Category: UNCATEGORIZED

I can’t remember the last time I did a hands-on with a device prior to powering it on. The idea of basing posts entirely around glamour shots without really interfacing with the product feels like a relic of an early era of gadget blogging. But every so often a device comes along that warrants the approach.

There will be a far more in-depth review of the Surface Duo. I will write a lot of words on this website about the experience of using the software and living with the device as my go-to handset. For now, however, you and I both are going to have to settle for a handful of photos and a few choice words about the form factor.

But if any product deserves a little bit of pre-review love, it’s the Surface Duo. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many fellow TechCrunch editors this excited about a new device. The earliest foldables are probably the closest comparison. And at first glance, at least, the Duo seems to be more solidly constructed than some of those earliest foldable units. No surprise, really, given that the weak link was the foldable screen itself.

Microsoft’s approach to increased real estate arrives by way of two independent but connected screens. It’s far from the first product to take the approach, but out of the box, it seems to be a far more solid approach. There’s no fragile, glass-less display to be damaged and no way to accidentally get debris trapped under the screen. The downside, however, is the gap between the displays. Again, more on that in the upcoming review.

What really jumped out at me the most upon unboxing is how compact the device is. I’d seen it in videos and demos, but somehow expected the device to be larger. It’s not small by any means (in fact, it’s wider than the Note 20), but depending on how tall you are, you should probably be able to stick it in your pants pocket without too much trouble.

Microsoft has made it clear that — as far as hardware is concerned — the hinge is very much the thing. It does a double duty both in terms of maintaining the connection between the displays (including the dual-batteries and offering a fluid experience) and allowing the product to conform to a variety of different angles. How a majority of users interact with it remains to be seen, given that it’s a new form factor in some key ways, so the device has to be good in any configuration. As such, the 360-degree swiveling has to be smooth, while remaining rigid enough to keep one screen propped up.

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So far, so good. The Duo hardware feels truly premium, as one would hope/expect from a $1,400 device. The new Surface arrives September 10. Expect a much deeper and satisfactory review of the product soon.

Spotify explores virtual concerts, Twitter tests a “quotes” count and Google’s Nest Hub becomes more hotel-friendly. This is your Daily Crunch for August 26, 2020.

The big story: Spotify is testing virtual events

We can’t have real-world concerts at the moment, so the popular music streaming service is exploring virtual alternatives. The feature isn’t live yet, but reverse-engineering scoopster Jane Manchun Wong tweeted out photos of an “Upcoming Virtual Events” section.

Spotify already highlights upcoming concerts from artists you like through various ticketing partners, and the screenshots show Songkick as the ticketing partner. Presumably, Spotify would be able to support virtual events with only minor changes to its bargaining agreement.

And how big can these events be? K-pop megastars BTS raised nearly $20 million for a single show — but it’s probably safe to assume that most events will fall far short of that.

The tech giants

Twitter experiments with adding a ‘Quotes’ count to tweets — This engagement metric would sit alongside the tweet’s existing retweets and likes counts.

Instagram Guides may soon allow creators to recommended places, products and more — The feature, which launched in May, has allowed select organizations and experts to share resources related to managing your mental health.

Google is pushing to get the Nest Hub in more hotel rooms — A new update is tailored for the hotel experience, with key features like wake-up calls, weather and local businesses.

Startups, funding and venture capital

SpaceX will launch Masten’s first lander to the moon in 2022 — Masten’s first lunar mission is set to take place in 2022 if all goes according to plan.

Here are the 94 companies from Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 Demo Day 2 — So many companies!

Course Hero, a profitable edtech unicorn, raises rare cash — A Series B extension of $70 million, to be more specific.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Synthetic biology startups are giving investors an appetite — Impossible Foods is only the most public face of a growing trend in bioengineering.

Funding for mental health-focused startups rises in 2020 — As wellness startups drift generally, VC hotspots emerge.

(Reminder: Extra Crunch is our subscription membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

GM teases two new all-electric Chevy Bolt models — Both vehicles will go into production in summer 2021, according to GM.

Learn how to scale social impact startups at Disrupt with Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins and Jessica O. Matthews — Uttering the words “making the world a better place” isn’t the same as doing it, or doing it well.

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 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here.

