All Things Tech

GiveVision , the U.K. startup creating wearable technology to help “ restore ” sight to people with visual impairments, is partnering with Sony (via the Sony UK Technology Centre) to develop and manufacture its next generation device . Specifically, GiveVision says it will be working with Sony UK Tec to help bring to market a new, lightweight version of the startup’s “SightPlus” device. This will including condensing its existing “vision enhancing” technology into a single pair of glasses. The idea is to make it a lot more practical and less socially awkward for the person wearing the device. “The collaboration with Sony will add to the expertise of the existing GiveVision team, and provide world leading technology expertise around camera, display and smartphone innovation, as well as a global manufacturing footprint,” says GiveVision. As part of the collaboration, GiveVision will be relocating its design office to the Sony UK Tec facility in Wales in the U.K. To date, GiveVision ...

Tesla said Monday it has started delivering the Model Y crossover to customers in the U.S., hitting a milestone one year after unveiling the prototype and six months ahead of schedule. Reports of deliveries started last week. The tweet from Tesla, which included a video of the Model Y being assembled and then hitting the road, made it official. Tesla announced in January that production of the Model Y had started with plans to begin the first deliveries of the all-electric compact crossover by the end of the first quarter. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the time that the company would initially produce a limited volume of the Model Y. When Musk unveiled last March a prototype of the Model Y, he predicted the vehicle would hit the marketplace in fall 2020. At the time of the unveiling, the Model Y looked strikingly similar to the Model 3 . Now that Tesla has started deliveries and released the owner’s manual to the Model Y, it’s easier to spot how its different or the same as the Mo...

Monzo , the U.K. challenger bank, is officially launching business bank accounts today, after an extensive trial period over the last 12 months that saw early access given to 2,500 business customers. Perhaps surprisingly, right out of the gate Monzo is offering two versions of its business bank account — which is aimed at sold traders and SMEs — a free account and a premium paid-for account, confirming our scoop from last week . The free Monzo business account is called “Business Lite” and has a feature-set similar to Monzo’s consumer account, in addition to providing web access not just mobile app-based banking. The paid business account is called “Business Pro” and costs £5 per month. It has a host of business features, including “Tax Pots,” which lets businesses put aside a percentage of inbound payments in preparation for a future tax bill (a simple but fairly ingenious feature), integration with third-party accounting software, multi-user accounts, and in-app invoicing tools...

As schools around the world close or move classes online to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, many parents and educators are scrambling for ideas. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) has assembled an online guide with links to distance learning apps and other resources. According to UNESCO, “an unprecedented number of children, youth and adults are not attending schools or universities because of COVID-19,” with governments in 100 countries having announced or implemented closures. In 85 countries, schools nationwide have been closed, affecting more than 776.7 million children. In addition to a list of national learning portals , UNESCO is also updating a list of digital education tools , including digital learning management systems like ClassDojo and Google Classroom; apps designed for smart featurephones like KaiOS; and software with a strong offline component, including Can’t Wait to Learn, Kolibri, Rumie and Ustad Mobile. The list also ...

In an unprecedented move to reassure customers and flag the potential for misinformation about COVID-19 on their platforms, all of the major social media companies and their parent corporations issued a joint statement on their efforts. “We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe,” the statement read. Joint Industry Statement from @Facebook , @google , @LinkedIn , @Microsoft , @reddit , @Twitter and @YouTube https://t.co/8H1XVFt2N0 pic.twitter.com/GGJdX7mFKb — Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) March 17, 2020 Last week, U.S Chief Technology Officer Michael Michael Kratsios held a remote meeting with representatives from major tech companies on how to coordinate various efforts related to COVID-19, including fighting disnformation. The Washington Post and Politico reported that the White House asked Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Cisco and Twitter for help. The World Health Organization’s director-general sai...

While companies might pay for a CEO coach, lower level employees often get stuck with lame skill-building worksheets or no mentorship at all. Not only does that limit their potential productivity, but it also makes them feel stagnated and undervalued, leading them to jump ship. Therapy…err…executive coaching is finally becoming destigmatized as entrepreneurs and their teams realize that everyone can’t be crushing it all the time. Building a business is hard. It’s okay to cry sometimes. But the best thing you can do is be vulnerable and seek help. Torch emerged from stealth last year with $18 million in funding to teach empathy to founders and C-suite execs. Since 2013, Everwise has raised $26 million from Sequoia and others for its peer-to-peer mentorship marketplace that makes workplace guidance accessible to rank-and-file staffers.  Tomorrow they’ll official announce their merger under the Torch name to become a full-stack career coach for every level of employee. “As huma...

