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Original Content podcast: We can’t resist the thoughtful glamour of ‘The Crown’

14 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Anthony Ha

We weren’t expecting to like “The Crown.”

Yes, there are talented actors and fancy costumes on-screen, and yes, there’s an acclaimed writer at the helm who specializes in dramatizing real history. But did we really need to watch another 20 hours of serious, scripted drama about England’s royal family?

Well, we were convinced to give the show a shot after it took home multiple awards at this year’s Emmys, and we were absolutely won over. It turns out that some of the questions that made us uncertain about the concept (such as: What’s the point of a monarchy in modern society?) are exactly what the show is trying to explore.

And it would be hard to overpraise those actors — not just Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, but also Matt Smith as her husband Prince Philip, Vanessa Kirby as Pricness Margaret, John Lithgow as Winston Churchill and Jared Harris as Elizabeth’s father, King George VI.

On the latest episode of the Original Content podcast, we’re joined by Catherine Shu to discuss the first two seasons of “The Crown,” and what we’re hoping to see in season three (with Foy and Smith replaced by older actors to play Elizabeth and …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Make your own phone with MakerPhone (some soldering required)

13 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Devin Coldewey

There’s no shortage of interesting electronics kits out there to occupy an idle Sunday, but with this one you get a phone out of the bargain. The MakerPhone is a kit looking for funds on Kickstarter that lets you assemble a working mobile phone from a number of boards and pieces, and the end result looks about as wild as you’d expect.

For about a hundred bucks, you get a mainboard, casing, LCD, wireless module, processor, and all the other pieces you need to make a basic smartphone. You’re not going to be browsing Instagram on this thing, but you can make calls, send texts, and play Snake. Remember when that was enough?

This is purpose-built hardware, of course — you won’t be putting it together cap by cap — but it’s not exactly plug and play, either. You’ll need a soldering iron, snippers, and some Python chops. (Not delicious python meat — Python the programming language.)

The MakerPhone microcontroller is Arduino-compatible, so you can tweak and extend it, too. But the creators (who previously shipped a similarly DIY handheld gaming machine) say you don’t need any experience to do this. It takes you through the absolute …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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SF judge denies Lime’s request to block electric scooter deployment

13 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Megan Rose Dickey

A judge today denied Lime’s request for a temporary restraining order that would block Skip and Scoot from deploying their electric scooters in San Francisco on Monday. This means San Franciscans will be able to use electric scooter services again first thing next week.

Following the SFMTA’s decision to grant Skip and Scoot electric scooter permits, Lime sent an appeal requesting the agency reevaluate its application. At the time, the SFMTA said it was “confident” it picked the right companies. Just yesterday, Lime said it believed “that it has no choice but to seek emergency relief in the court” and take legal action.

“We’re pleased the court denied Lime’s request for a temporary restraining order,” John Cote, communications director for City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement to TechCrunch. “The bottom line is the judge said he would not stop the permits from being issued on Monday. The SFMTA’s permit program has been both fair and transparent. Lime just didn’t like the outcome. The reality is that Lime’s application fell notably short of its competitors. That’s why it didn’t get a permit. San Franciscans deserve scooter services that are safe, equitable and accountable, which …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Tesla vehicles ordered after October 15 lose out on full tax credit eligibility

12 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Kirsten Korosec

Tesla federal tax credit deadline

Tesla customers who want the full $7,500 federal tax credit have until October 15 to order a Model S, Model X or Model 3 electric vehicle, a new deadline posted on the company’s website that could spark a flurry of sales.

The October 15 deadline was added Thursday to the Tesla website.

Earlier this year, Tesla hit a bittersweet milestone when it delivered its 200,000th electric vehicle. The achievement — a noteworthy occasion for an automaker that didn’t exist 15 years ago — activated a countdown for the $7,500 federal tax credit offered to consumers who buy new electric vehicles.

The tax credit begins to phase out once a manufacturer has sold 200,000 qualifying vehicles in the U.S. Under these rules, Tesla customers have to take delivery of their new Model S, Model X or Model 3 by December 31. Tesla explained how the tax credit would phase out and the Dec. 31 delivery deadline two months ago.

Until Thursday, it wasn’t clear if or when Tesla would impose a deadline for customers to order their electric vehicle.

Tesla estimates that customers who order a Model X and Model S right now would take delivery of their vehicles …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Google+ for G Suite lives on and gets new features

11 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Frederic Lardinois

You thought Google+ was dead, didn’t you? And it is — if you’re a consumer. But the business version of Google’s social network will live on for the foreseeable future — and it’s getting a bunch of new features today.

Google+ for G Suite isn’t all that different from the Google+ for consumers, but its focus is very much on allowing users inside a company to easily share information. Current users include the likes of Nielsen and French retailer Auchan.

The new features that Google is announcing today give admins more tools for managing and reviewing posts, allow employees to tag content and provide better engagement metrics to posters.

Recently Google introduced the ability for admins to bulk-add groups of users to a Google+ community, for example. And soon, those admins will be able to better review and moderate posts made by their employees. Soon, admins will also be able to define custom streams so that employees could get access to a stream with all of the posts from a company’s leadership team, for example.

