Black Friday & Cyber Monday broke records with $1B+ in mobile payment volume – TechCrunch

Black Friday broke records in terms of sales made from mobile devices, according to reports last week from Adobe. This week, PayPal said it saw a similar trend during the Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday shopping event. PayPal saw a record-breaking $1 billion+ in mobile payment volume for the first time ever on Black Friday — a milestone it hit again on Cyber Monday.

Mobile payment volume on Black Friday was up 42 percent over Black Friday 2017, the company said, and it even outpaced the mobile payment volume on Cyber Monday this year.

However, Cyber Monday saw more total payment volume, likely because much of the shopping that takes place that day comes from office workers back at their desktops, wrapping up a few more purchases.

Worldwide, mobile payment volume from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday accounted for a significant 43 percent of PayPal’s total payment volume. Between those days, PayPal was processing more than $25,000 per second, with more than $11,000 per second processed on mobile.

The peak hour took place on Black Friday, which shows the sales event has shifted much of its business online. It’s now coming close to topping Cyber Monday in terms of both online and mobile shopping, PayPal noted.

PayPal’s data also pointed to another trend: that of the blurring of the line as to when holiday shopping begins and ends. Many retailers these days are launching their deals on Thanksgiving or even earlier, then allowing them to run for the week of Black Friday or longer.

Amazon, for example, has decided to capitalize on its own Black Friday/Cyber Monday momentum by launching a “12 Days of Deals” event that will feature hundreds of new deals every day from Sunday December 2 through Thursday December 13.

Other times, the shopping starts early, as PayPal’s data shows. Thanksgiving has now become another major shopping day, the company said, having broken into the top 10 shopping days of the year. It also grew 41 percent over last year.

E-commerce spending wasn’t the only thing that’s up year-over-year, PayPal also found. On Giving Tuesday — the event focused on donating to charities and other worthwhile causes — PayPal said more than a million customers from 180 markets donated $98 million this year. That’s a 51 percent increase from 2017, it said.

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Celebrities in Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” Music Video

After much anticipation, Ariana Grande finally dropped her music video for "Thank U, Next," and it's full of celebrity cameos (15, to be exact). Given that the video pays homage to our favorite rom-coms from the early 2000s — Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, 13 Going on 30, and Bring It On — it makes sense that Ariana tapped some of the characters from the films. Yep, we're talking about Jennifer Coolidge and Jonathan Bennett! Not to mention, Kris Jenner also makes a hilarious appearance. See all the cameos you might have missed ahead.

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Facebook adds free TV shows Buffy, Angel, Firefly to redefine Watch – TechCrunch

Facebook hasn’t had a hit show yet for its long-form video hub Watch, so it’s got a new plan: digging up some deceased cult favorites from television. First up, Facebook is making all episodes of Joss Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly free on Facebook Watch. There’ll be simultaneous viewing Watch Parties where fans can live-comment together for Buffy at 3 pm PT today, Angel tomorrow at 12 pm PT and Firefly on Sunday at 12 pm PT. Facebook recruited Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar to promote the launch.

These shows aren’t original, and they’re far from exclusive, as they’re included in a Hulu subscription and are available to rent or buy on other platforms. But at least they’re not run-of-the-mill web content. With Facebook’s remake of MTV’s Real World not arriving until Spring 2019, these sci-fi and horror shows are the most high-profile programs available on the free ad-supported streaming service. The hope is that fans of these shows will come get a taste of Watch, and then explore the rest of its programming.

However, Facebook downplayed this as a change is overarching strategy when I asked if it would be licensing more old TV shows. Instead, it’s trying to build a well-rounded mix of content. A Facebook spokesperson provided this statement:

No – this doesn’t reflect a strategy shift. We’re focused on bringing content to Watch that people want to discuss and create a community around — whether that’s live sports like UEFA Champions League in Latin America, compelling shows like Sorry For Your Loss, Queen America and Sacred Lies, or even nostalgia content like Real World reboot we’re bringing to Watch next year. Buffy, Firefly and Angel are pop culture favorites with dedicated fan bases, and we’re excited for the opportunity to bring these shows back in a way that enables fans to watch and discuss together on the same platform.

There’s no guarantee Whedon fans will flock to Watch in droves. [TechCrunch owner] Verizon tried the same thing, bringing Veronica Mars and Babylon 5 to its Go90 streaming service. That failed to move the needle and Go90 eventually shut down. Meanwhile, Watch Party’s simultaneous viewing hasn’t blossomed into a phenomenon, but perhaps bringing the feature to Messenger (which TechCrunch reports Facebook is internally testing) could more naturally spur these social consumption experiences.

Watch has made some progress since its lackluster August 2017 debut. Indeed, 50 million people now spend at least 1 minute per month with Watch. For comparison, more than 18 Snapchat Shows have over 10 million unique viewers per month. Facebook Watch users spend 5X longer watching than on clips discovered on News Feed videos. But Facebook Watch really needs to pour the cash in necessary to secure a tent-pole series — its Game of Thrones or House of Cards. That might mesh well with its new strategy of conceding the younger audience that’s abandoning Facebook in favor of targeting older users, CNBC reported.

With so much free video content floating around and plenty of people already subscribing to Netflix, Hulu and/or HBO, it’s been tough for Watch to gain traction when it’s so far outside the understood Facebook use case. Laying a bed of diverse content is a good baby step, but it needs something truly must-see if it’s going to wedge its way into our viewing habits.

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E Ink debuts a new electronic drawing technology – TechCrunch

E Ink — a name synonymous with e-reader screens — just debuted a new writing Display technology called JustWrite. The tech offers the company’s familiar monochrome aesthetic — albeit in negative this time, with white on black.

The key here, as with most of E Ink’s technology is minimal power consumption and low cost, the latter of which it was able to accomplish by dumping the TFT (thin-film-transistor LCD). Instead, it’s a thin roll that could be used to paper surfaces like conference rooms and schools, in order to let people write on the walls using a stylus with practically no latency, as evidenced in the below GIF. 

“The JustWrite film features one of E Ink’s proprietary electronic inks and offers similar benefits as E Ink’s other product lines: a paper-like experience with a good contrast and reflective display without a backlight,” the company writes. “The JustWrite film is an all plastic display, making it extremely durable and lightweight, with the ability to be affixed and removed easily, enabling writing surfaces in a variety of locations.”

The technology could go head to head with the likes of Sony and reMarkable on drawing tablets, but E Ink appears to be more interested in embedded it in non-traditional surfaces. No word yet on how or when it will come to market, though the company is showing it off in person for the first time this week at an event in Tokyo.

