Daily Crunch: Apple unveils new Macs

What about the actual Macs? Well, there’s a new MacBook Air, which still costs $999 but is supposed to be 3.5x faster than the previous generation — and it doesn’t include a fan! There’s also a new Mac Mini with a base price of $699, and a 13-inch MacBook Pro that starts at $1,299.

Oh, and Big Sur, the latest version of the Mac operating system, will be released this Thursday, November 12.

The tech giants

Uber will now let users book rides 30 days in advance and pick a favorite driver — The new option, called Uber Reserve, will begin to show up on the app in the next week.

Google adds COVID-related health and safety info to Google Travel — When users search for hotels and vacation rental properties through Google Travel, they may see new information about COVID-19 safety precautions at the property.

Spotify buying podcast hosting and ad company Megaphone for $235M — Spotify already had an existing partnership with the company, including use of its hosting services.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Hopin raises $125M for its online events platform on the back of surging growth — TechCrunch is one of the customers for Hopin’s online events platform.

Spearhead launches $100M fourth fund to transform founders into top-notch VC investors — The premise remains simple: offer founders with great networks and hustle $1 million in capital to go out and start writing angel checks and build their own portfolio.

Carbon Health raises $100M with plans to expand pop-up clinics ahead of COVID-19 vaccination programs — The company plans to open 100 pop-up clinics in 20 markets across the U.S.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Five VCs discuss the future of SaaS and software after Pfizer’s vaccine breakthrough — SaaS stocks sold sharply on good vaccine tidings, but do VCs care?

Accelerators embrace change forced by pandemic — We spoke with the heads of three accelerators about the challenges and opportunities presented by the new virtual environment.

What I wish I’d known about venture capital when I was a founder — TheVentureCity’s Andy Arieto shares some knowledge.

(Reminder: Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

All Slingbox devices will stop working in two years — All Slingbox products will become less and less functional, leading up to a full shutdown two years from today.

House Reps ask FCC to ‘stop work on all partisan, controversial items’ during transition — This likely includes the FCC’s effort to reinterpret Section 230, an important protection for internet platforms, at the Trump administration’s request.

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