RANKED: The hottest pre-IPO ad tech startups of 2015 | ||
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This ranking looks at the hotter companies subject to IPO (or at least big exit deal) rumors right now. Our data comes from CrunchBase, LinkedIn, our own reporting, and that of other business publications. We've tried to rank them by revenues, but have also taken into account headcounts, venture funding, and recent news and whispers. See our methodology at the end. 27. Sharethrough: The largest "native" ad exchange CEO: Dan Greenberg Employees: 160 Estimated revenues: We believe around $30-$40 million, net. Total venture funding: $28 million Comment: The company operates a "native" ad exchange and is targeting annual revenue of $100 million by the end of the year. It is profitable. 26. Taykey: Supported by Google's Eric Schmidt CEO: Amit Avner Employees: 90 Estimated revenues: We estimate around $30 million Total funding to date: $32 million Comment: Taykey's latest funding round was led by Eric Schmidt's venture arm Innovation Endeavors. The company, which plugs its software into more than 50,000 social sources — such as YouTube, DailyMotion, and BuzzFeed — to provide insights to marketers on what is trending now for their desired audiences says it has grown revenue by 600% since January 2013. Avner told us he expects this triple digit growth to continue into 2015. 25. Socialbakers: A well-respected young CEO and huge client base CEO: Jan Rezab Employees: 330 Estimated revenues: Greater than $30 million. Total venture funding: $34 million Comment: Rezab was named one of Forbes' "30 under 30" in marketing and advertising earlier this year. His social media management and analytics company has more than 2,700 clients, and is considering the possibility of going public. Rezab says the Prague-based company has doubled in size every year "for a while now," and this year it is concentrating its efforts on US expansion. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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The majority of ad tech companies on the public markets may have Critics are still tearing into Mark Zuckerberg's big plan to bring cheap internet to the world (FB) | ||
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Internet.org, an initiative to provide free internet access around the world led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is coming under a fresh round of heavy criticism, even after changes were announced to address net neutrality concerns since the program launched in India last February. On Monday, 65 advocacy groups wrote an open letter to the 31-year-old CEO denouncing the project as "threatening freedom of expression," Wired reports. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a pressure group in the United States, has also slammed it as "not neutral, not secure, and not the internet." The attack comes just weeks after Zuckerberg was forced to defend Internet.org against critics who argued that people using the program would only be allowed to use online services selected by Facebook. Zuckerberg ultimately made changes so that people have more of a free choice for what they can browse online, even though he believes critics are putting the "intellectual purity of technology above people's needs." What is Internet.org?Internet.org is an effort to bring the internet to the developing world. It allows users in developing countries to access certain websites for free — turning Facebook and Internet.org into de facto gatekeepers of the net, dictating what people can and can't access online. Partners include Samsung, Nokia, Opera, and Ericsson. In the last several months, however, multiple local partners have pulled out of the scheme over net neutrality concerns. Net neutrality is the principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally. A Hindustan Times editorial decried Internet.org as "an ambitious project to confuse hundreds of millions of emerging market users into thinking that Facebook and the internet are one and the same." Seven-hundred-thousand people also signed a petition aimed at India's telecom regulator in support of net neutrality. In response to this, Internet.org opened its doors to developers so that any company can build an app for Facebook's free internet program. But there are still restrictions. Namely, Facebook still gets to approve the app. "A telco that doesn't want to offer a specific free service on the Internet.org app doesn't necessarily have to," Business Insider's Cale Guthrie Weissman notes. The changes aren't enough
In an open letter to Zuckerberg posted on Monday, 65 organisations from 31 countries expressed "common concern about the launch and expansion of Facebook’s Internet.org platform and its implications for the open Internet around the world." The groups adds: "The project acts as a 'walled garden' in which some services are favoured over others — again, a violation of net neutrality." By offering some internet services but not others — even though developers can now produce their own services on the platform — Internet.org violates net neutrality, they argue. The also allege that the program risks freedom of expression by putting Facebook in the position "whereby governments could apply pressure to block certain content, or even, if users must log in for access, block individual users. Facebook would find itself mediating the real surveillance and censorship threats to politically active users in restrictive environments." US pressure group EFF also slammed the initiative for "[endangering] people's privacy and security... because the technical security of Internet.org prevents some users from accessing services over encrypted HTTPS connections." This potentially puts users' sensitive data at risk. In a comment on Facebook, Zuckerberg says that HTTPS