Facebook is now streaming every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly

TV and Movie Weddings of 2018

For a number of your favorite onscreen couples, it's been quite a romantic year. Although 2018 isn't over just yet, everyone from Fifty Shades Freed's Anastasia and Christian to The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon and Amy have made things official with gorgeous wedding ceremonies. Since we're closing out wedding season in the real world, there's no better time to take a look at the most beautiful onscreen marriages we've gotten the chance to see so far this year. And if you're feeling nostalgic, check out last year's biggest fictional fairy tale weddings!

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U.S. mobile app stores had their biggest day ever on Black Friday 2018 – TechCrunch

Black Friday wasn’t just a boon for e-commerce retailers, it helped the mobile app stores break new records, too. According to a new report from Sensor Tower, the combined consumer spending across the U.S. Apple App Store and Google Play on Black Friday 2018 reached $75.9 million – a record for the most ever spent in a single day on both stores.

The App Store accounted for most of that figure, however, with U.S. consumers spending a record $52 million on Black Friday. That’s a 31.6 percent increase in spending over last year’s shopping event, when consumers then spent $39.5 million.

It’s also notably higher than Christmas 2017, when spending reached $39.8 million – typically a strong day for app purchases and in-app sales, as consumers unwrap new iPhones.

The App Store’s $52 million was more than double the $23.9 million spent on Google Play during the same time.

Sensor Tower attributes the increased spending to a variety of factors, largely driven by mobile gaming. Game makers this year got in on the Black Friday action by offering players discounts on in-app purchases and other special bundles.

On the U.S. App Store, mobile gaming accounted for 68 percent of Black Friday spending, with consumers spending $35.4 million on games. That’s a 63 percent increase from the week prior, the report notes.

Other categories saw a boost, too, including Food & Drink and Sports – both reflective of the leisure time consumers had over the holidays. Food & Drink grew 34 percent while Sports grew 49 percent, Sensor Tower found, with top apps like NYT Cooking and ESPN: Live Sports and Scores benefitting from the surge.

Though the Black Friday shopping holiday is heavily associated with the U.S. because of its ties to Thanksgiving, the sales event is making its way around the world, too.

On the mobile app stores, that meant worldwide consumer spending saw a jump this year, as well.

The firm found that $117.3 million was spent by App Store users outside the United States on Black Friday, bringing the global total to $169.3 million, up 18.4 percent from 2017. The spending outside the U.S. was up 13.9 percent year-over-year, but that’s lower than the U.S.’s year-over-year growth of 31.6 percent between Black Friday 2017 and Black Friday 2018.

Also of note: while Amazon had its biggest day ever on Cyber Monday 2018, Cyber Monday didn’t perform as well on the app stores. In the U.S., app revenue was up about 20 percent versus the previous Cyber Monday to reach an estimated $37 million.

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Kylie Jenner Riding a Roller Coaster at Travis Scott Concert

Kylie Jenner is living it up on Travis Scott's Astroworld tour! On Wednesday, the 21-year-old reality TV star joined her boyfriend on stage during his show at NYC's Madison Square Garden. But it wasn't just any normal appearance — Kylie got a taste of the rock-star life as she and Travis rode in an epic roller coaster that suspended above the audience. Travis sang his hit "Can't Say," and things got even better when he turned around and sang directly to Kylie. "@trvisXX singing to @KylieJenner in the roller coaster at @TheGarden was the best part of the night," one fan tweeted. Naturally, Kylie also documented the moment on her Instagram Stories, writing, "That's me!"

Kylie and Travis have been going strong since April 2017, and this past February, they welcomed their adorable daughter, Stormi. The 9-month-old also happens to be on the road with her parents, and earlier this week, Kylie shared an adorable video of Stormi watching her dad perform. Aw!

These New Workout Tracks Are on Fire

It may be freakin’ cold outside.

via GIPHY

But these new workout tracks? They are en fuego!

via GIPHY

Solara, Smashing Pumpkins

The Pumpkins are back and rocking, yo.

Superlove, Whethan featuring Oh Wonder

Not crazy fast, but with a good beat, you might say we have … wait for it … superlove for this song.

Without You, Justin de Mari

The beat is perfect for running — or dancing in your living room.

Dip, Tyga featuring Nicki Minaj

Lots of language, but just try to listen and not move …

Ever Again, Robyn

A little slower than some of our other fave Robyn songs (like, all of the “Body Talk” album), but we are DIGGING IT.

Make Up, Vice & Jason Derulo featuring Ava Max

And we saved the best for last … (OBSESSED with this one!)

Like always (and forever), here it is on Spotify for you to stream and sweat to! (And, while you’re there, check out our podcast, too.)

What tracks are firing up your workouts right now? —Jenn

GCHQ’s not-so-smart idea to spy on encrypted messaging apps is branded ‘absolute madness’ – TechCrunch

Nobody wants to be a third wheel. Unless you’re a British spy.

Two of the most senior officials at British eavesdropping agency GCHQ say one way that law enforcement could access encrypted messages is to simply add themselves to your conversations.

“It’s relatively easy for a service provider to silently add a law enforcement participant to a group chat or call,” said Ian Levy, technical director of the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center, and Crispin Robinson, cryptanalysis director at GCHQ, in an op-ed for Lawfare.

“The service provider usually controls the identity system and so really decides who’s who and which devices are involved — they’re usually involved in introducing the parties to a chat or call,” they said. “You end up with everything still being end-to-end encrypted, but there’s an extra ‘end’ on this particular communication.”

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have long wanted access to encrypted communications, but have faced strong opposition to breaking the encryption for fears that it would put everyone’s communications at risk, rather than the terror suspects or criminals that the police primarily want to target. In this case, two people using an end-to-end encrypted messaging app would be joined by a third, invisible person — the government — which could listen in at will.

This solution, Levy and Robinson say, would be “no more intrusive than the virtual crocodile clips” that lawmakers have already authorized police to use to wiretap communications.

Presumably that would require compelled assistance from the tech companies that built the encrypted messaging apps in the first place, like Apple, Facebook’s WhatsApp, Signal, Wire and Wickr. That poses not only an ethical problem for the companies, which developed their own end-to-end encrypted services so that even they can’t access people’s communications, but also a technical one, which would require the government to ask a court to compel the companies to rework their own technologies to allow government spies in.

It wouldn’t be the first time the government’s pushed for compelled assistance.

Only recently that the U.S. government lost its bid to force Facebook to re-architect its Messenger app to allow the government to listen in on suspected gang members. And not just the U.S. or the U.K.. Russia, the west’s favorite frenemy, forced Telegram, another encrypted messaging app, to turn over its private keys in an effort to allow its intelligence agencies to snoop in on possible kompromat.

