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If you’ve ever bought a movie on Google Play and decided to save a few bucks by buying it in standard definition, you might’ve just lucked out.

Google has just announced that it’s upgrading all previously purchased movies to 4K (if a 4K version is available) free of charge. Even if you bought SD instead of HD when the latter was available, they’re bumping it all the way up to 4K.

(Before you go trying to be sneaky-sneaks: no, you can’t go and buy an SD version of something now and immediately get the 4K version free instead. Google says only movies “bought or redeemed before October 23, 2018 will be upgraded.”)

Meanwhile, they’re also dropping prices on 4K content almost across the board. Most 4K movies on Google Play will now cost less than $20 (down from ~$30, in many cases). We first noticed them starting to test out this change back in September of last year.

Worth noting: not all movies are available in 4K. Hell, most movies aren’t in 4K. While the list of 4K titles is steadily growing, it’s still an itty bitty chunk of what’s out there. If any of your previously purchased movies got the upgrade treatment, though, you should see a notification (like the one above) pop up the next time you open the Play app.

Source: Tech Crunch

Apple’s still-untitled morning show drama already has some serious star power, with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon as its leads. Now it’s adding Steve Carell to the cast.

This will be Carell’s first regular role on a TV show since his seven seasons starring in the U.S. version of “The Office.” He’ll be playing Mitch Kessler, a morning show anchor who’s struggling to stay relevant. And no, it’s not the first time he’s playing a news anchor.

The series will focus on the world of morning TV, drawing material from reporter Brian Stelter’s book “Top of the Morning.” (Stelter serves as a consultant.) It was one of the first shows that Apple announced as part of its push into original streaming content, with two seasons of 10 episodes each already ordered. The company plans to start production in Los Angeles next week.

Aniston and Witherspoon (who’s working on more than one show with Apple) are both serving as executive producers, as is director Mimi Leder (who directed many of the best episodes of “The Leftovers”) and showrunner Kerry Ehrin (who previously co-created “Bates Motel”).

In other Apple streaming news, regular TechCrunch readers may be aware that I am extremely excited about the upcoming adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” novels. Well I’m even more excited with today’s announcement from comics writer and fantasy novelist Saladin Ahmed that he’s joining the show.

Still unclear: What Apple’s streaming service will be called, and what, if anything, it will cost viewers.

Source: Tech Crunch

A few weeks after Circle announced the launch of USD Coin (or USDC for short), Coinbase also announced that customers can now buy, sell, send and receive USDC on Coinbase. A USDC is a token that is worth exactly 1 USD. Its value is going to stay stable against USD — hence the name stablecoin for this type of coins.

Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, you can be sure that the value of your USDC wallet isn’t going to fluctuate like crazy. It opens up new possibilities and use cases.

While Coinbase lets you hold USD in your Coinbase account, this isn’t safe. If somebody hacks into your account, you could end up with an empty wallet. That’s why you should always try to control the keys of your wallet and transfer your coins to a safer wallet, such as a Ledger wallet or at least a software solution like MyEtherWallet.

But if you want to short cryptocurrencies without sending your USD back to your bank account, you can now convert your tokens to USDC. This way, it’ll be easier to buy cryptocurrencies again in the future. And maybe you can avoid paying taxes by hiding your tokens from taxation authorities…

USDC also works just like a regular token. You just need a wallet address to send some USDC. USDC is an ERC-20 token, which means that it leverages the Ethereum blockchain and ecosystem.

But stablecoins need to be regulated more tightly. Circle, Coinbase and a bunch of other companies have created the CENTRE consortium to define the policies around stablecoins. For instance, if you want to handle stablecoins on your exchange, you need to send regular audited reports that prove that you have as many USD sitting on a bank account as issued tokens.

With both Coinbase and Circle on board, it’s clear that USDC is off to a good start. Now let’s see if there’s enough interest to create other stablecoins based on EUR, CNY and other fiat currencies.

Source: Tech Crunch

We already knew that the electronic scooter space in Europe was heating up, with Berlin’s Tier announcing today it has raised €25 million in a round led by Northzone, and rumours circulating that Delivery Hero founder Lukasz Gadowski has ventured into the space — all within the context of U.S. companies Bird and Lime recently expanding to Europe. However, now it seems that Balderton Capital could be about to make its move by investing in Sweden’s VOI Technology, another e-scooter rental play with pan-European ambitions.

