The Daily Crunch 07/29/16

A is for analyst expectations – the shattering thereof as Alphabet and Amazon lay down some impressive quarterly numbers. Meanwhile A is also for automotive Apple. A new report gives us one of the best looks yet at the so-called Project Titan strategy and leadership. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for July 29, 2016. Don't forget to lock your luggage.

1. Let's hear it for the earnings A-team

Alphabet and Amazon both reported quarterly results yesterday, and both beat expectations. Amazon trounced Wall Street consensus on earnings-per-share and came up with a tidy profit, on the back of huge growth for its AWS offering. Amazon's press release for the quarter read like a greatest hits playlist, and mentioned "Prime" 19 times by my count – a high water market for recent investor relations releases. Alphabet, for its part, is growling at a fast clip still, but the thing to watch is its "other bets" category, which resulted in a $900 million loss last quarter. Building the future ain't cheap.

2. Apple's car czars

Renowned Apple scooper Mark Gurman now has a Bloomberg byline, and this initial piece with Alex Webb is a doozy: According to their sources, QNX founder and car software expert Dan Dodge has joined Apple and reports directly to Bob Mansfield, recently returned, working on Project Titan. Bloomberg says Titan has shifted focus toward autonomous driving tech, rather than on just building a car, which could pave the way for partnerships.

3. Uber centralizes on-demand driving

Speaking of self-driving, Uber launched UberCENTRAL yesterday, which lets any business act as a conductor for a symphony of on-demand trips. Using a centralized dashboard, businesses can order, monitor and pay for Uber rides for their customers. Of course, those rides are still provided by human drivers... for now. Uber laying a software foundation for on-demand fleet management as a B2B offering is a huge deal, and could give the company a big head start when autonomous fleets do start to hit the road.

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4. Alexa can now put your house in lockdown

"Alexa, unlock the door for the pizza guy" might be a real new level of laziness we can look forward to achieving soon. The Amazon voice-powered assistant can now control your August Smart Lock – including while you're away from home using the August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge. August was already HomeKit compatible, so you could serenade Siri to grant and revoke access, but Alexa makes more sense in the context of home control because of how well-built the Echo is as an ambient listener.

5. Update your glasses RX from home, if you dare

If you've ever asked your optometrist for your Pupillary Distance (PD) reading, you know they jealously guard the business of selling prescription glasses that generates so much profit. Optometry villains 1-800-CONTACTS and Opternative are partnering to further liberate you from the eye doctor office glasses election, with new subscriptions for corrective eye ware delivered entirely via telemedicine. It's only legal in 36 states, however, and Big Eye Care is still actively lobbying against Opternative, saying it violates FDA regulations. The contacts-only exam and prescription will only run you $40.

6. Some actually useful safe traveling advice for once

Did you know that you don't actually have to use TSA-approved locks to secure your luggage when traveling? I sure didn't, but John Biggs spoke to a member of the team that duplicated the TSA Master Keys about how to ACTUALLY secure your stuff when traveling, and he dropped that useful tidbit. He also provided schematics so anyone else could do the same. Time for a luggage lock upgrade.

7. Is Pokemon Go the next startup development target?

Pokemon Go is a larger addressable market than a lot of developed nations, which is bound to attract developer interest. You can also see a lot of Pokemon-attendant apps in the top charts of Google Play and the iOS App Store these days. I find it interesting that on Android at least, developers are now building services that layer directly onto the actual Pokemon Go app itself. This is really only feasible on Android right now, because of limitations in how apps can interact with one another on iOS, but it's still an intriguing development, and one that reminds me of the advent of messengers as development targets.