The Daily Crunch 09/01/16

It's September! So that means summer's over? I don't know how else it's significant, but SpaceX is going to remember this day for a long time to come. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for September 1, 2016. And Instagrammers, you can FINALLY zoom.

1. SpaceX rocket explodes on launch pad

SpaceX had another major setback this year, this time pre-launch. A rocket set for a mission on Sept. 3 to launch a communications satellite exploded this morning on its launch pad in Cape Canaveral. The good news is that no injuries have been reported, but the bad news is that this represents another stumbling block for SpaceX following the in-flight explosion of another Falcon9 rocket earlier this year.

2. Baidu has a new dance partner in self-driving

Baidu has a strong co-pilot when it comes to self-driving car tech. The Chinese tech giant is working with Nvidia, and they're both super pumped about the arrangement, with Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang appearing on stage at Baidu World to announce the deal. The two will work together to make an end-to-end autonomous driving system, which it sounds like it'll then aim to sell to carmakers as well as commercial fleet operators. Meanwhile, California will be the first place in the US to see the fruits of this partnership, since the DMV there just approved Baidu for self-driving tests.

3. PC makers are trying some weird-ass things

Hey HP, things okay over there? The PC OEM unveiled a speaker computer of some kind at IFA. It even has Bang & Olufsen branding. Masquerading your PC tower as a stylish speaker isn't a bad idea, I guess, especially if it's actually a decent speaker as well. Also, Lenovo's trying to revive the Microsoft Courier. Do what you need to do to turn those PC sales numbers around, I guess.

4. Salesforce's spending spree

Hey Salesforce why don't you acquire me? The enterprise software giant has spent over $4 billion in acquisitions in the past six months, including the $110 million it spent for BeyonCore last month, and the $2.8 billion it dropped on Demandware. Follow lighted path to the exits, I guess.

5. The Note 7's not-so-great secret feature is explosion

Luckily no one was hurt in the SpaceX explosion today, and no one has been hurt yet per se by another exploding piece of tech, but Samsung still halted sales of the Galaxy Note 7, some of which were apparently prone to blowing up. Still seems like a decent phone if you get a non-exploding unit.

6. Zoomstagram

Hey you can zoom on Instagram photos! We've all tried to do it before, don't pretend. Now it'll actually work, and you won't look like an idiot. The update that enables this is out now for iOS, and works on both photos and videos. Android version to follow soon, per Insta.

7. Facebook's news bots aren't great reporters, but they're decent poets

Facebook is still having trouble with its bot-driven Trending section, which is reaching new levels of ridiculous thanks to all the humans being canned. But there's a wonderful byproduct: Found poetry. With a little help from Oakland writer Anna Pulley, these robots really have some writing chops.