NEWS AROUND US: July 2019

Wednesday, 31 July 2019

Didi Chuxing and oil giant BP team up to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure in China

Ride-sharing and transportation platform Didi Chuxing announced today that it has formed a joint venture with BP, the British gas, oil and energy supermajor. to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure in China. The charging stations will be available to Didi and non-Didi drivers.

The news of Didi and BP’s joint venture comes one week after Didi announced that it had received funding totaling $600 million from Toyota Motor Corporation. As part of that deal, Didi and Toyota Motor set up a joint venture with GAC Toyota Motor to provide vehicle-related services to Didi drivers.

BP’s first charging site in Guangzhou has already been connected to XAS (Xiaoju Automobile Solutions), which Didi spun out in April 2018 to put all its vehicle-related services into one platform.

XAS is part of Didi Chuxing’s evolution from a ride-sharing company to a mobility services platform, with its services available to other car, transportation and logistics companies. In June, Didi also opened its ride-sharing platform to other companies, enabling its users to request rides from third-party providers in a bid to better compete with apps like Meituan Dianping and AutoNavi, which aggregate several ride-hailing services on their platforms.

Didi says it now offers ride-sharing, vehicle rental and delivery services to 550 million users and covers 1,000 cities through partnerships with Grab, Lyft, Ola, 99 and Bolt (Taxify). The company also claims to be the world’s largest electric vehicle operator with more than 600,000 EVs on its platform.

It also has partnerships with automakers and other car-related companies like Toyota, FAW, Dongfeng, GAC, Volkswagen and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi to collaborate on a platform that uses new energy, AI-based and mobility technologies.

In a press statement, Tufan Erginbilgic, the CEO of BP’s Downstream business, said “As the world’s largest EV market, China offers extraordinary opportunities to develop innovative new businesses at scale and we see this as the perfect partnership for such a fast-evolving environment. The lessons we learn here will help us further expand BP’s advanced mobility business worldwide, helping drive the energy transition and develop solutions for a low carbon world.”

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Bin Laden Family ‘Henchman’ Is Arrested in Philippines

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Debate Night 2: The ‘On Politics’ Breakdown

By LISA LERER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2yqy7sA

What’s on TV Thursday: ‘The Fate of the Furious’ and ‘No One Saw a Thing’

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CNN Democratic Debate Wrap-Up, Night 2

On night two of the Democratic debate, it was all I could do not to lose patience with the entire process. There are too many candidates, too many questions framed in right-wing terms, and too much nonsense.

There were not many memorable moments, but again, I blame that mostly on the debate format and moderators. Any time one of the candidates actually tried to answer in a way that was meaningful, Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, or Don Lemon would interrupt them. It was absurd.

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden were expected to be the main event, but it turned out that Cory Booker was the one who took a bite out of Biden, and on more than one occasion. At one point in the debate, Booker hit Biden on immigration, managing to get the words "shithole country" in his answer.

Julián Castro, on the other hand, turned in the best debate performance of the night by talking about policy, his accomplishments, and largely staying away from attacking any of the other candidates. For my money, he won the debate on the last question, clipped above, where he passionately argued for impeachment proceedings, because to do otherwise would be a gift to Trump. And "Moscow Mitch."

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Education software maker Pearson says data breach affected thousands of accounts in the U.S.

Pearson, the London-based educational software maker, said today that thousands of school and university accounts, mostly in the United States, were affected by a data breach. The company added that it has notified affected users already and that the vulnerability has been fixed.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the data breach happened in November 2018 and Pearson was notified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in March. The perpetrator is still unknown.

According to Pearson, unauthorized access was gained to 13,000 school and university accounts on AIMSweb, the company’s student monitoring and assessment platform. The data exposed included first and last names and, in some cases, date of birth and email addresses. Each account could potentially include information about thousands of students.

Pearson added that it has no evidence that any of the exposed information was misused. It will offer free credit monitoring services to affected users as a “precautionary measure.”

News of Pearson’s data breach comes the same week that Capital One disclosed a massive cyber attack that exposed sensitive information for about 100 million people in the U.S. and 6 million in Canada.

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Your Thursday Briefing

By MELINA DELKIC from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/2GDjCWY

Highlights From Night 2 of the July Democratic Debates

By SARAH KERR and AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2yqwv1V

Your Thursday Briefing

By MELINA DELKIC from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/2ytMcp6

Rebel Foods, which operates more than 235 ‘internet restaurants’ in India, quietly raised $125 million this month

In May, venture capitalist Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital warned in a Financial Times column that Amazon’s recent $575 million investment in the London-based delivery service Deliveroo could prove ominous for local restaurants. Wrote Moritz: “Amazon is now one step away from becoming a multi-brand restaurant company — and that could mean doomsday for many dining haunts.”

