Author: azeeadmin

The net neutrality rules established in 2015 were a triumph decades in the making, but their undoing was rather a quick bit of work. So it is hoped, by Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, that it will be equally quick to nix the new administration’s rules and restore the old ones — via a very simple piece of legislation known as the “Save the Internet Act.”

Announced by a group of lawmakers Wednesday morning, the act is a very straightforward one. As Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) noted: “This is a two page bill. A two page bill! It has all the clarity in the world.”

Indeed its important portions fit comfortably in a block quote (with some very minor formatting):

The Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order in the matter of restoring internet freedom that was adopted by the Commission on December 14, 2017 (FCC 17–166) shall have no force or effect.

The Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order described in paragraph (1) may not be reissued in substantially the same form.

The following are restored as in effect on January 19, 2017: (1) The Report and Order on Remand, Declaratory Ruling, and Order in the matter of protecting and promoting the open internet that was adopted by the Commission on February 26, 2015 (FCC 15–1924). (2) Part 8 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations.

That Part 8 is the transparency rule added to the FCC’s 2015 rules, technically separate but effectively part and parcel. You can read the rest of the bill here (PDF).

Re-establishing the 2015 rules and zapping the new ones is a quick fix that gets everyone on the right page, moots a great deal of hullabaloo and controversy over the comment process, the technical underpinnings of the Restoring Internet Freedom rulemaking, and so on. The law is hard to mistake: out with the new and in with the old.

What it doesn’t do is address the issue at the heart of the problem: that the laws governing the FCC and defining internet communication for the purposes of regulation are quite out of date. It is the ambiguity in critical portions of the Communications Act (and its major 1996 overhaul) that enable the FCC to pick and choose which industries it regulates.

The FCC’s argument, at the center of the 2017 rule, that broadband isn’t telecommunications is supported by almost no experts whatsoever, yet as an expert agency it can decide such technical matters on its own. If Congress were to establish a law clarifying that, however, it would remove the Commission’s freedom in this matter and constrict it to operating as the law dictates.

That’s not the law being proposed today; such a bill would need to be very carefully researched and written, and these things take time. But the “Save the Internet Act” is a good stopgap, since it puts the necessary rules back in place and prevents a similarly flawed replacement from being substituted. That’s enough for now.

It has a very good chance of passing through Congress as-is, but of course faces a hostile President whose own administration put the changes being reversed in place. It seems unlikely to be approved at the Executive level, but it’s worth a try.

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. The Silicon Valley exodus continues

Many of the investors that touted the exclusivity of “The Valley” have moved north to San Francisco, where they have better access to top entrepreneurs. Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley institution and to many the lifeblood of the startups and venture capital ecosystem, is the latest to pack up shop.

YC is currently searching for a space in SF to operate its accelerator program, sources close to YC confirm to TechCrunch, because the majority of YC’s employees and its portfolio founders reside in the city.

2. Grab confirms $1.46B investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund

The Southeast Asian ridesharing company said the new money will be used to further its super app strategy, which is aimed at making its service a daily app for consumers, but it is also likely to be used to battle rival Go-Jek.

3. Fitbit announces a $160 stripped-down version of the Versa smartwatch

Last year’s Versa was at the center of Fitbit’s reversing fortunes. After two years in the wilderness, the smartwatch helped turn the tide for the flailing company.

Image: OstapenkoOlena/iStock

4. Food delivered to the doorstep is not so cheap in China anymore

The trigger? China’s food heavyweights have gone about taking a bigger cut of each order — over 20 percent in some cases — as their priorities shifted following a major upheaval.

5. FDA approves esketamine nasal spray, the first new major depression drug in more than 30 years

Made by Johnson & Johnson under the brand name Spravato, the drug is meant to be taken as a nasal spray in conjunction with an oral antidepressant and targets patients who have not responded to other treatments.

6. Waymo to start selling standalone LiDAR sensors

Waymo will initially target robotics, security and agricultural technology. The sales will help the company scale its autonomous technology faster, making each sensor more affordable through economies of scale.

7. Google introduces educational app Bolo to improve children’s literacy in India

The app, which is aimed at elementary school-aged students, leverages technology like Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech to help kids learn to read in both Hindi and English.

Farming incubator Square Roots is announcing a new partnership today with food distribution giant Gordon Food Service.

Square Roots has built urban farming facilities in refurbished, climate-controlled shipping containers, which it uses to grow food and train farmers in a yearlong program.

Until now, it’s operated out of a single location in Brooklyn, which meant you could only purchase Square Roots from select locations in New York City, and that it was only working with 10 farmers in each cohort. CEO Tobias Peggs (who founded Square Roots with Kimbal Musk) said this partnership changes all that.

The idea is to open Square Roots locations in or near Gordon Food Service’s distribution centers and retail stores across North America, and then to sell the resulting produce through the food distributor’s channels.

