10 things in tech you need to know today | ||
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Good morning! Here are the 10 things in tech you need to know this Tuesday. 1. Facebook wants to build a new €200 million data centre in Ireland. The renewably-powered facility is planned for the town of Clonee, and will bring the social networking giant's Irish workforce to more than 1,000. 2. The UK tech scene is far more diverse than the US scene. That's according to a new study from startup accelerator Wayra. 3. US payment startup Stripe could crush one of Europe's hottest fintech firms. Stripe is launching in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland this week — putting it in direct competition with Klarna, a rival Swedish online payment company valued at £650 million ($1 billion). 4. Facebook has launched a new photo-sharing app called Moments. It uses facial recognition to detect who is in photos stored on your phone and asks if you want to send the images to them. 5. One-word messaging app Yo is attempting to make a comeback with Yo 2.0. The update will let users send photo messages or their location, as well as the word "Yo," and could help brands monetise their followings on the service. 6. 13 European startups became "unicorns" valued at more than $1 billion over the last 12 months. The list includes TransferWise, Shazam, and Rocket Internet — and is a massive jump from the just three new unicorns created a year before that. 7. Microsoft just made 2 big announcements that will seriously worry Sony. At the E3 gaming conference, the company announced an extensive backwards-compatibility program for the Xbox One, and is also partnering with games company Valve and its virtual reality headset — in addition to its partnership with Facebook's Oculus Rift. (Oh, and wildly popular game Minecraft is also coming to Microsoft's augmented reality headset HoloLens.) 8. LastPass, one of the most popular password security companies, has admitted it was hacked. The app lets users use just one strong password to log into all their services, but it has now been attacked. This doesn't necessarily mean that every password stored using the service has been compromised, however. 9. Evernote CEO Phil Libin wants to step down. Libin considers himself a "product person" and feels the company needs a "professional" CEO. 10. Facebook is being taken to court because it allegedly violated European privacy rules. Belgium’s privacy commission is suing Facebook over alleged violations of Belgian and European privacy laws. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Facebook tried to copy Apple with its big Oculus unveiling and it failed miserably  | ||
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Some 'Destiny' players are getting locked out of their accounts after 'The Taken King' announcement | ||
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If you purchased the Digital Guardian Edition of "Destiny" at any point, you might be unable to access the game right now. Some players (myself included) are unable to enter their games through the PlayStation 4 dashboard, instead seeing an option to pre-order "The Taken King," which was just announced Monday night. These "Destiny" players are instead seeing notices that read "Playable in 90 days."
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Mark Cuban explains why downloading Snapchat is a huge mistake  | ||
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Sony's bringing back classic gamepads for its new game console | ||
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It may not look "modern" anymore, but the flat greys of Sony's early PlayStation hardware brings wide smiles to those of us who grew up playing classics like "Resident Evil" and "Final Fantasy." Though years of play wore down the originals, Sony's issuing original PlayStation-themed gamepads and headphones in honor of the orig nal console's 20th anniversary. They look like this: The brand's seen a variety of applications in the past 20 years: four home game consoles, two handheld game consoles, countless services, peripherals and, now, a virtual reality headset, all branded "PlayStation." The gamepad, however, is especially iconic. Sony's "DualShock" line of gamepads has become a modern symbol for gaming, both literally and figuratively. When you're clicking through a menu of media types on a modern phone, a regular stand-in for the word "games" is a gamepad that looks distinctly similar to the classic DualShock design. The design set a standard for modern gamepad design. Both Nintendo and Microsoft took cues from Sony's original DualShock controller design when looking to their own gamepads. Ironically, the first DualShock controllers were introduced two years after the original PlayStation launched; the gamepad seen above is intended to celebrate the original console's anniversary, not the gamepad itself. The 20th anniversary edition DualShock 4 gamepad for the PlayStation 4 and Wireless Headset arrive this September, for $64.99 and $99.99 (respectively). The nostalgia is free. SEE ALSO: PlayStation's flagship game looks absolutely stunning AND: Sony's going to beat Apple to the a la carte TV game Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: PlayStation's flagship game looks absolutely stunning  | ||
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The next 'Destiny' expansion is coming in September, and it looks pretty terrifying | ||
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"Destiny," from Bungie, the makers of "Halo," was one of the most anticipated games of the decade. And now, after two expansion packs with the second one launching just last month, Bungie on Monday night officially unveiled "The Taken King." The new expansion pits players — Guardians, in "Destiny" vernacular — against a demon called Oryx. Guardians should be somewhat familiar with Oryx at this point: his name was referenced many times in the first "Destiny" expansion, "The Dark Below," and he's the father of Crota, the main boss from that first expansion's raid activity. In "The Taken King," Guardians will no longer be the ones hunting; they'll be the ones hunted, instead, by the Hive King Oryx and his army of possessed beings. Details are scarce on the actual storyline right now, but it sounds like players will play on some familiar territories, as well as some new areas like one of the rings of Saturn. And since there's a big new threat on the horizon, Bungie is giving Guardians plenty of new firepower: Beyond new weapons and gear, including some awesome PlayStation exclusives like an exotic scout rifle called "The Jade Rabbit," each Guardian class is finally going to get a new subclass: Titans will be able to wield flaming hammers, Hunters will be able to shoot arrows made of void energy, and Warlocks will be able to shoot lightning from their fingertips. Check out these screens from the reveal trailer:
Gulp. "Destiny: The Taken King" hits September 15. Pre-order it here. SEE ALSO: 'Destiny' is way better than it was nine months ago Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Mark Cuban explains why downloading Snapchat is a huge mistake  | ||
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PlayStation's flagship game looks absolutely stunning | ||
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Sony just concluded its pre-E3 press conference by showing off 7 minutes of gameplay from its upcoming flagship game "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End." Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Sony's going to beat Apple to the a la carte TV game | ||
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Sony just threw down the gauntlet on per-channel, streaming TV subscriptions (aka "the inevitable future of television"). PlayStation president and group CEO Andrew House told attendees of its E3 2015 press conference: "Starting in July, we will begin offering a la carte channels nationwide, and will be the first paid TV service to allow users to subscribe to individual channels without the purchase of a multi-channel bundle." That is huge. Before Apple, or any of the major cable companies did it, Sony is taking charge on individual channel television subscriptions. More simply: pay what you want, for what you want. No required bundle; no minimum package – just pay for what channels you want to watch. It sounds too good given the current TV subscription market. And, at launch this July, it won't be that great. For starters, only three channels are being offered at launch: Showtime, Fox Soccer Plus, and a "new, exclusive channel from Machinima." So even though Sony's PlayStation Vue service – the TV service it operates through its PlayStation consoles, currently on a traditional cable package pricing model – carries local programming, you won't be able to choose any of it at launch. Nor will you be able to pay for and watch any of the other channels, like Food Network or TLC or Nickelodeon (among many others).