Suffice to say, the U.K.’s plan has drawn strong criticism.

The conversation on exceptional access is a non-starter until the pro- side actually can come up with schemes that work that would satisfy them… this is weak sauce: https://t.co/rYGBizvr9J

— Joseph Lorenzo Hall (@JoeBeOne) November 29, 2018

This proposal for an encryption backdoor by Ian Levy and Crispin Robinson is deeply troubling. Among other concerns, it will severely undermine trust in the services that are subject to any such order – an equity the authors claim to prioritize. https://t.co/zovrsXJFm6

— Robyn Greene (@Robyn_Greene) November 29, 2018

And NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, an outspoken commentator and critic of global surveillance, branded the move “absolute madness.”

Absolute madness: the British government wants companies to poison their customers' private conversations by secretly adding the government as a third party, meaning anyone on your friend list would become "your friend plus a spy." No company-mediated identity could be trusted. https://t.co/8CwoZfBM3K

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) November 29, 2018

“No company-mediated identity could be trusted,” said Snowden, suggesting that the move would effectively render the trust in any end-to-end encrypted messaging app redundant.

Exactly what the U.K.’s solution looks like isn’t entirely clear, but Mustafa Al-Bassam, a PhD student at University College London, said that the ability for users to verify their keys — which proves the identity of a person in a conversation — in an end-to-end messaging app is “is going to be increasingly important” to prevent government manipulation.

WhatsApp and Signal, for example, tell you when a user’s key changes, indicating that a new device is in use — and requires verification — or that a device has been manipulated by a third-party and that the conversation isn’t secure.

“They’re proposing to exploit the fact that users don’t verify each other’s public keys, and inject bad keys,” said Al-Bassam.

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Richard Madden Rewatches Game of Thrones Red Wedding GQ 2018

It's been five years since Game of Thrones aired its series-changing red wedding scene, featured in the season three episode "The Rains of Castamere," and it's still utterly shocking. The scene sees King Robb Stark; his wife, Talisa; his mom, Catelyn; and his devoted bannermen getting massacred in an impromptu attack . . . at a wedding reception, no less. British GQ recently asked Richard Madden, who portrayed Robb, to rewatch the scene — to which he said, "I think it's really rude you've made me watch this."

The actor admitted he was nervous to rewatch the scene because he ended up in tears the first time he watched it with his costar Michelle Fairley, who portrayed Catelyn. Though he didn't cry this time, Madden did share plenty of behind-the-scenes tidbits and anecdotes. All in all, his walk down memory lane only further proves just how wild the plot twist is.

Don’t miss out on free tickets to Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 – TechCrunch

Sorry folks. If you wanted to buy a ticket to Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 you’re out of luck. We’re sold out. However, you could be one of the lucky few to score a free ticket to our day-long startup-pitch extravaganza in Lagos, Nigeria on 11 December. We have a limited number of tickets available, so apply for your free ticket here — before they’re all gone.

Don’t miss 15 of the continent’s top early-stage startup founders as they launch their companies on a global stage in front of a live, enthusiastic audience. Choosing the Startup Battlefield competitors from hundreds of applications was no easy feat — a testament to the depth and creativity of the region’s growing startup scene.

A quick reminder of how Startup Battlefield works. The 15 teams compete in three preliminary rounds — five startups per round. They get only six minutes to pitch and present a live demo to a panel of expert technologists and VC investors. After each pitch, the judges have six minutes to grill the team with tough questions. That’s when all the free pitch-coaching they received from TechCrunch editors will come in handy.

If you’re curious about the judges, here are just a few of the many experts we’ve tapped to pick the Startup Battlefield champion.

• Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, founder and chief executive of blueMoon, Ethiopia’s first youth agribusiness/agritech incubator and seed investor
• Erik Hersman, CEO of BRCK, a rugged wireless Wi-Fi device designed and engineered in Kenya for use throughout the emerging markets
• Sangu Delle, co-founder and managing director of Africa Health Holdings, based in West Africa and focused on “building Africa’s healthcare future”

And if you’re curious about the stakes, the winning founders receive the Battlefield Cup, US$25,000 in no-equity cash plus a trip for two and the opportunity to compete in Startup Battlefield at a TechCrunch Disrupt in 2019.

While the Startup Battlefield is the crown jewel, it’s by no means the only event of the day. We’ve scheduled an impressive agenda filled with presentations from the region’s leading experts discussing a range of topics. For example, Kola Aina, CEO and founder of Lagos-based Ventures Platform, will be on hand to discuss venture capital investing. And Flutterwave’s IIyinoluwa Aboyeji will share his take on blockchain.

The competitors are busy preparing for battle, the speakers are ready to dive deep on their respective topics. You’re the remaining piece of the puzzle. Apply now for a free ticket to Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 and join us on 11 December in Lagos, Nigeria to celebrate these exceptional African startups.

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Insurance startup Bright Health raises $200M at ~$950M valuation – TechCrunch

A flurry of digital-first insurers are betting they can surpass industry incumbents with a little help from technology and a lot of help from venture capitalists.

The latest to land a massive check is Bright Health, a Minneapolis-headquartered provider of affordable individual, family and Medicare Advantage healthcare plans in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, New York City, Ohio and Tennessee. The company, founded by the former chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare Bob Sheehy; Kyle Rolfing, the former CEO of UnitedHealth-acquired Definity Health; and Tom Valdivia, another former Definity Health executive, has brought in a $200 million Series C.

The funding values Bright Health at $950 million, according to PitchBook — more than double the $400 million valuation it garnered with its $160 million Series B in June 2017. Sheehy, Bright Health’s CEO, declined to comment on the valuation. New investors Declaration Partners and Meritech Capital participated in the round, with backing from Bessemer Venture Partners, Greycroft, NEA, Redpoint Ventures and others. Bright Health has raised a total of $440 million since early 2016.

VCs have deployed significantly more capital to the insurance technology (insurtech) space in recent years. Startups in the industry, long-known for a serious dearth of innovation, have raked in nearly $3 billion in private capital this year. U.S.-based insurtech startups have raised $2 billion in 2018, a record year for the sector and more than double last year’s total.

Deal count, meanwhile, is swelling. In 2016, there were 72 deals conducted in the space, followed by 86 in 2017 and 94 so far this year, again, according to PitchBook’s data.

