This 23-year-old gave up a corporate job to make $5,000 a month reselling thrift store clothes through an app | ||
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Back in 2012, when she was a student at the University of Arkansas, Alexandra Marquez downloaded the Poshmark app on a whim. She'd seen it mentioned on social media and was immediately intrigued by the concept. While it looks similar to Instagram, Poshmark allows you to sell clothing just like you would on eBay. "I was super addicted from the start," the 23-year-old says. "It was a great way to make money." Although many of Poshmark's 700,000 sellers use the app as a way to clean out their closets, Marquez had always been interested in running her own business. She began searching thrift stores for gently used items from department store brands and buying them to resell on the app. "I'm not going to lie, it was pretty challenging at first," she says. On average, she made $500 a month when she started out — not an insignificant amount, but not enough to live on, either. Initially, she didn't know which brands and styles would sell on the app, and which wouldn't, so she spent time studying what was popular. Then, she'd go out and buy those items. To get her listings noticed, she also focused on perfecting her photography skills. After a year and half, she became a suggested user on the app, meaning that all new users were invited to follow her. That exposure led to more sales, and she began making around $5,000 a month.
By then, she'd graduated from the University of Arkansas and taken a full-time job at a marketing company earning a $50,000 salary. But after a year, she left to focus on her clothing sales full time. "It was a great job, but I decided the corporate world wasn't for me," she explains. Now, she devotes three or four days of her week to shopping, with the goal of posting several new items every day. Local boutiques in Bentonville, Arkansas, where she lives, often sell their overstock to her at a discount. In addition to making regular visits to thrift stores, she also buys gently used clothing and accessories directly from women in her area. Most of the clothing and accessories she sells are priced from $40 to $250, and she determines her prices by seeing what similar items have sold for on the app. Besides buying clothing that she'll later resell at a profit, Marquez doesn't have many costs that go into her business. She doesn't have the overhead of a bricks and mortar store, and doesn't even need to have her own website. Poshmark covers the shipping costs and credit card fees for each transaction, so she just pays a commission on each sale: $2.95 for anything under $15, and 20% on anything over $15. After that, she's left with a take-home pay of around $5,000 per month. Though being self-employed gives her the flexibility to work from anywhere and choose her hours, she admits that she's constantly on the app, no matter where she goes or what time of day it is. "I look at my phone from the time that I wake up until the time that I go to bed … and sometimes also when I get up in the middle of the night." Typically, she lists around 75 new items each month, and ships out anywhere from 15 to 40 sold items each week. After her bills are paid, Marquez puts most of her extra money back into her business by buying more inventory to sell on the app. She doesn't live extravagantly, since her income isn't as predictable as it was in her corporate job, and she can't count on making the same amount of money each month. "The only downside is the unpredictability of sales," she says. Like any retail business, hers has seasonal fluctuations, and a slow month could mean she takes home $3,000 instead of $5,000. But for now, she's happy to trade some stability for the chance to be her own boss. SEE ALSO: 11 tips to start earning money doing what you love, from people who have done it Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions  | ||
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Elon Musk didn't like his kids' school, so he made his own small, secretive school without grade levels | ||
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Elon Musk didn't like his kids' school, so he started his own, the inventor and entrepreneur said in an interview on Beijing Television. The school is called Ad Astra — which means "To the stars" — and is small and relatively secretive. It doesn't have its own website or a social media presence. Christina Simon, who writes about private elementary schools in Los Angeles, has done some digging around Ad Astra. She says she's been in contact with a mother whose child attends Musk's school. The mother told Simon that the relatively new Ad Astra School is "very small and experimental," and caters to a small group of children whose parents are primarily SpaceX employees. Musk says in the interview that Ad Astra, which is a year old, currently has 14 kids and will increase to 20 in September. His grand vision for the school involves removing grade levels, so there's no distinction between students in 1st grade and 3rd. Musk is "making all the children go through the same grade at the same time, like an assembly line," he says in the interview. "Some people love English or languages. Some people love math. Some people love music. Different abilities, different times," he says. "It makes more sense to cater the education to match their aptitudes and abilities." Musk pulled his kids out of their school and even hired one of their teachers away to start Ad Astra. "I didn't see the regular schools doing the things I thought should be done," he says.
"It's important to teach problem solving, or teach to the problem and not the tools," Musk says. "Let's say you're trying to teach people about how engines work. A more traditional approach would be saying, 'we're going to teach all about screwdrivers and wrenches.' This is a very difficult way to do it." Instead, Musk says it makes more sense to give students an engine and then work to disassemble it. "How are we going to take it apart? You need a screwdriver. That's what the screwdriver is for," Musk explains. "And then a very important thing happens: The relevance of the tools becomes apparent." So far, Ad Astra "seems to be going pretty well," according to Musk. "The kids really love going to school." "I hated going to school when I was a kid," Musk told his interviewer. "It was torture." When Musk was a child living in Pretoria, South Africa, he was viciously bullied as a student. His classmates pushed him down a concrete stairwell. In one instance, he was beaten so badly that he needed to go to the hospital. Here's Musk recounting that horrific experience:
His difficult experiences both at home — where he had a strained relationship with his father — and at school would eventually lead Musk to leave South Africa for the United States. You can watch Musk's full video interview below. SEE ALSO: How Elon Musk schedules a typical week Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Elon Musk is terrified of what Larry Page is doing  | ||
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THE PROGRAMMATIC-ADVERTISING REPORT: Mobile, video, and real-time bidding drive growth in programmatic | ||
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The embrace of programmatic ad-buying tools is fueling a dramatic uptick in the share of digital ads sold through programmatic platforms, particularly those focused on real-time bidding or RTB. Total US programmatic ad revenue will top nearly $15 billion this year, according to BI Intelligence estimates. RTB, particularly mobile and video RTB, are spearheading growth. In this all-new in-depth research from BI Intelligence that updates our popular July 2014 report on programmatic, we find that the US digital-ad market will reach a programmatic "tipping-point": For the first time this year, programmatic transactions will be a majority (52%) of non-search digital-ad spend. We estimate 30.6% of total digital-ad spend will go to programmatic real-time bidding (RTB) platforms, and 21.7% will go to non-RTB programmatic. Access The Full 21-Page Report And Data Sets By Signing Up For A Trial Membership » Here are some of the key takeaways:
The report is full of charts, data, and case studies that can easily be downloaded and put to use. In full, the report:
To access the full report from BI Intelligence, sign up for a 14-day trial here. Members also gain access to new in-depth reports, hundreds of charts and datasets, as well as daily newsletters on the digital industry. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget Kim Kardashian — the 'butt selfie' queen of Instagram is a 21-year-old from Long Island  | ||
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The 31-year-old convicted of running a huge criminal website asks to be spared a life sentence | ||
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Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind the Web's most famous black market, has run out of options and is now pleading with a judge not to send him to prison for life, Bloomberg reports. Prosecutors said that Ulbricht was the "Dread Pirate Roberts," the person who ran the infamous online marketplace called Silk Road where people could buy just about anything, especially drugs. Ulbricht was convicted in February. And with sentencing scheduled for May 29, Ulbricht, 31, is now asking for mercy from the court. He sent a letter to the Manhattan federal judge asking to be spared the maximum penalty, life in prison, Bloomberg reports. In the letter he called Silk Road a "naive and costly idea." Prosecutors said Silk Road helped transact about $200 million worth of anonymous drug sales using the virtual currency bitcoin and that drugs bought from Silk Road were linked to six overdose deaths. Ulbricht's defense attorneys at first argued that Ulbricht was not Dread Pirate Roberts. After his conviction, they argued that Ulbricht should get a new trial because he wasn't allowed to review materials demonstrating his innocence, but a judge rejected the request for a new trial, calling evidence of Ulbricht's guilt "overwhelming." Then they argued that Silk Road made buying drugs safer. Although Silk Road is gone, there are other sites engaged in questionable online activities accessible through a part of the internet known as the "dark web" or "deep web." Ulbricht's sentence could serve as a warning to those others. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch these giant container ships collide near the Suez Canal  | ||
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Amazon is launching an Etsy killer (AMZN) | ||
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Amazon is introducing Amazon Handmade, a marketplace for handmade goods, aimed directly at competing with Etsy, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. The way that Amazon is recruiting sellers for Amazon Handmade is typically aggressive: Select Etsy sellers are receiving targeted emails urging them to come over to Amazon. "We’re offering artisans like you a first peek at Handmade, a new marketplace for handcrafted goods,” the emails say, per that Wall Street Journal report. The news comes just days after Etsy shares tanked 24% after reporting earnings — its first-ever earnings report as a public company — at a net loss of 84 cents per share. While Etsy has 20.8 million "active buyers," the company says, analysts believe its growth is hampered by the spread of mass manufactured and counterfeit goods, as well as items that infringe on intellectual property. Meanwhile, Amazon has a bunch of legs up over Etsy here, including access to its vast Amazon Prime shipping and distribution network and 278 million active accounts. One important thing we don't know yet: the commission structure for Amazon Homemade. Etsy takes 3.5% of the price and a flat 20 cents per listing, but Amazon charges its own 3rd-party sellers a 15% commission. If Amazon sticks to that structure, it'll have trouble luring Etsy sellers away. SEE ALSO: A Twitter cofounder's VC firm just raised a $123,456,789 fund to build 'world-positive' companies Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Jeff Bezos: Why I Always Tell Employees Not To Pat Themselves When Our Stock Is Up  | ||