The companies aren’t revealing how many locations they’re planning to launch, or when they’ll open, but Peggs described it as “a long-term partnership,” adding, “There is a lot of potential with this partnership. They’re coast-to-coast in Canada, with big swaths in the United States.”

Peggs suggested that by working together, Square Roots and Gordon are answering a growing demand for locally grown food “at scale, across big swaths of the country.”

Gordon Food Services CEO Rich Woloski made a similar point in the announcement, saying, “Customers want an assortment of fresh, locally grown food all year round. We are on a path to do that at scale with Square Roots and are excited to be the first in the industry to offer this unique solution to our customers.”

Why work with Square Roots? Peggs said the company’s approach requires less water and space than outdoor farms, while also requireing less investment than other indoor farming technologies, thanks to its “modular approach”.

“Certainly, it’s less of a dollar number to add a farm in a shipping container than it is to build a big plant factory,” he said. “What we’re able to do is very cost effectively, just-in-time deploy that capital expense.”

While this deal will allow Square Roots to expand, Peggs said the company will continue to operate its own facilities and handle its own sales in Brooklyn, and the company could still take a similar appraoch “in other markets where it just makes sense to go direct.”

Amazon today is launching a new feature called “Song ID” that aims to help users discover music they like, using Alexa. When enabled, Alexa will announce the title and the artist name before playing each song while you’re listening to a radio station, playlist or new release on Amazon Music over your smart speaker.

The optional feature for Echo devices can be enabled or disable by voice at any time by asking Alexa to “turn on Song ID” or “turn off Song ID.”

When listening to music through mobile or desktop apps, it’s easy to give a quick glance at your streaming app to note an artist’s name or song’s title. But when you’re streaming music over a smart speaker, your device may be put away and not as easily accessible. And unlike on terrestrial radio, there’s no DJ that announces what’s coming up next as the music streams over an Amazon Echo.

The new feature aims to make Alexa that DJ, albeit one with less personality in this case – the assistant today only announces the title and name, but doesn’t interject any other information or commentary about the music. (That could be an interesting expansion of Song ID in the future, however, if Amazon chose to go that route. It could serve as an Alexa-based counterpart to Spotify’s Genius-powered “Behind the Lyrics” feature, which gives you the inside scoop on songs.)

Amazon says it was inspired to build the feature based on users’ requests to Alexa about music.

Every day, customers were asking the assistant “hundreds of thousands” of questions about the music that was playing, like “Alexa, what song is this?,” “Alexa, who sings this song?,” and more.

The company also notes that Song ID could be useful when you’re checking out music from up-and-comers whose names and song titles you may not know – like Amazon Music’s own 2019 Artists to Watch playlist or its Weekly One program featuring developing artists. 

The new feature is live today across Amazon Music in the U.S. and works on Echo devices, says Amazon.

TechCrunch is elevating networking to a whole new level at TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics + AI, which takes place at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall on April 18. This day-long event features discussions, demos and workshops with some of the leading minds in these fields. With more than 1,000 attendees in the house, a tool that simplifies networking would really come in handy. Never fear, we’ve got your back — with CrunchMatch.

CrunchMatch (powered by Brella), is TechCrunch’s free business match-making service that helps you find and connect with people based on specific mutual criteria, goals and interests. Let’s face it, effective networking is more than just connecting with people — it’s connecting with the right people.

CrunchMatch is available to all attendees at TC Sessions: Robotics + AI. Whether you want to network with founders, investors, technologists, researchers or engineering students, the platform’s combination of curation and automation will help you make the most of your limited time.

Here’s what you need to know. When CrunchMatch goes live, a sign-up link will be sent via email to all ticket holders. Fill out your profile with the pertinent details — your role (technologist, founder, investor, etc.) and who you want to connect with at the event. CrunchMatch will make meet-up suggestions, which you can approve or decline.

Now that you’re all set on the networking front, we must ask the obvious question. Have you bought your ticket yet? If not, get a move on and save $100 before the price increases. Early-bird tickets go for $249, and student tickets cost a very affordable $45.

Are you a founder of an early-stage startup? Don’t miss an opportunity to showcase your company in front of this very targeted, influential crowd. Book a startup demo table package for $1,500. That price includes three tickets — bring your startup posse!

TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics + AI takes place on April 18 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. Don’t miss your chance to dive deep with your community — and connect efficiently with the people who share your goals and interests. We’ll see you there!

Homeland Security could do more to protect election infrastructure ahead, according to a new report by the department’s watchdog.

The report from the inspector general, out Wednesday, said progress had been made but Homeland Security, the department charged with protecting elections and the back-end voting machine infrastructure, still “does not have dedicated staff” focused on election infrastructure. The department’s new agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which under its creation last year was charged with reducing the nation’s cybersecurity risks, was also “not adequately staffed” to support to state and local election officials to help secure election infrastructure.

