Thursday, June 11, 2020
Watch All 27 Trailers for PS5 Games, From New Spider-Man to Gran Turismo
Hands on with Android 11 Beta 1—A new media player and suggested apps
Android 11's first "beta" release is finally out after numerous delays. The beta release works on the Pixel 2, 3, 3a, and 4, and enrolling for the beta OTA at google.com/android/beta. is super easy. Previously, the Android beta has launched simultaneously on plenty of third-party devices, but that's not the case this year. So far, OnePlus has also shipped the beta, and that's about it. Google says that more devices are coming "in the coming weeks."
The Android 11 Beta has gone through a wild ride. First, it was supposed to debut at the Shoreline Amphitheater for Google I/O in May 12, but the physical event was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Then it was supposed to debut in an online version of Google I/O, but that was canceled, too, as everyone was still trying to deal with the logistics problems the new shelter-in-place requirements. With no release in May, a surprise fourth preview release of Android 11 was created, and the Beta was delayed until June 3, when Google would hold an online event for "The Android 11 Beta Launch Show." The online Android 11 launch show was delayed, too, due to the ongoing nationwide protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd. In its latest blog post, Google says the online launch show is also canceled entirely, and, surprise, the company is pressing the launch button now with zero fanfare. Not since Google canceled the launch of the Nexus 4 due to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 has a Google launch been such a hot, hot mess.
With the Android 11 Beta finally go for launch, we're still seeing a bit of a mini I/O, even though every event is canceled. Google posted two blog posts, lots of documentation, and 12 videos covering new aspects of Android 11. The company is also planning "11 weeks of Android," a series that will see new developer talks posted each week. So far, the lack of fanfare seems appropriate for Android 11, which seems like a smaller release than we've gotten in previous years. This beta only has two new standout features we can point to.
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Spike raises $8 million to make your email look like a chat app
Asynchronous chat apps like Slack have done their best to kill email, but maybe the key to chat replacing email is just making email look like chat? That’s the idea of Spike, a productivity startup that has built an email app that organizes emails into chat bubbles with an interface that encourages users to keep it short and simple.
Spike’s software began with a focus solely on re-skinning the email experience, but today they’re also launching support for collaborative notes and tasks into their interface as they look to provide a cohesive solution for productivity. The company is fitting an awful lot of functionality into one window, but they hope that streamlining these apps together can leave users spending less time tabbing through separate windows and more time getting stuff done.
“Email is a collection of your tasks, so why should it be separated from where your other tasks are?” asks CEO Dvir Ben-Aroya.
The new functionality widens the ambitions of the software but also refocuses the app on a more complete business use case. Ben-Aroya admits that the company hasn’t pushed monetization very hard in the past, instead looking to scale up its base of free users in an effort to eventually scale up inside organizations. As the app looks to bring small businesses and larger enterprises onboard, the app is keeping its free tier, but to get past limits on message history and note/task creation users are going to have to upgrade to a $7.99 per month per user plan ($5.99 per month when billed annually).
Alongside its product news, the startup also shared today that it has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Insight Partners. Wix, NFX and Koa Labs also participated in the round. The company plans to use the cash to aggressively scale hiring and double its team this year.
“[W]e see a massive addressable market for centralized communication hubs to connect disparate messaging channels,” Insight Partners VP Daniel Aronovitz said in a statement. “The current climate and associated macro-tailwinds behind remote teamwork have only strengthened our belief that there is a sizable and growing demand for digital collaboration tools.”
The company’s platform is compatible with most email services and the app is available on Android, iOS, Mac and Windows.
Email startups are often privy to some of a user’s most sensitive data and can receive a lot of inquiries regarding privacy. As a result, Ben-Aroya believes his company is far ahead of competitors when it comes to safety. “Unlike many other available email clients, we’re never touching, manipulating, using, reusing or selling any part of the user data,” he says.
Spike has raised $16 million in funding to date.
This startup just raised $12 million from top VCs to offer financial planning as an employee perk
Companies increasingly recognize that one of the greatest stresses for their employees is financial wellness. Even at innovative tech startups, people typically bump up against the limits of how much they know about wealth management pretty fast.
But providing financial education to a workforce, which has become increasingly common, is largely useless as most employees will tell you. The information can be hard to navigate, and it’s often not personalized in a way that addresses an employee’s circumstance and goals, which change over time depending on whether they are a recent graduate, getting married or even eyeing retirement.
It’s why so many employed people look to outside apps that promise to help them to not only understand their financial picture but actually manage it. It’s also a missed opportunity, according to a growing number of founders who are working to convince employers to move beyond education and instead offering automated financial planning (with a dash of human involvement) as an employee perk.
