Another quarter, another lackluster earnings guidance from Samsung Electronics. Heralded as Apple’s arch rival in “The Great Smartphone War” just two years ago, Samsung’s performance has declined as competition from a bevy of other Android makers cuts into its market share. Read More

GlassesGlobalGroup, a Kuala Lumpur-based eyeglass retailer founded by a former Rocket Internet executive, is eyeing expansion across Asia and Europe with its recently closed $3 million Series A. The round was led by Caixa Capital and Nova Founders Capital, and angel investors including Toivos Annus, Uwe Kolb, and Siegfried Drueker. Read More

Pembient, the startup that creates genetically identical animal parts in a lab, blew up after we first wrote about them. The founders have been inundated with requests, tweets and the startup was even a number one topic on several Reddit threads for a hot second since launching last month. The popularity is most likely due to the startup’s noble goal to upend the illegal wildlife… Read More

A coalition of home owners and affordable housing activists submitted more than 15,000 signatures today for a ballot initiative in the November election that will more tightly regulate short-term rentals and Airbnb. In response, an organization financially backed by Airbnb called ‘San Francisco For Everyone’ held a rally on the steps of City Hall today urging voters to give the… Read More

Microsoft will retool the branding of its entertainment apps that live inside of Windows 10, its new operating system and platform.
In a move that I can only describe as curious, if not downright odd, Microsoft is dropping the Xbox branding on its music and video products, changing them, in order, to ‘Groove’ and ‘Music & TV.’
Microsoft’s rebranding… Read More

You know the story from beginning to end: A regular old website earns popularity, gains top users who are almost celebrities, and then the site dies more quickly than it rose.
A lot happens in between, but those are the basics of it.
Digg was a perfect example of this. Flickr is another. All of these sites have something in common: A fanatical reliance, if not focus, on… Read More

On this 10th anniversary of the first video being uploaded to YouTube, it’s important to look at how the online video industry has changed in the last two years — because the changes have been as significant as those that started 10 years ago. Read More

Reddit just admitted it royally screwed up. Not just over the firing of Reddit community manager Victoria Taylor on Friday, but also for not listening to the community over the past several years. Volunteer Reddit moderators systematically shut down threads in protest after hearing of Taylor’s dismissal last week. Many said she was the only moderator who got them and communicated with… Read More

Hotel Urbano, a hotel search and booking platform and one of Brazil’s fastest growing startups, has raised an additional $60 million in strategic funding from discount travel conglomerate Priceline Group. Launched in 2011, Hotel Urbano previously raised $75 million from Tiger Global and Insight Venture Partners. The company declined to disclose a valuation, but co-founder João… Read More

Microsoft announced an academic research program Monday aiming to gather proposals for HoloLens technologies that further “the role and possible applications for holographic computing in society.”
Microsoft will be awarding $100,000 and two HoloLens development kits to the best five research proposals from academic institutions.
“This emerging technology teems with… Read More