The Toronto Blue Jays may not have a home yet this season, but one thing’s for sure: Plenty of teams are going to be playing in the uncanny valley this year. The spectacle of a major league baseball team playing in front of an empty stadium has some precedent from places like Korea, Taiwan and Japan, … Continue reading Fox Sports is adding ‘virtual fans’ to empty baseball stadiums Continue Reading
Working with a team of ten trained mental health clinicians, the Y Combinator -backed startup Daybreak Health is working with Bay Area high schools to provide mental health support for teens. Alex Alvarado, Siddarth Cidambi, and Luke Mercado, the three co-founders of Daybreak Health, either worked with startups in the health care industry or consulted on the healthcare industry … Continue reading Daybreak Health launches online mental health therapy for teens amid the pandemic’s mental health crisis Continue Reading
As we move deeper into the pandemic, companies are looking for ways to digitize processes that previously required in-person meetings with manual approaches. Investors appear to be rewarding companies that can achieve this. IObeya, a French company that helps digitize management planning processes like lean and agile, announced a $17 million Series A today. Red River … Continue reading IObeya raises $17M to digitize management planning processes like Agile Continue Reading
TikTok today announced a $200 million fund, aimed at helping top creators in the U.S. supplement their earnings, and potentially coax the next Charli D’Amelio out of the woodwork. Called the TikTok Creator Fund, the money is aimed at helping “eligible” creators on the platform earn a livelihood, it said. Eligible for now is defined as … Continue reading TikTok unveils $200 million fund for U.S. creators Continue Reading
American micromobility startups Lime and European competitors Dott and Tier Mobility have won permits to operate shared electric scooters in Paris, following a seven-month tender process that had as many as 16 companies vying for a spot. Paris is one of a handful of cities in the world that have become key battlegrounds over market share in … Continue reading Lime, Dott and Tier win Paris scooter permits, delivering Bird a loss in a key market Continue Reading
My college economics professor, Dr. Charles Britton, often said, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The common principle known as TINSTAFL implies that even if something appears to be free, there is always a cost to someone, even if it is not the individual receiving the benefit. For decades, the ad-supported ecosystem enjoyed much more … Continue reading Let’s close the gap and finally pass a federal data privacy law Continue Reading
Tesla filed a lawsuit against electric vehicle automaker Rivian and four former employers, on allegations of poaching talent and stealing trade secrets. Bloomberg was the first to report the lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in Santa Clara. Tesla alleges in the lawsuit that Rivian recruits Tesla employees and encourages them to take proprietary information as they leave. Tesla claims … Continue reading Tesla takes aim at Rivian in lawsuit alleging trade secret theft, poaching talent Continue Reading
After reporting Q2 earnings that showed a marked dip in ad revenue, Twitter has said its exploring alternatives — dangling the possibility of a subscription option. Earlier today the social media giant reported ad revenues of $562M, down almost a quarter (23%) on a year ago — saying that the pandemic and “civil unrest” leading many advertisers … Continue reading After ad revenue drop, Twitter tells investors it’s eyeing subscription options Continue Reading
Quantum computing is at an interesting point. It’s at the cusp of being mature enough to solve real problems. But like in the early days of personal computers, there are lots of different companies trying different approaches to solving the fundamental physics problems that underly the technology, all while another set of startups is looking … Continue reading Hear how three startups are approaching quantum computing differently at TC Disrupt 2020 Continue Reading
HBO Max, the AT&T-owned streaming service that combines HBO with WarnerMedia content, now has 4.1 million subscribers who have activated their Max accounts, since its launch on May 27. Combined, HBO and HBO Max reached a total of 36.3 million U.S. subscribers by the end of the second quarter, according to statements made by AT&T CEO John … Continue reading HBO Max reached 4.1M subscribers in first month, despite lack of distribution on Roku and Fire TV Continue Reading