Mission Everywhere

  Brandy McNair founder of Bella Vita Jewelry. Courtesy of Brandy McNair Small-business owners say email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach an audience. Newsletters are a more direct channel to customers and can sometimes get better engagement than social media marketing. These growing companies share how they saved money and were able to make more personal connections through email marketing. This article is part of " Marketing for Small Business ," a series exploring the basics of marketing strategy for SBOs to earn new customers and grow their business. Brandy Thomason McNair started sending out an email newsletter soon after launching her business, Bella Vita Jewelry , in 2008.  "It just seemed like the thing to do," she told Insider. "I was so green and didn't have a business school background or anything. I just thought I needed to keep up with people somehow."  To encourage newsletter signups early on, she...

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge : GM's upcoming EVs won't support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of a system developed with Google, to help capture more data and subscription launches   —  General Motors' electric future doesn't include Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.  —  The automaker's upcoming lineup of electric vehicles … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/jXKaxhD

The Rich Dad Channel/YouTube The next chapter of the banking crisis will involve the Bank of Japan, according to Robert Kiyosaki. The "Rich Dad Poor Dad" author said the bank's exposure to derivatives markets is a large risk. Kiyosaki has been bearish for years, predicting the market to crash under the weight of high inflation.  The banking crisis isn't over, and its next chapter will involve one of the world's most important central banks, according to "Rich Dad Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki. In an interview with Fox Business on Thursday, the personal-finance guru expressed his bearishness on the current rally in markets, and warned Japan's central bank may be the next big institution to face turmoil. "The biggest bank that's going to go down is Bank of Japan," Kiyosaki said, pointing to the bank's heavy exposure to derivatives markets. Kiyosaki has previously said he expected the derivatives market to plummet  as t...

Netflix is restructuring its film units and vowing to make fewer but better movies, according to a new report from Bloomberg , which Netflix partially confirmed. The report said the streaming giant is combining film units that produce small and midsize films, resulting in a handful of layoffs, including two longtime executives. Netflix told TechCrunch that these changes were made to simplify its structure and set it up for the next phase of its growth, but declined to comment on how many people were being let go. Scott Stuber, chairman of Netflix Film, has been looking to scale back the company’s output of films to ensure that more of them are high quality, according to the report. It appears that this change has already been implemented, as the report comes as Netflix recently revealed its 2023 original films lineup , which consists of 49 titles. In comparison, the company had 85 original films in its lineup last year. For context, a Netflix original refers to both the content that...

Jeffrey Rousseau / GamesIndustry.biz : Roblox will now hide advertisements from users 13 and younger, nearly a year after nonprofit Truth in Advertising filed an FTC complaint against it   —  Changes come nearly a year after advertising watchdog filed an FTC complaint over company's ad policies  —  Roblox will now hide advertisements … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ypVB426

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Karl Mondon/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images Apple is reportedly introducing its Reality Pro smart goggles in June. But NYT reported on a rare wave of dissent internally at Apple, raising doubts about the product. Experts say the goggles may not be a smash success, but if anyone can make it work, it's Apple. Some of the biggest companies in tech are betting on virtual reality, augmented reality, and a combination of the two, under the catchall umbrella of "extended reality," or XR.  Whatever you call them, these headsets' path to consumer adoption has become so rocky and difficult that those behind the creation and development are becoming increasingly doubtful of their ability to deliver on their own promises.  Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that a rare wave of dissent made its way into the team behind Apple's mixed-reality smart goggles, called Apple Reality Pro. It's reported to launch thi...

Chloe Xiang / VICE : Some signatories of the open letter to pause AI training walk back their positions, others turned out to be fake, and many experts disagree with its proposal   —  The letter has been signed by Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Andrew Yang, and leading AI researchers, but many experts and even signatories disagreed. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/XwzZU0t

Replika has made changes to its AI chatbot. Getty Images Replika brought back a feature that lets users revert to old conversation models with chatbots. The company scrapped a feature last month that removed the chatbots' personalities. CEO Eugenia Kuyda said it was "incredibly hurtful" for some who consider the chatbot their "partner". Replika has added a feature to revert to old conversation models so users can restore their replikas' "personalities" after an update last month saw them removed, Reuters reported . CEO Eugenia Kuyda told the news agency Friday it was letting users who signed up before February 1 have the option to restore the old settings for their "partners."  "A common thread in all your stories was that after the February update, your Replika changed, its personality was gone, and gone was your unique relationship," she said. "And for many of you, this abrupt change was incredibly hurtful ... ...

What do you do when you have a very successful and popular product (marijuana) that is legal in some places, but federally has been a Schedule 1 drug since 1970? Well, you can’t rely on any national institutions as your business partners. One of the major places that shows up is in payments and payment processing; even after recreational cannabis became legal in 21 states and decriminalized in another dozen or so , cannabis has become largely a cash business. In a world that is increasingly cashless, that’s a problem for both consumers and businesses. Smoakland is currently beta-testing a loophole that lets its customers pay by credit card. The secret, it turns out, is crypto. “You’re not actually purchasing cannabis with a credit card,” says Jeff Dillon, managing director of Marketing at Smoakland. “You’re purchasing crypto, and then we immediately use the crypto to purchase cannabis, before cashing the crypto back out. That way, your credit card company knows users are purchasing ...

Financial Times : As Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, Twitter, and others cut their responsible AI teams, experts worry about potential abuses, disinformation, and hallucination   —  Microsoft, Amazon and Google among those to cut ‘responsible AI’ teams as part of broader reductions from Techmeme https://ift.tt/0i9kV6x

Many workers have grown to like the freedom to work from home. sorbetto/Getty Images Employers are hardening demands for workers to return to the office and quashing resistance. But many employees are rejecting the mandates and don't appear ready to back down. The battle has been brewing for years. "It's already an ugly war," one expert told Insider. Employers across corporate America are hardening their demands for workers to return to their cubicles — and rebuffing employee resistance. But workers are ready for this battle. Amazon's top human-resources representative rejected an internal petition signed by roughly 30,000 employees over the company's return-to-office policy. Apple is tracking employee attendance and has threatened action against staff who don't work from the office at least three days a week. And last week, Elon Musk emailed Twitter staff at 2:30 a.m. to remind them of the company's policy, Platformer's Zoë Schiffer...

Justin Ling / Wired : Docs: investments in 4chan include $5.6M from owner Hiroyuki Nishimura and his company plus $2.4M from Japanese company Good Smile, which makes toys for Disney   —  Documents obtained by WIRED confirm that Good Smile, which licenses toy production for Disney, was an investor in the controversial image board. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/npHtVq3

Investor Kevin O'Leary on ABC's "Shark Tank". "Shark Tank"/ABC "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary said the start of the demise of regional banks is underway.  Eventually, the banking sector will become an "oligopoly" of very large institutions. "I have come to the conclusion ... that I do not want to pay for every idiot banker's mistake," he said.  The viability of regional banks looks shaky despite the federal government's intervention to protect uninsured depositors at collapsing lenders, said "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary. A day after the Senate Banking Committee held its first hearing about the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank earlier this month, the O'Leary Ventures chairman suggested on CNN that banks will see major consolidation.  "I say this is the beginning of the demise of small banks, for sure. And that we're going to end up with an oligopoly...

Online used vehicle retailer Shift Technologies cut its workforce by 30% in the first quarter as the company sought to reduce costs and eliminate duplicate positions following its merger with CarLotz, CEO Jeff Clementz said during an earnings call. The layoffs came as the company saw its revenue plummet in the fourth quarter and its operating losses expand. Shift closed its merger with CarLotz in December and immediately eliminated duplicate costs and roles, Clementz said during Tuesday’s earnings call. In early February, the company decided to exit CarLotz’s presence on the East Coast and shut down the Downer Grove, Illinois location in order to focus on core West Coast markets. One remaining CarLotz location in Pomona, California remains open. Shift also has three locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area and Portland. “While difficult, we reduced headcount by approximately 30% in the first quarter,” Clementz said on the call. “In addition to corporate roles, the majority ...

Dan Taylor / Tech.eu : Paris-based Glopal, which helps e-commerce merchants sell to global customers through localization, logistics, and payments services, raised a €20M Series A   —  The Series A funding round is aimed at helping the Parisian startup expand operations in both Europe and the US. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/PgN8ntk

Google is introducing new ways for users to verify information on Search, the company announced on Tuesday. The search giant is launching new features called “Perspectives” and “About this author,” while also expanding some of its current tools, including “About this result.” The new Perspectives feature is a carousel that will appear below Top Stories and showcase insights from a range of journalists, experts, and other relevant voices on the topic you’re searching for. The idea behind the feature is to give users a variety of noteworthy voices on a news topic to broaden their understanding of the subject matter. The carousel will launch soon in English in the U.S. and will be available on desktop and mobile, Google says. Image Credits: Google Google is also launching a new feature called “About this author” that lets users easily learn more about the authors behind the content they are reading. With this new feature, users will be able to find more information about the backgr...

Lena Masri / Reuters : Review of 2K+ court cases: Russia uses facial recognition and surveillance systems to find and arrest scores of protesters and even prevent them from protesting   —  A Reuters review of more than 2,000 court cases shows how Russia uses facial recognition to identify and sweep up the Kremlin's opponents. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/Z3V9odn

Lucid is planning to lay off hundreds of employees, sources tell Insider. Caitlin O'Hara/Reuters Lucid is planning to lay off hundreds of workers, the company told staff Tuesday.  The cuts will affect about 18% of the company, according to five sources and a copy of an internal memo seen by Insider.  Lucid has been struggling with demand and getting vehicles on the road. Electric-vehicle startup Lucid is planning to lay off hundreds of employees, the company told staff during an all-hands meeting Tuesday, according to five sources familiar with the matter and a copy of an internal memo that was viewed by Insider.  Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson told employees the company will cut about 18% of its workforce, per the sources and the internal memo, which was sent after the short meeting. Given Lucid employed approximately 7,200 employees globally as of the end of 2022, according to regulatory filings, that would be about 1,290 employees. The sources were granted anonym...

A group of bipartisan lawmakers has called on the U.S. Postal Service to strengthen its internal processes to reduce change of address fraud , which each year allows fraudsters to redirect thousands of people’s mail, including bills, checks and bank statements. U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ, 5th) and other House lawmakers want USPS to make it more difficult for fraudsters to hijack a person’s mail by ensuring USPS verifies the identity of the person submitting the change of address request. In the bipartisan letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump administration appointee who oversees USPS, the House lawmakers are also pushing USPS to allow anyone the ability to freeze an address change, just as someone would freeze their credit report to prevent fraud. “Change of address fraud is costing our families millions of dollars and it’s costing trust in their local post office. Unfortunately, because of an egregious lack of oversight and action at the post office, ...

BBC : Clearview AI's founder says the company has run nearly 1M searches for US police and now uses 30B images scraped without users consent from sites like Facebook   —  Facial recognition firm Clearview has run nearly a million searches for US police, its founder has told the BBC from Techmeme https://ift.tt/HDIwM5j

Hollis Johnson/Insider The stock market rally is nearing its end as risks related to commercial real estate begin to rise, according to JPMorgan. The bank believes the highs for the stock market have been made in 2023, with further downside ahead. "CRE stresses appear to be compounding, amplified by banking shocks that could complicate their debt roll," JPMorgan said. The stock market rally that began in mid-October and extended through the first quarter of 2023 is nearing its end, and it'll be downhill from here, according to JPMorgan chief global market strategist Marko Kolanovic. In a Monday note, Kolanovic advised investors to stay defensive and not be tempted to buy the dip in stocks, as he thinks the peak in equity prices has already been made for the year. The S&P 500 is up about 4% year-to-date, and has been hovering around 4,000 for the past two months. Driving Kolanovic's bearish view is a rise in risks associated with commercial real esta...

Alexander Onukwue / Semafor : Similarweb: Chinese-owned OPay and PalmPay became the Play Store's top finance apps in Nigeria on March 24, after a central bank edict caused a cash shortage   —  The main winners in Nigeria's banking sector after a botched currency overhaul are two Chinese-owned fintech apps. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/UXS54bQ

Acquirers and processors are competing to enhance their value propositions Card and automated clearing house (ACH) payment networks are dueling for volume Issuers can lean on customer relationships and tranches of data to respond to innovation Amid economic uncertainty, payments providers are making meaningful shifts to digitize and innovate as they continue to grow at a projected 8.3% compound annual growth rate worldwide between 2021 and 2026, per Boston Consulting Group.  Insider Intelligence The changing economic landscape is leading to consolidation and a stronger focus on innovation. Both large and small players in the space can adapt their products to address current market needs and press on toward digitization. Although driving towards digitization increasingly becomes the industry standard, networks like Visa and Mastercard will likely keep raising swipe fees under the argument that these fees are integral to funding security, innovation, and credit card reward...

In February, Disney CEO Bob Iger told shareholders in an earnings call that the company plans to lay off 7,000 employees as part of a significant restructuring. Today, in an internal memo to employees, which TechCrunch was able to obtain, Iger revealed that there will be three rounds of layoffs, with the first beginning this week. “This week, we begin notifying employees whose positions are impacted by the company’s workforce reductions,” Iger wrote. “Leaders will be communicating the news directly to the first group of impacted employees over the next four days. A second, larger round of notifications will happen in April with several thousand more staff reductions, and we expect to commence the final round of notifications before the beginning of the summer to reach our 7,000-job target.” The job cuts will reportedly affect Disney’s media and distribution segment along with ESPN and the parks and resorts division, according to CNBC . “For our employees who aren’t impacted, I want...

Juli Clover / MacRumors : Apple releases iOS 16.4 with new emoji, Safari web push notifications for sites added to the Home Screen, Voice Isolation for calls, and more   —  Apple today released iOS 16.4, the fourth major update to the iOS 16 operating system that initially came out last September. iOS 16.4 comes … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/VuXyTAe

ProPublica : A look at OBNbrandon, a prolific scammer in a booming community focused on banning influencers' Instagram accounts and demanding payment for reactivation   —  Just after midnight on Sept. 13, Kristian “Murda” Murphy was watching TV at home in Boca Raton, Florida, when his phone began buzzing. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/hCtxrAv

New York Times : Filing: some Twitter source code was leaked by a user called “FreeSpeechEnthusiast” on GitHub, which took it down to comply with a DMCA notice sent on Friday   —  The leak adds to the challenges facing the Elon Musk-owned company, which is trying to unmask the person responsible and any other people who downloaded the code. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/KDcfA78