will come "soon," but the company "still needs to do some work to make this work on all phones and browsers." Zuckerberg thinks Facebook and Internet.org can "coexist"On April 17, Mark Zuckerberg tried to address some of the criticisms on his Facebook profile. "Some people have criticised the concept of zero-rating that allows Internet.org to deliver free basic internet services, saying that offering some services for free goes against the spirit of net neutrality," he wrote, adding that he "strongly" disagrees with this assessment. "Net neutrality is not in conflict with working to get more people connected," the CEO wrote. "These two principles — universal connectivity and net neutrality — can and must coexist. To give more people access to the internet, it is useful to offer some service for free. If someone can’t afford to pay for connectivity, it is always better to have some access than none at all. He added: "Internet.org doesn’t block or throttle any other services or create fast lanes -- and it never will." When reached for comment, Facebook pointed Business Insider to a page on Internet.org's website about "myths and facts." It says that rather than "trying to use Internet.org to reinforce [the] impression" that Facebook is the entire internet, the initiative "introduces people to the value of the entire internet through a set of free basic services that total over 100 globally. Giving people a list that features a broader set of services is important for helping people experience the value of other online services, like women’s health information and education services." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Facebook's ridiculously large drones will beam internet from the sky  | ||
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Top Apple analyst Gene Munster forced to confront the reality that there will be no Apple television (AAPL) | ||
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Apple analyst Gene Munster has been forced to give up on his dream of an Apple TV. On Monday evening, Daisuke Wakabayashi of The Wall Street Journal reported Apple had iced plans for a television set over a year ago. Apple reportedly explored releasing a TV set, but decided it couldn't deliver enough breakthrough features at a price that made sense. It disbanded the team it had working on the TV, and the project has been shelved. This doesn't mean Apple will never release a TV, but it means Apple has no plans in the near future to release a TV. As a result of this report, Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, put out a note titled, "Facing The Reality of No Apple Television." Munster has been banging the drum for an Apple television for "the better part of the last decade" in his words. He even stood on stage at our IGNITION conference and told people in the audience not to buy a new TV because Apple was going to have its own TV. In 2012. In Munster's defense, Apple was exploring a TV at that point. But, obviously, it never happened. And odds are, it never will. "Given how adamant we have been about the reality of an Apple television, it's hard to accept the reality of no Apple television," says Munster in his note. "Our latest thinking prior to this story was that Apple would launch a television in 2016. Based on this report, we no longer expect a television to launch indefinitely." Munster was basically the only analyst who thought a TV was coming, so this news should have no impact on shares or estimates. Munster fully owned his mistake saying, "Originally we had expected that content was the reason for the delay; however, we misidentified the true reason for delay, which was a lack of perceived killer features as reported by the WSJ. We incorrectly assumed that a combination of Siri, FaceTime, a TV app store, and PrimeSense based motion control could be compelling enough as a unique feature set for the device." This doesn't mean Apple is done with TV altogether. It is expected to release a new TV box this year, as well as a streaming internet TV service. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: We did the math: Is Uber really cheaper than a taxi?  | ||
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Google has a team of 100 people working on a project so secretive most of them can reveal only their first names (GOOG) | ||
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Google has an extremely secretive unit working to combat advertising fraud — many people within Google don't even know the team exists, but AdAge was given the first look at what the team of about 100 people is working on. Advertising fraud is a serious problem. The Internet Advertising Bureau predicts ad fraud could cost brands as much as £6.5 billion ($10.1 billion) in wasted spending each year. For Google — the biggest seller of online advertising in the world — that's a huge problem. Google requires trust that ads being bought through it are actually reaching a human audience, not an army of botnets created by criminal enterprises that exploit unsuspecting consumers' personal computers. Criminals take serious amounts of money out of the advertising ecosystem by generating millions of false clicks on ads (among other techniques). And it's because ad fraud is essentially a form of organized crime that many people AdAge encountered while at Google's offices in central London asked to be referred to by only their first names. One Russian engineer, Sasha, said: "Because it is part of organized crime, I'm guessing it would not be a friendly environment for the people that speak out against it." The unit itself is situated behind a "hulking door with a circular vault-like handle," AdAge describes, which just adds to the air of mystery around it. The operation is "one of the most important and best-protected secret units of the web," AdAge writes.
The man leading Google's botnet-fighting unit can be named: Douglas de Jager. He founded Spider.io, which was sold to Google for an undisclosed amount last year. All seven Spider.io staff members moved over to Google. AdAge says it is the mixture of Spider.io's expertise, plus Google's computing power, that has sped up the fraud-fighting process "dramatically." But it has also added some restrictions: The bot-fighting unit has to steer clear of Google's sales team to avoid conflicts of interest. AdAge explains: The sales team, as you might imagine, doesn't stand to gain immediately when inventory is removed from Google's systems. The more ads it sells, the more money it takes in. The engineers work in what they describe as their "dungeon," scanning malware binary during sessions lasting up to two hours looking for patterns and raking the forums used by fraudsters for clues as to where the bad actors originate from. But they do regularly emerge from their dungeon: for coffee. After each session, the team "flocked" to Google's famous micro-kitchens, where everything is free, to caffeinate "and forget," AdAge writes. Ultimately, Google's team examines clues for "signals" — a type of behavior inadvertently created by fraudsters when they program a bot that can help the engineers identify the traffic. Google's secret weapon to do this is called "Powerdrill": Powerdrill is a freak computing system. It's capable of processing a half trillion cells of data in a less than five seconds (translation: It's damn fast). And it can spit that data out as charts and other graphical representations that make it possible to spot the irregularities of nonhuman traffic. AdAge goes into further detail — including a fascinating anecdote about an unnamed ad-verification service that was responsible for a swath of non-human traffic on the Google network — about what Google's team is up to and the way it goes about tracking down fraudsters in its article, which you can read in full here. SEE ALSO: Rocket Fuel — the Adtech company accused of serving ads to bots — is fighting back Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 awesome Google features you didn't know about  | ||
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A quarter of Wall Streeters have signed gag orders | ||
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The practice might not be part of Wall Street culture for long. Earlier this year, the SEC cracked down on one company that forced employees to sign what it called "restrictive" non-disclosure agreements. It's part of an ongoing back-and-forth between financial services firms and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which, in the wake of scandals like Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme, sought to better incentivize cooperation from tipsters. The survey, conducted by law firm Labaton Sucharow and the University of Notre Dame, highlights confidentiality agreements that may be unenforceable becoming common on Wall Street and elsewhere in the financial services sector. Their survey quizzed more than 1,200 financial services employees in the US and the UK.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' changed over the years  | ||
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One in four financial service sector employees have signed, or have been asked to sign, confidentiality agreements that they say prevent them from blowing the whistle on illegal activity in the workplace, according to a survey released Tuesday.
Arrests have been made in the Hatton Garden jewelry heist | ||
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Arrests have been made in the Hatton Garden jewelry heist, Sky News reports. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
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Wal-Mart CEO reveals where American consumers are spending their money | ||
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Wal-Mart's same-store sales growth in the US was weaker than expected for its most recent quarter. In an earnings call Tuesday, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon blamed a decline in customers' discretionary spending. "Based on recent surveys, we know that many of our US customers are using their tax refunds and the extra money from lower gas prices to pay down debt or put it into savings," McMillon said, according to a transcript of the call. "They’re also using these funds for everyday expenses like utilities and groceries." The company reported a 1.1% rise in US same-store sales in the first quarter ended April 30, missing expectations of a 1.5% increase. Wal-Mart also reported diluted earnings per share of $1.03, missing expectations for $1.05, according to Bloomberg. It noted that the impact of foreign currency erased 3 cents per share from its earnings. The company generated revenue of $114.88 billion, below the consensus forecast for $116.23 billion. SEE ALSO: 29 brands that will make a ton of money from millennials Follow us: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know about Whole Foods  | ||
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Here are the most damaging claims about the UK's Trident nuclear missile system made by the navy whistleblower | ||
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Navy whistleblower William McNeilly is now in the custody of military police in Scotland following the publication of a report alleging serious security and safety failings in Britain's nuclear deterrent. The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that McNeilly was "apprehended" on Monday night by Royal Navy Police and is being held at a military facility in Scotland. In the 18-page report, published on the WikiLeaks site, McNeilly warned of the "shockingly extreme conditions that our nuclear weapons system is in" claiming that Britain's "nuclear weapons are a target that's wide open to attack." The Navy has rejected his allegations saying that they represent "subjective and unsubstantiated personal views, made by a very junior sailor." However, they also confirmed that there would be an investigation into "both the issue of the unauthorised release of this document and its contents." Here are all of the most serious allegations made in the report:
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This addiction specialist makes a compelling case for the legalization of marijuana  | ||
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Housing starts surge to the highest level since November 2007 (ITB, XHB, PKB, HOMX, FLM) | ||
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Housing starts crushed expectations in April. Housing starts rose 20.2% in April to an annualized pace of 1.135 million, the highest level since November 2007. Building permits rose 10.1% to an annualized pace of 1.143 million. Economists had expected that starts rose 9.6% to an annualized pace of 1.01 million, while building permits rose 2.1% to an annualized pace of 1.06 million. "We expect housing starts once again breached the psychologically important 1 million unit mark in April," Wells Fargo wrote in a note to clients ahead of the release. Last month, the data showed a big miss in March starts. The pace of starts climbed just 2.0% to an annualized rate of 926,000 units – well below the 1.04 million units expected. On Monday, the National Association of Homebuilders' index that measures sentiment showed a drop below expectations to 54 in May, although the index is still above the 50-point benchmark.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 morning rituals to keep you productive all day long  | ||
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CITI: Here's where the stock market will be in mid-2016 | ||
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The stock market is at an all-time high, and milestones like this make investors hungry for guidance. On Friday, Citi's Tobias Levkovich introduced a new 12-month target for the S&P 500. "Improving hiring intentions, wage lead indicators, the impact of oil price declines, some reflation abroad and still supportive credit conditions all suggest that equity markets should climb further in 1H16," he wrote. "The pace of monetary policy 'normalization' will need to be monitored, yet a mid-2016 S&P 500 target of 2,300 looks reasonable, though any new interest in US stocks by the general public or global investors who prefer QE-driven indices, could lead to even higher US stock levels." That's an 8% gain from current levels, which seems pretty bullish considering the fact that the S&P 500 is up 220% from the March 2009 low. But what about the elevated price-earnings multiple, which the market bears frequently point to? Levkovich thinks that you can't just bank on one measure alone. "[T]he more critical issue might be that the proof point cannot be a single chart but rather a series of data that generates a preponderance of evidence rather than an opinion built on a single data point," he said, noting that his target is based on ten inputs including consumer confidence, the VIX, earnings growth, as well as the price-earnings ratio. But what about the prospect of tighter monetary policy via rate hikes from the Federal Reserve? "[S]uggesting that the Fed’s first rate hike will spell doomsday for equities certainly makes for attention-grabbing headlines but the history of S&P 500 reactions over the past 60 years yields a far different and more positive stock price outcome," he noted. Indeed, history shows that stock prices tend to rise during the months leading into and months following an initial rate hike. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's how Floyd Mayweather spends his millions  | ||
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Top Wall Street strategist gets hate mail and fires back after discovering his critic is actually 'bad at their job' (SPY, SPX, QQQ, IWM) | ||
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Morgan Stanley's Adam Parker is bullish. Parker, the chief US equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, has a year-end price target on the S&P 500 of 2,275 and at the start of the year was among the most optimistic strategists on Wall Street. And as stocks have continued to power higher amid a recent run of disappointing economic data, more and more people on Wall Street have begun to doubt the potency of the current stock rally. One of these non-believers reached out to Parker recently, telling him that his bullish outlook was "almost by definition a market top." And Parker was not having it. "We were worried that there may be some truth to this person's claim; after all, it is exactly our nightmare scenario, and Wall Street's history isn't exactly devoid of strategists at bulge bracket firms providing such examples," Parker wrote in a note to clients. "However, we analyzed this particular advisor's background and learned that they have been at this for 27 years and have practically no assets under management. A vocal dissenter never felt better. It remains to be seen if we have a bad market call, but it is clear that this particular advisor is bad at their job." Ouch. This is more or less the equivalent of a high-profile media person going after a troll on Twitter who has no profile picture and 8 followers. This is digging deep. And it also shows the level of frustration bulls are currently feeling. Currently, investors are still fairly cautious on stocks as the Federal Reserve eyes interest rate hikes for the first time in almost 9 years and that aforementioned disappointing data casts some doubt over the economy. It is, in short, a hated stock rally. And Adam Parker is done dealing with the haters. SEE ALSO: Here's what 13 top Wall Street pros predicted for 2015 Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch these giant container ships collide near the Suez Canal  | ||
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RANKED: The hottest pre-IPO ad tech startups of 2015 | ||
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This ranking looks at the hotter companies subject to IPO (or at least big exit deal) rumors right now. Our data comes from CrunchBase, LinkedIn, our own reporting, and that of other business publications. We've tried to rank them by revenues, but have also taken into account headcounts, venture funding, and recent news and whispers. See our methodology at the end. 27. Sharethrough: The largest "native" ad exchange CEO: Dan Greenberg Employees: 160 Estimated revenues: We believe around $30-$40 million, net. Total venture funding: $28 million Comment: The company operates a "native" ad exchange and is targeting annual revenue of $100 million by the end of the year. It is profitable. 26. Taykey: Supported by Google's Eric Schmidt CEO: Amit Avner Employees: 90 Estimated revenues: We estimate around $30 million Total funding to date: $32 million Comment: Taykey's latest funding round was led by Eric Schmidt's venture arm Innovation Endeavors. The company, which plugs its software into more than 50,000 social sources — such as YouTube, DailyMotion, and BuzzFeed — to provide insights to marketers on what is trending now for their desired audiences says it has grown revenue by 600% since January 2013. Avner told us he expects this triple digit growth to continue into 2015. 25. Socialbakers: A well-respected young CEO and huge client base CEO: Jan Rezab Employees: 330 Estimated revenues: Greater than $30 million. Total venture funding: $34 million Comment: Rezab was named one of Forbes' "30 under 30" in marketing and advertising earlier this year. His social media management and analytics company has more than 2,700 clients, and is considering the possibility of going public. Rezab says the Prague-based company has doubled in size every year "for a while now," and this year it is concentrating its efforts on US expansion. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Sterling agent tempers Liverpool exit reports | ||
