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The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here . 1. Cozmo maker Anki is shutting its doors No one ever said consumer robots were easy. But Anki’s actually made a pretty strong go of it, all things considered. “We’ve shipped millions of units of product and left customers happy all over the world while building some of the most incredible technologies pointed toward a future with diverse AI and robotics driven applications,” the company said. “But without significant funding to support a hardware and software business and bridge to our long-term product roadmap, it is simply not feasible at this time.” 2. Alphabet misses on Q1 revenues of $36.3B; EPS of $9.50 weighed down by the $1.7B European fine Overall, it was a tough quarter for the company, indicating struggles with its growth. 3. Why did last night’s ‘Game of Thrones’ look so bad? H...

GM will make a full-size electric pickup truck as part of an “all-electric future” that will include a complete range of EVs, CEO Mary Barra said during the automaker’s quarterly earnings call Tuesday. GM reported Tuesday higher-than-expected profit in the first quarter, a result fueled by cost cutting and sales of its more expensive trucks and SUVs. GM also benefitted from its stake in ride-hailing company Lyft and French automaker PSA Group. GM revenue fell 3.4 percent to $34.88 billion compared with the same period last year. “GM has an industry-leading truck franchise and industry-leading electrification capabilities,” Barra said. I assure you we will not cede our leadership on either front. We intend to create an all-electric future that includes a complete range of EVs, including full-size pickups.” GM already produces the all-electric Chevy Bolt, a small hatchback that is also used by its self-driving car unit GM Cruise. But it doesn’t have any EV crossovers, SUVs and truck...

Social media giants, including Facebook -owned Instagram, have agreed to financially contribute to UK charities to fund them making recommendations that the government hopes will speed up decisions about removing content that promotes suicide/self-harm or eating disorders on their platforms. The development follows the latest intervention by health secretary Matt Hancock, who met with representatives from the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google and others yesterday to discuss what they’re doing to tackle a range of online harms. “Social media companies have a duty of care to people on their sites. Just because they’re global doesn’t mean they can be irresponsible,” he said today. “We must do everything we can to keep our children safe online so I’m pleased to update the house that as a result of yesterday’s summit, the leading global social media companies have agreed to work with experts… to speed up the identification and removal of suicide and self-harm content and ...

The Working Assembly began as a side hustle. Jolene Delisle and Lawrence O’Toole juggled full-time jobs while collaborating on projects for startup clients, and they eventually realized there was an opportunity to help companies with branding, marketing, and advertising. In the past four years, TWA has grown from a team of two to a team of twenty in NYC’s Flatiron district. We spoke with Creative Director and Partner Jolene Delisle about their start, their new initiative 24-Hour Assembly—a branding program for minority and women founders, what makes an ideal TWA client, and why she’s excited about the new frontier of experiential and immersive branding.    On common founder mistakes: “Clients often come to us and say, “I love the branding of this.” And we’re like, “Well, that’s not really your target. It doesn’t really make sense for you as a brand.” And I think it can be hard for founders to separate their own personal aesthetic from what is actually going to be most effe...

NASA engineers are investigating a power issue on the International Space Station , which is delaying an upcoming flight to the orbiting lab. On Monday, a switch failure caused some of the station’s power channels to go down. The ISS still has power, though, and the problem doesn’t pose any threat to the crew, but NASA needs to replace the switch before spacecraft can visit the ISS again. To generate power, the ISS boasts eight long solar arrays on the outside of the station that convert sunlight into electricity. That electricity is then rerouted throughout the ISS via four switches known as MBSUs. But now, one of those four switches is acting up. As a result, two of the eight power channels that provide electricity to the station aren’t... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts http://bit.ly/2V3iNQm via IFTTT

Millennials are opting out of marriage and kids and instead opting for pet ownership, opening the door for pet-centric businesses to grow. Small Door is one such company. The startup has raised $3.5 million in seed funding to rethink veterinary services from the ground up. The funding was led by Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Primary Venture Partners, with participation from Foundry Ventures, Flatiron Health cofounders Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg, Warby Parker cofounders Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal, among others. Small Door operates on a membership model, not unlike OneMedical. The company gives members a certain number of annual check-ups, priority access to specialists, and virtual access to vets based on their membership tier. By generating revenue through a membership model, the company can ensure that vets have enough time with each patient and simultaneously minimize wait times in the waiting room. Moreover, Small Door was founded as a Public Benefit Corporation, identifyin...