Josh Constine
TechCrunch
San Francisco, CA, United States
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Recent articles by Josh:
The boring genius of how Atrium kills legal busy work –
Law firms have little incentive to build or buy software that will save their lawyers time since they often bill clients by the hour. Tasks like tracking down legal documents, extracting key information, and drawing up hiring offers or funding term sheet add up to make lawyers expensive even if they’re constantly repeating mindless busy […] → Read More
The real risk of Facebook’s Libra coin is crooked developers –
Everyone’s worred about Mark Zuckerberg controlling the next currency, but I’m more concerned about a crypto Cambridge Analytica. Today Facebook announced Libra, its forthcoming stablecoin designed to let you shop and send money overseas with almost zero transaction fees. Immediately, critics started harping about the dangers of centralizing control of tomorrow’s money in the […] → Read More
Facebook announces Libra cryptocurrency: All you need to know –
Facebook has finally revealed the details of its cryptocurrency Libra, which will let you buy things or send money to people with nearly zero fees. You’ll pseudonymously buy or cash out your Libra online or at local exchange points like grocery stores, and spend it using interoperable third-party wallet apps or Facebook’s own Calibra wallet […] → Read More
Calendar influencers? Event social network IRL raises $8M –
Why is there no app where you can follow party animals, concert snobs, or conference butterflies for their curated suggestions of events? That’s the next phase of social calendar app IRL that’s launching today on iOS to help you make and discuss plans with friends or discover nearby happenings to fill out your schedule. The […] → Read More
Helium launches $51M-funded “LongFi” IoT alternative to cellular –
With 200X the range of WiFi at 1/1000th of the cost of a cellular modem, Helium’s “LongFi” wireless network debuts today. Its transmitters can help track stolen scooters, find missing dogs via IoT collars, and collect data from infrastructure sensors. The catch is that Helium’s tiny, extremely low-power transmission chips rely on connecting to P2P […] → Read More
Dropbox relaunches as an enterprise productivity workspace
Dropbox is launching a new enterprise cloud search tool to make sense of the mess of productivity software and online data businesses use. CEO Drew Houston described how people spend 60% of our off… → Read More
Facebook’s new Study app pays adults for data after teen scandal –
Facebook shut down its Research and Onavo programs after TechCrunch exposed how the company paid teenagers for root access to their phones to gain market data on competitors. Now Facebook is relaunching its paid market research program, but this time with principles — namely transparency, fair compensation, and safety. The goal? To find out what other […] → Read More
Maker Faire halts operations and lays off all staff –
Financial troubles have forced Maker Media, the company behind crafting publication MAKE: magazine as well as the science and art festival Maker Faire, to lay off its entire staff of 22 and pause all operations. TechCrunch was tipped off to Maker Media’s unfortunate situation which was then confirmed by the company’s founder and CEO Dale […] → Read More
The Ticket Fairy is tech’s best hope against Ticketmaster –
Ticketmaster’s dominance has led to ridiculous service fees, scalpers galore, and exclusive contracts that exploit venues and artists. The moronic approval of venue operator and artist management giant Live Nation’s merger with Ticketmaster in 2010 produced an anti-competitive juggernaut. It pressures venues to sign ticketing contracts under veiled threat that artists would otherwise be routed… → Read More
Instagram one-ups TikTok with karaoke lyrics –
Lip-syncing jumpstarted TikTok’s to the center of teen culture, arguably displacing Instagram . Now the Facebook-owned app is striking back with a new feature that lets you displays lyrics on your video Story synced to a soundtrack you’ve added with the Music sticker. Lyrics could help creators and their fans sing along, and the visual […] → Read More
Facebook plans June 18th cryptocurrency debut. Here’s what we know –
Facebook is finally ready to reveal details about its cryptocurrency codenamed Libra. It’s currently scheduled for a June 18th release of a white paper explaining its cryptocurrency’s basics, according to a source who says multiple investors briefed on the project by Facebook were told that date. Meanwhile, the company’s Head of Financial Services & Payment […] → Read More
YouTube will let bigot monetize if he removes link to homophobic merch –
YouTube has made the weakest, least courageous response to mass backlash regarding it’s ruling yesterday that right-wing personality Steven Crowder’s racist and homophobic attacks on Vox writer Carlos Maza didn’t violate its policies. Now YouTube says it’s demonetized Crowder’s channel because his “pattern of egregious actions has harmed the broader community”…but it will restore Crowder’s […] → Read More
AntiToxin sells safetytech to clean up poisoned platforms –
The big social networks and video games have failed to prioritize user well-being over their own growth. As a result, society is losing the battle against bullying, predators, hate speech, misinformation and scammers. Typically when a whole class of tech companies have a dire problem they can’t cost-effectively solve themselves, a software-as-a-service emerges to fill […] → Read More
Uber eats Uber Eats, embedding it in the main app –
Uber’s best hope to beat all its ride sharing and food delivery competitors is that it does both. Through cross-promotion, it can combine activities people might only do a few times per week or month into a product they open daily. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said cryptically on the company’s first earnings call last month […] → Read More
Apple attacks Facebook by becoming the asocial network –
Sharing with everyone is passé and more than a little bit scary these days. We want to send photos to friends without posting them publicly. We want to reminisce without being permanently defined by our timelines. And we want the utility of apps without giving away our contact info to developers. The problem is that […] → Read More
Facebook introduces Avatars, its Bitmoji competitor –
Ditch those generic emoji. Facebook’s new Avatars feature lets you customize a virtual lookalike of yourself for use as stickers in chat and comments. Once you personalize your Avatar’s face, hair, and clothes, they’ll star in a range of frequently updated stickers conveying common emotions and phrases. From Likes to Reactions to Avatars, you could […] → Read More
Spotify is building shared queue Social Listening –
Want to rock out together even when you’re apart? Spotify has prototyped an unreleased feature called “Social Listening” that lets multiple people add songs to a queue they can all listen to. You just all scan one friend’s QR-style Spotify Social Listening code, and then anyone can add songs to the real-time playlist. Spotify could […] → Read More
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will tell Disrupt about tomorrow’s job –
OpenAI’s co-founders Greg Brockman and Sam Altman aren’t afraid of Terminator robots. At TechCrunch Disrupt SF in October, they’ll tell our audience why it’s the more subtle repercussions of artificial general intelligence like its impact on employment, cyberwarfare, and concentration of power that shake the duo. But the epic potential for the technology to generate […] → Read More
Go chat yourself with Facebook’s new Portal companion app –
Ignoring calls that it’s creepy, Facebook is forging onward with its Portal smart display. Today Facebook quietly launched iOS and Android Portal apps that let owners show off photos on the screen without sharing them to the social network, and video call their home while they’re out. The app isn’t likely to move the needle […] → Read More
The savage genius of SoftBank funding competitors –
Venture capitalists aren’t supposed to make their portfolio companies battle to the death. There’s a long-standing but unofficial rule that investors shouldn’t fund multiple competitors in the same space. Conflicts of interest could arise, information about one startup’s strategy could be improperly shared with the other, and the companies could become suspicious of advice provided […] → Read More