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Technology
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1. Google employee activist says shebeen fired
Employee activist Rebecca Rivers (who was involved in a campaign pressuring Google to end its contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection)said yesterday that she&d been fired. Google declined to comment but confirmed an internal note published by Bloomberg, which said the company fired a total of four employees for repeatedly violating its data-security policies.
Earlier this month, Google put Rivers and Laurence Berland on leave for allegedly violating company policies. Ahead of an employee rally last week, however, organizers said the &attack& on Rivers and Berland &is an attack on all people who care about transparency and accountability for tech.&
2. Facebook Viewpoints pays users for well-being surveys - tasks
People in the U.S. who are over 18 can now download Viewpoints and participate in a survey to help Facebook can learn to &limit the negative impacts of social media and enhance the benefits.& Other opportunities include completing online chores on behalf of Facebook or trying out new apps or devices ahead of launch so Facebook can refine them.
3. Announcing the complete Disrupt Berlin agenda
Join us December 11 and December 12 as we sit down with CEOs from big-name companies such as UIPath, Samsung and Naspers, as well as leading investors from Atomico, SoftBank and Index.
4. Leavy.co, the app for millennials who want to rent out their room while traveling, discloses $14M funding
The Leavy.co app is described as a &travel community and marketplace& that wants to help millennials travel more for less. At the heart of its offering is a way for travelers (dubbed &Happy Leavers&) to rent out their room or apartment when they are away to help fund their trip.
5. NASAsecond free-flying assistant robot gets to work
NASA activated a free-floating autonomous robot called ‘Bumble& earlier this year, and now Bumble has a new companion called Honey. Both are Astrobee robots, cube-like &robotic teammates& for ISS astronauts, that are designed to help with experiments, day-to-day activities and more.
6. Argentine fintech Ualá raises $150M led by Tencent and SoftBank
Founder and CEO Pierpaolo Barbieri, a Buenos Aires native and Harvard University graduate, says his ambition was to create a platform that would bring all financial services into one app linked to one card. As it exists now, Ualá is linked to a prepaid, global Mastercard and allows users to transfer money, invest in mutual funds, request loans, pay bills and top-up prepaid services.
7. The herd sours on unprofitable unicorns again
Wasabi CEO David Friend looks at why venture and private equity funds have been chasing unprofitable unicorns, and why they&ve soured on those unicorns lately. (Extra Crunch membership required.)
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Write comment (97 Comments)Welcome to TechCrunch2019 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We&re here to help! We&ll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December, so check back regularly.
Once again, TechCrunch has asked me to put together a list of travel-friendly gadgets, and once again, I find myself between back-to-back international flights. If nothing else, all of the travel for this gig has made me much better at figuring out what to pack and what to leave behind.
Therea science to traveling. It requires a lot of trial and error to maintain your sanity through 12 hour flights, powering through jet lag and generally making it through in one piece. Common wisdom posits that itthe journey, not the destination that counts, but when it comes to the rigors of being in the air and on the road half your life, the journey is usually the worst part.
I&ve narrowed the list down to ten, but there was plenty of stuff I could have included. A good spare battery pack is always a must. There are a million good, cheap ones online. I&ve been carrying around an OmniCharge, myself. Ditto for solid wheeled suitcase. You can spend a ton of money on an Away bag, or you can can buy three bags at a fraction of the price.
Chromebooks are worth a look, as well, for battery life alone. I took the Pixelbook Go with me to China earlier this month. They&re also great for security reasons. Oh, and I won&t include it because ita terrible gift, but far and away my most important travel companion is a pack of Wet Ones hand wipes. Hand sanitizer is fine, but if you&re not wiping down your phone a couple of times a day while traveling, you&re not doing yourself any favors.
Amazon Kindle Oasis
I&ve mostly attempted to avoid repeats from last year, but I couldn&t not include the Oasis. An e-reader is absolutely invaluable for travels. The Oasis is the best on the market and the new version (while largely the same) gets a few tweaks, including an E Ink display with a faster refresh rate and adjustable colors on the front light to reduce blue light. Thatkey when attempting to adjust to a new timezone. Also, shoutout to Calibre, a fantastic open-source e-book software I use to convert e-pub files to read on my Kindle.
Anker PowerPort Atom
Everyone knows the importance of traveling with a good battery pack. But what of a plug? AnkerPowerPort Atom is tiny and useful for a MacBook Pro 13 inch or smaller. At 30W, it packs a punch for its tiny size. Thatkey for navigating around crowded outlets, not to mention the plugs under your seat on the plane. I&ve been using a Pixelbook charger as a go-to plug, but the weight of the thing means itconstantly falling out.
