FUNKY GREEN: 06/12/20

Friday 12 June 2020

The PS5 is about games. That's probably a good thing - CNET

Sony's PlayStation 5 reveal on Thursday was about video games -- but not much else.

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Is a second stimulus check coming? Today's update on another round of payments - CNET

Washington continues to weigh the benefits of a second stimulus check. This is where the discussion stands today about who may get another round of relief payments and unemployment benefits.

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7 great graduation gifts under $100 - CNET

Whether you're buying for a recent graduate from high school or college, there are plenty of great gifts that won't cost a fortune.

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Lawmakers propose $22 billion in tax breaks for chip production in U.S.

TSMC is about to get a lot of breaks for its factory in Arizona.

What you need to know

U.S. lawmakers have proposed $22.8 billion in aid to semiconductor production.
The aid will come in the form of tax breaks and other programs to chip manufacturers.
TSMC, for example, will receive incentives for its planned factory in Arizona.

Last month, Apple chipmaker TSMC announced that it would be building a production factory in Arizona for $15 billion dollars. Now, U.S. lawmakers have announced a proposal to offer $22.8 billion in financial aid to chip manufacturers.

"Chip factories can cost up to $15 billion to build, with much of the expense in the form of pricey tools. The proposal would create a 40% refundable income tax credit for semiconductor equipment, $10 billion in federal funds to match state incentives to build factories, and $12 billion in research and development funding."

According to the report from Reuters, the proposal would allow the Defense Department to expand the country's semiconductor production capacity in response to a push for more U.S. based manufacturing.

"It would authorize the Defense Department to use funding under the Defense Production Act to "establish and enhance a domestic semiconductor production capability." While a network of "trusted foundries" exists in the United States to help supply chips to the U.S. government, many chips must still be sourced from Asia."

TSMC is currently responsible for over half of the global market when it comes to contract manufacturing for chips, and is currently rumored to already be building the manufacturing line and equipment for a 3nm chip that will potentially find its way into the iPhone 14.

"While some U.S. firms such as Intel Corp and Micron Technology Inc still make chips in the United States, the industry's center of gravity has shifted to Asia, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has more than half of the overall market for contract manufacturing chips and an even stronger hold on the most advanced chips."

TSMC's factory in Arizona is expected to be completed by 2024.

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New T-Mobile CEO tweets ‘Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson,’ won’t sponsor him anymore

Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

T-Mobile’s new CEO tweeted “Bye-bye Tucker Carlson” multiple times this week and said his company will no longer sponsor Carlson’s Fox News show after Carlson made racist comments Monday evening. Sievert’s tone in these tweets appears to be an attempt to emulate the famously-brash tone of John Legere, his predecessor.

In response to multiple angry customers on Twitter, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert tweeted that his company wasn’t currently running ads on the show and wouldn’t be moving forward. Here’s one example:

Same. We aren’t running ads on that show and we won’t be running ads on that show in the future. Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!
— Mike Sievert (@MikeSievert) June 10, 2020

T-Mobile clarified further, saying the company hasn’t run ads...

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Sony PlayStation CEO says PS5 design is 'bold, daring and future facing' - CNET

The PlayStation head, in an interview with CNET, discusses the new PS5 design, launch games like Spider-Man, and pre-orders.

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Best wireless earbuds and Bluetooth headphones for phone calls - CNET

Looking for a wireless headphone that's great for voice calling? Here are our current top picks.

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9 great Father's Day gifts under $50 - CNET

When it comes to Father's Day gifts, some folks are more frugal than others. But that doesn't mean you can't get something good for not too much dough.

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All of Sony's latest true wireless earbuds are on sale - CNET

Sony's highly rated WF-1000XM3 noise-canceling earbuds are $52 off, and the recently released WF-SP800N and WF-XB700 Extra Bass are also being discounted.

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Hands on with Android 11 Beta 1—A new media player and suggested apps

Enlarge (credit: Android)

Android 11's first "beta" release is finally out after numerous delays. The beta release works on the Pixel 2, 3, 3a, and 4, and enrolling for the beta OTA at google.com/android/beta. is super easy. Previously, the Android beta has launched simultaneously on plenty of third-party devices, but that's not the case this year. So far, OnePlus has also shipped the beta, and that's about it. Google says that more devices are coming "in the coming weeks."