Oscar Health, the health insurance provider led by Josh Kushner, is responsible for about 25 percent of the capital invested in U.S. insurtech startups this year. The company has raised a total of $540 million across two notable deals in 2018. The first saw Oscar pulling in $165 million at a $3 billion valuation and the second, announced in August, had Alphabet investing a whopping $375 million. Devoted Health, a Waltham, Mass.-based Medicare Advantage startup, followed up with a massive round of its own. The company nabbed $300 million and announced that it would begin enrolling members to its Medicare Advantage plan in eight Florida counties. Devoted is led by Todd Park, the co-founder of Athenahealth and Castlight Health.

Bright Health co-founders Bob Sheehy, CEO; Tom Valdivia, chief medical officer; and Kyle Rolfing, president

VC’s interest in insurtech isn’t limited to healthcare.

Hippo, which sells home insurance plans at lower premiums, officially launched in 2017 and has brought in $109 million to date. Earlier this month the company announced a $70 million Series C funding round led by Felicis Ventures and Lennar Corporation. Lemonade, which is similarly an insurer focused on homeowners, raised $120 million in a SoftBank-led round late last year. And Root Insurance, an app-based car insurance company founded in 2015, itself raised a $100 million Series D led by Tiger Global Management in August. The financing valued the company at $1 billion.

Together, these companies have raised well over $1 billion this year alone. Why? Because building a health insurance platform is incredibly cash-intensive and particularly difficult given the breadth of incumbents like Aetna or UnitedHealth. Sheehy, considering his 20-year tenure at UnitedHealthcare, may be especially well-positioned to disrupt the industry.

The opportunity here for investors and startups alike is huge; the health insurance market alone is forecasted to be worth more than $1 trillion by 2023. Companies that can leverage technology to create consumer-friendly, efficient and, most importantly, reasonably priced insurance options stand to win big.

As for Bright Health, the company plans to use its $200 million infusion to rapidly expand into new markets, planning to triple its geographic footprint in 2019.

“Bright Health has continued to execute at a fast pace towards our goal of disrupting the old health care model that places insurers at odds with providers,” Sheehy said in a statement. “[Its] current high re-enrollment rate shows that consumers are ready for this improved healthcare experience – especially when it is priced competitively.”

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AWS announces a slew of new Lambda features – TechCrunch

AWS launched Lambda in 2015 and with it helped popularize serverless computing. You simply write code (event triggers) and AWS deals with whatever compute, memory and storage you need to make that work. Today at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, the company announced several new features to make it more developer friendly, while acknowledging that even while serverless reduced complexity, it still requires more sophisticated tools as it matures

It’s called serverless because you don’t have to worry about the underlying servers. The cloud vendors take care of all that for you, serving whatever resources you need to run your event and no more. It means you no longer have to worry about coding for all your infrastructure and you only pay for the computing you need at any given moment to make the application work.

The way AWS works is that it tends to release something, then builds more functionality on top of a base service as it sees increasing requirements as customers use it. As Amazon CTO Werner Vogels pointed out in his keynote on Thursday, developers debate about tools and everyone has their own idea of what tools they bring to the task every day.

For starters, they decided to please the language folks introducing support for new languages. Those developers who use Ruby can now use Ruby Support for AWS Lambda. “Now it’s possible to write Lambda functions as idiomatic Ruby code, and run them on AWS. The AWS SDK for Ruby is included in the Lambda execution environment by default,” Chris Munns from AWS wrote in a blog post introducing the new language support.

If C++ is your thing, AWS announced C++ Lambda Runtime. If neither of those match your programming language tastes, AWS opened it up for just about any language with the new Lambda Runtime API, which Danilo Poccia from AWS described in a blog post as “a simple interface to use any programming language, or a specific language version, for developing your functions.”

AWS didn’t want to stop with languages though. They also recognize that even though Lambda (and serverless in general) is designed to remove a level of complexity for developers, that doesn’t mean that all serverless applications consist of simple event triggers. As developers build more sophisticated serverless apps, they have to bring in system components and compose multiple pieces together, as Vogels explained in his keynote today.

To address this requirement, the company introduced Lambda Layers, which they describe as “a way to centrally manage code and data that is shared across multiple functions.” This could be custom code used by multiple functions or a way to share code used to simplify business logic.

As Lambda matures, developer requirements grow and these announcements and others are part of trying to meet those needs.

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History of the Elder Wand in Harry Potter

The Elder Wand is kind of a big deal in Harry Potter lore, up there with the soul-storing horcruxes and immortalizing Sorcerer's Stone. The actual power of the wand has never been extensively discussed, but many a Potter maniac knows how powerful wizards have fought and killed over it. It's key in Harry's final showdown with Voldemort and pops up again in Grindelwald's hand in the Fantastic Beasts prequel franchise.

If you wanted to know the comprehensive and very gory history behind the wand, you're in luck. Keep reading to learn about its known owners and masters. We'll cover the whole shebang, discussing the wand's context in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Antioch Peverell

An aggressive man, Antioch was found living during the 13th century with his younger brothers Cadmus and Ignotus. According to The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the Peverell brothers outwit death, which gifts the elder wand to Antioch and the resurrection stone and invisibility cloak to his brothers. All three objects form the Deathly Hallows, and with all of them, one could master death. At a pub, the eldest brother later gets in over his head by drunkenly bragging about how his powerful wand helped him win a duel. A pub patron later slits Antioch's throat and steals the legendary wand. The story makes for good folklore, but it's likely that Antioch and his brothers were merely very gifted wizards who either created or came across the Hallows.

Emeric the Evil

Emeric terrorizes the South of England in the early Middle Ages. He's the first well-documented account of someone with a wand made of elder.

Egbert the Egregious

He kills off Emeric in a duel.

Godelot

Living a century after Egbert, he writes Magick Moste Evile as he studies the Elder Wand.

Hereward

Not much to say about him, except that he locks his father Godelot up in a cellar to die after stealing his wand.

Barnabas Deverill

Barnabas is a notoriously evil wizard in the 18th century who uses the wand to hype up how bad he is until Loxias kills him.

Loxias

He calls the Elder Wand "the Deathstick." Ownership of the wand gets murky after him because many people claimed that they killed him, including his own mother. In Deathly Hallows, Mr. Lovegood suggests that it could've also been a wizard named Arcus or Livius who defeated Loxias.

Mykew Gregorovitch

Gregorovitch acquires the Elder Wand in his younger years as a wandmaker. He starts a rumor that he has the most powerful wand in the world and has plans to replicate it for business. This gets in the ears of Grindelwald, who steals it. Many years later, Voldemort goes to the wandmaker to figure out where the Elder Wand is. Gregorovitch doesn't know and begs for mercy, but, of course, Voldemort kills him.