Their understandable argument: While offering benefits around fertility, family planning, and mental health are wonderful, companies are missing out on the chance to address the very top priority for their employees, which is how to avoid financial trouble.
Origin, a year-old San Francisco-based company led by Matt Watson — whose last company was acquired in December — is among the newest entrants to make the case.
Freshly backed by $12 million in funding led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst, Founders Fund and early Stripe employee Lachy Groom, among others, Origin wants to become the place where employees can track financial milestones, get professional advice from licensed financial planners, and take action, whether it be paying down student debt, building emergency savings or finding the right home and automotive insurance.
Currently staffed by 32 employees, six are financial planners, and they can handle the unique circumstances of “mid thousands of people,” says Watson, who notes that after an employee initially sets up a plan, much can be automated until a life event changes the picture.
“If you use just the tech, you’re only getting limited information,” he says, adding that access to Origin’s planners is “unlimited.”
The company already has 15 customers with between 250 and 5,000 employees, including the social network NextDoor; the cloud communications and collaboration software platform Fuze; and Therabody, whose Theragun therapy tool is used by pro athletes and trainers to pulverize their aching muscles.
All are paying $6 per employee per month because it doesn’t matter how much employees are making, says Watson. “The thing about financial stress is that it impacts everyone pretty evenly. The greater your income, the more stuff you buy.”
Considering that employees spend an estimated two to four hours each week dealing with their personal finances, an offering like Origin’s seems like a no-brainer for employers looking to both improve employee productivity and employee retention.
Indeed, the only thing holding back such offerings earlier in time were the kind of open banking APIs that exist today.
Now, the biggest challenge for Origin is to capture employers’ attention ahead of the competition. For example, another startup that’s also developing financial planning services as an employee perk is Northstar, founded by Red Swan Ventures investor Will Peng. More established players like Betterment that have long catered to individual investors are also focusing more on building up ties to employers that can use their offerings as an employee resource.
Either way, the trend is a positive one for employees, who are right now living through an economic roller coaster and could more generally use a lot more help with both staying afloat and saving for the future.
“Everyone struggles with finances,” says Watson, who worked in high-yield credit trading at Citi in New York before moving to San Francisco to start his last company. “I’m supposed to understand this stuff, and it’s complicated for me.”
PayPal pledges $530M to support black and minority-owned US businesses, of which $500M is for an opportunity fund and $15M for fostering diversity at PayPal (Anna Irrera/Reuters)
PayPal pledges $530M to support black and minority-owned US businesses, of which $500M is for an opportunity fund and $15M for fostering diversity at PayPal — NEW YORK (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O) said on Thursday it was pledging $530 million to support black and minority-owned businesses …
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Paris-based Alkemics, which lets brands collaborate and launch products with retailers, raises €21M Series C led by Highland Europe (Steve O'Hear/TechCrunch)
Paris-based Alkemics, which lets brands collaborate and launch products with retailers, raises €21M Series C led by Highland Europe — Alkemics, the Paris-based platform that lets brands collaborate and launch products with retailers, has picked up €21 million in a Series C funding.
Europe's Just Eat Takeaway to buy Grubhub for $7.3 billion
Facebook, Twitter, Google to report monthly on fake news fight, EU says
Watch the Xiaomi Mi Notebook, Mi Notebook Horizon Edition launch event here
Xiaomi is entering the laptop space in India with the launch of the Mi laptop. This is the first laptop that Xiaomi will launch in India. It is speculated that the company will launch the Mi Notebook Horizon Edition in India. Xiaomi, which entered India with the launch of budget smartphones, has gradually expanded its product portfolio to feature TVs, a water purifier, air purifiers, home IoT devices, power banks and many other gadgets. They have even entered the wearable space as well. The newest addition to its product portfolio in India will be the new laptop. You can catch the entire launch presentation in the video below.
Mi Notebook Horizon Edition expected specifications, features and priceThe specifications of the laptop that Xiaomi is launching isn’t known. However, putting together the information on the company's official Twitter handle and the information circulating the internet, we think the device will be a thin and light laptop with an SSD and a 10th gen Intel Core i7 processor. Whether we will get the laptop in different spec configurations or just one configuration is yet to be seen. The laptop is also expected to have a 14-inch FHD display. There is no information on the pricing of the laptop, but if history is anything to go by, Xiaomi will price the laptop competitively, making it accessible to a wider audience.
