October 31, 2017

Amy and I are financially supporting a new movie about mental health, depression, and suicide called The Weight of Gold. Jeremy Bloom (Olympic skier, pro-football player, CEO of Integrate, and awesome human) introduced me to the creator of the film Brett Rapkin.

THE WEIGHT OF GOLD / Sizzle Reel from Podium Pictures on Vimeo.

While the focus of the storytelling is around Olympic athletes, it highlights a challenge that one in five Americans struggles with. Our goal for supporting films like this is to help eliminate the stigma around mental health and depression. It’s an enormous challenge in our society and one that I think is worth working hard at.

Also published on Medium.

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Original author: Brad Feld

We got our hands on the iPhone X and had the chance to unbox Apple's newest device. Here's what you get inside the box, and what you might want to purchase in order to take full advantage of all of the phone's features. Following is a transcript of the video. 

Steve Kovach: The iPhone X is finally here and we’re going to show you what’s inside. But even if you spent $1,000 on this thing, you’re still going to need some extra accessories. Alright, so this is the space gray model, 256GB. There's also a 64GB option.

Got the documentation, two free Apple stickers, and since there's no Home button, there's a little tutorial it looks like about how to use the home-button-free iPhone X — some of the new swiping gestures, Face ID, more documentation.

But, here it is. The iPhone X.

Wall charger, wired EarPods, and of course, the dongle. Just like the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 8, there's no headphone jack so if you want to use your traditional headphones, you need the dongle. Otherwise you can use the lightning headphones. And then the lightning cable for syncing to your computer or charging.

The iPhone X is made of all metal and glass, so if you drop this thing, it is gonna break. So the best thing to do is buy a case. Apple makes some really nice cases. This is a silicone case, but there's also a leather case from Apple and of course tons of third parties will have cases.

But if you want to take advantage of other iPhone X features like wireless charging, you're going to have to buy a wireless charging accessory. And those range from $15 to $60 depending on the model you choose. This one we have here from RAVPower goes for about $50.

On top of that, if you want to take advantage of wired fast charging, you'll need a USB-C to lightning cable. Apple sells that for $25 but you can find cheaper versions on Amazon and elsewhere. You need a special power brick that's 29 Watts that you can plug USB-C into. That goes for $49 from Apple.

If you want to use wireless charging while you have a case on your iPhone X, you should either use a case made by Apple or a thin one made out of plastic or rubber. Thick cases like those big Otter Boxes or metal cases or any of those other weird ones you might find online might not work with wireless charging. But most cases should be fine.

Original author: Emma Fierberg and Steve Kovach

The iPhone X. Hollis Johnson

I've been testing the iPhone for a little less than a day. Overall, I enjoy the design and the new, larger screen. And I don't miss the home button at all. Despite some of the concerns over Face ID, it works flawlessly.

I only got to use the iPhone X briefly during Apple's launch event last month, but it was enough to convince me Apple was cooking up a hit.

This week, I got to spend more time with it, and I'm equally, if not more impressed with what Apple pulled off.

I've been using the iPhone X for a little less than a day, so I won't have a full review for you until early next week. But I do have a much better sense of how things work in the real world and outside the careful gaze of a bunch of Apple employees.

Here are some first impressions after my roughly 18 hours with the iPhone X.

Finally, a new design

The latest trend in smartphones is to cram as much screen onto the front of the phone as possible, with minimized bezels. Until now, the iPhone felt behind the times with its gargantuan size and relatively small screen.

The iPhone X is a refreshing redesign. After over three years of essentially the same look, it's nice to see Apple make something radically different again. 

The best part is the screen. At 5.8 inches, it's slightly larger than the iPhone 8 Plus screen, but on a body that's only a little larger than the iPhone 8. For everyone avoiding the plus-sized iPhones because of their surfboard-like construction, the X will strike the perfect balance.

The iPhone X (right) has a larger screen than the iPhone 8 Plus (left), but it fits better in your hand. Hollis Johnson

It's also the first iPhone screen to use OLED technology, which is more power efficient, has a higher resolution, and displays colors better. (Samsung phones have been using OLED screens for years, and they consistently put the iPhone to shame in that regard.) The X's screen is stunning, almost as if it's painted onto the phone.

