Despite pandemic, Amazon Prime Day expected to generate nearly $10B in global sales

A new forecast released today estimates Amazon’s delayed Prime Day sales event will top last year’s by bringing in an estimated nearly $10 billion in worldwide sales when it runs later this month. According to eMarketer, which released its first-ever Prime Day forecast, consumers will c

Spotify's new Soundtrap capture app offers collaborative voice notes for songwriters

Acquired in 2017, Soundtrap more or less serves a similar role as Anchor under the larger Spotify banner — albeit largely focused on music creation, instead of podcasting. The company's software of the same name is a cloud-based service designed to let musicians remotely collaborate on a song

Instagram’s 10th birthday release introduces a Stories Map, custom icons and more

Instagram today is celebrating its 10th birthday with the launch of several new features, including a private “Stories Map,” offering a retrospective of the Stories you’ve shared over the last three years, a pair of well-being updates, and the previously announced IGTV Shopping up

Feds arrest former Amazon employee after company reported him to FBI for fraud

Amazon today disclosed that a former employee has been arrested for committing fraud against the online retailer. The company says it reported Vu Anh Nguyen to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in July 2020 for falsely issuing refunds to himself and his associates for products ordered on Amazon.c

Instagram expands shopping on IGTV, plans test of shopping on Reels

Instagram this morning announced the global expansion of its Instagram Shopping service across IGTV. The product, which lets you watch a video then check out with a few taps, offers creators and influencers a way to more directly monetize their user base on Instagram, while also giving brands a way

The Little Black Door app makes luxury wardrobes shareable, resalable and sustainable

When Lexi Willetts and Marina Pengilly realized they could make as much as £30,000 a year reselling their luxury clothes and accessories online, they resolved to create a solution for modern women who are already well-versed in the behaviors of Instagram and the sharing economy. Their solution, Li

Google delays mandating Play Store payments rule in India to April 2022

Google is postponing to April 2022 the enforcement of its new Play Store billing rule in India, days after more than 150 startups in the world's second largest internet market forged an informal coalition to express concerns over the 30% charge the Android-maker plans to mandate on its store an

This Week in Apps: Google Play gets new rules, Apple launches app marketing tools, EU looks to rein in tech giants

"">Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the technewss series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. "">The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People are

Twitter will make users remove tweets hoping Trump dies of COVID-19

President Donald Trump’s positive COVID-19 result has made Twitter a busy place in the past 24 hours, including some tweets that have publicly wished — some subtly and others more directly — that he die from the disease caused by coronavirus. Twitter put out a reminder to folks that it do

Daily Crunch: Twitter confronts image-cropping concerns

Twitter addresses questions of bias in its image-cropping algorithms, we take a look at Mario Kart Live and the stock market takes a hit after President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. This is your Daily Crunch for October 2, 2020. The big story: Twitter confronts image-cropping concerns

Paired picks up $1M funding and launches its relationship app for couples

Paired, a new app for couples, is launching today and disclosing $1 million in funding. Backing the startup, which wants to support “happier and healthier” relationships, is Taavet Hinrikus of TransferWise, the co-founders of Runtastic (which was sold to Adidas), Ed Cooke of Memrise and

Nintendo's new RC Mario Kart looks terrific

In a different year, Nintendo would have demoed, in person, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. The company would have invited select members of the press into some rented event space and let us experience the game first-hand, like it had with Labo and Ring Fit Adventures. It's 2020, however, and th

A PC gaming site had to ban political troll mods for games, because nowhere is safe

NexusMods, a large platform and gathering place for modding PC games, has banned all content relating to the U.S. elections following a flood of troll content, saying “we’ve decided to wipe our hands clean of this mess.” Not exactly headline news, no, but a reminder that the toxic

Daily Crunch: Google commits $1B to pay publishers

Google is paying a lot of money for its news licensing program, Microsoft announces an affordable laptop and Facebook says it won’t accept ads casting doubts on the election. This is your Daily Crunch for October 1, 2020. The big story: Google commits $1B to pay publishers Spe