Google Maps introduces improved bike navigation, location sharing and aerial landmark views – TechCrunch

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Hello Daily Crunchers!

Personal story time: I came to the US on an IR1 visa – also known as a “green card” – after being married to an American for over two years. I became a citizen shortly after that. There is great privilege and privilege on my path to American citizenship, and many find it very difficult to live in this fair country.

I am so grateful for the TechCrunch team and the great relationship we had with Sophie Alcorn, our friendly immigration attorney. She does a great column on TechCrunch with lots of immigration advice and tomorrow. Walter She’s doing a Twitter Spaces Q&A with her. Set yourself a reminder and watch tomorrow at 12pm PT/3pm ET, on @TechCrunch.

With a lot of multicultural and international love came

TechCrunch’s Top 3

• Looking at the streets of IndiaGoogle Street View first launched a decade ago. Six years ago, India blocked the service due to security concerns. Jagmet And Manish The tech company has announced that it has launched Street View in India today. It is expected to expand the service to 50 Indian cities by the end of the year.
• 52 billion dollars for US offshore chip productionOne surefire way to make something happen is financial incentives, and Brian The U.S. Senate has announced that the CHIPS Act will impose $52 billion on the semiconductor industry to allow companies to once again produce computer chips on American soil.
• The smallest three-wheeled prototype that can: I took the Nimbus three-wheeled urban transportation pod for a spin last week, and found myself excited and confused in equal measure. I want it to exist, but at the same time, I’m struggling to imagine the vehicle finding a market, when its $10,000 price tag buys so many other good transportation options.

Startups and VCs

As regulation, platform flexibility and consumer preference continue to eat into cookies, it leaves a gap in the market for advertising solutions that can work well without relying on cookie functionality. today, Ingrid Seedtag, an adtech startup based in Spain, reports that it is doing just that. It has raised $250 million in funding to double its chances.

Annie Despite growing broadband internet coverage, internet usage remains low in most of Africa. A recent report that looked at most of the world’s countries showed that half of the 10 most expensive countries in the world to buy mobile data are located in sub-Saharan Africa, which could be a barrier to the movement of investors and startups in the region.

More launch magic:

• Finding your (medical) flow status: Pregnancy tests done first; Then we were all sticking cotton buds to our noses to see if we were pregnant with Covid-19. The time for home health testing is here, and Senzo wants to bring several new rapid home tests to market.
• Paragon gets SaaSierParagon, a startup that builds a platform that integrates and integrates various Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, wants to be the enterprise SaaS Plaid. It raised $13 million to get there. Kyle Reports.
• Get off my city lawnScooters on sidewalks are bad news for pedestrians. Drover raised $5.4 million to use AI computer vision to steer scooter riders off the sidewalk. Rebecca.
• Coffee is to close: Shipyard is a startup that develops business planning products and services for brands and direct-to-consumer merchants. It aims to “maximize sales” for DTC traders and closes $3 million in seed funding. Christine He wrote.
• The sun shines on the car roof some days.This week, Sono Motors unveiled the final production design of the solar-powered Scion EV since the Munich-based startup launched in 2016. Rebecca Reports.

8 fintech investors discuss the changing investment landscape and how to position themselves in Q3 2022.

Image Credits: James Osmond / Getty Images

What are fintech investors willing to bet on in this climate?

To understand how their attitudes and strategies have changed in recent months, Mary Ann Acevedo He asked eight about their advice on portfolio companies, how they expect the next few quarters to unfold and their picks:

• Paul Stamas, managing partner and co-head of financial services, General Atlantic
• Alda Leu Dennis, General Partner, Initialized Capital
• Michael Gilroy, General Partner and Associate Head of FinTech, Coatue
• Justin Overdorff, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
• Addie Lerner, Founder and Managing Partner, Avid Ventures
• David Jagen, Managing Partner, F-Prime Capital
• Nik Milanovic, General Partner, FinTech Fund
• Jay Ganatra, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Infinity Ventures

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can register here..)

Big Tech Inc.

Our top Big Tech story of the day — and the subject of today’s Daily Crunch newsletter — is brought to us by Ivan. Google is ramping up its bid to be the first place people go for discovery and planning hobbies. To help with that, today the company announced three new features for its star navigation app Google Maps: aerial and more immersive 100 landmarks, more detailed bike routes, and improved location notifications for your friends’ arrivals and departures.

Ax Sharma TechCrunch is making its debut as a contributor today, investigating how some open source projects are maliciously hacking their own software. “Has it had an impact? We’ll probably never know,” said one of the developers. That being said, I think it’s totally worth the opportunity to spread the word and keep an eye on software people in Russia who otherwise wouldn’t see what’s going on.

And a few extras to keep your mind cool:

• Blink and you’ll miss itNetflix released mobile games for July yesterday, adding a variety of new titles. “Before Your Eyes” uses eye-tracking technology that advances the story every time the camera detects that you blink. Lauren Reports.
• Who sees the audience?: Tik Tok provides more transparency to select researchers about the platform and its moderation system. The company says researchers currently don’t have an easy way to review content or run experiments on the platform, and it plans to offer API access to select researchers later this year. Aisha Reports.
• Running those chartsSpotify saw streams of Kate Bush’s 1985 single jump 9,000% after the song was featured in a new episode of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and went viral on TikTok. Amanda Reports.
• No carWe barely know you, Car Thing: Spotify has given up on the Car Thing hardware game, reports Ingrid.
• Introduction: Roberto Baldwin An in-depth look at the design of the Zoox robotaxi, complete with a cool carbon fiber hull, sensor suite and battery technology. “Zox won’t share projected range numbers, but says the goal is to have the vehicle provide at least 16 hours of service.”