Daily Crunch: Reddit users discover Apple is raising its battery replacement service fees

Christine Hall@christinemhall / 2:05 AM UTC+3•January 4, 2023

Every day at 3 p.m., you'll get a rundown of the biggest and most important stories from the site. Don't forget to subscribe here.

We're back. It's just me at the moment. If you are there, seek him out and say hello. A big thank you to Henry for running the Daily Crunch train last week. It was enjoyable to read and I hope you enjoyed it as well. We seem to be back at it with a long list of news.

The TechCrunch Top 3

• It’s hard to pull the wool over Reddit users’ eyes: If you have an out-of-warranty Apple iPhone, iPad or MacBook, you might want to join Reddit. Users spotted, and quickly circulated, a change in the repair pages for those devices that stated battery replacement service charges would increase by up to $50 for these devices, Ivan reports.
• Sit, Bonk, sit…good dog: Newly launched dog coin Bonk is being credited as having contributed to a spike in Solana’s price. The cryptocurrency’s prices had been volatile lately, Jacquelyn writes, following the whole FTX debacle.
• TikTok forms its own “Adults Only” room: An ability to restrict TikTok livestreams to adult viewers is now something the social media giant is making available to creators for short-form videos, Aisha reports.

Startups and VC

Can co- CEOs work together? If you are a company with two people looking for advice, you should listen to Found. Henrique Dubugras, Brex co- founder and co-CEO, talked about the company's corporate credit card and expense management startup, as well as what made him and his co- founder decide to be co- founders.

We have more for you.

• If 2022 were a headline…: Natasha M, Mary Ann and Alex solicited answers to that question and compiled a list of how you described the tech industry’s 2022.
• Sharing economy, but for hospital rooms: HD is a Southeast Asia startup betting that matching demand with supply can also apply to vacant hospital rooms. Rita has more on how the company is doing this.
• BharatPe CEO is out: Manish reports that BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer plans to leave the India-based fintech at the end of the week. Though CFO Nalin Negi will jump into the role as interim CEO, the company is already on shaky ground: BharatPe sent its founder packing last year after it was discovered he was allegedly misusing company funds.

How to make the most of your startup’s big fundraising moment

Early-stage investments are a sign of success for any startup.

When other companies raise hundreds of millions of dollars, it can be easy to think no one will be interested in hearing about your startup.

Brown explains how founders can use fundraising announcements to maximize media interest and comply with SEC guidelines to get the most bang for their buck.

How to make the most of your startup’s big fundraising moment

There's one more from the team.

• Greener pastures: Could climate be a safe investment right now? It seems so. Tim spoke to Union Square Ventures about its new $200 million fund and shares what USV plans to do in 2023.

The membership program helps startup teams get ahead of the game. This is where you can sign up. You can get a 15% discount on an annual subscription.

Big Tech Inc.

Have we got the news you were looking for today? You didn't have to because Romain, Rebecca and Brian listened in. Some of the highlights include: Mercedes will use the digital twin tech from Nvidia to modernize its factories, Foxconn will use the self-driving toolkit from Nvidia to build an electric vehicle, andHyundai, BYD and Polestar will use it. Human coworkers, a robot simulator, and a performance upgrade for a premium user are some of the things that have been added.

We have more for you.

• One for all and all for unionizing: Microsoft now has its first official union in the U.S., Amanda writes. At ZeniMax, a gaming studio it owns, 300 quality assurance testers voted to unionize, something she notes is becoming a trend in the gaming industry.
• Hackers came knocking: The LockBit ransomware gang is claiming responsibility for a ransomware attack on the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Carly reports. HACLA provides affordable housing for over 19,000 people in the city.
• Show pony: Ingrid writes about Intel’s new high-end 13th-gen 24-core processors and its new CES strategy. For all of your CES news, stay tuned to TechCrunch’s dedicated CES event page throughout the conference, ending January 8.
• To infinity and beyond: Aria has your look at the space industry trends for 2023. Spoiler, this year will be bigger than 2022.
• Tesla ran out of gas while delivering vehicles in Q4: Rebecca writes about Tesla delivering 405,278 vehicles in the fourth quarter, which came in at nearly 5% below Wall Street expectations.

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