Category: UNCATEGORIZED

Apple has shared a few more details about its much-discussed privacy changes in iOS 14. The company first announced at WWDC in June that app developers would have to ask users for permission in order to track and share their IDFA identifier for cross-property ad targeting purposes. While iOS 14 launched in the fall, Apple delayed the tracking restrictions until 2021, saying it wanted to give developers more time to make the necessary changes.

Now we’ve got a slightly-more-specific timeline. The plan is to launch these changes in early spring, with a version of the feature coming in the next iOS 14 beta release.

This is how Apple describes the new system: “Under Settings, users will be able to see which apps have requested permission to track, and make changes as they see fit. This requirement will roll out broadly in early spring with an upcoming release of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14, and has already garnered support from privacy advocates around the world.”

And here are the basics of what you need to know:

• The App Tracking Transparency feature moves from the old method where you had to opt-out of sharing your Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) to an opt-in model. This means that every app will have to ask you up front whether it is ok for them to share your IDFA with third parties including networks or data brokers.
• The feature’s most prominent evidence is a notification on launch of a new app that will explain what the tracker will be used for and ask you to opt-in to it.
• You can now toggle IDFA sharing on a by-app basis at any time, where previously it was a single toggle. If you turn off the “Allow apps to request to track” setting altogether no apps can even ask you to use tracking.
• Apple will enforce this for all third-party data sources including data sharing agreements, but of course platforms can still use first party data for advertising as per their terms of service.
• Apple expects developers to understand whether APIs or SDKs that they use in their apps are serving user data up to brokers or other networks and to enable the notification if so.
• Apple will abide by the rules for its own apps as well and will present the dialog and follow the ‘allow apps to request’ toggle if its apps use tracking (most do not at this point).
• One important note here is that the Personalized Ads toggle is a separate setting that specifically allows or does not allow Apple itself to use its own first party data to serve you ads. So that is an additional layer of opt-out that affects Apple data only.

Apple is also increasing the capabilities of its Ad attribution API, allowing for better click measurement, measurement of video conversions and also — and this is a big one for some cases, app-to-web conversions.

This news comes on Data Privacy Day, with CEO Tim Cook speaking on the issue this morning at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference in Brussels. The company is also sharing a new report showing that the average app has six third-party trackers.

While this seems like a welcome change from a privacy perspective, it’s drawn some criticism from the ad industry, with Facebook launching a PR campaign emphasizing the impact on small businesses, while also pointing to the change as “one of the more significant advertising headwinds” that it could face this year. Apple’s stance is that this provides a user-centric data privacy approach, rather than an advertiser-centric one.

 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s 2020 Q4 earnings call that all engineering work is now complete on the Tesla Semi, the freight-hauling semi truck that the company is building with an all-electric powertrain. The company expects to begin deliveries of Tesla Semi this year, the company said in its Q4 earnings release, and Musk said the only thing limiting their ability to produce them now is the availability of battery cells.

“The main reason we have not accelerated new products – like for example Tesla Semi – is that we simply don’t have enough cells for it,” Musk said. “If we were to make the Semi right now, and we could easily go into production with the Semi right now, but we would not have enough cells for it.”

Musk added that the company does expect to have sufficient cell volume to meet its needs once it goes into production on its 4680 battery pack, which is a new custom cell design it created with a so-called ‘tables’ design that allows for greater energy density and therefore range.

“A Semi would use typically five times the number of cells that a car would use, but it would not sell for five times what a car would sell for, so it kind of would not make sense for us to do the Semi right now,” Musk said. “But it will absolutely make sense for us to do it as soon as we can address the cell production constraint.”

That constraint points to the same conclusion for the possibility of Tesla developing a van, Musk added, and the lifting of the constraint will likewise make it possible for Tesla to pursue the development of that category of vehicle, he said.

Tesla has big plans for “exponentially” ramping cell production, with a goal of having production capacity infrastructure in place for a Toal of 200 gigawatt hours per year by 2022, and a target of being able to actually produce around 40% of that by that year (with future process improvements generating additional gigawatt hours of cell capacity  in gradual improvements thereafter).

The man behind a once-influential pro-Trump account is facing charges of election interference for allegedly disseminating voting disinformation on Twitter in 2016.

Federal prosecutors allege that Douglass Mackey, who used the name “Ricky Vaughn” on Twitter, encouraged people to cast their ballot via text or on social media, effectively tricking others into throwing away those votes.