Moritz was right to attract more attention to the deal. Deliveroo has begun operating shared kitchens from which it will not simply transport food to customers but eventually prepare it, too. His warning may even have played a role in the recent decision of Britain’s competition regulator to halt work on Amazon’s investment so it can first investigate whether the deal poses competitive concerns.

Moritz knows the playbook because of Sequoia’s early investment in Rebel Foods, formerly known as Faasos, a once-small Pune, India-based company that now prepares a variety of foods in its cloud kitchens. As he says in the same column, Faasos largely pioneered the trend. Still, the growth of the nine-year-old company is a bit breathtaking.

According to Bloomberg, Rebel — which this month raised $125 million in fresh capital from the Indonesian delivery service Go-jek, Coatue Management, and Goldman Sachs — now operates 235 kitchens across 20 Indian cities. And it’s processing two million orders a month. (It calls itself the “world’s largest internet restaurant company.”)

While it began life as a chain of kebab restaurants, that original concept, Faasos, is now just one of eight other brands that Rebel operates, including a tea brand called Kettle & Kegs, a Chinese concept called Mandarin Oak; a pizza brand called Oven Story; and a brand called Behrouz through which Rebel makes and sells slow-cooked rice dishes known as biryani.

Rebel Foods isn’t the only fast-moving operator using cloud kitchens to offer every kind of cuisine imaginable under one roof. Competitors of the company — which tells Bloomberg it is now valued at $525 million — include UberEats and the food delivery company Zomato, which itself has plans to open more than 100 cloud kitchens by the end of this year.

Zomato says it isn’t getting into the food preparation business — yet — but rather renting out facilities, kitchen equipment, and software to restaurants.

Still, it’s little wonder that Rebel is racing headlong into new markets as fast as it can. According to Bloomberg, the company is currently planning to build 100 cloud kitchens in Indonesia over the next 18 months with Go-Jek’s help. It also expects to open 20 cloud kitchen facilities in the United Arab Emirates by December.

Rebel was founded by Jaydeep Barman, a native of Mumbai with an MBA from INSEAD who spent nearly four years with McKinsey before joining forces with business school classmate Kallol Banerjee to launch Faasos.

Despite raising money early on from Sequoia, the company was once at risk of going out of business, in part owing to high rents and employee turnover. As Moritz tells the story, things turned around dramatically when the duo closed their restaurants and opened their first centralized kitchen.

That decision would prove pivotal. Not did Rebel survive, but today, the company tells Bloomberg, the entire operation runs the equivalent of 1,600 restaurants.

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At Debate, Democrats Challenge Biden Over Obama’s Deportation Record

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Yes, the Man Bag Is a Hot Accessory

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Why Lululemon Chief Calvin McDonald Wants to Be an Ironman

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Revolut launches stock trading in limited release

Fintech startup Revolut is launching its stock trading feature today. It’s a Robinhood-like feature that lets you buy and sell shares without any commission. For now, the feature is limited to some Revolut customers with a Metal card.

While Robinhood has completely changed the stock trading retail market in the U.S., buying shares hasn’t changed much in Europe. Revolut wants to make it easier to invest on the stock market.

After topping up your Revolut account, you can buy and hold shares directly from the Revolut app. For now, the feature is limited to 300 U.S.-listed stocks on NASDAQ and NYSE. The company says that it plans to expand to U.K. and European stocks as well as Exchange Traded Funds.

There’s no minimum limit on transactions, which means that you can buy fractional shares for $1 for instance. You can see real-time prices in the Revolut app.

When it comes to fees, Revolut doesn’t charge any fee indeed, but with some caveats. The feature is currently limited to Revolut Metal customers for now. It currently costs £12.99 per month or €13.99 per month to become a Metal customer.

As long as you make less than 100 trades per month, you don’t pay anything other than your monthly subscription. Any trade above that limit costs £1 per trade and an annual custody fee of 0.01%.

Eventually, Revolut will roll out stock trading to other subscription tiers. Revolut Premium will get 8 commission-free trades per month and basic Revolut users will get 3 commission-free trades per month.

Behind the scene, Revolut has partnered with DriveWealth for this feature. This is a nice addition for existing Revolut users. You don’t have to open a separate account with another company and Metal customers in particular get a lot of free trades.

