Amazon now has more than 750,000 robots that relieve warehouse employees from some intensely repetitive tasks. Just in time for the holiday shopping rush, the company is adding a new robotic technology, Sequoia, which is already operating at a fulfillment center in Houston, Texas. Amazon says Sequoia is a complete “reimagining” of how inventory is stored and managed, resulting in a 75 percent improvement in how inventory is identified and housed, and also improves employee safety. Amazon is also expanding its robot workforce with the addition of a bipedal robot called Digit, from Agility Robotics. Continue reading Amazon Introduces New Robots to Improve Fulfillment Speed

More than 100 subpoenas have reportedly been issued in the legal battle between Elon Musk and Twitter, creating a full employment act for lawyers recruited to represent Silicon Valley’s elite. In addition to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, those summoned to speak include investor Marc Andreessen, Oracle executive chair Larry Ellison, tech investors David O. Sacks and Joe Lonsdale, and former Twitter security head Peiter Zatko. The matter is set to be heard in Delaware Chancery Court starting October 17. “Every firm in the Valley is salivating like dogs trying to get in on that action,” said University of San Francisco professor of legal ethics Carol Langford. Continue reading Subpoenas Fly with Tech Elite Drawn into Musk-Twitter Battle

Remote, a platform that enables companies to hire and compensate distributed employees, has secured $300 million in a new funding round, raising its valuation to $3 billion and making it one of the biggest HR players in the new world order of distributed workforces. Leading the Series C round is SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The company said funding will be used to build new tools and expand the San Francisco-based company’s geographic reach. Work from remote locations has been becoming more prevalent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, priming the market for Remote’s expansion. Continue reading Global Distance Workforce Firm Remote Raises $300 Million

The National Science Foundation just announced grants to build the $30 million Stampede 2 supercomputer which, outfitted with 18 petaflops, will offer twice the power of the Stampede, which debuted in March 2013. Its processing capacity puts it on a par with Cray’s Titan and IBM’s Sequoia (though not as powerful as China’s Tianhe-2). The supercomputer will be available to any researcher with a need for immense processing power, for such applications as atomic and atmospheric simulations. Continue reading National Science Foundation Funds Stampede Supercomputer

Flipagram is a mobile storytelling app that allows users to create short slideshows (or “Flipagrams”) by stitching together video content, photos and music. The company has made a significant step towards becoming one of the first such apps to incorporate modern music in a major way by signing licensing deals with top record labels and landing an additional $70 million in funding. According to CEO Farhad Mohit, Flipagram has attracted 33 million active monthly users in its first year. Continue reading Flipagram Inks Music Deals, Raises $70M in Round B Funding

A new trend in social apps has arrived, allowing users to post anonymously, giving them a feeling of freedom without consequences for their actions on the Web. New messaging apps Whisper and Secret, for example, offer a way to share anonymous posts about anything. Popular apps such as Snapchat, Telegram and Frankly revolve around messages that self-destruct after they are read. These anonymous approaches may pose a significant threat to other social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Continue reading Whisper and Secret: New Messaging Apps Offer Users Anonymity

Innovid, a Sequoia-backed video ad company, announced that it is working with Cisco to bring advertisements to smartphones and tablets based on TV shows that viewers are watching during a specific moment. Cisco is able to do this by working with cable companies to analyze a TV show’s content, and pull keywords from that content, and show ads in the providers’ apps that are relevant to those keywords. While no cable partnerships have been announced, the companies are showing the tech at CES. Continue reading Innovid and Cisco Team Up to Deliver Ads to Second Screens

Google announced it has acquired Bump, the popular mobile app that enables users to share contact info, images, videos and files by simply “bumping” mobile devices into each other. While neither company revealed specifics of the deal, a source close to the transaction told AllThingsD that Google paid between $30 and $60 million. The news comes as Apple releases its iOS 7 today, which includes a similar technology called AirDrop, a new means of wirelessly sharing files with other nearby Apple device users. Continue reading Google Acquires Mobile Startup Bump as Apple Unveils AirDrop