World's longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Switzerland

The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge opened in Switzerland on Sunday, a ribbon-thin span nearly a third of a mile long that challenges hikers to proceed in places at nearly 28 stories above ground. Officials in the south of Switzerland unveiled the bridge after just 10 weeks of construction. It measures 1,620 feet long and rises as high as 278 feet above the Grabengufer ravine. The span is also impossibly narrow, at just 25.6 inches wide.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/07/30/worlds-longest-pedestrian-suspension-bridge-opens-switzerland/524017001/?source=Snapzu

Justice system overhaul could hit investments (in Poland): report

The Polish government’s planned judicial reforms and an ongoing row between Brussels and Warsaw could hit investment levels, the Moody’s rating agency said in a report on Monday.
Read more: http://thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/318726,Justice-system-overhaul-could-hit-investments-report?source=Snapzu

Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

A program hailed as an advertising breakthrough leads to a privacy complaint before a federal agency.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/07/30/googles-new-program-to-track-shoppers-sparks-a-federal-privacy-complaint/?source=Snapzu

Growing food in the post-truth era

The global food system has been operating in post-truth mode for decades. Having constructed food scarcity as a justification for a second Green Revolution, Big Agriculture now employs its unethical marketing tactics to selling farmers “climate-smart” agriculture in the form of soils, seeds and chemicals.
Read more: http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/article-growing-food-post-truth-era/?source=Snapzu

Why is Google spending record sums on lobbying Washington?

Figures released last week show that Google spent a record amount of almost $6m lobbying in Washington DC in the past three months, putting the Silicon Valley behemoth on track to be the top corporate lobbying spending in the US. Last year it ranked number two, behind Comcast. Given the increased antitrust scrutiny that is coming from the Democrats’ new “Better Deal” policy platform, Donald Trump’s random tweets attacking fellow tech giant Amazon for its connection to the Washington Post...
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/30/google-silicon-valley-corporate-lobbying-washington-dc-politics?source=Snapzu

Is Amazon getting too big?

Amazon’s general counsel, David Zapolsky, had a lot on his mind last month when he and four members of his legal team visited the offices of New America, a liberal-leaning think tank in Washington. The retail juggernaut was days from announcing its $13.8 billion purchase of Whole Foods, a deal that would not only roil the grocery industry but also trigger a government antitrust investigation into the strategies and practices of the “Everything Store.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/is-amazon-getting-too-big/2017/07/28/ff38b9ca-722e-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?utm_term=.960775f5752b?source=Snapzu

HBO declares war on Game of Thrones pirates, but it may be a losing battle

Season seven of Game of Thrones has only just begun, and already HBO is cracking down on people illegally downloading the wildly popular TV series. But it's questionable how successful the TV network's attack will be, especially when many pirates are turning to streaming — a form of piracy that's hard to track but easy to do, even for Luddites.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hbo-game-of-thrones-piracy-streaming-1.4226959?source=Snapzu

Wells Fargo Forced Unwanted Auto Insurance on Borrowers

More than 800,000 people who took out car loans from Wells Fargo were charged for auto insurance they did not need, and some of them are still paying for it, according to an internal report prepared for the bank’s executives.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/business/wells-fargo-unwanted-auto-insurance.html?source=Snapzu

Apple again found to be the world’s top retailer in sales per square foot

Apple’s retail stores are always said to be some of the most profitable ones there are, and new data from eMarketer and CoStar offers more insight on such data. The research companies say Apple is the top retailer in terms of sales per square foot, coming in at $5,546 per square foot… Other notable numbers include the top jeweler, Tiffany & Co, with sales of $2,951 per square foot and top gasoline retailer Murphy USA at $3,721 per square foot. Leading apparel retailer is Lululemon Athletica at $1,560 per square foot.
Read more: https://9to5mac.com/2017/07/29/apple-top-retailer-per-square-foot/?source=Snapzu

The First Farmers

The world’s oldest grindstones dating back to 30,000 BCE, plentiful harvests as far as the eye can see and rolling pastures of green straight out of a golf course. An idyllic image bringing u…
Read more: https://agrieducate.com.au/2017/05/29/the-first-farmers/?source=Snapzu

Four huge airlines on three continents are creating a virtual super-airline

Four huge airlines on three continents want to create a virtual super-airline. They plan to spend more than $1 billion to do it. In a series of transactions announced Thursday, Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Shanghai-based China Eastern (CEA)are each buying 10% of Air France/KLM (AFLYY)Group. And Air France/KLM will buy 31% of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways. The roughly $1.2 billion worth of investments will deepen business ties between the carriers, giving them the ability to coordinate across the busy air corridor between Europe and the United States.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/news/companies/delta-airfrance-virgin-china-tie-up/index.html?iid=Lead?source=Snapzu

Trump threatens to end ObamaCare payments unless repeal passes

President Trump on Saturday threatened to end key payments to insurance companies made under Obamacare if a repeal and replace bill is not passed.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/344463-trump-threatens-to-end-csr-payments-if-healthcare-reform-isnt-passed?source=Snapzu

Is Putin richer than both Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates? U.S. financier tells senators, he is.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos made headlines this week when he was declared the richest person in the world with a net worth of $90 billion. But a U.S. financier told senators Thursday that he believed the title belonged to someone else, and it is not Bill Gates. According to Bill Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, Russian President Vladimir Putin is richer than both Bezos and Gates combined.
Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/forget-jeff-bezos-putin-worlds-richest-man-senate-told-643208?source=Snapzu

Apple paid Nokia $2 billion to escape fight over old patents

Apple’s latest patent spat with Nokia resulted in a $2 billion up-front payment from the iPhone maker, a colossal sum that seems to indicate Apple was eager to avoid a protracted and ugly dispute.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/28/16058868/apple-nokia-patent-dispute-settlement-2-billion-dollars?source=Snapzu

Canada's economy grew by 4.6% in the year up to May, strongest pace since 2000

Canada's economy grew by 0.6 per cent in May, the seventh straight monthly gain. The overall economy has grown by 4.6 per cent in the 12 months leading up to the end of May, Statistics Canada said. That's the biggest 12-month figure since 2000. The strong showing blew past what economists were expecting, which was modest growth of 0.2 per cent for the month.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-gdp-may-1.4225650?source=Snapzu

Why the Trump dynasty will last sixteen years

Could a Trump dynasty in the White House survive for three more elections? Post-electoral stress disorder has generated a hysteria still amply manifest. By Edward Luttwak.
Read more: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/trump-dynasty-luttwak/?source=Snapzu

Samsung ends Intel’s 24-year reign, becomes the largest chipmaker in the world

Samsung announced its quarterly results yesterday, and became the most profitable company in the world. However, the company broke a few other records as well. It ended Intel’s 24-year reign as the largest semiconductor-based chipmaker in the world. Samsung has now leapfrogged Intel by posting a higher revenue as well as operating profits during Q2 2017.
Read more: https://www.sammobile.com/2017/07/28/samsung-ends-intels-24-year-reign-becomes-largest-chipmaker-world/?source=Snapzu

Dear Floyd Mayweather, you’re why the SEC exists

Dear Floyd Mayweather: While perusing Facebook, I chanced across your post drumming up interest in the upcoming Stox initial coin offering (ICO). I understand your motivations in wanting to diversify your portfolio of investments, but I caution that your actions are reckless and potentially financially damaging to you and your fans.
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/28/dear-floyd-mayweather-youre-why-the-sec-exists/?source=Snapzu

Government Misled Public on Fannie/Freddie Takeover

While Russiagate rages, the bitter fight over the future of the real estate market continues. By Matt Taibbi.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-government-misled-public-on-fanniefreddie-takeover-w494007?source=Snapzu

Is Amazon getting too big?

A 28-year-old law student takes on the “Everything Store” by questioning whether antitrust law is ready to deal with a winner-take-all economy
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/is-amazon-getting-too-big/2017/07/28/ff38b9ca-722e-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?source=Snapzu

Twitter’s First Subscription Service Turns Your Tweets Into Ads for $99 a Month

A day after Twitter revealed that its user base is stagnating like never before, the company began inviting users to test a subscription service that automatically promotes tweets to a wider audience for a monthly fee.
Read more: http://gizmodo.com/twitter-s-first-subscription-service-turns-your-tweets-1797342285?source=Snapzu

Emerson Collective Agrees to Take Majority Stake in The Atlantic

Emerson Collective, the organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine, with full ownership possible in the coming years. David G. Bradley, chairman of Atlantic Media, will retain a minority stake and intends to continue running the magazine for the next three to five years. After that, Emerson Collective may purchase Mr. Bradley’s remaining interest.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/business/media/atlantic-media-emerson-collective-majority-stake.html?source=Snapzu

Starbucks Takes the Steam Out of Teavana

In a surprise move, Starbucks announced on Thursday that all 379 Teavana stores, mainly based in malls across the country, have been under-performing and the Teavana brand will be shut down. The closings will impact 3,300 workers. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson noted declining foot traffic at malls.
Read more: http://theteamaestro.blogspot.com/2011/08/teavana-elephant-in-room.html?source=Snapzu

How to Decide What to Blog About: 6 Data-Driven Tactics for Choosing Blog Topics

Learn these 6 data-driven tactics to decide what to blog about.
Read more: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/research-blog-topics?source=Snapzu

America and the Foxconn Dream

Wisconsin is about to shell out as much as $3 billion for the privilege of luring Foxconn Technology Group. At $519 per citizen, it would have been cheaper to buy an iPhone for every man, woman and child in the midwestern state. Let's be clear: The big winner isn't the taxpayer. It's Foxconn and its billionaire chairman Terry Gou. As I predicted several times, Foxconn would only come to the U.S. if and when his demands were met. Meet them is exactly what Wisconsin did, with an offering of tax credits, training grants and infrastructure improvements. In return, Foxconn said it will invest $10 billion and create 3,000 jobs.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/america-and-the-foxconn-dream?source=Snapzu

‘Honey, you’ve been scammed,’ she was told. She lost her home of 30 years.

Barbara Barkley is 4 feet 10 inches tall. So she designed her home in Chesapeake, Va., just for herself, with all the counters and handles lowered. People told her the changes would make the house harder to sell, but she didn’t care. “I planned to live there until I died,” said Barkley, 68. Instead, she is renting a place from a relative in North Carolina. She lost her house and her savings to a group of California scam artists who stole $11 million from thousands of struggling homeowners looking for help with their mortgages.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/honey-youve-been-scammed-she-was-told-she-lost-her-home-of-30-years/2017/07/26/36afedda-7070-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?source=Snapzu

Euro jumps to 2 1/2 year high vs. dollar after Fed leaves rates unchanged

The dollar fell on Wednesday, touching its lowest level in more than a year against a basket of currencies after the release of the Federal Reserve's policy statement following its July meeting. The Federal Open Market Committee announced no changes to monetary policy, as expected. Policymakers said, however, that the U.S. central bank would begin implementing balance sheet normalization "relatively soon." That marked a change from the committee's previous statement that it would begin to reduce its $4.5 trillion bond holdings "this year."
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/25/dollar-steady-above-13-month-low-ahead-of-fed-verdict.html?source=Snapzu

Apple must pay $506M for infringing university’s patent

A judge has ordered Apple to pay $506 million to the research arm of the University of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF, sued Apple in 2014, accusing its A7, A8, and A8X chips of infringing US Patent No. 5,781,752, which claims a type of "table based data speculation circuit." The following year after a trial, a Wisconsin jury found (PDF) that Apple had infringed the '752 patent and that it should pay $234 million in damages.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/judge-orders-apple-to-pay-506m-to-university-for-patent-infringement/?source=Snapzu

How work changed to make us all passionate quitters

When employees are treated as short-term assets, they reinvent themselves as marketable goods, always ready to quit. By Ilana Gershon.
Read more: https://aeon.co/essays/how-work-changed-to-make-us-all-passionate-quitters?source=Snapzu

Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates as World's Richest Person

A surge in Amazon.com Inc. shares Thursday morning in advance of the online retailer’s earnings report has propelled founder Jeff Bezos past Bill Gates as the world’s richest person.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/bezos-surpasses-gates-as-world-s-richest-ahead-of-amazon-results?source=Snapzu

IMAX Is Moving Away From 3-D: 'Consumers Have Shown a Strong Preference'

The giant screen company says fans want two-dimensional films instead
Read more: http://www.thewrap.com/imax-moving-away-3d-consumers-shown-strong-preference/?source=Snapzu

Billionaire Mark Cuban: The Rise of Technology Will Cause a Lot of Unemployment

Billionaire Mark Cuban made an appearance today in New York City's Central Park at the second annual "OZY Fest", and he didn't disappoint. Naturally, the conversation first gravitated towards President Trump, with moderator Carlos Watson leading a panel that also included Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush and comedian Samantha Bee. Watson first asked if any of the panelists would join President Trump's cabinet.
Read more: https://www.thestreet.com/story/14239172/1/billionaire-mark-cuban-china-is-kicking-our-ass-with-artificial-intelligence.html?source=Snapzu

The Limits of 'Made in America' Economics

The White House has branded this, the 29th week of the year, “Made in America” week. As part of the week, administration officials are promoting American products and outlining a strategy to roll back the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that their policies will boost wages for the middle class and create jobs in manufacturing communities. “We’re going to end up having a level playing field,” Trump said this week. “I don’t want to say anything more than level, but if the playing field were slanted a little more toward us, I would accept that also, okay?”
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/07/made-in-america/534339/?source=Snapzu

New KFC advert branded 'disgusting' by outraged viewers

If you’ve been watching a particular reality TV show at 9pm every night for the past seven weeks, the chances are you’ll have seen KFC’s latest advert. And many people are not happy about it. ‘The Whole Chicken’ features some sassy white hens strutting around a warehouse to X Gon’ Give It To Ya by DMX, with the aim of underlining that KFC products are 100 per cent chicken.
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/kfc-advert-the-whole-chicken-ad-tv-outrage-disgusting-fast-food-chain-a7859321.html?source=Snapzu

This Is How Your Fear and Outrage Are Being Sold for Profit

The story of how one metric has changed the way you see the world
Read more: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-enemy-in-our-feeds-e86511488de?source=Snapzu

Amazon jacked up Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

A Charlotte-based startup says e-commerce giant Amazon jacked up their suggested retail price during the company’s annual discount event—Prime Day—to deceive consumers into thinking that they were getting a deal, when in reality, they weren’t.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/24/amazon-jacked-up-prime-day-prices-misleading-consumers-says-vendor.html?source=Snapzu

How to Submit a DMCA Takedown Notice

Do people copy and post your content on their site without permission? Discover how to file a DMCA takedown notice to protect your content from plagiarists.
Read more: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-submit-dmca-takedown-notice/?source=Snapzu

Pennsylvania police, hunting for stolen laptops, say they stumbled on $40 million bitcoin scam

Law enforcement in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County likely didn’t think they were dealing with a dark Web criminal pro when Theodore Price’s name first popped on their radar. According to federal court documents, detectives from the Northampton Township Police Department north of Philadelphia began tracking the unemployed 30-year-old earlier this month after fielding a complaint from Price’s girlfriend’s parents about stolen laptops. But what started out as an alleged deadbeat boyfriend boosting valuables quickly accelerated into a wilder situation — and one with considerable more money involved.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/24/pennsylvania-police-hunting-for-stolen-laptops-say-they-stumbled-on-40-million-bitcoin-scam/?source=Snapzu

Snopes is in danger of closing its doors due to a business dispute

The well-known fact-checking site claims it's being held hostage by an outside vendor. But under the surface, there's a fight between contending ownership groups.
Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/article/snopes-in-danger-of-closing-its-doors-due-to-business-dispute/?source=Snapzu

46 million consumers denied chance to bring case against Mastercard over £14bn overcharging case

