Lerer Hippeau Ventures is taking over management of Binary Capital’s debut fund

Lerer Hippeau Ventures, the New York-based early-stage venture firm, is taking over the $125 million debut fund created by Binary Capital, a young San Francisco-based venture firm whose co-founder’s misdeeds became the talk of Silicon Valley last summer. Axios reported the development earlier this morning. Lerer Hippeau tells us it’s not commenting on the news. […]

Facebook fights creeps and apathy with expiring friend requests

Snapchat has ephemeral messages, and now Facebook has ephemeral friend requests. The big blue social network feeds off your social graph, and every time you expand it, it has more content to show you. But if you leave a questionable friend request in limbo for too long, you’ll probably never confirm or delete it. So Facebook […]

Smartsheet files for IPO

Smartsheet is the latest company to file to go public, now that the IPO window is open.  The Bellevue, Washington-based company offers enterprise software for communication and collaboration. It describes itself as the “leading cloud-based platform for work execution, enabling teams and organizations to plan, capture, manage, automate, and report on work at scale, resulting in […]

This DIY, Alexa-connected robotic tank will bring you a beer

As we enter the upcoming Golden Age of connected robotics it’s important to stay well-lubricated. Thus we must invite the Walabeer tank, a DIY, Alexa-connected robotic tank that serves beer, into our homes and hearts. The project uses a toy tank chassis connected to a Walabot, a device that lets your projects see through walls. […]

Lightweight robo-coat for sea creatures could track habits without interfering

Tracking sea animals is a difficult task for many reasons, not least of which is the robustness necessary for any device to survive longer than a few weeks of water torture. The clunky solutions currently used to watch whales and other creatures might soon have a more lightweight competitor: this flexible, inexpensive "marine skin."

Android malware found inside seemingly innocent QR code apps

Google is getting better at keeping Android malware out of the Play Store, and that's leading attackers to use more sophisticated disguises for their rogue apps. SophosLabs has proof: it just detailed a recent ad-spawning malware strain, Andr/HiddnAd...

Senate committee asks Facebook, Google and Twitter to testify on privacy

The list of people that want to hear from social media giants in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal keeps getting longer. Senator Ron Wyden wants to know how the data collection happened in the first place, and Facebook talked to Congression...

Bentley is the latest luxury car maker committing to EVs

Just a few weeks after Bentley unveiled its first all-electric concept convertible, a lead designer confirmed that the car company known for its gas-guzzling vehicles could start making electric cars fairly soon. Bentley is just the latest in a long...

Tesla’s overhauled navigation system will roll out this weekend

Today, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla's new navigation system should be rolling out this weekend. He cautioned that it won't be fully finished, calling it a "mature beta" but promised that it would "improve rapidly." Rather than making small improvemen...

The Boring Co. will sell giant ‘Lego-like’ building bricks

Apparently flamethrowers weren't enough. The next merchandise Elon Musk's Boring Company will sell are life-sized Lego bricks that you can use to build your own structures. The bricks are made of rock extracted during The Boring Company's drilling, a...

Toyota's 2019 Corolla Hatchback supports both Alexa and CarPlay

Toyota no longer requires that you pay the premium for an Avalon to get modern smartphone integration in its cars. It just unveiled the 2019 Corolla Hatchback, whose standard trim includes an 8-inch touchscreen infortainment system with both Amazon...

General Catalyst just closed its biggest fund ever, as firms race to get bigger, fast

It happened in 2016, and it’s happening like clockwork again in 2018: venture firms are closing new funds with more money than they ever have before, just two years after closing their most recent funds with more money than they’d ever raised before. Last week, you may have caught wind that Khosla Ventures is raising […]

Malaysia proposes law that would make spreading fake news illegal

The Malaysian government has proposed a law that would criminalize the spread of fake news, and those found to be in violation could face up to 10 years in prison and a 500,000 ringgit (approximately $128,165) fine, the Wall Street Journal reports. T...

Cheetah Mobile Unveils its Big Push into Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Leading mobile company Cheetah Mobile and China-based AI firm OrionStar have jointly introduced a robotics and smart device platform dubbed Orion OS. In addition, the partnership included the unveiling of five new products. All of this happened at the 321 Conference: A Night of Robots, held at the Beijing National Aquatics Center (AKA Water Cube). Back in 2016, Cheetah earmarked $50 million for AI development, so in many ways, the conference was a coming out party of sorts for the mobile app giant. The new products include: Cheetah Voicepod, an AI-based smart speaker featuring precise voice recognition, voiceprint technology, superior sound and content…

This story continues at The Next Web

Microsoft’s Edge browser is out for iPad and Android tablets

Microsoft's Edge browser released for iPhone and Android late last year with a promise to come to iPad "soon." Now, after a quick beta period, the app is ready for a full release onto iPad and Android tablets.

