The company behind Snapchat gets sued by a former employee, Samsung bounces back, Dell unveils a giant tablet. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for January 6, 2017. 1. Lawsuit alleges Snap Inc. misled investors Anthony Pompliano, who led Snap's growth and user engagement team for just three weeks, has filed a lawsuit claiming that the company inflated its performance metrics to attract investors. Pompliano went on to allege that he was fired for trying to call attention to systemic misrepresentation of the company's key internal metrics. The suit comes as Snap is reportedly in the process of preparing for an initial public offering. The company has responded with a statement that Pompliano's suit has "no merit": "It is totally made up by a disgruntled former employee." 2. Samsung forecasts profit growth Samsung may be bouncing back from the Galaxy Note 7 debacle. Yes, its profits took a big hit due to the device recall, but the Korean company is now forecasting that profits for its current quarter will jump 50 percent year-over-year. Possible factors include the continued popularity of Samsung's mid-range devices and steady component sales. 3. Dell shows off a 27-inch tablet for creative professionals TechCrunch's Brian Heater recently got a chance to check out Dell's upcoming Canvas tablet. Contrasting it with Microsoft's Surface Studio, he said it's "more of an interactive touchscreen display that's designed to be paired with another large display." It's pretty heavy, weighing 18.5 pounds, so it's meant to be placed on the desk in front of the display, not on your lap. 4. Indiegogo to launch combined perks-and-equity campaigns Indiegogo recently moved into equity crowdfunding, where backers receive a stake in the company that they're supporting. Later this year it will add support for hybrid campaigns that offer both the traditional crowdfunding perks and equity. It's not clear yet when this will launch or what it will be called, but it could make campaigns doubly appealing to supporters. 5. Google Calendar integrates with Google Fit and Apple Health Google Calendar is becoming more than a way to remember your meetings. It recently added a feature to schedule and track goals, and yesterday, it announced an update that integrates with Google Fit and Apple Health. That means Google Calendar will be able to pull data from those services to determine when you've achieved a certain fitness goal. 6. DJI acquires a majority stake in Hasselblad Drone company DJI made a minority investment in Swedish camera company Hasselbla last year, but it's now increased that to a majority stake, effectively making DJI the owner of Hasselblad. The news was first reported in Luminous Landscape and confirmed to TechCrunch by multiple sources. |
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