A proposed £14bn class action lawsuit against Mastercard will not proceed after a tribunal ruled the case cannot go to trial. The claim by former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks, relating to the card giant's interchange fees, was lodged on behalf of around 46 million consumers.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mastercard-consumers-denied-class-action-lawsuit-overcharging-14-billion-a7853826.html?source=Snapzu

Ford says Fiesta won't return for the 2018 model year

When Ford introduced the updated Fiesta last fall, it made absolutely no mention of the U.S.-spec model. One of the company's top engineers has just revealed that's because the smallest member of the Blue Oval's American lineup will not return for the 2018 model year. "The previous model was a global Ford product, and with the new generation, we are targeting only Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In North America -- especially in the U.S...
Read more: http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-says-fiesta-wont-return-for-the-2018-model-year-97094.html?source=Snapzu

Why failing to protect net neutrality would crush the US's digital startups

American leadership in technology innovation and economic competitiveness is at risk if U.S. policymakers don’t take crucial steps to protect the country’s digital future. The country that gave the world the internet and the very concept of the disruptive startup could find its role in the global innovation economy slipping from reigning incumbent to a disrupted has-been.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/failing-to-protect-net-neutrality-would-crush-digital-startups-2017-7?source=Snapzu

How a Criminologist Boutique Owner Catches Shoplifters

This San Francisco shop owner runs her own sting operations.
Read more: https://www.racked.com/2017/7/14/15960550/anomie-chelsea-moylan-shoplifters?source=Snapzu

Verizon admits to throttling Netflix in apparent violation of net neutrality

Yesterday, we reported that Verizon Wireless appeared to be throttling Netflix traffic, — and today, the company seems to have come clean. In a statement provided to Ars Technica and The Verge, Verizon implicitly admitted to capping the traffic, blaming the issue on a temporary video optimization test. “We've been doing network testing over the past few days to optimize the performance of video applications on our network," a Verizon Wireless spokesperson said. “The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected.”
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/21/16010766/verizon-netflix-throttling-statement-net-neutrality-title-ii?source=Snapzu

The dark side of the eclipse

An estimated 80 percent of Americans live within 600 miles of the eclipse path that includes a wide swath through Missouri from the northwest corner of the state down to just north of the Bootheel. As a result, folks from across the U.S. are expected to descend on the state. If you live or operate a business within 100 miles of the eclipse path, here's what you need to be prepared for.
Read more: https://missouribusiness.net/article/dark-side-of-the-eclipse/?source=Snapzu

She was the town’s leading heroin dealer. She was 19 years old

In West Virginia, a young woman and a privileged physician lived very different lives. But they shared a crushing addiction. By Chris McGreal.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/19/opioid-addiction-west-virginia-petersberg-breanne-mculty?source=Snapzu

How SoundCloud's broken business model drove artists away

‘25 million plays, and zero dollars’
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/21/15999172/soundcloud-business-model-future-spotify-streaming?source=Snapzu

Content Marketing Is Broken: Why It's So Damn Hard To Learn Anything These Days

Malcolm Gladwell is well-known for his reference of the 10,000 Hour Rule - the principle that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill - but a few years ago I realised that there were a whole bunch of these 10,000 hour masters out there who'd written pretty detailed, yet distilled, advice on how to achieve mastery in their given art, and published it online. Sometimes even in the form of a "top 5" list, this knowledge was never more than a 20 second google search away, and literally gave you master-level insight. But then something happened.
Read more: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/6onf14/content_marketing_is_broken_why_its_so_damn_hard/?source=Snapzu

Chinese songs of dignity

The visible and invisible social inequalities in the new China built by migrant workers. By Peter Bengtsen. (June 19, 2017)
Read more: http://mondediplo.com/outsidein/chinese-songs-of-dignity?source=Snapzu

Immigration raids ten years ago didn’t change this meatpacking town’s job market

Ten years after INS raids upended Latinos' lives in small meatpacking towns across the Midwest, the jobs didn't go to native Nebraskans. Most went to the next immigrants – many from Somalia. By Nigel Duara.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nebraska-raids-20170714-story.html?source=Snapzu