A SoftBank Group-led team of investors has made an offer to buy Uber’s shares in a tender offer that would value the company at about a 30% discount to Uber’s last private valuation of nearly $70 billion, a source with knowledge of the proposed deal tells TechCrunch. We’re hearing that the proposed price per share is $32.96, which works out to under $50 billion. Bloomberg… Read More
Source: TechCrunch
A bit of a surprise just dropped for everyone poking around Pokémon GO this holiday season: a new legendary Pokémon, Ho-Oh. Niantic usually debuts legendary Pokémon (the massive, super strong Pokémon that require groups of up to 20 players to take down and capture) with a bit of fanfare, but this one showed up pretty much out of nowhere. If you weren’t paying attention to… Read More
Source: TechCrunch
No one ever says hardware is easy, and today it looks like another promising startup has hit a wall. Navdy, which made an in-car heads-up display that projected info like navigation on to your windscreen, has been sending out notices to customers and others who might have claims against the company, as part of a General Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors. Read More
Source: TechCrunch
Noah Heller, one of the chief architects of Hulu’s virtual reality strategy, has left the video streaming service to set up his own venture firm, 3Rodeo. Primarily focused on backing Los Angeles-based technology startups, the new fund has already committed capital to three deals, Heller confirmed. Read More
Source: TechCrunch
Commentary: It’s Christmastime, and Apple really wants to inspire you to buy its smartphone of the future … with four new ads.
Source: CNET
Editor’s note: A New York Times profile is being criticized for normalizing a Nazi sympathizer’s views and failing to explain why he thinks that way. But it’s no mystery. We blame the internet.
Source: CNET
The Meater is an easy way to keep an eye on your food’s internal temperature — as long as you’re willing to trust its doneness recommendations.
Source: CNET
Letter signed by 200 companies argue that scrapping the rules will hurt the US economy.
Source: CNET
Researchers at Duke University, OSU, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have solved one of the biggest problems with new forms of quantum encryption: quantum key distribution. QKD is the process of distributing keys during a transmission and in a way that will tell both sides of the conversation that someone is eavesdropping. The new system, which uses lasers to transmit multiple bits at once,… Read More
Source: TechCrunch
Waymo continues to press its lead in terms of actual miles driven on roads, which is potentially the most important metric out there when it comes to building successful autonomous driving technology. The Alphabet-owned company that began life as Google’s self-driving car project around a decade ago now has 4 million miles driven autonomously on roads. Read More
Source: TechCrunch