The Guardian owner will appoint David Pemsel as its chief executive

The Guardian owner will appoint David Pemsel as its chief executive

Guardian Media Group, the owner of The Guardian newspaper and websites, has promoted its deputy CEO David Pemsel to chief executive, Sky News reports. He replaces Andrew Miller, who announced in January he was leaving the company at the end of June 2015. Miller had been in the role since 2010 and worked to implement a five-year turnaround plan with the aim of securing The Guardian's financial future. Sky News sources say Pemsel saw off competition from "an unidentified UK-based Google executive." Business Insider has contacted The Guardian for comment and we will update this article once we hear back. Pemsel joined The Guardian in 2012 as its chief marketing officer, having previously worked as a marketing consultant to the company, helping appoint advertising agency BBH, which created the newspaper's award-winning "Three Little Pigs" ad campaign. He was promoted at the end of 2012 to become Guardian News and Media's chief commercial officer. In 2013, he was promoted once again, and became the publisher's deputy CEO, a move that many people in the industry saw as priming Pemsel for the top job at the company. Pemsel has overseen several major projects in his time at The Guardian including the launch of a new content marketing division Guardian Labs, launching a Membership scheme for readers, acquiring an events space in London, restructuring the commercial department, and relaunching The Guardian website (which he spoke to Business Insider about earlier this year.) Commercial highlights have included increasing overall revenue by 3% £215 million ($340 million) for the 2015 financial year. Underlying losses were flat year over year at £20 million ($32 million.) Prior to joining Guardian News and Media, Pemsel served as the group marketing director for UK TV broadcaster ITV for more than five years. He had also worked at London-based advertising agency St Luke's. SEE ALSO: The Guardian Has A Fresh Plan To Take On MailOnline And The New York Times Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This is how big dinosaurs actually were in real life

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Ello tries to make a comeback by launching an iPhone app for its ad-free social network

Ello, the ad-free social network, finally has an iPhone app. The much-hyped social network first launched in September as an invitation-only website, which helped generate interest as people began wondering if Ello would turn into a haven for those tired of Facebook's advertising. With 38,000 sign-up requests an hour at the peak of its buzz, Ello was able to turn its hype into $11 million in funding. Since then, however, public interest has waned and Ello has largely been silent for the past few months as its creators worked on the social network's missing piece: a mobile app. "What we’ve been doing since then is letting the community build — now we have millions of people on Ello," Paul Budnitz, Ello's founder, told Business insider. "So we’ve been building it organically while we’ve been creating new features and actually building it out to what it needs to be." Budnitz and the Ello team decided from the beginning to launch Ello as website first, and release its apps in the following year. "We wanted to create the tone for what Ello is and what it’s become, ahead of time," Budnitz said. "We didn’t want it to be chatty, snappy, we wanted it to actually be a real community where people posted high-quality stuff where it was very positive, with more long-form writing." That's why Ello launched on the web first, Budnitz said, "because that’s where most high-quality content is created, like really beautiful artwork and amazing animated GIFs. "We could have just let everyone in and let it become this gigantic, who knows what the hell it was, but we looked at each other and said that’s not our goal. We don’t want to become the Walmart of social networks. That’s what they are doing over there [at Facebook]." Ello's iPhone app carries much of the same tone and format as its website: The typeface is the same, there's two different news feeds (Friends and Noise), and there's the same emphasis on getting rid of clutter in favor of a focus on in-line photos, GIFs, and paragraphs of text. The two news feeds, Friends and Noise, are further testaments to Ello's focus on creating a beautiful browsing experience. People on Ello can't see if you choose to add them to your Friends or Noise feed. The idea is to put the people you're closest to in Friends, where you'll see a chronological timeline of posts that are fully expanded. Noise, on the other hand, shortens posts to fit more on the screen at once, allowing for faster browsing. The goal of the Noise feed is to allow all of your acquaintances to spill over into this section, as you may prefer merely glancing at their posts instead. Aside from the other normal features like a profile page, the Ello app also introduces real-time notifications for the first time along with a new Discovery feature that lets you find your friends by importing your contacts list. “A lot of the features and functions that people have been waiting for, we put into here even before they got the web," Budnitz said. Ello is basically a clean, well-designed mobile app that those using the service have been waiting for. With the social network's buzz dying down almost as quickly as it started, it's easy to see Ello's iPhone app as one of the last chances to entice new users to an ad-free environment that caters to designers, artists, and creatives. "Now people are two thirds more active, the people we’ve given the app to," Budnitz said, and it's certainly interesting to think how many more users Ello might have now if they had managed to launch their iPhone app earlier before the hype died down. For Android and Windows Phone users, Ello is planning to launch on both platforms "later this summer." You can download Ello for iPhone starting Thursday by heading on over to the App Store.  SEE ALSO: Netflix just launched its newly designed website — and it gets rid of one of its most annoying features 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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In just one hour, two Bell Labs scientists had a breakthrough that won the Nobel prize — and changed photography forever

At Bell Labs in 1969, two scientists were told they had to make progress on a key research project or they would lose their funding. After just an hour of work, they had a breakthrough. This was a milestone in the invention of digital photography, one of the most exciting inventions of modern times. It has given mankind access to invaluable information about space and hugely advanced medical science. And it has completely transformed the daily life of millions around the globe. We can — and do — document our lives on a minute-by-minute basis. Here's how the story unfolded: In the winter of 1975, Steven Sasson, a young engineer working in the Applied Research Lab at Kodak, tested out a new device for the first time. Now known as the first true digital camera, it was cobbled together using leftover parts he found in the lab. Thirty five years later, President Obama awarded Sasson the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for his invention. The camera was about the size of a breadbox and took 23 seconds to take a single black and white image, which was then stored on a cassette tape (see below). While the invention was far from the digital cameras we now use, it sparked a sea change in the way images are captured. Some argue that Sasson’s invention was where digital photography begins. But to say that would be to neglect the most important part of Sasson’ rudimentary camera, buried deep inside its scrap parts: the Charge Coupled-Device. For centuries, scientists and inventors had tried to reproduce images mechanically, attempting to turn light into digital information. Over the years, great strides were taken to achieve this goal, many coming from research into space exploration, as well as spy satellites. Who would have thought that America’s Cold War with Russia would, in part, give birth to our digital cameras? But no step was more important than the invention of the Charge-Coupled Device, or CCD.  As the story goes, George E. Smith and Willard Sterling Boyle, who would later win a Nobel Prize in Physics for their invention, were working in the AT&T Bell Labs during a time where different camps were working on different methods of memory technology. In 1969, they were approached by their VP, Jack Morton, who gave them an ultimatum: make something to compete with the current technology, or funds are going to be allocated elsewhere. Under the gun, Smith and Boyle went into an office and, in one hour, emerged with the basic plans for the CCD, the sensor still used in digital photography today. A CCD works like this: Light hits a tiny grid of photosensitive silicon cells, each which build a charge proportional to the intensity of the light hitting it. This charge can be measured precisely and we can know exactly how bright that portion should be. Add filters, and color can be discerned too. These photo elements, or “pixels” as they came to be, make up the digital image. If one zooms in on a photograph far enough, you can see these tiny squares that make up an image. The more pixels, the more detailed the photo is. Pixels in an image directly relate to the pixels of a CCD. No one quite knows why picture elements began to be called "pixels," though it is assumed to come out of Bell Labs in the 60’s.  These CCD’s were the essential element in Sasson’s digital camera at Kodak six years later.   After news of Sasson's invention spread, technology companies quickly began looking into how they might create their own digital cameras. Still it took six years for the first digital camera to hit the consumer market, and even then, it wasn't very close to what we see today. The Sony Mavica (Magnetic Video Camera) was unveiled in 1981 and, it used a CCD, it was not technically a digital camera, as it recorded television signals as single images to a floppy disc. It didn’t fare very well on the market and was not widely released.  The first digital camera made available in the United States was the Dycam Model 1, shipped in late 1990. It was also a failure, due to its lack of color, terrible resolution, and hefty $1,000 pricetag. In 1991, Kodak introduced a modified Nikon F3 which could capture images digitally and store them on a hard drive carried on the photographer's shoulder. This camera was the first digital camera with the ability to change lenses (now known as a DSLR) and it cost a whopping $30,000. It also had the honor of being taken aboard NASA spacecraft and used in space. Sadly, Kodak did not move quick enough on Sasson's invention, opting to focus on its popular film cameras instead of developing these new digital photographic techniques. By the time they realized the technology's potential, it was too late. In 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  While most people don't think of Apple as a major player in the digital photography game, they are credited by many with having released the first mainstream and successful consumer digital camera, the Quicktake 100, in 1994. Its images, in color, were able to be downloaded to a computer via a USB port.  From here, the technology grew at a rapid pace. The Casio QV-10, released in 1995, was the first camera to incorporate an LCD screen on the back that would preview images for the user. The mobile photography craze can be traced back to 1997, when inventor Philippe Kahn, an already successful tech pioneer, created a prototype of the first ever cell phone camera and shared a picture of his newborn daughter to 2,000 friends and family over his wireless network.  "The options the average person has today for imaging is unlimited. You walk around with your cellphone or your digital camera today and the pictures are excellent, they’re reliably produced, you can share them instantly. I like to say to inventors, 'Be aware that your invention is in an environment where the rest of the world is inventing along with you. By the time your idea matures, it will be in a totally different world.’ I think that was the case with the digital camera," Steven Sasson recently told Fast Company. In 2015, digital cameras and digital imaging are used all over the world for myriad reasons. They have become integral in virtually every industry imaginable, making creating, storing, and disseminating images. In the medical profession, doctors utilize digital photography by documenting, cataloging, and sharing photographs, allowing for better diagnoses. They also work with technology, such as tiny digital cameras in pill form, to see in real time places in the body they never could see before. From the very beginnings of digital imaging, space exploration has been a driving force. Today, digital cameras are used aboard spacecraft to view and document findings. On the ground, galaxies and planets light-years away are photographable, thanks to new technology in the digital-imaging field. Elsewhere, digital photography is used to capture and analyze data in thousands of other fields as well, from nature photographers documenting never-before-seen flora and fauna to revolutionaries snapping and sending photos that will spark change, proving that digital photography truly is one of the most important advancements in the history of technology.   SEE ALSO: Why an iPhone will never replace my DSLR FOLLOW US: Business Insider is on Instagram! Join the conversation about this story »

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AT&T is getting a massive $100 million fine for 'throttling' their unlimited plan customers

The FCC is planning to make AT&T pay $100 million for "misleading" customers about their unlimited data plans, it announced Wednesday. AT&T slowed down the data speeds for customers who were on the unlimited plan, but never told them they would be receiving slower-than-normal service, the FCC's investigation reportedly found. It's what's known as "throttling" a connection.  The FCC says it received thousands of complaints after AT&T started capping data in 2011, and the company's throttling practices affected millions of people. The connection was allegedly slowed an average of 12 days per billing cycle, "significantly impeding their ability to use common data applications such as GPS mapping or streaming video." "Unlimited means unlimited,” said FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc in the release. AT&T spokesperson Michael Balmoris said it plans to "vigorously dispute" the decision. "The FCC has specifically identified this practice as a legitimate and reasonable way to manage network resources for the benefit of all customers, and has known for years that all of the major carriers use it," Balmoris said in an emailed statement. "We have been fully transparent with our customers, providing notice in multiple ways and going well beyond the FCC’s disclosure requirements.” AT&T is already facing a similar suit from the Federal Trade Commission over its throttling practices. The FTC's October 2014 investigation found that AT&T allegedly charged customers for unlimited data plans, but then slowed speeds down, sometimes up to 90%. The FTC estimated that this affected 3.5 million customers. SEE ALSO: FTC Sues AT&T For Misleading 'Millions' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How to supercharge your iPhone in only 5 minutes