Looking at the company’s product launch history, from its Mi smartphones, the TVs and even audio devices, the company has maintained competitive pricing and has always made accessibility of its products a high priority. Even its smart TVs are very affordable, bringing a rich feature set with decent performance, especially when you consider the price. We wouldn’t be surprised if the same approach was taken for the Mi Laptop.
https://ift.tt/2UuWXTK
Amazon Bans Police Use of Its Face Recognition for a Year
Twitter Moves to Limit Sharing on Unread Articles
Walmart’s Sam’s Club launches curbside pickup nationwide
Walmart’s online grocery business has been a significant contributor to its growing e-commerce sales, particularly now amid the coronavirus pandemic. Now the retailer is expanding access to curbside pickup at its warehouse club chain, Sam’s Club. Today, Sam’s Club announced the nationwide launch of curbside pickup, bringing the service to all its 597 clubs across the U.S.
The retailer had been piloting curbside pickup at 16 club locations before today’s launch, and saw positive results. With the pandemic sending more shoppers online, Sam’s Club has since expedited the rollout to all locations, where it’s free for Plus-level members and above.
To use the service, Sam’s Club members can either order online or via the Sam’s Club mobile app by looking for products marked as “Pick up in Club.” At checkout, they’ll then be able to select a pickup time. Same-day pickup will be one of the options, the retailer says. Similar to how curbside works at parent company Walmart, Sam’s Club shoppers will park in one of the designated spots when they arrive at the store and a Sam’s Club employee will load the items into the customer’s car.
Store associates, meanwhile, use custom-built technology like the Quick Pick app for employees, which is used to pick and dispense orders.
Online pickup orders can be scheduled from 7 AM to 9 PM, Monday through Saturday, and 10 AM to 5 PM on Sundays, the retailer says.
While the service is free for Plus members, it will also be offered to non-Plus members for a limited time. However, they will have more limited time slots available: 10 AM to 8 PM, Monday to Saturday, and 10 AM to 5 PM on Sundays.
“While free Curbside Pickup is a new Plus member benefit, we recognize all of our members are looking for contact-free shopping options as part of the current environment,” said Lance de la Rosa, Chief Operating Officer, Sam’s Club, in a statement about the launch. “Because of that, we are going to temporarily make the service available for every member and do what we can to help them get the products they need, when and how they want them.”
Of course, the company’s long-term plan is to get these free members to upgrade, while also taking away more business from online grocery rivals, including Amazon, Instacart and Target’s Shipt.
Even ahead of the pandemic, Walmart had been surging ahead of Amazon as consumers’ preferred online grocery provider. It’s also now reportedly looking to rebrand its unlimited online grocery delivery service as Walmart+. Combined with Sam’s Club’s new option for curbside, the retailer will have a number of ways for consumers to shop from a Walmart-owned store.
Codat raises $10 million to aggregate all financial data from small businesses
London-based startup Codat has raised a $10 million funding round from Index Ventures. If you’ve ever tried to apply for a loan for your small business or filled out an application for an insurance product, you know it can be a long and painful process.
Codat is building an API that connects with all the systems that hold all the relevant financial data. That type of information is usually spread across multiple systems, and small businesses often use different systems. On the other side, banks, insurance companies and more can speed up their internal processes and give you an educated answer for your next loan or insurance product.
Codat currently works with 50 financial providers, such as iZettle, Experian and two of the top four banks in the U.K. Every month, those companies process data from 10,000 small businesses that have interacted with those 50 institutions.
So what type of data can you fetch using Codat’s API? It ranges from accounting software, such as Xero, Sage and QuickBooks to payment terminals. Codat connects to those data sources, standardizes data across services and then regularly fetches new data — it can be every hour, every month or whenever you want.
Many financial institutions waste a ton of time getting Excel files from their customers to review balance sheets. As many small businesses face some liquidity issues right now, automating data aggregation can speed up the time it takes to secure money on your bank account after applying for a loan.
With more accurate data and some level of standardization, financial institutions could improve their models more easily as well.
As you can see, there are some similarities between Plaid and Codat. Plaid, the fintech company that is in the process of being acquired by Visa for $5.3 billion, is building an API that lets you fetch financial data from consumer accounts. If you’ve used Venmo, Betterment, Square’s Cash App or Robinhood in the past, those apps use Plaid to connect to your bank account.
Codat has a different focus as it connects with accounting software and other related tools from small businesses. But it is still part of a broader trend — multiple startups are creating APIs to make various applications talk the same language.
With today’s funding round, Codat plans to expand to the U.S. and hire more people — there should be 100 employees by the end of the year.
Sources: amid the Iran war, Asian bankers say rising power prices and energy security are becoming a bigger consideration in data center financing decisions (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg : Sources: amid the Iran war, Asian bankers say rising power prices and energy security are becoming a bigger consideration in ...
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The first project we remember working on together was drawing scenes from the picture books that our mom brought with her when she immigrate...
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