San Francisco Gigaom

Verizon is laying down 400 tiny cells in SF to boost LTE capacity

Small cell, big punch

In the coming months, workers and visitors along San Francisco’s major tech corridors may notice some very big improvement in Verizon’s 4G…

by Kevin Fitchard Feb 20, 2015 - 1:54 PM PST

Indian rape victim sues Uber in US court

Seeks damages and changes

The Indian woman whose alleged rape by an Uber driver led to the service being shut down in New Delhi has now…

by David Meyer Jan 30, 2015 - 3:40 AM PST

Here’s how Sidecar took the lead in the carpool race

Sidecar has its moment

It’s been four months since Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar officially launched their carpool features. And although all three rideshare companies have marketed their new carpool…

by Carmel DeAmicis Dec 19, 2014 - 1:53 PM PST

The Tinder for crime-fighting might just be Tinder

To catch a thief

Well this is unusual. Buildzoom, an application for finding home contractors, is turning to the crowds to ID a woman who has robbed…

by Carmel DeAmicis Dec 16, 2014 - 12:38 PM PST

Los Angeles and San Francisco sue Uber, settle with Lyft

Uber's week from hell

Uber’s week from hell continued Tuesday, as the offices of the Los Angeles and San Francisco district attorneys filed lawsuits suing the company…

by Carmel DeAmicis Dec 9, 2014 - 2:47 PM PST

Reports: San Francisco Uber driver hit a passenger with a hammer

Once again, Uber has made news following an alleged driver assault of a passenger. This time, the injuries were serious.

by Carmel DeAmicis Sep 26, 2014 - 5:47 PM PST

Uber expands carpooling to entire city of San Francisco

Despite some initial execution bumps, Uber is expanding its carpooling feature to the public.

by Carmel DeAmicis Sep 2, 2014 - 12:19 PM PST

Obnoxious MonkeyParking app bites the dust in San Francisco

Good riddance. A parking app that promised to make its owners money, while making everyone else miserable, has heeded a cease-and-desist letter.

by Jeff Roberts Jul 10, 2014 - 9:42 AM PST

San Francisco, San Jose combine their Wi-Fi networks using Hotspot 2.0

iPhones — and eventually Android devices — will be able to automatically login to public Wi-Fi networks in both cities using secure connections.

by Kevin Fitchard Jun 30, 2014 - 3:30 PM PST

Parking space apps driven out of San Francisco, and that’s a good thing

San Francisco has just banned apps that let you sell your parking spot. This is not a question of regulators versus the sharing economy.

by Jeff Roberts Jun 23, 2014 - 12:59 PM PST

Square expands into the Valley, opening up offices in Santa Clara

Once a startup establishes itself in San Francisco, you don’t see many of them moving into Silicon Valley, but Square is bucking…

by Kevin Fitchard Mar 25, 2014 - 10:24 AM PST

Some day Silicon Valley will move north. Here’s why it should settle in Oakland

If Silicon Valley is too far away, and San Francisco is too expensive, there’s only one alternative. Oakland, which is both attractive in its own right and in need of financial help, should be home to more companies in the tech industry.

by Tom Krazit Feb 17, 2014 - 8:00 AM PST

Sprint ramps up LTE in 40 new markets, but still nothing in SF, Seattle

Sprint’s LTE rollout continues on its painfully slow pace. While the carrier now boasts 4G coverage in 340 markets, there are still many glaring holes in its metropolitan city footprint.

by Kevin Fitchard Jan 27, 2014 - 7:48 AM PST

SFMTA approves new shuttle rules for Google and Apple buses

Months of tension around the use of San Francisco’s public bus stops by Silicon Valley companies to transport workers finally led to action…

by Lauren Hockenson Jan 22, 2014 - 6:10 AM PST

San Francisco will charge tech shuttles for using public stops

In a move designed to ease the growing tensions between deep-pocketed Silicon Valley workers and activists on behalf of lower-income communities forced…

by Lauren Hockenson Jan 6, 2014 - 3:26 PM PST

San Francisco gets free hotspot Wi-Fi up and down Market Street

The new Ruckus and Layer42 built network extends from the Castro to the Embarcadero. It’s still short of San Francisco’s planned muni-Wi-Fi network from a decade ago, but it covers the city’s primary thoroughfare.

by Kevin Fitchard Dec 16, 2013 - 2:10 PM PST

Sprint launches LTE in St. Louis, San Diego; wraps up 2013 with 300 4G cities

Sprint now has 300 cities and towns in its LTE footprint, but it still has some big holes to fill, like San Francisco.

by Kevin Fitchard Dec 16, 2013 - 8:06 AM PST

A flash mob for good: Batkid saves San Francisco, and takes us along for the ride

