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Showing posts from June, 2020

SAP joins the growing ad boycott against Facebook, even as the new CEO says it's 'time to stand up against racism' (SAP)

* SAP says it will suspend advertisements on Facebook and Instagram as it endorsed the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign against the social network. * "We will suspend all paid advertisements…until the company signals a significant, action-driven commitment to combating the spread of hate speech and racism on its platforms," the company said in a statement.  * Major companies, including Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Unilever, have pulled ads on Facebook in the wake of the mass protests against racism following the killing of George Floyd.  * Facebook has been criticized for allowing President Trump to post what many consider hateful content that also incited violence. * In a recent interview with Business Insider, SAP CEO Christian Klein had cited the rise of racism as one of the issues he worries about.  "It's really now time to stand up against racism. For way too long, we've just ignored that. All of us were too silent about that." * Click here fo

What if your boss acted like this?

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new edition of Insider Today. Please sign up here. --- QUOTE OF THE DAY "There was no sense of 'Team America' in the conversations...It was like the United States had disappeared. It was always 'Just me'." — an anonymous Trump administration official, describing Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders, according to a CNN report. --- WHAT'S HAPPENING * The European Union officially banned US visitors. American citizens are barred until the US controls its COVID-19 outbreak, as are citizens from most of the world, including Brazil and Russia,   * China imposed a sweeping, draconian new security law on Hong Kong. The text of the law is still secret, but it clearly will give China the power to punish and imprison protesters, perhaps even retroactively. Hong Kong democracy activists are already resigning from organizations and erasing social media accounts.  * The president was briefed on Russian/Taliban bounty kill

Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck real-estate startup Sundae used to win investment from Founders Fund and QED Investors

* Real-estate startup Sundae just raised $16 million in a Series A fundraising round backed by Founders Fund and QED Investors.  * Sundae aims to help those selling a rundown home get a fair price and avoid predatory investors. * House "flipping", in which investors purchase properties and quickly sell them for a profit, rose to an eight-year high in 2019 – accounting for 6% of all home sales in the US.  * We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Sundae used to bring Founders Fund, QED Investors, and others on board.  * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Sundae, a real-estate startup helping homeowners sell their rundown properties, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round backed by QED Investors and Founders Fund.  House "flipping", in which investors purchase properties and sell them quickly for profit, usually after fixing them up, rose to an eight-year high in 2019, at 6.2% of all home sales, according to ATTOM Data Soluti

India blocks TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps that the government says pose a security threat

* India on Monday blocked dozens of Chinese apps, including the popular viral video app TikTok, citing concerns about national security and privacy of user data.   * In total, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology listed 59 mobile apps that it said posed a security threat. * The move follows major clashes between India and China earlier this month along a disputed border shared between the two countries. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. India on Monday blocked dozens of Chinese apps, including the popular viral video app TikTok, in order to "ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace."  In total, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology listed 59 mobile apps that it said posed a security threat.  "In view of information available, they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order," the statement said. 

The best laptop stands

* A laptop stand makes your laptop more convenient and comfortable to use a laptop on a desk. This is an especially good look with a secondary monitor. * Of every model we've looked at, the Rain Design mStand360 is the best laptop stand, with its 360-degree swivel base and sturdy design. For some people, using a laptop equals back pain, neck pain, and headaches. If this describes you, don't blame the laptop. Instead, these problems are almost certainly related more to your desk, chair, and laptop setup. To deal with these problems, we'd suggest swapping the ibuprofen for a laptop stand (also called a laptop riser). The stand will make the laptop more comfortable to use, limiting the aches and pains. According to Dohrmann Consulting, making workstations more ergonomic helps people stay pain-free, leading to fewer missed workdays and more productivity during work times. Now think about how you sit at a desk and work on a laptop. As Wirecutter points out, you're prob

Facebook has bent its hate speech and misinformation policies around Trump since before he was president, report says

* A Washington Post report claims Facebook has steadily weakened its hate speech and misinformation policies to adapt to Donald Trump. * The report says the company began bending its policies in 2015, when then-candidate Trump posted a video saying he would ban Muslims from entering the US. * CEO Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly in favor of taking action against the post, but sources said Facebook executive Joel Kaplan talked him out of it. * Facebook's approach to Donald Trump's posts over the past month have led to a major boycott from advertisers including Coca Cola, Verizon, and Unilever. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. An explosive new report from The Washington Post claims Facebook has weakened its hate speech and misinformation policies because of Donald Trump's ascent to power. In 2015, when Trump was a presidential candidate, he posted a video advocating a ban on Muslims entering the US. The video provoked outrage internally, the repo

Read the letter Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot sent to staff about sexual harassment allegations and his promise to 'personally follow' each case

* Ubisoft, one of the world's biggest video game companies, has been rocked by accusations of sexual assault and harassment leveled against senior staff. * CEO Yves Guillemot wrote to all employees on June 27, promising to "personally follow" each reported case.  * His letter came after an all-staff email from the company's chief talent & communications officer said law firms had launched "several investigations" into the allegations. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Yves Guillemot, CEO of video games giant Ubisoft, has promised to "personally follow" every report of sexual harassment at the company, following a series of allegations leveled at senior staff. The company has been rocked by claims of sexual harassment as well as assault by senior employees. On June 22, community manager Andrien Gbinigie was accused of rape. He denied the allegations in a Medium post, which has since been removed by the website. Bl

Starbucks suspends advertising on all social media platforms, becoming the latest company to boycott Facebook

* Starbucks announced Sunday it will suspend all of its advertising across social media platforms as it conducts discussions "internally, with our media partners, and with civil rights organizations" about ending the spread of hate speech. * Facebook, in particular, has taken criticism for its response to hate speech on its platform and its decision to allow President Trump to make controversial posts, such as calling protesters "thugs" and writing "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." * Starbucks joins Coca Cola in announcing an outright suspension on all social media advertising, while other companies have announced temporary bans on Facebook ads. * While the company is suspending its social media ads, it is not joining the #StopHateForProfit campaign bolstering the Facebook advertising boycott, according to CNBC. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Starbucks on Sunday announced it was immediately suspending all of it

Wirecard is 'beyond salvagable,' according to one analyst, who says the company's rivals won't be able to benefit from its downfall

* Munich-based Wirecard, founded in 1999, was established with the intention of assisting websites with credit card payment collections from customers. * In the past week, the company has witnessed a spectacular fall from grace amid a massive accounting scandal, its former CEO's arrest, and an insolvency filing. * But can fintech rivals benefit from its downfall? One analyst says that it is possible. * Wirecard is "beyond salvageable," Neil Campling, Head of TMT Research at Mirabaud Securities said. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. --- German fintech group Wirecard became one of the hottest European stocks while battling endless allegations of fraud. The former-CEO Markus Braun claimed a clean sheet for the company until as recently as May 17 when he tweeted: "When all the noise and dust settles, Wirecard will still be a company that generates a billion Euro of EBITDA this year and is one of the fastest growing in its industry."

The Philippines is investigating Wirecard and its missing $2 billion, and a local lawyer says he's being framed, say reports

* The Philippines is investigating local businesses that partnered the collapsed German payments company Wirecard, the Financial Times reported. * Wirecard went into administration and its former CEO Markus Braun was arrested after the firm claimed that more than $2 billion had disappeared from its balance sheet. Its auditor EY said the firm committed elaborate fraud. * Wirecard had claimed the money was stored in two Philippine banks, which they both denied. Now the authorities will probe around five local businesses thought to be involved with Wirecard. * Separately, a Filipino lawyer who opened bank accounts for Wirecard in the Philippines claims he's being framed for fraud. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Philippine authorities will probe local businesses thought to have connections to disgraced German payments firm Wirecard, which collapsed after admitting to a 1.9 billion euro ($2 billion) hole in its balance sheet, the Financial Times reported.

We looked back at Google's corporate web pages from 2009. They show how far the company's culture has changed in more than a decade. (GOOG)

* Google has transformed more than any other Silicon Valley company in the last decade – and a trip back to its old corporate website reveals just how much. * A look at the website from 2009 shows just how much the company has transformed, from around 20,000 full-time employees of the time to more than 120,000 today. * "Google is not a conventional company, and we don't intend to become one," it read more than a decade ago. But employees say Google has become a much more corporate company. * Do you work at Google? You can contact this reporter securely using encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or encrypted email (hslangley@protonmail.com). * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A lot has changed in the past decade – take a trip back to Google's website circa 2009 and you'll appreciate just how much. Google has arguably seen the biggest transformation of any Silicon Valley company in the last decade. In fact, Google isn't

How to manually clear your 'Continue Watching' list on HBO Max

* To clear the "Continue Watching" list on HBO Max, you simply need to use the list's "Edit" function. * If you don't finish a show or movie within 30 days, it's cleared from the Continue Watching list automatically. * The Continue Watching list lets you pick up where you left off in a show or movie. * Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. When you use HBO Max, it remembers where you left off in whatever TV shows and movies you've been watching. To pick up where you left off, you can select the show from the Continue Watching row on the Home page.  This way you can continue watching without missing a beat, even if you return to a program on a different device than the one you started the program with.  HBO Max keeps a show in the Continue Watching list for 30 days. If you don't finish it within that time, HBO assumes you aren't going to complete it and removes it from the list.  You can manually clear

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin thinks it can beat SpaceX back to the moon with a 'divide and conquer' approach

* NASA is rushing to return astronauts to the moon's surface in 2024 with a program called Artemis. * A spaceship and rocket system is already being built to fly crews to the moon. However, NASA started a competition between private companies to make and operate viable lunar-landing hardware for the agency. * SpaceX, Dynetics, and Blue Origin are NASA's top candidates for the job. The companies are competing for possibly $20 billion in Artemis contracts. * Blue Origin, founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, is banking on an alliance with experienced aerospace industry partners Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper to win. * Called "National Team," the group is developing a three-part system. It will lean on existing hardware and historic approaches (from Apollo) in hopes of winning NASA's selection. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Three companies are vying to land NASA astronauts on the moon for the first time in half a c

Verizon joins the Facebook ad boycott after one of its ads is displayed next to an anti-Semitic conspiracy video

* Verizon has pulled its advertising from Facebook, joining a growing list of companies boycotting the social-media firm over its content moderation. * A group of six nonprofit organizations started the boycott last week, calling on companies to withdraw their advertising over the spread of hate speech and misinformation on Facebook. * On Thursday, June 25, the Anti-Defamation League said it found a Verizon ad next to anti-Semitic video. * Verizon's chief media officer said the company was suspending advertising on the social network and on Instagram, which Facebook owns, "until Facebook can create an acceptable solution that makes us comfortable and is consistent with what we've done with YouTube and other partners." * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Verizon has joined the growing list of companies boycotting Facebook by not placing ads on the platform, CNBC reported on Thursday, June 25. The wider boycott started on June 17, when a gro

How to create a new location on Instagram using one of Facebook's location features

* You can create a location on Instagram using Facebook's "check-in" feature.  * To create a location on Instagram, you need to visit the Facebook app and create a new location by checking in and selecting the "I'm here right now" option.  * There is no way to create a new location using the Instagram app.  * Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. Instagram lets you capture and share your last adventure with your followers, whether it's around the corner or the world. But if showing them isn't enough, you can also tell them exactly where you snapped that breathtaking skyline or where you enjoyed your last delicious meal.  A quick search through the locations available proves an exhaustively comprehensive list. You can use Tashkent, Uzbekistan, or Uzbechka Café, Brooklyn. You can use Inner Mongolia or Inn at Great Neck, Great Neck, NY.  Instagram lets you choose how specific you get about sharing where you are. A

Fintech startup Karat has launched a new charge card designed for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok stars that looks at social-media engagement rather than credit history

