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Crunch Network
How consolidations will play out in the transportation, food and entertainment industries
There has been no shortage of thoughtful articles exploring a bubble in technology. I would argue that the world has already been transformed, and there is no bubble in the purest sense. Instead of massive flameouts that leave everyone burned, I think we are going to see a wave of beneficial consolidation and rationalization in industries that appropriately have seen exceptional venture… Read More
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Kentucky Derby attendees can now order food, place bets from their seats
Getting around, drinking and dining at the Kentucky Derby this year should prove a lot easier for fans and employees. According to Churchill Downs’ General Manager Ryan Jordan, the famed horse racing venue on Friday launched a Churchill Downs Racetrack app, powered by VenueNext, to give attendees a better experience on-site. The new app, available for iOS and Android devices, will let… Read More
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Hear AI play Beethoven like The Beatles
Here’s what it sounds like when artificial intelligence learns to play “Ode To Joy” in the style of EDM, Brazilian guitar, and The Beatles’ “Penny Lane”: The Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris was challenged to re-orchestrate the theme song of the European Union. Using the max entropy approach of machine learning, they taught a computer how to… Read More
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Gametime now lets users “snap and sell” printed tickets
Mobile ticket sellers Gametime added a new feature to their app this week that could draw a larger supply of concert and sports tickets to their marketplace. Designed to make it easier for users to sell old-school printed tickets via mobile, the “snap and sell” feature in Gametime feels something like check scanning in mobile banking apps. A user who clicks the… Read More
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Brought to you by the letters A and I: Sesame Workshop, IBM developing edtech for pre-schoolers
If you think Tickle Me Elmo is freaky already, wait until those talking monsters can beat you at Jeopardy!. Sesame Workshop, the educational nonprofit behind Sesame Street and its iconic characters, this week announced a partnership with IBM Watson to develop edtech for pre-school children. Sesame Workshop is no newcomer to tech. The organization previously set up a venture fund in… Read More
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That time when we ate super-powered hot sauce live on Facebook
I’ve officially been at TechCrunch for a week and a half now, which I’ve been informed is the hot sauce anniversary. You know, the one where Thrillist sends you a bottle of scientifically-engineered hot sauce made from peppers with names like the Trinidad moruga scorpion, Carolina reaper and the only slightly less ominously named ghost pepper. And I’ve been assured that the… Read More
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The first official Snowden trailer is a bit over the top, also has a bit of Nic Cage
After months of anticipating what the hell Nic Cage was going to be doing in the new Snowden movie, we finally get to see him in the first official trailer! Sadly, Cage’s role is only that of a random NSA guy urging Snowden to “find the terrorist in the Internet haystack.” This is the first we’ve seen of the new movie chronicling the plight of Edward Snowden since… Read More
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You can now watch a ton of Lionsgate movies on Steam if you so choose
Lionsgate has just added more than 100 movies, including the Hunger Games films and Kill Bill (both volumes) to, of all things, Steam. That’s Valve’s digital content delivery platform, of course, used by millions of PC gamers. Why did Lionsgate add more than 100 movies to a gaming platform? Hard to say. Read More
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Sean Parker relaunches Airtime, a video chat room for watching – together
Social networks make us lonely, and messaging feels transactional. There’s still no vibrant, real-time place to hang out with friends online. That’s why four years after Sean Parker’s chat roulette website Airtime fell flat, he’s reviving it as a mobile chat room where friends can share photos, music, and videos that they all experience simultaneously. Launching on iOS… Read More
Latest Crunch Report
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Sony’s streaming service Crackle unveils its plans for VR content…and VR ads
VR content will soon be arriving on yet another digital streaming service — this time, Sony’s Crackle. But it will also include VR-enabled ads, the company announced today. That is, in addition to streaming its entire content library — including movies and original programs — in a special “VR theater,” it will also allow advertisers to… Read More
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Giphy for Android gets a small update
Giphy is updating its Android app to follow the app’s progress on the iOS platform. Today, Giphy for Messenger will be phased out via an update to become a standard Giphy app. This comes on the heels of Facebook integrating Giphy into its own Messenger platform. The standard Giphy app offers ways to message GIFs on a number of platforms, including Messenger, as well as browse and… Read More
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VR porn is coming to hotels on the Las Vegas strip
Sin City is about to get a bit more sinful, as VR content platform VR Bangers and headset maker AuraVisor are teaming up to offer in-room adult experiences (via virtual reality) at hotels on the strip in Las Vegas. What makes this partnership particularly interesting is that users who purchase the in-room AuraVisor will be viewing content that was filmed in a hotel room that looks similar to… Read More
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Press a button, play a chord on Magic Instruments’ digital guitar
90% of people who try to learn guitar quit in the first year. So when Brian Fan wanted to start strumming out lullabies for his baby daughter, he reinvented the instrument itself. Suddenly, a single finger on a button could replace four on different strings, and anyone could learn to play popular songs in a few minutes. Meet the Magic Instruments Rhythm guitar. It might look like a toy video… Read More
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Jay Z, Tidal & Kanye West sued for misstatements about ‘The Life of Pablo’ exclusivity
Kanye West’s decision to flip-flop on whether or not his new album, “The Life of Pablo,” would be an exclusive to music streaming service Tidal, has now been met with a class action lawsuit led by consumer tech privacy law firm Edelson PC. The artist originally promised the album would only be on Tidal, but later decided to release “Pablo” to competitors… Read More
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Amazon has built a subscription launchpad with Amazon Prime
It looks like incremental news, but the fact that Amazon now lets you subscribe to Amazon Prime Video separately from the rest of Amazon Prime signals a bigger shift. Amazon wants to turn the company into a subscription business, one subscription at a time. Read More
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YouTube rolls out support for 360-degree live streams and spatial audio
YouTube will today begin supporting 360-degree live streaming on its service, confirming reports from earlier this year stating that such a feature was in development. One of the first videos to take advantage of this more immersive format will be this year’s live stream from music event Coachella, where select performances from the festival will now be live streamed in 360… Read More
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Amazon now lets you separately subscribe to Prime Video for $8.99 per month
Amazon has been ramping up its video streaming efforts by investing heavily into original content. A couple of years ago, Prime Video looked like an afterthought for Prime’s delivery subscription. Now, it’s a full-fledged service with a separate subscription. Starting today, non-Prime member can subscribe to Amazon Prime Video for $8.99 per month. You can cancel any time, you… Read More
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Vine releases a Watch button because scrolling is too much work
Vine, Twitter’s social network turned entertainment platform, is today announcing a new way to consume content on the app. The company is introducing a “Watch” button, which will let users watch a particular channel or account without needing to scroll. When a user presses the watch button on a certain account or channel, videos in that feed will play back-to-back… Read More
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Rapchat makes me the rapper I always knew I was
We covered Rapchat a little bit earlier this year, and I finally decided it was time to take it for a spin. I know I’ve got sweet rapping skills, and I know when it’s time to lay a sick beat and spit some fire, so that’s why I’m doing this in-depth review of Rapchat. Read More
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