According to multiple sources, the London-based venture capital firm is gearing up to lead a round in Stockholm-based VOI. Two sources say the amount being invested is $15 million at a pre-money valuation of between $35-40 million, while another source said it could be as much as $25 million. Separately, I’m hearing that with multiple term sheets on the table and the pace at which the company is growing, VOI is actually considering increasing the round to $50 million.

Other VC firms thought to be participating are Berlin’s Project A, and Netherlands-based Prime Ventures.

To date, VOI has raised just shy of $3 million in seed funding from Vostok New Ventures.

I contacted Balderton Capital earlier today, but haven’t heard back. A spokesperson for Project also declined to comment. Neither Prime Ventures or VOI could be reached at the time of publication.

What is particularly noteworthy about Balderton’s entrance into the e-scooter market is that three of the other “big four” London VC firms have already made U.S. investments in the space. Index and Accel have backed Bird, and Atomico has backed Lime.

As I noted in my earlier Tier funding story — which marked the biggest financial backing for a European company in the space to date — this isn’t stopping a number of European investors getting busy trying to create the “Bird or Lime of Europe,” even if it is far from clear that Bird or Lime won’t take that title for themselves (which is obviously the bet being made by Index, Accel and Atomico). The general sentiment of European VCs steadfastly trying to nurture a European born competitor is that they don’t want to see the e-scooter rental market be rolled over by the U.S. in the same way that Uber rode in and knocked out many local players.

With that said, the worse case scenario in the eyes of many of those same VCs (and those VCs standing on the sidelines not participating) is that Bird or Lime will eventually acquire the most promising European e-scooter company or companies. In other words, the downside is mitigated somewhat, failing an outright home run.

Meanwhile, Tier, VOI and Gadowski’s Go Flash aren’t the only European born e-scooter startups with pan-European ambitions. There’s also Coup, an e-scooter subsidiary owned by Bosch and backed by BCG Digital Ventures that operates in Berlin, Paris and Madrid. And just two month’s ago Taxify announced its intention to do e-scooter rentals under the brand Bolt, first launched in Paris but also planning to be pan-European, including Germany.

Not that everyone is convinced. Two early-stage European VCs I spoke to today said they hated the space. “I just don’t understand, isn’t it going to be a massive bloodbath?” said one of the VCs, before questioning the total number of rides we could see in Europe annually. “I just don’t see how Europe is going to produce multiple multibillion dollar businesses in this space. I think the market size caps it”.

Source: Tech Crunch

Richard Branson has reportedly stepped down from the chairman role of Virgin Hyperloop One.

In a statement, cited by Reuters, Branson said that the company would require a more time than he could devote to the company.

“At this stage in the company’s evolution, I feel it needs a more hands-on Chair, who can focus on the business and these opportunities. It will be difficult for me to fulfill that commitment as I already devote significant time to my philanthropic ventures and the many business within the Virgin Group.”

What wasn’t mentioned was the cancellation of a planned project with Saudi Arabia after Branson criticized the kingdom and suspended negotiations around an intended $1 billion investment from the nation’s Public Investment Fund into Virgin’s space operations.

Branson is one of several business leaders who have cut ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia following the alleged assassination and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Virgin Hyperloop’s largest investor is the United Arab Emirates shipping and logistics company DP World. Earlier this year, the two companies launched a logistics joint venture that would bring hyperloop technologies to the industry. DP World first invested in what is now Virgin Hyperloop back in 2016.

Earlier this month, Virgin Hyperloop released the results of a feasibility study conducted with Black & Veatch of the company’s planned route through Missouri to link St. Louis and Kansas City.

The independent report, authored by global infrastructure solutions company Black & Veatch, analyzes a proposed route through the I-70 corridor, the major highway traversing Missouri, and verifies the favorable safety and sustainability opportunities this new mode of transportation offers.

“A feasibility study of this depth represents the first phase of actualization of a full-scale commercial hyperloop system, both for passengers and cargo in the United States,” said chief executive Rob Lloyd, at the time. “We are especially proud that Missouri, with its iconic status in the history of U.S. transportation as the birthplace of the highway system, could be the keystone of a nation-wide network. The resulting socio-economic benefits will have enormous regional and national impact.”

In the U.S. Colorado and Ohio are also examining feasibility studies for Virgin Hyperloop technologies, while other projects are underway in India and the United Arab Emirates.

Hyperloop technology developers like Virgin Hyperloop One, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, all get their inspiration from early plans drawn up by Elon Musk.

