Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September, 2020

Google Pixel 5 leaked in full hours ahead of launch event

Jon Prosser strikes again! What you need to know The Google Pixel 5 has been leaked. Images reveal a fully-working device in retail demo mode. It comes hours before Google's September 30 event to announce the phone. Google is hosting its Pixel 5 launch event later this evening, and just hours before the event, Jon Prosser has leaked photos of the new device in full. Posted to Twitter this morning by Prosser were the following images: Late night Pixel 5 leak, if you’re up. 👋 pic.twitter.com/Jtegn7x4iH — Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) September 30, 2020 The leaked photos look at whole lot like previous leaks of the phone that we've seen, featuring a small, hole-punch camera on the front, metal chassis, and a dual-set of rear cameras. Previously it has been rumored the Pixel 5, will ship with a 6-inch 90Hz FHD+ OLED display, Gorilla Glass 6, Snapdragon 765G, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Keeping all of it running will be a 4,000mAh battery with fast-charging. The

October closes $300 million in new funds for its SME lending marketplace

French fintech startup October has raised some fresh capital to invest in small and medium companies on its lending platform. Overall, the company has gathered $300 million (€258 million) from various partners that will be deployed over the next few years. This is not a traditional startup funding round as today’s new investment is specifically designed to finance new loans on its platform. October isn’t selling equity in exchange for capital. October works with small companies in France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Germany that need a credit line. For small and medium companies, you can apply for a loan and get an answer just a few days later. October evaluates risk before handing out loans thanks to industry-specific data analysis and human analysts. Loans range from €30,000 to €5 million. There’s no personal guarantee and interest rate varies depending on the risk associated with your application. On the other side of the marketplace, individuals can contribute to SME fin

Emjoy picks up $3M to get more women tuned into sexual self-care

Barcelona-based Emjoy , an audio app for women that sells a narrative of sexual self-care and empowerment, has picked up $3 million in seed funding led by JME Ventures, with existing investor Nauta Capital participating. The femtech startup believes it has lit on a major opportunity to target women with sex-positive subscription audio content that’s focused on sexual empowerment, intimate education and sensuous entertainment — all wrapped in unapologetically direct digital marketing. Nor is it alone in seeking to build a brand around such ‘female first’ audio content. (Another startup that springs to mind in this ‘mindful sex’ space is Ferly , for example.) But Emjoy reckons there’s all to play for in this nascent space — which it says is benefitting not only from progress toward female empowerment in recent years but the rise in popularity of podcasting and audiobooks. “My inspiration for founding Emjoy is based on my personal experience and the experiences of many girlfriends of

Lee Fixel’s Addition leads $35 million investment in India’s Inshorts

Inshorts, which operates a popular news aggregator app in India, has raised $35 million in a new financing round led by Lee Fixel’s Addition as the Indian startup looks to scale its adjacent, social network platform. For Fixel, who wrote several high-profile checks to Indian firms while running Tiger Global , InShorts is the first Indian startup he is backing from his new VC firm. Fixel, who also invested in InShorts when he was at Tiger Global, has backed about six startups through Addition including New York Area-headquartered Odeko, which offers ordering and supply chain tools to cafes, Synk, which develops tools used to identify vulnerabilities, and dLocal, which operates a cross-border payment processor to connect global merchants to emerging markets. SIG Global and Tanglin Venture Partners, also participated in Inshorts’ new round, which values the startup at about $125 million, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Azhar Iqubal, founder and chief executive of

Apple Officially Retires Beats Updater Utility in Favor of Over-the-Air Firmware Updates

Apple has officially retired Beats Updater , the software utility that lets users update the firmware of their Beats Wireless headphones, earphones, and speakers. Beats Updater allows users to plug their Beats product directly into the USB port of their computer to check for firmware updates online, but with Apple's growing tendency to deliver over-the-air updates to wireless products via iOS and iPadOS, the company clearly feels the utility has reached the end of its life. Beats Updater is still available to download for use with the following products, but Apple says no new versions will be available in future. Beats Solo2 Wireless Beats Studio Wireless Powerbeats 2 Wireless Beats Pill 2.0 Powerbeats Powerbeats Pro Powerbeats3 Wireless Solo Pro Beats Solo3 Wireless Beats Studio3 Wireless BeatsX If you have one of the Beats headphones or earphones listed below, pairing them with your iPhone , iPad , or iPod touch will update them automatically.

OnePlus teases launch of a new Nord phone

OnePlus is likely to share more details about the upcoming phone in the coming days. What you need to know OnePlus will soon announce a new addition to its Nord series. The phone might debut alongside the OnePlus 8T on October 14. OnePlus is also working on an entry-level Nord phone codenamed "Clover." Earlier this month, we told you that a new OnePlus Nord phone with 5G support and a sub-$400 price tag would be coming to the U.S. later this year. OnePlus has now officially teased the launch of a new OnePlus Nord phone on Instagram, which suggests the Nord N10 5G could be unveiled soon. View this post on Instagram #ComingSoon A post shared by OnePlus Nord (@oneplus.nord) on Sep 28, 2020 at 6:00am PDT Since OnePlus is holding a virtual launch event on October 14 for the OnePlus 8T , it is possible that the Nord N10 will be unveiled alongside the flagship phone. The OnePlus Nord N10 5G will feature Qualcomm'

