The big question going into this year's CinemaCon, the annual movie theater convention currently taking place in Las Vegas, was how much of Disney's presentation would be about Fox?

Disney head Bob Iger has said publicly that some of the recognizable IPs that Fox possesses would continue, but would just the big blockbusters make the cut? Turns out that's a big NO.

On Wednesday, Disney and Fox executives took the stage to present the upcoming slate of Disney titles for 2019 and there is a wide range of features from Fox that will fill up that slate. In fact, the release schedule is so full for Disney since the deal to acquire 20th Century Fox (which also includes its independent film shingle, Fox Searchlight) became final, there will likely be release-date changes coming to some titles.

Read more: 'Joker' director says online chatter about his twisted origin movie hasn't been accurate, and shares first trailer that evokes 'Taxi Driver'

One of the most eye-popping moments of the presentation was when Disney's executive VP of theatrical distribution, Cathleen Taff, showed a graphic of the Disney slate for this year (which includes "Avengers: Endgame," "Aladdin," and "The Lion King"), and then that graphic changed to include the Fox titles ("Dark Phoenix," "Stuber," "The New Mutants," "Ad Astra"). It's a lineup that should have every executive in the other studios shaking in their boots.

One industry executive told Business Insider at CinemaCon that basically Disney now dominates the release schedule and all the other studios have to fight over the scraps.

"I'm still just trying to get my mind around this," Disney chairman Alan Horn told the audience following a sizzle reel that opened the presentation, which showcased past hits from both Disney and Fox, with the message being "one vision."

More "Deadpool" is definitely coming. 20th Century Fox Horn also made it clear to the audience made up of exhibitors from around the globe that theatrical is still "the cornerstone" of Disney going forward.

Fox's vice chairman, Emma Watts, took the stage and along with showing footage from coming releases "Dark Phoenix" and the drama "Ford v. Ferrari" — starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale about Ford Motor Company's quest to build a car that could beat Ferrari at the Le Mans in 1966 — said that franchises like "Kingsman," "Alien," and "Planet of the Apes" will continue to get made. And yes, more "Deadpool," too.

"With the vast resources of the Walt Disney Studio behind us we are ready to write our next great chapter," Watts told the audience.

It seems very clear that Disney has no plans to shelve Fox or push it to its Disney+ streaming service. The studio is looking to increase its dominance in the theatrical space even more than it already has.

Tesla on Wednesday released total vehicle-production and delivery numbers for the first quarter of 2019, which ended on Sunday.

Here are the important figures:

Wall Street analysts' average estimate for total production was 64,400 cars, according to Bloomberg.

Tesla had previously warned in its fourth-quarter update to investors that first-quarter numbers for Model S and Model X would likely come in "slightly below" the prior year's figures for the same period. In the first quarter of 2018, the company produced 24,728 Model S and Model X vehicles.

Tesla cited challenges it encountered with deliveries overseas.

"We had only delivered half of the entire quarter's numbers by March 21, ten days before end of quarter," Tesla said in a press release Wednesday night. "This caused a large number of vehicle deliveries to shift to the second quarter."

Like many other previous quarters, this deadline was also met with an all-hands-on-deck rush to meet internal targets by Tesla. Emails from CEO Elon Musk, which Business Insider obtained in March, to company employees highlighted how important this quarterly deadline was for the company.

Read more: Tesla is planning an exclusive event to show off its self-driving car tech — but Americans still have major fears about autonomy

Shares of the company fell $0.39, or slightly more than 0.1%, in after-hours trading following the production report, according to Markets Insider data.

Tesla is expected to report its first-quarter financials soon, but it has not yet confirmed a release date. Musk said in February that the company would likely dip back into the red for this quarter — a departure from his previous statements about the company's continued profitability — as it expanded into Europe and China.

The company did not provide an update on how many $35,000 Model 3 orders it received. The company began taking orders for the long-awaited base model in February.

Accenture Interactive's deal to acquire creative agency Droga5 is more than it might seem on the surface, say the executives behind the merger.

The planned acquisition, which Accenture Interactive announced Wednesday, will fill an obvious hole in its lineup. Despite Accenture Interactive's large and growing presence in the ad business, it hasn't had much of a traditional creative shop in-house, at least not one that primarily serves the giant US market. Droga5 will give it just that.

But Accenture Interactive isn't a traditional advertising firm, and it has bigger plans for Droga5 than to have the agency design ads for its clients, company CEO Brian Whipple told Business Insider. An arm of the giant Accenture consulting firm, which has deep expertise in technology, Accenture Interactive focuses on helping companies rethink and redesign how consumers are introduced to and interact with their products and services. The company plans to tap Droga5 CEO David Droga and his team to help clients reimagine those experiences, Whipple said.

"There are many experiences out there that have yet to be reinvented," Whipple said, pointing to areas ranging from health care to the way people board planes to the way they try on clothes in stores. "David and his team," he continued, "will be a tremendous benefit to us, in terms of just bringing creative ideas to our clients about their experiences."

Read this:Accenture Interactive just bought Droga5, right after a top exec at the firm said it's 'just getting started' in its plan to disrupt advertising

Indeed, when evaluating Droga5, Accenture Interactive saw in it the potential for a broad definition of the word "creative," Whipple said. Sure, Droga5 could do for Accenture Interactive's clients what creative agencies traditionally do — create ads and marketing campaigns. But it also promised to augment the creative juices within Accenture Interactive, allowing it to be more imaginative in rethinking customer experiences, Whipple said.

"The ideas for reinventing experience are creative by nature," he said.

Droga5 has already been heading in that direction, Droga said. The agency no longer sees itself as just creating advertising messages or building brands — and its clients now expect it to offer more than just that, he said.

