Amazon plans to expand Whole Foods, New Year's fireworks go green in Taipei and we look back at 2018's biggest tech headlines. Here's your Daily Crunch for December 31, 2018.

1. Report: Amazon is planning a Whole Foods expansion to benefit Prime Now

According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, the goal is to put more customers within range of Amazon's Prime Now service.

Currently, Prime Now offers two-hour delivery in more than 60 U.S. cities, and 30-minute-plus grocery pickup in nearly 30 cities. Amazon is reportedly planning to expand those services to almost all its 475 Whole Foods stores.

2. A look inside the Taipei 101 New Year's Eve fireworks show as it goes green

As one of the tallest LEED-certified buildings, Taipei 101 often serves as a case study for how landmark skyscrapers can reduce their carbon footprint, and it has been taking steps to reduce pollution from the fireworks show while making sure it's still a spectacle.

3. MIT researchers are now 3D printing glass

The system uses a closed, heated box that holds the melted glass and another thermally controlled box where it prints the object, producing clear glass structures that can be used for decoration or building.

4. Here's how to play a game from Black Mirror's Bandersnatch episode

If you've gone down the rabbit hole with Netflix's latest Black Mirror release, here's a fun online Easter egg.

5. TechCrunch's Favorite Things of 2018

Before 2019 begins, check out this roundup of all the apps, gadgets, books and shows that made 2018 bearable for the TechCrunch editorial team. (Not everything here is tech-related, but it's all highly recommended.)

6. Our 2018 Year in Review

Yep, it was a big year for tech news — and for the past week or so, TechCrunch writers have been looking back at the year in digital media, venture capital, cybersecurity and more. You can browse all of our year-end feature stories at the link above.

And that's it for 2018. I'm heading to India, China and Malaysia for the next couple of weeks, so Taylor Nakagawa will be taking over the Daily Crunch while I'm gone. In the meantime: Happy New Year!

Tesla names new board members, Tumblr is back in Indonesia and Reid Hoffman faces scrutiny for funding election-related disinformation. Here's your Daily Crunch for December 28, 2018.

1. Tesla names Oracle's Larry Ellison, Walgreens executive to board as part of SEC settlement

Tesla has added two independent directors to its board: Oracle founder, chairman and CTO Larry Ellison and Walgreens executive Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, as part of a settlement with U.S. securities regulators over CEO Elon Musk's infamous tweets about taking the company private.

Ellison isn't just a Tesla believer, he's also a friend and ally of Musk. Ellison came to the Tesla CEO's defense during an analyst meeting in October and disclosed that Tesla is his second-largest investment.

2. Indonesia unblocks Tumblr following its ban on adult content

Tumblr (which, like TechCrunch, is owned by Verizon Media Group) announced earlier this month that it would remove all "adult content" from its platform. That decision, which angered many, was a response to Apple removing Tumblr's app from the iOS Store after child pornography was found within the service.

3. Reid Hoffman denies direct knowledge of funding disinformation in the Alabama Senate race

One of Silicon Valley's prominent billionaires is in hot water after funding deceptive social media campaigns with echoes of Russia's own political playbook. Hoffman said he's sorry — but he also maintains that he didn't know where his money ended up.

4. Grab raises fundraising target to $5B as Southeast Asia's ride-hailing war heats up

The company, which acquired Uber's Southeast Asian business earlier this year, is planning to raise as much as $5 billion from its ongoing Series H round, up from an original target of $3 billion, a source told TechCrunch.

5. Smart speakers hit critical mass in 2018

According to a series of reports from RBC Capital Markets analysts released in December, the near doubling of the adoption rate for smart speakers in the U.S. was driven by growth in both Alexa and Google Home devices, while Apple's HomePod played only a small role.

6. Cap table management tool Carta valued at $800M with new funding

Founded in 2012 by Henry Ward, the Palo Alto-based company plans to use the latest investment to develop its transfer agent and equity administration products so that it can better support startups transitioning into public companies.