Daily Crunch - Parler sues Amazon after going offline

TechCrunch Newsletter

Monday, January 11, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

Platforms and infrastructure providers dump Parler, Microsoft unveils a new Surface and a Chinese fitness app raises $360 million. This is your Daily Crunch for January 11, 2021.

The big story: Parler sues Amazon after going offline President Donald Trump has found himself banned from most of the major social media and internet platforms, with companies pointing to his role in inciting the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol last week, as well as his continuing statements expressing support for the rioters. Right-wing social network Parler might seem like an obvious beneficiary of those bans, but the app itself has come under scrutiny — Apple and Google removed it from their respective app stores for failing to moderate comments calling for violent or criminal behavior, and Amazon Web Services followed suit, resulting in the social network going offline. In response, Parler sued Amazon over alleged antitrust issues. Meanwhile, alternative social media and messenger apps have suddenly become much more popular. Read more Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

The tech giants Microsoft's latest business-focused Surface is focused on remote work — Pricing for the Surface Pro 7+ starts at $899 for the Wi-Fi version and $1,149 for LTE. Snap acquires location data startup StreetCred — Four StreetCred team members are joining Snap, where they'll be working on map and location-related products. Samsung's upcycling program is designed to give new life to old tech — Samsung says the program “reimagines the lifecycle of an older Galaxy phone and offers consumers options on how they might be able to repurpose their device to create a variety of convenient IoT tools.”

Startups, funding and venture capital Vision Fund backs Chinese fitness app Keep in $360M round — The latest fundraise values the six-year-old startup at about $2 billion post-money. Revolut applies for UK banking license — It's hard to believe that fintech startup Revolut doesn't already have a proper banking license in its home country. Orange spins out Orange Ventures with $430M allocation — With this new corporate structure, Orange Ventures could attract third-party investors. Image Credits: Keep instructors

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Affirm boosts its IPO price target, more than doubling its latest private valuation — Who is mispricing whom? Flexible VC: A new model for startups targeting profitability — A new category of investors has emerged offering a hybrid between VC and revenue-based investment. Get live feedback on your pitch deck from big-name VCs on Extra Crunch Live — As a part of Extra Crunch Live, we'll be offering EC members the chance to get live feedback on their pitch decks from our guests. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Nigel Sussman

Everything else Hulu discounts its on-demand service to $1.99 per month for students — This represents a more than 65% discount off Hulu's ad-supported subscription. Original Content podcast: Despite some odd choices, 'The Undoing' lays out a satisfying mystery — Your podcast hosts caught up on their mystery viewing over the holidays. Image Credits: Hulu

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Software Application Support Specialist at S.H. Tevis & Son (Westminster, MD, USA) System Administrator at S.H. Tevis & Son (Westminster, MD, USA) Director of Content Marketing at Dev Spotlight (Indianapolis, IN, USA) iOS Mobile Application Developer at Playfair Technologies Inc. (Anywhere) Senior Software Engineer at Inficon (East Syracuse, NY, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Daily Crunch - Roku buys Quibi's content library

TechCrunch Newsletter

Friday, January 08, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

Quibi’s content will live on, Hyundai may partner with Apple and Donald Trump returns to Twitter. This is your Daily Crunch for January 8, 2021.

The big story: Roku buys Quibi's content library If you’re wondering what will happen to Quibi shows like “Most Dangerous Game” and “Chrissy Court,” wonder no longer: They’re going to Roku. The streaming TV platform announced today that it has acquired the global rights to Quibi’s content library, which it plans to bring to The Roku Channel, free and ad-supported, some this year. This includes “more than a dozen” shows that never got a chance to stream on Quibi before the app shut down. "The most creative and imaginative minds in Hollywood created groundbreaking content for Quibi that exceeded our expectations," said Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg in a statement. "We are thrilled that these stories, from the surreal to the sublime, have found a new home on The Roku Channel." Read more Image Credits: Roku

What Does AI Mean to You? Sponsored by World Wide Technology & NVIDIA Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform – and revolutionize – every aspect of business as we know it. But, this promise is only as real as an organization's ability to put it to work. Learn how you can fully realize AI today. Read more

The tech giants Shares of Hyundai Motor Co. climb more than 20% on potential EV deal with Apple — Hyundai said discussions are still in the "early stage.” Google's plan to replace tracking cookies goes under UK antitrust probe — U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority said it’s investigating "suspected breaches of competition law by Google.” Trump returns to Twitter with what sounds like a concession speech — President Trump only had to wait 12 hours before returning to his social network of choice. Image Credits: DIRK WAEM/AFP / Getty Images

