Browsing Category: Tech News

  • This Week in Apps: Protests impact app stores, FTC fines app developer, kids’ app trends

    Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People are now spending three hours and 40 minutes …

    June 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • PhotoRoom automagically removes background from your photo

    Meet PhotoRoom, a French startup that has been working on a utility photography mobile app. The concept is extremely simple, which is probably the reason why it has attracted a ton of downloads over the past few months. After selecting a photo, PhotoRoom removes the background from that photo and lets you select another background. …

    June 5, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Signal now has built-in face blurring for photos

    Apps like Signal are proving invaluable in these days of unrest, and anything we can do to simplify and secure the way we share sensitive information is welcome. To that end Signal has added the ability to blur faces in photos sent via the app, making it easy to protect someone’s identity without leaving any …

    June 4, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Watchful is a mobile product intelligence startup that surfaces unreleased features

    Meet Watchful, a Tel Aviv-based startup coming out of stealth that wants to help you learn more about what your competitors are doing when it comes to mobile app development. The company tries to identify features that are being tested before getting rolled out to everyone, giving you an advantage if you’re competing with those …

    June 3, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Podcast app Majelan pivots to premium audio content around personal growth

    French startup Majelan is pivoting a year after launching a podcast player and service. The company, created by former Radio France CEO Mathieu Gallet and Arthur Perticoz, is ditching the podcast aggregation side of its business and focusing on premium audio content going forward. Like many podcast startups, Majelan faced some criticism shortly after its …

    June 2, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Decrypted: iOS 13.5 jailbreak, FBI slams Apple, VCs talk cybersecurity

    It was a busy week in security. Newly released documents shown exclusively to TechCrunch show that U.S. immigration authorities used a controversial cell phone snooping technology known as a “stingray” hundreds of times in the past three years. Also, if you haven’t updated your Android phone in a while, now would be a good time …

    June 2, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Android update delivers new ‘Bedtime’ features focused on improving sleep

    At Google’s 2018 I/O developer conference, the company debuted a new suite of “digital well-being” aimed at helping Android users better manage their screen time. At its 2019 event, it expanded its tools’ capabilities and improved the related parental controls. Although Google I/O isn’t taking place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company …

    June 1, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Global smartphone sales plummeted 20% in Q1, thanks to COVID-19

    More dismal numbers confirm what we already knew: Q1 2020 was real rough for an already struggling smartphone category. Gartner’s latest report puts the global market at a 20.2% slide versus the same time last year, thanks in large part to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Every single one of the global top-five manufactures saw …

    June 1, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Scandit raises $80M as COVID-19 drives demand for contactless deliveries

    Enterprise barcode scanner company Scandit has closed an $80 million Series C round, led by Silicon Valley VC firm G2VP. Atomico, GV, Kreos, NGP Capital, Salesforce Ventures and Swisscom Ventures also participated in the round — which brings its total raised to date to $123M. The Zurich-based firm offers a platform that combines computer vision …

    May 26, 2020 | by Raheel