Gellert Grindelwald

Teenage Grindelwald steals the wand from Gregorovitch, stunning the wandmaker shortly after. The Fantastic Beasts franchise has fed speculations that Newt Scamander or Tina Goldstein may be the temporary master of the wand, since they both defeat him before he goes to MACUSA's prison. If you remember, Newt binds up Grindelwald, and Tina uses the Accio spell to get a hold of his wand (technically Graves', the person he was impersonating) in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Albus Dumbledore

Dumbledore gets a hold of the Elder Wand after famously defeating Grindelwald in 1945.

Draco Malfoy

Right before Snape gives Dumbledore a coup de grâce, Draco disarms Dumbledore, turning the wand's allegiance toward him, albeit unknowingly and without ever having the physical wand.

Voldemort

Voldemort steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb. He later goes after Snape under the wrong assumption that the Potions professor had become the master of the wand because he killed Dumbledore. While he has the wand, he doesn't rightfully master it.

Harry Potter

Harry earns the allegiance of the Elder Wand after overpowering Draco at Malfoy Manor. After Harry gains its loyalty, Voldemort's killing curse against him backfires, because the wand will not kill its master. With the invisibility cloak, resurrection stone, and allegiance of the Elder Wand, Harry becomes the master of death. In the movie, he snaps the wand in half and throws it away. In the book, he uses it to repair his wand and returns it to Dumbledore's tomb.

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Edtech unicorn Udacity lays off 125 people in global strategy shift – TechCrunch

Learning platform Udacity is to axe a big chunk of its workforce — which looks to be between a fifth and a quarter — as part of a global reorganization effort, according to VentureBeat.

It reports the company is cutting 125 staff from now through early 2019.

We’ve also heard from a source that around 100 Udacity staff have been laid off, with affected employees mostly in content, video and services.

We’ve reached out to the company for comment.

According to VentureBeat’s report the firm will close its office in São Paulo, Brazil, with the loss of 70 employees. The remaining cuts will come from departments in the US related to creating courses, it adds.

Two months ago we broke the news the company had quietly let go of 5% of its global workforce.

VentureBeat says now the layoffs will leave Udacity with 330 employees.

The edtech firm was one of the early providers of MOOCs, before low pass rates seemingly triggered a reprogramming of its business model, with Udacity refocusing on the tech space — offering so-called ‘nanodegrees’ in topics like AI and blockchain.

After that shift co-founder Sebastian Thrun stepped away as CEO, handing over to Vishal Makhijani. However the latest cuts come hard on the heels of a reversal of that, with VentureBeat noting Thrun took over day-to-day operations and the exec chairman role last month, following the departure of Makhijani.

Since then the board of directors and Thrun have voted to downsize portions of the company, it adds.

In another notable reversal this year, Udacity suspended a money back guarantee for people who completed a Plus tier nanocourse and couldn’t find a job, pressing pause just a few months after it announced the guarantee.

Thrun told VentureBeat the guarantee remains on pause — with no decision yet taken whether to cancel it outright.

TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec contributed to this report

Google Assistant adds Pretty Please functionality, updated lists, and other features

White Christmas in Movie Theaters December 2018

If you've ever happened to scroll through cable during the holidays, then chances are you've seen White Christmas playing on more than a few channels. The heart-tugging 1954 musical is a holiday classic, starring Hollywood staples like Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen singing the music of Irving Berlin. If it's one of your favorite movies to queue up when December rolls around, then we have exciting news: you now have a chance to watch White Christmas on the big screen!

For those of you who haven't seen it, please reevaluate your life ASAP the film features a wartime prologue that starts you off on an emotional foot, and things only get more warm and fuzzy as Crosby sings you through classic songs like the title tune. Audiences will be able to get into the holiday spirit when White Christmas arrives in 600 theaters across the country on Sunday, Dec. 9, and Wednesday, Dec. 12, courtesy of Fathom Events.

Once you've scooped up tickets for you and the rest of your family, check out some of the Christmas movie's best scenes ahead!

17 Feel-Good and Inspired Gifts

Giving already feels really good. But giving stuff that also makes the other person feel good and inspired? EVEN BETTER.

With that in mind, here are our top picks for gifts this holiday season … or, really, any time!

(And, yep, most of these we were sent a sample to review, so you know our recommendations are the real deal.)

Love Life Neon Sign ($349)

Bright neons. They’re not just for beers and bars any more. This hand-crafted sign from The Oliver Gal Artist Co. will be sure to light up the life and spirit (and, hey, the room, too!) of your giftee.

Motivational Shower Curtain ($24.95)

We wouldn’t normally think to gift a shower curtain, but this one is designed to motivate consciously and subconsciously (so we love it). There’s one quote outside, and then 145 quotes on the inside. Pretty rad.

Pi Travel Cup ($59.90)

Perfect for the tea lover in your life, this beautifully designed travel set is a teapot, filter and cup — all in one. Great for those always on-the-go.

Inspire Bath Deodorant Sprays ($8 each)

You might have heard of Inspire Bath on our podcast or on our Instagram, but these one-of-a-kind natural deodorant and body sprays make for the perfect gift. They’re made with essential oils to help boost mood and control body odor — and, if you order before the end of the year, you can save 20 percent off with code FBG20.

Nachos Not Negativity Shirt ($25)

What you wear sends a message, and you know us — if we have the chance to spread some positivity, we’re all for it. And we’re also all for nachos, so this shirt immediately became one of our very favorites — we actually went with the men’s cut, but there’s a women’s style, too. And we’re digging a bunch of the other tanks and tees from BoredWalk, too, like “Feminist is my second favorite F word.” (It’s funny because it’s true!)

Flexi Lexi Llamaste Yoga Pants ($89)

One of the best tips we were ever given in a yoga class was to try to smile when in the midst of a challenging pose — and to allow a little laughter when falling out of a balance pose. With cute pants like these (which, btw, has a matching zipper sports bra top available), anyone wearing them (or receiving them as a gift!) would have to try not to smile.

Dual-Sided OTB Necklace ($24.95)

Shopping for a strong woman? Of course you are. Consider this OTB necklace that’s available in stainless steel or gold tone. Made to wear on its own or layered with pieces from your own collection, the pendant is made to empower and remind every woman of how tough they are.

Manduka yogitoes Towel ($58)

We have yet to meet a yogi who couldn’t use another non-slip yoga towel, and we love the fact that each yogitoes towel is made from no fewer than eight discarded plastic bottles. And, if the sustainability and practicality isn’t enough to put you in the giving spirit, take a look at those patterns and colors — GORGEOUS.