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Calling all hardware startups! Apply to Hardware Battlefield @ TC Shenzhen

Got hardware? Well then, listen up, because our search continues for boundary-pushing, early-stage hardware startups to join us in Shenzhen, China for an epic opportunity; launch your startup on a global stage and compete in Hardware Battlefield at TC Shenzhen on November 11-12.

Apply here to compete in TC Hardware Battlefield 2019. Why? It’s your chance to demo your product to the top investors and technologists in the world. Hardware Battlefield, cousin to Startup Battlefield, focuses exclusively on innovative hardware because, let’s face it, it’s the backbone of technology. From enterprise solutions to agtech advancements, medical devices to consumer product goods — hardware startups are in the international spotlight.

If you make the cut, you’ll compete against 15 of the world’s most innovative hardware makers for bragging rights, plenty of investor love, media exposure and $25,000 in equity-free cash. Just participating in a Battlefield can change the whole trajectory of your business in the best way possible.

We chose to bring our fifth Hardware Battlefield to Shenzhen because of its outstanding track record of supporting hardware startups. The city achieves this through a combination of accelerators, rapid prototyping and world-class manufacturing. What’s more, TC Hardware Battlefield 2019 takes place as part of the larger TechCrunch Shenzhen that runs November 9-12.

Creativity and innovation no know boundaries, and that’s why we’re opening this competition to any early-stage hardware startup from any country. While we’ve seen amazing hardware in previous Battlefields — like robotic arms, food testing devices, malaria diagnostic tools, smart socks for diabetics and e-motorcycles, we can’t wait to see the next generation of hardware, so bring it on!

Meet the minimum requirements listed below, and we’ll consider your startup:

Submit your application to TC Hardware Battlefield 2019 by August 14th
You must have a minimally viable product to demo onstage
Your product has received little if any, press coverage to date
Your product must have a hardware device or component

Here’s how Hardware Battlefield works. TechCrunch editors vet every qualified application and pick 15 startups to compete. Those startups receive six rigorous weeks of free coaching. Forget stage fright. You’ll be prepped and ready to step into the spotlight.

Teams have six minutes to pitch and demo their products, which is immediately followed by an in-depth Q&A with the judges. If you make it to the final round, you’ll repeat the process in front of a new set of judges.

The judges will name one outstanding startup the Hardware Battlefield champion. Hoist the Battlefield Cup, claim those bragging rights and the $25,000. This nerve-wracking thrill-ride takes place in front of a live audience, and we capture the entire event on video and post it to our global audience on TechCrunch.

Hardware Battlefield at TC Shenzhen takes place on November 11-12. Don’t hide your hardware or miss your chance to show us — and the entire tech world — your startup magic. Apply to compete in TC Hardware Battlefield 2019, and join us in Shenzhen!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Hardware Battlefield at TC Shenzhen? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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Samantha Bee Talks Moscow Mitch Attack Ads With Amy McGrath

I’m running to replace Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate. Everything that’s wrong with Washington had to start somewhere—it started with him. With your help, we can defeat Mitch and defend democracy. Join us: https://t.co/c4b0WAp4ji pic.twitter.com/DNLjFkHGua

— Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) July 9, 2019

We deserve better than Mitch McConnell. As a veteran, I take our security—especially the security of our elections—seriously. Unlike my opponent, I won't oppose reasonable measures to protect our elections.

Help us defeat Mitch: https://t.co/jwBss01Rg8

— Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) July 30, 2019

Open thread below...

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C&L's Late Nite Music Club With Madonna's Latest

Rolling Stone:

Madonna celebrates the rebellious spirit and legacy of batuque in the new video for “Batuka,” a track off her most recent album, Madame X.

As a series of title cards explains at the start of the video, batuque is a style of music and dance that was created by women in Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony off the coast of Africa that played a crucial role in the slave trade. Madonna learned about batuque while living in Portugal, where she recorded some of Madame X, and both the song and video for “Batuka” feature the Orquestra Batukadeiras.

The video for “Batuka” was filmed off the coast of Lisbon and finds Madonna and the women of the Orquestra Batukadeiras singing, dancing and clapping in a studio and against the stunning backdrop of the ocean. In an interview with Refinery 29, where the “Batuka” video premiered, Madonna noted that the clip was meant to honor both the legacy of batuque and recreate the pop star’s first meeting with the Orquestra Batukadeiras.

Whatcha listening to this evening?

Dale is on vacation.

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C&L Snap Poll: Who Won The July 31st CNN Democratic Debate?

Tonight begins the second group of Democrats participating in Round II of the Democratic Primary Debates on CNN.

I've listed all ten participants and you can vote for up to three candidates.

Let us know in the comment section how the debate went for you and how you liked the other candidates as well.