Instagram is working to expand its recently launched “Guides” feature which initially debuted with a specific focus on wellness content. The feature, which launched in May, has allowed select organizations and experts to share resources related to managing your mental health — including things like handling anxiety or grief amid the COVID-19 pandemic, for example. A handful of creators first gained access to the feature, and have since posted their wellness tips on their Instagram profiles in a separate tab, called “Guides.” Now, Instagram is developing tools that will allow creators to build out Guides for other types of tips and recommendations, too — like recommended places or even recommended products.

The larger goal with Guides is to give Instagram users a way to post longer-form content that’s not just a photo or video. Currently, Guides can include photos, galleries and videos sourced from either the creator’s own profile, which is more common, or from other creators. In addition, the Guides include commentary or tips alongside the media.

The feature would allow creators to use Instagram as their platform for sharing tips and advice, instead of having that traffic redirected outside of Instagram — like to a blog or other website.

At launch, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the Guides feature was originally designed with the travel use case in mind, but the company pivoted Guides to focus on wellness because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now it appears Instagram will be returning to its original idea of letting creators build Guides for places — and for other things, too.

The changes to Guides were first uncovered by Twitter user and self-described leaker, Alessandro Paluzzi. He tells TechCrunch he found the new features by reverse engineering the Instagram app. But these changes haven’t yet launched to the wider Instagram user base.

The tests show the company experimenting with a new compose screen, as well. Here, users are presented with all the different ways you can publish to Instagram’s social network. This includes the option to create a new Feed Post, post a Story or Story Highlight, post to IGTV, post to Reels or create a new Guide.

If you choose “Guide” from the list, you’re then presented with a menu that asks you to choose a Guide type. This can be a Places Guide, for recommending favorite places; a Products Guide, for recommending favorite products; or a Posts Guide, which is a more general-purpose format for recommending a series of your favorite Instagram posts.

This feature would allow Guides to easily fit into Instagram influencers’ workflows, as they often make recommendations to followers about where to go, what to purchase and more. Creators could even increase their affiliate network revenue or direct more users to their sponsored posts through the use of Guides, if they chose.

Instagram confirmed the new features are part of a series of improvements to Guides it’s working on.

“This is part of an early test as we work to improve guides. We’ll have more to share soon,” a spokesperson said. The company declined to say if or when the changes would roll out more broadly, adding it’s still in the early stages and the product could change based on user feedback. Instagram also declined to speak to its long-term plans for the Guides feature.

The changes come shortly after Pinterest began edging its way into Instagram territory. The social pinboarding site recently began testing its own new feature aimed at aggregating content for longer-form storytelling. With Story Pins, Pinterest creators could build out “guides” of their own for topics like recipes, crafts, DIY projects or more. In addition, more users are turning to Facebook rival TikTok for tips, inspiration and other creator content.

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast (now on Twitter!), where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

Yep, it’s another Equity Shot. We’re back. And then we’re going to be back on Friday. Because we can’t stop talking about the biggest news week in the world of startups and venture capital in some time.

Before we start, shoutout to the NBA for the growing, wildcat strike to protest racist police violence in America. 

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming. This time ’round Natasha and your humble servant were joined by Lucas Matney, a member of the TechCrunch reporting team and a first-timer on Equity. Where’s he been all this time? Covering all sorts of things, including VR startups for the publication. He was also a big part of our coverage of both days of Demo Day, making him a perfect fit for this episode.

Danny was given a break to sit at home, play board games, and iron his favorite sweatshirt. He’s back Friday morning.

In case you’ve missed the words, here’s what we wrote this week on the subject:

• All the Day One Y Combinator startups
• Our favorite Day One Y Combinator startups
• All the Day Two Y Combinator startups
• Our favorite Day Two Y Combinator startups

Those entries should be pretty exhaustive, so dig into them when you can.

And make sure to read Natasha’s great piece on a super-hot startup from the batch, which comes up in the show. Peep that we are back on YouTube and we’ll be right back. Stay cool!

When Brynne McNulty Rojas moved to Bogotá, Columbia four years ago, she encountered a fragmented real estate industry that lacked a central database for consumers to find or compare homes. Rojas was struck by the magnitude of the problem; she was also inspired by the opportunity.

