Deliveroo cofounder Will Shu has said cooking could be done solely for enjoyment within the next decade.

The 39-year-old, who serves as CEO of the buzzy British startup which secured backing from Amazon this year, was speaking at a Bloomberg conference on this week on the future of technology.

He said: "If I think about what the barriers to people using food delivery apps are, one of them is cooking. 100 years ago, cooking was 100% a necessity. 50 years ago, less [of a necessity]. Now, the average person goes out to restaurants a lot. I do see a world where, in maybe five or 10 years, cooking is purely a hobby.

"Of course, we [Deliveroo] want to promote that, and that's great. With the rise of things like Editions and with the rise of things like robotics over time, I do see, in the very long run - it's not going to happen soon - a scenario where getting a meal cooked and delivered may be the same price as going to the supermarket and buying it."

'Editions' is Deliveroo's pop-up kitchen initiative , which aims to serve customers who don't live near their favourite restaurants. Deliveroo

Shu also discussed the company's burgeoning relationship with Amazon at the conference. In May, Deliveroo raised $575 million in a funding round led by the tech giant.

He said Deliveroo plans use the capital to expand its 'Editions' initiative, under which pop-up kitchens are built by the firm to cater for people who don't live near their favourite restaurants. The kitchens allow restaurants' chefs to cook remotely, which in turn enables them to serve more customers.

Read more: Amazon's massive bet on Deliveroo is much bigger than Friday night takeout. It's about the death of the kitchen.

Furthermore, the company wants to use the money to continue its expansion into less densely-populated areas - both in the UK and overseas.

"We've been pretty efficient and thoughtful about how we've grown across different countries," he said. "We've been in the UK for six years, and we're currently reaching about 33%, maybe 35% of the UK population. We plan to take that to 50% by the end of the year.

"We're not just going to go out into city centres, but into suburbs but into some smaller towns. We're going to do [the same] in other European countries, too."

Amazon's investment takes Deliveroo's total fundraising to over $1.5 billion. Reuters / Drew Angerer of Getty Images

Amazon's development of drone delivery technology could eventually let Deliveroo reach truly rural areas, in Shu's view.

"If you look at the UK and France, where you definitely have people living in rural areas - and where population density is less than 500 people per square kilometre - I think unmanned aerial drones could actually make a really big difference. Amazon's certainly doing that. Thinking about how we reach those customers, where a bicycle or car doesn't always work, is pretty interesting.

"Amazon are really keen to help us build our business; to build our processes and systems," he continued. "In my view, Amazon are the best operators in the world. To the extent that we have access to senior people there, we can learn from them what they've managed to build over the last 25 years.

"Any time you make people's lives easier, and show them that they can get something they couldn't get before, adoption happens. I think you'll have different degrees of adoption [across] different generations, but overall, I think [Deliveroo] makes sense for all types of different people."

There are plenty of things keeping Depop CEO Maria Rega up at night, but recruiting US teens to use the shopping app isn't one of them.

This is because data shows that the 5 million or so teens that are already using the app in the US are actually more business-minded than their UK counterparts.

Raga told Business Insider in a recent conversation that, on average, US teens are listing more items to sell and are referring more people than their UK equivalents. She wouldn't comment on what this stems from, however.

But this is particularly relevant as Depop begins its quest to triple its user base in the US after raising $62 million in a recent round of funding.

Read more: Teens are making up to $300,000 selling secondhand clothes on this Instagram-like shopping app, which is now planning a huge US expansion. Here's how it works.

Gen Z is known for being an entrepreneurial generation whose spending habits have been shaped by growing up in the wake of the recession and seeing their parents and teachers live through hard times.

Experts say apps such as Depop and Poshmark have become big hits with the younger generation as they offer them an easy way to make money straight from their bedroom.

And for some, it's a highly lucrative business. Rachel Swidenbank, vice president of Marketplace at Depop, previously told Business Insider that some sellers can pull in as much as $300,000 a year on Depop and have been able to buy houses and cars before they've reached college age.

Marcie Merriman, executive director for growth strategy and retail innovation at EY, and an expert on this generation, told Business Insider that unlike millennials, Gen Z is driven out of "perceived financial need" versus "the aspirational or purpose-based pursuits of millennials."

