Mercedes-Benz started testing out a new car sharing service in December of last year, debuting Croove in a limited pilot allowing people to rent out their cars on-demand for short stints in Munich. The program has proven successful enough for Mercedes to expand it to other German cities, including Berlin, where it began operations in mid-April. The Daimler-owned car brand’s program is… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Apple just sent an email to members of the App Store affiliate program saying that App Store commissions will be reduced from 7 percent to 2.5 percent on May 1st — that’s a 64 percent cut. While this change will have no effect on App Store users, it has some implications on the App Store ecosystem.
Many websites from the Apple community link to App Store downloads with a unique… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Uber tracked former users even after they deleted the app from their iPhones, a practice that eventually earned CEO Travis Kalanick a scolding from Apple chief executive Tim Cook, the New York Times reports. Uber is pushing back on the allegations, saying that the tracking is a common industry practice used to prevent fraud and account compromise.
Uber allegedly used a practice called… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Science itself may be non-partisan. But the March for Science this weekend simply couldn’t be. Demonstrators turned out in an estimated 600 cities around the world to rally for science and its role in policy-making, many tech workers among them. The march was organized after the Trump administration proposed and began to implement steep budget cuts to federal science agencies in the… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Goshen has a small stack of papers sitting on a table beside him, should he need to consult any notes. He never actually looks over, however. After months of behind the scenes meetings, he’s got the company’s new line down, pat. His voice rarely raises above a whisper during our conversation, but he speaks thoughtfully and pragmatically. He speaks of a company that’s humbled.… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Anyone who thinks paper books are dead has never been in a Barcelona bookshop the day before Sant Jordi. The Patron Saint festival is Catalunya’s equivalent of Valentine’s day. But as well as giving long-stemmed red roses people give books. Lots and lots of books. Some €20 million worth of books are sold (gifted) on the day itself. Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Farmdrop, a farmer-friendly online grocery platform based in the U.K., has raised £7 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is Atomico, the London VC fund founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström. Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Manchester Watch Works aka MWW makes small batch watches that are sometimes homages to historic timepieces and are sometimes entirely new design. This model, the Iconik 3 – the third in the Iconik line – is based on the Blancpain TR-900, a military spec diver’s watch used by navies worldwide in the 1960s. These waterproof workhorses are sought after collectables and the Iconik… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
Twitter has evolved dramatically since its founding. What the founders fully envisioned we cannot know. Nonetheless, there is one thing we do know: Many business entities have millions of followers and communicate with these followers using Twitter. This is free advertising, no ifs, ands or buts. So, here’s a proposal to radically change the economics of Twitter. Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
When Bill Gates recently suggested robots should pay income tax like any other employee, I didn’t immediately disagree. I applaud Gates’ bold thinking to help solve one of society’s biggest upcoming challenges: embracing automation in a way that “lifts all boats” instead of leaving large swaths of society behind. A robot tax would help offset the reduced… Read More
Source: Tech Crunch
