Technology

BitTorrent, an early mover in concept of building a business around decentralised computing architecture to distribute and store data, is being sold for $140 million in cash to Justin Sun and his blockchain media startup Tron, TechCrunch has learned.

Variety yesterday reported that a sale of the company to Sun closed last week, without naming a price, following rumors that circulated for at least a monththat the two were in negotiations.

TechCrunch understands that shareholders have now been sent the paperwork to sign off on the deal. Some are, we understand, still disputing the terms because more than one person claims to have made the introduction between Sun and BitTorrent, and the one who facilitated the deal will get an extra payout. A source says itunlikely that the disputes will actually kill the acquisition, given how long BitTorrent has been looking for a buyer.

BitTorrent most recently saidit has about 170 million users of its products. Currently, these include its main client and BitTorrent Now. The latter is focused on video, music and other creative content. BitTorrent claims that its protocols move as much as 40 percent of the worldInternet traffic on a typical day.

Tron is one of the new kids on the block in the wide world of blockchain startups. Founded by Sun, who previously had worked for Ripple (a settlement system built on blockchain tech), Tron says its mission is to build &a truly decentralized Internet and its infrastructure,& which has included (no surprises here) the creation of its own cryptocurrency, the TRX. TRX, loosely, appears to be a cryptocoin for the entertainment industry. Tron has plans to use TRX as a way to pay for content on its network, according to this whitepaper.

Tron is also just intended for trading. The company has launched a MainNet distributed ledger for transactions, with its own TRX migrating to the MainNet starting later this week. Tron says that the market cap for all TRX is currently valued at just under $4.6 billion with the value of a single TRX coin $0.045.

Neither Tron, Justin Sun, nor representatives for BitTorrent responded to our requests for comment, so itnot completely confirmed how Tron plans to use BitTorrent. But one shareholder we spoke to says there are two plans. First, it will be used to &legitimise& Tronbusiness, which has met with some controversy: it has been accused of plagiarising FileCoin and Ethereum in the development of its technology. And second, as a potential network to help mine coins, using BitTorrentP2P architecture and wide network of users.

The acquisition will close off a tumultuous but also interesting life for BitTorrent, founded in 2004 by Bram Cohen and Ashwin Navin to commercialise peer-to-peer networking technology as a way to share and store files.

BitTorrent was a trailblazer in considering how decentralised network architectures using all the machines in a network as nodes — in contrast with the server-based architectures that dominate the tech world today — could be used to share, store and backup data. Some believe this is a more secure system overall because there is no central repository to hack.

Yet the company has also become synonymous with &file sharing& and all the pros and cons that have come with that. Most notably, it has fought long against a bad rap for torrenting technology — which can be used to share copyrighted files illegally — by positioning itself as creator-friendly, buying in content rights, and establishing a range of products built on the P2P protocol. It also used its architecture to take a stand on privacy on the web at the height of the NSA controversy.

And while BitTorrent makes revenues — it hadn&t raised money since 2008 — its strategy to build a long-term larger business on that technology never really took off as investors and others hoped it would. That resulted in a number ofmanagement changesand a couple of reshuffles of its product as its leaders looked for the killer app. Some of its earlier product efforts are still around: BitTorrententerprise services were spun off into a standalone company now called Resilio, led by BitTorrentformer CTO and CEO, Eric Klinger.

(Side note: Interestingly, both Cohen and Navin are still following the trajectory of decentralisation that has led to the rise of blockchain, and that led Tron to BitTorrent. Cohen is building&eco-friendly&cryptocurrency Chia, and Navin, as the CEO of measurement and analytics providerSamba TV, isbuilding a cryptocurrencyto incentivise users to share more of their viewership data.)

Despite the current buzz for decentralised architectures around blockchain, we understand that BitTorrent had been looking for a buyer for a while, Long ago, one source told us, both Akamaiand Rovi (which is now TiVo) had both considered buying BitTorrent but nothing came to pass. Akamai instead acquired Red Swoosh, a BitTorrent competitor that was Travis Kalanickfirst startup before Uber, and Rovi moved on in its own direction. More recently, offers were less forthcoming.The company had raised around $60 million in funding, according to PitchBook data, which notes that it had been valued around $145 million at its peak. Its investors have included DCM, Accel and DAG.

We will update this story as we learn more.