"They are not sure what jobs will be available to them and don't want to count on others - whether parents or employers - for their livelihood," she said.

Merriman said it could be tied into the American Dream. The idea of working hard and building your own success has been ingrained into US teens from such an early age, she said, and now they have the technology and tools available to make their business dreams come true.

Their entrepreneurial spirit could also be tied to the glorification of technology start-ups and their founders, Merriman said.

"The teen social status symbol of my generation, Gen X, was the garage band. Gen Z's equivalent is the teen business maven," she said, adding that while this isn't unique to the US, the culture of success is different there.

"Look at any list of the top tech Unicorns (companies valued at $1B or above) and the vast majority are based in the US and China, with only a few launched out of the UK. This brings the potential home for the US teen," she said.

So for Raga, the biggest concern is not motivating these teens to join but keeping up with a market that moves at breakneck speed. "Things move a lot faster," she said, of the US. "You need to be super fast."

In the future, we won't be listening to our favorite bands or artists, we'll be listening to custom made sounds that are tailored to our mood. At least, that's what billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla believes.

"I actually think 10 years from now, you won't be listening to music," Khosla said during a fireside chat at Creative Destruction Lab's second annual Super Session event, as reported by TechCrunch.

Instead, the Khosla Ventures CEO believes that consumers will be listening to music that is designed specifically for them, their preferences, and their needs.

Read more: Tech billionaire reveals the polite, yet brutal way he responds to underwhelming gifts

While his opinions may seem outlandish, there's some evidence that consumers are shifting away from specific artists or bands to listen to more mood-based playlists.

Techcrunch pointed to a recent Medium post in which journalist Stuart Dredge discusses the role that AI can play in the music industry and in creating music that is tailor-made for each person.

Dredge points to how consumers are using Spotify now as an example of how our listening habits are changing. Consumers are increasingly listening to playlists that are centered around activities or emotions rather than necessarily choosing specific songs, he says.

Spotify did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on this.

German app Endel, which recently signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros, is making headway in this style of music. Endel takes data such as your location, the time, or the weather to create personalized "soundscapes" to help you focus or relax.

If this was combined with mind-reading headsets, for example, these apps could be better equipped to make suggestions in the future on what you want to listen to based on your mood.

Spare a thought for Uber's driverless cars, which are apparently getting mercilessly bullied by pedestrians and other drivers while out on the road.

That's according to Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber's self-driving car unit Advanced Technologies Group. Speaking at the Elevate conference in Washington DC on Wednesday, he said cameras mounted on the vehicles are capturing the hostility.

"We've seen people bully these cars. They feel like they can be more aggressive because we won't take a position on it, or we'll allow it," said Meyhofer, according to The Daily Telegraph.

"You're on video but still people do bully them and that's a fascinating thing to see where people are testing the boundaries of what they can do to self-driving," he added.

Read more: An engineer at Uber's self-driving-car unit warns that it's more like "a science experiment" than a real car capable of driving itself

According to Meyhofer, the bullying comes from both pedestrians and other road users. It takes the form of rude gestures and utterances, challenging the cars to brake, driving up close behind them, and tending not to give the cars right of way at junctions. Meyhofer called the behaviour "mean-spirited."

A Waymo car. Getty

This isn't the first time human hostility towards autonomous vehicles has been documented. Arizona Republic reported last year that people were slashing the tires of vehicles owned by Waymo, Google's self-driving car venture. Guns were also pulled on safety drivers, it was reported.

Uber's self-driving car programme restarted in December after being suspended for nine months following a fatal crash which killed a pedestrian.

Target is going all in on same-day delivery.

The company is now offering same-day delivery through its own website, Target.com. This isn't Target's first foray into the same-day fray; the retailer acquired same-day delivery service Shipt for $550 million in 2017. In January, Target expanded its Shipt service to include all major product categories.

As part of its latest push, Target shoppers will be able to order 65,000 items for same-day delivery from Target.com. In a presentation provided to Business Insider, Target said that one out of five of its same-day orders were placed by customers who'd never put in a digital Target order before. The retailer is already reporting repeat rates of nearly 80% for the service in the first quarter.

Target said in a statement that certain products could be delivered "in as soon as an hour." Same-day delivery will be accessible in 47 states and involve 1,500 of Target's stores. The service won't immediately be added to Target's app, but it will be added some time before the 2019 holiday season.

Read more: Target just unrolled its highly anticipated Vineyard Vines collaboration, but shoppers are complaining that the clothing has already sold-out

Target will continue to use Shipt to fulfill same-day orders, but shoppers won't necessarily have to fork over an annual membership fee — $49 a year through Target — for the service.

According to a release from Target, customers can either pay a delivery fee of $9.99 or test Shipt out for a free four-week trial. Shoppers will now also be able to put their Target REDcards to use, meaning they could snag rewards and get 5% off their orders.

Target's announcement comes about as retail rivals like Walmart and Amazon spar over next-day delivery. The Minneapolis-based retailer is instead focusing on its stable of pick-up and delivery options, including free order pick-up and drive-up services and free two-day shipping and restocking for customers with a REDcard.

"With same-day delivery now available directly within the Target.com experience, we've made it even easier for our guests to shop at Target — while still getting the great value, curated product assortment and helpful guest service they've come to expect," Target's digital SVP Dawn Block said in a statement.

Are you a Target employee with a story to share? Contact this reporter at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Google released photos of its upcoming Pixel 4 smartphone — which we're not expecting until October — after information about its design and specifications started to leak on the internet.

The Pixel 4 has supposedly leaked a few times recently, with much of the focus on the rear camera design. The latest video from tech YouTube channel " Unbox Therapy" goes in depth with a supposedly leaked metal cast model of the Pixel 4 that's typically used by case makers as a reference to build their cases for upcoming phones.

Check out Google's Pixel 4, as posted on Twitter:

Twitter user @atn1988 even "combined the two slices" of the Pixel 4 photo in Google's tweet to make a complete phone:

The main thing that's catching most people's attention is the rear camera design on the Pixel 4, which looks mighty similar to the rumored rear camera design on this year's new iPhone, as pictured in this fan-made computer rendering:

A render of the rumored iPhone XI, which is expected to launch later this year. CashKaro

In its tweet, Google teases "Wait 'til you see what it can do" and only shows images of the back of the phone, including the camera. I might be reading too much into things, but it seems like Google is teasing that the Pixel 4's camera might be even more impressive than the Pixel 3's, which is already considered the gold standard in smartphone cameras.

From the looks of it, there are four "holes" on the Pixel 4's rear camera system, but only two of them appear to be camera lenses. One of the holes looks like a flash, and the other hole appears to be a sensor. The Pixel 3 only has a single camera lens.

It's pure speculation at this point, but the second camera on the Pixel 4 could be an ultrawide camera lens rather than a zoomed lens. Ultrawide camera lenses have been a trend in 2019, with Samsung and OnePlus adopting ultrawide camera lenses on their latest smartphones, the Galaxy S10 and the OnePlus 7 Pro.

"Fortnite" creator Epic Games announced its acquisition of Houseparty, a social networking app for group video-chats, on Wednesday.

The price of the acquisition was not announced, but the unexpected deal immediately sparked speculation about what the maker of the most popular video game might do with the teen-focused chat app.

Officials from Epic Games and Houseparty stressed the social interaction aspects of each respective product. Fortnite has become a worldwide gaming phenomenon, allowing up to 100 people anywhere in the world to connect online and play in the same round.

Still, company officials were mum on specific plans to integrate the two products' features.

Houseparty has been installed by 35 million users via App Store and Google Play, with 40 percent of those users outside of the US, according to mobile data analyst Sensor Tower. Users spend an average of one hour on the app everyday, Houseparty measures.

The joint press release focused on the shared vision for Epic Games and Houseparty to facilitate meaningful human connections through virtual means.

"Joining Epic is a great step forward in achieving our mission of bringing empathy to online communication," Houseparty CEO Sima Sistani said in the press release. "We have a common vision to make human interaction easier and more enjoyable, and always with respect for user privacy."

In a Tweet on the day of the announcement, Sistani predicted that the next decade of social media will be characterized not by sharing, but by participation.

"Houseparty brings people together, creating positive social interactions in real time," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said in the press release.

Houseparty will not be collapsed into Epic Games. Users with both Houseparty and Epic Games accounts will not be able to combine their accounts, and Houseparty will remain available as a standalone platform.

