Virtual Skinny: Inter-Webs…

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on August 23, 2016 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

8.23.2016

Good to Know: Time to celebrate … The Inter-Webs turn 25 years old today! Still waiting on that quarter-life crisis.

THE SKINNY

When You’ve Turned Over a New Leaf (Sort of) …

If you’ve been following U.S. politics, then you’ve probably noticed that Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump is trying to do better. He’s trying to stay on script and talk more policy. Top of the list? Immigration.

When You Still Want to Build That Wall …

Trump unveiled his immigration plan last week, and it went further than just building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. He talked a lot about “extreme vetting” for those wanting to immigrate to the U.S.

When You’re Not Sure What This Means …

‘Many people’ are wondering (see what we did there?) what this meant for H-1B work visas, which is a big deal in the tech world. It’s unclear, but Trump has said in the past that he would want to reform the H-1B program to stop ‘rampant abuse.’ He’s even called out Disney as a major culprit.

When You’re Confused…

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley and the tech world are still not feeling Trump even with his new approach. With the exception of entrepreneur Peter Thiel, even Silicon Valley Republicans are staying clear of the Donald. They’re either backing down-ticket candidates. throwing their money at Hillz, or sitting the election out all together. #InterestingTimes

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Nope, Not On My Watch …

Google, Facebook, and Twitter are not pleased with a proposal from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agency thought it would be a good idea to ask foreign U.S. visitors arriving on visa waivers to voluntarily hand over their social media account info. It’s all in the name of id-ing potential terrorists. Internet companies said ‘no way Jose.’ The proposal would spell major trouble for social media and free speech generally in the U.S.of A. Not to mention, it would send the wrong message to other countries that they should do the same. #SorryNotSorry

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

What to do after retirement? Former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant retired from the NBA this year. Now, he’s getting into investments. Bryant and his partner Jeff Stibel announced that they’ve launched a US $100 million venture capital fund called Bryant Stibel. They’re looking to invest in tech, media, and data companies. Not really a surprise, Bryant and Stibel have been lowkey investing in companies since 2013.

Tired of your Spotify or Pandora? Amazon’s stepping into music streaming service ring. The service is still in the works, but rumor has it that it’ll cost around US $5/ month. Oh and there’s a catch, the service will only work with Echo hardware aka ‘Alexa.’ Now that Alec Baldwin/Missy Elliott commercial is starting to make sense. #PepRally

Ride-hailing service Lyft wanted out of the biz. It tried to sell to the likes of Uber and for US $9 billion. But, Uber said “too rich for my blood” … It was willing to do $2B and not a penny more. It wasn’t just a money issue … CEO Travis Kalanick didn’t think it’d be a good idea on account of the Feds (i.e., antitrust issues).

While we’re on Uber, ICYMI, it’ll start letting real people into its self-driving cars. To be specific, it’ll start by testing out 100 Volvos in Pittsburgh, PA. But don’t worry, there’ll be a human at the wheel in case things start to go left

Daydream is no longer falling asleep beneath the flowers. It’s the name of Google’s new service for virtual reality films and programs. The company’s throwing millions of dollars at the service and at Inter-web stars for content.

MAKIN’ MOVES

Amazon Web Services former marketing vet Adam Selipsky is going to be the top guy at software company Tableau.

Dropbox CFO Vanessa Wittman is walking away from her post due to health reasons. She’ll be replaced by financial deputy Ajay Vashee in September.

Virtual Skinny: No Judgment Zone

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on August 13, 2016 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

8.13.2016

Good to Know: Been watching the Rio Olympics? There’s about two weeks left. We hear it’s best to stream.

THE SKINNY

When You’re the Outlier …

Post the Republican and Democratic National conventions, opinion polls are showing that it’ll be Hillary over Trump come this November. But, app maker Ric Militi says otherwise.

When You’re Confused …

Militi, creator of Zip Q&A, says based on what he’s seen on the app, he’s calling the U.S. presidential race for Trump.

