Virtual Skinny: Tech Trends

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on January 13, 2020 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

Good to Know: What tech trends should we expect this year? Check out Humanity of Tech’s 2020 tech trends series! Numero uno? Africa’s got next when it comes to emerging tech communities.

The Skinny

When Somethings Are Just Important … India’s Supreme Court just said that internet shutdowns in Kashmir, a Muslim majority area, is a no-go aka illegal.

When You Want to Know What Happened … The shutdown came last August after the government stripped Kashmir of its autonomy. Apparently, India’s government has a track record of using these shutdowns as, “as a tool to quell dissent in troubled parts of the country.”

When It’s for Your Own Good … One of India’s Supreme Court justices is saying that internet access is a fundamental right. Not only that, but these shutdowns are costing the Internet economy. $1.3 billion in India alone. Yikes!

What Else Is Going On?

When You Double Down … Facebook says it’s sticking to its guns. It’s not planning to fact-check or put any type of limitations on its platform when it comes to political ads. Instead, the company says it’s offering controls to users so they can see as much or as little of those ads to their liking. Why? As a private company, FB says regulating political ads isn’t in its wheelhouse. It says it’s more of a government thing.

When There’s A First Time for Everything … Genetics testing company 23andMe made its first drug. It then sold rights to the drug to a Spanish pharmaceutical company. This isn’t just a one-off situation. It’s gonna keep doing this and taking its newly developed drugs through clinical trials. In the past, the company shared its genetics data with other pharma companies. GlaxoSmithKline is one of them and used its exclusive rights to 23andMe’s data for drug development.

via GIPHY

The Streets Are Talking …

Quibi aka “quick bites” is the latest entertainment/tech venture from Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Coming this April, you’ll be able to catch their content (10 minute or less videos that you can watch right from your phone). Starting price? $5/month. They say they’re not competing with the Netflixs of the world. Will you be watching?

A couple of months ago, PayPal purchased L.A.-based start up Honey for $4 billion. Honey is a web browser extension that you can download for discounts for you to save money for your online orders. Sounds good to us! Now, Amazon’s warning its users saying that Honey is a security risk and should be uninstalled immediately. The gag is Honey is legit, and Amazon hasn’t done this for other similar extensions. This move has got Honey and online shoppers asking Amazon, what’s good?

For Funsies …

This month, we’re reading The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. It’s exactly what it sounds like. But as always: Easier said than done. Read with us!

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Wishing you a happy and productive week! Tell your friends about us. We’d love for them to sign up and join the community! Also, got feedback for us? Is there something you want to see but aren’t? Let us know! Drop a note at virtualskinnynews@gmail.com. Can’t wait to hear from you!

Virtual Skinny: New Beginnings

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on January 6, 2020 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

Good to Know: Happy 2020, ya’ll! Many of you have either set or are setting resolutions. This year, we’re staying away from being specific. It’s all about one-word themes to set the tone for the year and just living our best lives possible. 2020 is all about alignment and our overall well-being.

The Skinny

When You’re Busy But Make Time … The current U.S. Administration is … busy these days. But, it’ll still have a strong showing at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (this mega tech conference in Vegas every year around this time).

When You Wanna Know Who’s Gonna Be There … Over 150 U.S. government officials will be there including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios. White House adviser Ivanka Trump is giving the keynote. You may have heard about that on Twitter.

When You Want to Know What to Expect … There’ll be a lot going on and tech policy issues from self driving car policies to the “administration’s national strategy for artificial intelligence” will be top of mind. Should be interesting.

What Else Is Going On?

When It’s New Year, New Law… On, Jan. 1, 2020, California rang in the new year by putting its new privacy law into effect. It’s called the California Consumer Privacy Act. The main point of it all? To give California online users’ more rights over their personal data (e.g., right to know what info is being collected, if the info is being sold and to whom, and the right to say nah to the sale of your info). Privacy law experts say the law has more problems than benefits. All of these changes will cost companies about $55 billion. And where there are challenges, there are opportunities. Startups like TerraTrue Inc. are cropping up to help businesses comply with these privacy law changes.

