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Business News

Why President Trump is Totally Completely and Terribly Wrong About Amazon (and Jeff Bezos)

3/30/2018

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Why President Trump is Totally, Completely, and Terribly Wrong About Amazon (and Jeff Bezos)

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Is Amazon really hurting small business? That's a good question to ask after President Trump condemned the retail giant in a tweet, claiming the company doesn't pay enough in taxes and has a stranglehold on the small business economy. The criticism seems strange, though, because from most angles, Amazon is helping small business.

Here's the full tweet:

I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!

-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018

One report suggested that Amazon has actually fueled small business growth, mostly in terms of creating new ancillary businesses that support the tech giant. Smaller smart home companies have partnered with Amazon to sync with the Amazon Echo speaker.

You can buy products from third-party resellers that might be hard to find otherwise. I've purchased everything from beef jerky to USB-C cables after searching Amazon and seeing a third-party selling exactly what I need, then paying little-to-nothing for the shipping. There's no way I would have found these small companies any other way.

And, in my area, small business retailers are thriving, mostly because the big box retailers like Walmart and Target can't seem to keep up with Amazon. If you're looking for an SD card for your new camera, you will probably buy one on Amazon. If you want to buy a new office chair, it's much more likely you'll drive over to a small furniture or office supply store. In my town, everything from beds to chairs to musical instruments are available from small shops, and it's fun to browse around in a downtown area and find just the right product. It's not fun to shop at Walmart or Amazon. For many products, mostly the ones I tend to buy over and over again (like some eye drop medication for my wife), I just reorder with a click.

Ironically, for books, I'm constantly shopping in the real world. Even when I know a book will be cheaper online and maybe even faster to order from Amazon, I still tend to buy books from a local shop because I enjoyed their coffee and atmosphere.

My opinion? Amazon is definitely killing major retail. And there's no question some local retailers have felt the burn or even gone out of business. But small business offers a unique experience that actually buttresses nicely with online ordering. My sense is that some people shop small and local even more than they did before the rise of Amazon. (And some shop a lot less.) In some ways, the boost to small companies being able to sell on Amazon counteracts some of the "ghost town" feeling for brick-and-mortar retail. 

So what's the real gripe here? I have a theory, of course. Amazon represents a trend with all of online shopping, and there's no stopping it. It does augment and help small business, and Amazon is simply catapulting forward on the back of online shopping trends.

President Trump likely doesn't see that shift as a positive trend. He might only see that Jeff Bezos himself is rising higher and higher in the ranks as a tech luminary. In 2017, Bezos became the richest person in the word, with a net worth of $112 billion. That's a far cry from what Trump was raking in as a real estate mogul before he turned to politics.

Bezos is also a supporter of small business. He's an entrepreneur who has funded and supported many businesses like Blue Origin and Nextdoor, plus at least two dozen more. I've never met him before, but from I understand, he is a likable person who probably has a shark-like personality--I would not be surprised if he ended up on Shark Tank someday (or a similar show)--probably quite a few years from now when someone else has taken over Amazon. With success comes envy. I can't say what Bezos is really like, but from most of the interviews I've seen, he's smart, ambitious and likable.

Maybe that's the real problem people have with him...and Amazon. 





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via Inc.com https://www.inc.com/

March 30, 2018 at 10:22AM
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These 6 Industries Are Using Blockchain to Gain a Competitive Advantage

3/30/2018

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These 6 Industries Are Using Blockchain to Gain a Competitive Advantage

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While people debate the benefits and pitfalls of cryptocurrency, the blockchain technology that underlies these currencies is taking the main stage.

That's understandable, as blockchain is a must-have in and of itself for creating competitive advantage.

Related: 5 Ways Blockchain Technology Will Change the Way We Do Business

For some companies, blockchain-based security applications are enticing; others are simply excited about blockchain's potential for helping them create transparent marketplaces for their customers.

Whatever the motive, the immutable and transparent nature of the blockchain is what has so many people racing to incorporate it into their IT strategies. Joe Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum, interviewed by Newsweek  explained why more and more companies are taking note: “There won’t ever be a single powerful entity that controls the system or controls gatekeeping into the system the way blockchain does,” Lubin said.

As a decentralized platform for innovation, blockchain technology, over time, will revolutionize virtually every industry. First movers will have the distinct advantage of figuring out how blockchain can get their business to the next level. They’ll also figure out earlier than their competition does the challenges that come with any new IT integration.

Following are examples of industries that are already adopting blockchain solutions with a great degree of success.

Fund administration

The challenges associated with fund administration are extensive. Currently, most companies rely on outdated software or ungainly paper processes. Gary Markham, CEO of aXpire a blockchain-based solution for expenditure management, described the traditional challenges in this company white paper. “Normally," he wrote, "businesses have to spend a lot of time sorting through paper, PDFs and spreadsheets to process documents by hand.

Related: 15 Crazy and Surprising Ways People Are Using Blockchain

"Smart contracts use software code to automate tasks, thereby shaving hours off a range of business processes.”

