Jan
08

How to connect to a Wi-Fi network on your Android phone or tablet, and disconnect when you're done

You can connect to Wi-Fi on an Android device through the "Connections" (or "Network & Internet") menu, which is in your Settings app.If you're trying to connect to a Wi-Fi network that's locked, you'll need to have its password. Some networks may also require you to log in via your internet browser. Once your Android phone or tablet has been connected to a Wi-Fi network, it'll automatically reconnect to that network whenever it's in range.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you have a cap on how much mobile data you can use, you should know how to connect your Android phone to a Wi-Fi network. Using Wi-Fi won't cost you anything, won't count towards your data cap, and will often give you faster internet speeds. 

Connecting your Android phone or tablet to Wi-Fi is a quick and easy process. And once your Android knows a network, it will store that network's password and automatically reconnect whenever you're in range.

Here's how to connect.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Samsung Galaxy S10 (From $899.99 at Best Buy)

How to connect to Wi-Fi on an Android device

1. Open your Android's Settings app by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and selecting it.

On most Android devices, you can find the Settings app by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. Steven John/Business Insider

2. Tap the word "Connections."

On some Android devices, this tab may be labeled "Network & Internet." Steven John/Business Insider

3. In the new menu, tap "Wi-Fi" and then look under the "Available Networks" heading.

4. Select the Wi-Fi network that you want by tapping it. If it's locked, enter its password, and then tap "Connect."

Wi-Fi networks that are password protected will display a lock icon. Steven John/Business Insider

If you're trying to connect to the Wi-Fi at certain public locations — this includes sports arenas, airports, libraries, and more — you may need to also agree to the network's terms and conditions. You can usually do this by opening your internet browser and trying to load a new page, where you'll be automatically redirected to the Wi-Fi network's login page.

To disconnect from a Wi-Fi network, tap the name of the network you're currently connected to from the screen depicted above and tap "Forget."

Original author: Steven John

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Mar
05

Kinnos, which makes colorized disinfectant to ensure surfaces are covered, just landed $6 million in funding

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

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

Facebook has banned deepfake videos and manipulated content from its site. The company said it was taking a multi-pronged approach to address the issue, including investigating deceptive behaviors in AI-generated content and partnering with academia, government, and industry to better identify manipulated content.YouTube has overhauled its rules for children's content, and it could have a major impact on both creators and the company's business.  The policy upheaval carries legal risks for YouTube content creators, who are now responsible for choosing whether their content is made for children.Sony has unveiled an electric car at CES. According to the BBC, the vehicle, called "Vision S," was shown during a surprise announcement at the show.Impossible Foods has unveiled a new plant-based pork substitute at CES, BBC News reports. The firm is also offering a ground pork alternative, with its range of pork products designed to comply with kosher and halal rules.Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais roasted Apple for its 'Chinese sweatshops' in front of hordes of celebrities as Tim Cook watched from the audience. Gervais described the Apple TV Plus drama "The Morning Show" as "made by a company that runs sweatshops in China."Sacha Baron Cohen satirically described Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a 'naive, misguided child who spreads Nazi propaganda'. Baron Cohen made the satirical reference to Zuckerberg and the film 'Jojo Rabbit' during Sunday night's Golden Globes.Instagram's US user growth dropped to single digits for the first time and it looks like it will keep falling. EMarketer estimated that Instagram is still growing in the US, but the pace of that growth slowed to 6.7% in 2019, down from growth of 10.1% in 2018.Two couples whose Ring cameras were hacked have filed a lawsuit seeking class action status against the Amazon company. The two couples have accused Ring of being negligent by not doing enough to secure their home cameras against cyberattacks.Samsung created an invisible keyboard that uses AI to track your finger movements. SelfieType will use a front-facing camera to track your fingers and turn any empty surface into a virtual keyboard.The last known Nintendo PlayStation is going up for auction. The owner of this incredibly rare piece of video game history said he's already turned down an offer of $1.2 million.

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. You can also subscribe to this newsletter here — just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know."

Original author: Charlie Wood

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Apr
08

A celebrity jeweler who made a $37,000 ring for Elon Musk said the Tesla CEO canceled their meeting after the jeweler posted on Instagram about being locked in his Model X (TSLA)

Facebook said in an announcement on Monday that deepfake videos and manipulated media will be banned from the social media site.The company said in a statement that it was taking a multi-pronged approach to address the issue, including investigating deceptive behaviors in AI-generated content and partnering with academia, government, and industry to better identify manipulated content.Videos that are flagged will be subject to review by third party fact-checkers to determine if the content is false.In September, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer said the company was making its own deepfake content in order to better detect manipulated content for removal, Business Insider's Alexei Oreskovic reported.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook said in an announcement Monday that deepfake videos and manipulated media will be banned from the social media site.

The company said in a statement that it was taking a multi-pronged approach to address the issue, including investigating deceptive behaviors in AI-generated content and partnering with academia, government, and industry to better identify manipulated content.

"Manipulations can be made through simple technology like Photoshop or through sophisticated tools that use artificial intelligence or 'deep learning' techniques to create videos that distort reality – usually called 'deepfakes,'" the company said in a statement. "While these videos are still rare on the internet, they present a significant challenge for our industry and society as their use increases."

The company defined the type of "deepfake" content that will be removed from the site as the following:

It has been edited or synthesized – beyond adjustments for clarity or quality – in ways that aren't apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say.It is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic.

The policy does not affect content that is manipulated for the purpose of comedy or satire, the company said in the statement.

Videos that are flagged will be subject to review by third party fact-checkers to determine if the content is false. At that point, Facebook will "significantly reduce its distribution" to newsfeeds or reject it, if it is attempting to run as an ad.

Moreover, people who attempt to share the content before it is completely removed from the site will be issued a warning to alert them that the content is false.

The company added that it established a partnership with Reuters to "help newsrooms worldwide to identify deepfakes and manipulated media through a free online training course."

"News organizations increasingly rely on third parties for large volumes of images and video, and identifying manipulated visuals is a significant challenge," the statement read. "This program aims to support newsrooms trying to do this work."

In September, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer said the company was making its own deepfake content in order to better detect manipulated content for removal, Business Insider's Alexei Oreskovic reported.

"The goal of the challenge is to produce technology that everyone can use to better detect when AI has been used to alter a video in order to mislead the viewer," Schroepfer wrote in a September blog post.

Last year, the company faced significant backlash from members of Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for its policy on fact-checking political ads.

Facebook said in most instances it will not fact-check political ads in an attempt to protect free speech. The controversial policy went under fire after President Donald Trump ran political ads with false claims about former Vice President Joe Biden.

"Posts and ads from politicians are generally not subjected to fact-checking," according to Facebook's policy. "In evaluating when this applies we ask our fact-checking partners to look at politicians at every level."

Original author: Lauren Frias

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Jan
07

California has sued tech billionaire Vinod Khosla over beach access, reviving a decade-long legal battle

The state of California filed a lawsuit against billionaire tech investor Vinod Khosla on Monday, alleging that he restricted access to a beach in San Mateo county.The Sun Microsystems co-founder bought properties bordering San Mateo's Martins Beach for roughly $32 million back in 2008, and closed off public access to it in 2010.  The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the California Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission, revives the decade-long bitter legal battle over access to that beach. Their argument revolves on whether Martins Beach has historically been a public beach. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The state of California just revived a decade-long bitter legal battle with billionaire tech investor Vinod Khosla, over  restricting access to a strip of a San Mateo beach bordering his property. 

California's Attorney General filed a lawsuit on behalf of the California Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission on Monday, alleging that Khosla had prevented the public from accessing Martins Beach, a San Mateo spot popular with locals for surfing and fishing. California's Constitution guarantees public access to all coastal beaches below the mean high tide line.

The lawsuit, filed in California state court in San Mateo county, is the latest in a series of exhaustive legal fights that have spanned more than a decade, after Khosla began to block people from accessing the beach back in 2010. 

The US Supreme Court's refusal in 2018 to hear Khosla's appeal on a lawsuit filed by the Surfrider Foundation appeared to have put an end to the matter. A San Francisco appeals court had ruled earlier that Khosla needed state permission to gate off access to the beach. 

But the two state agencies that are pushing California's lawsuit say that Khosla has not complied with the ruling, alleging that the gate "has not been consistently open" and that the venture capitalist has yet to file a permit requesting permission. 

A statement delivered by Khosla's lawyer to Business Insider pointed back to a newer ruling on a different lawsuit regarding Martins Beach in November 2019. The San Mateo appeals court ruled that the beach had not been historically public, as previous owners had charged a fee to go there. 

"In the Surfrider case, it was undisputed that the property is private.  The case did not in any way address the issue of whether the public has a right to free use and access of the property,"  Dori Yob Kilmer, a lawyer for Khosla, said in a statement that pushed back against the San Francisco appeals court's ruling. 

Khosla, the famously outspoken cofounder of Sun Microsystems, told the New York Times in 2018 that he regretted buying the property but would continue fighting for his privacy based on "principle," safeguarding property rights. His lawyer doubled down on that sentiment on Monday, writing to Business Insider that the state of California's actions were "commonplace in communist systems," but had never been tolerated in a country where "the U.S. Constitution precludes the government from simply taking private property and giving it to the public."

According to Khosla's lawyer, the beach was privately owned by the Deeney family for roughly one century and the family "chose to use it as a revenue-generating beach-access business." 

But the state of California appears to be gearing to fight the designation of Martins Beach as private. 

The lawsuit seeks to make Khosla remove all gates and signage purporting to limit access to the beach, and to prohibit him from building any structures that would impede access to the beach.

"The state's lawsuit filed this week asks the court to consider unexamined evidence and confirm that the public has the right to continue using Martins Beach. The Coastal Commission has spent several years conducting surveys of beach goers and collecting evidence of continuous public use from more than 225 respondents, including written accounts, photographs, personal journal entries and news articles, reflecting public use as early as back to the 1800s," a press release reiterating the beach's popularity with the public said. 

Original author: Bani Sapra

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Mar
04

Apple is telling retail store workers to expect a limited supply of replacement iPhones for the next several weeks (AAPL)

Impossible Foods just announced a new plant-based pork substitute and a sausage product that will appear in a Burger King breakfast sandwich launching at the end of January.The announcements represent the meat alternative company's first major new product launches since it debuted the original Impossible Burger back in 2016.The company hasn't revealed when the ground pork alternative will actually launch, but has said it will likely appear in restaurants before making its way to grocery stores.The sausage will appear on a new breakfast sandwich launching in Burger King restaurants in a few test markets at the end of January.The new Burger King menu item gives Impossible ammunition to compete with rival Beyond Meat, which has meatless breakfast alternatives available in chains such as Dunkin' and Carl's Jr.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Impossible Foods just announced its first new products since debuting its popular plant-based "beef" burger in 2016 — Impossible Sausage and Impossible Pork, the former of which will be launching in a breakfast sandwich available at select Burger King locations this month. The launch represents the startup's next major step forward as it competes with rival Beyond Meat to dominate the market for plant-based meat alternatives.

Impossible Foods will be testing its first sausage product at 139 Burger King restaurants at the end of the month. located in Savannah, Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Springfield, Illinois; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Montgomery, Alabama. Those restaurants will be getting the Impossible Croissan'wich, a sandwich that consists of egg, cheese, and Impossible Sausage on a toasted croissant. 

The Impossible Burger can already be found at several popular fast food chains such as White Castle, which sells Impossible Sliders, and Burger King, which has Impossible Whoppers on the menu. But the launch of a sausage product at Burger King gives Impossible Foods even more ammunition to compete with rival Beyond Meat, which similarly can be found at a growing number of fast food chains, and which already provides the meat alternatives for breakfast sandwiches at chains like Dunkin' and Carl's Jr. 

In addition to the new breakfast sandwich, Impossible Foods is also launching Impossible Pork: a plant-based ground pork alternative that the company says can be used in any recipe that calls for ground pork. The company has not said when Impossible Pork will launch, but Rachel Konrad, chief communications officer of Impossible Foods, said it's likely to appear in restaurants before grocery stores, as with the Impossible Burger before it.

Like the Impossible Burger, the company's pork product is made using heme — the protein that gives the plant-based patties their signature "bleeding" look that simulates the texture and appearance of red meat. The Food and Drug Administration approved heme for use in food products sold in grocery stores in August, a victory for Impossible Foods that came after the FDA initially said that the data the company had provided about its burgers wasn't enough to "establish the safety" of heme.

The heme in Impossible Pork isn't the same as that found in the burger. Rachel Konrad, chief communications officer at Impossible Foods, told Business Insider that the company tweaked its heme formula to better replicate the consistency of pork rather than red meat.

Impossible Foods decided to make a pork alternative its next major product for two key reasons: there's a huge market for it since it's the most widely eaten meat in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.  Plus, offering a plant-based alternative to pork could help cut back on the environmental impacts stemming from the pig farming industry, the company says. High-density pig production can release excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus into the environment, the FAO says. 

Impossible Foods is showing its new plant-based meat options at CES, the annual tech trade show that occurs each January in Las Vegas. The news comes after the company teased a major announcement just ahead of the conference. While this is the first time the company is officially unveiling its new pork alternatives, Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown told Business Insider in May that it had been working in this direction.

As for what's next for Impossible Foods, Konrad said the company's research and development team is working on the Impossible Burger 3.0, as well as steaks, and hinted that the company could consider expanding into poultry and fish in the future as well.

Original author: Lisa Eadicicco

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Jan
07

Dell's Alienware is building a portable Windows gaming PC with almost all the best features of the Nintendo Switch

Alienware's Concept UFO is a handheld gaming PC inspired by the Nintendo Switch.Concept UFO runs Windows 10 and would allow gamers to access their library of PC games on the go.Like the Switch, Concept UFO features detachable controllers, a built-in stand, and a high definition screen. Concept UFO's PC features could give it some added versatility, but there's no guarantee it will be released in its current form.Alienware has promised to show more of the  Concept UFO and its other upcoming projects during Dell's keynote address at CES 2020.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Alienware, the high-end gaming PC brand owned by Dell, just unveiled Concept UFO — an 8-inch handheld gaming PC inspired by the best-selling Nintendo Switch video game console.

As the name suggests, it's a conceptual prototype, and may or may not make it to market in this (or any other form). To that point, Alienware announced neither a price nor a release date for the Concept UFO.

Alienware announced Concept UFO during CES 2020, the massive annual tech conference held in Las Vegas, and a few early models of the new gaming computer were available for members of the press to try.

—ALIENWARE (@Alienware) January 6, 2020

Concept UFO's 8-inch screen has a 1200p resolution, which is a big step up compared to the Switch's 6.2-inch, 720p screen. It also includes detachable controllers that open up new possibilities. Players can use Concept UFO as a handheld, or use its built-in stand to steady it upright and play with a controller in each hand.

Alienware will provide an extra controller grip to use the pair as a single controller too, but it doesn't seem like you can use the left and right sides of the Concept UFO for different players, as you can with the Switch's Joy-Con controllers.

While there's no guarantee the Concept UFO will become an official product, Alienware's test run could entice PC gamers who want a portable console without needing to invest in a whole new library of games. The Concept UFO also runs Windows 10, giving it added versatility. 

Alienware

According to Alienware, the Concept UFO uses a 10th generation Intel processor and will have access to WiFi, Bluetooth, and Thunderbolt. The device has two USB-C ports and can be controlled using a keyboard and mouse like a normal PC computer. Alienware hasn't said anything about how long the battery life lasts, though the newest version of the Switch lasts about 9.5 hours at the outside.

While the Switch has a dock that gives it the ability to output to TVs, the Concept UFO should be able to connect using Windows 10's screen sharing options or the Thunderbolt port. 

Alienware has promised to show more of the Concept UFO and its other upcoming projects during Dell's keynote address at CES 2020. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on January 7.

Original author: Kevin Webb

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Jan
07

Two couples whose Ring cameras were hacked have filed a lawsuit seeking class action status against the Amazon company (AMZN)

Two couples who allege that their Ring home security cameras were recently hacked filed a lawsuit seeking class action status against the Amazon-owned company, accusing it of negligence, breach of implied contract, and invasion of privacy, among other claims.

One couple, Ashley LeMay and Dylan Blakely, was at the center of an incident in December where hackers spied on and taunted their eight-year-old daughter after accessing an indoor camera they had installed.

The other couple named in the lawsuit, Todd Craig and Tania Amador, were allegedly harassed by hackers who accessed their doorbell camera and told them "I'm outside your front door" as well as threatened them with "termination" if they did not pay a ransom of 50 bitcoin, according to their attorneys.

The couples' attorneys said the lawsuit was filed "to hold Ring responsible for its defective devices and systems, require that Ring take all necessary measures to secure the privacy of user accounts and devices, and compensate Plaintiffs and the Class members for the damage that its acts and omissions have caused."

In recent months, Ring has faced growing criticism over its security practices after hackers repeatedly accessed Ring cameras, with multiple cases involving spying on children and one leading to a separate lawsuit against the company.

The lawsuit, which was filed in US federal court in the Central District of California on Friday, must win class action certification before it can proceed as a class action. The plaintiffs are represented by the law firms Stueve Siegel & Hanson, and Tycko & Zavareei.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

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Jan
06

Samsung created an invisible keyboard that uses AI to track your finger movements

Samsung has offered a look a few upcoming projects from its incubation program C-Lab, including an AI software that helps you create a virtual keyboard on an empty surface. The Verge shared a video of SelfieType in action.

SelfieType uses the front-facing camera on a smartphone, tablet or laptop to track the movements of your fingers and transfer them into the standard QWERTY keyboard layout. The SelfieType software won't require any additional equipment and if it's consistent enough, SelfieType could be a solid alternative to carrying around a full laptop or portable keyboard when working on the go.

Having a full keyboard feels essential for my workflow, but I've often found Bluetooth keyboards either too small to use comfortably, or too cumbersome to travel with. A software like SelfieType could help solve this problem and would acquire no advance planning from its users.

Samsung is offering live demonstrations of SelfieType and tons of other upcoming products during CES, the annual festival where tech companies show off their latest gadgets and innovations. SelfieType is one of nine C-Lab projects Samsung is showing off during CES, Samsung says that 40 C-Lab projects have gone on to become independent start-ups.

Original author: Kevin Webb

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Jan
06

Facebook's Calibra is seeking two high-level marketers to launch an advertising blitz, even as its move into financial services faces growing criticism

Facebook-backed blockchain payment initiative Calibra has posted two new marketing job openings that suggest the product may be gearing up to roll out.Calibra is hiring heads of brand and media and looking for advertising talent with at least 15 years of experience. The head of brand role requires candidates to "champion and build the company."Calibra has faced criticism and concern from major players like Visa and MasterCard as well as leaders like Swiss president and finance minister Ueli Maurer.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

While Facebook has faced a storm of criticism over its move into financial services, it's seeking an advertising vet to run the program's marketing.

The company is seeking a head of brand and a head of media for Calibra, Facebook's digital wallet that will let people send money through Messenger and WhatsApp, including Facebook's own cryptocurrency Libra. The idea is to create an open set of standards for sending money that Facebook and other financial services firms can use to build products.

Both positions require people to have at least 15 years of advertising and marketing experience and 10 years of leadership experience. Ideal candidates will also have experience in financial services and fintech, say postings on Calibra.

For the head of brand, Calibra is seeking a person to "champion and build the company and product brand to support the growing needs of the product portfolio and target audiences," reads the listing. The person will also focus on marketing Calibra through Facebook's platforms and traditional media.

"As well as having the opportunity to create a brand from inception to launch and beyond, you will define the expected outcomes for all consumer and brand programs and campaigns — making it clear what the expected impact will be on company metrics and ROI," reads the posting.

The head of media will be responsible for running all of Calibra's campaigns and work with external agencies in addition to teams within Facebook, according to the listing.

A Calibra spokesperson declined to comment further about the role other than to say that the company is growing the existing team. At least two other Calibra employees share the "head of brand" title, according to LinkedIn profiles.

Calibra is hiring for about 30 positions across all departments, according to its careers page.

Facebook more broadly has hired a handful of agencies including Wieden + Kennedy and Ogilvy to create platform-specific work that aims to restore trust in its corporate brand that has been dented by events like Cambridge Analytica. In August, Facebook rebranded Instagram and WhatsApp to include Facebook's name, and Facebook plans to run its first Super Bowl campaign during next month's game.

Libra has had a tough start. Major partners like Visa, PayPal, Mastercard and Stripe have pulled out of the program. Last month, Switzerland's president and finance minister Ueli Maurer said that "the project, in this form, has thus failed," while Facebook executives have stressed that Calibra is part of a long-term initiative that could take years to get off the ground. In November, Kevin Weil, Calibra VP of product, told attendees at the tech conference Web Summit that he had a prototype of Calibra on his phone.

"At Calibra, what drives us is to make financial services available to more people around the world and make them dramatically cheaper," Weil said at the event. "People at Facebook are inspired by the ability to help people all over the world."

Original author: Lauren Johnson

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Mar
04

Boosted lays off ‘a significant portion’ of its team as it looks for a buyer

Sam Altman is one of tech's most influential investors. The 34-year-old entrepreneur was president of the storied startup incubator Y Combinator, whose graduates include Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe.Altman, whose first startup, Loopt, was part of YC's first cohort, shared on Twitter what he's learned about having a successful career. He stepped down as YC's president last year to focus on his artificial intelligence research firm, OpenAI."If there is a single key to success, it is the trait of being able to make things happen in the world," he said.With his permission, we've shared his tweets.Altman said that success comes from working on what you think matters. It's also essential to move fast, be helpful to others before asking them for help, and ignore the haters.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The most successful people (judged by history, not money) continually look for the most important thing they are able to work on, and that's what they do. They do not get trapped in local maxima, and they do not deceive themselves if they find something more important.

Work on what you consider to be important

However, they are willing to work on something for a long time even if other people don't get it. "Important" does not mean "popular."

You don't need to be right 100% of the time

The best work you ever do is what matters, not the time you worked on alchemy. Optimize for being spectacularly right some of the time, and low-stakes wrong a lot of the time.

There's always room for growth

You can almost always scale things up more than you think, and the benefits to doing so are almost always bigger and more surprising than you think. This goes from everything from technical systems to companies.

Understand the power of the power law

Scale benefits, network effects, and the power law are so powerful that people usually delude themselves into thinking otherwise. They are often the best way to make it hard for others to compete with you.

Make things happen in the world

If there is a single key to success, it is the trait of being able to make things happen in the world — willfulness, determination, execution focus, not giving up when you hit a roadblock, the ability to solve any problem that comes your way, and self-belief.

Move fast

Almost everyone underestimates the value of fast movers, in almost every context. Work with them. Be one yourself.

Surround yourself with innovators

Spend a lot of time with the kind of people who are constantly producing new ideas.

Don't sweat the small stuff

Low-stakes things should be low-drama, and high-stakes things can be high-drama if they have to be. It's important to get both of these right. Use your stress budget to really focus on the few things that matter.

Avoid the office politics

Getting caught up in the parts of a job that don't matter is a dangerous trap and for some reason one that a lot of people fall into. Let other people play political games and avoid them as much as you can. 

Follow your vision

Authentic, high-conviction vision is rare and valuable. Double down when you find it or find people who have it.

Be helpful before asking for help

It's really helpful to get someone to take a bet on you (hire you, promote you, invest in your company, whatever) early in your career. The best way to do this is to first do whatever you can to help them.

Figure out the thing that only you can do

The most value comes from doing something no one else can do, or no one else has thought of, in a way that is hard for other people to copy. If you try to be just like everyone else, and do just what they're doing, you will maybe do ok but certainly not great.

Follow your curiosity

Follow your own curiosity, and start looking internally instead of externally for the answers. Be honest with yourself about the intersection of your skills, your passions, and what the world values. 

Ask what changes come next

The best way to have valuable ideas is to understand the entire landscape of a field and figure out what can emerge now that couldn't before. 

You have to build something to make big money

If you want to get rich, remember that the way to do it is via equity, not salary.

Be in it for the long run

Compounding, in all ways, is a very powerful force. Long-term outlooks and long-term commitments are the easiest way to outperform other people. 

Haters gonna hate

The sooner you can learn to ignore the haters, the better. Avoid the temptation to become one or surround yourself with them — it's fun in the short term, but they are almost never successful at anything other than social media.

Have faith in a positive outcome

It is very hard to do good work without being optimistic, exceptionally determined, and intellectually curious.

Try to rack up some easy wins

Ideal goals are ones that you hit, but just barely. Setting goals that are always a bit too much of a stretch is demoralizing — people want to be on the winning team, and you want to be winning at life. Write your goals down, professionally and personally.

Recognize when employees hit their goals

Set and maintain high standards. If you have to be hard on people, do it with love and a genuine wish for them to improve. Praise people when they hit the standard.