A spokesperson for Epic Games declined to comment on what an integration of Houseparty and Epic Games may look like in the future. However, a Tweet from Sistani highlights how users have already used the platforms together:

While Fortnite does have an in-game voice chat function, many players opt to use independent group chat programs to communicate with fellow gamers. The group chat networks, like Houseparty and Discord, have the added benefit of existing outside of the game as social media platforms; players can talk regardless of whether they're gaming, unlike in-game voice chats. Could Epic Games' acquisition of Houseparty mean incorporation of Houseparty's social, video chat technology into video games like Fortnite?

Houseparty is no stranger to online gaming internally. Houseparty moved into the gaming space in January, when it began offering games for users to play with friends in-app. Its first game was Ellen DeGeneres' mobile charades game Heads Up!. The Verge characterized this move as Houseparty's "first effort to generate revenue." In April, Houseparty launched a trivia game, and in May, it introduced word-association game, Chips and Guac.

The acquisition of Houseparty could yield a larger female demographic of Fortnite players, according to the The Wall Street Journal.

Epic Games made nearly $2.5 billion through "Fortnite" in 2018, and in January it acquired video graphic design firm 3Lateral, which specializes in hyper-realistic human CGI. It had amassed a total of 250 million registered players by March.

For 20 years, Microsoft has offered steep discounts to major European scientific research organization CERN, allowing it to qualify for Microsoft's cheaper academic institution prices.

But a year ago, Microsoft started hinting that CERN would not longer qualify for the discounts and in March, 2019, a new software contract took effect that increased the organization's costs by 10-fold, IT pro Emmanuel Ormancey wrote in a blog post published Wednesday.

So CERN is, very publicly, taking on a project to kick Microsoft out of its organization and find lower-cost alternatives, particularly open source ones. While Ormancey wrote that this project is intended to also kick out other commercial software vendors who may also wake up one day and decide to ratchet up prices, CERN isn't really pretending to target the whole software industry. It's literally calling this project the Microsoft Alternatives project, or (MAlt).

The CERN control center uses a lot of computers and none of them will run Windows anymore once the IT department finishes "Project MALt." Business Insider / Pamela Engel In explaining the what and why of it, Ormancey practically accused Microsoft of price gouging. "The Microsoft Alternatives project (MAlt) started a year ago to mitigate anticipated software license fee increases," he wrote.

Read: Amazon, Apple and Google dominate some surprising markets, researcher finds, giving the government a lot of fodder for investigations

"CERN has enjoyed special conditions for the use of Microsoft products for the last 20 years, by virtue of its status as an 'academic institution'. However, recently, the company has decided to revoke CERN's academic status, a measure that took effect at the end of the previous contract in March 2019, replaced by a new contract based on user numbers, increasing the license costs by more than a factor of ten," he continued.

"Such costs are not sustainable. Anticipating this situation, the IT department created the Microsoft Alternatives project," he wrote.

Based in Switzerland, CERN is one of the world's foremost research organization in the field of nuclear physics. The lab operates the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator. CERN is also where the World Wide Web was created, giving it special cachet in the tech world.

CERN employs around 2,500 people, which is a sizeable enterprise. But it collaborates with more than 12,200 other organizations across 70 countries. Ormancy explained that to let everyone collaborate it would need to pay for many more users than just its own employees, and costs for Microsoft software become "huge."

The MALt project hopes to move CERN from Microsoft software to mostly open source alternatives, so it never again has to worry about a commercial software vendor hitting it with big price hikes. Still, CERN developer Iban Eguia said in a tweet that it's more important for the organization to ditch Microsoft than to use only open source alternatives, although it is going to try to use open source "as much as possible."

More importantly, CERN expects to share what it does with other research organization who are also unhappy with Microsoft's prices.

CERN didn't publicly say exactly what Microsoft products it uses now (although we've reached out and asked). But CERN uses Windows and Office 365 and CERN users were also previously allowed to use their work Windows and Office 365 licenses on their home computers used for work, too. And CERN also generates loads of data that they store in Microsoft's cloud, Azure.

Read: Jeff Bezos explains why he prefers people who 'are right a lot' and how anyone can learn to be right a lot, too

Microsoft isn't the only classic software vendor that ticks its enterprise customers off over pricing. There's an entire field of consultants dedicated to helping enterprises negotiate pricing with software firms like Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and SAP, called software asset management.

These consultants help companies negotiate licensing gotchas and the dreaded "audits" where software firms examine software usage and sometimes slap huge fines, claiming violations of the software contract. In Microsoft lingo, it's known as a "True-up."

But CERN isn't going down that path if it can help it.

"MAlt's objective is to put us back in control," Ormancey wrote.

Neither Microsoft nor CERN immediately responded to a request for comment.

At Business Insider, we avidly anticipated the new Ford Ranger, which is actually a built-in-America version of a global pickup that Ford has been selling outside the US. The Blue Oval is already super-strong in full-size trucks — can you say "F-150"? — and back in the day, the Ranger was a popular starter pickup.

In 2019, the entire pickup-truck market is driving US sales, and the midsize offerings are much improved over the little pickups that used to cover this segment. They're really more like shrunken-down full-sizers, and where Chevy (as well as GMC, with the Canyon) and Ford are concerned, the idea is to offer a solid hauler that's simply more compact than a big boy.

We've sampled pretty much everything the market has to offer on this front, so a key question was, "What does Ford bring to the party with the new Ranger?"

The answer is a great truck, with some great features.

When the photographer Greg Benz started having issues with his MacBook Pro, he did what most people would and brought the $7,000 high-end machine in to Apple for repairs, he said in a blog post.

The issue: Benz's MacBook Pro display wouldn't turn on and remained dark no matter what he did. Not even Apple could figure it out. Benz went two weeks without his work machine while Apple twice replaced the computer's logic board (the board that contains the machine's important chips) and swapped out some cables.

Eventually, Apple decided to just replace the MacBook Pro with a fresh unit, similarly valued at $7,000. Fortunately for Benz, his original laptop was under warranty, so he didn't have to pay a dime. But he estimated that if he did have to foot the bill, it would have cost him about $10,000 — which tracks with my own experience trying to replace a Mac's logic board.

Clearly, it would have really stunk if his laptop was not under warranty.

Finally, after all that drama, an Apple Genius shined a flashlight at the screen of his original, problematic unit and found the real answer to the problem. Ready for it? Here it is:

The computer's display brightness was turned all the way down.

A MacBook Pro's logic board. Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

The root of the problem

Indeed, the last time he turned off his computer, the brightness was set to its lowest setting, as he had his MacBook Pro connected to external monitors.

The root cause of Benz's MacBook Pro issue — which involved several expensive repairs that didn't actually fix anything — is absurdly basic. But if you take a step back, it's not entirely Benz's fault and not entirely the Apple technicians', either.

It appears that Benz faced a perfect storm of glitches that led him — and Apple — to think his MacBook Pro was defective or broken.

The screen didn't light up when he turned on his computer, the keyboard didn't light up, his external monitor didn't turn on as it normally does, the screen's brightness wasn't responding to the brightness controls on his external keyboard, and he tried some in-depth troubleshooting that many — if not most — Mac users have never heard of (like resetting the system's PRAM, in case you're wondering).

And perhaps the most important glitch — the Touch Bar, the touchscreen above the keyboard, on Benz's MacBook Pro failed to show up when he turned on his laptop, which prevented him from raising the screen's brightness.

Raising a larger question about the MacBook Pro

Speaking with Business Insider, Benz suggested that the entire repair debacle could have been avoided had his maxed-out $7,000 2018 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar come with old-fashioned physical brightness buttons instead of the touch-sensitive strip that replaces them on its highest-end models.

"Had [the laptop] come with brightness buttons, I absolutely would have tried that," Benz said.

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

The problem that Benz faced was that the Touch Bar on his MacBook Pro, which would have offered the option to turn up the brightness, wouldn't turn on until after he logged in. And with the screen out of commission, he didn't know that the machine was on the log-in screen.

A fully operational MacBook Pro should have displayed the Touch Bar, where you'd normally find the screen-brightness controls. I turned on a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar at the office, and the Touch Bar showed up, complete with brightness controls.

It's possible that recent updates to the MacOS operating system changed how the Touch Bar works. In his blog post, Benz said the issue may have had something to do with the specialized software that he uses for his work, such as a screen-calibration tool, he said in his blog post — meaning that most MacBook Pro users are unlikely to run into this exact issue. One of Benz's friends even tried and failed to duplicate one of the issues, he said.

