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1
Amazon, Apple, Google and Zigbee join forces for an open smart home standard
The Connected Home over IP project seeks to create a
connectivity standard designed to increase compatibility across companies and devices
The landscape is pretty scattered at the moment, with each player digging pretty heavily into their own standard and forcing many smaller
third-party players to pick sides.
So the biggest names in the connected home category are reaching across the aisle to create an
And while the names in the headline are leading the charge, Ikea, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Samsung SmartThings, Schneider
Electric, Signify (nee Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, Somfy and Wulian are also on the board.
2
SAP spinout Sapphire Ventures raises $1.4B for new investments
The firm, which focuses primarily on enterprise tech companies in the U.S.,
Europe and Israel, writes checks to Series B through pre-IPO businesses
Its portfolio includes 23andMe, Sumo Logic and TransferWise.
3
Europe space agency just launched a satellite to study planets outside our solar system
CHEOPS will specifically be looking to spot
exoplanets as they pass in front of their stars — at which point they become observable because they block some of the light emitted from
‘The Rise of Skywalker& delivers a messy but satisfying finale to the new Star Wars trilogy
How could any single movie live up to 40 years
of theories and daydreams from millions of Star Wars fans? (It still worth watching, though.)
5
Political ‘fixer& Bradley Tusk closes second fund on $70M
Tusk, before launching Tusk Ventures, served as campaign manager for Mike
Bloomberg, as deputy governor of Illinois and as communications director for Senator Chuck Schumer
He also penned the book &The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups from Death by Politics.&
6
All tulips must wilt
After recovering somewhat during the summer, the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are sharply down over the
2019: the year podcasting broke
Brian Heater outlines how podcasting became an overnight success, more than 15 years in the making
(Extra Crunch membership required.)