Apple iPad Pro
Obvious choice, I realize, but I&m actually not including the iPad for the obvious reason. The arrival of Sidecar on MacOS Catalina has made the iPad Pro a terrific second screen for the Mac, in addition to all of its usual tablet functionality. I use it all the time for working on the road. Carrying an actual second monitor in a suitcase is an obvious non-starter, so the iPad works well in a pinch.
DJI Osmo Pocket
I wasn&t prepared for how much I&d love this little gimbal. Itterrific when tethered to a phone or on its own. Smartphone cameras are really quite good these days, and I imagine most people leave the standalones at home for a trip. The Osmosmall size makes it perfect for throwing in a backpack, and the things it can do are really quite stunning.
Dreamlight Ease
Full disclosure: I used to be too embarrassed to wear a sleep mask on a plane. Enough international flights, however, and you&ll start to get over it pretty quickly. The Dreamlight ease is the best and most comfortable i&ve used to date. Itmade of form fitting, stretchable material, combined with &3D facial mapping& tech that comfortable conforms to the face without letting light in underneath. I actually wear it at home sometimes. Also, the side padding makes it much more comfortable to lean your head against the plane window.
LARQ Self Cleaning Water Bottle
Plastic bottles are bad. This much we know. And SFO recently banned their sale. Bring a water bottle to stay hydrated on the road and maybe cut down on some waste in the process. The $100 price tag is pretty lofty as far as these things go, but as someone who recently found a small forest growing in my metal work bottle, the addition of a self-cleaning element seems worth the cost.
Nintendo Switch Lite/Switch Online
I&ve been waiting for a Switch Lite ever since the original Switch was unveiled three year back. Itthe perfect size for travel, and the attached Joy-Cons mean you don&t have to worry about them coming loose in your bag. Itgreat for flights and lonely hotel stays. The battery life leaves a bit to be desire, but itotherwise a fantastic handheld. Pair it with the ridiculously cheap Switch Online, and you&ve got access to a ton of original NES and SNES titles. A Link to the Past, anyone?
Sony Earbuds WF-1000XM3
I admit I chose these before having a chance to properly test out the similarly priced AirPods Pro. That said, I can still wholly heartedly recommend Sonybased on terrific sound quality and noise cancelation thatperfect for the plane. Powerbeats Pro get a hearty recommendation as well, for battery life and comfort. Just don&t forget to bring a wired set for the plane entertainment system.
Timbuk2 Never Check Backpack
I tested this backpack on a trip to Tokyo around this time last year, and I&m still smitten. Iteasily the best travel backpack I&ve ever owned, courtesy of plenty of pockets and an expandable body. Itwell made, rugged and nice to look at, making for a perfect carry-on companion.
Tripley Compression Packing Cubes
Okay, okay, not a gadget, I realize, but invaluable nonetheless. When I first started traveling a lot for work, I was wavering between packing cubes and compression bags. One is great for organization and keeping clothes (relatively) unwrinkled. The other is terrific for space. Tripley product is a nice compromise between the two. Just make sure not to get that zipper jammed.
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Read more: Gift Guide: 10 suitcase-friendly gifts for frequent flyers
Write comment (95 Comments)Who could have guessed an adorable, big-eyed baby Star Wars alien would have generated a ton of demand for toys? Apparently not Disney, which today started to sell merchandise based on The Child from new Disney+ show The Mandalorian, commonly known as &Baby Yoda&. The shirts, bags, mugs, and phone cases all feel…forced, like Disney rushed to print them on CafePress.
&The laziest merch ever& one TechCrunch staffer said. &If only there was 40 years of Star Wars Merchandise as a precedent. They would sell ten billion yoda beanie babies& quipped another. The lack of a plush doll, baby clothes, chew-safe rubber toys for tots and dogs, or original artwork indicate Disney was so busy getting its streaming service off the ground that it didn&t realize it already had a mascot. Yoda backpacks have been a hit for decades. Wherethe Yoda baby bjorn chest pack?
The Mandalorian only hit screens and debuted the character two weeks ago, so itunderstandable that overly complicated merch isn&t available immediately. Otherwise toy production could have spoiled the little fellareveal. But Disney could at least offer pre-orders of better merch. The only reason not to is that it hopes hardcore fans will buy these lackluster products in the meantime, then shell out again for the good stuff.
Just because the little green bundle of joy isn&t technically ‘Baby Yoda&, since The Mandalorian is set after the real Yodadeath in Return Of The Jedi, doesn&t mean Disney isn&t exploiting the term for SEO. &He may look like a ‘Baby Yoda,& but this lovable creature is referred to as ‘The Child'& Disney notes on all the product pages.
The Disney entertainment empire has suffered these failures to predict demand before. Frozen 1 merchandise sold out everywhere as tykes around the world screamed &Let It Go&. And Guardians Of The Galaxy 2Baby Groot also saw demand outstrip supply until Disney started sticking the tiny tree on everything. Hopefully it won&t be long until we can get a magnetic The Child shoulder buddy so he can ride around with us like we&re his Bobasitter.
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FedEx autonomous delivery bot got a cold reception from New York City officials.
After the companySameDay Bots — named Roxo — popped up on New York City streets last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio and transportation officials delivered a sharp response: Get out.
FedEx told TechCrunch that the bots were there for a preview party for its Small Business Saturday event and are not testing in New York. Even this promotional event was too much for city officials concerned with congestion and bots taking jobs from humans.
After reports of the bot sightings, the mayor tweeted that FedEx didn&t receive permission to deploy the robots; he also criticized the company for using a bot to perform a task that a New Yorker could do. The New York Department of Transportation has sent FedEx a cease-and-desist order to stop operations the bots, which TechCrunch has viewed.
The letter informs FedEx that its bots violate several vehicle and traffic laws, including that motor vehicles are prohibited on sidewalks. Vehicles that receive approval to operate on sidewalks must receive a special exemption and be registered.
FedEx has been experimenting with autonomous delivery bots. Postmates and Amazon also have been testing autonomous delivery robots.
FedEx first unveiled its SameDay Bot in February 2019. The company said at the time it planned to work with AutoZone, Lowe&s, Pizza Hut, Target, Walgreens and Walmart to figure out how autonomous robots might fit into its delivery business. The idea was for FedEx to provide a way for retailers to accept orders from nearby customers and deliver them by bot directly to customers& homes or businesses the same day.
FedEx said its initials test would involve deliveries between selected FedEx Office locations. Ultimately, the FedEx bot will complement the FedEx SameDay City service, which operates in 32 markets and 1,900 cities.
The company has tested the bots in Memphis, Tennessee as well as Plano and Frisco, Texas and Manchester, New Hampshire, according to a spokesperson.
The underlying roots of the SameDay Bot is the iBot. The FedEx bot was developed in collaboration with DEKA Development - Research Corp. and its founder Dean Kamen who invented the SegwayandiBot wheelchair.
DEKA built upon the power base of the iBot, an FDA-approved mobility device for the disabled population, to develop FedExproduct.
The FedEx bot is equipped with sensing technology such as LiDAR and multiple cameras, which when combined with machine learning algorithms should allow the device to detect and avoid obstacles and plot a safe path, all while following the rules of the road (or sidewalk).
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You may have heard the pitch before, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aren&t homes for your real friends anymore because they&re too big, too commercial and too influencer-y, the result is that your most important relationships have been relegated to the lowest common denominator tool on your phones: your texting app.
Cocoon, a startup from a couple of ex-Facebook employees that went through YC earlier this year, is hoping to create the dedicated software that you use for that most important group chat in your life. The iOS-only app is a bit of a cross between Life360, Slack and Path.
While Life360 is the app for concerned parents, Cocoon wants to be the app for curious long-distance families who want to check on their family and closest friends more easily. The app is structured around a Slack channel-like feed where photo, text and location updates can be pushed alongside threaded replies. Like Life360, you can can also access a dashboard of a groupusers and see where they are located in the world and whether they&re at home or work based on group-designated locations. Itthe appfocus on close friends that has drawn comparisons to Dave Morinoft-loved social networking app Path.
&I am always super open and welcome to comparisons to Path because I loved it and it was totally an awesome app,& co-founder Alex Cornell tells TechCrunch. &When you look at our narratives and what we&re trying to accomplish — the goals of supporting close friends and family — there is a lot of similarity there. But at the core, our solution is actually quite different.&
That core difference, the founders tell me, is that Cocoon isn&t a social network. People are signing up to be in this small group with a few close friends of family members but the groups are closed and users aren&t (currently) logging into multiple groups.
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&The main thing with a network is like that people aren&t necessarily all connected to one another, itasymmetrical so my friends aren&t friends with your friends and when I post a photo, you&re seeing comments from people you don&t know,& Cornell adds.
