GOAT aka ‘Greatest of All Time’ isn’t just a phrase in one of Drake’s lyrics or a nod to athletes with undeniable talent and accomplishments, it’s also the name of one the hottest sneaker apps.
Created by Eddy Lu and Daishin Sugano as a last-ditch ‘hail Mary’ after a few other failed startup attempts, GOAT is basically Nasty Gal (at its core an e-commerce site for vintage clothes) for shoes. The app is a resale marketplace for people to buy and sell ‘rare sneakers.’ The difference between GOAT and other marketplace platforms? GOAT steps in an intermediary to inspect buyers’ ‘merch’ for quality before it’s delivered to their doors.
According to Recode, during Black Friday 2015, GOAT launched a pretty ballsy strategy to get people to download the app. It offered impossible to get shoes – Kanye West’s Yeezy Boost 350) – at a discounted price. Naturally, chaos ensued. So many sneaker-heads bombarded the app until it crashed. Harsh words from potential app users + 10,000 potential sellers on your waitlist = Mission accomplished!
GOAT just raised $5 million and is looking to transition its wait listed sellers into active users without skimping on quality of service. It’s also looking to make a little bit of profit sooner rather than later.
Check out a video below of a GOAT user’s review of the app. He seems pretty happy about it. What about you? Would you use this app? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Good to Know: Need to kill some time on a Friday? Google ‘solitaire’ or ‘tic-tac-toe’ and get your game on…Enjoy!
THE SKINNY
When You’re Doing An About-Face …
Messaging app WhatsApp was hell-bent on protecting its users privacy, but things change.
When You’re Not Selling Out Completely …
To be fair, WhatsApp isn’t completely going back on its word. It just announced that it’ll be sharing ‘limited data’ (including phone numbers) with Facebook, it’s parent company. In case you forgot, FB bought WhatsApp for a whooping US $22 billion back in 2014.
When You’re Not Sure Why This Is Happening …
There are a number of reasons for the change. Better friend suggestions is one … Getting better FB ads and just having a better experience with the app generally are others … And, even helping businesses offer better customer service is also on the list. In other words, WhatsApp need to make money.
This week, rapper Frank Ocean released his long, looooooooong awaited album called, Blonde. Ocean released his latest work independently and got his work to the masses via iTunes and Apple Music. Turns out this is a nightmare scenario for record labels. If artists aren’t happy with their record label contracts, what’s stopping them from putting out music on their own then turning to music streaming services for distribution? Well, the answer is nothing (assuming the artist is no longer under contract). Record labels are shaking in their boots. We’ve even heard that Universal Music Group is banning ‘streaming exclusives’ for its artists. Ocean’s the first to break away from a major record label and do something like this. Now the question is … Who’s next? Bey? Drake? How much longer before music labels are a thing of the past?
Check out this 11-minute video and President Obama’s Yosemite National Park visit in VR (formally known as virtual reality). The video is courtesy of Facebook-owned Oculus and VR content studio Felix and Paul Studios. Or skip the video and check out the President watching himself in VR.
President Barack Obama watches a virtual reality film captured during his trip to Yosemite National Park earlier this year, in the Outer Oval Office, Aug. 24, 2016. Personal aide Ferial Govashiri sits at her desk at left. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
These days you gotta meet people where they are … That’s why Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are forking over $$$ for ads on Snapchat. Video ads are where it’s at to reach America’s youth.
Cars You Drive and Those That Drive Themselves…
Somehow Uber managed to drain US $1.27 BILLION dollars in just 6 months. In Uber’s world, it’s literally a drop in the bucket. Price competition from Lyft and drivers’ subsidies are partly to blame. Speaking of Uber drivers, retirement plans are in their future (sort of). Uber’s linked up with robo-advisor Betterment to set up drivers with IRAs or Roth IRAs.
When you did it first … Singapore’s nuTonomy just became the first company to get the world’s first self-driving taxis on the road. Still in test mode but still a very big deal. Uber and Google are working on it but aren’t there yet.
Add Amazon to the automotive list. It’s launched a new hub to help those in the market for new rides compare specs, prices, and get smart before making a purchase. It’s all about building that ‘automotive community.’
How to Avoid Being Hangry …
More on Amazon … It’s taking a cue from Walmart. Shop groceries with the online retailer and then pick up your loot at a nearby drive-in location. No more wasting time by waiting for those deliveries at your door. Yay! That’s the plan at least… Amazon’s still testing things out.
Southern Global Hospitality…
It hasn’t been smooth sailing for home sharing service AirBnB as of late. It’s been dealing with some heavy subjects like racism and discrimination on the app. But, not every host on the app is a jerk. Over 300 hosts are taking in people for free that have been devastated by the natural disasters in Italy, Louisiana, and Cali. It’s all part of the company’s disaster response program. #GoodWork
Keep Me Entertained …
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. First Instagram, now Apple. The iPhone maker is working on a video feature reminiscent of Snapchat.
Pandora just got a new partner, and it makes sense. The Root’s Questlove and the music streaming service are doing a lil collabo called “Questlove Supreme,” a weekly radio show. The ‘black nerd version of NPR’ kicks off on Sept. 7.
Introducing Fans.com, a social network for all things concerts.
So, North Korea’s apparently working on a Netflix-type service called ‘ManBang.’ Interesting move since a ton of North Korean citizens aren’t even allowed to access the InterWebs. Things that make you go hmmm…
So Not Entertaining …
Internet trolls truly outdid themselves this week. If you remember, not too long ago the Cincinnati Zoo had to unfortunately take down Harambe (one of its gorillas). People were outraged and started trolling not only the zoo but it’s director on social. Things got so bad, the zoo said ‘screw this, we’re out.’ It got off of social.
Things went from bad to worse when we learned that also this week, Saturday Night Live and Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones was hacked. It’s been a rollercoaster summer for the celeb who was the target of vicious racist attacks on Twitter. We thought things calmed down, but that was a mistake. Hackers got access to some explicit pics of Leslie and her passport info then posted them to her official website (complete with racial remarks). The website’s been taken down, other celebs rallied behind Leslie, and the Department of Homeland Security is investigating. #DoBetter
MAKIN’ MOVES
Tech magazine Wired is losing another exec. Mark McClusky turned in his two-week notice and will be heading back to Sports Illustrated to run its digital division.
Facebook doesn’t want its users to deal with ‘clickbait’ articles in your newsfeed.
When You Need To Use It In A Sentence …
Clickbait aka articles with headlines that leave you feeling misled, tricked, or underwhelmed after clicking the link (e.g., Headline: You won’t believe what XYZ celeb did! The Actual Content: [Insert uninteresting, mundane activity like a grocery story run].
When They’ve Heard You Loud & Clear …
Facebook users aren’t amused and complain about these annoying clickbait articles. So, FB decided to put some brainpower behind solving the problem. FB employees have narrowed down types of click bait into two groups. Category 1: ‘Curiosity gap headlines’ (see example above) and Category 2: Flat out misleading headlines.
When You’ve Found A Solution …
FB’s changed up its algorithm so that publishers who dabble with the worst type of clickbait just simply won’t reach the number of FB users they’d like. But no need to go to basic, boring, and bulky headlines just yet. FB’s only going after the worst offenders.
When Others Chime in…
Last night, John Oliver dug deep into journalism and even talked ‘clickbait’ and what that means for the future of journalism.
E-commerce site Jet.com tried to take on e-commerce giant Amazon. But, it didn’t work. Walmart stepped in and paid $3 billion in cash money for Jet.com. Now, it’s back to the Wal-Mart v. Amazon matchup. Advantage, Walmart?
Back on! Online fantasy sports sites FanDuel and DraftKings can now legally operate again in New York. But, there’s a catch. NY Governor Andrew Cuomo says the sites’ contests are now considered a “game of skill,” which basically means NY regulators will be watching. And, the sites will have to pay new fees.
Google is off to the races in India. The company’s winning the emerging market (ahead of Facebook and Microsoft) with its free Wi-Fi program, and that’s major! #NextBillion
Yahoo’s going through things right now. But, it’s still got its eye on the prize. It’s launching Yahoo View, a TV watching site, with the help of Hulu.
In more TV watching news, Comcast, Time Warner, Disney, etc. have all poured money into online companies to reach younger audiences. But not Viacom. The company hasn’t gone down the digital investments road yet. Rumor has it that Viacom has its eye on BuzzFeed. Unlikely, but anything’s possible…
Speaking of not making investments, Chinese Internet giant Alibaba has no plans to get involved with U.S. streaming service Netflix.
MAKING MOVES
Twitter just lost a member of its Comms team. Jim Prosser is heading over to marketplace lending company SoFi.
Everyone’s trying to be a tech company, including healthcare and consumer goods company Johnson & Johnson. J&J is kicking of its new tech business with the help of former Dropbox exec Marc Leibowitz.