Rojas and business partner Sebastian Noguera homed in on some of the biggest issues in the city’s real estate market, particularly for middle class buyers. They found a market where the average home took 14 months to sell; that figure drops to 10 months for middle class homes. It was a market that lacked price transparency and where sellers used analog tactics like posting a sign in the neighborhood in a futile attempt to attract buyers.

From these problems, Rojas and Noguera founded Habi, a property tech startup with a two-fold approach. The startup founders built a centralized database of residential real estate prices and trends — essentially a multiple listing service — and then used that information to create an automated pricing algorithm to buy and sell homes quickly and efficiently. The company buys, renovates and then sells homes, generating revenue off the margin. It also offers a tool that lets sellers estimate the value of their homes and a database that buyers can use to search for listings. The foundation of its business is its automated pricing technology, which was built using data from its real estate, financial and government partners.

“You can think of it as an MLS plus Opendoor model,” Rojas said in a recent interview. (Opendoor is the U.S.-based property tech startup backed by SoftBank.)

The Bogotá-based startup has now raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Inspired Capital, with participation from 8VC, Clocktower, Homebrew, Vine and Zigg. The round included angel investments from Flatiron Health and Looker. The company has raised $15.5 million to date. 

Since launching in fall 2019, Habi has scaled rapidly — and has even picked up speed during the city’s strict lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Transaction volume has increased threefold since March, Rojas noted.

Rojas said its data-driven approach works, allowing the company to sell a home three times faster than the market average.

The company currently covers all of Bogotá. It plans to use this fresh injection of capital to expand to Medellin this month and eventually to other Latin American markets, according to Noguera, who previously ran the digital transformation at Banco de Bogota and co-founded Marqueo.

The founders also intend to eventually expand Habi’s services to become a “one-stop shop for everything related to the home,” Rojas said. In the long term, this might mean connecting consumers with moving, storage, furnishings and other services.

Ford, Bosch, and Bedrock Technologies today announced an automated valet parking demonstration in downtown Detroit. This system is designed to allow drivers to exit a vehicle and the vehicle would park itself in the parking structure.

Systems in a Ford Escape test vehicle communicate with Bosch sensors to locate an empty parking location and move the vehicle into the spot. This system includes safe gaurds that allows the vehicle to react and respond to objects and pedestrians in the drive path. The vehicle-to-infrastructure communication platform can be deployed via original construction or retrofitted solutions.

Bosch has been building similar systems for several years. The technology company partnered with Daimler in 2017 to build an automated valet system for the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2019 the two companies received approval from German regulators to run the automated driverless parking function without a human safety driver behind the wheel. This made the system the world’s first fully automated driverless SAE Level 4 parking function to be officially approved for everyday use.

The demonstration announced today is located in Assembly Garage, a parking structure in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood near the Ford-owned Michigan Central Station. The highly controlled demonstration will be on display through the end of September and available for viewing through scheduled tours.

According to the partnership, an automated valet system can accommodate up to 20 percent more vehicles, along with eventually offering additional services such as charging, refueling, or through a car wash.

This partnership is located in a 40-mile corridor between downtown Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan that will is dedicated to developing systems for autonomous vehicles. To be built by Cavnue and a list of automotive partners, the company envisions numerous corridors designed for autonomous shuttles and buses, as well as trucks and personal vehicles.

Cavnue is joined by partners Ford, GM, Argo AI, Arrival, BMW, Honda, Toyota, TuSimple and Waymo on standards to develop the physical and digital infrastructure needed to move connected and autonomous cars out of pilot projects and onto America’s highways, freeways, interstates, and city streets.

Today’s automated valet announcement was praised by the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan with Detroit’s Mayor and the state’s Lt. Governor joining representatives from Ford, Bosch, and Bedrock in announcing the development.

After building a similar system with Daimler, Bosch’s partnership with Ford speaks to the lowering cost of entry to the technology. Ford’s demonstration today used a compact SUV with an average price of around $25,000. Daimler’s early systems relied on Mercedes-Benz vehicles costing over $100,000.

Ford CTO Ken Washington says the company is not ready to announce when the valet technology will hit production vehicles. He said today automated valet parking is on the company’s roadmap and the company has heard “loud and clear” that parking is a real pain point.

