Comcast’s plan to outbid Disney for Fox’s assets is evidence that CEO Brian Roberts believes the deal is too unique for Comcast to pass up without a fight. (Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.) Pushing away Disney won’t be easy. Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch already agreed to take less money from Disney […]
Read moreGoogle is kicking off its annual, three-day developers’ conference in Mountain View, California today with a keynote speech by CEO Sundar Pichai. The I/O event gives Google a chance to show off its artificial intelligence chops, give updates on upcoming products like the latest version of its Android operating system and woo developers into using […]
Read moreFirst Data, one of the world’s largest payment processing companies, is betting that restaurants want more data on their customers. Salido, a restaurant software company, recently raised $12 million in a Series A round of funding with First Data among the major investors. First Data was initially interested in acquiring the start-up, but chose to […]
Read moreInstagram is unveiling new features to help enterprises run their businesses on the platform. “We’re taking steps to turn Instagram from not just a place of business discovery but really a place where business can get done,” Instagram director of product Vishal Shah told CNBC. The tools, which include messaging options and booking integrations, aim […]
Read moreSquare launches a service to run restaurant operations, and now its 'Caviar' acquisition makes sense
Payments processor Square said Tuesday it is launching Square for Restaurants, a software platform for restaurant operations designed to bring more small businesses into the Square ecosystem. The software — which Square calls its most sophisticated software yet — ties together in one place all of a restaurant’s operations, from booking tables to managing the […]
Read moreTwitter is building a feature into its app that will allow users to send secret messages to one another, according to data spotted by TechCrunch inside the company’s Android application. Here’s why this matters: It shows that Twitter is taking privacy seriously — perhaps more so than Facebook, which still doesn’t offer encrypted chats in […]
Read moreEarly bitcoin investor Tyler Winklevoss tweeted back at Bill Gates to explain how to bet against the cryptocurrency, after the Microsoft co-founder said he would short it if he could. “Dear @BillGates there is an easy way to short bitcoin,” Winklevoss said in a tweet Monday afternoon. “You can short #XBT, the @CBOE Bitcoin (USD) […]
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Microsoft will attempt to buy Netflix in an effort to crack into the streaming business, veteran media analyst Porter Bibb predicted on Tuesday. Bibb, a tech and media analyst with more than 40 years experience on Wall Street, did not offer a timeline for when he thought Microsoft could go after Netflix’s assets. But, he […]
Read moreEx-Medicare chief Slavitt adds partners in venture firm investing in the 'most vulnerable Americans'
Former Medicare chief Andy Slavitt has added two partners to his new venture capital firm, which aims to find profits in serving the poorest, sickest and most vulnerable Americans. Slavitt’s Town Hall Ventures is officially launching this week at HLTH, a health-care conference in Las Vegas. Joining Slavitt are Trevor Price and David Whelan from […]
Read moreThe robot revolution is here, at least for your morning caffeine fix. Cafe X Technologies is a new, $25,000 automated barista designed by the award-winning team behind Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones and speakers: the Ammunition Group. The Jetsons-style coffeemaker can sling 120 cups of joe per hour at specs that satisfy finicky roasters (and project […]
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