Apple acquires AI company Lattice Data, a specialist in unstructured ‘dark data’, for $200M

 As large tech companies gear up to make a stronger push into machine learning and artificial intelligence, Apple has acquired a company to fill out its own capabilities in the area.
Specifically, Apple has picked up Lattice Data, a company that applies an AI enabled inference engine to take unstructured, “dark” data and turn it into structured (and more usable) information. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Trump’s cybersecurity executive order is a good first step

 A significant piece of cybersecurity news erupted last week, although it was nearly drowned out by the growing flap over President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. There are two overriding points regarding President Trump’s executive order (EO) outlining plans to improve data security for federal agencies and to better protect critical U.S. infrastructure. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

VCs see fertile ground in agtech

 Agriculture startups that raised seed rounds in recent years are blossoming into businesses sought after by later-stage investors. Investment in the agtech space is up sharply this year, driven by a spike of rounds at Series B and later stages, according to Crunchbase data. Altogether, agtech startups raised more than $320 million in 2017 so far. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Amazon made landline phones trendy again

 When is the last time you used your landline phone? Chances are that your smartphone is the one and only device you need. Old-fashioned phones have been fading away from most living rooms. But it doesn’t mean that landline phones aren’t useful. Amazon is well aware of that. The company unveiled the Echo Show earlier this week, a $230 device with Amazon’s Alexa voice… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Xiaomi puts the focus on India with plans to open 100 retail stores

 Xiaomi is increasing its office retail presence in China as bids to gain ground stolen by rivals in its homeland, and now it is making that very same push in its second largest market, India. The Chinese company, which is valued at $45 billion, suffered a tough time last year as sales growth slowed — Xiaomi, notably, didn’t go public with sales figures for 2016 — but India… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Ransomware based on leaked NSA tools spreads to dozens of countries

 A ransomware attack seemingly based on leaked NSA hacking tools is spreading like wildfire among unpatched Windows systems worldwide. Early reports suggested it was targeted at the UK’s National Health Service, but it’s clear now that the attack is a global one, with thousands of computers apparently affected in Russia alone. Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Weekly Roundup: Tesla’s solar roof tiles, Snap stumbles through Q1 earnings

 This week, Tesla launched pre-orders for its solar roof tiles, Snap Inc. stumbled through its first earnings report and Apple bought up a small sleep tracking startup. These are a few of the top stories from this week, plus some longer weekend reads. 1. Tesla’s highly anticipated solar roof tiles went up for pre-order. The question everyone seems to be asking though, is how much will… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch

Scope AR brings its enterprise augmented reality authoring platform to HoloLens

 Microsoft’s $3,000 HoloLens dev kit has gathered more attention over the past couple years than a lot of consumer products, but it’s important to remember that the augmented reality headset’s ambitions lie in building a new standard for spatial computing with enterprise customers. Today, Alberta-based Scope AR announced that it will be launching a version of its… Read More


Source: Tech Crunch