11.30.2015

Good to Know: You may soon be able to access the Internet via light bulbs aka Li-Fi. Btw, Happy Cyber Monday!

THE SKINNY

Lies, Fairytales, & Fallacies …

Or maybe not? The topic of climate change is bringing 45,000 people including about 150 world leaders alongside business people, young people, and celebrities like actor Sean Penn, etc. to Paris. This is the 21st annual gathering, and some attendees seem a bit more jaded than others (looking at you, scientists).

Climate Change? What Does That Even Mean?

You know what it is … It’s rocking your summer gear when you should really be bundled up. In other words, it’s comes down to significant, unusual weather changes in a particular location. These changes are said to be due to things like increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Is there An End-Game?

At the end of the United Nation’s two-week long pow wow, leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping etc. are hoping this one goes down in the history books. They want people to know that climate change is the real deal by potentially signing off on climate change agreements. Things like clean energy investment and fossil fuel reduction are on the check list. Did you know that more efficient batteries could help steer us away from a fossil fuel “addiction?” Also of note: People are watching India because it’ll be the new China pretty soon.

squad goals …

Tech genius turned philanthropist Bill Gates is ready to pony up US $1 billion dollars out of his personal funds to help back a multi-billion dollar clean energy effort. Project Name? The Breakthrough Energy Coalition. The coalition ultimately wants to help fund research that can solve the world’s clean energy problem. If governments get on board and allocate cash money to this area, Gate says he’ll fork over even more money, and others will likely join him. Like who? Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alibaba’s Jack Ma, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, etc. are on board.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Baby, I Swear It’s “Déjà Vu!”

In the U.S. this week (December 4), the free and open Internet is back in court. Well actually, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will once again have to defend its latest net neutrality rules against U.S. telecom companies. Net neutrality is the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, and people should be able to access whatever they want, whenever they want online. Telecom companies say the latest rules are crap and could harm their investment in broadband. They want these rules thrown out. This has happened twice before, and let’s just say it hasn’t gone well for the FCC each time. Everyone’s looking at federal judge David Tatel, who is one of three judges that will preside over the case. Tatel presided over the last two cases as well, but people are saying this doesn’t necessarily mean that the FCC will take the “L” on this for the third time.

When You Want More Responsibility…

Will negotiations ever end? The U.S. and European Union (EU) are still locked in discussions on what a new data transfer agreement will look like moving forward. Previously, an old agreement called the U.S-EU Safe Harbor guided how American and European companies traded EU citizen’s data across the Atlantic (e.g., company data like human resource info or user data picked up by Internet companies). The EU trashed the old agreement because a court felt that the U.S. government just didn’t care about EU citizen’s privacy. The latest proposal is to increase the role of EU Member States’ privacy regulators when it comes to Europeans complaining about how companies are invading their privacy. This is just one issue of many that both sides need to figure out by the end of January 2016. Tick, tock …

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Yesterday, U.S. NBA star Kobe Bryant took us back to 1999 when he attempted to get into the rap game. He tweeted his retirement from basketball after the current season. Rhymes were involved.

South African conglomerate Naspers, Ltd. is taking on U.S. video streaming service Netflix’s international expansion. Naspers’ answer to Netflix is called Showmax, which will soon be available across Europe, North America, and Australasia.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 3.2 billion people across the globe now have access to the Interwebs (most of these people prefer to get online via mobile phones) … If you don’t know, now you know …

“OMG, I’m literally dying” … “yasssssss” …. “I just can’t!” The New York Times is doing the most (aka trying too hard) by attempting to analyze how Millennials exaggerate online.

Last week, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving. People ate and shopped online in excess. Who needs to duke it out in a store like these people when you can jump on your phone? Smartphone shopping is becoming a regular thing.

11.25.2015

Good to Know: Tomorrow is American Thanksgiving. Startups want people to stay at home, eat, drink, and be merry. This Thursday, these companies are prepared to deliver last-minute, wine, stuffing, movies, etc. straight to your door within an hour. BTW, like many people in the U.S., we’ll be busy gobbling up turkey. See you back here on Monday, November 30.

THE SKINNY

When You Can’t Remember Your Password …

It’s not you … It’s them. E-commerce company Amazon reset passwords for some of its users recently.

Why?

Well, if you got an email from Amazon, then you probably know that the company feared that some users’ passwords may have been inadvertently exposed to third parties. Amazon said it has “no reason” to believe that this actually happened but wanted to take precautionary measures.

Safety First …

Amazon’s also pushing users to make sure their information is secure via two-factor authentication. With this system, hackers would need more than just your username and password to get into your accounts. They’d also need another device like your mobile phone.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Shady “Mr. Grey…”

If you’re up to some shady things, it’s probably best to just keep your mouth shut. Around this time last year, cybersecurity firm Hold Security id-ed a Russian hacker group responsible for stealing 1.2 million credentials and over 500 million email addresses. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) got involved. According to official court documents, the FBI figured out that the hacker, known as “mr. grey,” is linked to a Russian email address. mr. grey hasn’t been shy… The group previously boasted that it could hook people up with user account information for popular sites like Facebook and Twitter. For now, FB, Twitter, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice have nothing to say on the matter.

Going Solo …

Tor, the place where Internet users go for private and secure messaging, wants your money. The organization’s network is mainly U.S. government backed (about 80-90%), but Tor thinks that it’s time to fly solo. The project thinks that being more independent will allow it the flexibility to offer its communication services to those around the world who need increased privacy.

THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’

Do it for the kids. YouTube’s under fire for allegedly pushing junk food ads on the kids’ version of its video platform. Two children advocacy groups have filed complaints with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Talk about trying to bring someone back down to Earth … Earlier this week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took to Twitter for the first time to brag about his other company, Blue Origin. The aerospace company successfully launched and landed a rocket-ship. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, must’ve been feeling some kind of way. Musk gave the ultimate back-handed compliment: First, he congratulated Bezos but then quickly implied that SpaceX did it first.

Amazon’s e-commerce rival Jet.com just pulled in $350M and is expected to add $150M more. The company says most of it will go to marketing, customer support, and growing its team. Who needs a job?

Three ex-Goldman Sachs bankers are trading in their designer suits for jeans and hoodies. The former bankers recently joined Uber adding to the growing trend of people opting out of Wall Street for tech companies. In more Uber news, the company’s pulling together a ‘Safety Advisory Board,’ to help the company navigate its consumer safety issue. It’ll focus on the U.S. first before taking the show worldwide.