Startups, funding and venture capital Jobandtalent tops up with $108M for its 'workforce as a service' platform — The startup operates a dual-sided platform that connects temp workers with employers. Detroit's Ludlow Ventures goes for fund four — The Detroit-based seed-stage firm is in the process of closing its fourth fund of $65 million. Jumbotail raises $14.2M for its wholesale marketplace in India — Jumbotail said it serves more than 30,000 neighborhood stores, popularly known in India as kiranas.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch VCs discuss gaming's biggest infrastructure investment opportunities in 2021 — Investors highlighted numerous areas for new opportunity, including specialized engines, next-gen content creation platforms and tools to port desktop experiences to mobile. What is up with Tesla's value? — And a bunch of other stocks, for that matter. The Roblox Gambit — So it turns out that Roblox is worth $29.5 billion. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else Stolen computers are the least of the government's security worries — The SolarWinds breach is likely to be a bigger cybersecurity threat than any computers stolen during the pro-Trump riot on Wednesday. Five reforms necessary to create a truly cashless society — Convenience shouldn’t come at the cost of other aspects of commerce. Image Credits: Saul Loeb / Getty Images

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Senior Software Engineer at Inficon (East Syracuse, NY, USA) Senior Product Designer at Only One (Anywhere) Full Stack Engineer at Only One (Anywhere) Technical Support Analyst II at Earthjustice (Washington D.C., DC, USA) Software Engineer at SCM Products, Inc. (Hauppauge, NY, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Daily Crunch - Facebook bans Trump for two weeks

TechCrunch Newsletter

Thursday, January 07, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

Online platforms take action against President Trump, Lenovo tries out a swiveling screen and Roblox raises $250 million. This is your Daily Crunch for January 7, 2021.

The big story: Facebook bans Trump for two weeks After a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol yesterday, a number of online platforms moved to suspend accounts connected to the outgoing president. For example, Twitter locked Trump’s account for 12 hours after he posted several (subsequently deleted) tweets repeating his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and expressing support for the rioters (while also calling for an end to violence). Twitch also disabled his channel until the end of his term and Shopify pulled down stores tied to the president and his campaign. But the most notable move came from Facebook, which banned Trump from both Facebook and Instagram for “at least the next two weeks,” until the end of his term. Mark Zuckerberg wrote that this was necessary due to the “use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” Read more Image Credits: MANDEL NGAN / JOSH EDELSON/AFP / Getty Images (Image has been modified)

Get your documents right with Conga Sponsored by Conga Aragon Research has named Conga's Digital Document Transformation Suite a leader in the 2020 Aragon Research Globe™ for Workflow and Content Automation. Download the full report and learn why. Read more

The tech giants Waymo is dropping the term 'self-driving,' but not everyone in the industry is on board — Alphabet-owned Waymo will no longer use the term "self-driving" to describe its technology. Lenovo's new all-in-one has a swiveling screen, because sure, why not? — When it comes to staid product categories, why not try something weird? Samsung simplifies with a lower-priced premium Chromebook — Samsung just dropped what's almost certainly one of its biggest pieces of news for CES, with the arrival of the Galaxy Chromebook 2. Image Credits: Waymo

Startups, funding and venture capital SoFi to go public in merger with Chamath Palihapitiya's newest SPAC — The deal, confirmed by SoFi, would value the fintech company at $8.65 billion. Roblox raises at $29.5B valuation, readies for direct listing — Roblox is now one of the world's most valuable private companies in the world. Local news app News Break raises $115M — CEO Jeff Zheng said there's "strong user demand" for local news but "weak supply." Image Credits: Michael Kovac / Contributor / Getty Images

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Decrypted: How bad was the US Capitol breach for cybersecurity? — The breach will likely present a major task for Congress' IT departments. The tech-powered wave of smart, not slow, tutoring sessions — While starting a tutoring marketplace is easy, scaling is often where the troubles begin. With 5 new unicorns in first week of 2021, are we in for a stampede this year? — The pace at which new unicorns are being announced feels incredibly rapid. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Saul Loeb / Getty Images

Everything else Hopin might be the fastest growth story of this era — The Equity team discusses Hopin’s acquisition of livestreaming company StreamYard. Elon Musk has a new title: world's richest person — He reached the pinnacle Thursday thanks to Tesla's skyrocketing share price, along with a substantial pay package. Remembering TechCrunch Japan's Hirohide Yoshida (1971-2020) — On New Year's Eve, TechCrunch Japan's Editor-in-Chief Hirohide Yoshida passed away at age 49. Image Credits: Saul Martinez / Getty Images

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Senior Software Engineer at Inficon (East Syracuse, NY, USA) Senior Product Designer at Only One (Anywhere) Full Stack Engineer at Only One (Anywhere) Technical Support Analyst II at Earthjustice (Washington D.C., DC, USA) Software Engineer at SCM Products, Inc. (Hauppauge, NY, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103