TechCrunch Industry News

With its latest consumer hardware products, Google’s prices are undercutting Apple, Samsung, and Amazon. The search giant just unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, tablet, and smart home device and all available at prices well below their direct competitors. Where Apple and Samsung are pushing prices of its latest products even higher, Google is seemingly happy to keep prices low and this is creating a distinct advantage for the company’s products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google today announced that its Pixel phones will soon get support for Smart Compose in Gmail. Smart Compose automatically finishes your sentences for you as you type, based on what Google knows about how you and others write similar sentences. Smart Compose can also auto-complete addresses for you. Google first launched this feature with its redesigned Gmail for the web, but it’s now bringing this to mobile, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2018 has been a good year for ridiculous, gargantuan LEGO builds. Just weeks ago, there was that life size, driveable LEGO Bugatti. Now someone has gone and built a mega-sized recreation of Apple’s new Cupertino “spaceship” campus – otherwise known as Apple Park. Coming in at roughly 85,000 pieces, the build took designer Spencer_R a little over two years to complete, with many of those hours spent poring over drone footage of the campus’ construction. At 6.8×4. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Analytics company Mixpanel is currently tracking the install base of iOS 12. And the latest version of iOS is quite popular as it’s already installed on roughly 47.6 percent of all iOS devices. 45.6 percent of devices still run iOS 11, and 6.9 percent of iOS users run an older version. Adoption rate is an important metric for app developers. With major iOS releases, Apple also releases new frameworks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In what might be the most ridiculous stunt ever pulled in the art world, a Banksy piece has, in a sense, self-destructed. Right in front of an audience of would-be buyers. A framed canvas version of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon was set to be auctioned at Sothebys in London. As the auction came to a close with a final bid of £953,829 (a little over $1.25 million), the print’s frame began… beeping. Then, whirring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome back toEquity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week was a treat. We had Danny Crichton in the studio. We had Connie Loizos in the studio. I was in the studio. And our guest, the excellentAndy McLoughlin, a partner at UnCork Capital, was in the studio as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla CEO Elon Musk trolled the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a tweet Thursday afternoon, poking the bear that just days before had agreed to settle securities fraud charges against the billionaire entrepreneur. The tweet, sent out at 1:16 pm PT Thursday, says: “Just want to that the Shortseller Enrichment Commission is doing incredible work. And the name change is so on point!” The SEC declined to comment. Tesla has not yet responded to a request for comment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’ve known for a few months now that Jon Favreau was working on a live-action Star Wars series for Disney’s upcoming (but as of yet unnamed) streaming service. But that’s about all we knew. Until now! Favreau just dropped a few huge details out of nowhere. In a surprise Instagram post, Favreau mentioned: It’s at least tentatively called “The Mandalorian”. For the unfamiliar, Mandalorians are a group of warriors in the Star Wars universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2015, the San Francisco-based education platform MasterClass was founded with an express mission to provide everyone access to “genius,” whether it be in filmmaking, directing, book writing, cooking, tennis, basketball, comedy, acting, screenwriting, photography — even producing electronic music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Want excitement? Here’s something approaching that. Today’s Microsoft October event wasn’t exactly a blockbuster, but product lead Panos Panay did mention that this is the most new Surface products the company has crammed into one event. There was a lot of stuff to get through in the hour or so — though the majority of the announcements were spec bumps to existing products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2019 BMW i3 now has 153 miles of range thanks to a bigger battery The BMW i3 is getting an upgraded battery — plus a bunch of other improvements —that will give the 2019 model about 153 miles of range. That’s roughly a 30% improvement from the previous model. The boost in range is noteworthy, yet it still lags behind theChevy Bolt and the Tesla Model S, Model X and Model 3 vehicles. And it’s only a smidge better than the much cheaper Nissan Leaf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google’s big hardware event, scheduled for October 9, is expected to feature the newPixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones. But now we know that Google will probably reveal a third-generation model of Chromecast, thanks to one recent Best Buy customer who discovered the device on store shelves. Whoops. “GroveStreetHomie” detailed his experience on a Reddit post entitled “I think I bought the 3rd gen Chromecast too early. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome back toEquity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week on Equity, the gang was back together. We had the ever-excellent Connie Loizos on hand, along with TechCrunch’s Danny Crichton, and myself, on loan from Crunchbase News. Even better we had Iris Choi on the show. When she’s not hanging out with us for the pod, she’s a partner at Floodgate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Betterment, which Barron’s recently declared the largest independent online financial adviser, is betting that the future of online investing includes a blend of robot and human advisers. And the plan is working, according to chief executive Jon Stein. However, incumbents like Vanguard have leveraged existing strengths to move in to the market, and other startups like Robinhood have carved out swathes of the fast-growing market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Remember phone reveals? Once upon a time, companies were able to save a little for the event. These days, however, we nearly always know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into. Due to be announced next month, the second iteration of Razer’s gaming-centric handset is no different. Bits and pieces of the forthcoming phone have already surfaced, but today’s latest leaks give us the clearest picture thus far. From an aesthetic standpoint, not a lot has changed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Juul has been on an incredible, and in some ways, nightmarish, ride this year. The three-year-old, San Francisco-based company has handily won 75 percent of the e-cigarette market in the U.S., thanks in large part to the sleek design of its nicotine vaporizer. It is reportedly on track to see at least $1 billion in revenue this year. And the company — which now employs 1,100 people, up from 225 at the start of the year — has capital to invest in its business, having sealed up a $1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coinbase is shaking things up quite a bit lately and its latest tools are geared toward cryptocurrency traders just getting their toes wet. On Thursday, the company announced that it would add a feature called Coinbase Bundle. The new offering lets users purchase a market-weighted sampling of Coinbase’s five available cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Ethereum Classic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Few properties seem better suited to tap VR than Star Wars, if only because… you know, lightsabers. And Lucasfilm knows it. They’ve just announced Star Wars: Vader Immortal — a three part, at-home experience that’ll launch on Oculus’ just announced standalone Quest headset. Alas, there’s not much to go on besides the name, a quick teaser trailer, and that it’s launching sometime in 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Product Hunt Radio I’m joined by two incredible people, Laura Deming and Daniel Gross, that have accomplished more before the age of 30 than most people have realized in a lifetime. Laura grew up in New Zealand and came to San Francisco when she was only 12 years old to join a lab studying aging. She was accepted to MIT at 14 before leaving to form Longevity Fund, a venture capital firm investing in companies aimed to help us all live longer and healthier lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this year, Google announced its revamped Google Maps, which puts a stronger emphasis on discovery. Some of the features the company announced back then have already launched, including many of the promiseddiscovery and exploration tools, but the one feature that was still missing was group planning. But you won’t have to wait much longer to collaboratively plan your outings with friends in Google Maps because today, these collaboration tools are finally launching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GoPro delivered a big refresh of its cameras today with a lot of new product names but not quite as many hardware updates as we’ve seen in past updates. The new lineup from GoPro is definitely less confusing from a branding perspective. The Hero7 White, Silver and Black will cost $199, $299 and $399 respectively. Unlike past years, the company will be discontinuing the previous generations rather than just dropping the price. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon’s Fire TV Recast will let you record live TV, stream it anywhere Amazon this morning introduced a new device called the Fire TV Recast that works with Fire TV and other devices to allow you to record live TV through a connected digital antenna. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From its glass-lined offices in San Francisco’s leafy Presidio national park, six-year-old Mithril Capital Management has happily flown under the radar. Now it’s leaving altogether and relocating its team to Austin, a spot that has “enough critical mass of a technical culture, an artisanal culture, an artistic culture, and [is] not necessarily looking to Silicon Valley for validation,” says firm cofounder Ajay Royan. The move isn’t a complete surprise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome back toEquity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we worked with an (excellent) skeleton crew. Our own Connie Loizos held down the fort with a guest that knew quite a lot: March Capital’sJamie Montgomery. There was a healthy blizzard of news to get through, so Connie and Jamie plowed ahead. Up top, the Eventbrite IPO was big news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jamie Burke to explain why you should still bet on the blockchain at Disrupt Berlin Now that your cousin doesn’t ask you questions about bitcoin anymore, is it the end of all things blockchain? Maybe it just means that it’s time to think about innovating at the protocol level and come up with new use cases. That’s why I’m excited to announce that Outlier Ventures CEO and founder Jamie Burke will join us at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fortnite has taken the world by storm. In fact, the game is so popular that Epic has released versions