Year: 2018

As Uber continues to expand the footprint of JUMP bikes, it’s aiming to make the fleet of bikes smarter and easier to unlock, ride and charge. At Uber’s Pier 70 offices in San Francisco, JUMP Head of Product Nick Foley showed off the new bikes, which are aesthetically similar but should improve unit economics thanks to self-diagnostic capabilities and swappable batteries. These bikes, Foley said, have been years in the making.

The 4G-enabled bikes also ditch the clunky rear keypad for a sleek front screen, swap the U-lock for a retractable cable lock, and now have a phone mount for turn-by-turn navigation. JUMP is gearing up to widely deploy these bikes in January, but there are already some on the streets of San Francisco.

To the rider, the most obvious difference will be the interface on the front where you scan a QR code or tap your phone or RFID card to unlock the bike.

“We did a lot of research about how people were interacting with the bike and streamlined the whole interaction flow to be a lot simpler,” Foley said.

Riders will also notice the absence of a steel U-lock bar in exchange for the retractable cable. Riders may also notice the swappable batteries, which will help with vehicle availability, but this feature is especially useful to Uber and its unit economics for JUMP bikes.

“That is a major improvement to system utilization, the operating system, fleet uptime and all of the most critical metrics about how businesses are performing with running a shared fleet,” Foley said. “Swappable batteries mean you don’t have to take vehicles back to wherever you charge a bike or scooter, and that’s good for the business.”

Also, this custom-engineered battery sends diagnostic information to the central unit, which lives near the bike’s handlebars, and then sends that to JUMP’s cloud. That central unit can also monitor the motor system, locking system and drive system, and then send that information to the cloud. From there, the bike can self-diagnose many issues and ultimately reduce the amount of time these bikes spend in warehouses awaiting repairs.

“It’s by building this whole platform to be highly intelligent, that we’re able to more efficiently operate these vehicles,” Foley said. “And some things that previously are users might have had to report to us, we can now self-diagnose. And we can actually update the drive parameters — like how the bike responds to pedaling — in real time. It can also do things, like, if you a move a bike between geographies where the speed limit is 20 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour, it’ll automatically pull down new settings from the cloud and operate in a way that the city says it’s supposed to operate.”

Since JUMP first launched in San Francisco earlier this year, people have ridden millions of miles on the bikes, which have since expanded to dozens of cities. Version one of these bikes were relatively durable, but Foley said these new ones should last for several years — give or take a few component changes.

“We saw more aggressive abuse than expected in certain areas,” Foley said. “But one of the major things has been putting bikes in and out of vans. That’s been a really tough moment for bicycles because they’re getting thrown all over the place, so swappable batteries are really going to extend the lifespan.”

It’s worth noting that as JUMP deploys version two of its bikes, it’s not going to sunset the hardware from version one. Instead, JUMP plans to simply upgrade the hardware with the new lock module and new system intelligence.

Meanwhile, Uber also operates an electric scooter service under the JUMP brand. In October, Uber deployed JUMP scooters in Santa Monica, along with bikes, in Santa Monica, Calif.

“The most exciting thing about all the pieces of technology that exists is that they’re all fundamentally valuable, whether on a bicycle or a scooter,” Foley said. “And so we’re building scooter hardware that leverages a lot of these pieces of technology.”

Foley said there’s more to come next year, but said the motor system, tracking and user interface are universal pieces of technology that JUMP can bring to its scooters. And as Uber gets closer to its Q1 2019 initial public offering, improving its unit economics across all of its businesses is going to be key.

SpaceX is raising $500 million at a valuation of $30.5 billion, according to a WSJ report citing people familiar with the matter. The company is said to be raising the capital in part to help fund its ambitious Starlink internet service project.

According to the announced plan, SpaceX intends to launch 11,000 satellites to plaster the globe with internet connectivity. So far, SpaceX has launched just two prototype satellites even though earlier reports stated SpaceX, at one time, projected it would have 400 satellites in orbit by the end of 2018.

If this funding goes through, it will bring SpaceX’s total amount raised to about $2.5 billion of equity funding, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Last month, SpaceX raised $250 million through a high-yield loan sale.

The WSJ reports that for this equity round SpaceX turned to existing investors and new investor Baillie Gifford & Co, a large investor in Musk’s Tesla. The report stats that SpaceX and the investors have agreed to the financing terms but the money has yet to be sent.

SpaceX is raising $500 million at a valuation of $30.5 billion, according to a WSJ report citing people familiar with the matter. The company is said to be raising the capital in part to help fund its ambitious Starlink internet service project.

According to the announced plan, SpaceX intends to launch 11,000 satellites to plaster the globe with internet connectivity. So far, SpaceX has launched just two prototype satellites even though earlier reports stated SpaceX, at one time, projected it would have 400 satellites in orbit by the end of 2018.

If this funding goes through, it will bring SpaceX’s total amount raised to about $2.5 billion of equity funding, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Last month, SpaceX raised $250 million through a high-yield loan sale.

The WSJ reports that for this equity round SpaceX turned to existing investors and new investor Baillie Gifford & Co, a large investor in Musk’s Tesla. The report stats that SpaceX and the investors have agreed to the financing terms but the money has yet to be sent.

Sphero’s on-going deals are about more than just priming the pump for the holidays. The Colorado robotic toy startup is also in the process of cleaning out inventory of what are now be marked “legacy” products on its site. All of the Disney licensed products now carry a “THIS IS A LEGACY PRODUCT AND NO LONGER IN PRODUCTION” tag, and in many cases are no longer available through Sphero’s site.

The move is no surprise, of course. The company announced nearly a year ago amid layoffs that its licensed products would be a casualty of its shift toward education. Looks like that’s all finally run its course. Sphero CEO Paul Berberian confirmed the move with the Verge, noting shrinking returns.

“When you launch a toy, your first year’s your biggest,” he told the site. “Your second year’s way smaller, and your third year gets really tiny.”

BB-8 was a notable hit for the company, selling millions of units and putting Sphero on the map for many. It eventually spread itself too thin, however, double, tripling and quadrupling down with robotic toy takes on R2-D2, Lightning McQueen for cars and Spider-Man.

It was clearly too much, too fast, making its Disney partnership both a blessing and curse. Ultimately, the company saw STEM education as the clear path forward for its offerings.

For those who purchased one of the above, Sphero has promised to offer app support for “at least two years.” You might still be able to get a deal on one if you hurry. 

A little taste of 5G is coming early, courtesy of AT&T’s new mobile hotspot. The carrier announced this morning that it will be firing up limited 5G service in a dozen cities across the U.S. this Friday, currently only accessible via the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot.

Those who pick the router up will be able to access the new network speeds in Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raligh, San Antonio and Waco. Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose are all coming early next year.

The first batch of 5G smartphones are also coming at some point next year, with Samsung notably having already announced two handsets for 2019. In the spring, the carrier will offer the router for a $499 up front fee, plus $70 a month for 15GB of data, with no long term commitment — a price, it notes, is around the same as the current 4G hot spots. Pricing for phone plans is still unannounced.

It’s all pretty limited, but in the current 5G land grab, every inch counts.

As networks get put under increasing pressure from ever-growing amounts of data, network equipment manufacturers are facing huge challenges to increase data transmissions speeds over further distances. As a premiere networking equipment company, Cisco wants to be prepared to meet that demand. Today, it opened up its checkbook and announced its intent to acquire Luxtera for $660 million.

Luxtera, which was founded in 2001 and raised over $130 million, will give Cisco a photonic solution for that data networking problem. Rob Salvagno, head of Cisco’s M&A and venture investment team sees a company that can help modernize Cisco’s networking equipment.

“That’s why today we announced our intent to acquire Luxtera, Inc., a privately-held semiconductor company that uses silicon photonics technology to build integrated optics capabilities for webscale and enterprise data centers, service provider market segments, and other customers. Luxtera’s technology, design and manufacturing innovation significantly improves performance and scale while lowering costs,” he wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

Photonics uses light to move large amounts of data at higher speeds over increased distances via fiber optic cable. Cisco sees this as a way to future-proof customer networking requirements, while keeping them on Cisco equipment. “The combination of Cisco’s and Luxtera’s capabilities in 100GbE/400GbE optics, silicon and process technology will enable customers to build future-proof networks optimized for performance, reliability and cost,” Salvagno wrote.

While Cisco has been acquiring its share of high-profile software properties in recent years including AppDyanmics for $3.7 billion in 2017 and Jasper Technologies for $1.4 billion in 2016, it also acquired Israeli chip designer Leaba Semiconductor for $320 million in 2016 for its advanced chip making capability.

Today’s announcement would seem to build on that earlier purchase as Cisco tries to modernize its hardware offerings to meet increasingly stringent demands inside large-scale data centers.

The acquisition is subject to the typical regulatory scrutiny, but Cisco expects it to close in its fiscal year 2019 Q3. It reported its Q1 2019 earnings in November.

Shopping for someone who prefers hiking and camping to the great indoors can be tricky. Not only are outdoor enthusiasts usually less impressed by traditional gifts (clothes, games, etc.) but their preferred realm of technical gear is vast and confusing. If you’d rather not go deep on the research yourself, we’ve got some solid touchpoints for expert outdoor gear gifting.