According to the Justice Department, 4,900 unique phone numbers texted a phone number Mackey promoted in order to “vote by text.” BuzzFeed reported the vote-by-text scam at the time, noting that many of the images were photoshopped to look like official graphics from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Some of those images appeared to specifically target Black and Spanish-speaking Clinton supporters, a motive that tracks with the account’s track record of white supremacist and anti-Semitic content. The account was suspended in November 2016.

At the time, the mysterious account quickly gained traction in the political disinformation ecosystem. HuffPost revealed that the account was run by Mackey, the son of a lobbyist, two years later.

“… His talent for blending far-right propaganda with conservative messages on Twitter made him a key disseminator of extremist views to Republican voters and a central figure in the alt-right’ white supremacist movement that attached itself to Trump’s coattails,” HuffPost’s Luke O’Brien reported.

Mackey, a West Palm Beach resident, was taken into custody Wednesday in Florida.

“There is no place in public discourse for lies and misinformation to defraud citizens of their right to vote,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Seth D. DuCharme said.

“With Mackey’s arrest, we serve notice that those who would subvert the democratic process in this manner cannot rely on the cloak of Internet anonymity to evade responsibility for their crimes.”

Tesla is open to licensing its software, including its Autopilot highly-automated driving technology, and the neural network training it has built to improve its autonomous driving technology. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed those considerations on the company’s Q4 earnings call on Wednesday, adding that the company has in fact already “had some preliminary discussions about licensing Autopilot to other OEMs.”

The company began rolling out its beta version of the so-called ‘full self-driving’ or FSD version of Autopilot late last year. The standard Autopilot features available in general release provide advanced driver assistance (ADAS) which provide essentially advanced cruise control capabilities designed primarily for use in highway commutes. Musk said on the call that he expects the company will seek to prove out its FSD capabilities before entering into any licensing agreements, if it does end up pursuing that path.

Musk noted that Tesla’s “philosophy is definitely not to create walled gardens” overall, and pointed out that the company is planning to allow other automakers to use its Supercharger networks, as well as its autonomy software. He characterized Tesla as “more than happy to license” those autonomous technologies to “other car companies,” in fact.

One key technical hurdle required to get to a point where Tesla’s technology is able to demonstrate true reliability far surpassing that of a standard human driver is transition the neural networks operating in the cars and providing them with the analysis that powers their perception engines is to transition those to video. That’s a full-stack transition across the system away from basing it around neural nets trained on single cameras and single frames.

To this end, the company has developed video labelling software that has had “a huge effect on the efficiency of labeling,” with the ultimate aim being enabling automatic labeling. Musk (who isn’t known for modesty around his company’s achievements, it should be said) noted that Tesla believes “it may be the best neural net training computer in the world by possibly an order of magnitude,” adding that it’s also “something we can offer potentially as a service.”

Training huge quantities of video data will help Tesla push the reliability of its software from 100% that of a human driver, to 200% and eventually to “2,000% better than the average human,” Musk said, while again suggesting that it won’t be a technological achievement the company is interested into keeping to themselves.

After a wild day for public markets driven by Reddit traders commandeering stocks and combatting hedge fund short sellers, the community at r/wallstreetbets no longer has a home on Discord and the subreddit has been locked down as an invite-only subreddit.

Discord announced this afternoon that they had banned the WallStreetBets Discord server following “hate speech” violations after “repeated warnings.”

On Reddit’s end it’s now quite so clear what has happened, it does not appear as though Reddit took direct action against the site, but instead that moderators were overwhelmed by the influx of new users and have taken the subreddit down themselves. The site notes that only moderators and “approved users” are currently allowed in the community. We’ve reached out to Reddit for further clarification.

In a statement given to TechCrunch earlier today before the WallStreetBets subreddit went private, a company spokesperson says, “Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit posting illegal content or soliciting or facilitating illegal transactions. We will review and cooperate with valid law enforcement investigations or actions as needed.”

The full statement from a Discord spokesperson to TechCrunch:

The WallStreetBets server has been on our Trust & Safety team’s radar for some time due to occasional content that violates our Community Guidelines, including hate speech, glorifying violence, and spreading misinformation. Over the past few months, we have issued multiple warnings to the server admin.

Today, we decided to remove the server and its owner from Discord for continuing to allow hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings.

To be clear, we did not ban this server due to financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks. Discord welcomes a broad variety of personal finance discussions, from investment clubs and day traders to college students and professional financial advisors. We are monitoring this situation and in the event there are allegations of illegal activities, we will cooperate with authorities as appropriate.

