10 Things In Tech You Need To Know Today (AMZN, AAPL, NFLX, SSNLF, SNE, GOOG) | ||
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Good morning! It's going to be a pretty overcast day in London. Here's the tech news you need to know to start off the week: 1. Black Friday was Amazon's busiest day ever. It sold 64 items every second. 2. Details of Apple's new iPad may have leaked. It could feature dual top and bottom speakers. 3. Netflix debuts its monster new series this month. Marco Polo is one of the most expensive shows ever made. 4. Samsung could be about to launch a new Galaxy phone. It looks like it will continue the metal design. 5. Elon Musk has developed a drone ship that rockets can take off from. Rockets can also land on the ships. 6. Lyft has been accused of collecting user data. Its arch-rival Uber has been accused of the same thing. 7. Sony is investigating whether North Korea was responsible for a massive hack. Sony Pictures is going to release a comedy movie about the country. 8. Uber has disciplined its New York manager. He breached the company's privacy policy by allegedly spying on a journalist. 9. US spy agencies are accused of creating the Regin malware. It disguises itself as Microsoft software. 10. A new version of Google Glass is coming next year. It's going to have an Intel chip. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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European Markets Are Sinking | ||
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European stock indexes are down this morning, following some more dismal economic data suggesting the eurozone's industry is on the brink of a recession. Here's the scorecard. France's CAC 40: -0.64% Germany's DAX: -0.23% The UK's FTSE 100: -0.74% Spain's IBEX: -0.45% Italy's FTSE MIB: -1.25% Asian markets closed mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 2.58%, a major drop, after pro-democracy protests flared up in the city over the weekend. Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.75%. US futures are down too. The S&P 500 is down by 10 points, and the Dow is down 78 points. Later today, US manufacturing PMIs are out. At 2:45 and 3 p.m. GMT respectively, Markit and ISM purchasing managers' indexes are out. Analysts are expecting a slight cooling in US industrial growth, but figures are still likely to show strong growth. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The 10 Things In Advertising You Need To Know Today | ||
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Pinch, punch, first of the month. Here are all the important stories in advertising on December 1. 1. Take a look at Business Insider’s 10 favorite ads of 2014. We won’t ruin the surprise, but the theme linking all our rankings is that marketers this year are starting to harness social media to improve the reach and effectiveness of their campaigns. 2. Take our quiz and try to identify these 11 British brands by their trademarked colors alone. Up to 90% of snap judgements made on purchases are based on color alone, but not all brands’ color palettes are as recognizable as others. 3. TechCrunch has a smart take on Facebook, Twitter and Google’s war for app install ads. The article explores the rise and rise of the format, popular for its traceability and ease to buy. 4. Cristiano Ronaldo is football’s top brand endorser on Facebook, Bloomberg reports. A post by the Real Madrid player is worth an average of $143,750 of advertising for the brand he’s endorsing, twice that of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, according to sports consultancy Repucom. 5. UK charity Cardiac Risk in the Young has created an ad designed to “smack [the viewer] in the face," Marketing Magazine reports. The ad, designed to encourage more people to get their heart tested, follows the story of a young rugby player, who collapses suddenly on the pitch. 6. Recent allegations that media agency Mediacom has been overcharging top clients including KFC, IAG and Foxtel for their TV advertising are likely to impact the entire media industry. That is the opinion of AdNews, which has spoken to several agency sources who are concerned that the issue tarnishes the reputation of the entire industry. 7. Wine brand Jacob’s Creek has signed up the world’s number one tennis player, Novak Djokovic, as its brand ambassador, The Drum reports. The tennis champ will star in a global campaign, dubbed “Made By,” which will launch on January 13. 8. The UK is predicted to become the first country in the world where more than half of all ad spend goes towards digital media, according to WPP’s worldwide media buying arm Group M. The Guardian reports that £1 in every £2 of ad spend will go towards digital media in 2015. The next countries forecast to meet the milestone are Sweden (estimated to be at 47% digital spend next year) and Denmark (43%.) 9. The pan-European data regulator group Article 29 says “device fingerprinting” — a technique in which advertisers and web companies can track and build profiles of mobile users in order to serve them better targeted advertising — requires the same level of consent as cookies, which are used to track users across the desktop internet, the Guardian reports. Article 29 says that companies wanting to process device fingerprints must first obtain the valid consent of the user. 10. It looks as though Americans may have finally had enough of the Black Friday madness, The New York Times reports. Sales in both stores and online from Thanksgiving through the weekend were estimated to have dropped 11% on last year, according to preliminary survey results released Sunday by the National Retail Federation. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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New Book Claims The Palace Staged The Queen's 'Accidental' Intervention In The Scottish Referendum | ||
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In a new book, The Telegraph's Scottish editor Alan Cochrane claims that the Palace staged an "accidental" intervention by Queen Elizabeth II in the the Scottish referendum campaign, just four days before the vote on Sept. 18. Talking to a well-wisher after the Sunday morning service at Crathie Kirk near her Balmoral estate in Scotland on Sept. 14, the Queen was reported to have said that she hoped "people will think very carefully about the future". The comments were overheard by nearby press and widely reported as a rare, if unintended, intervention by the monarch in the political sphere. In his diary of the referendum campaign, The Telegraph's Cochrane now claims that the whole event was staged by the Palace. He writes: This was a completely deliberate and put-up job by the Palace. My old pal Jim Lawson was the only reporter outside Crathie Kirk when the royal party came out, and, as usual, he and the photographers were corralled some way away from Her Majesty and the usual crowd of royalists who gather there every Sunday. But on this occasion, the police were told that the press – Jim and the snappers – could go over to where they could hear what was going on, and that’s how the story about the Queen’s remarks got out. In the end, 55% of Scots voted against independence. Although the size of that margin suggests any intervention so close to polling day is unlikely to have made the difference, these new claims, if true, are likely to stoke anger among Scottish nationalists who have complained about the tactics of the pro-union campaign. At the time, the leader of the independence campaign, Alex Salmond, dismissed coverage of the comments saying that "the Queen is absolutely impartial in this referendum". He added: “Nobody seriously, apart from some of the more frenetic unionist press, would seek to persuade or tell people otherwise.” However, Cochrane has cast doubt on that assertion as he describes the Queen's intervention as "a bit of a coup" claiming that she "knew exactly what the effect would be". Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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10 Things In Tech You Need To Know Today (AMZN, AAPL, NFLX, SSNLF, SNE, GOOG) | ||
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Good morning! It's going to be a pretty overcast day in London. Here's the tech news you need to know to start off the week: 1. Black Friday was Amazon's busiest day ever. It sold 64 items every second. 2. Details of Apple's new iPad may have leaked. It could feature dual top and bottom speakers. 3. Netflix debuts its monster new series this month. Marco Polo is one of the most expensive shows ever made. 4. Samsung could be about to launch a new Galaxy phone. It looks like it will continue the metal design. 5. Elon Musk has developed a drone ship that rockets can take off from. Rockets can also land on the ships. 6. Lyft has been accused of collecting user data. Its arch-rival Uber has been accused of the same thing. 7. Sony is investigating whether North Korea was responsible for a massive hack. Sony Pictures is going to release a comedy movie about the country. 8. Uber has disciplined its New York manager. He breached the company's privacy policy by allegedly spying on a journalist. 9. US spy agencies are accused of creating the Regin malware. It disguises itself as Microsoft software. 10. A new version of Google Glass is coming next year. It's going to have an Intel chip. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Mark Webber in 'satisfactory' condition after Brazil horror crash | ||
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Sao Paulo (AFP) - Veteran Australian motor racing driver Mark Webber was in a "satisfactory condition" after a high-speed crash at the Six Hours of Sao Paulo event, autosport's governing body FIA announced Monday. Webber, racing for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship after quitting Formula One last season, was stretchered off the Interlagos circuit on Sunday after his car collided with Matteo Cressoni's Ferrari. Both cars crashed into a concrete barrier at speeds estimated at around 300km/h, with the 38-year-old Webber's vehicle catching fire before it came to a stop with the car wrecked. "A dramatic accident occurred during the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo between the No.20 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Mark Webber and the No.90 8Star Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia of Matteo Cressoni," FIA medical delegate Dr Alain Chantegret said in a statement. "The two drivers were conscious and transported with medical assistance to the circuit’s Medical Centre. Examinations took place. "The two drivers were then taken to the Hospital Bandeirantes in Sao Paulo for additional checks. They are in a condition which is for the moment satisfactory." The race, which ended behind the safety car, was won by the Porsche of Neel Jani. "The first thing I would like to say is that Mark is basically ok so that is good," Jani said after the race. The Porsche Team added: "The initial information the team received from the medical centre at the track was that he was not badly injured. However, he has been transferred to a hospital in Sao Paul for further checks." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Business Insider’s 10 Best Ads Of 2014 | ||
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If 2014's efforts were anything to go by, we think we're living in a golden era for advertising. Unlike last year, the winning ads don't necessarily share a theme, which shows how marketers are diversifying their strategies to continue to surprise consumers. If we were to pick one intertwining thread among the top 10, it would be that marketers are now successfully harnessing social media and the power of sharing to increase the reach and effectiveness of their campaigns. As with last year, some of the ads in our rankings will be familiar, but others you may not have seen. Our ranking is entirely subjective: we looked at originality, entertainment value, and success stories. These were the brands and the campaigns that stood out. Congratulations to everyone who made the list. 10. Samsung — "Oscar Selfie" You might be sick of this photo right now, but that’s probably good evidence that Samsung’s marketing tactic was a huge success. As part of its sponsorship of the Oscars, Samsung and its media agency Starcom MediaVest integrated the Galaxy Note smartphone into the event by having Ellen DeGeneres take a selfie jam-packed with A-list celebrities, including Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep. The photo swept across social media like wildfire and was on the front pages of newspapers and placed at the top of news bulletins around the world the following day. 9. Wren — "First Kiss"
8. Cardstore — "World’s Toughest Job"
It’s super cheesy, but Cardstore’s #WorldsToughestJob ad does an exemplary job of getting the brand’s message across in a super shareable way. The greetings card company created a fake job ad for a “director of operations” in a newspaper but held real job interviews via webcam. The potential interviewees grew incredulous as their interviewer listed the job requirements: working 24-hours a day, with no breaks and without pay. The big reveal at the end? The director of operations is actually the job of a mom. Send her a card on Mother’s Day, you ungrateful swines. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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