Thursday, February 28, 2019

TikTok faces children's privacy fine

THE DAILY CRUNCH
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 2019 By Anthony Ha

The FTC fines the company behind TikTok for violating a children's privacy law, we go behind the scenes of Disney's new Star Wars attraction and Amazon adds a weekly delivery option. Here's your Daily Crunch for February 28, 2019.

1. FTC ruling sees Musical.ly (TikTok) fined $5.7M for violating children's privacy law, app updated with age gate

In an app update released yesterday, all users will need to verify their age, and the under 13-year-olds will then be directed to a separate, more restricted in-app experience that protects their personal information and prevents them from publishing videos to TikTok.

And if you're confused about Musical.ly versus TikTok: The Federal Trade Commission had begun looking into TikTok back when it was known as Musical.ly, and the ruling itself is a settlement with Musical.ly.

tiktok ios icon

2. How Disney built Star Wars, in real life

Over the course of the past five years, Walt Disney Imagineering has been hard at work making the world of Star Wars a reality on Earth. Matthew Panzarino has all the details, with plenty of tantalizing images.

3. Amazon Prime members can choose a weekly delivery date with launch of 'Amazon Day'

The option lets shoppers pick a day of the week to take delivery of their recent orders. The boxes will then arrive together on the selected Amazon Day, in fewer boxes.

4. Zūm, a ridesharing service for kids, raises $40M

Zūm is a mobile app that enables parents to schedule rides for their kids from fully vetted drivers. It also partners with school districts to support their transportation needs.

5. Dow Jones' watchlist of 2.4 million high-risk individuals has leaked

The data, since secured, is the financial giant's Watchlist database, which companies use as part of their risk and compliance efforts.

6. SoftBank's Vision Fund invests $1.5B in Chinese second-hand car startup Chehaoduo

The Beijing-based company operates two main sites — peer-to-peer online marketplace Guazi for used vehicles, and Maodou, which retails new sedans through direct sales and financial leasing.

7. Netflix may be losing $192M per month from piracy, cord cutting study claims

As many as one in five people today are mooching off of someone else's account when streaming video from Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Video, according to a new study from CordCutting.com. Of these, Netflix tends to be pirated for the longest period.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Spotify launches in India

THE DAILY CRUNCH
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 2019 By Anthony Ha

Spotify comes to India, the FTC turns its attention to tech and a look back at the beginnings of Juul. Here's your Daily Crunch for February 27, 2019.

1. Spotify launches its streaming service in India

Just for India, Spotify users who do not pay for a subscription can play any song on demand on mobile. There are also playlists for India and a "Starring…" feature that includes music from Bollywood movies.

"Not only will Spotify bring Indian artists to the world, we'll also bring the world's music to fans across India," said Spotify CEO Daniel Ek.

2. FTC creates antitrust task force to monitor tech industry

This isn't necessarily a precursor to some big action like breaking up a big company or imposing rules or anything like that. It seems more like a recognition that the FTC needs to be ready to move quickly and decisively in tech matters.

3. This is the Stanford thesis presentation that launched Juul

Against a backdrop of public backlash and looming federal regulations, the world's biggest e-cigarette manufacturer has released video of the original thesis presentation that launched the company.

4. We're ready for foldable phones, but are they ready for us?

After years of prototypes, the age of foldables has finally arrived.

5. D-Wave announces its next-gen quantum computing platform

With the latest improvements, developers can use the machine to solve larger problems with fewer physical qubits — or larger problems in general.

6. How Amazon took 50 percent of the e-commerce market and what it means for the rest of us

Some thoughts from the former SVP of Walmart's global e-commerce supply chain.

7. Steam fights for future of game stores and streaming

Cracks are starting to appear in Steam's armor, threatening to make it the digital equivalent of GameStop — a once unassailable retail giant whose future became questionable when it didn't successfully change with the times. (Extra Crunch subscription required.)

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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