In hindsight, after finally knowing the root cause of the issue, we might all ask why Benz didn't try to log in to his computer by typing his password, even if the screen was black. But everything is so much clearer in hindsight, and Benz's laptop was experiencing glitches that simply refused to let him control his screen's brightness.

Benz's experience serves as good feedback for Apple and a reminder that physical buttons definitely have their place.

Business Insider contacted Apple for comment on Benz's experience but did not hear back.

Amazon's Alexa smart home devices have sparked a new lawsuit that alleges the company recorded audio from millions of children without first getting proper consent from their parents. According to the Seattle Times, a new lawsuit filed in the city's federal court accuses Amazon of violating privacy laws in eight different states that require all parties to consent to a voice recording, regardless of age.

Alexa-powered devices regularly record audio when activated with a wake word, which is "Alexa" by default. Earlier this year Bloomberg found that Amazon employees listen to these recordings and occasionally annotate an "extremely small sample" of them for training purposes. Bloomberg reported that members of the Amazon team that listens to these recordings can listen to as many as 1,000 clips during a nine-hour shift.

The lawsuit claims that Alexa records people regardless of whether they purchased the device or signed up to use the Alexa app, and doesn't warn unregistered users that they're being recorded. The suit goes on to allege that Amazon is violating laws in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington by not obtaining explicit consent.

Read more: There's a simple way to make sure Amazon workers can't listen to what you say to Alexa — here's how to do it

While consent is required regardless of age in these states, the lawsuit is specifically concerned with protecting minors. The lawsuit claims that Amazon is using the data to glean the habits and personal information of children and "has strong commercial incentives to collect as many Alexa recordings as possible."

If the court finds in favor of the plaintiff, the lawsuit wants Amazon to delete all recordings of underage users and prevent future recordings unless the user grants consent. Additional damages would be considered by the court during the trial.

Alexa owners can manage how Amazon reviews their data via the Alexa app, but you need to opt-out of the "help develop new features" option. Following the Bloomberg report, Amazon introduced a new feature to have Alexa delete all of your voice recordings, but you have to opt in to activate the deletion command and it will only delete your recordings from the current calendar day. The company also launched a new Alexa privacy hub to make it easier to delete your past recordings and manage your smart device settings.

One week after YouTube's controversial decision not to remove videos that contained homophobic slurs, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly sent an email to LGBTQ employees saying the company was taking a "hard look" at its harassment policies and would work more closely with internal LGBTQ groups.

"With respect to YouTube, Susan and the team are already taking a hard look at the harassment policies and will do this in consultation with many groups, including people who have themselves experienced harassment," Pichai said in the emai obtained by the Verge. "We're also thinking through ways to engage more with our LGBTQ+ community at important moments."

It was not clear from the report if Pichai's email was sent to all Google employees, addressed to LGBTQ+ employees, or if the email was sent only to a specific group of individuals at Google.

On Monday, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki apologized at a tech conference in Arizona for the hurt caused by her team's decision not to take down videos from conservative commentator Steven Crowder, though she said that based on the company's current policies, she stood by the decision.

Read more: YouTube CEO apologized to the LGBTQ community for not banning videos involving homophobic slurs last week, but says she stands by the decision

According to the Verge, Pichai and members of his leadership team (not including Wojcicki) met with members of the company's LGBTQ groups on Tuesday to discuss a "pattern" of issues and how it can consult with internal LGBTQ leaders on policy decisions.

Pichai also echoed Wojcicki's apology and said he "especially regret[ed]" the incident taking place during Pride month, according to the email.

Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Read the Verge's story for a Pichai's full email.

Walmart is overhauling Jet.com.

The company is moving all Jet employees to Walmart.com, and in the process, Jet president Simon Belsham will be stepping down, Walmart e-commerce CEO Marc Lore wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

"Jet continues to be a very valuable brand to us, and it is playing a specific role in helping Walmart reach urban customers," Lore, who also founded Jet.com, said in the post. "The focus has largely been on NY so far, and we're looking at other cities where we might bring together Jet's expertise and the scale and operating model of Walmart. More to come on that."

Belsham will remain at the company through early August, Lore said. There will be no layoffs and the Jet headquarters in Hoboken, New Jersey, will stay, a Walmart spokesperson told CNBC.

Walmart purchased Jet in 2016 in a $3.3 billion deal. It happened just as Walmart was beefing up its e-commerce initiatives to better do combat with Amazon.

A year later, in 2017, Jet refocused its business on serving urban millennials in cities where Walmart did not have a huge presence, like New York.

Read more: How Walmart turned its $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com into its greatest weapon against Amazon

That allowed the brand to exist as a way to reach those customers without cannibalizing sales on Walmart.com, which was — and still is — seeing explosive growth.

At the time, Jet's then-president, Liza Landsman, told Business Insider that Walmart felt it was important to "let Jet be Jet."

Times have changed, as Jet's sales and traffic dropped by 60% in March 2018 when compared to the year prior, according to a report from Bloomberg last year.

In late 2018, Jet relaunched its website, partnering with sought-after brands like Nike, and it unveiled a same-day grocery delivery program in the New York City area, powered by a warehouse in the Bronx.

"Really the whole new site and business relaunch is just the beginning really of our direction for Jet and broader than that how we're thinking about the future of where we want to take retail and e-commerce," Belsham told Business Insider at the time.

"E-commerce today isn't going to be e-commerce in the future, and this is the start of how Jet can fit into that."

More than 50 new emoji will become standard in 2019, based on the final list approved by the Unicode Consortium. Unicode is responsible for defining which emojis make onto all platforms, including iPhones, Android devices, and computers.

Many of the new icons are tied together by the theme of inclusivity, introducing emoji for deaf people, blind people, people in wheelchairs, and those with prosthetic limbs. This year's update will allow users to choose the race and gender of both people when choosing an emoji that features a couple. Unicode first introduced support for skin color in 2015, but users were limited to heterosexual emojis for couples, and could only select couples with the same skin tone.

While there are 59 distinct new emoji, variations for skin tone and gender make for a total of 230 individual images. A March update to Unicode made the emoji usable online, but each company will choose when to introduce its own version of the new emoji. (Apple typically adds new emojis to its iOS devices with a Fall update.)

Here are the new emoji coming online later this year, with images from Emojipedia:

Given the ongoing privacy scandals that have surrounded Facebook over the past year, there are plenty of reasons why the general public may be skeptical of the social network.

But a persistent myth that's floated around for years is the idea that Facebook eavesdrops on personal conversations and then later serves ads based on what you say. That simply isn't true, says Facebook.

The belief came about as people began to come forward with stories over the years in which they had encountered Facebook ads that closely mirrored recent conversations. For example, one couple saw wedding ads the day after they had gotten engaged, before they had even told anyone, as the BBC reported.

Facebook issued a statement in 2016 to debunk this claim. "Facebook does not use your phone's microphone to inform ads or to change what you see in the News Feed," the company wrote. "We show ads based on people's interest and other profile information — not what you're talking out loud about."

Aside from the paper calendar that hangs in the kitchen that my wife keeps updated, my Google calendars are the only place I record upcoming meetings, events, birthdays, and anything else I need to remember.

I love using Google Calendar because, unlike a note jotted down on paper, I can't lose it. And I can access it from my computer, tablet, or phone from anywhere on earth I have web access.

Adding a new Google Calendar is a quick and easy process, and it's worth mastering. Keeping separate calendars for different areas of your life helps you compartmentalize your work and home schedules.

Just make sure you cross-reference each of your calendars when making plans, as it's easy to forget what you have on each individual calendar.

How to add a new Google Calendar and customize it

1. Log into your Google account, then click the Google Apps logo, which is the square formed by nine dots at the top right corner of the screen.

2. Click on the Calendar icon, which is a blue box with the number 31 on it.

Open Google Calendar. Steven John/Business Insider

3. Locate the words "Other calendars" on the taskbar at the left and click the plus symbol (+) beside it.

Click the plus sign to open a menu where you can create a new calendar. Steven John/Business Insider

4. Click the words "Create new calendar."

5. On the page that appears, enter a calendar name, an optional description, and select your preferred time zone, then hit the blue box that reads "Create calendar."

Enter in your calendar's information, including its name. Steven John/Business Insider

And there you have it, your brand new Google Calendar.