June 19, 2018

Alexa is coming to hotel rooms. It's The Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH
TUESDAY, JUNE 19 2018 By Anthony Ha

Amazon announces a new program designed to bring Alexa into hotel rooms, the World Health Organization says "gaming disorder" is a real thing and a court rules that Apple violated Australia's consumer law. Here's your Daily Crunch for June 19, 2018.

1. Amazon launches an Alexa system for hotels

Amazon has announced a new program called Alexa for Hospitality, where Echo devices are installed in guest rooms. It won't just be your standard Alexa experience — the system can be customized to provide hotel information and allow guests to request things like housekeeping or room service.

Amazon also says this will integrate with existing hotel technology. And it's already signed up a big launch partner: Marriott, which will roll this out in select locations across its various brands.

2. 'Gaming disorder' is officially recognized by the World Health Organization

While you may recognize some of the symptoms in yourself or your friends, the WHO says the prevalence of gaming disorder is actually "very low."

3. BitTorrent is selling for $140M to Justin Sun and Tron

A shareholder tells us says blockchain media startup Tron has two main strategies for BitTorrent: First by using it as a way to "legitimise" Tron's business, and second as a potential network for mining coins.

4. Microsoft says it is "dismayed" by the forced separation of migrant families at the border

Amid employee dissent and calls for a boycott over its cloud-computing deal with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Microsoft issued a statement saying that the company "is dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border."

5. Brex picks up $57M to build an easy credit card for startups

While Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi were giving up on their augmented reality startup inside Y Combinator and figuring out what to do next, they saw their batch mates struggling to get even the most basic corporate credit cards.

6. Apple slapped with $6.6M fine in Australia over bricked devices

That's a tiny amount of money for Apple, but what's interesting is the Australian court's ruling that the company violated Australia's consumer law in its response after iOS updates bricked devices that had been repaired by third parties.

7. Pondering an IPO, cyber security company CrowdStrike raises $200M at over $3B valuation

CrowdStrike has developed security technology that looks at changes in user behavior on networked devices and uses that information to identify potential cyber threats.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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