May
08

Russia is about to put on a massive military show of force — here's what to watch for

Chris Concannon, the president of Cboe Global Markets, is one of Wall Street's biggest crypto advocates. But the trading veteran thinks investors should lay awake at night worrying about the uncertainty hanging over the market for initial coin offerings, the popular crypto crowdfunding method.

"The reckoning will come in two waves," Concannon said in an interview with Business Insider. First, the SEC will go after ICO market participants. Then, class-action lawsuits against the teams behind ICO projects will surge.

Crypto investors cheered when William Hinman, the SEC's director of corporate finance, said last week that ether transactions would not fall under the agency's regulatory purview. Still, Hinman's remarks did not give the greenlight for companies to run an ICO, which enables a company to issue its own token in exchange for ether or bitcoin (which ideally would go towards building a product or business).

The market, which is known for its fair share of both fraud and big dreams, has allowed some tech startups to raise billions of dollars from a wide-spectrum of investors. In total, more than $7 billion has been raised via the fundraising method in 2018, according to data from Token Report. ICOs are traded on dozens of exchanges across the world and are popular investments among the more than 200 crypto hedge funds. Pantera Capital, one of the largest crypto investors, has two ICO funds, for instance.

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If the SEC ultimately decides that the lion share of ICOs are unregistered securities, then many players in the market could find themselves in a legal quagmire.

"The actual party that offered the unregistered coin, they could have been involved in issuing an unregistered security," Concannon said. "Anyone who sold that off could be deemed an unregistered underwriter."

To be clear, the SEC could come up with an entirely new designation for ICOs. And it's not clear to some market observers whether the agency would retroactively go after all market participants. Robert Hockett, a professor of financial regulation at Cornell University, said you would likely only see the SEC take legal action in certain circumstances.

"I don't think it is the case that people involved in the business are going to be prosecuted against as if they have been violating the law," Hockett said. "But there is a little bit of a room for exception with something particularly egregious."

That could mean a company misled investors about a certain offering or claimed that it would never fall under the auspices of the SEC.

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Either way, the story doesn't change for investors. If the SEC deems ICOs as unregistered securities, then their holdings would be rendered valueless. This, according to Concannon, would trigger the second wave of reckoning.

"If you sold someone an unregistered security you are liable to them if they decide to take them to court," Concannon said.

The market has seen a number of class-action lawsuits. Business litigation firm Silver Miller in late 2017 filed a class-action suit against Monkey Capital, a crypto hedge fund. The firm alleges the fund promoted its ICO that violated US securities law. Silver Miller also has pending cases against crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase.

Law firm Polsinelli, which is advising clients to approach the ICO market cautiously, said it has "only likely begun to see the beginning of class action lawsuits filed relating to blockchain-related companies or companies that participated in ICOs."

Some of those suits could have merit, said Cornell's Hockett.

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"If they can prove investors were defrauded and misled by people who were better suited to understand the regulatory framework, but still instilled in investors a — no pun intended — false sense of security, then some suits would have merit."

For Hockett, the move indicates a shift in the market that is not without historical precedent. Crypto, he says, is moving out of the "Wild West" phase into a "regulatory scrutiny phase," which in the short term will see the rise of funds to launch class-actions and increased litigation. But in the long term, it will see a cleansing of the market.

"It is a legal life cycle of every new asset that becomes highly popular," he said. "It was true for tulips, junk bonds, and mortgage-backed securities, and now crypto."

Original author: Frank Chaparro

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Jun
20

UBS says Uber Eats-obsessed millennials could kill the kitchen

The future. Getty

Millennials are, famously, responsible for killing off lots of established industries thanks to their love of smartphones and avocados. Their next victim might be a domestic chore: Home cooking.

According to a UBS note to investors, titled "Is the kitchen dead?", the rise of food delivery apps such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo might kill the kitchen.

Here's what UBS analysts wrote:

"There could be a scenario where by 2030 most meals currently cooked at home are instead ordered online and delivered from either restaurants or central kitchens. The ramifications for the food retail, food producer and restaurant industries could be material, as well as the impact on property markets, home appliances and robotics."

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The endgame for this particular scenario, the bank predicted, would see people ordering multiple meals a week from food delivery startups like Deliveroo or Uber Eats. That food would be much cheaper to make and deliver, thanks to robots and delivery drones putting human chefs and drivers out of a job.

Reuters/Stringer

Mealkit delivery services such as Blue Apron or HelloFresh would fill any gaps, but still require minimal preparation. The food delivery market would be worth as much as $365 billion, UBS said, and services like JustEat and Deliveroo would be the major winners.

In the same scenario, the bank predicted people might go to supermarkets and buy less fresh food. They would also go out to eat in restaurants less, meaning lots of restaurants and supermarkets might shut down or consolidate.

Instead, the bulk of food people eat would come from "Dark kitchens," a model already pioneered by Deliveroo. This is where staff (or, in UBS' vision, robots) prepare different types of takeaway meals in grouped kitchens.

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Deliveroo runs pop-up kitchens in shipping crates, where different restaurant brands prepare food from the same site — often from car parks. The thinking is that this is much cheaper than doing takeaway from a restaurant located on prime real estate.

People will also buy fewer pots, pans, and other kitchen accessories. These graphs show just how possible this kitchen-free future is:

UBS

While food delivery services are still pretty niche, per figure 8, people are getting more used to on-demand services and food delivery apps are only becoming more popular.

Still, the dead kitchen scenario isn't inevitable. UBS has hedged its bets for any gourmands horrified by the prospect of always eating pre-prepared food at home.

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As UBS references, Deliveroo relies on an army of low-paid, self-employed delivery riders who forgo the benefits of full-time employment for flexibility.

In the case of Deliveroo, riders are fighting for better rights, which may lead to government regulation and greater expense for food delivery startups. In the worst case scenario, strict regulation could end Deliveroo's business.

Given that obesity is a health crisis in the UK, the government might also step up public health campaigning against takeaway food and portion sizes, encouraging more people to cook at home.

Finally, cheap kitchen robots and drones might take years to arrive.

All of these factors would contribute to a rise, rather than decline in home cooking.

Original author: Shona Ghosh

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Dec
18

Feld.com Automagically Upgraded To HTTPS By Pantheon

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared this graphic to demonstrate major price ebbs and flows in bitcoin's history.Brian Armstrong via TwitterJust six months after bitcoin mania sent prices soaring up toward $20,000, the popular cryptocurrency is now worth about $6,700 — just a third of its all time high.

But the CEO of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange valued at $1.6 billion last August, has a message for newer employees: Don't panic.

In a Twitter thread Tuesday, CEO Brian Armstrong shared the motivational message that he sent to his employees earlier in the day to reassure them to stay strong during the cryptocurrency down cycle.

"It can be scary the first time you see it, but to us who have been in the industry for many years, it feels like old news," Armstrong said.

"When there is hype, people are irrationally exuberant. When there is despair, people are irrationally pessimistic. Neither is true," he continued. "Reality is always somewhere in the middle, more correlated with real usage (transactions per day) than the price."

Founded in 2012, Coinbase became a household name in the second half of 2017, as an upturn in the price of bitcoin sent new traders to the easy-to-use exchange.

Longtime bitcoin investors, including the Winklevoss twins, became overnight billionaires thanks to early investments in the once valueless digital currency. The hype grew on the promise that anyone could earn their own Lamborghini with the right investments.

The price of bitcoin steeply rose and fell in the past year.Markets Insider

Coinbase grew its userbase and revenue as interest grew from the general public.

The company put in action a plan to double its headcount from around 250 to 500 people. So there are a lot of new people at Coinbase, many of whom left careers at big-name tech companies to join the wild west of crypto.

But it also suffered under the strain of its newfound popularity, particularly in terms of customer service and system outages.

It's for that reason that Armstrong told employees that he's "come to enjoy the down cycles in crypto prices more." "It gets rid of the people who are in it for the wrong reasons, and it gives us an opportunity to keep making progress while everyone else gets distracted," he said.

Read Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's full Twitter thread here.

Original author: Becky Peterson

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Jun
20

There's a 'dumb reason' why PlayStation and Xbox gamers can't play online together, according to a former Sony insider

Sony's decision to restrict PlayStation 4 owners from playing Epic Games's smash-hit "Fortnite" with players on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox sparked an uproar. Worse yet, if you started playing "Fortnite" on the PlayStation 4, you couldn't bring your purchased items with you to those other consoles.

According to a former Sony developer, the company's stance on this matter isn't all that surprising.

"When I was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money," John Smedley, the former Sony Online Entertainment president and general manager of Amazon Game Studios, said in a tweet on Monday. "They didn't like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a PlayStation."

"Simple as that," Smedley added. "Dumb reason, but there it is."

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Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although Fortnite players on the PlayStation are able to play with other PC, Mac, iOS, and Android players, they are still restricted from using their accounts on the Xbox and Switch. PlayStation owners playing the game are also walled off from Xbox and Switch players.

Meanwhile, players on the Xbox and Switch — the latter of which recently amassed more than 2 million downloads in the first 24 hours of its release on June 12 — are playing the game without restrictions.

The lack of Fortnite cross-play between the PlayStation and other consoles was met with backlash from players. Players who linked their Epic Games account to their PlayStation 4 were faced with a message saying that their account "does not allow it to operate on Switch."

Sony's subsequent response, which said it was "open to hearing what the PlayStation community is interested in," was also slammed by critics and rallied the PlayStation community.

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"If we keep the pressure up this problem goes away," Smedley said in response to the controversy.

Fortnite, which gained a cult-like following after its release in 2017, became one of the biggest hits in gaming with an estimated 125 million players. The free-to-play game capitalizes on the widely-popular "Battle Royale" gameplay, which pits players against each other until one is left standing.

Original author: David Choi

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Dec
19

Book: Am I Being Too Subtle?

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, speaks at the 2018 NOAH conference on June 6, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. Michele Tantussi/Getty Images

Uber is exploring how its legal team can assist migrant families affected by President Trump's hardline immigration policies, and has donated $100,000 to a non-profit supporting migrant children, according to an internal company memo.

The memo, provided to Business Insider by a company spokesperson, condemns the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant families as "unfathomable to imagine and heartbreaking to see."

Written by Uber deputy general counsel Tammy Albarrán and SVP of communications and policy Jill Hazelbaker, it says Uber is "better and stronger because we are made up of and serve people from all over the world."

On providing legal aid to affected families, they wrote: "Our Legal team is also reaching out to law firms with a strong commitment to pro bono work to explore immediate opportunities for Uber Legal to partner with them to help parents and children affected by these policies in any way we can."

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Uber joins a growing list of tech companies and high-profile industry figures who have spoken out against Trump's immigration policies, which have sparked widespread outrage in recent days following reports of migrant children being detained in cages without their parents.

And it comes as Uber attempts to resuscitate its public image following months of ugly scandals around everything from sexism to evading local governments, culminating in the ousting of founder and then-CEO Travis Kalanick.

Kalanick's replacement, Dara Khosrowshahi, condemned the Trump policy publicly on Twitter on Tuesday. He wrote: "As a father, a citizen and an immigrant myself, the stories coming from our border break my heart. Families are the backbone of society. A policy that pulls them apart rather than building them up is immoral and just plain wrong. #KeepFamiliesTogether"

Also on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called on Facebook users to donate to non-profits providing assistance to migrants, and Apple CEO Tim Cook called the measures "inhumane."

Team -

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As you heard us discuss at the All Hands today, we are horrified by what is happening at the southern border, where more than 2,000 children have been separated from their families. It's unfathomable to imagine and heartbreaking to see, and we want you to know what we are doing as a company and what you can do as an individual.

We continue to directly advocate for necessary changes to our nation's broken immigration system, which includes seeking permanent status for DREAMers, protections to other visa categories, and opposition to country of origin travel bans. The Policy team is working closely with partners including FWD.US, The National Immigration Forum, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and asking legislators and regulators to put an end to this crisis. Our Legal team is also reaching out to law firms with a strong commitment to pro bono work to explore immediate opportunities for Uber Legal to partner with them to help parents and children affected by these policies in any way we can. We are also taking a stand as a company—Uber committed $100,000 to KIND today.

Many of you are asking what you can do personally. Here are are a few options:

Uber is better and stronger because we are made up of and serve people from all over the world. We strongly support immigration policies that help people and families who want to build a better life, achieve their dreams, or seek protection from dangerous governments and situations.

Thanks to everyone for all you're doing to call attention to this issue.

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-Jill and Tammy

Original author: Rob Price

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Jun
19

YouTube has blocked MIT's educational video clips for 4 days because of updated 'partner agreements' and it's left the university frustrated (GOOG, GOOGL)

Late last week, videos from MIT OpenCourseWare posted to YouTube mysteriously became inaccessible on the Google-owned site.

OpenCourseWare is in charge of sharing teachings from MIT, one of the country's most respected research universities, with the rest of the world. The school's most popular videos on YouTube are typically recordings of lectures on computer science and mathematics. It's not the kind of thing that might be considered unsavory, controversial or a violation of YouTube's policies.

And yet, YouTube decided to block these educational videos from public view. The school wasn't informed of the reasons and hasn't a clue about how to get them back up. As of Tuesday afternoon, the videos were still inaccessible.

"We're quite frustrated by it," said Curt Newton, the MIT OpenCourseWare's director, in an interview Tuesday with Business Insider.

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He said the program's YouTube videos generate millions of views from across the globe. Teachers use them in their classrooms. Students study them.

Also late last week, the same thing happened to clips from the Blender Foundation, the nonprofit that oversees the Blender open-source 3D content-creation program, according to a Blender blog post.

YouTube hasn't said much about why the videos were blocked to the site operators or journalists.

"Videos on a limited number of sites have been blocked as we updated our partner agreements," the company told Business Insider in a statement. "We are working with MIT OpenCourseWare and Blender Foundation to get their videos back online."

The only problem with that is MIT and Blender say they're completely in the dark as to why their videos were blocked or when they might return.

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The leading theory among tech-news sites is that the cause of the trouble must be a glitch with YouTube's content filtering system. The filter is supposed to scan videos and flag those that violate the site's policies. In practice, disturbing and graphic video clips sometimes get through the filter while benign videos that adhere to YouTube's rules are removed.

YouTube's statement that the problem lies with the company's partner agreements seems to indicate that the problem might simply be an administrative, paperwork issue.

Whatever the reason, the incident shows our dependence on YouTube as a fundamental part of a modern infrastructure, in which entities from news publishers to universities depend on it to distribute videos.

In the past few years YouTube has appeared to struggle to maintain control of a site that sees more than 400 hours of video posted to it every minute and 1.8 billion viewers every month. All that growth appears to have made YouTube enormously valuable.

But the flip side is that one of the nation's premiere universities had its videos removed, wasn't informed of the reasons and was prevented from resolving the issue after four days.

Original author: Greg Sandoval

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May
08

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian has a dead rabbit to thank for his romance with Serena Williams

BuildGroup is supposed to be the anti-Silicon Valley capital firm, only investing for the long term and not cashing out of its companies for 15 years or longer, if ever, its cofounder Lanham Napier tells Business Insider.

Napier, who earned his fame and fortune as the 14-year CEO of Rackspace, a job he left in 2014, calls his new investment firm a "company, not a fund." It has a board of directors and partners that have experience running companies. And they have all contributed their personal cash to the $330 million fund it finished raising on May 31.

"At BuildGroup, we are trying to do for other founders and senior teams what wasn't done for us," Napier says. "We raised $330 million, I put in $30 million myself. I'm the largest individual investor. We need alignment [with founders], with people with skin in game. We may make 1 or 2 investments a year and that's it. You can't be on 15 boards and know what's going on."

All the folks at BuildGroup have also agreed to long-term ownership of every company they back, he says.

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It didn't take long for this model to face its first real-world test: Right out of the gate with his first investment, he faced a moral dilemma with Anaconda, a data science startup.

"The first investment we made was in Anaconda. We sign the LOI [letter of intent] and then the company gets a call from 'giganticorp' kind of saying, 'we want to buy you,'" he said.

The founders were flummoxed. It was a week before Christmas, and Napier flew out to the West Coast to help the founders meet this prospective buyer.

Napier wouldn't confirm which Seattle company was making the offer, but Anaconda had just signed a partnership agreement with Microsoft about that time, and it was also known to the folks at Amazon Web Services, Napier's former bitter rival when he was at Rackspace. Napier had plenty of experience dealing with both of those giants.

"I said, look dudes, if you want to sell to Darth Vader that's fine. We will rip up the LOI and we'll do the right thing ...

"I said, look dudes, if you want to sell to Darth Vader that's fine. We will rip up the LOI and we'll do the right thing here because an entrepreneurial journey has it's highs and lows. You've got to be all in or it's not going to work," he said —meaning he wasn't going to elbow his way into the deal at the last minute, or sweet talk them into staying separate and giving him favorable terms for buying in.

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"I believe karma is real. How we treat people matters," he said.

The Seattle company wouldn't let Napier join the meeting, he remembers. When it was over, they told him they weren't going to sell.

"They said, 'We're going to build,'" Napier remembers.

Thus began Napier's investment company. It officially came out of stealth this month, in the hopes it will help turn the traditional VC model on its head.

BuildGroup's other founders include Rackspace alumni Jim Curry and Klee Kleber, as well as Pete Freeland from General Catalyst.

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Napier says that BuildGroup is different because it's ready to keep its stakes in its startups for decades or longer, with the option of kicking in extra money as needed, too.

Anaconda cofounder Travis OliphantYouTube/AnacondaCON 2017"We are a company, not a fund. The capital we invest can go forever," he says, which is a very anti-Silicon Valley venture investment point of view. Most VCs want to cash out and realize their returns in five to 10 years.

Napier says the key to success is being selective, rather than going for volume in the hope of getting a hit.

In its first two years, for example, BuildGroup has invested $57 million of that $330 million in just four companies. Besides Anaconda, it's backed CDSC, Fiix, and Valkyrie Labs.

Another key for success: helping companies prioritize profitable operations over growth. He wants these companies to have "unit economics that function" rather than burning through cash, needing to continually raise more money from investors to survive.

That's also a very anti-Silicon Valley point of view.

One more thing he's doing: looking to invest mostly outside of Silicon Valley, targeting startups in the Texas and Rocky Mountain region, home of BuildGroup's investors.

"From a structure point of view, we are a company not a fund, that is a big difference, we don't have to exit anything. We will build these companies as long as you [the founders] want to build," he says.

Original author: Julie Bort

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Jun
18

Facebook is going to stop advertising gun holsters and other firearm accessories to children

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Stephen Lam/Reuters

Facebook announced on Friday that it is introducing new age restrictions on weapon accessory adverts.

Facebook already prohibits the advertising of guns and gun modifications, like silencers and magazines, but is now updating advertising policy to restrict ads for accessories like holsters to over 18 year olds.

It changes a previous rule that enabled advertisers to promote weapons accessories including, "products that are mounted on guns for the purposes of illuminating, magnifying or focusing in on (e.g. optics, flashlights) a target as well as holsters and belt accessories."

As of June 21, advertisers of weapon accessories will only be able to target adult Facebook users with these products. Here's the updated policy:

Facebook's new weapons, ammunition or explosives policy. Facebook

The decision seems in line with recent conversations in the US about gun violence, in particular, school shootings.

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Business Insider has contacted Facebook for comment.

Original author: Isobel Asher Hamilton

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Jun
18

10 things in tech you need to know today

Oprah Winfrey. Getty

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

1. Google is investing $550 million into a major Chinese e-commerce player. The two firms will work together to create retail infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

2. Apple signed a multi-year deal with Oprah Winfrey to develop original programming. The non-exclusive deal reportedly includes the likes of film, TV, applications, and books — just not podcasts.

3. Sales of CryptoKitties, a blockchain game for digital collectibles, are plummeting. Last year, investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures gave a total of $12 million to CryptoKitties, but transactions are now a fraction of what they were in December.

4. More than 400 Washington Post employees signed an open letter to Jeff Bezos asking him to treat them fairly. They signed a petition calling for fair pay, benefits, and job security, decrying "shocking" current practices.

5. Facebook's vice president of communications and public policy, Elliot Schrage, sent an apology email to an investor who accused him of sexism days before he announced his departure. There's no suggestion that the incident was directly connected to his departure.

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6. Hyped augmented reality startup Blippar lost $45 million in its financial year 2016/17, on turnover of just $7.6 million. The company said it was actively seeking new funding to stay afloat.

7. Parenting app Cleo raised $10.5 million from Greylock Partners. Cleo is offered through employers, and provides parents with access to experts in areas like birth preparation and sleep.

8. China's Huawei is desperately trying to convince Australian politicians it can be trusted. The company sent a letter to Australian politicians to assuage national security fears surrounding the company.

9. Amazon is selling films promoting conspiracy theories through Prime, according to The Sunday Telegraph. According to the newspaper, the company is promoting films by conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and David Icke.

10. Spotify investor Shakil "Shak" Khan has dropped a dramatic lawsuit against his brother. The dispute centred on Shak's decision not to support his brother's startup — and ended up dragging in Spotify just as it was planning to go public.

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Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings.

Original author: Shona Ghosh

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Jun
18

The biggest player you've never heard of in the auto industry is moving into China in a big way (MGA)

The world's biggest contract carmaker. Magna

Magna International is the world's largest contract manufacturer of automobiles, with clients ranging from BMW to Jaguar.

Now it's moving into China, the world's biggest car market, and forming partnerships to build electric vehicles.

"Magna [has] announced its intention to form two new joint ventures with Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd (BJEV) for complete vehicle manufacturing as well as engineering of electric vehicles," the company said in statement on Monday. BJEV is a subsidiary of the BAIC Group, which is focused on electric vehicles.

Joint ventures are currently required by China for foreign companies to build vehicles in the country. They're being phased out for electric-car companies amid a government push for widespread electrification. But for now, the economies of a JV appear to be appealing to Magna.

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It helps that a factory will be part of the bargain.

"The engineering and manufacturing joint ventures are expected to take over an existing BAIC manufacturing facility in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, where the first production vehicles are planned for 2020," Magna said in a statement.

This facility has a production capacity of 180,000 vehicles annually, Magna added. The plant will also be set up to provide Magna's expertise and capabilities to other companies in China.

Magna and BAIC already have a deal in place to develop an all-electric vehicle for the Chinese market.

"From a strategic point of view, the establishment of the JVs will benefit both Magna and BAIC to further strengthen our business growth in China," BAIC Chairman Xu Heyi said.

Original author: Matthew DeBord

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Jun
18

China's Huawei is desperately trying to convince Australian politicians it can be trusted

Chinese firm Huawei is trying to convince Australian politicians that its technology can be trusted as the country decides which companies will construct a 5G wireless network.

In 2012, Huawei was not allowed to tender for Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) due to cybersecurity concerns raised by Australia's intelligence agency, ASIO. Recent reports suggest Huawei is almost guaranteed to be excluded from supplying equipment to the 5G network for similar reasons.

In response, Huawei sent a letter to Australian MPs and senators, according to the Australian Financial Review, arguing that excluding the company would increase the cost for consumers and jeopardize its operations in Australia.

"To completely exclude Huawei from 5G in Australia means excluding Huawei from the entire Australian market and we don't believe this would be in Australia's best interest," the letter read. "Increased competition not only means cheaper prices but most importantly better access to the latest technologies and innovation."

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Signed by chairman John Lord and two company directors, the letter also said concerns about Huawei being a national security risk are "ill-informed and not based on facts."

Concerns exist around the ease with which Beijing can order Chinese companies to participate in "national intelligence work," potentially allowing the Chinese Communist Party access to critical Australian infrastructure.

China's 2017 National Intelligence Law states: "All organizations and citizens shall, in accordance with the law, support, cooperate with, and collaborate in national intelligence work, and guard the secrecy of national intelligence work they are aware of."

Earlier this year, during a visit to the US, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was reportedly briefed by the head of the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security regarding concerns over Huawei supplying equipment for the 5G network. It was subsequently announced the Australia's Home Affairs Department would conduct a full national security assessment before Huawei could participate.

Six intelligence chiefs - including the heads of the CIA, FBI, and NSA - testified in February that they do not use, and would not recommend private citizens use products from Huawei. Since then, Australia's defence department told Business Insider it no longer uses Huawei phones and the Pentagon announced it stopped selling Huawei phones and modems on its military bases because they "may pose an unacceptable risk."

Original author: Tara Francis Chan

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Jun
17

The PlayStation 4 is getting 4 incredible-looking exclusive games starting this September — take a look

Sucker Punch, the studio that created the PlayStation blockbuster "inFamous," is working on something completely new: a samurai game set in Feudal Japan, called "Ghost of Tsushima."

All we know about the game is that it's a tale of revenge. Here's the full description from Sucker Punch:

"The year is 1274. Samurai warriors are the legendary defenders of Japan — until the fearsome Mongol Empire invades the island of Tsushima, wreaking havoc and conquering the local population. As one of the last surviving samurai, you rise from the ashes to fight back. But, honorable tactics won't lead you to victory. You must move beyond your samurai traditions to forge a new way of fighting — the way of the Ghost — as you wage an unconventional war for the freedom of Japan."

From what the trailer shows, "Ghost of Tsushima" is a third-person, character-driven action game with a focus on swordplay. This is a samurai game, after all.

Beyond the story, and the pedigree, "Ghost of Tsushima" simply looks incredibly unique. It's gorgeous, and set in a time period rarely explored in blockbuster video games. Perhaps more than any other trailer Sony showed, "Ghost of Tsushima" looks the most interesting and fresh.

Original author: Ben Gilbert

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Jun
17

The glorious history of the best plane Boeing has ever built (BA)

The Boeing 777-200LR WorldLiner. Boeing

This week in 1994, the Boeing 777 airliner made its first flight — kicking off a career that would revolutionize the airline industry.

Once every few decades, an airplane comes along and simply redefines what a modern airliner is capable of delivering for airlines and its passengers. In 1957, Boeing changed the game with its first jet-powered airliner, the 707. In 1969, Boeing turned the airline industry upside down with the introduction of the 747 jumbo jet. In 1994, Boeing did it again with the 777.

In the two decades since its first flight, the 777 has become the trusty long-haul workhorse for the world's international airlines.

In the early days of jet-powered commercial flight, traditional thinking dictated that there is safety in numbers. As result, long-haul flying was dominated by three and four-engine jetliners.

With modern airframes and turbofan engines becoming exponentially more reliable, US and international regulators have relaxed rules that limited the routes twin-engine airliners could fly. These rules changes have helped smaller, twin-engine jetliners such as the Boeing 777, 767, 787 as well as the Airbus A330 and A350 become the airplanes of choice for airlines around the world. In the process, the Boeing 777 helped render the jumbos like the iconic 747 obsolete.

Through May of 2018, Boeing has sold a whopping 1,971 777s — making it the best-selling wide-body jetliner in aviation history. It's also the second best selling airliner in Boeing history behind only the 737.

Here's a closer look at the history of the Boeing 777.

Original author: Benjamin Zhang

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Jun
17

35 Big tech predictions for 2018

BII Technology is increasingly disrupting every part of our daily lives.

Smart speakers and voice assistants let us interact with our homes and with retailers in new and seamless ways.

Smartphones are taking over as the dominant shopping device.

Viewers continue to move away from traditional TV toward digital platforms.

And the list is growing.

Nearly every industry has been disrupted by digital technologies over the past 10 years. And in 2018, we expect to see more transformative developments affect our businesses, careers, and lives.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together a list of 35 Big Tech Predictions for 2018 across Apps and Platforms, Digital Media, Payments, Internet of Things, E-Commerce, Fintech, and Transportation & Logistics. Some of these major predictions include:

Cryptocurrencies will become more widely accepted Google and Apple will challenge Amazon in the smart speaker space The resurgence of the VR market The real self-driving car race will begin Drone regulations will relax Alibaba's international expansion Gen Z will become a major focal point for media companies and advertisers Payment security will become paramount Smart home devices will take off

This comprehensive list of 35 predictions can be yours for free today. As an added bonus, you will gain immediate access to our exclusive free newsletter, Business Insider Intelligence Daily.

Original author: Business Insider Intelligence

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Jun
17

This $30 million San Francisco mansion, once owned by Vanessa Getty, is one of the city's most expensive homes — take a look inside

Jacob Elliott for Ludovico and Michelangelo Mazzola at Compass

A home in San Francisco's ritzy Pacific Heights neighborhood has been privately listed off the market for $30 million, according to SF Curbed.

That's more than twice what it sold for just three years ago.

The home at 2900 Vallejo St. once belonged to Vanessa Getty and husband William Getty, the grandson of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty, who shelled out $11.5 million in 2002 for the space and sold it within a decade of making the purchase. In 2015 the mansion sold for $12.5 million, $3.5 million below asking price according to Redfin.

The mansion has since undergone substantial renovation, which includes new stucco to the exterior of the house, an extravagant winding staircase and some earthquake-fighting fixings: every level of the five-story home is connected by steel reinforcements to the bedrock underneath the house.

Realtor Ludovico Mazzola told Business Insider that the seller's renovation was "comprehensive:" every aspect of the home was touched.

Whether it's the extensive renovation or the Bay Area's notoriously competitive housing market, the manor's $30 million price tag makes the property one of the most expensive currently for sale in San Francisco.

Inside, the home is as dreamy and fairy-tale worthy as it sounds. Take a look.

Original author: Katie Canales

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Oct
19

IBM Seems to be Making Slow but Steady Progress - Sramana Mitra

Costco's website has a lot to offer, but it can be tricky to navigate. Costco.com

Costco and Boxed — the so-called "Costco for millennials"— sell everything and anything in bulk.

Unlike Costco, Boxed is digitally native. It has mobile ordering and one-to-three-day delivery. It also offers free two-day shipping if you spend more than $49, and it doesn't require a membership to make a purchase.

Costco has an online store in addition to its physical warehouses, but products across all categories tend to cost more online than in stores. Though the website allows shoppers to order from Costco without paying for a $60 annual membership, a 5% surcharge is applied at checkout. However, Costco has been taking some steps to reach more millennial shoppers, like offering two-day delivery through Costco Grocery and one-day delivery through a partnership with Instacart.

One of the most clear differences between Costco and Boxed is that Boxed members don't need to pay an annual fee to access the savings. But the company did recently launch Boxed Up, a premium service that costs $49 a year and provides shoppers with perks like free shipping on orders over $20, 2% cashback rewards, and price matching with competitors.

Both websites offer major savings for bulk shoppers, but upon trying both, I found one was easier to use than the other. See what it's like to shop at each:

Original author: Jessica Tyler

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Jun
17

How to use Zelle, the lightning-fast payments app that's more popular than Venmo in the US

Olivia Harris/Getty Watch out, Venmo — there's another payments app on the rise.

Zelle is a year-old service that lets you digitally transfer money to someone else, no cash, checks, or wire transfers required. It sounds a lot like Venmo, but there's one key difference: Zelle was created by the seven largest banks in the US.

Last summer, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, Capital One, BB&T, and PNC joined together to launch Zelle. Both Venmo and Zelle let you send money to friends instantly. The difference with Zelle is that you don't have to wait to receive the money in your bank account.

This feature may have contributed to why Zelle is becoming so popular. According to eMarketer data, Zelle is now the most-used peer-to-peer payment app in the US, and is expected to grow more than 73% in 2018. By the end of the year, eMarketer predicts Zelle will have 27.4 million users, compared to Venmo's 22.9 million users.

So what makes Zelle different from Venmo, and how can you start using it? Here's everything you need to know.

Original author: Avery Hartmans

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Jun
17

There's a beach separating the US and Mexico where families meet on either side of towering border walls — see what it looks like

Mexicans stand on the beach while looking through the US-Mexico border fence into the US from Tijuana, Mexico on May 1, 2016. Getty Images

The Trump administration took another step this spring toward its campaign promise to keep undocumented immigrants out of the US.

In early May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Department of Homeland Security officials would begin a new "zero-tolerance" immigration policy: Everyone who attempts to cross the border — even those seeking asylum — are now being prosecuted.

The policy seems to be doing exactly what it was designed to do. Homeland Security figures reveal that, between April 19 through May 31, border officials separated 1,995 children from 1,940 adults, according to a report from the AP's Colleen Long published Friday.

Even before the Trump administration enacted this policy, migrant families often needed to separate, largely because crossing the US-Mexico border undocumented was always dangerous.

Steel fencing with razor wire, sensors, and surveillance cameras line most of the nearly 2,000-mile US-Mexico border today. Back in 1971, the US fundamentally changed a section of the barrier: The Nixon administration built Friendship Park, the only federally designated bi-national meeting place along the US southern border.

Until 1994, the park between San Diego and Tijuana did not include any fencing. Anyone could spend time there during the day, under the monitor of US Border Patrol. But border security tightened over time, and today families can barely touch fingertips through Friendship Park's thick steel fence.

Friends of Friendship Park, a local community organization formed in 2006, is now attempting to work with the San Diego Border Patrol to allow unrestricted access to the park again.

Take a look below:

Original author: Leanna Garfield

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Jun
17

Generation Z is obsessed with this $20-a-year Instagram alternative because it doesn't have any ads

VSCO is the fifth most used photo and video app for iPhones in the US. Courtesy of VSCO

Every day more than 95 million photos are shared to Instagram. It's a juggernaut in the field of social networks, with more than 800 million monthly active users.

So it's noteworthy that an Instagram alternative called VSCO has surpassed one million paid users for VSCO X, its subscription service launched in early 2017.

The app's rapid trajectory makes it one of the fastest growing subscription-based businesses in the world, and has helped grow VSCO's revenue 91% year over year in 2017. It's on track to increase revenue 100% this year, according to the company.

A subscription to VSCO X, which unlocks exclusive photo-editing tools and tutorials, costs $19.99 a year. That might not sound like much, but consider that there are dozens of free apps like it, and Instagram has its own suite of filters and tools that let users play with their photos and share with family and friends without ever having to leave the app.

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As it turns out, it's Generation Z that's helping VSCO X rocket up the charts.

People under the age of 25 make up nearly 75% of all VSCO users, with Generation Z accounting for the largest segment of paid customers on VSCO X, according to the company. The fastest growing group of VSCO users are between the ages of 13 and 17.

Courtesy of VSCO

There was a period of time when this surprised founder and CEO Joel Flory, a former wedding photographer who started the company in 2011 with an art-director friend.

"We were building [the product] for ourselves and realized that we no longer were the majority of users on VSCO," Flory told Business Insider at the startup's headquarters in Oakland.

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From the beginning, VSCO set itself apart from rival photo apps and social networks by doing away with "vanity metrics," such as likes, comments, and follower counts. There are no ads or leadersboard, but instead, a feed of carefully curated content.

"For us, the only thing we wanted to show with the photo is the person who made it. That's really what we wanted it to be about," Flory said.

VSCO's app interface does away with "vanity metrics," such as likes, comments, and follower counts. Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

According to Flory, this focus on the creator really resonated with Generation Z. With the launch of a subscription service, VSCO learned that young people were even willing to pay for tools in an app space that let them "be who they are ... try new things," without the pressure and anxiety around building a following and collecting likes.

Born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Generation Z is building a reputation as the most socially conscious age group. A recent white paper from MNI Targeted Media Inc., a division of the Meredith Corporation, found that more than half of Generation Z say that knowing a brand has strong values and is "doing their part to make the world a better place" is important to them and directly influences their buying decisions.

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"This generation makes sophisticated choices about identity, purpose, and values," researchers at the firm said. "They've spent their lives surrounded by digital content and they know how to filter anything that lacks the right tone, language, and relevancy."

Courtesy of VSCO

VSCO is the fifth most popular photo and video app for iPhones in the US, according to app market data company App Annie, behind YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Google Photos, in that order. Its ranking by monthly active users has been rising over the last year, while Instagram's rank remains stable. Flory has largely Generation Z to thank.

The team at VSCO is constantly adding new filters, photo-editing tools, and educational content to the VSCO X platform so that the value of their subscription builds all the time.

"It's really about providing the ultimate experience for that creative," Flory said. "For us, it's not about some other company's way. It's about the VSCO way."

Original author: Melia Robinson

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Jun
17

13 apps for your iPhone that are better than the ones Apple made (AAPL)

Steven Tweedie Every iPhone comes with a slew of Apple's own first-party apps.

Thankfully, though, the App Store is overflowing with alternative apps, many of which are better than Apple's.

Whether you're looking to organize your photos, get work done, or get around town, we've scoured the App Store for the best apps that are better than the default ones on your iPhone.

Original author: Dave Smith

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