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Therea great deal of activity in the fields of speech recognition and the &Internet of Things,& but one natural application of the two has gone relatively unpursued: helping the deaf and hard of hearing take part in everyday conversations. SpeakSee aims to do this (after crowdfunding, naturally) with a clever hardware design that minimizes setup friction and lets everyone communicate naturally.

Itmeant to be used in situations where someone hard of hearing needs to talk with a handful of others — a meeting, a chat at dinner, asking directions and so on. There are speech-to-text apps out there that can transcribe what someone is saying, but they&re not really suited to the purpose.

&Many deaf people experienced a huge barrier in asking people to download the app and hold the phone close to their mouth. These limitations in the interface meant no one kept using it,& explained SpeakSee CEO and co-founder Jari Hazelebach. &But because we designed our own hardware, we were able to customize it towards the situations it will be used in.&

SpeakSee is simple to use: A set of clip-on microphones live in a little charger case, and when the user wants to have a conversation, they hand those microphones out to whoever will be talking. The case acts as a wireless hub for the mics and relays the audio to the smartphone with which itpaired. This audio is sent off, transcribed quickly somewhere in the cloud, and displayed on the deaf userphone.

SpeakSee makes it simple for a deaf person to join a group conversation Critically, though, each microphone also intelligently and locally accounts for its speaker and background noise.

&Naturally the microphones pick up speech from multiple people,& said Hazelebach. &So we included sensors that tell the microphone what direction the sound is coming from, and the microphones exchange these values. So we can determine which microphone should pick up which personspeech.&

The result is quickly transcribed speech divided by speaker, delivered quickly and with decent accuracy (therealways a trade-off between turnaround time and how the process is). And no one has to do anything but wear a mic. (They have a patent pending for this multi-microphone system.)

Hazelebachparents are deaf, and he grew up seeing how their ability to interact in ordinary circumstances was being limited.

SpeakSee makes it simple for a deaf person to join a group conversation

The mics aren&t exactly small… but thathow you know they&re real working hardware and not imaginary.

&As you can imagine my parents were the first to test this out,& he said. &At first we had a lot of issues but soon we started engaging with others. We wrote a post on a deaf blog and out of nowhere 200 people signed up. So we&ve been testing in the field with groups in the U.S., and also in the U.K. and the Netherlands.&

Right now English speech recognition is considerably ahead of Dutch and other languages, so the transcriptions will be better for the former, but even so the devices should work with any of 120 languages supported by the cloud service. Transcription is free for up to 5 hours of audio monthly, after which ita $10/month subscription. But if it works, it may be more than worth the money.

The team has a finished prototype but is seeking crowdfunding to get production off the ground. &We need to improve the electronics to meet specifications, battery life for example. We expect to ship in February of 2019,& Hazelebach said. Pre-orders are set at $350 for a dock and three mics.

The usual caveats (primarily &emptor&) apply when backing an Indiegogo type campaign — but at the very least, having spoken to the creator, I feel pretty sure this is a real, working product that just needs a boost to get to market.

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Messages, Google more recent focus for its scattered messaging efforts following its decision to &pause& work on Allo, is now available for web users. The company announced that it would begin rolling out Messages for web starting today, with the full rollout completing over the next week. The feature, along with others including GIF search, smart replies, and more, is part of an updated messaging experience for Android users that aims to be Googleresponse to iMessage.

The company earlier this year moved its Allo team to work on Android Messages, Googleapp that utilizes the RCS messaging standard. The standard, adopted by numerous mobile operators worldwide, offers more feature parity with iMessage, thanks to its support for things like read receipts, typing indicators, high-res photo sharing, better group chat, and other features.

Now, Messages is gaining another feature to better compete with iMessage: web support.

Today, Apple users can access iMessage conversations on their Mac using a dedicated app. GoogleMessages for web is similar in the sense that it also offers cross-platform access to messages & that is, it lets Android users view and respond to chats when they&re not on their phone.

However, the implementation of Messages for web is more like WhatsApp for the desktop, right down to how you scan a code on the Message website to sync things up with your phone.

Google says Messages for web will support sending stickers, emoji and image attachments, as well as text, at launch.

Google rolls out Messages on the web for Android users

The company also announced a few other features that will come to the Messages app over the next week, including built-in GIF search; Smart Replies, which suggest English language text responses and emoji for now; preview web links in conversations; and the ability to copy one-time passwords with a tap.

