Duncan Riley

Duncan Riley is a senior writer at SiliconANGLE covering Startups, Bitcoin, and the Internet of Things. Duncan is a co-founder of VC funded media company B5Media and founder of news site The Inquisitr, and was a senior writer at TechCrunch in its earlier days. Tips? Press releases? Intersting startup? email: duncan@nichenet.com.au or contact Duncan on Twitter @duncanriley

Latest from Duncan Riley

Kaspersky: hackers steal at least $300 million from banks using malware

When many think bank robberies they may think of balaclava-wearing crooks with shot guns terrorising bank employees, but in 2015 bank robbery is a far more subtle affair involving multi-national crime gangs hacking into bank systems using malware. In a report to be published Monday, security firm Kaspersky details malware attacks that have stolen at least ...

Proposed FAA commercial drone rules: no to Amazon delivery, yes to news gathering

After an ongoing level of uncertainty surrounding the use of drones for commercial purposes, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a set of rules for commercial drone operation that will see some winners, and some losers in the emerging space Under the proposed regulations basic commercial operations, such as news gathering will be allowed, ...

iCar: Apple reported to be building an electric car…seriously

Although smart phone support in cars is old school in 2015, what if you could buy a car that was designed from the ground up to work with the latest model iPhone? That’s the problem Apple may well be tackling with a report today that they are building an electric car, or as it will may well be called, ...

Web presence management company Conductor raises $27 million Series D

Conductor Inc. has raised $27 Million Series D in a round led by Catalyst Investors that included previous investors FirstMark Capital, Matrix Partners, Investor Growth Capital and new investor Blue Cloud Ventures. Founded in 2010 Conductor bills itself as a “web presence management” company, a sort of hybrid SEO come content management firm that offers clients the ...

Candy Crush Saga maker King acquires Seattle games studio Z2

Candy Crush Saga maker King Digital Entertainment PLC has acquired Seattle-based mobile game studio Z2Live Inc. (Z2) for $150 million, consisting of $45 million in cash up front, and up to $105 million of additional cash linked to future events. Founded in 2009, Z2 currently offers two titles: Metalstorm Online and the fairly popular game Battle ...

Market consolidation: Expedia acquires travel rival Orbitz for $1.6 billion

Expedia Inc. has acquired its travel-focused rival Orbitz Worldwide Inc. for $1.6 billion. The deal will see see Expedia acquire Orbitz at $12.00 per share in cash, a premium of approximately 29 percent over the average share price for the five days up to and including February 11th.  The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the ...

Bill introduced in Utah could see Bitcoin accepted for transactions with State Government

A bill before the Utah State Legislature could eventually see Bitcoin being available for use in everyday transactions with the State Government. H.C.R. 6: Concurrent Resolution on Payment Options for State Services was drafted by Utah State Rep. Mark K. Roberts (R) and proposes that the “Legislature and the Governor proposes the creation of the Council on Payment ...

Absurdity redefined: music companies claim copyright over audio of a cat purring on YouTube

Can you claim copyright over the audio of a cat purring? EMI Music Publishing Ltd. and music rights management company PRS for Music Ltd. seem to think so, with both claiming via YouTube’s Content-ID system that they own the rights for a one hour long video that features nothing more than a 12 second repeating audio clip of ...

Twitter acquires social media talent agency Niche for rumored $30 million

Twitter Inc. has acquired social media talent agency The Niche Project Inc. (Niche). Although the price was not officially disclosed, reports suggest that it was $30 million with possible earn-outs and employment contracts taking the price closer to $60 million. New York and San Francisco-based Niche is self described as a “leading network for social network ...

Official: Microsoft confirms acquisition of calendar app maker Sunrise

Microsoft has officially confirmed that it has acquired Sunrise Atelier Inc., the maker of the Sunrise calendar application. The acquisition price was not disclosed, but was rumored to be around $100 million when news of the acquisition first surfaced February 5th. Sunrise offers a suite of calendar products for both mobile and desktop users that connects with and ...