Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Gimlet's new podcast slate promises crime, psychological thrills, and controversy

Dov CharneyThe podcasting industry is on the cusp of breaking mainstream in a major way, according to Gimlet Media cofounder Matt Lieber.

And Lieber wants Gimlet to be one of the few big podcasting giants that rules the industry.

Gimlet's new slate of podcasts, announced Tuesday, seems to reach for that mainstream buzz with controversy, crime, and psychological thrills.

Growth story 

Gimlet, a podcast-making company founded in 2014, has seen 25% year-over-year growth this year, Lieber tells Business Insider. “We’ve had our fastest year-over-year growth this year,” he continues.

Gimlet's fall season adds three new shows to its (formerly) five-show roster, and features a fourth season of hit “StartUp,” which will follow American Apparel founder Dov Charney as he tries to start a new company after being ousted under dramatic circumstances in 2014.

The three new podcasts mark Gimlet’s entry into hot formats: a fictional psychological thriller, a true crime series from the creators of HBO’s hit “The Jinx,” and a show that re-examines historical moments. Compared to the quirky “Mystery Show,” which Gimlet declared “unsustainable” and recently canceled, these podcasts show an ear toward mass appeal.

The transition

We’re in the midst of a big transition in audio, Lieber says. Radio will slowly lose dominance to digital. Smartphones have pushed us toward the transition, but cars are helping radio hang on pretty tight, Lieber says. Eventually, however, on-demand audio will have a huge market — think of it like the on-demand video market that Netflix kick-started. In that world, there will be a big demand for podcasts.

That demand will lead to a handful of prominent podcast studios springing up, Liber says (as well as a bunch of independents). He thinks Gimlet is well-placed to be one. The company has used the $7.5 million in venture capital money it’s raised to build up a stable of well-respected shows, like “Reply All” and “StartUp,” as well as its own ad agency that creates custom audio ads and branded podcasts. The pieces are in place if podcasts continue to grow in popularity.

Lieber thinks now is the time. "[Podcasts are] becoming a mainstream phenomenon,” he says. Even Malcolm Gladwell is getting into the game.

And Gimlet’s new shows, which can go through an incubator process of up to a year, seem designed to get people's attention.

Take the fourth season of “StartUp,” for example, which Lieber says he’s most excited for of the new slate. The show tracks Dov Charney from the inception moment of his new company, as he tries to “recapture the magic of American Apparel” (as Lieber describes it). Charney was ousted from American Apparel in 2014, by the board, which said the firing "grew out of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct.” At American Apparel, Charney faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Charney was described by Business Insider's Jim Edwards as "infuriating, charming, arrogant." Lieber calls Charney “controversial but compelling,” and says the show does not shy away from the accusations. “It’s not a celebration,” Lieber says.

But you can bet Charney will get people chattering around the internet.

Here are Gimlet’s full descriptions of the new fall season:

Undone (Premieres Monday, November 14)

"When big news happens, the world tunes in and then moves on. But often the stories we thought were over haven’t really ended. They were the beginning of something else. Undone is a new show from Gimlet Media that digs up the surprising things that happened when we weren’t looking.

The first, seven-episode season of Undone explores:

  • Disco Demolition Night, a crazy night in 1979 in Chicago, where a huge crowd of rock fans lit thousands of disco records on fire, leaving an indelible impression on America’s black and LGBTQ communities and the music they loved

  • A 20 year fight over the oldest skeleton ever found in North America -- a battle that has raised big questions about who owns America’s history: science or the indigenous people who lived it

  • The Deacons for Defense and Justice, a group of black men who in 1965, armed themselves to face down the KKK in one of the worst Klantowns in the South

  • The world’s first computer dating company, started at Harvard in 1965, with a computer the size of a van

  • The story of a small Michigan town who unexpectedly found themselves fighting with the Department of Homeland Security over their neighbor and friend, Ibrahim Parlak, who looked like the perfect American immigrant, until DHS called him "the perfect terrorist package" and arrested him

Undone is hosted by Pat Waters and premieres Monday, November 14 from Gimlet."



Homecoming (Premieres Wednesday, November 16)

"Homecoming is an groundbreaking new audio series from Gimlet Media, starring Academy Award-nominee Catherine Keener (Capote), Golden Globe-winner Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), and Emmy-nominee David Schwimmer (American Crime Story: The People Vs. OJ Simpson).

This six-episode psychological thriller centers on a caseworker (Keener) at an experimental facility, her ambitious supervisor (Schwimmer), and a soldier eager to rejoin civilian life (Isaac). Homecoming is told through an enigmatic collage of telephone calls, therapy sessions, and overheard conversations.  

