Literally Trump vs. the world, Waymo eyes the autonomous trucking market, Nintendo's online ambitions go pro and more in The Daily Crunch for June 2, 2017. 1. Tech says Trump is dead wrong on Paris Tech's response to Trump's disastrous decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement was fairly unanimous: They don't like it. It prompted Elon Musk to finally take his leave of Trump's advisory councils, and it caused Apple CEO Tim Cook to let everyone at his company know he tried to sway the former reality television star. VCs also mostly expressed dismay at the move, as did everyone else with a functioning brain and the capacity to form logical and coherent thoughts. 2. Waymo will look at self-driving trucks, too Waymo, Google's self-driving car project, is also exploring what its tech might be able to do in autonomous trucking. That's confirmed by the company, but it's still very early days for this expansion of focus – they're testing just one truck, and it's being human-driven strictly for data-gathering purposes at this stage. Still, interesting shot across the bow at rival Uber. 3. Nintendo's online services will cost $20 per year, include games Nintendo knows how to sweeten the pot for its Switch online services: bundled classic games, which include more than the originally planned measly 1 game per month. This alone could be worth the price of admission. 4. Blue Apron files for IPO If you've ever heard a podcast, you're probably familiar with Blue Apron. Ditto if you're a millennial New York urbanite. But is that enough to build a successful public company upon? The pre-portioned meal subscription service will find out, likely sometime later this year. 5. Google's built-in Chrome ad blocker is coming next year Provided Google sticks to its plans, it'll include a built-in ad blocker in Chrome next year. Publishers might be freaking out, but realistically if people hate web ads so much they install software to prevent it from showing up, how effective can said advertising possibly be? 6. Drone disappointment The DJI Spark sounds pretty fun per Brian, but not ultimately the consumer drone to end all consumer drones. 7. Bumble gets into real estate Is the next big bricks and mortar industry dating apps? Weirdly, that's what Bumble is going to find out with a debut physical meetup space for daters on its network, to launch in New York. |