Microsoft announced its latest Windows 10 preview build today, and, while that is a pretty routine affair these days, the company also used todayannouncement to launch the beta version of a new news consumption experience that anybody on a Windows 10 device can try out today. The Microsoft News Bar aggregates news from the 4,500 publishers in the Microsoft News network and then displays those as a semi-persistent bar on any side of your screen.

Windows 10 has long featured the Microsoft News app, which is more of a full-featured news reading experience (though I admit I always forget it even exists). The idea behind the News Bar is to give you a news ticker that is either always visible or that you can hide away at will. In order to make sure you don&t forget it, you can choose to have it pop back up in either two or eight hours — or never, if you&re seriously tired of the news right now. Nobody would blame you.

Right now, this is a pretty bare-bones affair, without the ability to really personalize the news you see beyond the country you are in. What you can do is select some stocks you want to monitor and over time, Microsoft will add weather and sports options (hopefully with the ability to turn off sports news, because who cares, right?). It&d be nice to at least get some sense of whatbreaking news in the news bar, but as of now, there are no timestamps attached to the updates.

If you&ve been around long enough, you may remember Windows Active Desktop, PointCast and Wired(in)famous Push cover story. Somehow this Microsoft News Bar feels a bit reminiscent of that and it seems a bit old-school to have a moving ticker on your desktop in 2020. But if thatyour style, you can now give this new experience a try by downloading the application from the Microsoft Store.

Rocket Lab is in the process of developing a way to recover the rockets it launches, despite their originally being designed as fully expendable launch vehicles. The company had a surprise announcement on Wednesday: It has already managed to successfully catch an Electron in mid-air, during a test meant to prove out the feasibility of that part of the operation.

The whole process involves Rocket Lab employing an onboard guidance system to orient an Electron first-stage to re-enter Earthatmosphere after it has deployed its kick-stage and payload, at such an angle that it won&t burn up. After that, the spent stage will deploy a parachute and float back toward Earth, where this mid-air recovery maneuver will come into play, with a helicopter snagging the gently falling rocket component out of the sky and flying it back to Rocket Lab suspended underneath the aircraft.

During this test, which took place earlier in March before the current guidelines around practicing social isolation were in place, Rocket Lab simulated the actual launch component, instead taking an Electron test article that resembles the first-stage in size, design and weight, and then dropping that from a helicopter over the ocean off the coast of New Zealand. A second helicopter then swooped in to capture the test article, after it had deployed its own parachute, when it reached an altitude of around 5,000 feet.

Rocket Lab has been testing the re-entry portion of its recovery system, first with a launch last December, and then again this January. In both missions, the Electron used during the launch was equipped with guidance and navigation systems for data collection, and in the later mission, the rocket also had a system for reorienting itself to hit the atmosphere at the proper angle to slow its rate of descent.

Those tests proved that part of the process should work as intended, and the next step now that this part has been validated is to attempt to actually recover a first-stage, which Rocket Lab intends to do sometime later this year. That will involve having the Electron first-stage on a forthcoming mission reorient itself to slow its descent, and actually deploy a parachute, but it won&t include the catch attempt. Instead, Rocket Lab will look to recover the booster from the ocean after it splashes down, and return it to its own facilities for refurbishment and potential re-use.

Public markets around the world have been tanking for the past few weeks, and many companies simply can&t operate during a lockdown. Sheltering in place has had some terrible economic consequences, with a record number of Americans getting laid off, including many startup employees.

But what is happening in Europe? You might also be wondering whether European tech startups have to lay off a significant chunk of their workforce and whether financial capital has become scarce.

Thatwhy I interviewed Jean de La Rochebrochard, a partner for Kima Ventures, backed by French telco and media entrepreneur Xavier Niel. They focus on seed and Series A investments and invest in dozens of startups each year. He oversees hundreds of startup investments at any given time, which means he has his finger on the pulse of the tech ecosystem in France and across Europe.

The interview was translated from French and edited for clarity and brevity.

TechCrunch: At Kima Ventures, have you seen any change when it comes to investment pace?

Jean de La Rochebrochard: There has been a big change at the deal-flow level. But we already committed to some deals before the lockdown. We&re currently closing all the deals that we were looking at. Over the past 15 days, we&ve closed 15 deals, I think.

So it might slow down in the next 15 or 30 days…

Yes, itgoing to slow down, thatfor sure. But we&ll only know for sure in a month when we&re done with our backlog.

Netflix is launching a new series on Instagram that will focus on taking care of yourself and your mental health during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The series, which will begin airing on Instagram Live tomorrow at 7 PM PT, features the stars of some of Netflixtop Young Adult shows and movies, including &To All the Boys I&ve Loved Before,& &The Kissing Booth,& &Stranger Things,& &Cheer& and &13 Reasons Why.&

The series will run every Thursday from now through May 14 on the @Netflix Instagram account, and will discuss the sort of challenges that young people are facing during the health crisis.

