Elon Musk wants you to fly Rocket-class. It's the Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 2017 By Darrell Etherington Elon Musk wants to rocket us back and forth between cities all over the world, South Korea has had enough of ICOs and Angry Birds debuts to a mostly nonplussed public market. That and more in The Daily Crunch for September 29, 2017. Plus, it's Podcast Friday! 1. Elon Musk wants to get you anywhere on Earth in under an hour When Elon Musk pulls a 'one more thing' style move at a keynote, he really delivers: The SpaceX CEO revealed that his company hopes to use its new BFR spacecraft to make city-to-city trips on Earth, with most popular routes taking less than 30 minutes. The ambitious vision would easily leapfrog supersonic flight and, if that's not enough, Musk says tickets to ride his rocket will cost around the same price as full-fare economy on current airlines. 2. Here's everything else Musk revealed about SpaceX's Mars plan Earth-to-Earth hyper speed travel wasn't the only big surprise Musk had in store – he also talked about a lot of updates to SpaceX's Mars strategy, including ways the company hopes to make colonizing the planet more affordable. One of those plans is to use one spaceship instead of many different versions, or as Musk put it, to "cannibalize" its own existing business. Sponsored By: iClick Interactive How far are brands from conducting AI-driven marketing in China? With the rapid progress made in the Chinese martech industry, I believe AI-driven marketing solutions will become more end-user-friendly in the not long future in China, accessible by marketers without the need of having expert knowledge in the field. Learn More… 3. South Korea bans ICOs, too South Korea is following China's example, banning ICOs since they have a high potential for scummy use. Regulators aren't done with the ICO mop-up, so keep watching this space for more global clampdown. 4. Rovio IPOs, pops and fizzles Angry Birds maker Rovio has gone public, but the public wasn't that impressed. The stock briefly popped but then after that it dropped off quickly. 5. The Sphero Mini is a small ball Sphero's smartphone controlled ball is an interesting toy, and one that has a lot of unique appeal. But it's also a bit of an oddity that mostly helped pave the way for Sphero's real success: Its Star Wars branded toys. But the new Mini might be affordable and kooky enough to have broader appeal. 6. FAA outlaws U.S. drone use around major monuments Drones begone! At least around the Statue of Liberty, the Hoover Dam, Mount Rushmore and seven other U.S. national monuments and dams. 7. It's Podcast Friday! That most wonderful time. This week's Original Content takes on Star Trek: Discovery, the first new Star Trek TV show in a decade. And over on Equity, Google makes some acquisitions and we're seeing some tech stalwarts go public. Get more stories at techcrunch.com  Newest Jobs From CrunchBoard: Rails / Elixir Software Engineer at ThinkCERCA (Chicago, IL, United States) Senior Front End Engineer at ThinkCERCA (Chicago, IL, United States) Senior Java Backend Developer (m/f) at eGym GmbH (Berlin, Deutschland) Lead Engineer Backend (m/f) at eGym GmbH (Berlin, Deutschland) Senior UI/UX Android Application Engineer at Shield. Ai (San Francisco, CA, United States) SEE MORE JOBS ON CRUNCHBOARD Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month View this email online in your browser If you do not want to receive this email or you would like to update your preferences click here. 410 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 © 2017 AOL Inc. All rights reserved.   Privacy Policy   Terms of Service

                                                           

Amazon expands Echo line big time. It's The Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2017 By Darrell Etherington Amazon's Echo fest, Toshiba to sell chip business to group including Apple, and dockless bikes get more backing. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for September 28, 2017. 1. Amazon sounds out the sweet spot for Echo hardware Amazon had a lot in store for us yesterday, including six new products from its Echo lineup. These include a brand new main Echo, with better sound and a body wrapped in fabric, as well as a new Echo Plus with smart home hub integration. There's also a new all-seeing eye called the Echo Spot, which is actually adorable if somewhat frightening because it has a camera and is designed to set on your nightstand. But it's also adorable. 2. Toshiba to sell chip business for $18 billion to group including Apple Toshiba's chip business sale to a group led by Bain and including Apple had been rumored previously, but now it's official – the deal has been agreed to by Toshiba, and is valued at $18 billion. If the deal goes through as planned it should close in March. Sponsored By: iClick Interactive How far are brands from conducting AI-driven marketing in China? With the rapid progress made in the Chinese martech industry, I believe AI-driven marketing solutions will become more end-user-friendly in the not long future in China, accessible by marketers without the need of having expert knowledge in the field. Learn More… 3. Uber rival Grab backs dockless biek sharing startup Southeast Asian Uber rival Grab is making some investments, including in ofo and Mobike competitor oBike. It's a smart strategy, and one that Uber is likely to follow suit on once it gets the rest of its house in order. 4. Magic Leap's new website is full of weird Easter eggs Magic Leap's website is both less weird now that it has removed its eccentric founder's weird blog post links, and also somehow more weird because of the hidden Easter eggs sprinkled throughout. 5. Anchor raises $10 million for its podcast platform Podcast hype seems to have cooled somewhat recently, but platforms focused on the medium continue to get funding. Anchor follows network Gimlet in raising significant funding, with a new $10 million round. 6. Google Assistant makes its way to Android TV Nvidia Shield TV now supports hands-free Google Assistant, which makes it a 4K streaming box and smart home companion with voice commands all in one. Pretty great update, and it's free for all existing and new device owners. 7. Twitter faces congress today over Russia election probe Social media used to be all about cat gifs and overly confessional blog posts, but now it's about undue influence in elections by foreign powers. This should be a fun congressional hearing. Get more stories at techcrunch.com  Newest Jobs From CrunchBoard: Rails / Elixir Software Engineer at ThinkCERCA (Chicago, IL, United States) Senior Front End Engineer at ThinkCERCA (Chicago, IL, United States) Senior Java Backend Developer (m/f) at eGym GmbH (Berlin, Deutschland) Lead Engineer Backend (m/f) at eGym GmbH (Berlin, Deutschland) Senior UI/UX Android Application Engineer at Shield. Ai (San Francisco, CA, United States) SEE MORE JOBS ON CRUNCHBOARD Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month View this email online in your browser If you do not want to receive this email or you would like to update your preferences click here. 410 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 © 2017 AOL Inc. All rights reserved.   Privacy Policy   Terms of Service