When You’re Tracking … In 2019, France said it’s had enough of large Internet companies not paying their fair share in taxes. So, it put in place a digital tax of 3 percent on Internet companies pulling in at least 750 million euros ( $875 million) and 25 millie in digital sales in the country. See, Internet companies have been able to skirt the whole tax thing by claiming domicile in one country but moving money around to others. France’s digital tax law is tryna put an end to all of that by focusing on where online users are based instead. A significant number of American Internet companies are impacted by this. Neither they nor the U.S. government are here for any of this. France said if the U.S. tries them on this, it’s going straight to the World Trade Organization. BTW, Italy passed a similar law that’s also in effect as of Jan 1 of this year.

The Streets Are Talking …

Netflix bested the field in movie production last year. This year, the company’s going after the Oscars. (Bloomberg)

Former HBO exec Richard Plepler launched a new production company, Eden Productions, and it’s getting into business with Apple TV Plus for new content. While we’re on streaming … Turns out our streaming and online time isn’t doing the environment any favors. Canadian tech firms are looking into how we can manage data usage in a greener way.

For Funsies …

One member of the Virtual Skinny community put us onto veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway‘s Pivot podcast. We binged listened over the holidays. What are ya’ll listening to? Tell us!

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Virtual Skinny: It’s Showtime

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on November 13, 2019 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

11.13.2019

Good to Know: We’re back after being out earlier this week to observe the holiday … Just in time for #WorldKindnessDay.

THE SKINNY

When It Might Have Been an Untruth … Remember when Google told us not to worry about its FitBit acquisition? Not to worry they said. Your health data is safe they said. We won’t use it they said. Turns out that definitely maybe could be true – legally speaking at least. That’s being called into question because Google’s working on a new project called Project Nightingale. The Wall Street Journal’s got the details.

When You Want to Know More … Project Nightingale is the name of Google’s on the low partnership with U.S. second- largest health system called Ascension. Under the U.S. federal health law called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), it’s all on the up and up.

When You Want to Know How, Though? Under HIPPA, as long as Google is partners or is a business association with the health care entity, then sharing health care data without people’s permission is totally legit with some limitations. It’s being reported that Google will be “designing a health platform for Ascension that can suggest individualized treatment plans, tests, and procedures.”

When You Still Think Its Fine … Google Cloud’s president of industry products Tariq Shaukat says it’s fine. Why? He says consumer data won’t mix with the company’s health data. Also, it’s not tryna go beyond the scope of its partnership with Ascension.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

When You’re Thinking of Privacy … Microsoft’s Chief Privacy Officer Julie Brill announced earlier this week that the company’s ready to play ball with California when it comes to privacy. Some liken the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). CCPA calls for increased transparency about how company’s collect data, use it, and provide folks with options to avoid their personal info being sold. Microsoft says it’s gonna extend it beyond the state of California.

When You’re Ready to Fight … The United Kingdom’s general election is coming up next month. UK voters will pick 650 reps for the House of Commons. And, tech companies are ready to put up a fight against misinformation campaigns. This will be the first election since Twitter banned political ads on its platform.

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Disney+ went live this week. Zoom, zoom, zoom (if you know, you know)! It had a rough launch on account of technical issues. But, here’s how we’re feeling about all the streaming services available or coming soon.

SpaceX wants to make sure the entire world has access to high-speed internet. It launched 60 more mini-satellites to help with that goal. SpaceX is starting with northern US and Canada next year.

Twitter’s @jack took a trip with his team to Lagos Nigeria to check out to local talent. They hired Nigerian dev @dara_tobi (creator of the quoted replies bot) … on the spot.

Instagram testing out removing likes this week. Reality star Kim K is here for it. She says it’d be “good for mental health.”

Amazon is opening grocery stores in 2020. Not to be confused with Whole Foods.

Virtual Skinny: Here We Go!

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on October 28, 2019 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter, Uncategorized 0 Comment

10.27.2019

Good to Know: Want to be a good leader at work? A little kindness goes a long way in three ways: (1) inspires greater results, (2) leads to better ideas, and (3) improves relationships.

THE SKINNY

When You Come Out on Top … Microsoft just landed a $10 billion contract with the U.S. Pentagon for its cloud business called Azure.

