Month: January 2023

Burned by layoffs, tech workers are rethinking risk

by

Tech isn’t as collegial as it used to be. Rocket ships are being unveiled as sputtering messes, mission-driven startups don’t feel so mission-oriented when responding to investor pressure, and widespread layoffs offer a loud reminder that jobs are breakable contracts, not sacrosanct vows. Over the past few months, thousands of employees from Meta, Twitter, Stripe, … Read more

With Kokomo VR meeting software, Canon takes a step away from its hardware roots

by

Canon has a long and deep history of being a hardware manufacturer. Most consumers know it best as a camera manufacturer, but the company has a long, deep and illustrious history in medical, office equipment, and other imaging applications. During the pandemic, a lot of its business shifted. People stopped going to offices. Sporting events … Read more

What Luminar’s acquisition of startup Civil Maps means for its lidar future

by

As lidar company Luminar pushed ahead to meet its goals for 2022 — milestones that included locking in new commercial contracts with unnamed automakers and shipping production-ready sensors to SAIC — it also snapped up a small HD mapping startup called Civil Maps. The acquisition, which was disclosed Wednesday during Luminar founder and CEO Austin … Read more

Impulse Space will hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Transporter-9 for first mission later this year

by

In-space transportation startup Impulse Space will head to orbit aboard a SpaceX rideshare mission later this year, as it seeks to prove out its orbital maneuvering and servicing technology for the first time. While there’s always major pressure before an inaugural demonstration, there will likely be more eyes on Impulse’s mission than usual. That’s not … Read more

Daily Crunch: Salesforce CEO admits ‘we hired too many people’ as company lays off +7,000 employees

by

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello, and welcome to the middle of the week. CES is starting tomorrow, so bookmark TechCrunch’s dedicated CES page to catch up on all the happenings. Now, onto the news!  — Christine … Read more

Bankruptcy judge rules Celsius Network owns users’ interest-bearing crypto accounts

by

A federal bankruptcy judge ruled cryptocurrencies deposited into interest-bearing accounts at Celsius Network, a now-bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform, actually belong to the firm – thanks to the fine print. The verdict gives Celsius ownership of the $4.2 billion in cryptocurrency that users deposited into its high-interest Earn program, according to a 45-page filing from the … Read more

Uranium and arsenic are in drinking water — but some communities have it worse than others

by

Signs warning of health risks are posted outside the gates of an abandoned uranium mine in the community of Red Water Pond on Monday, January 13th, 2020. | Image: The Washington Post / contributor via Getty Images A new analysis of uranium and arsenic contamination in drinking water shows ugly evidence of how environmental racism persists in … Read more

Twitter’s advanced search filters for mobile are on their way

by

Twitter is finally making a feature update that people actually want. According to social media analyst Matt Navarra, Twitter’s advanced search filters for mobile are coming soon. Here’s what they look like in practice: NEW! Twitter Advanced Search feature on iOS is coming soon https://t.co/ae56yE3JTU pic.twitter.com/xbQUpQJAlS — Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) January 4, 2023 The feature … Read more

Philips Hue is getting a $130 app for TVs

by

The new Hue app will sync lights to your TV content. | Image: Signify Signify, owner of the Philips Hue brand, is launching a Philips Hue Sync TV app for Samsung TVs. The $129.99 app will be available on Samsung’s 2022 or newer QLED TVs (Q60 or above) on January 5th and will synchronize everything … Read more

Luminar acquires lidar data company Civil Maps

by

Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Lidar hardware company Luminar announced it has acquired Civil Maps, a lidar data company based in San Francisco. The acquisition brings ultra-detailed and automatically updating 3D maps of various cities into Luminar’s fold as it plans to bring fully autonomous vehicles into reality. Luminar will integrate the … Read more