After almost 8 years on Google’s self-driving car projects, Chris Urmson is peacing on account of he’s ‘ready for a fresh new challenge.’
And now that Verizon is buying Yahoo, the Internet company’s VP of global PR & Communications Anne Espiritu is ready to dip. She’s going the startup route and is joining health-care company Oscar Insurance Corp.
Good to Know: Google’s new “About Me” page lets you see exactly what’s being shared about you publicly by the site. You can control what you don’t want people to see. Happy Friday, ya’ll!
THE SKINNY
Just A Question of When …
A few months back, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) opted to keep interest rates low (near zero); but come December that will change. Rates are expected to increase.
Ok, And?
Since it’s pretty much a done deal that interest rates will go up next month, people are looking at if and when it’ll go up a second or a third time. The Fed is cautious because the economy’s still weak.
What Does This All Mean?
If we take a look back, reports told us that for regular folks, it means things like mortgage rate increases. But, it also means employment numbers are up. And for tech companies, it means it may not be a ‘free for all’ in terms of funding new startups like we’ve seen. It’ll likely become increasingly difficult for new companies to raise capital. Borrowing costs are already up.
Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten is going left when other Japanese companies are going right. It’s decided not to go down the path more traveled, which is Japanese companies looking to deepen their roots in Silicon Valley (SV). Rakuten wants to stay close to home and is looking to transform Tokyo into Japan’s very own tech capital. The company’s founder Hiroshi Mikitani is banking on Tokyo’s innovative spirit and the fact that the U.S. isn’t always quick on consumer trends. Anything to stay relevant in the digital economy …
THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’
Remember when Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel told Facebook to take a hike with its $3 billion offer? Well now, FB is going after Snapchat in a different way. The social network’s testing out Snapchat-style disappearing messages (but just in France).
Speaking of turning down tons of cash … Wish, a five-year old e-commerce startup that most of us have never heard of, is rumored to have walked away from a $10 billion offer courtesy of Amazon.
One more thing on Snapchat … Wall Street Journal is its next media partner for the Discovery feature on the app. Marks the first time a major business publication will be on display.
It took almost no time for people to start talking about Zenefits, a startup that’s changing things up in the Human Resources world with its online software. Things are cooling off a bit. The startup is struggling to meet sales goals, and its value has been halved. Meaning, the company isn’t looking to hire, current employees’ salaries are getting cut, and some execs have abandoned ship.
The new YouTube Music app is here! Think of it as a standalone music service where you can access about 30 million audio tracks for free.
Good to Know: We all know what it’s like to have the case of the Mondays but turns out that people actually hate Thursdays more according to posts on the Whisper app.
Park took the app and allegedly posted a message threatening black students and faculty at the University of Missouri (Mizzou), the sister campus to Missouri University of Science and Technology. The actual words used were “I’m going to shoot any black people tomorrow, so be ready.”Umm… terrifying … Black students fled campus before police arrested Park on suspicion of making terrorist threats.
Posters Beware …
College kids are very into Yik Yak, but most of them probably didn’t read the fine print. The app says it can hand over users’ information (e.g. Internet protocol address, GPS coordinates, date and time of message, etc.) to police if there’s a subpoena, court order, or search warrant involved. But, all that paper work isn’t needed in the event of an emergency like death threats.
Not the First Time …
Park’s threats along with some others surfaced on Yik Yak after Mizzou’s President and another senior university official were forced to step down. Their departure came after weeks of protests calling out the university’s handling of students’ concerns over racial incidents on campus. The app has a history of users’ posting these types of messages. In recent weeks, a few arrests have been made on college campuses across the U.S. for similar threats by other students. Yik Yak founder Brooks Buffington says the app is not meant for this type of behavior.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Paying Your Fair Share …
AirBnB was fired up when it scored its major “W” by shutting down San Francisco’s Proposition F, which would have been bad news bears for short-term rentals. But now, the home-sharing service is taking things down a notch. This week, the company’s out with what it’s calling the “AirBnB Community Compact” to mend relations with local governments. AirBnB is willing to pay taxes, share unidentified data on its hosts and guests, and banning illegal hotels for participating on the platform.
When Someone Tries To Put You in a Box …
“Don’t do it,” says Chinese Internet company Alibaba. The company thinks it can do better and is looking to expand its empire. Alibaba is getting into U.S. territory by throwing money at high-tech U.S. startups. The company also wants to export goods from U.S. small and medium-sized businesses over to China. Btw, the company’s setting the record straight … It’s no e-commerce company. Instead, it wants to help other businesses compete with the Amazons of the world.