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It’s not hard to see why big banks are going crazy over new technology

By making things like payments, lending, and deposits significantly cheaper and easier, technology firms have brought some serious disruption to the banking industry's decades-old business model. It’s why big banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are doubling down on adopting new technology. By doing so, big banks can cut costs and save a lot of money. One area to look at is the mobile remote deposit space, where customers can deposit checks by simply taking a photo of a check with a smartphone and emailing it. According to data from JPMorgan Chase, charted for us by BI Intelligence, the cost of a mobile remote deposit is only $0.03 per deposit, while a physical teller would cost the bank $0.65 per deposit — resulting in more than 21X in savings. Adoption of this technology is expected to grow rapidly. One third of retail bank deposits will be completed remotely by the end of 2015, and half by 2016, BII says. SEE ALSO: Unless you become one of the 27 apps people use every month, you're not going to make it Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The 12 best new features coming to the iPhone

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Nick Denton is confident Gawker will win its $100 million lawsuit over Hulk Hogan's sex tape

Gawker Media CEO Nick Denton is gearing up for a big fight that could cost his company $100 million. A court filing provides some insight into how Gawker will fight it and why Denton believes the company has only a one-in-ten chance of losing. It started when Gawker posted an article with a video excerpt of a sex tape starring Hogan and Heather Clem, the ex-wife of Hogan's friend, Bubba the Love Sponge, in 2012. A disgruntled employee of Hogan's friend is rumored to have leaked the tape. The professional wrestler is suing Gawker for invasion of privacy. The trial starts next month. A possible loss for Denton's company could mean that he would need to seek outside funding for the sake of Gawker's survival, as they don't keep $100 million in the bank. Since its founding in 2003, the company has mostly refused VC funding, and insiders own 90% of its shares.  “We never raised money because we fund growth from cash flow,” Denton once wrote in an email. “And the journalistic pursuit of the truth is not compatible with outside investment." But Denton is confident Gawker won't have to pay a penny. As he told the Daily Beast, "The way I look at it, it’s a five in ten chance that we come through this stronger, and four in ten it’s a wash. Only one in ten bad." According to a court filing obtained by Business Insider, here's how Denton plans to fight the charges:  1. The story was newsworthy.  Former editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio testified that the video is a subject of ongoing public controversy. The video was taken at the time when both Clem and Hogan were married, but Hogan had previously denied the infidelity. In 2011 on the Howard Stern Show, Hogan replied "no" and cited "man law, brother" when asked if Clem's divorce from Bubba had been due to cheating.  2. Hogan is a public figure.  Hogan published an autobiography called "My Life Outside The Ring" so that he could "open up about everything in his life." He and his entire family were in a reality TV show called "Hogan Knows Best," where he gave producers a set of keys so they could creep into the house and film his sleeping family. He wrote, "I didn't care if my butt was hanging out or if I had drool on my pillow."  3. Hogan hasn't exactly been tight-lipped when it comes to his love life. Hogan has engaged in continuous sexual banter on programs like "Bubba the Love Sponge Show." He's disclosed explicit details about his and wife Linda's sexual activities on Bubba's radio program, providing the specifics on how he and Linda were playing "stick shift" in the car the day before.  4. The media had already discussed his sex life long before the tape.  As early as seven months before the release, the VH1 Access website released an article called "Report: A Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Is Out There". The Huffington Post, E-Online, The Daily Caller, TWNPnews.com and many others also published similar articles.  You can read the full court filing below. Hulk Hogan Gawker Court Filing SEE ALSO: Gawker founder says chances of a 'disaster' over Hulk Hogan sex-tape lawsuit are 1 in 10 Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Take a fly-over tour of the $110 million Hamptons mansion that's at the center of a huge lawsuit

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Google is looking to take on Amazon with its next huge business — cloud computing (GOOG)

For more than a decade Google has invented much of the computer hardware it uses to provide the world with its services, ranging from search to Google Apps. Historically, Google has treated its homegrown hardware as a trade secret, unwilling to discuss it. But this week, Google took a big step and started talking more openly, particularly about the networking tech it's invented. Two things caused Google to change its mind: One is that its rival down the road, Facebook, has not only been talking  about its own technology, but created an open source hardware foundation to give those designs away to anyone for free. The Open Compute Project allows anyone to use those designs, modify them, and share improvements that Facebook can use in turn. Contract manufacturers are standing by to build the hardware. In four years, OCP has become a phenom extending far beyond Facebook. Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and even Apple are now part of the project, as are many others, and the project is spawning its own family of startups. Meanwhile, Facebook is getting a lot of credit for some revolutionary bits of networking hardware it invented. Google is looking at Facebook and thinking: We were inventing our own hardware back when Zuck was still at Harvard! It's hard on hardware engineers when they've got to keep mum and can't talk about their best ideas and inventions. Google isn't going quite so far as to create an open source foundation, but it has a second, more valuable business reason for ending its secrecy. Google sees cloud computing as its next huge business, much like ecommerce giant Amazon built its profitable $6 billion cloud business by letting other businesses rent space on its huge, state-of-the-art technology infrastructure. To convince companies that Google's cloud is better, Google is talking about the big new customers its landing (it announced HTC was a customer on Tuesday) and talking about its  hardware. For instance, Google created something called the "Jupiter network" which can blast data around at mind-boggling speeds: 1 Petabit/sec. As Amin Vahdat, a Google fellow and the guy in charge of the technical networking team, writes in a blog post:  the network is fast "enough for 100,000 servers to exchange information at 10Gb/s each, enough to read the entire scanned contents of the Library of Congress in less than 1/10th of a second." Vahdat is talking in depth about the network at the Open Network Summit, being held Wednesday in Santa Clara. By the way, Microsoft's Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft's cloud, Azure, will also be speaking. This is the picture Vahdat shared of Jupiter: SEE ALSO: How Facebook is eating the $140 billion hardware market 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 is joining Google and Facebook in the artificial intelligence arms race (TWTR)

The changing of the guard in Twitter's executive suite hasn't put a halt to the company's M&A activity. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that it has acquired Whetlab, a startup focused on machine learning technology.  The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Whetlab said it will shut down its service effective July 15. It's not immediately clear why Twitter decided to acquire Whetlab. But its machine learning technology potentially has a lot of use-cases for Twitter, like in surfacing more relevant tweets for the users or targeting better ads.  The deal is Twitter's second acquisition of a machine learning tech company, following the acquisition of Madbits last July. The deals come as Internet rivals Google and Facebook are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence technology. Whetlab's small team will also join Twitter following the acquisition. Its small team is comprised of a bunch of PhDs, including Ryan Adams, assistant professor of computer science at Harvard University, and Hugo Larochelle, an assistant professor at the Université de Sherbrooke. Here's what Whetlab wrote about the acquisition on its website: "Over the past year, we have created a technology to make machine learning better and faster for companies, automatically. Twitter is the platform for open communication on the internet and we believe that Whetlab’s technology can have a great impact by accelerating Twitter’s internal machine learning efforts." SEE ALSO: Twitter's biggest problem in one chart Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 clever iPhone tricks only power users know about

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Larry Ellison: SAP and Salesforce pay Oracle a LOT of money (ORCL)

Oracle reported its fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday and, as we've come to expect from the company's flamboyant billionaire founder, Larry Ellison threw a few barbs at his major competitors. He slammed SAP's Oracle-killer database HANA on a conference call with analysts like this: "SAP does not use HANA in the cloud very much. I know that because they keep paying us. They paid us again, this quarter, for Oracle for Concur, Oracle for Ariba, Oracle for SuccessFactors," he said, naming three cloud companies that SAP acquired over the past few years to jump start its cloud business. "If they using HANA for anything, I don't know about it," Ellison chuckled. Ariba, SuccessFactors, and Concur obviously built some of their systems on the Oracle database before they were acquired by its biggest rival, SAP. Like other Oracle customers, SAP must have found that it isn't easy to rip and replace a database, even though it must be excruciating to write checks to Oracle. One of Oracle's CEOs, Safra Catz, explained why Oracle doesn't have that problem. Oracle makes all the hardware and software it needs to build its own cloud. This means that Oracle's cloud can be run more profitably than competitors, she said. "Salesforce paid us a lot of money" Ellison agreed and used a slam at Salesforce as an example: "Salesforce paid us a lot of money for their platform. They buy Exadata from us to run their data center, they buy the Oracle database. They paid a LOT of money for the Oracle database," he said, referring to a 9-year deal signed in 2013 between the two competitors. Salesforce started off almost as an Oracle spin-out. The idea was conceived when Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff worked at Oracle. Ellison was even an early investor and board member. 16 years ago, Benioff would naturally have used the Oracle database. As the two companies became more competitive, and the two men had a falling out, Salesforce was rumored to be trying to move to an open source database known as Postgres. That would have been a bad precedent for Oracle, showing other cloud companies how they could migrate off Oracle, too. Instead the two men buried the hatchet, momentarily, and cut a deal estimated to be valued at $300 million, where Salesforce would continue to buy Oracle's products for another nearly decade. It was said to be a pretty good deal for Salesforce. But not Workday! As for Oracle's other arch rival in the cloud, Workday? Ellison dissed Workday in the usual ways, saying that it was winning 10 times more deals than Workday for a cloud version of the financial application known as enterprise resource planning (ERP). We know that Workday doesn't use Oracle's database or any of Oracle's technology. Ellison has said so. So, every customer that leaps to Workday is a double loss for Oracle, both in the sale of the cloud contract, and the sale of the infrastructure that runs Workday's cloud. This has caused Wall Street analyst, Jefferies analyst John DiFucci to report that Oracle has been behaving "irrationally" to win deals from Workday for over a year. SEE ALSO: 13 tech jobs that pay at least $130,000 across the country 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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How Facebook and Yahoo are spawning billion-dollar startups

