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Uber’s wrongs show we need better workers’ rights, says UK PM
A backhanded compliment for Uber snuck into UK prime minister Theresa May’s speech to the World Economy Forum in Davos this afternoon — when she said the company’s behavior had made the case for laws being strengthened to stop gig economy workers from being exploited by overly powerful tech platforms. So, at long last, an…
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Snapchat VP of Product Tom Conrad will disappear from tech
One of Snap CEO Evan Spiegel’s top lieutenants Tom Conrad will leave Snapchat, and the whole tech industry, in March. Coming roughly two years after he joined the company as VP of Product, a source tipped off TechCrunch to Conrad’s impending departure, which Snap now confirms to us. Snap’s director of growth Jacob Andreou who…
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Subscription service for Mac apps Setapp has 15,000 subscribers a year after its launch
Meet Setapp, the Spotify of Mac apps. For $9.99 per month, you can download and use more than a hundred Mac apps without spending another cent. All those apps are usually paid apps, but Setapp wants to change the model. Setapp was founded by MacPaw, an independent Mac development company based in Ukraine. While they…
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Print book sales rose 1.9% in 2017
In what amounts to faint praise for the strength of the physical book NPD reported that print book sales rose 1.9 percent in 2017, less than the 3 percent growth posted in 2013-2016. NPD tracks book sales in the US. They write: “Returning from the huge sales of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ in…
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Apple to take on messaging rivals with launch of Business Chat
Apple is preparing to roll out a new feature in iMessage that will allow consumers to chat directly with businesses through Apple’s messaging platform. The feature, called Business Chat, was announced last year at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, and will debut this spring with launch partners including Discover, Hilton, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo. The feature will…
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Top subscription video on demand apps boosted revenue 77% last year to reach $781 million
The cord cutting trend is having an outsized impact on subscription video apps’ revenue, it seems. According to a new market analysis from Sensor Tower, U.S. consumer spending in the top 10 subscription video on demand apps grew 77 percent last year, to reach approximately $781 million across the App Store and Google Play. The…
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Apple wants to gather all your medical records in the Health app
Apple announced a new health effort as part of iOS 11.3. The new Health Records section in the Health app lets you gather and view all your medical records. The company is partnering with hospitals and clinics. Apple released the first beta version of iOS 11.3 today. While the new version of iOS is going…
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Rocket Internet’s Carmudi raises $10M to refocus on Asia following global retrenchment
Carmudi, a Rocket Internet-backed company that sells cars online in emerging markets, has raised $10 million to develop its business in Southeast Asia after reducing its global footprint. The company was formed in 2013 and, at peak, it grew to cover over 20 markets across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. To support…
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Apple’s augmented reality tool kit can now detect walls and 2D images in beta
Apple is rolling out an upgrade to its augmented reality toolbox, ARKit, to developers in a beta version today. ARKit 1.5 adds a few marquee features including one big one: wall detection. Up until this point, ARKit has been focused on offering horizontal plane detection, allowing developers to know where the ‘floor’ is that it…
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Nexar gets $30M Series B for its AI-based road safety dashcams and network
Nexar, a startup that makes an AI-based dashcam app to monitor road safety, announced today that it has raised a $30 million Series B led by Ibex Ventures. Participants included Alibaba Innovation Ventures (the venture capital investment arm of Alibaba Group), Nationwide Insurance and returning investors Aleph, Mosaic Ventures, Slow Ventures, True Ventures and Tusk…