The Android 11 Beta has gone through a wild ride. First, it was supposed to debut at the Shoreline Amphitheater for Google I/O in May 12, but the physical event was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Then it was supposed to debut in an online version of Google I/O, but that was canceled, too, as everyone was still trying to deal with the logistics problems the new shelter-in-place requirements. With no release in May, a surprise fourth preview release of Android 11 was created, and the Beta was delayed until June 3, when Google would hold an online event for "The Android 11 Beta Launch Show." The online Android 11 launch show was delayed, too, due to the ongoing nationwide protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd. In its latest blog post, Google says the online launch show is also canceled entirely, and, surprise, the company is pressing the launch button now with zero fanfare. Not since Google canceled the launch of the Nexus 4 due to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 has a Google launch been such a hot, hot mess.

With the Android 11 Beta finally go for launch, we're still seeing a bit of a mini I/O, even though every event is canceled. Google posted two blog posts, lots of documentation, and 12 videos covering new aspects of Android 11. The company is also planning "11 weeks of Android," a series that will see new developer talks posted each week. So far, the lack of fanfare seems appropriate for Android 11, which seems like a smaller release than we've gotten in previous years. This beta only has two new standout features we can point to.

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Spike raises $8 million to make your email look like a chat app

Asynchronous chat apps like Slack have done their best to kill email, but maybe the key to chat replacing email is just making email look like chat? That’s the idea of Spike, a productivity startup that has built an email app that organizes emails into chat bubbles with an interface that encourages users to keep it short and simple.

Spike’s software began with a focus solely on re-skinning the email experience, but today they’re also launching support for collaborative notes and tasks into their interface as they look to provide a cohesive solution for productivity. The company is fitting an awful lot of functionality into one window, but they hope that streamlining these apps together can leave users spending less time tabbing through separate windows and more time getting stuff done.

“Email is a collection of your tasks, so why should it be separated from where your other tasks are?” asks CEO Dvir Ben-Aroya.

The new functionality widens the ambitions of the software but also refocuses the app on a more complete business use case. Ben-Aroya admits that the company hasn’t pushed monetization very hard in the past, instead looking to scale up its base of free users in an effort to eventually scale up inside organizations. As the app looks to bring small businesses and larger enterprises onboard, the app is keeping its free tier, but to get past limits on message history and note/task creation users are going to have to upgrade to a $7.99 per month per user plan ($5.99 per month when billed annually).

Alongside its product news, the startup also shared today that it has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Insight Partners. Wix, NFX and Koa Labs also participated in the round. The company plans to use the cash to aggressively scale hiring and double its team this year.

“[W]e see a massive addressable market for centralized communication hubs to connect disparate messaging channels,” Insight Partners VP Daniel Aronovitz said in a statement. “The current climate and associated macro-tailwinds behind remote teamwork have only strengthened our belief that there is a sizable and growing demand for digital collaboration tools.”

The company’s platform is compatible with most email services and the app is available on Android, iOS, Mac and Windows.

Email startups are often privy to some of a user’s most sensitive data and can receive a lot of inquiries regarding privacy. As a result, Ben-Aroya believes his company is far ahead of competitors when it comes to safety. “Unlike many other available email clients, we’re never touching, manipulating, using, reusing or selling any part of the user data,” he says.

Spike has raised $16 million in funding to date.

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This startup just raised $12 million from top VCs to offer financial planning as an employee perk

Companies increasingly recognize that one of the greatest stresses for their employees is financial wellness. Even at innovative tech startups, people typically bump up against the limits of how much they know about wealth management pretty fast.

But providing financial education to a workforce, which has become increasingly common, is largely useless as most employees will tell you. The information can be hard to navigate, and it’s often not personalized in a way that addresses an employee’s circumstance and goals, which change over time depending on whether they are a recent graduate, getting married or even eyeing retirement.