It might have seemed like just a whimsical Friday afternoon time-waster, but the “flash mob” that developed around San Francisco’s Batkid was another example of just how powerful the weak ties of social media can become

by Mathew Ingram Nov 15, 2013 - 3:17 PM PST

San Francisco’s tech-in-government startup program almost ready to announce finalists

The Bay Area has big city problems and a surplus of startups. The mayor’s office wants to put them together to solve its greatest problems.

by Signe Brewster Nov 5, 2013 - 3:48 PM PST

Square doubles in size in a year; now boasts 600 employees

New products like Stand and Market are not only broadening Square’s scope, but they’re necessitating a lot of new hires. It’s found a bigger HQ, increased its presence in NYC and plans to expand into Canada.

by Kevin Fitchard Oct 7, 2013 - 3:59 PM PST

East Coast vs. West: SF beats NYC hands down in open Wi-Fi availability

You can’t swing a cat in San Francisco without bouncing it off a dozen open Wi-Fi signals. A Devicescape study found that twice as many businesses in SF offered Wi-Fi to their customers than in NYC.

by Kevin Fitchard Sep 27, 2013 - 2:16 PM PST

Sprint turns up LTE in 21 new cities; preps for big 4G push this summer

Apart from Los Angeles, this week’s expansion mainly targets smaller cities and towns, but Sprint is going urban once again this summer with a big 120-city push.

by Kevin Fitchard Apr 18, 2013 - 10:06 AM PST

Cabbies sue to drive car service Uber out of San Francisco

San Francisco cab drivers are bringing a class action suit against Uber, claiming that the car service should be regulated like other taxis. The suit is part of a nationwide dispute pitting upstarts against the incumbent taxi industry.

by Jeff Roberts Nov 14, 2012 - 10:43 AM PST

San Francisco tech rallies around startup-friendly tax measure Prop E

San Francisco residents will be able to vote on Tuesday for or against Prop E, a measure that would change how companies in the city are taxed. The measure is widely supported by fast-growing tech companies in the city, who opposed the city’s unique payroll tax.

by Eliza Kern Nov 2, 2012 - 12:57 PM PST

7 Stories to read this weekend

When it comes to tech, San Francisco is the company town, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Martin Amis things writing should be about longevity, something no one can accuse Malcolm Gadwell of writing. And an American made car! These are this week’s recommended reading.

by Om Malik Sep 29, 2012 - 12:00 AM PST

Comcast binges on Wi-Fi hotspots in California

Comcast’s Wi-Fi network has pulled up stakes and is heading west to make its fortune in San Francisco and other California cities. The cable operators said it has deployed a “few thousand” hotspots around the state though the greatest concentration is in the Bay Area.

by Kevin Fitchard Sep 27, 2012 - 9:53 AM PST

Vevo rolls out new video and artist pages, vows to take on connected TVs next

Music video platform Vevo will give itself a visual refresh Thursday, decluttering its video watch pages and adding a whole new artist page. Those changes were driven by the company’s new product team, which traded New York’s glitz for a low-key startup experience in San Francisco.

by Janko Roettgers Sep 20, 2012 - 1:00 PM PST

Parking Panda brings driveway sharing, parking space finder app to SF

The service expands from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore to let individuals and private garages rent out empty spaces. In San Francisco (and across the bay in neighboring Oakland), Parking Panda will have 5,000 to 10,000 parking spaces available for reservation via its new iPhone app.

by Erica Ogg Sep 17, 2012 - 3:00 AM PST

City of SF won’t buy Macs without EPEAT certification

Just days after news hit that Apple no longer wants its computers and monitors evaluated for EPEAT certification, the first public agency has said it will no longer be allowed to buy Macs as a result. The City of San Francisco is (unsurprisingly) first up.

by Erica Ogg Jul 10, 2012 - 8:04 AM PST

Verizon, Comcast double team AT&T in Bay Area battle

The country’s largest mobile operator and largest cable provider bringing their “quadruple play” service to San Francisco and the Bay Area, jointly marketing Comcast residential TV and broadband and Verizon mobile service. In the process, they’re poking a needle in the eye of mutual enemy AT&T.

by Kevin Fitchard Feb 1, 2012 - 9:59 AM PST

AT&T launches LTE service in San Francisco and New York City

AT&T has turned on its 4G LTE service in 11 new markets, but that expansion may not be quite so big as it appears. AT&T is only covering large cities like San Francisco and New York partially, explaining why it’s only reached 74 million in coverage.

by Kevin Fitchard Jan 5, 2012 - 11:20 AM PST

Buffer gets $400K funding — and tells exactly how they did it

Every day, it seems like there’s another bland press release about startup seed funding. So when Buffer closed on $400,000, it wanted to announce it differently — by explaining exactly how the process happened. It’s a fun read, and a good lesson for other startup founders.

