In A Few Slides, Reid Hoffman Explains How To Be A Great Founder | ||
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Reid Hoffman is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. He’s the founder of Linkedin, the largest professional social network worth around $28 billion, and a partner at the VC firm Greylock Partners. He was also one of the early employees of PayPal, where he served as executive VP, and the co-founder of Socialnet.com, one of the first social network startups. He’s also a remarkable angel investor, with early investments in Facebook, Flickr, Digg, and Zynga, and other companies. Last week, Hoffman gave a 45-minute presentation titled “How To Be A Great Founder” at Stanford, as part of the “How to Start a Startup” series by Y Combinator’s Sam Altman. We pulled together some of the slides and Hoffman’s words explaining his wisdom. The perception of a great founder is often this “super-person” who’s awesome at everything. Classic examples are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. But in reality, a founder is someone who deals with all kinds of headaches. And no one is “universally super powered.” Instead, you hope to have just a few super powers that give you a competitive edge. Because all of these skill sets are important to run a successful business. And in most cases, you're not good at all these things. You can't do it alone. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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The Weird Reason Why Video Games Are Released On Tuesdays | ||
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It wasn't easy being Sega in the 1980s and '90s. It had to compete with one of the best-known companies on the planet, Nintendo, which was responsible for bringing back the video game market from the dead. But Sega had some tricks up its sleeve. Namely, releasing a 16-bit console, the Genesis, before Nintendo could release its version, the Super Nintendo. Sega also had an amazing idea for how to hype up the sequel to its biggest game. The original "Sonic the Hedgehog" was released in 1991, and was an instant hit. When it was time for the sequel, which introduced Sonic's sidekick Tails to the world, Sega knew it needed to do more than just release the game. It needed to make an impact. In the book "Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation," which is based on more than 200 interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, Blake Harris describes how Sega's crack marketing team of Al Nilsen and Madeline Schroeder decided to celebrate the launch. They needed something "Sonic-worthy."
"We're going to start in Japan, move to Europe, and then end in the US," said Sega marketing director Nilsen to Schroeder, who was the project manager of "Sonic the Hedgehog." "No trucks, no boats: everything will be delivered by plane exactly one day before. ... we're going to have the world's first global launch, and in the process we're going to break every single sales record," said Nilsen. They kicked around a couple ideas about what day the global launch should be, and that's when Nilsen came up with an idea that possibly changed the way games were released and marketed ever after. "No, it should be Tuesday, and we'll call it Sonic 2sday," he said. Sonic 2sday landed on Nov. 24, 1992. Before then, video game release dates were all over the place, and retailers just got them when they got them. But Sonic 2sday implemented a method to the madness. Harris writes: ... the idea of a coordinated worldwide release might have seemed interesting but irrelevant. But the point of the global launch wasn't to dazzle with concept; the point was that the concept created connection. Normally, with games released at different stores on different days, customers couldn't help but feel like these things sort of fell out of thin air. But to know the exact date that something would be arriving, to have it circled on the calendar ahead of time, gave the gift of anticipation. ... It was a marketing ploy, yes, but it worked in the same self-fulfilling way as a blockbuster film did. They're not called "blockbusters" just because of their budgets; rather, it's because of the event-like, don't-be-left-out way that they are marketed, which makes people rush to the theater for the opening weekend, which then makes more people rush to the theater when they hear how big that opening weekend was. The art of the blockbuster is that it popularizes something before it even exists, and though Sonic 2 was still months away from completion, Sonic 2sday gave [former Sega North America CEO Tom Kalinske] and company an opportunity to unleash the biggest blockbuster the videogame world had ever seen. Releasing games on Tuesday is now the industry standard in the US, all thanks to a little video game punnery. But it's not the only industry to do so. Although they don't have Sonic 2sday to thank, most CD and DVD releases also happen on Tuesdays. SEE ALSO: How To Still Play 10 Of The Best Video Games From Your Childhood Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Unpublished Vintage Pictures Show Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, And More Silicon Valley Stars In The 1980s | ||
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The 1980s and 1990s were a pivotal time for innovation in Silicon Valley. In 1981, shortly after Apple released the Apple 1, IBM introduced the first PC. A few years later, the World Wide Web would be born. Documentary photographer Doug Menuez happened to be in Silicon Valley at the time. He had done freelance work with major publications like Fortune and TIME, but he found that tech companies were difficult to crack. "I would go to Silicon Valley occasionally, and it was terrible. There was this massive PR bubble keeping you from getting any access," Menuez told Business Insider. "You knew these people were going to change the world, but no one knew anything about them." In 1985, shortly after Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple, Menuez asked if he could document the Apple founder's new venture, a personal computing company he called NeXT. To his surprise, Jobs agreed. "He knew he was a historical figure," Menuez said. "I just showed up at the right place at the right time." Menuez spent the next three years documenting what was happening inside the young company. Life magazine would underwrite and publish the photos. "At NeXT, they were constantly hiring absolutely brilliant people. Steve was constantly challenging, prodding people to work above their abilities," Menuez said. "Steve had a lot at risk here. The stakes were high. He wanted revenge. He was becoming a symbol of a whole new generation coming into the Valley." Once word got out that the notoriously private Jobs had granted Menuez access to his fledgling company, other Silicon Valley leaders followed suit. Over the next 15 years, Menuez would spend time photographing intimate scenes at some of the most influential tech companies in the world. Menuez has assembled his work from that period in a book called "Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley," which Atria Books published in June. "Fearless Genius" features stark, black-and-white photos that capture influential personalities. In 1990, Menuez photographed then-Apple CEO John Sculley before a press event in 1990. Sculley was shy, and he seemed withdrawn to reporters. "After forcing Steve out, John grew Apple from $800 million to $8 billion a year in revenue," Menuez wrote in the below photo's caption. "Despite this significant achievement, he was often dismissed in the Valley as the man who fired Steve and, unfairly, as a technology lightweight without vision."
Here, Sculley and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak check out an early Nintendo Game Boy backstage at a 1991 Apple product announcement.
Adobe was another favorite project of Menuez's. He was there when Photoshop was released in 1990. "As digital technology grew more powerful, Silicon Valley became an expected crossroads of culture. Artists arrived from all over the world, eager to experiment," he writes in "Fearless Genius." He continues: "Here, painter David Hockney, holding one of his beloved dachshunds, attends Russell Brown's first Adobe Photoshop Invitational, where he learned how to use the first release version of Photoshop, happily smoking in the computer room and playing with his dogs on breaks."
"He was wearing this shirt that said 'Amazon' on it. My wife is Brazilian, so she said, 'Let's go talk to him,'" Menuez said to Business Insider. "He gave us the whole pitch for Amazon, and it was amazing. Some things you hear and you just know it's going to work."
Menuez captured Marc Andreessen and his publicist during a phone interview at the Netscape offices. "[He] was exhausted and riding a monstrous wave of digital global change he helped precipitate," Menuez writes in the photo's caption. "The press had been pleading for interviews with him ever since the Netscape Navigator browser was released, making internet access easy and fast for the masses."
Menuez had the opportunity to meet many notable figures, but he says it was Jobs who had the biggest impact on his life. "Steve was the most inspiring person I ever met. As a photojournalist, I like to hide behind my lens and capture other people's moments," Menuez said. "He forced me to confront my own motivations, who I was. I wasn't trying to be his friend, but just being in the room was amazing."
Some may wonder why the photos are just being published now, two decades after they were taken. After Menuez had finished his work with NeXT, Jobs decided Life magazine just wasn't cool anymore. Menuez put the photos away in boxes and completely forgot about them. "By 2000, I had burned out on the topic. There had been this crazy gold rush, and it all just burst," Menuez said. Stanford later acquired his archives, and Menuez started going back through the notes to help with the scanning process. Those scans would eventually become "Fearless Genius," which Menuez says is an imperfect history of the Valley at a pivotal time. He hopes to turn the project into a full digital experience, with a documentary, web series, educational program, and conference hopefully on the way. "I really want this book to reach young entrepreneurs to show how hard it was. The sacrifice isn't really understood," he said. "There are many lessons to be learned there." SEE ALSO: How Larry Ellison's Vision For An Italian Sandwich Shop Started A New Era For Food In Silicon Valley WE'RE ON INSTAGRAM: Click Here To Follow Us Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Companies Want One Thing From iPads — And They're Not Getting It (AAPL) | ||
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Apple is revitalizing its iPad division to target companies, but it may not have what they're looking for, according to a source with knowledge of Apple's enterprise strategy. In July, Apple announced a huge partnership with IBM with the express goal of selling iPads to businesses. On Monday, Reuters reported that Apple would be using dedicated sales teams to meet with executives and make sales. But our source said that may not be enough. "Part of the reason iPad sales haven’t taken off in enterprise is that unless there is some kind of company specific app installed on the device, the user is only gaining a certain value based on broad horizontal apps," our source said. What companies want — and aren't getting from Apple — is customized software for their devices. "Almost always the customer will want some level of customization to make the software adapt to their business processes versus using a pre-defined app," our source said. Apple has promised to develop "100 industry-specific enterprise solutions" as part of its IBM partnership. We'll have to wait and see if those apps justify the massive iPad orders Apple is looking for. SEE ALSO: No One Is Talking About Apple's Next Big Challenge In Its Partnership With IBM Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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3 Researchers Just Won $3 Million For Their Game-Changing Physics Finding | ||
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It pays to be smart, and that's very true in the case of the 2015 Breakthrough Prize awards winners. These three winners will share $3 million in prize money for their groundbreaking work probing the physics of our universe. Physicists Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, and Adam Riess will be splitting a prize of $3 million with the 51 additional researchers who helped make the discovery. The Breakthrough Prizes doled out a total of $36 million to 11 other science and technology researchers studying mathematics, fundamental physics, and life sciences. That's nearly three times more than today's Nobel Prize money award, which amounts to $1.2 million — an amount that this year's fundamental physics Breakthrough Prize awardees know very well. That's because this group of winners are the same astrophysicists who won the 2011 Physics Nobel Prize for discovering that the rate at which our universe is expanding is not slowing down, as many had thought, but speeding up. The ScienceTheir discovery shook the foundation of cosmology when it was announced in 1998. From everything we think we understand about how gravity works, scientists anticipated that the rate of the expansion of the universe would be slowing down. In fact, it's the exact opposite. There are a few explanations floating around as to why this is, but the leading one is an enigmatic force called dark energy. Considering how little we know about dark energy, the reason for the accelerating expansion rate of the universe is still shrouded in mystery and is one of the outstanding scientific mysteries of our time. Scientists have since shown that the universe is made of nearly 70% of dark energy.
Throughout the mid-90s two science teams, the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-z Supernova Search Team, were in a desperate race to measure the universe's expansion. Perlmutter, who is a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley and astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, led the Supernova Cosmology Project while Schmidt, who is currently an astrophysicist at The Australian National University Mount Stromlo Observatory, led the High-z Supernova Search Team. The High-z Supernova Search Team was first to announce their results in 1998, followed shortly by the Supernova Cosmology Project, of which Adam Reiss was a key member. Reiss is an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute and professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Based on how they form, every Type Ia supernova emits around the same intensity of light. By measuring that intensity from over 50 supernovae, both teams discovered the intensity was weaker than expected. And when they determined the reason, their results shocked the scientific community. For all their hard work, these three won the Physics Nobel Prize in 2011 and have also now won the 2015 Breakthrough Prize for fundamental physics. They are splitting the winnings 50-50 between the two teams.
Stellar RecognitionSchmidt told The Australian that he was thrilled that his him and his colleagues' work was being recognized. Ronald J. Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University, attended the ceremony and told Johns Hopkins News, that "[this] work, which helped to change our very understanding of the universe, has inspired a spectrum of scientists, from colleagues working with the Hubble Space Telescope to young astronomers stargazing in their backyards." This trio of astrophysicists is certainly venturing into new worlds with their work today. Perlmutter still heads the Supernova Cosmology Project, which continues to publish their work. One of the latest results was measuring the most distant Type Ia supernova using the Hubble Space Telescope. Brian P. Schmidt's latest project is heading a project that will construct a new telescope to map the southern sky. Adam Riess is involved with a few research projects, one being the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System which will study objects like asteroids and comets approaching Earth to assess whether they pose and danger to our planet. While these researchers are basically superstars in their fields, they got to hobnob with celebrities at the event, and who helped present the awards: Kate Beckinsale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cameron Diaz, Jon Hamm, and Eddie Redmayne. On November 15, the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel will televise the ceremony 6 pm EST (3 pm PST). And BBC World News will televise it on Nov. 22.
The awards were founded in 2013 by science and technology gurus including Mark Zuckerberg, Anne Wojcicki (co-founder and CEO of personal genomics company 23andMe), and Jack Ma, founder of the Alibaba Group. "The remarkable scientists we honor refuse to accept conventional wisdom as we know it," said Ma in a statement. "They question everything. They venture into new worlds." SEE ALSO: 12 People Just Won $3 Million Each For Breakthroughs In Science And Math READ MORE: There's An Excellent Reason Why A Blue Lightbulb Just Won The Nobel Prize Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Both teams separately measured the light from a special kind of stellar explosion called a Type Ia supernova. They used multiple instruments including telescopes at the Cerro Tololo International Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. In fact, NASA touts this discovery as the 
"I think breakthroughs are the things that mark achievements out as being truly unique in a scientist's life," Cumberbatch said during a red carpet interview at the ceremony. "But there's also alot of incredible work that goes on in the back room that's a slow burn that doesn't result in eureka moments or breakthrough moments which also needs acknowledgments. So it's about endurance as well as those far out moments." Steve Ballmer Is Not A Fan Of Obama's Plan For Net Neutrality | ||
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Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft and current owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, is not on the same page with President Obama on net neutrality. On Monday, President Obama said he wants to reclassify the internet as a utility in a new statement released by the White House on Monday. That would allow the Federal Communications Committee to enforce heavier restrictions on it and protect net neutrality. That also means less competition among private internet providers. Steve Ballmer is not a fan. Ballmer has tweeeted just 26 times as of this writing, but used one of his tweets on this:
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Comedy Site 'Funny Or Die' Might Be Up For Sale | ||
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Want to buy a comedy site? According to Bloomberg, you might be able to soon. Funny Or Die, the site that was started by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy, could be up for sale, the sources say. Sources tell Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw and Alex Sherman that Funny Or Die has hired a financial adviser and is looking at its options, including a possible sale. One of the sources says that Funny Or Die has hired Moelis and Company, which has contacted some potential buyers. According to the sources, the company is seeking valuation of between $100 million and $300 million. Funny Or Die was founded in 2007 and features short-form comedy sketches that star major celebrities, such as the interview show "Between Two Ferns" that's hosted by Zach Galifianakis. As Shaw and Sherman point out, Funny Or Die wouldn't be the first video-making site to sell to a bigger company. Disney bought YouTube content producer Maker Studios in March for $500 million. But seventh months later, it's still hard to say whether that deal was worth it, according to Disney's Q4 earnings call. We've reached out to Funny Or Die and will update this post when we hear back. SEE ALSO: YouTube Multimillionaire PewDiePie Says He's Happier Now That He's Disabled Comments On His Channel Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Box CEO Aaron Levie: Uber Changes Everything | ||
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On Tuesday, Levie reiterated his passion for the taxi hailing app during the Emergence Capital Mobile Forum in San Francisco. When asked to name some of the apps he could’t live without now, Levie didn’t hesitate to mention Uber first. “Uber is, by definition, amazing,” Levie said. “But more importantly, it’s an example of an app that changes every industry to think about mobile,” he said. Levie stressed that it’s the larger implication of Uber’s service that really makes it special. For example, the hospitality industry now has to think of ways to deal with the notion of “on-demand, completely digital experience” and how it’s going to impact its customers. He mentioned the old shipping companies that have been working the exact same way for the past 100 years, and how they will have to rethink their entire workflow because of mobile. “Mobile isn’t just an app. It’s the entire sort of architecture that changes and re-platforms the entire company,” he said. “What are all the different implications that get created when you have a mobile society where you want everything on demand and on digital? That becomes the access point to everything.” This isn’t the first time Levie talked about Uber’s larger impact on businesses. During his “How to Start a Startup” lecture at Stanford last month, he made the same reference to Uber. Even last year, he tweeted the following, after Uber raised a new round of funding at a $3.5 billion valuation (today, the company is valued at over $17 billion).
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Box CEO Aaron Levie hasn’t been shy about his love for Uber, often calling it After His First Startup Failed, This Ex-Googler Found The Inspiration For His Next Company From His Adventurous Father | ||
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After Nick Baum realized his social events planning startup Whereberry was essentially dead, he didn't really know what to do next. Before Whereberry, Baum had worked at Google for roughly five years, entering as an engineer straight out of school before transitioning into its elite associate product manager program. Despite Whereberry's flop, he had loved the thrill of entrepreneurship and wasn't ready to go back to a "real" job at a bigger company just yet. As he spent his free time plotting what to do next, Baum realized he finally had time to do something he'd been passionate about for a while: Collect his dad's stories.
Baum's dad was teeming with stories, but he still lived abroad and it was hard for Baum to delve deep over long-distance phone calls. Then, when they were together and Baum thrust a tape recorder in front of him, it felt like they ended up focusing on the milestones, not the special little moments in between. So, Baum decided to try to find a way to make capturing his dad's stories more routine and natural. He started sending weekly emails with quirky, evocative questions like, "In college, what were you involved in outside of class?" and "What is the most selfless thing you've done for anyone?" His dad loved it. Baum decided, why not get other people to try this system out, too? He offered the service to friends and other family members. The structure was simple: One question a week that storytellers could either respond to via email or a recorded phone call. After a few months, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and he had friends tell him that their parents loved it and that it was bringing their families closer. "The fact that it’s a weekly email means that every week, you have at least one meaningful conversation with your family," Baum tells Business Insider. "And most people I talk to, they might talk to their family once a week, but it’s very much like, 'Hey! What did you do last week? What are you doing next week?' It’s very ephemeral stuff. And so shifting those conversations onto a deeper level is really rewarding to people." Baum dubbed his startup Storyworth and has been officially running it for the last two years. A six-person storytelling plan costs $49 a year and $99 a year for up to fifteen family members. Storyworth sends out the weekly prompts and then stores all the text or audio responses privately and securely. Storyworth also gives users the option of compiling their stories into a physical book which the company will then help them print. Users have submitted more than 30,000 stories so far.
Although not all of Storyworth's users take advantage of the product to collect the stories of elderly loved ones, Baum says that most storytellers are in their 60s, 70s, and beyond. Storyworth not only helps them stimulate their memories, but helps prevent the loneliness or feelings of isolation that can affect older people living alone. Here's how Storyworth looks in action:When you sign up, you can make profiles for all the people on one account:
You can also see what questions each storyteller has on deck: Once a user starts logging stories, you can read everything they've written in one place: "I love the idea that a hundred years from now, millions of people would have their great-grandparent’s full life story," Baum says. "And not just, like, a couple odd pictures and a birth certificate but would have, 'Here is some story about a great prank they pulled in college.' You know? That’s a cool feeling." SEE ALSO: Meet The Startup That's Using Drones To Change The World Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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His father, Axel Baum, was born in Berlin in 1930 but had moved to the US as a kid. He served in the Navy in the early 50s, then became an international lawyer and traveled all over the world. He settled in France, met his wife (and Nick's mom) in Sweden, and raised a family in Paris.
"For the people who invite their family members, it’s getting the stories and having them in a way you know you can keep them safe for the future," Baum says. "For the people writing the story, part of it is just flattering that your family wants to know what has happened in your life. There’s also this trip down memory lane that allows storytellers to sit back in each memory. That’s part of the fun, too."
This Woman's Futuristic Startup Could Change 900,000 Surgeries A Year | ||
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If you've ever broken a bone, you know the process to recovery is slow and painful. Now imagine neither splint nor surgery were enough to seal the fracture. Instead, your doctor says you need a bone graft, a procedure that involves taking bone from elsewhere to fill the gap created by your injury. You have a choice: Allow a surgeon to cut bone from another place in your body or get some new bone from a dead person. Both are risky: Bone from another body can carry disease, so doctors have to be careful about screening donors. Grafts from your own body can still be rejected and cause a painful infection or in more serious cases lead to nerve damage. Nina Tandon wants to do away with both of these options. Instead, she wants to help you grow your own bone. From your own cells. In the exact shape and size you need. Her company, called EpiBone, is close to making this reality. Using stem cells and a special type of incubator, she and her team have grown durable, living bones. But the road ahead will be challenging. So far, only a few trials of bones grown in a lab have been tested in people, and few comprehensive studies of their longterm effects have been done. The field of regenerative medicine itself is only a little over a decade old. Putting Things Back Together
Before she ever saw the inside of a lab, seven-year-old Tandon made a hobby out of taking apart her parents' tube TV, learning how each piece functioned and fit together, and putting it back together again. With EpiBone, 34-year-old Tandon has made a career out of putting things back together. But this time, instead of cathodes and wires, she uses body parts. Tandon began building human tissues as a biomedical engineering student at Columbia University. She started with the strips of muscle that line the heart, and moved on to the delicate layers of skin that protect our bodies from outside elements. In 2013, she used neonatal heart cells and a bit of electrical stimulation to build a 5mm by 5mm piece of engineered cardiac tissue capable of beating. Now she's using stem cells to build personalized bones. "I see this as being a part of a bigger story that’s integrating biology into part of the supply chain," Tandon says. "We're starting to see biology as a technological partner way beyond just making medicines." How It Works Every year, some 900,000 Americans undergo bone-related surgery. For people who've experienced severe trauma, lost bone to cancer, or were born with congenital defects, the EpiBone process could dramatically change how they experience surgery and how they recover. First, Tandon and her team do a CT scan of the bone defect to get a complete picture of its exact size and shape. Then, using a procedure similar to liposuction, they take stem cells from the patient's fat cells. The cells EpiBone uses are called multipotent stem cells, meaning they are capable of developing into many different tissues, including bone. One of the major strengths of EpiBone is that its materials come from the body's own cells, meaning it's far less likely they'll get rejected compared to foreign bone or synthetic materials. Once harvested, the stem cells are placed inside a sort of incubator, or bioreactor, where they can grow along a delicate frame of animal bone and cartilage. The bioreactor is "like a fancy fish tank," says Tandon, that "gives cells all the nutrients they need to make a perfect product." Inside, the cells develop into a living, custom-built implant in three to four weeks. Because each EpiBone graft is custom-built, it can be made to fit precisely in the desired location — a huge plus compared to a bulky chunk of synthetic bone or bone cut from elsewhere in your own body. That snug fit could help shorten surgery and recovery times, says Tandon. The ChallengesBiomedical engineer Warren Grayson, who leads his own laboratory working on tissue engineering at Johns Hopkins University and is a shareholder in EpiBone, led the first study showing that bone grafts made from stem cells and grown in a bioreactor could work inside a living body. His team successfully grew a human jaw bone using stem cells from fat tissue. While Grayson clearly supports the technology, he says he sees "some challenges making it work in patients." The first challenge is getting federal approval. While Tandon has shown her technology works in animals, she hasn't yet tested it on people. The Food and Drug Administration typically requires years of lengthy trials before rubber-stamping any drug. Because EpiBone is a living technology, the barrier for getting the federal go-ahead will likely be set far higher, says Case Western Reserve University professor of biomedical engineering Steven Eppell, who's patented a different approach that doesn't require the use of living materials. Next is cost. Because each EpiBone graft would have to be custom-built with a patient's own stem cells, it will likely be expensive. One 2012 study pegged the cost of lab-grown bones at somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000, or about three to four times the cost of a traditional procedure. "If you're asking if I'd put my money in it, I don't think I would," says Eppell, who is likely banking on his own approach to the same problem. "But if you're asking if I think this is the technology of the future, yes, it definitely is." What's NextTandon's technology could be implemented in people as early as sometime in the next 5-10 years, she says. But there's a lot that would need to be shown between now and then. So far, EpiBone has yet to test its specific process in humans, but the technique of using stem cells to grow bones has been demonstrated in humans in seven clinical studies. Still, because of the variety of techniques and studies used to test the technology in the past, it's been difficult for scientists to determine how well the technology works and if it's ready for broader applications. Most of the studies have been small, for example, and the researchers didn't always compare the patients who participated in them with control patients who received traditional surgery or no surgery at all. For some of the earliest studies, researchers didn't maintain contact with patients long enough to perform longterm follow-ups of their procedures. And some of the surgeries involved using stem cells from bone marrow rather than fat tissue, which is the technique Tandon uses. Tandon's team plans to test their product in human patients for the first time within 18 months. In the meantime, they must demonstrate that the technology can work. The company hired its first employees this month and are still in the process of moving into a bigger, newer space in New York City. Once they're settled, they'll be spending the next year and a half doing more tests and trying to build larger, more complex bones. "The time of building with living cells has arrived," Tandon says. DON'T MISS: 10 Ideas That Are About To Change Medicine Forever Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Here's One Theory For Why Samsung Profits Are Getting Demolished | ||
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Samsung, which just a year ago seemed to be unstoppable, has been having a rough 2014. Earnings are down 49% from a year ago as the company struggles to compete against other high quality smartphones that sell in emerging markets for a lot less. Meanwhile, its new product categories like the six smartwatch models it has released in the last 13 months have failed to take off. But there's another piece to the puzzle. Part of the reason why scrappy startups like Chinese smartphone makers OnePlus and Xiaomi are able sell their phones at rock-bottom prices and eat into Samsung's sales is because they spend little on marketing and sell directly to consumers through the web. These companies rely mostly on social media and word of mouth to market their products. And it works. For example, Xiaomi sells more phones in China than both Apple and Samsung. OnePlus, which has only sold its smartphone in limited preorders, has sold at least 500,000 phones, with thousands clamoring for an opportunity to buy more. But it's probably not a model Samsung will be able to follow any time soon. Carl Pei, a cofounder at OnePlus and the company's global director, said Samsung's marketing costs and protection of its margins make that nearly impossible. "They spend the money on channel costs and marketing," Pei said in an interview with Business Insider. "They're not going to be able to do it if they sell it in stores because retail margins eat up maybe 25 to 30% of your price. You then have to look at the component cost and then marketing on top of that." So it's not like Samsung can turn around tomorrow and start selling Galaxy phones at the same scale for the same prices its cheaper rivals do. Still, that presents a challenge for startups like OnePlus. If it wants to reach massive scale and still sell phones at a discount, it has to change buyers' habits. "We're at a disadvantage to reach mainstream consumers when not in stores," Pei said. "Our bet is in three to five years people will start learning how to buy phones online." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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This Company Dropped A Massive Axe On A Yellow Cab To Celebrate Its Newest Game | ||
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The newest expansion to the “World Of Warcraft,” Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), is out today. “Warlords Of Draenor” is the first expansion since the “Mists of Pandaria” arrived in 2012. To celebrate the new addition to the "World Of Warcraft" universe, Blizzard took to the city that never sleeps and impaled an NYC yellow taxi with a massive axe. Check it out:
“World Of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor” costs $50 for the standard edition, and $70 for the digital deluxe edition. You can check out the cinematic trailer from the game below (it’s pretty awesome). Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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CHART OF THE DAY: Alibaba’s Financial Services Arm Is Absolutely Massive In China (BABA) | ||
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Less than two months after his company Alibaba enjoyed the biggest IPO in history, founder and CEO Jack Ma says Alipay, part of the company’s financial services arm that’s similar to PayPal, “will definitely go public.” Alipay is making huge waves in China. Based on iResearch data charted for us by BI Intelligence, Alipay has been driving consumers to use their mobile phones for financial transactions — Alipay accounted for 80% of all mobile transactions in China in the second quarter of 2014. All of the other companies are far behind, including the Tenpay service operated by Tencent, one of the country’s largest social networks, which only accounts for 9% of mobile transaction volume in China during that quarter.
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What Industry Insiders Think Of Marissa Mayer's $640 Million Deal (YHOO) | ||
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A couple weeks ago, TechCrunch's Ingrid Lunden and Sarah Buhr broke some big Yahoo news. They reported that Yahoo has signed a term sheet to buy a company called BrightRoll for ~$700 million. Today, Yahoo finally announced it has acquired BrightRoll for $640 million. BrightRoll is a video ad tech company. It hosts videos for publishers, and, with algorithms, helps them pick which ads to run against them. Advertisers can also work with BrightRoll to find the right videos to sponsor. There are a few reasons it makes sense for Yahoo to buy BrightRoll.
Back when TechCrunch first published its report, we reached out to several ex-Yahoo ad tech people as well as a number of other sources in the industry to hear what they think of this potential deal. Here's what we heard. BrightRoll is a good company, but Yahoo could buy its competition for cheaper. Says an industry source: "BrightRoll is a good company, been around a long time, has good revenues (maybe $100 net) and good gross margins. It's interesting that there are three publicly-traded video ad nets for less $ and none of them are being considered for acquisition (YuMe, Tremor, TubeMogul). Both YuMe and Tremor are highly discounted because their tech sucks and they don't do programmatic well. TubeMogul is almost entirely buy-side, so Yahoo is probably more interested in sell-side technology." Yahoo is paying too much. Says shareholder Eric Jackson: "Typical Yahoo deal. Buy the also ran at double the price. Wish they bought Liverail. If it happens, it’s far less objectionable than Tumblr or the 6 dozen acqui-hires – at least there’s going to be some revenue." BrightRoll is just a clearing-house without great tech. Says a former Yahoo exec: "Desperation play. Too much of an ad network (just a buy/sell operation, not a true platform). Valuation is absolutely ridiculous." Yahoo is splitting the baby. Says an industry source: "I think Yahoo is schizophrenic about if they need/want a DSP [a product advertisers can use to find ad inventory] or an SSP [a product publishers can use to sell inventory], Brightroll gives them something that splits the middle." BrightRoll doesn't have great tech or software, and Yahoo just acquiring scale. Says a former Yahoo exec: "Terrible. While BrightRoll is a scale player in the hot video space... Their revenue is primarily driven by their media ad network business. It's IO driven, not tech or SaaS [this means its not as automated as you think]. This is Blue Lithium & Interclick for video [two ad tech acquisitions Yahoo made in the past that some say haven't gone well]. Yahoo needs ad tech and all they acquire are mobile startups that are going out of business and more unreliable, insertion order driven media networks." It's a smart deal, but Yahoo is paying a lot — and it doesn't have the people to run a smart ad tech business. Says a former Yahoo exec: "I think it's actually smart. It's becoming widely acknowledged that the ad format of choice for mobile is video and this gives them a great solution from a recognized leader in the video space. It's an expensive price though. The problem is after acquisition that you have inept product people like [Yahoo executives] Scott Burke and Mark Morrissey who will more than likely sabotage this from within and until those guys are gone, Yahoo will continue to have problems on the revenue product side." Where's the synergy? Says an ex-Yahoo executive: "Not sure I see the real synergy with Yahoo. More video inventory? [Feels like they are saying,] 'We need to do something. This is something. Let's do it.'" It doesn't solve Yahoo's real probem. Says a former Yahoo executive: "Buying ad tech doesn't solve the company's fundamental problem as not being relevant to users (declining engagement) and consequently not having mindshare with advertisers/agencies. While it could help squeeze out higher prices from it's own inventory, it cannot be a game changer. Plus Yahoo's poor track record of integrating ad network businesses raises questions on how well it can integrate the ad network piece of BrightRoll. Yahoo hasn't made much of the Blue Lithium or Interclick acquisitions. As a shareholder I'd rather have the estimated $700M given back - as a dividend or stock buybacks." NOW WATCH — WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Here's What The 'Dude You're Getting A Dell' Guy Is Doing TodayJoin the conversation about this story »  | ||
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We Asked Bill Nye About 'Interstellar' — And He Had One Big Issue With It | ||
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Despite having not actually seen Christopher Nolan's space epic "Interstellar" at the time of this interview, Bill Nye - author of "Undeniable" - knew enough about the plot and script to give his own opinions on the legitimacy of the science behind it. Produced by Justin Gmoser and Alana Kakoyiannis. Follow BI Video: On Twitter
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How E-Commerce Is Finally Disrupting The $600 Billion-A-Year Grocery Industry | ||
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At $600 billion a year in sales, food and beverage is by far the largest retail category in the U.S. by a wide margin. However, it's also the category that has been the least disrupted by e-commerce; less than 1% of food and beverage sales currently occur online, according to BI Intelligence's estimates. But shopping habits are changing, and niche online grocery services that compete on convenience and selection are gaining traction. Meanwhile tech giants like Amazon are fronting the cost of expensive delivery infrastructure that has so far held back grocery e-commerce. In a new in-depth report, BI Intelligence looks at why the grocery business has proved so challenging to e-commerce companies — from consumer reluctance to complicated and expensive logistics — and what new strategies e-commerce startups and big-name tech companies are pursuing to push more grocery sales online. Between 2013 and 2018, online grocery sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.1%, reaching nearly $18 billion by the end of the forecast period. For comparison, offline grocery sales will rise by 3.1% annually during the same period. Access The Full Report And Downloadable Charts By Signing Up For A Free Trial>> Here are some of the key findings explored in the report:
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eBay Admits It Banned A Whistleblower Warning Shoppers About Fake Products (EBAY) | ||
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When a consumer watchdog organization alerted eBay that it had found hundreds of counterfeits on the site, eBay blocked the whistleblower's accounts and removed its comments warning people about fake products. It did this instead of removing the fake products and blocking the sellers of them. The company, The Counterfeit Report, had just completed a 9-month investigation into counterfeit products being sold on eBay, publisher Craig Crosby, told Business Insider. It had discovered 250 of them, verifying that each one was a fake with the manufacturer.
The Counterfeit Report also bought fake Apple iPhone chargers, which have been implicated in starting fires, as well as counterfeit over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, sporting goods, fragrances, auto accessories, and more. Mistaken For An 'Abusive Buyer'When Crosby contacted eBay to alert the company of the counterfeits it found on eBay, "eBay retaliated by blocking The Counterfeit Report’s corporate eBay accounts," Crosby said. eBay also removed The Counterfeit Report's comments on the product pages, it admitted. When Business Insider questioned eBay about the situation, a spokesperson told us that eBay mistook the whistleblower for something it calls an "abusive buyer." That's someone who returns a lot of products and leaves a lot of negative comments.
A spokesperson told us: Based on your inquiry, we have taken a closer look at the situation related to Mr. Crosby. Turns out, we’re fighting the same fight. We work to protect sellers on eBay from abusive buyers, and have systems in place that watch for this kind of behavior. Based on Mr. Crosby’s pattern of buying and high percentage of returns, our system flagged his actions as being likely "buyer abuse." After a closer look, we now understand that this was actually Mr. Crosby’s way of attempting to identify and remove counterfeit goods on the site. Counterfeits are illegal and not welcome on any of eBay’s sites and we applaud the efforts of people like Mr. Crosby to help keep our marketplace free of them. As a business with millions of buyers and sellers interacting every day, we rely on the good people in our community to help us spot and stop bad behavior. After looking into this further, we have reached out to Mr. Crosby to discuss how we can work together in a more formal manner to keep eBay a place where people can shop with trust and confidence. Not Holding His BreathCrosby, however, says he's not convinced. He's sparred with eBay before. In June, eBay blocked The Counterfeit Report from publishing counterfeit product warnings in the product listings section of eBay. Those alerts were an attempt to warn consumers on how to spot things like fake fragrances and cosmetics, some of which had been verified by to contain hazardous ingredients. So when eBay reached out to Crosby, he told us, "I’ve heard that song before. I had no doubt I’d get the accounts back, been through this before." He added, "I’m more interested in the thousands (yes thousands) of consumers that have purchased the products we identified from the counterfeit sellers and don’t know it. eBay states they don’t notify ‘buyer priors’ that they may have purchased a fake."
That guarantee says a buyer can request an investigation if a product isn't what it's supposed to be. If the seller won't issue a refund, the buyer can ask eBay for a refund. The first step, however, is that buyers must realize they've bought a fake and that's the part that Crosby is focused on. If eBay can find a way to work with him, that's a good thing for consumers. An eBay spokesperson also told us that eBay takes accusations of counterfeits seriously. "eBay runs several anti-counterfeit initiatives including the Verified Rights Owner Program, and is continually introducing new proactive measures to combat the global trade in counterfeits." SEE ALSO: The 50 Most Powerful People In Enterprise Tech In 2014 Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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For instance, The Counterfeit Report bought a so-called "Sandisk 64GB microSDHC memory card" on eBay. But Sandisk doesn't make such a product and confirmed to The Counterfeit Report that the one bought on eBay was a fake, according to emails shared with Business Insider.
An eBay spokesperson says after hearing from Business Insider and looking at Crosby's work more carefully, the company now wants to work with The Counterfeit Report.