Making matter worse, the 102 advisors tasked with protecting more than a dozen critical infrastructure sectors — including elections — have shifting priorities, and are often told to “focus on the next widespread or known event,” such as preventing school shootings and preparing for major events.

From the report:

“CISA officials acknowledged that staffing shortages have hindered DHS’ efforts to secure the Nation’s election infrastructure. At the same time, they advised that the Department is “taking actions to alleviate” the concerns by hiring more cybersecurity advisors.”

Aside from understaffing, security clearances are slow to process for local and state officials, making it difficult to share classified information about threats faced with election staff on the ground. Meanwhile, many of those officials reported a “mistrust of federal government assistance,” which also hampered Homeland Security’s efforts to provide security assessments, according to the watchdog.

“Addressing these issues is essential for continued improvement in the services, outreach, and quality of information DHS shares with election stakeholders,” said the report.

It comes just weeks after the Justice Department and Homeland Security said there was “no evidence to date” that any foreign government had a “material impact” on voting machines or infrastructure during the 2018 midterm elections. Security experts have for years complained that the older and outdated electronic voting machines can be easily hacked to alter the results. Many of these machines don’t print a paper confirmation, making it difficult or impossible to know if votes were accurately counted.

With less than two years before the 2020 presidential election, the inspector general said the department has more work to do.

The report said that despite federal requirements, Homeland Security “has not completed the plans and strategies critical to identifying emerging threats and mitigation activities, or established metrics to measure progress in securing the election infrastructure.” The watchdog said the department had to contend with senior leadership turnover — including two department secretaries in a single year — has left the department without sufficient guidance or planning.

“Until such issues are addressed and resolved, Homeland Security cannot ensure effective guidance and a well-coordinated approach to securing the Nation’s election infrastructure,” the report said

The report wasn’t all bad news. The watchdog said the government’s assistance to state and local governments has improved, with a greater number of cybersecurity reviews and risk assessments in more states. The watchdog also praised the government for improving the quality of information to election officials, despite hold-ups to security clearance.

Homeland Security said it agreed with the watchdog’s five recommendations.

So, like, maybe you had a bad 2018. But ask yourself: was it MoviePass bad? The company was flying high over the summer with a popular movie ticket subscription service that appeared too good to be true. It was, of course, as it swiftly came down to earth on a pair of melted wax wings.

MoviePass has tried all manner of new directions, as it’s hemorrhaged money, including frequently changing plans, fundraising and borrowing money. Producing and purchasing distribution rights to films has long been a key to the company’s planned turn around as well, and now it’s highlighting a “refocus” that more heavily involve that side of the business.

The “new strategic direction” involves three pillars: the MoviePass service, the MoviePass production wing and Moviefone, which its parent company purchase from Verizon Media (then Oath, because the corporate world is a maddening place).

“Our new business model no longer depends on achieving revenues from studios or exhibitors to succeed,” the company writes in a news release, “but instead will prioritize the economic relationship among our MoviePass subscription service, MoviePass Films production business and Moviefone multimedia media information and advertising service.”

Basically the company thinks it can do a better job sharing and leveraging resources. Of course, if the plan is to rely largely on MoviePass produced content, it’s going to have a tough road. While it notes that it’s “committed to offering a wide inventory of movies and enhanced box office results for our industry partners,” it sounds as though the plan is to bolster the ticket offerings with its own content a la Netflix.

But when your slate of originals includes films like Gotti, which made $4.3 million against a $10 million budget, it’s going to take more than that to right the ship. The Wall Street Journal notes that the company had a robust subscriber count of 3.2 million over the summer, but conspicuously left the number out during its last earnings report.

For his part, however, CEO Mitch Lowe sounds optimistic.

“MoviePass subscription, MoviePass Films and Moviefone now have a winning combination that we believe will drive consumers to our films, and re-energize casual moviegoers to go more often and see great films in local theaters—films that consumers often wait to see much later through streaming services,” the executive said in a statement.

Waymo, the Google self-driving project that spun out to become a business under Alphabet, will start selling its custom LiDAR sensors — the technology that was at the heart of a trade secrets lawsuit last year against Uber .

The company announced Wednesday in a blog post that it will sell is light detection and ranging sensors, or LiDAR, to companies outside of self-driving cars. Waymo will initially target robotics, security, and agricultural technology. The sales will help the company scale its autonomous technology faster, making each sensor more affordable through economies of scale, Simon Verghese, head of Waymo’s Lidar team wrote in a Medium post.

LiDAR measures distance using laser light to generate highly accurate 3D map of the world around the car. It’s considered by most in the self-driving car industry a key piece of technology required to deploy robotaxis and other autonomous vehicles safely. (Although not everyone agrees.)

