Year: 2018

 Bug bounty programs are designed to sic security researchers on software and pay them to find vulnerabilities and report back to the sponsor. In return, the researchers are richly rewarded for their findings. In fact, Google’s bug bounty paid out a hefty $2.9 million in bug bounties in 2017. Rewards can range from $500 to $100,000 or more depending on the type of bug and the amount of… Read More

 Starman and his space Tesla have sent their last selfie from Earth orbit, Elon Musk announced. The car and its mannequin driver (in working SpaceX spacesuit) launched yesterday atop the Falcon Heavy rocket will eventually escape Earth orbit and travel outwards through the solar system — but not in a hurry. Read More

 Yelp saw its stock take a steep dive this afternoon after it reported its fourth-quarter earnings, which on an adjusted basis fell below Wall Street’s expectations on the bottom line. Yelp has had a very up-and-down year, all while still continuing to be a go-to site for reviews and content around restaurants. Read More

 ClearBrain has a big goal: “Our mission is to democratize AI for marketers.” That’s how co-founder and CEO Bilal Mahmood put it, though he and his co-founder Eric Pollman aren’t trying to do all that at once. Instead, they’re tackling a more specific challenge — helping companies target ads toward the users most likely to sign up for a subscription, buy… Read More

 Want to let friends know you’re trying to party, hit the gym, focus on work, or grab a drink? That’s the idea behind a powerful new feature Facebook Messenger is testing called Your Emoji. Akin to offline meetup app Down To Lunch, it lets you overlay a chosen emoji on your Messenger profile pic for 24 hours as a way to spur conversation and hang outs, or just let people know… Read More

 The Uber vs. Waymo trial took a turn for the the weird today when testimony revealed that Otto, the company whose acquisition is at the center of this lawsuit, was entertaining bids from other suitors. For a bit of background, Otto is the self-driving truck company that Anthony Levandowski co-founded with Lior Ron. Both men previously worked at Google/Alphabet/Waymo — Levandowski on… Read More

 Tesla CEO Elon Musk managed to send his Tesla Roadster into space, because why not, earlier this week — and it looks like his week (and Tesla’s) is still looking up for now following the company’s fourth-quarter results. The company slightly beat Wall Street’s expectations on the financial front, and said it’s still targeting producing 2,500 Model 3 vehicles by… Read More

 Turing Robotic’s CEO says the company isn’t done. But it’s definitely hit another significant roadblock in its quest to bring some fun alternative handsets to the market. The Finnish phone maker’s story so far is one of delay after delay, and now it’s announced, via Facebook post, that it’s suspending manufacturing. CEO Syl Chao’s didn’t offer… Read More

 Studio, a startup that delivers coaching, music and competition to treadmill runners’ smartphones and smartwatches, is getting a boost from treadmill maker Life Fitness. Studio founder and CEO Jason Baptiste explained that through this partnership, Studio’s classes will be available on Life Fitness treadmills in gyms, starting with the ones that are equipped with the… Read More

 Notation Capital, the NY-based pre-seed fund that launched in 2015, has just picked up a fresh $27 million in capital to invest in to super early stage startup sin the NYC area. The fund is called Notation II, and it’s still run by Nick Chirls, who led seed investment at betaworks and helped build Alphaworks, and Alex Lines, an architect at betaworks who contributed to products like… Read More