There's an increasing business case to be made for giving software away for free. Take Facebook, for example. As Facebook got bigger and bigger, it started running into some serious growing pains — it was generating more data than its data centers could handle. This was a problem, given that people expect Facebook to always be available and snappy.  Normally, this is where a company seeks help from a vendor or a consultant. The problem was that there had never been a web company with Facebook's problems before, so Facebook was forced to come up with its own solutions. A piece of software called Cassandra was originally designed in 2008 as the engine that underpinned storing and searching through all the messages in your Facebook inbox, which is a tall order considering how many millions of messages the company has to deal with every day. "The aim was to design a solution that not only solved the Inbox Search problem but also provided a system as a storage infrastructure for many problems of the same nature. Hence was born Cassandra," wrote Cassandra inventor Avinash Lakshman in the Facebook post announcing the project.   Cassandra worked great. But Facebook's business isn't in making data software. It's a social network and advertising company, and its resources, while vast, are limited. Internally, Facebook could only take Cassandra so far.  But by releasing Cassandra to open source, via the Apache Software Foundation (a non-profit that manages open source software projects), developers all over the world could see what Facebook cooked up and put it to work in their own companies. Apple and Wikimedia use Cassandra in their own web software, these days, as do plenty of smaller companies.  The developers who use Cassandra make improvements to it, applying what they've learned to make it work better for their own specific usages. And very often, those improvements get submitted all the way back up to the Cassandra project.  In other words, Facebook reaps the benefits of a better Cassandra, without having to invest the money in making it better internally. And since search isn't a core part of Facebook's business, either, there's little risk that they're giving away a critical company secret. “Open source is not a threat to anyone’s business plan anymore, it’s now a way to go even further,” said GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath on stage at the Bloomberg Technology Conference this week. Wanstrath also noted that when Microsoft open sourced its .NET programming framework late last year, it took about a day for an Apple Mac version to appear — not something Microsoft would have prioritized, but it served their goal of getting .NET to more places just fine. Plenty of other technology companies, including Google, LinkedIn, and now Apple with the Swift programming language, regularly release open source code to the world. Even Apache Hadoop, the buzzed-about big data software framework, is an open source project that traces its roots back to Yahoo.  Starting up The proliferation of open source projects is making it easier for startups to get off the ground.  Cloudera, a big data startup that's raised $1 billion at a rumored valuation of around $5 billion, built its software on the open source Apache Hadoop. DataStax, a startup that built a commercial product on top of Cassandra, took a $106 funding round late last year as it prepares for IPO. “Open source is driving this massive acceleration of the number of companies that exist today," said LinkedIn SVP of Engineering Kevin Scott on stage at the Bloomberg Technology Conference this week. A lot of the people who originated open source projects often leave to turn their idea into a sustainable business.  Mesosphere, a high-profile data center management startup helmed by the inventor of Apache Mesos, raised a $36 million Series B round last December. In 2014, venture capitalists made 37 investments in open source-based startups, according to Redpoint VC Tomasz Tunguz in a recent blog, and he sees no signs of slowing. The fact that these startups are based on open source means that their developer customers are already familiar with the concept and technology, and just want someone else to do it for them and do it well, Tunguz says. "Companies of all kinds are starting to use software as competitive strategic advantage, and the pace of innovation in infrastructure and software continues to increase," writes Tunguz. SEE ALSO: How to get a software developer to work for free Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: These Excel Text Tricks Will Save Your Life When Cleaning Up Disorganized Data

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The one big feature Nest's new smart camera failed to deliver

Nest just announced its first new product since Google acquired it for $3.2 billion last year: A new smart camera called the Nest Cam. Nest Cam comes about a year after the company bought Wi-fi camera startup Dropcam for $555 million and marks the first real product integration between the two companies.  The new device is a marked improvement over the last version of Dropcam, with higher resolution video, better night vision, improved audio capabilities and a sleeker hardware and app design. But for all its new features, there's one big disappointment: You still can't use a Nest Cam outside. The camera is rated for indoor use only, which means it can't be exposed to water or extreme cold or heat. Before the marriage of Dropcam and Nest, a weatherproof camera was one of the most popular product requests: Nest even made it clear late last year that it was still getting  lots of requests for an outdoor camera: @RoundRockMan We know people want this a lot, and we're working on it. But no announcement right now. More info: http://t.co/boWdoNtO2g — Nest Support (@nestsupport) December 11, 2014 Most people place Dropcams — and will place Nest Cams — around inside their houses. Then, through an app, they can constantly watch a live-stream video feed or get alerts when there are movements or loud noises.  For example, people have caught burglars breaking into their houses after getting push notifications from their cameras. But a lot of people would also like to place their camera outside, to monitor their yard, driveway, or garage. Although you could point an indoor Nest Cam out a window, that doesn't work at night, because the night vision mode uses infrared LED bulbs, which can cause reflections from windows. A feed full of shiny window reflections isn't exactly helpful.  When people realized that the new Nest Cam still couldn't be used outside, there were some grumblings on Twitter: Not sure why Nest missed including outdoor housing for it's new dropcam. http://t.co/BSa1lheYzA — Sam Lawrence (@SamLawrence) June 17, 2015 @meganwollerton No outdoor Dropcam :( — Brian Herbert (@brianherbert) June 17, 2015 @nestsupport no outdoor cam? — Steve Black Jr. (@draggingalake) June 17, 2015 @jillianiles I guess. Although the bigger deal breaker is not having a practical use for one. I do love their thermostat & protect though — Marc Dempsey (@Canadian_Shield) June 17, 2015 When asked about why Nest didn't integrate weather-proofing into its new camera — whether because of technical feasibility or something else —  a spokesperson said that the company is excited about the new features that it did add and that there is lots of room for more in the future. Nest is run by CEO Tony Fadell, who doubles as the lead for Google Glass. Dropcam founder Greg Duffy left Nest last January.  The lack of Dropcam and Nest Cams outdoor compatibility gives other smart cameras an opportunity to step in. When Panasonic first announced its Dropcam competitor Nubo back in March, the company exec Business Insider talked to stressed how the device was "outdoor ready" more than almost anything else.  Another company that's probably happy about Nest's decision to forgo waterproofing is Dropcases, a company that specializes in a variety of different outdoor cases for Dropcams. Learn more about the Nest Cam in this demo vid: SEE ALSO: Nest launches its first product since becoming part of Google: A smart camera called 'Nest Cam' 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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This is how big connected cars will be in regions around the world

2015 will undoubtedly be the year of the connected car. In their recent annual report, BMW Group CEO Norbert Reithofer said connecting the car to the internet will change the auto industry more than the shift to electric and hybrid cars.  To stay competitive in the automotive market, car makers throughout the world have quickly begun to equip their car lineups with internet connection features. Some automakers have even gone as far as building car "app stores."  In new research from BI Intelligence, we have expanded upon our previous connected car forecasts and created a regional analysis of how connected car shipments will trend in Asia, North America, Western Europe, South America, and Eastern Europe, and included forecasts for the top countries for connected car shipments in each of these regions. Access The Note And Downloadable Charts By Signing Up For A Trial BI Intelligence Membership>> Here are some of the findings from the report: Asia will be the leading connected car market. Although the Asian car market is slowly beginning to cool off, we expect total car shipments will remain high. Further, we believe tech companies including Alibaba and Baidu will have a major impact in bringing connected cars to the region. North American connected car sales will be propped up by the US. By 2020, we expect nearly 97% of new cars shipped in the US will have the capability to connect to the internet. Western Europe will quickly adopt connected car solutions. We estimate the share of connected cars to non-connected cars will grow from 13% in 2014 to 95% in 2020. South America and Eastern Europe will be slow to migrate towards connected cars. The two regions buy the fewest cars and are dominated primarily by emerging, rather than developed, markets. Nevertheless, automakers are likely to install connectivity features to various models sold in the regions.  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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How Google thinks it can knock one of Oracle's main technologies off the charts (GOOG, ORCL)

For the past 20 years, Oracle's Java programming language has been unstoppable.  Amazon uses Java. So does Netflix, and Bank of America, and just about every other website out there. Android apps are written in Java. Even Minecraft uses a whole bunch of Java.  According to the Red Monk rankings and TIOBE Index, which stand as the more-or-less definitive rankings of programming languages, Java is either the second or first most popular programming language in the world, respectively. But since 2009, Google has been quietly working on its own Go programming language (also called Golang), an alternative to Java that's slowly attracting a ton of devoted fans by focusing on making it easy to write software that just works. Plus, Go is a way for Google to thumb its nose at Oracle, which sued Google in a landmark case over its use of Java in Android. Why simplicity matters Go may never completely break the stranglehold that Java has over the web, but it's growing quickly — companies like red-hot startup Docker and Amazon's Twitch.tv use it to build commercial products. And within five years, Google Go product manager Jason Buberel thinks, it can knock Java and other legacy languages like C# (Microsoft's Java-like language) off the top of the charts. Buberel says that's because Go is designed to be simple, unlike those other languages.  Within two hours, an experienced programmer can learn every single feature of Go and start to code. To maintain that level of simplicity, Go just isn't adding any more features. "The language is done and that's a good thing," Buberel says. This simplicity matters because programmers spend 5 times as much time reading code as they do writing code, according to Buberel, which makes readability a major asset.   Oracle, which oversees Java, adds features to the language all the time — meaning it can take "years to master," and hard to read, Buberel says. "[Java code] has a reputation for being prickly and thorny." The same goes for C#, which famously has an 800-page instruction manual.  Consider also that programmers working on your complicated Java or C# app may not stay with the company for as long as it takes to finish that same app. When you hire a new programmer, even if they're proficient with Java, it'll still take them a lot of time to understand what the heck was going on with the last guy.  "Your dev team will turn over at twice the rate your code base will," Buberel says.  Go is also open source, meaning that anybody in the world can contribute to making the language better — a crucial push towards getting it into more places.  Buberel admits Java is powerful, and it's everywhere, even at Google, and it's not going away any time soon. But Buberel says that Go can pick up lots of  steam by appealing to the sensibilities of coders, inside Silicon Valley and outside, who care less about the philosophy of  languages and the history of what's come before, and more about just buckling down and "getting s*** done." He says that he would describe the average Go developer as "pragmatic and productive."  "They just want to look good to their bosses."  SEE ALSO: How to get a software developer to work for free Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here are all of Google's awesome science projects — that we know about

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This couple says they'll split up if a gay marriage law passes, so thousands of people joined a Facebook event to celebrate their divorce

A Facebook event created to celebrate the divorce of an Australian couple has over 165,000 enthusiastic attendees. It sounds harsh, right? Well, the couple — Nick and Sarah Jensen — are making headlines for threatening to split up if the country legalizes gay marriage. So it's not too surprising that the backlash includes a preemptive celebration of the couple's potential divorce. "My wife and I, as a matter of conscience, refuse to recognize the government’s regulation of marriage if its definition includes the solemnization of same sex couples," Nick told City News.  People are using the Facebook group to share pictures and messages to support the Jensen's decision to divorce. The Telegraph discovered the Facebook page earlier Wednesday. Many users are treating the event as if it would be happening in real life, and not just on the internet. Several posts involve preparations for the nuptial-ending internet party. Posters are sharing stories about their own marriages and families explaining why they disagree with the Jensen's stance on gay marriage. "All I can say is I'm a gay father of two and when I told my children what you were planning to do, the first thing out of my daughter's mouth was 'what a nitwit. They deserve a divorce,'" one man wrote. Gay (and straight) couples are also sharing pictures of themselves, with captions explaining their beliefs about marriage. All of them include the belief that any two people in love should be able to get married. The bulk of the posts are from Australians, but Facebook users around the globe are posting in the group. This man from Kentucky posted about his marriage to a man named Leigh.  Facebook users are sending the Jensens the same kinds of well-wishes traditionally used for weddings.  "Happy divorce day to you! I'm sorry our marriage destroyed yours," a woman named Siri wrote, including the photo below.  Not all of the posts are as friendly — some Facebook users are openly mocking the Jensens. One thing is certain, there will most definitely be cake.    Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women

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Larry Ellison just gave a really good reason why he was happy with Oracle's disappointing quarter (ORCL)

Although Oracle whiffed on its fourth quarter, missing expectations on both revenue and profits in the quarter that is traditionally its strongest, Oracle's management was upbeat, almost deliriously so. "We are delighted with this quarter," one of Oracle's CEOs, Safra Catz said on a quarterly conference call with analysts. The reason: Oracle blew way past its own internal expectations for cloud computing sales. Oracle gained $426 million of new cloud revenue, on an annual recurring revenue basis. Management had projected it would do $300 million in the quarter, Oracle's other CEO, Mark Hurd, said. And these executives are happy because Oracle makes three times more money over the long run on cloud than they do on software, they say. Catz explained that a $1 million software license deal will ultimately generate $3 million for Oracle because customers will pay for extended technical support. But a $1 million cloud contract will ultimately generate $10 million for the company, because customers must pay for the software on subscription for as long as they want to use it. The downside: the accounting is different. With a software sale, the whole $1 million can be shown as revenue immediately. With cloud, the $10 million is recognized only when it is billed. So even though the cloud contract is worth more, as Oracle shifts its customers to the cloud, it can look like revenue is shrinking. Big profits in cloud, too Ellison explained that selling applications via the cloud is about equally profitable to selling a software license, too. There are two profitable ways to sell apps via the cloud, Software-as-a-service, (SaaS) which delivers an Oracle application over the internet; or Platform-as-a-Service, (PaaS) which hosts custom applications that the customers develop themselves. "On a $1 million deal of licensed software, you'll get about 20% [in support revenue] for two years, so you'll get a total of $3 million after the cost of sales. It's a very profitable business. Most of that $3 million after the cost of sales is profit," Ellison said. "On a $1 million SaaS or PaaS deal, you don't get anything up front but you have to pay commissions. But a $1 million deal is worth 3 times as much," he said. "That $1 million turns into something less than $10 million in profits, say $9 million in profits, over the 10 year period of providing the service. It's a much better business for us in terms of revenue and the margins are about the same." He's being a little grandiose for the sake of example. Oracle's overall operating margins (excluding extraordinary items) was 45% in 2015. But point taken all the same. Oracle has another advantage in making cloud profitable, Catz points out: Oracle makes all the things it uses in its cloud, the hardware and the software. It doesn't have to buy expensive hardware or software from others. So it is in some ways, the master of its own profit margins. Hurd also pointed out that the cloud is allowing Oracle to reach brand new customers. Smaller companies can buy Oracle's software delivered as a cloud. These same companies couldn't afford to buy it as a software, buy the  hardware to run it on, and hire the IT people to manage all that. Investors were a little more cautious. Cloud computing is currently only 6% of Oracle's total sales in its fiscal 2015 (about $2.3 billion out of $38.2 billion in revenue). While Oracle says that all of its business are also growing, new software licenses were down 4% in constant currency for fiscal 2015. The stock was down over 6% in after hours trading. Catz promised that the proof of the goodness of cloud will soon show up in Oracle's quarterly financial reports. Cloud revenue should grow sequentially from quarter to quarter, and be less dependent on seasonality, she said. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Two models in Russia just posed with a 1,400-pound bear

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Judge tentatively sets Ellen Pao's court costs at $275,000 — less than one-third what Kleiner Perkins wanted

A San Francisco court judge tentatively ordered Ellen Pao to pay $275,966.63 in court costs to her former employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. That's a number greatly reduced from the initial $973,000 in court fees the venture capital firm was seeking to recover from Pao, of which $865,000 was attributed to expert fees. In a tentative ruling before tomorrow's hearing, Judge Harold Kahn scaled down the expert testimony costs to $228,646.28. He also found that KPCB's offer of settlement to Pao was made in "good faith", not a "token" offer as she had contested, which leaves Pao with the bill. "We’re pleased the court has reached a fair result," said Christina Lee, a spokeswoman for KPCB. "This tentative ruling recognizes that our settlement offer was reasonable and made in good faith. It also recognizes the cost rules still apply when a plaintiff refuses a reasonable settlement offer and forces the parties to go through an expensive trial." Request for comment to Pao's attorney went unreturned. Pao lost all counts of her case against the venture capital firm on March 27, 2015, when a jury found that her gender was not the motivating reason for her not being promoted to a general or senior partner, or for her termination at the firm. In a move typical for defendants who prevail in employment lawsuits, KPCB filed in April to recover $973,000 in court fees, but said it would waive its legal costs if Pao gave up her right to appeal.  In May, Pao filed a motion to strike KPCB's costs because she found them "grossly excessive and unreasonable." The nearly $973,000 in court costs includes nearly $865,000 in expert witness fees.  She also considered the firm's settlement offer for $964,000 in November 2014 a "bad faith offer". But Pao also offered, according to KPCB, to waive her rights to appeal in exchange for $2.7 million to cover her own costs. The judge's tentative ruling means that Pao will now have to pay the reduced amount of $275,966.63. The case will be heard in San Francisco on June 18. Additionally, Pao filed a notice to appeal the case on June 1, which is separate from the negotiation of legal costs. SEE ALSO: Venture capital firm calls Ellen Pao's request for $2.7 million after losing trial 'an unreasonable demand' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Peter Diamandis: How to come up with the next billion-dollar idea

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The guru behind the Apple Store now wants to bring the Genius Bar to you

Most consumers view shopping in two ways — you either go to a physical store to purchase an item or you order it online. But retail veteran Ron Johnson, Apple's former senior vice president of retail and the former CEO of JCPenney, thinks there's a need for something in between. That's what is latest startup Enjoy seeks to address. Enjoy is a shopping platform that sells high-end electronic devices, such as Sonos home theater systems, drones, gaming consoles, and even electric skateboards. But instead of just delivering products to your home, Enjoy's experts help you set them up, install them, and learn how to use them. It's sort of like having a genius bar technician on demand to help set up your new products. Johnson unveiled Enjoy last October, announcing that his company had raised $30 million in a round co-led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Oak Partners. Last month, the service launched in San Francisco and New York. Enjoy faces lots of competition, as companies large and small are trying to get into e-commerce. Pinterest recently added "buy" buttons to its page so that people can purchase items they see on various boards directly through the platform. Google is rumored to be making a similar addition to its search results. And shopping site Jet.com hopes to lure some shoppers away from Amazon by enticing them with cheaper prices if they buy products in bundles. But Johnson says his startup isn't competing with Amazon — he's pitching Enjoy as something entirely new. Buy it and enjoy it right now   The crux behind Enjoy isn't in the products it sells — you can buy Windows tablets, an Xbox, or a drone through almost any electronics retailer. With Enjoy, you're really paying for the concierge service of being able to have the product delivered and set up wherever you are.  "I'm convinced that you can serve customers better where they use a product than you ever could in a store," Johnson said to Business Insider. "In this world where the home's going to be all connected to all your devices, someone has got to go through the door to really make magic. It's pretty hard to do 10 miles away." Johnson says there's a future for Enjoy beyond its concierge-like shopping service. Since the real secret sauce behind Enjoy is its team of trained experts, there's the possibility of holding public events and workshops for introducing people to technology they haven't used before.  So, for instance, Enjoy could hold an event for an outdoor product such as the Boosted Board electronic skateboard where you actually get to learn how to ride it before you consider buying it.  "It's something a store can't do," Johnson said. "But we've got this community of experts that are completely mobile, so we can go anywhere at any time...We can have the Genius Bar equivalent at a coffee shop." Johnson has worked in the retail industry for 30 years, and is probably most remembered for his time at Apple where he helped former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs build out the Apple Store retail chain. He had a harder time at JCPenney, where the magic he applied at Apple was unable to turn the ailing department store company around. He was ousted a mere 17 months after he hired, in April 2013. Now he's putting that time in the past. Johnson brought two notable former Apple executives with him to work on Enjoy — including Jerry McDougal, who worked as Apple's vice president of retail until 2013, and Tom Suiter, Apple's former creative director.  Johnson reiterated that Jobs valued the customer experience above all else when it came to developing the Apple Store, and that seems to be an ideal that stayed with Johnson as he built Enjoy. "Imagine if you could order today and enjoy tomorrow, instead of order today and get it delivered tomorrow," Johnson said. "That's a simple idea. And the more I thought about it, I couldn't shake this." The hardest part about building a successful retail business is envisioning how people will buy things differently in the future, according to Johnson.  "Physical retail is really hard," he said. "[If] you build a store, it's a 10-year minimum commitment. So you've got to make sure it's how people would want to buy products in 2025, not 2015." And the key to succeeding in retail is patience, says Johnson. "You've got to recognize that it's going to take time to succeed," he said. "Most things that seem like overnight successes weren't." SEE ALSO: Apple just showed us the future of the iPhone — here's what app makers think of it so far Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The 12 best new features coming to the iPhone

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Snapchat's Live Stories feature can reportedly make $400,000 from 10-second ads

Snapchat's Live Stories, a feature where users can share photos and videos of a live event, is turning out to be quite a lucrative business for the ephemeral messaging app. Snapchat charges marketers two cents per view on a 10-second ad that shows up on one of the Live Stories contents, according to a report in Recode citing anonymous sources. Since Live Stories can attract about 20 million people on average in a 24-hour span, that means ad space on a 20 million view story can be worth about $400,000, Recode said. Seeing that potential, Snapchat is doubling down on Live Stories. It now has more than 40 human curators working as part of the Live Story team (from less than 10 in January), and features "multiple events per day," as opposed to one or two per week in January. “It’s still a relatively new product and we’ve been focused on content [so far] but I think you’re going to see a lot more ads in the future,” Ben Schwerin, Snapchat's director of partnerships told Recode. Snapchat, which last raised funding at a valuation of $16 billion, sees Live Stories as one of the big growth drivers of its business. Since its launch about a year ago, Live Stories has provided unique experiences to its users, becoming one of Snapchat's most popular features. The music festival Coachella, for example, attracted more than 40 million unique viewers, Recode said. SEE ALSO: You think Snapchat is for sexting, but it's actually a giant threat to Google, Facebook, and TV Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 clever iPhone tricks only power users know about

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Soon you can take selfies from the world’s most expensive satellite — for free

The International Space Station took 15 nations about $100 billion and nearly two decades to build. Basically, it's humanity's most expensive object. It's also now host to Iris, an ultra-high-definition video camera. A company called UrtheCast sent up the 4K camera in 2013, and it will sell data-rich videos to governments and businesses starting late July for about $20,000-$30,000 each. However, the rest of us will soon be able to take the ultimate selfie — from space — for free. No, you won't see your beautiful face from 250 miles up. Each pixel in UrtheCast's highest-res imagery from Iris can resolve about 1 meter (a little more than three feet). So scribbling your marriage proposal on a lawn or a public park will require some pretty big letters. "You'll never see the guy in the backyard mowing the lawn, but you can see a golf cart," Scott Larson, CEO of UrtheCast, told about a dozen reporters in Manhattan on Tuesday. Larson told Business Insider that UrtheCast plans to post a streaming 1080p video feed sometime in late July. "[Astronauts] all say going to space changes them," Larson says, describing what some call the overview effect. "We want to take the astronauts' view and stream it for the rest of us." We've had great views of Earth from space for awhile, primarily via NASA satellites, but Iris's public, persistent, ultra-high-resolution video is a first. Video from space On June 17, UrtheCast released its "first light" Iris clips of Earth — a glimpse at what this powerful camera is capable of. Judging by the clips, the live web feed should be incredibly cool and potentially addictive after it goes live. (The current live feed on the site is not Iris's view.) Here's downtown Boston. You can see cars driving down highways and side streets: Below is the River Thames in London. The London Eye is at the top left. Iris can see boats zoom over the water, and UrtheCast's software can calculate their speed in real-time: While the resolution is incredible, the camera does distort tall objects. They seem to move or morph over time because the space station is flying overhead at 17,500 mph. The videos look amazingly stable, though. UrtheCast says gyroscopes on the camera help keep the image steady, as it points at and tracks a scene. The gyros also dampen vibration from any astronauts banging on the space station's hull while exercising, for example. But the killer feature of the Iris camera is the software, says George Tyc, co-founder and CTO of UrtheCast. As Iris records video, software in space and on the ground matches what the camera sees to older satellite images in real-time. "You end up with something that looks completely stable," Tyc says. Additional to that, Tyc says the video software can "track every single thing that moves." "Cars are moving, things are happening, tall buildings are swaying. … You see dynamics, you see this additional information" you couldn't have without video, he says. Take a look at Barcelona, for example. Want to know how full those oil tanks are, or how much activity there is in the port? Iris and its algorithms can help: Each tracked "scene," like the ones shown above, can last up to 75, possibly 90 seconds — which is the product governments and businesses can order from UrtheCast. The more recent the scene, the more valuable it is, and the more UrtheCast can charge for the data. The free web stream won't track scenes nor have ultra HD resolution. It will also lack special data layers, object tracking, and other valuable services. But it should still look amazing. The company also has a medium-resolution camera, called Theia, which Russian cosmonauts installed along with Iris in late 2013 and early 2014. Unlike Iris, Theia takes lower resolution (5-meter pixel) images over much wider swaths of the Earth's surface (about 31 miles wide vs. Iris's 3.4-mile-wide view). Low-res isn't necessarily a bad thing, though; Theia can monitor forests, farmland, bodies of water, and other large-scale stuff. UrtheCast's competitors offer similar imagery, but the company hopes to undercut on price (because it's basically able to use the space station for free). Yes, it's kind of creepy At least one reporter during UrtheCast's "first light" event in New York City found the concept of a persistent, high-definition camera constantly watching our driveways, cars, boats, and so on from space a little creepy. But Larson says there are at least 50 cameras on satellites taking photos at much, much higher resolutions — spy satellites "we've never heard of," according to Larson. Some of these can probably resolve a license plate number, but none of them are open to the public. "We can't see faces … or suntanning on a beach" with Iris, Larson says. When UrtheCast launches its live web video feed in late July, Larson told Business Insider, it hopes to release a suite of apps for phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Larson said about 300 developers are currently working to make cool apps. "You could find out when the space station is going to be above you, for example, and have it text you the image when it happens," Larson says. So if you're thinking about proposing to the love of your life — and your ambition is so high it soars into space — late July might be a good time to target. Join the conversation about this story »

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How to get a software developer to work for free

When Apple announced at last week's Worldwide Developer Conference that it was releasing Swift, its new programming language for Apple iPhone app development, to open source, it got the biggest cheers of the conference. To those outside the world of development, a word of explanation: "Open source" means that the source code — the code used to make the software — is laid bare to the world for any developer anywhere around the world to download, examine, and if they're so moved, improve on. So these developers were cheering and hollering for the chance to help Apple work on Swift — something it created internally — as volunteer labor.  In fact, a recent survey by programmer hangout Stack Exchange says that the average software developer spends seven hours a week working on side projects and open source software, outside of their normal working hours. What gives?  Code rules  For the developers who work on these projects, it's not about the business case.  Core OS developer Matthew Garrett once wrote a blog entry on what free software means to him: "Without free software I'd have started years later. I'd have lost the opportunity to collaborate with people spread over the entire world. My first job would have looked very different, as would my entire career since then. Without free software, almost everything I've achieved in my adult life would have been impossible."  So many open source projects get started because a single developer (or team of developers) reckons there must be a better way to do things. Those developers are as likely to come from universities as they are from technology companies. Linux, the most popular open source project of all time and widely used in just about every data center there is, got its start in 1991 when creator Linus Torvalds decided to write an operating system just for fun. On the enterprise software side, Facebook invented Cassandra (now used at big companies like Apple) because there was just no good existing way to sort huge amounts of data in a user's Facebook Messenger inbox.  Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Airbnb, and many other technology companies release their software as open source.  It speaks to a mindset that resonates powerfully with many, many developers: The idea that there's a better way to do things.  “It’s not just companies driving [technology] forward anymore, it’s anyone or everyone,” said GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath on stage at this week's Bloomberg Technology Conference. The most successful of these ideas attract huge, active, passionate communities to manage and develop the open source project. If you build it... "You just put it out there, they won't care," says Jim Whitehurst, CEO and President of Red Hat, which commercializes open source software like Linux for the enterprise. "You need to get people to help you build it."  The Apache Software Foundation is a nonprofit that handles all of this for several big-time software projects like Apache Hadoop, Apache Spark, and Apache Mesos. The Linux Foundation oversees Linux. Docker, the company, manages the community for Docker, the open source software. It's the job of those communities to look after the project and ensure they grow in a planned way, ensuring that any features and code added meet the overall goal of the project — even when it's at odds with what the company who came up with the software had in mind.  These overseeing communities are designed to be loose and widely open to debate, so no one person or organization can seize control and guide it to their own benefit. “Sometimes, what the community needs isn’t what you as a business need, and you have to accept that," said Kevin Scott, SVP Engineering & Operations at LinkedIn. The unfortunate side-effect to this kind of organization is that there aren't rules to promote civil debate or discourage harsh language — a prominent example is how Linux founder Linus Torvalds often finds himself in hot water for scaring people away from wanting to work on the operating system with his tirades and penchant for cursing people out. Regardless, coders often find these open source communities because they're running into the same problems as the people who founded the project. Maybe you're not dealing with the same volume of data as Facebook, but Cassandra might still a better way to do search.  So these projects find their way into what those coders are working on, either at home or at work. For a software engineer, finding the right open source project can save a huge amount of time and a lot of money. And in the process, developers end up making friends and connections.  The why of it all It's that last aspect that explains why so many developers pay it forward by contributing code back to open source, even when that commitment goes beyond the workday.  I asked developers on Twitter to weigh in on why they do it. @gamoid @sai For the same reason I occasionally buy a coffee for the next person in line. #PayItForward — Rocky Jain (@ShadesOfJain) June 17, 2015 @gamoid @SAI Further development outside patent limitations, find & fix flaws/ security risks, make tech better. — Paul C (@feedingtubepaul) June 17, 2015 @gamoid @MattRosoff I use open source code all the time, only feels right to give back too. — Jeff Kibuule (@jeffkibuule) June 17, 2015 The consensus, it seems, is that it's only fair to pay your friends in the community back by making improvements wherever you see them. After all, the developers of the open source world put the considerable efforts of their friends to work in their own software every single day. And the net result is that your choice for a better way of doing things becomes even better, constantly.  When Apple announced Swift would be going open source, what Apple really announced was that developers all over the world would be able to take something they're passionate about — iOS development — and make it even better than before, with the help of all the smart people of the world.   SEE ALSO: Why coders get into 'religious wars' over programming languages Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch Siri fail live on-stage at Apple’s huge WWDC event

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The Guardian owner will appoint David Pemsel as its chief executive

Guardian Media Group, the owner of The Guardian newspaper and websites, has promoted its deputy CEO David Pemsel to chief executive, Sky News reports. He replaces Andrew Miller, who announced in January he was leaving the company at the end of June 2015. Miller had been in the role since 2010 and worked to implement a five-year turnaround plan with the aim of securing The Guardian's financial future. Sky News sources say Pemsel saw off competition from "an unidentified UK-based Google executive." Business Insider has contacted The Guardian for comment and we will update this article once we hear back. Pemsel joined The Guardian in 2012 as its chief marketing officer, having previously worked as a marketing consultant to the company, helping appoint advertising agency BBH, which created the newspaper's award-winning "Three Little Pigs" ad campaign. He was promoted at the end of 2012 to become Guardian News and Media's chief commercial officer. In 2013, he was promoted once again, and became the publisher's deputy CEO, a move that many people in the industry saw as priming Pemsel for the top job at the company. Pemsel has overseen several major projects in his time at The Guardian including the launch of a new content marketing division Guardian Labs, launching a Membership scheme for readers, acquiring an events space in London, restructuring the commercial department, and relaunching The Guardian website (which he spoke to Business Insider about earlier this year.) Commercial highlights have included increasing overall revenue by 3% £215 million for the 2015 financial year. Underlying losses were flat year over year at £20 million. Prior to joining Guardian News and Media, Pemsel served as the group marketing director for UK TV broadcaster ITV for more than five years. He had also worked at London-based advertising agency St Luke's. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women

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France back on track England, South Korea, Colombia reach last 16

Vancouver (AFP) - France got their Women's World Cup campaign back on track Wednesday with a 5-0 rout of Mexico as England, South Korea and Colombia also grabbed last 16 berths on the final day of group games. The third-ranked French had been among the tournament favourites before falling to a shock 2-0 defeat to Colombia in their second game. But they delivered in style in their third match, becoming the quickest team to score three goals in the tournament's history to finish top of Group F. England, also on six points, but behind France on goal difference, beat Colombia 2-1 in Montreal and advance second from the group. The 28th-ranked South Americans also backed into the last 16 as one of the four best third-place finishers with four points. Mexico, ranked 15th, are on their way home with one point. France's Marie Laure Delie scored after just 34 seconds in Ottawa, with an own goal by defender Jennifer Ruiz eight minutes later followed by the first of a Eugenie Le Sommer double on 13 minutes. Le Sommer scored her third of the tournament on 36 minutes, with Amandine Henry completing the scoreline with a spectacular goal from 25 yards out with ten minutes to go. "We wanted this first place, we just left a little bit of suspense," said France striker Gaetane Thiney. France next meet South Korea, who came from behind to dump Spain 2-1 in Group E and achieve their first win in the  tournament on their second attempt after 2003. "I felt like we had won the title," said Kim Soo-Yun who scored the winner on 78 minutes after Cho So-Hyun (53) cancelled out a 29th-minute Veronica Boquete strike. "I was so pleased, so happy, this is my first time making it to the senior World Cup." Brazil finished top of Group E with a 1-0 victory over Costa Rica which sent the Central American side crashing out of the tournament. The 2007 runners-up have a maximum nine points ahead of South Korea on four. Costa Rica finish on two and Spain with one -- with both sides eliminated from the tournament. England finished second in Group F, by beating Colombia 2-1 to set up a meeting with 1995 champions Norway on Monday. Goals from Karen Carney (15) and a Fara Williams (38) penalty kick, put England ahead before Lady Andrade snatched one back in injury time. Colombia qualified with four points and next play two-time winners the United States in the knockout round. Brazil, already through, kept their unbeaten record with the win over Costa Rica, courtesy of a Raquel Fernandes goal seven minutes from time. The 2007 runners-up play Australia in the last 16 at Moncton on Sunday. The knockout rounds get underway on Saturday with two-time winners Germany up against Sweden, the 2003 runners-up, at Ottawa, and China taking on surprise African newcomers Cameroon at Edmonton. Join the conversation about this story »

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Greece's future in EU at stake as ministers gather for talks