Sea of Thieves promises booty, delivers tedium

Rare’s co-op pirate game, Sea of Thieves, has been released on Xbox and Windows. After nearly three years of hype, how does the final release play? Let’s just say you’d better have a really close crew ready to brave some very dull hours with you if you want to get anywhere. First debuted back at E3 2015, the game has changed little in appearance since its reveal trailer. It’s nice to have Rare back after seeing them make little more than the Kinect Sports series for the last ten years. This is the company that made my childhood and countless others’. While…

This story continues at The Next Web

Watch Astronauts Answer Your Burning Questions About Space

We've assembled seven astronauts to prove just how smart and cool they are by answering the top 50 Googled questions about space.

How a Store of Rhino Semen Could Save the Species

Thomas Hildebrandt has been collecting samples from the white rhinoceros with colleagues for about 15 years.

The FTC Is Officially Investigating Facebook's Data Practices

The Federal Trade Commission's probe comes on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which 50 million Americans' Facebook data was reportedly improperly retained by the data firm.

Spotify thinks its revenue growth will slow, to reach $6.4 billion this year

Spotify released financial guidance ahead of its public debut planned for early April. It’s an unconventional move, but the music streaming service isn’t doing a traditional IPO. It’s not raising money and will instead be doing something called a “direct listing,” with insiders selling shares. This changes up the process and so Spotify decided to announce […]

HQ Trivia’s first sponsored games roll out this week from Nike and Warner Bros.

HQ Trivia, the TV-style game show in an app, is starting to make money. The company this week is rolling out its first sponsored games, including a $3 million deal which includes sponsored games from Warner Bros., as well as a sponsored game from Nike, arriving today. AdAge was the first to report on HQ […]

Morning Brew is a daily business briefing built for millennials

What’s the best way to stay up to date on things happening within your industry? Seasoned finance professionals read the Wall Street Journal. Anyone who wants to work in politics reads The Washington Post. In Silicon Valley we have industry-specific news sites like TechCrunch supplemented by Hacker News and others. But what about young business […]

London proposes stricter vetting for ride-hailing drivers

London’s transport regulator is asking for public views on a series of new proposals aimed at boosting the safety of private hire vehicles (PHVs), such as cars served via ride-hailing platforms like Uber . Among the measures Transport for London (TfL) is considering are: Enhanced background checks for private hire drivers — with a proposal […]

FCC wants to stop spending on gear from companies that ‘pose a national security threat’

The U.S. maneuvers against China's tech giants continue today with an official announcement from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that the agency may soon ban purchasing anything from companies that "pose a national security threat." Huawei, ZTE, and other major tech manufacturers aren't named specifically, but it's clear what is meant.

Check out self-driving cars, DARPA and more at TC Sessions: Robotics May 11 at UC Berkeley

As we’re gearing up for May’s big show, the announcements are starting to come fast and furious. In the past two weeks, we’ve revealed that Andy Rubin, Marc Raibert, Melonee Wise, Robert Full and more will be joining us May 11 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. We’ll be unveiling the full schedule for the event […]

Google launches a Chrome OS tablet for schools ahead of Apple’s iPad education event

Chrome OS has been a pretty ideal spot for Google to stake its various plays for the education market. The cheap, bare-bones Chromebook laptops have been light on complexity and heavy on connectivity. The company hasn’t had much in the way of options when it comes to touch screen devices, however. Today, Google announced its […]

Google begins to roll out its mobile-first index

Google announced this morning its “mobile -first” index of the web is now starting to roll out, after a year and a half of testing and experimentation. Back in 2016, Google first detailed its plan to change the way its search index operates, explaining how its algorithms would eventually be shifted to use the mobile […]

The Linux Foundation launches a deep learning foundation

Despite its name, the Linux Foundation has long been about more than just Linux. These days, it’s a foundation that provides support to other open source foundations and projects like Cloud Foundry, the Automotive Grade Linux initiative and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Today, the Linux Foundation is adding yet another foundation to its stable: the […]

Lynk & Co reveals the 02 crossover SUV and details European rollout plans

Geely’s Lynk & Co is one of the more interesting young automotive brands, with an approach to sales and marketing that more closely resembles modern gadget and lifestyle brand go-to-market strategy than traditional automaker sales. The Lynk & Co 01 SUV, designed to sit somewhere between Geely’s line on one end and Volvo’s vehicles on […]

Azure’s new Serial Console gives you a direct window into the dark heart of your VMs

Azure developers and sysadmins have long asked for the ability to get access to a serial console for their virtual machines (VMs). While it’s generally easy enough to log into a VM after it has booted, things get far more complicated if the machine doesn’t boot for some reason. Troubleshooting that can be a nightmare. With […]

'SKALAR' explores how light and sound affect our emotions

Photons have no mass, but in an exhibition at the CTM electronic music festival in Berlin, artist Christopher Bauder treated light as a moldable, solid substance. The installation was married to a complex soundscape by musician and composer Kangding...