The 14 Best Tech Companies To Work For | ||
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If you want to know which companies treat their employees the best, ask the employees. You'd be surprised to learn that the best tech companies to work for aren't all household names. Glassdoor's latest list of the 50 best companies to work for includes 14 tech companies, and you probably haven't heard of all them. We pulled out those 14 to create this list. No. 14: Genesys Company: Genesys Rating: 3.9 (out of 5) About: Genesys makes customer service software. An employee says: "The CEO is passionate about the company, employees and solutions. The technology is light years ahead of the competition and Genesys is well positioned to continue to stay as a market leader. Genesys offers many options for career advancement and promotions." – Genesys Product and Marketing (Daily, ND) No. 13: Interactive Intelligence Company: Interactive Intelligence Rating: 3.9 (out of 5) About: Interactive Intelligence makes call center software. An employee says: "They promote healthy lifestyles and offer an array of benefits outside of what is available at a typical company and they really listen to what employees want and do what they can to improve or change as needed." – Interactive Intelligence Employee (Indianapolis, IN) No. 12: Orbitz Worldwide Company: Orbitz Worldwide Rating: 3.9 (out of 5) About: Orbitz is a travel website. An employee says: "Have a global impact and at the end of the day the general public cares about what you do. Smart people who are hugely supportive and willing to drop what they are working on at any time to provide help. Open culture that encourages sharing with the greater tech community." – Orbitz Worldwide Technical Manager (Chicago, IL) See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Ex-Cisco Exec Facing Lawsuit Has Some Choice Things To Say About Cisco (ANET, CSCO) | ||
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After being slapped with a lawsuit by rival Cisco on Friday, newly public company Arista Networks has come out swinging. It's CEO, former Cisco star engineer Jayshree Ullal, just posted a blog that implies she thinks Cisco is a has-been. She has labeled Cisco as part of the "second-wave" of network vendors being overrun by a host of "third-wave" companies that includes Arista. She says that aging companies "often fall by the wayside" and "resort to tactics that do not benefit customers or expand markets as a means of defending their market position." By tactics, she means lawsuits. When hearing of the lawsuit on Friday, Ullal said, "I am disappointed at Cisco's tactics. It's not the Cisco I knew." But wait, there's more. The post describes "protectors" versus "pioneers." She writes: Protectors defend old habits and remain strongly entrenched in following legacy technology trends. They try to enforce new buzzwords and dictate markets in ways that maintain their dominant position with customers. They are often in denial of new technologies and market disruptions until it’s too late. They deploy inappropriate tactics that serve to distract customers and partners from making the investments that will lead to competitive advantage. To recap the drama: Arista is an upstart networking equipment company formed by two famous Valley billionaires, Andy Bechtolsheim and David Cheriton, and run by a whole bunch of ex-Cisco employees. (Bechtolsheim, Arista's Chief Development Officer and chairman is also a former Cisco employee after Cisco bought one of his previous startups.) Cisco has accused Arista of stealing and copying its tech as these employees left the company. It's an old fashioned patent-infringement/copyright infringement suit. Arista has become a growing threat to Cisco (though Cisco refutes this). Arista had a hugely successful IPO in the summer and has been blowing out its quarterly results with growth and profits. It also just started publicly talking about a huge customer: Microsoft. We reached out to Cisco for comment on Ullal's blog and will update when we hear back. A Cisco spokesperson previously told us, "As they face the daunting task of delivering their next generation of product, our ask is that [Arista] use their own innovation rather than continue copying ours, to do so. And stop trying to use the copying from us as a basis for attracting customers." Arista refutes Cisco's allegations. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The Man Who Turned A 'Boring' Idea Into A $1.7 Billion Company Explains The Secret To Success (ZEN) | ||
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But when he shared the vision for his product — a web-based, on-demand platform where companies can build relationships with customers — his boring idea suddenly became sexy. He shares his thinking behind his idea in his recent book, “Startupland.” He writes, “Sexy stuff sometimes happens when you make mundane things easy and accessible. Any aspect of democratization is a good thing.” For example, he says the old FTP file sharing platform doesn’t sound all that fun, but Dropbox and Box made file-sharing sexy with better features and design. Retail credit card payment isn’t all that exciting, but Square made it cool, too. Because of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the boring idea of taking bookstores online turned into a massive overhaul of the world of commerce, he says. Svane also shares some of his trade secrets from working in the customer support field. Here are three of the “most unlikely tricks” he learned:
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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When Zendesk CEO Mikkel Svane first came up with the idea of Zendesk, a customer service software that’s now worth $1.7 billion, everyone thought it was boring. Uber Might Be Making A Mobile Driving Game | ||
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The trademark covers "road navigation games on-line and in mobile wireless form," so the game could involve the user driving a virtual Uber. If UberDrive turns out to be a game Uber is developing, it may not be exclusively on your iPhone or Android. The trademark also includes a range of electronics like "electronic game software for hand held devices, mobile phones, computers and laptops." There's little else mentioned in the trademark filing other than hints that the game involves GPS data and maps. Of course UberDrive might not be a game for the general public. The trademark mentions "training services" and "interactive on-line training services in the field of navigation," so it could be a tool for Uber to train new drivers. SEE ALSO: Uber Is An Unstoppable Force Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Uber has trademarked "UberDrive" for a mobile game, according to Now San Francisco And Los Angeles Are Suing Uber | ||
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San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys filed a consumer protection suit against Uber on Tuesday, the LA Times reports. The district attorneys allege that Uber has not done enough to protect its passengers. On Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced he and Los Angeles district attorney Jackie Lacey were together filing a lawsuit, which accuses Uber of "making false or misleading statements to consumers and for engaging in a variety of business practices which violate California law," according to SiliconValley.com. Gascon said San Francisco settled with Lyft, which said it would verify the accuracy of its fare calculations with the state, for $500,000, according to SiliconValley.com. Lyft's Director of Communications, Erin Simpson, provided this statement to Business Insider: "After months of productive conversations, Lyft has entered into an agreement with District Attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles that demonstrates our shared commitment to consumers and innovation." Though Uber claims to use an "industry-leading" background check, Gascon said the company's background checks are "completely worthless" because Uber doesn't fingerprint its drivers, LA Times reports. "The company repeats this misleading statement, giving consumers a false sense of security when deciding whether to get into a stranger’s car," he added. In addition, Gascon and Lacey claim that Uber is misleading customers by falsely charging a $1 "Safe Rides Fee." The company charges this fee for every UberX fare. "This fee supports the increased costs associated with our continued efforts to ensure the safest platform for Uber riders and drivers. Those include Federal, state and local background checks, regular motor vehicle screenings, driver safety education, current and future development of safety features in the app, and more," according to a blog post on Uber's website. In September, San Francisco and Los Angeles' district attorneys sent letters to Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar alleging that the companies were engaging in two illegal practices. There was no mention of Sidecar in Tuesday's announcement. Uber spokesperson Eva Behrend provided Business Insider with the following statement:
Uber's background checks, which critics say are not stringent enough, became cause for international concern this week. A female Uber passenger in Delhi, India, was allegedly raped and beaten by her Uber driver. The driver, Shiv Kumar Yadav, had been arrested three years ago for another sexual assault. He was later acquitted, but he was still allowed to drive for Uber.
SEE ALSO: Uber Is An Unstoppable Force Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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This CEO's Mom Told Him Not To Give Up — And He Just Sold His Company To Amazon | ||
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Twitch, the Amazon-owned service for watching real-time video game streams, has bought GoodGame, a company that manages talented gamers and teams. GoodGame already worked with Twitch, so this won't change its business much, wrote CEO Alex Garfield. So it's sort of like the NFL buying one of the top agencies representing football players, or a Hollywood studio buying a top talent agency. But the deal almost didn't happen. That's because Garfield almost gave up when a team of five players he was managing got drafted in the first-ever draft of professional gamers in 2007. He writes: I wanted to help out a group of friends that I liked and respected - that’s what I was doing back in ‘04. That’s why, when my Counter-Strike team was drafted into the Championship Gaming Series in the summer of ‘07, my initial reaction was that it was time to move on. I didn’t really see a point in continuing if my players didn’t need my help anymore. I stayed, obviously - thanks in large part to my mom, who insisted that I’d built something valuable that would outlive the loss of five players. I still remember her lecturing me in the kitchen of her house (thanks, mom). Apparently, she was right. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Garfield wrote, "There’s no doubt that being bought by Twitch means all of our employees will be taken care of very well. " Amazon bought Twitch in August for $970 million, reportedly outbidding Google, who was also interested in the service. Although not widely known outside video gaming circles, Twitch accounted for 40% of all Internet live-streaming traffic, and 2% of all Internet traffic total, when Amazon bought it. So online video gaming as a spectator sport could become a huge business, and it looks like Amazon is trying to lock it up. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Mobile Advertising Is Exploding And Will Grow Much Faster Than All Other Digital Ad Categories | ||
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Mobile is growing faster than all other digital advertising formats in the US, as advertisers begin allocating dollars to catch the eyes of a growing class of "mobile-first" users. Historically, there has been a big disparity between the amount of time people actually spend on their smartphones and tablets (significant and growing), and the amount of ad money spent on the medium (still tiny). But BI Intelligence expects that this gap will narrow substantially, as enthusiasm grows for mobile-optimized ad formats (such as interactive rich media and native ads), as targeting improves, and more and more advertisers learn how to effectively use the platform. New data from BI Intelligence finds that US mobile ad spend will top nearly $42 billion in 2018, rising by a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43% from 2013. The report looks at the most important mobile ad formats, including display, video, social, and search. The report provides exclusive breakdowns on how spend on each format will grow and why, and examines the overall performance of mobile ads. It also looks at how programmatic ad-buying tools, including real-time bidding, are reshaping mobile advertising. Access The Full Report And Downloads By Signing Up For A Trial Membership » Here are some of the key takeaways:
The report is full of charts and data that can easily be downloaded and put to use. In full, the report:
For full access receive to all BI Intelligence's analysis, reporting, and downloadable charts and presentations on the digital media industry, sign up for a trial membership. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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This Amazing 25-Year-Old Woman Helped Bring Apollo Astronauts Back From The Moon | ||
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Dec. 24 is the 46th anniversary of Apollo 8's lunar orbit — the first manned mission to travel to the moon and back. Although NASA was full of men at the time, there was one woman in the mix: Frances "Poppy" Northcutt, who was an integral part of the engineering team on the Apollo missions. Northcutt's experience with working on the Apollo 8 mission is detailed in the PBS documentary, "MAKERS: Women in Space," the third film in a series of six documentaries about women pioneers. Northcutt was born in Manny, Louisiana in 1943 but grew up in Luling, Texas. She attended the University of Texas where she studied mathematics. Source: "MAKERS: Women in Space." She chose mathematics because it was a degree with which she could get “a man’s job … there were advantages to doing things where you could get paid more and avoiding women’s work,” she told Jane Ely in a 2008 interview for the Houston Oral History Project. Source: Houston Oral History Project. In three-and-a-half years, Northcutt graduated. Shortly afterward, she went to work for an aerospace contractor, TRW Systems, who collaborated with NASA on the Apollo Program. TRW designed and built the descent engine for the Apollo lunar lander, among other projects. Northcutt immediately began working on “Apollo stuff” as she puts it. Source: "MAKERS: Women in Space." See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Facebook And YouTube Account For Almost 40% Of All Mobile Internet Traffic | ||
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At Business Insider’s IGNITION event last week, Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget detailed the future of the digital landscape, pointing out some important trends. For example, more than a quarter of all internet traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets — and two big internet properties are responsible for a huge amount of that traffic. Based on data from a Sandvine report charted for us by BI Intelligence, Facebook and YouTube accounted for nearly 40% of all mobile web traffic in North America in September. Facebook accounted for 19% of that aggregate mobile traffic, YouTube was close behind with 18%, and the third largest share belonged to “general web traffic” through web browsers, at 11%. As BI Intelligence’s Mark Hoelzel points out, ads make up a big percentage of Facebook’s and YouTube’s mobile traffic, since autoplay video ads increase the mobile data demands on those social networks.
SEE ALSO: CHART OF THE DAY: YouTube's Revenue Is Catching Up With TV Networks Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Incredible Video Captures First-Ever Wingsuit High-Five | ||
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This amazing video captures extreme sports athlete Nathan Jones high-fiving a cardboard hand while flying at high-speed down the side of a mountain. Jones completed the stunt on a mountain in the Alps, along with his friend Sam Hardy who filmed the action from another angle. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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This Chart Shows Exactly When Americans Got The Most And Least Sleep Throughout The Year | ||
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There are many factors that can affect your sleep on a nightly basis — how much activity you got that day, what you ate, and how stressed you are, to name a few. These factors vary based on individual habits, but Jawbone, maker of the UP fitness wristbands, was able to gather and aggregate data showing how Americans sleep in general. The chart is based on data from more than one million UP wearers who use Jawbone's band and app to track their sleep. So while it may not be a completely conclusive study of how all Americans sleep, there are some common trends worth noting. In the US, for example, Jawbone wearers usually went to sleep later and woke up later around holidays like Christmas and New Years Eve. In the summer, on the other hand, people generally went to sleep later and woke up earlier. Take a look at the chart for yourself, and head over to Jawbone's blog to see an interactive version of the chart and how countries around the world vary in their sleep patterns.
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The Microsoft Engine That Nailed The World Cup Is Predicting Every NFL Game — Here Are Its Picks For Week 15 | ||
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Microsoft Cortana had one of its worst weeks of the NFL season, correctly predicting nine of 16 Week 14 games. It's now 135-73 (64.9%) on the year. Cortana is a Windows phone virtual assistant that uses a Bing Predicts algorithm to predict every NFL game. Its 135-73 record is almost identical to the 135-69-4 record that Vegas favorites have. Cortana is behind the 144-64 (69.2%) record that Nate Silver's ELO model has through 14 weeks. The algorithm picks games straight-up, not against the spread. Cortana's 9-7 Week 14 was its worst week since Week 4, when it went 5-8. Vegas favorites went 10-5-1 in Week 14. ELO went 12-4. The algorithm nailed the World Cup, correctly picking 15 of the tournament's final 16 games. It's having a tougher time picking NFL games. Here are Cortana's picks for Week 15 as of Tuesday afternoon. We'll update them throughout the week if they change (Vegas favorites in parentheses):
Cortana and Vegas only disagree on the Browns-Bengals game. Here are Cortana's results so far this year:
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Big, Beautiful Photos Of The World's First Underground Park | ||
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The world's first underground park is coming, and it's scheduled to open in 2018. It's called the Lowline, and it will be located in a historic trolley station in the Lower East Side of New York City. The best part about the Lowline is that it will actually include natural sunlight, using reflectors and fiber optics to pipe sunlight below the ground's surface. No, this isn't science fiction, it's happening, and it looks incredible. Here's where the 116-year-old abandoned trolley terminal where the Lowline will be built. Here's what the trolley terminal looked like in the 1930s. The terminal was officially closed in 1948. When it's finished in 2018, the Lowline will turn that space into an underground park where people can meet and walk around. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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A Timeline Of The Crazy Events In The Sony Hacking Scandal | ||
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For the past two weeks, Sony Pictures Entertainment has been the subject of a series of scary cyber attacks that have shut down the company's computer system and revealed employees' personal information such as salaries, addresses, and Social Security Numbers. Every day, there has been some sort of new leaked information about Sony released by a group calling themselves "Guardians of Peace" (GOP).
North Korea has denied any involvement with the hack, but has said they're glad it happened. Since the initial seizing of Sony's computer system by GOP nearly two weeks ago, it's been hard to keep track of every incident that has occurred since, when, and the reasons why. Catch up on the crazy series of events below: June 2014: The Pyongyang government denounce "The Interview" as "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war" in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. North Korea promises "decisive and merciless countermeasure" if "the U.S. administration tacitly approves or supports" the Seth Rogen-written and directed comedy. Sony ignores the comments and moves forward with the film's December 25th release date.
Monday, November 24: A month before the movie's release, a hacker group calling themselves "Guardians of Peace" take over the internal computer system at Sony, displaying their own messages and skeleton image, and seizing control of promotional Twitter accounts for Hollywood movies. After employees were told not to use their computers after the attack, a Sony Pictures source told the Times: "There are people sitting at their desks trying to do their job with a pen and paper."
Saturday, November 27: Five unreleased Sony films hit the web on copyright-infringing file-sharing hubs. The movies include "Annie," "Still Alice," "Mr. Turner," "To Write Love On Her Arms," and "Fury" — but no "The Interview." After just two days on the web, Brad Pitt's new flick "Fury" had been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses.
Monday, December 1: The FBI launches an investigation with the studio's support. "The FBI is working with our interagency partners to investigate the recently reported cyber-intrusion at Sony Pictures Entertainment," the FBI said in a statement. "The targeting of public and private sector computer networks remains a significant threat, and the FBI will continue to identify, pursue and defeat individuals and groups who pose a threat in cyberspace." Tuesday, December 2: The salaries of 17 top paid executives of Sony Pictures Entertainment leaks online. Fusion’s Kevin Roose published the spreadsheet, explaining: "I received a link to a public Pastebin file containing the documents from an anonymous e-mailer ... one interesting tidbit caught my eye: a spreadsheet containing the salaries of more than 6,000 Sony Pictures employees, including the company’s top executives." The cyber attack also made public Sony employees' names, job titles, home addresses, bonus plans, and salaries.
Wednesday, December 3: Sony CEO Michael Lynton and co-chairman Amy Pascal — whose $3 million salaries were revealed in the previous day's attack — send their first company-wide memo calling the situation "a brazen attack on our company, our employees and our business partners, adding that "the release of employee and other information are malicious criminal acts, and we are working closely with law enforcement." Additionally on this day, James Franco and Seth Rogen's "The Interview" paychecks are revealed. The documents, as reported by Bloomberg, show Rogen was paid $8.4 million and Franco $6.5 million for their roles. Later, an unreleased "Breaking Bad" pilot script leaks online.
Thursday, December 4: Leaked Sony employee notes reveal they're not Adam Sandler fans. One staffer complaint stated: There is a general "blah-ness" to the films we produce. Although we manage to produce an innovative film once in awhile, Social Network, Moneyball, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, we continue to be saddled with the mundane, formulaic Adam Sandler films. Let's raise the bar a little on the films we produce, and inspire employees that they are working on the next Social Network.
Friday, December 5: The hackers send an email threatening employees' families if they don't support GOP's goals. The creepy message stated: "Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the email address below if you don't want to suffer damage. If you don't, not only you but your family will be in danger." Saturday, December 6: Seth Rogen and James Franco address the controversy on "Saturday Night Live." Show host Franco joked during his monologue: "Something pretty crazy happened this week. I have this movie called 'The Interview' coming out at Sony and this week Sony Studios got all their computers hacked... These hackers have leaked real personal information about everybody that works at Sony and I know eventually they're going to start leaking out stuff about me. So before you hear it from someone else, I thought it would be better if you hear it from me. Soon you'll know that my email is CuterThanDaveFranco@AOL.com. My password is LittleJamesyCutiePie — and this is all just a real violation of my personal life."
Sunday, December 7: North Korea denies its involvement with the Sony hack, but calls it a "righteous deed." A spokesman of the country's National Defense Commission released a statement explaining North Korea didn't know "for what wrongdoings [Sony] became the target of the attack," he speculated that it "might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers" of the country who want to help "put an end to US imperialism." North Korea also called out the Sony-produced movie "The Interview," which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco plotting to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The country had previously called the movie an "act of war" and in this new statement acknowledges it as "a film abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership" of North Korea.
Monday, December 8: Sony hackers post a new message online demanding the studio pull "The Interview." In a note posted on GitHub, the GOP wrote: We have already given our clear demand to the management team of SONY, however, they have refused to accept. It seems that you think everything will be well, if you find out the attacker, while no reacting to our demand. We are sending you our warning again. Do carry out our demand if you want to escape us. And, Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War! You, SONY & FBI, cannot find us. Soon after: Sony CEO Michael Lynton sent a company-wide memo to staff assuring the studio is doing everything it can to protect employees after a series of cyber attacks that revealed their personal information, including Social Security Numbers and addresses. Lynton promised staffers the FBI "have dedicated their senior staff to this global investigation" and that "recognized experts are working on this matter and looking out for our security." Later that night: The hackers reveal celebrity aliases online. The fake names used by Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, and other A-list stars are exposed to the public. Interestingly, Jessica Alba likes to call herself "Cash Money."
Tuesday, December 9: The hackers release the full email boxes of Sony execs Amy Pascal and Steven Mosko. According to The Wrap, "The Microsoft Outlook mailboxes are massive in size, each coming in at multiple gigabytes and purportedly containing thousands of email exchanges, both business-related and personal, as well as contact information for executives at other companies." Links to the sites where the mailboxes were made available were posted in a message claiming to again be from the Guardians of Peace.
In the wake of the Sony hack, every other studio in Hollywood has begun to assess its own digital networks and strengthen security measures. SEE ALSO: Sony Hackers Expose Celebrity Aliases For Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, And More Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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It isn't clear who the GOP are exactly, but many are linking the group to North Korea, who denounced Sony's upcoming Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy "The Interview" all the way 
Facebook Has Big Plans To Save Users From Instant Regret | ||
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Facebook has big plans to make sure you never upload another photo on Facebook you'll live to regret. Wired reports Facebook researcher Yann LeCun "wants to build a kind of Facebook digital assistant that will, say, recognize when you’re uploading an embarrassingly candid photo of your late-night antics." This assistant would show up like an angel on your shoulder to ask you if you were absolutely sure you wanted to share the photo with the masses. LeCun currently oversees the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab, a group of AI researchers that work in both the California and New York offices currently working on producing such a digital assistant. Fashioning such a tool is largely about building image recognition technology that can distinguish between your drunken self and your sober self, and using a red-hot form of artificial intelligence called “deep learning”—a technology bootstrapped by LeCun and other academics—Facebook has already reached a point where it can identify your face and your friends’ faces in the photos you post to its social network, letting you more easily tag them with the right names. Deep learning isn't new — Microsoft and Google both utilize the technologies — but LeCun is "pushing for more." You can read more about it in Wired. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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A Guy Who Sold His Startup For $200 Million Has Simple Advice For Founders | ||
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What's the number-one reason startups fail? Some studies find it's a lack of product fit. Others say it's because companies run out of cash. But a common reason startups fail is because the founder doesn't want to run it any more, and he or she decides to quit. Bryan Goldberg cofounded Bleacher Report and sold it for more than $200 million to Turner. He now runs Bustle, a media site that targets women and earned 11 million monthly readers within its first year. Goldberg's recipe for startup success is pretty intuitive: Just stay alive. If you keep your startup alive long enough, you may break through a traffic barrier, earn traction, or outlast a competitor and gain industry recognition. "Winning in startups, and in media specifically, is very much about refusing to give up. Resilience matters," Goldberg told Business Insider in an email. "It takes a long time for a media publication to gain mindshare with the general public — in the case of Bleacher Report, it took five years until people at parties or networking events told me, 'Yeah, I know you guys.' That's a long time for a startup, especially when each day brings growing pains, financial complexities, and potential fire drills. But you have to stay alive...Tough, nimble, spirited media startups are going to thrive, so long as they stay focused on their mission and have the patience to endure." Paul Graham, the cofounder of startup incubator Y Combinator, calls this refusing-t0-die mentality being a cockroach. In 2008, when he let Airbnb into Y Combinator, he told the cofounders that he appreciated their hustle (Airbnb used to sell boxes of cereal to fund itself when no investors wanted to give it cash.) "[Paul] was basically looking for cockroaches," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said at a South by Southwest talk. "He said we were cockroaches and that's why he funded us." Now Airbnb is valued at about $10 billion. Graham believes failure is often a founder's choice. They could choose to keep their startups alive — they just don't want to. "You should shut down the company if you're certain it will fail no matter what you do. Then at least you can give back the money you have left, and save yourself however many months you would have spent riding it down," Graham wrote in a recent blog post. "Companies rarely have to fail though. What I'm really doing here is giving you the option of admitting you've already given up."
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You Lose Up To 25 Minutes Every Time You Respond To An Email | ||
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Earlier this month, we wrote about the vagaries of multitasking and how focusing on more than one thing at a time makes office workers both less productive and less happy with their work. A 2007 study from Microsoft elucidates this concept by establishing just how much time people lose when they are interrupted by email and instant-message alerts, two of the most common causes of office multitasking. Microsoft used tracking software on 27 consenting employees over a two-week span to see how they shifted between applications after receiving an alert from Microsoft's Outlook email program, MSN messenger, Windows Messenger, or Microsoft Office Communicator. What the company found was that the employees spent an average of nearly 10 minutes switching to email or instant messenger after receiving an alert. On top of that, they spent an additional 10 to 15 minutes on other diversions — responding to other emails, opening up new webpages, and the like — before getting back to the task they had been working on prior to receiving the alert. This means that in total, workers stopped what they were doing for an average of 20 to 25 minutes every time they responded to an instant message or email alert. Sometimes, the disruptions took even longer. Microsoft reports that 27% of the time one of the employees received an alert, they did not get back to the original task for more than two hours, instead choosing to move on to other work. In interviews with the researchers who performed the study, employees said their longest delays happened when they forgot the context in which they had been working. For instance, if an employee was midway through preparing a presentation, they might have to go back and reread what they had originally written in order to remember what they needed to write next.
Fortunately, the study also includes a few useful tips for how workers can avoid letting email and IM lead them off track. For starters, workers can put off on responding to an email until they have gotten to a place in their task where they feel comfortable leaving off, such as finishing a paragraph in a report. Workers who did this were more likely to leave a task they were working on for more than two hours, feeling that they were ready to pursue other assignments for a while. In addition, Microsoft found that employees were able to more quickly return to their work when they left the computer window they were previously working in visible while they managed their inbox. In interviews, employees told the researchers that the open windows reminded them of what they needed to get back to. Finally, workers said they were able to more quickly recover the context of what they had been working on by using the undo function of Microsoft Office and Excel. By doing this, they were able remind themselves which actions they had taken right before responding to the alerts.
NOW WATCH — T. Boone Pickens' Strict Morning Routine Will Inspire You To Plan Your Days Better
SEE ALSO: Focusing On One Task At A Time Makes You 50% More Engaged At Work Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Vice CEO Shane Smith Stood On Stage With $1 Million In Cash And Handed It Out To Employees | ||
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Vice CEO Shane Smith gave staffers a nice bonus at last week's holiday party, Gawker reported. A source at the party confirmed the story to Business Insider. According to our source, every Vice full-time staffer got an envelope with $1,500 in cash. Specifically, they each got 15 crisp, brand-new $100 bills. Before the party started, Smith gave a year-in-review speech. After, he called Vice staffers on stage one by one and handed them the envelopes full of cash. But after about 10 minutes, it became clear that it would take too long for everyone to go up individually. Eventually, everyone just had to go up to get their cash. Vice has about 700 full-time employees, so that means Smith was on stage with a little over $1 million in cash. It's not the only wild new-media employee bonus this year. BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti told staffers last week that every employee would get an Apple Watch for meeting certain goals.
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REPORT: HBO's Standalone Streaming Service Is Coming In April | ||
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HBO will release its standalone streaming service in April to coincide with the premiere of the fourth season of "Game of Thrones," according to Fortune. HBO will be using different technology to power its standalone streaming service, so there's a chance the app will look a little different from the current HBO Go app. Based on Fortune's report, it also sounds like there will be fewer outages during popular TV shows such as "Game of Thrones" and "True Detective." HBO is reportedly outsourcing the work to an external technology firm called MLB Advanced. The company killed a project called Maui that would have built the streaming technology in-house, and some HBO employees think the company's CTO Otto Berkes is responsible for the outages that plagued the service, according to Fortune. Berkes reportedly knew about a "memory leak" that caused the outages for nine months but didn't think it was a significant issue, Fortune reports. The next season of "Game of Thrones" debuts on April 6, so if Fortune's report is legitimate we'll be hearing about the streaming service within the next few months. The service would allow users to pay to access HBO's library of TV shows, movies, and documentaries without a cable subscription. Pricing is expected to land at around $15 per month, as The Information previously reported, but HBO has yet to make an announcement. We've reached out to HBO for comment and will update this story accordingly.
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Google Teams Up With A Controversial Research Group To Figure Out Autism (GOOG) | ||
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Google and an autism research group have launched a new program to help scientists study autism and come up with new treatment options. The group is Autism Speaks, an organization founded by Suzanne and Bob Wright after one of their grandchildren was diagnosed with autism. Bob Wright is the former vice chairman of General Electric and former CEO of NBC and NBC Universal. Autism Speaks has teamed up with Google for a project called MSSNG to create the world’s largest database of genetic information on people with autism. The director of MSSNG is a famous geneticist, Stephen Scherer. Google has actually been working with Autism Speaks on this project since the summer. The news on Tuesday is that the database will now be freely shared to other scientists. The project aims to sequence the whole genomes of more than 10,000 individuals with autism and their families. Autism Speaks describes the project like this: Valued at $50 million, MSSNG aims to sequence and analyze the whole genomes of 10,000 individuals in families affected by autism – an unprecedented undertaking that will provide the global autism research community with a platform to answer some of the most vexing questions about the disorder. ... Once completed, this historic program could lead to uncovering various forms of autism, like the various forms of cancers today. This in turn could lead to individualized treatments and therapies for those with autism. So far, scientists have sequenced more than 1,000 genomes (the complete set of genes in a cell) and are working on 2,000 more. Autism Speaks speaks says that 1 out of 68 people in the U.S. are affected with autism spectrum disorders, with boys more frequently diagnosed, 1 out of 42. Not everyone "on the spectrum" suffers from some of the developmental problems associated with autism, nor views autism as something that needs to be "cured." And because of that, Autism Speaks and this project in particular is controversial in the autistic community. A blogger on the Autism Women's Network went so far as to call Autism Speaks a "hate group." Autism Speaks said this project is for people who do want more information and more treatment options. "The best research minds in the world are going to mine this database of DNA, so we can uncover and understand the various subtypes of autism," Liz Feld, president of Autism Speaks said in the group's press release. "Then, we can get to work developing customized treatments and therapies so we can improve the quality of life for so many people who need help." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Judge grants application for Pistorius appeal | ||
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Pretoria (AFP) - A South African judge on Wednesday granted prosecutors leave to appeal against the conviction of Oscar Pistorius for culpable homicide rather than murder. The judge refused leave to appeal against the five-year sentence imposed on the sprinter for culpable homicide, or murder.
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Judge due to deliver Pistorius appeal ruling | ||
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Pretoria (AFP) - A South African judge is expected to rule Wednesday on whether to grant an appeal against Oscar Pistorius's conviction and sentence, opening the door for the Paralympian sprinter to face a tougher jail term. Judge Thokozile Masipa adjourned court Tuesday to consider arguments presented by the state in favour of a stiffer sentence. "I want to think about it," said Judge Masipa, after hearing a forceful argument from state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who described Pistorius's five-year sentence as "shockingly inappropriate." Pistorius said he shot Reeva Steenkamp four times through a locked toilet door on Valentine's Day 2013 in the belief she was an intruder. Masipa found him guilty of culpable homicide, also known as manslaughter, and sentenced him to five years in jail, meaning that the 28-year-old could end up spending only 10 months of his jail term at Pretoria's central prison. Even though Pistorius is not present in court, reporters and photographers were stationed outside of the courthouse to capture the arrival of the legal teams Wednesday. Flanked by criminal lawyer James Grant, Nel walked past photographers to enter the courthouse from the front door -- a break in routine for the usually shy prosecutor. The case has gripped South Africa, where coverage of the murder trial has dominated newspapers, radio and television as people discuss the fairness of the justice system. "For me, the rich people, they can do anything, the poor people they just give up," said Prince Ndlovu, a 32-year-old real estate agent walking close to the courthouse. "If you go to court you need money, if you are poor, you're going to jail." Thomas Mdlule, a 29-year-old selling newspapers on a street corner close, said his customers were outraged by the Pistorius sentence. "My problem ... he is supposed to get 15 years," said Mdlule, "other people, if you have money, they will do what Pistorius did. It's not alright."
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Hong Kong protesters say 'We'll be back' as police swoop looms | ||
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Hong Kong (AFP) - An air of tired resignation hung over Hong Kong's main pro-democracy protest site Wednesday as demonstrators braced for a police clearance after more than two months of rallies -- but bright new posters declared "We'll be back". Police will clear the Admiralty camp on Thursday, opening traffic once more on a multi-lane highway through the heart of the business district that has become home to tents, supply stations and artwork by student-led protesters calling for fully free leadership elections. Authorities have asked protesters to retreat and have said they will take "resolute action" against those who resist in what they say is a bid to restore public order. Student leaders are also encouraging non-violence. "We will not call for a new round of occupying, we'll wait and see what the government will do to meet public opinion," said student leader Alex Chow. Beijing says that candidates in the leadership elections in 2017 will have to be vetted by a loyalist committee, in what protesters have dismissed as "fake democracy". And new art around the Admiralty site, which has become a creative hub during the protests, made clear the movement was not over. "Sweeping away the barricades cannot sweep away public opinion. The body is down but the determination is not. We will be back," read one poster, showing a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film 'Terminator'. Another "We will be back" poster was draped across the road and the slogan was created in gold balloons near the main speakers' stage. In trademark humour for the occupied site, an alien doll wearing goggles and a yellow cape was tied to a sign-post with a shield that read: "Whoever clears me out will be afflicted with stubborn disease until death." - 'Let them carry me away' - Bailiffs will start implementing injunction orders from 9:00 am (0100 GMT) Thursday to clear parts of the site before police dismantle the rest, authorities have said. Tens of thousands rallied at Admiralty at the height of the protests, but public support for the road blockages has waned as the weeks have worn on. Protesters told of their sadness at the lack of political concessions from Hong Kong or Beijing, who branded the demonstrations illegal. "To be honest, we failed this time. Having slept on the street for two months, we haven't achieved anything," said 28-year-old theatre worker Karen Ho. "But at least we saw how ugly and ridiculous our government can be." Others said they were still determined to prove their point. "I will sit here and let them carry me away," said Lucas Wong, 23, a computer repair worker. "We need to show police we are here, not just tents," he said, adding that he would bring a helmet and shield to defend himself. There are fears that radical splinter groups will dig in for a final stand in the wake of violent clashes outside government headquarters at the end of last month. That prompted the leaders of the Occupy Central campaign group to hand themselves in to police in a bid to get the protests off the streets. "It's difficult to guarantee no clashes will arise... I especially call on parents and teachers to persuade them (students) not to come back to the occupy area in Admiralty," government number two Carrie Lam said Wednesday. But protester Vincent Man, 26, said he just wanted to stay safe. "I know that some people will resist the police -- but I would rather not get injured and arrested." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open | ||
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Good morning! Here what you need for know for Wednesday. European Markets Got Crushed. Europe closed in the red on Tuesday on news of Greece's snap presidential election, China's slowing economy, and sliding oil prices. Greek Prime Minister Names Presidential Nominee. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras named his candidate for the Greek presidency, former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas, a day after moving the presidential vote forward by two months to Dec. 17. Oil Sinks Again. Oil prices continue to drop amid fears of a supply glut. US crude futures were down more than 1.4% at $62.96 a barrel and Brent crude slipped 1.3% to $65.98 a barrel, which is still above the five-year low it hit on Tuesday. UK Manufacturing Dropped Unexpectedly. British manufacturing dropped 0.7% between September and October, while analysts had expected a 0.2% increase. Tesco Shares Crumbled. Company shares dropped to their lowest in at least 10 years after The UK retailer issued its fourth profit warning in six months on Tuesday. French Industrial Production Is Coming. October's industrial production figures will be released at 7.45 a.m. GMT on Wednesday. Asian Markets Were Mostly Lower. Japan's Nikkei closed down 2.25%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 0.64%. The US Extends Scrutiny Of Standard Chartered. The British bank will face three more years of "enhanced oversight," Reuters writes, over the bank's alleged violations related to U.S. sanctions on Iran and other countries. Gold Futures Surged. Gold rallied on Tuesday to reach a six-week high at $1,240 an ounce. China's Inflation Slowed To A 5-Year-Low. The consumer price index rose 1.4% in November, below analyst expectations of 1.6%, and a sign of "persistent weakness in the world's second-largest economy," Reuters said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Disney Tried To Get Spider-Man In 'Captain America 3' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Sony hackers released a fourth round of leaked files online earlier this week. Included in the latest leak were private emails of Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal. According to the Wall Street Journal, among the emails is an exchange between Sony and Marvel over the use of Spider-Man in Disney's upcoming "Captain America 3" due in theaters May 6, 2016. WSJ reports Pascal told a business partner in an email that Marvel wanted to include Spidey in "Captain America: Civil War." Disney CEO Bob Iger was reportedly involved in the discussion, as well. Comic fans know Spider-Man is a big part of the Civil War storyline in which a government law requires superheroes to reveal their identities. As expected, the law creates a huge divide between superheroes, with Tony Stark/Iron Man going head-to-head with Steve Rogers/Captain America. Spider-Man finds himself caught in the middle of the duo. Though it won’t be impossible, it will be a challenge for Disney to make the film without the popular Marvel character. The move would have been huge for fans and both studios, especially Sony which is having a tough time re-igniting life into its Spider-Man franchise. So far, its reboot of the series with Andrew Garfield has not performed as well as its original three films with Tobey Maguire.
According to the WSJ, another email dated Oct. 30 from Sony Pictures president Doug Belgrad to Pascal discussed a "potential scenario that would see Marvel produce a new trilogy of Spider-Man movies." Sony would have creative control along with marketing and distribution rights. The emails confirm rumors from earlier this fall in which Hitfix's Drew McWeeny reported Sony was in talks with Marvel to help “refocus” the Spidey franchise onscreen. Sharing the Spidey character may be a smart move for the studio which announced it was pushing back "The Amazing Spider-Man 3" to 2018 to focus on expanding the Spidey universe in spin-off movies that included a Sinister Six film and a rumored one on Peter Parker's Aunt May. According to leaked Sony emails acquired by Gawker, some employees believe Disney has a better handle on Spider-Man than the studio. Disney, which purchased Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, retains the merchandise licensing rights to the web crawler. According to a report from the Licensing Letter acquired by The Hollywood Reporter, Spider-Man merchandise accounted for $1.3 billion in global retail sales for 2013. Reuters reports the Sony hack could wind up costing the studio upwards of $100 million. It may not be a bad time to reconsider sharing Spidey with the Mouse. SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Sony hacking scandal AND: Sony hackers expose celebrity aliases for Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks, and more Join the conversation about this story »  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Record numbers trying and dying to reach Europe: UN | ||
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Geneva (AFP) - More than 3,400 people have died in the Mediterranean this year trying to reach Europe, the UN refugee agency said Wednesday, urging governments to take more action to save lives. More than 207,000 people have made the risky sea crossing since January, almost three times the previous high of 70,000 during the Libyan civil war in 2011, the UNHCR said. Of these, a record 3,419 died, out of a total of 4,272 reported deaths worldwide on migrant vessels this year. Most set off from Libya bound for Italy and Malta, looking for work or, increasingly, asylum -- the numbers include 60,051 Syrians and 34,561 Eritreans. The figures were released at the start of a two-day meeting in Geneva hosted by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres on how to protect people who take to the sea to escape persecution, war, instability and poverty. Ahead of the talks involving governments, UN agencies and NGOs, Guterres warned that many states seem increasingly preoccupied with securing their own borders rather than preventing the loss of life. Without naming specific countries, he said: "This is a mistake, and precisely the wrong reaction for an era in which record numbers of people are fleeing wars. "Security and immigration management are concerns for any country, but policies must be designed in a way that human lives do not end up being collateral damage." An arc of conflict around Europe's southern, eastern and southeastern borders, in Libya, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq, has fuelled the numbers heading to the continent. For many of them Italy is the first port of call and the country has rescued more than 150,000 people from rickety boats already this year. Last week, navy and coastguard boats found an inflatable dinghy adrift of the island of Lampedusa. They rescued 75 migrants and recovered the bodies of 17 who died from hypothermia and dehydration. But Italy recently ended its Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation after its European Union partners refused to help fund it, with critics arguing that saving the migrants was simply encouraging them to try their luck. Guterres warned: "You can't stop a person who is fleeing for their life by deterrence. "The real root causes have to be addressed, and this means looking at why people are fleeing, what prevents them from seeking asylum by safer means, and what can be done to crack down on the criminal networks who prosper from this." - Numbers at sea reach new high - While the Mediterranean is the most deadly route, it is by no means the only one, with the UNHCR reporting that a total of 348,000 migrants and asylum seekers taking to the sea this year. Comparisons with previous years are difficult due the clandestine nature of the crossings, but the UN agency said the data pointed to 2014 being a record high. At least 242 people died in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden out of 82,680 people making the journey, most of them travelling from Ethiopia and Somalia to Yemen or onwards to Saudi Arabia or the Gulf states, the UNHCR said. Most recently 24 Ethiopians drowned when their boat capsized in bad weather off the Yemeni port of Al-Makha last week, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), revising initial reports of 70 dead. About 540 people also died this year crossing the Bay of Bengal, out of a total of 54,000 making the journey, while another 71 deaths out of 4,775 crossings were reported in the Caribbean, the UNHCR said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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These Are The Unhealthiest States In The US | ||
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For the third year in a row, America's Health Rankings, an annual accounting of Americans' health, has found that Hawaii is the healthiest state and Mississippi is the least healthy state in the US. Since the rankings began in 1990, Mississippi — which has high rates of obesity and diabetes, low availability of primary care, and high incidence of infectious disease — has always ranked among the bottom three. Hawaii — which has low rates of obesity, smoking, cancer deaths, and preventable hospitalizations — has always been among the top six. The rankings are funded by the United Health Foundation and are based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, the Census Bureau, and other sources. They take into account 27 distinct measures including rates of smoking, obesity, drug deaths, education, violent crime, pollution, childhood poverty, infectious disease, and infant mortality. Slow And SteadyOverall, the rankings showed progress in some areas and not in others. The 2014 analysis found increases from the previous year in obesity and physical inactivity and decreases in infant mortality and smoking rates. In the past 25 years, there have been some notable changes. Since 1990, there have been major reductions in infant mortality (down 41%), death from heart disease (down 38%), and premature death (down 20%). In 1990, 29.5% of Americans smoked; in 2014, 19% smoke, though smoking remains "the leading cause of preventable death in the country," a press release noted. Unfortunately, in that same time period, rates of diabetes and obesity have more than doubled. There has also been an 8% decline in cancer mortality since its peak in 1996. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US (heart disease is number one), and 2014 saw an estimated 1.6 million new diagnoses. The full 2014 rankings are at right, but here's a map showing how each state fared:
"A key challenge," the report notes, "is that health gains are not experienced equally across the United States." The full ranking, analysis, and state-by-state reports are available on the America's Health Rankings site. SEE ALSO: 7 Charts On How American Health Has Changed Since The 90s DON'T MISS: This Map Shows What Country Matches The Life Expectancy In Each State Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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And here are the states that have changed the most in the rankings since 1990, for better or worse:
While rates of premature death, for example, plummeted in 32 states by 10% or more, states like Oklahoma — where the rates of premature death have increased by more than 10% since 1990 — were left behind. The 14 Best Tech Companies To Work For | ||
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If you want to know which companies treat their employees the best, ask the employees. You'd be surprised to learn that the best tech companies to work for aren't all household names. Glassdoor's latest list of the 50 best companies to work for includes 14 tech companies, and you probably haven't heard of all them. We pulled out those 14 to create this list. No. 14: Genesys Company: Genesys Rating: 3.9 (out of 5) About: Genesys makes customer service software. An employee says: "The CEO is passionate about the company, employees and solutions. The technology is light years ahead of the competition and Genesys is well positioned to continue to stay as a market leader. Genesys offers many options for career advancement and promotions." – Genesys Product and Marketing (Daily, ND) No. 13: Interactive Intelligence Company: Interactive Intelligence Rating: 3.9 (out of 5) About: Interactive Intelligence makes call center software. An employee says: "They promote healthy lifestyles and offer an array of benefits outside of what is available at a typical company and they really listen to what employees want and do what they can to improve or change as needed." – Interactive Intelligence Employee (Indianapolis, IN) No. 12: Orbitz Worldwide Company: Orbitz Worldwide Rating: 3.9 (out of 5) About: Orbitz is a travel website. An employee says: "Have a global impact and at the end of the day the general public cares about what you do. Smart people who are hugely supportive and willing to drop what they are working on at any time to provide help. Open culture that encourages sharing with the greater tech community." – Orbitz Worldwide Technical Manager (Chicago, IL) See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Malala Yousafzai, 17, to receive Nobel Peace Prize | ||
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Oslo (AFP) - Malala Yousafzai, the global icon of children's rights who survived a near fatal Taliban gun attack, becomes the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Wednesday, adding yet another distinction to a long list. The 17-year-old Pakistani will receive the peace prize in Oslo with the Indian campaigner Kailash Satyarthi, 60, who has fought for 35 years to free thousands of children from virtual slave labour. Malala has already received a host of awards, standing ovations and plaudits from the United Nations to Buckingham Palace. But on the eve of the ceremony she said she was far from ready to rest on her laurels. "We are not here just to accept our award, get this medal and go back home. We are here to tell children especially that you need to stand up, you need to speak up for your rights ... It is you who can change the world," Malala told a press conference at the Nobel Institute in Oslo. - Pen and a book - "In this world if we are thinking we are modern and have achieved so much development, then why is it that there are so many countries where children are not asking for any iPad or computer or anything. What they are asking for is just a book, just a pen, so why can't we do that?" Malala was 15 when a Taliban gunman shot her in the head as she travelled on a school bus in response to her campaign for girls' education. Although her injuries almost killed her, she recovered after being flown for extensive surgery in Birmingham, central England. She has been based in England with her family ever since, continuing both her education and activism. For the first time ever the blood-soaked school uniform she wore when she was shot near her home in the Swat Valley in October 2012 will go on display in an exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo this week. At her invitation, five other teenage activists joined her in Oslo from Pakistan, Syria and Nigeria, including Shazia Ramzan, 16, and Kainat Riaz, 17, who were also shot during the Taliban attack on Malala, and 17-year-old Amina Yusuf, a girls' education activist from northern Nigeria where the terror group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls during a raid in April 2014. Asked why she thinks some Islamic extremist groups are opposed to education for girls, Malala, dressed in a multi-coloured headscarf, replied: "Unfortunately, those people who stand against education, they sometimes themselves are uneducated or they've been indoctrinated". - 'Sold like animals' - The pairing of Malala and Satyarthi had the extra symbolism of linking neighbouring countries that have been in conflict for decades. After being named as a laureate, Malala said she wanted both states' prime ministers to attend the prize-giving ceremony in Oslo. "If the prime ministers had come here I would have been very happy. I would have thought of it as a big opportunity to ask them... to make education their top priority and work on it together because we see the number of children who are out of school and suffering from child labour are mostly in India and Pakistan." While Malala will be the star of the annual Nobels extravaganza -- also featuring the literature prize winner, Frenchman Patrick Modiano, and his compatriot Jean Tirole with the economics award -- her peace prize co-winner Satyarthi is far less well-known. He welcomed the increased attention the Nobel brought to the cause of children in bonded labour. "There are children who are bought and sold like animals," the jovial 60-year-old, clad in traditional Indian dress, told reporters at the Nobel Institute. "This is very important for millions and millions of children who are denied their childhood, who are denied their freedom, who are denied their education and health," he said, adding that the peace prize had shone a spotlight on their plight. Satyarthi's organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Movement to Save Childhood) prides itself on liberating more than 80,000 children from bonded labour in factories and workshops across India and has networks of activists in more than 100 countries. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) there are about 168 million child labourers globally. Nobel winners receive eight million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million, 862,000 euros), which is shared in the case of joint wins. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Meet The Homeless Bodybuilder Who Gets Ripped On The Streets Of Paris | ||
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Frenchman Jacques Sayagh has found a novel way to make sure he never misses a workout. Rather than travel long distances to a gym at ungodly hours, the 50-year-old bodybuilder works out right next to his "home" – on the streets of Paris. "I don't want to live in a small apartment," he says in the video above, which has gone viral since it was uploaded to YouTube last week. "People do not understand why I sleep on the floor, but I never feel cold."
Shots of his stretch of street show that he lives with his dog, various bits of workout apparatus, and tubs of creatine powder. "Bodybuilders are futurists, they dare everything," explains Sayagh, who competes in bodybuilding contests despite a diseased liver from his days of alcohol abuse. "It's a world that I like." Sayagh says that a simple motivation propels him to work out, even when Paris's streets are at their very coldest. "I have grandchildren. I don't want them to think that their grandfather is an asshole. I want them to be proud of me, that's all I want."
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The short film, made by director Julien Goudichaud, documents Sayagh's daily workout routine. He does push-ups on the pavement, pull-ups using belts suspended from lampposts, and bicep curls using bungee ropes attached to railings.
China November inflation falls to five-year-low 1.4% | ||
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Beijing (AFP) - China's consumer inflation fell to a five-year low of 1.4 percent in November, the government said Wednesday, increasing concerns over the risk of deflation in the world's second-largest economy. The news comes after the central People's Bank of China on November 21 shocked markets by slashing interest rates for the first in more than two years to kickstart the economy and analysts said they expect further easing measures in the new year. The rise in the consumer price index is the lowest since November 2009 and came in short of a median forecast of 1.6 percent in a survey of 16 economists by the Wall Street Journal, and marks a slowdown from October's 1.6 percent. The National Bureau of Statistics also said the producer price index (PPI) -- a measure of costs for goods at the factory gate and a leading indicator of the trend for CPI -- fell 2.7 percent year-on-year, the worst reading since a similar decline in June 2013. The last PPI increase was in January 2012. The data signal further downward pressure on economic activity in China, a key driver of global growth, with figures Monday showing imports unexpectedly fell and exports grew far slower than forecast. The country has also been hit by disappointing manufacturing activity, tumbling property prices and nagging concerns over corporate and local government debt. "China has entered into a rapid dis-inflation process, and faces the risk of deflation as commodity prices continue to trend lower and growth is expected to slow further in the coming year," ANZ economists Liu Li-Gang and Zhou Hao wrote in a reaction to the data. Moderate inflation can be a boon to consumption as it encourages consumers to buy before prices go up, while falling prices lead shoppers to delay purchases and companies to put off investment, both of which can hurt growth.
- Further easing expected -
"We expect inflation to remain below 2.0 percent in 2015, which may raise concerns of deflation and trigger more policy easing," Nomura economists said in a note after the data release. Economists have been expecting further easing after last month's rate cuts, including reductions in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR), the amount of cash banks must keep on hand. Cutting the level means more money is available for lending, which can have a stimulatory effect on the economy. The Nomura economists said they expected one more interest rate cut in the second quarter of 2015, with RRR reductions in each quarter of next year. Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, said price rises should ease further heading into 2015, citing cheaper soybeans and pork. But he said worries about deflation risks were overblown despite the worsening producer prices figure. "Industrial input costs are falling, on the back of lower commodity prices, but the factory gate price of final consumption goods has remained broadly flat and so many firms are actually better off," he wrote in a reaction. The inflation data came after China's top leaders opened a meeting Tuesday to craft economic policies for 2015, including targets for economic growth inflation. China's growth came in at 7.3 percent in the third quarter, the slowest since the height of the global financial crisis in early 2009. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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US sportsmen find breathing room to voice opinions | ||
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Los Angeles (AFP) - Against a backdrop of anger over killings of black suspects by white police officers, NBA star LeBron James and other US athletes are making their opinions known in an arena sometimes hostile to activism. Deference to sponsors, fans and sports bosses has long been the norm in US sports, with athletes expected to do their stuff on court or field but stay out of the issues of the day -- particularly when it comes to something as sensitive as race. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the US athletes famed for their black-gloved protest at the 1968 Olympics, are now honored for their gesture of solidarity, but at the time it sparked outrage in the Olympic movement and they were sent home from the Games. In the 1960s, Bill Russell and others used their stature in the NBA to promote civil rights, but Muhammad Ali was vilified not only for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War but also for changing his name from Cassius Clay. The murky, unwritten rules aren't always enforced from above. Whether Michael Jordan ever really said "Republicans buy sneakers, too," in declining to back a Democratic political candidate, the NBA icon certainly maintains a reputation of shying away from discussing contentious issues. So does Tiger Woods, another marketing juggernaut who came of age in an era when sports and politics rarely seemed to mix. But four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James and other 21st century US sportsmen are slowly breaking that mold, and the arrival of the 24-7 news cycle and social media only makes it easier to get their views across. "Obviously, as a society we have to do better," James said of his decision to support the current protests by donning a T-shirt reading "I can't breathe" for warm-ups prior to a game in Brooklyn on Monday. The words were the last uttered by Eric Garner, the black father of six who died after he was put in a chokehold by a New York police officer. James, toeing a fine line, said his gesture was mainly a "shout-out" to Garner's family. Cleveland team-mate Kyrie Irving was among the players who wore similar shirts prior to Monday's game, which received special scrutiny thanks to the attendance of Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate. "It's really important to us that we stand up for a cause, especially this one," Irving said of wearing the shirt first sported on Saturday by Chicago's Derrick Rose.
- 'Gut feeling' -
NBA players aren't the only US athletes to express their opinions on the race issue. In the NFL, which like the NBA has a large number of African-American players, Lions running back Reggie Bush wore a top with "I can't breathe" written on it prior to a game on Sunday, as did the Browns' Johnson Bademosi. Davin Joseph, a St. Louis Rams guard, wrote the same words on his cleats and tweeted it, along with the caption: "RIP Eric Garner." A week earlier, five Rams players angered a St. Louis police organization when they entered the field with the same "hands up, don't shoot" gesture adopted by protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, where a white policeman shot dead an unarmed black teenager. NBA commissioner Adam Silver issued a measured response, saying in a statement that the league respects "Derrick Rose and all of our players for voicing their personal views on important issues, but my preference would be for players to abide by our on-court attire rules." In less than a year on the job, Silver has already negotiated rough waters of racism much closer to home, successfully steering the league through the saga of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling. James was a vocal critic of Sterling when his racially charged comments became public, and James showed in 2012 that he wasn't afraid to act on his conscience when he tweeted a picture of himself, Dwyane Wade and other Miami Heat teammates with their heads bowed under black hoodies in a team picture protesting the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. "If it feels important to me, then I respond," James said. "There's a lot of issues I haven't talked about. For me it's about knowledge, it's about the gut feeling."
- Social media effect -
Bob Dorfman, an endorsement expert and executive creative director of Baker Street Advertising, told CNN that in the age of the Internet, players probably couldn't be as apolitical as Jordan managed to be. "Just having a presence in social media, it's virtually impossible not to share an opinion," Dorfman said. In James' case, team-mate Jarrett Jack believes it's just a question of a man "very comfortable with his voice." "As you get older, you understand you're a citizen of the world, and it's not just what you say about basketball that counts," Jack told USA Today. "It's what you say about the world and your environment."
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New woes may put brakes on Uber, ride-share growth | ||
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Washington (AFP) - Uber, the ride-sharing service and Silicon Valley superstar startup, has hit problems around the world which threaten to put the brakes on its spectacular growth. Uber has long drawn scorn from established taxi operators in many cities, and regulators from New Delhi to Portland, Oregon, have been clamping down on its operations. At the same time, the company has seen its image tarnished by executives' gaffes and concerns on privacy. Even as Uber has raised a fresh $1.2 billion -- which gives it an eye-popping value of $40 billion -- it has run into roadblocks, even in its home state of California. A judge in Spain banned Uber's ride-sharing on Tuesday, saying it violated laws on fair competition. A day earlier, the city government in New Delhi banned Uber from operating in the Indian capital after a passenger accused one of its drivers of rape. Thailand also ruled Uber illegal, and the service has hit regulatory hurdles in locations from Germany and the Netherlands to San Francisco, where a driver has been charged in an accident leading to the death of a six-year-old girl. On Tuesday, San Francisco and Los Angeles officials sued Uber for misleading consumers about fees and background checks. "Uber continues to put consumers at risk by misleading the public about the background checks of its drivers and its unwilling ness to ensure that correct fares are charged," Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey said, while announcing a settlement with rival ride-sharing service Lyft. A Dutch court this week also ruled illegal the Uber system in which non-professional drivers offer trips in their own cars at half the price of a regular cab. "Drivers who transport people for payment without a license are breaking the law," said the decision from the Hague-based Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal. Authorities in Denmark and Norway have also filed complaints against Uber.
- Regulatory quandary -
"The so-called sharing platforms like Uber and Lyft are concerning to regulators because they represent something different," said John Breyault of the National Consumers League. "They don't fall neatly into the regulatory buckets we've seen in the past century. So it's difficult to see how to deal with events like in what happened in New Delhi, and to know where liability lies." Breyault said Uber is a prime example of a "disruptive" business model which provides a new service by taking advantage of technology. But he said regulators need to take a close look at issues relating to insurance, liability and criminal background checks for drivers. "I don't think we should be concerned that consumer protection regulation is going to kill Uber," he told AFP. But he said any regulations should promote competition, and not be designed to protect entrenched interests. "We should not have regulations that keep out competition, that hurt the next Uber," he said. Some Uber advocates say the system is effectively self-regulating, because users post reviews that help the better drivers and weed out the poor ones. But Breyault of the consumer group said reviews "can play a powerful role in weeding out the good guys from the bad guys, but it doesn't replace robust consumer protection regulation." The smartphone app from Uber and similar services can allow people to get rides that were otherwise impossible, and to allow people to use vehicles which might be otherwise idle to earn cash and even a living. Uber is operating in 250 cities in 50 countries, according to a blog by founder Travis Kalanick last week. "We are six times bigger today than 12 months ago -- and grew faster this year than last," he wrote. "This progress is remarkable, but it is in the coming years that Uber truly scales and the impact in cities becomes visible." Uber offers several classes of service including a "black car" ride, and other options where individuals use their personal vehicles. Kalanick said Uber will create one million jobs in 2015. But he noted that the sudden growth "has also come with significant growing pains" and has shown "that we also need to invest in internal growth and change." In the United States, Uber has been the target of protests in several cities, and has had tenuous relations with local regulators. It was recently ordered to halt service in Las Vegas, but the city of Washington passed a bill legalizing Uber and similar services.
- 'Sharing economy' challenge -
Uber also hired a team of privacy experts amid concerns that it may be spying on riders, and got a black eye when an executive was quoted as proposing the creation of a team of researchers to investigate reporters to counter bad press. Arun Sundararajan, a New York University economist who follows Uber and other "sharing economy" startups, said the regulatory issues for these firms will need some time to be sorted out. "We are transitioning to an economy where more people are providing a service using a platform" such as Uber, he told a forum in Washington this week. "We need to see what the market provides so that any government intervention is surgical. So it is not there when the market is taking care of itself." Uber has consistently said it wants to provide more options for consumers by disrupting the entrenched taxi industry. "History shows us that every truly revolutionary innovation was faced with stiff opposition from incumbents and rearguard actions by regulators," an Uber spokesman said in an email to AFP. "Despite a few individual, country-specific setbacks, the future is bright for Uber and the sharing economy."
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This Is The Future Of Economic Forecasting | ||
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On Twitter today, former BI colleague and current Bloomberg editor Joe Weisenthal asked:
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And so as interest rates continue, broadly, to move in the opposite direction of what many anticipated this year, I'm brought back to Joe's question about rates: must they eventually go up? New 'LuxLeaks' release drags Disney, Microsoft into tax scandal | ||
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London (AFP) - Dozens of companies including Microsoft, Disney and Koch Industries were dragged into the Luxembourg tax avoidance "LuxLeaks" scandal with the release of new documents by investigative journalists. The revelations increase pressure on former prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker over Luxembourg's tax policies during his 19 years in office, and come on the eve of his swearing-in as president of the European Commission. The new claims emerge from 28,000 pages of documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and examined by dozens of newspapers. The first installment in November revealed hundreds of the world's biggest companies brokered secret deals with Luxembourg to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes. The new documents detail "aggressive tax structures" brokered for major companies by accountants Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte between 2003 and 2011, when Juncker was in office. They contain confidential "tax rulings" from Luxembourg officials that "assure companies they will get favourable treatment for their tax-saving manoeuvres", according to the ICIJ. The reports claim internet calling business Skype, owned by Microsoft, used an Irish subsidiary to allow its Luxembourg unit to report no corporation tax over five years. Meanwhile, entertainment giant the Walt Disney Company and Koch Industries had complex arrangements to channel "hundreds of millions of dollars in profits through Luxembourg" from 2009 to 2013 and pay little tax, the ICIJ said. Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier and communications firm Telecom Italia are also named in the documents, according to Belgian newspaper Le Soir, which reported that Disney was afforded a 0.28 percent tax rate in the arrangements. British newspaper The Guardian reported the documents name major consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser and Lycra company Invista, owned by the powerful US conservative political donors the Koch brothers. The scandal has increased political pressure to address tax avoidance, and on Tuesday investigative journalists called on Juncker to make company ownership transparent. "The 'LuxLeaks' scandal is a recent example of the kind of corrosive deals that big companies are able to extract from countries when they think no one will see," the dozens of international journalists wrote in the open letter.
- 'I was weakened' -
The November leaks, which named companies including Apple, Pepsi, IKEA and Heinz as tax breaks beneficiaries while Juncker was prime minister, hit less than a week after he took office at the head of the European Commission. "Subjectively speaking, I have no more to answer for than others," Juncker said in an interview published on Wednesday in the French daily Liberation. "But objectively speaking, I was weakened because 'LuxLeaks' suggests I was party to manoeuvres that do not meet the basic standards of ethics and morality." Juncker conceded in November that while he was "not the architect" of the problem, he was "politically responsible" for Luxembourg's tax practices as prime minister. The European Commission has fought back on the issue, announcing agreements on Tuesday to close loopholes and to ensure the exchange of tax information between the EU's 28 member states. "Current events require us to step up our efforts against corporate tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning on all fronts," said Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs. Since June, the commission has also launched investigations into the tax affairs of Amazon and Fiat in Luxembourg, Apple in Ireland and Starbucks in the Netherlands to determine whether sweetheart tax deals could constitute illegal state aid.
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Ex-Cisco Exec Facing Lawsuit Has Some Choice Things To Say About Cisco (ANET, CSCO) | ||
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After being slapped with a lawsuit by rival Cisco on Friday, newly public company Arista Networks has come out swinging. Its CEO, former Cisco star engineer Jayshree Ullal, just published a blog post that implies she thinks Cisco is a has-been. She has labeled Cisco as part of the "second-wave" of network vendors being overrun by a host of "third-wave" companies that includes Arista. She says that aging companies "often fall by the wayside" and "resort to tactics that do not benefit customers or expand markets as a means of defending their market position." By tactics, she means lawsuits. When hearing of the lawsuit on Friday, Ullal said, "I am disappointed at Cisco's tactics. It's not the Cisco I knew." But wait, there's more. The post describes "protectors" versus "pioneers." She writes: Protectors defend old habits and remain strongly entrenched in following legacy technology trends. They try to enforce new buzzwords and dictate markets in ways that maintain their dominant position with customers. They are often in denial of new technologies and market disruptions until it’s too late. They deploy inappropriate tactics that serve to distract customers and partners from making the investments that will lead to competitive advantage. To recap the drama: Arista is an upstart networking equipment company formed by two famous Valley billionaires, Andy Bechtolsheim and David Cheriton, and run by a whole bunch of ex-Cisco employees. (Bechtolsheim, Arista's Chief Development Officer and chairman is also a former Cisco employee after Cisco bought one of his previous startups.) Cisco has accused Arista of stealing and copying its tech as these employees left the company. It's an old fashioned patent-infringement/copyright infringement suit. Arista has become a growing threat to Cisco (though Cisco refutes this). Arista had a hugely successful IPO in the summer and has been blowing out its quarterly results with growth and profits. It also just started publicly talking about a huge customer: Microsoft. Cisco sent us this comment in response to Ullal's blog post. “Our General Counsel’s blog [post] and the suits speak for themselves. Cisco believes to compete in technology, you need to innovate, not copy. We take our innovation very seriously and will protect it.”
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Australia 405 for 6 at lunch in first Test | ||
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Adelaide (Australia) (AFP) - Australia were 405 for six when rain forced an early lunch on the second day of the opening Test against India at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday. Steve Smith was unbeaten on 98 and skipper Michael Clarke, who returned to the crease after retiring hurt with back trouble on day one, was 85 not out. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Winnie-the-Pooh illustration sells for record price | ||
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London (AFP) - The original drawing of an iconic literary illustration depicting Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends playing "poohsticks" sold at auction in London for a record-breaking £314,500 ($490,470 or 399,170 euros). The sale of E. H. Shepard's ink drawing of the much-loved A. A. Milne characters Pooh, Christopher Robin and Piglet broke the world record for any book illustration in the sale at Sotheby's auction house. The drawing, which has become one of the most famous book illustrations of its time, shows the trio standing on a bridge looking expectantly into the river below. In the story, Pooh invents the now widely-played game "poohsticks" in which he and his fictional friends throw sticks over one side of the bridge and wait for them to appear on the other. The picture was first published in Milne's "The House at Pooh Corner" in 1928 and has been used on the front of many editions of the popular children's book since. The auction house described it as "probably the most famous and evocative book illustration of the 20th century". "It's an incredibly important piece, it's reproduced twice within 'The House at Pooh Corner', and I had great expectations that this would catch people's imagination but it exceeded all our expectations," Philip Errington, director of Sotheby's book department, told AFP. The auction record for a Shepard drawing was just under £140,000, while the record for a book illustration was previously £290,000. "We're very happy we've smashed those two world records," Errington said. Sotheby's sold the work in 1971 and 1974. The signed original has since been in a private collection. "Back in 1974 it sold for a few hundred pounds, certainly below the thousand mark, so this is an indication in how the market in book illustrations has just soared recently," said Errington. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The Man Who Turned A 'Boring' Idea Into A $1.7 Billion Company Explains The Secret To Success (ZEN) | ||
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But when he shared the vision for his product — a web-based, on-demand platform where companies can build relationships with customers — his boring idea suddenly became sexy. He shares his thinking behind his idea in his recent book, “Startupland.” He writes, “Sexy stuff sometimes happens when you make mundane things easy and accessible. Any aspect of democratization is a good thing.” For example, he says the old FTP file sharing platform doesn’t sound all that fun, but Dropbox and Box made file-sharing sexy with better features and design. Retail credit card payment isn’t all that exciting, but Square made it cool, too. Because of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the boring idea of taking bookstores online turned into a massive overhaul of the world of commerce, he says. Svane also shares some of his trade secrets from working in the customer support field. Here are three of the “most unlikely tricks” he learned:
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Uber Might Be Making A Mobile Driving Game | ||
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The trademark covers "road navigation games on-line and in mobile wireless form," so the game could involve the user driving a virtual Uber. If UberDrive turns out to be a game Uber is developing, it may not be exclusively on your iPhone or Android. The trademark also includes a range of electronics like "electronic game software for hand held devices, mobile phones, computers and laptops." There's little else mentioned in the trademark filing other than hints that the game involves GPS data and maps. Of course UberDrive might not be a game for the general public. The trademark mentions "training services" and "interactive on-line training services in the field of navigation," so it could be a tool for Uber to train new drivers. SEE ALSO: Uber Is An Unstoppable Force Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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