Everlast by Rocketbook ($34)

This is the notebook of the future. With a classic pen-and-paper experience and feel, this notebook is actually reusable (yes, you read that right) and via an app can take your handwritten notes and save them to your favorite cloud services (it can even transcribe them). It’s pretty magical — especially when you add a damp microfiber cloth to a written-on page and watch the words erase so that you can start fresh again. This is a great gift for a tech-lover, although it’s easy enough to use that anyone will love it.

Got someone on your list who’s working on the idea of living in the moment and finding a little more zen? We’ve got such a cool idea for you. With the Buddha Board, they’re free to draw anything they like using nothing but water — which then slowly evaporates. The idea is that it leaves the user with a clean slate — and a clear mind. So, it’s perfect for doodlers and creative types, especially if they’re environmentally-focused.

Choose You Journal ($16.99)

Because everyone needs good self-care every day, we are loving this guided journal that helps track progress in your self-care journey and helps you to remember the practices that were most effective from day-to-day and season-to-season. There are questions for reflection, tips, inspirational quotes, and fun ideas. The design is also super fun, so it makes for a sweet and lively gift.

Create Your Me Movement Journal ($16.99)

In case you’d like to gift a journal to the younger set (like a niece, daughter or mentee), consider this one. With 52 weekly exercises and writing prompts, author and teen advocate Patricia Wooster helps guide the reader through recording goals and standards, and determining ways to reach them in four major categories: Play, Spirit, Strength, and Purpose. We wish we had this for our teen years!

GuruNanda Mobile Ultrasonic Essential Oil Diffuser ($19.99)

You know that friend who love, love, loves essential oils in her home, but spends a lot of time in the car? You’re about to make her holiday (and her next commute) with this nifty mobile diffuser. Even better — it’s on sale and it comes with oils so she can start rocking it on the ride home.

Love Wins Wine ($35-$65)

Wine always makes for a great gift, and wine that’s dedicated to equality for all people? Double the awesome. For every bottle of Love Wins wine sold, Equality Vines makes a donation to LGBTQ non-profits. In the Love Wins line-up, there’s a Blanc de Noir made in conjunction with Iron Horse Vineyards, and a Brut Rose that was made in conjunction with Rack and Riddle.

Sunski Yuba ($55)

 

If your gift recipient’s future is so bright that they gotta wear shades, consider a pair of these. Made from recycled plastic, these polarized sunglasses are comfy and cute.

She Are the Champions ($35)

Give the gift of style (for all sizes!) while supporting a great cause with a limited-edition #TeeUpChange shirt, created by tennis champion, designer, and founder/CEO of EleVen, Venus Williams. Dia&Co is putting 100 percent of the profits of these towards funding inclusive fashion education programs in partnership with the CFDA. To which we say, “and we [women] will keep on fighting ’til the end!”

Donation in Their Name

What’s your loved one’s favorite cause or nonprofit? Make a donation in their name. That NEVER goes out of style and always feels good.

What feel-good gifts are you giving this holiday season? —Jenn & Kristen

V2X Network gives developers the keys to in-vehicle data – TechCrunch

Data is king. But if there isn’t a way to capture, sort and use it, then there it sits — an untapped resource.

V2X Network, a German-based startup presenting onstage Thursday during Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin, sees opportunity in all the data produced in the modern car. And it’s a hefty sum. A fully connected and automated car loaded with sensors can produce up to 4 terabytes of data per day, the company says. As V2X Network puts it, “cars have basically become rolling data servers.”

This data can provide all kinds of insights, such as driving and road conditions and the locations of charging and fuel stations. Data produced from vehicles, if properly captured and organized, could be used to deliver services to consumers, such as helping to improve driving behavior or handing the information to city planners to better understand traffic patterns.

This isn’t a new opportunity. (After all, Intel calls data the new oil.) And V2X Network is not the first (or the last) company to see gold in the hills of data generated by connected vehicles.

V2X Network, which was founded earlier this year, is taking a carrot-first and blockchain-protected approach. The company, founded by CEO Ahsan Shamim, COO Holger Philipp and CTO Shumail Mohyuddin, has developed what it describes as a decentralized incentivized platform that gives developers access to in-vehicle data, which can be turned into a variety of different apps.

But there’s a moat, and it’s the driver. V2X Network doesn’t allow any application developer to access the data without the driver’s consent, and that can always be revoked, the company’s founders told TechCrunch. 

Here’s how the founders, who have backgrounds in automotive and computer science, envision the system will work.

Giving developers access to in-vehicle data so they can turn it into all kinds of apps delivered to cities, automakers and drivers sounds like a winning idea. The problem is accessing that data. Why would anyone just give it away? And why would automakers hand it over?

V2X Network is taking a dual approach to getting access to that valuable data. The company is collaborating with automakers for direct access. (V2X Network couldn’t say who they were working with; only that they’re starting to work with two OEMs on a proof of concept basis.) The second data source is straight from the car owner through an OBD-II dongle solution used to collect data on older vehicles. A prototype of the V2X Network dongle, a blockchain node that starts sharing information with V2X Network once it’s plugged in, was shown at Disrupt Berlin.  

Once the data is collected, it’s made available to developers who use it to create valuable apps that could be used by drivers, cities and automakers, among others.

Incentivizing the car owner for producing the data lies at the center of the platform. V2X Network isn’t buying the data from the car owner. Instead, the company proposes charging data access fees from the service providers and sharing part of the revenue with the car owners or manufacturers.

The company sees a variety of possible applications developed from the data, from fleet management services and vehicle tracking to traffic congestion control, smart parking and driver coaching.

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Facebook considered selling user data, internal documents suggest

Ice T and Mariska Hargitay on The Tonight Show 2018 Video

Ice T is the subject of some hilarious scrutiny for his breakfast habits, after admitting he never had a bagel or coffee before joining Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The 60-year-old actor and his costar Mariska Hargitay stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday and discussed how Ice T's disinterest in bagels was exposed, and why he really doesn't think it matters.

Ice T explained that fans on Twitter went into an uproar earlier this month after finding out he had never eaten a bagel or had coffee. "Everybody lost their godd*mn minds," Ice T told Fallon. "I don't know why that's so hard for people to believe."

Eventually, he gave the food and drink combo a try during a commercial for the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel. Let's just say, he wasn't impressed. "One bite, it felt like I ate a loaf of bread," he explained. Ice T doesn't understand why people make such a big deal out of his breakfast tastes, and frankly, neither does Mariska. "I didn't understand why people cared if Ice had a bagel or not," she admitted. Watch the video above to see Ice T's full (hilarious) rundown of the recent events, plus details of their 20-year friendship from Mariska's point of view. Let's hope for many more interviews, and episodes, featuring these two.