We Still Need Confirmation …
The U.S. and EU are working hard to figure out a deal that will allow American companies to transfer Europeans’ data back to the States. The EU may have some new stipulations. EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova says it may want American companies to turn over reports detailing just how many times U.S. intelligence agencies are reaching out to them and inquiring about EU residents. You know, just to double-check that things aren’t getting out of hand.
THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’
Social media company Facebook’s out with its new “breaking news” feature called Notify. You get your pick of what type of news you want to see from over 70 publishers.
Apple wants you to be able to make instant payments to your friends. It’s rumored to be working with banks to figure out a mobile peer-to-peer payment service.
Ride hailing app Uber wanted to get Nokia Maps in its corner to improve its navigation service, but things didn’t work out. Uber has moved onto navigation company TomTom and worked out partnership deal.
Online music streaming service Spotify’s trying to get you to the next big show with concert recommendations curated just for you.
IAC/Interactive Corp, owner of brands like OkCupid and CollegeHumor.com, wants to add Angie’s List, reviewer of local businesses, to its collection via a merger. Angie’s List is thinking things over.
LinkedIn knows it sends way too many emails and is working on a tool to fix that. Internally, the tool is known as Air Traffic Controller.
Good to Know: ICYMI, yesterday Google featured Hedy Lamarr who is more known for her acting chops back in the day than being the designer of a communication system during World War II that set the groundwork for modern Wi-fi.
THE SKINNY
When Tragedy Strikes …
Freelance journalist Zak Stone published a seriously tragic and heart-wrenching story about how his dad died while staying at an AirBnB rental during a family trip. The incident happened about two years ago but now he’s letting everyone know how a major safety hazard on the AirBnB property took his dad’s life.
Now What?
His family’s story adds fuel to the ongoing debate about sharing economy services and their consumers’ safety. In AirBnB’s case, questions are being raised about the company’s responsibilities regarding safety. The site offers safety pointers to hosts under the “Trust” section of its site. The company also suggests to hosts that getting renter’s or homeowner’s insurance is probably a good idea. The insurance issue a huge deal.
Why?
Well, the problem is a lot of home owner’s insurance policies out there don’t include commercial activity like AirBnBs. So basically, people can get the insurance, but it still wouldn’t cover their AirBnB rental. To fix that issue, the company began offering Host Protection Insurance for up to $1 million earlier this year.
What to Do?
AirBnB and other sharing economy companies are working to put more safety measures in place. But, Zak notes that AirBnB is still not held to same standards as hotels (which is a huge point of contention between AirBnB and regular hotels). Sharing economy companies say that users’ reviews will weed out all the bad folks in their system, but consumer advocates want more than that. The struggle continues between balancing the benefits of these services with issues like safety.
In the Meantime …
Here’s Zak’s post in full but please proceed with caution.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Not Many Things In Life Are Free …
Google is giving away its machine learning software TensorFlow. In normal people speak, TensorFlow is software the company uses to make computers “smarter” (e.g., teaching a computer to recognize cats by saturating its computer network with millions of cat images courtesy of YouTube). No, this doesn’t mean Google is going to kill its own business. The search company wants people to spend time with the software, come up with new ways to use the thing, and also hopefully improve the software. If you’ve got what it takes, then by all means, have at it!
When People Are Playing Games …
Immigration is a major issue in the United States (U.S.) and will continue to rage with upcoming presidential elections next year. The tech industry has been pretty vocal about the need for more H-1B visas, three-year work permits for foreign-born professionals to legally work in the U.S. With each passing year, the demand for these visas (only 85k available in total) are only going up. The demand is so high that the U.S. government had to put in place a lottery so regardless of whether people are qualified or not, their chances to legally stay in the U.S. to earn a living comes down to the luck of the draw. French born software engineer Théo Négri thought he had a promising career in San Francisco. But, that dream was cut short after he didn’t make it through the lottery. Négri later found out through data analysis that large global outsourcing companies are “gaming” the system by submitting thousands of applications and clogging up the system, leaving American companies with fewer chances of locking down a visa for their foreign-born applicants. Things definitely need to change.
The Clock Is Ticking …
A Belgian court wants Facebook to stop tracking people who aren’t users of its site. For the past five years, whenever an Internet user visits FB, a cookie (aka a file that tracks when someone visits a site and also certain online activities) is instantly triggered. This applies to non-FB users, which the court doesn’t think is right. The court says FB can only track people who directly give their consent; otherwise, the company will be fined 250,000 euros (£180,000) daily. The court gave FB two days to come into compliance, but the social networking is putting up a fight and plans to appeal the decision.
THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’
U.S. President Barack Obama got a Facebook for the country’s top position. His first post is about climate change.
Facebook Messenger is relying on facial recognition technology for its new Photo Magic feature. Photo Magic can i.d. your friends in photos and then asks if you want to send it to them or not. Photo Magic makes its first debut “Down Under.”
Match Group, Inc., parent company of many dating sites and apps that we know, is looking to get in the money. The company is looking at a $3.4 billion IPO and wants to raise $536.7 million to get there.
Tag Heuer Connected is Android’s answer to Apple Watch. You can get yourself one of these bad boys for $1500.
Indian e-commerce company Flipkart partnered with Google to revamp its new mobile website. One point for Google! It’s a good way to get new Internet users from emerging markets, especially since most of them live in India and will be accessing the web via mobile phones.
Social platform Twitter is looking to diversify its Board of Directors.
Some execs recently peaced out on Yahoo so its CEO Marissa Mayer came up with an idea. Mayer wants the remaining execs to sign a pledge saying they’ll stay on with the company for three to five years. Interesting.
After months of ‘on the low’ meetings, computer company Dell said it’s buying EMC, computer data storage company, for a cool $67 billion. Sort of a big deal.
IS it Worth it?
This is the largest tech buyout … ever (even beating out that time Facebook shocked everyone and bought messaging app WhatsApp for about $22B). Dell is willing to drop major cash and take on some insane debt to get its business back on track. In case you haven’t noticed, many of us aren’t buying up personal computers (PCs) like we used to and sales have been declining for quite a while (14 quarters to be exact). Big risk, big reward?
‘Cuz You Know They’ve Got Bad Blood…
After the announcement, Hewlett-Packard (HP) piped up and said it intends to take full advantage of this time since Dell and EMC will be too preoccupied with this deal to innovate on anything. Previously rumored to be in merger talks with EMC, HP has its own issues. The company laid off thousands of employees and recently announced it’s splitting into two companies (one consumer facing and the other B2B). Michael Dell must’ve gotten wind about what HP had to say and hit back on the issue of potentially downsizing. He says there are no plans for layoffs and added “…other companies are better at reducing headcounts than we are.” Oh, the shade of it all!
Wrap It Up …
The deal will take effect within the next year. Michael Dell will remain the top guy for the merged companies, but EMC’s CEO Joseph Tucci is out. He was planning to retire anyway and wanted this deal to be his legacy. Tucci will likely walk away with about $27 million . We’ll take it!
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Business …
Speaking of layoffs, it’ll be a tough holiday season for about 336 Twitter employees (8% of its workforce). The company is letting them go in efforts to reduce costs as it focuses on bringing in new users. Twitter has had trouble attracting new people to its service, mainly because they say the platform is overwhelming and hard to use. Advertisers aren’t happy with Twitter’s services either (which is a huge problem since advertising is Twitter’s main revenue source). Newly re-minted CEO Jack Dorsey definitely has his work cut out for him. But, he’s up for the challenge and sees this as an opportunity to narrow the company’s focus and create more efficiency.
Making The World A Better Place …
One tech startup at a time. These days, some tech startups aren’t trying to be the next billion dollar business but are simply trying to do some good in this sometimes cold, cold world. Wall Street Journal’s got the story and is highlighting non-profit tech orgs like Stellar.org, a nonprofit trying to help out the 2 billion unbanked people around the globe. Even reputable startup accelerator YC Combinator just opened a new research lab known as YC Research to tackle more long-term projects with a focus on social good. Organizations focusing on social impact more than profits are on the rise, and accelerators, like Google.org and BlackRock Inc.’s Fast Forward, are ready to back them.
Express Yourself …
Or not, in China and Turkey’s case. Over the weekend, Apple had to pull its new Apple News service from China to stay clear of the Chinese government telling them what they can and cannot release over the app. And shortly after the devastating suicide bombs in Ankara, Turkey, Turkish citizens tried to turn to social networks like Twitter, but the government wasn’t having any of it. It was later reported that Turkey’s government put out a media ban, limited people’s access to e-mail, and shut down access to Facebook and Twitter all together. This isn’t the first type the government has done this. Looks like free speech is hard to come by some times …
The Streets Are Talkin’
Stanford University says computer science is now very popular among its female students (about 218 women are enrolled in the major). That’s what we like to hear!
