12.3.2015
Good to Know: Most of you will likely get new devices as holiday presents this year. Not sure what to do with your old ones? Amazon, Gazelle, and Best Buy have stellar recycling or trade-in programs in the U.S.
THE SKINNY
Something Becoming Routine Isn’t Always A Good Thing…
In fact, it can be a very bad thing. Yesterday, a horrible mass shooting took place in San Bernadino, California and claimed the lives of 14 innocent people. Per usual, U.S. politicians immediately took to Twitter to send their “thoughts and prayers.” It didn’t go over well with the American public.
aN uNEXPECTED RESPONSE …
The hashtag #thoughtsandprayers started trending on Twitter but not in the way you think. Americans tweeted their frustrations with the U.S. Congress’s inaction on gun control. Their message: Simply tweeting about “thoughts and prayer” won’t change anything. The controversial front page of today’s NY Daily News pretty much sums it up.
Speak Up or DO SOMETHING
This latest tragedy is just another example of the increasing role Internet and tech companies are playing to either help force difficult political debates or help take action against domestic and global terrorists. For instance, earlier today, five tech companies including Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, and Microsoft told France that they would “define and establish an offensive strategy of counter-discourse that will specifically target the online activities” of terrorist group ISIS.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Break Me Off A Piece of that…
If Yahoo’s board decides to sell the company’s Web business, it looks like almost everyone and their Moms want a piece of the action. Potential buyers range from private equity firms to media and telecom companies like Verizon Communications (they bought AOL earlier this year), Time Inc., and even News Corp. (owner of Wall Street Journal). Not everyone’s jumping on the Yahoo bandwagon. Chinese Internet company Alibaba is not interested. Decisions should be made by the time the company’s marathon board meeting ends tomorrow. The suspense!
THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’
German banking startup Number26 is going after Europeans with aversions to traditional banking. It’s expanding across Europe to service countries like France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia and Spain.
When a potentially better product is on your heels, you have to act quick! Global bank Goldman Sachs is creating its own version of “bitcoin” or virtual currency called SETLCoin. Trading securities and settling those trades may just get a bit easier and faster.
Spotify is world’s the #1 music streaming service, but Pandora isn’t going out like that. Pandora’s pretty popular in the U.S., but it’s putting in work to compete in a very competitive market. New strategy: Attack the Spotify-types’ “free” music model. Record labels are listening, but that message probably won’t go over well with consumers.
YouTube is forming closer ties with Hollywood. The online platform is wheeling and dealing (in a good way) to get rights for TV shows and movies to stream via its new YouTube Red Service.
Parking your own car is such a waste of time. Don’t worry! Startup valet-parking company Luxe has got you. Start saving your coins. Depending on the U.S. city, pricing could range from US $5-7 hourly or US$15 – US$30 daily.