April 26, 2018

Snap unveils better Spectacles. It's The Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH
THURSDAY, APRIL 26 2018 By Anthony Ha

Snap is still trying to make Spectacles happen, IBM has a new use for blockchain technology and earnings season marches on. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for April 26, 2018.

1. Snapchat launches Spectacles V2, camera glasses you'll actually wear

TechCrunch's Josh Constine says the new Spectacles address many of the issues with version 1. They allow you to take photos (not just video), come in classier colors, include prescription options and remove the yellow ring alerting people to the camera.

Snap has only sold 220,000 pairs of Spectacles so far, so this will be a test of whether the company can move more units with a better product — or if the whole face camera thing just isn't something that most people want.

2. IBM introduces a blockchain to verify the jewelry supply chain

The verification process becomes much more digital, reducing much (though not all) of the manual paper-pushing normally required. And the TrustChain has a mechanism for participants to check the validity of each transaction, each step of the way.

3. Facebook beats in Q1 and boosts daily user growth to 1.45B amidst backlash

The recent controversies don't seem to be hurting Facebook's user growth or ad revenue.

4. Nintendo's annual profit rockets by 500% after selling 15M Switch consoles

On the games front, Super Mario Odyssey was the biggest seller at 10 million copies, followed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (nine million) and Splatoon 2 (six million). The company revealed that it sold over five million units of the SNES Classic Edition, too.

5. Ford to stop selling every car in North America but the Mustang and Focus Active

This reduction in traditional cars was a long time coming. North America consumers have increasingly turned to crossovers, trucks and SUVs over sedans and small cars.

6. For the first time, parents will be able to limit YouTube Kids to human-reviewed channels and recommendations

Launched less than three years ago, YouTube Kids is reaching more than 11 million children weekly. But from a public relations standpoint, the app has been a nightmare.

7. Adtech company BuySellAds acquires a majority stake Digg

Remember Digg?

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