Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Tech takes on Trump's travel ban. It's The Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6 2017 By Darrell Etherington

Tech vs. Trump, Uber aims higher and Maps makes information more readily available. That and more in The Daily Crunch for February 6, 2017. And if you're looking for Super Bowl news, I hear one of the teams won.

1. Nearly 100 companies support amicus brief against Trump's immigration order

Donald Trump is facing a pretty unified front when it comes to the tech community and his travel ban via executive order: 97 tech companies, including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter, have signed an amicus brief filed in federal court against Trump's over by Minnesota and Washington State.

This kind of broad support across Silicon Valley is the culmination of sentiment turning against the President's order, which generally began by focusing on the immediate harm the order caused tech company employees, and then spread to general opposition and concern for the order's impact on basic human decency. Keep up the pressure, tech industry, because this is far from over. Also, get on board here, Tesla and Amazon.

2. Uber shoots for the stars – and flying cars

Uber wants to make flying cars a reality, and it's hiring one of the engineers who first proposed that it was a real possibility in the modern era. The person is NASA advanced aircraft engineer Mark Moore, who is joining up as Director of Engineering for Uber's Elevate flying car project (and yes it's really called that). On-demand helicopter taxis just got one step closer.

3. Google Maps puts a bunch more info at your fingertips

Google Maps has a new update that adds real-time info on traffic, transit and nearby places just a swipe away from the main screen, which is much closer at hand than it has been previously. This is a good way to surface info without also gumming up the works in terms of UX, so we'll see how it works out for app users.

4. BBC's first Snapchat Show is a Planet Earth II spin-out

The BBC is creating a six-episode Snapchat show based on Planet Earth II, the sequel to its amazing nature documentary series. Using the mobile screen as a venue for a documentary that probably looks its best in HD or better on huge displays is a unique idea, but maybe the kids don't care too much about sweeping vistas.

5. Uber has new Indian service that will act as your chauffeur for entire days

Uber has a new service offering in the Indian market that replaces for-hire cars, letting people keep their Ubers across multiple trips, and then pay for the total combination of rides at the end of the day.

6. Google and Facebook team up to fight fake French news

Google and Facebook don't want the upcoming French presidential election to be a repeat of what happened in the U.S., where social media run rampant helped the spread of fake news. That's why they're backing CrossCheck, a collaborative effort to counteract attempts to mislead the public. Can anyone truly counter rampant vitality, is the question.

7. China's smartphone market shows locals gaining ground

China's smartphone market was led by Opposition in 2016, while Apple saw a shipment decline in year-over-year terms. China's market has always been a challenge for foreign companies to crack, but Apple will likely hope to reverse this trend with its next-generation smartphone coming later this year.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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