1. Party tent

Okay, hear me out. As a pack weight-conscious backpacker the idea of a light-up tent sounded ridiculous at first, but Big Agnes is onto something with their line of mtnGLO tents. I’ve been camping with the 2-person Big Agnes mtnGLO Copper Spur tent for more than a season now and these things are really cool. The company has embedded thin strips of LED lighting into the tent itself, illuminating the inside more evenly than you can pull of with a headlamp alone without overpowering your hard-earned nature vibes.

A small detachable battery pack powers the lights and you can jettison that bit if you’re really looking to shed ounces. If not, enjoy tent-bound activities like reading and looking for your prescription medication with the newfound freedom of ample light. If your special giftee prefers car camping then even better: insta-party tent. Or you know, they can fish last night’s socks out of the bottom of their sleeping bag in record time.

If this is too gimmicky (I’m telling you, it’s not!) but you’re looking to gift a tent, check out REI’s in-house brand. They make super solid tents that are generally priced well below the competition and even offer a backpacking bundle and a camping bundle that make the perfect starter set of gear for someone new to losing themselves in the great outdoors.

2. Solar Charger

If you’re shopping for a car camper or a day hiker, battery life isn’t much of a concern, but if your special someone likes to get lost in the wilderness overnight, they’ve probably stressed about battery life. Many people rely on their smartphone as their primary camera in the outdoors, so keeping it charged deep into a hike, climb or backpack is key. In most of these circumstances, a traditional portable battery back would be too heavy and wouldn’t be rechargeable in the field, but solar chargers can solve those problems.

Some people swear by solar panels by Suntactics and the Suntactics sCharger-5 Solar Charger is a reasonably sized option. Goal Zero is another prominent brand in the solar gadget market and the Goal Zero Nomad 7 Plus Solar Panel could make a good personal panel option. For car camping, #vanlife or something else epic yet experienced by car, check out the Goal Zero Yeti 400 Lithium Portable Power Station, a compact beast of a charger that’s priced accordingly ($599.95).

Note: Of course, solar chargers don’t work where sunlight is limited, so if you’re in the Pacific Northwest maybe skip this section.

3. GPS watch

Why not an Apple Watch? Well, a lot of reasons. For anyone who does much extensive hiking, climbing and camping in the backcountry, Apple’s smartwatch is far too puny and fragile. Sure, it’s fine for running, but you need something with battery life worth writing home about and GPS features that help keep you safe — and on route — outdoors.

Garmin makes a lot of solid options here at different price points, including the Garmin Fenix 5 ($449.99) which happily comes in three sizes to accommodate small wrists. Garmin claims up to to 2 weeks of battery life in smartwatch mode on the Fenix 5, up to 24 hours in its GPS mode and up to 60 hours in battery saver mode. The Fenix 5 is configurable depending on your activity of choice, with profiles tuned to hiking, snowboarding and mountain biking.

Compass-maker Suunto also offers a few well-liked watches in the space, including the Suunto Ambit 3 Peak which boasts “route altitude profile navigation and extremely long battery life” i.e. the stuff you really need.

4. Compact camera gear

We covered camera gifting more extensively in out dedicated photography gift guide, but we’ll toss in a few ideas here just for fun. For anyone into the extreme outdoors (backcountry skiing, mountaineering, climbing etc.) a GoPro is a no-brainer. The company’s latest offering, the GoPro Hero7 Black, is top of the line for $399.99, but other GoPro models are available for significantly less.

If you’re looking for something more geared toward photography rather than video, Sony’s RX100 line offers a killer compact camera that won’t take up much space in your pack. The new Sony RX100 V ($899) and RX 100 VI ($1,199) offer a higher end tiny pro camera, but the still-excellent older models of the Sony RX 100 can be had for a fraction of the price.

5. Satellite messaging

This one might sound a little morbid, but if your loved one gets into a sticky situation miles from civilization they won’t be complaining. A handful of different devices can allow you to send an emergency signal when your phone can’t and many of them also allow for non-emergency satellite messaging — handy for coordinating meet-up points or checking in from the backcountry. Among these, the new Garmin InReach Mini ($349.99) is well regarded for its diminutive size and well-rounded feature set, though the Garmin inReach Explorer and Spot X are also solid options.

6. Small Stuff

Okay, so you need a gift for someone outdoorsy but you want to find something a little more low key. Maybe a stocking stuffer or a casual friend gift. We can do that. A lot of people have touchscreen-friendly gloves but do they have technical touchscreen-friendly gloves? Snag a pair of the North Face’s ETip gloves which are both cute and functional or pick up a set of Mountain Hardware’s Power Stretch Stimulus Gloves, which make a nice grippy glove liner.

