Technology

Intel is feeling increasing pressure from AMD and Qualcomm and the competition will get even more intense if reports that Apple is working on its own chips to replace Intel processors in Macs are true. In an interview with Engadget last week before Computex, Intelclient computing head Gregory Bryant said that Intel would reveal an even more powerful chip than last yearshowstopper, the 18-core, 36-thread Intel i9-7980XE.

As it turns out, IntelComputex keynote today in Taipei, Taiwan focused more on previewing future launches, but Bryant did reveal that later this year, the company will unveil a single-socket processor with a whooping 28-cores that will run at 5 GHz. In comparison, AMDThreadripper processor, one of Intelclosest competitors, has 16-cores and 32 threads.

Bryant said the new chip will debut in the fourth quarter of this year but did not reveal pricing details (for reference, the Intel i9-7980XE is currently priced at $1,999, so itreasonable to assume the new chip will cost at least that).

Intel also released a new limited edition chip, the Core i7-8086K, which runs at 5.0 Ghz (a new milestone for its chips), to mark the anniversary of the first x86 processor, and will give away 8,086 of them in a sweepstake.

Other teasers included Intelplans for eighth-generation Core processors nicknamed Whiskey Lake, which will be made using Intel14-nanometer technology and are designed for lightweight laptops that have little room for batteries or cooling fans. Another chip series, called Amber Lake, will also be made on the 14-nanometer production process and be intended for the thinnest laptops and tablets.

Intel also showcased a new iteration of the Optane solid-state drive, the 905P, which will offer up to 1.5 TB in a smaller M.2 design.

In non-chip news, Intel announced it will work with Sprint on devices from its hardware partners, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP , Lenovo and Microsoft, to run on 5G networks. They are expected to launch next year.

We are T-minus 48 and counting, folks. Thatwhen TC Tel Aviv officially blasts off on a day-long conference exploring all things related to the advances, challenges and opportunities related to mobility tech. It all happens June 7 at the Tel Aviv Convention Center, so don&t waste any more time: buy your ticket today.

Mobility techgrowing at a rapid pace world-wide, and nowhere is that truer than in Israel, where startups stand on the leading edge of whatpossible. Seriously, whatmore leading edge than flying cars

Two of the men behind this mind-bending aerial transportation alternative will grace the TC stage. Omer Bar-Yohay is a former member of the U.S. governmentNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOn-Demand Mobility Working Group and the current co-founder and chief executive of Eviation, an electric aircraft manufacturer. He&ll be joined by Rafi Yoeli, who is considered a founding father of the unmanned aerial vehicle. His company, Urban Aeronautics, is working on developing flying vehicles as viable alternatives to buses; talk about taking on a challenge.

On another aerial note, you can expect to hear a lot about the state of commercial drones from Yariv Bash ofFlytrex (the worldfirst on-demand drone delivery service) and Ran Krauss ofAirobotics(a pilotless drone solution).

If investing in mobility tech is more your thing, TC Tel Aviv will not disappoint. Mike Granoffof Maniv Mobility will joinChemi Peresof Pitango Venture CapitalandYahal Zilkaof Magma Venture Partners in a conversation about investing in Israeli tech.

And if business growth is on your mind, you won&t want to miss Mor Assiaof iAngels,Shuly Galiliof Upwest Labs andShelly Hod Moyal of iAngels as they discuss issues related to scaling up and moving abroad.

Thatjust the tip of the mobility iceberg. You can check out the full conference agenda here. And don&t forget about Startup Alley, where 100 early-stage startups will display an amazing array of technology relating to cybersecurity, AR/VR, robotics, fintech, biotech, artificial intelligence, blockchain and more.

TechCrunch Tel Avivtakes place on June 7, 2018 at the Tel Aviv Convention Center, Pavilion 10.That sound you hear is the 48-hour clock ticking.Get your general admission tickets today.