There are some clean parallels to other consumer apps, but the biggest competitor to Cocoon is what goes down in the small groups you have in iMessage or any of your other chat apps. Cocoon wants to be a properly-interfaced social network inside a group chat where everything is for the groupbenefit only. A lot is still in flux just one day after launch and the founders are hoping they can learn more about what people want from the app from its earliest users.
Like Path, the startup has a noble goal but a social app with dramatically lessened network effects certainly seems like it might have some sustainability issues. The app is currently free, but the founders say that they won&t be selling any user data or surfacing ads, hoping to add in a subscription pricing model to sustain the business. &Itdefinitely top of mind and something that we want to do sooner rather than later,& CEO Sachin Monga tells us.
The company has a bit of cash to sustain things on their own for a while. Cocoon wrapped a $3 million seed round in May led by Lerer Hippeau with Y Combinator, Susa Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Advancit Capital, Foundation Capital, iNovia, Shrug Capital and SV Angel also participating.
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Write comment (96 Comments)A startup called Studs wants to reinvent the ear-piercing experience for Generation Z. Today, consumers only have two options to choose from when they want their ears pierced — the traditional &mall piercing& experience that uses piercing guns often wielded by novices, or professional piercing parlors whose wide range of services often means that only a limited selection of jewelry for ears is made available. Studs, instead, aims to combine brick-and-mortar storefronts for needle piercing with an online retail destination where customers can shop for after-care items, single earrings, collections, earscapes, and more.
The company has now opened its first retail store in New YorkNolita neighborhood as well as its online shopping site, and plans to expand to more physical locations by 2020.
The idea for Studs comes from entrepreneurs Anna Harman and Lisa Bubbers, both of who have backgrounds with in-person service startups. Harman, now Studs CEO, was previously the Chief Customer Officer at Walmartpersonal shopping serviceJetblack, as well as Head of Operations at in-home closet organizing startup Fitz. Bubbers, now CMO at Studs, was previously VP of Marketing at interior design startup Homepolish.
Harman believes the market for ear piercing is split between the offline retailers who do the piercings themselves — either at mall shops or tattoo and piercing parlors — and the online retail side of the business, which makes it difficult to develop a relationship with customers.
&Earring retail is an entirely separate entity becoming increasingly dominated by [direct-to-consumer] brands exclusively leveraging Instagram ads to target and engage with consumers. Itmore competitive than ever to capture customers in the multi-billion dollar fashion jewelry industry,& Harman explains. &Without an authentic offline service to build a meaningful customer relationship and capture data for re-engagement, italmost impossible to survive in todayretail climate as an online-only brand,& she says.
Studs, on the other hand, aims to connect the experience of getting pierced to the next intuitive step of purchasing earrings, Harman adds.
&We give consumers an easy way to navigate their piercing and jewelry options and are the first to combine a brick and mortar retail experience with an e-commerce platform, so customers can seamlessly continue the experience,& she says.
Like professional tattoo and piercing parlors, Studs only employs professionals who are trained to pierce with needles, not guns. The cost ranges from $35 for one hole to $50 for two, on any part of the ear. Piercing jewelry is $30 to $180 per earring, while Studs& fashion jewelry is $14-$175 per earring.
After getting pierced at Studs, customers are then directed to the website for after-care information and resources, as well as a shoppable destination for buying new products. In addition, the site is open to anyone — not just those who already got pierced at Studsshop.
In addition to traditional earring options, the websites find &earscapes,& which are personalized combinations of piercings where you mix-and-match different jewelry to create unique looks, often across a larger number of holes going up the ear. Studs also collaborates on collections with indie designers like Susan Alexandria, Yumono, and Man Repeller. At launch, itoffering an exclusive collection from Anna Sheffield, the founder and designer at NYC jewelry brand, Bing Bang.
Though not limited to anyone of any gender, Studs was designed with the goal of better catering to Gen Z teenagers who are getting pierced for the first time or perhaps adding additional piercings further up the ear. Studs says its &sweet spot& is anyone ages 14 to 25. However, parents can bring in a child as young as 8 to get pierced.
In other words, ita step up from a store like Claire&s, where parents are often turned off by the use of piercing guns wielded by non-professionals. Instead, it offers the safe, more hygienic, and more precise needles that many of todayfirst-time-piercers prefer.
The NYC area store is meant to test out this concept, but if all goes well, future locations may involve in-mall shops, kiosks, or even mobile units.
To date, the startup has raised $3 million in funding led by First Round Capital, with participation from Lerer Hippaeu and other angel investors. The company plans to use the funds for its retail locations, enhancing its e-commerce site, and expanding its team.
TheStuds Studio, located at 12 Prince St. in NYC, opened alongside the Studs website on November 19.
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