One of the biggest challenges in fund administration is tracking and managing expenditures. Blockchain solutions could solve that issue completely by reducing data inaccuracies, improving interoperability of various enterprise applications and creating more transparent expenditure tracking.

Continued Markham: “For fund managers, financial industry leaders or any regulated group, the ability to show a regulator a report of [expenditures] in real time, having spent far less time and money gathering that data relative to legacy solutions, is immensely powerful.”

Information services

As the internet has become inseparable from everyday life and been transferred to our mobile phones whose access is at our fingertips, users have sought instant access to their favorite websites. According to this report by Shopify, page-load speed is one of the most important factors for consumers buying something online.

Even Google decided to incorporate website speed into its algorithm ranking factors as explained by TechCrunch. The world’s most popular search engine considers a page to be "slow" if it takes longer than 1.5 seconds to load!

Miao Zhicheng, a blockchain developer for NOIA Network, believes that blockchain will transform the global internet infrastructure as explained in that company's white paper.

“The problems of latency, low internet availability and sluggish pace of digital-content progress due to high content delivery costs will soon be over," Zhicheng wrote. "NOIA Network is solving them by creating a widely dispersed and decentralized content delivery network. This network is formed by household computers and data centers around the globe."

Participants can share their idle bandwidth and storage resources in exchange for NOIA tokens," Zhicheng wrote, claiming that, "Every single transaction is automated and seamless only because of smart contracts enabled by blockchain technology.”

Other technology experts, too, believe that blockchain will power us into Web 3.0, by offering the fast speed and decentralization they say should have been developed at the beginning of the internet age. 

Real estate

Real estate is an incredibly complex industry with a lot of moving parts. The participation of buyers, sellers, agents and brokers, and the processes of title and escrow make real estate transactions slow and potentially risky.

Blockchain can reduce that risk and increase trust in a number of ways. With home purchases, most people rely on title companies to verify real estate transactions and ownership. There has been much debate about how blockchain could solve this problem, but a recent Newsweek report detailing the example of a home title being issued on the Ethereum blockchain showed a solution: It’s only a matter of time, the article said, before government agencies start embracing blockchain as a valid alternative to existing title processes.

The technology can also be used to conduct transactions using various cryptocurrencies. Recent reports, including this Los Angeles Times article, have detailed how all types of homes being placed on the market for cryptocurrency rather than fiat currencies. This demonstrates a demand for the option to buy homes with digital assets over traditional ones.

Banking

At this point, banks that remain somewhat skeptical about the new technology are only slowly changing their tune regarding cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Barclays, J.P. MorganChase, Goldman Sachs and other big players are investigating potential applications.

In Europe, the banking industry is shifting from closed unilateral systems to a more decentralized "bank as a platform" approach. The process, Open Banking, is explained in this Medium article. Recent legislation has forced banks to allow third-parties access to client data via APIs.

Different banks, deposit and insurance accounts, crypto holdings and exchanges can now be reached using a single interface. From the consumer's perspective, this degree of access decentralizes banking services, in a secure and user-friendly manner.

While other platforms suggest direct blockchain usage, ORCA, a customizable open-banking platform connecting crypto and fiat services, reverses things, aggregating only third-party services, but storing no data. “It’s the first time in history when open banking allows [us] to combine traditional banking and cryptocurrency services, “ Natan Avidan, CEO of the ORCA Alliance, told Medium.

Escrow

Blockchain can also make escrow a thing of the past, not just for real estate, but for all industries that work with any kind of escrow middle man.

New York City Department of Education attorney Tsui S. Ng recently explained the benefits to the American Bar Association. “In securities trading," he said, "it currently takes several days to transfer assets, thereby increasing counterparty risk. Smart contracts that use blockchain technology could shorten settlement times and mitigate such risk.”

By creating an automated, incorruptible and instantaneous contract, blockchain solutions will be able to eliminate costly intermediaries and the risks associated with drawn-out transactions.

Legal

Businesses are getting more comfortable with the idea of digitally secure contracts, to facilitate deals in real time. This means law firms will need to become intimately acquainted with the technology to advise clients on the best ways to structure various transactions on the blockchain.

That’s precisely why the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has worked so hard to get law firms invested in the technology. To date, the alliance has added over 14 firms as members, according to this Coin Telegraph article, to help drive development and adoption of blockchain solutions for the legal industry.

As Aaron Wright, chair of the alliance's Legal Industry Working Group, told Coin Telegraph, “Lawyers are poised to serve as the catalysts for blockchain technology, and the Legal Working Group will serve as a neutral space to explore blockchain-based legal technology, develop standards for 'smart' legal agreements, support emerging enterprise use cases, and tackle important policy issues raised by this new, impactful technology.”

What business owners should know

Business owners in any of these industries need to start incorporating blockchain into their strategies so as not to fall behind. One of the best ways is to hire a firm that has blockchain built into every aspect of its service offering. Just make sure the company knows the technology through and through. Larger companies might consider hiring a chief blockchain officer or placing a blockchain director under the CTO.

