23 October - Tech Crunch / The Verge

 Tech Crunch

• Starling Bank raises additional £30M as it nears 1 millionth account holder 15 hours ago  –  Starling Bank, the U.K.-based challenger bank founded by banking veteran Anne Boden, has raised an additional £30 million in funding. In what was likely already agreed follow-on funding, perhaps contingent on milestones being met, previous backer Merian Chrysalis led the round with an investment ...
• Google’s Play Store is giving an age-rating finger to Fleksy, a Gboard rival 🖕 15 hours ago  –  Platform power is a helluva a drug. Do a search on Google’s Play Store in Europe and you’ll find the company’s own Gboard app has an age rating of PEGI 3 — aka the pan-European game information labelling system which signifies content is suitable for all age groups. PEGI 3 means it may still cont...
• Axon adds license plate recognition to police dash cams, but heeds ethics board’s concerns 16 hours ago  –  Law enforcement tech outfitter Axon has announced that it will include automated license plate recognition in its next generation of dash cams. But its independent ethics board has simultaneously released a report warning of the dire consequences should this technology be deployed irresponsibly. ...
• Fabric raises $110 million Series B to expand its network of automated fulfillment centers in the US
• Startup founders share why they attend TechCrunch Disrupt
• Amazon expands its in-store pickup service, Counter, to thousands more stores
• Have we reached the tipping point?
• WeWork confirms an up to $8 billion lifeline from SoftBank Group; names new executive chairman
• Salesforce Ventures’s John Somorjai warns N.C.’s politics could dampen its tech hub potential
• Verizon is giving its customers 12 free months of Disney+

• Demodesk scores $2.3M seed for sales-focused online meetings 13 hours ago  –  Demodesk, an early-stage startup that wants to change how sales meetings are conducted online, announced a $2.3 million seed investment today. Investors included GFC, FundersClub, Y Combinator, Kleiner Perkins and an unnamed group of angel investors. The company was a member of the Y Combinator W...
• Plug and Play launches an accelerator to develop technologies addressing plastic waste 13 hours ago  –  The Plug and Play network of accelerator programs is partnering with the nonprofit organization Alliance to End Plastic Waste to create an accelerator focused on developing technologies to reduce, remove or replace plastics in the industrial ecosystem. Like Techstars, Plug and Play operates a num...
• Huawei’s foldable Mate X is launching in China next month 13 hours ago  –  Huawei was understandably cautious in the lead up to the Mate X. Watching Samsung’s Galaxy problems unfolding in what seemed like slow motion caused the company to rethink its strategy. Shortly after the Fold went back to the drawing board, Huawei announced it would be doing the same in order to ...
• AI2’s Semantic Scholar expands to cover 175 million papers in all scientific disciplines
• Combining StitchFix and Instagram, FlipFit ushers in the next phase of social retail
• Ghost CMS adds open-source subscription and membership options
• Digital signage startup Raydiant raises $7M
• Indian startups have raised a record $11.3B this year
• EU-US Privacy Shield passes third Commission ‘health check’ — but litigation looms
• Learn how to raise your first euros at TechCrunch Disru

• Daily Crunch: SoftBank throws WeWork a lifeline 9 hours ago  –  The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. WeWork confirms an up to $8 billion lifeline from SoftBank Group; names new executive chairman Confirmi...
• Tesla third-quarter earnings: What to expect and what we’re watching for 9 hours ago  –  Tesla is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings after the market closes today. The earnings report comes at a critical time for Tesla as it prepares to begin production of the Model 3 at its new China factory. This earnings report, its first without co-founder and CTO JB Straubel on the j...
• OnePlus’ second 5G phone will be a T-Mobile exclusive 10 hours ago  –  OnePlus’ 5G strategy has marked something of a shift for a company that has traditionally prided itself in a slow and steady approach to new features. Following the arrival of the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G this summer, the company is announcing its second 5G device for the U.S. market. This time, it has o...
• India to spend $6 billion to revive telecom operators BSNL and MTNL
• Sick of your ISP? Wander is rolling out in LA with a $25-per-month, wireless high-speed service
• A bike lover’s take on the Cowboy e-bike
• Streaming service Quibi sells out of its $150M in first-year ad inventory
• Lowlights from Zuckerberg’s Libra testimony in Congress
• Sense Photonics brings its fancy new flash lidar to market
• TikTok’s new set of safety videos teach users about feat

