According to a Fortune Business Insights report, the global tax management software market is estimated to grow at 10% CAGR to reach $11.19 billion by 2026 driven by the growing adoption of Machine...
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Sramana Mitra: I followed Andiamo quite closely. I have a question in the model that you have fine tuned because of your very long relationship with Cisco. How do you set these spin-ins and...
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In December 2017, I wrote a piece called Let’s Go Beyond Superficial Virtual Interactions in 2018 encouraging my readers to look for opportunities to interact more in person through meaningful...
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Entrepreneurs are invited to the 492nd FREE online 1Mby1M mentoring roundtable on Thursday, July 2, 2020, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/5 p.m. CEST/8:30 p.m. India IST. If you are a serious entrepreneur,...
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DeepSpin, a Berlin-based startup that is developing what it describes as a “next-generation, AI-powered MRI imaging machine”, has raised €600,000 in seed funding.
Backing the round is APEX Digital Health, with participation from existing investors Entrepreneur First (EF) and SOSV, along with a number of unnamed angel investors. Including grants and earlier investment, it brings the total raised to €1 million pre-launch.
DeepSpin is a graduate of EF’s company builder programme, where its two founders — Clemens Tepel, a former McKinsey consultant, and Pedro Freire Silva, a PhD researcher from KIT — decided to partner in September 2019. Freire Silva drew on his research into small-scale, mass-manufacturable MRI systems and pitched the idea to his future co-founder.
“From the beginning I found the idea very intriguing and so we directly jumped into attempting to prove its feasibility,” says Tepel. “Within 4 weeks we were able to prove it in simulation, get industry-leading advisors on board and get first LOIs [letter of intent] from interested clinicians”.
Yet-to-launch and still in the development phase, DeepSpin aims to build a new type of MRI system at a “fraction of the cost, weight and size” of existing systems. To make this possible, the startup is has developed a new antenna technology combined with AI-controlled operation, which the startup is currently patenting.
“The problem we are solving is that MRI, the most advanced medical imaging method, is currently not easily accessible because it is incredibly expensive, requires specialised operators and needs specifically shielded rooms,” explains Tepel. “We are removing all of these constraints based on our proprietary technology, making MRI universally accessible for any patient, anywhere in the world”.
Adds Freire Silva: “Instead of combining highly expensive hardware with standard software, as it is done on conventional MRI scanners, we will be able to obtain the same clinical information by applying very sophisticated algorithms on simplified hardware, thereby reducing our system’s cost by orders of magnitude”.
Tepel tells me this approach has not been taken before because both key enablers — highly capable AI-algorithms and the specific antenna design – were only available very recently.
Having proven DeepSpin’s methods in simulation, the next step and the team’s current focus is to develop a first fully AI-driven prototype. “Based on that, we will develop an initial product version, aimed at pre-clinical applications, before going into medical certification, which then will allow us to sell our product for clinical use across a range of medical domains and to new geographies that can’t afford conventional systems,” says Tepel.
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Tuesday.
Reddit banned r/The_Donald, the largest pro-Trump subreddit, as it cracks down on hate speech and targeting. The subreddit was one of roughly 2,000 communities that were banned across Reddit on Monday, CEO Steve Huffman said.Amazon's live streaming service Twitch suspended President Trump's channel for violating 'hateful conduct' policies and cited his campaign speeches as the reason. Twitch said Trump's words at campaign rallies violated the company's hateful-conduct rules. Microsoft paused ad spending on Facebook and Instagram over concerns about 'inappropriate content.' The news comes as other major advertisers halt ad spending on Facebook to protest the way the company moderates hate speech.India has blocked TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps that the government says pose a security threat. The move banning 59 apps follows major clashes between India and China earlier this month along a disputed border shared between the two countries.Uber is in discussions to buy Postmates for about $2.6 billion as it looks to consolidate its position in the food delivery market. A deal, which could be announced in the next week, marks a different direction for Postmates which had been planning to file for an IPO, the Wall Street Journal reported. YouTube has banned white supremacist channels including those of Richard Spencer, David Duke, and Stefan Molyneux. "We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.Google will expand free retail listings to its main search page in a bid to fend off a growing ad rivalry with Amazon. Merchants will soon be able to advertise products at the top of Google's search pages for free, which could help Google lure over more retailers. Elon Musk said in a leaked email that Tesla may break even during Q2 despite its US car factory closing for 2 months. "Breaking even is looking super tight," he said. "Really makes a difference for every car you build and deliver. Please go all out to ensure victory!"Tech employees are selling referrals online to job candidates for under $50 to help them get hired at Google, Facebook, and other industry giants. Job candidates have purchased more than 11,000 job referrals through the online marketplace Rooftop Slushie since the website was launched in 2019,Twitter has apologized for slapping a COVID-19 label on tweets about 5G, but experts say the platform's algorithm could be encouraging the spread of conspiracy theories. Twitter users noticed that the platform was marking tweets mentioning "5G" or "oxygen" with a warning about COVID-19 misinformation.Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings.