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While McConnell Complains About #MoscowMitch, His Constituents Suffer

Earlier this week Mitch McConnel made news when he took to the floor of the Senate to complain about the “McCarthy-style” attacks on his “good name and record”. But what about Kentuckians? How do they feel about #MoscowMitch? While there are no polls to garner a standard pulse on the voters over the issue, you can’t help but wonder if they feel Mitch is more worried about protecting Trump than his own constituents.

Just last week a group of about 120 retired Kentucky coal miners, suffering from black-lung disease, traveled 10 hours on a bus to meet with their Senator. Once they arrived, they were able to talk to his staff for about an hour and merit about one minute of face time with their Senator before he quickly exited. One person in attendance, Jimmy Moore, the head of the Letcher County Black Lung Association, called the meeting “worthless.” Moore added “he might have stayed a minute” and described McConnell’s conduct as “rude.”

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CNN’s Democratic Debate Got a Little Catty, Trevor Noah Says

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Startups BRCK and Swvl partner on free WiFi for Kenyan ride-hail buses

Nairobi based internet hardware and service startup BRCK and Egyptian ride-hail venture Swvl are partnering to bring WiFI and online entertainment to on-demand bus service in Kenya.

BRCK will install its routers on Swvl vehicles in Kenya and run its Moja service, which offers free public WiFi—internet, music, and entertainment—subsidized by commercial partners.

Founded in Cairo in 2017, Swvl is a mass transit service that has positioned itself as an Uber for shared buses. “Think ride hailing, but with a bus…and instead of the vehicle coming to you…you go to the bus, and the bus picks you up at a certain point and time,” Swvl’s general manager for Kenya, Shivachi Muleji, told TechCrunch via email.

The company raised a $42 million Series B round in June, with intent to expand in Africa, Swvl CEO Mostafa Kandil said in an interview.

In Kenya, BRCK has installed 15 of its units in Swvl buses and looks to offer its Moja WiFi service in 700 by 2020, BRCK’s chief operating officer Nivi Sharma told TechCrunch. Swvl pays a monthly fee for the routers and for maintenance of the routers, Swvl confirmed.

Both BRCK and Swvl see a solid fit in pairing up their product offerings. “SWVL’s objectives to provide an alternative in the transportation industry line up nicely with BRCK’s objectives of providing connectivity to commuters,” said BRCK COO Nivi Sharma.

Backed by $10 million from investors including Steve Case’s Revolution VC fund, BRCK built its platform around providing internet solutions in East Africa. Founder Erik Hersman has described Africa’s internet challenges—mainly the lowest penetration rates in the world—as shifting toward more of an affordability than availability problem.

“The demand on internet in Africa is largely driven by the 10 to 15 percent who can afford it. The real massive opportunity is trying to connect the 70 to 80 percent of the people who can’t,” Hersman told TechCrunch in 2017.

SupaPossibleLead1 To that end, BRCK paired up its Africa specific WiFi routers to its Moja service to offer free internet and content supported by commercial partners. Users can access Moja on their mobile phones, tablets, or laptops on public transportation or in public areas. They earn points from their browsing to apply to faster connectivity or premium content.

In 2018, BRCK began offering SupaBRCK devices to drivers of Nairobi’s highly-used Matatu buses for Kenyan commuters to access Moja. In February, the startup acquired Nairobi based internet provide Surf and its network of hotspots.

BRCK acquires ISPs EveryLayer and Surf to boost Africa’s public Wi-Fi

BRCK currently has 445,000 unique monthly active users on its Matatu based Moja mobile network in Kenya and Rwanda and 150,000 unique monthly active users on its fixed network—including users connecting at cafes, barbershops, and marketplaces, according to company data.

Swvl Bus with moja 2 BRCK and Swvl wouldn’t confirm plans on expanding their mobile internet partnership to additional countries outside of Kenya.

Ride-hail markets in Africa have become an active sector for VC investment and global and local startups. The big players such as Uber and Bolt are competing in Kampala and Nairobi—where in addition to car-service—they offer rickshaw taxis.

On-demand motorcycle startups are multiplying and piloting EVs with funds from international partners. And many ride-hail companies in Africa are adapting unique product solutions to local transit needs. The collective startup activity is making the continent home to a number of fresh mobility use-cases, including the BRCK and Svl WiFi partnership.

Africa’s ride-hail markets are hot spots for startups and VC

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A Provocateur on the Front Lines of China’s War of Words With the U.S.