When we asked eBay about its plans to offer refunds on fake products, it pointed us to its Marissa Mayer Spends $640 Million To Buy A Video Advertising Company (YHOO) | ||
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Yahoo will acquire BrightRoll, a company that provides an advertising platform for online video, the company announced in a blog post. The price is being reported as $640 million. CEO Marissa Mayer said that video is one of the four core pillars of Yahoo's business strategy, alongside mobile, social, and native advertising, and claimed that Brightroll is on track to pull in more than $100 million in revenues this year. The company serves as a middleman between video content publishers and advertisers, aggregating video from many sites then allowing advertisers to buy ads on that video programmatically. She also revealed that she expects Tumblr to become a $100 million business for Yahoo next year. Mayer has been criticized for spending more than $1 billion to buy Tumblr last year, as the deal doesn't seem to be paying off. As Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson reported last month, Mayer plans to turn Tumblr into a video site along the lines of YouTube, and the Brightroll acquisition could help Yahoo make money from that plan. With BrightRoll, Yahoo now has the largest video advertising platform in the U.S., the company claims. Here are some more details about Brightroll from Yahoo's blog post:
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24-Year-Old Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel Just Bought His First House For $3.3 Million | ||
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The 24-year-old has purchased his first home, a three-bedroom, Spanish-style house in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. He reportedly paid $3.3 million for it. Spiegel has lived in his father's Pacific Palisades home for years, despite being the head of an app that's been valued at $10 billion. He had previously joked that he would live there until his dad kicked him out. Spiegel's new house isn't exactly a mansion, but it was remodeled in 2012, and it has the added bonus of being located less than four miles away from his dad's house. It's got three bedrooms, including one with a terrace, and over 2,800 square feet of space. There's also a sizeable back yard with an outdoor fireplace. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Snapchat cofounder and CEO Evan Spiegel has finally moved out of his parents' house, The Microsoft Engine That Nailed The World Cup Is Predicting Every NFL Game — Here Are Its Picks For Week 11 | ||
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Microsoft's Cortana had a good Week 10, correctly predicting nine out of 13 NFL games for the second-straight week. It's now 97-50 (66%) on the year. Cortana is a Windows phone virtual assistant that uses a Bing Predicts algorithm to predict every NFL game this season. The algorithm factors in things like advanced stats, homefield advantage, and weather, in addition to a public sentiment component based on Facebook and Twitter data. It picks games straight up, not against the spread. After correctly predicting 15 of the final 16 games of the World Cup, Cortana has been relatively average picking NFL games. Las Vegas betting favorites are 97-48-2 on the year, and Nate Silver's ELO model is 103-44. In Week 10, Cortana and ELO went 9-4 while Vegas favorites went 10-3. The only game Vegas and Cortana disagreed on was Buccaneers-Falcons. Here are Cortana's picks for Week 11 as of Tuesday evening. We'll update them throughout the week if they change (Vegas favorites in parentheses):
Cortana and Vegas agree on every game right now, although there's plenty of time for things to change before Sunday. Here are Cortana's results so far this year:
SEE ALSO: NFL Power Rankings, Where Every Team Stands Going Into Week 11 Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Here's The Real Reason Apple's Sapphire Supplier Went Bankrupt (AAPL) | ||
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Apple's former sapphire supplier, GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), filed for bankruptcy protection in October. We're learning more about exactly why GTAT went under, thanks to recent court filings. Apple partnered with GTAT last October to produce sapphire display covers for the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch. "Apple's size and prominence make it the ultimate technology client to land," wrote GTAT chief operating officer Daniel Squiller in an affidavit. "The deal with Apple was viewed as a potential game-changer for GTAT." Squiller also called GTAT's Apple partnership "a classic bait-and-switch strategy" and "onerous." Apple, in separate filings, has said it "bent over backwards" to work with GTAT. But Squiller's affidavit reveals the real reason the Apple/GTAT deal went south: Apple asked GTAT to develop a new business. "The Apple Agreements shifted the GTAT Group's sapphire business model from being primarily an equipment manufacturer to also being a sapphire materials manufacturer," said Squiller. Until partnering with Apple, GTAT wasn't a sapphire manufacturer, strictly speaking. Their primary product is the furnaces used to produce and refine sapphire material. According to Squiller, Apple wanted to buy a massive number of sapphire furnaces, before changing the terms of their partnership: At the outset of negotiations, Apple had offered GTAT what would have been the company's largest sale ever: an order for 2,600 sapphire growing furnaces...In hindsight, it is unclear whether Apple ever intended to purchase any sapphire furnaces from GTAT. Indeed, after months of extensive negotiations over price and related terms, Apple demanded a fundamentally different deal. The immediate cause of GTAT's bankruptcy was the company's inability to produce sapphire that Apple would accept. But considering the risks Apple was asking GTAT to take, it's no surprise the deal fell through. SEE ALSO: Apple Will Find Jobs For Employees At Its Bankrupt Supplier Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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How To Still Play 10 Of The Best Video Games From Your Childhood | ||
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When I was a kid, I spent I don't know how many hours playing "The Legend of Zelda." That's the first game I remember really sinking my teeth into. I've played countless games since then, some just as intricate as "Zelda," some even more so. But nothing makes me feel more nostalgic than the thought of an 8-bit Link running around Hyrule, trying to save the princess. Luckily, you don't have to rely on my memory to relive your favorite games. Using emulators, virtual consoles, and even remakes of classic games, you can get my nostalgia fix today. An emulator is a piece of software that mimics a different computing system — in this case, an old game system. You can also buy hardware remakes of classic systems, such as the Analogue Nt, to play any old cartridges you have around. The legality of such systems, as well as emulators, is questionable, however. The easiest way, however, might be to find Flash versions of the games. That way you can play in your browser. And if you own a current-gen system, such as a Nintendo Wii U, you can find a lot of these games in the Virtual Console for as little as $2. "Legend of Zelda" - Nintendo Entertainment System "Zelda," one of the greatest action adventure games of all time, was released in the US in 1987. There are tons of spin-offs and versions of the game, but the original still stands as one of the greatest. And it was released on a cool-looking gold-colored cartridge. You play as Link, whose main purpose is to save the princess. But in order to do so, you have to solve a bunch of puzzles and kill a lot of bad guys along the way. The easiest way to play the game now is through Nintendo's Virtual Console. But if you don't have a Wii or 3DS, then you can download an emulator and play right from your computer. If you're a Mac user, try OpenEmu, which even offers full-screen support. And Windows users can check out FCEUX, which has been around since 2008. "Frogger" - Atari 2600 "Frogger," which came out in 1981, was a fun yet strangely difficult game. The object is to get your frog across a very busy street without getting run over. There are a ton of different versions of the game. It was released in the arcade first, then ported to various systems. But if the Atari 2600 version is your cup of tea, you can play an in-browser version over at the Internet Archive's Console Living Room. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move your frog forward, back, and side to side. "Tetris" - Various Nintendo systems "Tetris," the game where you manipulate falling blocks to create lines that are then cleared from the screen, turned 30 years old this year. The story behind "Tetris" is complicated, but the game itself is fun and hugely addicting. It was released with the Game Boy handheld gaming system, and turned the Game Boy into the most popular portable gaming system of its time. Since then, it's become one of the top-selling games of all time. It's so beloved, in fact, that they're making a movie based on it. There are plenty of remakes and spin-offs, but if you want to play the original, and play for free, head over to the official Tetris site. Even the music is still roughly the same. You can also get a version from Nintendo's Virtual Console for $3.99. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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In The Future, Everything We Think We Know About Relationships Could Drastically Change | ||
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The technologies we're building today could throw some current relationship fundamentals for a loop. The concept of marriage is based on a vow: "Until death do we part." But what if scientists find a way for humans to never die? Or at the very least, for their life expectancy to drastically increase? And what if you could pick the perfect genetics for the happiest, healthiest baby possible. Would women still get pregnant? Would people still have sex? Here are a few ways current technology trends could change everything we think we know about relationships. If we live forever, will people still get married? Right now, about 40-50% of marriages in the United States end in divorce, according to the American Psychological Association. And that's with men living until 84 on average, and women living until 86. If we live forever, or even if our life expectancy doubles, will people get married later or not at all?
Google is working on ways to cheat death with its project, Calico. Scientists have already successfully extended the lives of other organisms. USC scientist Valter Longo was able to mutate two genes in Baker's Yeast to extend its life from 6 days to 10 weeks. Mutating those same genes doubled the lives of lab mice. Alexander Rose, a lead engineer on Jeff Bezos' 10,000-year clock, stated the marriage predicament well in the science documentary, Through The Wormhole: "I don't think I could live forever. My wife would kill me first." If scientists can create the most perfect, healthiest babies in a lab, will people still have sex?
By selecting the perfect genes, parents and scientists will be able to create the healthiest, happiest, most perfect children who have the longest life-expectancy possible. When that happens, traditional conception will seem too risky. The baby might get bad genes. Expectant mothers risk unforeseen accidents. Or they might consume something harmful. Their children can be born with birth defects or diseases for no apparent reason. Why leave something as important as your children to chance, when science can ensure they are perfect? Francis Collins is the director of the National Genome Research Institute. He believes there's a lot of good that can come from genetic technology. But he also describes how challenging genetic issues — like the ability to hand-pick children — will become. "We say knowledge is power, but knowledge also carries with it tough decisions and responsibilities for making those decisions," Collins tells PBS. "Right now one can test for a small number of things [with genetic technology]. In the future, that list will grow … And the difficulty in making the decisions will also grow. And if we're having trouble now, hold onto your hat. It's going to be much more challenging for couples." You can also imagine how much a process like this would cost a couple. Perfect, lab-grown super babies may only be for the elite, which could further distance the 1% from everyone else. When virtual reality becomes so good that our brains and bodies actually believe we're experiencing something in real life — particularly porn — will that change the definition of infidelity?
To many people, thinking about cheating — while not readily admitting it — isn't considered a death blow to a relationship. Acting on those thoughts, to whatever extent, is. But what about in the future, when virtual reality becomes so real that you can load a cheating scenario — maybe even with someone you know — and feel as though you're acting on it? And how about when our brains can actually be tricked into thinking it's happening? If your body reacts the same way it would to physically cheating, will mental cheating and experiencing porn become problematic for relationships? "The Oculus Rift [Facebook's $2 billion virtual reality headset] essentially tricks your brain into believing what it sees is real. People who can’t travel will be able to see the world, while others who might be physically impaired could, in true Avatar fashion, use their bodies in ways they’ve only dreamt," The Daily Beast's Aurora Snow writes about virtual reality's sexual implications. Adult streaming platform SugarDVD recently announced that it's building an app for Oculus that will bring porn viewers into the action. "Ideally, we’d like to include interactivity as soon as possible,” SugarDVD spokesperson Rebecca Bolen told Venturebeat in May. “[At first, this will be] similar to a ‘choose your own adventure’ type of experience. We already have these options for DVDs and movies with alternate ‘endings’ depending on what the viewer chooses, so we are looking forward to integrating those features into VR." As artificial intelligence improves, will we start falling in love with computers instead of each other?
"When we communicate in an environment with fewer cues from facial expression and body language, people have a lot of room to idealize their partner," The Verge quotes University of Wisconsin professor Catalina Toma on the concept. "It can be hard for real people, with all the messy complications of the physical world, to compete with that." Another professor The Verge spoke with, NYU's Gary Marcus, says relationships with AI could start as simply as the way humans love their pets — they don't fall in love with pets, but they appreciate them and mourn them when they're gone. As AI improves and becomes more like us, Marcus believes falling in love with our devices could become a real possibility. "It will be awhile before we can have with computers the kind of complex emotional relationship we have with other people, but I imagine people having one-night stands with Androids will happen a lot sooner." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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A genetics expert spoke with Google Ventures last year about the future of sex. This expert told the team of investors that eventually, 
Infidelity, 
It's the scenario from Spike Jonze's 2013 movie "Her," where a person falls in love with his or her device rather than another human. Experts believe it could actually happen. And if you're familiar with catfishing — the act of creating a false identity online in order to lure someone else into a relationship — then you know it's possible to fall in love with someone you've never met, who might not even be real. Technology Must Increase Freedom, Or It Fails | ||
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Now that net neutrality is in the news again thanks to President Obama's strong statement in favor of it yesterday, it's worth revisiting one of the core tenets of technology. In a free market, when technology increases personal freedom, it succeeds. When it tries to diminish personal freedom, it fails. People stop using it, and it becomes irrelevant. Not always immediately, but eventually and inevitably. Technology is not a staple. You don't need it to live. It's not food, or water, or shelter, or clothing. It's a luxury. People adopt luxury goods for a lot of different reasons — to look important to their friends and peers, to alleviate boredom, to make their lives a little bit easier or more comfortable. But in the case of technology products, the huge groundbreaking hits only happen when the technology in question frees people from a more burdensome way of doing things. That's true whether individuals are buying those products for themselves, or whether they're choosing to use them in the workplace. (The old days of a company's IT department buying a crummy product and forcing it down employees' throats is coming to an end, and never worked all that well anyway — every big company has a mountain of "shelfware," products that were bought and maybe tested, but never widely rolled out because employees hated them and refused to use them.) Take a quick trip through the last 30 years of technology:
The real proof, though, comes in the abject failure of technology that seeks to restrict individual freedom. Some examples:
You can argue about whether these advances in technology are for better or worse. Maybe the service and experience at the local hardware store made the drive and the wait worthwhile, and maybe we were psychologically healthier when we phoned all our long distance friends every few months. But the point is, technology only takes off if it allows people to do something they really want to do, more easily than they could do it before. There are lots of nuanced arguments for and against regulating and enforcing "net neutrality" in all its forms, including the form the president endorsed yesterday. But it's easy to imagine a worst-case situation with regard to net neutrality. ISPs and wireless providers could come up with endless bundles of different services, similar to how TV providers do it today. Unsupported services would become slow, or unusable. Prices would go up every year or two, and the bundles would be shifted based on the business models of the companies providing the services. What would that do to demand for Internet service in the long run? It's very hard to imagine a case where restricting the free flow of information over the Internet would somehow increase demand for Internet service. Service providers should think carefully before they press for something that in the end could drive customers away. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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No, Apple Should Not Buy Tesla | ||
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My colleague Jay Yarow thinks that Apple should buy Tesla. He makes a brilliant case; you can read the whole thing here. However, he's completely wrong. It's a provocative, scintillating idea: Apple buying Tesla would create a New Economy Dream team, unifying the most admired company in the world with the one that actually wants to change that world. Not incidentally, Apple buying Tesla would bring about a synthesis of Silicon Valley and the Tesla's game-changing vision for mobility that many people have been yearning for. To Jay's credit, he puts this zany idea in a correctly zany context: It's so zany that he's the only one calling for it. I can't overstate this: Zany ideas are what move the world forward. At the level of pure awesomeness, it makes perfect sense for the company that Steve Jobs built (but not by himself of course) and that Elon Musk built (also not by himself) to be joined. My pulse races just thinking about it. But then my cool head prevails and I settle down. I have to thank Jay for the thrills. But then I have to tackle his argument, which hinges on two points (maybe three). DON'T DO IT, APPLE! First, the idea that Tesla needs to better manage its production process. Here's Jay:
Indeed, Tim Cook is regarded as a supply chain genius. This is where Apple has innovated since Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO and Cook stepped up. If you look at the numbers, Cook's innovation has enabled Apple to create ridiculous profit margins, for its industry. Bravo, Tim Cook!
Now he's even managed to supervise the creation of a new Apple product that I think will open a whole new vista for the company, in real luxury products, as opposed to luxury-adjacent products, like the iPhone — the Apple Watch is going to be big in the luxury world. But the problem with Jay's argument here is that manufacturing a car is orders of magnitude more complex than manufacturing a consumer electronics gadget that's designed to be sold for less than a few thousands bucks and destined to be thrown out or recycled in a few years. The effective life of an iPhone is — what? — three or four years, max? The effective life of a $100,000 Tesla Model S is at least a decade and really more like two or three decades. Teslas are built to last. iPhones are built not to. I don't think Tim Cook, adept as he may be at dealing with touchscreens and processors in the Asian supply chain, could breeze in and streamline the production of a car that needs to be very fast, very safe, uses all manner of never-before-seen drivetrain and power technologies, and is currently assembled by huge robots and human beings in California.
It's not even an apples-to-oranges comparison. It's more like comparing an apple to an elephant. The second point that Jay makes to support his argument is that Apple is full of guys who dig cars and want to reinvent them — guys on the Apple board, guys who design Apple's products (Jony Ive, Marc Newson), guys who run the business. These guys love hot cars: Ferraris, Aston Martins, Porsches, Bentleys. They want to design and build awesome cars that blow your mind!
I can't tell you how many people like this who the auto industry has chewed up and spit out over the past 100 years. Heck, the whole idea of creating in Tesla a brand-new shiny car company with revolutionary ideals nearly ended in tears for Musk, back in 2008. Everyone who wants to reinvent the industry comes at it from the point of view of a teenager who had a Ferrari or Porsche poster on his (almost always his) bedroom wall. THE WORLD'S GREATEST BUDGET FOUR-DOOR? But the reality of the business is that while Ferrari, for example, makes wonderful cars and also tons of money, it's a miniscule part of the global market. Just as Apple wants to sell millions and millions of iPhones and iPads, carmakers want to sell millions and millions of cars. And not hot cars, but boring cars: mass-market sedans, workhorse pickup trucks, and versatile SUVs. After setting a tone for his brand with the the exhilarating, high-performance Model S sedan, Musk can now say mission accomplished and move on to developing the mass-market Model 3, which he hopes to produce in the hundred of thousands. I doubt that Cook and Ive and all the Apple guys with their Porsches and Ferraris want to grow up just so they can buy a company whose overarching goal is to create the electric Toyota Corolla. But let's give Jay the benefit of the doubt and assume that a consumer electronics supply chain guru can transfer his talent to the auto industry, and that Cook & Co. would be okay with building the finest $30,000 four-door sedan ever seen by human eyes on planet Earth.
MONEY MONEY MONEY... What difference, then, would Apple's billions of cash on the balance sheet make for Tesla? Well, if Tesla proceeds according to Musk's plan and builds a $5 billion batter factory in Nevada — and then perhaps more "Gigafactories" in other states — and also ramps up production of the Model S, brings the Model X SUV to market next year, and develops the Model 3 on schedule... ... then Tesla will be getting close to being "real" car company, instead of what it is now: A very interesting company producing one very expensive car. By pushing hard to get the Gigafactory deal done, Musk has demonstrated that this is what he sees as Tesla's destiny. Teslas, Teslas, everywhere. But few enterprises in human experience are as good at taking cash and making it go away than car companies. At full-tilt, using state-of-the-art "lean" production methods refined over decades, a highly skilled workforce, and selling their product to people who are happy to go into debt for years to sit in traffic for hours — car companies burn billions per quarter, face the constant threat of cyclical downturns when people just drive their old cars and don't upgrade to new ones, and generate moderate profits with limited prospects for significant future growth. What person in his right mind would want to get into this business?
Now you can see why the Elon Musks of the world don't come along very often. Tesla is still alive, but most of its competition, at least in the electric-car startup world, has fallen away. So if Apple did want to buy a car company, I'll concede that the choice would be obvious — because there's really only one car company to buy, excluding the numerous existing players encumbered by having been car companies since cars shared the road with horses. So while Jay is probably right that Apple can find better uses for its $155 billion cash hoard than stock buybacks, if I were Cook and I decided to buy Tesla, I could just as easily take a substantial portion of that $155 billion, put it in a Ferrari parked at Apple HQ, and set it on fire. I could then at least say that I had the courage to destroy a Ferrari in the course of obliterating Apple cash. To be honest, I don't even think Musk would consider this a good use for Apple's money. THE ELON FACTOR Finally, there's the matter of Elon Musk himself. As we learned at his media hootenanny last month for the Model D, Musk isn't just Iron Man — he's Iron Man plus Steve Jobs. But really, he's better than Jobs, who only got to walk around with nifty little glass-and-metal devices and talk about how nifty they were.
For his part, Musk brought out a giant orange robot and commanded it to sling around a thousand-pound car chassis. Then he gave people dragstrip joyrides in the actual vehicle. Then he drove home and probably switched over to being the CEO of his other company, SpaceX, and worked all night on designs for a rocket big enough to send people to Mars.
When Steve Jobs left, we did need another Steve Jobs. But we got someone who's aiming higher. We got Musk. Tim Cook is fantastic, but I really don't see Musk going to work for Tim Cook. Musk is now playing for a level of importance in the human race that far transcends Jobs' very meaningful and important contribution, and whatever advice Cook can offer to improve Tesla's manufacturing processes. Tesla is ultimately a solution to global warming. SpaceX is supposed to make us "multiplanetary," because you never know... Musk is in it for the species. It's necessary to understand this about him. He doesn't care about money, except as a means to an end. His companies aren't companies in the traditional sense — they're solutions to enormous problems, solutions that take advantage of the power that entrepreneurs now wield to gather funding for their dreams. His two main companies — Tesla and SpaceX — are doing the kind of astounding things that capture the imagination.
Smartphones and social networks are super. But they don't do o-60 in 3 seconds with nothing coming out of the tailpipe, and they don't want to go back to the Moon. Additionally, if Cook wants visionary advice, I think he can just call Musk up and ask him what to do. Frankly, I think Musk would consider it something of a distraction. GET TESLA WHILE THE GETTING IS GOOD What about another point that Jay makes — that Apple will inevitably build a car in 20 years and should buy Tesla while Tesla is small and cheap so that it isn't necessary to start from scratch? That would be extremely risky. Tesla is operating in our existing world of getting around, which still involves cars and drivers and roads. Musk's plan for the next few decades is about improving that situation. Google, meanwhile, is building the actual car of the future, which is small and driverless and something that Apple's car lovers can appreciate at an intellectual level but would very much not like to drive. Or be driven in. It's actually more of a node in a futuristic mobility system that treats your physical location as something to be overcome with very complex maps and extremely powerful artificial intelligence.
It's pretty much the opposite of what Tesla wants to do, although Tesla will likely be incorporating more and more "autonomous" driving technologies into its cars in coming years. Apple buys Tesla now to avoid having to buy Tesla later. But then later arrives and and Apple discovers that it bought the wrong idea. I love the incredibly boldness of what Jay proposes. I just think it would be a very bad idea for both Apple and Tesla. SEE ALSO: Apple Should Buy Tesla Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Britain and US fine five banks over forex rigging | ||
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London (AFP) - Britain's Financial Conduct Authority on Wednesday imposed fines totalling £1.1 billion ($1.7 billion, 1.4 billion euros) on five banks to settle allegations of foreign exchange rigging. The FCA regulator said in a statement it had fined British banks HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, US groups Citibank and JPMorgan Chase, and Swiss bank UBS, for "failing to control business practices in their foreign exchange trading operations". Each will pay in excess of £200 million, while Barclays was not included in the setttlement but is still being investigated. US regulators also announced Wednesday over $1.4 billion in fines against five major US and European banks over allegations of rigging in foreign exchange markets. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission joined British counterparts in punishing British banks HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, US groups Citibank and JPMorgan Chase and Swiss bank UBS. The CFTC said these banks were being punished for "attempted manipulation of, and for aiding and abetting other banks' attempts to manipulate, global foreign exchange (FX) benchmark rates to benefit the positions of certain traders." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open | ||
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Five Massive Banks Were Just Fined $3.3 Billion For Allegedly Manipulating Currency Markets. UBS, the Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan, HSBC and Citibank were all fined more than of $3.2 billion by authorities in Switzerland, the UK, and the US this morning. The US And China Just Made A Landmark Joint Deal On Climate Change. China will aim for a peak in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, while the United States will strive to cut total emissions by more than a quarter by 2025, as the two countries try to drive through a new global climate pact in Paris next year. Samsung Just Cranked Up Its Legal Battle With Chipmaker Nvidia. Samsung has accused Nvidia of infringing several of its semiconductor-related patents and for making false claims about its products, counter-suing after Nvidia filed a lawsuit against the Korean company in September. Japanese Shares Hit 7 Year Highs. The Nikkei climbed 0.43%, after trading higher during the day, hitting the highest levels in 7 years. That's Because Of Snap Election Rumours In Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may call an emergency election to justify delaying or scrapping the second sales tax hike planned for the country. eBay Admits It Banned A Whistleblower Warning Shoppers About Fake Products. When a consumer watchdog organization alerted eBay that it had found hundreds of counterfeits on the site, eBay blocked the whistleblower's accounts and removed its comments warning people about fake products. UK Unemployment And European Industrial Production Are Coming. They're at 9.30 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET respectively, with economists expecting a 0.7% jump in industrial production and UK unemployment to fall to 5.9%. Shell Says It's Focused On Deep Water Oil Projects In Mexico. Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world's largest oil companies, is most interested in new oil and gas projects in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico following a major sector opening finalized earlier this year, a top executive said on Tuesday. Volvo Is Reportedly Cutting 3,000 Staff. Swedish truck maker Volvo will cut around 3,000 staff as part of a savings plan to boost profitability, business daily Dagens Industri said on Tuesday. The Bill For Shutting Nuclear Plants Will Hit $100 Billion. According to the Financial Times, the international bill for winding down the world's nuclear power plants will hit $100 billion in the next 25 years.
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All systems go for comet landing: ESA after final check | ||
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Darmstadt (Germany) (AFP) - The probe Philae has been given the green light to attempt the first landing on a comet on Wednesday, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. "We've got the final go" for the operation, an ESA spokeswoman said at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany. A science lab bearing 10 instruments, Philae will be ordered to separate from its mother ship Rosetta at 0835 GMT and head towards Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the agency said, after the last of four checks. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Five Massive Banks Were Just Fined $3.3 Billion For Allegedly Manipulating Currency Markets | ||
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Five massive banks just got slammed with $3.3 billion in fines by regulators in three countries, after a lengthy probe over accusations that traders had tried to manipulate currency markets. UBS, the Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan, HSBC and Citibank were all fined more than of $3.2 billion by authorities in Switzerland, the UK, and the US this morning. Here's how that breaks down.
For each bank, this is the combined charge from the three regulators, according to Bloomberg.
It's the biggest set of charges ever levied by British financial regulators, and all the banks listed co-operated with the investigation. Here's what Britain's FCA said that they were charged for:
According to the FCA, the fines would have been 30% higher if the banks listed hadn't co-operated with the investigations. An investigation into Barclays, one of the large banks notably not mentioned in the list, is still ongoing. These banks and plenty of others have been reporting that they've set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to prepare for these charges, which have been a long time coming. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has also published some of the ludicrous transcripts from the investigation alongside their fines. You can take a look at them here. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Drugs-hit badminton star Lee fears world, Olympic chance gone | ||
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Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysian badminton ace Lee Chong Wei fears he will never realise his dream of becoming world and Olympic champion after he was suspended for failing a drugs test, a report said Wednesday. The world number one is temporarily barred from competition after testing positive to the banned anti-inflammatory dexamethasone, for which he could face an eventual suspension of up to two years. "If I am suspended for a long time, it will affect my chances of becoming a world champion next year and also win the Olympic gold medal in 2016," Lee, 36, told the New Straits Times. "It has always been my dream to win both titles. It is also the reason why I took up the sport." Despite topping the badminton rankings for years and reaching five world and Olympic finals, the popular Lee has never been able to win either of the sport's two major prizes. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said Tuesday that Lee was suspended "due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation" while a panel considers whether he has committed an offence. Lee tested positive after giving urine samples at the BWF World Championships in August in Copenhagen, where he lost to China's Chen Long in the final. Lee said the turn of events felt like a "bad dream", adding there was "no way" he could have taken the drug outside of the auspices of Malaysia's National Sports Institute. "I’ve been a national player under the BA of Malaysia (BAM) for 15 years and I am very particular about injuries," he told the daily. "I always consult the National Sports Institute for advice." "There is no way I could have administered dexamethasone into my body by myself. I have lost big matches before but I always bounce back without fail," said Lee. "Frankly, I still can’t believe what has happened to me." Badminton's world body has not announced a date for its hearing into Lee's case. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now | ||
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1. US President Obama and Chinese President Jinping reached a landmark climate deal, with the US pledging to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% by 2025 from 2005-levels and China agreeing to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030. 2. The climate agreement signals the first time ever that China, the world's top carbon polluter, has committed to a greenhouse gas emissions cap. 3. Scientists are making final preparations to deploy the Philae probe from the Rosetta spacecraft and land it on a comet, marking a space history first. 4. Japan's Nikkei soared to a 7-year high on Wednesday on news that President Shinzo Abe is preparing to call a snap vote and potentially delay a national sales tax hike planned for October 2015. 5. Sierra Leone will pay $5,000 (£3,140 pounds) to the family of any health worker who dies of Ebola from treating an infected patient. 6. The European Court of Justice set a precedent in a ruling that says member states can deny certain payments to unemployed EU citizens who move there just to claim benefits. 7. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote a blog post defending the amount of money the streaming service pays to artists, noting that Taylor Swift was on track to earn at least $6 million this year before she pulled her entire music catalogue from the service last week. 8. An icy blast of air from the Arctic has caused temperatures to drop dramatically in about two-thirds of the continental US. 9. YouTube signed a licensing deal with independent record companies, a partnership that opens the door "to introduce a long-planned subscription feature to compete with online music outlets like Spotify and Rhapsody," The New York Times reports. 10. Thomas Piketty's 'Capital' has won Business Book of the Year, which comes with a £30,000 prize. And finally ... The lemur who starred in the children's show "Zaboomafoo" has died at the age of 20. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Good morning! Here's what you need to know for Wednesday. This Is The Man Who Just Took Down $10 Million In The World Series Of Poker | ||
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The World Series Of Poker has crowned a new champion, and another pro has taken it down, according to the Associated Press. Martin Jacobson won a whopping $10 million Tuesday night at The Rio in Las Vegas. He's 27-years-old, and got his start in the online poker scene. It was his first appearance in the so-called "November Nine" which is the final table of the enormous tournament with a huge $10,000 buy-in. It was a comeback effort, Jacobson entered the final table in eighth place out of nine in chips. Once we got to the top three players all Americans were eliminated. According to WSOP.com this is the first time that's ever happened in the history of the tournament.
In second place was Felix Stephensen From Norway. By the time he got to second he was already way down in chips. That led, ultimately, to the final hand, where his Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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. In heartbreaking fashion, Jacobson flopped a set of 10's in that spot and took down the biggest prize in poker. Grizzlies bounce back, Bryant sets mark for misses | ||
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Memphis (AFP) - Mike Conley had 23 points and Marc Gasol did a little of everything as the Memphis Grizzlies got back into the win column by holding off the last place Los Angeles Lakers 107-102. Zach Randolph delivered his sixth double double in eight games and got the putback layup in the final seconds that iced the victory for the Grizzlies, who bounced back after suffering their first loss of the season on Saturday. Randolph finished with 11 points and 10 assists and Gasol tallied eight points, nine assists and eight boards for the Grizzlies who had to weather a strong fourth quarter rally by Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant found himself on the wrong end of history Tuesday as the Lakers star passed former Boston Celtic John Havlicek for the most missed field goals in NBA history. Bryant missed a shot at 6:22 of the fourth quarter for his 13,418th career miss, giving him one more than Havlicek. He came into the game 13 misses off the record. Asked about setting the record, Bryant replied, "Nah, I don't follow that stuff." He said when you play in the league as long as he has you put up big numbers. "Well, I am a shooting guard that has played 19 years. Like I said, 'shooting guard, 19th year,'" said Bryant. Bryant finished with 28 points but needed 26 shots to get them in front of a crowd of 17,618 at FedEx Forum arena. Carlos Boozer scored a season-high 20 in the loss. Memphis received a valuable contribution from its bench as Beno Udrih and Kosta Koufos shot a combined 13-for-16 from the floor for 16 and 14 points, respectively. The Grizzlies have now beaten Los Angeles in four of five games since the start of last season and are 7-2 in their last nine contests. Memphis has now won a franchise-best 17 straight regular season games at home. They began the season with a 6-0 mark and suffered a 93-92 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday. The Lakers dropped to 1-6 and are off to one of their worst starts in franchise history. Jordan Hill shot just six-of-17 from the field and Jeremy Lin finished with 12 points, three turnovers and five fouls. Los Angeles was playing without guard Wayne Ellington who flew to his native Philadelphia after his father was shot and killed on Sunday. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Alibaba says Singles Day sales reach $9.3 bln | ||
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Shanghai (AFP) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said consumers spent a record $9.3 billion during its 24-hour shopping promotion Singles Day on Tuesday, cementing its position as the world's biggest online retail event. Shoppers spent $3.5 billion, or 60 percent, more than the $5.8 billion sales recorded for the same day last year, the group said in a statement released on Wednesday. It also dwarfed the major shopping days in the US in terms of transaction value, toppling the combined online sales of $5.3 billion recorded on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday through to Cyber Monday last year, according to data compiled by Internet analytics firm comScore. Alibaba has been pushing November 11 as Singles Day -- so named for the number of ones in the date -- since 2009 as it looks to tap an expanding army of Internet shoppers in China, which has the world's biggest online population. The day was originally marketed as an "anti-Valentine's Day" in China, featuring hefty discounts to lure the country's singletons and price-sensitive buyers. It was expanded globally this year to include more than 27,000 overseas brands and merchants as well as customers from more than 217 countries and regions. Deals settled on Alibaba's China and international retail market places reached 57.1 billion yuan ($9.3 billion) for the day, the group said in the release. The number of transactions made per minute peaked at 2.85 million, it added. "We are very happy with the results of this year's 11.11 shopping festival," said Alibaba chief executive Jonathan Lu. "We are particularly encouraged by the growing trend of consumers embracing mobile shopping on a global stage." Approximately $4 billion of deals, or 42.6 percent of total, were made via mobile devices, according to the company. Some 278.5 million packages were expected to be shipped after the event, it said. The strong set of figures came against the backdrop of a growing online retail market in China and increasing spending power of consumers, analysts said. Nonetheless Alibaba shares, which have risen strongly since its record-breaking $25 billion initial public offering two months ago, dropped 3.87 percent to $114.54 in New York on Tuesday. China overtook the United States last year to be the world's largest online retail market, with sales of 1.85 trillion yuan, commerce ministry statistics show. Headquartered in the eastern city of Hangzhou, Alibaba does not sell products directly but acts as an electronic middleman, operating China's most popular consumer-to-consumer platform, Taobao, which is estimated to hold more than 90 percent of the market. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The Navy SEAL Who Allegedly Shot Bin Laden Described The Letters He Wrote To His Children Before Leaving On The Raid | ||
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Robert O'Neill, the former Navy SEAL who says he shot and killed Osama Bin Laden told Fox News in an interview broadcast Tuesday evening that he wrote letters to his loved ones before leaving on the 2011 raid on the Al Qaeda leader's compound. O'Neill explained he wrote the letters because he thought the "chances of dying" during the raid "were really high." In the event he didn't return, he said he wanted his family to know "why it had to happen" and that he was participating in "the most important mission since Washington crossed the Delaware." "And it was worth it, you know, I'm sorry that you're upset, but I died with the people I should have died with," O'Neill said. "It was sad, you know, there was a few times when tears were hitting the pages." O'Neill's letters also included advice for his young children. "I talked about their weddings, you know, wishing them happiness, take care of their mom," said O'Neill. "There were some apologies in there for, you know, sorry I'm not around." O'Neill's interview with Fox News is filmed for a two-part exclusive documentary. The second half is scheduled to air on Wednesday evening. After the raid was successful and O'Neill returned home with his fellow SEALs, he destroyed the letters. "The first thing I did when I got home was shred them and I — I don't know if I'm happy about that, but they're gone," he said. "I didn't want to read them again. I didn't want anybody reading them." O'Neill told Fox News reporter Peter Doocy he destroyed the letters because they were written in case he died and "it didn't happen." "Instead of something horrible happening, something great happened," said O'Neill. After writing the letters, O'Neill had one more final message to send. Just before leaving on the highly classified raid, he called his father. "I was actually in my gear getting ready to launch on something I couldn't tell him," O'Neill recounted. "I called him to say goodbye and thanks for everything." In the conclusion of the first part of the Fox News broadcast O'Neill also described his feelings as he boarded the helicopter that took him to Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. "I can only imagine it's like the feeling in the tunnel for an NFL player before he's about to run on the field in front of 100,000 people. It was like, it is time to do my job," said O'Neill. O'Neill also discussed what was on his mind after the SEALs took off. "We got in the helicopters. We launched," O'Neill said. "We were the end. We were the fists. We were the FDNY. We were the NYPD. We were the American people." O'Neill has said he decided to go public about his role in the raid after speaking to a group of families of people who were killed in the September 11th attacks at a memorial earlier this year. However, some of his fellow SEALs have reportedly cast doubt on his claims. The Pentagon has also suggested he could face criminal charges for revealing classified information. SEE ALSO: How A 27-Year-Old Reporter Landed An Interview With The Alleged Bin Laden Shooter Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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China agrees to target emissions peak 'around 2030': White House | ||
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Beijing (AFP) - China and the US agreed ambitious greenhouse gas emission targets on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement, with Beijing setting a goal for its emissions to peak "around 2030". It is the first time China -- the world's biggest polluter -- has set a date, even approximate, for its emissions to stop increasing, and the White House said China would "try to peak early". At the same time the US set a goal to cut its own emissions of the gases blamed for climate change by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. The declaration came as President Barack Obama met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing. China will look to "increase the non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20 percent by 2030", the White House said. The proportion stood at 10 percent last year, Chinese officials have previously said. Scientists argue that drastic measures must be taken if the world is to limit global warming to the UN's target of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, and failing to do so could have disastrous results. China and the US, which together produce around 45 percent of the world's carbon dioxide, will be key to ensuring that a global deal on reducing emissions after 2020 is reached in Paris next year. The two countries have long been at loggerheads over global targets, with each saying the other should bear more responsibility for cutting emissions of gases blamed for heating up the atmosphere. Wednesday's promises are equally fraught with challenges. While the US -- which never ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change -- has pledged to cut emissions in the past, goals have shifted or been missed altogether. Its greenhouse gas emissions increased last year, despite Washington setting emissions reduction goals during a climate summit in 2009. The deadline for Obama's new pledge is in more than a decade's time but he only has two years left in his presidency and faces a Congress controlled by opposition Republicans in both houses, which will make passing crucial environmental legislation more difficult. Much of his action on climate change so far has been done with executive orders rather than co-operation from an often confrontational legislature. While it was the first time China agreed to a target date for emissions to peak -- officials have previously only spoken of doing so "as soon as possible" -- the commitment was qualified, leaving considerable room for manoeuvre. China has trumpeted its efforts to reduce dependence on coal and oil in the past, and is the world's largest hydropower producer, with a growing nuclear sector. But economic growth remains a vitally important priority and has seen demand for energy soar. The European Union pledged last month to reduce emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. But efforts to make meaningful progress on climate change will by stymied unless the US sets "a concrete and ambitious" goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, Connie Hedegaard, EU climate commissioner, said in October. The EU accounts for 11 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 16 percent for the United States and 29 percent for China.
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Comet-landing mission on track, one last hurdle ahead | ||
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Paris (AFP) - Europe's mission to land the first-ever probe on a comet was on track Wednesday with one final "go" pending for the robot lab to eject from its mothership and start a nail-biting seven-hour descent. Ground controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, gave the Rosetta spacecraft and her precious cargo, lander Philae, the all-clear in the first three of four crucial systems checks before landing manoeuvres will be initiated. The high-stakes mission should receive its conclusive "go/-no-go" signal about an hour before Philae is scheduled to depart at 0835 GMT on the final, solo leg of an epic, 6.5-billion kilometre (four-billion mile) space journey. "The Philae Control Team at the Lander Control Centre have completed a final check and verification of the lander’s health. The GO was given at 0235 GMT," said an entry on the European Space Agency's Rosetta blog. "Following a short manoeuvre set for 0730 (GMT), the final GO for separation will be made around 0735 (GMT)," it added. The mission's landing phase passed its first systems check late Tuesday to confirm Rosetta was on the correct trajectory. The second check at midnight GMT confirmed the telecommand instructions for Philae's separation from Rosetta, and its subsequent landing, had been correctly uploaded. The third "go/no-go" signal, an hour later than initially scheduled, confirmed Philae was in good health and ready for its 20 km descent to the 900 x 600 metre (3,000 x 2,000 foot) landing site. Philae is a 100-kilo (220-pound) lander carrying 10 scientific instruments for the first-ever on-site analysis of a comet, which astrophysicists hope will reveal secrets about the origins of the Solar System and maybe even life on Earth. One of the most complex and ambitious unmanned programmes in space history, the 1.3-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) mission was approved in 1993. Hoisted into space more than ten years later, Rosetta took another decade to reach its target, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in August this year. - 'Everyone on tenterhooks' - From its orbit, Rosetta has made some astonishing observations including that the comet's profile somewhat resembles that of a rubber bath duck, with a treacherous, irregular surface -- a difficult target to land on. The big test will be for Philae to settle down safely as Rosetta and 67P zip towards the Sun at a breakneck 18 kilometres per second (11 miles per second), at a distance of 510 million kilometres (320 million miles) from Earth. "Everyone's nervous, everyone's on tenterhooks, but we know the risk is worth taking. The rewards are enormous," ESA senior science advisor Mark McCaughrean said Tuesday of the historic attempt. "You won't get anything without taking risks. Exploration is all about going to the limits." Philae has no thrusters, which means Rosetta can only eject it when the velocity and trajectory are exactly right. Any error in its course will widen during descent -- the probe could miss its landing site and smash into rocks or cliffs nearby. Touchdown is expected about seven hours after Philae separates from Rosetta, with a confirmation signal expected on Earth at about 1600 GMT. Philae is meant to settle down at a gentle 3.5 km per hour, firing two harpoons into a surface that engineers fervently hope will provide enough grip. Ice screws at the end of its three gangly legs will then be driven into the low-gravity comet to stop the probe bouncing back into space. Comets are believed to be balls of primordial ice and carbon dust left over from the building of the Solar System. Some scientists theorise they may have "seeded" Earth with life-giving carbon molecules and water. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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How A 27-Year-Old Reporter Landed An Interview With The Alleged Bin Laden Shooter | ||
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"I got down to the White House and just celebrated on Pennsylvania Avenue late on a Sunday night with thousands of people and it was a night that I will never forget. Everyone just shared this great feeling of, we got him," Doocy told Business Insider in an interview. Almost three and a half years later, Doocy, 27, uncovered the identity of the man who said he fired the fatal shot, former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill. Doocy managed to land the first televised interview with O'Neill, which is being broadcast on Fox News Tuesday and Wednesday night this week in an exclusive two-part documentary called "The Man Who Killed Osama Bin Laden." Doocy was introduced to O'Neill through a third party source a few months after the raid on Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The two first met at an Irish pub in Pentagon City in 2012. After Doocy gained O'Neill's trust, the ex-SEAL agreed to reveal his identity and speak on camera. To ensure no one within Fox would learn of the huge scoop, Doocy's team created a code name for the project. "If we had to book travel or if we had to order a camera crew we gave it a code name and that code was Gatewood," Doocy said. The team chose this name to pay homage to the Army commander Charles Gatewood who helped capture Apache leader Geronimo in 1886. "Geronimo" was the code word the SEALs used on the night of the Bin Laden raid to confirm the country's most wanted man was dead.
"He is one of the best this country has to offer. He is an all-American guy and I hope people will see that when they watch this two-night segment," Doocy said. Two days after Fox News announced plans for the documentary, SOFREP, a military blog, revealed O'Neill's identity. However, Doocy told Business Insider he doesn't think the blog stole his thunder. "It really just confirms what we have known all along that there is a lot of interest in this story. In the Rob O'Neill story," Doocy said. "Obviously his name is out there and his picture is out there now and a lot of other stuff is too. Some of the stuff out there now is true, and some of it is not. We are the only ones that he sat down with on camera to explain his story and it's his own words and the way he tells it is so good." A Defense Department spokeswoman, gave a statement to Business Insider, in which she said former SEALs were bound by military non-disclosure agreements and could face criminal charges for revealing information about the stealth raid. The spokeswoman specifically said SEALs were prohibited from revealing the names of any participants, which remain classified. Fox News subsequently provided a statement to Business Insider indicating the government had not attempted to block the documentary. "FOX News has not been contacted by the Department of Defense or any other government agency expressing concern about 'The Man Who Killed Osama Bin Laden' special and we have every intention of airing it as planned on November 11th and 12th," the Fox News spokesperson said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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When asked to describe O'Neill, Doocy used words like "patriot" and "warrior." US war against IS steadily escalates, raising stakes | ||
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Washington (AFP) - US military action against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria began on a small scale three months ago but has steadily expanded in size and scope, raising the stakes for Washington, experts say. The mission has morphed from protecting religious minorities in Iraq to a vow to "destroy" the IS group in both Syria and Iraq, a dramatic shift for an American president who as a candidate was an outspoken opponent of the previous US war in Iraq. "As commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into another war in Iraq," President Barack Obama said on August 7, when he announced the first US air strikes against the IS group in Iraq. But last week, Obama approved reinforcements that will bring the total military footprint to 3,100 troops in Iraq, with a new mission to shape the government army into an effective fighting force. The justification for the initial US bombing raids in August was narrowly defined -- to protect US diplomats in northern Arbil and to prevent a massacre of besieged Yazidis on Mount Sinjar. The United States had no intention of "being the Iraqi air force," Obama said at the time. "But that's explicitly what the United States is now," said Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Mission sets expand, costs go up," he told AFP. After more than 800 air strikes, there is no end in sight and US officials say the fight could last years. The step-by-step expansion of the war effort is a familiar pattern for American presidents, and Congress tends to give the commander-in-chief a green light, Zenko said. "Every administration does this. It's not unique to this White House," he said. - Risk of casualties -- The American military advisers are not in a "combat role" but some of them will be based in the frontline province of Anbar in the country's west, a bastion for the IS group. The deployment raises the risk of potential American causalities if the IS group overruns an Iraqi air base there or if it manages to down an American helicopter with a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile, though US officers insist those are remote scenarios. The biggest risk of the expanding campaign is the notorious "slippery slope," with Washington increasingly pulled into the multi-sided civil war in Syria and pressure mounting to employ more military power to turn the tide, experts say. Obama has pledged not to send ground forces into combat but some Republican lawmakers already have urged him to order in forward air controllers to direct air strikes by coalition warplanes, a proposal favored by some top brass. - Reliving the Iraq war - The US military recommended more advisers as it has pinned its hopes on nine brigades in the Iraqi army, which are deemed good enough to be trained for an eventual counter-attack. The strategy resembles the effort undertaken during the American occupation of 2003-2011, when advisers worked with Iraqi units and Sunni tribes to fight Al-Qaeda militants, said Robert Scales, a retired US Army major general. But as the Iraqi forces train, the IS jihadists will have time to strengthen their hold on territory, stockpile weapons and recruit more young fighters, Scales wrote in the Washington Post. "If nine Iraqi brigades with their US advisers can’t do it next year, the clock will keep ticking. And Obama will have two options: Accept an Islamic State 'caliphate' that occupies much of Iraq and Syria or add more US forces to the opposition," Scales wrote. Daniel Bolger, a retired lieutenant general who led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, warned Wednesday the United States runs the risk of repeating the mistakes of "two failed wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan by relying on military action to solve political problems. In a New York Times commentary, Bolger argued the military's experience in Iraq has been misunderstood in Washington and that the 2007 troop surge was not the success it has been portrayed as. "The surge in Iraq did not 'win' anything. It bought time," he wrote of the reinforcements sent to salvage the war. "But in the end, shackled to a corrupt, sectarian government in Baghdad and hobbled by our fellow Americans' unwillingness to commit to a fight lasting decades, the surge just forestalled today's stalemate," he said. Now the United States faces the same militants it fought for eight years, and calls by hawks for larger-scale military action amounted to "insanity," said Bolger, author of "Why We Lost." "If insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, I think we're there." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Cycling legend Hinault wants justice for the Tour of France | ||
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Calorguen (France) (AFP) - Lance Armstrong has become a stain on the glorious cycling memories of French legend Bernard Hinault who says he would refuse to speak to the shamed American rider. Cycling has an unfair reputation over drug-taking, according to the five-time Tour de France winner who marks his 60th birthday on Friday as one of the most popular living Frenchmen. Hinault told AFP in an interview that he has had a "dream life" in cycling but that doping scandals that have made the sport notorious "hurt all those who love cycling". "But they should look at all sports. Cycling is no more rotten than the others," he declared. "People are always picking on cycling." But mention Armstrong and his mood darkens. "If I met him today I would not talk to him. I would not even say hello." Hinault was the last French winner of the Tour de France 29 years ago and the long wait for a successor from his home country also pains him. "Today we don't have a complete rider capable of racing at 50 kilometers (30 miles) an hour and keeping up with the best climbers. "We have plenty of good ones with the right temperament. But even with the temperament, you are not the best if you cannot win." But despite those nags, Hinault, who lives on a converted farm at Calorguen in Britanny, said he has no regrets about his own career. "If tomorrow, you asked me 'you are 20 you start again', I would restart the same life," he said. "I have a dream life, I wish everyone could have a life like me." At the entrance to his farm, he keeps the gloves, shorts and cycling jerseys he uses now. In a nearby cabinet are the cups and medals that set out Hinault's incredible achievements -- five Tour de France titles (1978-79, 1981-82, 1985), three Giro d'Italia and two Spanish Vuelta. He said he got the same pleasure winning each race.
- Not a single regret -
Hinault said his own retirement was carefully prepared and decided six years before he was 32. "I stopped on November 11 and we had a big party, not a funeral, and on the 19th I was already working for ASO." Hinault does public relations work for ASO, the Tour de France organisers. That meant he missed out on trying for a sixth Tour title. "Would I have been happier if I had done two years more. I could have won the Tour again. But I don't have a single regret," he declared. For 20 years he split his time between his farm with 150 Charolais cattle and ASO, mainly keeping his bike in the garage. "I didn't have the time. I was working 360 days a year. You are not going to go riding for the five days left." But a few years back, Hinault sold the cattle and started riding again on the nearby rural roads. "I ride two or three times a week, between 80 and 100 kilometers (50 and 60 miles). There is the same pleasure even if we go slower," he said. Hinault says he remembers every race, starting with his first big win at the age of 16 in a local race that ended in sa print finish. He also remembers his rivalry with American Greg LeMond, Frenchman Laurent Fignon and particularly Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk. Zoetemelk came second six times in the Tour de France -- three of those behind Hinault. "He gave me the most trouble," said Hinault. Now they are friends. The two families have been on holiday to the Dutch West Indies and ridden up Alpe d'Huez for a Dutch television charity programme. "That is the spirit of sport. At 9:00am we start the fight, at 5:00pm we finish, at 7:00pm we eat and laugh together. The fight starts again the next day." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Former Indian Premier League boss Modi reportedly suing Cairns | ||
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Wellington (AFP) - New Zealand cricket great Chris Cairns faced fresh legal issues Wednesday with former Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi reported to be seeking more than £2.4 million ($3.8m) in damages and costs over a libel case. Modi has also applied to the High Court in London to have the libel verdict won by Cairns in 2012 set aside on the grounds of fraud, his lawyer Rajesh Vyakarnam said in an email to the New Zealand Herald. The action comes as Cairns faces a perjury charge relating to the libel suit and London lawyer Andrew Fitch-Holland, Cairns' lead adviser in the action against Modi, faces one count of perverting the course of justice. Cairns won more than USD$140,000 when he sued Modi over a 2010 tweet accusing the all-rounder of corruption during his time in the now defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL). "Mr Modi has issued proceedings to set aside the 2012 libel judgment on the ground of fraud and is claiming the return of all damages and costs paid which are in excess of £2.4m," Vyakarnam said. "Mr Modi is still bound by the injunction awarded by Justice Bean and does not wish to prejudice the (Crown Prosecution Service's) case against Mr Cairns or Mr Fitch-Holland. He will therefore not make any further comments at this time." Modi's allegations related to the 2008 editions of the ICL competition when Cairns captained the Chandigarh Lions. However, the court ruled that Modi "singularly failed" to provide any reliable evidence that Cairns was involved in fixing. Cairns has since been arrested by the London Metropolitan Police and appeared in court last month charged with perjury in relation to evidence given at the libel trial. He is to reappear in court in January for a plea hearing and has indicated he will fight the allegations. A trial is expected next October. Cairns retired from international cricket in 2004 after becoming one of only 12 players in Test history to complete the 'double' of 200 wickets and 3,000 runs. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Jasper Johns flag piece sells for record $36 mln | ||
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New York (AFP) - One of contemporary artist Jasper Johns' well-known pieces depicting an American flag sold at auction for a record 36 million dollars, Sothebys announced. The 30 by 45 cm (12 by 18 inch) piece "Flag" was painted in 1983 by Georgia-born Johns, who is now 84. It on Tuesday by far topped predictions that it might sell for about 20 million. The artist's previous record was 28.6 million dollars -- also for one of his flags -- back in 2010. The other star of the night was Mark Rothko's abstract "No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange)" which was sold for 44.96 million dollars as collectors jostled for control of the work by the Latvian-born American painter. On Monday, two of his works sold for a hefty $76.5 million also at Sothebys. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Thousands mass in Washington to honor US veterans | ||
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Washington (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of people, many waving the Stars and Stripes, packed central Washington for a free concert starring Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna and Eminem to honor America's veterans. The famed National Mall area in the heart of the US capital was packed for the "The Concert for Valor" and an atmosphere of patriotic fervor filled the November evening sky, with the Capitol -- covered in scaffolding for repairs -- looking on in the background. Some people wore civilian clothes, others were in full uniform, as the nation came together to recognize US service personnel and their families on Veterans Day. A bevy of stars lit up the first-of-a-kind three-hour spectacular, which was beamed across the United States live on television. Other household favorites performing included The Black Keys, country singer Carrie Underwood, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, heavy metal group Metallica and country/folk artists Zac Brown Band. Movie stars Meryl Streep and Jack Black appeared on stage, while Reese Witherspoon, Will Smith and Steven Spielberg all made video tributes. Singer-actress Jennifer Hudson began the festivities with a stirring rendition of the US national anthem, followed by a recorded message from President Barack Obama that told the immense crowd: "Let's all find ways...to serve these heroes as well as they've served us." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Economic headwinds threaten G20 growth pledge | ||
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Brisbane (Australia) (AFP) - G20 leaders will this weekend pledge to rev up combined growth by two trillion dollars but analysts are sceptical of success with key pistons of the global economic engine such as Germany and China starting to misfire, and Japan again at risk of going into reverse. With Barack Obama, China's Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin of Russia among the leaders coming to the Brisbane summit, geopolitical issues will not be far from the surface given the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, the rise of the Islamic State group and the devastating impact of Ebola. But host Australia has worked hard to narrow the agenda and concentrate on economic issues at a time when the United States appears finally to be kicking into gear just as challenges emerge elsewhere to the growth outlook. "It won't be a talkfest," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said this week, vowing robust discussions not just on growth but on G20 priorities such as going after companies and investors that profit from the differences between tax regimes around the world. G20 members make up 85 percent of the world economy, so have the clout to effect far-reaching change. Australia has focussed its presidency on a commitment by members to raise the level of their combined economic output by at least two percent above the currently projected level in the next five years, via domestic policy reforms, and so generate millions of new jobs. But analysts are not convinced the rhetoric will be matched by results when several major economies are facing new headwinds, despite US growth perking up enough to allow the Federal Reserve to row back from its ultra-easy monetary policy. - 'Not that scary' - Growth remains disappointing in Europe with Germany no longer immune to the pressures that have long been buffeting some of its leading trading partners. Japan is once again throwing out huge amounts of money to prop up growth after two decades of stagnation. Even China, the world's economic locomotive, is starting to falter -- although Xi said at a separate summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Beijing this week that his country's outlook was "not that scary" as it downshifts to a more sustainable rate of growth. G20 nations say some 900 measures on how to meet their goal have been agreed so far, including accelerating infrastructure investment, financial reform and encouraging free trade. But observers say the details are still missing. Mark Melatos, senior lecturer at the School of Economics at the University of Sydney, said it was important the G20 produce tangible progress in Brisbane or risk becoming a forum for empty political statements. "This seems to be the case with the current 'growth and resilience' agenda including the two percent target," he said. "The G20 agenda is short on policy specifics to achieve this target. It is also short on genuinely new ideas to achieve this target. "So it's unclear how the G20 expects to achieve the higher growth target given slower growth in Germany and China and the end of easy money in the US and UK." - Too many vested interests? - The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) wants the world's leading countries to step up measures to support flagging global growth, in particular urging the European Central Bank to overcome its reluctance against Fed-style "quantitative easing". But Nicholas Reece, from the Melbourne School of Government and School of Social and Political Sciences, says the G20 is hobbled by its sheer size and diversity, with members at different stages of economic development. "Put simply, there are too many diverse competing interests at the table making it very difficult to get agreement on real reform," he said. The Brisbane summit will also focus on reforms to the world's financial system, such as capital rules for banks to contain the risk of systemic failures, and ways to close tax loopholes that are used by many multinational companies. The fight against fiscal cheats took on added significance last week with revelations that Luxembourg had given huge tax breaks to hundreds of global firms. That cast a new spotlight on the European Union heading into the G20, with OECD chief economist Catherine Mann warning that "overall, the euro area is grinding to a standstill and poses a major risk to world growth". But if the G20 can deliver on its pledges, she said: "The potential pay-off from the structural reform agenda under consideration is tremendous." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Mercedes Just Changed The Names Of A Bunch Of Its Cars | ||
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Mercedes-Benz announced this week that it plans on introducing up to 30 new models by 2020. Eleven of these vehicles won't just be new — they'll be all-new. To prepare for this deluge of newness, Mercedes is changing its naming strategy for the first time in more than 20 years. Mercedes will keep the current scheme, which features a letter prefix to designate the model series — such as "S" or "CLS" — followed by a number to designate its place in hierarchy like "550" or "300." However, it will change the letter designation for its SUVs and its SLK sports car. Confused yet? Hang in there. Under the new naming convention, the Stuttgart-based automaker will begin the name of all of its SUVs with the letter G — in honor of Mercedes' iconic G-Class. As a result, the current M-Class will become the GLE. The GLK compact SUV will becomes the GLC, while the full-size GL will will become the GLS. In addition, the SLK sports car will now be known as the SLC.