They should ensure that blockchain development is an integral advantage for their businesses -- not just a cool-sounding tech phrase.

Related: 8 Benefits of Blockchain to Industries Beyond Cryptocurrency

Whatever strategy you deploy, you can be sure that tbeing a first mover on blockchain in your industry will give you an edge over your competition.

Related:
These 6 Industries Are Using Blockchain to Gain a Competitive Advantage
How Cashaa is Easing Global Transaction With a Click
Here's What the Media Should Really be Focusing on With Blockchain Technology





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March 30, 2018 at 10:19AM
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Most people probably don't know Goldman Sachs offers a savings account with excellent perks and anyone can use it with just $1

3/30/2018

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Most people probably don't know Goldman Sachs offers a savings account with excellent perks — and anyone can use it with just $1

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Goldman SachsRichard Drew/AP

  • Goldman Sachs revamped its retail banking service to become "Marcus by Goldman Sachs," with online offerings for anyone to use.
  • One element of Marcus is a high-yield savings account, with a 1.50% APY, no transaction fees, or minimum account balance.
  • While interest rates for savings accounts have fallen, Goldman Sachs is betting on high yields for its digital program.


Goldman Sachs might conjure images of men in suits making money, but now, anybody can earn extra dough through the investment bank.

Marcus — named after Goldman Sachs founder Marcus Goldman — allows any adult (except in Maryland where Marcus is not yet available) to create a savings account. 

The big selling point for Marcus is the 1.5% APY (annual percentage yield) offered. Whereas interest rates for many banks have plummeted to as low as 0.01%, Goldman Sachs' new savings accounts create significant interest.

There is also no minimum amount needed to open an account with Marcus, and a deposit of just $1 allows users to earn the 1.5% APY. Keeping with the high-growth, no-cost model, Marcus does not charge any fees on savings accounts, including for money transfers. 

Along with savings accounts, Marcus offers personal loans of up to $40,000 with no fees and high-yield CDs. 

There are some limitations to Marcus: Marcus accounts are not connected to any ATM system and no mobile app is currently available. Savers are only allowed to make six transfers or withdrawals a month.

Even with its restrictions, Marcus made the list for NerdWallet's best savings accounts of 2018 and one of of MagnifyMoney's best online savings accounts. 

Andrew Williams is the managing director of corporate communications at Goldman Sachs. Williams told Business Insider that customers prefer Marcus because the savings accounts are a "very competitive offering, especially when looking at most other banks."

In the company's 10-K, Goldman Sachs said it had $13.8 billion in Marcus deposits as of December 2017, an increase of over $3 billion in the last year.

NOW WATCH: Here's why this Goldman Sachs investment chief isn't worried about two of the market's biggest fears

See Also:

  • All the TV shows that have been canceled recently
  • It's just dumb to put more than $250,000 in one bank account if you're rich
  • Here are the ages you financially peak at everything throughout life — from salary to net worth

SEE ALSO: Harvard researchers say you'll have more money in retirement if you choose the right savings account

DON'T MISS: Meet the 2 men in position to replace Lloyd Blankfein at the top of Goldman Sachs





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March 30, 2018 at 10:18AM
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American Coast Guardsman faces daunting $31000 fee to fly her dog home from Japan after United changes its policy (UAL)

3/30/2018

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American Coast Guardsman faces daunting $31,000 fee to fly her dog home from Japan after United changes its policy (UAL)

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english mastiffClaudio Gennari / Flickr

  • A Coast Guardsman may have to pay $31,000 to fly her dog from Japan to the United States, according to Stars and Stripes.
  • She sent the dog to Japan on United Airlines, but United has temporarily stopped transporting pets in the cargo holds of its aircraft.
  • The 221-pound English mastiff needs a 100-pound carrier, which makes it heavier than most airlines and transportation services allow.


Coast Guardsman Jennifer McKay paid $3,200 to fly her dog from the United States to Japan in 2016. Now, McKay would have to pay $31,000 to fly the 221-pound English mastiff home, according to Stars and Stripes.

That's because McKay is stationed in western Tokyo, where United Airlines was her only affordable option to transport a 221-pound dog overseas. But on March 20, United announced it would temporarily stop transporting pets in the cargo holds of its aircraft while it reviewed its PetSafe program. United expects to finish the review by May 1, but the airline was not able to provide an update on its plans once the review is complete.

That leaves McKay, who would have to transport the dog in a 100-pound carrier, with few options. The dog and its carrier are too heavy for the Air Force's Air Mobility Command — which doesn't transports pets and carriers with a combined weight over 150 pounds — and most airlines, and they aren't eligible for UPS or FedEx. 

According to Stars and Stripes, McKay's only option to send her dog home on a direct flight is Japan's All Nippon Airways, which would charge $31,000. McKay starts a new assignment in Washington, DC, in June, so she's hoping United will reinstate the PetSafe program after its review.

"I am a single-parent servicemember just trying to get home to the U.S. with my dog and my son," she told Stars and Stripes. "The alternative options to do this are financially unreasonable — but my dog is my family and I won’t leave him behind."

