Greg Kumparak
TechCrunch
Oakland, CA, United States
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Recent articles by Greg:
Postscript raises $35M to give Shopify stores SMS superpowers –
Postscript helps Shopify stores stay in touch with customers via SMS, with a focus on keeping everything opt-in, legally compliant, and spam free. The company raised $4.5M back at the end of 2019; this morning it’s announcing it has raised a $35M Series B. The company has grown pretty rapidly over the last year. When […] → Read More
Techstars’ Neal Sáles-Griffin will join us at TechCrunch Early Stage 2021 to talk accelerators –
Should you try to get your startup into an accelerator program? How do you make the right impression on the application? Where does your team need to be before you apply — and once you’re in, how do you make the most of your time in the program? Join us at the TechCrunch Early Stage […] → Read More
Nanit raises another $25M for its AI-powered baby monitor –
Nanit’s nursery camera pairs computer vision with specially-patterned clothing to help answer the question that most new parents ask themselves roughly every 90 seconds: “Is my baby still breathing?” This morning the company is announcing that it has raised an additional $25 million in a Series C round led by GV. As part of the […] → Read More
Apple Pay will soon work on BART and Muni –
If you’ve ever tried to hop on the bus in San Francisco and were bummed to find that Apple Pay wasn’t an option (unlike in New York, Beijing, and plenty of other major cities): good news! That’s changing. Apple has announced that support for Clipper (the payment system for BART, Muni, Caltrain, AC Transit, and […] → Read More
TechCrunch’s favorites from Techstars’ Boston, Chicago and workforce accelerators –
Building off TechCrunch’s coverage of the recent 500 Startups demo day, we’re back today to talk about some favorites from three more accelerator classes. This time we’re digging into Techstars’ latest three accelerator classes. What follows are four favorites from the Techstars’ Boston, Chicago and “workforce development” programs. As a team we tuned into the accelerator […] → Read More
Gwoop Academy wants to help you get better at video games –
Every sport has its practice drills and exercises to help players hone skills between games. Why would esports be any different? Gwoop, a startup out of Minnesota, wants to be the place where gamers go to train between matches. They’re building up a collection of free browser-based training tools meant to help you measure and […] → Read More
This is the new interior of Tesla’s Model S –
The Model S will see some significant changes to its interior this year. After months of rumors, Tesla confirmed the revisions in a few images released just ahead of its quarterly earnings call later this afternoon. Some of the changes — like the shift to a widescreen display — are things that have made their […] → Read More
Xbox Live Gold is getting a big price hike –
In what feels like an attempt at kicking some bad news under the rug on a Friday, Microsoft announced this morning that the price of Xbox Live Gold is going up. → Read More
These are the 20 companies presenting at Alchemist Accelerator’s 26th Demo Day today –
The enterprise-focused Alchemist Accelerator is hosting its 26th Demo Day today, with twenty companies expected to debut. This is Alchemist’s third Demo Day to be fully virtual due to the ongoing pandemic. Alchemist Accelerator Director Ravi Belani tells me that this virtual format has thus far “outperformed the in person Demo Day format,” with […] → Read More
Apple is extending Apple TV+ trials again –
If you’ve got an Apple TV+ trial that’s set to expire sometime between now and June, good news: you’re getting some free bonus time. Apple TV+ first launched in November of 2019, alongside a one-year free trial for anyone buying a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac. As those initial trials approached […] → Read More
This new module keeps Philips Hue bulbs connected even when the wall switch gets flipped –
Philips Hue bulbs are pretty great, but they have a mortal enemy: the humble light switch. If you’ve got a Hue bulb tied to a standard light switch, flipping that switch means the Hue bulb loses power completely… along with any fancy tricks like controlling the bulb through your phone or a voice assistant. A […] → Read More
Minecraft Earth will shut down in June –
Throughout 2019, Microsoft experimented with building a real world, augmented reality Minecraft game designed in the same vein as Pokémon GO. Called Minecraft Earth, they finally opened it up to everyone in November of 2019. In just a few months, it’ll shut down and all player data will be deleted. So what happened? Writes the […] → Read More
Apple’s lawsuit against Corellium has been partly thrown out –
Back in August of last year Apple filed a lawsuit against the virtualization software company Corellium, arguing that the product infringed its copyright and later adding claims that Corellium’s product violates the DMCA. While the DMCA claims will still need to be settled in court, a judge in Florida has tossed out Apple’s copyright claims. […] → Read More
How Niantic evolved Pokémon GO for the year no one could go anywhere –
Pokémon GO was created to encourage players to explore the world while coordinating impromptu large group gatherings — activities we've all been encouraged to avoid since the pandemic began. → Read More
Gift Guide: Last-minute subscriptions to keep the gifts going all year –
SURPRISE! It's December 23rd. How? Because time doesn't make sense anymore and last week was really a month ago and April was yesterday. → Read More
Gift Guide: Our favorite headphones of 2020 –
Headphones! They make a pretty solid gift any year, but they're an even better option when we're all stuck at home. It's hard to think (much less get anything done) when the background track of your life is a cacophony of conference calls and Zoom school. We spent a lot of time with a lot of different headphones this year, so we thought it'd be good to highlight some of our favorites. → Read More
Googling for “Baby Yoda” will beam him into your living room via augmented reality –
Google has been all about the fun little augmented reality Easter Eggs lately, with a bevy of search terms triggering Halloween-themed AR experiences back in October. Ghosts! Jack-o-lanterns! Dancing skeletons! Now they’ve got another one. Rolled out just in time for tomorrow’s Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, this one brings The Child (or, as […] → Read More
Whatnot raises $4M as it gets into livestreamed auctions and Pokémon cards –
Whatnot, a company I first wrote about back in February, has spent the months since growing rapidly — both in terms of feature set and userbase. This morning the company is announcing it has raised a $4M seed round. Originally focused on being a platform for safely reselling FunkoPop! vinyl figurines, Whatnot has since expanded […] → Read More
HBO Max will finally land on Roku devices tomorrow –
It took an unusually long time, but HBO Max is set to launch on Roku devices tomorrow. Roku users make up a massive chunk of the cord-cutting market, so the absence of an HBO Max app for Roku nearly seven months after the service launched was pretty glaring. We’d been wondering where the Max app was […] → Read More
Discord will be able to screen share from iOS and Android devices starting today –
The super popular chat app Discord is getting a much-requested feature starting today: mobile screen sharing. As the name suggests, mobile screen sharing lets users capture and broadcast everything on their phone’s display and stream it to a group of friends. The company tells me they’ve been particularly focused on making it work well when […] → Read More