Daily Crunch: The new iPad mini, reviewed

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1. Review: Apple’s new iPad mini continues to be mini

Matthew Panzarino tried out Apple’s new tablet with Apple Pencil support, and he says the experience is “aces.”

His only caveat: After using the brilliant new Pencil, the old one feels greasy and slippery by comparison, and lacks the flat edge against your finger for shading or sketching out curves.

2. Windows Virtual Desktop is now in public preview

Starting today, any enterprise user who wants to test out a virtual Windows 10 desktop hosted in the Azure cloud will be able to give it a try.

3. MoviePass co-founder’s new startup PreShow gives you free movie tickets for watching ads

As founding CEO of MoviePass, Stacy Spikes has already changed the way we think about paying for movie tickets. Now he’s pursuing a new approach — providing a free ticket to people who watch 15 to 20 minutes of ads.

4. What latency feels like on Google’s Stadia cloud gaming platform

We got our hands on one of their new controllers and pressed play to try out Doom 2016 gameplay on Google’s new platform.

5. Guesty, a tech platform for property managers on Airbnb and other rental sites, raises $35M

The idea for Guesty came about like many of the best startup ideas do: out of a personal need. In 2013, twin brothers Amiad and Koby were renting out their own apartments on Airbnb, and found themselves spending a lot of time doing the work needed to list and manage those properties.

6. Microsoft warns Windows 7 users of looming end to security updates

The patch rolled out Wednesday warning users of the impending deadline, January 14, 2020, when the software giant will no longer roll out fixes for security flaws and vulnerabilities.

7. Amify raises its first venture round on a promise: to boost revenue for third-party sellers on Amazon

Amify now works with a long line of customers, from brands you might not recognize to household names like Fender guitars and Brooks, all of which pay Amify a percentage of their revenue in exchange for its services.