Y Combinator is an accelerator that hosts what are widely considered the most coveted tech startups in the world, and this most recent class is no different. Even with a record 114 startups in its current class, president Sam Altman said they represented “less than 2% of the companies that applied.” Only about four or five would go on to become “big hits,” he added. For every Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, or Twitch—all of which are Y Combinator alums in the billion-dollar-startup club—there are hundreds of others that fade into oblivion. It’s hard to say which companies will go on to become unicorns (if we had this skill set, we’d be in a much more lucrative industry), but based on their short two-and-a-half-minute presentations at Y Combinator’s demo days this week, we picked six startups that left a lasting impression on us. Standard Cyborg Walking on stage with a $23,000 prosthetic leg, Standard Cyborg founder and CEO Jeff Huber talked about some of the challenges amputees face. Prosthetics are typically very expensive because they’re “designed completely by hand by someone pouring and carving plaster,” and the companies that make them usually discourage wearers from using them in wet environments, like the shower or beach, to avoid rust buildup and the suspension systems jamming. For Huber, whose left leg was amputated at infancy, this meant the mundane task of taking a shower became a daily balancing act. “I’ve definitely fallen lots of times,” he tells Quartz, noting many amputees often rely on […]

For many Apple watchers, Monday’s launch of its new watch is a significant step in the effort to turn the company into a technology-based luxury brand. The strategy was signalled initially with the hiring of Angela Ahrendts from Burberry a year ago to transform Apple’s retail business. It has since been seen repeatedly in hiring from within the fashion and luxury-brand industries. But it will face its first new product test with the Apple Watch. Led by Apple design chief Sir Jonathan Ive, the 48-year-old British designer who is now effectively the face of the company after recent profiles in the New Yorker and US Vogue, Apple is placing new emphasis on design and style appeal. While the last iPhones came in a range of three colours, according to reports there will be no less than six metal options for the watch – notably including two types of gold, 18-carat yellow and 18-carat rose. There will be six band designs, two face sizes and 11 face designs. Chief executive Tim Cook has said the product will “redefine what people expect from a watch”. Ive says it will be “a move away from what is traditionally understood as consumer electronics”. Ive hired industrial designer Marc Newson to work on the Apple Watch. An intimate of the fashion industry – his wife is Fendi and Victoria’s Secret stylist Charlotte Stockdale – Newson choreographed the initial unveiling of the product for fashion designers and editors during Paris fashion week last September. “The fashion […]

Apple has been ordered to pay more than $530m after a federal jury in Texas found its iTunes software infringed three patents owned by a patent licensing company called Smartflash. Although Smartflash had been asking for $852m in damages, the verdict handed down on Tuesday night was still a blow to Apple. The jury, which deliberated for eight hours, determined Apple had not only used Smartflash’s patents without permission, but did so wilfully. The patents concerned digital rights management, data storage and payment systems. Apple, which said it would appeal, said the outcome was another reason that reform was needed in the patent system to curb litigation by companies that do not make products themselves. “Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no US presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented,” said Apple’s Kristin Huguet. “We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating, and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system.” ‘Very happy’ Smartflash sued Apple in May 2013, alleging its iTunes software infringed its patents related to accessing and storing downloaded songs, videos and games. “Smartflash is very happy with the jury’s verdict, which recognises Apple’s longstanding wilful infringement,” said Brad Caldwell, a lawyer for Smartflash. The trial was held in Tyler, Texas, which over the past decade has become a focus for patent litigation. Smartflash’s registered office is also […]

Samsung’s smart TVs have already come under fire this week for a poorly-worded privacy policy that apparently let the devices listen in on owners’ conversations. Now, there are reports that the sets are inserting ads “every 20-30 minutes” into users’ own, locally-stored content. There’s been a string of complaints online by customers using third-party video apps such as Plex and Australian service Foxtel, with most referring to rogue Pepsi ads interrupting their viewing. “After about 15 minutes of watching live TV, the screen goes blank, and then a 16:9 sized Pepsi ads (taking up about half the screen) pops up,” wrote a professed Samsung smart TV owner on Foxtel’s support forums. “It’s as if there is a popup ad on the TV.” Samsung addressed similar complaints in January after tech writer David Chartier posted a picture of a pop-up ads for a “Yahoo Broadcast Interactivity” app appearing on his smart TV. Samsung explained that these sorts of ads were supposed to be opt-in only and was working with Yahoo to improve the system. “We are working with Yahoo to create an opt-in screen prompt specific to their service as soon as possible,” Samsung told Business Insider, adding that to disable them users should “press Menu on your Samsung Remote and scroll to Smart Hub > Terms & Policy > Yahoo Privacy Policy. Scroll to ‘I disagree with the Yahoo Privacy Notice’ and you can toggle the option on to opt-out.” The option itself is not only buried so deeply in […]

If that sentence makes little sense to you, you must not be from the generation AT&T will seek when it launches “SnapperHero,” a scripted series made just for consumers who are increasingly turning to mobile-based media to gain access to information and entertainment. “SnapperHero” will center on a superhero premise and will feature influential social-media personae in its cast. To create the program, AT&T has selected people with big followings on social-media outlets like YouTube, Snapchat and Vine, and will have them ask their audiences to make choices that will shape the way “SnapperHero” plays out – like character powers and origins, according to Billy Parks, producer of the series. “A lot of it will be built on suggestions that are generated from the fans, and this is how we will build the audience for the show,” said Parks, who supervised the production of @SummerBreak, a mobile series backed by AT&T and Chernin Group that played out on Twitter, Tumblr and other social-media outlets. “We start by saying, ‘Hey, we are going to make this, so what are your suggestions?’ And we will show them how it’s being made along the way.” Parks developed the series along with Kendall Ostrow, a UTA agent specializing in digital media. Launch of the series is a vote of confidence by a major advertiser in Snapchat, a photo-messaging application that allows users to send text, photos and videos to a defined set of contacts. The content typically disappears after a set number of seconds, […]

As many as 7 million people might cut the cord once HBO launches its new streaming service later this year. At least that’s how a market research firm read the numbers from its recent online survey. Such a mass exodus, if it were to occur, would be a huge blow to pay TV companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV. About 100 million households in the U.S. subscribe to TV. But don’t set your timers to mass cable exodus just yet. The report from Dallas-based market researcher Parks Associates is based on an online survey of 10,000 people in U.S. homes with broadband access from late last year. And even Parks Associates suggests this drastic scenario might not actually happen. “Just because somebody says on a survey that they’re going to do something doesn’t mean they actually are,” Glenn Hower, a research analyst at Parks Associates, told The Huffington Post. “We have some doubts that 7 million households are going to say, ‘Well, I can get HBO so [I’m going to cut my cable] service.”‘ For one, the network hasn’t released many details about HBO GO — including the critical detail of how much it will cost. For the survey, Parks Associates put the price at $14.99 per month, roughly the amount you pay if you add HBO onto your current TV package. Also, most people probably aren’t subscribing to a full TV package of hundreds of channels just to get HBO. They’re watching other programming like sports and […]