Los Angeles Auto Show displays sea change to electric vehicles

Wednesday, November 24, 2021 • By Alex Wilhelm

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Friday, November 26, 2021! It’s the day after a food-focused holiday here in the United States, so we’re sending this to you from the couch. Where we’ve been for several days. That in mind, we have something a little bit different for you today! It’s also the day Americans pay tribute to Mammon, so if you need help navigating the dark seas of consumerism, TechCrunch is here to help. — Alex

The TechCrunch Top Ten

Here are 10 of our most read posts from the week for your Friday reading pleasure! Regular service resumes Monday:

The highs and lows of the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show: The auto world is undergoing a sea change from internal combustion engines (ICEs) to electric motors. And the LA automotive confab had that, and more, in spades.
Remojo is building tools to combat digital addiction, starting with porn: Need to break a habit that isn’t a thing you’d like to talk to your friends about? Well, for one particular issue, Remojo is building a tool to help. Given how popular the article turned out to be, perhaps a few of y’all were looking for some help.
Spotify finally rolls out real-time lyrics to global users: Now you can sing along poorly to your favorite tunes in your home office and know the words while you do so! Really, though, this is a long-overdue bit of Spotify.
Niantic raises $300M at a $9B valuation to build the “real-world metaverse”: You can’t spin around in the technology world today and not run face first into the concept of the metaverse. Nevermind that folks don’t seem to agree on what it is — or, critically, what it is not. Naturally, AR-forward Niantic is going to get in on the fun. And fundraising.
India plans law that will prohibit “all private cryptocurrencies,” with “certain exceptions”: No surprise here — news that India is moving to clamp down on the popular crypto sector was big news this week. I’ve seen takes all over the map on this one, but it will prove interesting to see if India follows China’s lead on this particular matter.
GoDaddy says data breach exposed over a million user accounts: Sometimes bad news is popular. That was the case with this entry. GoDaddy having a breach is not good, given that it helps register, and protect, certain bits of connective tissue that help keep the internet working. And a million accounts? Sheesh.
Fractional lands $5.5 million to let friends (and strangers) invest in real estate together: I am chalking this particular winner of a post to the fact that real estate is expensive in many parts of the world, putting buying one’s own domicile out of the reach of many folks. So perhaps we can band together and buy as a group? There are other startups in the real estate buying game, like Doorvest, indicating that consumer interest could be high for such products.
Nigerian fintech Abeg faces its biggest test yet after blitzscaling to millions of users: What happens when a fintech sponsors a popular reality TV show? Well, a deluge of users, it turns out. Now Abeg has big shoes to fill, namely its own. TechCrunch has a good dive into what went down and what could be ahead for the company.
Roku customers report streaming issues after 10.5 update: If you don’t use Roku, you might not grok just how big the company’s service is. A quick read of its earnings reports will help catch you up. Regardless, the issue discussed in this piece drove a mountain of interest.
Instagram rolls out an “Add Yours” sticker in Stories to create threads users can respond to: I won’t lie, I haven’t made an Instagram post in so long it might as well be Tumblr for all I care but even incremental updates to the Meta-owned, Facebook-eating Instagram can have large market impact. Which, I reckon, explains why so many folks read this piece.

Image Credits: Allen J. Schaben / Getty Images

Lowest business prices of the year!

As human capital grows scarce, flexible compensation can help attract and retain talent

The post-COVID labor shortage has many causes, but inflexible and inadequate compensation is one of the most talked about.

However, employees don’t always leave because of pay; rather, “an opaque model for allocating compensation” is often to blame for employees feeling unheard and unseen, writes Compright CEO Boyd Davis.

Davis explains how startups can tackle this issue by analyzing employee and market data to come up with compensation strategies that are transparent, equitable and fair.

The pandemic taught us to be flexible and the necessity to “embrace change and be open to adjusting processes holds true for compensation planning as well,” Davis writes.

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