| Lyft is testing a monthly subscription, Apple has an event coming up and it's the end of an era for a Chinese business icon. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for March 16, 2018. 1. Lyft tests monthly subscription model for on-demand rides Spotify for ride-hailing? Lyft is trialling the model in San Francisco with select invitees. The program provides up to 30 rides worth $15 each using the normal rates for $199 per month, and there's a $399 per month version for up to 60 rides. Lyft CEO Logan Green actually cited Spotify as an example of how things are heading towards subscription everywhere during a call revealing a self-driving partnership with auto supplier Magna earlier this week, and now it's clear why his head was in that space. 
2. Apple is hosting an education event March 27 Apple has an education event happening on March 27. We're not sure what it's about, but the invite has some stuff that looks a lot like pen input, which might mean Apple Pencil or iPad is involved? 3. Li Ka-Shing is essentially retiring At least, he's stepping down as chairman of CK Hutchison, which owns EU carrier 3 and various other tech companies. It's the end of an era, but Ka-Shing will still be involved with his Horizons venture fund. 4. Intel reveals hardware fix for Spectre and Meltdown on future chips Intel is detailing its hardware fixes for Spectre and Meltdown, which will come out with new chips to be released later this year. In most cases, it's not really going to affect consumer behavior or necessitate any action on a user part, unless you're in the market for a new computer, but it's good news nonetheless. 5. U.S. security agencies deal Russian infrastructure hacking So we now have some details from the FBI and DHS on exactly what Russia did during a "multi-stage intrusion campaign" designed to probe, and potentially attack energy infrastructure. Scary sentence. 6. Rihanna called out Snap and tanked their stock Snapchat allowed a frankly inexcusable ad about Rihanna and Chris Brown on its platform, and now it's paying the price – Rihanna herself called out the idiot move and Snap, Inc's stock is suffering for it. 7. Alexa now has a mode to make her responses less verbal Alexa is getting a new opt-in "brief mode" that replaces some of the simpler verbal replies it serves up currently. Smart, and a natural evolution of voice interfaces. | 