Event organizers were the first to be hit hard. As fear of the spread of Covid-19 began to sweep cities and countries around the world last month, one by one, large conferences with long uninterrupted histories —  Mobile World Congress, South by Southwest — began reluctantly pulling the plug on their plans. It wasn’t just a shock for these organizations; it will cost them and the vendors with which they work and surrounding service providers like hotels and car services millions of dollars in lost revenue. Little wonder that many of those involved in the planning of such events are now testing the power of force majeure clauses, which are a typical provision in contracts that excuses a party’s performance of its obligations when confronted with circumstances beyond its control. Yet they won’t be alone for long. With every passing day, it’s become clear that event organizers were just the proverbial canaries in the coal mine. As the world shuts down and people are urged to qu...

This week brings another batch of Democratic primaries, this time in Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. But a lot has changed since Super Tuesday. Lately, a lot changes every hour. In a joint statement last Friday, top election officials from the four states with a primary scheduled on March 17 addressed concerns about COVID-19. “Americans have participated in elections during challenging times in the past, and based on the best information we have from public health officials, we are confident that voters in our states can safely and securely cast their ballots in this election, and that otherwise healthy poll workers can and should carry out their patriotic duties on Tuesday,” they wrote. Three days after Ohio’s top election official reassured voters that the primaries would continue as planned, the state’s situation seemed to be in flux. On Monday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine supported an eleventh hour lawsuit to push the state’s primary back. “We cannot tell people to stay inside...

The rise of the cloud over the past decade has forced software developers and DevOps engineers to completely rearchitect the modern web application, ensuring scalability, performance, and security. That’s a really painful proposition when done manually, which is where HashiCorp comes in to play. The company’s suite of products helps everyone in the tech workforce from IT admins to software developers operate in the cloud (mostly) effortlessly and natively. The company’s products have long garnered rave reviews from technical staffs, and now the company is looking at a brand new massive valuation. The SF-based startup announced today that it has raised $175 million in Series E financing from Franklin Templeton Investments at a scorching $5.1 billion valuation. For context, when we last covered the company back in late 2018 , its valuation was only a “paltry” $1.9 billion following a $100 million round led by growth investor IVP. HashiCorp scores $100M investment on $1.9 billion ...

Y Combinator’s Demo Day has historically drawn crowds of investors and journalists into a big warehouse to watch hundreds of startups come out to the public for the first time ever. Think two minute pitches, a big audience, and tons of networking opportunities after.  This year, citing COVID-19 concerns , the accelerator canceled its in-person Demo Day and moved it to online-only,  a week earlier than expected . You need to be pre-approved to access the list of companies, and more than 1,200 investors RSVPd.  So while there won’t be the usual flurry of live tweets and on the ground reporting, TechCrunch caught up with YC CEO Michael Seibel to go the behind-the-scenes on this year’s batch, nonetheless. It’s Seibel’s second equity appearance, so we skipped the housekeeping and got right into the good stuff. SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 07: Y Combinator Partner Michael Seibel speaks onstage during Day 3 of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 at Moscone Center on September 7, 201...

TransferWise , the London-headquartered international money transfer service most recently valued by investors at $3.5 billion, has partnered with China’s Aliplay for international transfers. The launch enables TransferWise’s now 7 million-plus users to be able to send Chinese yuan from 17 currencies to users of Alipay, which serves more than 1.2 billion people worldwide including via its local e-wallet partners. Promising “instant” money transfers — under 20 seconds, apparently — TransferWise users simply need the recipient’s name and Alipay ID to initiate a money transfer. The money will then be sent to the bank account linked to the recipient’s Alipay profile. It could be a potentially smart bit of business by TransferWise, which has sometimes struggled to secure the kind of partnerships that can accelerate its customer base and increase transaction volume. According to a 2019 report, the fintech is citing, China is projected to be one of the top remittance recipient countrie...