Fight as Obi-Wan Kenobi on Geonosis in Star Wars Battlefront II on November 28

Revolut is ready to launch in Singapore and Japan – TechCrunch

Fintech startup Revolut has been teasing Asian market expansions for more than a year, but it sounds like it might finally happen. The company has secured licenses to operate in Singapore and Japan. It now expects to launch its service in Q1 2019.

In Singapore, the company was granted a Remittance License by the Monetary Authority and a Stored Value Facility approval — these two things combined let Revolut users hold money as well as send and spend money. In Japan, the company has been authorized to operate by Japan’s Finance Service Agency.

According to Revolut, those approvals are enough to launch the service in those countries. But not all features will make their way to Singapore and Japan. Regulation varies from one country to another, so the company might not be able to provide the same limits and feature set everywhere.

At launch, Revolut will focus on the electronic wallet and the payment card. You won’t be able to buy cryptocurrencies, create business accounts and more. Limits should be more or less the same in local currency equivalent.

In Japan, Revolut says that it has already signed deals with Rakuten, Sompo Japan Insurance (SJNK) and Toppan. It sounds like there will be new insurance products, special card designs and more.

Revolut plans to open its APAC office in Singapore. Let’s see if Revolut ends up convincing expats to sign up or if they can have a real impact outside of Europe.

And if you’re a potential user in the U.S. or Canada, you’ll have to wait a bit more. Revolut says that there will be more news in the coming weeks.

Nintendo’s new content guidelines make it easier for YouTube creators to get paid

Mrs. Doubtfire Cast Talks About Robin Williams on Today Show

Although it's been 25 years since Mrs. Doubtfire hit theaters, the movie's impact still seems so fresh today (it's even heading to Broadway!). Four of the original cast members — Pierce Brosnan, Matthew Lawrence, Mara Wilson, and Lisa Jakub — reunited on the Today show to talk about filming and working with legendary actor and comedian Robin Williams.

Lisa, who played Lydia Hillard, opened up about the support and life lessons Robin taught her at such a young age. "One of the most powerful things for me about working with him is that he was very open and honest with me talking about his issues with addiction, depression, and that was so powerful to me at 14," she said. Matthew, who played Chris Hillard, also referred to Robin as a "guiding force" and recalled the most meaningful pieces of life advice the comedian gave him at such a young age.

Watch the full interview above to listen to the cast discuss the uplifting spirit of Robin, then keep reading to see some of the most memorable scenes of Mrs. Doubtfire.

24/7 Railroading on the Long Island Rail Road on Xbox One

‘The Inventor,’ a documentary about Theranos and the ‘psychology of deception,’ will premiere at Sundance – TechCrunch

A feature film chronicling the misadventures of Elizabeth Holmes, the criminally charged founder of the once high-flying and now-defunct biotech startup Theranos, will make its official debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in 2019.

Titled “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley,” the film was directed by Alex Gibney and produced by Gibney, Jessie Deeter and Erin Edeiken. Gibney is an Oscar-winning director, known for his documentaries “Taxi to the Dark Side;” “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room;” and “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.”

Gibney teamed with HBO to investigate Holmes: “Drawing on extraordinary access to never-before-seen footage and testimony from key insiders, [Gibney] will tell a Silicon Valley tale that was too good to be true. With all the drama of a real-life heist film the … documentary will examine how this could have happened and who is responsible while exploring the psychology of deception,” HBO wrote of the project.

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003, dropping out of Stanford — as many tech luminaries have done — to disrupt healthcare. Her company garnered nearly $1 billion in venture capital funding from several high-profile investors and was at one point valued at north of $10 billion. She emerged as a celebrity in her own right and was touted as one of the youngest women to run a startup “unicorn.”

Then it all came crashing down.

Theranos’ claim to have invented blood tests that need just a single drop of blood was false. What followed were several lawsuits and a federal investigation that found Holmes and Theranos president Sunny Balwani guilty of “elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance.”

More details emerged when Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, who had closely followed the company’s rise and fall, published his book, “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in Silicon Valley,” earlier this year. A feature film for his account is in the works, too, which means we may get two Theranos movies in 2019.

“Bad Blood” the movie is expected to star Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes. “Shape of Water” writer Vanessa Taylor has signed on to write, with Oscar-nominated director Adam McKay (“The Big Short”) directing.

A record 14,259 films were submitted for approval to premiere at Sundance this year; just 112 features were chosen. Sundance runs from January 24 to February 3, 2019.

US Army awards Microsoft with $480 million HoloLens contract

Which Actors Have Been in the Most Hallmark Movies?

It's an honored tradition as old as time (or, at least, as old as cable networks): Hallmark holiday movies. Unlike many other themed producers, though, the network doesn't limit its "holiday" programming to just Winter holidays — you can find movies about Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, and each of the four seasons, plus a handful that are just classic cute rom-coms. No one can match Hallmark for sheer output: this holiday season alone welcomes 22 new movies to the lineup, and that's not even including its "mysteries" channel!

One thing you probably have noticed, though, is that Hallmark often reuses the same actors in several movies. If you've ever wondered who has the honor of starring in the most original movies, wonder no more! We've rounded up the 10 most prolific Hallmark actors and actresses, all leading up to the reveal of who the queen of the network really is!

Set Sail for Shrouded Spoils, the Next Free Sea of Thieves Update

DJI goes pocket size for its latest gimbal – TechCrunch

Hand-held gimbals have largely been the realm of pro videographers. But DJI is looking to change things up with an ultra-portable take on its popular Osmo line. The Osmo Pocket is a four-inch-tall version of the drone maker’s camera stabilizer that can either be plugged into an iPhone or utilized as a standalone.

At $349 it’s not exactly cheap — in fact, it’s about twice what the Osmo Mobile 2 is currently going for on Amazon. That’s due in part to the inclusion of a one-inch touchscreen that lets you shoot and preview videos without an external camera. Of course, it can also be used in tandem with an iPhone or Android device via a Lighting or USB-C dongle. 

I suspect that pricing is going to inhibit the product’s ability to reach a more mainstream audience — especially with all of the things users can currently accomplish with just an iPhone. But the Pocket incorporates DJI’s impressive technologies and shot modes to accomplish some pretty cool videos.

The device can actively recognize and track an image with a few taps. There are also FaceTrack, time-lapse, FPV, selfie and panorama features built in. For quick, production-quality shots, there are a number of different shot modes, similar to the ones found on the company’s Mavic drones. Story Mode features 10 templates, and Pro Mode gives the shooter a wide range of controls over the final shot.

The gimbal does three-axis stabilization to keep shots steady, while the camera can shoot 12-megapixel images and 4K video up to 60fps.

