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

Today’s legal action against Uber is proudly brought to you by Victoria, Australia

Another day, another set of legal issues for Uber Inc., with the Government of Victoria, Australia taking on Uber over the car service providing Uber X in the state without licensing. The Victorian Taxi Services Commission (TSC) has filed criminal charges against 12 UberX drivers alleging that they were operating a commercial passenger vehicle without a license. ...

PetziConnect is such a stupid idea it might actually work

PetziConnect from Petzila Inc. is an interactive pet device that allows you to see, talk to and treat your pets when you’re away from home via your mobile. OK, so it’s basically a webcam and speaker in a box that dispenses dog biscuits linked via an app, but it’s such a stupid idea it may work. ...

Microsoft starts accepting Bitcoin for digital purchases

Microsoft Corp. has today quietly added support for payments in Bitcoin for digital purchases. The acceptance of Bitcoin means the cryptocurrency can be used to fund purchases in verticals including the XBox, Windows and Mobile stores. In its payment and billing section, the company explains: You can now use Bitcoin to add money to your Microsoft account. ...

Instagram passes Twitter with 300m users, adds verified accounts

Instagram has hit a new milestone today with the company announcing that it has hit 300 million users, passing Twitter’s user count of 284 million. The company, acquired by Facebook Inc. for $1 billion in April 2012, noted in a celebratory post that the site sees 70 million photos and videos uploaded each day. The new ...

Uber ignores ban in Thailand. Did we mention the country is under martial law and ruled by the military?

Uber Inc., has decided to play with fire in the Kingdom of Thailand by simply ignoring a ruling that it is no longer allowed to operate….while the country is under martial law. As we reported yesterday, the Thai Department of Land Transport said that Uber is illegal because the company uses private cars rather than licensed taxis. ...

Mappsafe is a crowd-sourced app aiming to make your journey safer

Mappsafe Pty. Ltd. is a new company seeking funding on Indegogo for an application that aims to make your journey safer. The Melbourne, Australia-based firm claims that the application is the world’s first crowd-sourced mobile app in this space, and that the it reduces violence in public areas by mapping safe and unsafe places. Mappsafe gathers information from ...

HBO Online coming April, CTO quits as streaming outsourced to MLB Advanced

HBO Inc., will be launching its new online television streaming service HBO Online in April, with news that CTO Otto Berkes has resigned due to the company outsourcing the streaming technology for the service to MLB Advanced. The April launch date comes from an internal memo, and will be timed to coincide with the new season of ...

Uber mess: banned in Thailand, Spain, trouble in Vietnam & Indonesia, sued in California

There’s never a dull day for rideshare startup Uber Inc., and today is no different with news of a range of new bans, problems and legal suits. The first ban comes from military junta-ruled Thailand, where the Thai Department of Land Transport have said that Uber is illegal because the company uses private cars rather ...

Ziftr launches presale for altcoin ziftrCOIN

New Hampshire-based Ziftr has launched its new alternative currency (altcoin) ziftrCOIN on presale today. ziftrCOIN is being pitched as a gateway coin to mainstream cryptocurrency, and has been “designed to onboard the next 10 million cryptocurrency users and to help fulfil Ziftr’s goal of bringing cryptocurrency into the mainstream for consumers and retailers.” The coin ...

Bitreserve raises $8m+ Series B via crowd funding

Bitcoin exchange company Bitreserve Inc.,  has raised over $8 million and growing through investment crowdfunding platform CrowdCube. The Charleston, S.C.-based company headed by CNET founder Hasley Minor offers a Bitcoin currency exchange and payment services. The company pitches itself as enabling “members to escape Bitcoin volatility by holding bitcoin as stable, real-world money, but to still spend their money as Bitcoin.” ...