admin

and in less than 2 years I read this.... And Instacart will be the first to tell you. After facing backlash over its controversial worker compensation policy, the delivery startup has announced a change to how its couriers get paid. Under the old system...Instacart would put customer tips toward workers’ minimum pay guarantees, “in effect using them to subsidize their own payouts,” per the NYT. Under the new system...Instacart workers will get full tips from customers, which will be calculated separately from Instacart’s own contribution to employee compensation. Workers who lost out on tips under the old system can get back pay, too. It was more than just Reddit outrage that drove Instacart to make the change, though. We hear class action lawsuits can be quite persuasive—and Instacart was facing one alleging it “intentionally and maliciously misappropriated gratuities.” Zoom out: Workers in the gig economy have faced uncertainty over their compensation, “coping with opaque policies, dizzying technology changes, and black-box algorithms,” the NYT wrote. Now, those workers are pushing back.

The number of “Alexa, _____” jokes on Twitter is proof smart speakers have politely greeted their way into our everyday lives, and new data from research firm CIRP backs that up: The U.S. installed base for smart speakers grew to 66 million units in December 2018—up from 53 million a quarter earlier. Who’s winning? Amazon Echo devices lead the domestic market with a 70% share. Google Home takes second place at 24%, and Apple’s HomePod claims 6%. But that market dominance means something different for everyone, per smart speaker whisperer Benedict Evans. Google and Facebook are in it for your data. Apple wants to a) sell you expensive devices with serious margins and b) make sure you never leave its ecosystem. Amazon, though, has less black-and-white ambitions for Alexa… For many users, it’s still a “glorified clock-radio,” Evans writes. But if Amazon can convert the 100 million Alexa-enabled devices that've been sold into glorified clock-radios that can get you to actually buy more things from Amazon...Alexa could unlock its “deeper strategic value.”

...and now you can, too. Facebook has released an unsend feature for Messenger that allows you to delete a message from everyone’s view within 10 minutes of sending it.

Quick update: Reddit is said to be prepping for a Tencent-led fundraising round of between $150 million and $300 million, per TechCrunch. Looks like the front page of the internet could soon be worth $3 billion.

Wealth inequality is already a major theme of the 2020 election, “as the recent financial crisis and a distrust of big institutions has fueled a populist surge in both parties.” Here is a current related Twitter war as an example:

Since income standards vary widely throughout the world, you can attend a 1 percenter convention and find people across a range of income levels. Bloomberg crunched the numbers... India: $81k China: $105k UK: $290k U.S.: $478k Singapore: $694k UAE: $891k

#nunstoo

So... as follow up.... 28 hours later.... The usage is minimal.... it appears to not be very useful..... AND the real reason I had to get rid of it.... is because all it takes is a URL to be slightly different such as getting a URL with a comment linked included and none of the comments show up. SO..... it's gone. Until we find something better.

President Trump is going over his vocal exercises and pounding licorice root tea in preparation for tonight's State of the Union address. What are we watching for? Zoom out before we zoom in: Economic growth has been a main Trump talking point since he got the keys to 1600 Penn. We're expecting more of that, plus some of his other greatest hits... Like trade Top of the agenda? What comes next with China. Trump will "aggressively claim concessions from the Chinese," said Height Capital Markets to Bloomberg. Recent reports suggested Trump could meet with China's Xi Jinping at the end of the month. And infrastructure... This discussion's played second fiddle to tax reform/immigration issues, but the Year of the Pig could see the rumblings of an infrastructure bill. According to Bloomberg's experts, some stocks to watch if infrastructure gets its moment in the sun include Eagle Materials, Martin Marietta, Emerson Electric, etc., plus other railroad + airline names. And health care... Wednesday morning could be rough for drugmakers. Republicans and Democrats have voiced support for lowering drug prices. Just last week, Trump's team unveiled a proposal to revamp the complicated U.S. drug rebate system. via Morning Brew

This will eventually get to the point that only the largest sites will be able to survive. Online newspapers will die out..... only niche sites will survive well as children that are completely dependent on Google and will only work within the budget that Google drops down to them. I suspect someone at Google will wake up when content creators start disappearing online. Maybe they'll turn to ranking Adsense pages above Facebook and other sites so as to protect their own sphere of influence? I wonder which year this will all start to happen? Currently we just see ad rates plummeting and traffic diverted to the biggest players When will there be only the top 5? Will Google be happy with just 5 top players that use them? (Analogy of course) Amazon is also eyeing sites like mine..... wondering what if they could replace all the Google ads with their own? Probably is.... they don't pay per click and they don't have responsive ad formats. I think the Government allowed too much consolidation in the advertising business creating a huge duopoly. Doubleclick should never have been allowed to merge with Google.

Google's parent company reported fourth-quarter earnings yesterday that topped expectations across the board. But the dual threats of rising costs and growing competition were enough to sink shares about 3% after hours. Revenue surged about 21% annually to $39.3 billion—and given that it represents such a giant portion of sales, we're not surprised that advertising revenue also grew 20% to $32.6 billion. But it didn't come cheap. Traffic acquisition costs (aka the fees Alphabet pays to other companies to be their default search engine) totaled $7.44 billion, up 15%. And capital expenditures came in around $7 billion for Q4, up 80%. Plus, cost per click on Alphabet properties (or what the company charges advertisers) fell 29%. Remember, Alphabet's been navigating an increasingly competitive digital ad landscape. Does anyone know who invited Bezos? Bottom line: That drop in advertising costs could spook investors worried Alphabet's losing its pricing power gusto. Still, it was a (mostly) satisfying ending to a string of (mostly) impressive Big Tech earnings. via Morning Brew

And we might be one step closer to an unlimited soup, salad, and pizza lunch for $6.99. We'll explain. Papa John's (+8.98%) announced yesterday that it received a $200 millioninvestment from activist firm Starboard Value and welcomed three new directors to its board (including Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith, who will become chairman). How Papa John's got here For more than a year, the chain has struggled in the damage control department. Its founder/biggest shareholder, John Schnatter, became synonymous with controversy after making questionable comments about the NFL and using a racial slur. That's been tough on the books. Papa John's stock has tumbled close to 30% in a year. Plus, it reported stale preliminary Q4 financials yesterday, including an 8.1% decline in North American same-store sales and earnings on the lower end of previous guidance. So what makes Starboard the firm for the job? It's been in this biz before. Starboard became well-known following a 2014 coup for the entire board of Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants. Starboard encouraged Olive Garden to cut costs, up its tech game, serve fresher breadsticks, and (perhaps most notoriously) salt its pasta water. The results? Olive Garden became one of the best performing chains around. It's now delivered 17 consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth, and Darden shares soared to a record high last fall. Soundbite: "Securing this investment from Starboard is Papa John's biggest step yet away from the Schnatter era," wrote Bloomberg's Sarah Halzack. "Investors are right to reward the company for moving on." So what about Schnatter? He made a competing offer of up to $250 million after learning about the Starboard proposal, but the Papa John's board rejected it. As if on cue, Schnatter said Monday he's "evaluating the legal remedies available to him." All that's left for us to do? Convince Starboard that pizza is a round breadstick. via Morning Brew

100,000 users.... LOL This site has 15% of that right now. I know... I know.... But I also don't want the headaches he has inherited with "The Facebook" either.

Since I couldn't convince the developers that people want threaded commenting... I decided to add it via Disqus below our own native flat commenting section. Disqus also has many millions more people with accounts that this site does.... so that obstacle may be removed for many. We'll see how it turns out. Supposedly it is also "real-time" so it should also function as a "chat" @Indiana

Don't we all feel safer now that our Big Brother has taken away our privacy and freedom of speech? In this case of course I understand it is a sensitive subject..... Freedom of Speech is not being able to yell FIRE! in a movie theatre. However... this boy MAY have been joking with what he felt was a "robot" toy....... OR NOT?!?! Apple made the decision....I'm sure they would stand behind it. However this does bring up certain rights issues..... Can someone curse someone else in the privacy of his own home? Can someone wish someone else dead? In this case.... we now have listening devices everywhere. And we gladly bought them Funny how in 1984 this would have freaked us all out.

Big brother is always listening.... be careful

The automaker has reversed its decision to build its X-Trail SUV at a plant in northern England and instead will produce it in Japan (the model's global hub). British Prime Minister Theresa May must be kicking herself for not insisting on "no take backs" language in the contract. So what's the reasoning? Seems like an entrée of consolidating production with a side of Brexit concerns. "While we have taken this decision for business reasons, the continued uncertainty around the UK's future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future," said Nissan's Europe chairman. Why this is extra painful: Nissan said it would make the model in the UK only four months after the tumultuous Brexit vote in 2016. The investment pledge signaled that things might turn out okay. But they're not turning out okay UK companies across industries are preparing for Brexit like it's the asteroid from Armageddon. Fine, that may be over-the-top, but still... British factories stockpiled goods in January at a rate not seen since the early 1990s as they brace for impact. It was the highest level ever seen in a G7 country. A new survey from a lobby group showed that nearly 30% of British firms are either considering, or actively planning on, moving ops out of town. Via the Guardian But there's more to this Nissan story than Brexit Lower demand for diesel vehicles in Europe is stinging carmakers...and Nissan's suffering the most. Last year, it cut hundreds of jobs at its northern England plant while watching European sales (down 14% in 2018) fall belowthat of Kia, Citroën, and Dacia brands. *Quickly Googles Dacia*. Okay that's not good. Zoom out: The UK auto industry is struggling from both Brexit and non-Brexit related factors. Investment dropped 46% and new car production fell 9.1% in 2018, according to an industry trade group. https://morningbrew.cmail20.com/t/j-l-xjyuklk-yhyuhjkhdk-d/

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam Holds News Conference Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) said he will not resign from office. On Friday, a photograph from Mr. Northam’s medical school yearbook page surfaced, showing a man wearing blackface next to another person in a KKK robe. Governor Northam asserted he’s not in the photo.

The Blizzard of 1978 in New England. Wow.

Well... this actress just lost a fan.... wow...

Nicole Aduna once loved this song....