I had the opportunity to play around with the device a bit this week, ahead of today’s announcement, and found it to be fairly intuitive. We’ll get more time with the gimbal in the near future, and hopefully get some more insight into precisely what justifies the $350 price tag. For now, it seems prohibitively expensive for a product that’s clearly trying to sneak out just in time for the holidays.

It’s a hefty price tag for a product that will admittedly make for some very cool Instagram stories — but I’m more than happy to be proven wrong here. The company is going to offer up a bunch of different accessories to make the Osmo a bit more diverse, including a waterproof case and action camera-style mount, so it can double as something akin to a GoPro. There’s a wireless charging case, as well, which extends the battery by around two hours. 

The Osmo Pocket is available through DJI  for pre-order today and starts shipping December 15.

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Fallout 76 journal, day 5: the top of the world

Once Upon a Deadpool Movie Trailer

Eat Like a Pro Runner With This Huevos Rancheros Recipe

Warm, hearty, healthy dishes are seriously calling to me right now. Maybe it’s the cooler weather, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been training for a half marathon and, well, more miles always make me hungry (and I know I’m not alone).

Actual footage of me after a recent long training run:

via GIPHY

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the fact that Brooks Running offered the blog ambassador team (which includes us!) this recipe for huevos rancheros from Hansons-Brooks athlete Brendan Gregg. Brendan took eighth place at the 2016 Olympic Trials in the 10k, so if he’s saying it fuels his workouts, I’m gonna go ahead and assume it’ll work for the rest of us!

Fun side note — when I was in Seattle over the summer with Brooks, we had brunch at a Mexican place and their huevos rancheros went over BIG TIME, so if you ever wondered whether or not runners love this dish across the board, the answer is a big ol’ heck yes.

Anyway, you’re here for Brendan’s recipe, right? You know we’d never let you down.

Huevos Rancheros

INGREDIENTS

Main Dish

• eggs fried over easy, one per tortilla
• tortilla 6” corn or flour
• 1 1⁄2 cups dry beans (black or pinto)
• 2 T canola oil
• chicken broth cover bottom of crockpot to 1 1⁄2” depth
• chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, hot sauce (to taste)
• optional: Cojita cheese, sour cream

Pico de Gallo

• 1 medium tomato
• diced 1 small onion
• diced 3 T cilantro
• minced 1 clove fresh garlic
• minced to taste salt
• pepper
• lime juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare beans in slow cooker, ahead of time. Cover dry beans with chicken broth and canola oil. Season liberally with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and hot sauce. Cook on high until soft. Leave beans whole or mash for refried-style beans. Will make more than enough beans for the huevos.
2. Prepare Pico de Gallo.
3. Fry eggs to your preference.
4. Heat separate pan, dip tortilla briefly in water and fry approximately 30–60 sec. on each side, until you get a few char marks.
5. Top each tortilla with a large scoop of beans, one fried egg, and lots of Pico. Top with Cotija cheese and/or sour cream, if desired. Make as many as necessary, usually 2 to 3 eggs/tortillas per person.

Are you a huevos rancheros fan? I’ve never tried making them myself before, but I sure will now — although I’m going to swap out the chicken broth for veggie, and you better believe I’m gonna add some avocado slices. –Kristen

Are You Currently On A Diet? Can You Take 2 Minutes To Complete A VERY Short Survey About It?

Today's survey is a followup to the one we sent out a few months ago. Since then we tweaked it on the advice of both those of you who responded, and some expert input. Even if you filled this out last time, we'd love for you to do so again as we're trying to iron out the kinks and I think (hope) we're pretty much there.

Back in 2012 I first posted my wish for there to be a questionnaire that would serve to help individuals and researchers determine how easy or difficult a particular diet would be to follow.

I called it the Diet Index Enjoyability Total or DIET score, and my hope was that by using a series of simple Likert scales (descriptive scales from 1-10), researchers could set out to evaluate a particular weight loss approach's DIET score where high scores would identify diets that could actually be enjoyed, and where low scores would identify under-eating, highly restrictive, quality of life degrading, dieting misery. This would be useful both to individuals who could use the DIET score to evaluate whatever approach they were considering, but might also serve as a surrogate for shorter term diet studies to give a sense as to whether or not there's a low or high likelihood of long term adherence to a particular study's strategy.

I'm happy to report that the first work on using the DIET score has been conducted by Michelle Jospe at the University of Otago in New Zealand as part of the SWIFT trial, and her and Jill Haszard's early look at the data is promising.

Part of the process required to validate a questionnaire involves a qualitative review to see whether or not it's easy to use, comprehensive, and unbiased, and this here is our second kick at that can.

To fill out the survey, and again, it'll take less than 2 minutes, just click here and thank you very much in advance!

Press Space to Invade – X-Morph: Defense Supports Keyboard and Mouse on Xbox One

Australian scheduling software company Deputy brings in $81M amid rapid growth – TechCrunch

After eight years of bootstrapping, Deputy sought scale. So the workforce management platform turned to venture capital, quickly raising a $25 million Series A in early 2017. Today, Deputy is announcing a major accomplishment: the close of an $81 million round — the largest Series B in Australian history.

IVP has led the investment for the Sydney and Atlanta-headquartered company, with support from OpenView Venture Partners, Square Peg Capital and Equity Venture Partners. Deputy plans to invest the funds in engineering and product, building out those teams in both HQs.

Co-founder and chief executive officer Ashik Ahmed declined to disclose the valuation.

Deputy’s employee management tool makes scheduling, timesheets, tasks and workplace communication easier for hourly and shift workers. Ahmed tells TechCrunch the 10-year-old company has 90,000 customers in 80 countries, including Amazon, Google, McDonald’s, Compass and Uber. It’s scheduled some 200 million shifts, or 1.2 billion hours of work, and facilitated over $30 billion in payroll payments.

“Right now, the company grows every month as much as we did in [the first] six years,” Ahmed said. “Our growth … has really skyrocketed.”

Ahmed credits that growth to support from VCs.

“It’s not about the money but more about the expertise that we have been able to bring in,” he said. “OpenView, for example, has been really, really instrumental for the next stage of our journey.”

Deputy co-founder and CEO Ashik Ahmed.

Around the globe, most workers earn money on an hourly basis. In the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data from 2015, roughly 80 million workers were hourly or about 60 percent of all wage and salary workers in the country.

“The world of work is changing,” he said. “We are becoming more about instant gratification, we want what we want when we want it, and work is no different.”

“If businesses of today do not recognize the change that is happening, if they don’t adapt to it, they will become irrelevant tomorrow. Our goal is to help our customers adapt to this change by offering more flexibility in how they engage their workers. Our vision is to help these businesses thrive in the future world.”