As we wrote at the time:

The Hyperloop features tubes with a low level of pressurization that would contain pods with skis made of the SpaceX alloy inconel, which is designed to withstand high pressure and heat. Air exiting those skis through tiny holes would create an air cushion on which the pods would ride, and they’d be propelled by air jet inlets. And all of that would cost only around $6 billion, according to Musk.

We’ve reached out to a spokesperson from Virgin Hyperloop One for comment and will update when we hear back.

Source: Tech Crunch

Ford is bringing its autonomous vehicles to Washington, D.C., the fourth city to join the automaker’s testing program as it prepares to launch a self-driving taxi and delivery service in 2021.

Ford will begin testing its self-driving vehicles in the district in the first quarter of 2019. The company is already is testing in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Miami. 

Ford is a bit different from other companies that have launched autonomous vehicle pilots in the U.S. Ford is pursuing two parallels tracks — testing the business model and autonomous technology — that will eventually combine ahead of its commercial launch in 2021.

Argo AI, the Pittsburgh-based company into which Ford invested $1 billion in 2017, is developing the virtual driver system and high-definition maps designed for Ford’s self-driving vehicles. Meanwhile, Ford is testing its go-to-market strategy through pilot programs with partners like Domino’s and Postmates, and even some local businesses.

The testing program in DC will follow that same thinking, with an emphasis on job creation and equitable deployment. Ford says its autonomous vehicles will be in all eight of the district’s wards. Eventually, it will operate business pilot programs in all eight wards, as well . Ford has already established an autonomous vehicle operations terminal in Ward 5, where it will house, manage and conduct routine maintenance on the fleet and continue developing its vehicle management process.

Argo AI already has vehicles on DC’s streets, mapping roads in the first step toward testing in autonomous mode, the company said.

“Both Ford and district officials are committed to exploring how self-driving vehicles can be deployed in an equitable way across the various neighborhoods that make up Washington, D.C., and in a way that promotes job creation,” Sherif Marakby, CEO, Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC wrote in a Medium post Monday.

Marakby underscored a recent report by Securing America’s Future Energy that found autonomous technology could improve people’s access to jobs as well as retail markets.

Ford announced in July 2018 plans to spend $4 billion through 2023 in a newly created LLC dedicated to building out an autonomous vehicles business. The new entity, Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC, houses the company’s self-driving systems integration, autonomous-vehicle research and advanced engineering, AV transportation-as-a-service network development, user experience, business strategy and business development teams. The spending plan includes a $1 billion investment in startup Argo AI.

Source: Tech Crunch

Google Play has generated more than twice the downloads of the iOS App Store, reaching a 70% share of worldwide downloads in 2017, according to a new report from App Annie, released in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Android Market, now called Google Play. The report also examined the state of Google Play’s marketplace and the habits of Android users.

It found that, despite the large share of downloads, Google Play only accounted for 34% of worldwide consumer spend on apps, compared with 66% on the iOS App Store in 2017 – a figure that’s stayed relatively consistent for years.

Those numbers are consistent with the narrative that’s been told about the two app marketplaces for some time as well. That is, Google has the sheer download numbers, thanks to the wide distribution of its devices – including its reach into emerging markets, thanks to low-cost smartphones. But Apple’s ecosystem is the one making more money from apps.

App Annie also found that the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region accounts for more than half of Google Play consumer spending. Japan was the largest market of all-time on this front, topping the charts with $25.1 billion dollars spend on apps and in-app purchases. It was followed by the U.S. ($19.3B) and South Korea ($11.2B).

The firm attributed some of Google Play’s success in Japan to carrier billing. This has allowed consumer spending to increase in markets like South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore, as well, it said.

As to what consumers are spending their money on? Games, of course.

The report found that games accounted for 41% of downloads, but 88% of spend.

Outside of games, in-app subscriptions have contributed to revenue growth.

Non-game apps reached $2.7 billion in consumer spend last year, with 4 out of the top 5 apps offering a subscription model. The number one app, LINE, was the exception. It was followed by subscription apps Tinder, Pandora, Netflix, and HBO NOW.

In addition, App Annie examined the app usage patterns of Android users, and found they tend to have a lot of apps installed. In several markets, including the U.S. and Japan, Android users had over 60 apps installed on their phones and they used over 30 apps every month.

Australia, the U.S. and South Korea led the way here, with users’ phones holding 100 or more apps.

The report also looked at the most popular games and app of all time by both downloads and consumer spend. There weren’t many surprises on these lists, with apps like those made by Facebook dominating the top apps by downloads list, and subscription services dominating top apps by spend.

App Annie also noted Google Play has seen the release of nearly 10 million apps since its launch in 2008. Not all these remain, of course – by today’s count, there are just over 2.8 million apps live on Google Play.

