Author: pekandesigns

 Millions of idiots trying to mine cryptocurrency so they can be part of the latest, stupidest and most irresponsibly hyped get-rich-quick tech craze are hindering the actual important work of finding out if aliens exist. This revelation, first reported by the BBC, has ruined my Wednesday. I generally stay quiet on the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin […]

 Varsity Tutors, the learning platform founded in 2011, today announced the close of a $50 million Series C funding round led by Learn Capital. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and existing investor TCV also participated in the round. Varsity Tutors started as an offline service, connecting the best tutors on campus with those who needed help […]

 When smart home tech first started coming out, I was hopeful, but also skeptical. It seemed overly complicated, with too many hoops to jump through and a relative inability to meld old and new for situations like rental apartments and older homes. Now, though, the range and breadth of smart home tech means you can […]

 Good morning and happy Wednesday, everyone! Here is a thing that falls under Today In Very Good Things: Pinterest is going to, finally, finally, let you move pins around on your boards. This seems really small and trivial but, really, this is one of the biggest quality of life improvements to the service that I’ve seen […]

 ESPN may be going from a sure-fire cable bounty to something that needs a little more flexibility in a cord-cutting era — like launching a new streaming service in 2018. But an even more troublesome trend may be emerging among younger sports fans, according to Overtime CEO Dan Porter: they just aren’t getting the content the way […]

 YouTube TV today announced a significant expansion of its channel lineup thanks to new deals with Turner, NBA TV, and MLB Network. A number of Turner-owned networks will be added to YouTube TV’s base package starting now, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, HLN, truTV, and Turner Classic Movies. NBA TV and MLB […]

 SpaceX is launching a Falcon 9 on February 17 (should the current target date stick) and the rocket is carrying a primary payload of a Spanish satellite for client Paz. The secondary cargo on the launch is more interesting, however, since it’s two of SpaceX’s own satellites – demonstration satellites the company is putting into orbit […]

 HackerRank, the skills-based recruiting platform and online coding challenge community, today announced that it has raised a $30 million Series C funding round led by JMI Equity, a fund that specializes in helping software companies scale. Exiting investors Khosla Ventures, Battery Ventures, Randstad and Chartline Capital Partners also participated in this round. As HackerRank co-founder and… […]

 If you’ve ever tried to order and source products from overseas you likely know the process is broken. Factories rarely talk directly to customers and middlemen are difficult to track down and there’s usually a significant delay while you wait for them to communicate back and forth with you and the factory. There’s also the […]

 One of the continuing challenges that artificial intelligence programs face is how they receive and process the information they need to take actions. While the algorithmic tools that developers have harnessed to automate a dizzying number of different processes are incredibly good at processing information, these machine learning programs need to be taught what information […]