The Daily Crunch 08/01/16

Uber sells to Didi to stem profit bleeding, Tesla takes another step toward 'Master Plan Part Deux' and we go inside Musk's battery betterment building. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for August 1, 2016. And for those who just updated Pokemon Go, the transfer button is now inside the hamburger menu.

1. Didi and Uber make a deal to drive profit

Uber and China-native rival Didi Chuxing are no longer rivals in the Chinese on-demand ride market: The two companies have joined forces in a deal that provides Uber with a 5.89 percent stake in a newly combined Didi Chuxing/Uber effort, while Didi will take the lead as the primary driver of the two brands (which will continue to co-exist). Uber's Travis Kalanick explained that this seemed like the best path to profitability in the market for both sides. I wonder if Travis knew this was in the pipeline when he made this joke about Apple investing $1 billion in Didi back in May.

2. Tesla and SolarCity make a deal

Tesla has agreed upon a price of $2.6 billion in stock for SolarCity, a merger first proposed by Elon Musk in June. Musk says he wasn't involved in pricing the final deal, but the reason behind it is something he detailed in his recent "master plan part deux" on the official Tesla blog. This still requires final approval, but it's looking more and more like the companies will join forces – Tesla investors weren't thrilled this morning, but Musk clearly sees the two as complementing each other's missions perfectly long-term, and a whole-home/car energy gathering and storage solution does have a certain idealistic appeal.

3. VZ goes full-on for fleets

Ultimately, Tesla wants to control roving fleets of autonomous electric vehicles, but it isn't the only company investing heavily in fleet tech. Verizon (which – disclaimer – via AOL, owns TechCrunch) has acquired Fleetmatics for $2.4 billion in an all-cash deal. Fleetmatics is a logistics management firm that provides SaaS-based solutions to clients. It's not yet running drone fleets, of course, but it's a move that paves the way for that later on.

4. Glow shines a light on risks of health apps

Privacy leaks are never fun for users, but depending on what your app does, any vulnerabilities could be cause for more or less concern. Consumer Reports dug into Glow, a fertility and family planning app, for vulnerabilities that made available user data including sexual history, miscarriages, abortions and other highly personal information used to provide couples with fertility advice. Glow fixed the flaws with an update immediately upon being notified by CR of the gaps, but this still highlights how much more dangerous leaks can be with apps that know more about our personal health history.

5. Pokemon Go starts to get some UX attention

Pokemon Go's developers have finally turned their attention to iterating on the game's user experience, which didn't seem to be a priority when the company was handling service outages every couple of hours. The update also includes tweaks to in-game combat and mechanics. Refinement is going to be the key to keeping an active user population interested long-term, so it's good to see them throwing some effort in that direction. Now, give us the trades.

6. Tesla pulls back the Gigafactory veil

What does it take to make a perfect battery? Tesla (and partner Panasonic) is hoping that it takes a Gigafactory. Greg found out that most of what's there is either secret, or difficult to describe to people who aren't deeply interested in industrial facilities or manufacturing robotics. But commenter Rick Dill gives a good summary of what's at stake for Musk and Tesla with the new facility, and the prize is perfection (and therefore cost reduction) in a key component.