What For? The project is called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure aka JEDI. The project’s focused on getting the U.S. military better at war on account of being able to “store and process mass amounts of classified data” and artificial intelligence.

When You’re Not Happy About It … The contract has been pretty controversial in the tech world. Earlier on in the bidding process, rumor had it that Amazon would take the ‘W’ on this one. Other tech companies like IBM and Oracle didn’t think it was a fair process. Oracle even took it up in federal court and took the ‘L’ on that challenge.

When There’s More To It … Oracle and IBM were both ruled out from the process. Google backed out on account of AI ethics concerns. And as for Amazon … well, unfair competition allegations and being generally disliked by the U.S. President probably didn’t help.

What’s Next … Amazon said it was surprised at the decision but no word yet on whether it’ll appeal the procurement decision.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

When You Want to Stay Ahead of the Curve … China’s government is doubling down on blockchain technology. President Xi Jinping said he wants to “keep our country at the very forefront” of blockchain technology. China’s said it’s almost there in issuing a digital currency.

THE STREETS ARE TALKING …

U.S. food delivery company GrubHub seems to be underperforming on account of increased competition from UberEats and DoorDash. The company’s value is down.

E-Scooter company Lime’s giving freelancers a ‘lucrative’ opportunity to re-fuel their scooters and gather up scooters left on city streets. “Freelance juicers” are making up to $50 per hour.

Facebook News is coming … this Friday. Newspapers can be happy because the social network “will start paying for their work.”

Google’s parent company Alphabet has put in a bid to buy FitBit.

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Virtual Skinny: Shhh, Be Quiet

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on October 21, 2019 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter, Uncategorized 0 Comment

10.20.2019

Good to Know: Many of y’all are saying good morning to everyone except your managers. 64% of workers said they’d trust a robot more than their manager.

THE SKINNY

When You’ve Gotta Watch What You Say … China’s not into getting its feelings hurt. Who is?

What’s Going On? Earlier this month, the National Basketball Association (NBA) learned that the hard way. Its Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey posted and deleted his tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors. Even Lebron James piped up and said its ‘his belief’ that Morey was ‘misinformed’ before tweeting. After all that, it was too late for Morey and the NBA to say sorry. Chinese tech company Tencent told the NBA and the Houston Rockets to say bye to the company’s digital streaming of Rocket games. The NBA apologized anyway.

When It’s a Normal Situation … It’s not just the NBA apologizing for saying something China doesn’t like. It happens time and time again – just ask video game company Blizzard Entertainment, Justin Beiber, and Katy Perry. Quartz investigates and says the Chinese market is just too big for foreign companies, organizations, celebrities, etc to risk ruffling China’s feathers. Bottom line? China’s censorship is impacting folks across the globe. Check out the full video.

When You Need to Jump into Drama … During a Georgetown University speech, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg jumped into the convo to partially defend his company’s political ads policy that we talked about last week. He says he’s not tryna be like China, and none of us should want that either. Political ads are free expression and shouldn’t be censored. Hmmmm, ok Mark – tell us anything.

When You Want to Learn More … Listen to NPR’s Marketplace with Daphne Keller to learn why free speech on the internet … is complicated.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

When You Took It a Little Too Far … In his 40 minute speech, Zuck went on to make his free expression argument and mentioned Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to make his point. Bernice King, MLK Jr.’s daughter, took to Twitter to tell Zuck to keep her father’s name out of his mouth. She let him know that her father was the target of disinformation campaigns. She says she’s available to educate Facebook about this.

Speaking of campaigns … Democratic presidential hopeful for 2020 Elizabeth Warren is continuing with her push to break up Big Tech companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and companies ‘that earn $25bn or more in global annual revenue.’ She raised it during the last debate and said they’ve got too much power. Andrew Yang disagreed. Yang says he’ll pass on breaking them up but would rather see them more heavily regulated. The Dem candidates then really got into hot topics in tech like data privacy, banning 45 from Twitter, political fundraising etc.

When Income is Anything But Basic … Andrew Yang’s been running on what he calls his ‘Freedom Dividend’ – ‘a universal basic income of $1,000/month, $12,000 a year, for every American adult over the age of 18.’ Universal Basic Income experiments have been going on for some time now. It’s happening right now in Stockton, California. Since February of this year, the city has been running 125 Stockton residents an unconditional $500 check per month. It’s called the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED). The 18-month program is halfway over. And, the verdict? Well, people are still working – 45% to be exact are either working full or part-time. People are spending their extra cash money on food (40%), sales and merchandise (25%), and utilities (~12%) according to the recently released data from the program so far.

THE STREETS ARE TALKING …

Get you an app that can do both. Video app Tik Tok isn’t just for funsies. It’s also teach English in India via EduTok.

While we’re talking about India, Flipkart wants to be an original – in terms of its content.

Lebanese citizens said the government tried it. Lebanon attempted to put a tax on voice calls made via Whatsapp. It was the last straw for citizens already royally p*ssed over the government’s handling of the country’s economic crisis. Things got pretty bad so the government said just kidding about that tax.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING …

Royals. On Sunday night, British channel iTV aired its documentary with Harry and Meghan where it covered their recent Africa tour. iTV’s Tom Bradby asked Meghan about her well-being. She got emotional and said, “Not many people have asked if I’m ok.” We didn’t cry, but you did. #WeLoveYouMeghan trended. The documentary airs in the U.S. this Wednesday at 10 PM ET on ABC. We’ll be watching …

CAREER THINGS …

Netflix’s looking for product designs and engineers. Hit up product designer Travis McCleery’s DMs for more info or tweet at him (@cleerdesign)

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Virtual Skinny: Keep Raising the Bar!

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on October 14, 2019 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter, Uncategorized 0 Comment

10.13.2019

Good to Know: WHEW – What a weekend! Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge did the unthinkable and ran a marathon in under two hours. The next day, Kenyan runner Brigid Kosegi set a world record in the Chicago Marathon. Former U.S. president Barack Obama shouted them out. And, let’s not forget that U.S. gymnast Simone Biles also became the most decorated gymnast – ever! She’s now got 25 world medals. Focus and discipline, folks. Let’s keep raising the bar! Stepping into the week like … Nailed it!

via GIPHY

THE SKINNY

When You’re Ready to Play … U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is playing Facebook’s ad game. Her campaign said “no fact-checking” policy? Fine.

Wait … But, What Did They Do? Her campaign ran Facebook ads saying that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a Trump supporter for the 2020 presidential race. Warren’s peeved that Facebook continues to act as what she’s calling “a disinformation for profit machine.” She says the social media company is knowingly allowing political ads filled with lies, fairytales, and fallacies!

When You’re In Good Company … Another U.S. Dem presidential candidate Joe Biden agrees. ICYMI, Biden is at the center of the alleged investigation that Trump may or may not have asked Ukraine’s president to help with back in July. Biden says that Facebook is allowing a Trump ad claiming that Biden promised “Ukraine money for firing a prosecutor investigating a company with ties Hunter Biden.”

When You DGAF … Facebook says tough sh*t. It’s not taking the 30-second ad down on account of “free expression” on the platform.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch … Trump isn’t focused on Facebook. He’s moved onto video streaming platform Twitch to support his re-election campaign.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

When There Are No Tradesies … Chinese AI startups, including video surveillance firm Hikvision and facial recognition company SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology Ltd., are on the U.S.’s ~~sh*tlist~~ blacklist. What does this mean? These companies can’t buy parts or components from U.S. companies unless the U.S. gives the go ahead. Why? The U.S. Department of Commerce says China’s messing up with how it’s treating Muslim minorities – which is badly. This is separate from ongoing U.S.-China trade talks.

When You’ve Messed Up … Twitter said, “Whoops, my b.” The social media network had a little personal identifiable information mishap when it used email addresses and phone numbers collected for account security reasons and used it for advertising purposes. Unclear how many people this impacted. Yikes! The good news? Twitter said it was only done internally and not with third party partners.

THE STREETS ARE TALKING …

Another week, another media acquisition. Digital media company Group Nine just bought women’s lifestyle mag PopSugar. Sweet!

UberBoat is now a thing in Nigeria. It’s being piloted in Lagos for a couple of weeks.

First, it was PayPal. Now, eBay, Stripe, Mastercard, and Visa are saying ‘sayonara’ to Facebook’s cryptocurrency association – Libra Association. Meanwhile Mark Zuckerberg plans to show up in front of U.S. Congress early next year to talk about the association. Oh and add Portugal to the list of countries giving this whole thing the side eye. We’ll keep tracking …

U.S. food delivery startup Postmates is taking its time with a much-anticipated IPO in 2019 on account of “market conditions.” Things aren’t looking good though as Uber, Lyft, Slack, etc. haven’t exactly been killing it in these Wall … streets (see what we did there?) Speaking of Wall Street .. Goldman Sachs says newly public companies haven’t performed this badly in the market since 1995 …

Whale and dolphin shows are a form of animal cruelty. India, Canada, Brazil, and the UK are on the same page with that. TripAdvisor is now out of the sea animals performing business. The platform no longer offers tickets to those shows even though it’s technically not illegal in the U.S.

Bagless vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson started working on an electric car project then said never mind. It wasn’t commercially viable venture. BTW, James Dyson’s interview on podcast How I Built This is A1.

Career Things …

When You’re Just Tryna Be Happy … Remote work is the wave. Remote workers report a better quality of life as well as increased happiness and productivity. A recent LinkedIn survey found that 70% of hiring managers offer work from home opportunity available. You just gotta ask …

What’s Playing?

Movie director Ang Li and multi-hyphenated Will Smith just brought us Gemini Man. The movie stars Smith and … a younger version of Smith. Thanks motion-capture technology.

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Virtual Skinny: Ight, Imma Head Out

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on October 7, 2019 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter, Uncategorized 0 Comment

10.6.2019

Good to Know: Did you learn something new recently? You’ve got about 6 days to put that new info into action; otherwise, you’ll forget about 75% of it. It’s called “the forgetting curve.”

THE SKINNY

When You’re Out … Payments company, PayPal, just told Facebook’s Libra Association, “Ight Imma head out.” They’re leaving the association.

What Happened? PayPal said it’s not them, it’s us. They just want to focus on their core business. PayPal wants “to continue to focus on advancing our existing mission and business priorities as we strive to democratize access to financial services for underserved populations.

What’s a Libra? No, we’re not talking Zodiac signs. Libra is a type of cryptocurrency as well as a financial institution led by Facebook and 27 other corporate backers. The association’s mission is for people to be able to “send, receive, spend, and secure their money” in the name of financial inclusion.

When You Want to Know What’s Next … Even though PayPal is out, Visa and Mastercard could be in. Facebook planned to launch Libra in June 2020. But, there are … challenges. Governments (U.S., France, and Germany) around the world are giving Libra the side-eye on account of Facebook and others potentially bypassing existing financial regulations. The U.S. House Financial Services Committee wants to hear from Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg at a hearing towards the end of October. Then, the committee wants to hear from Mark Zuckerberg himself in January 2020.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

When Things Are Rough … Nigeria’s anti-robbery squad aka SARS is targeting members of the Nigerian tech community. Simply being spotted with a laptop could be cause for detaining you as an Internet “fraudster.” You’ve got two options: Pay a bribe or see how things play out via the system. Nigeria’s tech community leaders are leading a crowdfunding campaign to fight against this.

When Net Neutrality is Back in the News … Last year, the U.S. Federal Communications (FCC) decided that net neutrality (rules that says all Internet communications should be treated equally) isn’t a thing. Many people, including online advocacy groups and 22 state attorney generals, were less than thrilled with the decision and sued the FCC. Earlier this month, a court sided with the FCC with some exceptions – namely, states can do what they want when it comes to how they regulate net neutrality.

THE STREETS ARE TALKING …

WeWork won’t be doing that IPO after all, but it does plan to layoff thousands of employees. Ouch …

$300 billion is how large Southeast Asia’s internet economy will grow to by 2025 thanks to online e-commerce and ride-share food delivery.

Social media video app Tik Tok says no to political ads on its platform.

Google is in on the White House’s job training initiative. It plans to train 250K people for tech jobs.

London-based food delivery platform and Europe’s second-fastest growing startup Deliveroo is on the up and up. The company’s sales went up by £200 million in 2018.

Revolut, British -based digital banking app is on a hiring spree. It’s looking to bring on 3,500 new staff across 24 markets.

Vice Media just scooped up Refinery 29.

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Virtual Skinny: Global Rise Against Climate Change

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on September 22, 2019 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

9.22.2019

Good to Know: “Kindness not only helps, it also spreads, especially when it’s made visible. Make your empathy loud, so it has a chance to inspire others.” – Jamil Zaki on how to put empathy to good use at work.

THE SKINNY

When It’s Time for A Change … Andela, an outsourcing startup focused on training entry-level African developers to later outsource their technical talent, announced that it is letting go of 400 junior engineers across three of its four campuses in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. Entry-level developers in Rwanda are safe on account of the government helping to offset Andela’s costs.

But, Why? Andela founder Jeremy Johnson says it comes down to what the market wants. Andela’s clients comprise 200+ companies around the globe that vie for African developers. Turns out, they prefer senior engineers. Andela’s VP of Global Operations Seni Sulyman adds that competition from U.S. developer boot camps and training programs for junior developers played a huge role in the decision. What the market wants, the market gets.

When You Plan to Forge Ahead … Andela says it’ll generate $50M in revenue this year. With changes to its business model, it plans to hire 700 senior developers across the continent by 2020. Some folks are wondering how? Speculation is that it’ll likely poach senior developers from “the usual suspects” – Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya.

When There’s a Silver Lining … The Twitterverse blew up with this announcement, but folks in the African tech ecosystem quickly saw the upside. Now, local businesses can benefit from local talent that was previously outsourced.

Take Action! Have open developer roles (remote or in country)? Or, know someone who does? Join the conversation and hook it up!

Sept. 18 tweet from Paga founder Tayo Oviosu inviting recently laid off Andela engineers to apply to positions

Sept. 18 tweet from Moe asking Andela female engineers to reach out for job opportunities.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

When You Believe the Children are Our Future … And so do they. On September 20, 2019, 5,000 youth-led groups in 156 countries (including in African countries that have already experienced things like water shortages due to climate change) protested climate change with 16 year old Greta Thunberg spearheading the movement. Young people walked out of school. Tech employees from Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google joined the party. Big deal for Amazon. Why? It’s the first time in the company’s 25-year history that employees have walked out for an issue. They’ve got three demands for the online retailer – (1) commit to zero carbon emissions by 2038, (2) stop selling it’s cloud computing service Amazon Web Services to oil and gas companies, and (3) stop supporting politicians that are climate change deniers. An estimated 4 million people around the globe participated in the strike. Want to get involved?

Take Action! The global strike isn’t just a moment but a movement. September 23, 2019 marks kicks off the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit.

Earth Alliance Instagram Post on how you can join the Global #ClimateStrike.

When You’re Taking Things Seriously … Facebook’s not taking any chances. It suspended tens of thousands of apps from its platform all in the name of protecting user data and limiting the volume of information third party developers can request from its community.

When You’ve Got Privacy on the Brain … Startups are crossing over into clinical research territory by focusing on clinical brain-computer interfaces that help folks with things like using prosthetics and re-learning how to control their limbs. Folks are concerned with this cross-over on account of the potential for commercialization of neural data. There’s currently no U.S. laws or regulations that stop companies from swapping brain data.

THE STREETS ARE TALKING …

AirBnB employees are ready to cash in, and they let their leadership know what’s up. Following this, AirBnB caved and said it’s ready to go public. Postmates wants in too. WeWork was planning on it, but things got messy.

Speaking of selling … Wearable device company FitBit’s ready to consider potential buyers, and Alphabet (aka Google’s parent company) is interested.

PlayVS, a high school e-sports competition company, just raised $50 million. It plans to double its 41-person head count, offer more competitions, and possibly venture into amateur sports.

Snap and media companies just started talking. The camera company’s thinking a dedicated tab for breaking news.

Indian taxi company Ola, with 45% of the market, seems to be the fave in its home country over Uber (35%).

Another Indian startup is 7-month old Digi-Prex uses WhatsApp to deliver medication to patients with chronic diseases.

Nigerian founder Prosper Otemuyiwa along with his co-founders Nadayar Enegesi and Slim introduced us to Eden – “a marketplace connecting homeowners and high-quality service providers.”

The super app model like China’s WeChat and AliPay could work in Latin America thanks to its almost 650 million population. Don’t forget that similarities in culture, language, and religion are helpful factors. Colombian on-demand delivery Rappi could be ready for primetime.

CAREER CORNER

“What do you value today? Be specific.” – Tammarrian Rogers, Snap’s Director of Engineering – QA on what to ask yourself before making your next career move at NextPlay’s first ever LA event.

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3 Ways To Keep Your 2017 Career Resolution

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on January 4, 2017 in Career, Culture, Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

Whether you are in the market for a new job or not, 2017 is your year to make good on your career resolution. According to Business Insider, the U.S. economy is on the up and up. By the end of last year, the U.S. was reveling in about 74 months of consecutive job growth.

Companies are on a hiring spree as competition declines, and salaries are climbing. So, what does this mean for you?

The current jobs market means that your New Year’s career resolutions doesn’t have to die a slow death over the next few weeks. Take advantage of the times and elevate your career in just three, simple ways.

Resolution #1: Figure Out Your Next Move

We know what you are thinking, ‘Gee, that was helpful.’ But, bear with us. Perhaps you’ve been toiling away at your job for years, daydreaming about your next move or maybe you’re comfortable and haven’t given it much thought. In either scenario, LinkedIn is still your friend.

Beyond simply connecting with your colleagues and other professional contacts, are you leveraging all of its features?

Cyberstalk for All the Rights Reasons …

In the beginning stages of your job search (especially if your path is uncertain), LinkedIn is a great resource to lightly cyber stalk (in a non-creepy way) people who have the careers you want. Even if your profile isn’t set to private, don’t be shy; go ahead and click on that executive’s profile you admire. Do you have mutual connections? If not, don’t be afraid to take it one step further and reach out to them. Cold contact (emails, messages, calls, etc.) still works. It’s all a numbers game so don’t get discouraged.

Find Common Ground…

If randomly approaching a stranger online isn’t your thing, then LinkedIn’s Alumni Connection feature is probably up your alley. At any point in your career, your alumni game should always be strong (after all isn’t that why we paid for expensive pieces of paper to prove we belonged to a certain academic community?). Alumni love hearing from their people so drop them a quick line, tell them your story, and make the ask. Stay clear of outright asking for a job. Simply asking for advice is the best way to go.

Leave Breadcrumbs …

Breadcrumbs is online dating lingo for stringing someone along with no intentions of committing (e.g., liking someone’s Facebook page, retweeting them, sending seemingly innocuous texts like “Hey, how are you?”). What does this have to do with your professional life? Well, LinkedIn’s Job Search function often lists who posted the job. Scope out their profiles and use the tactics mentioned above. They’ll likely see that you’ve checked them out and may return the favor. But don’t just leave it there. Wait a couple of days, then send a short follow-up email introducing yourself, referencing the post, and linking them to your profile. Remember recruiters accept applications and referrals, but they also ‘source’ roles. In other words, your outreach is doing part of their job for them. Help them, help you.

Resolution #2: Get Organized

First things first. Set specific goals on a daily basis and give yourself a timeline on when you would like to secure an offer. Before you know it, your inbox will be populated with interview requests, calendar invites, follow-up notes, etc. It can all get to be a bit overwhelming. To handle it all, get organized with personal organization apps (24Me, Evernote, Remember the Milk) or try out bullet journaling with old school pen and paper. Do what works best for you.

Resolution #3: Be Part of the Conversation

Building your network is a give and take situation. In exchange for the advice imparted on you by your new connects, the least you can do is share your thoughts. No need to be an industry expert to sound off on a range of topics. Take to LinkedIn’s Blog feature, Medium, and Twitter (the company’s struggling, but the platform is still clutch) to spread ideas and offer insights. Nothing to say? No worries, simply sharing resources like news or reports goes a long way in building your profile as someone who cares about industry trends and developments.