• Koan, launched by a co-founder of Jive Software, has raised $3 million in seed funding 5 hours ago  –  Koan, a three-year-old online platform that aims to help teams achieve their objectives and stay engaged, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Uncork Capital and Crosslink. Koan, co-founded and led by CEO Matt Tucker — who previously co-founded Jive Software, an outfit that made social so...
• Tesla surprises with a profit in the third quarter 5 hours ago  –  Tesla returned to profitability in the third quarter after two periods of losses surprising Wall Street and sending shares higher in after-market trading, according to earnings reported after the market closed Wednesday. The automaker’s third-quarter results included $143 million in net income, o...
• Truebill raises $15M to build a comprehensive platform for personal finance 5 hours ago  –  Personal finance startup Truebill announced today that it has raised $15 million in Series B funding. The new funding was led by Eldridge Industries, with participation from Evolution VC and previous investors, including Cota Capital, Lucas Venture Group and YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim. When t...
• Founder-investor Natalie Massenet on how new brands win
• Legged lunar rover startup Spacebit taps Latin American partners for Moon mission
• Vendr, already profitable, raises $2M to replace your enterprise sales team
• A scalable plan for onboarding your first 500 employees
• Substance abuse affects about 15% of American employees, Path wants to ensure they get help
• Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets… and they disapprove of Trump
• Small rocket launch startup Firefly teams up with Aeroje

• Elon Musk predicts Tesla energy could be ‘bigger’ than its EV business an hour ago  –  Tesla CEO Elon Musk forecast that the company’s energy business will eventually be the same size as— or even bigger than — its automotive sector, the latest sign that the company plans to put more time and resources to scaling up its solar and storage products. “It could be bigger, but it will ce...
• Elon Musk: Model S, Model X production continues for ‘sentimental reasons’ 2 hours ago  –  Tesla continues to produce the Model S and Model X more for “sentimental reasons than anything else,” CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday during a call with investors, calling the electric vehicles “niche” products. “They are really of minor importance to future,” Musk added. Sales of Tesla Model 3 vehi...
• Tesla is launching version three of its solar roof tile this week 3 hours ago  –  Tesla will debut a new, third iteration of its solar roof tile this week — with an official debut tomorrow afternoon. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday that it’ll make an official announcement detailing the differences in generation three on Thursday afterno...
• Revolut launches publicly in Singapore, signs deal with Mastercard
• Elon Musk says Tesla “early access” full self-driving could arrive by end of year
• Bill McDermott aims to grow ServiceNow like he did SAP
• As Tesla begins ‘trial’ Model 3 production in China, it closes in on a European factory
• Google debuts new digital well-being ‘experiments’ like a notification mailbox, unlock clock & even a paper phone
• Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are having a very bad day
• 6 considerations for managing your cap table

The Verge

• Lexus teases its first electric vehicles with a wild drone-deploying concept car a day ago  –  Images: Lexus The LF-30 is a weird harbinger of Lexus’ electric future Continue reading…
• C’mon Google, do a Pixel cereal box giveaway for real
• Google says you might have to wait to play Stadia, even if you preorder
• House overwhelmingly approves contentious new copyright bill
• There’s now an app that lets you pick stocks based on your astrological sign
• SpaceX aims to provide internet coverage with Starlink constellation as soon as mid-2020
• Snap is slowly growing, but it’s banking on augmented reality to sustain it
• Kylie Jenner’s viral ‘rise and shine’ TikTok meme led to merchandise and a trademark application
• Apparently, I attended a Windows 7 party 10 years ago
• Foxconn’s giant glass dome in Wisconsin is back, baby

