Apple released iOS 10.1 to public beta testers today, and it includes one of the most anticipated features they showed off during their iPhone 7 keynote: the “Portrait” mode that fakes a depth of field effect. We’re always looking to up our Photoshop game, but the lists of Must Know “techniques” or “skills” or “tools” […]
As we hurtle noiselessly into a dystopian future, headphone makers have already started offering Lightning-only earbuds, something that should give early adopters some solace but might be a hard sell for folks with a shoebox full of tangled traditional earbuds. But the future is here and JBL Reflect Aware is the first active-noise canceling soldier […]
Moore’s Law may be coming to an end, but chipmakers are not slowing down. Chipmaking has never been easy. But for much of the last 50 years, the recipe was relatively straightforward: shrink the transistors at a steady pace, and use the increased density to either boost performance (and reduce power) or add new features. […]
Watch out, Shutterfly. Amazon has quietly launched a new service called Amazon Prints, which allows consumers to print photos and custom photo books, and soon, other photo products like stationery and calendars, at prices that are significantly cheaper than rivals. Though the company made no formal announcement, Amazon Prints debuted last week and is being made available […]
Facebook has acquired Nascent Objects, a small California startup founded in 2014 that focuses on creating a modular electronics system that consumers could use to build their gadgets, using reconfigurable components including batteries, camera, sensors and more. The startup worked with design firm Ammunition (also responsible for the design of Beats products pre-Apple acquisition) to […]
When Google first announced Allo, its newest chat app, there was some controversy around why the service didn’t use end-to-end encryption by default and only in its Incognito mode. The reason for this, Google has always said, was that it needed access to your messages in order to offer services like the Google Assistant and smart […]
While there’s plenty of talent in the San Francisco Bay Area — where Pinterest’s main office is over at 5th and Brannan in San Francisco — it can be very costly to find and recruit that talent. And there’s a lot outside of San Francisco as well. One city, in particular, that Pinterest has turned its […]
It’s common practice these days for companies that hold significant amounts of user data to publish transparency reports. Google, Facebook, Dropbox and Slack all put out their numbers on a regular basis, breaking down government requests for user data by country and type (platforms typically receive requests for law enforcement investigations, as well as copyright […]
Here is an audio version of the below article as how it should be read. (Play it while you read for an extra special experience) The spot was Magic Mountain, California. It was a hot summer day — much like the days my grandfather endured when he toiled under the sun, laying asphalt in the […]
Signia Venture Partners has closed its second fund at $85 million to lead early-stage deals in emerging tech startups mostly in and around San Francisco. For the unfamiliar, Signia is typically the first money in and the lead investor in the companies it backs, writing $1-2 million in seed stage deals or $2-8 million in […]