TechCrunch Daily Crunch

AWS expands its serverless offerings; HBO Max and HBO gained 3 million subscribers in Q1 as Netflix reports subscriber decline; Tesla aspires to mass produce robotaxis by 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Netflix says it will eventually charge more if you share your account; Google Search now displays city-level air quality; Apple adds Ace Hardware as a new Apple Card cashback partner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Audi designed a private cocoon concept car for China’s megacities; Netflix shares down more than 20% after losing 200,000 subscribers in first quarter; Lyft follows Uber’s lead and removes its mask mandate; The latest in startup business news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kittens will be exploding all over Netflix; Twitter’s in-development Edit button offers hints as to how the feature could work; Instagram rolls out product tagging feature to US users; The latest in startup business news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter adopts poison pill defense to block Elon Musk takeover; U.S. officials link North Korean Lazarus hackers to $625M Axie Infinity crypto theft; European startups elude global VC funding slowdown in Q1 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tinder adds a ‘Festival Mode’ for making connections ahead of concerts and events; Reddit is rolling out the ability to search comments; Peloton is increasing its subscription fees starting June 1st Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WhatsApp permitted to extend payments service to 100 million users in India; A crypto exchange is partnering with an NFL team; TikTok is testing a private dislike button for comments; The latest in startup business news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify brings live audio shows to its main app; Tik Tok launching it’s own AR platform; Twitter acquires mobile engagement platform OpenBack; The latest in startup business news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over 14,000 Etsy sellers are going on strike; Meta’s Horizon Worlds is testing in-app purchases and creator bonuses; Major space companies pledge to boost diversity and publicly share hard numbers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Better.com CTO steps down, agrees to voluntary separation in wake of mass layoffs; Just how much has late-stage venture capital slowed?; Didi cancels its trip in South Africa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

HBO Max begins rolling out an upgraded Apple TV app; Spotify’s ‘Car Thing’ entertainment system gains new features; TikTok delays opening of first European data center again; The latest in startup business news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Intel suspends operations in Russia; Fanatics raises $1.5B at a $27B valuation; Google Play will hide and block downloads for outdated apps; The latest in startup business news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instacart is coming after users who tricked shoppers out of tips; The Peloton Guide is now available for $295; Substack wants to join the podcast monetization fray Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thousands of rentable Polestar EVs to land on Hertz lots; Roku announces multiyear extension with Amazon for Prime Video and IMDb TV; Alphabet’s Wing is bringing drone delivery to Texas this week; The latest in Startup news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Staten Island Amazon workers vote to unionize; Biden’s answer to high gas prices is to boost U.S. battery production; Late-stage software startups might be in the most valuation trouble Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft goes deeper into process mining; The strike that turned into a potential lawsuit; E3 2022 canceled Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Visa launches NFT program as it considers the digital art a new form of e-commerce; Europe lays out expanded ecodesign rules with plan for digital product passports; Spotify expands its music-matching playlist ‘Blend’ to work with up to 10 people, including select artists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sony unveils revamped PlayStation Plus; Amazon Glow connects family members one story at a time; TikTok, GIPHY partner on video creation tool Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pinterest to invest an additional $1.2 million in its Creator Fund for underrepresented groups; Spotify puts its Podz acquisition to use with test of new podcast discovery feature; TikTok is testing a ‘watch history’ feature to make it easier to uncover lost videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

EU, US come to tentative data deal; Europe says yes to messaging interoperability as it agrees on major new regime for Big Tech; Instacart reduces its valuation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

App ecosystem growth continued in Q1; Coinbase pushes further into India; Instacart turns to software; The latest in Startup news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

YouTube announces ad-supported TV shows; Microsoft wants you to build your next game in the cloud; Instagram gets down with chronological feeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter leads call for EU lawmakers to ‘think beyond Big Tech'; New Twitch appeals portal lets users monitor and object to account bans; Microsoft improves its AI translations with Z-Code; The latest in the world of startups Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the e-commerce business slowing?; ComiXology and the digital revolution in comics; A lawsuit against Grubhub; The latest startup news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Friday, March 18, 2022! Another week is behind us, which means that it’s time to sit back and read the last tranche of startup and technology news. For those of you building, we just announced that Sequoia’s Jess Lee is coming to Early Stage to chat about landing your first investor, and we’ll have a bevy of VCs at our mobility-themed event that should rock, and, since we’re talking moving about, roll. – Alex Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon has closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM; Maserati plans to launch a battery-electric version for each model in its portfolio by 2025; says it will begin testing new content tools designed to give advertisers control Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The iPad Air is more powerful than ever; Tesla has idled its Shanghai factory due to COVID-19; Meta is now adding parental supervision tools Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Intel is planning a huge European investment; Facebook will be paying a token fine for a General Data Protection Regulation breach; Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security is warning against the use of Kaspersky cybersecurity software Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mask unlock is finally live on iPhone; Ford is accelerating plans to sell more electric vehicles in Europe; Instagram is now blocked in Russia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