• How would opening up Facebook change the internet? 14 hours ago  –  Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On October 22nd, some of Silicon Valley’s biggest critics introduced a bill that’s meant to undercut social media monopolies. The Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act is designed to make “large communication...
• The 737 built Southwest, and the 737 Max could be its undoing
• Axon, formerly Taser, plans to put automatic license plate readers on police dashboards
• Google confirms ‘quantum supremacy’ breakthrough
• Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: “capitalism as we know it as dead”
• The Pixel 4’s 90Hz display only works at high brightness levels
• Mazda’s first electric car includes rear-hinged ‘freestyle’ doors
• Huawei’s folding Mate X ships next month for $2,400
• Fujifilm’s new X-Pro3 brings analog ideas to a digital camera
• SoftBank takes over 80 percent of WeWork

• Drivers are killing pedestrians at the highest rate in almost 30 years 9 hours ago  –  Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images Pedestrian and cyclist death rates are increasing, as overall traffic fatalities plummet Continue reading…
• The Current War is basically Amadeus for electricity
• YouTube’s first interactive original is a heist show starring gaming personality Markiplier

  YouTube’s first interactive original is a heist show starring gaming personality Markiplier 10 hours ago  –  YouTube debuted the trailer today for its first interactive original show, a special starring gaming personality Markiplier that lets viewers lead him through a heist. The show will debut on October 30th and include 61 total videos leading to 31 possible endings. Creator-made interactive shows ha...
• Google just launched a handful of clever apps to help you spend less time on your phone
• Android 9 was installed on less than a quarter of the ecosystem as Android 10 launched
• Google’s Pixel 4 was $100 off on Amazon for a second time
• Hey Robot is a party game that tests how smart Alexa is
• Watch Mark Zuckerberg’s Libra congressional testimony here
• The OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition is T-Mobile’s second 5G phone
• To take down Big Oil, opponents are following the Big To

• Tesla ekes out a profit as all eyes turn to its China Gigafactory 5 hours ago  –  A record number of cars shipped in the third quarter of 2019 were enough to help Tesla turn a modest profit, according to financial figures released by the Silicon Valley automaker on Wednesday. And with the Shanghai Gigafactory nearly ready to begin production of the Model 3, Tesla’s most afford...
• Samsung has reportedly fixed the Galaxy S10 fingerprint recognition issue

  Samsung has reportedly fixed the Galaxy S10 fingerprint recognition issue 6 hours ago  –  Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Samsung has released a patch for the Galaxy S10 and Note 10’s fingerprint reader, fixing a problem discovered by The Sun that could allow anyone’s fingerprints to be used to unlock an S10 with certain types of screen protectors attached (via Reuters)...
• Season 2 of Hulu’s Castle Rock takes familiar Stephen King books to unfamiliar places
• Microsoft’s Q1 earnings boosted by cloud and Office as Surface and Xbox stall
• Zuckerberg claims it’s not about the money, while explaining how Libra will make money 
• Google promises another Pixel 4 software update, this time for the screen’s refresh rate
• Disney CEO says Scorsese and Coppola can ‘bitch about movies’ if they want
• How to take and view screenshots on an Apple Watch
• Bethesda wants to charge Fallout 76 players $13 a month for premium features
• How to turn GIFs into a wallpaper for your Apple Watch

• Chromebooks will more easily sideload Android apps with Chrome OS 80 an hour ago  –  Chromebooks are able to run Android apps, but mostly just ones from the Google Play Store — if you wanted to install something that’s not officially sanctioned, you’d generally need to flip your device into a far less secure Developer Mode and/or beam it over from a tethered phone. That won’t be ...
• Microsoft said the Surface Laptop 3 would be easy to open — and it actually is
• Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ feature may get early-access release by the end of 2019

    3 hours ago  –  Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla may grant certain customers early access to a “feature complete” version of the company’s “full self-driving” (FSD) capabilities by the end of 2019, Elon Musk said in a call with investors Wednesday. Musk said that this wasn’t “for sure” — but that...
• Fortnite’s black hole event broke Twitch and Twitter viewing records
• AT&T claims a weeks-long voicemail outage will be fixed with a single device update
• Google accused of spying with new tool that flags large employee meetings
• Foxconn finally admits its empty Wisconsin ‘innovation centers’ aren’t being developed
• Tesla’s Smart Summon parking feature has been used over a million times
• Trump’s China trade war is killing Roomba sales
• Congress isn’t buying Mark Zuckerberg’s pitch for Libra