The United Kingdom’s Central Bank, the Bank of England, is working with researchers at University College London to design a Bitcoin clone of its own, according to a new report. MIT Technology Review details how the Bank began researching the idea of issuing digital currency early last year, one that could make retail payments more efficient ...

On-demand massage startup Soothe, Inc. has raised $35 million Series B in a round led by The Riverside Company. The valuation on the round was not disclosed. Founded in 2013, Soothe offers on-demand massage in 22 cities in the United States from 3,000 independent message therapists who are claimed to earn three to four times ...

It’s official: Apple has sent out invites for a new launch event to be held March 21st at its campus in Cupertino, California. The invite doesn’t give any details away as to what is being launched, saying only rather obscurely “let us loop you in” (perhaps in reference to Apple’s address of 1 Infinite Loop) ...

Cloud maintenance and asset management platform maker Maintenance Assistant, Inc. has raised $5 million Series A in a round led BuildGroup. Founded in 2008, Maintenance Assistant develops maintenance software solutions that are said to transform enterprise maintenance operations by eliminating waste and costly downtime, while at the same time managing risk. The company offers software in ...

On-demand hybrid cloud software startup Velostrata, Inc. has launched in general availability software that promises to move business application workloads to the cloud in minutes. The new technology is claimed to be the industry’s first software that removes the barriers to the public cloud for business application work without changing the applications and without moving ...

Brain rehabilitation app maker Constant Therapy, Inc. has raised $2 million Series A in a round led by Golden Seeds that included Kapor Capital, Launchpad Venture Group, Pond Capital and Community Health Network of Connecticut. Founded in 2013, Constant Therapy provides iPad tools for continuous and personalized therapy to people with cognitive, language, communication and ...

Virtual reality is getting social with an announcement that the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR is getting friend support. Starting Thursday people who own a Samsung Gear VR will now be able to create a public profile and then search for others on the platform by real name or Oculus username. To compliment the new feature ...

Facebook has acquired Masquerade Technologies, Inc., the maker of an app by the name of MSQRD that allows users to face swap, or add filters to their selfies. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed. Founded in 2010, the company’s main app has become a literal overnight success on Apple’s App Store with an ...

Those waiting to take a look at the newest version of Google’s Android mobile operating system have to wait no longer, with the company surprising many by releasing a preview version Wednesday, months before it was expected. The new version of Android, currently dubbed Android N but likely to change names before a final release, ...

Google, Inc. has launched a new feature in mobile search that makes planning your next holiday easier. Called Google Destinations, the new feature provides users with easy-to-browse travel information, including information on flights, accommodations, and things to see when they type “destination”  after a location, such as a continent, country, or specific location, or alternatively ...