Athens (AFP) - Eurozone finance ministers were set to hold crunch talks over Greece Thursday, after a barrage of warnings that the country risks a damaging exit from the EU if it fails to strike a deal with its creditors. As negotiations between Athens, the EU, ECB and IMF over the last 7.2 billion euro ($8.1 billion) tranche of Greece's massive international bailout grew increasingly acrimonious this week, officials started openly discussing the prospect of Greece crashing out of the euro. On Wednesday, a day ahead of the Luxembourg meeting of the eurozone's 19 countries, Greece's central bank warned for the first time that the country could suffer a "painful" exit from the single currency area -- and even the European Union -- if it fails to reach a deal. And in a sign the EU's top financial brass are also seriously considering the possibility of a "Grexit", the head of Germany's central bank, Jens Weidmann, said it would "change the character of the monetary union" -- but not destroy it.  Despite the warnings, and a looming deadline for Greece to repay 1.6 billion euros to the IMF at the end of the month, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he does not expect the reforms-for-cash standoff to be finalised at the talks. "I don't think so," he said when asked during a trip to Paris on Wednesday if he expected an agreement. "Now it is up to political leaders to arrive at an accord." Underscoring growing global concern about the fallout from the crisis, US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen warned the world economy could see significant turmoil if Greece and its creditors failed to do a deal. "In the event that there is not agreement I do see the potential for disruptions that could affect the European economic outlook and global financial markets," Yellen said.   - 'Fixation' on pensions -   The International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank have been deadlocked with Greece's left-wing government over how far it will go to reform its pensions system and hike taxes in return for cash it desperately needs to avoid a default.  Elected on an anti-austerity platform in January, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras warned Wednesday that an EU "fixation" on pension cuts would scupper any hopes of reaching an agreement. "There is no room for further cuts without affecting the core of the (pension) system," Tsipras said. "If Europe insists on this incomprehensible fixation... it must accept the cost of a development that will benefit no one in Europe." Greece is due to pay the IMF 1.6 billion euros by June 30 after bundling several payments due this month together, with another 6.7 billion euros due to the ECB in July and August. The prospect that Athens could default came into focus after talks collapsed on Sunday, prompting Greece's central bank to issue one of the starkest warnings from inside the country of the consequences of crashing out of the single currency. Failure to reach an agreement would start "a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country's exit from the euro area and -– most likely -– from the European Union". Leaving the single currency would lead to a deep recession, dramatic declines in incomes and a spike in unemployment in the southern European nation, the bank added.   - Fraying tempers -   On the other side of the fence, Bundesbank chief Weidmann warned that while failure to reach a deal would cause some contagion, the eurozone did not depend on Greece.  "A Grexit could change the character of the monetary union," he said in an interview with French, Italian and Spanish media, adding that the consequences of leaving the euro "would be hard to control" for Athens. The mounting pressure has frayed tempers, illustrated by the public falling out between Tsipras and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, who has accused the Greek premier of misleading Greek voters about the talks. Polls show most Greeks support the government's negotiating strategy, though its approval rating has steadily fallen. Some 7,000 people gathered in Athens on Wednesday evening to protest against the creditors' demands for further cuts, carrying banners reading: "End Austerity" and "Democracy, Not Blackmail". Tsipras is also set to travel to the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday and is scheduled to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin on Friday -- a sign, some observers say, the Greek premier is trying to show Europe he still has other cards to play.   Join the conversation about this story »

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10 things you need to know before European markets open

Good morning! Here are the stories you need to hear in markets today. The Eurogroup is meeting, and Greece is at the top of everyone's list. The eurozone's finance ministers gather today for one of their regular Eurogroup meetings — the last one before Greece's next debt repayment deadline and potential default on June 30. Neither Athens nor other European leaders are positive about the chances that a bailout deal will be reached. The Fed held rates where they are. The Federal Reserve unanimously held the US central bank's benchmark rate at 0.25% at the June meeting, with many analysts expecting the first post crisis increase in September. And Fed chair Janet Yellen still seems to be pointing to a hike in rates this year. The latest "dot plot" suggests that the Fed will raise rates at some point this year. The Fed's latest statement kept more or less the same language with respect to interest rate increases, while the Fed's economic outlook downgraded GDP expectations for this year and indicated a slightly higher range for the unemployment rate in 2015. UK retail sales are coming. At 9:30 a.m. London time (4:30 a.m. New York), retail sales figures for the UK in May will be released. Analysts are expecting no month-on-month increase after a strong April, which would still leave sales up 4.8% year-on-year. US telecoms giant AT&T is getting a huge fine. The FCC is planning to make AT&T pay $100 million (£63.14 million) for "misleading" customers about their unlimited data plans, it announced Wednesday. AT&T slowed down the data speeds for customers who were on the unlimited plan, but never told them they would be receiving slower-than-normal service, the FCC's investigation reportedly found. It's what's known as "throttling" a connection. Latvia says relations with Russia are at a 50-year low. Russia's nuclear "sabre-rattling" and refusal to abide by the terms of a ceasefire in Ukraine have dragged East-West relations to their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said on Thursday. EU Parliament President Martin Schulz says David Cameron's plans for EU treaty change won't succeed. Martin Schulz, speaker of the European Parliament, said on Wednesday that British Prime Minister David Cameron's demand to amend the European Union's pre-amble has no chance of success, the Guardian reported. US hedge fund Elliott is piling pressure on Samsung to raise the price of its restructuring. Activist hedge fund Elliott said on Thursday South Korea's Samsung Group should make a fair offer to Samsung C&T Corp shareholders in seeking to combine the firm with Cheil Industries. Asian markets are mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 0.29%, while Japan's Nikkei is down 0.89%, followed by the Shanghai Composite Index, which is down 0.74%. The CEO of Lloyds is about to back ring-fencing which has been unpopular with many bankers. Lloyds Banking Group's Chief Executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, will on Thursday call for British banks to accept new rules designed to protect their domestic retail customers from riskier parts of their operations. 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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Record 60 million fled 'out of control' violence in 2014: UN

Geneva (AFP) - Conflicts and violence raging around the world sent the number of people forced to flee their homes soaring to a record 60 million last year, the United Nations said Thursday. That is 8.3 million more refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world than in 2013 -- the highest-ever increase in a single year, the UN refugee agency said in a report titled "World at War". "We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told reporters ahead of the launch of UNHCR's annual report. A whopping 59.5 million individuals were displaced from their homes worldwide at the end of 2014, "as a result of persecution, conflict, generalised violence, or human rights violations", the report showed. That is up from 51.2 million in 2013 and from 37.5 million a decade ago, and if these people were lumped together as a nation, it would be the world's 24th largest. Of the total, 19.5 million were refugees, 1.8 million were asylum seekers and 38.2 million had fled their homes but stayed in their country, the report said. More than half of the world's refugees are children, up from 41 percent in 2009, while the total number of people who fled their homes has spiked by 40 percent in just three years. "Things... are getting out of control simply because the world seems to be at war," Guterres said, stressing that the conflicts in Syria and Iraq alone had forced 15 million people to flee their homes. But they are far from the only conflicts forcing people to seek safe haven. In the last five years, at least 14 conflicts have erupted or resumed worldwide -- more than half of them in Africa. "We do not have the capacity, the resources for all victims of conflicts. We are no longer able to pick up the pieces," the commissioner said, adding that "impunity and unpredictability" in war seem to have become "the name of the game". Guterres meanwhile urged European countries "to keep the borders open". "In Europe, more than 219,000 refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea during 2014. That's almost three times the previously known high of about 70,000, which took place in 2011," the report said. Despite fears expressed in European countries and other wealthy nations over the growing refugee and migrant influx, the report showed that developing countries are hosting a full 86 percent of all those who had fled war or persecution in their countries. At the end of 2014, the world's top host for refugees was Turkey, sheltering 1.59 million people, followed by Pakistan (1.51 million) and Lebanon (1.15 million).   - 'Unprecedented response needed' -   The number of Syrian refugees taking shelter in Turkey has further risen this year to more than 1.7 million, according to the latest UN data, since war broke out in Syria in 2011. The report said continued turmoil in parts of North Africa following the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled several dictators saw huge numbers risking dangerous Mediterranean crossings to get to Europe. "UNHCR has received information of over 3,500 women, men and children reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea during the year, clearly demonstrating how dangerous and unpredictable this situation has become," it said. The Ukraine conflict meanwhile led the number of refugees in Russia to rise to 231,800 by the year end, up from 3,400 only 12 months earlier. Ukrainians constituted 98 percent of all refugees in Russia. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of refugees increased for the fifth consecutive year, standing at 3.7 million in 2014, some 759,000 more than a year ago. Guterres appealed to the world to loosen its purse strings and provide shelter to those fleeing wars and persecution. "For an age of unprecedented mass displacement, we need an unprecedented humanitarian response and a renewed global commitment to tolerance and protection for people fleeing conflict and persecution," he said. Facing a massive influx of vulnerable migrants and refugees risking their lives to reach Europe by sea, Europe has so far failed to agree on how to deal with the thousands of new arrivals.   Join the conversation about this story »

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Nine killed in South Carolina church shooting: police

Washington (AFP) - A white gunman shot and killed nine people at a historic black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, late Wednesday, the police chief said.  "There were eight deceased individuals inside of the church. Two individuals were transported to (the hospital). One of them has died. At this point, we have nine victims in this hideous crime that has been committed," Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen told journalists. Join the conversation about this story »

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The 10 most important things in the world right now

Hello! Here's what you need to know for Thursday. 1. Multiple fatalities have been reported in a shooting Wednesday night at a church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. 2. Greeks are withdrawing money from their bank accounts at an unprecedented rate as the risk of a Greek default looms. 3. Several Canadian government websites, including the site for Canada's spy agency, were taken down in a cyber attack Wednesday, with the hacking group Anonymous claiming responsibility. 4. Hong Kong lawmakers have entered day two of debates over an election plan that would allow for the first time all residents to vote for the next chief executive, but only from a group of candidates chosen by a pro-Beijing committee. Prodemocray protesters call this reform package "fake democracy." 5. Hungary is building a four-metre (13-foot) high fence along its border with Serbia to keep out thousands of migrants. 6. A California court ruled Wednesday that Uber drivers are employees and not independent contractors, which could dramatically change the ride-hailing service's business model. 7. Denmark heads to the polls on Thursday to vote on whether to keep Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt in power in the tightest election race in over a decade. 8. The world's biggest maker of internet routers, Cisco, plans to invest more than $10 billion (£6.35 billion) in China over the next several years to fund "innovation, equity investment, research and development and job creation." 9. A Canadian teenager was killed after using a mobile app to track down his stolen cellphone, which took him to address where he was confronted by three men and shot multiple times. 10. The US is changing the $10 bill to include a woman alongside the current portrait of Alexander Hamilton. And finally ... Actress Emma Stone said in a new cover interview with The Wall Street Journal Magazine that she did "one of the worst things ever" after her contact information was published in the Sony hack: She deleted her entire email history. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This Animated Map Shows How European Languages Evolved

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Hong Kong lawmakers reject Beijing-backed reform package

Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong lawmakers rejected a Beijing-backed political reform package Thursday as pro-democracy legislators united to vote down the divisive electoral roadmap that has sparked mass protests. Most pro-government lawmakers staged a walkout as the bill headed for defeat, with just eight casting their vote in support of the package and 28 voting against it. Join the conversation about this story »

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Pope to blame profiteers for killing the planet

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis will call Thursday on the world's leaders to pull together to fight global warming, publishing his hotly-anticipated thesis on the environment which slams profiteers and slaves to progress. Released six months ahead of a key climate change meeting in Paris, Francis's text calls on international actors to take responsibility for "new modes of production, distribution and consumption", according to a leaked draft. The pontiff's attack on the unruly power of the finance sector is expected to elicit a strong reaction from the liberal right, particularly in America. US Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush summed up the conservative backlash Wednesday, quipping, "I don't get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinal or my pope." The other villain of the pope's piece is technology, or those in thrall to it, who disregard responsibilities and ethics for the gods of consumerism and profit. The 200-page encyclical, a statement of principles designed to guide Catholic teaching, is the first by the Argentine pope and aims to reach beyond the world's 1.2 billion Catholics and speak to all, regardless of their religion. Back in 2013 a UN report concluded that there was a 95 percent chance that global warming was the result of human activity. But the straight-speaking Latin American is bringing a popularity to the issue which could potentially influence millions of people, generating fresh pressure on the nearly 200 governments which will be represented in Paris in December. - 'Wars over water'- The picture he paints is bleak: climate change is mainly caused by human greed and self-destructive enthralment to new technologies and progress. But the pope is expected to insist there is still time for mankind to redeem itself. In a thesis painting the world's poor as victims of unbridled consumerism by fat cats, he warns failure to act will lead to wars over fertile territory or water. He wants a revolution of "restraint" against "the globalisation of indifference." Instead of trying to get away with the minimum effort possible, the Argentine believes rich countries should make greater commitments and financial sacrifices than poor ones in the switch from gas, oil and carbon to renewable energies. "The encyclical is going to have a major impact," predicted Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "Pope Francis is personally committed to this issue like no other pope before him and he is deeply eloquent and deeply passionate about this and the encyclical will communicate that." The document will likely burnish Francis's reputation as a socially radical pope but its contents will come as no surprise. The pontiff gave a taste of his views on the issue last month when he warned "the powerful of the earth" that they would answer to God if environmental damage undermined the drive to end global hunger. He has vigorously denied accusations that he is a "Marxist pope", saying Tuesday that raising the issue of poverty did not make you a communist. Join the conversation about this story »

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Ello tries to make a comeback by launching an iPhone app for its ad-free social network

Ello, the ad-free social network, finally has an iPhone app. The much-hyped social network first launched in September as an invitation-only website, which helped generate interest as people began wondering if Ello would turn into a haven for those tired of Facebook's advertising. With 38,000 sign-up requests an hour at the peak of its buzz, Ello was able to turn its hype into $11 million in funding. Since then, however, public interest has waned and Ello has largely been silent for the past few months as its creators worked on the social network's missing piece: a mobile app. "What we’ve been doing since then is letting the community build — now we have millions of people on Ello," Paul Budnitz, Ello's founder, told Business insider. "So we’ve been building it organically while we’ve been creating new features and actually building it out to what it needs to be." Budnitz and the Ello team decided from the beginning to launch Ello as website first, and release its apps in the following year. "We wanted to create the tone for what Ello is and what it’s become, ahead of time," Budnitz said. "We didn’t want it to be chatty, snappy, we wanted it to actually be a real community where people posted high-quality stuff where it was very positive, with more long-form writing." That's why Ello launched on the web first, Budnitz said, "because that’s where most high-quality content is created, like really beautiful artwork and amazing animated GIFs. "We could have just let everyone in and let it become this gigantic, who knows what the hell it was, but we looked at each other and said that’s not our goal. We don’t want to become the Walmart of social networks. That’s what they are doing over there [at Facebook]." Ello's iPhone app carries much of the same tone and format as its website: The typeface is the same, there's two different news feeds (Friends and Noise), and there's the same emphasis on getting rid of clutter in favor of a focus on in-line photos, GIFs, and paragraphs of text. The two news feeds, Friends and Noise, are further testaments to Ello's focus on creating a beautiful browsing experience. People on Ello can't see if you choose to add them to your Friends or Noise feed. The idea is to put the people you're closest to in Friends, where you'll see a chronological timeline of posts that are fully expanded. Noise, on the other hand, shortens posts to fit more on the screen at once, allowing for faster browsing. The goal of the Noise feed is to allow all of your acquaintances to spill over into this section, as you may prefer merely glancing at their posts instead. Aside from the other normal features like a profile page, the Ello app also introduces real-time notifications for the first time along with a new Discovery feature that lets you find your friends by importing your contacts list. “A lot of the features and functions that people have been waiting for, we put into here even before they got the web," Budnitz said. Ello is basically a clean, well-designed mobile app that those using the service have been waiting for. With the social network's buzz dying down almost as quickly as it started, it's easy to see Ello's iPhone app as one of the last chances to entice new users to an ad-free environment that caters to designers, artists, and creatives. "Now people are two thirds more active, the people we’ve given the app to," Budnitz said, and it's certainly interesting to think how many more users Ello might have now if they had managed to launch their iPhone app earlier before the hype died down. For Android and Windows Phone users, Ello is planning to launch on both platforms "later this summer." You can download Ello for iPhone starting Thursday by heading on over to the App Store.  SEE ALSO: Netflix just launched its newly designed website — and it gets rid of one of its most annoying features 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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Police search for suspect in South Carolina church shooting

Washington (AFP) - A gunman opened fire at a historic black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina late Wednesday, police said.  It was not immediately clear how many people had been shot, but the Charleston Post and Courier said eight people had been wounded. The Charleston police department said the suspect is a clean-shaven white man, aged about 21. As of 11:30 pm (0330 GMT), the suspect was still at large. Local network ABC4 News said police were also investigating a possible bomb threat. The shooting happened at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. According to its website, it is the oldest such church in the US south. Join the conversation about this story »

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Neymar sent off as Colombia stun Brazil

Santiago (AFP) - Brazil superstar Neymar was sent off as the five-time world champions crashed to a 1-0 Copa America defeat against Colombia Wednesday. In sensational scenes after the final whistle, Neymar was shown a red card after an ugly melee involving players of both sides in which he appeared to aim a headbutt at Colombia goalscorer Jeison Murillo. Colombia striker Carlos Bacca was also shown red following the fracas at the end of a frenetic Group C battle. Neymar had already ensured he would miss Brazil's final first round game against Venezuela on Sunday by collecting his second yellow card of the tournament for a deliberate handball in the first half. Three teams -- Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela -- now have three points in Group C. Neymar's Brazil and Barcelona team-mate Dani Alves lashed out at Chilean referee Enrique Osses following the defeat. "Referees have to stop thinking that they are the stars, the stars are not them -- they are there to control the game," Alves fumed. "We are used to this in South America -- everyone here is against Brazil." Alves also accused Colombia's players of seeking to provoke Neymar, 12 months after the striker suffered a broken vertebra during the two teams' stormy World Cup last eight battle. "They know the personality of Neymar and they went in search of him," he said.  "They tried to provoke him and make him nervous." Victory was sweet for Colombia, who were subjected to rough-house tactics from Brazil last year during the World Cup in a 2-1 quarter-final exit, a match scarred by a whopping 54 fouls. "We had a great gameplan and it worked today," said Colombia's Real Madrid star James Rodriguez. "Four days ago we lost to Venezuela when we played well, tonight we played well and beat Brazil, sometimes it happens like that." A pulsating opening 45 minutes saw Colombia gradually get on top after a frantic start dominated by defence. Brazil, who brought in Thiago Silva at center-back in place of David Luiz, defended in depth throughout, dropping back in numbers and frustrating Colombia's attack. Colombia also gave no quarter, with defensive midfielder Carlos Sanchez breaking up Brazil's attacks in midfield and restricting the five-time world champions to hardly any shots on goal. Colombia slowly began to get the better of their opponents however, and soon started to threaten. A Sanchez shot deflected just wide of Brazilian defender Miranda just after the half-hour mark and then on 36 minutes the breakthrough came. Cuadrado's teasing free-kick from the right flank dropped into the area and when Brazil failed to clear, Murillo was on hand to rifle in a low shot past Jefferson. Chelsea star Cuadrado might have doubled Colombia's lead on 43 minutes but wastefully shot wide after being teed up by Teo Gutierrez's deft backheel. Brazil might have grabbed a barely deserved equaliser just before half-time though when Dani Alves skipped clear down the right and curled a cross into Neymar whose diving header was saved by David Ospina. Neymar was booked for handling the rebound from Ospina's save. Brazil went for broke in the second half, bringing on Liverpool attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho for Fred, and immediately looked more threatening as a result. But they squandered a golden chance to equalise on 58 minutes when Bundesliga-based striker Roberto Firmino missed an open goal. The ball ended up with Firmino after Ospina made a hash of a clearance. But with an open goal begging, Firmino -- reportedly a summer transfer target for Liverpool -- blazed over the bar.   Join the conversation about this story »

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Hong Kong lawmakers head towards key reform vote

Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong lawmakers made impassioned speeches as they went into day two of a marathon debate on Thursday ahead of a key vote that pits democracy campaigners against the government. Legislators from both sides of the political divide took turns to make their case ahead of the much-anticipated vote on a Beijing-backed electoral reform package which saw tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets last year.  All 70 lawmakers are permitted to speak for 15 minutes with the vote due by Friday.  Pro-democracy lawmakers are widely expected to unite against the bill, denying it the two thirds majority it needs to pass. Although the Hong Kong government's plan would for the first time give all residents the right to vote for the chief executive in 2017, it adheres to a Beijing ruling that candidates must be vetted by a loyalist committee. The proposal is derided as "fake democracy" by opposition lawmakers and campaigners. Authorities in semi-autonomous Hong Kong have said repeatedly they cannot diverge from Beijing's ruling last August, which sparked weeks of mass rallies and road blockades that brought parts of the city to a standstill.  "Even if we don't win real universal suffrage, as long as we don't give up, we have not lost," said Gary Fan of the Neo-Democrats, speaking in the legislative council chamber Thursday morning. "The ones that have lost here are the Beijing and Hong Kong governments because they have lost the hearts of Hongkongers," said Fan. Pro-establishment lawmakers argued that pan-democrats are depriving Hong Kong's electorate of a chance to vote and destabilising the city. "If this (package) is vetoed today, then what next? Will there be another Occupy? Or will more bombs or weapons be made to create a bloody revolt?" warned Elizabeth Quat, a member of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong. Security has been upped at the legislature after an alleged plot which saw 10 people arrested Sunday and Monday and six charged with conspiring to make explosives. The defendants accused police of assault and using threats to force them to cooperate with the investigation when they appeared for the first time before magistrates Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported.  There have been daily rallies outside the legislature since Sunday ahead of the vote, which have so far remained peaceful.  Around 300 protesters gathered there Thursday morning, the vast majority of them pro-Beijing supporters shouting: "Support Hong Kong to pass the reform".  A handful of pro-democracy supporters watched a big-screen broadcast of the debate with some voicing fears the package could still be passed. "I am really worried that some democratic lawmakers will change their stance," said construction worker Terry Chik, 44.   Chik added that the pro-government supporters had arrived in coaches early Thursday morning. "They have the resources... We are self-motivated. What we have is determination," he said. Join the conversation about this story »

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9 people killed in a church shooting in South Carolina

