11.18.2015

Good to Know: “Where is the opportunity? The opportunity always lies where people worry.” – Jack Ma, CEO of Chinese Internet company Alibaba, during a sit down with U.S. President Obama on why his company will prop up startups trying to prevent climate change. Also, just some solid advice for your next venture …

THE SKINNY

When Will It End?

Last night, a bombing went down in the city of Yola in Nigeria. It claimed about 31 lives and injured 72 others. No one knows who’s responsible just yet, but Islamist militant group Boko Haram is no stranger to the area.

Making Good on Your Promise …

Earlier this week, we told you that people had a lot to say about how the general media covered the Paris attacks in comparison to the Beirut bombings, which both happened last week. Facebook came under fire for ‘perceived Western bias’ because it launched its “Safety Check” after the Paris attacks but didn’t do the same for Beirut. Facebook promised to change its policy and said it would activate that feature for human disasters moving forward. The social network delivered. It launched “Safety Check” for Yola residents to show that the company “cares about all people equally.”

Raising More Questions Than Answers …

FB has come a long way from its debut ten years ago. These days, it’s taken a massive role in how people interact and keep up with each other. The company is on a mission to bring Internet access to everyone around the world. With ‘Safety Check,’ it raises questions of FB’s social responsibilities (e.g., Will the feature be applied uniformly across the world? Or, does it require a tailor-made approach for different regions? And, how will FB define what ‘safe’ means? Lots of questions but no answers.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Putting Plans Into Action …

There’s just a lot going on at Facebook. When it’s not dealing with serious human crises, it’s trying to outfit the world with Internet access. The social network announced that it’s entered a deal with telecom company Airtel Africa to bring basic Internet access aka ‘Free Access’ via its Internet.org initiative. Seventeen African countries will reap the benefits of this deal including countries like Burkina Faso,Chad, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

**Don’t Give Up … Don’t Ever Give Up …**

Google tried to get into the social game with its Google Plus service to compete with the likes of Facebook. It didn’t quite work out. Rather than throwing in the towel, Google went back to the drawing board and did a complete redesign of the feature. It’s now geared towards a “mobile first” experience and focused on ‘Communities’ (where people with similar interests can virtually gather) and ‘Connections’ (a place for virtual scrapbooking). It’s sort of a cross between Facebook and Pinterest. Interesting …

If You Can Make It There, You Can Make It Anywhere …

Hell hath no fury like a NY Attorney General (AG) scorned … The AG is not letting up on fantasy sports sites FanDuel and DraftKings. The AG’s office filed an injunction (order issued by a judge to prevent someone or an entity from starting or continuing to engage in certain activities) against both sites. The 35-page report rips into the sites’ arguments on why they should not be considered online gambling sites. FanDuel ( which has already stopped accepting contest entries from NY residents) and DratKings aren’t the only ones that should be worried. The jig is up for Yahoo. The Internet vet runs its own fantasy sports service and has done so long before FanDuel and DraftKings even existed. Yahoo isn’t officially part of the investigation just yet, but the AG is watching. The relevant parties head to court next week (November 25).

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Flu shot season is in under way, and ride-hailing app Uber is taking away your excuses. This Thursday, the company’s re-launching its UberHealth to bring those dreaded flu shots to your desired location.

On a side note: NY taxi drivers are still peeved at Uber and plan to sue New York City and its Taxi and Limousine Commission. The basis of the suit? Violating their right to pick passengers up street-side.

Amazon’s Black Friday kicks off this Friday (November 20). See here for how to properly secure your Amazon.com account information. It’s called two-factor authentication. Don’t worry … It’s pretty straightforward.

Boards of tech companies are including more women (it’s up to 18.3% in 2014 compared to 13.7% in 2010). But, tech still falls behind other industries on gender diversity. If we talk about it enough, then things have to change, right?

Mobile payments Square is set to announce its long-anticipated IPO price today. The thing is, we already know that the price will be discounted from what people originally expected. Unicorns (aka private companies worth a billion dollars or more) are watching this closely.

You can make a few extra bucks by selling some of your photos via apps like EyeEm and Snapwire.

German company Jobspotting GmbH, competitor to professional network platform LinkedIn, is looking for funds to get into the U.S. market.

Ride hailing company and Uber rival, Lyft says it needs $500 million.

11.4.2015

Good to Know: Former Daily Show Host Jon Stewart is coming back to TV but only via the Interwebs. He has a four-year deal to do shows for HBO’s online platforms.

THE SKINNY

When You Give No Types of “Effs…”

San Francisco (SF) residents gave the city’s Proposition F, otherwise known as the AirBnB Initiative, a big thumbs down. Prop F would’ve limited short-term rentals in the city to only 75 nights/year. Also, it would’ve encouraged people to dime out their neighbors and companies violating the law.

**This Is NOT A Fire Drill …**

To defeat the proposal, AirBnB launched an $8 million full court press called the Anti-F campaign. The rental platform unleashed seasoned organizers and volunteers (including 138,000 members of the AirBnB community) to pound the SF pavement to turn voters against Prop F. Unofficially, about 55% of voters checked no on their ballots.

When You Pull Off The “W…”

AirBnB is happy because the proposition would’ve caused issues for the $25.5 billion company both in the U.S. and abroad. And, residents are happy because they can continue to freely rent out their homes to supplement their incomes. After all, prices for SF housing are no joke, partly thanks to the technology boom in the city. This year’s average rent for a studio apartment in the city is $2,828.month, and the median home price is $1,097,000 (up 17% from last year). Yikes!

Taking A Victory Lap …

AirBnB plans to brief reporters on the results today. But, the company can’t celebrate for too long. It’s hit roadblocks in Santa Monica and Berlin, and the company has attempted to compromise with authorities by saying yes to paying taxes in cities like Paris. If the company wants to go public, it’ll need to sort out all of the legal and policy stuff first.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

It’s Better To Give Than To Receive …

For Internet companies these days, that’s the motto. Marc Benioff, CEO of cloud computing company Salesforce, says including corporate giving into your business strategy is a must. Salesforce takes the 1-1-1 approach, meaning the company annually donates 1% of its equity, 1% of employee time, and 1% products to communities where Salesforce employees live. Benioff had a lot to tell the New York Times, but the key takeaways for businesses and its leaders? Do good in your community, have a heart, stand up for equality, and try not to stress too much. Other companies that are taking this to heart? Google.org is gifting San Francisco organizations fighting for racial justice in the U.S. criminal, prison, and educational systems with $2.35 million in grants to help the cause. And, Kickstarter’s CEO Yancey Strickler is still sounding off on staying true to the crowdfunding sites’s core and “not selling out” on its values by going public.

A FEW OF Your FAVORITE THINGS…

Yesterday, Twitter changed things up on us and decided it preferred hearts over stars. The social platform replaced the star intended for users to “favorite” tweets with a heart. Turns out this change happened because the star was confusing for folks new to Twitter. Apparently you can’t have more than one favorite thing (tell that to Oprah and Maria von Trapp). We’ll see if the heart brings in the new blood Twitter hopes to see.

Not All Hearts Aflutter…

In other news, former Twitter Engineer Manager Leslie Miley left the company and then wrote about his less than diverse experience. He says he’s happy to have been part of a platform that gives a voice to underrepresented groups but takes many … and we mean many issues with how the company handled increasing its low diversity numbers (3% of engineering and product personnel at Twitter are African-American/Hispanic and less than 15% are women). From a lack of communication with the company’s black employee resource group to a questionable suggestion for a name analysis tool to track job candidates, Miley uses examples to show how Twitter leadership just doesn’t get it. But, Miley thinks CEO Jack Dorsey is the man to fix the problem.

who’s the boss?

Ride-hailing app Uber has a lot on its plate. Ready? First, the company’s still in the midst of the employee v. contractor battle. Uber drivers say they should be considered employees, but CEO Travis Kalanick insists that Uber isn’t their direct boss. Kalanick is giving the “boss” title to its algorithmic software that matches drivers and riders. New York University Data and Society research team begs to differ. The team says the algorithm manages drivers the same way a human would.

Second, Uber wants regulators and policymakers to ease off on the company because it gives people jobs (1.1 million around the world) and puts money in their pockets ($3.5 billion this year for U.S. drivers alone).

Third, competition is getting tough in the ride-hailing app game so Uber is reportedly exploring the idea of luring new drivers with promises of bank accounts and same day payments.

Fourth, Chinese regulators have a proposal that would be hugely problematic for Uber, but the company’s still full steam ahead on its plan to be in 100 Chinese cities in 2016. Speaking of expansion, Uber’s putting up $250 million to get into North Africa and the Middle East.

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Who has time to reply to e-mails anymore? No worries, Gmail’s got it handled. Through machine learning, Gmail will generate responses on your behalf via “Smart Reply.”

Pinterest Shop is coming to your phone soon.

Don’t be scurred. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is letting media execs know that they shouldn’t worry about what his company’s doing but should instead focus on themselves. Industry’s ‘TV Anywhere,’ which lets users watch network TV shows online, isn’t catching on with folks.

OfferUp, an online classifieds apps aka the potential ‘Craigslist Killer,’ just put $90 million in its bank. The currently free app has seen consistent user growth over the past three years and processed $2.9 billion worth of transactions this year alone.

Facebook’s really getting into artificial intelligence and is trying to build software that works like our brains. If its software can beat the strategy game Go, then FB is headed in the right direction.

Eric Lefkofsky, co-founder of daily deals site Groupon, is no longer the company’s top guy effective immediately. Lefkofsky is now chairman. He’s been replaced by its Chief Operating Officer Rich Williams.

Social video game provider Zynga keeps losing users, and its Chief Financial Officer David Lee just dipped out.