Featuring a script by bestselling author Eli Horowitz (The Silent History, The Pickle Index) and Micah Bloomberg (Creative Control), coupled with intricate, textured sound design by Mark Phillips (Serial), Homecoming brings Gimlet’s award-winning audio storytelling into an entirely new realm.

Homecoming launches Wednesday, November 16 and continues for six weekly installments."



Crimetown (Premieres Sunday, November 20)

"Welcome to Providence, Rhode Island, where organized crime corrupted an entire city and infected every aspect of public life. In their new podcast, the makers of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, tell a story of alliances and betrayals, heists and stings, cops and mobsters, politicians and ex-cons. Actually, some of the politicians are ex-cons.

You’ll meet one of America’s most notorious mob bosses, Raymond Patriarca, who owned casinos in Vegas with Frank Sinatra and ran the New England mafia from a little vending machine company called the Coin-O-Matic. You’ll meet longtime Providence mayor Vincent “Buddy" Cianci, who resigned from office after kidnapping and torturing his wife’s lover—only to run again and win by a landslide. And you’ll meet a host of other crooks, cops, politicians, and priests, all of whom battled for the soul of this city.

In Providence, it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Crimetown premieres Sunday, November 20."



See the rest of the story at INSIDER

source http://www.thisisinsider.com/gimlet-media-fall-2017-podcast-season-2016-10

The fintech startup founded by ex-Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins has already done its first big deal

Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins poses for the media in London February 12, 2013. Jenkins pledged a fresh course for the British lender on Thursday, axing at least 3,700 jobs and pruning its investment bank as he seeks to rebuild its reputation and boost profitability after a series of scandals.

10X Future Technologies, the fintech startup founded by former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins, has signed a deal with challenger bank Virgin Money to build a new digital banking platform.

The deal comes just a day after 10X was first unveiled to the public. Jenkins said in a blog post on Monday that the startup was already "in advanced talks with a number of potential major clients." The financial terms of the deal are not disclosed but a spokesperson for 10X described the deal to Business Insider as "significant."

10X Future Technologies will build Virgin Money a cloud-based core banking system that will allow it to better analyse customer data, according to a release announcing the deal.

Jenkins, who serves as executive chairman of 10X, says in the release: "Our advanced data modeling and database design will help to develop an even deeper understanding of each individual customer and offer cutting-edge services for the digital age."

Jenkins was CEO of Barclays for three years until he was pushed out in July 2015. Since then he has spoken often in public about fintech — financial technology. He said in a speech last November that banks were at risk of an "Uber moment" that would see nimble technology challengers steal market share from them. Reports surfaced in May this year that Jenkins was working on his own fintech venture.

10X says its finished platform will allow Virgin Money to offer products like credit cards and mortgages that are more tailored to individual customer needs.

10x Future Technologies is working on a cloud-based core banking system — the technology that allows banks to hold deposits and accounts. Essentially, it is the heart of banking, around which everything else is built.

Virgin Money CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia says in the release announcing the deal: "10x Future Technologies is the perfect partner for us, providing us with advanced technology to build a truly digital banking platform and provide an even better banking experience that will be faster, easier to use and more cost-efficient."

Gadhia says the 10X deal "will make Virgin Money more nimble than the large incumbent banks," which should be "a real competitive advantage as we continue to grow."

The deal with 10X comes alongside a third-quarter update from Virgin Money on Tuesday. The challenger bank recorded a 19% rise in gross mortgage lending to £6.5 billion in the third quarter and a 12% rise in deposits to £28.3 billion.

Virgin Money says it has "experienced continued strong customer demand and no evidence of material changes in customer behaviour" since the June 23 vote to leave the European Union, although it adds: "The Board continues to monitor the impact of the referendum."

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source http://www.thisisinsider.com/ex-barclays-ceo-antony-jenkins-fintech-10x-signs-deal-with-virgin-money-2016-11

Monday, 31 October 2016

Giphy raises $72 million to be the 'YouTube of GIFs'

Alex Chung Giphy
New York-based Giphy announced a $72 million Series D round on Monday led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson along with Institutional Venture Partners, CMC Capital, and existing backers.
The Wall Street Journal's Rolfe Winkler first reported the funding news and said it brings Giphy's valuation to $600 million. Giphy last raised $55 million in February and has raised $151 million in private funding to date.
The three-year-old startup says its GIFs are seen by over 100 million people per day and that it serves one billion GIFs per day through its search engine, apps, and partnership deals.
COO Adam Leibsohn told the Journal on Monday that, "We want to be the YouTube of GIFs, where you’d come to create them, see them, share them."
Giphy still doesn't bring in revenue, but it's starting to partner with advertisers like Nike and McDonalds to create branded GIFs. Future revenue could come from selling ads alongside relevant GIFs or by letting GIF creators integrate their mini moving pictures with popular franchises.
SEE ALSO: Giphy built the world's best GIF keyboard for the iPhone
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: How to turn your Facebook profile photo into a GIF


source http://www.businessinsider.com/giphy-raises-72-million-series-d-round-to-be-youtube-of-gifs-2016-10