Google rolls out Messages on the web for Android users

This last feature is also similar to a new addition coming to iMessage in iOS 12. When you&re logging into a site or app that requires a one-time password sent over text message, iOS 12 will let you paste that into the necessary field with one tap. Googlesystem looks like it requires two taps & both the copy and the paste functions & but itstill a lot easier than before.

Google rolls out Messages on the web for Android users

To try out the new features, Android users will need to be on the latest version of the Messages app from Google Play.

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Time is running out on one of the best ways for an early-stage startup to experienceDisrupt San Francisco 2018,September 5-7 at Moscone Center West. We&re designating 60 pre-Series A companies to be a TC Top Pick. If we select your company, you get to experience Disrupt SF in all its techno-glory for free. Thatright, people: F-R-E-E. Applications closeon June 29, so get a move on and apply right now.

Herethe low-down on how the TC Top Pick program works. First off, ita highly competitive process. The TechCrunch editorial team carefully evaluates every application before selecting the winning startups to represent each of these 12 tech categories: AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Biotech, Fintech, Gaming, Healthtech, Privacy/Security, Space, Mobility, Retail or Robotics.

Each TC Top Pick finalist receives a free Startup Alley Exhibitor Package. The package includes a one-day exhibit space in Startup Alley and three Founder passes (good for all three days of the show). You&ll get to participate inCrunchMatch— our investor-to-startup matching platform — to simplify finding and making appointments with potential investors, and you&ll have access to the full event press list.

Earning a TC Top Pick designation also gets you a three-minute interview on the Showcase Stage with a TechCrunch editor — and we&ll promote that video across our social media platforms.Thatpromotional gold right there, my friend.

One of the other fabulous opportunities for any startup exhibiting in Startup Alley (including Top Picks) is the chance to be voted the Startup Battlefield Wildcardby Alley attendees and TechCrunch editors. If that happens, you get to compete for the $100,000 Startup Battlefield prize. Yowza! Wait, you don&t think that could happen Guess again. After being voted the Wildcard at Disrupt NY 2017, RecordGram won the Startup Battlefield.

Disrupt San Francisco 2018takes place on September 5-7. The TC Top Pick deadline is June 29. Don&t miss your opportunity to exhibit in Startup Alley for free. Apply for TC Top Picks today.

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President Donald J. Trump intends to create a new Space Force within the U.S. Armed Forces. The surprise announcement came today at the third conference of the White Housenewly reconvened Space Council. & We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force —-- separate however equivalent. It is going to be something. Essential, & the president stated. Defense Secretary James & Mad Dog & Mattis voiced opposition to the development of new branch of the military last year when the concept was very first proposed by Congress. Congressional leadership first floated the development of 6th branch of the militaries focused on area fight (unfortunately, not versus getting into alien pests though) last year & hellip; and Mattis quickly blasted the idea. In a letter to Ohio Representative Mike Turner, one of the leaders of the Space Force initiative in Congress, Mattis wrote: At a time when we are trying to integrate the Departmentjoint warfighting functions, I do not want to include a different service that would likely present a narrower and even parochial method to area operations. Apparently, the president has occurred on the topic in the intervening months. Trump is now & directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to right away start the procedure required to establish an area force as the 6th branch of the armed forces. &. Your House Armed Services Committee began promoting the development of an area corps in 2015 as part of the last costs permission costs for the military. The new military force would fall under the province of the Air Force in the same way that Marines work with the Navy, according to the proposal. That costs authorization expense was ultimately approved, but the space corps proposal was left on the cutting flooring. Now the proposition is flying at the greatest levels of the Trump administration. The freshly reconvened Space Council is helmed by Vice President Mike Pence. At todayannouncement were celeb astronauts like Jack Schmitt, Buzz Aldrin and Eileen Collins. In participation were Gwynne Shotwell, Wes Bush of Northrup Grumman and Bob Smith, the primary executive of Jeff Bezos & Blue Origin. & When it pertains to safeguarding America, it is inadequate to simply have an American existence in area. We need to have American supremacy in area, & the president stated. For the president, the facility of the Space Force is of a piece with a strategy to develop a long lasting American presence on the Moon —-- and eventually Mars. & This time, we will do more than plant our flag and leave our footprints. We will establish a long-term existence, expand our economy, and build the foundation for the ultimate objective to Mars —-- which is really going to happen really quickly, & Trump said. & And, you know, I & ve always stated that rich guys appear to like rockets. So all of those rich guys that are craving our realty to launch their rockets, we won & t charge you too much. Just go on. If you beat us to Mars, we & ll be very happy and you & ll be a lot more well-known. &. The statement likewise put to rest any questions about where the Trump administration would move policy around area expedition. & I am instructing my administration to welcome the budding industrial space market, & Trump stated. & We are improving out-of-date space guidelines. They & re escape of date. They sanctuary & t been changed in many, several years. And today we & re taking another step to release the power of American ingenuity. &. The declaration from the president likewise included a conversation of the present administrationpolicy of separating kids from parents at the U.S. border. & The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. It won & t be. If you take a look at whathappening in Europe, if you take a look at whathappening in other places, we can & t permit that to occur to the United States —-- not on my watch, & the president said. The U.S. is presently operating holding centers for more than 1,000 migrant children who have actually been separated from their parents as part of the present administrationefforts to get tough on immigration and push policy reform. & We have the worst migration laws in the whole world. Nobody has such sad, such bad, and in fact, in most cases, such terrible and tough. You see about kid separation; you see whatgoing on there, & the president said. Currently there is no law on the books in the United States that requires the separation of children from their parents. The policy is one that was enacted by the presidentappointed chief law officer, Jeff Sessions, and is being executed by the presidentappointed director for the Department of Homeland Security.
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Tel Aviv-basedPhotomyne, an A.I.-powered app that helps you bring your old photo prints online, has been benefitting from the subscription app boom to the tune of $5 million in Series A funding. Today, the app is used by a million people every month, and 250,000 people pay the $20 annual subscription for the expanded service. This adds a handful of additional features, including the option to build a family website where all your photos are uploaded immediately after being scanned.

