TechCrunch Daily Crunch

Astra’s first rocket launch from Florida goes awry; California agency sues Tesla for alleged racial discrimination and harassment; Disney+ outshines Netflix with 11.8M new subscribers in Q1 and strong forecast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SpaceX loses 40 Starlink satellites to a geomagnetic storm; Tumblr launches a tip jar feature to help bloggers make a buck; Apple launches its own book club, ‘Strombo’s Lit,’ in the Apple Books app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peloton CEO steps down as the company cuts 2,800 jobs; Amazon expands its telehealth service nationwide; American Express launches its first all-digital consumer checking account Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify will invest $100M in content from underrepresented creators, says CEO Daniel Ek; Bumble makes its first acquisition with deal for French Gen Z dating app, Fruitz; Google sued in Europe for $2.4BN in damages over Shopping antitrust case Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify CEO hints HiFi tier delay is related to licensing issues; Meta adds ‘personal boundaries’ to Horizon Worlds and Venues to fight harassment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Facebook isn’t growing anymore; Google Workspace goes all in on shadow IT; Homeland Security establishes the Cyber Safety Review Board to learn the mistakes from past cyber incidents Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GitHub introduces sponsor-only repositories; Spotify backlash over Joe Rogan did little to boost its streaming rivals Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple News launches its first daily local newsletter, targeting Bay Area readers; India proposes 30% tax on crypto and NFTs income; GM’s Chevy Silverado EV already has 110,000 reservations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify, Joe Rogan address COVID-19 content backlash; Pinterest’s AR shopping feature expands to include furniture and home décor; Sony snaps up ‘Halo’ and ‘Destiny’ creator Bungie for $3.6B Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Suite users migrate to free Google accounts; Latest Apple OS betas deliver Face ID with a mask and Universal Control Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

EV battery maker LG Energy Solution becomes South Korea’s second most valuable firm in IPO debut; Messenger upgrades its end-to-end encrypted chat experience; Disney+ is expanding to 42 more countries this summer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify is removing Neil Young’s music after falling out over Joe Rogan; Apple releases iOS 15.3 with fix for ‘actively exploited’ iPhone flaw; Snap upgrades its AR Shopping features with real-time pricing, more product details Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neil Young plans to pull his music from Spotify over Joe Rogan COVID misinformation; Google kills off FLoC, replaces it with Topics; YouTube is considering NFTs, CEO’s letter suggests Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google gets hit with a new lawsuit over ‘deceptive’ location tracking; NBCUniversal is partnering with TikTok for the Winter Olympics; Panasonic’s higher-capacity Tesla battery could enter production in 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Intel eyes Ohio for a pair of chip factories amid global shortage; Europe’s top privacy regulator calls for ban on political microtargeting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peloton reportedly pauses bike and treadmill production amid slowed demand; Twitter Blue subscription users are first to gain access to a new NFT Profile Picture feature; Google reportedly planning a new AR headset for 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instagram launches early test of creator subscriptions in the US; Apple Podcasts introduces new ‘Listen With’ collections to help users discover shows; Netflix’s gaming service adds two more titles on iOS and Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple returns to No. 1 as global smartphone shipments grapple with supply chain concerns; Ford and ADT team up to prevent theft from vehicle; Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ford signs 5-year agreement with Stripe to scale e-commerce; Amazon rows back on threat to stop accepting UK-issued Visa cards Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

US residents can order free, at-home COVID-19 tests starting on January 19th; House committee investigating Jan. 6 subpoenas Meta, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta shuts down its experimental video speed-dating service, Sparked; Instacart doubles down on its ready-made meals; Venmo introduces new gift-wrapping feature with eight animated designs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Canalys: Worldwide PC shipments soared in 2021 to 341 million units; Apple releases iOS 15.2.1 to patch iPhones and iPads against HomeKit flaw; Unicorn exits augur poorly as Justworks delays IPO, citing ‘market conditions’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

India to own 35.8% in Vodafone Idea after conversion of dues; European parliament found to have broken EU rules on data transfers and cookie consents; IBM looks to sustainability with acquisition of emissions data company Envizi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple paid out around $60 billion to App Store developers in 2021; Tesla ‘Full Self-Driving’ beta features an ‘Assertive’ mode with rolling stops; Panasonic says hackers accessed personal data of job candidates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter Spaces continues testing podcast-like features; Apple Fitness+ introduces new ‘Collections’ feature and ‘Time to Run’ series; India hits Google with antitrust investigation over alleged abuse in news aggregation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reflections on another pandemic CES; The NYTimes is buying The Athletic; Meta has a good VR holiday cycle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Making sense of OpenSea at $13B; Android + Windows; And here’s the *other* company now worth more than $10B Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kindle’s China future in doubt after disappearing from online shelves; Panasonic to use Redwood’s recycled materials in battery cell production at Tesla gigafactory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple’s value touches the $3T mark; Abstra raises $2.3M for no-code apps; Twitter completes MoPub sale Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple puts Foxconn India plant on probation after protests over food and accommodation conditions; Fiverr rolls out new Pinterest-like personalized discovery feature Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More companies bow out of in-person CES presence; Kimberly Bryant’s suspension surfaces ongoing tensions at Black Girls Code; Religious platforms draw investor attention Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Remembering the startups we lost in 2021; TC’s fav things; Is accessibility awareness resulting in better accessibility? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After Essential’s failure, OSOM plans a new privacy-first handset; A Bluetooth bug in a popular at-home COVID-19 test could falsify results; Fisher-Price’s Chatter phone has a simple but problematic Bluetooth bug Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bitcoin is religion, web3 is greed; EU clears the Microsoft-Nuance deal; Via shuttles toward the public markets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oracle buys Cerner in $28B deal; Inside Justworks’ IPO filing; Rec Room raises $145M at a $3.5B valuation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

FedEx receives its first fully-electric GM Brightdrop delivery vans; TikTok is launching delivery-only restaurants across the US in March; Backed by former Facebook and Twitter execs, Tagg launches social branding app for Gen Z Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reddit files confidentially to go public; Apple releases Swift Playgrounds 4 with support for app development on iPad; Spotify is launching Apple-like ratings for podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon to lower its cut of Alexa skill developer revenue starting in 2022; Aurora self-driving trucks are using Uber Freight to haul goods for customers; Apple quietly pulls references to its CSAM detection tech after privacy fears Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple launches its Siri-only Apple Music Voice Plan with iOS 15.2; Struggling to win subscribers, Netflix cuts prices in India; Cash App now lets users ‘gift’ stock and bitcoin using their USD balance or a debit card Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

China’s AI giant SenseTime postpones IPO after US blacklisting; Former Twitter India head leaving firm to start an edtech platform; Mozilla expects to generate more than $500M in revenue this year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spain moves closer to passing a startup law; Better.com CEO Vishal Garg steps back as employees detail how he ‘led by fear;’ Volvo had some R&D data stolen in security breach Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tinder is partnering with Spotify to launch a new ‘Music Mode’ feature; Netflix launches a website dedicated to news about renewals, exclusive interviews and more; Europe lays out a plan to flip the odds on gig economy exploitation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter is the latest platform to test a TikTok copycat feature; Volkswagen closes three new partnerships to amp up EV production; Facebook tests a new ‘Professional’ mode for creator profiles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft seizes control of websites used by China-backed hackers; Twitter acquires Quill, a would-be Slack rival; team will work on DMs as Quill shuts down; Meta’s Messenger boss is leaving the company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DoorDash tests a full-time employment option in New York as it launches ‘ultra-fast’ delivery; Astra will launch a rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida for the first time in January; Toyota will build its first US battery plant in North Carolina Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

China’s ride-hailing giant is delisting from the New York Stock Exchange; Facebook Messenger is testing a new ‘Split Payments’ feature in the US Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GM delays production of new Chevy Bolt EVs until end of January; EU warns adtech giants over ‘legal tricks’ as it moots changes to centralize privacy oversight; Apple announces the 2021 App Store Award winners and most downloaded apps of the year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Match settles lawsuit with Tinder co-founders for $441 million; US government agencies bought Chinese surveillance tech despite federal ban; Square is changing its name to Block Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

UK’s antitrust watchdog orders Facebook to sell Giphy; Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz invest in solid-state battery developer Factorial Energy; Twitter expands safety policy, bans posting images of people without their consent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jack steps down from Twitter CEO role; Clearview AI told to stop processing UK data as ICO warns of possible fine; Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will talk Section 230 reform with Congress this week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices