Valued at a staggering $12 billion, Pinterest is one of the digital world’s most successful platforms. Yet somehow, the image-sharing app has managed to sidestep the pitfalls that have tripped up some of Silicon Valley’s other big players, such as Twitter and its trolls, Facebook and its fake news and YouTube and its filter failures. Source: CBC News Date: January 26th, 2018 Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/pinterest-ramona-pringle-1.4483331 Discussion 1) Pinterest claims that by saying… Read more »
Monthly Archives: January 2018
Here’s How Many Subscribers Shazam Could Bring to Apple Music
Apple’s decision to acquire music discovery service Shazam last year could pay off in short order, one analyst says. The iPhone maker could add between 1.5 million and 7.5 million users to its Apple Music streaming service solely from its Shazam acquisition. Source: Fortune Magazine Date: January 26th, 2018 Link: http://fortune.com/2018/01/26/shazam-apple-music-subscribers/ Discussion 1) Why did Apple buy Shazam? 2) What might… Read more »
Arsenal signs crypto-currency deal with gaming firm CashBet
Arsenal has become the first major football club to sign a deal to promote a crypto-currency. The club has reached an agreement with the gaming company CashBet, which is planning to launch its own currency CashBet Coin. It will see CashBet Coin advertised at Arsenal’s Premier League home games. But one crypto-currency expert has questioned whether the… Read more »
China’s eight-year-long smartphone growth comes to an end
China’s smartphone market has fallen for the first time, with annual shipments down by 4% in 2017, according to data from research firm Canalys. The decline ends eight years’ growth in the world’s largest mobile phone market. Smartphone brands Huawei, Oppo and Vivo continue to dominate the Chinese handset market. Source: BBC Technology News Date: January 26th, 2018 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42830375… Read more »
Apple plans second U.S. campus, to pay $38 billion in foreign cash taxes
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) will open a second U.S. campus as part of a 5-year, $30 billion U.S. investment plan and will make about $38 billion in one-time tax payments on its overseas cash, one of the largest corporate spending plans announced since the passage of a tax cut signed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Source: Yahoo!… Read more »
Bitcoin: South Korea sways cryptocurrency prices – but how?
South Korea’s government has been signalling that it plans to crack down on cryptocurrency trading. Exactly how it will do this remains vague. But just the threat of action has been enough to drive a sell-off across the market globally. Bitcoin, for example, has lost nearly a quarter of its value in the past week. And so… Read more »
IBM, Maersk Form New Blockchain Company for International Cargo
IBM and A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S have started a company that will use new technologies such as blockchain, a digital ledger best known for underpinning bitcoin, to track cargo movements and automate paperwork for shipping across international borders. Source: BusinessWeek Date: January 16th, 2018 Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-16/ibm-maersk-form-new-blockchain-company-for-international-cargo Discussion 1) It is becoming more and more apparent that blockchain technology is going to… Read more »
Uber’s Secret Tool for Keeping the Cops in the Dark
At least two dozen times, the San Francisco headquarters locked down equipment in foreign offices to shield files from police raids. Source: BusinessWeek Date: January 16th, 2018 Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-11/uber-s-secret-tool-for-keeping-the-cops-in-the-dark?cmpid=socialflow-facebook-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social Discussion 1) Should it be okay for a U.S. company to be able to avoid local government inspections based on legally obtained search warrants? 2) In what other ways might… Read more »
What is blockchain and how does it work?
Blockchain is one of the buzzwords in modern-day financial transactions. But what exactly does it mean and how does it work? Source: BBC Asia Date: January 11th, 2018 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-38932854/what-is-blockchain-and-how-does-it-work Discussion There are perhaps hundreds of thousands of videos “explaining” how Blockchain works. I picked this one in particular because it talks about what I think is going… Read more »
How did music producer Gramatik raise $2m in 24 hours?
Rows between artists, managers and their record labels often become the stuff of music legend, but does blockchain technology mean that musicians could soon just deal directly with their fans – and keep far more profit for themselves? Gramatik – real name Denis Jasarevic – is a Slovenian electronic music producer and DJ with a worldwide… Read more »
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