Lucas Matney
Writer
The Latest from Lucas Matney
Periscope’s latest feature turns your broadcast into a radio talk show
When it comes to live streaming, the viewer contributions are pretty light. In Periscope, you can drop a comment of leave a floating heart icon, but there isn’t a deep way to contribute to a str
Apple’s long-time Siri leader reportedly no longer in charge
The man who has headed up Siri at Apple since 2012 is no longer at the helm, according to The Information. Bill Stasior remains at the company in a different role, the report states. We’ve reac
Twitter testing ‘Original Tweeter’ tag to distinguish who started a thread
Twitter is testing a new tag that will make it easier to parse who started a thread. The new feature, which is starting to pop up for some users, makes it easier to find posts from the original tweete
Twitter’s de-algorithmizing ‘sparkle button’ rolls out on Android
After launching on iOS, Twitter is giving Android users the ability to easily switch between seeing the reverse-chronological “latest tweets” and the algorithmic “top tweets” f
Yahoo Japan buys a minority stake in a Tokyo cryptocurrency exchange
Yahoo Japan has gotten its hands on 40 percent of a Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange set to launch this fall. The investment, made in BitARG Exchange through a Yahoo Japan subsidiary gives the comp
Coinbase acquires decentralized app browser/wallet Cipher Browser
Coinbase announced today that it has acquired Cipher Browser, a decentralized app browser and wallet for the Ethereum blockchain that it will be using to bolster its own similar product. Terms of the
Reddit has banned 944 accounts linked to the IRA Russian troll farm
While much of the tech media has had their eyeballs glued to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimonies to Congress over the past couple of days, another social media giant has been discussing R
Apple Music hits 40 million subscribers as it accelerates towards surpassing Spotify
Apple Music is continuing its upward climb in subscriber count, quickening its pace as it seeks to overtake Spotify in the battle for users’ ears. The music streaming service now has 40 million
UK-based vTime raises $7.6 million to get people to create memories inside VR
After a few years of hype, a lot of the noise within the VR industry has died down, but with so many pushing social experiences as one of the platform’s most endearing user cases, there has stil
Sen. Kennedy to Mark Zuckerberg: ‘Your user agreement sucks’
As Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook testimony stretches on, a rough exchange with Senator John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana produced some of the day’s more memorable sound bites. “Mr. Zucker
Theranos reportedly lays off most of its remaining employees as it tries to avoid bankruptcy
The death spiral of blood-testing startup Theranos just became even more real today for the bulk of its remaining employees. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company has laid off the majority
Facebook share price climbs as Zuckerberg gets grilled by the Senate
Shareholders seemed to have incredibly low expectations of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ability to handle a Senate testimony, because Facebook stock climbed 4.5 percent Tuesday with the bulk o
HQ Trivia finally gets social with ‘Friends on HQ’ update
The popular quiz startup HQ Trivia is beginning to roll out the first of many new social features to its app focused on leveraging competition with friends and family during game time. HQ Trivia has m
Coinbase hires Rachael Horwitz as its first VP of comms
As Coinbase slowly earns the opportunity to begin thinking about taking a breath after the insane growth of the past few months, it’s thinking more about what all it has to say. The cryptocurren
Gov officials conclude SpaceX not at fault for Zuma satellite separation failure, report says
In turns out, SpaceX was indeed not responsible for the loss of a top-secret government satellite that fell back to earth and was destroyed following a Falcon 9 rocket launch earlier this year, a repo
Leap Motion’s new AR headset prototype is high-res, low-cost and a little bug-eyed
Leap Motion has been in kind of a weird place for quite a while now. They’ve raised north of $100 million for their tightly focused computer vision work hell-bent on replicating real-time hand m
YouTube TV now works in Firefox
YouTube TV is finding life inside a browser not built by Google. The live TV service is now running on Firefox after previously being locked down to Chrome. The new development first spotted by YourTe
Polyvore is shutting down after being acquired by fashion retailer Ssense
Montreal-based fashion site Ssense is acquiring Polyvore from Verizon’s Oath, but the site will not live on. Ssense has already shut down the Polyvore site, taking its user data and redirecting
Xprize is relaunching its Moon challenge without Google, but they need a new sponsor
The deadline for Google’s Lunar Xprize passed just days ago without a winner, but the lengthy 10-year competition to send a robot to the Moon’s surface had known for months that none of th
Apple steals Google’s AI chief
Apple has just poached one of Google’s top AI executives in a move likely to have far-reaching consequences. Apple has hired John Giannandrea, previously Google’s head of AI and Search, Th