If you thought price comparison type online marketplaces were a done deal, you&re clearly mistaken. Motorway, a new startup from the team behind Top10 — the mobile and broadband comparison site that exited to uSwitch in 2011 — are back again, and this time they want to make it infinitely easier to sell your used car online.

To help with that mission, the young company, which formally launched in July 2017 after it had tested an MVP, has raised £2.75 million in seed funding led by LocalGlobe, and Marchmont Ventures (the VC fund of Hugo Burge, former CEO of Momondo, which sold to Priceline last year). Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman also participated.

Motorway had previously raised an angel round of £500,000 in the autumn of 2017 after the product had launched and was showing traction. Angel investors in that round included Duncan Jennings (founder of VoucherCodes.co.uk), Shakil Khan (early Spotify investor) and Christian Woolfenden (CEO of Photobox).

Tom Leathes, Motorway co-founder and CEO, says there are more than 8 million used cars sold annually in the U..K — which is more than 3x the number of new cars sold, apparently — but that the process of selling a car has gone largely unchanged for decades. This sees motorists having to visit multiple car dealers to negotiate a sale, or list privately on websites like AutoTrader or eBay. The other option is to use one of a number of online car buyers, such as WeBuyAnyCar, that provide a quick disposal option but in return prices paid are typically low. The London-based startup wants to provide a fourth option.

Namely — in classic price comparison fashion — Motorway makes it simple to compare the market and find the best deal for your car. In return, dealers get connected with motivated sellers instantly. Always be closing, as they say.

&Motorway makes selling a car faster by bringing the options online and enabling easy price comparison,& says Leathes. &Consumers enter their carregistration number and mileage to instantly see multiple offers from car buying services, specialist dealerships and even vehicle recycling firms. They can then compare headline offers, read buyer reviews, collection criteria, fees and payment methods before choosing their best deal. By comparing offers, consumers can get up to £1,000 more than going directly to one buyer, and sell their car in 24 hours&.

In terms of typical customer, so far Motorway seems to have run the whole gamut of car owner. I&m told customers using the site have sold lots of Fords, Audis, VWs and Vauxhalls of all ages as well as Aston Martin DB9s, Porsche 911s and various Ferraris. &We&re building Motorway to help anyone looking to sell a car they own & no matter how old, its mileage, what brand or where itlocated,& adds the Motorway CEO.

Leathes cites competitors as established brands such as Auto Trader, We Buy Any Car, eBay and Gumtree, which are popular websites in the U.K. to sell your car. He says there are also a couple of early-stage startups in the space, but that none of these services offers a transparent price comparison experience with instant offers to buy your vehicle.

The revenue model is simple, too. The startup is paid a commission by the buyer when a car is purchased from a seller that found their offer through Motorway. &This means we&re aligned squarely with both consumers and car buyers, as we only make money when we successfully connect sellers with buyers and a deal is completed,& Leathes says. &Motorwaygoal is to help everyone find great offers for their car instantly. Therea real perception that you need to be a car expert to get a good deal, and we think that needs to change&.

With over 25,000 customer sales enquiries per month, Motorway says the new funding will enable the startup to further develop its software platform, expand the network of buyers, and to market the service more widely.

Adds ​Suzanne Ashman, Partner at LocalGlobe: &Creating a compelling experience for people selling their cars is hard. The potential buyers are fragmented with many different online and offline options. Information about the sale process is difficult to find and pricing is often unclear. Motorwaytechnology is exceptional and will bring much-needed transparency for car owners&.

Despite having three successful (or at least, moderately successful) exits behind them, the Motorway founders are used to doing hard things. A fourth venture — a hotel comparison site launched after they successfully bought back the Top10 domain name and subsequently backed by Accel and Balderton — shut down in 2015.

&Having had three successful startups before Top10, it was obviously a tough outcome for all of us. We built an amazing product and had decent growth, but it wasn&t 10x better than the competition, which it had to be to win in such an established market,& Leathes tells me. &After that we took almost a year working on ideas before deciding on Motorway. And we were pretty ruthless about launching something ourselves, proving it works and scaling it before raising any funding&.