Startups

MakerBot, one of the biggest names in the personal 3D printer business, is in acquisition talks.

That's according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported Wednesday that the Brooklyn, N.Y., company is in discussions with possible buyers.

MakerBot, which produces the $2,200 Replicator 2, one of the most popular 3D printers of its kind, has been a leader in the industry for several years. Its CEO, Bre Pettis, has become a spokesperson of sorts for the 3D printing industry and was the opening keynote speaker at this year's South by Southwest Interactive festival.

The Journal reported … Read more

The smart lock space is suddenly crowded with competitors, each of which want consumers to see their offering as the best way to use a mobile phone to replace the traditional door key.

But with the unveiling of its own smart lock, and an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, the San Francisco startup Goji may have staked out the most desirable position in the space.

Several companies -- including Lockitron, Kwikset and August -- have all announced various approaches to home door locks that can be accessed from a mobile phone. Common features include being able to tell remotely if the door … Read more

Years from now, will historians pinpoint 2013 as one of those myriad present-at-the-creation moments when a new technology entered the mainstream? When it comes to wearable computing, we're not there yet. But it seems that we're getting close.

Asked last week to assess the state of this nascent market, Apple's Tim Cook described wearable computing as profoundly interesting, which might qualify as understatement of the year.

Perhaps more than any other of its many skunkworks, Google's Project Glass has fired imaginations about the prospects -- as well as the perils -- of wearable computing. Hype aside, … Read more

At startup Pics.io, a Ukrainian trio thinks it's time for the Web browser to take on a computing task that thus far has resisted the inexorable shift toward cloud computing: raw photo editing.

Eager for higher quality and flexibility, photography enthusiasts and pros have gravitated toward raw photos formats, which record cameras' image data directly without processing into a more convenient but limited JPEG. But handling raw photos is a processor-intensive task -- the kind of thing that Web-based software historically hasn't been good at and the kind of thing that people buy specialized software such as … Read more

Amid questions to Google from Congress about privacy concerns related to Google Glass, a San Francisco startup is preparing an API to recognize faces with the controversial gadget.

The Google Glass Face Recognition API (application programming interface) from Lambda Labs will be available to developers within a week, TechCrunch tells us, quoting co-founder Stephen Balaban. … Read more

While 3D-printed guns have been grabbing most of the headlines lately, other types of firearms that make use of new technology are also hitting the scene.

TrackingPoint, a startup based in Austin, Texas, just began selling some of the most high-tech long-range shooting rifles available in the world -- they use 3D graphics, laser technology, and Wi-Fi, and allow users to live stream their exploits and post photos to social media and on personal devices.

"TrackingPoint introduces the world's first precision guided firearm -- the revolutionary new long-range shooting system that puts jet-fighter lock and launch technology in … Read more

Windows users, rejoice! Leap Motion is coming to a PC near you, and for the first time, you can see what it will be like.

Today, Leap Motion released a video showing what its 3D gesture-control system will be like on a Windows computer. That's important, given that it has struck partnerships with Asus and Hewlett-Packard.

With Leap and Windows, the company said in a blog post, "You'll be able to browse the Web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can … Read more

Microblogging service Tumblr is being acquired by Yahoo.

Yahoo announced the deal early Monday, along with a "promise not to screw it up." The Internet pioneer is paying $1.1 billion for Tumblr, "substantially all of which is payable in cash," Yahoo said.

The news had been expected. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the Yahoo board had approved the deal.

Under the terms of the deal, Yahoo will allow Tumblr, which has over 300 million monthly unique visitors, to operate as a completely separate entity that retains "the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and … Read more

Meron Gribetz and Ben Sand just rolled into Silicon Valley from New York, landing at Paul Graham's Y Combinator startup incubator with some angel money in their pockets and the bold conviction that they can deliver the next major technology transformation.

Their startup, Meta, is developing wearable computing eyewear, but unlike Google Glass enters 3D space and uses your hands to interact with the virtual world. The Meta system includes stereoscopic 3D glasses, supplied by Epson, and a 3D camera to track hand movements, similar to the portrayals of gestural control in movies like "Minority Report" and &… Read more