GM corrects Trump, robots get adorable and Dish does set-top streaming with an old-school twist. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for January 3, 2017. 1. GM debunks Trump's trumped-up Cruze claims The Chevrolet Cruze sedan sold in the U.S. is made only in Ohio, but Donald Trump would rather you believe the Cruze is a Mexican-made vehicle that GM imports without taxation into the U.S. While GM admits that a few of its newer hatchback models, primarily designed for the international market, are indeed made in Mexico and sold in the U.S., Trump is doing his best to spark his base and make a mountain out of nothing at GM's expense. Sad. 2. Analyst to VC: Munster might finally stop asking about the Apple television on earnings calls That's a bit insidery, but former Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster once had a rep for trying to get Apple to spill the beans about its plan for a television set. Now, however, he's becoming a VC, launching his own seed stage fund called Loup Ventures with a focus on VR, AR, AI and robotics. Basically a what's-what of trendy investment target areas right now, of course. 3. Kuri is the first home robot you might actually want to be friends with Kuri is a new robot from Bosch-sponsored startup Mayfield Robotics, which has been designed to reflect Pixar-like cuteness to its owners. It's approachable, adorable and functional, and if it makes it out to its first pre-order customers in 2016, it could be a contender for an early hit in the domestic robotics field. 4. Dish's AirTV does digital and analog AirTV is a new set-top box that does 4K digital video streaming, but can also go old-school and grab over-the-air signals to give you free broadcast TV. Plus it's primed to run Sling TV, Dish's over-the-top subscription streaming service. 5. 2016's top tech acquisitions The past year saw a lot of tech acquisitions, with a total of $612.9 billion spent globally, at least as far as was disclosed. 2017 should be big, too, but take a look back at what happened before. 6. Motiv brings the fitness wearable to your finger This ring called Motive is a sleep and fitness tracker, but spoiler alert: it's not going to work out. It just won't. Nice try I guess. 7. The Portal is a glimpse into cars designed with autonomous driving in mind FCA's Portal concept is like a path between our current driver-oriented vehicles and an autonomous future. Like a bridge... a connecting route... some kind of Portal, perhaps. |