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Tuesday, 30 July 2019

Debate Night: The ‘On Politics’ Breakdown

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In Wisconsin Swing District, a Range of Views on Immigration

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When Lawmakers Try to Ban Assault Weapons, Gunmakers Adapt

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Highlights From Night One of the July Democratic Debates

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Trevor Bauer and Yasiel Puig Are Dealt in 3-Team Trade

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CNN Democratic Debate Wrap-up, Night 1

Marianne Williamson summed up the first debate night well when she called out all the corporate Democrats.

"I almost wonder why you're Democrats," she mused. "You think there's something wrong about using the instruments of government to help people."

"That is what government should do! It should --- all policies should help people thrive. That is how we'll have peace and prosperity," she concluded.

Well, a-damn-men, Marianne. Throughout the night, several candidates (Hickenlooper, Bullock, DELANEY, Ryan) proved they didn't have much in the way of policy, but they were super great at telling everyone watching what couldn't be done. John Delaney was the expert at that, leaving Elizabeth Warren to finally smack him down with an exasperated lament about his 'Can't do' attitude.

The other issue was the moderators, especially Jake Tapper, who insisted on using Republican frames and talking points for the debate questions. That, too, generated complaints from Warren and Sanders. Bernie in particular went after Tapper for continually framing questions in GOP terms.

Pete Buttigieg had some good moments during the debate, and certainly earned the right to come back in September.

In the end, the top three for me were Elizabeth Warren (winner), Pete Buttigieg (solid performance) and Bernie Sanders, who did not stumble.

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Mets Recover From Bullpen Meltdown to Beat White Sox

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What’s on TV Wednesday: ‘Sherman’s Showcase’ and ‘Jane the Virgin’

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Samsung posts 55.6% drop in second-quarter profit as it copes with weak demand and a trade dispute

As it forecast earlier this month, Samsung reported a steep drop in its second-quarter earnings due to lower market demand for chips and smartphones. The company said its second-quarter operating profit fell 55.6% year-over-year to 6.6 trillion won (about $5.6 billion), on consolidated revenue of 56.13 trillion won, slightly above the guidance it issued three weeks ago.

Last quarter, Samsung also reported that its operating profit had dropped by more than half. The same issues that hit its earnings during the first quarter of this year have continued, including lower memory prices as major datacenter customers adjust their inventory, meaning they are currently buying less chips (the weak market also impacted competing semiconductor maker SK Hynix’s quarterly earnings).

Samsung reported that its chip business saw second-quarter operating profit drop 71% year-over-year to 3.4 trillion won, on consolidated revenue of 16.09 trillion won. In the second half of the year, the company expects to continue dealing with market uncertainty, but says demand for chips will increase “on strong seasonality and adoption of higher-density products.”

Meanwhile, Samsung’s mobile business reported a 42% drop in operating profit from a year ago to 1.56 trillion won, on 25.86 trillion won in consolidated revenue. The company said its smartphone shipments increased quarter-over-quarter thanks to strong sales of its budget Galaxy A series. But sales of flagship models fell, due to “weak sales momentum for the Galaxy S10 and stagnant demand for premium products.”

Samsung expects the mobile market to remain lackluster, but it will continue adding to both its flagship and mass-market lineups. It is expected to unveil the Note 10 next month and a new release date for the delayed Galaxy Fold, along with new A series models in the second half of the year.

“The company will promptly respond to the changing business environment, and step up efforts to secure profitability by enhancing efficiency across development, manufacturing and marketing operations,” Samsung said in its earnings release.

It’s not just market demand that’s impacting Samsung’s earnings. Along with other tech companies, Samsung is steeling itself for the long-term impact of a trade dispute between Japan and South Korea. Last month, Japan announced that it is placing export restrictions on some materials used in chips and smartphones. Samsung said it still has stores of those materials, but it is also looking for alternatives since it is unclear how long the dispute between the two countries may last (and it could last for a long time).

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Sex tech startups band together to protest Facebook’s ad policies

There’s a double standard when it comes to the sexualities of men versus women, trans and gender non-conforming folks. Unbound and Dame Products, two sex tech startups, have teamed up to bring attention to the issue.

By launching a website, “Approved, Not Approved” and staging a protest outside Facebook’s NYC headquarters, the two startups hope to bring more awareness to the company’s advertising guidelines that seem to favor products that cater to cisgender men. The point of the digital campaign is to show how ads for sex toys and products geared toward men are more likely to be approved than those for women, trans or gender non-conforming people.

“For so long, advertisements have been how we continue to reinforce the status quo of what we view as societally desirable and validating,” Dame Products CEO Alexandra Fine told TechCrunch. “Since we’re in a category that’s often denied, we wanted to create an experience that illuminates the disparity.”