 

Source: Tech Crunch

Cowboy, the Belgian startup that designed and sells a smarter electronic bicycle, has raised €10 million in Series A funding.

Leading the round is Tiger Global Management, with participation from previous backers Index Ventures and Hardware Club. The new capital will be used to scale operations and expand beyond Belgium into Germany, U.K., Netherlands and France.

Founded in January 2017 by Adrien Roose and Karim Slaoui, who both previously co-founded Take Eat Easy (an early Deliveroo competitor), and Tanguy Goretti, who previously co-founded ridesharing startup Djump, Cowboy set out to build and sell direct a better designed e-bike.

This included making the Cowboy bike lighter in weight and more stylish than models from incumbents, and adding automatic motor assistance. The latter utilizes built-in sensor technology that measures speed and torque, and adjusts to pedaling style and force to deliver an added boost of motor-assisted speed at key moments, e.g. when you start pedaling, accelerate or go uphill.

In addition, Cowboy’s “smart” features powered by the Cowboy app enables the device to be switched on and off, track location, provide “ride stats” and support remote troubleshooting and software updates. A theft detection feature is also promised soon.

“We designed the Cowboy bike to appeal specifically to people who are yet to be convinced that electric bikes are a practical and mainstream mode of transport,” says Adrien Roose, Cowboy’s CEO, in a statement.

“We focused our attention on the three main reasons people are reluctant to purchase electric bikes: high cost, poor design and redundant technology — or a combination of the above — and we set about fixing them all.”

Source: Tech Crunch

How can Lime differentiate its scooters and bikes from the piles of Birds and Spins filling Los Angeles sidewalks? Apparently with a physical storefront where it can convince customers of the wonders of on-demand mobility. According to a job listing from Lime seeking a “Retail Store Manager,” the startup plans to open a “lifestyle brand store in Santa Monica” that “will place heavy importance on brand experience and customer engagement.”

It seems Lime will rent vehicles directly from the store, given the full-time manager’s role includes “monitoring inventory levels” as well as daily operations, and employee recruiting. They’ll also be throwing live events to build Lime’s hype. Given the company is calling this a lifestyle store, the focus will likely be on showing how Lime’s scooters and bikes can become part of people’s lives and enhance their happiness, rather than on maximizing rental volume.

The listing was first spotted by Nathan Pope, a transportation researcher for consultancy Steer, and later by Cheddar’s Alex Heath. We’ve reached out to Lime and will update if we hear back from the company. Glassdoor shows that the store manager job was posted more than 30 days ago, and the site estimates the potential salary at $41,000 to $74,000.

The sheer number of Lime scooters in Santa Monica where the store will arise is already staggering. Supply doesn’t seem to be bottlenecking as it is in some other cities. Instead, it’s the fierce competition from hometown startups like local favorite Bird that Lime wants to overcome through brick-and-mortar marketing. Often you’ll see scooters from Lime and Bird lined up right next to each other. And with similarly cheap pricing, the decision of which to use comes down to brand affinity. According to Apptopia, Bird’s monthly U.S. downloads surpassed Lime’s in July for the first time ever, despite Lime offering bikes as well as scooters.

There are plenty of people who still have never tried an on-demand electric scooter, and going through the process of renting, unlocking and riding them might be daunting to some. If employees at a physical store can teach people that it’s not too difficult to jump aboard, Lime could become their default scooter. This, of course, comes with risks too, as electric scooters can be dangerous to the novice or uncoordinated. More aggressive in-person marketing might pull in users who were apprehensive about scooting for the right reason — concerns about safety.

As cities figure out how to best regulate scooters, I hope we see a focus on uptime, aka how often the scooters actually function properly. It’s common in LA to rent a scooter, then discover the handlebar is loose or the acceleration is sluggish, end the ride and rent another scooter from the same brand or a competitor in hopes of getting one that works right. I ditched several Lime scooters like this while in LA last week.

Regulators should inquire about what percentage of scooter company fleets are broken and what percentage of rides end within 90 seconds of starting, which is typically due to a malfunctioning vehicle. Cities could then award permits to companies that keep their fleets running, rather than that litter the streets with massive paper weights, or worse, vehicles that could crash and hurt people. Scooters are fun, cheap and therefore accessible to more people than Ubers, and reduce traffic. But unless startups like Lime put a bigger focus on helmets and safe riding behavior, we could trade congestion on the roads for congestion in the emergency room.

Source: Tech Crunch