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9 Facebook facts you weren’t aware of (FB) | ||
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But how much do you know about its actual users? Marketing firm Wishpond put together 40 of the latest facts and stats about Facebook. We’ve narrowed it down to 9 of the most interesting findings. Facebook isn't getting too old. 87% of the class of 2014 (high school) indicated they "still" use Facebook. Almost 70% of teens are also friends with their parents on Facebook. But Facebook may not be all that safe. 66% of teenage girls claim to have been bullied on Facebook. Facebook post interactions shot up more than 225% on the day a user changed their relationship status. But only 28% of newlyweds changed their Facebook status within hours of getting married. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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With almost 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide, Facebook is easily the world’s largest social media site. Why it totally makes sense for Snapchat to invest in shopping startup Spring | ||
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Snapchat is investing in shopping app Spring, according to Re/code. Spring is a mobile app like a virtual mall, where items from hundreds of brands can be purchased with a pre-uploaded credit card and a single button swipe. Neither Spring nor Snapchat would confirm the investment to me. (A Snapchat spokesperson rushed me off the phone, saying they needed to eat. A Spring spokesperson would only comment about the upcoming Rangers game.) But I don't think either company would let a rumor like that fly around if it wasn't true. So, operating under the assumption that Snapchat is investing in Spring, why might it do that? I have a working theory. It's not proven, but I've run it by a few industry insiders who think it's credible. The easy answer: Snapchat wants to dabble in social commerce, and it's cheaper to invest than to buySnapchat has purchased a few smaller startups, but this is the first we've heard about it making an investment in one. Scan.me is Snapchat's largest-known acquisition to date; the transaction was about $50 million in cash and stock. Even though Spring is less than a year old, Spring would cost significantly more than that to buy. It has raised more than $30 million to date and even though Snapchat has raised nearly $1 billion, it might not want to drop $100 million+ to buy a company it just wants to test out. An investment is a good way to experiment with ecommerce without diving all in. Some ecommerce initiatives from Snapchat are already known, like Snapcash, which lets friends exchange money via debit cards with each other in chats. Following and aiding Spring's progress could be another. The social e-commerce space is heating up: Facebook, Twitter and Google are all messing around with buy buttons, and Facebook hired David Marcus away from PayPal, which signals that payments could be in the company's future. Another idea: Snapchat wants to launch Discover, but for e-commerce brands and shoppingMore strategically, Snapchat could be gearing up for another big launch. Specifically, Snapchat could launch another channel like Discover, but for shopping. The channel could partner with a few select brands, like Discover does with Vice and ESPN, but instead of browsing top news stories you'd browse top products, like a mini virtual and social mall. And guess what Spring is? A mini virtual mall. Snapchat has been pretty pleased by its four-month-old Discover channel, which has been yielding millions of daily views for its 11 partnering media companies. It's not hard to imagine Snapchat launching other channels, like for shopping and maybe music, down the line. E-commerce may not be Snapchat's next big monetization push, but the company is in experimental mode, trying to figure out how to become a big revenue-generating business. And that means trying a bunch of things, maybe even something like Spring. I ran my new-shopping/Discover theory by Snapchat. I was told (jokingly), "If you want a job as a product manager we’d probably totally hire you." Then more seriously, "We’re not going to comment on Spring but what you said is not rooted in reality." "What do you mean by 'reality' specifically?" I asked. "All reality?" Then, I got a laugh. SEE ALSO: Snapchat is getting serious about advertising Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It's dangerously easy to record Snapchats without the other person knowing  | ||
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BlackBerry cuts more jobs as it changes its focus from phones (BBRY) | ||
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BlackBerry is cutting jobs around the world, mostly in its devices business, as it works to move its focus away from making loss-leading smartphones and towards higher-margin businesses like security, privacy, business software, and smart appliances, reports the Hamilton Spectator. "We continue to grow customer-facing teams around the world, and we continue to invest in bringing in new talent to support areas of strategic focus around software, enterprise, security and the Internet of Things, for example," BlackBerry said in a statement. Last August, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in an internal memo that the company was ready to grow after three years of layoffs and restructuring. Just last week, Chen told Business Insider that the company has been hiring "a lot of engineers," but that most of BlackBerry's 7,000 employees worldwide were old hands at the company. The company had more than 16,000 employees in 2012. In that same conversation with Business Insider, Chen said that he thought the phone business could become profitable again, but also said it's not necessarily key to the company's ongoing turnaround. Instead, the company's future lies BlackBerry's QNX connected car operating system (which Chen claimed is currently powering 50 million connected cars) and in selling to businesses, Chen said at the time. "Right now, I need to re-secure the company in enterprise space," Chen said. BlackBerry has yet to respond to a request for comment on these job cuts, and we don't have any idea of how many people were impacted. Still, it seems that BlackBerry is serious about reducing the focus on making phones, even as Chen promises he'll find a way to make them profitable some day. SEE ALSO: BlackBerry CEO: We will make money on phones again one day Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: We gave kids a rotary phone for the first time — and here's what they did  | ||
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Netflix is thinking about getting rid of star ratings | ||
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Netflix is thinking about offing one of the oldest and most ubiquitous features associated with movies and TV shows: star ratings. The company has been testing user preferences for years now, trying to understand what brings a user to actually press the "play" button. And the company tells us that one of the its biggest findings is that unbalanced effect star ratings have. While a user will often add a highly rated program to their queue, that does not mean they will actually watch it. This leads Netflix researchers to think that the one to four star ranking system may be a huge red herring. With this, Netflix tells us it will be "moving away from star ratings." The thinking is: if high-star ratings don’t actually lead people to watching the movie, why include it at all? However, the company has not made a formal decision to nix the age-old metric once and for all, and says "no timetable has been set." If this indeed does come to pass, the little Roger Ebert in all of us will have to find another outlet. But at least the jerk that gave "Titanic" a 1-star rating will no longer have a say in things. [Ed note: The jerk was right.] SEE ALSO: Netflix is getting a new design next month — here's what it looks like WATCH THIS: Kate Winslet's original screen test for 'Titanic' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The trailer for Woody Allen's new movie starring Emma Stone just dropped  | ||
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There's a new game coming out based on an insane glitch in the original Pac-Man | ||
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Hipster Whale, the studio that made the smash hit Crossy Road game for iPhone and Android, is now working on Pac-Man 256, an insane-looking free-to-play game coming to smartphones this summer, publisher Bandai-Namco announced. This new game, tied in with Pac-Man's 35th anniversary this year, harkens back to a well-known glitch in the original arcade version of Pac-Man: If you played beyond level 255, the screen would glitch out like crazy, making it just short of impossible to finish. Take a look:
In Pac-Man 256, the round yellow hero will face an "endless maze chased by the infamous '256 Glitch,'" promises Bandai-Namco in a press release. You'll still be chomping on Power Pellets to eat the ghosts chasing you through the darkness. But since it's a free-to-play game, (meaning you can download it for a total of $0) you'll probably end up having to pay for additional power-ups. Here's a look at the new Pac-Man 256, circa 2015:
And another:
As you can see, it's a bit more like a so-called "endless runner" game (think Temple Run or Sonic Dash) than the classic maze arcade game, but it still looks like it should be a lot of fun. While Bandai-Namco hasn't announced which smartphones it'll come to, it would be a surprise to not see it on both Apple iOS and Android.
SEE ALSO: These Reporters Had No Idea How To Explain Pac-Man When It Debuted In The 1980s Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 11 Video Games From The 1980s That Are Better Than Games Today  | ||
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A company is using people's DNA to shame them for littering | ||
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A Virginia-based genetics technology company and a Hong Kong ad agency are using the DNA people leave behind on their litter to print computer-generated images of their faces on wanted posters. The company's first project launched last month in Hong Kong, reports the South China Morning Post. Yet the science behind the idea has existed for years. In 2012, New York City-based artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg used the same technology to make sculptures of complete strangers using only the tiny bits of DNA left on discarded cigarettes and chewing gum that she collected from the streets of New York. Her exhibit, called "Stranger Visions," has been shown in galleries across the world.
Each piece of trash that Dewey-Hagborg collected was rich in genetic data, typically in the form of DNA encased in dried spit or inside pieces of hair and skin. To isolate that DNA, she did a simple lab procedure (so simple, I've done it myself) at a small community lab in Brooklyn. Then, using a computer program designed by researchers at Penn State, she combed through all the DNA and picked out only the genes that code for physical traits, like hair and eye color.
