Technology

YouNeedABudget (or YNAB, as itknown) started as a spreadsheet built by a college student who was looking to cover his rent.

A decade and a half later, it has grown into a full-fledged budgeting tool with apps across a number of platforms, a deeply devoted user base and hundreds of employees — all operating 100% remotely.

I spoke to YNAB co-founder Jesse Mecham about how it all works; why they&re remote, how they bring everyone together (both virtually and in the real world) and the pros and cons of being spread across the globe.

Herethe transcript of our chat, lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

TechCrunch: Letset the scene a little bit. It2004, you&re starting what would eventually become YNAB. Why?

Jesse Mecham: I needed to make rent. Thatthe honest truth.

We were going to have a baby, and my wife was going to stop working so she could do the mom thing full-time. I was trying to figure out how I could not borrow money and not stop going to school, and I figured I could sell this little spreadsheet I had built. That was back before, you know, phone apps and all that — so I just got started on that, selling a little spreadsheet to make some side money to get us through school without having to borrow any.

When it was time to grow, what made you hire remote?

What do you do when you&re rich in cryptocurrencies but you don&t want to sell your positions? The company named Blockchain thinks it has found a solution. It lets you borrow money against cryptocurrencies held in your Blockchain wallet.

As soon as you lock cryptocurrencies in your wallet, you receive USD PAX, a stablecoin that is pegged against USD. You can then convert, send and do whatever you want with your stablecoins. You can pay back your loan whenever you want.

The minimum loan size is $1,000 and Blockchain requires a collateralization ratio of 200%. It means that if you want to borrow $5,000, you need to put down the equivalent of $10,000 in cryptocurrencies as collateral.

Blockchain charges interest on loans. Your interest rate may vary but the company tries to be transparent about it before you accept the loan. By default, Blockchain uses your collateral to collect interest. Be careful with the value of your cryptocurrencies, as your collateral could end up losing a ton of value even though you still owe USD.

Behind the scene, Blockchain is running a lending desk for institutional investors. The company launched this feature back in August. Blockchain thinks that it has built a strong liquidity pool that it can leverage with retail investors.

Users in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. are not eligible to the feature for now. Blockchain only accepts collateral in BTC for now.

YouTube today announced a change in policy regarding the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. Previously, YouTubeadvertising guidelines prevented monetization of videos that included more than a passing mention of the coronavirus as part of its &sensitive events& policy. The policy is meant to protect advertisers from being associated with videos about things like mass shootings, terrorist acts, armed conflicts and global health crises — like the coronavirus. Now, YouTube is changing this policy to allow some creators to monetize videos on the topic, it says.

The creator community was unhappy with YouTubedecision to demonetize any video featuring discussions of the coronavirus. (Though, to be fair, YouTube creators are generally unhappy when YouTube demonetizes any of their videos.)

But by not allowing creators to profit from videos about the coronavirus, or COVID-19, YouTube was putting a damper on informative, newsworthy videos as well as those capitalizing on the human tragedy and peoplefears about the emerging pandemic. The ban on monetization also meant that news organizations covering the topic responsibly wouldn&t be able to generate revenue from their videos, even as coronavirus news became one of their main coverage areas.

Today, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki explained the companydecision to re-open monetization on videos referencing the health crisis.

She says that the sensitive events policy was designed to apply to short-term events of a significant magnitude, like a natural disaster.

&Itbecoming clear this issue is now an ongoing and important part of everyday conversation,& Wojcicki said, in reference to the coronavirus, &And we want to make sure news organizations and creators can continue producing quality videos in a sustainable way,& she added.

Not all video creators will be eligible to monetize their coronavirus videos, she notes.

Instead, YouTube says ads will be enabled on &a limited number of channels,& including those belonging to news partners and creators &who accurately self-certify.& The latter is a more questionable choice, as it opens up monetization to any creator using YouTubeself-labeling system, not just news organizations or trusted health authorities.

The Self Certification system is one where creators use an online dashboard to tell YouTube whether or not their videos comply with advertiser guidelines ahead of YouTubeautomated review of their content. Over time, YouTube will rely on creators& input instead of its own systems if the creators have a history of accurate self-certifications. Itan honor system, essentially, followed by an official check.

The system doesn&t prevent creators from publishing misinformation in their videos, then labeling the video as advertiser-friendly. In addition, many creators believe that the bogus information they&re sharing is correct and true, so a self-certification system wouldn&t stop them from publishing their misleading and often dangerous advice. Already, YouTube has to work to quickly remove videos like that. This includes videos discouraging people from seeking medical treatment or making dangerous claims — like how garlic or bleach can prevent the viral disease, for example.

To fight misinformation, YouTube is also raising authoritative sources in its search results and recommendations and is showing information panels on which videos are flagged.

Despite these efforts, there continues to be a massive amount of misinformation circulating across social media, including on sites like Facebook and Twitter, in addition to YouTube. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus even referred to the crisis as not just an epidemic, but &an infodemic.& (WHO today has upgraded the COVID-19 viral disease to a pandemic, as well.)

In light of the misinformation problem, YouTubedecision to open up monetization on videos about the coronavirus will be a controversial choice. In doing so, it signals to the creator community that one of the most-searched topics on the internet can now be leveraged for views and ad dollars. That invites exploitation.

With the iPhone 11 has spent more than six months in the market, it’s time to shift our focus to the next iPhones that will be unveiled in 2020. Amongst new features and improvements that will debut, we might also have a fourth camera joining the array on the back.

Fast Company has received confirmation from a source close to the development that

Despite the many jokes made at the expense of the first new U.S. military branch in nearly 80 years, industry experts say the Space Force represents a massive — and strategically significant — shift for Americadefense.

Many of modern lifeconveniences depend on the ability to consistently and securely access information provided by thousands of satellites currently orbiting the earth. That ability is now clearly threatened, according to experts from companies like Virgin Galactic, The Aerospace Corporation, NASAJet Propulsion Laboratory, the defense contractor L3Harris and space-focused investment firm Starburst Aerospace.

In a panel discussion earlier this year organized by the Los Angeles Economic Development Council in a nondescript office park in El Segundo — just a few miles away from the Space and Missile Systems Center located at Los Angeles Air Force Base — these experts laid out a case for the importance of the Space Force and the potential it has to reshape both the military and whole industries in states across the country.

Los Angeles, these men said, could potentially be at the heart of this transformation.

Call of Duty Warzone has amassed over 6 million players in just about 24 hours after going live. The free-to-play, cross-platform battle royale title comes from the house of Activision and is an extension of its flagship AAA title-- Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019).

However, you don't need to purchase the full game to drop into the Warzone as the