Apple's design guru is leaving, Amazon launches a new in-store pickup service and Google Maps becomes more useful for mass transit commuters. Here's your Daily Crunch for June 28, 2019.

1. Jony Ive is leaving Apple to launch a new firm

The man who won over decades of Apple fans with iconic product design and his pronunciation of "aluminum" is out at the company.

The executive will begin transitioning away from Apple at the end of 2019, launching a new project titled LoveFrom next year. In a press release, Apple noted that it will remain a client of his new design firm.

2. Amazon launches Counter in-store pick-up in the US, starting with 100 Rite Aid locations

The longer-term plan for Amazon is to expand the pick-up option to 1,500 stores (including non-Rite Aid partners) by the end of 2019 — a very quick ramp-up in the next six months.

3. Google Maps can now predict how crowded your bus or train will be

This is a new prediction technique Google has been perfecting for over half a year. Starting in October, the company began to ask Google Maps users who traveled between 6am to 10am for details about their journey.

4. Apple's Sidecar just really *gets* me, you know?

Darrell has been trying out Sidecar, the feature that lets you use an iPad as an external display for your Mac — and he says it's just about everything you could ask for.

5. Niantic is throwing a Harry Potter: Wizards Unite fan festival this summer

Niantic has been doing in-person "anomaly" events around the world for their first title, Ingress, for years, and the company has also held dozens of real-world events for Pokémon GO.

6. My six months with $30/month email service Superhuman

A $30-per-month email service capturing the adoration of investors and founders in Silicon Valley is perhaps an unsurprising story in a subscription-obsessed landscape, yet we're only now hearing how stealth-y startup Superhuman has captured major funding.

7. The rise of the new crypto 'mafias'

Drawing on the idea of the "PayPal mafia," this article examines the formation and flow of talent within the crypto landscape today. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

It's NEWSLETTER TIME get pumped! I know I am – it's my first Daily Crunch in over a year. That's right, your friendly neighborhood Anthony Ha is otherwise occupied today so I'm back to deliver this baby to you, devoted readers. And there's news: Plenty o' News.

1. Reddit puts r/The_Donald in a corner

Reddit has long had an uncomfortable relationship with one of its communities, a subreddit called r/The_Donald which focuses on all things related to the current U.S. President (still seems like a totally crazy thing to say).

The so-called 'front page of the Internet' has finally had enough – or at least, the stage before truly 'enough.' It's quarantined r/The_Donald, meaning that its content won't ooze beyond the community into the rest of Reddit's multi-community surfaces. So you have to choose to wallow in that filth, going in eyes wide open.

2. Apple makes a key chip talent hire

Apple loves using its own chips in its products, and keeps adding more chips all the time to handle things like on-device security and wireless connections with accessories. Now it's brought on a leading ARM chip designer, which is obviously fuelling speculation that Apple could replace Intel with its own ARM-based processors to power next-generation Macs.

3. Live stream selling app expands to in-person sales

NTWRK is a weird hybrid of QVC and HQ Trivia, with people selling you stuff via live stream. The app is now expanding into physical events, which I guess will resemble flash sales mixed crossed with concerts?

4. Station F is launching a co-living space for startups

Station F is a gigantic co-working space in Paris that seemed like an unlikely proposition when it was first revealed. It got made and has been operating for years now, however. So maybe there's a chance that its new 'Flatmates' co-living space, which can house up to 600 people in shared apartment arrangements, can do the same.

5. Amazon debuts counter pick-up at Rite Aid

Amazon is introducing a new counter pick-up service for packages at stores in the U.S, starting with 100 Rite Aid locations. Amazon has hollowed out the bodies of its retail hosts and is now parasitically using their corpses to propagate.

6. TripActions raises $250M and is now valued at $4B

That's four unicorns stacked atop one another, if you're counting. TripActions is an enterprise booking platform, which is big business, and if it's at all an improvement over the various legacy ones I've used over the years, then it's probably worth that high value assessment.

7. Volkswagen launches all-electric car sharing

A car sharing network made up of only electric vehicles?! Now there's one from Volkswagen, called WeShare. It's only live in Berlin as of today, and it probably isn't destined for U.S. shores anytime soon, but it's definitely a sign of the times.