| Apple's strong quarter helps it near the $1 trillion mark, Hyperloop One impresses with its second full-scale test, and Uber is rethinking its approach to performance reviews. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for August 2, 2017. 1. Apple makes it rain in Q3 as iPad returns to growth Apple had a huge third quarter, buoyed by strong sales across the board. The standout figure might be iPad sales, however, which jumped 15 percent in sales year-over-year after a number of quarters where sales were down year over year. The projection for next quarter might be what has investors most excited, however – the iPhone maker provided strong guidance for the period which will likely include the debut of its much-anticipated iPhone 8, sending Wall Street into a tizzy. 
2. Hyperloop One sets a new speed record Hyperloop tech has seemed at times like a distant dream, but Hyperloop One's latest full-scale system test brings it down to Earth: The company managed to get its first full-size pod to a speed of nearly 200 mph, which is very fast considering it can only travel 500 meters on the current Nevada test track. Zoom! 3. A look at how Uber's changing its approach to performance reviews Uber's still reeling from revelations resulting from former employee Susan Fowler's blog post earlier this year, and part of what it's doing to address its cultural issues is change the way it does performance reviews. Megan talked to SVP and Human Resources chief Liane Hornsey about the fallout, and the work that's being done as a result. 4. Snap potentially buying Chinese selfie drone maker Apple sells the Zero Zero Robotics selfie drone in its retail stores, which is a vote of confidence for this company being targeted for acquisition by Snap, Inc. I still have to wonder whether this can actually do anything to help Snap in a material sense, given how little drone dabbling has done for companies like GoPro. 5. Skype adds PayPal money transfer to mobile app Skype really wants to be a modern messaging platform, and you can tell because it's doing things like integrating stories and adding peer-to-peer mobile payments. I still think it remains more a necessity than a self-selected messaging platform for most users, but whatever floats your boat. 6. Instagram Stories is now a full year old This is one of those things that make it seem like time is skipping away inescapably fast – Instagram debuted its Snapchat Stories clone a year ago. In that year, it's managed to speed past Snapchat in terms of engagement, which is not good news for the floundering social network with the ghost mascot. 7. Ikea becomes a solar power installation provider Ikea is now supplying home solar panels and installation, as well as battery storage for generated power, in addition to assorted bric-a-brac and self-assemble furniture. Power to the people. | 
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