Noah Lichtenstein Contributor Share on Twitter Noah Lichtenstein is the founder and managing partner of Crossover , a diversified private technology fund backed by institutional investors, technology execs and professional athletes and entertainers. More posts by this contributor What Studying Students Teaches Us About Great Apps I’ll admit it: When it comes to food, I’m lazy. There are dozens of great dining options within a few blocks of my home, yet I still end up ordering food through delivery apps four or five times per week. With the growing coronavirus pandemic closing restaurants and consumers self-isolating, it is likely we will see a spike in food delivery much like the 20% jump China reported during the peak of its crisis. With the food delivery sector rocketing toward a projected $365 billion by the end of the decade, I’m clearly not the only one turning to delivery apps even before the pandemic hit. Thanks to technology (and VC funding) we can get a ri...

Earlier today, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a shelter-in-place order in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 . The order legally requires people to stay home as much as possible unless it’s essential that they leave to do things like go to the grocery store, buy gas or go to the pharmacy. So, no more going out to restaurants, gyms or nightclubs. Residents can, however, still order food for delivery from restaurants, as well as take Uber and Lyft rides, but “only for essential travel.” That means workers for Postmates, Instacart, DoorDash, and UberEats are still on the hook for delivering food to people, and rideshare drivers transporting passengers are at risk of contracting the virus. As some gig workers have advocated since the beginning of the year, it’s time for California to fully enforce gig worker protections law AB 5 to ensure all of these workers have access to paid sick leave, disability, family leave and unemployment insurance. Recently, Gig Workers Risi...

After several weeks worth of leaks, the latest version of Apple/Beat’s Powerbeats arrive this week. One key thing many of the rumors got wrong is the name. There will be no Powerbeats 4 — not for now, at least. Instead, the company’s somewhat confusingly doing away with the number scheme in favor of the simpler “Powerbeats” name. The name is, in part, to distinguish the bluetooth headphones from the well-regarded Powerbeats Pro. The new models adopt a number of new features from those truly wireless earbuds, while maintaining the familiar tethered design. Powerbeats Pro are the Bluetooth earbuds to beat No doubt some prefer that design. Frankly, I’m a bigger fan of the Pros, though I can see where the ability to let the headphones dangle around one’s neck while not in use would have its appeal. If that’s not a great selling point, how about the headphones’ stated 15 hours of battery life nine on-board hours? Of course, the Pros get a full 24 when you include the giant case. Th...

A human clinical trial of a potential vaccine for the new coronavirus will begin on Monday, the AP reports . The trial, which will test the effects of an experimental vaccine shot developed by the National Institutes of Health and drugmaker Moderna, won’t make use of either an active or inactive sample of the virus, as is common for vaccines, but will instead use a gene-based method that uses messenger RNA to trigger an immune response in the target individual. The Wall Street Journal reported on the vaccine being developed by Moderna in February , which is a relatively young company built around this gene-based approached to drug therapy development. At the time, the paper reported that testing was set to begin in April, but it seems like the change in the situation globally between the end of February and today have accelerated the timelines involved. That said, any final validation of a vaccine, even if it proves effective in trials, is at least a year to 18 months out according t...

The wheels of the regulatory machine continue to turn, and today Apple, along with two of its wholesale partners, was dealt a major blow in France over antitrust violations, by receiving the biggest-ever fine levelled against a business over anti-competitive practices and “sterilizing the market” for Apple products, specifically as they are sold across a range of Apple Stores, large “big box” retailers and smaller, independent resellers. Apple, along with its wholesale distribution partners Ingram Micro and Tech Data, have been accused and fined by the French competition authority (Autorité de la Concurrence), over operating a cartel —  affecting pricing and who could sell products — for virtually all  Apple products including computers and tablets, but not the iPhone (which is often sold via mobile phone distributors and carriers). Apple is being ordered to pay up €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion), while Tech Data was fined €76.1 million and Ingram Micro €62.9 million in the fine....

The European Commission put out a call Friday for startups and small businesses which are developing technologies that could help combat the COVID-19 outbreak to apply for fast-track EU funding. The push is related to a €164M pot of money that’s being made available for R&D via the European Innovation Council (EIC) — a European Union funding vehicle which supports the commercialization of high risk, high impact technologies. We are calling for startups and small businesses with technologies and innovations in: treating testing monitoring other aspects of #COVID19 Apply for fast-track EU funding – deadline 17:00 CET on 18 March ↓ — European Commission (@EU_Commission) March 15, 2020 Per the Commission, the funding does not have any particular thematic priorities attached to it but it said today it will look to “fast track the awarding of EIC grants and blended finance (combining grant and equity investment) to Coronavirus relevant innovations, as well as to fa...