by Colleen Taylor Dec 20, 2011 - 6:37 PM PST

Cord Cutters Day Was a Blast

What do Redmond, Royal Oaks and Lima, Peru have in common? It’s all cities where we had meetups for Cord Cutters Day yesterday, thanks in large part to a community that even braves tornado warnings. Check out some photos from a few of the gatherings.

by Janko Roettgers Apr 27, 2011 - 4:34 PM PST

Nonprofit Start-up Bay Citizen Adds $9.5 Million In Funding

The Bay Citizen is going public with a new round of funding a little sooner than planned after a column in the rival San Francisco Chronicle…

by Staci D. Kramer Dec 31, 2010 - 12:00 AM PST

Macworld Expo Tips: 12 iPhone Apps for Traveling to San Francisco

The time for Macworld Expo 2010 is upon us and the handiest tool you’ll bring to San Francisco with you is, of…

by Dave Greenbaum Feb 8, 2010 - 10:00 AM PST

Maveron Casting for Consumer Investments in SF

Though there’s no lack of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, you can count one more. Maveron this week announced it is opening…

by Liz Gannes Nov 19, 2009 - 1:00 PM PST

NYT’s Heekin-Canedy: By Itself, Bay Area Report Won’t Be Reason To Subscribe

The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) is particularly proud of one circulation statistic: 73 percent of its home-delivery subscribers have been on…

by Staci D. Kramer Oct 15, 2009 - 8:25 PM PST

Where’s Our TV Guide for the Web?

There’s a lot of free video on the Internet these days, and you don’t need to go spelunking on BitTorrent to find…

by Liz Gannes Aug 6, 2009 - 5:48 PM PST

Team Apart Launches: 100 Beta Invites for WWD Readers

Team Apart, a free collaboration tool that enables real-time video conferencing, whiteboarding and file-sharing, launches into closed beta today, and we have…

by Simon Mackie Aug 6, 2009 - 9:00 AM PST

Cisco Launches Carbon Emissions Map, First In San Francisco

While San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (now candidate for California Governor) let slip that San Francisco was working on an environment-focused map…

by Katie Fehrenbacher Apr 22, 2009 - 8:04 AM PST

San Francisco Chronicle Wins Concessions From Unions

Layoffs and closings have become commonplace at newspapers, but newspapers are also trying some other survival tactics. The San Francisco Ch…

by Rory Maher Mar 10, 2009 - 3:47 PM PST

What Good Are Regional Climate Compacts? Cali Cities Aim to Find Out

As lawmakers in Washington, D.C., gear up for a battle over climate legislation, the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose…

by Josie Garthwaite Mar 7, 2009 - 5:00 AM PST

Will Cali's Latest Wave Power Project Sink or Sail With Regulators?

Wave energy seems a natural fit for coastal, cleantech-loving San Francisco. But while the technology has a big fan in Mayor Gavin…

by Josie Garthwaite Feb 27, 2009 - 3:00 PM PST

Hearst Threatens SF Chronicle's Sale Or Closure Unless Unions Approve 'Significant' Cuts

Yesterday, the big news out of Hearst Corporation was one hiring — that of Yahoo’s Neeraj Khemlani as digital advisor to CEO Frank Bennack,…

by Staci D. Kramer Feb 24, 2009 - 8:54 PM PST

San Francisco Airport to Offer Carbon Offsets

During the hectic holiday season and its multitude of inconveniences, like delayed flights, icy roads and traffic jams, it’s easy for travelers…

by Katie Fehrenbacher Dec 24, 2008 - 12:00 PM PST

San Francisco Green Team Spared the Ax — for Now

San Francisco — home of an ambitious solar incentive program, a Tesla-driving mayor who blogs against “drill baby drill,” and soon, electric…

by Josie Garthwaite Dec 11, 2008 - 5:30 AM PST

Wi-Fi Gets a Boost With Quantenna Chips

Quantenna Communications is due to announce three chipsets on Tuesday that boost Wi-Fi signals with a small footprint.

by Stacey Higginbotham Oct 13, 2008 - 9:00 PM PST

The Daily Sprout

San Jose City Council Approves Tesla Plant: The San Jose City Council unanimously voted to approve Tesla Motors’ new electric car manufacturing…

by Craig Rubens Oct 8, 2008 - 6:20 PM PST

19 Electric Car Players Pitch San Francisco

The office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said today that it has received 19 responses to its request for information to electrify the city’s fleet. The responders include electric car players, like Better Place and ZAP, huge consultancies, like Booz Allen Hamilton, and a number of unknowns.

by Craig Rubens Sep 30, 2008 - 4:00 PM PST