The Daily Crunch 10/11/16 Note 7's notable failure, Greylock's big fund and Amazon's grocery gauntlet. All that and more in the Daily Crunch for October 11, 2016. And even if you were a poetry major, perhaps Google can make use of you yet. 1. Not more Galaxy Note 7 I can't remember the last time a major phone maker had to kill a major phone early on in its life, but that's what Samsung is doing with the Galaxy Note 7. The company made the (correct) decision to end production on the Note 7 after multiple reports surfaced about issues with its replacement devices that were similar to the explosion problems of the original. It's definitely the right thing to do, but Samsung made a bunch of missteps to get here, including the original faulty design, and rushing the recall/exchange program to begin with without making sure the problem was fixed. This is Google's chance to shine with its own premium Pixel lineup, if it makes the right moves. Also, you have to assume Samsung will relaunch the Note 7 once it gets its act together, probably with a new name and brand. 
2. A $1 billion fund for Greylock Greylock Partners has closed a new fund at $1 billion, a huge fund considering the total managed by the firm is just $3.5 billion across 15 funds overall. The funding will be targeting high growth companies looking to explode from their startup origins to sizeable workforce footprints. 3. Amazon could get into the grocery store business Amazon has already dabbled in physical retail, but it could be making a big play in brick-and-mortar grocery, too. The ecommerce giant is said to be considering the launch of physical convenience stores for highly perishable goods, as well as pick-up locations to give commuters an easy way to knock out their grocery list on the way home from work. It could be how AmazonFresh finally goes from limited, careful venture to something ready for a global spotlight. 4. Obama's Mars mentality President Obama penned an op-ed for CNN today that says in no uncertain terms he wants to get manned missions to Mars from the U.S. up and running by the 2030s, using the combined space prowess of public and private entities. It's a bold vision, and one that Obama won't be in office to usher forward, of course, but both Boeing and SpaceX seem intent on answering the challenge, at least. 5. GE's dishwasher will now order its own life-giving detergent Sentient machines aren't quite here yet, but GE's latest dishwasher knows when it needs detergent and re-ordering automatically based on a schedule you set and its own awareness of detergent pod consumption. Luckily, the machine still needs us dumb meat people to put the pods in the receptacle – score a victory for humanity. 6. Smile, exoplanet – you're on candid camera Getting a picture of exoplanets isn't all that easy, but a new project called Project Blue from a private space firm wants to make it happen. The picture we get won't exactly be a high-def image, but it'll be a start, and a significant move forward in potentially identifying earth-like planets beyond our ecosystem. 7. Forget The Tonight Show – Google Assistant might be the next big writing gig Google's enlisting creatives to give Assistant more personality, which is a great use of our collective idiotic degrees (my own MA is in creative writing, for instance). Even as AI takes over most of our jobs, there's still room for liberal arts dreamers to serve our future sentient computer overlords. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.