Waymo has dedicated significant resources — time, people and money —  towards the development of LiDAR in an effort to improve their capability and lower the cost. It’s a fundamental piece of the business and in 2017 prompted the company to file a lawsuit against Uber alleging theft of trade secrets by a former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski—and the alleged use of those secrets by Uber.  The trial began in 2018; Uber and Waymo eventually reached a settlement.

Waymo has developed three LiDAR sensors. The company has been using a medium-range LiDAR, which is located on top of the car, since the early days of its project. Engineers there developed a short range and a long range LiDAR.

For now, Waymo is only going to sell its Laser Bear Honeycomb product, a short range sensor that has a 95 degree vertical field of view and up to 360 degree horizontal FOV, which allows one Honeycomb sensor to “do the job of three other 3D sensors stacked on top of one another,” Waymo says.

The Honeycomb has a minimum range of zero, which means the sensor can see objects immediately in front of it.  The short-range LiDAR would be most useful for low speed applications when onear bject detection and avoidance is necessary.

Waymo does have customers already; the company isn’t naming them just yet. And it’s not disclosing the unit price of these LiDAR sensors. However, looking back at comments from Waymo CEO John Krafcik does help hone in on the price.

In January 2017, Krafcik said Waymo engineers were able to bring the cost of LiDAR down 90 percent from the industry norm of $75,000 for a single top-of-the-range LiDAR. In other words, Krafcik was telling the world that Waymo’s top-of-range LiDAR cost about $7,500.

“This is critical as we look to commercialize self-driving technology,” Krafcik said at time, during a keynote at the Detroit Auto Show.

Insiders say those costs have fallen further thanks to continuous advances by the team. And considering that this short-range LiDAR is cheaper than the top-of-range product, the price is likely under $5,000 a unit.

Lowering the cost and size of LiDAR sensors has been a pursuit taken up by industry mainstay Velodyne, which the Google self-driving project, now Waymo used until 2012, as well as dozens of others including Luminar, Israeli startups Innoviz and Oryx Vision, and Ouster. A recent count of LiDAR startups hovered around 70, according to sources in the industry.

Google is expanding its suite of apps designed for the Indian market with today’s launch of a new language-learning app aimed at children, called Bolo. The app, which is aimed at elementary school-aged students, leverages technology like Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech to help kids learn to read in both Hindi and English.

To do so, Bolo offers a catalog of 50 stories in Hindi and 40 in English, sourced from Storyweaver.org.in. The company says it plans to partner with other organizations in the future to expand the story selection further.

Included in the app is a reading buddy, “Diya,” who encourages and corrects the child when they read aloud. As kids read, Diya can listen and respond with feedback. (Google notes all personal information remains on device to protect kids’ privacy.) Diya can also read the text to the child and explain the meaning of English words. As children progress in the app, they’ll be presented with word games in the app which win them in-app rewards and badges to motivate them.

The app works offline – a necessity in large parts of India – where internet access is not always available. Bolo can be used by multiple children, as well, and will adjust itself to their own reading levels.

Google says it had been trialing Bolo across 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh, India with the help of nonprofit ASER Centre. During testing, it found that 64 percent of children who used the app showed an improvement in reading proficiency in three months’ time.

To run the pilot, 920 were given the app and 600 were in a control group without the app, Google says.

In addition to improving their proficiency, more students in group with the app (39%) reached the highest level of ASER’s reading assessment than those without it (28%), and parents also reported improvements in their children’s reading abilities.

Illiteracy remains a problem in India. The country has one of the largest illiterate populations in the world, where only 74 percent are able to read, according to a study by ASER Centre a few years back. It found then that more than half of students in fifth grade in rural state schools could not read second grade textbooks in 2014. By 2018, that figure hadn’t changed much – still, only about half can read at a second grade level, ASER now reports.

While Google today highlights its philanthropic efforts in education, it’s worth noting that Google’s interest in helping improve India’s literacy metrics benefits its bottom line, too. As the country continues to come online to become one of the largest internet markets in the world, literate users capable of using Google’s products like Search, Ads, Gmail, and others – are of increased importance to Google’s business.

Already, Google has shipped a number of applications designed specifically for Indian internet users, like data-friendly versions of YouTube, Search, and other popular services, payments app Tez (now rebranded Google Pay), a food delivery service, a neighborhood and communities networking app, blogging app, and more.

Today, Bolo is launching across India as an open beta, while Google will continue to work with its nonprofit partners – including Pratham Education Foundation,  Room to Read, Saajha and Kaivalya Education Foundation – a Piramal Initiative – to bring the app to more children.

Bolo is available now on the Google Play Store in India, and works on Android smartphones running Android 4.4 (Kit Kat) and higher. The app is currently optimized for native Hindi speakers.