Australia has fallen back to pre-2007 performance on female economic empowerment with one of the biggest annual declines among OECD countries according to PwC's annual Women in Work index.

A standalone plebiscite with a compulsory vote on marriage equality could cost the Australian economy $525 million according to modelling released by PwC Australia today.

The overwhelming majority of global banks and traditional financial services firms believe part of their business is at risk of being lost to standalone Fintech challengers, according to a PwC report released today.

Every year Australia spends more than half a trillion dollars on social purpose goods and services directed at health, welfare and education, almost one third of the nation's GDP.

Modest personal tax cuts, tighter superannuation concessions, and a pathway to lower corporate tax rates make this a responsible if not spectacular budget.

Australias four major banks delivered combined cash earnings of $14.9 billion for the first half to March 2016.

An enhanced Singapore-Australia free trade agreement (SAFTA) represents the biggest step-forward in over a decade in our economic relationship with Singapore.

The emerging global market for business services using drone technology is valued at over US$127 billion with the drone revolution disrupting industries ranging from agriculture to filmmaking.

Australian organisations are experiencing a significantly higher rate of economic crime than the rest of the globe according to a PwC survey released today which finds 52 percent experienced economic crime in the last 24 months compared to the global average of 36 percent.

PwC Australia has recruited former CEO and Managing Director of David Jones Limited, Paul Zahra as Global Retail Advisor to add fuel to its growing retail and consumer practice.

PwC has today been announced as the first employer partner for a new Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) style pilot at McCarthy Catholic College, Emu Plains.

Google today announced that it is making Meet, its video meeting tool for businesses that directly competes with the likes of Zoom, available for free to everyone. Until now, you could participate in a Meet call without being a paying user, but you needed a paid G Suite account to start calls. You won’t be […]

Microsoft today announced a slew of updates to various parts of its Microsoft 365 ecosystem. A lot of these aren’t all that exciting (though that obviously depends on your level of enthusiasm for products like Microsoft Endpoint Manager), but the overall thrust behind this update is to make life easier for the IT admins that […]

Backblaze today announced that its B2 Cloud Storage service is now API-compatible with Amazon’s S3 storage service. Backblaze started as an affordable cloud backup service, but over the last few years, the company has also taken its storage expertise and launched the developer-centric B2 Cloud Storage service, which promises to be significantly cheaper than similar […]

Mozilla today launched version 76 of its Firefox browser, and with that, it’s launching a couple of new features that you’ll likely notice if you’re already using the open-source browser. The highlight of today’s release is the enhanced password manager. Firefox Lockwise, as it is called these days, will now ask you for your device […]

Google today launched an update to its Duo video chat app (which you definitely shouldn’t confuse with Hangouts or Google Meet, Google’s other video, audio and text chat apps). There are plenty of jokes to be made about Google’s plethora of chat options, but Duo is trying to be a bit different from Hangouts and […]

Transportation fuel demand in the United States has decreased since mid-March 2020, as a result of reduced economic activity and stay-at-home orders aimed at slowing the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). With low demand and a decrease in profitability, as measured by crack spreads, U.S. refineries have reduced gross inputs (runs), which dropped to 12.8 million barrels per day (b/d) for the week ending April 17, 3.8 million b/d lower than the previous five-year (2015–19) average and the lowest level since 2008 (Figure 1). Gross inputs increased slightly to 13.2 million b/d the week of April 24. ...

On April 27, 2020, the U.S. average regular retail gasoline price was $1.77 per gallon (gal), the lowest price since February 2016. On May 4, the U.S. average gasoline price increased slightly to $1.79/gal. The United States declared a national emergency on March 13 in response to concerns regarding spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). From March 16 to May 4, the U.S. average regular retail gasoline price fell by $0.46/gal. The lower gasoline prices reflect low crude oil prices, low gasoline demand, and rising gasoline inventories. ...