The OnePlus 7T is discounted to just $399 for a limited time

The OnePlus 7T It wasn't too long ago that we named the OnePlus 7T "the best of Android for under $600", but thanks to a limited-time sale at B&H right now, it's becoming the best of Android for less than $400. B&H has the unlocked OnePlus 7T on sale today for only $399. You'll even score free shipping with the purchase. This unlocked smartphone is suitable for use on GSM networks such as T-Mobile and AT&T. It's not intended to be used on CDMA networks like Verizon. The deal applies to both the glacier blue and frosted silver colorways. The OnePlus 7T is equipped with a large 6.55-inch display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 955+ octa-core processor. Along with 8GB RAM, it offers 128GB storage capacity and a sizeable 3800mAh battery to keep it powered all day long without needing to charge it. While it doesn't feature wireless charging capability, it does include the ability to fast charge at up to 30W. Along with running Android 10, this dev

5G is now available to millions of Americans, see if your city is included

The race for next gen wireless tech All of the major U.S. carriers are hard at work on their 5G strategy. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have launched 5G networks and are aggressively expanding those networks through 2019 and into 2020. Recently, Sprint's 5G network was devoured by T-Mobile and taken offline as T-Mobile recycles Sprint's spectrum. 5G service not only provides faster speeds but also reduced response times, allowing for new services and cloud computing not previously available. 5G is taking hold in the U.S. and it's no coincidence that many of the best 5G phones are also some of the best Android phones in general. For now, the major difference between LTE and 5G will be speed, but as coverage continues to roll out to new areas, more services that rely on instant connectivity should become possible. Jump to: Frequencies and coverage Verizon T-Mobile and Sprint AT&T Frequencies and coverage Carrier Bands Verizon n261 (28GHz)

Baidu’s smart voice unit to raise independent round on $2.9B valuation

Baidu, China’s dominant search service and a leader in artificial intelligence research, is further diversifying into the smart voice space as its smart living group is poised to raise an independent round on a 20 billion yuan ($2.94 billion) post-money valuation. The fundraising move signals a potential spinoff of the smart living group down the road. The unit is best known for its voice assistant DuerOS, the search giant’s Alexa equivalent, which was active on 200 million devices including both Baidu’s own branded speaker and a variety of third-party gadgets as of early 2019. Baidu shipped around 15 million units of its Xiaodu speakers in 2019, making it the second-largest player in China following Alibaba and ahead of Xiaomi, according to market research firm IDC . Investors including Citic Private Equity Funds Management (CPE), state conglomerate Citic’s asset management firm, as well as Baidu’s venture arm Baidu Capital and IDG Capital, have entered definitive agreements t

Papaya Global raises $40M for a payroll and HR platform aimed at global workforces

Workforces are getting more global, and people who work day in, day out for organizations don’t always sit day in, day out in a single office, in a single country, to get a job done. Today, one of the startups building HR to help companies provision services for and manage those global workers better is announcing a funding round to capitalise on a surge in business that it has seen in the last year — spurred in no small part by the global health pandemic, the impact it’s had on travel and the way it has focused the minds of companies to get their cloud services and workforce management in order. Papaya Global , an Israeli startup that provides cloud-based payroll, as well as hiring, onboarding and compliance services for organizations that employ full-time, part-time, or contractors outside of their home country, has raised $40 million in a Series B round of funding led by Scale Venture Partners. Workday Ventures — the corporate investment arm of the HR company — Access Industries (v

Salesforce creates for profit platform to help governments distribute COVID vaccine when it’s ready

For more than 20 years , Salesforce has been selling cloud business software, but it has also used the same platform to build ways to track other elements besides sales, marketing and service information including Work.com, the platform it created earlier this year to help companies develop and organize a safe way to begin returning to work during the pandemic. Today, the company announced it was putting that same platform to work to help distribute and track a vaccine whenever it becomes available along with related materials like syringes that will be needed to administer it. The plan is to use Salesforce tools to solve logistical problems around distributing the vaccine, as well as data to understand where it could be needed most and the efficacy of the drug, according to Bill Patterson, EVP and general manager for CRM applications at Salesforce. “The next wave of the virus phasing, if you will, will be [when] a vaccine is on the horizon, and we begin planning the logistics. Can

TravelPerk launches an open API platform to extend its work trip SaaS

Business travel SaaS startup,  TravelPerk , has launched an open API-based platform — letting its customers and partners build custom integration and apps. The initial APIs covers HR and expense management use-cases but more are set to be added as usage and demand grows. “Applications we’ve seen being built on the platform already include HR functionality (think BambooHR), expense management systems, company payment cards, financial reporting, and ERP,” says co-founder and CEO Avi Meir, discussing the launch. Longer term he says the hope is the platform generates “a huge range” of additional functionality for customers to draw on. “Many of our customers are tech companies full of developers, so we’re confident that if we give them the tools it will be boundless what they can create,” he adds. “In fact, we’re working with one customer already who is using our API to build a custom approvals process because they need a more complex system than the standard offering.” TravelPerk ha