I really like the Luna Display . The dongle still occupies a spot in my travel-cord bag. But like the bag it resides in, the iPad accessory hasn’t gotten much use in the past year. 2020 has no doubt been a tough time for the company, which was already reeling from Apple’s introduction of Sidecar last year at WWDC. At the time, the technology was considered the latest victim of Apple “Sherlocking.”

Luna’s maker (Astropad) has been working hard to make Luna a valuable product, even in this post-Sidecar world. Late last year, for instance, it introduced the ability to turn older Macs into a secondary display. Now it’s bringing functionality specifically for the work-from-home crowd looking to MacGyver together solutions until they can get back to their studios.

The latest version of the Luna software (v. 4.2) adds a teleprompter mode that flips the second display mirroring for use with a beam splitter. Doing so allows the text to appear right side up when mirrored by the splitter. With the camera in place, the presenter is able to look directly at the camera while reading text from the prompter. It’s almost as if they’re looking directly at you, delivering off-the-cuff thoughts. Such trickery!

If the past few months have taught us anything (aside from, you know, deeply learned lessons about human nature), it’s that it’s really annoying when someone is looking just to the side of the camera. Teleprompter mode is a reasonably accessible way to accomplish this (though you’ll be adding another couple hundred bucks if you don’t already own a beam splitter).

The company enlisted the help of hotshot app video guy Adam Lisagor to demonstrate how the feature fits into his own setup. Come for the remote workflow demonstration and stay for the Tim and Eric references:

As with other Luna features, teleprompter mode has a relatively limited use case, but Astropad is no doubt hoping that enough interesting new features will help it continue to grow a user base beyond the simple Sidecar-esque mode for which it was initially designed. At the very least, there’s going to continue to be a market for those looking to build their own at-home studio, given that working from home is going to continue being the default for many in many parts of the world.

One thing, though — in spite of Astropad’s recommendations, maybe don’t use a teleprompter on your Zoom dates.

SpaceX has secured a contract to act as the launch partner for Masten Space Systems, one of the companies awarded a NASA launch contract under that agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Masten’s first lunar mission is set to take pace 2022 if all goes to plan, and will take the company’s XL-1 lunar lander to the south pole of the Moon with NASA payloads including scientific experimentation instruments on board, as well as cargo from commercial passengers.

NASA’s CLPS program is part of its broader efforts to expand partnerships with commercial space companies in order to ultimately lower its costs by sharing providers with other customers from private industry and commercial ventures. It’s also a key staging component for NASA’s Artemis program, which ultimately aims to put the first American woman and the next American man on the surface of the Moon by 2024.

The science equipment on Masten’s lander will help the agency study the lunar south pole by gathering key data about the area. NASA’s Artemis III mission will aim to land in the same part of the Moon’s surface, and CLPS landers will help it to be informed about the conditions and prepared with resources left in place by some of the uncrewed landers.

So far, there are four planned lunar lander missions scheduled under CLPS, including Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander launch in June 2021, Intuitive Machines’ following shortly after in October 2021, Masten’s now set for December 2022, and Astrobotic’s VIPER launch of its larger Griffin lander in 2023. SpaceX has been contracted for the Intuitive Machines and Masten launches, while ULA’s Vulcan is set to take Astrobotic’s Peregrine vehicle to the Moon.

The Palantir S-1 finally dropped yesterday after TechCrunch spilled a bunch of its guts last Friday. You can read the filing here, if you are so inclined.

Today, however, instead of our usual overview, I have a different goal: We’re going to be a bit more specific.

It’s fun and easy to clown on Palantir’s ridiculous ownership structure, in which a few dudes have decided that, in perpetuity, they must remain co-Lords of the Ring. And, sure, the company is smaller in terms of revenue-scale than many expected (a bit more Hobbiton than Bree, really). And, yes, its net losses are somewhat staggering (post-Helm’s Deep Saruman?), reaching nearly 100% of revenue in 2018.

But things have gotten better in Palantir-land (Mordor?) in recent quarters, which we should note.

So, in light of the generally negative reviews of Palantir’s finances (similar to what is left of Moria?) that I’ve seen in the media and from investors both publicly and privately, here are the bullish bits about the impending direct listing.