But what’s maybe more important in this context is that tags now make it easy for employees to route content to everybody in …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Cloud Foundry expands its support for Kubernetes

10 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Frederic Lardinois

Not too long ago, the Cloud Foundry Foundation was all about Cloud Foundry, the open source platform as a service (PaaS) project that’s now in use by most of the Fortune 500 enterprises. This project is the Cloud Foundry Application Runtime. A year ago, the Foundation also announced the Cloud Foundry Container Runtime that helps businesses run the Application Platform and their container-based applications in parallel. In addition, Cloud Foundry has also long been the force behind BOSH, a tool for building, deploying and managing cloud applications.

The addition of the Container Runtime a year go seemed to muddle the organization’s mission a bit, but now that the dust has settled, the intent here is starting to become clearer. As Cloud Foundry CTO Chip Childers told me, what enterprises are mostly using the Container Runtime for is for running the pre-packaged applications they get from their vendors. “The Container Runtime — or really any deployment of Kubernetes — when used next to or in conjunction with the App Runtime, that’s where people are largely landing packaged software being delivered by an independent software vendor,” he told me. “Containers are the new CD-ROM. You just …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Shawn Mendes covers ‘Treat You Better’ with classroom instruments

09 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Johnny Lieu

Facebook

Jimmy Fallon’s classroom instrument covers are the stuff of legend, with the likes of the Backstreet Boys and Ed Sheeran giving those mini-xylophones a good tapping.

Joining the fray on Monday night was Shawn Mendes, whose 2016 hit “Treat You Better” just had to be covered by The Roots and Fallon in another edition of the segment.

Mendes, lucky for him, only needs his incredible voice and a set of silver spoons to deliver his performance. He makes it look so dang easy. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Music, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon, and Shawn Mendes

…read more

Source: Mashable Business

    

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Taxify and Via drive to Disrupt Berlin

08 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Romain Dillet

After years of impressive growth, Uber has been showing signs of weakness and had to give up on some markets. Maybe Uber isn’t going to be the market leader in every country. That’s why I’m excited to announce that Taxify and Via Transportation co-founders and CEOs are going to talk about challenging Uber at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin.

Markus Villig started working on Taxify years ago. But things started to take off quite dramatically in the past twelve months. The company now works with hundreds of thousands of drivers to serve millions of customers.

Taxify now operates in 25 European and African countries and is carefully avoiding the U.S. That strategy could pay off.

Via is interesting for another reason. As Daniel Ramot will tell you, Via is attacking the ride-sharing market from a different angle. You might remember that Uber (UberCab back then) started with a luxurious on-demand experience. Ordering a private driver would cost you twice as much as jumping in a taxi.

Via thinks that shared rides and fixed costs are more important than luxury. Ordering a ride on Via costs a bit more than a bus ticket, but is a lot more flexible than public transportation. …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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Marshall’s Kilburn II is a ruggedly handsome bluetooth speaker

06 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Brian Heater

Marshall hasn’t been been shy about capitalizing on its legacy. The legendary English amplifier company has plastered its name on cans of beer and a line of refrigerators. It’s not the most crass branding we’ve seen, but it’s pretty damn silly.

At first glance, the same can be said for its line of bluetooth speakers and headphones, save for one important thing: they’re actually quite good. It’s been several years since the company branched out into consumer electronics, and along the way, it’s been remarkably consistent with the products that bear its iconic cursive logo.

Announced this summer at IFA, the Kilburn II doesn’t stray far from the familiar Marshall amplifier style. In fact, you’d be forgiven if you mistook the thing for a practice amp. Instead, it’s just a solidly built bluetooth speaker with a rubberized faux leather design that can take some serious bumps. It’s further ruggedized by way of a chainlink metallic grille up front.

The speaker is water resistant, so you can take it outside without much concern. That said, if you need a true all-weather speaker, I’d recommend looking at something from JBL. The Kilburn isn’t going to go swimming with you, but it’ll …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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What Spotify can learn from Tencent Music

06 Oct 2018/0 Comments/in /by

By Eric Peckham

On Tuesday, Tencent Music Entertainment filed for an IPO in the US that is expected to value it in the $25-30 billion range, on par with Spotify’s IPO in April. The filing highlights just how different its social interaction and digital goods business is from the subscription models of leading music streaming services in Western countries.

That divergence suggests an opportunity for Spotify or one of its rivals to gain a competitive advantage.

Tencent Music is no small player: As the music arm of Chinese digital media giant Tencent, its four apps have several hundred million monthly active users, $1.3 billion in revenue for the first half of 2018, and roughly 75 percent market share in China’s rapidly growing music streaming market. Unlike Spotify and Apple Music, however, almost none of its users pay for the service, and those who do are mostly not paying in the form of a streaming subscription.

Its SEC filing shows that 70 percent of revenue is from the 4.2 percent of its overall users who pay to give virtual gifts to other users (and music stars) who sing karaoke or live stream a concert and/or who paid for access to premium …read more

Source: Tech Crunch

    

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