Facebook continues with its plans to take over the world. It’s latest move? Testing out the e-commerce waters. The company is coming out with a “Shop” section and is also trying to figure out how to make it easier for you to make seamless purchases via ads.
Do you want to know what diseases you’re susceptible to? Or, how you’ll react to certain medications? Ancestry.com wants to tell you with its DNA kit. But first, it needs the go ahead from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
And in other head tilting news, PepsiCo wants to help market smartphones in China.
Good to Know: November 11 is Alibaba’s Singles’ Day in China (and Veterans Day in the U.S. – thank you to all those who have served and are currently serving). Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce site, is responsible for what is basically the anti-Valentine’s day and also the biggest e-commerce day of the year. Sales have already reached over $8 billion. We’re starting to reconsider Cyber Monday and Black Friday.
THE SKINNY.
The InterWebs Is All Abuzz…
Because on Monday, November 10, President Obama ensured that we’d be talking about net neutrality all week when he came out with a strong statement and video in support of net neutrality rules that would keep the Internet open and free.
Why Is This Big Deal?
First, the back-story… For many years, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been working towards implementing net neutrality rules. However, the Commission’s efforts have been consistently challenged in court – first by Comcast and then most recently by Verizon. In January 2014, the D.C. Circuit struck down most of the Commission’s rules (namely no blocking and no discrimination). Subsequently, the FCC had started a lengthy, record breaking public comment process of trying to figure out what rules to adopt and how it would legally carry out implementation of these rules. Through this process, the FCC heard from about 3 million plus people, and many of you want the FCC to reclassify broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act (Title II) as a common carrier service.
What is Title II, and Why Should I Care?
By reclassifying broadband services under Title II, it is argued that this would prevent ISPs from discriminating against certain types of services and content and stop them from charging Internet users a premium just to access our favorite online shows (kind of like how you have to pay more for HBO). Proponents say going down the Title II route will protect the open Internet and allow us to do as we please online. ISPs/cable companies are not feelin’ this idea and think things should be left just as they are.
Ok? So What’s the Punch Line …
Well, there’s been intense debate about what rules are appropriate and the best legal approach to get there. Last week, we told you about the WSJ leak where we found out that the FCC was considering a hybrid legal approach, which pretty much everyone and their mother hated. Then yesterday, President Obama called for strong rules that would prevent discrimination and blocking while encouraging transparency. And, Obama recommended that the FCC (an independent agency) implement these rules by reclassifying broadband services under… wait for it … TITLE II! #MicDrop
What Does Obamacare Have to Do With This?
In a nutshell, the Democrats and Internet companies came out in support of the President’s statement. As expected, Republicans and ISPs were not pleased. Speaking of Republicans, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) went there and said that net neutrality is the Obamacare for the Internet. Needless to say, the Internet responded, and it wasn’t pretty.
Till Next Year …
President Obama’s statement is a game changer. Originally, we all thought we’d see an official FCC proposal come out this December but looks like things have been pushed back until the new year.
What Else Is Going On This Week?
They’re Having the Last Laugh …
Remember when Facebook told you that you’d have to download its Messenger app to send messages via your phone? And we were all like ain’t happening … Well, turns out that 500 million of us gave in. The social network now has over 1 billion users using messaging and has passed 500 million monthly users on its Messenger app in addition to 600 million active users on its newly owned WhatsApp.
Join the Social Movement ….
In the fight against Ebola, Internet companies are coming out big. Last week, Facebook released a donations function for its users to contribute towards these efforts. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife personally donated $25 million, and this week, Google donated $10 million to some non-profits and announced that it would donate $2 dollars for every dollar donated through its new campaign. Oh, Larry Page and fam also contributed about $15 million.
More Stolen Data…
The U.S. Postal Service is the latest victim in data theft. Though the public is just learning about it, back in September, databases containing about 800,000 employees and retirees personal information (names, birth dates, addresses, and Social Security numbers) were compromised. The government’s not sure who is responsible, but they think it looks like work of Chinese hackers.
The Streets Are Talkin’
Let’s talk more about Alibaba. Last week, we told you about Alibaba’s much anticipated first earnings report. The company killed it reporting its profit had increased by about 16%, and it’s now valued at $250 billion. Now, its CEO Jack MA is saying that AliPay (its financial services arm) will definitely be going public. Note to self: Should’ve jumped on the bandwagon earlier.
