another $13.75M to fund carrier connections for global expansion
Global mobile payments company Boku announced a $13.75 million funding round today led by a consortium of UK investors. The company had previously raised approximately $77.25 million from Khosla Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Index Ventures, Benchmark, and Andreessen Horowitz among others. The relatively small round, within the greater context of the company’s past… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
Seattle angel investor Jon Staenberg on the state of startup investing
Q: Gil Penchina (the top-ranked angel on AngelList) said one of the things he has learned about investing is how little control he has on the outcome. Do you feel the same way? Absolutely. Most investors like to pretend they add a ton of value and expertise but they don’t. I am clear about it. The value I add is in having a good enough relationship with the founder so that when… Read More HSN’s first pitch-off competition goes in search of the next big consumer product
HSN is looking for the next big American consumer product. Today, 100 makers and entrepreneurs from around the U.S. will pitch their products for a chance to win airtime on HSN, a listing on HSN.com, a piece in Good Housekeeping magazine and its “Seal of Approval,” following testing. The products will come from across categories, like home, kitchen, toys, productivity, and yes… Read MoreGlint raises $27 million to stop solid employees from bailing
Redwood City-based Glint has raised $27 million in a Series C round of venture funding for software that helps companies figure out how their teams are experiencing problems, or why and when solid employees may leave, undesirably. Glint replaces the traditional 360-review tools used by corporate HR teams and executives with short, anonymous surveys sent out once in a while to specific groups… Read MoreQrates lets you press your hot beats onto vinyl
Hello, fellow young people! I, like you, love vinyl. It offers richer, more realistic (pet) sounds and it is great for lugging from squat house to squat house and for sharing on a portable record player while you enjoy some fine beverages on the front stoop of your Williamsburg duplex. But how can you press your own music onto vinyl with a minimum of (hot) fuss? A Tokyo-based team has the answer. Read MoreSunrise was the best calendar app ever and now I feel lost
Update: Sunrise isn’t shutting down just yet. Servers will keep running until more Sunrise features are ported over to Outlook’s calendar feature, then they’ll shut down. I’ve been looking for a good replacement for a few months. While there are many mobile calendar apps out there, none of them come close to Sunrise as they’re not as polished and well-designed. Read MoreCoursera expands into corporate learning and development
Coursera, the education tech platform that offers online courses from prestigious colleges and universities, is branching into corporate learning and development and has officially launched Coursera for Business today. Coursera CEO Rick Levin, formerly the president of Yale University, told TechCrunch that the move was a natural one for the startup. “We have 21 million registered… Read MoreBylined crowdsources product photos for brands
A startup from Columbus called BYLINED is aiming to make it a bit easier for brands and people to come together in a win/win situation resulting in more unique photography. Through their free app and photo ecosystem, BYLINED enables brands, agencies or publishers to issue a request for a certain type of photo—an assignment or commission so to speak—that people with smartphones… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
How the startup economy is replacing the traditional resume
A group of five engineers and product people get together, raise some angel funding, build a startup, make little to no money and sell for $10 million. What just happened? Common narratives assert that it’s the tech bubble; it’s a naive acqui-hire; it’s collective irrationality. Maybe it’s something else altogether: a fundamental shift in how we compensate the extreme… Read More
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