Forget Washington. Facebook’s Problems Abroad Are Far More Disturbing.

For months, Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., has been in crisis mode, furiously attempting to contain the damage stemming from its role in last year’s presidential campaign. The company has mounted an all-out defense campaign ahead of this week’s congressional hearings on election interference in 2016, hiring three outside communications firms, taking out full-page newspaper ads, and mobilizing top executives, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, to beat back accusations that it failed to prevent Russia from manipulating the outcome of the election.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/29/business/facebook-misinformation-abroad.html?source=Snapzu

The Web began dying in 2014

Here's how. By André Staltz.
Read more: https://staltz.com/the-web-began-dying-in-2014-heres-how.html?source=Snapzu

My Advice to 50-Year-Olds

So you turn 50 this year, right? Or you just turned 50. It’s so interesting to me that people can’t project or understand where the market’s moving, aka, in this scenario that “we,” as 40–50–60 year-olds are going to live dramatically longer and healthier than your parents’ and grandparents’ generation.
Read more: https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/advice-50-year-olds/?source=Snapzu

10 Things You Might Not Know About Denny's

Richard Jezak and Harold Butler opened the first "Danny’s Donuts" in Lakewood, Calif. in 1953. There was no notable “Danny” in either of their lives; they just thought the alliteration was charming. The 24-hour doughnut shop grew quickly, expanding to a larger menu and roughly 20 locations by 1959, and changing its name to Danny’s Coffee Shops along the way. But the founders worried that the mini-chain was at risk of getting confused with nearby Coffee Dan’s, so they switched one letter to create the Denny’s we know today.
Read more: https://mentalfloss.com/article/70919/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-dennys?source=Snapzu

Japan's SoftBank doubts merger of Sprint with T-Mobile: source

SoftBank Group Corp's (9984.T) board of directors is having doubts about the merger it has been negotiating between its U.S. wireless subsidiary Sprint Corp (S.N) and T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O), due to fears of losing control of a combined entity, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sprint-corp-m-a-t-mobile-us/japans-softbank-doubts-merger-of-sprint-with-t-mobile-source-idUSKBN1CZ265?source=Snapzu

Why People Hate EA? Ten Simple Reasons

IGN wrote a corporate apologists editorial a few days ago pretty much saying that all this "hate" for EA is really unfounded. The article completely overlooks every consumer complaint leveled against the company, and there are 10 simple reasons why people hate EA and it doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
Read more: https://www.cinemablend.com/games/Why-People-Hate-EA-Ten-Simple-Reasons-43696.html?source=Snapzu

Amazon And Ebay Opened Pandora's Box Of Chinese Counterfeits And Now Don't Know What To Do

Looking into the source of Amazon and Ebay's counterfeit issue.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/10/28/amazon-and-ebay-opened-pandoras-box-of-chinese-counterfeits-and-now-dont-know-what-to-do/#7e49e4f66a25?source=Snapzu

Today in Apple history: Scott Forstall forced out of Apple

Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, is ousted from the company after the disastrous Apple Maps launch. Once seemingly on a path to the top, Apple divvies up Forstall’s roles within the company. Jony Ive assumes leadership of the Human Interface team. Craig Federighi becomes head of iOS software. Eddy Cue takes control of Maps and Siri. And Bob Mansfield “unretires” to lead a new technology group.
Read more: https://www.cultofmac.com/509277/today-in-apple-history-scott-forstall-forced-out-of-apple/?source=Snapzu

Chicken farms fueled a massive public health crisis—while the government turned a blind eye

Antibiotic-resistant infections—everything from gastrointestinal illnesses to recurring urinary tract infections and staph—are among the most menacing issues in public health today, sickening 2 million people a year and killing at least 23,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So perhaps it’s not surprising that government has begun to take steps to limit antibiotics in animal agriculture, where many of these infections arise, before they wreak further havoc in humans.
Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/10/chicken-farms-fueled-a-massive-public-health-crisis-while-the-government-turned-a-blind-eye/?source=Snapzu

‘Prosperity instead of freedom’: The left-wing economics that make Poland’s conservative government so popular

If you follow international news about Poland, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the country’s politics consist exclusively of an authoritarian government – intent on silencing critics, bringing state institutions under party control, destroying the environment, denying women their rights, and leading the country into conflict with its European partners – facing off against mass street protests in defence of democracy.
Read more: https://notesfrompoland.com/2017/09/24/prosperity-instead-of-freedom-the-left-wing-economics-that-make-polands-conservative-government-so-popular/?source=Snapzu

'Duped': Sears shoppers allege retailer inflated prices for liquidation sales

Sears shopper Elizabeth MacMillan says she feels misled by the retailer's liquidation sales, where she found items priced higher than when she last visited the store. "I was really, really turned off," MacMillan said. "It's deceptive." She's one of several customers CBC News interviewed who uncovered altered prices at Sears liquidation sales. They suspect price tags were marked up to offset the advertised discounts that ranged from 20 to 40 per cent.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/1.4373270?source=Snapzu

How to Drop Out of College (With No Risk)

Spring of my junior year, I effectively dropped out of college. I’d started working on a startup, raised some money, wanted to be able to pursue it full time, but college was in the way. I knew the heroic myths of other college dropouts pursuing starting their own companies and figured that seemed like the “thing to do” in the situation. College had never “fit” for me. I hated lectures, realized grades were meaningless, was already getting good at learning things on my own, and wanted to have the freedom to teach myself marketing among other skills.
Read more: https://www.nateliason.com/drop-out/?source=Snapzu

South Korea Will Manage Bitcoin as a Commodity

While Japan respects digital currencies as legal currency and the IRS considers them property, South Korea has taken a different approach. Lee Joo-yeol, South Korean central bank governor, recently proclaimed that Bitcoin and virtual currencies would be treated as commodities. Regulation will take time to fully formulate and is not expected any time soon, according to the governor.
Read more: https://cryptoanswers.net/south-korea-manage-bitcoin-commodity/?source=Snapzu

Bumpy Ride: Why America’s roads are in tatters

One sunny winter afternoon in western Michigan, I took a ride with Leon Slater, a slight sixty-four-year-old man with a neatly trimmed white beard and intense eyes behind his spectacles. He wore a faded blue baseball cap, so formed to his head that it seemed he slept with it on. Brickyard Road, the street in front of Slater’s home, was a mess of soupy dirt and water-filled craters. The muffler of his mud-splattered maroon pickup was loose, and exhaust fumes choked the cab. He gripped the wheel with hands leathery not from age but from decades moving earth with big machines for a living...
Read more: https://harpers.org/archive/2017/11/bumpy-ride/?source=Snapzu

Poland rises, Croatia surprises on CEE Fast 50

The rapid rise of new technology companies in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region was reflected in the latest Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ...
Read more: http://www.intellinews.com/poland-rises-croatia-surprises-on-cee-fast-50-130852/?source=baltic-states?source=Snapzu

In $25 billion video game industry, voice actors face broken vocal cords and low pay

She woke up with a tickle in her throat. This was worrying for Ashly Burch, who, at 27, is a rising star in the small world of voice actors, best known for her work in video games. She knew actors who had blown out their voices in the studio. She’d come close herself. So leaving her house that morning Burch sipped a soothing mix of chai tea and pea milk. “It’s nondairy,” she said. “Dairy creates mucus, and that’s not a good sound.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-24-billion-video-game-industry-voice-actors-dont-make-enough-to-live-on/2017/10/27/944a0800-98d8-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html?utm_term=.548d753653b6?source=Snapzu

The Little Black Box That Took Over Piracy

The Kodi box pitch is hard to resist. A little black plastic square, in look not much different from a Roku or Apple TV, and similar in function as well. This streamer, though, offers something those others never will: Free access to practically any show or movie you can dream of. No rental fees. No subscriptions. Just type in the name of a blockbuster, and start watching a high-definition stream in seconds.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/kodi-box-piracy/?source=Snapzu

Best Buy says charging people $100 more to buy an iPhone X is actually a good thing

If you were preordering an iPhone X from Best Buy today, you might have noticed that the popular electronics retailer is charging an extra $100 on top of the already expensive $999 and $1,149 prices that Apple charges for the phones. Danielle Schumann, a spokesperson for Best Buy, tried to explain the fact that the company is overcharging for the iPhone X in a statement to Bloomberg, which is included in full below for the sheer ridiculousness of it.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/27/16562228/best-buy-iphone-x-price-100-dollars-more-installment-plan?source=Snapzu

Saudi Arabia is investing $1 billion in Virgin Galactic and its spinoff companies

Saudi Arabia plans to invest $1 billion in Richard Branson’s private space venture Virgin Galactic, as well as its spinoff companies The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit. The country has the option of investing an additional $480 million in the future, too. The money will go toward Virgin’s space tourism program and help accelerate the development of the company’s new launch vehicle to send small satellites into orbit.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/26/16552856/virgin-galactic-saudi-arabia-investment-spaceshiptwo-launcherone?source=Snapzu

Not just available, but also useful: we must keep pushing to improve open access to research

Could the real open access please stand up? If more research was published according to true open access principles, we'd see better application of evidence for everyone's benefit.
Read more: https://theconversation.com/not-just-available-but-also-useful-we-must-keep-pushing-to-improve-open-access-to-research-86058?source=Snapzu

Harvey Weinstein sues The Weinstein Co for company records

The Weinstein Co film company on Thursday was sued by its founder and former co-chairman Harvey Weinstein who is seeking information that could help defend himself against sexual assault allegations, and also help defend the company against potential liability.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-harvey-weinstein-lawsuit/harvey-weinstein-sues-the-weinstein-co-for-company-records-idUSKBN1CV327?source=Snapzu

Nestlé, Hershey and Mars 'breaking promises over palm oil use'

Nestlé, Mars and Hershey have been accused of breaking pledges to stop using “conflict palm oil” from deforested Indonesian jungles, just days before the annual Halloween confectionery frenzy. The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) says consumers have been “deceived” by promises from the brands to clean up their supply chains which were subsequently delayed, revised or watered down.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/27/nestle-mars-and-hershey-breaking-promises-over-palm-oil-use-say-campaigners?source=Snapzu

Wells Fargo Layoffs: Bank Cutting American Jobs, Taking Them Overseas

Wells Fargo & Co layoffs are leaving hundreds of Americans out of work as the leading American bank moves jobs to the Philippines. In a Senate hearing on the fake accounts scandal last week, Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan confessed that the bank has been cutting U.S. call center jobs while adding to its workforce in the Asian country.
Read more: https://americaclosed.com/wells-fargo-cutting-american-jobs-taking-overseas/?source=Snapzu

LG’s mobile business can’t stop losing money

Korea electronics giant LG continues to show the world that making a profit, or even breaking even, from selling smartphones is no easy thing. LG Mobile has posted just one quarter of profitability over the last two years, that was six months ago during the first quarter of sales of its new flagship, the LG G6, when it eked out a $3.2 million profit. Previous to that, you have to go way back to Q1 2015 for a quarterly profit.
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/26/lgs-mobile-business-cant-stop-losing-money/?source=Snapzu

Shadow Banking Gets Bad Rap, So Treasury Wants to Erase the Term

Treasury argues big investment firms don’t operate in shadows. By Jesse Hamilton.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-27/shadow-banking-gets-bad-rap-so-treasury-wants-to-erase-the-term?source=Snapzu

Apple says iPhone X pre-orders are 'off the charts'

Apple Inc quashed any concern of muted demand for its iPhone X on Friday, saying pre-orders for the 10th anniversary phone were “off the charts”. The company’s shares, which have fallen steadily since it announced in early September it would launch two iPhones within two months, rose nearly 3 percent in response. Pre-orders for the much-anticipated 10th anniversary phone started from 12.01 am PT (0701 GMT) on Friday.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-iphone/apple-says-iphone-x-pre-orders-are-off-the-charts-idUSKBN1CW286?source=Snapzu

Verizon will stop throttling video on unlimited plans if you pay an extra $10 per month

For an added fee, your smartphone won’t be limited to 720p video when using mobile data.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/25/16546798/verizon-unlimited-data-full-video-quality-fee?source=Snapzu

Opinion: Google is Still Bad at Selling Phones

So you’re having troubles with your new Pixel order from Google? Dang. Well, I hate to break this to you, but it has been this way for years. Looking back through our post archives, Google has had issues when it comes to meeting demand for its flagship devices, both Pixel and Nexus. Please, allow me to provide a brief history to you.
Read more: https://www.droid-life.com/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/www.droid-life.com/2017/10/26/opinion-google-still-sucks-at-selling-phones/_index.html?source=Snapzu

Twitter Says It Overstated Monthly-User Figures for 3 Years

Twitter said on Thursday that it had overstated its monthly-user figures since 2014 after mistakenly including data from third-party applications in its counting. The revelation came as the company reported that its net loss had narrowed in the third quarter and that its number of daily active users had risen 14 percent.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/technology/twitter-q3-earnings-trolls.html?source=Snapzu

Comcast and Charter Lost a Ton of Cable Customers Last Quarter

The hurricanes that hurt Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications Inc. have passed, but investors are still waiting for the storm clouds over the cable industry to lift. Comcast, the largest U.S. cable operator, posted the biggest loss in cable-TV customers in three years, while No. 2 provider Charter reported a drop that was almost four times what analysts had expected.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-26/charter-s-customer-losses-rise-as-more-people-cut-the-cord?source=Snapzu

A new documentary claims Haribo gummy bears are made using slave labor in Brazil

Haribo gummy bears may be some of the most colorfully cheerful confections on the planet, but a new investigative documentary called "The Haribo Check" uncovers what may be a dark secret behind the making of these snacks. ARD — a German broadcasting station — aired the 45-minute documentary detailing what it found to be cruel labor and animal welfare practices behind the making of major ingredients in Haribo gummy bears. The investigation, which was part of a series called "Markencheck" ("Brand Check"), claims that the German candy company has become unwittingly dependent on modern-day slave labor in Brazil.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/investigation-into-haribo-alleges-slave-labor-2017-10?source=Snapzu

Twitter bans ads from Russia Today and Sputnik over election interference

Twitter has announced that it will stop taking advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, effective immediately as US lawmakers continue to investigate the impact of foreign-sponsored fake news on the 2016 election. In a blogpost on Thursday the company said it had taken the decision following its own investigations and the US intelligence community’s conclusion that both RT and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/26/twitter-bans-ads-from-russia-today-and-sputnik-over-election-interference?source=Snapzu

Puerto Rico's infrastructure will be rebuilt by a 2-person company with ties to Ryan Zinke

Puerto Rico's infrastructure is in desperate need of repair, which makes it all the more puzzling that the commonwealth's state-owned utility hired an obscure Montana firm to do the job. Whitefish Energy, which was founded in 2015, signed a $300 million contract with Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, according to The Washington Post. It did this instead of activating a "mutual aid" agreement it has with other utilities, one that has been used in other areas struck by natural disasters to speedily recover their infrastructure.
Read more: https://www.salon.com/2017/10/24/puerto-ricos-infrastructure-will-be-rebuilt-by-a-2-person-company-with-ties-to-ryan-zinke/?source=Snapzu

Comcast Loses 134,000 TV Subscribers as Cord Cutting Continues

Comcast's third quarter earnings report indicates that while the company managed to add 214,000 broadband subscribers last quarter, the company lost 134,000 traditional TV subscribers as the cord cutting phenomenon the industry used to claim didn't exist continues to accelerate. Comcast's earnings indicated that the company continues to see a decline in customers that bundle two or three services, and a notable spike in users interested in standalone broadband. Double and triple play users dropped by 79,000 since June to 9.919 million, while single-play customers increased by 125,000 to 8.055 million.
Read more: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Loses-134000-TV-Subscribers-as-Cord-Cutting-Continues-140600?source=Snapzu

Chinatown’s Ghost Scam

When elderly immigrants fall prey to fraudsters promising protective blessings, their life savings are spirited away.
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/chinatowns-ghost-scam?source=Snapzu

The World's Top Regarded Companies 2017: German Conglomerate Siemens Takes Top Spot

It takes a high level of trustworthiness to appear on Forbes’ first-ever Top Regarded Companies list, and German conglomerate company Siemens has a lot of it. Though it ranked 50th on Forbes’ Global 2000, Siemens was ranked the top regarded company with 351,000 employees. For the past year, the company saw $90 billion in sales, $6.4 billion in profit, $154 billion in assets and a market cap of $119.7 billion.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinstoller/2017/10/10/the-worlds-top-regarded-companies-2017/amp/?source=Snapzu

U.S. iPhone Users Will Spend an Average of $88 Per Year on Apps by 2020, an 86% Increase from 2016

U.S. iPhone users will spend an average of $88 per year on premium apps and in-app purchases (IAPs) by 2020 according to a new forecast based on Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data. Our projections place calendar year 2019 per-device revenue at approximately 86 percent higher than 2016 and about 40 percent higher than our forecasted average user spend in 2017. In this report, we break down this growth by year and look at which categories we project will account for the most per-device spending by the the end of 2019.
Read more: https://sensortower.com/blog/revenue-per-iphone-forecast?source=Snapzu

Eminem wins suit against New Zealand party

You better lose yourself the moment you try to copy an Eminem song. According to a press release from the High Court of New Zealand, the New Zealand National Party must pay the New Zealand dollars equivalent of almost $413,000 for copyright infringement after it copied the rapper's hit "Lose Yourself" for an ad. "Eminem Esque" was featured in Party advertisements and played on television, the internet and at a Party conference in the lead up to the 2014 election.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/entertainment/eminem-new-zealand-lawsuit/index.html?source=Snapzu