Updating

After a wild day for public markets driven by Reddit traders commandeering stocks and combatting hedge fund short sellers, the community at r/wallstreetbets no longer has a home on Discord and the subreddit has been locked down as an invite-only subreddit.

Discord announced this afternoon that they had banned the WallStreetBets Discord server following “hate speech” violations after “repeated warnings.”

On Reddit’s end it’s now quite so clear what has happened, it does not appear as though Reddit took direct action against the site, but instead that moderators were overwhelmed by the influx of new users and have taken the subreddit down themselves. The site notes that only moderators and “approved users” are currently allowed in the community. We’ve reached out to Reddit for further clarification.

In a statement given to TechCrunch earlier today before the WallStreetBets subreddit went private, a company spokesperson says, “Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit posting illegal content or soliciting or facilitating illegal transactions. We will review and cooperate with valid law enforcement investigations or actions as needed.”

The full statement from a Discord spokesperson to TechCrunch:

The WallStreetBets server has been on our Trust & Safety team’s radar for some time due to occasional content that violates our Community Guidelines, including hate speech, glorifying violence, and spreading misinformation. Over the past few months, we have issued multiple warnings to the server admin.

Today, we decided to remove the server and its owner from Discord for continuing to allow hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings.

To be clear, we did not ban this server due to financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks. Discord welcomes a broad variety of personal finance discussions, from investment clubs and day traders to college students and professional financial advisors. We are monitoring this situation and in the event there are allegations of illegal activities, we will cooperate with authorities as appropriate.

Updating

Tesla just released its latest earnings report, and the results indicate that Elon Musk’s bets on energy storage and solar are beginning to pay off.

The storage business was the star of the company’s power plays in the fourth quarter, with quarterly year-on-year growth approaching 200%. As the company said in its presentation to shareholders, “[energy] deployments grew substantially from 2019 to 2020. For the first time, our total battery deployments surpassed 3 GWh in a single year, which is an 83% increase compared to the prior year.

Solar deployments also had their day in the sun. For the year, solar energy installations increased to 205 MW, an 18% increase over the prior year. “This growth is the result of meaningful improvements to our solar retrofit strategy, including product simplification, cost reduction and industry-leading pricing.

Revenue from the energy generation and storage business came in at $752 million for the fourth quarter, up from $436 million in the year-ago period, and up $579 million from the third quarter.

This is likely only the beginning of the surge that’s coming for Tesla’s power business. The company has long stated that it wants to be one of the world’s largest power or utility companies, and global capital is marshaling resources to encourage the shift to renewables.

Tesla could be a huge beneficiary from the Biden administration’s renewable plans through their goals to dramatically boost solar development and buildings. The big infrastructure spend will require big batteries to store renewable power. It will also require massive solar installations.

And even as the federal government makes money moves to renewables, private capital is coming in to boost solar installations and energy storage dramatically.

Over the last week alone, investors have pumped nearly $2 billion into companies that lend money to homeowners for solar installations and energy efficiency upgrades. One company, founded by a former SolarCity executive, announced that it had raised $800 million in capital just today.

At least some of that money will have cash registers ringing for Tesla’s energy storage and solar installation business.

 

Tesla just released its latest earnings report, and the results indicate that Elon Musk’s bets on energy storage and solar are beginning to pay off.

The storage business was the star of the company’s power plays in the fourth quarter, with quarterly year-on-year growth approaching 200%. As the company said in its presentation to shareholders, “[energy] deployments grew substantially from 2019 to 2020. For the first time, our total battery deployments surpassed 3 GWh in a single year, which is an 83% increase compared to the prior year.

Solar deployments also had their day in the sun. For the year, solar energy installations increased to 205 MW, an 18% increase over the prior year. “This growth is the result of meaningful improvements to our solar retrofit strategy, including product simplification, cost reduction and industry-leading pricing.

Revenue from the energy generation and storage business came in at $752 million for the fourth quarter, up from $436 million in the year-ago period, and up $579 million from the third quarter.

This is likely only the beginning of the surge that’s coming for Tesla’s power business. The company has long stated that it wants to be one of the world’s largest power or utility companies, and global capital is marshaling resources to encourage the shift to renewables.

Tesla could be a huge beneficiary from the Biden administration’s renewable plans through their goals to dramatically boost solar development and buildings. The big infrastructure spend will require big batteries to store renewable power. It will also require massive solar installations.

And even as the federal government makes money moves to renewables, private capital is coming in to boost solar installations and energy storage dramatically.

Over the last week alone, investors have pumped nearly $2 billion into companies that lend money to homeowners for solar installations and energy efficiency upgrades. One company, founded by a former SolarCity executive, announced that it had raised $800 million in capital just today.

