| Apple might get deeper into the news business, TaskRabbit faces a security breach and Microsoft reveals more details about its IoT platform. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for April 17, 2018. 1. Apple to launch a premium news subscription service, report says The Bloomberg report comes after Apple acquired digital newsstand company Texture last month. The idea is that Apple might follow the Texture model by offering access to a number of magazine titles for a single subscription. Skeptics might have concerns about seeing publishers rely on Apple (a company that's notorious for wanting to control its public image) for subscription revenue. Then again, publishers already have to work with the company when it comes to the App Store and Apple News, so it's not like these are new issues. 
2. TaskRabbit's app is offline while it investigates a 'cybersecurity incident' The company also said that people who use their TaskRabbit password on other services should change those passwords immediately as a precaution. 3. Adobe acquires voice interface platform Sayspring If you think Adobe, chances are you're thinking about the company's creative tools like Photoshop, — but Adobe's AI bets also include a focus on its marketing and document cloud. 4. Microsoft built its own custom Linux kernel for its new IoT service Microsoft will license these new Azure Sphere chips for free, in hopes to jump-start the Azure Sphere ecosystem. And while you might assume that this ecosystem would run Windows, you'd be wrong. 5. A16Z and Founders Fund sink $28M into IRL asset blockchain Harbor Harbor helps businesses legally issue cryptocurrency tokens that represent ownership of real-world assets like real estate, fine art, company equity, and investment funds. This "tokenization" might sound boring, but it could be a big business that unlocks trading of illiquid property. 6. Coinbase buys Earn.com and makes CEO Balaji Srinivasan its first CTO Coindesk reported last month that Coinbase and Earn.com were in talks over a deal. 7. Drift raises $60M to be an Amazon for businesses Currently, Drift subscribers can use chatbots to help turn web visits into sales. Eventually, the company aims to build an alternative to Amazon to make it easier for businesses to make large orders. | 
