AWS hits $10B for the quarter putting it on a $40B run rate

AWS, the cloud arm of Amazon would be a pretty successful business on its own. Today, the company announced it has passed $10 billion for the quarter, putting the cloud business on an impressive run rate of more than $40 billion. It was a bright spot for the company in an earnings report that saw […]
https://tcrn.ch/2WcNQXQ

OpenAI’s new experiments in music generation create an uncanny valley Elvis

AI-generated music is a fascinating new field, and deep-pocketed research outfit OpenAI has hit new heights in it, creating recreations of songs in the style of Elvis, 2Pac, and others. The results are convincing, but fall squarely in the unnerving "uncanny valley" of audio, sounding rather like good, but drunk, karaoke heard through a haze of drugs.
https://tcrn.ch/2yhDAFz

Zoom retracts statement that it has 300M daily active users

Zoom is not having a good month. As it scales to meet pandemic demand, it has been beset by security issues, which it has had to explain and fix. Today, The Verge reported that the company just changed a blog post, which had previously listed 300 million daily active users (DAUs) to active participants. The […]
https://tcrn.ch/2yhLSx8

Microsoft shares rise after the tech giant posts 15% growth

Today Microsoft reported its third-quarter, fiscal 2020 quarter earnings, the period of time corresponding to Q1 2020 on the regular calendar. The technology giant generated $35 billion in revenue, up 15% from the year-ago period. That top line led to $13 billion in operating income (+25% YoY), and $10.8 billion in net income (+22% YoY). […]
https://tcrn.ch/2SmXg1P

Apple will make it easier to unlock your iPhone while wearing a face mask

Face ID was a great idea — until large swathes of the world were forced to wear face masks, rendering it largely useless. Apple has apparently heard our pain. Users are reporting a subtle new feature in the latest developer version of iOS 13.5 that will make it easier to unlock your iPhone without having […]
https://tcrn.ch/2xjdxNO

Daily Crunch: Google Meet goes free for everyone

Google is making a big push for its Zoom competitor, Samsung outlines how COVID-19 is reshaping consumer demand and Ford delays its autonomous vehicle plans. Here’s your Daily Crunch for April 29, 2020. 1. Google is making Meet free for everyone Meet is Google’s video meeting tool for businesses. (Hangouts is the company’s free consumer […]
https://tcrn.ch/3cYN3jP

AOC and Elizabeth Warren call for a freeze on big mergers as the coronavirus crisis unfolds

The coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed the global economy, but large tech companies remain relatively well-positioned to reach into their deep pockets to make big moves. In an effort to call attention to the plight of smaller businesses — and the disproportionate power and resources of larger ones — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria […]
https://tcrn.ch/2YfVAe4

Bonsai raises $1.5M to help students get professional guidance via virtual 1-on-1s

As the world continues to lean more heavily on remote collaboration technologies, investors and entrepreneurs are growing more curious about how behavioral shifts will impact the future of work and education. Bonsai, a new online platform virtually pairing students and young professionals with mentors in professional fields, is launching today with fresh funding. The startup’s […]
https://tcrn.ch/3eZNj3Q

Investors, startup founders in India pool $13M to fund projects that fight coronavirus

More than 150 investors and entrepreneurs in India are funding dozens of projects in a bid to help millions better combat the COVID-19 epidemic and help the nation’s booming startup ecosystem withstand the economic devastation the pandemic has caused. The investors said they have contributed 1 billion Indian rupees — or $13 million — of […]
https://tcrn.ch/3cXCYDW

Stay-at-home order for 7 million Bay Area residents extended to end of May

A stay-at-home order for several San Francisco Bay Area counties will be extended through the end of May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision that affects 7 million residents and thousands of businesses. The Public Health Officers of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara as well […]
https://tcrn.ch/3aJ8Ham

Indie.vc founder Bryce Roberts: Profitability is ‘more achievable than a Series A round’

"If you have to ask people for permission to exist, and the more you rely on those people for yourself to exist, the more risk and exposure you have.”
https://tcrn.ch/2KAywyO

Understanding Duolingo’s quiet $10M raise

Earlier this month, edtech unicorn Duolingo raised $10 million in new venture capital from General Atlantic, per an SEC filing. With the raise, the online language learning platform accepted its first outside investor in almost three years. General Atlantic will take a board seat at the company, per Duolingo. The company, which was last valued […]
http://dlvr.it/RVYpr4