Facebook once failed to buy Snapchat; ever since, it’s tried to copy it, mostly without success. Until now. Facebook’s Instagram Stories, a clear Snapchat clone, has more daily users than Snapchat itself — and parent company Snap Inc. should be very worried. Snap’s latest earnings report isn’t helping either. On...
Read MoreThe Google engineer who blamed biological differences for the paucity of women in tech had every right to express his views. And Google likely had every right to fire him, workplace experts and lawyers say. Special circumstances — from the country’s divisive political climate to Silicon Valley’s broader problem with gender equity — contributed to the outrage and subsequent firing. But the fallout should still serve as a warning to anyone in any industry expressing unpopular, fiery viewpoints. “Anyone who makes a statement like this and expects to stick around … is foolish,” said David Lewis, CEO of Operations...
Read MoreTake Amazon Prime, mix it with Pinterest and add a dash of Instagram. The result is Amazon Spark , a new shopping-focused “social network” aimed at getting hardcore Amazon users to spend even more money with the e-commerce giant. The service launched publicly on Tuesday on Amazon’s iPhone app, although it’s already chock full of posts, so the company has clearly been testing it for a while. It’s only available to Prime members, who pay $99 a year for free shipping, streaming videos and other perks. An Android version is planned. Like Pinterest, Spark lets users share photo-heavy posts...
Read MoreSexism in Silicon Valley may be coming in for a reckoning, prompted by women coming forward with stories of sexual harassment by industry bigshots. Apologies, resignations and self-reflection have followed, although it’s too soon to tell if they will produce meaningful change. Dave McClure, a prominent venture investor, said on Saturday that he is sorry for making “inappropriate advances” toward several women in workplace situations, and is no longer leading the venture capital fund he co-founded, 500 Startups. He remains a general partner at the firm. McClure’s apology — titled “I’m a Creep. I’m Sorry” — follows a New...
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Twitter’s new privacy policy suggests ambitions of becoming more like Facebook — more tracking of users and more targeting of ads to rake in more money. Twitter recently reported its first quarterly revenue decline since going public. That should give you some clues about the reasons behind the policy...
Read MoreThe company behind Snapchat closed on a high note in its Wall Street debut, proof, at least for a day, that there’s investor demand for young but still unproven tech companies. Shares of Snap Inc. jumped $7.58, or 44 percent, to close at $24.48 on Thursday. The company had priced its initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 each on Wednesday. That was above the expected range of $14 to $16. Snap’s IPO was one of the most anticipated for a technology company since Twitter’s in 2013. That, in turn, had created the biggest stir since Facebook made its debut on Wall Street in...
Read MoreThe tech industry brought us self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and 3-D printers. But when it comes to racial and gender diversity, its leading companies are no trailblazers. Despite loudly touted efforts to hire more blacks, Latinos and women, especially in technical and leadership positions, diversity numbers at the largest tech companies are barely budging. In 2014, 2 percent of Googlers were black and 3 percent were Hispanic, numbers that have not changed since. The picture is similar at Facebook and Twitter . Microsoft is slightly more racially diverse (though not when it comes to gender) and Apple even more...
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the idea that fake news spread on Facebook influenced the outcome of the U.S. election is “crazy.” Still, the majority of Americans (six in 10) say they get at least some news from social media , mostly Facebook, according to the Pew Research Center. While a lot of this news...
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Twitter’s most urgent task is naming a new CEO. But the most formidable one is convincing more people that its service is essential, easy to use and not just meant for celebrities, 16-year-olds and news junkies. To help with the latter, there are big promotions, such as last year’s World...
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