The rise of the Kamani family is frequently described by the British tabloids as one of the UK's great "rags to riches" tales. 

Mahmud Kamani, the patriarch of the family, is the 55-year-old billionaire behind Boohoo, which for the uninitiated, is the UK's buzzy fast fashion clothing company that has achieved explosive growth in the past few years and is considered to be one of the few retailers to have dodged the retail doom and gloom. 

Kamani, who is now one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country and has worked his way up the UK's rich list to be worth nearly $1.5 billion, started his career by selling cheap clothes to market stallholders and high-street brands in the UK (including H&M and Primark).

He went on to set up Boohoo with cofounder and designer Carol Kane in 2006, with the idea of cutting out the middle man and selling directly to customers online.

From the start, Boohoo's business model was based around being ultra-fast and ultra-cheap; around 3,000 new styles are added each week across its core brands with an average price point that sits between $17 and $20. 

Since going public in 2014, the company has grown to include a host of other brands including PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, and most recently, Coast and Karen Millen, and under the umbrella of Boohoo Group Plc is valued at more than $3.8 billion.

Group sales have nearly tripled in the past two years, hitting £856.9 million ($1 billion) for the fiscal year ending in February, and the company now has its sights firmly set on becoming a global brand with equivalent status to Zara or H&M.

Here's everything we know about the family behind this growing empire:

Original author: Mary Hanbury

Space tourism is rapidly moving from the realm of science-fiction to reality — some developers have promised to launch hotels into Earth's orbit as early as 2021.  

In September, NASA astronauts toured a life-sized prototype of an inflatable habitat that could one day house astronauts on a journey to Mars. Bigelow Aerospace, the company behind that prototype, hopes to bring tourists into space as well, and it's not alone. Some developers are already selling reservations at future space hotels.

Designs for such in-orbit lodging vary: Some involve spacious inflatable habitats, others include condominiums, and one concept even promises villas in a rotating, wheel-shaped space station equipped with artificial gravity. Space tourists could one day get an immersive astronaut experience, be wined and dined with incredible views of the Earth, or even play zero-gravity games like Quidditch.

"Eventually, going to space will just be another option people will pick for their vacation, just like going on a cruise, or going to Disney World," Tim Alatorre, an architect working on a space-hotel project called the Von Braun Space Station, told Dezeen.

Here's what future space lodging might look like.

Original author: Morgan McFall-Johnsen

GitHub has released its annual State of the Octoverse — its regular report on the most popular programming languages and open source projects on its ubiquitous code-sharing service for programmers.Just last year, Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion as a key part of its plan to attract more developers to its cloud.Here are the 10 most popular programming languages, according to GitHub.Read more on the Business Insider homepage.

GitHub has become a hub that 40 million developers use to collaborate and share code for their projects — personal, professional, and otherwise.

Just last year, Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion, making it one of the key ingredients in its strategy for attracting more developers onto its cloud as it competes against Amazon and Microsoft.

As one of the largest online gathering spots for developers, GitHub tracks what programming languages are most popular among developers by releasing an annual report called The State of the Octoverse. The new report just came out this week, giving us new insight into which technologies developers are flocking to around the world. 

Here are the top languages programmers are using, according to GitHub:

Original author: Rosalie Chan

Kim Kardashian no longer posts on social media in real time for safety reasons. Invision/Charles Sykes via Associated Press

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

A bunch of people mysteriously received text messages in the middle of the night that were originally sent on Valentine's Day. Sprint said the issue was the result of a maintenance update that occurred overnight and caused old messages to be resent for some customers.WeWork's coding boot camp Flatiron School has laid off dozens of employees. About 9% of the company's employees were given notice on Thursday, according to one source familiar with the cuts.SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son gave a wildly optimistic financial presentation about how the Japanese firm will turn WeWork profitable. He forecast hockey stick growth for the office-sharing company — once its slashes its massive operating expenditure.One of Trump's top tech advisors hit out at China and Huawei during a speech at Europe's biggest tech conference. Michael Kratsios, chief technology officer of the United States and one of President Donald Trump's top tech advisers, gave a speech at Web Summit — at which Huawei was also present.EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she doesn't want to break up big tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. She said by breaking them up, "you just have many more problems."Vestager also said there was no limit to how artificial intelligence could help humanity. She said the technology could be used to tackle major issues such as climate change.Huawei's billionaire CEO said Trump should meet him in China because he can only afford a paper airplane. "He has private jets and he can come to China anytime, and I do not have private jet," said Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei.Kim Kardashian says she no longer posts to Instagram and social media in real-time after being robbed at gunpoint in Paris. These comments were made on stage at The New York Times' DealBook conference, where Kardashian also said that eliminating likes on Instagram would be "really beneficial," and that "really high up people" at Facebook ask for her opinions on addressing mental health.Facebook's ex-security chief Alex Stamos says tech companies need to get better at hunting and detecting employees being recruited as spies. Stamos' comments came after two former Twitter employees were accused of spying for Saudi Arabia.Uber founder Travis Kalanick reportedly raised $400 million for new company from Saudi Arabia. It's the first known investment by the kingdom since the murder of the American journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

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Original author: Isobel Asher Hamilton

Emergence Capital is narrowly focused on investing in early-stage enterprise software companies.That specialization helps give it an edge over rivals when it comes to getting in on deals in the sector, Santi Subotovsky, a general partner at the firm, told Business Insider.Emergence can offer startups access to all its partners and a community of founders at similar companies experiencing like challenges, he said.Subotovsky remains bullish on the enterprise software sector, saying such as the need for mobile enterprise applications, the productivity promise of artificial intelligence, and the desire to replace aging software will boost demand for new services.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Enterprise software is one of the hottest areas in tech, and lots of venture-capital firms have tried to get in on the action.

But Santi Subotovsky thinks Emergence Capital has an edge over its rivals when it comes to investing in such companies — its very narrow focus. Emergence only invests in early-stage enterprise software companies, said Subotovsky, a general partner with the firm. That allows its portfolio companies to tap into the knowledge of any and all of Emergence's partners. And the firm can connect founders to peers who are running similar firms and facing like challenges.

"That creates an incredibly powerful community," Subotovsky told Business Insider in a recent interview. "You're building a relationship with the entire team, and that makes a huge difference."

Emergence has been around for 15 years and has backed some of the more successful enterprise startups over that time, including Salesforce, Veeva, and Box. But it had one of its biggest successes earlier this year when another one of its portfolio companies, Zoom, went public and more than doubled its IPO price within a few weeks.

The firm only makes about five to seven investments each year — all in A rounds. But because of its specific focus, it gets to look at pretty much all the companies in the enterprise space, Subotovsky said. Seeing that many companies allows it to survey the landscape and pick the ones it thinks have the best chance of succeeding, he said. It can also tap into its own knowledge of how such companies have developed in the past, he said.

"We've seen this movie play out many times in enterprise," Subotovsky said.

Emergence's partners all focus on the enterprise sector

Emergence's narrow focus is also a benefit to its portfolio companies, he said. Subotovsky and his partners know what it takes for nascent enterprise startups to reach their potential, he said. 

Zoom IPO Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

Many venture firms only have one or two partners focusing on such companies, and they often spend their time with their portfolio companies just meeting with the CEO. Emergence's partners all work with its portfolio companies and they end up meeting with many of the companies' top leaders — not just their CEOs. Subotovsky said it's not unusual for him to meet with a portfolio company's heads of marketing, sales, or product.

"I spend time with the CEO, because I want to help them out," he said. "But if I can help out the rest of executive team, then that has a huge impact on the organization."

