Techcrunch blog!: Daily Crunch - Google blurs the line between search results and ads

Thursday, January 23, 2020 • By Anthony Ha

Happy Thursday

Google rolls out a controversial new look for its desktop search results, the Apple Watch plugs into the gym and Tinder’s parent company invests in safety. Here’s your Daily Crunch for January 23, 2020.

Google's latest user-hostile design change makes ads and search results look identical

Google is rolling out a change to its desktop search results that the company described as a “new look” presenting “site domain names and brand icons prominently, along with a bolded 'Ad' label for ads.”

But as Natasha Lomas points out, the change (which rolled out on mobile last year) means that organic results even more closely resemble ads — which have themselves been evolving to look more and more like organic results.

Google's latest user-hostile design change makes ads and search results look identical image

Image Credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images

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The Apple Watch hits the gym with Connected program

The new Apple Watch Connected program will launch with four partners: Orangetheory, Basecamp, YMCA and Crunch Fitness. The program includes GymKit-enabled equipment (not supported by all partners), an Apple Watch and iOS app, Apple Pay support and incentive programs.

Match Group invests in Noonlight to power new safety features in Tinder and other dating apps

The new Noonlight-powered safety features include emergency assistance, location tracking, photo verification and an updated in-app Safety Center.

NASA reveals the payloads for the first commercial Moon cargo deliveries

There are 16 payloads in total, consisting of a number of different science and technology experiments. Both landers are scheduled to launch next year, carrying their cargo to the Moon's surface and helping prepare the way for NASA's mission to return humans to the Moon by 2024.

IBM snaps out of its revenue doldrums, breaking a five-quarter losing streak in Q4

At one point, Big Blue posted 22 sequential quarters of falling revenue, a testament to how hard it can be to turn around a juggernaut. More recently, IBM shrank for another five consecutive quarters, a streak it broke with this week’s earnings. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

Image Credits: Chesnot / Getty Images

Boston Dynamics appoints its first-ever new CEO

Founder Marc Raibert has stepped aside from his role as CEO of the iconic robotics company — a transition that occurred quietly back in October. Longtime employee Rob Playter will be moving into the position, having most recently served as Boston Dynamics' COO.

Lighter Capital secures $100M to grow its equity-free financing business

Lighter Capital is best-known for its work with revenue-based financing, in which expanding companies repay borrowed funds out of future receipts. The firm has also expanded into other, equity-free capital options for startups in the last year.