Some of you may recall the South Korean app Zepeto that went viral among Gen Z users a year and a half ago. The app, which renders selfies into animated avatars and lets people adorn their computer-generated manifestations with virtual items, appears to have sustained its relevance. It has amassed 150 million registered users, the […]

A video about the coronavirus featuring a well-known vaccine conspiracist is spreading like wildfire on social media this week, even as platforms talk tough about misinformation in the midst of the pandemic. In the professionally-produced video, a solemn interviewer named Mikki Willis interviews Judy Mikovits, a figure best known for her anti-vaccine activism in recent […]

1. Blood thinners may boost survival rates of Covid-19 infected patients: Report  Top Live News
2. Coronavirus blood-clot mystery intensifies  Nature.com
3. Blood thinners could improve survival chances for sickest coronavirus patients, study says  USA TODAY
4. Evidence Builds Linking Anticoagulation to COVID-19 Survival  Medscape
5. Doctors may have found a way to reduce the risk of death in severe coronavirus cases  BGR
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Astronomers in Hawaii capture high resolution images ..ky imaging’ technique, probe into planet's cloud tops  Firstpost
2. Giant Planet More Astounding Than Before  NEWS9 live
3. Scientists obtain 'lucky' image of Jupiter  BBC News
4. New images of Jupiter captured by astronomers using `lucky technique`  WION
5. Scientists probe Jupiter's violent storms, lightning strikes  EdexLive
6. View Full coverage on Google News

It’s like 2nd innings of Test match: Kumble on fight against COVID-19  Hindustan TimesView Full coverage on Google News

1. Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez share the inspiration behind their upcoming track 'Tere Bina' in the  Times of India
2. Iulia On Marriage Rumours With Salman Khan: Spending Life With Someone More Important Than Papers  News18
3. Salman Khan shoots song titled 'Tere Bina' with Jacqueline Fernandez at his Panvel farmhouse; reveals det  Times of India
4. Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez promote new song Tere Bina at his farmhouse: ‘This is our cheapest...  Hindustan Times
5. Tere Bina: Salman Khan And Jacqueline Fernandez Shoot A Music Video At The Actor's Farmhouse  NDTV
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Max first sale in India to take place on May 12  Hindustan Times
2. Xiaomi spinoff Poco has an event next week to announce the long-rumored F2 Pro  Android Police
3. Redmi Note 9 Pro Max first sale on May 12th: price in India, specifications  91mobiles
4. Redmi Note 9 Pro Max First Sale Set for May 12: Price in India, Specifications  Gadgets 360
5. Redmi Note 9 Pro Max first sale in India scheduled for May 12: Price, specifications and more  India TV News
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Redmi K30 5G Speed Edition with new Snapdragon 768G SoC to launch on May 11th  91mobiles
2. Snapdragon 768G is real, specs leak online - GSMArena.com news  GSMArena.com
3. Xiaomi may have teased new Snapdragon 768G chip  Android Authority
4. Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon 768G chip will make its debut alongside the Redmi K30 5G Speed Edition on May 11th  Notebookcheck.net
5. Redmi K30 5G Speed Edition With Snapdragon 768G Is Now Official  Gizchina.com
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Covid-19: New cases top 3k for 3rd day in a row, total nears 60k-mark  Times of India
2. Coronavirus LIVE Updates: 526 Fresh Cases, 4 Deaths Reported in Tamil Nadu in Last 24 Hours  News18
3. 526 new COVID-19 cases in TN as number of infected in state crosses 6500  The News Minute
4. Coronavirus India Updates Live: India's testing capacity for COVID-19 scaled up to 95,000 per day  Economic Times
5. Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: Chennai accounts for 279 of 526 new cases reported in Tamil Nadu today; total infections reach 6,535, toll climbs to 44  Firstpost
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

After months of rumors, Verizon finally sold off Tumblr for a reported $3 million — a fraction of what Yahoo paid for the once mighty blogging service back in 2013. The media conglomerate (which also owns TechCrunch) was clearly never quite sure what to do with the property after gobbling it up as part of […]

Yahoo Mail is getting a mobile update, with new versions of the iOS and Android app launching today. Many of you probably haven’t tried out Yahoo Mail in years, but Senior Director of Product Management Josh Jacobson noted that it’s one of the top productivity apps in the Apple App Store, where it has been […]

When in April of last year, the photo-hosting service SmugMug acquired the photo-hosting service Flickr from Verizon’s digital media subsidiary, SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill said he was committed to breathing new life into the service, calling it “core to the entire fabric of the Internet.” MacAskill didn’t reveal at the time how much SmugMug — […]

