Jack Ma’s absence from public eye sparks Twitter discussions

The world’s attention is on Jack Ma’s whereabouts after reports noted the billionaire founder of Alibaba and Ant Group had been absent from public view since late October. On October 24, Ma delivered fiery remarks against China’s financial system to an audience of high-ranking off

The cauldrons of gold theory of media and startups

Another week, another email newsletter. This time, the story is Punchbowl, a politics-centric newsletter founded by a crop of recent Politico alums including Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan. Ben Smith has the story, as does Maxwell Tani at the Daily Beast with some more juicy details.

Discovery+ launches in the US today

The new year is kicking off with the launch of a new streaming service — Discovery+, which offers programming from Discovery’s networks including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Discovery+ actually launched in the United Kingdom and Ire

Hulu’s live TV service gains 14 new channels as result of ViacomCBS deal

A new agreement between Hulu and ViacomCBS will bring 14 new channels to Hulu’s live TV streaming service, while also renewing the deal that allows Hulu to carry various CBS broadcast stations and Showtime. According to ViacomCBS, the new multiyear distribution deal will for the first time al

India’s CRED raises $81 million, buys back shares worth $1.2 million from employees

Bangalore-based CRED is kickstarting the new year on a high note. The two-year-old startup, led by high-profile entrepreneur Kunal Shah, said on Monday it has raised $81 million in a new financing round and bought shares worth $1.2 million (about 90 million Indian rupees) from employees.

Samsung's next Unpacked event is January 14

Stop me if you've heard this one before. Samsung's next flagship is set to debut January 14. The company just confirmed earlier rumors surrounding the date for its next Unpacked event (virtually, of course). This one sports the name, “Welcome to the Everyday Epic.” “Over t

This Week in Apps: Apple bans party app, China loses 39K iOS games, TikTok births a ‘Ratatousical’

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly technewss series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion total downloads and $120 billion in global consumer spend in 2019. Not includin

Sony to launch PlayStation 5 in India on February 2

Sony said on Friday that it will launch the PlayStation 5 in India on February 2, suggesting improvements in the supply chain network that was severely impacted last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Japanese firm said it will begin taking pre-order requests for the new gaming console i

Goodbye Flash, goodbye FarmVille

While much of what made 2020 such an absolute nightmare will still be with us on January 1 (sorry!), we will really, truly be leaving Adobe Flash and FarmVille behind as we enter the new year. The end of Flash has been a long time coming. The plug-in, which was first released in 1996 and once suppo

NYC MTA's contactless fare system completes rollout, will phase out MetroCard in 2023

On the last day of 2020, New York City's Metro Transit Authority announced that it has finished its roll out of contactless payment systems. With the addition of a final stop in Brooklyn, every MTA subway station and bus in the five boroughs now sports the OMNY “Tap and Go” system. We got a

Daily Crunch: Amazon acquires Wondery

Amazon makes a big podcast acquisition, a Chinese robot maker raises $100 million and we review a robotic cat pillow. This is your Daily Crunch for December 30, 2020. The big story: Amazon acquires Wondery Amazon is the latest company to make a big acquisition in the podcast market

Biteable raises $7 million Series A for its template-based online video builder

Online video platform Biteable, a startup that makes it easier to create polished and professional videos using templates and a library of images and animations, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Cloud Apps Capital Partners. The service today competes with products from Vimeo, Canva,

EarlyBird’s new app lets families and friends ‘gift’ investments to children

A new fintech startup called EarlyBird wants to help families invest in their children’s financial futures. Through the EarlyBird mobile app, parents in just a few minutes can create a custodial account, also known as a UGMA (Uniform Gifts to Minors Act) account. These accounts typically allo

This quick and clever tool creates an instant homepage for your podcast

Podcast homepages weren't something I gave any thought to until I launched my own standalone show. And honestly, even then I probably didn't give enough thought to the subject. For that reason, many or most of my shows have Tumblr pages — which is, at best, a bit of a mixed blessing in 20