Still, it's a start, and the move puts pressure on not just Apple, but also the content providers (to say nothing of the pressure exerted by HBO Now, HBO's standalone service that essentially offers an individual channel subscription). Apple's version of streaming TV was reportedly delayed from a recent announcement – many expected it to offer some version of a la carte programming subscriptions, pushing back on the traditional model of bundles of channels sold as subscriptions. PlayStation Vue is currently available in five major cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. The a la carte service goes live this July with three channels to start; Vue will go live nationwide at some point in 2015, according to Sony. A $2 discount will be offered for customers who subscribe to the PlayStation Plus paid membership program, per channel, though Sony hasn't specified how much just yet. To start, Showtime will cost $11/month, FOX Soccer Plus will cost $15/month, and Machinima channel will cost $4/month; it looks like a range of pricing will be offered from channel to channel, depending on content and provider. SEE ALSO: Here's the adorable PlayStation game Sony's been working on for the past 8 years AND: You'll be able to battle robot dinosaurs in the next game from the developers of 'Killzone' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It looks like 'Star Wars' fans are finally getting the video game they deserve  | ||
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You'll be able to battle robot dinosaurs in the next game from the developers of 'Killzone' | ||
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Sony just showed off a bunch of new games at its E3 conference Monday evening. One of the most intriguing is a new franchise from Guerilla Games, the developers behind "Killzone," in which you get to go up against robotic-like dinosaur creatures in a post-apocalyptic world. Yes. Robotic dinosaurs.
Of course, there's just those pesky robots to deal with. The game looks incredibly gorgeous. Take a look at some of the images from the trailer shown at E3:
Check out the trailer and gameplay footage below.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 'The Little Prince' trailer looks better than anything Pixar has made in years  | ||
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Here's the first trailer for the next 'Hitman' game | ||
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Sony is showing off its wave of next-gen games at E3 Monday evening. Among the titles is the highly-anticipated next "Hitman" title, which will be called just that. It will be the sixth console game in the series. PlayStation 4 owners will be able to experience an exclusive beta of the game with their pre-order along with six exclusive Hitman contracts. "Hitman" will be available December 8, 2015 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Check out the first trailer below: SEE ALSO: All our E3 coverage Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Here's the adorable PlayStation game Sony's been working on for the past 8 years | ||
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Sony's got a secret up its sleeve for its massively popularly video game console, the PlayStation 4. It's not an exclusive blockbuster franchise, and it's not a huge price drop: it's a weird cat with feathers. Seriously! SEE ALSO: This new Xbox One game looks and feels just like a 1930s cartoon AND: Here's the first trailer for the next 'Hitman' game Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It looks like 'Star Wars' fans are finally getting the video game they deserve  | ||
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These charts from a major VC firm might just convince you there's no tech bubble | ||
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Is there a bubble in tech? We see enormous amounts of money flowing into privately held companies with books that are hidden from the public, and some people like investor Mark Cuban see a repeat of 1999. Other VCs like Bill Gurley agree that we're in some kind of bubble, even if it's not the same as last time. But Marc Andreessen has been one of the strongest voices to say there is no bubble, that things really are different this time. (Although even he warned that some venture-funded startups were burning way too much money and would soon "vaporize.") Earlier today, three partners at Andreessen's VC firm — Morgan Bender, Benedict Evans, and Scott Kupor — published a bunch of charts that strongly support Andreessen's point of view. To boil their argument down:
The best example: Imagine you bought into Microsoft's IPO. Years later, you bought into Facebook's IPO. The only way your return on Facebook would be the same as your return on Microsoft would be if Facebook were someday worth $45 trillion — more than twice the entire GDP of the United States. Here's the full thing:
SEE ALSO: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says Mark Cuban is wrong: There's no bubble Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The crazy story behind Slack, the app taking over offices everywhere  | ||
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Why coders get into 'religious wars' over programming languages | ||
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If you hang out with programmers enough, one of the first things you'll notice is their very, very closely-held belief that their favored programming language is the only correct one. Simple questions on sites like Quora or Reddit like "what programming language should I learn" prompt long, thoughtful essays on why you should choose one over the other — that then immediately turn into long, thoughtful debates, and sometimes into short, clipped flamewars. There's often not a lot of consensus. Check out this recent comment thread from Reddit for a good example of how these things usually go, in response to an infographic claiming that Python was often the easiest new language to learn:
Python vs. Java is a popular ongoing argument, for instance, as is Java vs. Google's Go, or Java vs. Ruby, or really Java vs. any other language. Java, an old workhorse of website app development, is both really common and very poorly-regarded, which leads to no shortage of programmers insisting that its time has passed and suggesting a faster, more modern replacement. More recently, a hot topic has been Objective-C, the language in which most iPhone apps are written, versus Apple's Swift. Apple is positioning Swift as Objective-C's natural successor, promising that it's both easier to write apps with and that the apps themselves are faster. Swift is growing very rapidly, but it's still a fraction of the overall iPhone/iPad development scene. A philosophical divideThe debates might seem weird to the non-technical observer, since the programming language is totally invisible while you're using the app. Part of it is that programmers want to choose a language with solid job prospects and high salaries, or keep their skills up-to-date for any future employment. Part of it is that coders, especially those more academically-minded, appreciate the novelty and challenge of learning a new programming language and all its foibles. But a big part of this is that each and every programming language represents a philosophy as much as it does a product.
Meanwhile, developers keep track of rankings of the top programming languages, from places like the TIOBE Index or analyst firm Red Monk, like some people keep track of the stock market: Trying to read the tea leaves to figure out which way the world is moving. Computers, of every kind, from your iPhone to your HP desktop to your connected Nest thermostat, work exactly the same — they're "a clock with benefits," as Paul Ford put it so succinctly in his recent essay "What Is Code?" And with literally thousands of programming languages out there to choose from when you set out to give the computer instructions, all of which have the same result, there's some analysis paralysis for any project. Survival instinctOf course, developers don't always have free rein to choose. Sometimes, they're working on a project someone else started, which means the choice is already made. Other times, there's too much of a time constraint to learn something new. Other times, the job is to build a speedy app instead of a reliable one. But "even then there are always several alternatives that compete with each other. So there is no single best programming language. As a consequence, debates about the best programming languages are most of the time just religious wars," Jansen says. There are two other related phenomena that play into this.
"Motivation, frustration tolerance, social support, and access to expertise are all more important than the raw language when you're trying to become a programmer," wrote developer Jesse Farmer on Quora last year. The benefit is the support of a bunch of experienced, knowledgeable people who are kind enough to make the programming language better and help you with your problem. But an unintended result here can be developer tunnel vision. If all you hang out with are Go developers, for example, then it's hard to see a solution to a problem that doesn't involve Go. The final factor here is that developers want to protect the time and energy they've invested in learning a language. Just like spoken language, some people are better at learning new languages than others, but it's still a struggle. If another, objectively better language comes along, then that means they're obsolete. That results in some natural pushback. "So everybody defends his/her own language and proclaims it is the best there is to make sure their investment is not lost," Jansen says. SEE ALSO: Why Google and Apple made their own programming languages Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Someone just obliterated a $10,000 Apple Watch with two super strong magnets  | ||
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"Most people have a strong emotional feeling about them," says Paul Jansen, who manages the 
First off, community is really important. A neophyte developer who finds the solution to their coding problem in, say, the Google Go community, may well become an active participant in that same community. Which means that when they're faced with any problem, guess what language they'll go to first? This new Xbox One game looks and feels just like a 1930s cartoon | ||
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At its E3 press event Monday, Microsoft showed off a bunch of new indie titles coming to the Xbox One, but there was one particular standout: "Cuphead."
It has a distinct visual style inspired by 1930s cartoons, like those made famous by Max Fleisher and Walt Disney. It's colorful and beautiful and hectic, all at once.