For example, it will touch on topics like &what helps if you&re having trouble sleeping?,& &how do you stay connected during social distancing?,& &how do we manage anxiety?& and &what self-care actually means.&

Participating in the effort are stars including Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I&ve Loved Before), Joey King (The Kissing Booth), Ross Butler (13 Reasons Why), Caleb McLaughlin (Stranger Things), Lana Condor (To All the Boys I&ve Loved Before), Jerry Harris (Cheer) and Alisha Boe (13 Reasons Why).

The stars will be talking with trusted mental health experts from partner organizations including National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Mental Health America, The Trevor Project, Crisis Text Line and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The debut episode on Thursday, April 9 at 4:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT will be with Noah Centineo from &To All the Boys I&ve Loved Before,& who will talk with Dr. Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on the topic of self-care.

While Netflix is no stranger to marketing on Instagram, this new live series is less about promoting Netflixshows and more about leveraging the existing stars& power to do some good.

Young people have had their lives upended by the pandemic at a time when their social connections with friends can outweigh those of others, including family members. It has also disrupted major milestones that signify the end of childhood and the stepping into adulthood, like prom and graduation. In other words, the types of struggles young people face when coping with COVID-19 are different from those of adults, who are more concerned about things like job security, getting the bills paid and their familyhealth.

Netflix has released a trailer for the series that explains the concept and introduces the stars. The company says it will share more details about upcoming episodes on Instagram throughout the month.

View this post on Instagram

if you&re feeling really stressed and anxious, talking through the realities of this strange and confusing time can be super helpful. starting tomorrow at 4pm PT we&re launching Wanna Talk About It? a weekly LIVE series on our Instagram about how to take care of yourself during a global pandemic. featuring interviews with Netflix talent and mental health experts who will dig into topics like sleep disorders, self care, and anxiety ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ @afspnational, @crisistextline, @mentalhealthamerica, @namicommunicate, @trevorproject

A post shared by Netflix US (@netflix) on Apr 8, 2020 at 7:30am PDT

Airbnb is tweaking its landing page and introducing new features all aimed at longer-term stays, as the online rental marketplace looks to capitalize on a growing segment of its business.

The changes are being rolled out just days after Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said the company had raised $1 billion and laid out plans to direct its attention and new funds toward three core products: hosts, long-term stays and Airbnb experiences. Airbnb raised the $1 billion indebt and equity from private equity firms Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners.

Chesky acknowledged Monday that while the desire to connect and travel has been reinforced during this time, the &way it manifests will evolve as the world changes.&

Airbnb is betting how and where people work will evolve; in the companyview, itheading toward longer-term stays. Recent data shared by Airbnb supports that view. In the last two weeks of March, the company saw the number of guests booking longer-term stays within their same cities nearly double. Meanwhile, 80% of Airbnb hosts now accept longer-term stays and about half of the companyactive listings now provide discounts for stays of one month or longer.

On Thursday, Airbnb will change its main landing page to highlight longer-term stays. The company introduced a new notification for hosts to educate them on the benefits of longer-term stays, as well as a guide to update their listings to accept these types of bookings. Airbnb has decided to make that a permanent feature in the portal that hosts use to manage their listings.

When the new landing page launches Thursday, Airbnb will have more than 1 million listings that offer monthly stays, according to the company. These homes are equipped with the kinds of amenities required for a longer stay, such as kitchens, laundry facilities and Wi-Fi.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted travel and sparked a need among healthcare and other essential workers to find places to stay in their own cities, has contributed to that growth.

However, it appears this trend was already afoot in 2019. According to Airbnb, one in every seven nights booked in 2019 was for a longer-term stay.

The push into longer-term stays will likely butt up against property management companies that handle traditional one-year leases. Therealready some evidence that Airbnblonger-term stays are looking more like traditional rentals.

The company said itseeing more people, such as students, doctors and nurses in residency, or others in long term work assignment turning to Airbnb to find housing for six to nine-month stays. Already in 2020, Airbnb said it has seen bookings for more than 600 days; the longest booking made so far this year was more than 700 days.

Whether this push towards long term rentals will lead to legal action is unclear. The company has grappled with cities and tourism associations in courtrooms in the U.S. and Europe. Airbnb cleared an important legal hurdle in December when Europetop court deemed it to be an online platform that connects people looking for short-term accommodation, rather than a full-blown estate agent. The ruling could make it harder for regulators to force Airbnb to comply with local property laws.

Hot on the heels of a big specs leak, we’ve now seen what appears to be official press renders providing a clear view of the Honor 30 Pro from the back.

Shared on Weibo (a Chinese social network) and spotted by IndiaShopps, the renders were apparently originally shared by Zhao Ming (Honor’s president) during a live broadcast.

The main detail is