On Facebook, for example, it’s prohibitive to promote the sale or use of adult products or services except for ads that pertain to family planning and contraception. The policy also requires that ads for contraceptives cannot focus on sexual pleasure or sexual enhancement, and have to be targeted to people 18 years or older.

“They’re never going to view sexual pleasure as necessary — only functionality as necessary,” Fine said. “And since the functioning only matters for one sex, then we’re just encouraging shitty sex or at least one-sided sex. Healthy sex should be pleasurable sex. That’s really what I think is important.”

Facebook, however, clearly disagrees since it explicitly bans ads relating to sexual pleasure.

“We have had open lines of communication with both companies about our policies and are always taking feedback,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We are working to further clarify our policies in this space in the near future.”

Unfortunately, there is no telling if and when Facebook and other platforms will change their advertising policies to enable companies like Dame Products and Unbound to reach potential customers through ads.

“I think a lot of us feel like we’ve been silenced by these platforms and they control so much,” Unbound CEO Polly Rodriguez told TechCrunch. “Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest — these are the channels startups live and die by. Not being able to advertise on them is a big deal because, in addition to the policies being biased and genders, it prevents those founders from being able to reach potential customers.”

Unbound CEO Polly Rodriguez. The startup was a finalist at TC Disrupt SF Startup Battlefield finalist in 2018.

In addition to missing out on potential customers, an inability to advertise can have a detrimental effect on a business in terms of raising venture funding.

“I think one of the most frustrating things is trying to raise a round and getting pushback around where you’ll spend the money,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just tough because it’s this vicious cycle where we could be growing at the same rate as a Him or a Roman. It’s definitely in the tens of millions of dollars in terms of foregone profits.”

In addition to the protest, Fine is suing New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority alleging it’s in violation of Dame’s First Amendment rights, the due process clause of the 14th Amendment and the state’s constitutional rights regarding freedom of speech. The lawsuit came in light of the MTA preventing Dame from running its ads on the subway.

Still, despite efforts to squash it, sex tech may finally be getting its moment in the sun. Earlier this month, the sex tech industry had a big win when the organizer of the Consumer Electronics Show finally decided to allow sex tech companies to exhibit and participate in its competition. That came after the Consumer Technology Association, the organizer of CES, royally messed up with sex tech company Lora DiCarlo last year. The CTA revoked an innovation award from the company, which is developing a hands-free device that uses biomimicry and robotics to help women achieve a blended orgasm by simultaneously stimulating the G-spot and the clitoris. In May, CTA re-awarded the company and apologized.

“It’s so rare you see a victory like that and it was because of the press,” Rodriguez said. “It was because it takes. It’s unfortunate these companies don’t do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. They do the right thing when enough people speak out about it.”

Unbound makes pleasure fashionable

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After Loss to Arizona, Yankees Have Dropped Six of Nine Games

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Brexit and Boris Johnson Send the British Pound on a Slide

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Your Wednesday Briefing

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Sixth Grader Is An Excellent CNN Anchor

MUST WATCH: @jaden_reports is an up and coming super star. #JadenJefferson pic.twitter.com/o3zvZ3otDe

— Christian Martinez (@C_RMartinez) July 30, 2019

Open thread below...

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Bernie Sanders Slams Jake Tapper For Using Republican Talking Points

During the CNN Democratic debate, Jake Tapper was very worried that Democrats would raise taxes on the middle class to pay for Medicare For All. This has been the Republican argument against it.

Amy Klobuchar started arguing with Bernie Sanders about healthcare and supporting the public option.

As Senator Sanders was responding to her he said, "What I am talking about and others up here are talking about is no deductibles and no co-payments and Jake, your question is a Republican talking point."

He continued, "At the end of the day and by the way, and by the way, by the way, the health care industry will be advertising tonight on this program -- "

Tapper tried to cut him off, "Thank you, Senator. Senator Warren, it's your turn."

Bernie interjected, "They will be advertising tonight with that talking point."

Yes, they will. Many on Twitter were complaining that the questions being framed were based on Republican arguments.

Going on minute 20 of the most bullshit framing of the most important issue to Democratic voters, and it’s the only framing mainstream journalists know how to bring to it.

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) July 31, 2019

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C&L's Late Nite Music Club With Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato's huge 2008 single from her debut album featured "wait, what?" censorship.

The album version lyrics say "Kiss me, like you mean it, like you miss me."

The single radio version says "Hold me, like you mean it, like you miss me," spoiling the rhyme for no reason. Unless the promoters thought Disney's teenybopper audience couldn't handle kissing on a song.