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t recommend the Gaia GPS app, available for both iPhone and Android at $19.99. For navigating outdoors with topographical maps and even fairly complex routefinding, Gaia can’t be beat. Of course, we’d also be remiss if we didn’t remind you to bring a paper map — just in case.

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A security researcher found a bug in Twitter’s support form two years ago that exposed the country codes of phone numbers attached to user’s accounts. At the time, his bug report was closed as it did “not appear to present a significant security risk.”

Twitter now says that the bug may have been abused by nation state actors.

“We have become aware of an issue related to one of our support forms, which is used by account holders to contact Twitter about issues with their account,” said Twitter in its disclosure. “This could be used to discover the country code of people’s phone numbers if they had one associated with their Twitter account, as well as whether or not their account had been locked by Twitter.”

Peerzada Fawaz Ahmad Qureshi reported the bug through HackerOne, which hosts Twitter’s bug reporting program, in the hope of a fix and a bounty payout, but the report was marked as “informative” and no action was taken.

Qureshi shared his bug report with TechCrunch after learning of Monday’s disclosure, in which he described how it was “possible to map out whether a mobile number is attached to a Twitter account including the country where the mobile number is registered by identifying the country code.”

The bug report detailed how anyone could obtain the country code of a phone number from anyone’s account by running through the site’s password reset process. By selecting “I don’t have access” to an email address associated with an account, the form would change and would allow a user to enter a phone number instead. But, when that page loaded, it would automatically select the account holder’s country code by default.

Although only the country code was leaked, some say it would be enough to identify which country an account holder lives — which could be dangerous in regions where freedom of speech and expression is restricted.

But after the bug was triaged, it was determined that “while this may or may not be ideal behavior, we don’t consider the disclosure of a user’s country code to be sensitive information at this time.”

Little did the company know that the bug could have been later exploited by running a “large number of inquiries” in one go, as Twitter said in its Monday disclosure.

It’s still not known exactly how the form was abused to allow the mass scraping of account-specific country codes. When reached, a Twitter spokesperson said that the bug was caused by an API that only supported the webform, and was not a developer API — but declined to comment further when pressed on specifics of Qureshi’s report. Qureshi said it was possible that the webform’s API wasn’t rate limited — allowing someone “to enumerate users who had a mobile number linked” to their account, he said — but could not confirm as he did not test the limits of the API.

When checked on Tuesday, the webform no longer displays a user’s country code by default — effectively nixing the bug.

Twitter said that it discovered the bug on November 15 — a little over a month ago — and was fixed a day later, and suggested — without providing evidence — that the data may have been scraped from IP addresses associated with China and Saudi Arabia. But the company didn’t say how many users were affected by the bug, but said it was “sorry this happened.”

Twitter’s latest apology comes months after it revealed it may have exposed some user direct messages to third-parties, amid a wave of security issues to plague Silicon Valley tech giants this year.

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Seismic has been helping companies create and manage their sales and marketing collateral since 2010. Today the company announced a $100 million Series E investment on a $1 billion valuation.

The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and T Rowe Price. Existing investors General Atlantic, JMI Equity and Jackson Square Ventures also participated in the round. The company has now raised $179 million since inception.

What is attracting this level of investment is Seismic’s sales enablement tools, a kind of content management for sales and marketing. “What we’re trying to do with our technology is to help marketers who are striving to create the right content to help the sellers, and help sellers navigate all of the content out there and put together the right pieces and the right materials that are going to help them move the sales cycle along,” Seismic CEO and co-founder Doug Winter explained.

The inclusion of an investor like T Rowe Price often is a signal of IPO ambitions, and Winter acknowledged the connection, while pointing out that T Rowe Price is also a customer. “We do have a goal to be public-ready as a company that we are aiming for. We are the leader of the space, and we do feel like striving to be a public company and to be the first one in our space to go public. It’s a goal we are going to push for,” Winter told TechCrunch.

But he says taking this investment is more about taking advantage of market opportunity. The money gives Seismic the ability to expand to meet growing sales. Today, the company has more than 600 customers averaging more than $200,000 in spending, according to Winter.

The company acquired the Savo Group in May to help expand its market position. Seismic is based in San Diego with offices in Boston and Chicago (from the acquisition). It also opened offices in the UK and Australia earlier this year and plans further international with the new investment.  The company currently has more than 600 employees including 185 engineers and project managers, and plans to keep hiring as it puts this money to work.