There is something of a limited lifetime for apps that convert physical media to digital & at some point, everyone who wants to transition their old media to the web will have done so. Another issue is that some people will make scanning photos a one-time project. They&ll then save all their photos to their own device and cloud storage, and cancel their subscription.

And as those users drop off, physical media will continue to die out.

For those reasons, Photomyne will eventually need to expand into other areas & perhaps scanning other things beyond photos. As it has a couple of patents for things like scanning business cards, documents, and sticky notes, itclearly thinking about this, too.

But in the meantime, therestill an audience of self-appointed family historians, who are making old photos available to their extended families, as well as older folks who grew up in the pre-smartphone era and now want to bring their memories online, too.

By leveraging A.I. technology which runs locally, in real-time, on mobile devices, Photomyne is able to speed up the fairly tedious process of photo scanning using a handheld device. That is, instead of having to focus on one photo & as with GooglePhotoScan, for example& Photomyne lets you scan multiple photos in a single shot as you flip through the pages of old albums.

It then breaks those up into individual photos by auto-detecting the boundaries.

It also auto-rotates sideways photos, crops the photos, corrects the photo perspective, and saves them in a digital album where you can further filter them, share, or & with the subscription & save locally, backup to the cloud, sync to other devices, or publish to a family website.

Photomyne raises $5 million for its A.I.-powered photo scanning app

The ability to scan more photos in one shot makes the app appealing to those who want to upload their entire collection of old photos to the web, instead of picking and choosing specific photos to import.

In addition, the appA.I.-based technology improves over time the more you use it, says Photomyneco-founder and CFO Yair Segalovitz.

And soon, the company plans to roll out other advanced features, too, he notes.

&We are focused on a new set of exciting features that we expect to release in the very near future. We intend to offer automatic color correction & such as fixing color decay & and the ability to search interesting photos in our 70 million-plus photo archive,& says Segalovitz.

To date, Photomyne has been downloaded 7 million times and is largely used in the U.S. and in Western Europe, though itstarting to see growth in China, too.

The Series A round was led byLuxembourg-based Maor, a co-investment tech fund from Philippe Guez and Eric Elalouf. It also included participation from Israeli investors and others from its seed round a couple of years ago.

With the new funding, the company plans to expand its team of 16 to around 25 and scale the business in Japan and South East Asia, in particular.

Photomyne is a free download on iOS and Android, but the full range of feature is only available to subscribers.

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