Time is supposed to make technology better. The idea is simple: With more time, humans make newer, better technology and our lives improve. Except for when the opposite happens. Google is a good example of this. I’ve been harping on the matter for a while now. Google mobile search, in case you haven’t used it […]

Beyond Meat, the publicly traded producer of plant-based protein replacements for meat, is currently giving other companies in the alternative meat space an education in just how finicky appealing to consumer tastes can be. On the same day that the Canadian Tim Hortons restaurant chain is dropping Beyond Meat products from its menus, the company […]

Billionaire. Entrepreneur. Investor. Shark. Mark Cuban is one of tech’s best-known entrepreneurs, so we are amped to have him join us for an upcoming Extra Crunch Live, our virtual speaker series that connects the brightest minds in tech directly with our Extra Crunch audience. Starting out as a salesman for one of Dallas’s earliest PC […]

Treasury Prime, a startup that built software tooling to help banks automate and accelerate routine tasks, announced today that it has closed a $9 million Series A. The new capital was sourced from Amias Gerety of QED, Jason Lemkin of SaaStr, and Hans Morris of NYCA Partners. The capital event is yet another funding round […]

AskRobin, an Estonia-founded fintech that operates a financial services marketplace for “underbanked” customers in Latin America, has picked up $1.7 million in funding. The seed round is backed by VC funds Change Ventures, Vereeni Early Stage Fund, BENE Asia Capital, and Lemonade Stand. In addition, a number of tech entrepreneurs from Estonia participated, such as […]

Burst Oral Care, a startup that sells an electric toothbrush boasting charcoal bristles and 33,000 sonic vibrations per minute, has raised a Series C of undisclosed size. Although we don’t know the amount of the round, the Series C was led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, and Burst says it more than doubled the valuation […]

A new data set from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) details how startups are reacting to the post-unicorn era as COVID-19-related disruptions upset the global economy and remake the risk tolerance of private investors. What SVB’s new report shows is unsurprising: venture capital deal volumes are falling, startups are tapping existing debt capacities to add cash […]

Countingup, the business current account that “automates” your accounting, has raised £4 million in self-described bridge funding. Leading the round is ING Ventures, with co-investment from Triple Point, CVentures, and BiG Start Ventures. Founded by Tim Fouracre, who previously founded cloud accounting software Clear Books, and now boasting 20,000 business customers, Countingup’s long term vision […]

Deep Render, a London startup and spin-out of Imperial College that is applying machine learning to image compression, has raised £1.6 million in seed funding. Leading the round is Pentech, with participation from Speedinvest. Founded in mid-2017 by Arsalan Zafar and Chri Besenbruch, who met while studying Computer Science at Imperial College London, Deep Render […]

Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. As the economy has worsened, the market for many goods and services has slowed. Some SaaS products have found themselves immune, or even boosted by recently changes in consumer and business consumption patterns and travel […]

Founders hunting down capital in the middle of this pandemic may feel like they’re on a fool’s errand, but some investors are still offering financing, even if the terms might not be as good as they once were. One avenue that appears to remain open: corporate venture capital. The corporate route offers its own set […]

It's a good question. And with the SBA PPP deadline looming, we sought out an expert to answer it.

From original films to Prime movies, here's what you need to watch.

Taste your way around the world's finest wine regions with this sampler pack.

A team of researchers from Apple and Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute have presented a system for embedded AIs to learn by listening to noises in their environment without the need for up-front training data or without placing a huge burden on the user to supervise the learning process. The overarching goal is for […]

A German research institute that’s involved in developing a COVID-19 contacts tracing app with the backing of the national government has released some new details about the work, which suggests the app is being designed as more of a “one-stop shop” to manage coronavirus impacts at an individual level, rather than having a sole function […]

Germany has U-turned on building a centralized COVID-19 contacts tracing app — and will instead adopt a decentralized architecture, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a joint statement by chancellery minister Helge Braun and health minister Jens Spahn. In Europe in recent weeks, a battle has raged between different groups backing centralized vs decentralized infrastructure for apps […]

Uber Eats is pulling out of a clutch of markets — shuttering its on-demand food offering in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Ukraine. It’s also transferring its Uber Eats business operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Careem, its wholly owned ride-hailing subsidiary that’s mostly focused on the Middle […]

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