Next, she used the trait information to create a 3D model of each person's face. In addition to hair and eye color, these bits of our DNA dictates the shade of our skin, the width of our noses, and the distance between our eyes, but they can’t tell how old or physically fit we are, for example. Using her computer's 3D modeling software and a 3D printer, Dewey-Hagborg printed sculptures of each face:
While the masks aren't exact likenesses of the people they're based on, they do display what Dewey-Hagborg calls a "family resemblance."
Unlike Dewey-Hagborg's artwork, which turns people's leftover DNA into three-dimensional sculptures, the Hong Kong campaign is using the genetic information they've collected to create giant, life-size wanted posters. The project is a collaboration between marketing communications agency Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong and the genetic technology company Parabon Nanolabs. Ogilvy collected pieces of local litter and sent them to Parabon Nanolabs, who used its technology to extract the DNA from each sample. "It was intended to provoke a conversation to create positive social change for the people of Hong Kong," Ogilvy Cheif Creative Officer Reed Collins told the South China Morning Post. "The prospect of this idea alone, we hope, will be enough to make people think twice about littering." SEE ALSO: I sequenced my DNA at a community lab in Brooklyn — and what I learned surprised me Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This 14-year-old has come up with a faster and cheaper way to detect pancreatic cancer  | ||
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This chart explains why Spotify added video (AAPL) | ||
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Spotify launched a new video streaming service on Wednesday in partnership with Comedy Central, Vice News, ABC, and ESPN, to name a few. Currently, the service seems to offer mostly video clips, but Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said more original content is coming. It’s easy to see why Spotify is moving into video. According to data from GlobalWebIndex, charted for us by BI Intelligence, 87% of Spotify users watched a video clip online, while 70% of its users watched TV on demand in the past month. More than 60% of its users streamed a full-length show live over the web in a given month, while a third of Spotify users are currently paying for a TV or a film streaming service each month. This move will also help Spotify generate more ad revenue, as video ads are much more lucrative than streaming audio ads. According to BI Intelligence, video ads are expected to be the fastest growing digital ad category, reaching more than $4.4 billion in revenue by 2018.
SEE ALSO: Samsung is losing share in China Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 clever iPhone tricks only power users know about  | ||
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Incredible before-and-after photos show how much New York City has changed since the 1800s | ||
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This week, the New York Public Library released an interactive website that allows users to travel back in time using the Library's historical photography database. The site, called OldNYC, features a digital map where users can view photos of the island dating as far back as the early 19th century. There are photos for almost every intersection in the city, so you can see the evolution of historical landmarks and even your own address. Here's a look at the lights of Times Square in 1920. And here is Times Square today. This is an intersection on 8th Avenue in 1925, 25 years before it would become home to one of the city's major transportation hubs. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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There's a new map that will help you chart exactly how much Manhattan has changed over the years. PEER-TO-PEER LENDING: How digital lending marketplaces are disrupting the predominant banking model | ||
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Apple Pay is ringing in a new era of payment security | ||
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Apple Pay provides a sleek way for consumers to make payments with their iPhone, but perhaps the most innovative aspect of the payment feature — and its biggest potential value to consumers — is its security framework for preventing card fraud. While security remains one of the top reasons why consumers haven't adopted mobile payments, it's challenging to explain why one payments solution is more secure than another due to the complexity of payments security. In a new research from BI Intelligence we give an easy-to-understand breakdown of how Apple Pay security works and its implications for the payments ecosystem as Apple Pay and similar technologies become ubiquitous. Access The Research And Downloadable Infographics By Signing Up For A Trial Membership Today >> Here are some of the key takeaways:
To access the full report from BI Intelligence, sign up for a 14-day trial here. Members also gain access to new in-depth reports, hundreds of charts and datasets, as well as daily newsletters on the digital industry. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Pizza Hut has taken a turn at making a 'viral' PSA and the results are really cheesy | ||
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Pizza Hut has put together a new viral PSA taking aim at selfie sticks and the people who use them. Watch the bizarre PSA above. Video courtesy of Pizza Hut Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Here are the insane rewards you get for a flawless victory in 'The Trials of Osiris,' the new hardcore mode in 'Destiny' | ||
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People expect a lot from Bungie — they created "Halo," one of the best gaming franchises of all-time, and now "Destiny," its new blockbuster franchise that released last fall. "Destiny" is finally beginning to mature after its second major expansion, "The House of Wolves," dropped this week. One of the biggest aspects of this new expansion is "The Trials of Osiris," a weekly event that begins each Friday and disappears every Tuesday. It went live for the first time at 1 p.m. ET Friday — and players were happy to discover some hidden treasures, while others watched via Twitch and YouTube. The Trials of Osiris is a competitive multiplayer event where teams of three players fight each other in elimination style rounds: win five rounds and you've won the match. Once your team has won nine matches, or lost three matches, the trials are over. You'll win various prizes if you can rack up five wins, or seven wins, or all nine wins. But Bungie had a special surprise waiting for players that rack up nine wins without a single loss... "Ms5oooWatts," a Destiny player who posts her work on Twitch and YouTube, played Trials of Osiris with several other Twitch gamers on Friday afternoon as a "race" to raise money for charity. Here's what she saw once she completed her ninth match. A completely new area of the map opens up to players, for a limited time: The Lighthouse, a new social space on Mercury. Players are even treated to a brief cinematic as they land on this new planet. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Google has a secret, invite-only Slack group for women going to their conference | ||
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Evjen is a digital designer and developer in Phoenix, Arizona, but for the past month, she and hundreds of other women in tech have been chatting online in an invite-only Slack group. This year at Google's I/O conference almost one in four attendees will be a woman. With that, comes a new set of logistics and a new community to build. In Slack, the popular workplace chatting app, the women attending Google I/O are discussing everything from what should be questions during an icebreaker to the latest Game of Thrones. There are channels, which are basically topic chat rooms, for everything from Game of Thrones to android development to Latina women in tech. There's even one called "Hair" for talking about hair styles and awesome colors. "Being a woman in tech can be isolating, which is why it's so important for us to band together and share our collective experiences, passions, and wisdom," said Siena Aguayo, a software engineer at Indiegogo, in an e-mail. "I've been surprised by how many random topics have come up that connect us—and it's not just tech stuff, it's thing like Sailor Moon, Neko Atsume, Japanese food and culture (okay, so maybe a lot of us just really like Japan—I majored in Japanese so I'm no exception)." The Slack channel is also a way for Google to connect to women. Natalie Villalobos, who heads up Google's Women Techmakers program, launched the Slack group a month before the conference so the attendees can talk to each other in a safe space ahead of time. No members of the media, even female, are allowed in the group, and it's limited only to I/O attendees. "I go to conferences myself and sometimes you arrive and it can feel like a big airport. You don't know anyone, no one talks to each other. You have your own agenda, getting from point A to point B," Villalobos said. "I wanted to create a community and culture that provided more for these women going into I/O, so by the time they got to I/O they already felt like a community." Villalobos used the Slack channel to discuss logistics, down to what will be included in the women's bathrooms. She's also polled the group about what to include in an icebreaker game, and the women responded with coming up with their own icebreakers, like riddles or computational examples. "I want Google I/O to feel like it was made for them," Villalobos said. These are small details, but can make a difference to conference attendees, especially first-timers like Evjen and Aguayo who have a better understanding of what to expect. "Going to I/O for the first time, I'm going by myself," Evjen said. "It relieves the stress of not knowing what's going to happen." It's also about the networking opportunities. Evjen joined the Latina women in tech group and was immediately happy to hear that's not alone as a female, Latina mother in tech. "Perhaps it's the very real date of I/O that has put an impetus on people to connect with each other fast," Aguayo said. "I'm interested to see if the community continues after I/O is over—I imagine it has enough traction and momentum to do so." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 awesome Google features you didn't know about  | ||
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Before Google I/O starts next week, Yasmine Evjen already knows which parties she should go to and what happens at the coding labs. She even knows what's going to be stocked in the bathrooms, including This is what consumers want from their connected car — and how they want to pay | ||
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Carmakers are offering a selection of features in their connected cars, with a special focus on entertainment apps and safety-management features. In a new report from BI Intelligence, we look at revenue from connected-car internet services, consumer attitudes to these services and how they will pay for them (including getting ads in return for free content), and the potential for self-driving cars. The report serves as a companion to our connected-car market forecast report. Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:
To access the full report from BI Intelligence, sign up for a 14-day trial here. Members also gain access to new in-depth reports, hundreds of charts and datasets, as well as daily newsletters on the digital industry.
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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People spend an average of six and a half hours per week in their cars, and as dashboards become digital platforms it's creating a massive new market for carmakers, digital-media companies, and even marketers. 
Cybercrime poses a potential existential threat to our society, and we're completely unprepared | ||
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Whether or not Chris Roberts, the security researcher who recently claimed to have hacked into the flight control system of a plane while it was in flight, was telling the truth about his ability to hijack a plane, we've most definitely entered the era of cybercrime. The idea that a criminal group could electronically take control of a plane — or flight control system or power grid — is feasible. As everything connects to the internet we become more and more vulnerable to cybercrime. In February, the world found out that the Carbanak criminal organization had stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world over the past two years, hacking into their systems, transferring money out, and having bank ATMs automatically dispense cash that they then picked up from the machines. These cyber-robberies are still going on, according to the security experts at Kaspersky lab. This is just the very beginning of this cybercrime era, according to Marc Goodman, author of "Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable, And What We Can Do About It," who spoke at Smithsonian Magazine's "The Future is Here" festival. As Goodman explains, right now technological change is occurring at an exponential rate — so fast that our political and legal institutions are completely unable to keep up. Goodman cites Intel's prediction that we'll go from 15 billion internet-connected devices now to 200 billion in 2020. That's an insane number of devices that can be hacked, and as Goodman says, we can't even keep our existing laptops and smartphones and internet servers safe now: Just look at the Target breach, where somewhere around 70 million people had their private data stolen by hackers. "President Obama recently talked about cybersecurity in the State of the Union address and called for enhanced penalties for identity thieves," Goodman said during his talk. "We're going to need to think much much grander if we're going to solve this problem. I think we need a Manhattan Project for cybersecurity."
Goodman isn't anti-technology — he says that the democratization of these powerful tools, which gives ordinary people access to things that governments and large corporations used to control exclusively is "awesome." It's just that the democratization of technology gives those same tools to those who would use them for ill, and many of us don't realize just how vulnerable we are and how much more vulnerable we become as we tie everything to computers. "What most of us don't quite understand is that we are in the first seconds of the first minutes of the first hours of the internet revolution, and there's tremendous change coming in this century," Goodman says. Just like the invention of the train made it easy for criminals to rob a few hundred people at a time instead of a few people in a stagecoach, the internet makes it easy to rob a few thousand or million people. Connecting our cars and pacemakers and planes and power grids to computers gives us access to computing power that was unimaginable decades ago. But it also means that we have security threats that were unimaginable decades ago, which Goodman says is a potential existential threat to society, the sort of thing that needs to be a national priority as big as the space race or the Manhattan project. "If want to have this great modern society we're going to have to protect the critical infrastructures that are running the world," says Goodman. "Today all these computers are hackable, which means that the 21st century modern world that we're building is a digital house of cards that can come crashing down at any moment. We need to protect it because right now, we don't have a backup plan." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Larry Page is wrong — curing death will be a big mistake  | ||
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French adventurer seeks Pacific record with 'flying' boat | ||
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Los Angeles (AFP) - Skimming across the surface of the vast Pacific, Alain Thebault scans the horizon with his blue Breton eyes. He is feeling good. A record is there to be broken. "It's like a magic carpet," Thebault said aboard the cutting-edge "Hydroptere" sailboat, which he hopes to pilot halfway across the Pacific from Los Angeles to Honolulu in record time. Off the California coast under azur-blue skies, Thebault accelerated the hydrofoil supercraft to 30 knots as the 18-meter (60-foot) boat stands on three foils that claw the waves, lifting the hull fully out of the water. The few passengers cling to the side as they experience the sensation of flying for a few moments. "Welcome, it's back to work," Thebault said, smiling as he helmed the vast craft through the shallow waves off the coast of San Pedro, just south of Los Angeles. This is Thebault's first journey in three months on the ship that set a speed sailing record of over 50 knots in 2009, and now he is ready to attempt to best a crossing mark: reaching Hawaii from the City of Angels in under 4.19 days. "We want that record," the fiery and passionate Frenchman said. A key to that goal is to keep the Hydroptere intact. It's broken down four times. "The first challenge is to keep the structure," said the sailor. "It will work well in flight stability between 20 and 29 knots with three-meter swells," Thebault said. "And don't hit floating objects." In June, stars should be aligned for the Hydroptere's journey. The moon will be full to offer some visibility at night. More importantly, financial and legal obstacles have been temporarily overcome. - False starts - It took three years of efforts and false starts to get to this point. To finance the venture, the 52-year-old had to sell his house -- with the blessing of his three daughters. Since then, he also found the remaining cash from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute, among other sponsors. Prince Albert is also sponsoring the Solar Impulse 2, the solar-powered superglider being flown around the world by Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard. "We are very good friends. He is currently in China, and we've agreed to meet in Hawaii, one powered by wind, the other by the sun," he said. The Hydroptere is also planning to film the "great garbage patch," a vast stretch of ocean the size of the US state of Texas awash with plastic and other trash. Six people will be on board for the crossing. Thebault will be accompanied by best buddy Jacques Vincent as well as James Spithill, who won the last America's Cup on another flying catamaran, the AC72. Thebault's mentor Eric Tabarly came up with an experimental foil-cruising catamaran in 1979, and Thebault "flew" the Hydroptere for the first time in 1994. In the meantime flying multi-hull boats have multiplied, including the Flying Phantom, the GC32, the SL33 et the AC45, as well as the AC72. The Frenchman is already working on another prototype expected to race at four times windspeed. "We should be able to go at 80 or even 100 knots," he said. This self-taught adventurer rapidly persuaded experts to follow him, and he is currently working with four retirees from Dassault and Airbus. How much did the Hydroptere cost? "Twenty years of passion," Thebault deadpaned. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Senate blocks bill that would end US bulk data dragnet | ||
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Washington (AFP) - The US Senate rejected legislation early Saturday aimed at reforming NSA intelligence gathering, a blow to President Barack Obama and others who support ending the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records. The House of Representatives passed the measure overwhelmingly last week, with Democrats and Republicans uniting in their desire to rein in the National Security Agency's highly controversial program that scoops up data from millions of Americans with no connection to terrorism. But it got hung up in the Senate, where it fell three votes shy of the 60 necessary to advance in the chamber. The Senate immediately turned to consideration of a two-month extension that would temporarily reauthorize the telephone data dragnet and other parts of the USA Patriot Act which are set to expire June 1 without congressional action. But that bill failed to reach the 60-vote threshold as well. When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed quickly voting on extensions lasting until June 8, or June 5, or even June 3 -- two days after Congress returns from its break -- Republican Senator Rand Paul objected, placing the fate of key national security provisions in jeopardy. In addition to the telephone metadata collection, provisions authorizing roving wiretaps and lone-wolf tracking are also set to expire when the clock strikes midnight at the end of May. With lawmakers scrambling for a solution in the dead of night before the Senate goes on a scheduled one-week break, the White House on Friday drove home the very real prospect that national security operations could lapse on June 1. "There is no plan B," acknowledged White House spokesman Joshua Earnest to reporters. "These are authorities that Congress must legislate (and are) critically important to ensuring that the basic safety and security of the American people is protected, and that the basic civil liberties of the American people are protected." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Cannes race wide open on awards eve | ||
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Cannes (France) (AFP) - The competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival wraps up Saturday with a clutch of favourites jockeying for one of global cinema's most coveted prizes. A Cate Blanchett lesbian love story, a gruelling Auschwitz drama, an all-star tableau on the ravages of age, and a slow-burn martial arts movie from Taiwan all looked well-placed to capture top honours from a jury led by Joel and Ethan Coen. But in one of the tightest races in years, an Italian ode to a dying mother and the pitch-black comedy "The Lobster" about modern love starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz also seemed within striking distance. Audiences swooned over "Carol" by US director Todd Haynes, featuring knock-out performances by Blanchett and Rooney Mara as lovers nearly crushed by the conservative values of their time. It rocketed to the top of critics' "best of" charts after its premiere last Sunday. Another revelation from this year's festival was "Son of Saul" by first-time feature director Laszlo Nemes, which takes film-goers inside the gas chambers of Auschwitz in a way never before seen on screen. Critics hailed the picture for bringing the memory of the Holocaust alive in a visceral way 70 years after the liberation of the camps, as the last survivors enter their twilight years. "The films that win tend to create a completely realised and self-contained universe. 'Son of Saul' does that," Vogue reviewer John Powers told AFP. "The evocation of that universe, the world of Auschwitz, is powerful and exquisitely directed." Peter Bradshaw of London's The Guardian newspaper called it "an astonishing debut film" of "extraordinary focus and courage".
- 'Staggeringly lovely' -
For another frontrunner, Italian Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino corralled a cast of screen legends including Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Jane Fonda in "Youth", about show-business veterans grappling with fading glory. Film industry bible Variety hailed the movie as "an emotionally rich contemplation of life's wisdom gained, lost and remembered". The picture brought Caine back to the French Riviera festival for the first time in five decades, since the premiere of his iconic womaniser movie "Alfie". "'Alfie' won a prize and I didn't so I never came back," he joked to reporters. The art-house crowd also fell hard for "The Assassin" by Taiwanese film-maker Hou Hsiao-Hsien, a glacially paced but stunning tableau of palace intrigue in ninth-century China. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said Hou "blew the roof off one of the biggest theatres" in Cannes with "a staggeringly lovely period film" while movie website Indiewire called it "an epic visual poem". French daily Liberation and the weekly Les Inrockuptibles both pronounced "The Assassin" their pick for the Palme d'Or. Meanwhile many viewers were moved to tears by the latest by Italian auteur Nanni Moretti, "My Mother", about a female filmmaker sent into a tailspin by a career crisis and the loss of a parent. "It is an extraordinarily elegant film," French reviewer Philippe Rouyer of Positif magazine, who put it in the top three films this year along with "The Assassin" and Jia Zhang-Ke's triptych of modern China, "Mountains May Depart". Moretti's star Margherita Buy could walk off with the best actress trophy, if Blanchett or Mara fail to clinch it. For best actor, France's Vincent Lindon moved audiences with a stoic performance as an unemployed man fighting to keep his head above water in "The Measure of a Man", possibly giving "Son of Saul" star Geza Rohrig or Caine and Keitel a run for their money. With "Macbeth" starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in an adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy still set to screen on Saturday, industry watchers said this year's festival had seen a wild range of quality in the main programme. "It's not a particularly strong year but not disappointing by any means," Powers said, predicting a three-way race between "Carol", "The Assassin" and "The Lobster". "No film has really crystallised opinion." Last year's Palme d'Or went to the epic drama about Turkey's internal tensions, "Winter Sleep" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
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Dad-bods, stilettogate, 3D penis: Cannes highlights and lowlights | ||
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Cannes (France) (AFP) - It's been another heady year of giant stars and wooden actors, great films and terrible turkeys at the Cannes Film Festival. Here are the highlights and lowlights from the world's premier film fest on the French Riviera: Tear Factor Several films got the crowds blubbing at this year's festival, especially "Amy", a documentary about the tragically short life of singer Amy Winehouse, and the moving lesbian love affair at the heart of "Carol" starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Plenty of soggy eyes also emerged from "My Mother" about a female director's struggles with love and family. Dad-bods A generous gut proved to be a hit with the critics, with Colin Farrell, Joaquin Phoenix and France's larger-than-life icon Gerard Depardieu sporting flabby "dad bods" in their well-received films, while movies starring more toned stars such as Matthew McConaughey and French heartthrob Jeremie Elkaim took a mauling in the press. Stiletto-gate A social media storm erupted after reports that some women had been turned away from the red carpet for not wearing high heels. Actress Emily Blunt called it "very disappointing". Her director Denis Villeneuve and co-stars Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin vowed to wear heels to the premiere of their film "Sicario", though sadly they turned up in flats in the end. Michael Caine As well as delivering an iconic scene conducting a field of cows in competition entry "Youth", Michael Caine also stole the show with hilarious comments at the press conference during his first trip to Cannes since "Alfie" was shown here in 1962. "'Alfie' won a prize and I didn't so I never came back. I'm not going all that way for nothing," he said. Asked about playing roles at the age of 82, he dead-panned: "The only alternative to playing elderly people is playing dead people. So I'm quite smart, I picked elderly people." 3D Penis The biggest crowds of the week were seen at the midnight showing of "Love", a hyper-sexual 3D film which featured dozens of ultra-explicit sex scenes and some wince-inducing close-ups in director Gaspar Noe's tale of "blood, sperm and tears". Sadly, critics said the tears were mostly the result of boredom, not controversy. B-Movie Mockbusters You've seen "Black Swan", but what about "White Swan"? Or "Darker Shades of Grey"? Or "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies"? You won't catch these features at your local movie theatre, but they and other B-grade flicks did booming business in a market that runs parallel with the festival, thanks to rising demand from China and video-on-demand companies. McConnaissance Stumble The seemingly unstoppable "McConnaissance" -- the astonishing transformation of Matthew McConaughey from romcom jock to Oscar-winning thespian -- hit its first obstacle when his new film "The Sea of Trees" received loud boos and open derision. The story of a man wandering in a Japanese forest where people commit suicide received a slew of one-star reviews. A slightly ashen-looking McConaughey tried to put on a brave face, offering the grammatically questionable: "Anyone has as much right to boo as to they do to ovate." What Selfie Ban? Several stars defied festival director Thierry Fremaux's ban on "ridiculous and grotesque" selfies. Tom Hardy, pushing his action extravaganza "Mad Max: Fury Road" posed on the red carpet for selfies with fans. Salma Hayek also snapped herself during a press conference for "Tale of Tales". Lots of other stars whipped out their smartphones, forcing Fremaux to pretend he had never called for a ban in the first place. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Google aims to patent child toy that pays attention | ||
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San Francisco (AFP) - Google has filed a patent for toys that pay attention to who is in a room and can interact with other media devices. The US Patent and Trademark Office shared diagrams Thursday depicting what resembled rabbit and bear toys with microphones in their ears, cameras in their eyes, speakers in their mouths and motors in their necks. The envisioned devices were described as being able to listen for someone, turn a head to make "eye contact," hear what they say and respond with pre-recorded phrases. The toys would be able to wirelessly communicate using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other means with cloud-based computers or manage other media devices, perhaps turning on songs or movies at children's commands. Patent paperwork proposes that such a toy-like device could serve as an "intelligent remote control" that makes managing home entertainment or automation systems simple. "The anthropomorphic device may be a doll or a toy that resembles a human, an animal, a mythical creature or an inanimate object," the published patent said. The toys could also be imbued with face and voice recognition, making the devices able to recognize who they were "looking at," paperwork showed. The Google patent listed Richard Wayne DeVaul and Daniel Aminzade as inventors. The application for the patent was filed in February of 2012. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Olsen twins to skip 'Full House' reboot | ||
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Los Angeles (AFP) - Twin sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen will not appear in the rebooted version of hit US sitcom "Full House," US media reports said. Robert Boyett, executive producer of the new show -- "Fuller House" -- scheduled to air on Netflix next year, told the Hollywood Reporter neither of the Olsens would star in the follow-up series. The Olsens took turns playing the role of Michelle during the original show, which aired on ABC television between 1987 and 1995. The series, about a widowed news reporter, Danny Tanner, who enlists the help of his best friends to raise his three daughters after his wife is killed in a car crash, ran for 192 episodes. Boyett however said the Olsens, who have since branched out from acting into fashion, had turned down the chance to reprise the role of Michelle. "Although Ashley and Mary-Kate will not be a part of 'Fuller House,' I know how much 'Full House' has meant to them and they are still very much considered family," Boyett said. "It has been exciting to see how they have built their professional careers, and I support their choice to focus on their fashion brands and various business endeavors. "I appreciate their support and good wishes towards 'Fuller House'." The new series will revolve around the eldest daughter of the Tanner clan, D.J., played by original cast member Candace Cameron-Bure, as she also attempts to grapple with widowhood with the help of her friends. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Ireland awaits count in historic gay marriage vote | ||
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Dublin (AFP) - Ireland waited Saturday to learn the outcome of a historic referendum on same-sex marriage, with crowds of anxiously optimistic "Yes" supporters expected at Dublin Castle to hear the result. Counting was due to begin at 9:00 am (0800 GMT) in 43 constituencies across the country, with the smallest among them expected to start producing results from midday. The nationwide result is expected in the afternoon. Around 3.2 million people were eligible to vote in Friday's referendum, and reports suggest there was a higher than expected turnout -- a testament to the passions the issue has inspired. Legalising gay marriage would be a seismic change in the traditionally Catholic republic, where homosexuality was illegal until 1993 and abortion remains prohibited except where the mother's life is in danger. Opinion polls forecast a comfortable victory for the "Yes" campaign. However, supporters have been warning for weeks of a large block of 'shy', largely rural and elderly "No" voters, who have not been as vocal in the campaign. State broadcaster RTE said polling stations were recording a higher turnout than usual for referendums, with voting levels in cities such as Dublin, Limerick and Waterford predicted to top 60 percent. It said large numbers of young voters were noted across the country, with queues stretching outside some polling stations during the early morning and late evening peaks. In a sign of how much interest the referendum has attracted, the government announced that the 2,000-capacity grounds of Dublin Castle would be open to the public to hear the official result announcement. - Ireland can 'never go back' - All Ireland's main political parties, including the conservatives, supported amending the constitutional definition of marriage. Gerry Adams, president of the socialist Sinn Fein opposition party, said Friday's referendum brought the issues of "inclusion and equality to the fore". "Whatever the final outcome, the issue of equality for gay and lesbian citizens is a live political issue," he said. If the move is approved and the ensuing legislation is passed, Ireland would become the first country to make the change following a popular vote. It would be the 19th country in the world to legalise gay marriage, and the 14th in Europe. Across the border in Northern Ireland, gay marriage is banned even though it is legal in the rest of the United Kingdom. The Yes Equality group, the driving force behind the "Yes" campaign, said the referendum would "inspire other countries to pursue and secure true equality". Group co-director Brian Sheehan said that "regardless of the outcome of the campaign, Ireland can and will never go back to what it was". - Emigrants return to vote - "Yes" voters living around the world travelled home to have their say in the referendum. A group of around 30 Irish people living in London arrived on the ferry into Dublin in high spirits, carrying banners and balloons and singing Elton John's hit "Are You Ready For Love". "The scale and scope of the support for this referendum from Irish abroad has been incredible and has really made me feel very hopeful and lifted up my spirits," Joey Kavanagh, who organised the "Get the Boat 2 Vote" group, told AFP. "There are so many Irish immigrants who have left the country mainly for economic reasons in the past few years, but many of them intend to come back, and they want to play their part in shaping a better Ireland." Voters were asked whether or not to add an article to the Irish constitution saying: "Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex." The Catholic Church campaigned strongly for a "No" vote, insisting marriage can only involve a man and woman, and many older and rural voters agreed with the clergy. "It's far too radical a step. I want to protect marriage and the stability of children," said Rachael Stanley, 60, voting in the south Dublin suburb of Milltown. The majority of Irish people identify themselves as Catholic, although the Church's influence has waned amid growing secularisation and after a wave of child sex abuse scandals that badly discredited the hierarchy. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Wild card Australia seeks upset at Eurovision pop fest | ||
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Vienna (Austria) (AFP) - Australian singer Guy Sebastian will try to beat the Europeans at their own game in Vienna on Saturday night in the 60th annual Eurovision Song Contest, the uproarious pop extravaganza. But as Australia's maiden entry in the annual jamboree of the camp, the catchy and the corny from 1900 GMT, and watched by some 200 million people worldwide, achieving victory will be tough -- and a major upset. "It's very overwhelming. I've been fortunate enough to perform on various different stages but when you get on that Eurovision stage it's like nothing else I've ever done in my life," Sebastian said. Eurovision has a cult following in Australia, which led to the special invitation to mark six decades of the show. Chiseled Mans Zelmerlow of perennial favourites Sweden -- home of ABBA, whose 1974 victory with "Waterloo" propelled them to global fame -- is the top pick among bookmakers to win with the upbeat "Heroes". Stiff competition also comes from Russian Polina Gagarina with "A Million Voices", a paean to peace that she hopes will silence the boos that Russia's entry got last year after the annexation of Crimea. Others in with a chance are Italian pop opera Il Vole, Belgian Loic Nottet, Estonian duo Elina Born and Stig Rasta or Morrland and Debrah Scarlett of Norway -- the country that holds the record for scoring zero points the most times. Long shots among the 27 finalists include Ann Sophie of Germany -- whose first-choice act withdrew -- Knez of Montenegro and Poland's Monika Kuszynska, confined to a wheelchair since a car crash in 2006. Geopolitics will again be present this year with Armenia's ballad -- described by Austrian magazine Profil as "feeling as long as a Wagner opera" -- widely seen as being about the 1915 mass killings by Ottoman Turkey. Turkey, which refuses to recognise the killings as genocide, has been absent from Eurovision since 2012. Another no-show is Ukraine, cash-strapped from the conflict with Russian-backed rebels in its east. France's entry, "N'oubliez pas" ("Don't forget") by Lisa Angell, is to mark the centenary of the start of World War I -- one year late, some might say -- and prospects for France's first victory since 1977 are slim.
- Turkeys, orcs and babushkas -
Mostly though the riotous anything-goes affair, open to the 56 members of the European Broadcasting Union and a world away from its civilised black-and-white beginnings, is about not taking life too seriously. Previous entries have included six Russian grannies, Ireland's irreverent Dustin the Turkey and Finnish heavy metal outfit Lordi -- looking like orcs from "Lord of the Rings" -- who won in 2006 with "Hard Rock Hallelujah". The lyrics often make no sense, if they are in any recognised language at all, like "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by golden-booted Swedish Mormon brothers Herreys in 1984, "La La La" in 1968 or Lulu's "Boom-Bang-A-Bang" in 1969. And who can forget the chorus to Austria's 1977 entry: "Boom boom boomerang, snadderydang. Kangaroo, boogaloo, didgeridoo. Ding dong, sing the song, hear the guitar twang. Kojak, hijack, me and you." The event has also long stressed tolerance for the unconventional, as witnessed by Israeli transgender Dana International in 1998, Ukraine's Verka Serduchka in 2007 and bearded Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst in 2014. Conchita's message -- she will fly into the stage by trapeze at the start of the contest -- has been enthusiastically adopted by Viennese authorities, including with special gay-themed traffic lights. "I like the feeling because it's a little bit trashy but it's also very exciting," said one German fan attending for the first time. "I have loved this show for 15 years and watch it every year on television." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Gunfight kills 43 in troubled Mexican state | ||
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Tanhuato de Guerrero (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexican federal forces killed 42 suspected drug cartel members during a three-hour-long gunfight in a ranch in a violence-torn western region, marking one of the drug war's bloodiest battles. Only one federal police officer was killed in the operation, which authorities launched after learning that "armed criminals" were occupying the ranch in Tanhuato, Michoacan state, near the neighboring state of Jalisco, officials said. "Up to now, we have counted 42 suspected criminals killed and three more detained," said National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido. Rubido said the death toll was a "preliminary figure," suggesting the number could rise as investigators comb the vast property. While he did not name the gang by name, Rubido said it was based in Jalisco, home of the New Generation drug cartel, a powerful heavily-armed group that has become the top target of President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration. The cartel, which has links to gangs as far away as Asia and trafficks drugs to the United States, has taken Mexican authorities head-on this year, killing 20 police officers in two ambushes in March and April. On May 1, the government launched Operation Jalisco against the cartel. That same day, the gang killed seven troops and a policewoman when they downed a military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.
- Intense gunfight -
Friday's clash began when troops and police spotted a carload of gunmen, who shot at the security forces and fled into the ranch, Rubido told reporters. "Warned about the presence of federal forces, the rest of the suspected criminals who occupied the property began to attack our comrades with intensity," he said. "The clash went on sporadically for about three hours, in at least three points in the property," Rubido said, adding that a federal police helicopter was called in to back up the land forces. The suspects dispersed into crop fields, "which complicated the operation," Rubido said, noting that the ranch measures 112 hectares (276 acres) and includes a house and a warehouse. The warehouse and six vehicles burned during the gunfight. Explaining the lopsided death toll, Rubido said the authorities avoided more casualties on their side "thanks to the training and equipment of federal forces that participated in the actions." Officials seized 36 assault rifles, a rocket launcher and a powerful .50-caliber rifle, along with a number of cartridges. Some 500 federal police and troops were guarding the El Sol ranch following the morning clash. Michoacan and Jalisco have endured some of the worst violence in a drug war that began to escalate in 2006, when the government deployed troops to combat cartels. More than 80,000 people have been killed and another 22,000 gone missing nationwide in the past nine years. The western region poses one of the toughest security challenges facing Pena Nieto since he took office in December 2012.
- Mass graves, dead candidate -
Tanhuato is a short drive from the Jalisco town of La Barca, where 64 bodies were unearthed from mass graves in 2013. In April, the New Generation cartel killed 15 state police officers on a highway near the Jalisco village of Soyatan. A month earlier, the gang killed five federal police gendarmes in the town of Ocotlan. Tanhuato is also near Yurecuaro, a Michoacan town where a former vigilante leader who was running for mayor was shot dead during a campaign event last week. The Yurecuaro candidate, Enrique Hernandez of the leftist Morena party, was killed by gunmen in a vehicle, while three people were wounded. Farmers formed vigilante forces in Michoacan in 2013 to drive out the Knights Templar drug cartel, which fought the New Generation but has been weakened by arrests of its top leaders.
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US Senate approves fast-track trade authority for Obama | ||
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Washington (AFP) - The US Senate overcame bitter divisions on trade policy and passed legislation that gives President Barack Obama authority to swiftly conclude a landmark Pacific Rim trade accord. The measure, which now heads to the House of Representatives, allows the administration to finalize negotiations with 11 other nations and bring the trade deal to Congress for an up-or-down vote, with lawmakers not permitted to make changes. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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GM could be held criminally liable for deaths related to its massive ignition recall | ||
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The Justice Department says it has found criminal wrongdoing on the part of General Motors for its failure to publicize an ignition defect responsible for the deaths of at least 104 people. Investigators are now negotiating what could be a record penalty for the automaker, the New York Times reports. A settlement could be reached as soon as this summer. The Times cites people familiar with the matter who say the fines GM may be ordered to pay could far exceed the more than $1 billion levied against Toyota last year for its handling of unintended acceleration defects in some of its vehicles. The manner of misconduct to which GM will admit is among some of the terms being negotiated by the automaker and the Justice Department. Some former employees of GM are also reportedly under investigation. General Motors' ignition recall stems from faulty switches that would cause the ignitions on some of its vehicles to inadvertently switch to the "off" position – often by something as simple as a heavy key ring. The defect would cause vehicles to lose power, and disable crucial instruments like power steering and even cause the airbags to fail.
The company reportedly recognized the problem as early as 2001, and in 2005, GM rejected proposals to fix it because it was deemed too expensive. Millions of GM vehicles have been recalled as a result, affecting models across the General Motors lineup, spanning about a decade. GM appointed attorney Kenneth Feinberg last year to evaluate recall claims. The company was offering at least $1 million to the families of people who died in crashes related to the defect. As of March this year, GM has paid $200 million to settle some of the claims. SEE ALSO: Texas says no to Tesla direct sales Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Chicago Factory Wall Collapse Left A Dozen Cars Buried In Salt  | ||
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Djokovic on brink of Grand Slam history in Paris | ||
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Paris (AFP) - Novak Djokovic can become just the eighth man to complete the career Grand Slam with a maiden French Open victory, but the world number one fears fate may conspire against him in Paris. Djokovic, who turned 28 on Friday, is the overwhelming favourite to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires and claim his ninth career Grand Slam title. Victory would take him alongside Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as a winner of all four majors. It would also take him halfway to a calendar Grand Slam, a challenge so daunting that only Budge (1938) and Laver (1962 and 1969) have managed to pull it off. Djokovic comes into Paris riding a 22-match winning streak, a season which has already seem him capture a fifth Australian Open as well as Masters titles in Indian Wells, Miami and on clay at Monte Carlo and Rome. However, the Serb has been in this situation before. In 2011, he entered the French Open as hot favourite but saw a 43-match winning sequence ended by Federer in the semi-finals. A year later, Djokovic was defeated by Nadal in a four-set final which was completed on the third Monday because of rain. In 2013, it was the Spaniard who again came out on top, this time in the semi-finals despite Djokovic having led 4-2 in the fifth set. Twelve months ago, Nadal claimed his ninth title as Djokovic wilted once more in the championship match. No surprise then to see Djokovic, whose overall 2015 record reads 35 wins and just two losses, trying to contain the hype ahead of his 11th French Open. His caution increased after Friday's draw which lined him up to possibly face Nadal in the quarter-finals and third seed Andy Murray in the semi-finals. "I have had this particular situation before, and especially in the last two years where I was coming into Roland Garros and people speculating, is this the year or not?," said Djokovic who faces Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen in the first round.
- 'This year or not?' -
"I was very close a few times. Didn't manage to do it, but that doesn't discourage me to not keep on going. I'm here once again with a purpose, with a reason, and I will try to get myself in a position to win." Nadal goes into the French Open with his astonishing record of nine titles, 66 wins and just one loss in Paris. But the 28-year-old defending champion has slumped to seven in the world, his lowest ranking since 2005, the year of his maiden Roland Garros title. Nadal heads for Paris without a European claycourt title for the first time in a decade. "I don't need to lie to create better expectation. When I say I don't know what's gonna happen, I really don't know what's gonna happen," said the 14-time major winner who begins his 11th Paris campaign against 18-year-old Frenchman Quentin Halys, the world number 304. "I am gonna try to put my game in a position that's gonna give me the chance. If I am able to do it, I have enough experience here." Federer, who meets lucky loser Alejandro Falla of Colombia in Sunday's opener, completed the career Grand Slam with his only French Open triumph in 2009. A five-time finalist, the 33-year-old has endured steadily diminishing returns in Paris with a 2011 runners-up spot followed by the semi-finals in 2012, a quarter-final exit in 2013 and a shock fourth round defeat to Ernests Gulbis 12 months ago, Federer, who won the last of his record 17 majors at Wimbledon in 2012, believes it would be foolish to write off Nadal. "It's going to be best-of-five sets. We know how tough Rafa is physically and mentally. He is the favourite still to me." World number three Murray has surprisingly emerged as Djokovic's greatest threat. After failing to lift a claycourt trophy in 10 years of trying, the Scot suddenly won two in the space of six days in Munich and Madrid. The 28-year-old has a 10-0 record on clay this year and has twice been a semi-finalist at the French Open.
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Mourinho wants champs Chelsea to finish on a high | ||
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London (AFP) - Jose Mourinho has urged his Chelsea side to set one more landmark before they receive the Premier League trophy following their final game of the season against Sunderland on Sunday. There will be a party atmosphere at Stamford Bridge as the home crowd hail Mourinho and his players at the end of a triumphant campaign which saw the Blues crowned English champions for the first time since 2010. In addition, Mourinho was this week named manager of the year, while Belgium playmaker Eden Hazard won the football writers' player of the year having already been handed a similar honour by his fellow players. Almost forgotten in the march to the title, Chelsea also lifted the League Cup, secured with victory over Tottenham in the Wembley final back in March. And should they avoid defeat against a Sunderland side who secured their place in the top-flight status with a midweek draw at Arsenal, they will complete the season having lost just four games in all competitions, the lowest total since the inception of the Premier League in 1992 and beating Manchester United's mark of five in 1999. Mourinho insists he is unconcerned about the trappings of success, although he admits he will keep his title winners silverware this year after throwing his medal into the crowd after his second championship triumph with the club in 2006. "The trophy, the silver piece, means less than the feeling. The reality is that the real feeling for me personally is when you do it," Mourinho said. "I will keep it this time; my son is collecting all my stuff and keeps everything. He steals everything from me, shirts, medals, cups. "The motivation for us is to be champions and for Sunderland not to be relegated. "We've celebrated already, they've celebrated these last fantastic weeks which they've had with good results. There is a last match, obviously we want to win and so do they, that's normal." - Ring the changes - Hazard is expected to be sidelined after having three wisdom teeth removed this week, while Kurt Zouma, Oscar and Ramires are also out and Cesc Fabregas is suspended. Sunderland head coach Dick Advocaat is set to ring the changes after his side capped their impressive revival under his leadership by guaranteeing another top-flight season. Swedish midfielder Seb Larsson suffered a knee problem in the Emirates Stadium stalemate, and is set to miss out, along with Lee Cattermole, who is likely to be rested as he would trigger a three-game suspension at the start of next season were he to earn a 15th yellow card of the campaign on Sunday. Youngsters Duncan Watmore, who was this week called up to England's Under-20 squad, Tommy Robson and Liam Agnew are all set to be involved in the squad. Advocaat's future remains undecided, after Sunderland indicated to the Dutchman they were keen for him to stay on after he guided them to safety in the penultimate game of his temporary nine-match stint in charge. After clinching a ninth consecutive season in the top-flight, the Wearside club want the 67-year-old to remain in charge long-term. Advocaat has so-far refused to be drawn on the situation until after the visit to Stamford Bridge, where his side hope to increase their four-point advantage on the relegation zone by posting a six-game unbeaten run to end the campaign. The former Netherlands and Glasgow Rangers head coach has already earned cult status during his two months at the Stadium of Light, and he said: "My future is something I will make a decision on soon after the end of the season." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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'Daredevil' is the top-rated show on Netflix, and these highlights show why | ||
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Marvel's "Daredevil" is the top-rated show on Netflix Instant! At 4.6 out of 5 stars, it is a tenth of a point higher than "House of Cards," "Breaking Bad," and "Sherlock" (tied only with "Alive Inside," a documentary about Alzheimer's). If it's not getting more buzz, that may be because it's a superhero show, and some people still think those are for kids. What's more, it's not blowing up box offices like "The Avengers"; it's only on Netflix, and anyway the California company doesn't release ratings. Wake up, people: "Daredevil" is a masterpiece, and it's got a wide appeal. Created by Drew Goddard, the 13-episode series tells the story of a blind lawyer who fights crime as a vigilante in Hell's Kitchen. Don't let the pulp plot intimidate you: Goddard, who has worked with "Avengers" mastermind Joss Whedon on projects dating back to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," knows how to keep it real. Every episode I've watched so far is a work of art: beautiful production, tight plotting, sharp dialogue, good acting. The latest — Ep. 5 "World On Fire" — was my favorite yet. Keep reading to see screenshotted highlights from the episode, which you should be able to appreciate even if you haven't seen the show. There are some spoilers but nothing major. The opening scene is snappy, as Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) gets to know the vigilante, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox). "Do you have a job or something to get to or are you one of those billionaire playboys I'm always hearing about?" she asks. "No, I have a job." "Damn, I thought I'd lucked out." In a poetic exchange, the blind man describes his enhanced other senses. "You just opened one of the cuts on your back," he says. "How do you know?" "The taste. Copper in the air." ... After he touches her: "The swelling's down. Rib fracture's only a hairline. I couldn't tell before." "You have X-ray fingers now?" "I can hear your bones shift when you breathe. No grinding means nothing's broken." "What does a hairline fracture sound like?" "An old ship." "What do you actually see?" she asks. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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THE PROGRAMMATIC-ADVERTISING REPORT: Mobile, video, and real-time bidding drive growth in programmatic | ||
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The embrace of programmatic ad-buying tools is fueling a dramatic uptick in the share of digital ads sold through programmatic platforms, particularly those focused on real-time bidding or RTB. Total US programmatic ad revenue will top nearly $15 billion this year, according to BI Intelligence estimates. RTB, particularly mobile and video RTB, are spearheading growth. In this all-new in-depth research from BI Intelligence that updates our popular July 2014 report on programmatic, we find that the US digital-ad market will reach a programmatic "tipping-point": For the first time this year, programmatic transactions will be a majority (52%) of non-search digital-ad spend. We estimate 30.6% of total digital-ad spend will go to programmatic real-time bidding (RTB) platforms, and 21.7% will go to non-RTB programmatic. Access The Full 21-Page Report And Data Sets By Signing Up For A Trial Membership » Here are some of the key takeaways:
The report is full of charts, data, and case studies that can easily be downloaded and put to use. In full, the report:
To access the full report from BI Intelligence, sign up for a 14-day trial here. Members also gain access to new in-depth reports, hundreds of charts and datasets, as well as daily newsletters on the digital industry. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget Kim Kardashian — the 'butt selfie' queen of Instagram is a 21-year-old from Long Island  | ||
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The 31-year-old convicted of running a huge criminal website asks to be spared a life sentence | ||
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Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind the Web's most famous black market, has run out of options and is now pleading with a judge not to send him to prison for life, Bloomberg reports. Prosecutors said that Ulbricht was the "Dread Pirate Roberts," the person who ran the infamous online marketplace called Silk Road where people could buy just about anything, especially drugs. Ulbricht was convicted in February. And with sentencing scheduled for May 29, Ulbricht, 31, is now asking for mercy from the court. He sent a letter to the Manhattan federal judge asking to be spared the maximum penalty, life in prison, Bloomberg reports. In the letter he called Silk Road a "naive and costly idea." Prosecutors said Silk Road helped transact about $200 million worth of anonymous drug sales using the virtual currency bitcoin and that drugs bought from Silk Road were linked to six overdose deaths. Ulbricht's defense attorneys at first argued that Ulbricht was not Dread Pirate Roberts. After his conviction, they argued that Ulbricht should get a new trial because he wasn't allowed to review materials demonstrating his innocence, but a judge rejected the request for a new trial, calling evidence of Ulbricht's guilt "overwhelming." Then they argued that Silk Road made buying drugs safer. Although Silk Road is gone, there are other sites engaged in questionable online activities accessible through a part of the internet known as the "dark web" or "deep web." Ulbricht's sentence could serve as a warning to those others. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch these giant container ships collide near the Suez Canal  | ||
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Amazon is launching an Etsy killer (AMZN) | ||
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Amazon is introducing Amazon Handmade, a marketplace for handmade goods, aimed directly at competing with Etsy, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. The way that Amazon is recruiting sellers for Amazon Handmade is typically aggressive: Select Etsy sellers are receiving targeted emails urging them to come over to Amazon. "We’re offering artisans like you a first peek at Handmade, a new marketplace for handcrafted goods,” the emails say, per that Wall Street Journal report. The news comes just days after Etsy shares tanked 24% after reporting earnings — its first-ever earnings report as a public company — at a net loss of 84 cents per share. While Etsy has 20.8 million "active buyers," the company says, analysts believe its growth is hampered by the spread of mass manufactured and counterfeit goods, as well as items that infringe on intellectual property. Meanwhile, Amazon has a bunch of legs up over Etsy here, including access to its vast Amazon Prime shipping and distribution network and 278 million active accounts. One important thing we don't know yet: the commission structure for Amazon Homemade. Etsy takes 3.5% of the price and a flat 20 cents per listing, but Amazon charges its own 3rd-party sellers a 15% commission. If Amazon sticks to that structure, it'll have trouble luring Etsy sellers away. SEE ALSO: A Twitter cofounder's VC firm just raised a $123,456,789 fund to build 'world-positive' companies Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Jeff Bezos: Why I Always Tell Employees Not To Pat Themselves When Our Stock Is Up  | ||
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9 Facebook facts you weren’t aware of (FB) | ||
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But how much do you know about its actual users? Marketing firm Wishpond put together 40 of the latest facts and stats about Facebook. We’ve narrowed it down to 9 of the most interesting findings. Facebook isn't getting too old. 87% of the class of 2014 (high school) indicated they "still" use Facebook. Almost 70% of teens are also friends with their parents on Facebook. But Facebook may not be all that safe. 66% of teenage girls claim to have been bullied on Facebook. Facebook post interactions shot up more than 225% on the day a user changed their relationship status. But only 28% of newlyweds changed their Facebook status within hours of getting married. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Why it totally makes sense for Snapchat to invest in shopping startup Spring | ||
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Snapchat is investing in shopping app Spring, according to Re/code. Spring is a mobile app like a virtual mall, where items from hundreds of brands can be purchased with a pre-uploaded credit card and a single button swipe. Neither Spring nor Snapchat would confirm the investment to me. (A Snapchat spokesperson rushed me off the phone, saying they needed to eat. A Spring spokesperson would only comment about the upcoming Rangers game.) But I don't think either company would let a rumor like that fly around if it wasn't true. So, operating under the assumption that Snapchat is investing in Spring, why might it do that? I have a working theory. It's not proven, but I've run it by a few industry insiders who think it's credible. The easy answer: Snapchat wants to dabble in social commerce, and it's cheaper to invest than to buySnapchat has purchased a few smaller startups, but this is the first we've heard about it making an investment in one. Scan.me is Snapchat's largest-known acquisition to date; the transaction was about $50 million in cash and stock. Even though Spring is less than a year old, Spring would cost significantly more than that to buy. It has raised more than $30 million to date and even though Snapchat has raised nearly $1 billion, it might not want to drop $100 million+ to buy a company it just wants to test out. An investment is a good way to experiment with ecommerce without diving all in. Some ecommerce initiatives from Snapchat are already known, like Snapcash, which lets friends exchange money via debit cards with each other in chats. Following and aiding Spring's progress could be another. The social e-commerce space is heating up: Facebook, Twitter and Google are all messing around with buy buttons, and Facebook hired David Marcus away from PayPal, which signals that payments could be in the company's future. Another idea: Snapchat wants to launch Discover, but for e-commerce brands and shoppingMore strategically, Snapchat could be gearing up for another big launch. Specifically, Snapchat could launch another channel like Discover, but for shopping. The channel could partner with a few select brands, like Discover does with Vice and ESPN, but instead of browsing top news stories you'd browse top products, like a mini virtual and social mall. And guess what Spring is? A mini virtual mall. Snapchat has been pretty pleased by its four-month-old Discover channel, which has been yielding millions of daily views for its 11 partnering media companies. It's not hard to imagine Snapchat launching other channels, like for shopping and maybe music, down the line. E-commerce may not be Snapchat's next big monetization push, but the company is in experimental mode, trying to figure out how to become a big revenue-generating business. And that means trying a bunch of things, maybe even something like Spring. I ran my new-shopping/Discover theory by Snapchat. I was told (jokingly), "If you want a job as a product manager we’d probably totally hire you." Then more seriously, "We’re not going to comment on Spring but what you said is not rooted in reality." "What do you mean by 'reality' specifically?" I asked. "All reality?" Then, I got a laugh. SEE ALSO: Snapchat is getting serious about advertising Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It's dangerously easy to record Snapchats without the other person knowing  | ||
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The next Porsche 911 will be a plug-in hybrid | ||
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Porsche is already working on the next generation of the beloved 911. It's still four to five years away, according to Car and Driver, but among some of the notable changes in the pipeline, one that caught our attention is this: the new 911 may be available as a plug-in hybrid. The folks at Car and Driver cite sources familiar with the details who say the hybrid would "draw from technologies developed for other Porsche models." The hybrid version of the 911 would be among the turbocharged 6-cylinder engines that would power the majority of units rolling off German assembly lines. High-end automakers have been diving deep into alternative fuel technologies for a few years now. Ferrari, McLaren, Koenigsegg and Porsche all produce their own electric/gas-powered supercars, each pushing between about 900 and 1,000 horsepower. Porsche also sells plug-in hybrid versions of its slightly more modest Panamera sedan and the brawny Cayenne SUV, each producing a combined 416 horsepower from their gas and electric powerplants. As exciting as these advances are, Tesla still holds the crown for being the only automaker mass-producing a super-fast electric car that requires no gas at all, the 691-horsepower Model S P85D.
SEE ALSO: The muscle car is over Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: We put a GoPro on a $315,000 Ferrari  | ||
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