It’s why so many employed people look to outside apps that promise to help them to not only understand their financial picture but actually manage it. It’s also a missed opportunity, according to a growing number of founders who are working to convince employers to move beyond education and instead offering automated financial planning (with a dash of human involvement) as an employee perk.

Their understandable argument: While offering benefits around fertility, family planning, and mental health are wonderful, companies are missing out on the chance to address the very top priority for their employees, which is how to avoid financial trouble.

Origin, a year-old San Francisco-based company led by Matt Watson — whose last company was acquired in December — is among the newest entrants to make the case.

Freshly backed by $12 million in funding led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst, Founders Fund and early Stripe employee Lachy Groom, among others, Origin wants to become the place where employees can track financial milestones, get professional advice from licensed financial planners, and take action, whether it be paying down student debt, building emergency savings or finding the right home and automotive insurance.

Currently staffed by 32 employees, six are financial planners, and they can handle the unique circumstances of “mid thousands of people,” says Watson, who notes that after an employee initially sets up a plan, much can be automated until a life event changes the picture.

“If you use just the tech, you’re only getting limited information,” he says, adding that access to Origin’s planners is “unlimited.”

The company already has 15 customers with between 250 and 5,000 employees, including the social network NextDoor; the cloud communications and collaboration software platform Fuze; and Therabody, whose Theragun therapy tool is used by pro athletes and trainers to pulverize their aching muscles.

All are paying $6 per employee per month because it doesn’t matter how much employees are making, says Watson. “The thing about financial stress is that it impacts everyone pretty evenly. The greater your income, the more stuff you buy.”

Considering that employees spend an estimated two to four hours each week dealing with their personal finances, an offering like Origin’s seems like a no-brainer for employers looking to both improve employee productivity and employee retention.

Indeed, the only thing holding back such offerings earlier in time were the kind of open banking APIs that exist today.

Now, the biggest challenge for Origin is to capture employers’ attention ahead of the competition. For example, another startup that’s also developing financial planning services as an employee perk is Northstar, founded by Red Swan Ventures investor Will Peng. More established players like Betterment that have long catered to individual investors are also focusing more on building up ties to employers that can use their offerings as an employee resource.

Either way, the trend is a positive one for employees, who are right now living through an economic roller coaster and could more generally use a lot more help with both staying afloat and saving for the future.

“Everyone struggles with finances,” says Watson, who worked in high-yield credit trading at Citi in New York before moving to San Francisco to start his last company. “I’m supposed to understand this stuff, and it’s complicated for me.”

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FUNKY GREEN

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Friday 12 June 2020

The PS5 is about games. That's probably a good thing - CNET

Is a second stimulus check coming? Today's update on another round of payments - CNET

7 great graduation gifts under $100 - CNET

Lawmakers propose $22 billion in tax breaks for chip production in U.S.

What you need to know

New T-Mobile CEO tweets ‘Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson,’ won’t sponsor him anymore

Sony PlayStation CEO says PS5 design is 'bold, daring and future facing' - CNET

Best wireless earbuds and Bluetooth headphones for phone calls - CNET

9 great Father's Day gifts under $50 - CNET

All of Sony's latest true wireless earbuds are on sale - CNET

Hands on with Android 11 Beta 1—A new media player and suggested apps

Spike raises $8 million to make your email look like a chat app

This startup just raised $12 million from top VCs to offer financial planning as an employee perk

Google steps up its feud with Sonos, countersues for patent infringement

PS5 Games Revealed (Trailers): Every Game Sony Just Announced

Sony PS5: Price, release date, games, Xbox Series X comparison and everything else we know - CNET

Google countersues Sonos over speaker tech patents - CNET

NASA's New Horizons probes 'alien sky' at the edge of the solar system - CNET

Tesla gets Chinese approval to use lithium-iron batteries in the Model 3 - Roadshow

8 photo-editing apps for Android and iPhone that make your phone pics pop - CNET

Internet Archive to end temporary free e-book program after lawsuit - CNET

PS5: PlayStation 5 console and games revealed

Google countersues Sonos, adds fuel to intellectual property feud

Wait! Before you upgrade your Sonos system to the S2 software, read this

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Friday 12 June 2020

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