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London (AFP) - The agent of Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling said on Tuesday that media reports his client will ask to leave the club have been "blown somewhat out of proportion". The sports pages of Britain's newspapers were dominated by the story that Sterling, 20, will inform Liverpool's hierarchy of his desire to leave during a meeting with club officials on Friday. Sterling has already admitted turning down a new contract worth around £100,000 ($155,500, 139,000 euros) per week, but his representative Aidy Ward says they will approach the talks with an open mind. "The story has been blown somewhat out of proportion," Ward said in a statement sent to talkSPORT radio. "Raheem and his representatives have a meeting scheduled with Liverpool later this week, and we will take proceedings from there." Sterling has two years left on his current deal, thought to be worth £35,000 a week, and told the BBC last month that he was putting negotiations over a new contract on hold until the end of the season. The England international's stand-off with Liverpool, who signed him from Queens Park Rangers in 2010, is reported to have put clubs including Arsenal and Manchester City on alert. But Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was coy when asked if was interested in signing Sterling during a press conference on Tuesday. "I don't like to lie. If I say I will and I don't do it, you will say I lied," said the Frenchman, who made an unsuccessful attempt to prise Luis Suarez away from Anfield in 2013. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Barca stalwart Xavi 'heading to Qatar' | ||
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Barcelona (AFP) - Barcelona's captain Xavi Hernandez will leave the club he has served since boyhood for Qatari side Al Sadd at the end of this season, his father said on Tuesday. The 35-year-old midfielder is a stalwart of the Catalan side over recent years and one of the heroes of Spain's Euro and World Cup-winning squads. His father Joaquin Hernandez told the Cope radio station Xavi had decided "the moment has come to say goodbye". He said the contract with Al Sadd would allow Xavi to train as a coach as well as playing. "He is lucky to have received a really impressive offer where he can continue playing football, train as a future coach and also rest a little." He will give a farewell press conference on Thursday, Barcelona sports daily El Mundo Deportivo reported, citing unnamed club sources. His contract with the Spanish league champions runs until next year but he has reportedly decided to leave after the end of the current season. Barca sealed their league victory on Sunday with a 1-0 win away over Atletico Madrid. Xavi was filmed weeping with joy after that win. It is his eighth title in the league and his 23rd overall with Barcelona, making him the player with most medals in the club's history. He still has the chance to end his last season at Barcelona with a treble, as he side will play in the finals of the Spanish cup and Champions League. Xavi joined Barcelona in 1991 at the age of 11. He has played more than 760 matches for the side -- more than any other player. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Congressman on his messy divorce from his wife: 'Gold diggers gotta dig' | ||
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Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Florida) had some "choice" words to describe his estranged wife, the local television station WFTV reported Monday. "I'll sum it up for you. Gold diggers gotta dig. That's all I'm gonna say," Grayson told the outlet as he left an Orlando courtroom. "We had an agreement. She's trying to reneg." Grayson is locked in a bizarre divorce case in which he accuses his wife Lolita of bigamy. She declined to comment to WFTV. The congressman, well known for his colorful quotes, has been publicly mulling a bid for presidential candidate and outgoing Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Florida) seat. Watch the WFTV report below: SEE ALSO: Another major GOP presidential candidate is getting pummeled by Iraq war questions Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Wall Street workers are more willing to break the law than they were two years ago | ||
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A whopping 25% of respondents answering a survey from Labaton Sucharow and the University of Notre Dame admitted they would illegally use non-public information to make a $10 million gain, if they knew there was no chance they'd get caught. In 2013, that number was only 24%. Men are more likely to break the law to make a buck, than women, according to the study: 27% of males said they would take the risk to make $10 million, compared to 22% of women. This disparity is even more pronounced in the UK: more than one-third of males admitted they would break the law for a financial windfall, compared to just 23% of women. Younger employees were more likely to make big risks to make big gains: 32% of those with less than a decade of experience also said they would likely engage in insider trading to make $10 million in gains, if they knew they wouldn't get caught. The survey also concluded that 17% of respondents believe it is "unlikely" top bosses would tell enforcement about illegal activity.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: XPRIZE founder Peter Diamandis: Here's what everybody gets wrong in their twenties  | ||
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Wall Street pros are increasingly willing to break the law to make a buck, according to a new survey out Tuesday morning. 
Critics are still tearing into Mark Zuckerberg's big plan to bring cheap internet to the world (FB) | ||
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Internet.org, an initiative to provide free internet access around the world led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is coming under a fresh round of heavy criticism, even after changes were announced to address net neutrality concerns since the program launched in India last February. On Monday, 65 advocacy groups wrote an open letter to the 31-year-old CEO denouncing the project as "threatening freedom of expression," Wired reports. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a pressure group in the United States, has also slammed it as "not neutral, not secure, and not the internet." The attack comes just weeks after Zuckerberg was forced to defend Internet.org against critics who argued that people using the program would only be allowed to use online services selected by Facebook. Zuckerberg ultimately made changes so that people have more of a free choice for what they can browse online, even though he believes critics are putting the "intellectual purity of technology above people's needs." What is Internet.org?Internet.org is an effort to bring the internet to the developing world. It allows users in developing countries to access certain websites for free — turning Facebook and Internet.org into de facto gatekeepers of the net, dictating what people can and can't access online. Partners include Samsung, Nokia, Opera, and Ericsson. In the last several months, however, multiple local partners have pulled out of the scheme over net neutrality concerns. Net neutrality is the principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally. A Hindustan Times editorial decried Internet.org as "an ambitious project to confuse hundreds of millions of emerging market users into thinking that Facebook and the internet are one and the same." Seven-hundred-thousand people also signed a petition aimed at India's telecom regulator in support of net neutrality. In response to this, Internet.org opened its doors to developers so that any company can build an app for Facebook's free internet program. But there are still restrictions. Namely, Facebook still gets to approve the app. "A telco that doesn't want to offer a specific free service on the Internet.org app doesn't necessarily have to," Business Insider's Cale Guthrie Weissman notes. The changes aren't enough
In an open letter to Zuckerberg posted on Monday, 65 organisations from 31 countries expressed "common concern about the launch and expansion of Facebook’s Internet.org platform and its implications for the open Internet around the world." The groups adds: "The project acts as a 'walled garden' in which some services are favoured over others — again, a violation of net neutrality." By offering some internet services but not others — even though developers can now produce their own services on the platform — Internet.org violates net neutrality, they argue. The also allege that the program risks freedom of expression by putting Facebook in the position "whereby governments could apply pressure to block certain content, or even, if users must log in for access, block individual users. Facebook would find itself mediating the real surveillance and censorship threats to politically active users in restrictive environments." US pressure group EFF also slammed the initiative for "[endangering] people's privacy and security... because the technical security of Internet.org prevents some users from accessing services over encrypted HTTPS connections." This potentially puts users' sensitive data at risk. In a comment on Facebook, Zuckerberg says that HTTPS will come "soon," but the company "still needs to do some work to make this work on all phones and browsers." Zuckerberg thinks Facebook and Internet.org can "coexist"On April 17, Mark Zuckerberg tried to address some of the criticisms on his Facebook profile. "Some people have criticised the concept of zero-rating that allows Internet.org to deliver free basic internet services, saying that offering some services for free goes against the spirit of net neutrality," he wrote, adding that he "strongly" disagrees with this assessment. "Net neutrality is not in conflict with working to get more people connected," the CEO wrote. "These two principles — universal connectivity and net neutrality — can and must coexist. To give more people access to the internet, it is useful to offer some service for free. If someone can’t afford to pay for connectivity, it is always better to have some access than none at all. He added: "Internet.org doesn’t block or throttle any other services or create fast lanes -- and it never will." When reached for comment, Facebook pointed Business Insider to a page on Internet.org's website about "myths and facts." It says that rather than "trying to use Internet.org to reinforce [the] impression" that Facebook is the entire internet, the initiative "introduces people to the value of the entire internet through a set of free basic services that total over 100 globally. Giving people a list that features a broader set of services is important for helping people experience the value of other online services, like women’s health information and education services." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Facebook's ridiculously large drones will beam internet from the sky  | ||
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Top Apple analyst Gene Munster forced to confront the reality that there will be no Apple television (AAPL) | ||
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Apple analyst Gene Munster has been forced to give up on his dream of an Apple TV. On Monday evening, Daisuke Wakabayashi of The Wall Street Journal reported Apple had iced plans for a television set over a year ago. Apple reportedly explored releasing a TV set, but decided it couldn't deliver enough breakthrough features at a price that made sense. It disbanded the team it had working on the TV, and the project has been shelved. This doesn't mean Apple will never release a TV, but it means Apple has no plans in the near future to release a TV. As a result of this report, Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, put out a note titled, "Facing The Reality of No Apple Television." Munster has been banging the drum for an Apple television for "the better part of the last decade" in his words. He even stood on stage at our IGNITION conference and told people in the audience not to buy a new TV because Apple was going to have its own TV. In 2012. In Munster's defense, Apple was exploring a TV at that point. But, obviously, it never happened. And odds are, it never will. "Given how adamant we have been about the reality of an Apple television, it's hard to accept the reality of no Apple television," says Munster in his note. "Our latest thinking prior to this story was that Apple would launch a television in 2016. Based on this report, we no longer expect a television to launch indefinitely." Munster was basically the only analyst who thought a TV was coming, so this news should have no impact on shares or estimates. Munster fully owned his mistake saying, "Originally we had expected that content was the reason for the delay; however, we misidentified the true reason for delay, which was a lack of perceived killer features as reported by the WSJ. We incorrectly assumed that a combination of Siri, FaceTime, a TV app store, and PrimeSense based motion control could be compelling enough as a unique feature set for the device." This doesn't mean Apple is done with TV altogether. It is expected to release a new TV box this year, as well as a streaming internet TV service. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: We did the math: Is Uber really cheaper than a taxi?  | ||
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Walmart earnings dented by higher costs, wages | ||
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New York (AFP) - Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores reported lower quarterly profits Tuesday, citing the impact of higher costs, including the wage hike for US staff. Earnings for the quarter ending April 30 were $3.3 billion, down seven percent from the year-ago period. Sales were $114.83 billion, down a scant 0.1 percent the 2014 quarter. Walmart posted higher revenues at namesake US stores, but sales dropped in both international Walmart and at its wholesale chain, Sam's Club. Operating and administrative expenses rose 2.8 percent to $22.7 billion. In addition to higher wages for US staff, Walmart has boosted spending on e-commerce investment. "We had a solid first quarter," said chief executive Doug McMillon. "We need to continue to get better at consistently running great stores, clubs and e-commerce everywhere we operate ... and we are." Walmart in February said it would boost wages for 500,000 workers in the US to at least $9 per hour, $1.75 above the federal minimum wage. The wage hike trimmed earnings in its just-finished first quarter of fiscal 2016 and will also pinch results in the second quarter. Walmart's first-quarter earnings translated into $1.03 per share, a penny shy of analyst projections. Walmart estimated second-quarter earnings of between $1.06 and $1.18 per share. Analysts estimate earnings at $1.17 per share. Walmart shares fell 2.7 percent to $77.80 in pre-market trade. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The 10 most purchased brands in the world (KO, ULVR, PG, NSRGY, PEP) | ||
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Every year, the research company Kantar Worldpanel launches its annual Brand Footprint study, revealing the most chosen and fastest growing consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands in the world. The study analyzes 11,000 brands in 35 countries and ranks them based on Consumer Reach Points, a metric based on how many households around the world are buying a brand and how often. Kantar Worldpanel also provides data on the most bought brand in each of the countries it looks at. Some you may never have come across before. 10. Tide — owned by P&G. The detergent brand is also known as Alo, Vizir, or Ace in some countries. Consumer Reach Points: 1.44 million. 9. Dove — owned by Unilever. The toiletries brand has moved up three positions in the rankings since last year's report. Consumer Reach Points: 1.46 million. 8. Knorr — owned by Unilever. Knorr's stock cubes, flavor pots, and powder mixes are popular the world over, but the brand's ranking has fallen one place since last year's study. Consumer Reach Points: 1.65 million. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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