United launched the review of its pet transport program after a series of dog-related mishaps in March which included a dog that died after being placed in an overhead bin and two that were sent to incorrect destinations.

NOW WATCH: Trade war fears are escalating — here's who has the most to lose

See Also:

  • The 11 best and worst airlines in America
  • A Saudi Arabian millennial ambassador flies in a private Boeing 767 that costs $30,000 per hour — take a look inside
  • BMW will reportedly start testing its car subscription service next week

SEE ALSO: Airline pilot reveals what conditions are really like for pets on planes





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March 30, 2018 at 10:18AM
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Trump may have 'a method to his madness' by teasing a trade war but it could still end in chaos

3/30/2018

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Trump may have 'a method to his madness' by teasing a trade war — but it could still end in chaos

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donald trumpLeah Millis/Reuters

  • President Donald Trump's tough recent talk on trade gave him some small victories, in the form of new negotiations with China and South Korea.
  • His strategy may be an intentional ploy to extract gains in international trade.
  • While it's showing some signs of working, experts say his posturing may eventually backfire.

President Donald Trump fell into a familiar pattern during the month of March, announcing tough trade actions and eventually backing off the most damaging possibilities when allies raised concerns.

The moves have seemed to produce to produce some results:

  • South Korea agreed to renegotiate their main trade deal with the US. 
  • China came to the table to talk about opening up their market to US businesses.
  • And Trump tweeted that other countries started trade talks with the administration.

"There may be a method to his madness," Greg Valliere, chief global strategist at Horizon Investments, told Business Insider.

But economists and analysts say Trump's constant posturing on trade isn't sustainable in the long-term.

Trump developed a useful pattern...

Valliere said the rhythms of Trump's trade style became familiar over the past month, and other nations are starting to notice.

"It's possible that many countries have gamed out the Trump style — all bluster and threats initially, leading to some modest trade concessions, giving Trump an opportunity to boast that he got results," Valliere said.

Some analysts say Trump's posturing may actually reflect a larger scheme from the president that represents his signature style of negotiating.

"Other administrations have gone to trading partners like China and asked for a fairer deal, only to get a cigar put out on their forehead,” Steve Chiavarone, a portfolio manager at Federated Investors, told Reuters. "I suspect Trump’s bucking of norms is absolutely part of his negotiating tactics."

But others see a more complex situation. Gregory Daco, the chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said he suspects the rest of the administration may simply be trying to contain the fallout from Trump's original comments.

"I don't know if it's a strategy by design, I don't think that the decisions we've seen over the past few weeks have been fully thought through," Daco told Business Insider. "What's happened is more reaction to the president's more flamboyant announcements."

Daco said most of the negotiating and eventual softening was the work of other members of the administration trying to contain Trump's impulses on trade.

Intentional or not, so far Trump got some major concessions out of the tough talk but that doesn't mean the US will win so much that Americans get sick of trade wins.

...but it may not work for long

Trump XiReuters/Carlos BarriaDaco said Trump's constant jabs at allies could eventually provoke a more serious response.

"A big concern is that you end up in a situation where countries get a little bit tired of this quite aggressive approach from the US and decide to act a little bit more strongly as a reaction to the tariffs imposed by the US," Daco said.

Other nations had already lined up action against the US before backing down as the Trump administration negotiated exemptions.

Trump's strategy could also risks alienating allies that could be helpful in more expansive trade disputes. As Fred Bergsten, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, argued in a recent analysis, tough action against actual trade rule violators, like China, requires action from more than just the US.

"To effectively attack China's trade and investment policies, however, the United States must have allies," Bergsten said. "We no longer have the power to unilaterally compel other countries, especially a superpower like China, to mend their ways."

With the possibility of a backfire looming, Trump may be slowly recognizing that his strategy isn't necessarily sustainable in the long-term, Valliere said.

"I'm not ready to sound an all-clear but it appears that Trump listens to the markets, which quite clearly are telling him to cool it," the strategist said, referring to days of stock-market plunges that have accompanied Trump's announcements..

If the president doesn't learn, Daco said, that might put the US in a tough spot.

"Think about somebody playing with a knife on a playground," Daco said. "The other kids might decide to be careful initially but after a while there might actually be more severe consequences and actions for someone wielding a dangerous instrument."

NOW WATCH: BILL BROWDER: How sanctions on Russia hurt Putin's closest allies

See Also:

  • Trump threatens to 'hold up' new trade deal with South Korea in a roundabout attempt to put pressure on North Korea
  • America's rich people are freaked out about Trump's newest policy push
  • Trump's hard-charging diplomacy is leaving a key ally in the lurch

SEE ALSO: Trump keeps backing down from his worst impulses — and it could be great news for the economy





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March 30, 2018 at 10:18AM
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The DeanBeat: The joys and perils of gaming in 2018

3/30/2018

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The DeanBeat: The joys and perils of gaming in 2018

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The game industry is booming, with global revenues expected to hit $125.4 billion in 2018, according to market researcher Newzoo. But if you look under the surface, not everything is great. We can see winners and losers in various markets, regions, platforms, and game categories. We’re going to explore the state of games at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit 2018 event in just 10 days, and we hope we’ll come out of it with real perspective.

It’s great to see resilience across so many categories, like esports, augmented reality, virtual reality, consoles, PC games, and mobile. If any one of those sectors weakens, the other can pick up slack. Economically, that’s good for any region, whether it’s an emerging market or the U.S. But the U.S. got a dose of bad news this week from the job site Indeed.com, which applied analytics to its trove of big data on game jobs.

U.S. game tester and quality assurance roles are down 36 percent since last year and down 43 percent since 2015, Indeed.com found. You can guess that those jobs are moving overseas, where wages might be a tenth of what they are in the U.S. While those aren’t high-wage jobs, they are important as the entry-level pathway into the game industry.

Above: The scene at GDC 2018.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

And U.S. game designers, developers, and engineers aren’t faring much better, with postings for designers down 30 percent since 2015 and postings for developers and engineers dropping by 36 percent since 2015. Another set of stats shows the foreign game companies are gaining. 16 of the top 25 public game companies are outside the U.S., according to Newzoo.

From a bird’s-eye view, you might find this disturbing if you’re an American game developer.

But up close, with so many cool things coming from Red Dead Redemption to the Siren demo that Epic Games showed off at the recent Game Developers Conference, I’m not so worried. I have a certain faith that the U.S. game developers will figure out how to survive and thrive and lead the industry, as they always do. Fortnite and HQ Trivia were made in the U.S.A., and they’re going viral. And the GDC, which likely drew at least 25,000 people to San Francisco, seemed busier than ever.

Some of the flattening of the world’s playing board is natural. Mobile has become a $50.4 billion industry, and you can make mobile games anywhere, like Helsinki (where Supercell rules mobile thanks to Clash of Clans and Clash Royale) or Shenzhen, where Tencent has come on strong with titles like Arena of Valor. The U.S. has no monopoly on mobile games, and startups in other countries are proving to be just as competitive. Most of the top mobile games of 2017 were made in other countries.

I don’t want to come off as xenophobic. It’s absolutely wonderful that games are lifting the economies and peoples of distant lands. But it’s really great the the governments of those countries realize how important games have become.

“We have this whole [government] interest in the video game industry from almost out of nowhere,” said Javier Entelman, CEO of Inca Games in Buenos Aires, at our Akamai emerging markets breakfast during GDC. “We’re making these studios into factories of games.”

In the U.S., pockets of the country are thriving, like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, and San Jose. But many places are not, and the loss of a single game company can be devastating for a region. Maybe what we’re seeing happen in the U.S. is Los Angeles gaining traction over San Francisco, thanks to trends like esports and Hollywood intellectual property growth.

Above: Cities with the most game job opportunities.

Image Credit: Indeed.com

Indeed.com found other bright spots in the U.S. The number of job postings for VR and AR have risen 93 percent since 2015. And job postings related to esports are up 18 percent since last year and up 57 percent since 2015. Jobs seekers, meanwhile, are aiming toward the hot category of esports. Searches for esports jobs are up 117 percent since last year and up 336 percent since 2015.

But esports celebrities are kind of a rarity, like a one in a million job. More than 35 percent of gamers want to go pro, saying they would quit their jobs and become professional gamers if they could support themselves by doing so, according to a survey by Limelight. Drilling into the young millennial male generation (ages 18-25), 50 percent said they’d go pro. Esports has gone from the nerdy kid to the hot jock at the party.

But a new survey conducted by analyst firm DFC Intelligence and commissioned by Mobcrush found that only 14 percent of gamers have livestreamed their gameplay, and among those who do, 85 percent do not make any money. Of 1,500 people surveyed, only seven made more than $1,000 a week, said DFC analyst David Cole. Is it a fool’s errand to try to make a living at esports? Or livestreaming?

We’ve got a panel on the topic of the Leisure Economy at GamesBeat Summit 2018, and I sure hope that we’ll create more jobs that didn’t exist a generation ago, such as esports stars, cosplayers, streamers, YouTubers, modders, and others who get paid to play games. I know that the U.S. is always strong in media, and perhaps that will preserve the U.S. role in games in a very big way.

Above: The Atari VCS will run Linux on AMD-based hardware.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

American ingenuity is still strong, particularly among platform companies. Magic Leap has created more than a thousand jobs for its augmented reality glasses in Florida, of all places. Even if it doesn’t succeed, those jobs are keeping a lot of people busy. Facebook’s Oculus division is still trying to lead innovation in virtual reality, and you have to believe that Apple is working hard to stay in the lead in mobile games — and maybe AR too. And somewhere inside Google, Phil Harrison’s team is cooking up something new. Amazon and Microsoft are keeping game makers busy in Seattle, and even that American stalwart Atari is taking another crack at making a game console.

The presence of these platform companies in the U.S., and the proximity of developers to them, is perhaps our strongest advantage.

But game companies have to worry about a few new things. U.S. President Donald Trump is pointing fingers at China for engaging in unfair trade. For games, some of that has been true, and it has gotten tougher as China has become the world’s largest game market. U.S. game companies face piracy, censorship, and acquisition by companies that have much more development and financial resources in China. It has been a friendly relationship so far, but I wouldn’t call it fair.

After all, a U.S. company like Blizzard can’t go into China and operate a game like World of Warcraft without first setting up a joint venture with a Chinese domestic game company. China protects its home-grown companies, and that has allowed it to foster competitors to companies such as Google and Facebook. U.S. companies can’t invest, distribute, or operate with a free hand in China. I don’t think trade wars are good for anybody, but if the U.S. is to regain its footing in games, some of these problems have to be addressed through trade policies that have largely been nonexistent to date.

I’ve thrown out a bunch of numbers for this story, but I really wish we could measure this industry much better because then we’d know where the game industry is headed. But I hope you can join me at GamesBeat Summit 2018, where we’ll try to tackle some of these big questions. I’m confident the worldwide and the U.S. game industries will remain strong, and I don’t think that’s wishful thinking.

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March 30, 2018 at 10:15AM
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Crunchyroll launches Memoria Freese its first anime-based mobile game

3/30/2018

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Crunchyroll launches Memoria Freese, its first anime-based mobile game

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Anime streaming site Crunchyroll is publishing its first mobile game, Memoria Freese. It’s based on the popular anime series Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, otherwise known as “Dan-Machi,” which is an abbreviation of the Japanese title. The original Memoria Freese debuted in Japan in 2017, and Crunchyroll has teamed up with developer Gree to localize and distribute it in English. Starting today, it’s available to play on iOS and Android devices for free.

Dan-Machi started out as an illustrated novel series by author Fujino Ōmori and illustrator Suzuhito Yasuda. It follows teenaged protagonist Bell Cranel as he goes on adventures and searches for treasure in dungeons in a fantasy world. It takes its cue from fantasy role-playing games, as its characters level up within the story and gain new skills.

The books have been adapted into manga and anime series, which proved to be popular. And the Japanese version of the mobile game Memoria Freese (which fans refer to as “Dan-Memo”) sold over three million copies in the first month, according to Gree. The game is an RPG that features turn-based combat, and players can choose to play as one of four characters.

Joellen Ferrer is the vice president of communications at Ellation, Crunchyroll’s parent company. She says that it’s been interested in exploring games for a while, and one reason it decided to take on Memoria Freese as its first project is because a new season of the anime is coming out soon. Another reason is because of the Crunchyroll audience.

“The other part, you may have heard this already, but 90 percent of our community — this is about 35 million registered users and more than a million subscribers — 90 percent of them self-identify as gamers,” said Ferrer in a phone call with GamesBeat.

Crunchyroll has flirted with the gaming community in other ways before. It has teamed up with the broadcasting platform Twitch for anime marathons, and it also livestreamed its annual anime awards show on that site.

“It’s an ongoing conversation and an audience we think is definitely ripe for anime,” said Ferrer. “It’s a natural fit. It’s something we’re continuing to work together — not only with Twitch, but to figure out other ways to try to reach the gaming audience and see, A, if they already are fans they may want a bit of nudging into some of our content; but B, if there’s also a way for us to introduce them to new shows they may realize they love and can’t live without.”

It’s not the only anime-focused company that’s experimenting with games. Manga publisher Viz Media announced last month that it will begin publishing indie games. It inked a deal with developer What Pumpkin Games for Hiveswap, which is inspired by the cult hit webcomic Homestuck. And it’s partnered with developer Rose City Games to publish the studio’s next three games, including its upcoming title The World Next Door.

Crunchyroll isn’t sharing any details about what’s next, and it sounds like it hasn’t committed yet to a “full blown Crunchyroll games unit.” Depending on how Memoria Freese’s launch goes, though, it has a few avenues it could explore, whether that’s localizing more games into English or perhaps working with developers on original IP. The latter is something that will become “a bigger part of [its] content mix” in the future, at least in terms of the shows it offers on its site.

“As part of that we recently hired a new head of studio based out in Los Angeles to be thinking about what kind of content, what types of things we want to be able to create moving forward,” said Ferrer. “I think that’s very much of a conversation to be continued, but I think that will start to evolve as we start to produce some of these original shows.”





Business

via VentureBeat https://venturebeat.com

March 30, 2018 at 10:15AM
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GamesBeat Summit 2018: Dont miss our emcee Andrea Rene of Whats Good Games

3/30/2018

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GamesBeat Summit 2018: Don’t miss our emcee, Andrea Rene of What’s Good Games

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GamesBeat 2018 is almost here, and we’re thrilled to announce that the fabulous Andrea Rene will be our emcee this go around! You can also catch her chatting with Janina Gavankar, from Star Wars Battlefront II, about the future of performance, games and Hollywood.

We’ve also switched venues to a secluded placed called The Seminary at Strawberry in Mill Valley, California, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our dates and agenda are still the same at April 9 and April 10. Our conference is all about making games better and improving the business, and our speakers should give us a window into the future of game technologies.

You can get your tickets here at 30 percent off our rate using the code DEAN. We’ve also got a new $500 code for indie game developers, IndieVIP, at this link.

Andrea Rene, On-Camera Host, Producer & Writer for “What’s Good Games”

Andrea Rene is the brains behind the wildly popular “What’s Good Games,” serving as producer, writer, and on-camera host. She’s been working in video games media as a host and producer for nearly a decade. As a co-founder of “What’s Good Games,” you can watch and listen to her video game commentary on the weekly show. She also co-hosts the daily video game news show “Kinda Funny Games Daily.” She was recently nominated for “Trending Gamer” at The Game Awards 2017 and has hosted for Facebook Live, VICE, IGN, Gamespot, and many more.

Our speakers fit within our theme of The Future of Games: Better games, better business. If you could see the future of games before it happens, that would give your business a competitive advantage. Our event will let the hottest game developers, publishers, and investors talk with their peers and business executives about their insights into the future of games.

GamesBeat Summit 2018 is the destination conference for networking, inspiration, and intelligent interaction. With the right people in the room to make great deals happen, our flagship industry event attracts the best game and tech developers and publishers, executives, marketers and venture capitalists. This event is intended for VP-level executives and the hottest game developers and publishers.

We’ll delve into the strategies of the future for gaming, and how to drive excitement, growth, and new startups. Our talks will feature augmented reality, virtual reality, esports, influencers, mobile games, core games, indies, new game technologies, and the connection between games, tech, and science fiction. We want to expose you to ideas like The Leisure Economy, where everyone in the future will be able to make a living playing games.

Games have changed as they’ve reached a billion people and $116 billion in yearly revenues, reaching the mainstream like they never have before. Can we still apply the lessons from the past to the current and future marketplace? And what type of innovations and companies will draw the blueprint of what’s to come? So much of the industry’s internal narrative has been about it being cutting-edge. How can we imagine a broader set of drivers other than technology that will shape the industry?

Our previously announced speakers include:

  • show host and Spiketrap cofounder Adam Sessler
  • science fiction writer Eliot Peper
  • John Hanke, CEO of Niantic Labs
  • Andrea Rene, game host
  • Aaron Loeb, president of FoxNext Games Studios
  • Philip Rosedale, CEO of High Fidelity
  • Janina Gavankar, lead actress of Star Wars: Battlefront II
  • congressional candidate Brianna Wu
  • Tencent’s Dan Brody, vice president of business development at Tencent
  • Rand Miller, co-creator of Myst and Riven
  • John Underkoffler, CEO of Oblong Industries and science adviser for the influential sci-fi film Minority Report;
  • Amit Kumar of Accel, a venture investor
  • Jon “Neverdie” Jacobs, CEO of Neverdie Studios
  • Josh Yguado, president and chief operating officer of Jam City
  • Matt McCloskey, vice president of commerce at Twitch
  • Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research
  • Nick Earl, CEO of Glu
  • Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors
  • Michael Metzger, investment banker at Houlihan Lokey
  • Chris Heatherly, head of NBCUniversal’s new game business
  • Debbie Bestwick, CEO of Team17
  • Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners
  • Stephanie Chan, writer at GamesBeat
  • Bill Roper, chief creative officer at Improbable
  • and Paul Bettner, CEO of Playful, the creator of the VR titles Lucky’s Tale

VIDEO

Advisory board

  • Nicole Lazzaro, CEO of XEO Design
  • Noah Falstein, chief game designer at Google
  • James Zhang, CEO of Concept Art House
  • Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research
  • Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive
  • Jamil Moledina, Google Play
  • Michael Metzger, senior vice president at Houlihan Lokey
  • Mihir Shah, CEO of Immersv
  • Gordon Bellamy, visiting scholar at USC
  • Kate Edwards, former executive director at IGDA
  • Tom Sanocki, CEO of Limitless
  • Phil Sanderson, managing director at Ridge Ventures
  • Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners
  • Sibel Sunar, CEO of Fortyseven Communications
  • David Edery, CEO of Spry Fox
  • Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors

Topics will include:

  • Intersection of sci-fi, games, and tech
  • Platforms: Where to place your bets? AR, VR, & more
  • Creating a culture of inspiration and creativity
  • Emerging markets for games
  • Monetization: How to acquire and retain users
  • Esports and building the community
  • Deals: Follow the money
  • Diversity and the expanding ecosystem
  • Early Access as a business model
  • How mods can launch new game genres
  • What game engine should you use?

Sponsors include: Intel, Worldpay, Appodeal, Unreal Engine, Accel, Universal, Google, Streamlabs, Yomob, Altered Ventures, Mindmaze, Consul General of Canada, Pearl Abyss, Leyou, Jam City, Scalefast, Gfycat, AppOnboard and Mobcrush.





Business

via VentureBeat https://venturebeat.com

March 30, 2018 at 10:15AM
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In 2016 Memo Facebook VP Defended Company Policies even if it Results in a Terrorist Attack

3/30/2018

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In 2016 Memo Facebook VP Defended Company Policies, even if it Results in a Terrorist Attack

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"I want to talk about the ugly," said Facebook Vice President Andrew "Boz" Bosworth in a memo dated June 18, 2016. The explosive memo, leaked this week by an insider, goes on to defend and justify Facebook's "questionable contact importing practices" and "All of the work we do to bring more communication in". Bosworth justified the use of questionable practices, citing the company's core purpose to connect people as the reason. "Anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good," the memo read. The Vice President expressed in the memo that these connections may lead to good, including someone finding love or the prevention of a suicide, but also points out the potential bad. "Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools," he wrote.

After BuzzFeed obtained and published the scandalous memo earlier this week, Bosworth made this statement: "I don't agree with the post today and I didn't agree with it even when I wrote it." He also said that he "cares deeply how our product affects people and I take very personally the responsibility I have to make that impact positive".

And of course, Mark Zuckerberg said that he and others at Facebook disagreed strongly with the memo and that it was just another of Bosworth's provocative statements.

With Facebook in hot water for their dubious data collection practices the release of this internal memo certainly offers evidence that may support recent allegations. Somewhere along the line at least one executive member of the Facebook team believed that the prioritization of growth surpasses any regard for integrity. "Pushing the envelope on growth" is how the company got where it is, Bosworth claimed. Has Facebook pushed the envelope to the point of no return?

Certainly, Facebook is left holding the lion's share of responsibility for questionable internal decisions and practices. However, I am personally willing to accept my share of the responsibility. Ultimately, we are the ones who provide this information to the company or companies in question. Most of us are willing to download apps and allow services to collect information about us, and we don't think twice about it. There are privacy settings and choices available to us that can limit the type and amount of data that any company can collect from us. We're quick to check the box to approve data collection for a "better online experience", but most of us do not take the time to understand what that really means.

There's no excuse for the behavior that prompted the recent Facebook scandal, but it has given all of us a much-needed nudge to take responsibility for our own online footprint. If your personal privacy, and that of the people in your contact list, is important to you how much effort is it worth to protect it?





Business

via Inc.com https://www.inc.com/

March 30, 2018 at 10:15AM
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California judge orders Starbucks to add cancer warnings to all its labels over little-known chemical in coffee (SBUX)

3/30/2018

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California judge orders Starbucks to add cancer warnings to all its labels over little-known chemical in coffee (SBUX)

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portrait mode coffee cup starbucksRafi Letzter/Business Insider

  • A judge has ruled that Starbucks must add cancer warnings to its coffee cups in California.
  • A lawsuit, filed in 2010, accused coffee companies of violating state law by not warning consumers that a chemical in their products could cause cancer.
  • Starbucks, along with other chains supported by the National Coffee Association, is considering appealing the case. 

Starbucks drinkers in California could expect to see cancer warnings on their coffee cups in the future.

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles judge ruled in favor of a nonprofit that sued 90 coffee companies on the grounds that they have failed to comply with a state law that requires companies to warn consumers about chemicals in their products that could cause cancer, Reuters reported. 

The lawsuit, which was filed by The Council for Education and Research on Toxics in 2010, pointed to a chemical, acrylamide, that exists in brewed coffee beans. Studies in the past have found that acrylamide can, in large quantities, increase the risk of cancer in some animals. It's among the chemicals that California lists as "known to cause cancer."

When reached for comment, Starbucks referred Business Insider to a statement made by the National Coffee Association (NCA) on Thursday:

"The industry is currently considering all of its options, including potential appeals and further legal actions. Cancer warning labels on coffee would be misleading. The US government's own Dietary Guidelines state that coffee can be part of a healthy lifestyle. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that coffee does not cause cancer. Study after study has provided evidence of the health benefits of drinking coffee, including longevity — coffee drinkers live longer."

According to Reuters, some of the other defendants had already agreed to put warnings on their products and pay millions of dollars in fines before Wednesday's decision. The remaining companies, including Starbucks, McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, have until April 10 to file appeals.

"Coffee has been shown, over and over again, to be a healthy beverage. This lawsuit has made a mockery of Prop 65, has confused consumers, and does nothing to improve public health," Bill Murray, CEO of the National Coffee Association, said in a statement on Thursday. 

NOW WATCH: How all-you-can-eat restaurants don't go bankrupt

See Also:

  • The CEO of a company that makes $65 candles explains why they're worth the price tag
  • Trump is determined to take down Amazon — and it could be terrible news for HQ2
  • The fabulous life of Chloe Green, the 27-year-old Topshop heiress who parties with Beyoncé and Paris Hilton and is reportedly having a baby with the 'hot felon'

SEE ALSO: 13 ordering secrets Starbucks employees won't tell you





Business

via Business Insider https://ift.tt/eKERsB

March 30, 2018 at 10:06AM
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