Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Facebook Inc. has spent the better part of a year telling its users, Congress and the readers of this paper that we’re in charge of our personal data and the ads we see. The network has streamlined its privacy settings, shared more details about how data is used and highlighted how its ad controls work. If we take advantage of all these privacy controls, it shouldn’t still feel as…
Amazon’s options for advertising include its delivery boxes. Photo: Amazon Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -0.25% handles nearly half of all online sales in the U.S., giving it a popular platform and a wealth of consumer data. Now it’s on track to become the next juggernaut of online advertising, and its rise threatens to upend Silicon Valley’s…
The U.S. digital ad market grew by nearly $12 billion last year, with Google and Facebook collecting 77 cents of each new dollar spent, according to eMarketer. Peter and Maria Hoey June 19, 2017 5:30 a.m. ET Facebook Inc. FB -2.59% and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL -0.02% Google tower so far above the rest of the…
Nearly half of all cellphone calls next year will come from scammers, according to First Orion, a company that provides phone carriers and their customers caller ID and call blocking technology. The Arkansas-based firm projects an explosion of incoming spam calls, marking a massive leap from 3.7 percent of total calls in 2017 to more…
With the rise of AI personalities like Lil Miquela, who can be anyplace at any time, the future landscape of fame is here. So where do humans fit into it? Lil Miquela herself weighs in. Michael Jackson and Lil Miquela. Miquela wears hat and vest by PRADA. Photograph from Getty Images from the Getty Images Entertainment collection,…
Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks is tweaking the business model for his video streaming startup after falling short of his initial expectations for subscriber growth. When CuriosityStream was launched in 2015, Mr. Hendricks predicted that between five million and seven million people would pay to view the company’s blend of documentaries and other non-fiction content within two…
Good morning. How did you celebrate National Avocado Day? Shamefully, I forgot, so my plans to bathe in a tub of guac will have to wait until…National Guacamole Day, which Google tells me takes place on Sept. 16. Mark your calendars. Chipotle might also have been wishing it had waited until September. The Mexican grill restaurant…
A few months ago, while dining at Veggie Grill (one of the new breed of Chipotle-class fast-casual restaurants), a phrase popped unbidden into my head: premium mediocre. The food, I opined to my wife, was premium mediocre. She instantly got what I meant, though she didn’t quite agree that Veggie Grill qualified. In the weeks that…
Technical experts and their peers are considered the most credible for information on social media, according to the latest 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer survey. By comparison, celebrities, corporate executives and journalists are considered far less credible. Why it matters: Trust in traditional institutions — like media, government and business — is declining, so people are…
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has agreed to meet with a group of publishers next week at four of its global offices to discuss their concerns about its preparations for Europe’s forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation, according to people familiar with the matter. Some publishers have been critical of Google’s stance on the sweeping new data-protection law…