If you want to learn more about Cuphead, Business Insider's own Ben Gilbert had a chance to talk with "Cuphead" co-creators and real-life brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, who discussed their approach to the older visual style to ensure their game felt vintage but authentic. Here's Chad: [In the 1930s], they didn't know how to cut corners to make similar visual styles, so a lot of the older animation is actually 24 frames per second. When you make a fast drawing, you can do it on 'ones,' which means you draw one frame (one image per frame). To get one second of animation, you need 24 frames. But as they got smarter, in the late '30s and '40s, they realized you can get away with a lot of stuff on 'twos,' which means you halt that drawing for two frames, and then you only need to draw 12. But, there's still something very weird and surreal to see every frame drawn, and that's why it seems not traced, but almost like just a very surreal motion to their animation. And because we're dumb, we're copying that [first] style of ... more work. "Cuphead" arrives on Xbox One next year.
SEE ALSO: These two Microsoft announcements should have Sony very worried Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 cool tricks your iPhone can do with the latest iOS update  | ||
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Why LinkedIn chooses really weird names for the software it gives away for free (LNKD) | ||
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Like all huge internet companies, LinkedIn invents a lot of software to keep it up and running. And like most Valley companies, it turns around and gives that software away for free, so others can use it and add to it, which helps LinkedIn add new features to it. That's a process called open source and it has not only forever changed the software industry, but is starting to change the internet hardware industry too. And when you invent something, you get to name it. LinkedIn, it turns out, has a lot of oddball names for its open source projects. So we asked LinkedIn: What's up with that? Project Name: Voldemort Project lead Jay Kreps was reading the last Harry Potter book, and the book's villain Voldemort had split himself into many pieces, each of which had to be destroyed to kill him. That made Kreps think of a distributed computer system. Kreps says: “I don’t know whether it is nerdier to be reading Harry Potter or to be wondering what kind of consistency protocol Voldemort uses when keeping all his pieces up-to-date, but regardless, the name stuck.” What it is/does: Open source key value storage system, which is a method for storing and finding data in certain kinds of databases. Project Name: Kafka
What it is/does: This is a system for writing things down that replaced a very complex system for writing things down, Kafkaesque if you will. (In geek speak: Apache Kafka is an open-source message broker project developed by the Apache Software Foundation written in Scala, designed to handle real-time data feeds). Project Name: Pinot
Second, the pinot noir grape is the toughest of all red varietals to grow and process into wine, yet can produce some of the most complex wine available. This is much like data, which can be so tough to gather and analyze, but so incredibly useful once it's put to work in the right way. What it is/does: Pinot is a distributed online analytics infrastructure, meaning it lets LinkedIn slice and dice huge amounts of data. It's used at LinkedIn for nearly real-time analytics. (In geek speak: it does large scale multi dimensional time series data). Project Name: Cubert
Just as the blocks are moved about in smart ways to solve the Rubik's cube, the team found that moving data blocks in smart ways can solve complex analytics problems. What it is/does: Cubert is a computational engine used for crunching a lot of data. (In geek speak: Cubert is a batch computation engine for complex analysis and reporting of massive data sets on Hadoop.) Project Name: Nuage Nuage is French for cloud.
(In geek speak: Nuage makes it easier to do database provisioning by giving developers a set of application programming interfaces.) SEE ALSO: Thanks to IBM, a hot startup called Databricks is poised to dominate a vital new market Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 clever iPhone tricks only power users know about  | ||
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The team had just finished using a lot of Harry Potter-themed project names (Voldemort, 
The team chose the name for two reasons. First, everyone loves pinot noir wine.
The Cubert name owes its origin to the project team's fascination with the Rubik’s Cube. (Pronounced Cube-bert, get it?)
What it is/does: This is a cloud service that helps developers more easily set up a database to use with a cloud application. What it's like to be an American intern at Alibaba headquarters in China | ||
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Working as an intern at a large tech company in Silicon Valley is an eye-opening experience. Working as an intern at one of the most successful tech companies in the world in China is beyond eye-opening. It's a similar world filled with investors and flush with cash, yet at the same time staggeringly and wholly different. For one such summer intern — "being a part of the company was a surreal experience." Departing from the city of Berkeley, California, he journeyed halfway across the world to Hangzhou, China, a couple summers ago to intern at Alibaba headquarters. He worked at Alibaba as a Global Business Operations Intern, taking part in various projects within different business units of the company, from Taobao to the Microfinancial Service Group. When Alibaba went public in September 2014, it ranked as the biggest IPO in history after additional shares were sold. For all intents and purposes, they were the most sought after company in the world. Naturally, Alibaba's hiring process was competitive and unique. When we asked our intern about the hiring process, he replied: "After a family member forwarded me the opportunity from Alibaba's Weibo page, I applied through their online portal. The application required three written essays and a resume submission. Then, the selected applicants were given phone interviews."
The program itself was started by Jack Ma a few years ago as an effort to bring people from around the world into Alibaba — not as a path to a future job at the company, but as a way to learn about and experience the company culture firsthand and take those ideas and observations back as inspiration and tools for their own success. Our team of interns consisted of students, teachers, chemists, engineers, entrepreneurs and more, with ages ranging from 18 to 31 years old. Each had something unique about them, whether a dream they were in pursuit of or a success story they were continuing. I think the diversity of the interns really spoke to how the application essays were structured; the questions were broad, such as 'Who are you?' and 'What expectations do you have for the world in the next decade?'. There was no formula of GPA, extracurriculars, and skills to distinguish what an 'ideal' candidate would be. Working at Alibaba wasn't a sinecure by any means. Our intern tells us that he and his fellow interns "performed a variety of tasks, from market analysis, financial analysis, strategizing marketing plans, and increasing customer satisfaction." Beyond that, interns were encouraged to make the most of their experience and be sponges to the world around them. Though he wasn't able to meet the big man on campus — CEO and founder Jack Ma — he did have the chance to meet Ma's successor, Jonathan Lu. He says, "We got to hear about his own path through Alibaba and what driving forces helped him succeed throughout his journey. He also gave us a variety of life advice, from how to pursue our dreams to dealing with obstacles. I even got to take a selfie with him!"
A typical work day for a Business Operations intern consists of: 1. Waking up at 7 AM 2. Taking an hour-long shuttle to Alibaba headquarters 3. Sitting through a team meeting at 9 AM 4. Breaking up into project groups and working on daily project 5. Lunch break 6. Regrouping into teams for more work 7. Dinner break 8. Finishing up work until the last shuttle leaves at 8 PM
For our intern, the environment was fast-paced, with employees "constantly on call or working on projects. Yet, the overall atmosphere was one of fun, excitement, and happiness." In addition to learning about Alibaba's business operations and business units, he also strengthened his Mandarin skills as a byproduct of speaking mainly Mandarin for the duration of the summer. It wasn't all work, though. If you work at a large company, you typically get to enjoy the many perks that come with it. As the largest company in China, some perks are larger than life: One of my fondest memories at Alibaba was the day when suddenly everyone's phones were lighting up from notifications that Kobe Bryant had been spotted on campus. I, along with many other employees, ran out of the building frantically asking where he had been seen last. Soon, we were all congregated below Jack Ma's office. After waiting for half an hour, we got to see Kobe come out, embrace Jack Ma, wave to the crowd, and leave in a heavily guarded van. I never would have thought to be able to be 20 feet away from both Kobe Bryant and Jack Ma in China!
And what about the campus itself? Each building on the campus has recreation activities open all the time, such as ping pong, foosball, and billiards. There's a gym on campus with weights, machines, and an indoor basketball court. The campus also comes with places for free massages and yoga classes. In addition, you can find in many of the buildings fresh fruit marts, flower shops, Starbucks, and cafeterias. The food itself was "inexpensive and good, with a variety of Chinese and Western foods." Of course, his summer internship at Alibaba provided him with the opportunity to visit Shanghai and other tourist locations on the weekends with the other interns. He sums it up succinctly: "Most importantly, I learned the life stories of other interns and their goals and passions, which gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation."
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's Everything Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Just Said About Alibaba  | ||
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He told us Alibaba was looking to hire a broad and diverse set of people across a wide range of interests and talents, without much regard to GPA or extracurriculars:
Evernote's Phil Libin wants to step down | ||
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Evernote CEO Phil Libin may soon leave his position, The Information reported on Monday. According to the report, Evernote has been looking for a "professional CEO" for a while and it "may be close to something." Libin, who joined the company in 2007, told The Information that he considers himself more of a "product person" and that the company needs a "professional" CEO, "someone who is going to be better than me at it." Evernote is a popular productivity app that allows you to create and store documents. It was one of the early startups to reach the $1 billion "unicorn" status, and has been targeting an IPO for a few years. However, with mounting competition in the space, particularly from bigger companies like Google and Dropbox, Evernote has been long-rumored to be losing some of its active users. Libin told The Information that an IPO is still a couple of years away. Currently, Evernote has over 100 million registered users, but it's unclear how many of them access it on a regular basis. It claims to have more than 8 million people testing or paying its subscription package, including a $25 a year "plus" version, The Information says. Also, quoting an unnamed source, The Information says Evernote had about $40 million in sales more than a year ago. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions  | ||
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Here's another area where Twitter appears to have stalled: tweets per day (TWTR) | ||
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The tweets that flow across the service every day appear to have stalled during the past year and a half. The "about" page on Twitter’s website says that 500 million tweets are sent on the service every day. That number is unchanged from November 2013, when Twitter's IPO prospectus said that “our users create approximately 500 million Tweets every day.” Back then Twitter had 215 million monthly active users. Today Twitter has 302 million active users. With Twitter’s user base now roughly 40 percent larger, the apparent lack of a corresponding increase in tweets per day suggests that Twitter users are not tweeting with the same gusto they once were; perhaps they're even tweeting less. The other possibility is that new people are coming on to the service and only reading others' tweets, not participating. The plateau in daily tweets could represent another big challenge for Twitter’s next CEO. Dick Costolo, the current CEO, said last week that he will step down and be replaced by co-founder Jack Dorsey on an interim basis. The changing of the guard comes as Twitter’s stock has contracted and as Wall Street has grown increasingly impatient with the company’s struggles boosting its number of users. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the frozen tweets per day number. It's possible that Twitter has simply not publicly updated the number. But with so much public focus on Twitter's growth right now, it seems odd that Twitter would not update the tweets per day figure if there was an improvement to highlight. Status unknownIn the past, Twitter has updated the tweets per day metric whenever it hit a nice round number. Twitter said it had 400 million tweets per day in June 2012, for instance, and announced the 500 million tweets per day figure in November 2013. The fact that Twitter has not updated the latest number suggests that tweets per day have not yet reached 600 million. How big a problem is that? Twitter has long acknowledged that a significant portion of its users log on to the service to consume content, that is, to read tweets, rather than to post their own tweets on the service. Twitter makes money from ad impressions, which occur when someone views a tweet or shares a tweet, not when someone creates a tweet – so there's no immediate financial impact. And with 500 million tweets already flowing across the service every day, you could argue Twitter already has more than enough content. Twitter’s challenge is making the right content on its service easier for users to find, not creating more of it. Still, declining engagement is never a good thing for any social media service. Many first-time Twitter users give up on it because they say they’re not sure what to share on Twitter, or they feel that their tweets are not being seen by anyone. Making tweeting less "scary" was among the key issues that Twitter investor Chris Sacca flagged in his 8,000-word manifesto earlier this month in which he laid out his prescription to make Twitter more accessible to the mainstream. Sacca suggested that new features such as daily surveys and questions could entice people to contribute more. Twitter's famous rule limiting tweets to 140 characters could also be a hindrance to sharing, requiring too much effort for some people, especially with a growing menu of alternative social media services. Whatever the cause, the daily flow of tweets appears to have hit a speedbump. The company's moves over the coming months, as it chooses a new CEO and refines its product, will indicate whether it considers that to be a problem. SEE ALSO: Here's what one former Twitter insider thinks could happen with the CEO search Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
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Twitter’s user growth isn’t the only thing experiencing a slowdown. $3.14 billion software company Citrix is in 'a constant state of upheaval' and executives keep leaving | ||
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We keep hearing about the endless upheaval going on at Citrix, a $3.14 billion company that sells software to enterprises to protect their mobile devices and deliver apps to remote computers. There's been an exodus in the executive and management ranks this year as part of a restructuring that took place in the first quarter. But, things are not calm yet. In the past couple of weeks two prominent execs have left. And late last week, activist investor Elliott Management announced a more than 7% stake and a bunch of ideas to drive the share price up. Elliott suggests that Citrix continue its restructuring, particularly its sales force and channel partners, and spin off or sell some products that are an odd fit. Two more executives goneProblems at Citrix have been going on for more than a year and were supposed to have culminated with the first-quarter restructuring, which included laying off 900 people (700 employees, 200 contractors) The company announced the layoff in January and word was the pink slips went out in February. In June these two execs left:
Brian Dye, the GM of Citrix Mobile Platforms including its mobile management product XenMobile. He's now at at Intel, leaving Citrix before he had been there a year. In February, Sudhakar Ramakrishna, senior vice president of Enterprise Desktop and Mobile left Citrix as part of the restructuring, the company announced in an SEC filing. His role was handed to chief strategy officer, Geir Ramleth. With the exit of Courage and Ramakrishna , the executive suite at the company is decidedly male and decidedly white, noted one company observer on Twitter. Other manager who are recently gone from Citrix include: Al Monserrat, senior vice president of worldwide sales and services since 2008 left in January. He landed as CEO of RES Software in April. Rakesh Narasimhan, general manager of Citrix Desktop Products, who left in February. Sunil Potti, head of products for Citrix Netscaler, who left to do that job at rising star startup Nutanix. And this is on top of managers who left in 2014, some headed to competitor VMware. Meanwhile, Citrix's XenMobile product experienced other leadership changes, too. In 2013, Citrix bought Zenprise for a reported $355 million. Amit Pandey, the CEO of Zenprise, who joined Citrix to run the unit left in March, 2014, just over a year after the deal closed. And Ahmed Datoo, VP of marketing for Zenprise/XenMobile reportedly quit at about the same time. (Datoo's LinkedIn page says he's mulling over his next startup.) More to come?Meanwhile, as we mentioned Elliott says Citrix has a lot more work to do, including trimming sales people and products like its web meetings app family, GoTo, and its application security device NetScaler.
"The business has been in a constant state of upheaval, including after the most recent restructuring in 1Q15, which has resulted in poor execution and the departure of high profile executives. ... We believe it is an open question as to whether yet another restructuring would not impact execution and morale further creating risk to the 4-5.5% revenue target and the associated margin/EPS goals." In other research notes, Credit Suisse said that management may be "compelled" to make more changes thanks to Elliott's involvement. Piper Jaffray thinks that Citrix might now consider breaking itself into pieces, selling itself, or going private. Citrix issued a statement about Elliott's proposals: "We will review Elliott’s suggestions and respond as we do with all shareholders who engage with us," and added that the "Citrix Board and management team continually evaluate ideas to drive shareholder value." When asked about the executive upheaval extending into June, a Citrix spokesperson told us: It is business as usual at Citrix and there will be no disruption to customers or product innovation. We remain committed to continuously advancing our industry leading solutions, helping customers achieve business mobility. A search is underway for the Brian Dye’s position, led by Geir Ramleth, chief strategy officer and SVP and GM of Workspace Services at Citrix. SEE ALSO: How Facebook is eating the $140 billion hardware market Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions  | ||
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Catherine Courage, who was the senior vice president of Customer Experience (i.e. product design) and a member of Citrix's executive leadership team. She
Docker is not for sale, insists a person close to the company | ||
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Red-hot container startup Docker may be an attractive acquisition target for the likes of Microsoft, but there's a problem: Docker just isn't for sale, according to a person close to the matter. In a piece called "Why it makes sense for Microsoft to buy hot cloud startup Docker," Fortune postulated that Docker's technology, which lets enterprises box up their applications in a way that makes them easier to run on different kinds of server infrastructures, is a natural fit for Microsoft as it looks to attract developers to its Azure cloud. Fortune reported that a source "in the venture capital industry" said that even if Docker were for sale, they wouldn't settle for less than $3.5 billion — a steep price, but not beyond the deep pockets of Microsoft. But our source says flat out that Docker isn't for sale right now at any price. Docker is big and growing, with the startup just recently closing a big $95 million Series D round that reportedly valued the company at around $1 billion. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon all support Docker on their cloud platforms, and the company claims that over 100,000 applications have been written to take advantage of Docker. The company even has a competitor in the form of CoreOS and its "appc" and "rkt" technologies, which have attracted support from Google, Red Hat, and VMware. Next week is DockerCon, where the startup will present the latest updates to its technology and its latest business milestones to a crowd of developer enthusiasts, and we'll start to get a sense of why or why not it would make sense for Docker to sell. SEE ALSO: Superhot startup Docker raises $95 million as it prepares to squeeze out the competition Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: People are going crazy for this holographic version of 'Minecraft'  | ||
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One of the biggest password security apps was just hacked and here's how privacy experts are reacting | ||
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The popular password manager app LastPass just admitted to being hacked, and security experts are responding. The question at hand is: Does this mean that password managers are just as hackable as any other security program? This is as especially important question because historically most security experts believed password managers — like LastPass — to be the safest way for people to maintain their online identities. Now experts aren’t so sure, and some are squaring off on forums like Twitter. Here’s a rundown of some of the debates underway: Digital culture expert Elizabeth Stark took issue with the practice of storing user passwords in a centralized place, such as LastPass' servers (although it should be noted that this collection of data is encrypted, meaning it is highly unlikely it will be breached): The ACLU’s principal technologist Christopher Soghoian responded in kind: Here, Soghoian is saying that plain-text reminders that logically lead people to remembering their passwords ae more hackable and problematic than password managers as a whole. CNNMoney’s Jose Pagliery disagrees: Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what happens when you drop an Apple Watch face down on cement  | ||
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GitHub, the essential site for programmers everywhere, is reportedly raising $200 million and worth $2 billion | ||
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GitHub, the highly popular social network for programmers with eight million users, is raising a $200 million round at a value of about $2 billion, according to a Bloomberg Business report. Since its inception, GitHub has seen tremendous growth as the go-to place for programmers to share their code and solict contributions from others on their projects. In fact, it's not uncommon for a tech job opening in Silicon Valley to require the applicant to include their GitHub profile with their resume (or even instead of a resume) so the hiring manager can see their skills in action. GitHub's business model largely hinges on subscriber-based premium versions for businesses, so people on the public Internet can't see the code you're working on internally. It's not quite standard in the programming workplace — Atlassian BitBucket, among others compete with GitHub in this space — but it's quite popular and growing. Of course, it's not all sunshine for GitHub: Co-founder Tom Preston-Werner left GitHub under a dark cloud last year after he and his wife were accussed of harassment and gender-based discrimination. GitHub cleared Preston-Werner of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation, however. The company also has a pretty unusual culture, with a management system that doesn't have strict titles and hierarchies — programmers can work on whatever they want — and it built a replica of the Oval Office in its headquarters after its first funding round in 2012, when it raised $100 million led by Andreessen Horowitz. This round is also rumored to be led by the same firm. A spokesperson for GitHub did not reply to a request for comment at the time of publication. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Two models in Russia just posed with a 1,400-pound bear  | ||
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This chart shows why the regulation of Royal Mail is under review by Ofcom | ||
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The way in which Royal Mail is being regulated in under review by the independent regulator Ofcom - now that it dominates the UK delivery market. In May, rival delivery business Whistl abandoned plans for door-to-door letter posting and will instead rely on Royal Mail for what it calls "final mile" delivery - getting letters and parcels from local distribution centres to your letter box. By doing this, Royal Mail now dominates the British delivery scene and the way it is being regulated is under scrutiny - all because its competitor gave up. "The review will ensure regulation remains appropriate and sufficient to secure the universal postal service, given the recent withdrawal by Whistl from the 'direct delivery' letters market, which has resulted in Royal Mail no longer being subject to national competition. This leaves Royal Mail without any national competition for direct delivery of letters," said Ofcom in a statement on its website. It gave the following chart to show how Royal Mail now takes up most of the British delivery business after Whistl gave up its services to Royal Mail:
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Libya jihadist group denies death of Qaeda-linked Belmokhtar | ||
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Tripoli (AFP) - Libyan jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia denied on Tuesday that the Al-Qaeda-linked mastermind of a deadly 2013 siege at an Algerian gas plant had been killed in a US air strike. The group named seven people it said were killed in the US strike in eastern Libya but Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who Washington has said was the target, was not among them. "No other person was killed," the group said in a statement.
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The leader of Al Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate has been killed in a US drone strike | ||
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Al Qaeda has confirmed that Nasir al-Wuhayshi, its No. 2 figure and leader of its powerful Yemeni affiliate, has been killed in a U.S. strike. In a video statement released early Tuesday by the media wing of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group confirmed his death and said his deputy, Qassim al-Rimi, has been named its new leader. Al-Wuhayshi was the deputy of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and once served as Osama bin Laden's personal secretary. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is thought to be the most dangerous of the terror organization's affiliates. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 clever iPhone tricks only power users know about  | ||
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10 things in tech you need to know today | ||
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Good morning! Here are the 10 things in tech you need to know this Tuesday. 1. Facebook wants to build a new €200 million data centre in Ireland. The renewably-powered facility is planned for the town of Clonee, and will bring the social networking giant's Irish workforce to more than 1,000. 2. The UK tech scene is far more diverse than the US scene. That's according to a new study from startup accelerator Wayra. 3. US payment startup Stripe could crush one of Europe's hottest fintech firms. Stripe is launching in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland this week — putting it in direct competition with Klarna, a rival Swedish online payment company valued at £650 million ($1 billion). 4. Facebook has launched a new photo-sharing app called Moments. It uses facial recognition to detect who is in photos stored on your phone and asks if you want to send the images to them. 5. One-word messaging app Yo is attempting to make a comeback with Yo 2.0. The update will let users send photo messages or their location, as well as the word "Yo," and could help brands monetise their followings on the service. 6. 13 European startups became "unicorns" valued at more than $1 billion over the last 12 months. The list includes TransferWise, Shazam, and Rocket Internet — and is a massive jump from the just three new unicorns created a year before that. 7. Microsoft just made 2 big announcements that will seriously worry Sony. At the E3 gaming conference, the company announced an extensive backwards-compatibility program for the Xbox One, and is also partnering with games company Valve and its virtual reality headset — in addition to its partnership with Facebook's Oculus Rift. (Oh, and wildly popular game Minecraft is also coming to Microsoft's augmented reality headset HoloLens.) 8. LastPass, one of the most popular password security companies, has admitted it was hacked. The app lets users use just one strong password to log into all their services, but it has now been attacked. This doesn't necessarily mean that every password stored using the service has been compromised, however. 9. Evernote CEO Phil Libin wants to step down. Libin considers himself a "product person" and feels the company needs a "professional" CEO. 10. Facebook is being taken to court because it allegedly violated European privacy rules. Belgium’s privacy commission is suing Facebook over alleged violations of Belgian and European privacy laws. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Facebook tried to copy Apple with its big Oculus unveiling and it failed miserably  | ||
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Al-Qaeda in Yemen confirms leader killed in drone strike | ||
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Dubai (AFP) - Al-Qaeda in Yemen has confirmed the death of its leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, number two in the global jihadist organisation, in a US drone strike, in a video statement posted online. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said Wuhayshi "was killed in a US drone attack that targeted him along with two other mujahedeen," said the statement posted online by Al-Qaeda's Al-Malahem media arm and dated June 15.
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10 things you need to know before European markets open | ||
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Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets today. HSBC and JP Morgan may relocate parts of their operations to Luxembourg. HSBC and JPMorgan are in talks to relocate parts of their businesses to Luxembourg from the UK as they weigh the possibility of a British exit from the European Union, the Times reported. Greece wants to make no more concessions. According to Bloomberg, Greece plans to make no extra proposals to the Eurogroup, the gathering of eurozone finance ministers on Thursday, sticking to the take it or leave it line laid out by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday. Honda is recalling nearly 1.4 million cars. Honda said on Monday that it will recall 1.39 million Accord and Civic model sedans with potentially faulty front passenger-side air bags made by Japan's Takata Corp. This will bring to about 2.3 million the number of Honda cars with front passenger-side air bags made by Takata that have been recalled, the automaker said. UK inflation is coming. At 9:30 a.m. UK time (4:30 a.m. New York), figures from the Office for National Statistics are expected to show that the UK left a brief bout of deflation in April and recorded consumer price growth on 0.1% in the year to May. Belgium is taking Facebook to court. According to the Wall Street Journal, Belgium's data watchdog will sue the behemoth social network over its privacy practices, the latest pressure on a US tech firm in Europe. Singapore says the US needs its trade deal to be taken seriously in Asia. Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said on Monday it was vital that the United States be able to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement if it wanted to stay engaged with the Asia Pacific region and be taken seriously there. Asian stocks are sinking. China's Shanghai composite is down by 1.99%, followed south by Hong Kong's Hang Seng, which is down 0.68%, and Japan's Nikkei, down 0.54%. Jeb Bush announced he's running for US president, and made some big economic promises. In his announcement speech on Monday, Bush said his goal was an economy that grows at 4% per year and said creates 19 million jobs during his time as president. China is trying a policy twist to spark lending again. In a bid to reverse the trend of credit flowing towards stocks, policy insiders say the People's Bank of China (PBOC) is now likely to act to push down longer bond yields and mop up excess short-term funds - a manoeuvre that runs the risk of creating a credit crunch in the money market if overdone. Russia lashed out at the US after suggestions that heavy military equipment be stationed in eastern Europe. "If heavy U.S. military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries and other equipment really does turn up in countries in eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," Russian defence ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 'The Little Prince' trailer looks better than anything Pixar has made in years  | ||
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Mount Everest shifted southwest due to Nepal earthquake | ||
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Beijing (AFP) - The world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, moved three centimetres (1.2 inches) to the southwest because of the Nepal earthquake that devastated the country in April, Chinese state media reported Tuesday. The 7.8-magnitude quake reversed the gradual northeasterly course of the mountain, according to a report in the state-run China Daily, citing the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation. Before the quake, Everest had moved 40 centimetres to the northeast over the past decade at a speed of four centimetres a year, the report said. The mountain also rose three centimetres over the same time period. The earthquake caused an avalanche on Everest, killing 18 people and leaving its climbing base camp in ruins. It prompted authorities in both China and Nepal to cancel all climbs for this year. The mountain straddles the border between the two countries. Two earthquakes, on April 25 and May 12, killed more than 8,700 people in Nepal, triggered landslides and destroyed half a million homes, leaving thousands without shelter just weeks ahead of monsoon rains. The second quake, which had a magnitude of 7.3, did not move the mountain, China Daily said. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Hello! Here's what you need to know for Tuesday.
Some 'Destiny' players are getting locked out of their accounts after 'The Taken King' announcement | ||
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If you purchased the Digital Guardian Edition of "Destiny" at any point, you might be unable to access the game right now. Some players (myself included) are unable to enter their games through the PlayStation 4 dashboard, instead seeing an option to pre-order "The Taken King," which was just announced Monday night. These "Destiny" players are instead seeing notices that read "Playable in 90 days."
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Mark Cuban explains why downloading Snapchat is a huge mistake  | ||
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Sony's bringing back classic gamepads for its new game console | ||
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It may not look "modern" anymore, but the flat greys of Sony's early PlayStation hardware brings wide smiles to those of us who grew up playing classics like "Resident Evil" and "Final Fantasy." Though years of play wore down the originals, Sony's issuing original PlayStation-themed gamepads and headphones in honor of the orig nal console's 20th anniversary. They look like this: The brand's seen a variety of applications in the past 20 years: four home game consoles, two handheld game consoles, countless services, peripherals and, now, a virtual reality headset, all branded "PlayStation." The gamepad, however, is especially iconic. Sony's "DualShock" line of gamepads has become a modern symbol for gaming, both literally and figuratively. When you're clicking through a menu of media types on a modern phone, a regular stand-in for the word "games" is a gamepad that looks distinctly similar to the classic DualShock design. The design set a standard for modern gamepad design. Both Nintendo and Microsoft took cues from Sony's original DualShock controller design when looking to their own gamepads. Ironically, the first DualShock controllers were introduced two years after the original PlayStation launched; the gamepad seen above is intended to celebrate the original console's anniversary, not the gamepad itself. The 20th anniversary edition DualShock 4 gamepad for the PlayStation 4 and Wireless Headset arrive this September, for $64.99 and $99.99 (respectively). The nostalgia is free. SEE ALSO: PlayStation's flagship game looks absolutely stunning AND: Sony's going to beat Apple to the a la carte TV game Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: PlayStation's flagship game looks absolutely stunning  | ||
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Blatter to skip U-20 final in New Zealand | ||
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Wellington (AFP) - FIFA boss Sepp Blatter has cancelled plans to visit New Zealand for this weekend's Under-20 World Cup final in Auckland, football's world governing body said Tuesday. "Due to his current commitments in Zurich, the FIFA president (Blatter) will not be able to travel to New Zealand to attend the final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup," a spokeswoman said. The Swiss supremo would likely have received a cool reception had he made the long trip, after New Zealand Football (NZF) defected from the Blatter camp and voted against him in last month's presidential election. NZF chief Andy Martin said earlier this month that he hoped Blatter stayed away as his presence would turn the tournament final into a "sideshow". Blatter, who has been in charge of FIFA since 1998, has announced he will quit after the organisation was engulfed by a series of widespread corruption allegations. The FIFA U-20 World Cup final will take place on Saturday, featuring the winners of Wednesday's semi-finals in which Brazil play Senegal and Serbia take on Mali.
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Police make 10th arrest over explosives in Hong Kong | ||
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Hong Kong (AFP) - Police have arrested a tenth person suspected of making explosives in Hong Kong in a plot they say is linked to a "radical" political group, ahead of a key vote on a controversial reform package. A 58-year-old man was arrested "on suspicion of conspiracy to manufacture explosives" at northern border point Lo Wu late Monday, police said. They had already arrested nine people on Monday on the same charge. All the suspects were detained overnight. Police said Monday that one of those arrested had claimed to be a member of a "radical local group". They would not name the group or specify motives but said that maps of central districts of Hong Kong had been found and warned anyone taking part in public gatherings to stay away from "violent protesters". It comes as a series of rallies take place before a vote expected Friday in Hong Kong's legislature on a divisive roadmap for the city's electoral system, which led to mass protests at the end of last year. Chemicals were seized at an abandoned television studio in the eastern district of Sai Kung as part of the operation Monday, with some detonated at the scene. A house search later led to the seizure of ingredients which police said could be used to make the powerful explosive TATP. Maps of central neighbourhoods were also found, as well as a number of air rifles and face masks. Local media named the radical group as the National Independent Party and linked it to a new "localist" pro-democracy movement which is seeking a more independent Hong Kong. But pro-democracy and localist campaigners questioned the link. "People have never heard of the organisation and don't know its members. "The whole thing could be a set-up intended as a smear campaign against the localist camp," said commentator Kam Sai-kit, writing for pro-democracy portal Post852. The reform bill to be voted on lays out a proposal for choosing the city's next leader by public vote for the first time in 2017. But it sticks to a ruling from Beijing which stipulates that candidates must be vetted by a loyalist committee. That ruling sparked mass rallies and roadblocks towards the end of last year, with campaigners dismissing it as "fake democracy". Pro-democracy legislators are vowing to block the proposal. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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CIA drone strike targets top Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen: report | ||
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Washington (AFP) - The leader of Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen was targeted in a CIA drone strike last week, though US officials would not immediately confirm he had been killed, The Washington Post reported Monday. Nasir al-Wuhayshi's group, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is behind several plots against the United States, including an attempt to blow up a US commercial airliner on Christmas Day 2009. US officials told the Post they were reviewing intelligence linked to a June 9 drone strike that targeted Wuhayshi, who was also named Al-Qaeda's number two, and other AQAP operatives. "We are looking to confirm his death," a US intelligence official told the newspaper. A local Yemeni official told AFP Tuesday that Wuhayshi is believed to have been killed in the raid in Al-Qaeda-held Mukalla, in southeastern Yemen, and that his body could be kept in a local morgue amid tight secrecy imposed by the militants. "There are currently four bodies belonging to Al-Qaeda members. One of them is believed to be Wuhayshi's," the local official told AFP, requesting anonymity. "The hospital remains tightlipped about the identities, but there is information from within the hospital that the body of Wuhayshi is in the morgue," he added. CNN, meanwhile, cited two Yemeni national security officials as saying Wuhayshi had been killed on Friday. A Yemeni official last week told AFP that a drone had fired four missiles on June 9 at three Al-Qaeda militants, including an unnamed "leading figure", near Mukalla port, killing them on the spot. The US government had offered a $10 million reward for any information leading to his capture or killing. A former aide to Al-Qaeda's late founder Osama bin Laden, Wuhayshi attended the group's Al-Farouk training camp in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. He is said to have fled Afghanistan in 2002 to Iran, where he was arrested and handed over to Yemen. There he was held without charge until he escaped by tunnelling his way out with 22 other prisoners in February 2006. In 2007, Wuhayshi was named head of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. When bin Laden was killed by US commandos in May 2011 in Pakistan, Wuhayshi warned the Americans not to fool themselves that the fight would end with the Al-Qaeda chief's demise. "What is coming is greater and worse, and what is awaiting you is more intense and harmful," he said. AQAP has exploited months of fighting in Yemen between Iran-backed rebels and their Saudi-backed rivals to consolidate its grip on Hadramawt's provincial capital Mukalla -- a city of more than 200,000. The group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in January on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed, saying it was "vengeance" for the weekly's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The United States considers AQAP the extremist group's deadliest global franchise and regularly targets its militants with armed drone strikes on Yemeni territory. It is the only government that operates the unmanned aircraft over the impoverished country.
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The next 'Destiny' expansion is coming in September, and it looks pretty terrifying | ||
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"Destiny," from Bungie, the makers of "Halo," was one of the most anticipated games of the decade. And now, after two expansion packs with the second one launching just last month, Bungie on Monday night officially unveiled "The Taken King." The new expansion pits players — Guardians, in "Destiny" vernacular — against a demon called Oryx. Guardians should be somewhat familiar with Oryx at this point: his name was referenced many times in the first "Destiny" expansion, "The Dark Below," and he's the father of Crota, the main boss from that first expansion's raid activity. In "The Taken King," Guardians will no longer be the ones hunting; they'll be the ones hunted, instead, by the Hive King Oryx and his army of possessed beings. Details are scarce on the actual storyline right now, but it sounds like players will play on some familiar territories, as well as some new areas like one of the rings of Saturn. And since there's a big new threat on the horizon, Bungie is giving Guardians plenty of new firepower: Beyond new weapons and gear, including some awesome PlayStation exclusives like an exotic scout rifle called "The Jade Rabbit," each Guardian class is finally going to get a new subclass: Titans will be able to wield flaming hammers, Hunters will be able to shoot arrows made of void energy, and Warlocks will be able to shoot lightning from their fingertips. Check out these screens from the reveal trailer:
Gulp. "Destiny: The Taken King" hits September 15. Pre-order it here. SEE ALSO: 'Destiny' is way better than it was nine months ago Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Mark Cuban explains why downloading Snapchat is a huge mistake  | ||
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Google teams up with orchestras to target classical | ||
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New York (AFP) - Google teamed up with five leading orchestras in a bid to draw more classical music lovers to digital music as the streaming sector booms. Dubbed Classical Live, the initiative will offer exclusive recordings through the Internet giant's Google Play service from orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. Also involved are the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, with Google hoping eventually to invite further participants. The classical audience is smaller and older than the fan base for pop music but also skews wealthier, offering a potentially lucrative demographic. In turn, orchestras seek to rejuvenate their audiences by embracing new technology. Classical Live is "hoping to broaden and grow the audience for classical music, which is exactly synonymous with our ambitions, making great music available to the widest group of people," said Kathryn McDowell, the managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra. McDowell noticed that previous digital works have often been downloaded track by track rather than as a whole -- evidence, she said, that the audience consists of newcomers exploring classical music. "If you look at what the average student has on their playlist, it will include all sorts of things, because I think young people's tastes are much more eclectic than we might give them credit for," she told AFP. "So we want to get out there in all the possible new platforms with the chance that they encounter the LSO."
- Declining revenue from CDs -
Classical music is readily available on streaming platforms including industry leader Spotify, but Classical Live marks the most concerted effort to target the audience. While streaming generally entails subscriptions for unlimited content, Classical Live will sell by recording. At an introductory price of $4.99, a full work can be either streamed or downloaded onto a device. Digital music last year matched physical sales in revenue for the first time worldwide, led by a 39 percent spike from streaming services, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Strong regional variations persist. CD sales remain dominant in Germany and Japan, which are two of the leading markets for classical music. But Mark Volpe, managing director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, said that media sales -- which once provided up to a quarter of the orchestra's revenue -- now contributed no more than a few hundred thousand dollars to an $87 million annual budget. "It's not about making money. It's about promotion, it's about furthering the cause of Western art music and Eastern art music or anything we're playing," Volpe told a news conference at Google's office in New York.
- Selective works -
For the Cleveland Orchestra, historically considered among the Big Five in US classical music, the Google project marks a new direction after it long insisted on recording only with major labels. "We've held back primarily because we always felt that big players had better promotion and better distribution and we wanted to keep ourselves out of that end of the business," said Cleveland Orchestra executive director Gary Hanson. But Hanson credited Google with leaving artistic and pricing control to the orchestras, while offering "real power" in terms of distribution. More than one billion people use Google's Android phones, although Google Play faces tough competition from Spotify as well as other rivals, including Deezer, Rhapsody, Tidal and a new service being launched by Apple. The orchestras each tried to select signature pieces for Classical Live, which will initially carry 22 full works along with three for free. The London Symphony Orchestra's performances will focus on Mendelssohn, led by the acclaimed English conductor John Eliot Gardiner. The New York Philharmonic is presenting Verdi's Requiem, directed by its conductor Alan Gilbert.
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PlayStation's flagship game looks absolutely stunning | ||
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Sony just concluded its pre-E3 press conference by showing off 7 minutes of gameplay from its upcoming flagship game "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End." Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Bangladesh's highest court upholds death sentence of top Islamist | ||
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Dhaka (AFP) - Bangladesh's highest court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence against the country's second highest ranked Islamist leader for committing war crimes, paving the way for his hanging within months. The Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice S.K. Sinha "dismissed" Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid's appeal, an AFP correspondent at the court said. "The death penalty handed down to him has been upheld," prosecutor Soumya Reza told AFP, adding Mujahid could be hanged within months.
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Sony's going to beat Apple to the a la carte TV game | ||
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Sony just threw down the gauntlet on per-channel, streaming TV subscriptions (aka "the inevitable future of television"). PlayStation president and group CEO Andrew House told attendees of its E3 2015 press conference: "Starting in July, we will begin offering a la carte channels nationwide, and will be the first paid TV service to allow users to subscribe to individual channels without the purchase of a multi-channel bundle." That is huge. Before Apple, or any of the major cable companies did it, Sony is taking charge on individual channel television subscriptions. More simply: pay what you want, for what you want. No required bundle; no minimum package – just pay for what channels you want to watch. It sounds too good given the current TV subscription market. And, at launch this July, it won't be that great. For starters, only three channels are being offered at launch: Showtime, Fox Soccer Plus, and a "new, exclusive channel from Machinima." So even though Sony's PlayStation Vue service – the TV service it operates through its PlayStation consoles, currently on a traditional cable package pricing model – carries local programming, you won't be able to choose any of it at launch. Nor will you be able to pay for and watch any of the other channels, like Food Network or TLC or Nickelodeon (among many others).
Still, it's a start, and the move puts pressure on not just Apple, but also the content providers (to say nothing of the pressure exerted by HBO Now, HBO's standalone service that essentially offers an individual channel subscription). Apple's version of streaming TV was reportedly delayed from a recent announcement – many expected it to offer some version of a la carte programming subscriptions, pushing back on the traditional model of bundles of channels sold as subscriptions. PlayStation Vue is currently available in five major cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. The a la carte service goes live this July with three channels to start; Vue will go live nationwide at some point in 2015, according to Sony. A $2 discount will be offered for customers who subscribe to the PlayStation Plus paid membership program, per channel, though Sony hasn't specified how much just yet. To start, Showtime will cost $11/month, FOX Soccer Plus will cost $15/month, and Machinima channel will cost $4/month; it looks like a range of pricing will be offered from channel to channel, depending on content and provider. SEE ALSO: Here's the adorable PlayStation game Sony's been working on for the past 8 years AND: You'll be able to battle robot dinosaurs in the next game from the developers of 'Killzone' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It looks like 'Star Wars' fans are finally getting the video game they deserve  | ||
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You'll be able to battle robot dinosaurs in the next game from the developers of 'Killzone' | ||
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Sony just showed off a bunch of new games at its E3 conference Monday evening. One of the most intriguing is a new franchise from Guerilla Games, the developers behind "Killzone," in which you get to go up against robotic-like dinosaur creatures in a post-apocalyptic world. Yes. Robotic dinosaurs.
Of course, there's just those pesky robots to deal with. The game looks incredibly gorgeous. Take a look at some of the images from the trailer shown at E3:
Check out the trailer and gameplay footage below.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 'The Little Prince' trailer looks better than anything Pixar has made in years  | ||
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Ubisoft blends action, music in video game lineup | ||
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Los Angeles (AFP) - Ubisoft has mixed carnage, humor and music in a powerhouse lineup of video games making debuts at an Electronic Entertainment Expo extravaganza in Los Angeles. Chief executive Yves Guillemot introduced a cartoon role playing game from the creators of blue-comedy television show "South Park" titled "The Fractured But Whole." "South Park" co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker said the sequel to the game "Stick of Truth" was a chance to get the game that features "South Park" characters "right" this time around after the first version stumbled during development. The sequel will continue the story of the first game, with the player taking on the role of a new kid in the neighborhood.
- Swordplay and espionage -
Guillemot also introduced “For Honor” a sword fighting game in development that pits small bands of players against one another in the roles of warriors such as knights, samurai, and Vikings. Ubisoft showed off a trio of action shooter games stressing enhanced online co-operative combat and expanding its franchise based on the work of military thriller author Tom Clancy. The forthcoming "Rainbow Six Siege" game will pit teams of four players each against one another, one as armed men who have barricaded themselves inside a building and the other as the strike force intent on getting inside and eliminating their adversaries. The game features close quarter combat, environments almost entirely destructible, and "once you die you stay dead," according to actress and gamer Aisha Tyler, who hosted the event. Appearing at the presentation was actress Angela Bassett, the voice behind an anti-terror unit deputy director in the game. “I have always gravitated towards roles that challenged as an actor, so in that respect, it wasn’t much different (from acting in film).” she told Tyler on stage. “It was all about character. It was all about story.“ Guillemot said that Ubisoft's office in Paris has been “working in secrecy” on another Tom Clancy offering pitting an elite military force against a fierce drug gang in South America. Ubisoft also showed off clips from a coming installment of “Assassin's Creed” to be set in London in during the Industrial Revolution.
- On demand game music -
Ubisoft boasted that “Just Dance” has become the biggest music video game franchise of all time, and that a coming version will eliminate the need for motion detecting accessories on consoles, letting people use mobile phones as controllers when they face off to see who is best at matching on-screen moves. With the release of “Just Dance 2016" in October, Ubisoft will introduce an on-demand streaming music service so people can compete to fresh songs instead of being restricted to libraries that come with games. I feel like this video game is such a part of pop culture,” said musician Jason Derulo, who performed a song that will be available in the new version of the game.
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