| Klout comes to an end, Verizon stealthily launches a startup and Spotify takes a stand against "hateful conduct." All that and more in The Daily Crunch for May 11, 2018. 1. RIP Klout Many of us have kind of forgotten that Klout exists, but it's continued to operate under Lithium Technologies, which acquired the service more than four years ago. That will change on May 25, when Lithium says Klout will be no more. But how will we know who really matters on social media without it? Not to worry, CEO Pete Hess wrote that Lithium is developing "a new social impact scoring methodology based on Twitter." 
2. Verizon stealthily launched a startup offering $40-per-month unlimited data, messaging and minutes To subscribe, users simply download the Visible app (currently available only on iOS) and register. Right now, would-be subscribers need an invitation from someone who's already a current Visible member. (By the way, Verizon owns TechCrunch.) 3. Duplex shows Google failing at ethical and creative AI design While the Duplex robo-caller demo at Google's developer conference drew cheers, TechCrunch's Natasha Lomas argues that the episode is worryingly suggestive of a company that views ethics as an after-the-fact consideration. 4. China's Didi Chuxing suspends carpooling service following murder of a passenger State-run news agency Global Times reports that the incident took place on the evening of May 5, when a 21-year-old air stewardess used Hitch to summon a ride home from Zhengzhou airport after finishing work. Police reports say Li was murdered by her driver using a weapon. 5. Spotify removes R. Kelly from playlists as part of new 'hateful conduct' policy This could put Spotify in the position of making a lot of tricky calls. 6. Dropbox beats expectations for its first quarterly check-in with Wall Street The company brought in $316.3 million in revenue and appeared to pick up momentum among its paying user base. 7. Silver Lake makes a $3B offer to buy property portal Zoopla, the Zillow of the UK Zoopla will still have to put the offer to the vote of shareholders and meet other regulatory approvals before the deal is sealed. So far, though, company directors have endorsed the deal. | 
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