What are you listening to this evening?

Dale is on vacation.

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C&L Snap Poll: Who Won Tuesday's CNN Democratic Debate?

Tonight begins round II of the Democratic Primary Debates on CNN.

I've listed all ten participants in alphabetical order and you can vote for up to three candidates.

Let us know in the comment section how the debate went for you and how you liked the other candidates as well.

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Elizabeth Warren Crushes John Delaney's 'Can't Do' Attitude

John Delaney brought his right wing arguments against Medicare for All to the CNN Democratic Debate, kowtowing to the health insurance companies, but Elizabeth Warren was there to smack him down.

After Delaney's repeated claims that we can't do big things with healthcare with Hickenlooper and Bullock as backup singers, Senator Warren looked at him, perplexed. "I don't understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for the President of the United States to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for," she said.

The audience broke out in cheers.

She continued with conviction, "I don't get it. Our biggest problem in Washington is corruption. It is giant corporations that have taken our government and that are holding it by the throat, and we need to have the courage to fight back against that and until we're ready to do that, it's just more of the same."

"Well, I'm ready to get in this fight. I'm ready to win this fight," Sen. Warren said.

She continued, "Insurance companies do not have a god-given right to suck money out of our health care system."

This was definitely a moment and one that was well-received.

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Drone crash near kids leads Swiss Post and Matternet to suspend autonomous deliveries

A serious crash by a delivery drone in Switzerland have grounded the fleet and put a partnership on ice. Within a stone’s throw of a school, the incident raised grim possibilities for the possibilities of catastrophic failure of payload-bearing autonomous aerial vehicles.

The drones were operated by Matternet as part of a partnership with the Swiss Post (i.e. the postal service), which was using the craft to dispatch lab samples from one medical center for priority cases. As far as potential applications of drone delivery, it’s a home run — but twice now the craft have crashed, first with a soft landing and the second time a very hard one.

The first incident, in January, was the result of a GPS hardware error; the drone entered a planned failback state and deployed its emergency parachute, falling slowly to the ground. Measures were taken to improve the GPS systems.

The second failure in May, however, led to the drone attempting to deploy its parachute again, only to sever the line somehow and plummet to earth, crashing into the ground some 150 feet from a bunch of kindergartners. No one was hit but this narrowly avoided being a worst-case scenario for the service: not just a craft failing, but the emergency systems failing as well, and over not just a populated area but immediately over a bunch of children. The incident was documented last month but not widely reported.

Falling from a few hundred feet, the 12-kilogram (about 26 pounds) drone and payload could easily have seriously injured or even killed someone — this is why there are very strict regulations about flying over populated areas and crowds.

A first look at Amazon’s new delivery drone

Obviously they grounded the fleet following this incident and will not spin up again until Matternet addresses the various issues involved. How was it even possible, for instance, that the parachute line was capable of being cut by something on the drone?

In a statement to IEEE Spectrum, which recently noted the news stateside, Matternet said that it “had never seen a failure like that in the past, neither in our expensive (sic) testing nor in commercial operations.” (Presumably they meant extensive.) The company issued a slightly different statement to TechCrunch:

This is the first time ever that our vehicle parachute system has failed. As stated in the report, the flight termination system was triggered nominally per the drone’s specification, but the parachute cord was severed during the parachute deployment.

At Matternet, we take the safety of our technology and operations extremely seriously. A failure of the parachute safety mechanism system is unacceptable and we are taking all the appropriate measures to address it.

Swiss Post and Matternet reacted to the incident immediately by grounding all the operations involving this vehicle type. Our experts analyzed the incident and proposed the appropriate mitigations which are being evaluated by FOCA. We will restart operations once Matternet and Swiss Post, FOCA and our hospital customers in Switzerland are satisfied that the appropriate mitigations have been applied.

Drone delivery is a promising field, but situations like this one don’t do it any favors when regulators take a look. Despite sunny predictions from the industry, there is a huge amount of work yet to be done in terms of flight proving the technology, and although 2 failures out of some 3,000 may not sound like a lot, if one of those failures is an uncontrolled fall that nearly takes out some kids, that could set the entire industry back.

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California Requires Trump's Tax Returns For Ballot Eligibility

California Governor Gavin Newsom is tossing the gauntlet at Trump's feet.

On Tuesday, Newsom signed a law requiring that all presidential candidates submit five years of income tax filings to be eligible for the ballot. To secure a spot on California’s presidential primary ballot in March, returns must be submitted by late November.