You can also subscribe to this newsletter here â just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know."
Uber has reportedly made an offer to buy food delivery service Postmates, according to The New York Times.
According to the Times, the talks are still ongoing and the deal could fall through.
For those that have been paying attention to Uber, this appetite is not new, albeit consistent. A little over a month ago, the ride-hailing company was reportedly pursuing an acquisition of Grubhub, another food delivery company. Grubhub was ultimately acquired by Just Eat Takeaway in a $7.3 billion deal, but only after the deal with Uber fell through over a variety of concerns.
Food delivery market has set to benefit largely from the COVID-19 pandemic, as stores remain shuttered or switch operations to takeout only. Latest earnings from the public ride-hailing company show that its ride-hailing business is slowing while its food delivery service is growing like hell. Gross bookings for Uber Eats last quarter were $4.68 billion.
So even though Uber still loses a ton of money ($2.94 billion including all costs), its Uber Eats growth is staggering. And the green shoots might be fueling some of this interest in other competitors.
If regulatory concerns were an issue, Postmates may make a better fit.
With a valuation of $2.4 billion, Postmates is significantly smaller than Grubhub. And while the company filed to go public nearly 16 months ago, it held off eventually citing “choppy market” conditions.
So if Uber Eats and Postmates combined, the result would still be smaller than Doordash’s market hold, but would be competitive nonetheless. DoorDash, last valued at $13 billion, confidentially filed for an IPO nearly four months ago.
Also, Postmates delivers more than just food.
If the merger goes through, the food delivery race would get refueled in an interesting way: Uber Eats and Postmates versus Grubhub and Takeaway versus DoorDash .
Postmates declined to comment on rumors or speculation. Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
India on Monday blocked dozens of Chinese apps, including the popular viral video app TikTok, in order to "ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace."Â
In total, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology listed 59 mobile apps that it said posed a security threat.Â
"In view of information available, they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order," the statement said.Â
The ministry said that it received "many complaints" about mobile apps available on both iOS and Android platforms that have been accused of "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India."Â
"The compilation of these data, its mining, and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defense of India ... is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures," the ministry said.Â
Among the companies listed is TikTok â which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance that has come under scrutiny in recent months over reports of ties to the Chinese Communist Party and allegations of censorship on its platform. Earlier this year, several US government agencies banned TikTok over concerns about cybersecurity.Â
TikTok is one of the most downloaded phone apps in the world and has already entered more than 150 global markets, with India being one of its most active regions. According to the Economic Times, the app claims to have 200 million users in India, with about 120 million monthly active users.Â
Other major Chinese apps banned by India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology include WeChat, Weibo, and QQ, an instant messaging service owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent.
In a statement on Tuesday morning local time, Nikhil Gandhi, head of TikTok India, said that the company was "in the process of complying" with India's ban.Â
"We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications," the Gandhi said. "TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government."Â
"Further, if we were requested to in the future we would not do so," Gandhi added.Â
The move follows major clashes between India and China earlier this month along a disputed border shared between the two countries. During the standoff in the Galwan River Valley at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
Satellite photos released Monday showed a buildup of troops along both sides of the border.Â
Despite the Wirecard fallout, German fintech startup solarisBank has raised a Series C funding round of $67.5 million (€60 million). Following today’s funding round, solarisBank is now valued at $360 million (€320 million). solarisBank doesn't have any consumer product directly. Instead, it offers financial services to other fintech companies through a set of APIs.
With solarisBank, you can build a fintech startup and leverage solarisBank’s line of products to do the heavy lifting. It’s an infrastructure company in the banking space.
While solarisBank might not be a familiar name, some of its clients have become quite popular. They include challenger banks, such as Tomorrow, Insha and a newcomer called Vivid, business banking startups, such as Penta and Kontist, trading app Trade Republic, cryptocurrency startups Bison and Bitwala, etc.
Overall, solarisBank works with 70 companies that have attracted 400,000 clients in total.
HV Holtzbrinck Ventures is leading the round with existing investor yabeo committing a substantial follow-on investment. Other new investors include Vulcan Capital, Samsung Catalyst Fund and Storm Ventures. Existing investors BBVA, SBI Group, ABN AMRO Ventures, Global Brain, Hegus and Lakestar are investing again.
The company started the fundraising process back in December. Due to the economic prospects, it has been a mixed process. “A lot of investors looked at their portfolio companies and the appetite to look at something new was not there,” solarisBank CEO Roland Folz told me. But everything worked out eventually as around half of the funding comes from existing investors.
“We originally were looking for €40 million but we were overwhelmed by the interest of investors in spite of Covid,” solarisBank Head of Strategy and Shareholder Relations Layla Qassim told me.
solarisBank’s vision could be summed up in two words — regulation and modularity. The company is a fully licensed bank, which means that its clients don’t have to apply to a banking license themselves.
And the startup lets you pick the modules that you want to use for your product. Maybe you’re building a mobile cryptocurrency wallet and you just want to be able to give an IBAN and a debit card to your users. Maybe you’re building a used car marketplace like CarNext and you want to offer credit. Maybe you want to build a challenger bank but address a specific vertical.
With solarisBank, you can open bank accounts and issue payment cards attached to those accounts. You can also issue cards and attach them to a different account in case you’re integrating with existing bank accounts. The startup also offers various services around payments, vouchers, cross-border transactions and more.
More recently, the company launched a new feature called Splitpay with American Express. When customers check out on an e-commerce platform in Germany, American Express customers will be able to choose a repayment plan to pay over multiple months.
solarisBank generates revenue from its clients as they pay to use the company’s APIs and enable accounts and cards. solarisBank also collects the interchange fees on card transactions and share revenue with its clients. Similarly, solarisBank can offer to share revenue on credit interests with its clients.
In the future, solarisBank plans to make its portfolio of financial services even more compelling by introducing local IBANs in the most important European markets. It should make it easier to convince potential clients outside of Germany to use solarisBank as their banking infrastructure.
The hiring process in the tech world can be competitive, and getting your foot in the door to score an interview can be easier if someone's vouching for you.
A website has commoditized such referrals, allowing eager prospective employees to purchase one for $20 to $50.
Job candidates have purchased more than 11,000 job referrals through the online marketplace Rooftop Slushie since the website was launched in 2019, as writer Seth King reported in One Zero on Sunday.
Rooftop Slushie was formed by the creators of Blind, the anonymous chat site favored by tech workers where they can freely air their grievances about the industry.Â
Here's how it works: Job candidates fill out a form, seen below, indicating the companies where they're hoping to apply. Then they list what they're willing to pay and upload their resume.
Tech workers can become verified on Rooftop Slushie as "vendors." They peruse the forms that candidates submit, taking into account their asking price and the quality of their resume, and then decide if they will accept or not. According to Gizmodo, employees from 83,000 companies â including Google, Amazon, and Facebook â are verified on the site. They are required to use their work email to be verified.
As Daniel Kim, Rooftop Slushie's product manager, told One Zero, job referrals for positions at Facebook and Google are the hottest sellers.
