Snapchat Has Created A Deliberately Weird And Ostentatious Ad To Launch Snapcash | ||
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Snapchat announced a partnership with Square on Monday to launch payments within the photo-sharing app. It launched the new "Snapcash" service with a bizarre ad (watch it below), which on the surface appears to be a tongue-in-cheek parade of the often ostentatious and self-important tech bubble. The ad opens with two teenagers showing how easy it is to wire money to each other using Snapcash, backed with music fitting for a space launch. The shot then pulls away to an over-the-top Broadway musical-style routine, where dancers sing and parade around with giant coins imprinted with Snapchat logos. “A wise investment at any age,” then bleats an old, bearded man dressed like a circus conductor — Snapchat’s for everyone, not just the kids, the ad appears to be attempting to communicate. The song is actually irritatingly catchy: And just in case you can't get enough, here are the lyrics in full:
Snapchat has Snapcash Just use your Cashtag Send money easy, it's oh so breezy Snapcash with Snapchat Chat your cash amount Straight from your bank account Send money easy, it's fast and breezy Snapcash (Tap the dollar sign) And you'll be feelin' fine (Put in your debit card) To get Snapcash online You can connect your card And it will be stored securely for future transactions A wise investment at any age! *Tap dancing* Here's a new feature we're rolling out We're so excited to tell you about Swipe three [two] fingers to make it rain Paying people back will never be the same The dollars float down to their bank account No longer carry singles in large amounts Swipe-to-send. Will. Make. Your. Day. Snapchat has Snapcash Just use your Cashtag Send money easy, it's oh so breezy Snapcash with Snapchat Chat your cash amount Straight from your bank account Send money easy, it's fast and breezy Snapcash, Snapcash, Snapcash in Snapchat! Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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'Vape' is word of the year for Oxford Dictionaries | ||
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London (AFP) - Oxford Dictionaries picked "vape" -- the act of smoking an e-cigarette -- as their new word of the year on Tuesday, with the affectionate "bae" and the more pragmatic "contactless" as runners-up. "Vaping has gone mainstream," with usage doubling in 2014 compared to 2013, editorial director Judy Pearsall said. "The language usage of the word vape and related terms in 2014 has shown a marked increase" due to celebrities "vaping" and "growing public debate on the public dangers and the need for regulation", she said. The word, which was first used in the 1980s, can be employed as a verb to mean inhaling and exhaling the vapour produced by electronic cigarettes but also as a noun to refer to the devices themselves. It was added on Oxford Dictionaries.com in August and is being considered for inclusion in the official reference Oxford English Dictionary. E-cigarettes only began to be produced around a decade ago but the first use of the word is believed to be a 1983 magazine article by Rob Stepney which imagined the use of inhalers instead of cigarettes. "The new habit, if it catches on, would be known as vaping," it said. Oxford Dictionaries said the word only began to appear regularly in mainstream sources around 2009. "Contactless" also made it on the list because of the growing use of cards with special chips to make payments in retail outlets and on public transport. The Oxford Dictionaries editors defined "bae", which is used by hip hop artists and R'n'B stars, as "a term of endearment for one's romantic partner". The word is seen as a shortened form of "babe". The list also had "normcore", defined as "a trend in which ordinary, unfashionable clothing is worn as a deliberate fashion statement", and "slacktivism" -- "actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement". Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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No Wonder They Call Hedge Funds 'Smart Money'! | ||
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One of the most amusing phrases on Wall Street is "smart money." This phrase is used to describe the handful of professional investors whose abilities and foresight are thought to be so acute that they spot the big money-making opportunities before the average Joe Pro. The smartest of the "smart money" is thought to be hedge funds. A look at recent performance suggests that hedge funds are indeed extremely smart money, though not in the way that most people think. As the chart below shows, on average, hedge funds are no smarter about picking stocks or other investments than anyone else. In fact, they're decidedly, startlingly worse. The blue line in the chart below is the relative performance of the average hedge fund since 2010. The purple line is the relative performance of the S&P 500. The chart is from Ben Inker of GMO:
But hedge funds are absolutely brilliant money-making schemes for those who run and work for them. The fees on a well-run S&P 500 index fund are about 20 basis points a year. That means that, every year, for every $1 billion a fund has under management, the fund manager makes $2 million. The annual fees on a dime-a-dozen hedge fund, meanwhile, are "2 and 20" — 2% of assets and 20% of any gains, regardless of whether the gains are the result of the fund manager's activities or simply a rising market. That means that, for every $1 billion under management, the hedge fund rakes in $20 million per year. And if the market should rise, say, 20% in a year, the fund will collect another $40 million. Put differently, in a year in which the market goes up 20%, the manager of a $1 billion S&P 500 index fund will make $2 million. The manager of a hedge fund that performs in line with the market, meanwhile (which most haven't in recent years), will make $60 million. Smart money, indeed! Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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10 Things In Tech You Need To Know Today (BBRY, SSNLF, MSFT, CSCO) | ||
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Good morning! It's cold and windy in New York. Bundle up! Here's the tech news you need to know today. 1. Snapchat has announced a new mobile payments feature: Snapcash. It's a partnership with Square. 2. Uber has launched a partnership with Spotify that lets riders choose their own music for journeys. Some Uber drivers are worried about the new deal. 3. The CEO of BlackBerry says he has no intention of hiring Kim Kardashian as spokeswoman. The reality TV star recently expressed her love for BlackBerry products. 4. Samsung will make the majority of chips for iPhones and iPads starting in 2016. The new deal is worth billions. 5. Microsoft has unveiled its PowerPoint killer: Microsoft Sway. It's part of a collection of new apps. 6. Cisco has revealed its Slack killer: Project Squared. It features audio and video. 7. An Uber exec reportedly suggested digging up personal details on a female journalist. The offhand remarks came at a dinner in the presence of another journalist. 8. The cofounder of Pandora plans to build a giant new vacation home. Local residents are angry. 9. Fitbit data is now being used in court. It's part of a personal injury claim. 10. China has moved to stop people sharing the "Wirelurker" Mac and iOS malware. Authorities have arrested three people. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The army of housewives saving Nepal's newborns | ||
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Badalamji (Nepal) (AFP) - On a wet and windy morning, Nepalese housewife Bhumisara Upadhyay is out visiting pregnant women, on a mission to slash newborn deaths in the Himalayan nation with a simple tube of gel. Upadhyay is among thousands of volunteers at the front line of a campaign that has dramatically cut neonatal mortality in a country where nearly two-thirds of babies are born at home. Health experts attribute Nepal's newborn mortality rate to infections contracted through the umbilical stump, which is traditionally coated with a mix of oil and turmeric after the cord is cut. Instead, the volunteers persuade women to use a basic antiseptic gel which they distribute free of charge under an initiative launched three years ago with funding from the US development agency USAID. Within a year of the launch, newborn deaths had declined by a dramatic 27 percent and organisers now plan to extend it nationwide over the next three years. "When I had my own children 20-25 years ago, babies would just die overnight, no one understood why... it was like living in a graveyard," Upadhyay, 42, told AFP in her home village of Badalamji, perched on a ridge in the remote midwest. "We used to say it was good to have lots of babies, because half would die before they learnt to talk." Married before puberty to a man 22 years her senior, Upadhyay was just 17 when she gave birth to her first child after enduring eight days of labour. Upadhyay's baby girl survived, but many others are not as lucky. "People use dirty sickles to cut the cord and apply cowdung, turmeric, oil to the stump," said Rambha Sharma, matron of Kohalpur Teaching Hospital in midwestern Nepal, which pioneered the use of the antiseptic chlorhexidine gel on infants. "Babies end up with life-threatening infections like neonatal tetanus thanks to these traditional practices," Sharma told AFP. A widely used disinfectant in developed countries, chlorhexidine is the main ingredient in the gel which is currently distributed for free across 47 of Nepal's 75 districts. The gel, which only needs to be applied once to the stump, binds to the skin and dries in minutes. "The key thing is to apply it soon after birth, so it stays on the skin for the first 24 hours and protects babies when they are most vulnerable to infection," Sharma said.
- Painstaking process -
It sounds like a simple solution. But overturning traditional practices has been a major challenge. Leela Khanal of US non-profit John Snow, Inc, which runs the programme, said many in Nepal's Muslim minority initially refused to use the gel, fearing it was a ploy to induce infertility among their young. "It took us months to convince them that it would protect, not harm their children," Khanal told AFP. The superstitions surrounding childbirth among some high-caste Hindu communities were another hurdle. Each of the four times Upadhyay gave birth, she and the newborn were confined to an outhouse for 11 days until a priest arrived to "purify" mother and child. "No one was allowed to touch me because of the taboo. I washed my own clothes, I had to eat from separate utensils, do everything for the baby myself," she said. Every morning, thousands of housewives like Upadhyay walk for hours, braving rain, extreme temperatures and the threat of landslides to visit pregnant women scattered across Nepal's steep slopes. The volunteers are community health workers, a network the government established in 1988 to promote family planning. They teach pregnant women how to care for newborns, and hand out tubes of the gel so mothers can apply it themselves. Sometimes they are forced to turn back if no one is home. Today, however, Upadhyay is in luck as she meets 20-year-old Mahisara Hamal, eight months pregnant with her first child. She pulls a baby doll from her bag and shows the school dropout how to apply the gel before dropping off a sealed sample. It is a painstaking process, going from home to home, but one that is paying off, and Hamal cautiously agrees to use the medicine. "Back home in my parents' village, many people still use turmeric and oil... it's what we have always done," Hamal says. Upadhyay nods before making another pitch. "I know, I used to do it too, I didn't know any better... but you can avoid our mistakes and do the right thing for your child." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Snapchat Has Created A Deliberately Weird And Ostentatious Ad To Launch Snapcash | ||
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Snapchat announced a partnership with Square on Monday to launch payments within the photo-sharing app. It launched the new "Snapcash" service with a bizarre ad (watch it below), which on the surface appears to be a tongue-in-cheek parade of the often ostentatious and self-important tech bubble. The ad opens with two teenagers showing how easy it is to wire money to each other using Snapcash, backed with music fitting for a space launch. The shot then pulls away to an over-the-top Broadway musical-style routine, where dancers sing and parade around with giant coins imprinted with Snapchat logos. “A wise investment at any age,” then bleats an old, bearded man dressed like a circus conductor — Snapchat’s for everyone, not just the kids, the ad appears to be attempting to communicate. The song is actually irritatingly catchy: And just in case you can't get enough, here are the lyrics in full:
Snapchat has Snapcash Just use your Cashtag Send money easy, it's oh so breezy Snapcash with Snapchat Chat your cash amount Straight from your bank account Send money easy, it's fast and breezy Snapcash (Tap the dollar sign) And you'll be feelin' fine (Put in your debit card) To get Snapcash online You can connect your card And it will be stored securely for future transactions A wise investment at any age! *Tap dancing* Here's a new feature we're rolling out We're so excited to tell you about Swipe three [two] fingers to make it rain Paying people back will never be the same The dollars float down to their bank account No longer carry singles in large amounts Swipe-to-send. Will. Make. Your. Day. Snapchat has Snapcash Just use your Cashtag Send money easy, it's oh so breezy Snapcash with Snapchat Chat your cash amount Straight from your bank account Send money easy, it's fast and breezy Snapcash, Snapcash, Snapcash in Snapchat! Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The 10 Things You Need To Know In Advertising Today | ||
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Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. Forrester is advising marketers not to use Facebook if they want to build social relationships with their customers. The latest brutal report from the research company (which often criticizes Facebook) says the social platform’s declining organic reach means marketers should consider using smaller social networks or add social options to their websites. 2. Nike has launched an unusual winter TV ad that pokes fun at TV news. The ad, created by Wieden+Kennedy, stars Chris O’Dowd from “Girls,” soccer players Clint Dempsey and Brad Evans, distance runner Mary Cain, figure skater Gracie Gold, snowboarder Johnnie Paxson and NFL stars Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson. 3. Morgan Stanley has released a chart showing which public companies it expects to benefit most from millennials. Chipotle and Starbucks top the list. 4. Apple people and Android people even eat different foods. UK market research and polling company YouGov’s fun new profiler tool shows the unusual quirks that separate Apple and Android fans, including their favorite TV shows and most likely pets. 5. Starbucks’ CEO rejected Jerry Seinfeld’s offer to partner on its “comedians in cars getting coffee” sketch. Seinfeld revealed Howard Schultz turned down the pitch by saying “I don’t really see the connection.” 6. Ira Kalb from the USC’s Marshall School of Business has detailed why Abercrombie & Fitch isn’t "cool" any more. Kalb, an assistant professor of clinical marketing at the university, says the brand failed to listen to marketplace signals, lost its brand focus and received too much negative publicity — but also lists seven ways the fashion company could return to success again. 7. Advertising is set to fund New York City’s the world’s fastest municipal WiFi network, which will see the city replace its aging pay phone boxes with internet hubs. The hubs, called “Links,” will also serve as digital displays for ads and are expected to generate more than $500 million in revenue for the city over the next 12 years. 