* The fintech startup Karat is launching a new charge card for creators that the company said is tailored specifically to the spending needs of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok stars. * And unlike a traditional bank, it's looking at a creator's social metrics like follower count and engagement rates rather than their FICO score to assess whether they qualify for its card. * The company, which recently closed a $4.6 million seed round, hopes to eventually develop a full suite of financial products for influencers.  * Business Insider spoke with the company's cofounders Will Kim and Eric Wei to learn more about their plans to build a financial-services business for the creator economy. * Subscribe to Business Insider's influencer newsletter: Influencer Dashboard. Do influencers need their own custom payment card? The fintech startup Karat thinks so.  The company is launching its first product today: a charge card for creators that it says is tailored specifically to

Comcast just joined Mozilla's program to make web browsing more private, after lobbying against similar efforts by Google last year

* On Thursday, Mozilla announced that Comcast will be the first internet service provider to join Firefox's efforts to make web browsing more private and secure.  * Last year, Firefox started using an encryption standard called DNS-over-HTTPS, or DoH, which encrypts the DNS look-up process of converting the website you type into a browser address bar into an IP address. Firefox initially launched with Cloudflare as it's sole DNS provider, with the company committing to a set of privacy requirements. * Comcast just signed on as a partner, too, meaning that it commits to limiting data collection and informing users of its data retention policies, among other things.  * Late last year, Motherboard reported that Comcast had lobbied lawmakers against similar encrypted-browsing efforts from Google.  * The DoH protocol overall has been criticized, with some privacy advocates saying that it over-promises its protections and some lawmakers arguing that it hampers legitimate efforts

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces broadened charges of conspiring with 'Anonymous' hackers in new federal grand jury indictment

* WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing a new grand jury indictment charging him with conspiring with "Anonymous" and "LulzSec"-affiliated hackers to access classified US government documents. * The Department of Justice said in a press release Wednesday that a Virginia grand jury returned a second superseding indictment that doesn't add new charges but does "broaden the scope of the conspiracy" that Assange has been charged with orchestrating. * The DOJ previously charged Assange with 18 criminal counts, including violating the Espionage Act. * Assange currently remains in custody in the United Kingdom while the US continues to seek his extradition. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing a new federal indictment in the US that claims he conspired with hackers associated with groups including "Anonymous" and "LulzSec."  A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virg

How to turn off the password on an iPhone, which disables both the passcode and Face ID

* To turn off the password on your iPhone, you'll need to open the "Passcode" menu in your settings. * If you turn off the passcode on your iPhone, you won't be able to use Apple Pay, and will lose a recovery option for your Apple ID password. * Note that turning off your iPhone's passcode will also disable Touch ID and Face ID — your iPhone will be completely open. * Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. Once upon a time, our cell phones would work for anyone, no matter who flipped them open and tried to use them. However, as time went on, the standard changed.  Passcodes can protect your iPhone from being tampered with, either by someone who has found it or stolen it, or simply by a mischievous friend or family member. They keep your data and personal information safe.  However, you may find yourself in a situation where having a password on your iPhone is a nuisance. Maybe you're baking and you need your roommate to

$2 billion Lemonade is gearing up for an IPO. Here's why analysts aren't convinced it can successfully challenge State Farm and Allstate

* Lemonade is the latest SoftBank-backed company that's trying to go public, filing for an IPO earlier this month. * The fledgling insurance company has some things in common with WeWork, the SoftBank-backed coworking company that had to abandon its planned IPO last fall in the face of investor resistance — it's losing money and it's trying to pitch itself as a tech company with little justification. * But there are things to like about Lemonade's business — it's growing rapidly; it's operating in a gigantic industry; it seems to have found an underserved niche; and it has the chance to hook customers for the long term. * Success, though, isn't guaranteed — Lemonade's losses are growing; it's going up against gigantic, tech-savvy competitors; and it doesn't seem to have much of a sustainable or unique technological advantage. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. As a prospective public company, Lemonade is no Zoom. But i