Nine people have been killed in a church shooting in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. The FBI and local police are investigating the shooting as a hate crime, according to Charleston law enforcement officials. Police were swarming Henrietta and Calhoun streets off Marion Square in downtown Charleston around 9pm local time Wednesday, after the shooting was reported at 110 Calhoun Street — the site of Emanuel AME Church. Charleston police spokesman Charles Francis says they are looking for a "white male in a grey sweatshirt/hoodie and jeans." The suspect is believed to be in his early 20s. WCSC-TV reports the shooting happened during a meeting and a Bible study service taking place at the church. The station interviewed a photographer who was briefly detained amid the chaos immediately following the shooting. Austin Rich told WCSC-TV police informed him he fit the description of the suspect. He was questioned and later released. Rich appeared to take it in stride, saying "I have an enormous amount of respect for the officers," who continue to search for the shooter. It's unclear what prompted the shooting Wednesday night, but police have been out in full force to track down the suspect. A bomb threat was also reported in the area, according to WBTV-TV, but has since been resolved. The Associated Press says helicopters have been circling overhead while pastors and supporters were praying near the crime scene. 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush has reportedly canceled a Thursday campaign event that was scheduled in Charleston in light of the shooting, reports ABC News. The site of the shooting, Emanuel AME Church, boasts one of the oldest and largest black congregations south of Baltimore, according to the church's website, and dates back to the late 1700s. The church was the target of an investigation in 1822 for its alleged involvement with a slave revolt, and was burned amid the controversy. The structure was rebuilt, but services stopped when all black churches were outlawed in 1834. The church was formally reorganized in 1865. Here's a look at how the scene is playing out on social media: Local pastors have gathered together outside the Courtyard Marriott down the street from the church pic.twitter.com/JfZKJKwI2b — Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) June 18, 2015 Overhead helicopters are circling the area. EMS just went into the hotel behind the chaplain. #chsnews pic.twitter.com/Xk0WXPdcG3 — CS Tyson (@SamInteractive) June 18, 2015 A worker from the church has said 9 people are dead #chsnews — Melissa Boughton (@mboughtonPC) June 18, 2015 Police officer says there’s an “immediate threat” and we are being pushed back. #chsnews pic.twitter.com/ZenQWqY4HY — CS Tyson (@SamInteractive) June 18, 2015 There are several bodies in the Charleston church that have not yet been identified, an official tells CNN. http://t.co/gqu3BMLs4V — CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) June 18, 2015 More gurneys outside the church but I’ve not seen anyone taken out since I arrived about an hour ago. #chsnews pic.twitter.com/TsYIKMz1df — CS Tyson (@SamInteractive) June 18, 2015 Suspect in the shooting downtown is said to be a white male around 21 years old. @ABCNews4 #CHSShooting pic.twitter.com/XZdg1HMSEN — Cory Robertson (@CoryABCNews4) June 18, 2015 #Breaking: There has been a shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. pic.twitter.com/ovvNSxkchl — CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) June 18, 2015 Update Charleston, SC - #CharlestonShooting Img @offlede - Suspect not aprehended, but NOT Active Shooter pic.twitter.com/J1qvhx94VU — CAROLINAS FIRE PAGE (@CFPalerts) June 18, 2015 Join the conversation about this story »

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AT&T is getting a massive $100 million fine for 'throttling' their unlimited plan customers

The FCC is planning to make AT&T pay $100 million for "misleading" customers about their unlimited data plans, it announced Wednesday. AT&T slowed down the data speeds for customers who were on the unlimited plan, but never told them they would be receiving slower-than-normal service, the FCC's investigation reportedly found. It's what's known as "throttling" a connection.  The FCC says it received thousands of complaints after AT&T started capping data in 2011, and the company's throttling practices affected millions of people. The connection was allegedly slowed an average of 12 days per billing cycle, "significantly impeding their ability to use common data applications such as GPS mapping or streaming video." "Unlimited means unlimited,” said FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc in the release. AT&T spokesperson Michael Balmoris said it plans to "vigorously dispute" the decision. "The FCC has specifically identified this practice as a legitimate and reasonable way to manage network resources for the benefit of all customers, and has known for years that all of the major carriers use it," Balmoris said in an emailed statement. "We have been fully transparent with our customers, providing notice in multiple ways and going well beyond the FCC’s disclosure requirements.” AT&T is already facing a similar suit from the Federal Trade Commission over its throttling practices. The FTC's October 2014 investigation found that AT&T allegedly charged customers for unlimited data plans, but then slowed speeds down, sometimes up to 90%. The FTC estimated that this affected 3.5 million customers. SEE ALSO: FTC Sues AT&T For Misleading 'Millions' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How to supercharge your iPhone in only 5 minutes

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Chad bans full veil after deadly Boko Haram attacks

N'Djamena (AFP) - Chad has banned the full-face Muslim veil and instructed security forces to burn burqas seized in the markets after 33 people were killed in twin suicide bombings blamed on Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram this week. "Wearing the burqa must stop immediately from today, not only in public places and schools but throughout the whole of the country," Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet said in a speech to religious leaders the day before the start of the holy Muslim festival of Ramadan. Any type of clothing that leaves only the eyes visible is a form of "camouflage" and is now banned, he added, asking the religious leaders to spread the message in their mosques, churches and holy places. Prime Minister Deubet said instructions had been given to security forces to "go into the markets and to seize all the burqas on sale and burn them". Anyone found wearing a burqa would be "arrested, tried and sentenced in summary proceedings", he added. Monday's bombings, the first such attacks in the capital of Muslim-majority Chad, have been blamed on Boko Haram jihadists who have previously carried out bloody assaults on villages along the border with Nigeria. The Islamist militants have used female suicide bombers to launch attacks in the past by hiding explosive devices under their clothes. Chad's government on Tuesday declared three days of national mourning for the 33 people killed and more than 100 others wounded in the blasts. The president said he was "not surprised" the country has been targeted because of the lead role its army is playing in a regional offensive against Boko Haram fighters operating out of northeastern Nigeria. The group's leader Abubakar Shekau had threatened several times to attack Chad and other countries that joined forces against the militants, whose bloody six-year insurgency is increasingly spilling across Nigeria's borders.   Join the conversation about this story »

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US to put woman on new $10 bill: treasury

Washington (AFP) - The US will put the image of a woman on an American banknote for the first time in over a century, breaking the lock that white male political heroes have on the greenback. The US Treasury announced Thursday that a yet-unchosen woman, likely "a champion for our inclusive democracy," will feature on the $10 note from 2020, replacing Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury.       Join the conversation about this story »

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It’s not hard to see why big banks are going crazy over new technology

By making things like payments, lending, and deposits significantly cheaper and easier, technology firms have brought some serious disruption to the banking industry's decades-old business model. It’s why big banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are doubling down on adopting new technology. By doing so, big banks can cut costs and save a lot of money. One area to look at is the mobile remote deposit space, where customers can deposit checks by simply taking a photo of a check with a smartphone and emailing it. According to data from JPMorgan Chase, charted for us by BI Intelligence, the cost of a mobile remote deposit is only $0.03 per deposit, while a physical teller would cost the bank $0.65 per deposit — resulting in more than 21X in savings. Adoption of this technology is expected to grow rapidly. One third of retail bank deposits will be completed remotely by the end of 2015, and half by 2016, BII says. SEE ALSO: Unless you become one of the 27 apps people use every month, you're not going to make it Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The 12 best new features coming to the iPhone

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Nick Denton is confident Gawker will win its $100 million lawsuit over Hulk Hogan's sex tape

Gawker Media CEO Nick Denton is gearing up for a big fight that could cost his company $100 million. A court filing provides some insight into how Gawker will fight it and why Denton believes the company has only a one-in-ten chance of losing. It started when Gawker posted an article with a video excerpt of a sex tape starring Hogan and Heather Clem, the ex-wife of Hogan's friend, Bubba the Love Sponge, in 2012. A disgruntled employee of Hogan's friend is rumored to have leaked the tape. The professional wrestler is suing Gawker for invasion of privacy. The trial starts next month. A possible loss for Denton's company could mean that he would need to seek outside funding for the sake of Gawker's survival, as they don't keep $100 million in the bank. Since its founding in 2003, the company has mostly refused VC funding, and insiders own 90% of its shares.  “We never raised money because we fund growth from cash flow,” Denton once wrote in an email. “And the journalistic pursuit of the truth is not compatible with outside investment." But Denton is confident Gawker won't have to pay a penny. As he told the Daily Beast, "The way I look at it, it’s a five in ten chance that we come through this stronger, and four in ten it’s a wash. Only one in ten bad." According to a court filing obtained by Business Insider, here's how Denton plans to fight the charges:  1. The story was newsworthy.  Former editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio testified that the video is a subject of ongoing public controversy. The video was taken at the time when both Clem and Hogan were married, but Hogan had previously denied the infidelity. In 2011 on the Howard Stern Show, Hogan replied "no" and cited "man law, brother" when asked if Clem's divorce from Bubba had been due to cheating.  2. Hogan is a public figure.  Hogan published an autobiography called "My Life Outside The Ring" so that he could "open up about everything in his life." He and his entire family were in a reality TV show called "Hogan Knows Best," where he gave producers a set of keys so they could creep into the house and film his sleeping family. He wrote, "I didn't care if my butt was hanging out or if I had drool on my pillow."  3. Hogan hasn't exactly been tight-lipped when it comes to his love life. Hogan has engaged in continuous sexual banter on programs like "Bubba the Love Sponge Show." He's disclosed explicit details about his and wife Linda's sexual activities on Bubba's radio program, providing the specifics on how he and Linda were playing "stick shift" in the car the day before.  4. The media had already discussed his sex life long before the tape.  As early as seven months before the release, the VH1 Access website released an article called "Report: A Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Is Out There". The Huffington Post, E-Online, The Daily Caller, TWNPnews.com and many others also published similar articles.  You can read the full court filing below. Hulk Hogan Gawker Court Filing SEE ALSO: Gawker founder says chances of a 'disaster' over Hulk Hogan sex-tape lawsuit are 1 in 10 Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Take a fly-over tour of the $110 million Hamptons mansion that's at the center of a huge lawsuit

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Director admits FIFA film 'a disaster'

Los Angeles (AFP) - Critics and audiences panned it, and now the man who directed the $30 million FIFA film flop has admitted: "It's a disaster." "United Passions," directed by Frederic Auburtin, came out in US theaters earlier this month -- just as a massive corruption scandal erupted at football's world governing body. FIFA president Sepp Blatter -- the hero of the widely criticized movie -- announced his intention to quit soon after the allegations of huge graft emerged. Auburtin told The Hollywood Reporter that he tried to make a movie somewhere between "a Disney propaganda film and a Costa-Gavras/Michael Moore movie." But added: "Now I'm seen as bad as the guy who brought AIDS to Africa or the guy who caused the financial crisis. My name is all over (the film) and apparently I am a propaganda guy making films for corrupt people." The Frenchman said he was interested in making a sequel focusing on FIFA's current dire predicament, but wants to put "United Passions" well behind him. "I'm a victim of the game. It's a disaster, but that is not the point, I accepted the job," Auburtin said, describing a constant battle between FIFA on the one hand and the film's directors and stars on the other. "I was not paid to be the Che Guevara of the sports business. Please don't make me the guy responsible for the fact that FIFA is rotten." The movie recounts the birth of the World Cup and FIFA through three of its presidents. It was presented at the Cannes Film Festival last year, with Blatter -- played in the film by Tim Roth -- walking up the steps of the Film Festival Palace. US media and cinemagoers dismissed the movie, with a mocking Los Angeles Times commenting it "kicks far wide of its goal." "United Passions" grossed just $918 in the US during the June 6 weekend, The Hollywood Reporter said. Join the conversation about this story »

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