The Daily Crunch 11/02/16

Microsoft comes for Slack and Amazon looks to chat for literacy education. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for November 2, 2016. Also, ground transport just got a little more airborne.

1. Microsoft tightens the slack on Slack

Microsoft has been watching Slack slowly become the enterprise communication tool of choice, but it hasn't been sleeping; the company just debuted Microsoft Teams, a new part of its Office 365 suite of tools, which looks a lot like Slack, but has some elements from other Microsoft-owned central communication tool Socialcast.

The space is getting busy, with Facebook's Workplace launching earlier this year and now Microsoft's tool. It's probably going to get decent pickup just because of the existing Office 365 spread, but Slack is pre-empting with its own full-page ad ahead of the official announcement: Someone hears footsteps.

2. Facebook's Steam competitor is here

Or rather, it looks like it's the Steam of casual gaming, the likes of which used to fill up your Facebook feed with requests to send candy or coins or whatever other nonsense. It might work out for Facebook but I'm highly skeptical it can A) win fans away from Steam or B) convince casual players they need a dedicated portal for their gaming flings.

3. Amazon's using chat for literacy

Amazon has a new app that uses the in vogue chat-style interface to make reading easier for kids. The app, called Rapids, is based on the idea that the chat interface is already something kids are familiar with from talking to their friends online, so it'll help them gain reading skills, too. Sounds logical, and others like Duolingo are also trying to employ the chat interface for education, targeting older users. Chat all the things!

4. Adobe's all-in on the new 3D wave

Microsoft made a big deal about 3D during its event announcing the Windows 10 Creators Update, and Adobe is sounding a similar bell at its current Adobe Max conference. The company talked up 3D composition tools throughout its updates to Creative Cloud, including a way to create composite images using 2D and 3D assets, which is also something Microsoft showed off, albeit in a less impressive way. The 3D fever is probably in anticipation of mixed reality and VR becoming more important to mainstream computing, something basically everyone in the industry seems to think will happen eventually.

5. Glide's upcoming Apple Watch accessory gives you two more cameras than you actually need

Glide says it's going to make an Apple Watch accessory that supports video calling with a front-facing camera, and taking pictures with a rear-facing one. No one wants this.

6. Facebook doesn't want companies using its platform for risk assessment

A UK car insurance firm wanted to make use of Facebook to offer up discounts on premiums, provided users allowed them access to their profiles for the purposes of risk analysis. This is a bad precedent so it's good that FB shut it down, but at the same time, using social media as a way to evaluate risk for loans in countries where access to traditional measures isn't feasible can occasionally be a good thing.

7. Floating on air

Hyperloop is still a tube dream, but a new milestone from a team working on a pod for SpaceX's open competition shows a lot of promise. The University of Waterloo managed to create a sled that floats on a track using only air, instead of magnets, which is more cost-effective and easier to produce and maintain long-term. Theoretically.