The company sees itself as being in the business of helping rethink the way customers come to and interact with their products, he said. For example, Droga5 might help a motorcycle company not just advertise its bikes, but figure out how to help persuade people who have never even thought about riding one before do so, he said.

"We are an ideas entity," Droga said, continuing, "We like to think of ourselves as creating solutions for our clients."

Teaming up with Accenture Interactive is going to allow Droga5 to head in that direction much farther than it could on its own, because of the former's massive size and capabilities, he said.

"They just give us the capacity to execute that far further upstream and downstream than we ever have," Droga said.

At the SXSW conference last month, Accenture showcased some of the work it's been doing on trying to reinvent the way consumers interact with brands. It showed off an augmented reality experience it built for DuPont Corian that allows customers to design their own virtual countertops with digital devices. It also demonstrated an interactive movie poster for Disney's new "Dumbo" movie that changes based on the emotions it detects in viewers' faces.

We are ... just beginning to scratch the surface with what I've referred to as the experience marketplace," Whipple said.

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After two false starts, it seems data analytics startup Segment has finally found its sweet spot.

Going up against industry behemoth Salesforce, Segment offers what it sees as a more complete approach to customer data management and analysis. Its core service, Connections, takes data collected from each interaction from customers, and promises to delivers a consolidated view of customer behavior — going beyond the customer relationship management (CRM) tools that are such a big business in the industry today.

The company, which is currently around 350 employees, announced today that it raised $175 million in Series D funding. Existing investors Accel and GV (formerly Google Ventures) co-led the round with new investor Meritech Capital. Other existing returning investors include Thrive Capital, Y Combinator Continuity, and eVentures. Its valuation, according to a Bloomberg report, is estimated at $1.5 billion.

After two years of struggling to find product-market fit, Cofounders Peter Reinhardt and Calvin French-Owen submitted an open source library they were working on to popular engineering forum Hacker News. According to Reinhardt, "it just took off" from there. Now with over 19,000 customers, Segment has set its sights on some of the most recognizable names in tech: Salesforce and Oracle.

Read More:The CEO of a hot Silicon Valley startup who built a product used by more than 15,000 companies reveals the single way you'll know whether or not people will actually buy your product

"The cloud suite providers have gone and gobbled up the leader or number two or number three player in every app category and are generating revenue by selling like crazy," said Reinhardt. "When we talk to customers, their biggest issue is not in making it easier to buy apps, the biggest problem is the unified holistic [customer] persona and good data to act on."

Segment's strength lies in its foundation, Reinhardt says—by building in support for multiple data inputs from many outside sources, it can compete with the deeply-integrated offerings from its much larger rivals. Indeed, Reinhardt says, the larger companies can actually trip customers up with the sheer amounts of varied data they can provide across multiple products, making it hard to get one, unified picture of the business's situation.

"The cloud suites were built first around offline CRMs, and then acquired their way into a fragmented suite of marketing channels," Reinhardt explained.

Without naming names, Reinhardt points to the influx of acquisitions in the space as proof that entrenched players have it all wrong. In an example, he explains how a customer would interact with a bank 20 years ago. The teller knows the customer, he explains, because that customer interacts with the teller face-to-face, the bank's CRM system has a record of the customer's previous business with the bank.

Now, Reinhardt explains, this interaction is splintered across several points of contact. Between ATMs, mobile banking apps, and traditional branches, that customer is interacting with the business differently at each step. The teller can't provide the same personalized customer experience because his or her preferences are scattered across all these different channels.

"In a world where the CRM is only a small slice of the customer experience, it's much more strategic for the customer to have a better experience in the first place," said Reinhardt.

To his point, in January, Salesforce acquired griddable.io, an enterprise data analytics platform, for an undisclosed amount. The deal came on the heels of Salesforce's $6.5 billion acquisition of MuleSoft, the largest deal in company history, which was a play to bring more data together into its platform.

"The legacy players are trying to glue together acquisitions to make [their offerings] look like customer data infrastructure," said Reinhardt.

Among Segment's 19,000 customers, Glossier stands out as a particular success to Reinhardt. The online-first beauty brand has a cult following among customers across social media and offline activations. The company opened its first retail location in late 2018, adding yet another channel from which it could learn about its devoted customers. Segment has unified customer data across "dozens" of Glossier's owned channels to provide simple measurements and analysis without the complexity that typically comes with juggling dozens of tools.

After this "large but proportional" amount of funding, as Reinhardt called it, Segment is looking to grow internationally as well as expand its suite of services to include improved privacy and security offerings, in addition to entering new markets across the globe.

"We're making huge investments in those markets that have been completely un-served, and the cloud suites' legacy tools are struggling to close those holes. People are realizing the CRM is not enough."

What once seemed like the moonshot vision of tech billionaires and idealistic architects could soon become a concrete solution to several of the world's most pressing challenges.

At a United Nations roundtable on Wednesday, a group of builders, engineers, and architects debuted a concept for an affordable floating city.

Unlike instances in the past when these futuristic designs have been met with skepticism, the executive director of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), Maimunah Mohd Sharif, said the UN would support and shepherd this project to fruition.

"Everybody on the team actually wants to get this built," said Marc Collins, the CEO of Oceanix, a company that builds floating structures. "We're not just theorizing."

The company believes a floating city project would address both dire housing shortages and threats from rising sea levels. The structures themselves would be designed to withstand all sorts of natural disasters, including floods, tsunamis, and Category 5 hurricanes.

Read more: Silicon Valley's largest city wants to house the homeless in floating apartments

The concept, known as Oceanix City, was designed by renowned architect Bjarke Ingels in collaboration with Oceanix. Though it still needs funding, it's essentially a toolkit for investors brave enough to take on the project.

Here's what the city might look like if it comes to life.

Today, cloud identity management provider Okta unveiled Okta Ventures, a $50 million in-house venture fund focusing on early-stage identity and authentication startups that use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain technology.

Announced on-stage at the company's annual customer conference in San Francisco, Okta Ventures' first investment is in Trusted Key, a blockchain-based digital identity company that had previously raised $3 million. While Okta isn't disclosing the amount, the investment speaks to the company's interest in using blockchain to improve its flagship tool, which helps customers log in to multiple work apps with just their corporate username and password.

Read More:Okta's cofounder explains why it's buying an automation startup for $52.5 million in its biggest deal yet

The company says that the fund will invest in existing Okta partners in addition to other identity management startups. Portfolio companies will have access to Okta's products for the first year, in addition to the ability to build products that integrate with Okta's technology.

"We expect the partnerships with our portfolio companies to extend our platform, and we're committed to providing significant value to these early stage startups," said Okta Cofounder and COO Frederic Kerrest in a prepared statement. "Trusted Key is a perfect example of a young company working on a big idea, and we look forward to collaborating to shape the future of identity."

According to a TechCrunch report, Okta Ventures will invest between $250,000 and $2 million in eight to 10 early-stage businesses per year.

Okta went public in 2017 in one of the first pure-cloud subscription-based company IPOs. It raised $231 million from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Khosla Ventures, and Floodgate before going public.

Wayne Jackson has got a decent record when it comes to growing a business and exiting at a bumper valuation — he's done it twice before, and is well on the way to repeating the trick a third time.

Jackson, a 56-year-old tech veteran, built his reputation by cofounding wireless infrastructure company Riverbed Technologies. He served as the firm's CEO for nearly three years before selling to Aether Systems for more than $1 billion in March 2000.

From Riverbed, he joined network security company Sourcefire in 2002. He steered the company through an IPO in 2007 that raised more than $70 million. Jackson departed a year later, and Sourcefire went on to be acquired by Cisco for $2.7 billion in 2013.

Jackson is now the CEO of Sonatype, a company that helps firms vet the software components they use. He joined in 2010 and last September, the startup announced it had raised $80 million in a funding round led by TPG Capital. Although Sonatype would not disclose its valuation, it has raised $154.7 million since it was founded in 2008.

The recent raise will help Sonatype build out its Nexus platform. Nexus is a vast software repository which helps keep everything in the DevOps cycle secure and up-to-date. Sonatype describes it as "the world's best way to organize, store, and distribute software components." Clients include Equifax, Salesforce, EDF, and Delta Airlines.

Although not obviously the most glamorous of Silicon Valley startups, the companies Jackson has served have one thing in common: They super-serve a specific market. And it's this that Jackson highlights when sharing his advice on growing a successful tech business.

"Find a niche you can serve," Jackson said. "At Sonatype, for example, we arguably know more about open source projects than you could possibly know. The area Sonatype serves is interesting enough to find its market, but still specific enough that giants such as Google aren't necessarily going to look at what we do and think: We should be doing that."

This is a theory also beloved by some of the most successful venture capital investors in tech. They call it "product-market fit."

Read more: Sonatype Nexus Named Best Open Source DevOps Tool

Jackson continued: "But also, ask whether a traditional startup can even win in the market you're going into. You could argue that some ideas, such as the cloud, were always going to be too big for startups to have turned into a reality. Only a Google or an Amazon could really have engineered the cloud. Businesses need to be grown in the context of the markets that they serve.

"Back when I was at Riverbed, we positioned ourselves as a partner to bigger companies such as Cisco and IBM. Whereas with Sonatype, I don't think that approach would work, because the DevOps market is so new."

With such a stellar CV, it is easy to forget Jackson didn't always have it his way. When he was a graduate with no definite career plans, he lost his job as an assistant comptroller for a resort company in Virginia in 1991. In a 2011 interview with The Washington Post, he described the experience as "eviscerating."

Now, he says tech is a very safe bet for graduates. "Attaching yourself to tech bullet-proofs your future," he told Business Insider. "Attaching yourself to tech doesn't necessarily mean becoming a coder. It could be that you become very good at understanding and explaining concepts — writing is technical. Clear, crisp information delivery is a skill unto itself, and I think that'll be the case for a very long time."

As an established figure in the tech world, and with his background on cybersecurity at Sonatype, Jackson has some strident views on the approach to privacy of firms like Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg's company has made noises about safeguarding user privacy and becoming more transparent. But Jackson isn't buying it.

"The idea that Facebook is focusing on privacy? I think it's laughable, and laughable on many levels. Of course, Facebook isn't concerned with privacy. That's the way it's designed. It's the same with Gmail," he said. Not that he thinks regulation is the answer.

"I tend to be fairly anti-regulation — but not because I think tech companies are noble. I think the Facebooks and the Googles of this world should be more aggressive in making it known what they're doing with people's data. From then on, once it has been made known, Facebook's and Google's services should be opt-in."

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

In what's become a familiar stock-market reaction to Amazon's plans to extend itself into an industry, shares of Roku fell as much as 3.2% Wednesday after it was reported that the e-commerce giant is looking to expand its streaming offerings.

Amazon is planning a "vast" expansion of its free streaming service on Amazon Fire TV devices, asking marketers to pledge millions of dollars to support the new offerings Cheddar reported, citing multiple people who held discussions with Amazon. Amazon declined to comment to Cheddar.

"Amazon has talked to executives at media companies and advertising agencies about its plans to include more ad-supported streaming channels to compete with Roku and Pluto TV, which offer free access to TV shows and movies with commercials," Cheddar's Michelle Castillo reported.

Advertisers are reportedly reluctant to pledge money before they know what content might be available on the new channels, and some buyers said Amazon is asking for "as much as a large cable network for advertising commitments."

Roku is the latest in a string of companies that have seen their share prices dip, if only briefly, following news that Amazon is expanding, or looking into expanding, into a given industry.

In March, shares of the grocery stores Kroger and Costco fell after The Wall Street Journal reported Amazon was planning to open its own grocery stores in the US at a lower price point than Whole Foods — the chain it bought two years ago.

And last year, pharmacy stocks like Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS, and Rite Aid took a tumble after Amazon bought the startup PillPack.

Wednesday's slide did little to dent Roku's recent rally. Shares were still up 126% this year, trading at $68.40 apiece.

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

Markets Insider

Facebook has found a novel solution to the never-ending deluge of negative headlines and news articles criticizing the company: Simply paying a British newspaper to run laudatory stories about it.

Facebook has partnered with The Daily Telegraph, a broadsheet British newspaper, to run a series of features about the company, Business Insider has found — including stories that defend it on hot-button issues it has been criticised over like terrorist content, online safety, cyberbullying, fake accounts, and hate speech.

The series — called "Being human in the information age" — has published 26 stories over the last month, to run in print and online, and is produced by Telegraph Spark, the newspaper's sponsored content unit.

"Fake news, cyberbullying, artificial intelligence — it seems like life in the internet age can be a scary place," the articles say. "That's why Telegraph Spark and Facebook have teamed up to show how Facebook and other social media platforms are harnessing the power of the internet to protect your personal data."

Sponsored native content, in which companies pay for media organizations to produce positive articles that appear similar to traditional news stories, are an increasingly popular method of monetization for many publications, including Business Insider. Some studies have been critical of the ad format, arguing they can mislead news consumers.

Facebook's recent use of the format highlights how in its attempts to burnish its image after years of damaging scandals, the company is exploring ways to sidestep the critical media ecosystem entirely and get out a positive, unadulterated message about itself.

In an email, Facebook spokesperson Vicky Gomes said that "this is a part of our larger marketing efforts in the UK with the goal of educating and driving awareness of our local investments, initiatives, and partnerships here in the UK that have a positive impact on people's lives."

"As part of this campaign, we've partnered with the Telegraph and there will be some profiles of London-based employees working on some of the toughest issues to keep our platform safe, as well as articles to educate people on topics like how to spot fake news and how to adjust their privacy settings," Gomes said.

An example of a story in the series. They're labeled "Brought to you by Facebook," and appear similar to ordinary news stories. The Telegraph

The stories dismiss 'technofears' about the impact of technology on society

On March 13, the series ran a feature headlined "What action is Facebook taking to tackle terrorist content?", which discussed Facebook's work to "ensure terrorist content is identified and removed as swiftly as possible."

Two days later, a gunman opened fire at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people and livestreaming the entire attack on Facebook.

"The same week of the Christchurch attack, @Facebook told us in a sponsored puff piece in the @Telegraph that they have terrorist content under control," the European branch of policy organization Counter Extremism Project tweeted at the time. "This week, the picture looks very different."

The subjects of the sponsored stories in The Daily Telegraph, an influential, 150-year-old right-leaning daily newspaper, that ran throughout March included everything from artificial intelligence to female objectification and combatting scammers online— as well as issues that the company has been criticized for.

"Tackling hate speech and terrorism on social media" talks approvingly of Facebook and other social network's attempts to crack down on extremist content, but doesn't go into detail about efforts to tackle white supremacist content on Facebook, over which the company has been heavily criticized. On Tuesday, the Huffington Post reported that Facebook refused to take down a video that attacked Jews and promoted white nationalist talking points, despite the company's new rules banning white nationalism.

"How to deal with cyberbullying" provides guidance for children who have been harassed and bullied online — an issue that Facebook-owned photo-sharing app Instagram has been scrutinized over, including in an investigation by The Atlantic.

And another, "Why have technofears dominated history?," written by well-known author and geneticist Adam Rutherford, dismisses broadly skeptical attitudes towards technology, including the growing argument that screen-time can adversely affect children's' development:

"This is an important discussion: does screen-time actually cause harm? It's an area scientists might term 'opinion rich, data poor'. Intuitively, it may feel that kids glued to their phones or wired into a PlayStation 4 causes more harm than good. But science is here to distinguish what we feel from what is true. And the truth is that there is very little evidence to suggest that screen-time is a significant factor in real social and personal issues, including wellbeing, depression and violence.

...

"We are a technological species, and always have been. Maybe the speed of change feels overwhelming, and what is normal to our children is scary for us. But that is the same as it ever was. There may well be qualitative differences in what being online can now offer us in benefits or subterfuge, but we will only progress if we engage with the ever-changing yet ultimately unvarying relationship we have with technology."

A different column, by neuroscientist Dr. Dean Burnett ("Has the biggest danger of the internet been left unchecked?"), suggests the biggest problem facing the internet is that it "makes it easier than ever to find people to agree with you."

The landing page for the series, "Being human in the information age." The Daily Telegraph

Facebook's go-to talking points are all here

Facebook has also produced interviews with some of its European employees as part of the series.

There's one with Steve Hatch, VP of Northern Europe, that's headlined "Why Facebook's mission is to bring the world closer together." Hatch's remarks are largely familiar company talking points — "With a platform of more than 2.2 billion, we have a big responsibility," " "let me say that we never sell people's data," "we've learned that people don't necessarily dislike advertisements per se, just ads that aren't relevant and waste their time," and so on.

And in "'We want to make Facebook safe for everyone,'" product manager Tim Matthews emphasizes Facebook's growth on its "safety and security" team. "We're taking serious measures to get this right. In the past year alone we have more than doubled our safety and security team to 30,000 and invested significantly in cutting-edge technology to help us remove abusive content quicker," he is quoted as saying.

Other articles talk about Facebook's charitable giving efforts ("How donating on Facebook has transformed fundraising"), a column from former Olympic swimmer Mark Foster about the need for online behavior classes for school kids ("Does freedom of expression online need a code of conduct?"), and a short feature by author Wendy McElroy about internet crypto-libertarianism ("How crypto-anarchism redefines the fight for freedom in the 21st century").

It's not clear how much Facebook is paying The Daily Telegraph for the articles, or who comes up with the initial story ideas. A Facebook spokesperson did not answer further questions about the partnership. The Daily Telegraph did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Facebook has paid for sponsored content with British newspapers before — but on far less politically charged issues. In 2016 and 2017, before its current wave of scandals, it ran a number of stories in left-leaning The Guardian on subjects like growing your business with video, understanding customers, and case studies of succesful companies. The Guardian articles are now offline, b ut remain accessible via the Internet Archive.

Do you work at Facebook? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-work phone, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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Apple's new streaming service is called Apple TV Plus.

It's a bad name.

Why is that? Well, here's the description for Apple TV Plus, straight from Apple's website (emphasis mine):

Apple

The name Apple TV Plus simply doesn't address that this service could also be a place for movies, or perhaps even other types of multimedia like documentaries or video podcasts.

It's odd that Apple would choose a name that makes it sound like the service is only about TV, especially since Apple made a big deal of how you can watch these shows on any Apple device you own.

The name Apple TV Plus is also confusing in general. Apple already sells something called the Apple TV, which is a streaming set-top box sold in stores and online. People could very easily assume Apple TV Plus is simply upgraded hardware, or maybe they think they need a physical Apple TV in order to watch these new shows — a reasonable conclusion, based on the name — when that's not the case.

Names matter: All words have a psychological effect, and people subconsciously correlate names with ideas. Apple whiffed big time with the name Apple TV Plus, and changing the name at this point would make Apple look incompetent. Apple picked the name, and it now has to live with it.

Apple should have given this service a name that actually encapsulates what it is: a place to watch original movies, shows, and other types of multimedia that are at least partially produced by Apple. It could have been called Apple Originals, or Apple Premium, or even Apple Prime if it wanted to get cheeky with its newfound media streaming rival, Amazon. But the name Apple TV Plus feels confusing, short-sighted, and singularly focused on TV shows, when it's supposed to be more than that.

Wireless, compact, and easy to use, Apple AirPods are one of the most convenient pieces of audio hardware out there these days.

While compatible with any Bluetooth device, they integrate seamlessly with any iPhone running iOS 10 or a later system. And ever since Apple removed the headphone jack starting with the iPhone 7, this ease of connectivity is more important than ever.

AirPods offer up to five continuous hours of audio, they can be charged simply by putting them in their case, you can control many functions with a gentle tap, they allow you to take and make calls, and they work with Siri. Until they get wet, that is — then they probably won't work at all.

AirPods are not waterproof or water-resistant

Apple makes no claims that its AirPods resist water damage. In fact, they state quite clearly on a Support webpage that "Your AirPods and charging case aren't waterproof or water-resistant, so be careful not to get moisture in any openings."

And Apple won't cover damage caused by water — you'll have to replace your AirPods out of your own pocket.

So keep your AirPods dry by not wearing them in the rain, keeping them away from water, taking them out when you're going to be sweating, and by only cleaning them with a dry cloth or a soft bristled brush.

There are other water-resistant earbud options

Zover wireless earbuds boast a water-resistance rating of IPX7.Amazon

AirPods are great thanks to their perfect pairing with other Apple devices, but if you want a set of earbuds you can wear while you exercise, while it rains, or when you're around water, then you need to look elsewhere.

If you don't mind a slender wire wrapping around the back of your neck, AUKEY offers their $59 water-resistant B80 earbuds for a hundred dollars less than a new set of Apple AirPods, and they will connect just fine with your iPhone.

A company called Zover even offers fully wire-free earbuds rated at IPX7 waterproofing that were designed for use during jogs or workouts, and at a reasonable price of $59.99.

On the higher-end side of things, the Bragi Dash Pro wireless headphones are another pair that feature water resistance, though they clock in at $239 or more on Amazon.

When Verizon bought AOL back in 2015, the big idea was that its combination of Verizon's data and AOL's content and tech would challenge Google and Facebook for digital advertising.

That mission now seems further than ever from being fulfilled.

Since then, the media arm has gone through two ridiculed rebrandings, first as Oath in 2017, then as Verizon Media in January. It's lost its champion, former CEO Tim Armstrong; shut its struggling mobile video service Go90; and laid off staff.

Read more: Verizon revealed its plans for Yahoo Finance in a meeting with ad-industry insiders, and they include testing a $55-a-month subscription service

Then, in January, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg walked back the idea that the media arm could use Verizon's phone and Fios set-top customer data to rival Google and Facebook, instead saying the media arm needed to survive on its own merits.

All that puts Verizon Media in a tough position with ad buyers who are hungry for a competitive alternative to Google and Facebook, with their ease of buying and ability to target at scale.

Verizon Media execs say the company's committed to the business

Last week Verizon Media leaders gave their pitch to the Verizon Media Agency Advisory Council, a dozen or so top ad agency execs that the company periodically convenes to share updates with and seek feedback from.

Leading the meeting was Jeff Lucas, Snap's former head of sales who joined Verizon last year as VP, head of North American sales and global client solutions. The meeting covered Verizon Media's strategy, from ad products to subscription services and premium-content plans, and was meant to send the message that the Verizon corporate parent is fully committed to its media arm that Verizon spent $10 billion to acquire.

But to attendees and agency execs who follow the company, the message is just as muddled as it's been the past year.

This story is based on a Verizon-written recap of the meeting viewed by Business Insider and interviews with four buyers, including three who attended the meeting.

Asked to comment, a Verizon Media spokesperson said: "We're always engaging with clients on prospective industry trends and potential for the business. We see tremendous value in our consumer brands and look forward to future public announcements."

The bad: Verizon has fallen short on challenging Facebook and Google

Top on the list of disappointments is what buyers saw as Verizon's failure to deliver on its goal of marrying its data and media to offer an alternative to Facebook and Google, which are gobbling digital media's lunch.

"I'm disappointed that they still haven't figured out the sum of the parts," said one attendee. "Verizon Media still feels like a collection of things. Fios isn't part of it. I wanted to see them get beyond impression-based monetization."

Agency attitudes about data were mixed, though. Since Verizon bought AOL and Yahoo, Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act passed. Facebook is getting regularly beat up about user privacy lapses. That's made buyers and sellers cautious about how far they can or want to go in fulfilling that goal now, with Verizon or any media company.

"The storyline might be connectivity, of all these people and behavior," said a second attendee. "But I don't know if that's what I want anymore. The landscape has never been more fraught with concerns about privacy and how data is used. And for this industry, that's saying a lot."

The message people took away from the meeting was that Verizon was highly concerned about protecting its customers' privacy. "Verizon is 10 times as paranoid about data than anyone in this room," a third agency exec recalled a Verizon Media exec saying at the meeting.

Verizon Media execs went on to stress that if clients wanted to bring their own customer data to media buys, that was just fine. It's a "walled garden but with a door," as the third exec summed up the pitch.

One theory floated by these agency execs is that Verizon is so concerned about misuse of its customer data, especially in this privacy-sensitive era, that it won't entrust it to its own media arm, which which like other media companies historically has been driven by different incentives. Advertisers can target ads using anonymized Yahoo email addresses, for example.

"They're so cavalier about reading Yahoo Mail — but the Verizon world is not at all," the first exec said.

The good: Verizon has 5G going for it, and some attendees walked away enthusiastic about its programmatic ad offering

There were some positive reactions from the meeting. Attendees said Verizon Media execs seemed honest and well intentioned. The new corporate name, Verizon Media Group, was seen as smart because it trades on Verizon's positive associations as being rich in data and tech-savvy.

Verizon has become closely identified with 5G, which is talked about as world-changing, with faster internet speeds. But no one really knows for sure what kind of new world 5G will lead to.

Verizon showed the gathering a concept of how 5G could change entertainment by showing a video souped up by augmented reality, and talked about how 5G could help it create video cheaper and faster. The benefits to advertisers and consumers seemed far off, though.

"5G is a potential differentiator for Verizon but they can't do anything with it," the third exec said.

Ad buyers in the past have given Oath credit for simplifying its ad tech.

This time, buyers were positive about Verizon Media's programmatic ad story after leaving the meeting. Verizon Media execs also stressed that it prioritized transparency in programmatic ad transactions, acknowledging transparency is a big concern among advertisers.

Buyers expressed enthusiasm over a new programmatic buying tool, Omniscope, that Verizon Media pitched as helping advertisers spend media dollars more efficiently; and a new partnership with a company called Amino that gives transparency into how programmatic fees break down.

Mixed: Some attendees were unconvinced by Verizon's content plans

Content initiatives got mixed reviews. Verizon Media said Yahoo Finance was about to launch a new subscription service that it's beta-testing at monthly prices of $35 to $55. The first attendee criticized it as niche and pricey.

Yahoo Sports was leaning into fantasy by developing a portfolio of fantasy games. The unit also is exploring now legalized online betting. Reaction ranged from enthusiasm that Verizon is leaning into hot growth areas to concern about the potential negative societal influence of sports betting.

But agencies continue to question the value today of Verizon Media's content brands like Yahoo Finance, AOL, and HuffPost and if they're special enough to warrant buying them when there are simpler options out there.

"They need a story," said a senior media agency exec. "They've been talking about leveraging the Verizon data for years. The content story's been all over the place."

"Facebook and Google are so easy to buy, and AOL's just a mess," said the third buyer.

Abby Jackson contributed reporting.

Whether you've forgotten your iPad password for the umpteenth time, or need to change it ASAP now that your annoying older brother knows the code, it's easy to update your iPad password once you know how.

Here are the steps you need to follow to reset your passcode:

How to reset your passcode if you know what the passcode is

If you know your current passcode but for one reason or another want to reset it, then you should do the following:

1. Log in to your iPad using your current passcode or, depending on your iPad model, use Touch ID or Face ID.

2. Go to the Settings app, which looks like a gray gear.

3. Scroll down to "Passcode," which on newer devices may be called "Touch ID & Passcode"

Your iPad will ask for your passcode to verify that it's really you trying to change it. Christine Kopaczewski/Business Insider

4. Enter your current passcode and scroll down to "Change Passcode." You will have to enter your current passcode again.

5. You can now enter your 6-Digit Numeric passcode, or click on "Passcode Options" to set a Custom Alphanumeric Code, Custom Numeric Code, or the classic 4-Digit Numeric Code.

There are many different ways to format your passcode. Christine Kopaczewski/Business Insider

6. Enter your passcode twice and voila, you're done!

How to reset your iPad's passcode if you forget it

If you have an iPad that supports Touch or Face ID, you might not think that this is a big issue. But to access certain security settings, you'll need your passcode.

Additionally, if your iPad ever turns off you'll need to use your passcode once it turns back on before you can use Touch ID or Face ID again.

The only way to fix this issue is to fully reset your iPad to its factory defaults. If you have a newer model and are still able to access your device using Touch ID or Face ID, login and backup the iPad to the iCloud or a computer before resetting.

If you cannot access your iPad, you'll unfortunately have to say goodbye to your data.

You have two options for resetting your iPad: connecting it to a computer you've previously synced it with, or by logging into your iCloud account online. Once your device has been wiped and is reset, you'll have the opportunity to restore a previous backup or set it up as a new iPad.

How to use a synced computer with iTunes to reset your iPad

If you have previously synced your iPad with iTunes on your computer and given your computer access to your device, you'll be able to use this method.

1. Plug your device into your computer and open iTunes. If possible, make sure your computer is connected to the internet.

2. You will now be able to access your iPad. If you are unable to access your iPad or it asks you to unlock your device, then you haven't previously used this computer and you will not be able to continue with this method.

Click the device icon to open your device. Apple

3. Open the device in iTunes and click "Restore iPad."

The main page will look virtually the same whether you connect an iPhone or iPad. Apple

4. It will ask if you're sure and warn you that doing this will wipe all your data from the iPad. Click "Restore."

Once erased, you'll have the option to restore your iPad using a backup. Apple

5. Your iPad will be erased and restart as if it were a brand-new device. You can now set it up as a new iPad or restore it from a backup on your computer or the iCloud.

How to reset your iPad using your iCloud account

If you haven't previously synced your device with a computer, then you'll have to login to your iCloud account to reset your iPad. This method is usually used if your device is lost or stolen but can also be used if you've forgotten your passcode.

1. Go to iCloud.com and log in to your iCloud account.

iCloud is a great resource for accessing info about your iOS devices. iCloud

2. Click on "Find My iPhone." At the top of the screen, click "All Devices," and select your iPad.

Select the "Find iPhone" icon. iCloud

3. Click "Erase iPad."

Select "Erase iPad." Christine Kopaczewski/Business Insider

4. It will warn you that all your data will be lost, and you won't be able to track the device anymore. Click "Erase."

Confirm that you want to erase your iPad's data, and the passcode along with it. Christine Kopaczewski/Business Insider

5. Your device will be remotely accessed and reset to factory settings. You can now set it up as a new iPad, or restore it from a backup that you've saved to iCloud.

When you're looking to delete a channel from your Roku device, there are a few things you should consider.

Before removing a paid channel, check its subscription status at my.roku.com to determine if it is billed through your Roku account.

Channel subscriptions are typically prepaid and will auto renew unless cancelled. You must cancel the subscription associated with a paid channel before you can remove it from your account.

The process of removing channels from Roku is quick and easy. You can remove a channel through your Roku device or the Roku mobile app. Here's how:

How to remove a channel from your channel lineup on the Roku device

1. From the Home screen, find the channel you want to remove and press the star button (*) on your remote to open the channel details.

Every channel shares the same options menu. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

2. Select "Remove channel" from the list of options and press OK on the remote.

3. Confirm your choice to remove the channel by selecting "Remove" and pressing OK.

Removed channels can be reinstalled at any time. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

How to remove an installed channel from the Roku Channel Store on the Roku device

1. From the menu on the left, scroll to find Streaming Channels. Press OK to open the Channel Store.

2. Scroll to find the channel you wish to remove. Press OK to open the channel details.

3. Select "Remove channel" from the list of options. Confirm your choice when prompted by the onscreen dialog box.

The Channel Store offers many of the same options as the star button menu. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

Installed channels are indicated by a small checkmark in the lower right corner of a channel tile.

Installation checkmarks can occasionally be difficult to see on light-colored logos. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

How to remove a channel using the Roku mobile app

The Roku app is available for free on iOS and Android mobile devices. Install the app if needed before beginning.

1. Launch the Roku mobile app.

2. Tap the Channels menu at the bottom of the of the app.

The Roku app allows you to find new channels and edit the ones you already have. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

3. Tap My Channels at the top, to open your list of installed channels.

The Channels tab will list every channel you have downloaded. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

4. Find the channel you wish to remove and long-press its icon to open the channel details screen. Just tapping the channel icon will start the channel and open the Roku remote on the app.

You can launch the app from this menu as well. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

5. From the channel details screen, tap Remove. You will be prompted to confirm your choice. Once confirmed, the channel will be deleted.

Removing a channel should only take a few moments. Michelle Greenlee/Business Insider

Patagonia isn't satisfied with simply cutting hedge funds and banks off from their beloved fleece vests. Now the American clothing retailer is trolling Wall Street on Twitter.

This week, news broke that Patagonia decided that it would require new companies that it works with on branded apparel to align with Patagonia's values of being environmentally conscious and prioritizing the planet.

A spokesperson from Patagonia told Business Insider via email that the corporate sales program recently shifted its focus to work with "more mission-driven companies that prioritize the planet."

Read more: The Midtown Uniform is now in peril as Patagonia isn't accepting new finance clients for its ubiquitous fleece vests

Patagonia took to Twitter to mock Wall Street for the panic over the news. The tweet features a screenshot from "Silicon Valley," a show that satirizes the tech industry, including investors' well-documented obsession with Patagonia fleece vests.

Patagonia/Twitter

B Corporations are companies that meet certain standards of social and environmental accountability, and 1% for the Planet is an organization that encourages people and businesses to donate 1% of sales toward environmental causes. Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia's founder, cofounded 1% for the Planet.

Patagonia fleece vests branded with companies' names have become a crucial part of the wardrobes of people who work in the finance industry. In New York City, these vests are part of the "Midtown Uniform" — typically slacks, a dress shirt, and a fleece vest.

Binna Kim, president of the public-relations company Vested, first reported the news on Monday after she reached out to a certified reseller of Patagonia apparel to purchase branded clothing for a client. The reseller told Kim that Patagonia is now reluctant to partner with companies that they view to be "ecologically damaging," as well as religious groups, food groups, political-affiliated organizations, financial institutions, and more.

However, for financial-services companies that have already penned a deal with Patagonia, there is a silver lining. The change of focus affects only new customers, leaving existing clients with their deals, a Patagonia spokesperson said.

PewDiePie (real name Felix Kjellberg) has intensified his battle for YouTube dominance with Bollywood music company T-Series by releasing a video "congratulating" the rival channel.

PewDiePie and T-Series have been neck-and-neck for months in the battle to be the subscribed-to channel on YouTube. PewDiePie had previously held the number one spot since 2013.

Read more: PewDiePie's huge campaign to swat away T-Series and keep his YouTube crown is slowing down

T-Series has edged ahead a few times, and this weekend overtook PewDiePie once again. On March 31, PewDiePie released a music video entitled "Congratulations" mocking the Bollywood channel.

In the video, PewDiePie made reference to a Times of India article from December last year about T-Series chairman Bhushan Kumar being questioned over tax evasion. It also alluded to a sexual harassment accusation levelled against Kumar in October. Kumar denied the allegation.

The song also references an issue that has been at the heart of the competition: That PewDiePie as an independent vlogger represents the soul of YouTube, while T-Series is a corporate interloper.

"Yeah, you did it, very nice. And all it took was a massive corporate entity with every song in Bollywood," PewDiePie raps on the diss track. It's why he has garnered support from other YouTubers, like Logan Paul.

PewDiePie's campaign to guard his title against T-Series was also endorsed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who went on PewDiePie's show with "Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland in February in a bid to win more subscribers.

The campaign was also referred to by the suspected gunman of the New Zealand mosque attacks in March, who said "Subscribe to PewDiePie" during a Facebook live stream of the attack. PewDiePie said he was "sickened" by the reference.

In another video commenting on the battle for subs, PewDiePie joked: "Who cares about sub count anyway? It was just a troll, it was just a big troll."

British tech unicorn Darktrace posted a 93% jump in revenue last year, striking a positive note as the company tries to distance itself from a $5 billion courtroom drama involving one of its major backers.

According to filings with the UK's Companies House, Darktrace saw an increase in its pre-tax losses, but the overall story through 2018 was one of growth. It has more than doubled its headcount, with the new employees mostly across sales and marketing, and research and development.

The firm said it had bookings worth $209 million in the year to the end of June 2018, although it's worth noting that this isn't the same as revenue.

Here are the key financial numbers for the year to 30 June 2018:

Darktrace did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its results.

Darktrace bills itself as a cybersecurity startup that uses artificial intelligence to detect viruses and other threats to an organisation's IT systems. It hit a valuation of $1.65 billion after raising $50 million last September from backers such as Vitruvian Partners.

Darktrace's origins are deeply connected to British investor and entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his investment fund Invoke Capital. Lynch was Darktrace's first backer through Invoke, which filings show currently holds 41% of the startup's shares.

Former Autonomy CEO and Darktrace investor Mike Lynch. HENRY NICHOLLS/Reuters

He made his money after founding UK enterprise software firm Autonomy, and selling it to HP for $11 billion in 2011. It remains one of the biggest acquisitions of a UK tech company to date.

The deal was a disaster and HP is now suing Lynch and another former executive for $5 billion in the UK's High Court, alleging that the pair committed fraud and made Autonomy appear more valuable than it really was. Lynch is also facing criminal charges in the US.

Darktrace has sought to distance itself from its backer's legal troubles, with Lynch resigning from the firm's board in November 2018 to avoid "distraction."

But Darktrace and Invoke Capital are both inextricably linked to Autonomy, a connection that is being highlighted in the ongoing High Court trial which kicked off last week.

Darktrace co-CEO Poppy Gustafsson and its board member Andrew Kanter are acting as witnesses for Lynch, his lawyers told the court last week. Gustafsson was formerly Autonomy's corporate controller, while Kanter, now an Invoke Capital partner, was its COO.

Darktrace's other CEO, Nicole Eagan, was also a former Autonomy executive, and a second board member, Vanessa Colomar, was Autonomy's SVP of communications.

A $1 billion Israeli intelligence startup accused of helping Saudi Arabia track its adversaries could be the key to new assertions from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' security consultant Gavin de Becker.

In an op-ed published in The Daily Beast on Saturday, de Becker said his team concluded that Saudi Arabia "had access to Bezos' phone and gained private information," following its investigation into how Bezos' texts with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez ended up in the hands of The National Enquirer.

A foreign government surveilling a powerful American CEO using advanced technologies? It sounds like the stuff of a spy novel.

But as it turns out, tracking people's cell phones is a well-established practice, and the technology behind it — known as "lawful intercept spyware" — is a $12 billion industry.

Software can track texts, emails and apps

While De Becker stopped short of asserting how Saudi Arabia accessed Bezos' phone, his op-ed linked out to a New York Times article on "internet mercenaries" including NSO Group, DarkMatter, and Black Cube — companies which use technological prowess to put advanced spying techniques in the hands of governments around the globe.

The most established is NSO Group, $1 billion Israeli startup that's open about its mission to help "government agencies prevent and investigate terrorism and crime to save thousands of lives around the globe.'

NSO Group was founded in 2008 by Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie to help cell phone providers gain access to their customer's phones to perform maintenance.

Since then, the company has helped Saudi Arabia "track its adversaries," helped Mexico "hunt drug kingpins," and made millions of dollars doing similar work for dozens of different governments, according to an investigation by the Times.

NSO Group's main technology Pegasus came out in 2011. Pegasus lets its users collect remote data from smartphone apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype, as well as texts, emails, calls and location data, from "the air without leaving a trace," according to the Times.

While helping Mexico catch drug criminals is within NSO Group's stated mission, the company is at the center of a lawsuit which alleges its technology was used by Saudi Arabia to spy on journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

NSO Group has also worked with the United Arab Emirates, which was caught installing NSO's software on the cell phone of human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor, according to the Times.

NSO faces steep competition