RECENT ARTICLES
The making of Amazon Prime, the internet’s most successful and devastating membership program
Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.It’s easy to forget now, but Amazon wasn’t always the king of online shopping. In the fall of 2004, Jeff Bezos’s company was still mostly selling just books and DVDs.That same year, Amazon was under siege from multiple sides. Some of its biggest competitors were brick-and-mortar chains like Best Buy, which was still in expansion mode at the time, with sales growing 17 percent annually. Toys ‘R’ Us sued Amazon in a high-profile battle, alleging it had violated an agreement the two companies had for the toy store...…Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.It’s easy to forget now, but Amazon wasn’t always the king of online shopping. In the fall of 2004, Jeff Bezos’s company was still mostly selling just books and DVDs.That same year, Amazon was under siege from multiple sides. Some of its biggest competitors were brick-and-mortar chains like Best Buy, which was still in expansion mode at the time, with sales growing 17 percent annually. Toys ‘R’ Us sued Amazon in a high-profile battle, alleging it had violated an agreement the two companies had for the toy store...WW…
Here’s how Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and 8chan handle white supremacist content
In light of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend, Recode reviewed how these platforms handle content that promotes violence and spreads hateful ideologies.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.In less than 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, two mass shootings in , and , have . The back-to-back massacres are raising questions about the role of social media platforms in spreading content that promotes violence and white supremacist ideologies.Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been slow to take action against white...…In light of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend, Recode reviewed how these platforms handle content that promotes violence and spreads hateful ideologies.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.In less than 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, two mass shootings in , and , have . The back-to-back massacres are raising questions about the role of social media platforms in spreading content that promotes violence and white supremacist ideologies.Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been slow to take action against white...WW…
Wash your damn hands
It’s one of the best ways to prevent Covid-19 — and you’re probably doing it wrong.With cases , there’s never been a better time to brush up on one of the easiest ways to avoid the spread of infectious disease: proper, consistent hand hygiene.Everyone from the WHO to the has repeatedly emphasized regular (or hand sanitizer if water and soap aren’t available) as a way to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus."There are 10 basic things that you should know.1⃣clean your regularly with an alcohol-based hand rub, or wash them with & .Touching your face after touching contaminated...…It’s one of the best ways to prevent Covid-19 — and you’re probably doing it wrong.With cases , there’s never been a better time to brush up on one of the easiest ways to avoid the spread of infectious disease: proper, consistent hand hygiene.Everyone from the WHO to the has repeatedly emphasized regular (or hand sanitizer if water and soap aren’t available) as a way to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus."There are 10 basic things that you should know.1⃣clean your regularly with an alcohol-based hand rub, or wash them with & .Touching your face after touching contaminated...WW…
Justice Sotomayor warns the Supreme Court is doing "extraordinary" favors for Trump
The Trump administration thinks the court is its personal fixer. The court isn’t doing much to disabuse it of this idea.Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a Wednesday evening from a Supreme Court order that effectively out of the asylum process. Asylum allows foreign nationals who face certain forms of persecution to seek refuge in the United States.The Court’s order is temporary, and it only allows the asylum ban to remain in effect while the case is working its way through the courts. It stays a that blocked the ban. Though this litigation will continue to percolate in lower courts, other...…The Trump administration thinks the court is its personal fixer. The court isn’t doing much to disabuse it of this idea.Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a Wednesday evening from a Supreme Court order that effectively out of the asylum process. Asylum allows foreign nationals who face certain forms of persecution to seek refuge in the United States.The Court’s order is temporary, and it only allows the asylum ban to remain in effect while the case is working its way through the courts. It stays a that blocked the ban. Though this litigation will continue to percolate in lower courts, other...WW…
A 3rd woman tied to Trump wants to break her silence, this time about campaign work
A workplace discrimination case reveals Trump’s continued reliance on nondisclosure agreements.A former Donald Trump campaign staffer is suing to void her nondisclosure agreement, the third woman in Trump’s orbit to attempt to get out of such a contract.NBC News that Jessica Denson, who worked on the 2016 Trump campaign, filed a federal lawsuit to release herself from the nondisclosure agreement. Denson claimed that Trump had “weaponized” the agreement to crush a $25 million discrimination lawsuit she filed against the Trump campaign last November. Denson says she was routinely harassed and...…A workplace discrimination case reveals Trump’s continued reliance on nondisclosure agreements.A former Donald Trump campaign staffer is suing to void her nondisclosure agreement, the third woman in Trump’s orbit to attempt to get out of such a contract.NBC News that Jessica Denson, who worked on the 2016 Trump campaign, filed a federal lawsuit to release herself from the nondisclosure agreement. Denson claimed that Trump had “weaponized” the agreement to crush a $25 million discrimination lawsuit she filed against the Trump campaign last November. Denson says she was routinely harassed and...WW…
Inside the conflict at Walmart that’s threatening its high-stakes race with Amazon
Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.In September 2016, Walmart made a giant, risky bet.The country’s most dominant brick-and-mortar retailer agreed to the largest-ever acquisition of an e-commerce company: of a fast-growing but money-sucking online shopping site called Jet.com.There were back then, but Walmart was desperate to close the huge gap between itself and Amazon, the online shopping wrecking ball. And CEO Doug McMillon had become convinced that Jet founder and CEO Marc Lore, who previously founded and sold it for a fortune to Amazon, was...…Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.In September 2016, Walmart made a giant, risky bet.The country’s most dominant brick-and-mortar retailer agreed to the largest-ever acquisition of an e-commerce company: of a fast-growing but money-sucking online shopping site called Jet.com.There were back then, but Walmart was desperate to close the huge gap between itself and Amazon, the online shopping wrecking ball. And CEO Doug McMillon had become convinced that Jet founder and CEO Marc Lore, who previously founded and sold it for a fortune to Amazon, was...WW…
Amazon now has more than 150 million Prime members across the world
Can government investigations and activist protests slow the Prime machine?Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon is facing government investigations and activist protests across the globe, from the to to . And yet the engine behind its online retail domination just keeps getting stronger.CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Thursday that the company’s Amazon Prime membership program now boasts more than 150 million paying customers across the globe. Amazon’s stock price jumped more than 10 percent on the Prime news and the company’s broader earnings...…Can government investigations and activist protests slow the Prime machine?Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon is facing government investigations and activist protests across the globe, from the to to . And yet the engine behind its online retail domination just keeps getting stronger.CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Thursday that the company’s Amazon Prime membership program now boasts more than 150 million paying customers across the globe. Amazon’s stock price jumped more than 10 percent on the Prime news and the company’s broader earnings...WW…
Facebook has finally decided that the best way to deliver news is to act like a newspaper
The limits of the platform model: Sometimes you need to pay humans to make and edit news.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Facebook’s News section, which launches Friday, is a big deal for newspapers because .It is also an interesting, tacit admission from Facebook: The best way for Facebook to act like a newspaper, it turns out, is for Facebook to actually behave like a newspaper.Facebook isn’t changing its main “News Feed” — an almost-anything-goes jumble of dog pictures, rants from your uncle, and whatever news stories you and your friends want...…The limits of the platform model: Sometimes you need to pay humans to make and edit news.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Facebook’s News section, which launches Friday, is a big deal for newspapers because .It is also an interesting, tacit admission from Facebook: The best way for Facebook to act like a newspaper, it turns out, is for Facebook to actually behave like a newspaper.Facebook isn’t changing its main “News Feed” — an almost-anything-goes jumble of dog pictures, rants from your uncle, and whatever news stories you and your friends want...WW…
Amazon is creating facial recognition regulations that it wants Congress to adopt
The tech giant’s hope is that federal lawmakers will adopt much of its draft legislation.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says his company is developing a set of laws to regulate facial recognition technology that it plans to share with federal lawmakers.In February, the company, which has faced escalating scrutiny over its controversial facial recognition tech, called Amazon Rekognition, . Now Amazon is taking another step, Bezos told reporters in a surprise appearance following Amazon’s annual Alexa gadget event in Seattle...…The tech giant’s hope is that federal lawmakers will adopt much of its draft legislation.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says his company is developing a set of laws to regulate facial recognition technology that it plans to share with federal lawmakers.In February, the company, which has faced escalating scrutiny over its controversial facial recognition tech, called Amazon Rekognition, . Now Amazon is taking another step, Bezos told reporters in a surprise appearance following Amazon’s annual Alexa gadget event in Seattle...WW…
Trump wants a line-item veto. One problem: it’s unconstitutional.
The president asked Congress for one after he agreed to sign the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill.President Donald Trump before signing the massive $ on Thursday. He did so, reluctantly and with plenty of grievances against Congress and Democrats about what was in the bill and what wasn’t.Trump also proposed a few solutions to avoid this problem for future spending bills, one of which included Congress giving him the power of a line-item veto. That would let the head of the executive branch essentially take a red pen to legislators’ work, editing out the parts he doesn’t like.“To prevent...…The president asked Congress for one after he agreed to sign the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill.President Donald Trump before signing the massive $ on Thursday. He did so, reluctantly and with plenty of grievances against Congress and Democrats about what was in the bill and what wasn’t.Trump also proposed a few solutions to avoid this problem for future spending bills, one of which included Congress giving him the power of a line-item veto. That would let the head of the executive branch essentially take a red pen to legislators’ work, editing out the parts he doesn’t like.“To prevent...WW…