Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Musk makes moon magic. It's The Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 2017 By Darrell Etherington

Get that moon revenue, SpaceX. That and more in The Daily Crunch for February 28, 2017. Plus Uber's crisis management continues, and Hyperloop One eyes new markets.

1. SpaceX already sold two tickets to a trip around the moon in 2018

How do you fund an ongoing endeavor to build space technology? You could sell tickets to the moon. Or around the moon – nearish the moon.

SpaceX already sold two such tickets, for a trip around the moon that will take place next year if all goes to schedule. The company announced the news yesterday, out of nowhere, without revealing either the price paid per ticket or who the lucky two individuals will be.

2. Uber SVP departs just months after joining due to sexual harassment complaint

Uber SVP Amit Singhal joined the company after coming "out of retirement" in January, but he's already gone – he resigned after Uber found out about a sexual harassment claim made against him perviously that it deemed "credible," and that also proved the real reason for his departure from Google to begin with. One thing Uber does not need at the moment are more problems with sexual harassment than those apparently embedded into its culture.

3. Boston Dynamics' new robot has wheels, can jump

After originally leaking via a low-quality video shot by a conference attendee, Boston Dynamics' new Handle robot with wheels and the ability to jump is much more impressive in these official demo videos. It's got a 4-foot vertical, which is more ups than you or I can claim.

4. Hyperloop One looks to India next

Hyperloop One is in talks with the Indian government about whether or not a hyperloop systems makes sense for the country, and would be feasible in terms of infrastructure and economics. It's a big step for Hyperloop One, which is exploring a short list of 35 global project proposals for use of its tech.

5. Apple's next iPhone could go USB-C

The Lightning connector is not that old, but Apple might be doing away with it regardless: A new WSJ report says it's going with USB-C on the next iPhone, and that's ultimately for the best, even if you're going to be mad about having to buy new cables right now. Let's get behind USB-C and make it the actual one cord to rule them all.

6. The FCC's net neutrality rollback is coming

The FCC has so far only taken small steps to roll back net neutrality, but now it's getting set to do the real deed. That sucks.

7. YouTube now serving 1 billion hours daily

Good god people watch a lot of YouTube. Those Let's Play videos are long as heck though, and easy to leave on in the background, so take this number with about 1 billion grains of salt.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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Monday, February 27, 2017

Nostalgia wins at MWC. It's The Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 2017 By Anthony Ha

nokia-3310-3-of-2

The initial winner of Mobile World Congress looks like a blast from the past, Twitch will sell video games and SoftBank is in talks to make a huge investment in WeWork. Oh, and we can now call Suicide Squad an Oscar-winner. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for February 27, 2017.

1. Why Nokia's feature phone nostalgia stole the thunder from this year's flagships

Mobile World Congress kicked off this weekend with some big announcements, but HMD's Nokia 3310 — a feature phone whose main selling point is its ability to play Snake — seems to be getting the most attention. TechCrunch's Brian Heater says, "That feels like as bold an indictment of the mobile industry as any."

In other words, Brian argues that consumers are getting tired of the battle between handset makers, fought on incremental improvements like display resolution. This has created an environment where a gimmicky throwback can feel like a breath of fresh air. (And hey, the 3310 does look pretty cool.)

twitch

2. Twitch will sell video games on its site starting this spring

Amazon-owned video game streaming site Twitch announced that it will now sell games directly on its platform. The move makes sense, since developers are already taking advantage of the site's social community to get the word out about their games and engage fans. Publishers who have already signed up include Ubisoft, Telltale Games, Digital Extremes, Hi-Rez Studios, tinyBuild, Paradox Interactive, Trion Worlds and Vlambeer.

3. Amazon's 'Manchester by the Sea' and 'The Salesman' take home three Oscars

No, this isn't the Oscar moment that everyone's talking about, but it's pretty significant in its own way: Manchester by the Sea and The Salesman, both distributed by Amazon Studios, won a collective three Academy Awards last night. Netflix got an Oscar, too.

4. SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $4 billion in WeWork

CNBC is reporting that SoftBank is preparing to make a $2 billion investment in WeWork, with an additional $1 billion to follow. The deal would value the coworking company at $20 billion. TechCrunch has confirmed this information with our own source, though they noted SoftBank was also in discussions to invest in previous rounds — rounds that SoftBank ultimately didn't join.

5. This is probably the Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung is set to announce the Galaxy S8 smartphone in late March, but the two videos and a couple of images appear to show working units. The S8 looks pretty similar to its predecessor, minus the physical and capacitive buttons found on the S7.

6. YouTube is coming to Comcast's Xfinity X1 set-top box

Google and Comcast announced a new deal this morning that will see the YouTube application installed on Comcast's Xfinity X1 set-top boxes nationwide later this year. The integration will allow X1 users to launch the app by saying "YouTube" into the X1 voice remote, then search the entire YouTube library by voice or other interface.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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