Daily Crunch - Google smart speakers add Apple Music support

You can listen to Apple Music on your Google Nest device, Apple is working to top Intel with its next set of chips and Cisco acquires Slido. This is your Daily Crunch for December 7, 2020.

The big story: Google smart speakers add Apple Music support

Google announced this morning that devices including the Nest Audio, Nest Hub Max and Nest Mini will now be able to play Apple Music via voice commands.

Google’s speaker ecosystem already supports a range of streaming audio services, including Spotify and Pandora, but Apple Music was a big exception until now. (Apple’s HomePod and HomePod mini already supported the service, of course, as did Amazon’s Alexa-enabled smart speakers.)

To set this up, Google device owners will need to link their Apple Music accounts in their Google Home app and set it as their default music service. Then they can start using commands like, “Hey Google, play New Music Daily playlist” or “Hey Google, play Rap Life playlist.”

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The tech giants

Apple reportedly testing Intel-beating high core count Apple Silicon chips for high-end Macs — According to Bloomberg, the new chips include designs that have 16 power cores and four high-efficiency cores.

Cisco is buying Slido to improve Q&A, polls and engagement in WebEx videoconferencing — Slido lets people moderate questions and interactions from a larger group, whether at virtual conferences or in-person events.

Tinder makes it easier to report bad actors using ‘unmatch’ to hide from victims — Tinder notes that users have always been able to report anyone on the app at any time, even if the person used the unmatch feature, but most users probably didn’t know how.

Startups, funding and venture capital

SpaceX snags $885M from FCC to serve rural areas with Starlink — This funding is part of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, which is distributing billions to broadband providers so they can bring internet to under-served rural areas.

Tech growth fund Highland Europe raises €700M to ‘double-down’, strengthens team — The new fund means Highland Europe’s assets under management have risen to €1.8 billion.

Luko raises $60M for its home insurance products — Luko is selling home insurance products for both homeowners and renters.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

The IPO market looks hot as Airbnb and C3.ai raise price targets — So much for a December slowdown.

Three questions to ask before adopting microservice architecture — Madison Friedman of Vertex Ventures examines “the multiheaded hydra that is microservice overhead.”

Why does TechCrunch cover so many early-stage funding rounds? — TechCrunch writers and editors discuss why funding-round stories are our bread and butter.

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

Everything else

California’s CA Notify app to offer statewide exposure notification using Apple and Google’s framework — The state of California has now expanded access of its CA Notify app to everyone in the state.

Original Content podcast: Hulu’s ‘Happiest Season’ casts fresh characters in a familiar story — I’m an easy movie crier, but man, this one made me cry.

Mixtape podcast: Making technology accessible for everyone — Featuring a panel on how advances in AI and related technologies will alter the landscape of assistive technology.

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