Snapchat is hoping to attract new advertisers (and make advertising easier for the ones already on the platform) with the launch of a new tool called Instant Create. Some of these potential advertisers may not be used to creating ads in the smartphone-friendly vertical format that Snapchat has popularized, so Instant Create is to designed…
One of the constant refrains about Apple in 2019 is its shift toward services — a trend that’s reflected, once again, in its third-quarter earnings release. In fact, the release trumpets the “all-time high” for services revenue in its headline, while a statement from CEO Tim Cook describes this as “our biggest June quarter ever…
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has made reinstating net neutrality via FCC appointments one of his campaign promises, The Daily Dot reported today. He is far from alone among the Democratic presidential candidates in supporting the policy, but appears to be the first to make it part of his election campaign. In a statement, a spokesperson…
Apple is combining two long-standing major efforts in a new push, making AR more consumer-friendly and helping portray Apple Stores as civic centers where communities can come together. The project, called [AR]T Walk, is a walking tour through various city centers around the globe aiming to help the digital art works of artists come alive…
There are a lot reasons to assume Huawei’s numbers would be on the decline. Even without getting caught smack in the middle of increasing trade tensions between two superpowers, the smartphone market has been trending down for some time now. A confluence of factors, including slowed upgrade cycles and stagnate economies in both China and…
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea U.S. trade restrictions are trickling down to the developer community:…
Civil liberties campaign group Liberty has lost its latest challenge to controversial U.K. surveillance powers that allow state agencies to intercept and retain data in bulk. The challenge fixed on the presence of so-called “bulk” powers in the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act (IPA): A controversial capability that allows intelligence agencies to legally collect and retain…
Shortly after going public, Lyft is losing one of its top executives, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Jon McNeill, who joined the ride-hailing business from Tesla about 18 months ago, is reportedly stepping down. Lyft declined to comment. Lyft’s stock (Nasdaq: LYFT) is down nearly 3% on the news. Despite a turbulent first…
Minut, a Swedish startup that has developed a camera-less home security device that it claims protects privacy better than competitors, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. The round is led by KPN Ventures, with participation from international energy and services company Centrica. Existing backers Karma Ventures, SOSV, and Nordic Makers also followed on,…
The chemist who helped create the magic sauce behind Juul, Xing Chenyue, unveiled the product of her new startup Myst Labs this week after two years of development: electronic cigarette alternatives designed for China’s 350 million smokers, the world’s biggest smoking population. This new contender makes for a potentially heated battlefield given that Juul will…
