11.11.2015
Good to Know: Remember the floppy disk? Who knew those things along with a few other old school technologies are still around?
THE SKINNY
An Ongoing Battle …
Yesterday, New York Attorney General (AG) Eric Schneiderman told fantasy sports sites FanDuel and DraftKings “not in my house.” *Finger wag* Schneiderman fired off cease and desist letters to each company telling them to stop doing business in the state … or else.
Why?
If you’ll remember, we previously told you about the alleged insider trading scandal involving one of DraftKing’s employees. The issue comes down to whether these sites under federal law are illegal online gambling sites. FanDuel and DraftKings says that the law classifies them as a “game of skill and not chance” making their biz legit. Schneiderman disagrees and had some strong words for the sites. He says they are “evad[ing] the law and “fleec[ing] sports fans. ” He won’t let it go down like that on his watch.
What’s Next?
A few weeks back, Nevada banned the sites from operating within the state without official licenses. Other states like Arizona, Montana, and Iowa flat out rejected the sites all together. Now that NY is jumping on the bandwagon, this could compromise the sites’ business in a major way. Both companies have five days to officially respond to Schneiderman’s letters. In the meantime, they’ve made statements dismissing the NY AG’s actions as just a politician trying to drum up trouble where it doesn’t exist. Even if the companies get over this bump in the road, they’ve still got the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Making Good On Your Promise …
After former venture capitalist Ellen Pao wrapped up her gender discrimination case against ex-employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, she vowed to keep talking about the issue and its existence within the tech industry. Pao penned a column for The Lenny Letter, a newsletter run by actress Lena Dunham and Dunham’s business partner Jenni Konner. Pao explains her side of the story and responds to all the haters. She claims that tech talked about gender bias and harassment but didn’t actually do anything to address the issue. Pao plans to keep talking about gender discrimination and wants you to join her as well.
wHEN sOMETHINGS ARE JUST NOT WORTH IT …
They say cheaters never win. U.S. federal prosecutors just explained details of what it says is “the largest hacking case ever.” The case involves a multiyear effort where hackers stole information on 100 million customers from 12 companies and financial institutions including JP Morgan Chase to use and profit off of shady activities like stock manipulation, online gambling, and fraud. Prosecutors charged three men (two Israeli and one American) with 23 counts of fraud and other illegal activities. These hackers definitely did not keep things simple. They laundered money through 75 shell companies and used 30 false passports from 17 different countries to pull the job off for eight years.
All Signs Point To ….
For what seems like forever, people have been talking about the high valuation trend for tech companies coming to an end. Now, Fidelity is adding more fuel to the fire. The mutual fund company and investor in Snapchat just marked down its investment in the app company by 25 percent. No word on why though.
THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’
U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile wants its users to get their binge-watching on. The company is now offering “BingeOn,” which means it’ll let customers stream their preferred shows via Netflix, HBOGO, etc. without applying any data caps.
No more worrying about getting lost when you’re sans Internet connection. Google Maps’ new offline feature will be there to help you reach your destination.
Apple Music is now available for Android operating systems. The service pretty much works the same way it does for iOS. Just one thing – playing music videos isn’t a thing on Droids yet.
Amazon Prime Now’s food delivery service from your local eatery or grocer is heading to Los Angeles then expanding to Portland. Still waiting on when it plans to go country-wide in the U.S.
San Francisco based hotel booking app, HotelTonight, just let go off 20% of its staff. CEO Sam Shank (what a name!) said it was a hard decision but now the company’s lean and focused.
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba deemed November 11 as “Singles Day,” originally intended to celebrate all the single people out there. Six years later, it’s now basically China’s version of Cyber Monday. The company has brought in sales already exceeding last year’s $9.3 billion total.