Trump voters are not animals to be studied by elitists on ‘safari’

This is not a biological preserve. These are not strange untamed beasts. These are people. This is America. By Matthew Walther.
Read more: https://theweek.com/articles/732538/trump-voters-are-not-animals-studied-by-elitists-safari?source=Snapzu

Saudi Arabia announces $500bn mega city project

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced plans to build a $500 billion mega city on the Kingdom’s Red Sea coast, as part of a huge national push to diversify its economy. The 26,500 square kilometers zone, known as Neom, will focus on industries including energy and water, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing and entertainment, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said yesterday.
Read more: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1182501/saudi-arabia?source=Snapzu

Amazon will start delivering packages into the homes of Prime members

The program is called Amazon Key.
Read more: https://www.recode.net/2017/10/25/16538828/amazon-key-in-home-delivery-prime-camera-lock?source=Snapzu

Twitter will now label political ads, including who bought them and how much they are spending

The company announced it will reveal more information to the public about who is behind political ads.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/24/twitter-will-label-political-ads-including-who-bought-and-spend.html?source=Snapzu

Why We Must Fight for the Right to Repair Our Electronics

Pending U.S. legislation could force manufacturers to make repair parts and information available at fair prices
Read more: https://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/conservation/why-we-must-fight-for-the-right-to-repair-our-electronics?source=Snapzu

Sears Stops Selling Whirlpool Appliances, Ending 100-Year Relationship

Sears, once the place to purchase home appliances, will soon have a smaller inventory to offer the few customers it has left: After a nearly century-long relationship, Sears and Whirlpool have cut …
Read more: https://consumerist.com/2017/10/24/sears-stops-selling-whirlpool-appliances-ending-100-year-relationship/?source=Snapzu

Why doesn't Google sell its hardware and services in more markets?

The launch of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL is, without a doubt, a huge event for Google. Through it, the company is showing the world that it can design a smartphone with features rivaling those of the best Android smartphones and, perhaps more importantly, the iPhone. However, one important factor may prevent the Pixel 2 models, and indeed most of the company’s hardware products, from being huge sales successes. That’s because Google only sells them in a handful of markets. The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are currently only available in six countries and territories from its Google Store site...
Read more: https://www.androidauthority.com/google-hardware-services-markets-807156/?source=Snapzu

A former HSBC banker has just been convicted in $3.5bn fraud case

A former HSBC banker has been found guilty by a US jury of defrauding a UK-headquartered energy firm in a $3.5bn currency trade. Mark Johnson, who was HSBC's head of global cash foreign exchange trading, was found guilty on nine counts, in a court room in Brooklyn, New York. Johnson,51, was accused of exploiting confidential information from Cairn Energy in 2011 to "front run" the oil and gas firm in the currency markets, thus making an $8m profit for the bank at the expense of its client.
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mark-johnson-guilty-hsbc-banker-fraud-case-trade-uk-energy-firm-a8015971.html?source=Snapzu

Marvel’s Unprecedented Growth: Can It Be Stopped?

A year and a half ago I wrote an article just after the Marvel Cinematic Universe reached a worldwide gross of 10 Billion dollars in ticket sales. Captain America: Civil War was the film that pushed the franchise over that incredible milestone, making the MCU the very first series to ever reach $10 Billion dollars. It was also the first series to reach 8 and 9 Billion. And since Civil War, three more films have been released under the MCU umbrella bringing the...
Read more: https://geekritique.net/2017/10/21/marvels-unprecedented-growth-can-it-be-stopped/?source=Snapzu

Tomorrow Belongs to the Corporatocracy

“Short some sort of cataclysm, like an asteroid strike or the zombie apocalypse, or, you know, violent revolution, global capitalism will continue to restructure the planet to conform to its ruthless interests. The world will become increasingly ‘normal.’” By CJ Hopkins.
Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/20/tomorrow-belongs-to-the-corporatocracy/?source=Snapzu

Every Apple You Eat Took Years and Years to Make

"Feel free to spit."
Read more: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/apples-breeding-experimental-orchard-fruit-growing?source=Snapzu

How every investor lost money on Trump Tower Toronto (but Donald Trump made millions anyway)

Donald Trump called himself a “genius” for investing in Toronto’s Trump Tower. Behind the scenes, he had no money on the line. The inside story of an unlikely bankruptcy, and the investors who lost everything when they bet on the Trump brand.
Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/10/21/how-every-investor-lost-money-on-trump-tower-toronto-but-donald-trump-made-millions-anyway.html?source=Snapzu