Feel free to join offline conversations. Networking can be daunting, but it does not necessarily have to be a thing that you need to “get over.” If you can’t stomach another awkward networking event where everyone else seems to be in the same boat as you, then gravitate towards things you would normally do. For instance, join a Meetup group, an industry organization, or sports league, attend events or conferences, or sign up to volunteer. Making new friends and catching up with old ones helps organically grow your network.

Bringing It All Together

The 2017 job market is hot, hot, hot. So go ahead, update your LinkedIn profile, get your (non-creepy) cyberstalk on, and share your ideas with your growing network. And for bonus points, step away from your laptop or mobile device and get engaged in your community. Your dream job is right around the corner.

Virtual Skinny: Election Day is Here!

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on November 8, 2016 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

11.8.2016

Good to Know: Election Day is in full swing! If you were thinking of pulling a Justin Timberlake by taking a ballot selfie while in the voting booth, it may or may not be legal. It’s a state-by-state issue so check it out first with this tool. Save your “I Voted” sticker for free stuff. And, find out how to follow election results here.

THE SKINNY

When You Keep It Old School …

Don’t count on online voting becoming a thing soon (pun intended, we slay us!).

When You’re Wondering Why Not …

In a nutshell: It’s too risky. And, don’t try the ‘well if we can bank and shop online, we should be able to vote online too’ argument. The argument fails for 2 reasons: (1) Online banking is heavy on user identity, and voting is kind of a private, anonymous thing. (2) Billions of dollars go down the drain in the form of online shopping scams every year.

When You’re trying to avoid election drama

All types of governments (looking at you Washington D.C. and Estonia) have given electronic voting a go, and they were both hackity, hacked, hacked. For the record: Non-swing states like Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Missouri and North Dakota allow limited votes via an online portal for military folks and people living abroad. But, it likely won’t go any further than that.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Hey, Listen Up …

The FBI’s got a message for private companies. Cyber attacks aren’t going anywhere, and ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) devices are the target. The U.S.’s top watchdog uncovered a network of IoT devices called Mirai that’s wreaked havoc on an Internet service provider. The code for the Mirai botnet is public, which means that anyone who’s remotely savvy can use it to hack consumer devices and reprogram them. No word on who’s behind Mirai.

When You Take A Timeout …

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office is feeling itself this week. Why? Well, the office managed to get Facebook and WhatsApp to hold off on sharing UK WhatsAPP users’ data between each other in the name of displaying ads. The office put in a FB request but not the kind we’re used to. It wants FB to do a better job in explaining to users what exactly is going on with their data on WhatsApp. But, it warned that it won’t hesitate to take action against FB if the company decides to use people’s data without first getting consent. #WarningShots

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Urban Outfitters tried it! The retailer tweeted out an ‘Election Day’ guide to its millions of followers. The guide advised its millennial clientele to take both their voter registrations cards and IDs to the polls. One word: WRONG! Fact: You never need your voter registration ID, and only some states require ID. Shady boots or nah?

Payback is a b#@!$ Snapchat just returned the favor to Instagram. Snapchat’s taking the best from ‘Instagram Stories’: The rewind button. The feature will be available on the latest version of Snap. The company’s also throwing augmented lenses into the update too.

Speaking of “biting” from others… Watch out LinkedIn! Facebook’s now testing out letting page admins have the ability to create job postings and receive job apps from potential employees.

Alphabet, formerly known as Google, lowkey invested in Snapchat. But, the company’s pulling the plug on its partnership with Starbucks on drones aka ‘Project Wing.’

Online radio streaming service Pandora’s got plans to ‘“reflect the evolving makeup of our local workforce.” To do that, the company promises to up it’s employees of color by 10 percent. That would be 45% of total employees being people of color by 2020.

Samsung doesn’t think it’s too late to say sorry for its faulty Galaxy Note 7.

It may not be done after all. Rumor has it that Twitter’s considering selling Vine. The microblogging site’s not saying a word so we’ll see…

Amazon posted a job description hinting that it’s making housekeeping a perk of being a Prime Member.

FUN FACT

The dude who voiced AOL’s “You’ve Got Mail” is switching teams. Elwood Edwards is now an Uber driver in Cleveland, Ohio.