Buffalo Bills owner explains why he compares Tom Brady to McDonald's

tom brady week 8
Tom Brady continued his torrid start to the 2016 season on Sunday, torching the Buffalo Bills with 315 yards and four touchdowns while completing 67% of his passes, en route to a 41-25 win.
In the process, Brady continued to shut down any lingering doubt about how, at 39, after missing the first four games of the season to serve his Deflategate suspension, he would fair on the field.
Basically, it's been the same old Brady — if not better! — that the NFL has seen for the last 16 years.
For Bills owner Terry Pegula, who had to watch Brady shred his team, Brady reminds him of McDonald's. Pegula explained to NFL.com's Mike Silver that, like McDonald's, he knows what to expect from Brady each and every time he takes the field.
"He's like McDonald's. Every time I go there, I always get the same thing — because it works, and why would you get anything different? That's Brady. He's gonna come out and run the same, simple offense, and slide in the pocket and get rid of the ball quickly and throw it underneath to all those different receivers, and unless you can do something to stop him, he'll carve you to pieces."
Pegula's analysis was not wrong. Brady did indeed carve the Bills, both underneath and with the long ball.
Brady may not understand Pegula's comparison — he wouldn't touch McDonald's — but it's nonetheless apt, as Brady, nearing 40 years old, continues to look like the best quarterback in the NFL.
SEE ALSO: Washington Redskins head coach says he 'didn't know it was possible' for a game to end in a tie after draw against Bengals
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NOW WATCH: Sports agents reveal the biggest threat to an NFL player's financial success


source http://www.businessinsider.com/bills-owner-terry-pegula-why-tom-brady-is-like-mcdonalds-2016-10

Peter Thiel: I’m voting for Trump because politicians are 'just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,' and what he espouses 'isn’t going away'

Peter Thiel
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel, a major supporter of Republican nominee Donald Trump, said that Trumpism "isn't crazy and it's not going away" during a major speech in front of the National Press Club on Monday.
Thiel, who has been heavily criticized by fellow Silicon Valley tech magnates for his unabashedly pro-Trump stance, which was capped off with his speech in front of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland his summer, said the Manhattan billionaire "points toward a new Republican Party beyond the dogmas of Reaganism."
"He points even beyond the remaking of one party to a new American politics that overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking, and reckons with reality," he said, per prepared remarks. "When the distracting spectacles of this election season are forgotten and the history of our time is written, the only important question will be whether or not that new politics came too late."
The founder of PayPal and prominent venture capitalist who helped bankroll wrestling star Hulk Hogan's lawsuit that ended up crushing the news website Gawker acknowledged the election year has been "crazy."
"Real events seem like they're rehearsals for Saturday Night Live," he said. "Only an outbreak of insanity would seem to account for the unprecedented fact that this year a political outsider managed to win a major party nomination."
"To the people who are used to influencing our choice of leaders, to the wealthy people who give money and the commentators who give reasons why, it all seems like a bad dream," he continued. "Donors don't want to find out how and why we got here. They just want to move on. Come November 9th, they hope everyone else will go back to business as usual."
The election, he added, "is less crazy than the condition of our country."
Thiel criticized the rising costs of medicine, the country's overpriced healthcare system, outstanding student debt held by many young Americans, stagnant incomes, and the country's involvement in foreign wars.
"Now, not everyone is hurting," he said. "In the wealthy suburbs that ring Washington, DC, people are doing just fine. Where I work in Silicon Valley, people are doing just great. But most Americans don’t live by the Beltway or the San Francisco Bay. Most Americans haven’t been part of that prosperity. It shouldn’t be surprising to see people vote for Bernie Sanders, or for Donald Trump, who is the only outsider left in the race."
Thiel said he doesn't agree with "everything" Trump "has said and done," pointing out his boasts of being able to make unwanted sexual advances on women in a leaked tape from 2005.
"Nobody thinks his comments about women were acceptable; I agree they were clearly offensive and inappropriate," he said. "But I don’t think voters pull the lever in order to endorse a candidate's flaws. It's not a lack of judgment that leads Americans to vote for Trump; we're voting for Trump because we judge the leadership of our country to have failed."
His fellow coastal elites, he said, are intimidated to dissent from what he essentially deemed as groupthink that says the views of "half of the country" can not be tolerated.
"This intolerance has taken on some bizarre forms," he said. "The Advocate, a magazine which once praised me as a “gay innovator," even published an article saying that as of now I am, and I quote, “not a gay man,” because I don’t agree with their politics. The lie behind the buzzword of “diversity” could not be made more clear: if you don't conform, then you don’t count as “diverse,” no matter what your personal background."
Thiel then began attacking the country's free trade agreements, a common theme of Trump's presidential campaign. He then went back to criticizing America's involvement in foreign wars, claiming that the Democratic Party is now more hawkish than the GOP, and Trump voters are voting against such involvement.
"Voters are tired of being lied to," he said. "It was both insane and somehow inevitable that DC insiders expected this election to be a rerun between the two political dynasties who led us through the two most gigantic financial bubbles of our time."
"President George W. Bush presided over the inflation of a housing bubble so big that its collapse is still causing economic stagnation today," he continued.
"But what’s strangely forgotten is that last decade’s housing bubble was just an attempt to make up for the gains that had been lost in the decade before that. In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton presided over an enormous stock market bubble and a devastating crash in 2000, just as his second term was coming to an end. That’s how long the same people have been pursuing the same disastrous policies."
Trump is rejecting those stories, he said, adding that while no one would suggest the real estate magnate is "humble," he's right about a "much-needed dose of humility" in US politics.
"Voters are tired of hearing conservative politicians say that government never works," Thiel said.
"They know the government wasn’t always this broken. The Manhattan Project, the Interstate Highway System, and the Apollo Program – whatever you think of these ventures, you cannot doubt the competence of the government that got them done. But we have fallen very far from that standard, and we cannot let free market ideology serve as an excuse for decline."
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: This video game cosplayer completely took over New York Comic Con