The back of the phone is made of glass, just like the iPhone 8, but it's tied together with a steel band around the edges instead of aluminum. I'm using the white/silver model, and the steel band has a nice chrome shine to it. I think it's more attractive than the space gray model.

Of course, all that screen means Apple made another huge design change. There's no more home button. Instead, you swipe up from the bottom of the screen to go back home. There's a bar that floats at the bottom to help you see where you're supposed to swipe from. (I've been calling it the home bar.) It takes a little getting used to after 10 years of mashing a home button, but it eventually starts feeling natural.

But some things on the front of the phone can't be replaced by software, like the camera, which leads us to the controversial new notch at the top of the screen.

I don't mind the notch

Embrace the notch. Hollis Johnson

Boy oh boy did the iPhone X's notch trigger a bunch of angry nerds.

Apple engineered the screen so that it wraps around the front-facing camera and all of its advanced sensors. (More on that in a bit.) It's a drastically different look than the iPhone screens you're used to, and it's easily the most polarizing design decision Apple has ever made. John Gruber, who runs the site Daring Fireball and is typically pro-Apple in his commentary, said the notch "offends" him.

That's a pretty strong feeling to have about a phone screen.

I don't mind the notch. In fact, I kind of like it, and I think it blends in nicely to the rest of the phone's software interface. The sides of the notch display the time, battery status, and WiFi and cell signals. By default, photos and video don't bleed into the notch unless you double-tap them for a zoomed-in view. You barely notice the notch in most cases, and it looks especially nice when scrolling through apps like Twitter and Facebook.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling tech pundits are going to be debating the merits and drawbacks of the notch for the next several weeks. It's going to be insufferable. You've been warned.

Third-party apps need work

So far, the biggest drawback to the extra screen space and lack of home button has been third-party app design. Many of my apps haven't been redesigned for the new screen size, so they show up with thick black bars on the top and bottom to mimic the same aspect ratio you'd get on a regular iPhone screen. It looks like a lot of wasted space.

Other apps have been refitted for the iPhone X screen, but have made a bunch of funky design choices. For example, some have large chunks of unused space at the bottom near the home bar. And I saw at least one app that showed the home bar bleeding into the menu icons at the bottom of the screen.

Apple's not totally innocent either. There were a few cases where I saw large chunks of unused space at the bottom of the screen in some of Apple's own in-house apps, such as the iPhone's built-in Mail app, especially when the keyboard popped up.

I have a feeling it's going to take a few months for developers to get used to the new screen size and shape, just like we saw when the iPhone screen got bigger on the iPhones 5 and 6.

All that panic over Face ID seems to be for nothing

The new front-facing camera lets you create Animoji, which animate based on your facial expressions. Hollis Johnson

No home button also means there's no more Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Instead, the iPhone X uses a new facial recognition system called Face ID. Face ID taps into the new front-facing camera and other sensors to accurately scan your face and securely store it as a mathematical representation.

The iPhone X isn't even out yet, and Face ID is already the feature most people seem to be the most worried about. Does it work in the dark? Is it creepy? Is it secure? Bloomberg even ran a scary story last week saying Apple told suppliers it could reduce the accuracy of of Face ID in order to meet production goals, something Apple denied.

I have a feeling all that hair-pulling is because after years of using Touch ID, Face ID will have to prove itself to be just as good or better to justify removing the fingerprint sensor.

In my short time with the iPhone X, Face ID has worked well. It unlocks the phone quickly in low light, bright light, the dim light of Business Insider's video studio, and even in a pitch-black closet.

Hollis Johnson

Better yet, it seems impossible to trick. I had a set of identical twins come into the office on Monday to put the facial recognition system to the test. One of the twins programmed his face into Face ID, allowing him to unlock the phone with a glance. His twin brother however was locked out — he couldn't even trick the phone while wearing a hat and sunglasses. The two siblings told me that even some of their family members can't tell them apart, yet Face ID was able to map a face accurately enough to tell the difference.

Face ID can also adapt as your face changes, like if you grow a beard or wear a hat, glasses, or sunglasses. In fact, one of my bearded colleagues programmed his face and then shaved himself clean a few minutes later. Face ID caught on. He had to put in his passcode twice to confirm it was him, but after that, Face ID learned who he was without having to be reprogrammed.

Of course, I'll need to spend more time with Face ID to fully evaluate how well it works. But so far, so good.

More to come...

There's still a lot more to unpack here. The battery life. The accuracy of Face ID over time. Some of those funky app designs. The camera performance.

And of course, there's the phone's $999 starting price tag — the highest Apple has ever put on an iPhone. So far, the phone feels worth the premium price, but a full verdict will require more testing.

I'll have that and more in the coming days. For now, the iPhone X gives a great first impression.

Original author: Steve Kovach

Eve Valkyrie. CCP Games

Icelandic gaming company CCP Games is shutting down two studios in the US and the UK. It said it plans to put its VR development plans on "ice" and focus more on mobile and PC games.

CCP Games — the gaming company behind sci-fi blockbuster "EVE Online" and virtual reality spin off "EVE Valkyrie" — is shutting down two offices and laying off close to 100 staff as it rethinks its virtual reality (VR) ambitions, according to a report in RockPaperShotgun.

A VR studio in Atlanta is reportedly being shut down, while another in Newcastle, UK, is being sold off. The latter spearheaded the development of "EVE Valkyrie." Studios will remain in London, Reykjavík, and Shanghai and CCP is reportedly providing relocation opportunities or severance packages to some of the staff that are affected.

VR has been hailed as a new technology that will revolutionise the world of gaming and big tech companies like Facebook, Samsung, and HTC have invested billions in creating headsets that support VR. But the VR market has not proved to be as big as the tech giants anticipated.

"We are going to focus more on PC games and mobile games," CCP Games CEO Hilmar Pétursson reportedly told The Iceland Monitor.

Founded in 1997 in Reykjavik, Iceland, CCP Games became well-known in 2003 with the launch of "Eve Online."

Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. YouTube/UKTI

It was one of the first gaming companies to embrace VR with the launch of "EVE Valkyrie" in March 2016 and it writes on its website that it thinks the technology "will play an increasingly important role in gaming, and beyond, in the years to come."

"EVE Valkyrie" is played by a loyal fan base around the world and it is hailed as one of the best VR gaming experiences.

It was the game Oculus used as a demo for the Crystal Cove version of its development kit in 2014, before Oculus was acquired by Facebook.

Other VR games developed by CCP include "Sparc" and "Eve Gunjack."

CCP Games reportedly still has high hopes for the future of VR but it's putting its VR game development plans "on ice" for the time being, The Iceland Monitor reports.

"We will continue to support our VR games but will not be making material VR investments until we see market conditions that justify further investments beyond what we have already made," Pétursson said, according to The Verge.

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

Original author: Sam Shead

10 things in tech you need to know today, October 31 - Business Insider

Original author: Sam Shead

Waymo, Google's self-driving car spinoff, showed off its technology to reporters on Monday at its California testing facility.Waymo officials declined to say when they expect to offer the technology commercially or where it will first show up.The technology seems mature, but questions and challenges remain.

 

MERCED COUNTY, California — California's Central Valley is known for its miles and miles of farm orchards, fights over water rights, and, these days, high unemployment.

High-tech? Not so much.

But I was here on Monday to see in action a cutting-edge technology that has the potential to greatly reshape our economy and society — the self-driving car. Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle spinoff, has its testing facility at a decommissioned Air Force base. The company invited several dozen reporters to see its cars in action, get a ride in one, and hear its case that its technology is all-but ready for the real world.

"We're pretty excited about where we are right now," in terms of developing fully autonomous cars, John Krafcik, Waymo's CEO, told the assembled journalists. He continued: "We're getting to the point where we're really close."

Just how close, though, is anyone's guess — anyone outside Waymo, that is. When asked when we might see Waymo roll out its technology commercially in a product the public at large can see or interact with, Krafcik declined to offer a forecast.

Unanswered questions

It's also unclear exactly where Waymo's technology will first start showing up. Krafcik said the company is pursuing several opportunities at the same time: in trucking, ride-hailing, and ride-sharing, in making "last-mile" connections between consumers homes and the closest public transit stops, and in personal vehicles. But he declined to say which opportunity the company thinks is closest.

Krafcik did say that the company plans to work with partners such as Fiat Chrysler, Lyft, and the rental-car company Avis to deploy the technology, rather than going it alone. Waymo has spent the last 12 to 18 months building out such partnerships, he said.

"We see our role not as disruptors but as enablers," Krafcik said.

Waymo has been focusing on so-called Level 4 autonomy. At that level of sophistication, a car can drive itself without any driver input, but can only do so in a relatively confined area or in a relatively circumscribed set of conditions. The company is already offering fully autonomous rides in certain areas of Chandler, Arizona, outside Phoenix, as part of a test of its systems.

The company is hoping to gradually progress up to Level 5 autonomy, where self-driving cars can basically go just about anywhere a human-driven car could go.

Riding in a car with no driver

We reporters got to see first-hand how just far along Waymo's Level 4 technology is. Part of the outing involved an approximately 10-minute, two-mile drive around the company's testing facility with nothing but Waymo's technology behind the wheel.

Some of the obstacles the Waymo vehicles had to navigate on Monday.WaymoWaymo's testing site is at Castle Air Force Base, a decommissioned military facility where pilots trained for World War II and in the Cold War, was the home of a wing of the nation's Strategic Air Command. On its 91-acre section of the old base, the company has set up a network of streets, traffic circles, driveways, crosswalks, and even a railroad crossing to create a wide range of scenarios for its cars to contend with.

Accompanied by a Waymo engineer who was sitting with us in the back of one of the company's specially equipped Chrysler Pacifica minivans, another reporter and I could do little but watch and hope for the best as our vehicle made its way around the facility. To show what the minivan could do and how it might handle real-world situations, Waymo had some of its employees drive around in other cars, cross streets or bicycle beside the vehicle.

At least in this fairly staged environment, the vehicle handled everything with aplomb. I was never concerned about my safety or those around us. And while it was a bit strange to not have anyone in the driver's seat at first, I quickly grew accustomed to it.

Reassuring riders

Waymo has put a lot of thought into how its cars will reassure and communicate with riders, using visual and verbal cues. On the back of the front-row seats there are a pair of screens that show an image of the vehicle you're riding in along with some of the things in the environment that it senses, such as other cars, pedestrians, traffic cones, stoplights.

Waymo uses its displays to reassure and communicate with riders.Waymo.The display is designed to show riders that the car is aware of what's happening around it, and view changes noticeably depending on what the car is doing. If the car is attempting to turn right, for example, the angle of view will shift to show more of the road to the left of the car and any oncoming traffic from that direction.

But the screens also show messages to provide more information. They might show the speed limit in the area or flash a quick message to explain that the car is "yielding to pedestrians." And when you've arrived at your destination, the screen will tell you, "We're here."

The information on the screens is designed to build trust, so "people will feel Waymo is a safe and reliable and trusted chauffeur," said Ryan Powell, Waymo's head of user experience design.

The challenges ahead

However, as well Waymo's car performed, it's clear that the company still has plenty of challenges ahead of it, both technical and otherwise.

Much of Waymo's autonomous vehicle testing has been done in relatively mild climates, including the San Francisco Bay Area. The cars don't have a lot of experience driving in winter weather conditions. The company is trying to address that. It announced last week that it will begin testing its cars in Michigan specifically to see how they handle ice, sleet, and snow.

Another key question for self-driving cars is how they will handle unusual situations that may occur in the real world. Waymo's been trying to address that multiple ways, not only by having its cars drive on real streets, but also by running through potential scenarios at its facility here, and then using data from those scenarios to run computer simulations back at its Mountain View headquarters.

Waymo is hoping consumers will soon be pressing "Start Ride."WaymoThere are also numerous non-technical questions with which the company has to contend, not only about how it will market its technology but also about how it will convince government regulators that it is ready for the road. And there are the societal questions about how the rollout of autonomous cars will impact jobs. What will happen to taxi and Uber drivers, truck drivers, and the like?

And then there's the public. It's an open question about whether the public is ready to adopt robotic cars. Even if they're open to the idea — and Waymo's data suggests about half of them are — they're likely to have plenty of questions about how they will use such cars, how they will work, and how they will handle particular driving scenarios.

In that area alone, Waymo seems to have a lot of work to do. When asked by reporters how its cars would handle particular situations like obstacles in the road that might block traffic, representatives gave conflicting answers. One even suggested that the cars might not move until an obstruction — a moving van that was double parked, say — were cleared out of the way.

I'm guessing Waymo's engineers have a better answer than that. But they find navigating the non-technical obstacles to our self-driving car future are as difficult as the technical ones.

Get the latest Google stock price here.

Original author: Troy Wolverton

Elevate, a fintech lender serving nonprime borrowers, is looking to partner with a bank to produce a credit card with "significantly higher lines" of credit than what exists on the market today.The company, which announced earnings Monday, outlined a number of expectations for 2018 including new products and partnerships.Nationally, credit card defaults have spiked as banks have loosened credit standards.Elevate's CEO told Business Insider the product would utilize machine learning technology to ensure the company is not lending customers more than they can afford.

Elevate, a Texas-based tech lender, is looking to expand into the credit card business.

The company, which serves subprime borrowers, announced third quarter earnings Monday of $172.9 million, up 12.3% over the same period last year. The stock dropped 5.49% to $7.75 after the bell. The stock is still up from where it priced its IPO, at $6.50, but down sharply from the original IPO price range of $12 to $14 per share.

The company views itself as an alternative to pay-day loan providers, and says it targets 170 million nonprime consumers in the US and UK, a group it called the "New Middle Class." The firm has now originated near $5 billion in loans for 1.8 million customers.

In an earnings deck released Monday, the company outlined its ambitions for 2018, which include new products and partnerships with banks. Ken Reese, the CEO of Elevate, told Business Insider one of those possible products includes a new credit card.

"We are looking at a variety of partnerships of different flavors," Reese said. "We are looking at a credit card product for next year with a third party bank."

The potential card, which would serve subprime borrowers, indicates a broader trend in the credit markets. Subprime borrowers are gaining access to credit cards at an accelerating rate, according to Fed research. And Americans have suddenly stopped paying off their credit cards, as Business Insider's Alex Morrell reported.

What's striking about the spike in defaults is that it is paralleled by a declining unemployment rate, indicating that banks have lowered their standards and are approving people for cards who aren't as creditworthy.

Historically speaking, so-called charge-offs are pretty low. Still, a partnership between a subprime lender and bank could illustrate increased interests on behalf of banks to tap into this market.

So far, credit cards to subprime borrowers have had limited lines of credit. For example, the median credit limit was $1,000 in 2015; in contrast, the median new card credit limit for those with a 780+ credit score was $8,000.

Reese told Business Insider the credit card would offer "significantly higher lines" of credit than other subprime cards, but it would use machine-learning capabilities to ensure they don't give borrowers more than what they can afford to pay back.

He told Business Insider:

"We believe that the credit card product will be an important addition to our product line and serve millennials and others who are struggling to attain sufficient credit to meet their needs. In particular, we expect our card product to have significantly higher lines than other “subprime” cards that may only provide a few hundred dollars to customers and isn’t sufficient credit to deal with real-world financial challenges."

According to research carried out by Elevate's Center for the New Middle Class, a bill becomes a crisis for nonprime Americans at $1,400. For prime borrowers, it's $2,900.

"It's hard for many to believe that unexpected car repairs can cause a major upset in a household’s finances," Jonathan Walker, executive director of Elevate’s Center for the New Middle Class, said earlier this year.

"Unfortunately, it happens all too often, simply because nonprime Americans don’t have the available resources to help absorb some of these financial shocks. This can cause a downward spiral on their daily finances as well as their credit history."

Original author: Frank Chaparro

So far, 2017 has been a stellar year for Nintendo. From the time of its release in late March, Nintendo's newest console – The Switch – has sold 7.6 million units. This, combined with the popularity of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" have helped boost the company's revenue. 

It doesn't seem like its good fortune is going to come to an end anytime soon either. Nintendo expects to sell 14 million units of the Switch console in its first year. To put that into context, its predecessor, the Wii U, sold only 13.56 million units during its five-year lifetime. And as we can see in this chart from Statista, Nintendo's projected operating profit for 2018 is roughly double what the company reported in 2017.   

Mike Nudelman/Business Insider

Original author: Caroline Cakebread

Flickr/vickysandoval22Blind, the anonymous employee chat app for employees, polled thousand of people who work at tech companies to ask them the kinds of sensitive questions that you normally can't ask: Do you think you are paid fairly? Are you interested in leaving your job?

Not surprisingly, those two things were closely related. Those companies that had the most employees unhappy with their pay also had the most employees interested in leaving. 

There were a lot of other interesting tidbits revealed in the survey as well. The employees happiest with their pay are not working at Google or Facebook, for example, they are at Netflix, followed by Dropbox. 

Of course, this survey isn't representative of the companies — it reflects only the opinions of employees who choose to use the Blind app. But those opinions provide an interesting window into the mood, at least among some staffers, within tech's biggest companies.

The employees least happy with their pay: Walmart Labs, according to this poll. A senior software engineer there earns on average $131,000 according to Glassdoor. And 40% or more of employees polled at Spotify, PayPal, Spotify, Twitter said they weren't happy with pay. Netflix peeps were happiest on pay. A senior software engineer there earns over $210,000 a year, according to Glassdoor.

When asked to rate the statement, "I'm compensated fairly," 4174 people responded, Blind says.

Interestingly, although the tech industry is known for its high salaries, slightly less than half 49% said no, they didn't feel fairly paid.. That means 51 % feel that they are. 

There were only six companies in which 70% or more said they were paid fairly: Netflix, Dropbox, NerdWallet, Twitch and Snapchat. 

Original author: Julie Bort

Ada Health's cofounders. Ada

Ada Health has raised $47 million in a funding round led by billionaire Len Blavatnik's investment fund. The personal doctor app was downloaded over a million times within six months of going live.

Ada Health, a fast-growing healthcare startup with 100 staff across Berlin, Munich, and London, has raised $47 million (€40 million; £36 million) from investors.

Ada Health has an iOS and Android app called Ada that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with expertise from actual doctors to help people understand and manage their health.

Daniel Nathrath, cofounder and CEO of Ada Health, told Business Insider that the money will be used to help Ada Health open a new US office and expand into new markets.

"We'll also be continuing to grow our team of engineers, scientists and medical advisors as we look to drive further developments to our technology and product offerings, including the expansion of our telemedicine and next steps care services," he said.

The Ada Health app, which competes with the likes of Babylon Health, was downloaded over 1 million times in its first six months of being live, according to Nathrath, who added that it has also been ranked number one in the medical category in Apple's App Store in 130 countries.

Ada Health

"The app works with a conversational interface so you can have a conversation with it just like you would have with a trusted doctor," Nathrath told Business Insider at the Tech Open Air conference in Berlin earlier this year.

The investment round — which is substantial for such an early stage company — was led by Access Industries, the global investment firm of billionaire Len Blavatnik.

Other firms that invested in the round included June Fund — which has backers including Google's chief business officer Philipp Schindler —and Berlin-based Cumberland VC. William Tunstall Pedoe, an entrepreneur who sold his AI-powered virtual assistant to Amazon, also participated in the round.

"Ada is one of the most exciting companies we've seen cutting across health and artificial intelligence," said Guillaume d’Hauteville, vice chairman of Access Industries, in a statement.

"They've developed a unique and highly effective health management solution driven by a team with deep medical and AI expertise and years of technology development. Ada is setting a new standard for health management, and we look forward to partnering with them on this next stage of their journey."

Ada has previously raised in the double digit millions from private individuals and was also awarded a €2.5 million (£2.2 million) grant to advance new scientific advances as part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programm.

Original author: Sam Shead