November 11, 2020
while we weren't watching...
empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines
Technology
Storming Social Media: Following disputes over social media posts (mostly labels imposed on improper election-related ones on Facebook and Twitter), the conservative bubble has decided to move itself off of Twitter and onto Parler. Every few months the conservatives make the same announcements (on Twitter) that they are moving. This week that seems to be the case as Parler moved to the top of the App Store, with the founders saying the service was adding “"thousands to users per minute” following Biden’s win. There is one big difference between Parler (which bills itself as the “free speech” app) and Twitter: Parler’s terms of service force users to indemnify the app against any liabilities. Will be interesting to see if/when any lawsuits arrive.
Spotify Subscriptions: Spotify appears to be toying with the idea of launching a subscription package for its podcast content where users would pay a monthly fee to listen to original shows or exclusive episodes. Spotify recently pushed out a survey to select users through its mobile app to gauge opinions on several potential subscription formats ranging from $3 to $8 per month. Spotify also recently announced its intention to purchase the ad platform Megaphone for $235M to boost its podcasting platform. We are still waiting to hear how Spotify deals with its most controversial podcaster, Joe Rogan, after he hosted Alex Jones (the conspiracy theorist) who is himself banned from the platform due to his constant misinformation.
Netflix goes Old School: Netflix is testing out a programmed linear content channel, similar to what you get with standard broadcast and cable TV, for the first time. The Netflix Direct channel is exclusively available to subscribers in France, and it will show existing content but viewers won’t have to select what they are watching next. Netflix appears to be experimenting with decision fatigue (which we could all use a hand with).
App Nutrition Labels: Apple has announced that developers will be required to provide new privacy details to users in the App Store starting December 8. These privacy “nutrition labels” aim to better inform consumers of the privacy practices of individual applications. Developers will be responsible for identifying all possible data collections and uses (even if only used in limited situations). We appreciate the information and we hope users actually notice the labels, although we fear that these will go the way of the terms of service (click to dismiss).
Business
Stalled IPO: Ant Financial, the fintech arm of Alibaba, was on course for the world’s largest IPO, when the Chinese regulators called it off. Chinese regulators decided to put a stop to the deal when they proposed new regulation on micro-lending, raising the question whether Ant is a technology company or a bank. The IPO was scheduled to begin trading on November 5, and would have raised $34B and valued the company at $313B, and it would have become the 4th largest financial institution in the world. If Ant is forced to hold more capital as a bank, this could slash Ant’s valuation by half, dropping it under $150B.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, however, may have put his own IPO and company in jeopardy when he criticized Chinese regulators publicly. In late October, Ma stated that China’s regulators and state-owned banks had a “pawnshop mentality that requires collateral and guarantees to extend credit.” He went on to claim that innovative companies and individuals are often shunned by China’s big financial groups. As a result, the Chinese regulators took a stand, and clipped Ma’s wings. The effect was almost a self-own for the Chinese financial system: the IPO should have been a crowing glory for the homegrown financial technology sector and a means of shoring up confidence in Hong Kong’s financial sector. The Chinese government apparently needed to show its control and dominance despite being on the global stage.
Winners of the Election: Although we are all deeply enmeshed in the headline results of the 2020 election, there were several other issues on the ballot which may have profound changes for the US. Oregon voted to decriminalize the possession of all drugs and legalized psychedelic mushrooms (as did Washington DC). New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota legalized recreational marijuana, and Mississippi and South Dakota allowed for medical marijuana. We are not sure if the measures were passed for cultural reasons, but in the end the States will definitely benefit from the extra tax revenue following 2020’s devastation of the tax base.
Massachusetts passed a right-to-repair measure which will force car manufacturers to ensure independent repair stores have access to the same diagnostic tools as manufacturer-run repair stores. Since cars are effectively massive computers, this may change the technology landscape, and it will have a large impact on Tesla, which has been notoriously secretive about its components. (Tesla’s avoidance trick in the past has been that they don’t have “dealers,” but they have been shockingly open sourced about their battery technology.)
Target Renovation: Target’s location in South Minneapolis is finally reopening after having been ransacked in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. Target, which has traditionally catered to the white suburbs, made a unique choice and spoke to the community, which is predominantly Black, and actually asked them what they wanted and needed in the store. The pharmacy was moved up to the front of the store so elderly customers can easily get their prescriptions; the grocery was stocked with more varieties of spices requested by the local community; the crosswalk from the nearby rail station was made safer and the lighting around it brighter; and the entrance was made more inviting with a new mural and plants. Target is headquartered in Minneapolis, so the closure and reopening of this store had a particular spotlight. Target says it’s planning to use this new model — talking to communities about what they actually want — when building or renovating stores in other diverse U.S. neighborhoods.
Black Friday: Allbirds is going opposite when it comes to Black Friday pricing: the footwear retailer will actually raise prices rather than offering discounts. Allbirds will raise prices across its entire collection by $1, donating the extra dollar, and an additional $1 matched by Allbirds, to Greta Thunberg's youth-led climate movement Fridays for Future. "Black Friday deals may satiate momentary desire, but their impact on the planet is a lot more long-lasting," the company said, noting this approach doubles down instead on sustainability.
Beyonce goes Digital: Peloton recently announced a multi-year partnership with Beyonce Knowles. The stock had been hurt following the announcement of success in Pfizer’s vaccine trials (and hopefully bringing the end to the pandemic and its lockdowns nearer). The company rallied after news that Beyonce would be developing workouts and celebrating students at the Historically Black Universities and Colleges. The partnership is expected to focus on homecoming season. Previously, Beyonce had been the most requested artist by the Peloton global community (over 3.6M members). Guess we won’t be seeing Beyonce and Jay-Z coming back to Soulcycle any time soon.
Ad Targeting: Nielsen, the nation’s leading TV-ratings firm, said it would start measuring targeted advertising on a national basis next year. The lack of a national measurement system for such ads has been a hurdle for brands and networks. Instead of calculating an average audience for all ads in a program as is the current practice, it will measure each ad individually, which is necessary for targeted advertising to work. Nielsen said it was teaming up with AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV and Dish Network Corp, two of the nation’s largest pay-TV distributors, and smart TV manufacturer Vizio. The partnership will give Nielsen data from 55 million devices via smart TVs and set-top boxes. Just one more means of losing our privacy, although who watches commercials any more?
Science
Financial Admission: While most of the world acknowledges that climate change is real and has a real world impact, the US government has mostly remained in denial. Fortunately, the US Federal Reserve, for the first time, included climate change as one of the risks to the financial system in a biannual stability report. France and Britain already plan to run climate-related stress tests on their banks, and other European countries and Japan are likely to follow suit. The Fed can now watch its peers for examples, and hopefully, will be pushed on the right road during the Biden administration.
The UK has also mandated climate disclosures from large companies and financial institutions by 2025. The Treasury said the new disclosure rules and regulations would cover a significant portion of the economy, as the government plans to make the country net-zero-carbon by 2050. “Our goal is to build a UK financial system resilient to the risks from climate change and supportive of the transition to a net-zero economy. In the aftermath of the financial crisis we took far-reaching action to make the financial system more resilient against crises – COVID is the first real test of those changes,” said Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England.
Glow in the Dark: Jupiter’s moon Europa might glow in the dark, not from reflecting the sun’s rays, but from a unique interaction with its icy surface and Jupiter’s magnetic field. Scientists haven’t observed the phenomena in reality, but have recreated the environment in a simulation at NASA’s JPL. NASA is currently developing a robotic mission to Europa, named Clipper, set to launch in the mid-2020s, which could look for the glow first hand.
New Mammals: Australia has announced the discovery of two new mammals: two new species of the great glider. The greater glider is a possum-sized marsupial living in the forests of eastern Australia, squeezing into tree hollows during the day and at night soaring up to 100 meters through the air on the hunt for eucalyptus leaves. Gliders were considered common across their range as recently as 30 years ago but are now listed as vulnerable on the national list of at-risk wildlife. Habitat loss from logging and urban development, coupled with climate change, have pushed them out of many former strongholds. But new DNA has proven the diversity of the species.
Time Capsule: A time capsule that was placed in the Arctic in 2018 has washed up on the shores of Ireland. The metal cylinder contained letters, poems, photographs, badges, beer mats, a menu, wine corks. The capsule was meant to be discovered after 50 years, but the rapid melting of the Arctic caused the capsule to come loose and travel over 2300 miles to Ireland. One more reminder that in the past decade, Arctic temperatures have increased by nearly 1C, and Arctic sea ice has reached its second-lowest extent in the 41-year satellite record.
Culture
Lockdown: Definition: the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces. Collins Dictionary has declared “lockdown” as word of the year for 2020. Lexicographers registered more than 250,000 usages of "lockdown" during 2020, up from just 4,000 last year. The word “encapsulates the shared experience of billions of people.” The potential list of words for the annual honor included Megxit, TikToker, social distancing and BLM. We wish we were back to the good old days of 2018 when the word of the year was Single-use (we have no idea) although we are definitely stuck in 2015 with Binge-watch.
Stand by Her: Chinese students have launched a program setting up free sanitary pad dispensers in toilets at universities across the country in a bid to end period shaming of young women. “Sanitary pad support boxes” have been set up in almost 250 campuses following a campaign on social media by an advocacy group called Stand By Her. During the initial COVID lockdown, health workers were told that sanitary items were not considered critical and were not provided to them, and NGOs stepped in to provide donations. “We are doing this in hopes of putting an end to period shaming and rejecting the stigma of menstruation; we are not avoiding talking about but facing it head-on,” said a student organizer.
We had to go there: The past week has been a series of ups and downs and major anxiety. We did however find some laughter through
the rantings of Leslie Jones (who apparently watched MSNBC for 5 days straight and fell in love with Steve Kornacki)
the quick wit and giving no f*ks style of Pennsylvania’s Lt Governor John Fetterman
and of course the merchandise shop at Four Seasons Total Landscaping
— Lauren Eve Cantor
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