Music startup Roli adds Pharrell Williams as new investor and chief creative officer

When it comes to music and technology, the bulk of attention has been focused on companies building digitised services to help deliver music to the masses, such as Spotify and Soundcloud. But an equally interesting development is how tech innovations have bridged into the world of music hardware, from devices to appreciate it to devices to create it; and today, one of the bigger movers in that space is announcing a new investor, who is also joining the company in an executive role.

Roli, a London-based startup that makes a new style of keyboard, along with other modular music creation instruments and tools that work by touch and sound, is today announcing that Pharrell Williams, the musician and investor, is joining the company as chief creative officer.

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SmartRG® Unveils New Flagship Gigabit Broadband Access Gateway Based on Intel Technology

SmartRG’s Corona SR900ac Gateway is First to Offer an Open-Source SDN/NFV-Ready Platform Integrated with Home Analytics and Powered by the Intel® AnyWAN™ SoC

VANCOUVER, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SmartRG Inc., a leading provider of solutions that optimize WiFi networks for the smart connected home, announced today the release of its Corona SR900ac AnyWAN broadband gateway. For the first time, service providers and system integrators now have access to an open-source-based, SDN/NFV-ready platform integrated with home analytics and based on Intel technology. Outfitted with an Intel® AnyWAN™ SoC GRX350, two Intel® Home Wi-Fi chipsets WAV500 Series, and pre-loaded with SmartOS™, SmartRG’s containerized operating system for NFV-enabled CPE, the Corona SR900ac delivers true Gigabit WiFi performance via class-leading 802.11ac MU-MIMO.

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Seismic Games: We're making "big bets" on mobile VR and location-based gaming

Founded in 2011, LA-based developer Seismic Games has already worked on huge franchises such as Call of Duty and Skylanders.

But that list only increases when one takes into account the now-defunct, formerly Activision-owned studio Pandemic, developer of major console games such as Star Wars: Battlefront and Mercenaries, from which Seismic Games emerged.

The studio is independent and has a mobile focus, but its acquisition of fellow LA outfit Grue Games in December 2016 also marked its ambitions in VR and AR.

To learn more about the origins of Seismic Games, its five games currently in development and the firm's vision for the future, PocketGamer.biz sat down with Co-founder and CEO Greg Borrud.

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Rights management and content monetization company HAAWK raises $2.5 million

The music industry has been struggling with the best way to manage digital rights and to make sure that for decades artists get the money they’re due for the songs they write.

These days, there are tons of companies trying to solve the problem of managing, monitoring and paying musicians for the songs they make. The latest entrant into this competitive marketplace is HAAWK, which just scored $2.5 million in new financing for its technology.

Rincon Venture Partners, Wavemaker Partners, Frontier Venture Capital and Apex Ventures all participated in the company’s latest round of financing.

HAAWK actually serves more than just music rights holders. The company is also working with film and television rights holders to ensure they get compensated for their work.

The company also acquired certain assets and intellectual property from Dart Music, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

HAAWK tracks assets and delivers royalties for music and movies distributed on YouTube, iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Pandora, Google Play, TIDAL, Deezer and SoundCloud.

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This new virtual tape measure app is perfect for people who obsess over the tiny details in their home

Apple has said it's going all-in on augmented reality, a new technology that uses advanced cameras and sensors to understand the world around our devices.

Occipital is a startup that's been creating augmented reality hardware and software for years. It's now taken parts of Apple's new AR software, ARKit, and made software that's less games or fun novelty and more serious home improvement tool.

TapMeasure, which is now available for download, is an iOS app that can automatically make measurements and draft floor plans with an iPhone. It can create both simple 2D floorplans and 3D room models. 

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