The good stuff

In brief, falling net losses in absolute and percent-of-revenue terms paint the picture of a company that is past a high-burn period, allowing profitability to continue to improve; improving gross margins point to a company that is less service-focused and more software-driven over time; the company’s falling operating cash burn is encouraging, and new customer revenue appears sharply higher in 2020 than 2019.

Let’s examine each in order:

• Falling net losses in absolute terms: Palantir lost fractionally less money in 2019 than 2018, but it was a decline all the same. More recently, the first two quarters of 2020 have seen Palantir cut its net loss from $280.5 million in 2019 to $164.7 million. Even better, the company grew during the same period, which means that in percent-of-revenue terms, Palantir did even better.
  
  

Powered amps for electric guitars have gotten some neat tricks powered by modern mobile tech over the years, but the new Positive Grid Spark ($299) might be the one that packs the most intelligence and versatility into a single package. From a companion app, to voice commands, to tunable modelling and home recording – on top of doubling as a standalone Bluetooth speaker – the Spark offers features for beginners and pros alike.

The basics

The Positive Grid Spark looks physically like your average, portable practice amp. It’s just over a foot long and about half-a-foot wide and tall, and it weighs just under 12 lbs. There’s a removable leather carrying strap attached for moving it around, and it includes a 1/4″ guitar input, a 1/8″ auxiliary input, and a 1/8″ headphone jack for connecting your audio gear, as well as a USB port for recording and acting as a USB audio interface for connecting to your computer.

The Spark has a host of integrated controls, including a dial for choosing from a number of preset amp types, as well as individual dials for adjusting gain, bass, mid, treble, master, mod, delay and reverb on the fly. There’s a physical control for output volume, and for music volume, as well as four user-programmable buttons for calling up represents, and a tap/tuner button for accessing the onboard tuner and other features.

Built-in to the amp are 30 different potential amp models, as well as 40 effects to allow you to customize sound, including a noise gate, a compressor, distortion, modulation, delay and reverb. The Spark also features Bluetooth connectivity for streaming audio. Inside, there are two 4-inch speakers for true stereo sound, and it’s rated at 40 watts.

Features and design

The Spark’s design on the outside isn’t very far off from most standard practice amps out there – but it feels high quality, and the grill is done in a nice, retro finish that looks really good even when it’s not in use and just sitting on a side table. The leather is synthetic, making it more durable and more ethical, and the knobs have excellent Color-matched brass-tone detailing that completes the look. The metal flip switch for power on and red LED leave no confusion as to whether you’re ready to jam, and the touch buttons have similar bright backlighting.

Spark’s integrated handle, which you can remove when you’re not using, is comfortable and does its job well. The amp also features rubber feet to keep it elevated off surfaces and provide stability while it’s in operation.

In terms of basic performance and features, the Spark is already an excellent amp. Even if you never download the Positive Grid app (which you should) and instead just plug in your guitar, bass, ukulele or electric-acoustic, you can use the physical control to set up a sound you like and go to town. But when you download the app, you get a whole bunch more functionality that really extends the value of the Spark to elevate it above just about every other amp in its price range (and beyond).

The app has a number of features, including Positive Grid’s ‘Smart Jam,’ which effectively learns your style as you play and can then create autogenerated bass and drum tracks to accompany you. It’s a very cool feature that takes all the work out of trying to find generic backing or accompanying tracks for when you’re just looking to jam and come up with some interesting compositions.

There’s also an auto chords feature for when you’re not looking to come up with your own stuff, but are rather looking to master your favorite existing song. This integrates with Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, meaning you should be covered no matter what music service you subscribe to, and will automatically display the guitar chords for a song on your device as you play along. You can even slow down the track, or loop specific sections, if you’re stuck on one bit or just starting out.

The Spark app also provides access to over 10,000 guitar and bass amp presets, extending the versatility of the amp hardware. Plus, it’s voice controlled, so you can just ask it to provide you with a virtual band, for instance, and it’ll do that on demand.

Bottom line

The Positive Grid Spark is a unique offering in the field of amps, offering a lot of extensible smarts via the companion app – or a great, highly-customizable but more barebones experience if you’d rather leave your phone out of it and just get to playing. At $299, it’s hard to argue with it as a top pick, given how much more you get for your money once you factor in the advanced software features, and its versatility as a pretty great Bluetooth speaker, too.