Equity Shot: Pinterest and Zoom file to go public

In the latest Equity Shot, Kate Clark and Alex Wilhelm take a closer look at Pinterest and Zoom’s IPO filings.

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Google raises its G Suite prices

Google today announced that it is raising the price of its G Suite subscriptions for the first time. In the U.S., the prices of G Suite Basic and G Suite Business editions will increase by $1 and $2 per user/month, respectively, while increases in other regions will be adjusted according to the local currency and […]

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Google’s latest hardware innovation: Price

With its latest consumer hardware products, Google’s prices are undercutting Apple, Samsung and Amazon. The search giant just unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, tablet and smart home device, all available at prices well below their direct competitors. Where Apple and Samsung are pushing prices of its latest products even higher, Google is seemingly happy to […]

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Highfive’s video conferencing platform is now available through Ingram Micro and at Best Buy

Highfive, a Redwood City-based startup, offers businesses an integrated video conferencing service through its own custom meeting room hardware. While Highfive has been quite successful in selling its service and hardware online, the company today announced that it is adding Best Buy and Ingram Micro as distribution partners in an effort to expand its reach to […]

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Google’s Hangouts Meet will soon be compatible with hardware from Polycom and Cisco

G Suite is about to get a slew of new integrations. Hangouts Meet, for example, is Google’s designated video conferencing solution for businesses, but while it’s easy enough to use, most businesses have already invested in similar solutions from the likes of Polycom and Cisco — or they have opted for Microsoft’s Skype for Business as […]

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Dialpad gets AI injection with TalkIQ acquisition

Sometimes two companies get along so well together and fit each other so perfectly, they almost have to come together. That’s what happened when Dialpad, a business communications platform whose products include UberConference, started working with TalkIQ. They liked them so much, they bought the company. Dialpad CEO Craig Walker says the two companies actually […]

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Kaptivo looks to digitally transform the lowly whiteboard

At Kaptivo, a company that’s bringing high-tech image recognition, motion capture and natural language processing technologies to the lowly whiteboard, executives are hoping that the second time is the charm. The Cambridge, UK and San Mateo, Calif.-based company began life as a company called Light Blue Optics, and had raised $50 million in financing since […]

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GoPro to license camera lenses and sensors to third party manufacturers

GoPro is today announcing a multi-year deal with Jabil that aims to put GoPro technology in everything from police body cameras to video conferencing solutions. Through this agreement, Jabil will use GoPro’s design and intellectual property for use in approved third-party devices. This is the first time GoPro is letting other manufacturers build products with […]

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Highfive raises $32M Series C for its video conferencing platform

 Highfive, a startup that’s building an integrated software and hardware video conferencing solution, today announced that it has raised a $32 million Series C round, which brings the Redwood City-based company’s total funding to $77.4 million. The lead investor for this round was Dimension Data, a major global technology integrator and managed services subsidiary of Japan’s… Read More

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With $10M in new funding, Huddly launches its smart GO camera for video conferencing

 Huddly has built a smart camera that only has one mission: make your video meetings more productive. Now for the most part, you probably don’t think much about what camera you use for your video conferences. They are pretty much all the same, after all. But Norway-based Huddly thinks its smart wide-angle GO camera, which is now shipping for $499 through its resellers and which will be… Read More

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Why the first 5 minutes of every video conference is, ‘Can you hear me?’

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The video conference is one of the least-liked parts of modern office culture.

Despite the plethora of video conferencing services — Google Hangouts, BlueJeans, Highfive, Skype, FaceTime, and dozens more — the first five minutes of every meeting tends to be a series of fruitless attempts to get everyone’s audio working correctly. And even when it does, dropped connections, poorly timed muting/unmuting, and quiet talkers often ruin the flow.

The truth is video conferencing is hard. Layering random internet services on top of ad hoc equipment on top of users with virtually no training means you get a grab-bag of results. Sure there are sleek corporate systems, but their cost often puts them out of range of most startups. Read more…

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