At least some of that money will have cash registers ringing for Tesla’s energy storage and solar installation business.

 

Reddit users have some fun with the stock market, Facebook predicts advertising challenges and ByteDance is cutting jobs in India. This is your Daily Crunch for January 27, 2021.

The big story: GameStop becomes a meme stock

GameStop’s stock continued to climb today, along with Blockbuster and AMC — all stocks shorted by institutional investors. These gains were apparently driven by users in the r/WallStreetBets subreddit.

We’ve rounded up the fairly non-committal statements from various trading apps like Robinhood about how they’re responding to this volatility.

And Lucas Matney asks how this might affect cryptocurrencies: “For investors looking to have a good time or shoot the moon, meme stocks are a more fun place to be than crypto is.”

The tech giants

Facebook predicts ‘significant’ obstacles to ad targeting and revenue in 2021 — While Facebook’s fourth quarter earnings report included solid user and revenue numbers, the company sounded a note of caution for 2021.

SAP launches ‘RISE with SAP,’ a concierge service for digital transformation — RISE is a subscription service that combines a set of services and product offerings.

ByteDance is cutting jobs in India amid prolonged TikTok ban — The company employs more than 2,000 people in India.

Startups, funding and venture capital

SoftBank teams with home goods maker Iris Ohyama for new robotics venture — The newly formed Iris Robotics has set an extremely aggressive goal of $965 million in sales by 2025.

Literati raises $40M for its book club platform — CEO Jessica Ewing told me that she’s trying to build the first “new, innovative bookseller” since Amazon launched 25 years ago.

Renewable investment wave continues as solar lending company Loanpal raises $800M — The $800 million commitment to Loanpal arrives alongside a flurry of climate commitments from some of the world’s largest investors.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

How two startups scaled to $50M ARR and beyond — The Exchange examines OwnBackup and Assembly.

Dear Sophie: How can I sponsor my mom and stepdad for green cards? — The latest “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

Check out the amazing speakers joining us on Extra Crunch Live in February — We’ll take a look at funding deals through the eyes of the founders and investors who made them happen.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Battling algorithmic bias at TC Sessions: Justice — At TC Sessions: Justice on March 3, we’re going to dive head-first into data discrimination, algorithmic bias and how to ensure a more just future.

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.

Reddit users have some fun with the stock market, Facebook predicts advertising challenges and ByteDance is cutting jobs in India. This is your Daily Crunch for January 27, 2021.

The big story: GameStop becomes a meme stock

GameStop’s stock continued to climb today, along with Blockbuster and AMC — all stocks shorted by institutional investors. These gains were apparently driven by users in the r/WallStreetBets subreddit.

We’ve rounded up the fairly non-committal statements from various trading apps like Robinhood about how they’re responding to this volatility.

And Lucas Matney asks how this might affect cryptocurrencies: “For investors looking to have a good time or shoot the moon, meme stocks are a more fun place to be than crypto is.”

The tech giants

Facebook predicts ‘significant’ obstacles to ad targeting and revenue in 2021 — While Facebook’s fourth quarter earnings report included solid user and revenue numbers, the company sounded a note of caution for 2021.

SAP launches ‘RISE with SAP,’ a concierge service for digital transformation — RISE is a subscription service that combines a set of services and product offerings.

ByteDance is cutting jobs in India amid prolonged TikTok ban — The company employs more than 2,000 people in India.

Startups, funding and venture capital

SoftBank teams with home goods maker Iris Ohyama for new robotics venture — The newly formed Iris Robotics has set an extremely aggressive goal of $965 million in sales by 2025.

Literati raises $40M for its book club platform — CEO Jessica Ewing told me that she’s trying to build the first “new, innovative bookseller” since Amazon launched 25 years ago.

Renewable investment wave continues as solar lending company Loanpal raises $800M — The $800 million commitment to Loanpal arrives alongside a flurry of climate commitments from some of the world’s largest investors.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

How two startups scaled to $50M ARR and beyond — The Exchange examines OwnBackup and Assembly.

Dear Sophie: How can I sponsor my mom and stepdad for green cards? — The latest “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

Check out the amazing speakers joining us on Extra Crunch Live in February — We’ll take a look at funding deals through the eyes of the founders and investors who made them happen.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Battling algorithmic bias at TC Sessions: Justice — At TC Sessions: Justice on March 3, we’re going to dive head-first into data discrimination, algorithmic bias and how to ensure a more just future.

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.