Alphabet pulls the plug on its internet balloon company, Apple is reportedly developing a new MacBook Air and Google threatens to pull out of Australia. This is your Daily Crunch for January 22, 2021.
The big story: Alphabet shuts down LoonAlphabet has announced that it is shutting down Loon, the project that used balloons to bring high-speed Internet to more remote parts of the world.
Loon started with Alphabet X's experimental project group, before becoming a separate company in 2018. Despite some successful implementations, it seems Loon has never been able to find a sustainable business model.
"While we have found a number of partners available along the way, we have not found a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term sustainable business," Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth wrote in a blog post. . "Developing a radical new technology is inherently risky, but that doesn't make it any easier to break the news."
The tech giantsApple is reportedly planning a thinner and lighter MacBook Air with MagSafe charging - the plan is reportedly to release the new MacBook Air as early as late 2021 or 2022.
Google threatens to shut down its search engine in Australia while lobbying the digital news code: Google is lobbying against draft laws intended to force it to pay news publishers.
Cloudflare Introduces Free Digital Waiting Rooms for All Organizations Distributing COVID-19 Vaccines - The goal is to help health agencies and organizations tasked with distributing COVID-19 vaccines maintain a fair, equitable and transparent digital queue.
Startups, financing and venture capitalOnce 'Slow Dating' App is acquired by Dating Group for $ 18 million as it seeks to expand its portfolio - Once has 9 million users on its platform, with 1 million additional users from a spin app - out called Pickable.
MotoRefi Raises $ 10M to Keep Pedal on Auto Refinancing Growth - CEO Kevin Bennett sees opportunity to assist Americans who collectively hold $ 1.2 trillion in auto loans.
Backed by Vint Cerf, Emortal wants to protect your digital heritage from "bit-rot" - Emortal is a startup that wants to help you organize, protect, preserve and pass on your "digital heritage" and protect it from becoming unreadable.
Extra Crunch Tips and AnalysisHow VCs invested in Asia and Europe in 2020 - Unicorns are feasting.
End-to-end operators are the next generation of consumer businesses - VC Battery's company has been tracking seismic changes in how consumer buying behavior has changed over the years.
Drupal's Journey From Dorm Project to Billion Dollar Exit - Twenty years ago, Drupal and Acquia founder Dries Buytaert was an undergraduate student at the University of Antwerp.
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All the restUK resumes adtech privacy oversight, warns platform audits are coming - UK data watchdog has restarted an investigation into adtech practices which, since 2018, have been the subject of dozens of complaints under the GDPR.
The Boston Globe will consider people's requests to anonymize articles about them: remember the EU's "right to be forgotten," though potentially less controversial.
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