“As one of the largest economies in the world and home to one in nine Americans eligible to vote, California has a special responsibility to require this information of presidential and gubernatorial candidates,” Newsom said in a statement, after signing the bill. “These are extraordinary times and states have a legal and moral duty to do everything in their power to ensure leaders seeking the highest offices meet minimal standards, and to restore public confidence. The disclosure required by this bill will shed light on conflicts of interest, self-dealing, or influence from domestic and foreign business interest.”

Will this be tied up in the courts? Is it unconstitutional? I like this thinking:

It seems like it ought to be but Article II states "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors" so it would be a rather remarkable piece of judicial reasoning.

— Jay McKinnon (@opendna) July 30, 2019

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New & Noteworthy Books, From Italian History to Asian Politics

By Unknown Author from NYT Books https://ift.tt/331yCaI

How a Group of Heretical Thinkers Chipped Away at the Idea of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’

By JENNIFER SZALAI from NYT Books https://ift.tt/2ZjB9e4

Why this Nigerian fintech startup is volunteering audited financials

Nigerian fintech firm Carbon — an early stage financial services startup based in Lagos — has posted financials audited by KPMG on its website.

This comes four months after the company obtained a credit rating as a pre-IPO venture. Carbon — which recently rebranded its OneFi holding company and PayLater product titles into one name — plans to continue releasing its financial results on an annual basis, co-Founder and CEO Chijioke Dozie told TechCrunch.

This may not be totally unheard of in other global tech markets, but for startups in Africa’s big tech hubs — such as Nigeria — it’s a rarity.

One of the first glimpses into startup financials in Nigeria came when Jumia shareholder, Rocket Internet, went public in 2014, which required it to include limited Jumia data in its annual report. The accompanying prospectus to Jumia’s listing this year on the New York Stock Exchange offered the most expansive financial data to date on a tech venture operating in Africa.

Prior to this — and still for the most part — companies in the continent’s (mostly) pre-public (earlier stage) startup hubs — such as Nigeria — provide little to no financial performance info.

“Typically, in the local market, we have not seen a lot of voluntary transparency or the availability of data,” said Lexi Novitske — a Lagos based VC investor at Acuity Venture Partners.

“Most startups are concerned such disclosure could expose losses, give market intel to competitors, or attract unwanted attention from regulators. It could also lead to negative negotiation leverage if partners saw that they were making good returns.”

So why’d Carbon go to the trouble of putting its pre-public accounting out in the open for anyone to see?

Clients and recruiting were two reasons. “From a customer perspective, we are trying to get people to trust us with their financial services…so they can see this is the institution I’m dealing with and this is their financial position,” explained Carbon’s Dozie.

Carbon has evolved from its original focus as an online lender, to offer a broader array of mobile-based financial services — including payments, investment products, credit reports, and business banking services. In March, the company acquired Nigerian payment solutions company Amplify for an undisclosed amount.

By stats offered by Briter Bridges and a 2018 WeeTracker survey, fintech now receives the bulk of VC capital and deal-flow to African startups, many of which are attempting to reach the continent’s large unbanked and underbanked populations.

Nigerian fintech startup OneFi acquires payment company Amplify

Carbon fits into that category and its CEO believes being up front about the startup’s financial position will attract top talent. “From a recruitment perspective, we want recruits to know we have good prospects — that this is a company that’s doing well and wants to keep doing well,” said Dozie.

That impression is buoyed by Carbon’s initial results, which were fairly positive for a Series A stage startup. The company had revenues in 2018 of $10 million, according to its online annual report, and turned a profit of around $500,000.

It’s helped with recruiting interest, according to Dozie, who said he’d marked an increase in candidates inquiring about open positions since the results were posted.

Carbon Financial Results 2018 Nigeria Fintech II

The other reasons to volunteer financial data is to reassure investors (current and potential), shake off stereotypes for Nigeria, and better position Carbon globally.

“When you look at some of these challenger banks in the West, and you look at their numbers and our numbers, we could easily fit in with Monzo, N26, or Atom,” said Dozie.

“But we don’t get considered because investors don’t really think that you can get the results or this performance in the markets that we’re in,” he added — noting that Carbon has operations in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa and is considering expansion in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, and Egypt.

Investor Lexi Novitske thinks Carbon offering financial performance data is a good thing for Africa’s tech ecosystem. “The move builds trust from clients, partners, or investors in a market where there is not a lot of openness,” she said. “I am encouraged to see how other companies will react. My hope is that more will openly report their own metrics…”

Carbon CEO Chijioke Dozie says the company will continue to post audited financials on an annual basis, even if they show losses. If the startup continues to expand, attract capital, talent, and grow revenues, other Nigerian fintech firms may follow suit.

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