At other firms, where only one or two partners focus on enterprise startups, the firm's relationship with the startup can be disrupted if one of those partners leaves, Subotovsky said. But that's not a danger with Emergence, since the entire firm develops a relationship with the startup and the partners only focus on enterprise companies, he said.

Zoom aside, the stock market has been rough for many of this year's high-profile IPOs. Uber, Lyft, and Slack are all well off their initial prices and WeWork had to pull its offering after facing stiff resistance from potential investors.

Even so, Subotovsky remains bullish on the enterprise software sector. Some big trends in the market will continue to drive demand for new products and create opportunities for startups, he said.

Mobile phones and AI will boost demand

For one thing, the near ubiquity of smartphones has created a need and an opportunity for workplace applications that are designed with those devices in mind, he said. Much of the enterprise applications that have been built in the past have been designed to be used by office workers sitting at desktop computers. But there's a whole "desk-less workforce," Subotovsky refers to it, of people who can now access enterprise applications through their mobile phones.

ServiceMax, an Emergence-backed company that GE acquired three years ago, offers a service that helps companies direct their field service technicians to particular customers and helps them place orders for new parts all through a mobile app. Similarly, UpKeep, another of the firm's portfolio companies, offers a mobile application that helps restaurants, manufacturers, and property management companies direct maintenance workers to repair jobs.

Such apps are replacing antiquated solutions and technologies, such as pen and paper and simple spreadsheets, Subotovsky said.

Catering to such workers "expands the market a lot," he said. "The desk-less workforce," he continued, "needs productivity apps."

Another factor that's going to continue to boost the enterprise software sector is the continued development of artificial intelligence, including in machine learning and natural language processing, Subotovsky said. Such technologies have plenty of applications, he said. And while some fear they will be used to replace workers, he thinks they will actually be used to help workers and make them more productive. 

Companies are looking to replace older apps

Take Chorus.ai, yet another Emergence-backed company. It has developed a service that listens in on sales calls and uses artificial intelligence to analyze the conversations to determine what sales people are doing right and what they can improve on. Similarly Textio has developed a service that enhances job-wanted postings, taking simple ideas and requirements and turning them into polished sentences that are designed to attract desired candidates.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Melia Robinson/Business Insider

"From what you do, the technology should be able to learn and adapt to help other people do their job better," Subotovsky said. "So we're super-excited about that."

The enterprise market is also likely to be driven by a demand to replace and upgrade older business-oriented applications, he said. Zoom's video conferencing application was by no means the first of its kind. But older video-conferencing services had failed to keep up with innovation, Subotovsky said. Business customers were asking for a better, more up-to-date tool, he said.

Similarly, he thinks there might be an opportunity for an upstart to take on Salesforce. Salesforce has a negative net promoter score — a measurement that indicates customer satisfaction and loyalty — he said.

"People don't love it," he said. "That's a great sign," he continued, "that there's an opportunity for someone to come up with a solution people love."

Got a tip about venture capital or startups? Contact this reporter via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Troy Wolverton

WeWork chairman Marcelo Claure said in a Thursday night memo to staff obtained by Business Insider that 13 employees were fired for abusing its vendor selection and management processes.Claure is drawing a clear line between how WeWork operated in the past and its future under SoftBank, emphasizing that he's building "a strong culture of compliance." He also said layoffs will be finished in the next several weeks. For more stories about WeWork, click here. 

WeWork chairman Marcelo Claure told staff in a memo sent Thursday evening that the company had fired 13 employees after investigating policy abuse.

In the memo, Claure said employees from two regions – Latin America as well as US, Canada, and Israel, which the company groups together – were terminated for abusing "vendor selection and management processes." 

Read the full memo, obtained by Business Insider, here.

"When we hear about an issue, you have my commitment that we will investigate it and act on our findings," he wrote. "We corrected these wrongs immediately after we heard the complaint and investigated the incidents ... We know we can build a strong culture of compliance only if you can come forward with concerns, as our colleagues recently did." 

Claure also said layoffs would be finished in several weeks. The office company expects to cut up to 25% of its workforce as it focuses on a path to profitability. On Thursday, WeWork's coding bootcamp Flatiron School laid off dozens of employees, Business Insider reported. 

A WeWork representative declined further comment. 

"Respect at its core"

WeWork has had past issues with employees and vendors, at least one of which led to a lawsuit.

On Thursday, Business Insider reported that the company's IT is due for a big overhaul. At WeWork's start, IT was led by a 16-year-old who dropped out of high school to join the company. WeWork later sued him, alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and other claims in a case the parties ultimately agreed to dismiss.

In Thursday's memo, Claure seemed to be distancing the company from its culture under cofounder Adam Neumann, who was ousted in late September. 

"We are a culture that believes in making the impossible possible" he wrote. "I want that culture to continue, but always with integrity and respect — respect for the law, our policies and, most importantly, each other."

Under Neumann, WeWork grew from an idea to 528 locations and 12,000 employees in nine years. The company also struggled with governance issues and a web of conflicts of interest laid out in a mid-August filing to go public. Investor and media scrutiny of those problems and Neumann's responsibility ultimately led WeWork's board to oust Neumann, name two co-CEOs, and bring in Claure.

Now, the new leadership is looking to streamline its business and cut non-core businesses.

The company said last month that its private elementary school, WeGrow, would close its doors at the end of the school year. Other companies under The We Company banner, such as its living space WeLive, have canceled planned projects in response to the turmoil.

Get in touch! Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (646) 768-1627 using a non-work phone, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or Twitter DM at @MeghanEMorris. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Meghan Morris

Michael Kratsios, chief technology officer of the United States and one of President Donald Trump's top tech advisers, gave a speech at Web Summit, one of Europe's largest tech conferences.His talk was full of praise for America, as well as for European values. He called for cooperation between the US and Europe on developing new tech like AI.His speech then turned to China, which he called a repressive regime that spies on its citizens.And he railed against Chinese telecom giant Huawei, too — which, incidentally, had a sizable presence at the event.Some in the crowd did not seem pleased, with someone in the back of the room yelling out Edward Snowden's name and receiving a burst of applause.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

LISBON, Portugal — Michael Kratsios, the chief technology officer of the United States and one of President Donald Trump's top tech advisors, spoke at one of Europe's largest tech conferences to a crowd that was baffled, and at times annoyed, at the content of the talk.

Kratsios, who is not a technologist but did work as a venture capitalist under Trump supporter Peter Thiel, gave a politically-charged talk at the Web Summit in Lisbon on Thursday.

He began by talking about shared cultural values between the US and Europe, making several references to the notion of American exceptionalism to a crowd of Europeans.

"America succeeds because people have an unparalleled freedom to chase their dreams and pursue excellence," he said at one point. At another, he said that America had "an unrivaled economic system." He even gave America kudos for "quantum supremacy," an apparent reference to a technological achievement made by Google.

He also expressed his disdain for the notion of increased regulations on the tech industry, calling them "innovation killing."

A common theme of Kratsios' remarks: The US and Europe have similar values, he said, which is all the more reason for them to cooperate on on cutting-edge new technologies like artificial intelligence.

But then, the talk took a dark turn, when Kratsios began to warn about "repressive regimes that don't share our same values." He called out one, and only one, such regime by name: China. "The Chinese government has built an advanced authoritarian state by twisting technology to put censorship over free expression and citizen control over empowerment," he said.

To that point, Kratsios named one and one company: Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant that has clashed with the Trump administration since it was banned from doing business with American companies in May.

"And in no case is this more clear than with Huawei. Chinese law compels all Chinese companies, including Huawei, to cooperate with its intelligence and its security services no matter where the company operates," he said. Huawei has denied such allegations. 