EU to investigate state use of spyware; YouTube is now blocking Russia state-affiliated media globally; Russia says it will block Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google adds Air Raid Alerts to Android phones in Ukraine; Google suspends Play store billing, YouTube payments in Russia; Chris Dixon, Marc Andreessen back $30M fund exclusively investing in NFT art Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon suspends Prime Video in Russia; Developer tools are not worth infinite money; Swiggy preps for huge IPO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google is acquiring security intelligence firm Mandiant for $5.4B; Instagram warns users who share Russian state media, hides following lists in Russia and Ukraine; Apple TV+ to stream weekly Major League Baseball games in its first live sports deal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google says Chrome on macOS is now faster than Safari; Apple suspends Search Ads on the Russian App Store ‘until further notice;’ Uber boosts Q1 profit guidance as the world gets moving again Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft halts all new sales in Russia; Disney+ is getting an ad-supported subscription tier later this year; Apple Maps now displays Crimea as part of Ukraine to viewers outside of Russia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify shutters Russia office indefinitely in response to Ukraine invasion; Rivian CEO walks back price hike for any customers who preordered before March 1; SpaceX successfully launches 47 Starlink satellites Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon to close 68 physical retail locations, including Amazon Books and 4-star stores; Apple’s next event is March 8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alphabet’s Wing drones hit 200,000 deliveries as it announces supermarket partnership; Disney+ gains the Marvel series from Netflix and new parental controls; Instagram makes encrypted direct messaging available in Ukraine and Russia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ukrainians turn to encrypted messengers, offline maps and Twitter amid Russian invasion; Panasonic will start making Tesla’s higher-capacity EV batteries by March 2024; TikTok expands max video length to 10 minutes, up from 3 minutes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon Music to overtake Pandora as No. 2 US music streamer this year; UK wants to squeeze freedom of reach to take on internet trolls; Carvana acquires Adesa US auction business for $2.2B to jump-start used car sales Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SEC opens investigation into Elon Musk over possible insider trading; Siri gains a new gender-neutral voice option in latest iOS update; If you give Tumblr $4.99 a month, you won’t have to see ads anymore Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Zuckerberg demos a tool for building virtual worlds using voice commands; USPS snubs EVs, Biden with next-gen delivery fleet deal; LinkedIn debuts its own podcast network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To combat chip shortage, Bosch to invest $296M to produce semiconductors; Tesla gets wrist slap from EPA for violating Clean Air Act Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump’s TRUTH Social launches at the top of the App Store, but no one can get in; Instagram quietly limits ‘daily time limit’ option Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta axes a head of global community development after he appears on video in underage sex sting; Walmart is expanding autonomous delivery pilot with GM’s Cruise this year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Super Bowl ads boosted crypto app downloads by 279%, led by Coinbase; Elon Musk accuses SEC of conducting a ‘harassment campaign’; Amazon reaches deal to continue accepting Visa payments worldwide Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify snaps up podcast measurement and analytics firms Podsights and Chartable; Spyware dealer who sold WhatsApp-hacking tech pleads guilty; New Waymo Via partnership gives it access to 200,000 shippers and carriers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grubhub expands its ‘Grubhub Goods’ convenience offering nationwide; Twitter launches beta test of anti-abuse tool ‘Safety Mode,’ adds prompts to enable it; Nextdoor revamps with new profiles, feed and more community-building features Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hackers leak names of ‘Freedom Convoy’ donors after GiveSendGo breach; India bans Garena Free Fire, 53 more China-linked apps; Tesla opens entire Supercharger network in the Netherlands to all EVs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Of course, Netflix ordered a movie about the big crypto scandal; Google’s adtech targeted by publisher antitrust complaint in EU; The James Webb Space Telescope takes a selfie and a big step towards its first ‘real’ image Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices