Airbnb

In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news: Airbnb is raising $1.5 billion Arival to Airbnb is raising $40 million SpaceX rocket explodes Microsoft takes Office to Android Updates from Facebook as well as Instagram The details: Airbnb raising $1.5 billion Airbnb is raising $1.5 billion, according to reports in The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. The FT notes that Airbnb’s round would be the biggest since Facebook raised the same amount in 2011. Facebook went public the next year. How hot is the “sharing economy” in housing? “Onefinestay, a five year-old business out of London that focuses...

Five months after Raleigh officials declared room-sharing apps to be illegal in the city, online lodging service Airbnb has agreed to collect taxes in connection with stays in Raleigh booked through its site. And not just in Raleigh. “Today, we are happy to announce that beginning June 1, 2015, Airbnb will begin collecting and remitting hotel taxes from guests on behalf of hosts statewide in North Carolina and locally in the counties of Buncombe, Durham, Mecklenburg and Wake,” Airbnb announced in a blog post. Airbnb also now collects taxes and fees in San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, San Jose, Malibu,...

The capital city’s last bed and breakfast is closing June 1. It’s owner noticed things were coming to an end about a year ago. “My neighbor asked me why somebody should stay at the Oakwood Inn,” owner Doris Jurkiewicz said. “And as I’m explaining it too her, she said ‘well why should they stay there? Your neighbors are doing the same thing.’ And I said ‘what?’” Jurkiewicz, who has operated the inn for 31 years, said business has declined in the six-room bed and breakfast in recent years. “I had a knock on my door about a month or...

In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news: Facebook’s app makes for easier e-payments ​Warren Buffett’s childhood home available for rent Adobe updates subscription offerings Another Blue Cross hack More Kardashian game entertainment is coming The details: The latest way to pay someone from your phone: Facebook Facebook’s Messenger app will soon let you send your friends money, the latest in a crowded field of services aimed at an increasingly wireless and cashless generation. Services including PayPal, its Venmo unit and the disappearing-photo app Snapchat let you beam money to friends and family using smartphones linked to bank accounts or...

The “sharing economy” debate is intensifying in Raleigh as a public meeting Monday night about AirBNB spilled over to include comments about Uber, paying taxes and fees – and who do you call in an AirBNB emergency? Twitter was alive with Tweets from the event, a “trending” event for the Capital City. (Check out WTW’s Twitter feed for more comments and photos at: https://twitter.com/wraltechwire.) Our own WRAL.com’s marketing guru Lisa Jeffries attended and put together a Twitter feed for WTW. While a taxi driver confessed he’s being hurt by ride-sharing service Uber, a number of entrepreneurs spoke out in...

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Get the pulse of technology in the Triangle with the best in local technology, venture, biotech, and life science news on Wednesday as curated by @WRALTechWire. Highlight your news for consideration using the hashtag #WTWTrends. If you are on a mobile device, click http://sfy.co/g03sb. According to sources, GlaxoSmithKline is laying off hundreds of workers involved in R&D at its campus in Research Triangle Park. There were far too many comments discovered to publish them all, so we highlighted a few for you. In other news, 12 startups in the Triangle and another in Wilmington...

City officials on Tuesday ordered a Raleigh man to stop renting out a room in his Five Points home through the Airbnb website while the city studies the growing trend of using such online services. Airbnb offers unique places to rent in more than 190 different countries. The site lists hundreds of rooms for rent in Raleigh, and many are nightly rentals in private homes – areas that aren’t zoned for conducting business such as offering accommodations. More “Shared economy” coverage: City of Raleigh challenged by “shared economy” Uber disciplines executive over privacy issue Ride-sharing, rentals on General Assembly...