The awkward thing about delivering such a speech to this crowd was that Huawei was also an invited guest at Web Summit. Guo Peng, rotating chairman of Huawei, was a featured guest who gave a keynote speech on the power of 5G wireless internet. Other Huawei employees gave half a dozen talks of their own, and the company had a booth at Web Summit and did product demos during the event. 

The reception to Kratsios' remarks was decidedly chilly. At one point, someone in the back of the event room shouted out the name of Edward Snowden, the famous leaker — prompting the one and only burst of applause during his time on stage.

Snowden has accused the US of spying on its citizens, too. And, ironically enough, he was also a star speaker at Web Summit. He live-streamed his appearance from his home in Russia right before the Huawei's president gave his talk.

Kratsios full talk can be seen via Web Summit Day 3 YouTube video at 2:35:08.

Original author: Julie Bort

WeWork Chairman Marcelo Claure is presenting a five-year strategic plan to the office company's board on November 19. It will include a new governance model focused on "accountability and fairness"; a new organizational and compensation plan; and financial restructuring that eliminates the need to raise more capital.Business Insider obtained a full copy of the memo. Read all of Business Insider's WeWork coverage here.

WeWork chairman Marcelo Claure is presenting a five-year strategic plan to the office company's board of directors on November 19, he told employees in a memo on Thursday. 

Claure said the plan will include new compensation plan, and a financial restructuring that eliminates the need to raise more capital. A WeWork representative declined to comment.

Here's the full memo:

WeWork Team, 

I hope you all had a good week. Before I dig into this week's update, I want to share a personal story with you. 

I ran the New York City Marathon last Sunday. I'm a big guy, and it may not have been the prettiest sight, but I finished — and while challenging, it was extremely rewarding. I got to see all five boroughs of New York from the ground up, running alongside people from all around the world. And as I ran, I realized that we serve a group of companies and individuals as diverse as New York itself — from startups in Brooklyn, to enterprises in Manhattan, to day-one entrepreneurs in Queens. Over 26 miles, I got an incredibly humbling sense of the sheer scale of humanity we serve every single day. 

In moments of rapid change, it's not always easy to pause and give each other credit, but these are actually the times when it's most important to do just that. Our members, in locations from New York to Madrid and beyond, are changing the world with their products and services — and they've put their trust in this team to help them do it. We make their work possible. This month we already opened more than 30 new locations in cities around the world — Austin, Bengaluru, Berlin, Birmingham, Bogotá, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Kobe, Kuala Lumpur, Lima, Los Angeles, Manila, Moscow, New York, Noida, Osaka, Paris, Philadelphia, Perth, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Francisco, São Paulo, Seattle, St. Louis, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Washington DC. They, too, will soon fill up with companies — start-ups working alongside established organizations that are relying on us to be part of their future. You make their innovations possible every day, and you should be proud of that.

I also want to take this moment to emphasize an important aspect of our culture that we should all focus on as we move forward — which is how we will accomplish all we set out to do. We are a culture that believes in making the impossible possible. I want that culture to continue, but always with integrity and respect — respect for the law, our policies and, most importantly, each other.

This conversation is hard: I have heard complaints about people acting in a manner that does not meet our behavioral expectations. When we hear about an issue, you have my commitment that we will investigate it and act on our findings. By way of example, we recently investigated complaints of abuse of our vendor selection and management processes. Upon completion of these investigations, we terminated the employment of 13 employees across Latin America (Latam) and U.S., Canada and Israel (USCI). We corrected these wrongs immediately after we heard the complaint and investigated the incidents. 

I want to be clear — WeWork will not tolerate behavior that disrespects our people, members, or business. We encourage you to share any concerns through our Helpline. No one will be retaliated against for coming forward in good faith. We know we can build a strong culture of compliance only if you can come forward with concerns, as our colleagues recently did in Latam and USCI.  

We want you to be a part of shaping the future culture — a culture that we are proud to be part of and values integrity and respect at its core. 

I know that this has been a very difficult time. Layoffs and restructuring are on everyone's minds — and how could they not be? These are the toughest decisions we have to make, but the unfortunate reality is that we will have to complete layoffs in the next several weeks. Our top priority is treating those who will ultimately leave us with dignity and respect including fair severance packages and continuation of benefits that allow them to transition to the next phase of their journey. 

However, I do want to emphasize that the business is secure. This week, I sent letters to our top enterprise customers, landlords, brokers and Community teams, letting them know that WeWork's business plan for the next few years is fully funded. Softbank's $6.5B in debt and equity brings our total committed capital to $18.5B, making this one of the largest investments ever made into a private company in history. We can now turn our full attention to what matters most: Serving our members and getting this organization back on a path to sustainable growth.

This is a lot of information, and we're moving fast. Looking forward, we're also in the process of finalizing an updated WeWork five-year strategic plan. It will include:

A new operating and governance model that emphasizes accountability and fairness to every employee

A new organizational and compensation structure

Financial restructuring that will ensure WeWork has the right cost structure it needs to grow sustainably, without needing to raise more capital

I'll be presenting this plan to the WeWork Board of Directors on Tuesday, November 19. After that, we'll be scheduling an All Company Meeting where I'll share the same document with you. This plan will be our North Star for the next five years, and it's vital that we feel it represents who we are as a company and the path we all want to be on together.

In the meantime, please continue to share your thoughts with me. I've received hundreds of emails, and I read every one of them.

Get in touch! Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (646) 768-1627 using a non-work phone, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or Twitter DM at @MeghanEMorris. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Meghan Morris

WeWork's technology infrastructure is due for an expensive overhaul, current and former IT employees told Business Insider. At WeWork's start, IT was led by a 16-year-old who dropped out of high school to join the company. WeWork later sued him, alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and other claims in a case the parties ultimately agreed to dismiss.Redoing what some current and former WeWork IT staff said was outdated and substandard infrastructure could cost tens of millions of dollars — just as the company is looking to drastically cut costs. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Before its initial public offering collapsed, the office-leasing firm WeWork tried to position itself as a tech company.

But its buildings are loaded with technology that needs to be ripped out and replaced, three current and former WeWork IT employees told Business Insider.

If the company doesn't upgrade, it's possible that tenants — or "members" in WeWork parlance — could be unwittingly sharing their data with hackers who gain access to the network through outdated or substandard tech, the sources said.

Two sources broadly estimated this was a project that could cost the company tens of millions of dollars.

"This isn't a million, $2-3 million project. This is tens of millions," one of the employees told Business Insider.

A WeWork spokesperson, who declined to comment on specifics, told us: "At WeWork, we continue to make significant investments in IT and technology to improve our systems and the experience for members. This includes investing in new services and dedicated high-speed internet connections for our growing set of large enterprise customers."

Some of the upgrades are simply a product of WeWork's success. Older buildings need to be rewired to support faster, more secure networks for a full load of tenants, all of whom are pounding on the network.

In other cases, the work is a result of shortcuts and fiefdoms, and an inability for the IT folks to get the funding they needed, these employees said. 

Early distrust of IT

Adam Neumann, who was recently ousted as CEO, was thought to distrust the IT department, two sources said, after Joe Fasone, an early IT employee, left the company in 2014. 

Fasone, who laid the foundations for WeWork tech, couldn't have brought much experience to the company. He skipped his senior year of high school to join WeWork as its IT director in 2010 at age 16, Forbes said in a profile last year.

He stayed until February 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile. Later that year, WeWork sued Fasone, business partner Matthew Macnish, and three companies, seeking $3.3 million over allegations that included fraudulent misrepresentation and civil conspiracy. The parties agreed to dismiss the lawsuit in 2015.

A representative for Fasone and his businesses declined to comment. Macnish did not respond to a request for comment.

Though Fasone left the company in 2014, a bad taste may have formed. The IT employees we spoke with each believed that one reason they struggled to get budgets for their projects stemmed from this incident. 

That WeWork lawsuit wasn't the end of Fasone's legal troubles, including with the office company.

Fasone's company Stage Networks was sued in 2015 by companies for which Stage worked in three separate lawsuits. Together, the companies alleged Stage failed to pay a total of $525,000. In each suit, the parties agreed to dismiss the case, and in two of three, the parties indicated they had reached a settlement. 

Fasone, Macnish, Stage Networks, and Fasone's current company, Pilot Fiber, were also sued in April 2015 by a fiber-optics vendor called Optical Communications Group, which alleged Stage failed to pay nearly $200,000, according to the complaint. It alleged that Stage started working with Optical in January 2013 — while Fasone was still at WeWork, according to Fasone's LinkedIn profile timeline — and that Stage stopped paying Optical in February 2014. 

Stage was leasing equipment from Optical to provide internet to WeWork's New York locations, according to Optical's complaint.

"Because providing fast and reliable internet service is a key to their business, WeWork was concerned that Stage's failure to pay [Optical] for the circuits would result in a disconnection of internet services at WeWork's workspaces," Optical's lawyers said in the suit. 

Optical alleged that because Stage wasn't paying its Optical bill, WeWork agreed to pay Optical for internet. 

Optical founder Brad Ickes told Business Insider that the company settled the suit with Fasone. Records for the case are sealed. 

Fasone and WeWork declined to comment on the legal issues, and Macnish and the men's lawyer at the time did not respond to requests for comment. 

Now WeWork's tech leadership couldn't be more different from a 16-year-old IT director. In 2017, the company made a splashy tech hire, tapping Shiva Rajaraman as chief technology officer. He came from a short stint at Apple and previously was at Spotify, Google, and Twitter.

In June, Rajaraman talked to Business Insider about how tech fit into WeWork's positioning.

"One big part of technology is simply making sure we understand operations from soup to nuts, instrumentalize that, and make it better over time," he said. 

'Routers that are sketchy at best'

Even with the high-profile hire two years ago, WeWork still has major infrastructure gaps, IT employees said.

Under Neumann, each regional director, known as CweOs, handled the networking and technology each building required. The company opened up new locations as fast as possible, and these regional managers were concerned with the costs involved in opening each building. Sometimes, deals would be done with deadlines that failed to consider the lack of a building's basic infrastructure, like fiber optics. 

Some CweOs looked to cut costs in the tech budgets, two sources said.

"You don't put in the good routers. You put in the second-class routers that are sketchy at best," one person said, adding that was because Chinese clones "cost pennies on the dollar" compared with the market leader Cisco. 

An ex-employee also thought there was a focus on cost at the expense of performance.

"The majority of installations were with equipment that's end of life. That's how they cheap out," the source said. He said that when he was there, WeWork often bought equipment indirectly, rather than from manufacturers, so they couldn't get tech support if needed. 

Sometimes managers saved money by hiring less experienced people to install the network, these people said.

And the situation grew complicated even when WeWork expanded, adding more space in buildings it had previously occupied. One floor might use one contractor and one set of gear, while another floor was a budget job.

"One IT closet looked like a 10-year-old built it — a rat's nest — and literally side by side, one was professional," one of the IT employees said. 

Some of WeWork's clients have complained about the company's weak network security, CNet's Alfred Ng reported in August. CNet reported that one tenant said that he had been complaining about the insecure WiFi since 2015 and that simple scans of the network allowed him to see sensitive files on 658 devices owned by other WeWork tenants in his building, including financial records.

Other WeWork tenants are taking matters into their own hands and implementing their own network security, one former employee told us.

But if each tenant did that with the most popular method for securing data on an insecure network, known as a virtual private network, they could overload the building's network and slow everyone down, two sources said.

Big changes are afoot at WeWork, including in IT. After Neumann was ousted in September, co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham have been taking a hard look at all parts of the business. As part of the changes, WeWork is working on centralizing its IT operations, a current employee said.

But centralizing may not be enough. As companies tighten cybersecurity practices, a full, costly overhaul may be in order — just as the company's looking to cut costs. 

Got a tip? Contact Meghan Morris on Signal at (646) 768-1627 or Julie Bort on Signal at (970) 430-6112 using a nonwork phone, or email Bort at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Morris at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Open DMs on Twitter at @MeghanEMorris or @Julie188. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Julie Bort and Meghan Morris

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, offered a highly optimistic assessment of AI's potential impact on society, saying she sees "no limit to how AI can support what we do as humans." Vestager was speaking at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday, where she tackled a range of topics relating to emerging technologies, personal data, and the conduct of tech giants such as Facebook.The Danish politician has recently taken up a role titled "Executive Vice President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age." Though the role is effectively a continuation of her competition commission job, it includes increased powers and oversight, and will see her set the agenda for EU regulation of AI.Vestager has become notorious for meting out heavy punishments to the Silicon Valley tech giants in recent years as European Commissioner for Competition. It's arguably the most senior regulatory job in European politics.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a frequent opponent to Silicon Valley tech firms, says she sees "no limit to how AI can support what we do as humans." 

Given the Dane's status as arguably the most aggressive regulator of big tech on the planet — she hit Google with a €4.3 billion ($4.75 billion) fine in July 2018 and ordered Apple to pay Ireland back €13 billion ($14.3 billion) in "illegal" tax benefits in 2016 — Vestager's optimism about AI could be viewed as surprising.

On the flipside, her positivity about AI's potential could be viewed as highly consistent with strinent approach to regulating big tech: given how integral big tech is to AI research and development, Vestager's approach more likely reflects her keenness that big tech doesn't jeopardize AI's potential.

In September, the EU appointed Vestager to a role titled "Executive Vice President for A Europe fit for the Digital Age," effectively a continuation of her competition commission job, but with increased powers and oversight. It will see her set the agenda for the EU's regulation of artificial intelligence, among other regulatory duties.

Discussing the role at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday, Vestager said: "The first thing we will do is, of course, to listen very, very carefully, and we'll try to listen fast, because as we're speaking, AI is developing."

"That is wonderful, because I see no limits to how artificial intelligence can support what we want to do as humans," she continued. "Take climate change. I think we can be much more effective in fighting climate change if we use artificial intelligence.

"I think we can save people awful, stressful waiting time between having been examined by a doctor and having the result of that examination, and maybe also more precise results in doing that. So I think the benefits of using artificial intelligence [have] no limits," she said. 

"But we need to get in control of certain cornerstones so that we can trust it, and it has human oversight, and — very importantly — that it doesn't have bias."

Original author: Charlie Wood

Indonesian airline Lion Air reported finding cracks on the "pickle fork" of two Boeing 737 jets with less time in service than meets the threshold for mandatory inspections, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Boeing first discovered in September that a component on certain planes was showing signs of stress damage sooner than expected, leading the FAA to order airlines to inspect 737 Next Generation, or "NG" jets, that had operated a certain number of flights. The order called for 737 NGs that had operated more than 30,000 flights to be inspected within a week, and jets that had flown more than 22,600 cycles to be inspected within the next 1,000 flights.

Both Lion Air planes had fewer than 22,000 flights, the Morning Herald reported.

The hairline cracks were found on a component of the plane called the' "pickle fork," a section that reinforces where the planes' wings join with its body.

The cracking issue has led the Australian airline Qantas to ground three of its jets for repairs after finding the cracks. South Korean airlines have grounded nine of their jets after discovering the cracks, Reuters reported. As many as 50 of the popular jets are estimated to have been grounded worldwide.

Boeing, regulators, and airlines maintain that there is no safety risk involved. The planes are designed to fly even with damage to the pickle fork thanks to redundant safety features, according to Stephen Fankhauser, a Swinburne University of Technology aviation expert in Australia who was cited by AFP.

The pickle fork issue on the 737 NGs is unrelated to the ongoing crisis surrounding the 737 Max, the newer generation of the workhorse jet.

The 737 Max has been grounded worldwide since March, when the second of two fatal crashes involving the type occurred. The first crash, in October 2018, involved a 737 Max flown by Lion Air. A combined 346 people were killed in the two crashes.

The Boeing 737 NG — which includes the 737-600, -700, -800, and -900 variants — is a backbone of commercial fleets around the world, with more than 7,000 sold.

In a statement, Boeing said it "regrets the impact this issue is having on our 737 NG customers worldwide," and affirmed that it is working to support affected customers.

Neither Lion Air nor the FAA immediately returned a request for comment.

Original author: David Slotnick

The Trade Desk is one of the biggest public ad-tech companies and an increasing threat to Google, which is facing antitrust concerns about running an advertising business for both publishers and advertisers.CEO Jeff Green talked to Business Insider about how he grew The Trade Desk into a company with 2019 expected revenue of $653 million and why he thought his firm had the best chance of chipping into Google's programmatic business. He's also trying to set the ad-industry standard for ad targeting with a new product.But he faces competition from companies like LiveRamp, Digitrust, and the Advertising ID Consortium that are racing to develop similar products.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Few people have watched the digital advertising industry change more than Jeff Green.

While doom and gloom loom over ad-tech with talk of consolidation and venture-capital funding drying up, The Trade Desk is using its size and independence from walled gardens like Google to thrive and set the agenda for the digital ad industry.

After starting then selling the online ad exchange AdECN to Microsoft in 2007, Green in 2009 cofounded The Trade Desk with Dave Pickles (now the chief technology officer), which sells agencies software that automates digital ad buying. Under Green, its CEO and chairman, The Trade Desk has become one of the biggest players in ad-tech, with 1,200 employees in 23 offices in cities from its headquarters in Ventura, California, to Shanghai.

It's a rare successful public company in a category that Green acknowledges is typically investors' "most hated" group.

Public ad-tech companies have a well-documented rocky history that has seen Rocket Fuel spiral from a $2 billion valuation to a $125.5 million sale to Sizmek, and Millennial Media's splashy initial public offering that ended with AOL acquiring the company after its stock price shrank significantly.

"I knew that I had to change the perception that all of those companies created," Green told Business Insider. "The company was growing fast, was profitable and had high-client retention. I had to counter that with everyone telling me, 'You're in the most hated-category ever — what's wrong with you?'"

Advertisers are keen to see a company challenge Google in digital advertising. According to eMarketer, Facebook and Google are expected to collectively account for 59.3% of digital ad budgets this year. At the same time, the number of independent ad-tech companies continues to shrink, making it harder for ad-tech firms to push back against Google.

The Trade Desk expects to make $653 million this year, up 37% from $477 million in 2018. As of this week, The Trade Desk has an $8.6 billion market cap, and its stock hit its 52-week high at $289.51 in July on news it had reached a deal to sell over-the-top ads in some Amazon Fire apps.

Read more: Amazon is allowing ad-tech companies to sell ads in streaming TV apps, and marketers see it as a sign that the e-commerce giant is becoming less of a walled garden

While The Trade Desk's size is tiny relative to Google — Google's parent company, Alphabet, had an $836 billion market cap this week — Green has no qualms about calling Facebook and Google his biggest competitors. For years, he's been among a small handful of execs who are vocal on big issues that the ad-tech industry is grappling with like transparency and privacy. His calls to take down Google have escalated as Google faces antitrust concerns from regulators.

"There's a spirit of e pluribus unum in what we're doing," he said.

Green sees the global digital ad market approaching $1 trillion in seven years, up from $725 billion this year, per the research firm IDC, and says he's best positioned to benefit.

"We're more eligible to win the next dollar than any other company," he said.

The Trade Desk rose by warming up to agencies

The Trade Desk's strategy to cut into Google has been to cozy up to agencies that funnel millions of money in ad campaigns through the company's platform. Several agencies said while other ad-tech firms were notorious for hard-sell tactics, The Trade Desk took a consultative, relationship-based approach to them that's akin to media sellers.

"Jeff is an incredibly smart, savvy guy who has a great read on the industry," said one agency executive at a large holding company, who would speak only anonymously. "The Trade Desk is where it's at because they've had a consistent strategy, meaning that you've always been able to trust what Jeff is saying — you're not getting one thing in the room and another outside of the room."

Three months ago, another ad exec, Luke Lambert, OMD's managing director and head of programmatic, had dinner with Green. That kind of access to top leadership is what differentiates The Trade Desk from bigger ad players like Google and Verizon Media, he said.

"Everyone has a sales team, but the difference with Jeff is that he's accessible," Lambert said. "I'm not sitting down with Google's head of media, let alone CEOs."

And when The Trade Desk expanded into China earlier this year, a country notoriously difficult for advertising companies to crack, Green temporarily moved to Hong Kong.

"He figured out more than where media and tech play — he got a good grip on the culture," Lambert said.

The Trade Desk has gone so far as to help agencies with problems beyond ad-tech like helping them retain complaining clients, said Jay Friedman, the president of the programmatic ad agency Goodway Group.

"I have seen The Trade Desk say, 'Let's try to get that back on track' rather than using it as an opportunity for them," he said.

Green is one of Google's most vocal critics

To be sure, Google still has advantages over The Trade Desk. Not only does it have a demand-side platform (or DSP), but it has a supply-side platform that publishers use to sell ads, an ad server and analytic tools, giving it more tools and a pool of ad inventory than The Trade Desk has.

Google's parent company, Alphabet, reported $32.6 billion in ad revenue in its second quarter, primarily from search advertising. The company doesn't break out revenue by ad formats, but the Pivotal senior analyst Michael Levine estimates that Google makes $8 billion to $10 billion a year from programmatic advertising.

Read more: Google defended its ad business against accusations of antitrust concerns — but its competitors say the tech giant doesn't play fairly

Regulators are circling Google, though

Google's size and scope across search, video, display and mobile advertising are increasingly attracting regulators' notice, though. Fifty state attorneys are investigating whether Google's ad business stifles competitors. The Department of Justice has also asked Google for more information on past antitrust investigations, according to a Securities and Exchanges Commission filing made public last month.

A big part of Green's platform has been to shine a bright light on those concerns.

"They've always known that Google is public enemy No. 1," said the anonymous agency executive. "As they see a lot of things coming down the pike in terms of privacy, regulation, and consolidation, I think they felt a need to ratchet up that narrative even more."

The Trade Desk's issue with Google boils down to the tech giant using its own data and inventory to give it a leg up over ad-tech firms, said Goodway Group's Friedman.

"If Google was not allowed to use any search, Maps, or Android data, would the programmatic platform be as successful and how would it compete with The Trade Desk, MediaMath, or anyone else?" Friedman said. "If data was not infused into Google's programmatic offering, it would be weaker."

Last month, Google reorganized its ad business, including separating the buy-side and sell-side arms. Green argued that having both teams report to the same leadership shows Google's potential conflict of interest because it both buys and sells media. Google also has its own ad server and analytics software that marketers use to measure campaigns.

"When they joined their buy-side services with their sell-side services and put the same structure together so they all report to the same people, that was a mistake," Green said. "I don't know if to them that it's worth being in the business." 

The Trade Desk even went so far as recently rolling out a big ad campaign that took aim at walled gardens including Google.

The Trade Desk's recent ad campaign targeted Google. The Trade Desk

A Google representative pointed to a recent blog post defending it against accusations that it is anticompetitive. The person also noted that The Trade Desk was part of its Authorized Buyer program that allows ad networks, DSPs, and trading desks to buy ads through Google's ad exchange without directly working through Google.

"In the past decade, we've built products that foster competition," Sissie Hsiao, the vice president of product management at Google, wrote in the blog post. "Our tools and platforms make it easy for advertisers and publishers of all sizes to choose whom they want to work with in this open, interconnected ad system. Publishers use our technology to access demand from hundreds of partners, of which Google is just one source. Advertisers use our technology to buy ad space on more than 80 exchanges."

The anonymous agency source argued that advertisers didn't share Green's alarm because Google's platform was so easy to work with.

"At the end of the day, our clients understand what that bias looks like — they're probably going to be willing to accept some of those biases if it makes their media 25% more effective," the source said. "Jeff would say that he's got Google and Amazon on the back foot, but I don't know how true that is."

The Trade Desk does dominate Google in some areas

The Trade Desk is using its clout to affect big industry initiatives.

This summer, The Trade Desk and Google clashed over a pending initiative led by the IAB Tech Lab to provide transparency into which vendors can sell digital ads. AdExchanger reported that The Trade Desk had pushed for Google's publisher-side exchange bidding product to be labeled as an "intermediary" along with other ad-tech vendors that are considered bad actors because they take a cut of advertisers' spending.

If Google's exchange-bidding product is categorized as an intermediary, some ad buyers may stop using it and buy ads from competitors like Prebid, industry experts said.

The Google representative stressed that Google and The Trade Desk were involved in hashing out the IAB Tech Lab's initiative and that details were still being ironed out.

"To be clear, we are very supportive of this effort," the person said. "We have some concerns that the first version of the SupplyChain standard doesn't go far enough in terms of ensuring full transparency of the inventory involved in a programmatic transaction. For example, some intermediaries that are not financial in nature still have influence over who gets the impression. As part of the working group, we're pushing for more transparency so that advertisers know all of the intermediaries and can make more informed decisions about the inventory they are purchasing."

The CEO of an ad-tech firm that competes with both The Trade Desk and Google's DSPs argued that The Trade Desk's tussle with Google over this issue actually showed Google didn't have a monopoly on advertising.

"The Trade Desk is a threat and thorn in Google's side, but Google needs competition in this space," the CEO said. "They need to show that there's a lot of competition for their DSP."

Broad advertising changes could threaten The Trade Desk

Pro-privacy changes that Google is making to its Chrome browser may hurt The Trade Desk.

Read more: Google's looming privacy changes could shake up ad retargeting — and advertisers are scrambling to find alternatives

The upshot is that as third-party data becomes more scarce, marketers are increasingly using first-party data and contextual targeting. The Chrome changes could give Google more control over targeting and measurement, including pitching advertisers its own audience segments.

Competing with Google comes at a cost

The Trade Desk's competition with Google also takes a toll on its performance.

A report from the investment bank Luma Partners on the state of ad-tech showed The Trade Desk's stock declined 20% during the third quarter, causing a 12% dip for ad-tech companies overall.

Luma Partners' recent third-quarter report shows that The Trade Desk's stock took a hit. Luma Partners

Pivotal's Levine compared the bumpy quarter to the stocks of companies like Twilio and Shopify that compete with another tech giant, Amazon.

"The criteria is very high multiple, year-to-date returns," he said. "You have shareholders looking at this saying, 'This is Shopify relative to Amazon.'"

The Trade Desk wants the industry to adopt its plan to save cookies

Staying in the game also means The Trade Desk has to stay ahead of changes Google and Apple are making to internet browsers.

The Trade Desk is trying to get all of ad tech to adopt its product called Unified ID that's meant to save cookies, marketers' long-standing ad targeting method that's being threatened in the age of privacy.

Each time an advertiser wins an online auction to load an ad, ad-tech companies sync billions of audience profiles to match cookies, leading to big infrastructure costs. In theory, a common ID could cut down on those costs.

The Trade Desk's Unified ID stores consumers' targeting and privacy preferences across devices. The goal is to make it the standard for how marketers handle cookies attached to IDs that are used for ad targeting.

Green argues that using these IDs should solve the problem of advertisers showing people the same ad over and over and address broader privacy concerns. The Trade Desk's ability to analyze 10 million ads a second gives the company an advantage, he said.

According to The Trade Desk, more than 20 demand-side platforms, 30 supply-side platforms and 30 data-management platforms are using or testing its free ID product.

"One of the big problems of the internet, even today, is that marketers spend billions of dollars to make consumers hate them by not respecting reach and frequency," Green said. "Our ID footprint is bigger than anybody else who is willing to give it away."

Green has his work cut out for him, though. Companies like LiveRamp, Digitrust, and the Advertising ID Consortium are racing to develop similar initiatives. There's also the question of whether any one company can cover all the consumers that advertisers need for ad targeting.

And just as Google's size makes it a target, The Trade Desk could find itself facing pushback if it's seen getting too powerful. Marketers are also concerned that The Trade Desk could eventually threaten to spend less with partners that don't use its ID or start charging it as a fee, Adweek reported.

"There's a lot of value in getting us to this spot, but then you're going to see for-profit companies attempt to create leverages and advantages so that their data is more accurate or so that they can do more with their data than their competitors can," the ad-tech CEO source said. "We fundamentally believe that something of this magnitude with this much power needs to be in the hands of a neutral, non-for-profit governing body."

Original author: Lauren Johnson

 

Original author: Christian de Looper

You can easily set up an eBay account for your personal or business needs.There are two types of accounts on eBay — personal and business. The process for setting up each is simple, but a business account requires more information.A personal account is great for a casual eBay user who wants to sell items that they no longer use; a business account is appropriate for people who want to sell a large number of products.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

eBay is a great resource for selling items you no longer need or for buying items that are more difficult to find elsewhere. But before you buy and sell on eBay, you'll need to set up an account. 

There are two types of eBay accounts. A personal account is best for a casual eBay user. A business account is appropriate for people who plan to sell in large quantities, or for people who have bought or made items specifically to sell. 

Registering a business account will require more information than a personal account, including the business name, address and type. Luckily, setting up both accounts is relatively easy.

How to set up an eBay account for personal use

1. Go to www.eBay.com.

2. On the top left part of the screen, hit "Register" to register a new account.

Original author: Kelly Laffey

The world's largest ad holding company WPP will continue its merger and consolidation strategy with global network Wunderman Thompson absorbing digital agencies Possible, Mirum, and iStrategyLabs.Sources told Business Insider that the three agencies, which previously operated under the Wunderman Thompson umbrella, would become one with that organization and would eventually drop their names.These organizations collectively employ several thousand people across dozens of countries. It is unclear how many jobs would be affected.The consolidation marks the latest step in WPP CEO Mark Read's plan to return the company to growth amid headwinds caused by client budget cuts and a large-scale shift away from traditional advertising channels.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

WPP will continue its year-old restructuring spree by absorbing three agencies into the Wunderman Thompson organization that was created by the 2018 union of Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson.

Two high-level sources with direct knowledge of the matter said the digital agencies Possible, Mirum, and iStrategyLabs would become one with Wunderman Thompson, with each eventually dropping its name.

Possible is the best known of the three, with clients including Microsoft, AT&T, and Volkswagen.

The move marks another step in WPP CEO Mark Read's plans to streamline the world's largest ad holding company through a self-described "radical evolution" strategy.

It also shows how the company is attempting to return to growth in its largest region after a 2018 that saw stock prices drop by nearly 50% due to the loss of major accounts like American Express and a general move by marketers to slash overall budgets and shift spending from print and broadcast TV to digital platforms.

Spokespeople for WPP referred Business Insider to Wunderman Thompson, who had not provided a comment at the time of publication.

The move marks another step in WPP's efforts to consolidate digital operations

The three agencies had already become part of the same network following the merger of digital firm Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson, the world's oldest ad agency. The same two sources said they expected that the organizations would soon function as a single business under a shared profit and loss statement in North America and that all three would eventually drop their names.

One source said details of the new arrangement haven't been finalized but that they should be complete by the end of the calendar year.

WPP had already taken a series of incremental steps toward consolidation in recent months by merging the Seattle offices of Possible and creative agency Cole & Weber with Wunderman Thompson in March and dropping the Possible name in the UK the following month to combine that organization with Mirum.

Back in 2011, the holding company combined four existing digital agencies to form Possible. JWT bought Digiteria in 2010 and merged it with 10 other digital agencies around the world to create Mirum in 2015 before acquiring Washington D.C.-based iStrategyLabs the following year.

According to the most recent numbers from LinkedIn and WPP's website, the three agencies involved in this move employ several thousand people across dozens of countries. Business Insider was unable to learn how many jobs would be affected.

CEO Mark Read continues his three-year plan to return to growth by streamlining agency services

Mark Read laid out his three-year strategy for WPP in an investors day presentation in December 2018, saying the company would cut 3,500 jobs and hire 1,000 new people before 2021 while adding creative leadership and data-based service offerings. He also said not to expect any more large-scale merger announcements.

The company has made big leadership changes, though. Earlier this week, Business Insider reported first that Tim Castree, North American CEO of media buying network GroupM, would step down after less than a year in the job and that global CEO Christian Juhl would temporarily take his place.

WPP's recent agency mergers and consolidation moves began in mid-2017, when Possible became part of the Wunderman network while retaining its own brand. Mark Read was CEO of Wunderman at the time.

His first major move upon taking over the holding company the following September was to merge digital agency VML and traditional creative shop Y&R to create VMLY&R.

The company reported better results to investors last month after a series of punishing quarters, with organic revenue rising 0.7% when accounting for the sale of a majority stake in market research firm Kantar Media.

Original author: Patrick Coffee

There are about a dozen supervolcanoes on Earth — each one at least seven times larger than Mount Tambora, which had the biggest eruption in recorded history.If all of these supervolcanoes erupted at once, they'd likely pour thousands of tons of volcanic ash and toxic gases into the atmosphere.This ash would linger for months, blocking sunlight and setting off a volcanic winter. The gas would also likely fall back down to Earth as acid rain, devastating agriculture and leading to global famine.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Following is a transcript of the video.

In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted in Indonesia, killing an estimated 92,000 people. It was the biggest eruption in recorded history. And yet, Tambora was about one-seventh the size of the smallest supervolcano. There are about a dozen of these monsters worldwide, and the last one went off 26,500 years ago in New Zealand, blanketing most of its island in a layer of thick ash. Now, it's extremely unlikely that one of these supervolcanoes would go off anytime soon, let alone multiple eruptions at once. But, for curiosity's sake, what would happen if all the world's supervolcanoes erupted at once?

If every supervolcano went off, you'd have a hard time finding a safe place to flee to, because almost every continent is home to at least one supervolcano. For example, there's Yellowstone in the US, Ngorongoro in Tanzania, and Toba in Indonesia. So, basically, no matter where you are, you're out of luck. But at least you'll have a warning, because weeks or months beforehand, the ground will tremble with earthquakes. Then, when E-Day arrives, the earth-shattering sound would be a dead giveaway that something wasn't right.

When Krakatoa, which wasn't even close to the size of a supervolcano, erupted in 1883, it released a roar so loud the sound traveled nearly 4,800 kilometers across the Indian Ocean, shattering windows and deafening people in its path. And since even the smallest supereruption would dwarf Krakatoa's eruption, there is really no telling how much damage this would cause, but it would be epically catastrophic.

And let's say you were lucky enough to survive this first wave of destruction. After that, it would be time to find a fallout shelter, because these supereruptions spew billions of tons of ash, volcanic glass, and rock thousands of meters into the air. Not something you want to inhale or be in the path of, since this cloud of ash doesn't just travel up; it also expands out, crashing across the landscape at jet-fighter speeds. It would collapse buildings, contaminate water supplies, and bring down any power grids in its path. And the fallout would extend for hundreds of kilometers, so any cities nearby a supervolcano are immediately toast. As are any planes that attempt to fly people away from the danger.

And keep in mind that ash travels. When Toba erupted 74,000 years ago, winds blew ash all the way to India. So if all the supervolcanoes go off at once, volcanic debris would spread across the globe. When the eruption ends, the disaster will have only just started. Because for the next six months, much of that supervolcanic ash would linger in the stratosphere and block sunlight, causing global temperatures to plunge by as much as 15 degrees Celsius. That's close to the difference between summer in Rio versus Anchorage, Alaska. In fact, just "little" Mount Tambora's eruption alone set off the "Year Without a Summer," where frost and blizzards plagued much of the Northern Hemisphere. So, multiply that by the 12 or so supervolcanoes all spewing thick black dust, and you've got a worldwide volcanic winter for the next few years. Tropical forests, which can't handle cold weather, would wither and die, bringing down the millions of animal species that live there.

And it's about to get even bleaker. You know that saying "out of the frying pan and into the fire"? Well, in addition to ash, those volcanoes also belch toxic gasses, like sulfur dioxide, into the atmosphere. And after a few years, just after the winter finally ends, those gasses would start to fall from the sky as acid rain. When the Laki volcano erupted in 1783 in Iceland, it rained down so much sulfuric acid that it devastated farmland and wiped out half of all livestock. The next year, a full quarter of Iceland's population died in the resulting famine. So imagine that, but everywhere. And since Laki wasn't even a supervolcano, we're looking at acid rain for the next decade. Say goodbye to civilization, because it probably can't survive a decade-long global famine.

Now, there are a few places on Earth that, while still suffering from cold and acid rain and famine, would at least be free from the actual explosions themselves. Like volcanic islands such as the Galapagos, or even Hawaii, which ironically is famous for its volcanoes. But the thing is, these volcanoes slowly release flows of lava rather than violently exploding. So, you could at least enjoy a nice view as civilization implodes.

Original author: Andrea Schmitz and Shira Polan

Two former Twitter employees were charged by federal prosecutors with spying on users on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government — and experts warn that it could happen again.Three cybersecurity experts told Business Insider about broader "insider threats," or the risk of surveillance and data breaches carried out by people employed by tech companies.The experts warned that tech companies should implement safeguards by addressing workplace culture, setting up ways to detect unusual behavior by employees, and more robustly protecting user data across the board.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Federal charges unsealed Wednesday allege that Saudi Arabia carried out a massive online spying operation, snooping on the accounts of more than 6,000 Twitter users — and prosecutors say they did it with the help of two of Twitter's own employees.

