David Lidsky's Blog, page 2793
February 10, 2016
The Number Of Twitter Users Did Not Grow At All In The Final Quarter Of 2015
During Twitter's fourth-quarter earnings announcement, the company reported troubling user numbers, as well as its agenda for 2016.
Twitter revealed startling data on Wednesday: for the fourth quarter of 2015, the social network's total number of monthly active users remained completely flat, at 320 million. Excluding SMS Fast Followers, who access Twitter solely via text message, the total number of monthly active users actually declined, from 307 million to 305 million. In the United States, the number of active users fell from 66 million to 65 million.
Tesla's New M3 Announcement Makes Investors Forget About An Ugly Q4
Investors have been selling off Tesla stock due to fears that the electric carmaker can't stick to production timelines.
Before announcing ugly earnings numbers Wednesday, Tesla dropped the news that it will roll out a prototype of its much-anticipated new "mass market" vehicle, the M3, in just a few weeks on March 1.
Celmatix And 23andMe Team Up To Understand The Genetic Roots of Infertility
Through the partnership, the companies are hoping to develop new screening tests.
One in eight couples struggles to conceive, according to the CDC. But though it's a common problem, scientists are still far away from understanding how a person's genes impacts their fertility.
Marc Andreessen Riles Up Twitter After Defending Colonialism In India
In his defense of Facebook's Free Basics Internet service, Andreessen suggested India was better off under colonial rule.
Venture capitalist and Facebook board member Marc Andreessen was, unsurprisingly, disappointed that India's telecom regulator recently thwarted Facebook's plans to expand Free Basics, the company's free but limited Internet service aimed at developing markets. On Tuesday, Andreessen turned to Twitter to air his grievances:
Twitter Security Chief Calls for Bolstered Cyber Regulation
Companies should be required to encrypt data in transit and promptly fix vulnerabilities, wrote Twitter's Michael Coates on Medium.
Twitter's security chief called for greater regulation of Internet security in a Google-sponsored cybersecurity roundtable discussion hosted on Medium this week.
How Music Changes Our Behavior At Home
What happens when a music-deprived home is suddenly wired up with Sonos speakers and Apple Music? More sex, for starters.
Well, here you are once again, staring at a screen. It's okay, we all do it. Constantly. In fact, there's a good chance you're sitting in a room with somebody else who is also gazing into the blue light of a smartphone or some other gadget right now. All of this technology, the common complaint goes, appears to be driving a wedge between us.
Everything You Need To Know About Twitter's New Timeline Tweaks
They're here, and nothing to panic over. But they do raise lots of intriguing questions, and might be a precursor of bigger changes to come.
Want to freak out a bunch of Twitter users? Easy: Just give them the sense that Twitter is about to change in some fundamental way, without providing much in the way of concrete details.
This Former Google Exec Is On A Mission To Develop A Blood Test For Cancer
A personal tragedy was one of the motivations for Jeff Huber to seek out his new role as CEO of Illumina spinout Grail.
For many oncologists, the holy grail of medicine is a blood test that can detect cancer before symptoms arise. But developing such a test is a daunting challenge.
It's Official: Moore's Law Is Nearing Its End
The 51-year-old computing principle is now butting heads with the realities of physics and economics.
In 1965 Gordon Moore, who would go on to co-found Intel, wrote a paper in which he described what has become known as "Moore's law." It stated that the number of transistors on a microprocessor will double roughly every two years, meaning, in theory, that every two years the processors inside our devices would get twice as fast and be able to do twice as much. For the better part of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and into the first decade of the 21st century, Moore's law proved to be correct—but only because it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, according to a recent article in the science journal Nature, which argues that the prophecy is about to come to an end.
February 9, 2016
Here's How Obama's Cybersecurity Plan Could Affect You
The president's plan to upgrade cybersecurity isn't just a bunch of task forces and blue ribbon panels. It could actually have an impact.
Today the White House dropped a massive Cybersecurity National Action Plan that aims to upgrade online security and privacy for the government, corporations, and regular citizens. The plan includes an executive order to create a Federal Privacy Council, a job description for the new title of Chief Information Security Officer, and requests for about $22 billion in extra funding. The president's plan pulls tech companies into the federal policy process, with some of the biggest—including Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, RSA, and Twitter—already voicing support.
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