When You’re A Judgment-Free Zone …

Militi says the discrepancy between opinion polls and his app comes down to anonymity. He says his app allows people to answer questions and express their feelings without anyone knowing their identity. He says people feel free to say what they want without being judged and labeled for their opinions.

When You Need Answers …

What do you think? Is Militi onto something? Tweet us with you think @virtual_skinny. #My6WordOpinion

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Play Your Cards Right…

Tech companies are going public like they used to, but employees still want to cash in on their company shares. Private tech startups are hearing them loud and clear and are trying to do right by their employees. Pinterest and SpaceX are leading the way. Employees can sell their ‘startup shares’ – with strings, of course.

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Message him maybe? President Obama just copped himself a Facebook Messenger account. The goal is to “meet people where they are.”

Snapchat’s filters aren’t always a hit. The app released its “anime-inspired” filter, and it didn’t go well. Asian users took to Twitter to call out the app for its “yellowface” app. A similar reaction happened back in April when Snapchat put out its Bob Marley app in honor of 4/20. People were not ok with it on account of “blackface” and all. Snapchat took the filter down a couple of days later. But, we gotta ask! When will they learn?

Speaking of filters gone bad … BuzzFeed’s saying that Twitter filtered out abusive comments during Q&A sessions with President Obama and celeb Caitlyn Jenner. This all allegedly went down while former CEO Dick Costolo was CEO. Costolo said it never happened. The issue? Twitter may be treating celebs differently than regular folks on its platform. Celebs, maybe they aren’t just like us after all…

Facebook’s on a mission. First, the company kicked off its take down of clickbait. Now, it’s changing up its secret algorithm sauce to show people more content they care about to keep them informed. That’s right… Keep ‘em coming back for more.

Netflix’s ‘Making of a Murder’ was a huge hit. Now, the documentary’s main subject Brendan Dassey just got his conviction overturned.

If you’re a gamer, Spotify’s got something for ya! The music streaming service just launched a new portal dedicated to video game music. Enjoy!

Ride-hailing service company Lyft just told GM, “your money’s no good here.” It’s turned down GM’s advances to buy out the startup.

MAKIN’ MOVES

Co-founder of the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, has been trying to get us to sleep and take care of ourselves for a while now. She even wrote a book about it. But, now she’s done talking. Huffington said she’ll no longer be the head EIC of the online media company. She’s now heading up Thrive Global, a “corporate and consumer well-being and productivity platform.” Think wellness type stuff for corporate employees.

Bill Maris, founder and CEO of Google Ventures, thinks he’s done all he can to get the company’s investing arm on the right track. He’s decided to leave the company on a high note to spend time with his fam. Maris will be leaving GV in the hands of David Krane, Google’s former PR guy.

Virtual Skinny: Extra, Extra…Read All About It

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on May 10, 2016 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter 0 Comment

5.10.2016

Good to Know: Is Apple being a little extra? Now may be a good time to back your media all the way up. Otherwise, Apple can and will delete files from your internal hard drive. The files are downloaded to Apple’s database and served back to you when you want to take a listen. It’s all in the iTunes Terms of Use.

THE SKINNY

When Shots Have Been Fired …

Gizmodo just went after the Facebook News curating process. Last week, Gizmodo sounded off on Facebook’s trending news team. Think young journalists groomed by Ivy League schools or private East coast universities.

When A Week Makes A Difference …

This week, Gizmodo went all the way in on Facebook News. The news outlet chatted with a former member of the social media’s trending news team, and the person described the curating process in one word – bias. The anonymous source, who happens to be conservative, piped up and said that most team members lean left on the political spectrum. So naturally, conservative news stories were hard to come by on Facebook news.

When It Doesn’t End There …

The source had things to say about management too. Facebook says its trending topics are based on algorithms that pick up on what people care about on the platform. The source says not so much. As FB tries to compete with Twitter, the source says management would often tell the team to “inject” news stories that weren’t trending at all on FB but were covered by major news publications like CNN, New York Times, BBC, etc (e.g., Black Lives Matter, disappearance of Malaysian Airline MH 370, Charlie Hebdo attacks, etc.) . Oh, and if news about FB popped up, the person claims they were told to keep it moving unless they got approval to include it.

When You’ve Gotta Respond …

FB is denying everything. It put out a statement saying there are rules in place “to ensure consistency and neutrality” with its Trending Topics section. A spokesperson said it also doesn’t suppress political viewpoints. Now, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee that oversees media and consumer issues is like “Facebook, what’s good?” It’s fired off a letter to FB about its practices.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Reclaiming “Basic…”

If you’re known to go off in the comments section on Reddit, you may want to reconsider. Researchers at the University of Southern California say that the longer you comment, the more basic you sound. Apparently any more than an hour, and you run the risk of your posts being “shorter” and “less sophisticated.” They study is specific to Reddit so no word yet on how this goes on Facebook or Twitter.

QUICK POLL – BY THE NUMBERS

Take our poll! Let us know what you think!

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Ripple.co is a new app that says it’s for local journalists and storytellers.

Content publishers want a piece of that Snapchat action. They’re allegedly ponying up some “Benjamins” to get a spot on the app’s Discover feature. Snapchat’s being mum on this.

Uber and Lyft said “nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye” to Austin, Texas. Residents voted against Proposition 1, which was intended to do dial back on some regulatory protections the city put in place last December (2015). Turns out Austin residents do want fingerprint-based background checks for Uber and Lyft drivers. Residents also weren’t feeling the $8.6 million marketing campaign the companies pushed to do away with the regulations. Uber and Lyft say they already use legit background check services and fingerprints aren’t reliable. So for now, they’re done with Austin.

If you build it, they will come. Amazon’s created a new service called Video Direct to go head-to-head with YouTube. Amazon wants content creators to upload their works for its Amazon Prime audience.

Virtual Skinny: No-no-no-NOTORIOUS!

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on April 4, 2016 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter

4.4.2016

Good to Know: Techies are notorious for acronyms. Here’s a guide to what letter combos like MVP (minimal viable product) and UV (unique viewers) mean.

THE SKINNY

When You Gotta Get Those Pay-pers …

The “Panama Papers” that is … Yesterday, the entire world learned about Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm at the center of what is being called the biggest leak of private documents to date. In other words, this leak makes Edward Snowden’s NSA leak look like child’s play.

When You Want to Know What’s Going On …

Well, it really took one push of a button. About a year ago, an anonymous source sent an encrypted message to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). The message contained documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm about shell companies and offshore accounts belonging to some major celebs, politicians, and even organizations (ahem, FIFA) that are no strangers to alleged corruption. Within a year, the stack grew to 2.6 terabytes of data. Basically, that’s enough information to fit onto just under 450 CDs (Remember those? Talk about Throwback!)…

**When You’re No-no-no-NOTORIOUS…**

After SZ got their hands on the docs, it sent the information over to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Apparently, sifting through these docs is a joint effort – 107 media companies (including BBC Panoroma) spread across 78 countries are involved. Already, we know that these docs discuss things like $2 billion that link to Russian president Vladimir Putin and his peeps, Iceland’s Prime Minister’s undeclared stakes in an offshore company, and members of FIFA.

When You Want No Misunderstandings …

To be clear, some shell companies are actually legit. For instance, the media believes Apple created shell company, SixtyEight Research, to secretly build a car with minimal media attention. Even tax avoidance (not to be confused with tax evasion) is on the up and up. But, other shell companies and offshore accounts are simply just criminal. From the looks of it, the “Panama Papers” could potentially expose what the world’s 1% are doing on the down low.

When You’re Getting The Popcorn Ready …

Redditors are fired up and ready to go, and the Twitterverse is already a buzz with people sounding off on the #panamapapers … *Sips tea*

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

It’ll Happen When The Time Is Right …

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its case against Apple. It no longer needed the court’s help in compelling the company to help the U.S. government unlock an iPhone belonging to a terrorist in the San Bernardino attack. The government relied on technologists’ help and managed to unlock the iPhone. Now, the FBI is telling the law enforcement community that it’ll help them out in as soon as it’s cool under current law and policy. But, it may not work out that way. Reports say the solution is likely to leak, and Apple will likely jump on the leak with a quickness to fix the flaw.

MAP IT OUT…

Check out how the “Panama Papers” leak looks in comparison to some other major disclosures.

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Fashion do(s) … Massachusetts Institute of Technology aka MIT, small textile company Warwick Mills, and the U.S. Department of Defense want to give the entire textile industry an upgrade. The collabo is focused on figuring out how to get tiny semiconductors into fabrics for seeing, hearing, communicating, warming up, and cooling down, etc. Think if your clothes were kind of like FitBits but better.

Ride-hailing companies like Uber and its Chinese competitor Didi Kuaidi are present in Latin America. But, now it’s a race to see who can dominate. All eyes are on Brazil. It’s kind of a big deal being the 5^th largest population in the world and all … Speaking of Uber, the company is making moves on the African continent. It’s coming soon to Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania in June 2016.

Facebook Live, the social network’s live video feature, may just be another annoying notification to us regular folks, but media companies and amateurs are loving it. Drawing large audiences FTW …

eHarmony is known for matchmaking for dating, and now it wants to help folks find the right careers with new site, Elevated Careers.

Virtual Skinny: Monday Motivation

Posted by The Virtual Skinny on March 28, 2016 in Internet & Tech, Newsletter

3.28.2016

Good to Know: “You’re not normal. You’re you. You’re awesome.” – @thekidpresident #mondaymotivation

THE SKINNY

When You’re Still Working Out the Kinks …

Over the weekend, a deadly bombing happened at a children’s park in Lahore, Pakistan,
taking the lives of 69 people and leaving about 300 injured. So, Facebook launched its “Safety Check” to let people “check in” as safe. But, it didn’t work as expected.

When Something Is A Major Fail …

The “Safety Check” is intended to be avail for people close to the event, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday, March 27. Instead, FB asked people all over the world (South Africa, Nepal, Canada, and U.S.): “Are you okay?”

When You Need to Apologize for Your Behavior …

Before it was too late, Facebook said “sorry.” The company copped to its mistake and blamed it on a bug that is “counter to the product’s intent.” Safety Check’s been giving FB some issues since its debut, but those issues have been more along the lines of FB alleging playing faves on when and where to launch the features.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

What’s your motivation?

By now, you’ve probably heard a lil’ something, something about Apple’s rumble with the U.S. government over encryption. Now, the issue is going global. With the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, France wants to act quickly. French lawmakers are seeking to make it easier for intelligence bodies to have more power in getting people’s personal data. A similar proposal allowing governments to “snoop” has cropped up in Britain. But, German and Dutch officials aren’t here for any of it and oppose “back doors” in encryption services. In the meantime, all eyes are on Britain since it’s a big market for American tech companies.

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Ride-hailing app Uber is using its “Code on the Road” game to recruit engineering talent. Fun Fact: Some people who have played already work in engineering. Uber says it’s not playing the “targeting” game when it comes to who can play. Rather, the company says it’s launching the game in cities where there are tons of tech jobs. Hmmm … We’ll go along with that … for now. BTW, $10K is on the line for people who play and find bugs, which could threaten privacy and security.

Yahoo is putting its core Internet business (think search, email, etc.) up for sale. And, the latest word on the street is that Microsoft is chatting with Yahoo’s investors about a private equity deal.

You’re a lucky man, Ross Martin! He’s the first customer to receive the first Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.

Internet & Tech News for Non-Techies on the Go

ride-hailing