for PC, Xbox, PS4, iOS, Android and the Nintendo Switch, making the game about as accessible as possible. The popularity of the game stems from the general popularity of the Battle Royale genre and popular streamers like Ninja, who have made the game so much fun to watch. But it also comes from the fun, and often fleeting, skins, dances and pick axes the game offers in its Item Shop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s an empty space in my heart for a minimalist phone with only the most basic functions. Bad for my heart, but good for a handful of companies putting out devices aiming to fill it. Punkt’s latest, the MP02, goes a little ways to making the device I desire, but it isn’t quite there yet. Punkt’s first device included just texting and calling, which would likely have worked as intended if not for the inconvenient choice to have it connect only to 2G networks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alice Lloyd George Contributor Alice Lloyd George is an investor at RRE Ventures and the host of Flux, a series of podcast conversations with leaders in frontier technology. More posts by this contributor A conversation with Dean Kamen on the myth of “Eureka!” Behind the scenes with Tezos, a new blockchain upstart Below are excerpts from the most recent episode of the Flux podcast hosted by RRE Ventures principal Alice Lloyd George. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kayak’s new AR feature will tell you if your carry-on bag fits the overhead bin Popular travel app Kayak has put augmented reality to clever use with a new feature that lets you measure the size of your carry-on bag using just your smartphone. Its updated iOS app now takes advantage of Apple’s ARKit technology to introduce a new Bag Measurement tool that will help you calculate your bag’s size so you can find out if it fits in the overhead bin – you know, before your trip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Audi just announced its first production electric vehicle. Called the e-tron, the EV is a mid-size SUV loaded with technology with an unofficial range of over 300 miles. It’s nicely equipped, and with a starting price of $74,800, it sits between the Jaguar I-Pace and the Tesla Model X. The e-tron is most similar to the Jaguar I-Pace though the Audi is slightly better equipped. The e-tron packs a 95 kWh battery over the Jaguar’s 90 kWh battery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jason Rowley Contributor Jason Rowley is a venture capital and technology reporter for Crunchbase News. More posts by this contributor Supergiant VC rounds aren’t just raised in China July sets a record for number of $100M+ venture capital rounds In venture capital, a variant on the Glengarry Glen Ross mandate is most fund managers’ modus operandi: Always. Be. Raising. And it seems like VCs have picked up on that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new iPhone’s here, so Google wants to talk Pixel 3 In the off-chance you haven’t already had your fill of phone news for the week, Google just offered up a few friendly reminders that it’s got its own handset coming out in the not so distant future. The company’s event isn’t happening until early next month, but Google’s started with the teasers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A nasty legal battle is set to play out between two former Uber executives. Eric Alexander, the ride-hailing company’s formerpresident of business in Asia-Pacific, has filed suitagainst former Uber PR chief Rachel Whetstone . Alexander blames Whetstone for his firing from Uber in June 2017, claiming her “grossly misleading statements” both internally at Uber and to the media, “destroyed his reputation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most remarkable thing about the iPhone XS Max is that it doesn’t feel huge. It’s all relative, of course. And surely Apple’s old guard would have scoffed at the notion of a 6.5-inch display. But time marches on. Seasons change and so do minds. Temperatures increase, superhero movies pile up and screen sizes increase, unabated. Much of the perception no doubt comes from the rest of the industry pushing the limits of human hands and pants pockets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even if you don’t plan on buying a new iPhone, you’ll be able to get a bunch of new features next week. Apple plans on releasing iOS 12, the next major version of iOS, on Tuesday, September 17th. As always, iOS 12 will be available as a free download. If your iPhone or iPad runs iOS 11, you’ll be able to update to iOS 12 as Apple plans to keep supporting all existing iOS 11 devices. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new in iOS 12. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple just unveiled brand new phones. The iPhone XS and XS Max are the two new flagship devices, replacing the iPhone X. The iPhone XR is replacing the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus with Face ID and an edge-to-edge design. And maybe you were waiting for this press conference to buy a new smartphone. So here’s a quick rundown of how much you’re going to pay for those devices. The iPhone XS is are available with 64GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage for $999, $1,149 or $1,349. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A popular top-tier app in Apple’s Mac App Store was found pilfering browser histories from anyone who downloads it. Yet still, at the time of writing, the rogue app — the number one grossing paid app in one of the app store’s most popular categories — remains, which TechCrunch confirmed. But Apple was warned weeks ago and did nothing to pull the app offline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk made an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast hosted by the eponymous comedian, where the pair smoked a blunt and pondered the flat-Earth movement, the future of AI, “inventing shit” and several other of the eccentric billionaire’s favorite topics. The now-viral interview, which was live-streamed to thousands of viewers, was immediately followed by two high-profile executive departures at Tesla. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unboundfounders Polly Rodriguez and Sarah Jayne Kinney have long and varied careers. Rodriguez worked for U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill on Capitol Hill before heading to Deloitte Consulting and dating startup Grouper. Kinney was a graduate of University of Cincinnati worked at Puma and then at Esquire and O, Oprah’s magazine. She worked shooting products for fashion houses in New York. The duo met in 2014. Now they make fashion-forward vibrators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been a slow year for Apple hardware. The company has traditionally done a good job spreading announcements throughout the calendar, but aside from an iPad event in Chicago and a MacBook refresh a few months back, there’s been little news out of the company. Even this summer’s WWDC was utterly devoid of hardware news. All that’s about to change at the big show being held next week at Steve Jobs Theater on the company’s new space-age Cupertino campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is officially a trend. This afternoon, Slack reported connectivity issues through its official status channel. We can confirm. Roughly half of our messages are going through. And yes, it’s super duper annoying. We're very sorry for the interruption. We're currently investigating connectivity problems, and we're working as quickly as we can to get everything back to normal. Thanks for bearing with us. https://t. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eventbrite sets IPO range of $19 to $21, valuing it at $1.8B Eventbrite has taken its final step toward becoming a publicly traded company. In an updated S-1 filing this morning, the ticketing and events company announced plans to sell 10 million Class A shares on the New York Stock Exchange at a price range of $19 to $21 under the ticker symbol EB. At a midpoint price, Eventbrite will raise $200 million at a $1.8 billion valuation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter is testing a new experience for web users, the company announced in a tweet on Thursday. A small number of Twitter users will see the updated version of Twitter for web, which will include access to Twitter’s Bookmarks feature, and scrolling through Twitter’s Explore section, the tweet said and a spokesperson confirmed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a speaker I often find myself mumbling into a microphone with little thought about the sound system powering it. While most PAs are massive affairs requiring a soundboard operator and lots of wiring, I’ve also had to hoot into portable PAs, a practice I rarely relish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At Disrupt SF 2018, Girlboss CEO Sophia Amoruso sat down with former TechCrunch co-editor Alexia Bonatsos to talk about the success of Girlboss and the failure of Nasty Gal, Amoruso’s failed retail startup. Nasty Gal shut down in 2016 — and even without that, it would’ve been a hard year for Amoruso. “So in 2016, in a six-month period, I was on the cover of Forbes and then a month later, my husband of a year left me,” she said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just over a year after Skype introduced a colorful, Snapchat-inspired makeover which included its own version of “stories,” the company says it’s now going to refocus on simplicity – and it’s ditching stories along the way. The redesign had been met with a lot of backlash. Skype had clearly wanted to appeal to a more youthful demographic with its update, but in doing so, it cluttered the user experience with features no one had asked for or needed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mercedes-Benz unveiled Tuesday the EQC, an all-electric crossover that kicks off the German automaker’s plans to invest more than $12 billion to produce a line of battery-powered models under its new EQ brand. The automaker plans to invest another $1.2 billion in global battery production, Daimler AG Chairman and Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche said. The Mercedes EQC, which is expected to go on sale in the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Mavic Pro was a revelation. It wasn’t a perfect product, to be sure, but it represented a new paradigm for DJI and the consumer drone industry in general. It was compact, folding up into a nice, portable package, while still being portable enough to shove into a backpack. It was also the beginning of a new line for the company, paving the way for the Mavic Airand Spark — both even more portable than their predecessor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Disrupt SF (Sept 5-7) approaches with just a few days until things kick off. We have an all-star lineup that only TechCrunch can assemble, and we’re expecting our largest number of attendees yet. Check out our star-packed agenda here, and keep reading to find out everything you need to make for a stellar conference experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The interconnectedness of the cloud has allowed us to share content widely with people inside and outside the organization and across different applications, but that ability has created a problem of its own, a kind of digital fragmentation. How do you track how that piece of content is being used across a range of cloud services? It’s a problem Box wants to solve with its latest features, Activity Stream and Recommended Apps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices