Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Top Stories of the Day // February 26, 2019

Gradient Ventures, Google's AI fund, leads $7M investment in English learning app Elsa | New VMware Kubernetes product comes courtesy of Heptio acquisition | Light is expanding from smartphone cameras to self-driving cars | Cloudflare expands its government warrant canaries | Tinder launches a Spring Break mode | OnePlus, EE and Qualcomm starts a contest for 5G apps | SpaceX gets NASA's approval to test launch Crew Dragon |
THE DAILY CRUNCH
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26 2019 TODAY'S TOP STORIES:
TOP HEADLINE | Jon Russell

Gradient Ventures, Google's AI fund, leads $7M investment in English learning app Elsa

Google's Gradient Ventures, the search giant's dedicated AI fund, is casting its eye to Asia after it led a $7 million Series A round for Elsa, a startup that operates... Read More…
Ron Miller

New VMware Kubernetes product comes courtesy of Heptio acquisition

VMware announced a new Kubernetes product today called VMware Essential PKS, which has been created from its acquisition of Heptio for $550 million at the end of last year. VMware... Read More…
Brian Heater

Light is expanding from smartphone cameras to self-driving cars

This year's MWC has been very much the beginning of a new phase for Light . Until now, the Palo Alto startup has been best know for its 16-lens DSLR... Read More…
Zack Whittaker

Cloudflare expands its government warrant canaries

When the government comes for your data, tech companies can't always tell you. But thanks to a legal loophole, companies can say if they haven't had a visit yet That's... Read More…
Sarah Perez

Tinder launches a Spring Break mode

Tinder, the dating app company which, as of late, has been more fully embracing its status as the preferred hook-up app of choice for the younger generation, is today launching... Read More…
Matt Burns

OnePlus, EE and Qualcomm starts a contest for 5G apps

Today at MWC Barcelona OnePlus CEO Pete Lau unveiled an initiative to spur apps for 5G networks. The timing is right, too. With 5G launching around the world this year,... Read More…
Jordan Crook

SpaceX gets NASA's approval to test launch Crew Dragon

In a joint press conference, NASA and SpaceX officials said that SpaceX has been approved to conduct the first orbital launch of the Crew Dragon. The launch could come as... Read More…
Sarah Perez

Pandora Stories launches, combining music and podcasting in a new format

In an effort to one-up Spotify and Apple Music, Pandora this morning announced the launch of a new marketing tool for artists, called Pandora Stories. The feature allows artists to... Read More…
Kate Clark

Dipsea raises $5.5M for short-form, sexy audio stories

Dipsea, a mobile platform for erotic audio stories, is backed by Bedrock Capital and Thrive Capital Read More…
Ingrid Lunden

YieldStreet raises $62M to democratise alternative investments in shipping, real estate and more

There has been a wave of fintech startups emerging that make different kinds of investing more accessible to a wider pool of people, and today one of them has raised... Read More…
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Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Apple's subscription fix

THE DAILY CRUNCH
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13 2019 By Anthony Ha

Apple makes a small-but-crucial subscription change, a bug eats some Instagram follower counts and there's a new autonomous trucking unicorn. Here's your Daily Crunch for February 13, 2019.

1. Apple's iOS update makes it easier to get to your subscriptions

Moving the Manage Subscriptions menu so that it's just one click away from your App Store profile might seem like a minor change, but it was needed: As more mobile apps have adopted subscriptions as a means of generating revenue, it's become critical to ensure consumers knew how to turn their subscriptions off.

Plus, Apple is expected to launch some subscriptions of its own, namely for its streaming video and news services.

2. Instagram confirms that a bug is causing follower counts to change

Don't panic! Instagram says it's "aware of an issue that is causing a change in account follower numbers for some people right now" and is "working to resolve this as quickly as possible."

3. Autonomous truck startup TuSimple hits unicorn status in latest round

Today, TuSimple is taking three to five fully autonomous trips per day for customers on three different routes in Arizona.

4. Sixteen percent of US adults own a smartwatch

The latest figures out of NPD show a continued uptick in smartwatch sales here in the States. The category has been a rare bright spot in an overall flagging wearable space, and the new numbers show gains pretty much across the board.

5. JibJab, one of the first silly selfie video makers, acquired by private equity firm Catapult Capital

Founded in 1999 by brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis after they saw "an animated dancing doodie streaming over a 56K modem," JibJab's big break came during the 2004 presidential campaign, when its satirical "This Land" racked up more than 80 million views.

6. Eight Sleep unveils The Pod, a bed that's smarter about temperature

Eight has been focused on bed temperature for a while, first by offering a smart mattress cover and then a smart mattress that allows owners to adjust the surface temperature and even set different temperatures for different sides of the bed. But The Pod goes even further, with a smart temperature mode that will change bed temperature throughout the night to improve your sleep.

7. Ubisoft and Mozilla team up to develop Clever-Commit, an AI coding assistant

Clever-Commit is an assistant that learns from your code base's bug and regression data to analyze and flag potential new bugs as new code is committed.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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