Now, cybersecurity experts warn that similar "insider threats" could surface again if tech companies don't make a concerted effort to ward them off.

Twitter responded to the federal charges Wednesday, saying that the company is thankful that federal prosecutors uncovered alleged spying and that it would cooperate with future investigations. A spokesperson added that Twitter "limits access to sensitive account information to a limited group of trained and vetted employees."

To protect against future insider spying, tech companies need to vet employees and implement more rigorous protections of user data across the board, three cybersecurity consultants told Business Insider.

Ryan Kalember, executive vice president of cybersecurity strategy for Proofpoint, said companies like Twitter should focus on detecting abnormal behavior by employees. Kalember estimated that more than 30% of data breaches happen with the help of insiders.

"Stopping insider threats is one of the most challenging problems in security ... Defending data requires the ability to detect insider accounts that are behaving oddly, including patterns of accessing and exfiltrating sensitive information," Kalember said.

"But detection isn't enough," he added. "With the complexity of an enterprise infrastructure like Twitter's, being able to respond quickly to any detected anomalies across cloud, email, and endpoints is at least as critical."

Kiersten Todt, managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute and former adviser to President Barack Obama, said the alleged spying by Twitter employees is "another example of how the tech platforms have repeatedly failed to protect the personally identifiable information" of users.

"Whether [personally identifiable information] is compromised and exposed through an accidental data breach or insider efforts to harvest data, the point is still the same: tech platforms continue to fall short on their accountability and responsibility for data protection," Todt said.

Kon Leong, president, CEO, and cofounder of ZL Technologies, predicts that similar breaches will only become more likely as the value of user data goes up.

"That draws ever more bees to the honey. Whether for political or economic advantage, expect more break-in attempts to get at the data," Leong said.

Leong suggests that tech companies implement top-down "data control" policies, ensuring that data is managed centrally rather than stored in uncontrolled data silos, which he said can "also simultaneously solve many other pressing problems such as compliance, e-discovery, records-keeping, and analytics."

The alleged spying by Saudi agents is just the latest example of foreign governments targeting users on US-owned platforms. A series of high-profile iPhone hacks earlier this year were reportedly carried out by the Chinese government, while investigations by law enforcement and media have uncovered a series of hacks carried out by Russia in recent years to influence US policy.

Original author: Aaron Holmes

EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is known for being tough on American tech companies.But she's not on board with calls in the US to break them up: "We don't have a problem that big where breaking up could be the solution," she argued.She also worries that by breaking them up, "you just have many more problems."Yet she also says that fines aren't doing the trick, and the ambitions of the tech giants have only grown — calling out Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency project as one of particular concern.The solution, she believes, could be more widespread pressure from citizens and US regulators.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, known for the big fines she has lobbied against big US tech companies, said on Thursday that it's time for a change in tactics when it comes to dealing with Silicon Valley.

"If I've seen change, it is, basically to have even bigger ambitions," she said at Web Summit in Lisbon, one of Europe's biggest tech conferences. She offered by way of example Google's continual rollout of new features and services, Facebook's push to establish the Libra cryptocurrency, and Apple's move into TV streaming. 

Asked about Libra specifically, she was particularly skeptical:"First and foremost we're trying to figure out what it is," she said — adding that Libra is being analyzed by the whole European Commission, not just her department.

"We have questions not only about the tying of the Facebook product and the payment product and the dominance of Facebook, but colleagues of mine, they are asking questions about money laundering, terrorist financing, finances stability, all the things that may come when you create a currency that is not under the control of authority," she said.

She believes that policing big tech with the weapons available to regulators like herself — namely, fines and monitoring — "can only do part of the job."

But she also said she wasn't on board with calls to break those tech giants up. Prominent Democrats, especially presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have called for the breakup of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google on antitrust grounds.

"From a competition point of view, you would have to do something that breaking up the company was the only solution to the illegal behavior, to the damage," she said. "And we don't have that kind of case right now."

She wouldn't rule out that such action might be appropriate in the future, but she's not in favor of it right now: "We don't have a problem that big where breaking up could be the solution."

She also drew an analogue to the Greek mythological creature known as the Hydra. "When you chopped off one head, 1,2, or 7 came up. So there is a risk that you don't solve the problem, you just have many more problems."

Rather, she thinks that tech companies who grow to certain sizes and have become influential in as many areas as the big tech companies have should face more specific conditions. In her words: "When you get that big, you get a special responsibility, because you are the de factor the ruler in the sector that you own."

She says that if big tech's predatory behavior — whether it is how they gather data on people or how they treat upstart competitors — is to be reined in, the movement has to come from widespread pressure from average citizens pushing for regulatory change.

"We need to find the right level of democracy framing of tech and saying, 'this is how you should serve us,'" she described.

She's also hopeful that the US will join in, and says she's seeing positive signs in that direction, as US authorities are now looking harder at big tech than ever before.

"Maybe there's an enforcer role for the US here as well. And that is very, very welcome," Vestager said.

Original author: Julie Bort

Venmo is an app-based payment service, available for Android and iPhone, where users can send, request, and receive money. 

Venmo allows you to link your debit and credit cards as well as bank accounts to send payments to friends and family within the US. 

Learning how to send money on Venmo is easy. Here's what you need to know.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Best Buy)

Samsung Galaxy S10 (From $899.99 at Best Buy)

How to send money on Venmo using the app 

1. Launch the Venmo app from the home screen on your iPhone or Android phone.

2. In the top-right hand corner of the screen, tap the payment icon, which looks like a pen and pad with a money symbol. This is where you can send and request money. 

Tap the payment icon in the upper right-hand corner. William Antonelli/Business Insider

3. Next, in the textbox, enter the username of the person you want to pay. You can also find them in your list of friends by scrolling down. If you enter in the name of someone who you've never sent money to before, you'll be asked to confirm that you're choosing the right person.

Enter the Venmo username of the person you want to pay. William Antonelli/Business Insider

4. Enter the amount you want to send. 

5. Here, write a brief memo or description of what the payment is for. You can also alter who can see the payment by tapping the icon near the bottom of the page that reads "Friends," "Public," or "Private." 

6. Once you've filled out the payment amount and memo, select "Pay." 

7. For the final step, you can specify how you'd like to pay — choose between the credit and debit cards or bank accounts linked to your Venmo. 

Enter your memo, specify how you'd like to pay, and then select "Pay" at the bottom. William Antonelli/Business Insider

8. If everything looks good, tap "Pay" at the bottom of the page. You will then receive a confirmation email and the transaction will appear on your Venmo profile page, and in your feed.

Original author: Meira Gebel

You can change the background on your Chromebook relatively easily, once you've familiarized yourself with the product a bit.You can either use one of the computer's preset images, or download your own image to use as a desktop background.Here's how to change your background on a Chromebook, using either a preset image or a custom one.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Customizing your computer is part of the fun of getting a new device.

If you're new to Chromebook, however, getting used to the various quirks of the operating system can require a bit of effort, even for something as simple as changing your background.

But once you familiarize yourself with the device, it's an easy enough task and should only take a few minutes to complete.

To get you started, here's what you need to know to change your background on a Chromebook:

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

ASUS Flip 14-inch Chromebook (From $569.99 at Best Buy)

How to change your background on a Chromebook using the Wallpaper Picker

There are two primary ways to select a new desktop background on a Chromebook — using one of the images preloaded on your computer in the Wallpaper Picker or uploading one of your own images.

Here's how to use a photo from the Wallpaper Picker:

1. Right-click anywhere on your current desktop.

2. Select "Set wallpaper" — this will prompt a window to pop-up on your screen.

Original author: Devon Delfino