Kim told One Zero that its referral transactions help even the odds for skilled employees who perhaps make the cut for a role but lack desirable application features like job referrals. As the author notes, many of the high-earning tech workers that accept the payment of under $50 hardly need such supplemental income.Â
But critics told One Zero the transactional nature of Rooftop Slushie's service "smells like bribery" and is ethically questionable. For employees that opt to become vendors, they could also be violating a legal binding to stay loyal to their employers.Â
Tech companies typically have some sort of referral bonus system in place for employees. Amazon told One Zero that accepting payment for a job referral, however, is a violation of company policies and is looking into putting an end to the practice.
The website also allows users to pay for tips on how to beef up their resumes and how to prepare for interviews, according to Gizmodo, but the referral transactions are the most popular feature on the site.
According to One Zero, the website was named after a character in the HBO show "Silicon Valley," a series that has come to be known as a strikingly accurate portrayal of the tech ecosystem and its idiosyncrasies. The character Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti has a penchant for sipping Big Gulps on rooftops while "resting and vesting."
As Business Insider's Melia Russell reported in 2016, the "Big Head" character embodies the Silicon Valley founder whose company has been acquired and is left to wait out a contract while their equity vests.
Google has announced it will change its rules for shopping listings, by allowing merchants to promote their products at the top of search pages for free.
It's the latest move by the company to lure more sellers onto its platform and take the fight to Amazon. In April, Google changed the rules to more prominently display free product listings over paid ads in its Shopping section.
But starting this summer, Google will also allow merchants to display products at the top of its main Search pages for no cost.
In a blog post announcing the news, Google's commerce president Bill Ready said these listings will show up in Google's knowledge panels, which appear at the top of the page.
This will happen first on mobile, followed by desktop browsers down the road, he said.
"For many merchants, connecting with customers in a digital environment is still relatively new territory or a smaller part of their business," said Ready.
"However, consumer preference for online shopping has increased dramatically, and it's crucial that we help people find all the best options available and help merchants more easily connect with consumers online."
For Google, this could be a deft tactic to claw back some search advertising revenue from Amazon, which has benefited hugely from the boost in online shopping during the pandemic.
According to financial services firm Cowen, Amazon's ad business is expected to make $17.6 billion this year. It's cementing Amazon as the third major player in online advertising behind Google and Facebook, and an increasing threat to both.
The change also feasibly means a temporary dip in advertising revenue for Google as retailers will now be able to have their products appear in search without paying for the visibility.
The company is already preparing to possibly see its ad revenue decline for the first time as a result of the pandemic, as Business Insider previously reported.
Reddit, Amazon subsidiary Twitch, and Google's YouTube took actions on Monday against prominent pro-Trump and far-right accounts and groups, as well as Trump himself, in an attempt to crack down on hate speech on their platforms.
Reddit banned more than 2,000 subreddits that regularly broke its rules about harassment, hate speech, and targeting, including r/The_Donald, a pro-Trump forum with more than 790,000 users.
"The community has consistently hosted and upvoted more rule-breaking content than average ... and its mods have refused to meet our most basic expectations," CEO Steve Huffman wrote in a blog post Monday.
The subreddits were banned as part of Reddit's enforcement of a new policy banning people or subreddits who "promote hate based on identity or vulnerability" or target "victims of a major violent event and their families."
Twitch, a video streaming platform popular among gamers, said it had temporarily suspended President Donald Trump's official account for violating its hateful-conduct rules.
"Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch," the company said in a statement. "In line with our policies, President Trump's channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed."
Twitch cited two examples of "offending content" from Trump's account, one from a campaign rally in 2016 and another from Trump's recent campaign event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, both of which showed the president making racist comments about Mexican Americans.
Also on Monday, YouTube announced it had banned the accounts of many popular white supremacists, including longtime Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Richard Spencer, and Stefan Molyneux, citing their violations of YouTube's hate speech guidelines.
"We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement provided to Business Insider.
A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge, which first reported the news: "After updating our guidelines to better address supremacist content, we saw a 5x spike in video removals and have terminated over 25,000 channels for violating our hate speech policies."
The actions by Reddit, Twitch, and YouTube came the same day that a long list of major brands announced they would pause advertising on Facebook and subsidiary Instagram, citing inaction around hate speech.
Civil rights groups including the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League called for the advertising boycott earlier this month following Facebook's refusal to take action against controversial posts by Trump in which he called those protesting the death of George Floyd "thugs" and suggested violence against them.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended Facebook's decision not to label or remove the posts at the time, while Twitter labeled identical tweets from Trump as "glorifying violence."
On Friday, after clothing retailer The North Face joined the Facebook boycott, other major brands including Verizon, Unilever, Honda, Coca-Cola, and Ben & Jerry's said they too would join.
In response, Facebook announced a slew of new rules around hate speech and misinformation, but so far, those changes don't appear to have appeased advertisers
On Monday, the boycott grew significantly as Starbucks, Adidas, PepsiCo, Denny's, Diageo, Conagra Foods, and Clorox said they would also pause ad spending on the platform.
Some of the companies also announced a pause on advertising across all social media platforms, citing the broader problem of their role in amplifying misinformation and hate speech.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, racial justice protests, and upcoming elections, social media companies are facing growing pressure to get tougher on moderating harmful content and misinformation.
Aaron Holmes, Ben Gilbert, Rachel Greenspan, Isobel Asher Hamilton, and Rob Price contributed reporting for this story.
Tesla may avoid losing money during the second quarter, CEO Elon Musk said in an email to employees on Monday.Â
"Breaking even is looking super tight," he said. "Really makes a difference for every car you build and deliver. Please go all out to ensure victory!"
Electrek's Fred Lambert first reported on the email, and Business Insider viewed a photo of the message.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
While Tesla posted a surprise profit in the first quarter of this year, its US car factory stopped production for two months because of a local shelter-in-place order associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysts are predicting the electric-car maker will lose money in the second quarter, according to Marketwatch.
Though Tesla started making its Model Y SUV in January almost a year ahead of schedule, Musk referenced manufacturing and supply-chain issues for the vehicle earlier this month.
"We are doing reasonably well with S, X, and 3, but there are production and supply chain ramp challenges with Model Y, as is always the case for new products," Musk said in a separate internal email, referring to Tesla's other models.
Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter atÂ
Epic Games is a popular game developer and distributor, perhaps best known for the massive hit Fortnite.
To play any titles published by Epic Games or sold on the Epic Games Store, you'll need to have an account. And if you need to change the password on your Epic Games account, you can do that through any browser on your Mac or PC.
1. In any web browser on your Mac or PC, open the Epic Games website.
2. Hover the mouse over your account avatar at the top-right of the screen and, in the drop-down menu, click "Account."
3. In the navigation pane on the left, click "Password & Security."
4. Enter your current password and then type a new password. In the "Retype New Password" field, confirm your new password. Then click "Save Changes."
You can change your password in the "Password & Security" section of your account page. Dave Johnson/Business Insider
If you don't know your current password, you can easily reset it.Â
1. In any web browser, open the Epic Games webpage.Â
2. At the top-right of the screen, click "Sign in."
3. Click "Sign in with Epic Games."
4. On the sign in page, click "Forgot Your Password."
After you click "Forgot Your Password," enter your account's email address and follow the instructions in the email you receive. Dave Johnson/Business Insider
5. Enter the email address associated with your account and click "Send Email."
6. Within a few minutes, you should receive an email with instructions to reset your password. Click "Reset Password" and then enter a new password to complete the change.Â
When you change or reset your password, follow good security hygiene by creating a strong password. It should have a combination of upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, and the longer it is, the better.
When the going gets tough, it’s common for some corporate VCs to head for the hills.
Today, it’s a narrative that’s emerging again amid the COVID-19 crisis. Global corporate venture deals fell from a total of 580 in April/May of 2019 to 486 in the same period this year, according to Global Corporate Venturing.
However, institutional VC deals are also headed for a decline, with PitchBook anticipating a drop in transaction volume over the next several quarters, as well as a downturn in valuations.
Image Credits: Global Corporate Venturing
It remains to be seen how it will play out this time, but I believe corporate venture capital (CVC) will not only stick around, but also be a vital part of the innovation ecosystem going forward.
I know that Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (MGHIF) remains fully committed to “doing” venture. Now, more than ever, health innovation is vital. Second, we understand that many of today’s most successful companies were funded in times of uncertainty. In fact, to put our money where our mouth is, we’ve recently completed two spinouts, three follow-on investments, and two new deals in 2020 — all since COVID hit. We intend to increase that pace going forward in 2020 and beyond.
It hasn’t been easy. It’s hard to do venture when you can’t venture out into the world, meet founders and do diligence the way we did in the past. But it is possible, if you do some innovating of your own and set up a smoothly functioning system to do CVC virtually.
Here’s how we’ve done it.
Tesla celebrates its 10th anniversary of going public on June 29.
It's been a long 10 years, full of ups and downs. But it's fair to say that in 2020, Tesla has succeeded in putting electric cars on the radar for many buyers who once would have never considered them.
Tesla's journey has not always been easy. While the company has celebrated plenty of achievements, it has also experienced its fair share of setbacks.Â
Here's a breakdown of the company's most defining moments since its founding.Â
When you buy through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.
One of the biggest draws of Disney Plus is the huge library of Marvel movies you can watch right now. On top of the existing collection, several exclusive new Marvel shows are in the works as well. Classics, like "Iron Man," as well as upcoming shows, like "Loki," will all be in one place for unlimited streaming.Â
More than 10 million people signed up for Disney Plus on the first day of its launch. Analysts predict that 18 million will sign up by the end of 2020, and Disney execs project anywhere from 60 million to 90 million global subscribers by 2024.Â
Updated on 06/29/2020 by Steven Cohen: We've updated this article to reflect the recent release of "Avengers: Infinity War" on Disney Plus. We've also included revised details about the Disney Plus free trial promotion.Â
Disney Plus is Disney's ad-free streaming service with tons of movies and TV shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and 20th Century Fox.
A monthly subscription costs $6.99/month, and an annual subscription costs $69.99 a year. A seven-day trial was originally offered for new subscribers, but this promotion is no longer available. There's also a $12.99 bundle with ESPN+ and Hulu.
Streaming is available on computers, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, and media players with no limit on downloads (as long as your device has enough storage).Â
We've broken down everything you need to know about the streaming service over here and all the package prices here.
Disney Plus is home to nearly every Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie released so far. With that said, certain titles will be added at a later date and a few films, like "Spider-Man: Homecoming," will not be included since they were produced by a different studio.
Titles like "Iron Man," "Captain Marvel," and "Avengers: Endgame" are available now, while movies like "Ant-Man and the Wasp" will roll out later this year. Upcoming Marvel films set for theatrical release, like "Black Widow" and "The Eternals," will also arrive on Disney Plus a few months after they hit home video formats.
Beyond the studio's movie lineup, new spin-off series focused on various Marvel characters will be available on Disney Plus as well. The first new Marvel shows are set to premiere later this year.
Loki will return with more of his mischief in a series aptly named "Loki," the Scarlet Witch will take us on a surreal spin in "WandaVision," and all sorts of alternative realities in the Marvel universe will be explored in the experimental animated series "What If?" There will also be shows centered around characters that are completely new to the MCU, including Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk.Â
Between major films, exclusive series, and even reality shows, the Marvel library is shaping up quite nicely on Disney Plus.
Though different Marvel movies take place at different points in the MCU's timeline, the best order to watch the movies in is the same order that they were originally released in theaters. The filmmakers designed the overarching storyline to be best viewed this way.Â
A full breakdown of the Marvel movie release timeline can be found below, along with a full rundown of every Marvel film and show available on Disney Plus.
YouTube banned Richard Spencer, David Duke, Stefan Molyneux, and other popular white supremacist channels from the platform on Monday, citing their violations of hate speech guidelines.
"We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement provided to Business Insider. Julia Alexander of The Verge first reported the news.Â
Duke is a longtime Ku Klux Klan leader and neo-Nazi, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center; Spencer is the head of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist lobbying organization and think tank, which was also removed from YouTube on Monday; and Molyneux is a far-right activist who advocates for "eugenics and white supremacism," according to the SPLC. The platform also banned the channel of the white nationalist group American Renaissance and its podcast channel.
Molyneux, who calls himself a philosopher, tweeted that his ban was an "egregious error." Spencer said he planned to appeal his ban, which he called a "systemic, coordinated effort."Â
For years, YouTube has faced criticism for allowing the channels of white supremacists to thrive. A September 2018 report from the independent research organization Data and Society called YouTube "the single most important hub by which an extensive network of far-right influencers profit from broadcasting propaganda to young viewers."
In June 2019, YouTube, which is owned by Google, rolled out a hate speech policy overhaul. A YouTube spokesperson said that more than 25,000 channels had been removed for "violating our hate speech policies" in the year since.Â
The news comes the same day that Reddit banned over 2,000 subreddits for hate speech, including r/the_donald, a pro-Trump group that's long been criticized for racist and offensive language. Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao criticized the company in June for allowing the subreddit's "hate, racism, and violence" to continue on the platform.
"Reddit is a place for community and belonging, not for attacking people," the platform's current CEO Steve Huffman said on Monday, according to The New York Times.Â
Also on Monday, livestreaming platform Twitch suspended President Trump's channel for "hateful conduct," using the president's language in campaign rally speeches as examples.Â
Microsoft has paused advertising spending on Facebook and Instagram through at least August, the company confirmed Monday after Axios first reported the news, citing an internal chat transcript.Â
The company first suspended advertising on the social networks in the US in May and more recently paused spending globally, Axios reported Monday. Microsoft confirmed the Axios report to Business Inisder.
Facebook's market value has dropped by $60 billion in the past two days as advertisers including Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and PepsiCo pause spending as part of a boycott in response to Facebook's inaction on hate speech.
Microsoft, according to the Axios report, is not participating in the boycott but is pausing the ad spending because it's concerned about where the company's ads will appear. The company reportedly cited "hate speech, pornography, terrorist content, etc." as examples of "inappropriate content," but, in the transcript Axios reviewed, did not explicitly say what kind of content it didn't want its ads to appear beside.
"Our experience tells us that the most impactful means to effect genuine, long-term change is through direct dialogue and meaningful action with our media partners, including the suspension of real marketing dollars," Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela said in an internal Yammer post, according to the Axios report.Â
Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email atÂ
The workout-apparel brand Lululemon has agreed to acquire the at-home-exercise startup Mirror for $500 million, the company announced on Monday.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. said in a press release that the deal would help the apparel maker boost its "digital and interactive capabilities." It also comes after Lululemon invested in Mirror in October as part of a $34 million funding round led by Steve Cohen's hedge fund Point72.
Brynn Putnam, Mirror's founder and CEO, will stay on as the company's chief executive, and Mirror will operate as a standalone company within Lululemon. The transaction is expected to close in the second fiscal quarter of 2020.
In addition to the investment, Lululemon has also worked with Mirror through a content partnership that included sweat and meditation classes from the apparel company's global ambassadors on Mirror's platform.
Mirror, as its name implies, sells a $1,500 high-tech mirror that's meant to serve a sleek gym alternative for working out at home. The product helps customers keep track of their form during exercises and doubles as a screen for interactive workout classes.
The mirror can be controlled via a smartphone app, and users can see exercise stats on the mirror's screen. The company also expanded into personal training in October.
The deal comes as the demand for streaming workouts and specialized equipment meant to replicate the experience of participating in a boutique fitness class at home has risen in recent years, following the popularity of brands like Peloton.
For Lululemon, the acquisition could help the company further expand into digital fitness as the company faces heightened competition in athleisure from rivals like Nike.
It also comes as there's an increased interest in working out from home amid the coronavirus pandemic. Peloton, which makes high-end fitness bikes and treadmills and offers digital workout classes, said its sales were up 66%when it reported third-quarter earnings in early May.
Putnam said her dissatisfaction with other at-home workout platforms led her to create Mirror, which launched in 2018.
"It was a passive, one-way experience," Putnam said in a previous interview with Business Insider in reference to at-home workout apps she's tried in the past. "There was no interaction. There was no community. There was no progress reporting."
It's unclear how many units Mirror has sold, but Putnam told Business Insider last year that the company had sold Mirrors in every state in the US within a couple of months of its launch.
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