A strong team has shared values

The strongest teams have a lot of diversity of thought but do not have much diversity of values or goals.

Success takes hard work

There are exceptions, but the people at the top of almost any field worked very hard to get there. Be skeptical of people who tell you that you don't have to work hard if you want to have an exceptional career unless they have exceptional careers.

Work on something interesting

The best way to get people to help you is to first help them. The second-best way is to be working on something interesting.

Meetings should be no longer than they need to be

Have long staff meetings and short 1:1s. It's much better for information flow and alignment.

Ask if an email can replace a large meeting

Don't overschedule yourself. Don't have long meetings except for really important topics, and then have very long long ones. Try not to have large meetings, but if you have to, try having large meetings be partially in writing. 

Growth takes care of a lot of problems

Compounding success (which means "growth" in the case of an early-stage start-up) solves almost all internal problems, particularly hard ones.

Make time to be productive

Try committing to one day per week (for me it only works on a weekend, but some people do it on Fridays) where you work in a long uninterrupted block to catch up on the previous week and prepare for the next.

'Cut all the BS'

Focus on what matters. Cut all the BS.

You can also read Altman's tweets on Twitter.

Original author: Sam Altman

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Jan
06

American Airlines will share $30 million portion of Boeing settlement with employees, thanks to the drama surrounding the grounded 737 Max (AAL)

American Airlines on Monday said it's reached a deal with Boeing for compensation to make up for the grounded 737 Max plane. The airline said it would share $30 million of the payout with employees, which should be distributed in March. American was one of the airlines hardest hit by the grounding, with 24 of the jets in its fleet. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more details.

American Airlines said Monday that it's reached a compensation deal with Boeing related to the 737 Max plane that's been grounded for nearly a year.

The Dallas-based carrier will add $30 million from the confidential agreement with Boeing into its profit-sharing program for the year 2019. Those payments should be distributed to the airlines' more than 100,000 employees in March, it said.

"Despite the ongoing challenges the grounding has brought, American Airlines team members continue to do an incredible job caring for our customers," Doug Parker, American's chief executive, said in a press release.

American was one of the carriers hardest hit by the grounding of the plane worldwide following two deadly crashes involving Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines. American has 24 of the jets in its fleet. Last year, American said it expected a roughly $540 million hit from the grounding.

Only Southwest, which recently inked a similar deal with Boeing as recuperation for lost profits last month, has more in its fleet. 

Shares of American Airlines rose slightly, about 0.4% in after-hours trading Monday following the announcement.

There's still no word on when the 737 Max could return to the skies, as Boeing works with federal regulators for approval. Meanwhile, American has taken the plane out of its planned schedules until April at the earliest — a schedule that keeps moving backward. 

"Our ability as an airline to weather these unprecedented times is thanks to our phenomenal team, and it was important to us that we get a deal done before the end of the year," Parker said.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are proud to take the step of including this compensation in our 2019 profit-sharing program, even though the compensation will be received over several years."

Original author: Graham Rapier

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Jan
06

Here's what experts think is ahead for Salesforce in 2020: More acquisitions and the possibility of a massive leadership upheaval (CRM)

REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

Marc Benioff is the public face of Salesforce, the company he's led as CEO since the day he helped found it in 1999. In the last few years, however, Benioff has become an outspoken activist on social and political matters.

Now, while Benioff himself hasn't said anything, analysts say it seems like he's setting the stage to take a step back from his day-to-day duties at the company — a dramatic move that could see Keith Block, his co-CEO since mid-2018, take on more responsibilities, and shake up the company's management.

"I don't necessarily expect [Benioff] to step away entirely, but I could see him becoming a chairman, more of a hands on chairman, in the next year as he goes to pursue some of his more personal ambitions in the community," Newman said. 

Analysts say that Block is well-positioned to lead, if Benioff were to take a step back. Similarly, he may already have a top lieutenant in the making, when in December the company named Bret Taylor as chief operating officer.

Taylor came to Salesforce by way of the acquisition of his startup Quip, and was quickly named chief product officer for the overall company.

Zelnick thinks both Block and Taylor have the right expertise to lead Salesforce into the next decade. Block is one of the few enterprise software executives out there that knows how to run the business, and Taylor is a "luminary in terms of product vision and somebody that can very clearly take Salesforce into the next decade," he said.

"Marc has achieved what very, very few in our lifetime have achieved," Zelnick said. "He's got a very powerful voice, as it relates to broader social and political issues. So I wouldn't be surprised to one day see him move on to a position where he feels he can have more leverage to change the world." 

Original author: Paayal Zaveri

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Jan
06

How to remove a credit card from your Xbox One account in 2 ways

You can remove a credit card from your Xbox One account to avoid receiving charges on digital purchases. You can add or remove multiple cards associated with your Xbox One. Removing your credit or debit card from your account can be done on either your Xbox One console or your computer.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more.

In today's gaming climate, it is very common for credit cards to serve as a quick method of payment for various features and add-ons to your gaming system. From online subscription services to digital games, adding a credit or debit card to your gaming system certainly has its benefits. 

Of course, as life goes on, you might need to change your credit or debit card information for your Xbox One account. Regardless of the circumstances, here's how to remove a credit or debit card on your Xbox One in two different ways.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Xbox One X (From $499.99 at Best Buy)

How to remove a credit card from your Xbox One using your console

1. Turn on your Xbox One console, then press the Xbox button to open the guide. 

2. Scroll over to "System" then click on "Settings." 

3. In "Settings," move your cursor down to "Account," then tap on "Payment & Billing." 

4. In "Payment & Billing," several payment options will appear, including the option to update and add a new credit card. Locate the credit card that you wish to remove by hovering your cursor over the card in question and clicking "Remove." 

Move your cursor to the card you no longer want associated with your Xbox One, and click "Remove" under the card's name. Taylor Lyles/Business Insider

How to remove a credit card from your Xbox One using your computer

1. Power on your PC or Mac and open your browser. Log in to your Microsoft account. 

2. On the home page, click the "Payment & billing" tab, then below it click "Payment options." 

3. On the next page, scroll down and locate the credit card that you wish to remove by clicking "Remove." The card will no longer receive charges related to your Xbox One purchases.

Click "Remove" and the card you selected will no longer receive Xbox One related charges. Taylor Lyles/Business Insider

 

Original author: Taylor Lyles

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Jun
04

Equity listeners, do you like prizes? Take our super-fun survey!!!

Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was spotted wearing an iPod Shuffle Monday as he greeted fans before a game.Ronaldo appears to be listening to a 4th Generation iPod Shuffle, which was released by Apple in 2010 and discontinued in 2017.The internet reacted to Ronaldo's outdated device with shock and amusement Monday.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Less than a week into the new decade, Cristiano Ronaldo is already bringing back 2010s nostalgia.

The soccer superstar was spotted wearing a years-old iPod Shuffle as he greeted fans before a game in Turin, Italy on Monday, TMZ first reported.

Ronaldo's iPod appears to be a 4th Generation Shuffle, which Apple first rolled out in 2010. The device was discontinued in 2017, but Shuffles are far from rare — used iPod Shuffles typically sell for around $25 online. Ronaldo is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world with a net worth of over $450 million.

It's unclear whether Ronaldo's had the Shuffle clipped on to his tie as humorous fashion statement, or because he genuinely enjoys the random song selection of the mini music player, which does not allow users to select particular tracks and which has a max capacity of 4GB, or 1,000 songs. 

While iPods were once a cash cow for Apple, the company has moved away from the devices now that most users store music on their phones — Apple has not rolled out a new line of iPods since the iPod Touch in 2015, which has only seen minor updates since then.

The internet reacted to Ronaldo's iPod with a mixture of bewilderment and admiration Monday.

—Jack J Collins (@jackjcollins) January 6, 2020

 

—Sir Snigdha KBE (@snigskitchen) January 6, 2020
—Elliot Hackney (@ElliotHackney) January 6, 2020

 

Original author: Aaron Holmes

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Mar
05

Amazon is telling employees at its Seattle HQ not to come into the office because of the coronavirus, as Washington becomes the worst-hit state in the US

You can change the admin user on a Windows 10 PC through the Control Panel.Changing which users are admins for your Windows 10 machine gives those users control over things like account privileges and installed programs.You can only change administrator privileges from an account that's already labelled as an administrator.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When you make a new account on your Windows computer, that account will default to having "standard" permissions. It can open and edit most files, and it can use programs that are installed on the computer

If you want a user to have full permissions for Windows, then you'll need to give them administrator rights. You can also remove administrator rights to accounts you no longer want to have them. 

Here's how.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Windows 10 (From $139.99 at Best Buy)

Lenovo IdeaPad 130 (From $299.99 at Best Buy)

How to change the admin user on a Windows 10 PC

1. Click the Windows icon at the bottom-left of your screen, or press the Windows logo on your keyboard. 

2. Search for "Add, edit or remove other users" and click it when it appears in the search results.

Select "Add, edit or remove other users" from the Start menu. Ross James/Business Insider

3. In the new Control Panel menu that opens, click the user account from the list that you want to edit. Select "Change account type." If this doesn't show up, you're not currently logged into an Adminstrator account — only Administrators can edit accounts' admin rights.

4. From the drop-down window, select "Administrator" and select "OK." Or, select "Standard user" to remove administrator rights from an account that has them.

Select "Administrator" in the pop-up window you get from clicking "Change account type." Ross James/Business Insider

Once you select "OK," you may be asked to restart your computer. Do so, and the changes will be saved.

 

Original author: Ross James

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Jan
06

A YouTube video editor who works with David Dobrik's Vlog Squad told us what it's like to film top creators, from private jets to quick turnarounds

Joe Vulpis went to college for filmmaking and thought he would pursue a career in TV production — but he ended up becoming a go-to editor for some of YouTube's top stars instead.

After graduation, Vulpis, now 29, packed his bags and with friends drove from New Jersey out to California to find a job in video.

"I took a gamble on LA, and within the first month I ended up shooting video for this app release party, and I met Jason Nash," Vulpis told Business Insider, referring to the popular YouTube creator with 2.5 million subscribers. "He was kind of my 'in' to this whole social-media world. From there, I was able to bounce around to different people and film videos."

Vulpis said he became obsessed with the exciting environment that comes with working around YouTube influencers and that he quickly grew relationships with other creators, even appearing in their videos and comedy sketches. He hasn't looked back since.

Since meeting Nash — an entertainer, comedian, and member of David Dobrik's popular YouTube group, the "Vlog Squad" — Vulpis has edited and helped creators like Dobrik (15 million subscribers), Liza Koshy (17 million subscribers), and Josh Peck (an actor and YouTube creator with 3.5 million subscribers) with their YouTube videos.

He'll film and edit videos for creators on a freelance basis and is known for helping Dobrik with his videos (he recently helped with Dobrik's annual rewind video, which has 7 million views) and podcast episodes. Vulpis has edited several episodes of Dobrik and Nash's podcast, "Views," and sometimes appears on the show for his own 25-second segment, "Joe's Teeny Weeny Podcast."

Vulpis also has his own channel, "Ugh it's Joe," with 575,000 subscribers.

Vulpis is a part of a group of YouTube-specific video editors who have gained popularity online for their association to top creators — like Andrew Siwicki, a full-time video editor for Shane Dawson, the YouTube star with 23 million subscribers. 

Joe Vulpis

'It's a completely different environment than what college taught me filmmaking was like'

Unlike shooting video for a traditional film, many successful creators on YouTube with millions of views and subscribers prefer a simple camera: a smartphone.  

Vulpis said finding that out surprised him and that many of the YouTube creators he's worked with use just their smartphones to film clips, rather than an expensive camera. 

"When I first moved out to LA I would bring my $5,000 camera," he said. "But I soon found out that was overkill and unnecessary because these creators were getting millions of views shooting video on their iPhones."

Another thing that surprised Vulpis was how important a mention or shout-out from a popular creator would be for his career and business.

In the YouTube community, shout-outs — or when one creator links to another's YouTube page, or Instagram profile in the description of a video and asks their viewers to follow or subscribe to them — is one of the highest forms of currency, Vulpis said. Having his name in the description of a YouTube video acts like a work sample for securing more clients, in place of passing around a demo reel or resume.

In the description of Dobrik's recent YouTube video, "SURPRISING MY FRIENDS!! MY 2019 REWIND!!," there's a link to Vulpis' YouTube channel and a call-out to subscribe to it.

"If you get your name out there more, people see your work and want to hire you," Vulpis said. "That's what I would do in the beginning. Everything I get is from word of mouth."

Like other YouTube-focused editors, these shout-outs have also helped Vulpis gain popularity and followers online (he has 393,000 followers on Instagram), as well as his occasional appearances and mentions in videos. 

Overall, he said having this as a job is different than what he thought being a video editor would be like because of the people he's surrounded by and working for. 

"It's a completely different environment than what college taught me filmmaking was like," he said. "Right now, I'm shooting with Brandon Rogers for Comedy Central and we are doing it at his apartment. The other day I flew to Miami (with other creators) in a private jet."

Vulpis said there were "Lamborginis waiting for us when we landed."

A day in the life

From helping with one of Dobrik's wild stunts or surprises (which gain millions of views), to editing and appearing in a food mukbang video for Josh Peck's channel, Vulpis said working with YouTube creators is all about quick turnaround and getting videos up right away.

Vulpis is also more likely to be hired to help with a YouTube video if the video is sponsored by a company and is a part of a brand campaign, he said.

On an average day, Vulpis said he shoots around three videos for different YouTube creators, usually at their houses, he said. Then the second half of the day he'll edit footage or work on his own videos.

To edit videos, Vulpis said he uses a mix between programs like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and iMovie, depending on what software the creator uses.

"I don't have time outside of YouTube to do anything else," he said of his packed schedule. "But I'm so happy about it because it's what I love."

For more on how to become a successful influencer, according to YouTube and Instagram stars, check out these Business Insider Prime posts:

Original author: Amanda Perelli

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Apr
28

Prime Gaming’s May games include The Curse of Monkey Island

Monica Chin/Business Insider

Sengled announced two new smart bulbs, a smart plug, and a smart home hub on January 5 at CES 2020. The new bulbs are similar to recent offerings from competitors like Philips Hue and Lifx, but they're significantly cheaper.The 3rd-generation Sengled Smart Hub will allow Sengled's devices to be compatible with Apple HomeKit for the first time.The company hasn't yet announced when the new devices will be available, but we'll update this article once they hit shelves. If you're looking for affordable smart home devices, keep these on your radar. 

On January 5 at CES 2020, Sengled announced four new additions to its affordable smart home lineup. The company is known for selling smart home devices that are fairly basic, but affordable and easy for beginners to use. This year's offerings look to be no exception.

Later in 2020, you'll be able to purchase two new Sengled smart bulbs, the second generation of its Sengled Smart Plug, and the third generation of its Sengled Smart Hub. None of these devices are flashy or particularly advanced — but they're all cheaper than their major competitors. And for many new smart homeowners, a competent device with a low price is the best possible purchase.

Here's a list of Sengled's new products, and how much each one will cost when it launches later this year.

Original author: Monica Chin

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Mar
05

10 things in tech you need to know today

Business Insider Intelligence

The Internet of Things is connecting more devices every day, and we're headed for a world that will have 64 billion IoT devices by 2025.

This growth carries several benefits, as it will change the way people carry out everyday tasks and potentially transform the world. Having a smart home is undoubtedly cool and will draw oohs and aahs from your guests, but smart lighting can actually reduce overall energy consumption and lower your electric bill.

New developments would allow connected cars to link up with smart city infrastructure to create an entirely different ecosystem for the driver, who is simply used to the traditional way of getting from Point A to Point B.

And connected healthcare devices give people a deeper and fuller look at their own health, or lack thereof, than ever before.

But with all of these benefits comes risk, as the increase in connected devices gives hackers and cyber criminals more entry points.

Late last year, a group of hackers took down a power grid in a region of western Ukraine to cause the first blackout from a cyber attack. And this is likely just the beginning, as these hackers are looking for more ways to strike critical infrastructure, such as power grids, hydroelectric dams, chemical plants, and more.

And aside from these security issues, the average consumer is concerned about his or her privacy. After all, if so much of the consumer's life is connected, then what is off limits?

Below, we've compiled a list of some of the biggest IoT security and privacy issues as we head toward this truly connected world.

IoT Security Issues

Public Perception: If the IoT is ever going to truly take off, this needs to be the first problem that manufacturers address. The 2015 Icontrol State of the Smart Home study found that 44% of all Americans were "very concerned" about the possibility of their information getting stolen from their smart home, and 27% were "somewhat concerned." With that level of worry, consumers would hesitate to purchase connected devices.Vulnerability to Hacking: Researchers have been able to hack into real, on-the-market devices with enough time and energy, which means hackers would likely be able to replicate their efforts. For example, a team of researchers at Microsoft and the University of Michigan found a plethora of holes in the security of Samsung's SmartThings smart home platform, and the methods were far from complex.Are Companies Ready?: AT&T's Cybersecurity Insights Report surveyed more than 5,000 enterprises around the world and found that 85% of enterprises are in the process of or intend to deploy IoT devices. Yet a mere 10% of those surveyed feel confident that they could secure those devices against hackers.True Security: Jason Porter, AT&T's VP of security solutions, told Insider Intelligence that securing IoT devices means more than simply securing the actual devices themselves. Companies also need to build security into software applications and network connections that link to those devices.

IoT Privacy Issues

Too Much Data: The sheer amount of data that IoT devices can generate is staggering. A Federal Trade Commission report entitled "Internet of Things: Privacy & Security in a Connected World" found that fewer than 10,000 households can generate 150 million discrete data points every day. This creates more entry points for hackers and leaves sensitive information vulnerable.Unwanted Public Profile: You've undoubtedly agreed to terms of service at some point, but have you ever actually read through an entire document? The aforementioned FTC report found that companies could use collected data that consumers willingly offer to make employment decisions. For example, an insurance company might gather information from you about your driving habits through a connected car when calculating your insurance rate. The same could occur for health or life insurance thanks to fitness trackers.Eavesdropping: Manufacturers or hackers could actually use a connected device to virtually invade a person's home. German researchers accomplished this by intercepting unencrypted data from a smart meter device to determine what television show someone was watching at that moment.Consumer Confidence: Each of these problems could put a dent in consumers' desire to purchase connected products, which would prevent the IoT from fulfilling its true potential.

These are just a handful of the issues the IoT must solve in order to reach mass adoption. Insider Intelligence is keeping its finger on the pulse of this ongoing revolution by conducting our third annual Global IoT Executive Survey, which provides us with critical insights on the most pivotal new developments within the IoT and explains how top-level perspectives are changing year to year. Our survey includes nearly 400 responses from key executives around the world, including C-suite and director-level respondents.

Through this exclusive study and in-depth research into the field, Insider Intelligence details the components that make up the IoT ecosystem. We size the IoT market and use exclusive data to identify key trends in the connected devices sector. And we profile the enterprise, governmental, and consumer IoT segments individually, drilling down into the drivers and characteristics that are shaping each market.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

We project that there will be more than 64 billion IoT devices by 2025, up from about 10 billion in 2018.Blockchain within the IoT is still generally the provenance of startups, and they're populating the marketplace with products that take advantage of the technology's characteristics. It's not going to upend the IoT, despite the technology's much-ballyhooed potential. And respondents to our survey of IoT providers seem, for the most part, to understand this. Just a small percentage think that blockchain will become a universal standard in the IoT. The vast majority said that blockchain will either be a tool that most companies employ at times, or a niche product that only certain solutions use.Lightning-fast 5G networks will change how telecommunications shapes business and will also offer new and transformative possibilities in the IoT space. The new standard will further increase the appeal of cellular solutions in the areas where it's available. And that's why nearly half of IoT providers said they're planning to introduce support for 5G networks to their solutions within the next two years.The report highlights the opinions and experiences of IoT decision-makers on topics that include: drivers for adoption; major challenges and pain points; deployment and maturity of IoT implementations; investment in and utilization of devices; the decision-making process; and forward- looking plans.

In full, the report:

Provides a primer on the basics of the IoT ecosystem.Offers forecasts for the IoT moving forward, and highlights areas of interest in the coming years.Looks at who is and is not adopting the IoT, and why.Highlights drivers and challenges facing companies that are implementing IoT solutions.

Interested in getting the full report? Here's how to get access:

Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> Purchase & Download NowJoin thousands of top companies worldwide who trust Business Insider Intelligence for their competitive research needs. >> Inquire About Our Enterprise MembershipsCurrent subscribers can read the report here.
Original author: Insider Intelligence

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Apr
17

Reed Hastings says Netflix has 'no big appetite, no big need' for mergers (NFLX)

Zume, the startup famous for its pizza-making robots, plans to lay off about 400 employees across several offices in the US on January 13, Business Insider has learned.The lease for its Seattle office, which consists mostly of engineering employees, will not be renewed amid the cuts, one source told Business Insider. Corporate-development and operations staff will also be widely affected, sources said.The layoffs come as the Mountain View, California, startup has struggled to secure additional funding from SoftBank. Zume cofounder and CEO Alex Garden has become so cautious that he has restricted all communication from his senior staff to outside investors.Garden tightened his already vicelike grip on the startup as its troubles continued to mount in the past few months, including canceling a companywide meeting in December, overseeing departures of executive staff, and effectively shuttering Zume Pizza, the pizza-making-robot division on which the startup was initially founded.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Zume, the startup famous for its pizza-making robot, plans to lay off about 400 employees on January 13, Business Insider has learned.

Several divisions will be affected, according to sources close to the company, but the highest concentration of layoffs will be in the engineering, operations, and corporate-development parts of the business. According to current and former Zume employees, those were the divisions that were rapidly scaled, somewhat haphazardly, as the company pitched growth goals and business objectives that were unrealistic. One source said the startup's Seattle office, which consists mainly of engineering teams, has chosen to not renew its lease amid the cuts.

"They hired so many people," one former Zume employee told Business Insider. 

Based in Mountain View, California, Zume was founded in 2015 and, as of Monday, had 496 employees listed on its  LinkedIn corporate profile. If 400 people were cut from the payroll, that would leave the heavily funded but unprofitable startup with a skeleton team of fewer than 100 employees to completely overhaul the business, which was most recently valued at $1 billion after a $375 million venture-capital investment from SoftBank's Vision Fund. 

It is not clear what the terminated employees will be offered as severance, but one source close to the company said that all affected employees would receive the same "generous" severance package. 

The layoffs are effectively a cost-cutting measure as Zume pursues additional funding, one source said.

In November, Recode's Teddy Schleifer reported that Zume was in talks with SoftBank for additional funding that could value the company as high as $4 billion. The report said SoftBank, which has suffered huge write-downs on investments in Uber and WeWork, may not lead the next round for Zume and that the funding may involve taking some debt.

The status of the new funding round is still very uncertain, and according to several sources, CEO Alex Garden has restricted communication between his leadership team and SoftBank's investment team and other outside investors. Some sources speculated that Garden was trying to retain control of the negotiations because of concerns that SoftBank might try to make him step aside as part of additional funding.

SoftBank did not return Business Insider's request for comment.

In an email reviewed by Business Insider, Garden called off a companywide meeting in December amid reports of turmoil at the startup and a rash of executive departures. In the email, Garden told employees that the meeting was intended to cover 2020 strategy but had to be adjusted because the plan had not yet been finalized. 

Zume's original mission was to create a robotic arm that could make and serve pizzas. But Business Insider previously reported that the robotic efforts have effectively stalled as the company's focus has shifted between efforts such as compostable packaging and food-truck services. In November, Business Insider reported that Zume was shuttering its standalone pizza business and folding it into Zume Forward, a division that will oversee technology and services for the food-truck industry.

The changes have come amid an exodus within Zume's senior leadership team, leaving the startup with little direction since June. 

Kartik Ramachandran, a Zume executive who served as interim chief financial officer and in other high-level roles, was terminated in June. Kira Druyan, the general counsel, departed in October, as did Susan Alban, the vice president of talent. Druyan's replacement, Reggie Davis, also left Zume in December after only weeks in the role.

Rhonda Lesinski, the president of Zume's original pizza business, is leaving the startup this month. 

Ron Storn, the head of human resources and recruiting as the chief people officer at Zume, left the company in December. Storn was one of Zume's earliest executive hires, joining in January 2018 after building the recruiting and benefits programs at Lyft as its vice president of people.

Mark Crumpacker, the chief marketing officer of Zume and president of its Zume Culinary food-truck-technology business, left the startup on December 2.

Do you work at Zume or another SoftBank-backed startup and want to share your story? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (331) 625-2555 using a nonwork phone, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or Twitter DM at @megan_hernbroth.

Original author: Megan Hernbroth

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Jan
04

Forget 2019 — here are the 9 biggest games coming in 2020

Sony/Sucker Punch

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.

Platform(s): PlayStation 4

Release date: Summer 2020

Original author: Ben Gilbert

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