Changing the name of any car is a risky proposition for an automaker. For Mercedes, it's especially dangerous because the company has spent so much time, money, and effort to ingrain the identities of its hot-selling SUVs into the public's consciousness. For some carmakers, changing the way vehicles are named has succeeded. In the mid-1990s, Audi switched its naming structure from a numerical system to its current letter/number setup and it's worked out great. But Acura's move away from names like "Legend" and "Integra" to "RLX" and "ILX "has been less of a home run. However, as more and more automakers move towards a letter/number style naming scheme as opposed to actual names, a problem will emerge: there will be too many convoluted permutations of numbers and letters for consumers to know what's going on. Periodic reorganization helps. The most recent example is Infiniti's move to designate all of its cars with the letter "Q" while its SUV's begin with "QX."
However, Mercedes has experience on this front. It made a drastic naming change in 1993, but we're now used to it. This current change is far less significant. In the short term, it will annoy some, but there shouldn't be any long term ill-effects.
SEE ALSO: Mercedes' Ultra Luxury Maybach Brand Is Making A Comeback Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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So far, Infiniti's decision has been a mixed bag. Although its new naming convention is streamlined, some customers have been left scratching their head. Mercedes is taking the same risk.
Brazil's Petrobras overpaid up to $1.2 bn in kickback transactions | ||
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BrasÃlia (AFP) - Petrobras may have overpaid as much as 1.2 billion dollars in transactions being investigated for potential kickbacks, Brazil's national accounting office said Tuesday. The alleged graft issue at the state oil giant and elsewhere was used against President Dilma Rousseff in her reelection campaign but did not stop her from winning -- while promising she would fight corruption harder. Voters did not blame Rousseff -- who was on Petrobras' board at the time -- in two rounds of voting in which she prevailed last month. "We have demonstrated that there was overbilling (at the) Pasadena (refinery). And we found evidence this happened with other major projects, all of which were worth a total of almost 1.2 billion dollars," said Augusto Nardes, head of the government's accounting arm, known as the TCU. The Pasadena refinery case alone cost Petrobras 317 million dollars, Nardes said. With Rousseff board chair at the time, Petrobras in 2006 approved the purchase of a 50 percent stake in the Pasadena facility from Belgian firm Astra Oil in a $370 million deal. Astra had only a year earlier bought the entire site for $42 million. In 2008, Petrobras ended up having to buy the other 50 percent after losing a legal battle. As part of a plea bargain bid to reduce a potential 40-year jail term, Paulo Roberto Costa, a former Petrobras chief, told police about what he claims was a massive system of kickbacks benefiting some 50 politicians, most belonging to Rousseff's Workers Party and coalition allies. The accused have denied the allegations. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The Billionaire Founder Of LinkedIn Explains How To Run A Great Startup | ||
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Reid Hoffman is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. He’s the founder of Linkedin, the largest professional social network worth around $28 billion, and a partner at the VC firm Greylock Partners. He was also one of the early employees of PayPal, where he served as executive VP, and the co-founder of Socialnet.com, one of the first social network startups. He’s also a remarkable angel investor, with early investments in Facebook, Flickr, Digg, and Zynga, and other companies. Last week, Hoffman gave a 45-minute presentation titled “How To Be A Great Founder” at Stanford, as part of the “How to Start a Startup” series by Y Combinator’s Sam Altman. We pulled together some of the slides and Hoffman’s words explaining his wisdom. The perception of a great founder is often this “super-person” who’s awesome at everything. Classic examples are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. But in reality, a founder is someone who deals with all kinds of headaches. And no one is “universally super powered.” Instead, you hope to have just a few super powers that give you a competitive edge. Because all of these skill sets are important to run a successful business. And in most cases, you're not good at all these things. You can't do it alone. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Mormon founder Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives | ||
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Washington (AFP) - The founder of Mormonism, which for decades allowed polygamy, had as many as 40 wives including one who was only 14, the US-based church has acknowledged. Joseph Smith (1805-1844), founded the Church of the Latter-day Saints, Mormonism's formal name, and is regarded by followers as a prophet. The Mormon church said in an online essay last month that Smith is estimated to have had between 30 and 40 wives, some of whom were already married. The New York Times, which first reported the disclosure Tuesday, said Smith probably did not have sex with all the wives because some were "sealed" to him only for the next life. The Mormon essay said the oldest of the women "sealed" to Smith was 56, and the youngest was 14. "Marriage at such an age, inappropriate by today's standards, was legal in that era, and some women married in their mid-teens," the Mormon essay states. According to the essay, "an angel appeared to (Smith) three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward." During the third visit, the angel supposedly threatened to kill Smith with a sword unless Smith obeyed the commandment. The Times said Smith has long been portrayed by the church as a loyal partner to his first wife, Emma. An official Mormon website says that today, "the practice of polygamy is strictly prohibited ... as it has been for over a century." But polygamy was part of the church's teachings for 50 years during the religion's early days. "Much of what you'll find in the essays on polygamy has been published in diverse sources and known among long-term and well-read members, historians and Church leaders for many years," Mormon spokesman Eric Hawkins told AFP. "The Church has now gathered this information into a single location as a convenient means of placing these resources in the hands of all members." The Mormon church has written several essays in recent months addressing contentious topics, including a ban on black people from becoming priests that was only lifted in 1978. The Mormon church claims 15 million members worldwide, including six million in the United States. The faith is also known internationally for its practice of sending young missionaries around the world. In 1820, a 14-year-old Smith claimed he'd had a vision of God, while living in western New York state. The event went on to be seen as a founding moment in the history of Mormonism. Facing persecution, Mormons moving westward eventually sought refuge in what is now Utah, making Salt Lake City their "capital." Followers of the faith are to this day concentrated in this western part of the United States. Smith was killed by an angry crowd while in prison. The essay on "plural marriage" can be viewed at: https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Irish central bank fines Ulster Bank over IT fiasco | ||
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London (AFP) - Ireland's central bank handed a record fine to Ulster Bank on Wednesday for an IT meltdown that left 600,000 customers unable to use their accounts for a month. The 3.5 million euro ($4.4 million) fine is the largest ever handed out by the central bank and was the maximum it could impose. "The Firm failed to have robust governance arrangements in relation to its IT systems and controls and... as a result, a major and prolonged IT failure occurred," the Central Bank of Ireland said in a statement. As well as causing "widespread and significant loss and inconvenience" to customers, the meltdown also "threatened confidence in the operation of the retail banking sector" as it prevented payments clearing, it added. The failure of Ulster Bank's software in June 2012 meant was caused by difficulties with an upgrade, and meant customer could not access ATMs, use online banking, or pay for goods and services among other services for 28 days. Owned by the British state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank has since paid 59 million euros to affected customers in compensation. "Our customers need to be able to rely on our systems and in this instance we let them down," Ulster Bank chief executive Jim Brown said in a statement, saying the bank had taken steps to ensure such a failure could not recur. "The inconvenience that was caused to our customers went to the heart of the trust they have in us as a bank and we are quite clear that they should never have to experience anything like this ever again." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The Weird Reason Why Video Games Are Released On Tuesdays | ||
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It wasn't easy being Sega in the 1980s and '90s. It had to compete with one of the best-known companies on the planet, Nintendo, which was responsible for bringing back the video game market from the dead. But Sega had some tricks up its sleeve. Namely, releasing a 16-bit console, the Genesis, before Nintendo could release its version, the Super Nintendo. Sega also had an amazing idea for how to hype up the sequel to its biggest game. The original "Sonic the Hedgehog" was released in 1991, and was an instant hit. When it was time for the sequel, which introduced Sonic's sidekick Tails to the world, Sega knew it needed to do more than just release the game. It needed to make an impact. In the book "Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation," which is based on more than 200 interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, Blake Harris describes how Sega's crack marketing team of Al Nilsen and Madeline Schroeder decided to celebrate the launch. They needed something "Sonic-worthy."
"We're going to start in Japan, move to Europe, and then end in the US," said Sega marketing director Nilsen to Schroeder, who was the project manager of "Sonic the Hedgehog." "No trucks, no boats: everything will be delivered by plane exactly one day before. ... we're going to have the world's first global launch, and in the process we're going to break every single sales record," said Nilsen. They kicked around a couple ideas about what day the global launch should be, and that's when Nilsen came up with an idea that possibly changed the way games were released and marketed ever after. "No, it should be Tuesday, and we'll call it Sonic 2sday," he said. Sonic 2sday landed on Nov. 24, 1992. Before then, video game release dates were all over the place, and retailers just got them when they got them. But Sonic 2sday implemented a method to the madness. Harris writes: ... the idea of a coordinated worldwide release might have seemed interesting but irrelevant. But the point of the global launch wasn't to dazzle with concept; the point was that the concept created connection. Normally, with games released at different stores on different days, customers couldn't help but feel like these things sort of fell out of thin air. But to know the exact date that something would be arriving, to have it circled on the calendar ahead of time, gave the gift of anticipation. ... It was a marketing ploy, yes, but it worked in the same self-fulfilling way as a blockbuster film did. They're not called "blockbusters" just because of their budgets; rather, it's because of the event-like, don't-be-left-out way that they are marketed, which makes people rush to the theater for the opening weekend, which then makes more people rush to the theater when they hear how big that opening weekend was. The art of the blockbuster is that it popularizes something before it even exists, and though Sonic 2 was still months away from completion, Sonic 2sday gave [former Sega North America CEO Tom Kalinske] and company an opportunity to unleash the biggest blockbuster the videogame world had ever seen. Releasing games on Tuesday is now the industry standard in the US, all thanks to a little video game punnery. But it's not the only industry to do so. Although they don't have Sonic 2sday to thank, most CD and DVD releases also happen on Tuesdays. SEE ALSO: How To Still Play 10 Of The Best Video Games From Your Childhood Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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