8. AdAge has begun publishing a rolling blog with updates on which brands are buying what during Super Bowl 2015. Expected advertisers include Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Doritos, Loctite, McDonald’s, Mercedes-Benz, Mophie, Skittles, Toyoya and Wix.com 9. Uber has partnered with Spotify to allow users to DJ their rides. However, some drivers are concerned the new deal could affect their ratings if anything goes wrong technologically. 10. Rubicon Project announced in a press release it has paid $30 million, mostly in stock, to acquire iSocked and Shiny Ad, two automated premium direct ad buying companies. Rubicon says the deals will help it offer digital ad sellers set prices for guaranteed audience impressions and for advertisers to discover and buy those guaranteed audience — similar to how TV is traded. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Why Did Apple's Eddy Cue Turn Up On Local TV To Buy An Egg White 'Sangwich'? | ||
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Apple's marketing power is huge. Everything the company does is planned to the last letter — it's a well-oiled, finely tuned machine. Why, then, did Apple's SVP of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, suddenly appear on a local California news station — which hardly anyone, globally, will have seen — to go on a breezy shopping trip? Apple Insider reports that Cue rocked up on Los Angeles' KTLA on Monday night to show off Apple Pay. Normally, Apple delivers its top executives to just a few select international news brands that have global audiences, such as Bloomberg or the Wall Street Journal. Apple almost never lets its execs be interviewed by local media. So this is weird and interesting, at least for those of us who watch the company closely. Cue was joined by KTLA's Rich DeMuro for the channel's The Tech Report segment, says Apple Insider, quite simply to meet up and do "some shopping". Cue is seen buying an egg-white "sangwich" — slang for sandwich — before going to Bloomingdale's to pick up some sunglasses. Later, he ventures off to a nearby Disney Store to get some movie dolls, and then ends up at the local Apple Store (where else) to discuss the app.
As KTLA says, Cue led a team at Apple to develop the payments system, and nearly a million credit cards were linked to the new payment system just days after it launched. It's not without controversy, though. As Business Insider reports here, swathes of American retailers, including Wal-Mart and Rite Aid, have gone to war against the technology. Perhaps unsurprisingly, KTLA didn't mention the battle. Here's the KTLA video: Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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NATO head sees 'very serious' Russian military build-up in Ukraine | ||
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Brussels (AFP) - Russia is making a "very serious" military build-up in Ukraine and on their shared border, deploying troops and sophisticated equipment including air defence systems, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday. Moscow could be "part of a peaceful negotiated solution or Russia can continue on a path of isolation," Stoltenberg said, urging it to meet its commitments to a September peace plan signed by Kiev and pro-Kremlin rebels. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The New 'Grand Theft Auto' Lets You Have Realistic Sex With Prostitutes | ||
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The new release of Grand Theft Auto V is out today, bringing the game to the next generation of consoles. Now running on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, players can enjoy the game in first-person mode, making it seem as if they're really inside the game. But eyebrows are already being raised over one part of the new game: First-person sex with prostitutes. Needless to say, this will be controversial, and the company has likely deliberately created this aspect of the game in part because it knows it will generate headlines. Prostitutes have controversially existed in Grand Theft Auto games for years, but in the past, players have had their view of sex acts obscured by car doors. Now, it all takes place in full view of the player, who can move the camera around to get a better view.
Players drive past prostitutes, honking their horn to encourage them to enter their vehicle. Then, after driving to a secluded spot, they select from a menu of sex acts before watching what happens. Of course, this being a video game, some players choose to kill the prostitute after the encounter to get back some of their money. Here's a screenshot posted by a player who killed the prostitute with a hatchet to get their money back:
The Grand Theft Auto series was engulfed in controversy in 2005 when it was discovered that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had a feature hidden on the disc that allowed players to play a sex minigame named "Hot Coffee" that saw the main character have sex with women. Although Rockstar Games had disabled the feature, essentially removing it from the game, players figured out that it took just a simple modification to add it back in. The game was pulled from some retailers, and later re-released as an adult game with a new age rating. When Grand Theft Auto V was first released in 2013, players were amused to find that they could listen in to other people talking to the game’s virtual strippers. The women have a virtual “Like” bar that could be increased by touching them or using a real-world microphone to speak to them. However, players didn’t realise that everything they said to strippers was broadcast to nearby players, resulting in some embarrassment. A 2013 Guardian comment article argued that the Grand Theft Auto series demans women by reducing them to unplayable characters. It's important to note, however, that the most recent game allows you to play as a woman in its online mode. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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