source http://www.thisisinsider.com/peter-thiel-trump-speech-national-press-club-2016-10

A couple made over their kitchen to look exactly like 'The Simpsons' — and the results are incredible

Simpsons Kitchen couple
The INSIDER Summary:
• This couple renovated their kitchen to look exactly like the kitchen in "The Simpsons."
• They used special paper to turn the stove green.


Inspired by "The Simpsons," this Canadian couple decided to renovate their own kitchen based on the one from the show — complete with blue counter tops, purple cabinets, and corncob curtains.
"I am attracted to the quirky," explained Marcia Andreychuk of her decision to "retro-vate" their kitchen in the style of "The Simpsons."
Structurally, many parts of their kitchen were already similar to Marge and Homer's kitchen, Andreychuk explained to CBC.
The couple is paying close attention to detail with their renovation.
As you can see, their checkerboard floors match the floors in the television show perfectly.
simpsons kitchen
Andreychuk sewed these corncob curtains for the kitchen windows.
If you're not as crafty, you can order your own set online.
simpsons kitchen
One day, the couple hopes to buy new, olive-green appliances.
For now, they're using a special contact paper to turn their existing appliances green.
simpsons kitchen
Andreychuk and Hamilton aren't the first people to draw inspiration from "The Simpsons." In 1997, an entire house modeled after the television show was given away as a sweepstakes prize. But the house has since been remodeled and no longer looks like the cartoon, Curbed reports.
 You can check out the entire kitchen renovation project here or below.
SEE ALSO: 25 photos that prove Heidi Klum is the queen of Halloween
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NOW WATCH: The Grandmaster Chime by Patek Philippe is a $2.6 million wristwatch


source http://www.thisisinsider.com/couples-kitchen-looks-like-the-simpsons-2016-10

A 30-year-old cofounder of 2 billion-dollar companies was reportedly the buyer of San Francisco's most expensive home

2250 Vallejo
The buyer of San Francisco's formerly most expensive home was Kyle Vogt, cofounder of Twitch and Cruise Automation, according to OpenHouse.
Vogt bought the house for $21.8 million, according to city record, which makes it the biggest sale in the city so far this year. The home was originally listed for $28 million in November of 2015, but the price was later chopped by $3 million in June. It was San Francisco's most expensive listed home at the time of the sale.
Vogt is a serial entrepreneur who sold his car automation startup, Cruise, to General Motors for $1 billion in March, where he remains CEO. He's also a cofounder of video streaming startup Twitch, which Amazon purchased for $970 million in 2014.
Vogt is known to some as the "Robot Guru" for his interest in robotics. He studied computer science and electrical engineering at MIT.
His new home was built in 1901 and has been turned into a contemporary-style mansion with 9,095 square feet of space. It has seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms spread out over three floors, and is situated on one of San Francisco's highest streets. It was most recently owned by Tara and Bryan Meehan, who made a fortune on investments in Blue Bottle Coffee. The couple gutted and restored the home, but apparently never moved in.
Vogt did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
SEE ALSO: Nobody wants to buy the world's largest log cabin — and now the price has been slashed by $20 million
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Welcome to the most expensive home sold in the city of San Francisco in 2016.



It was originally built in 1901 for wealthy fish-packing mogul James Madison — no, not the president. Its facade was restored to its original beaux-arts beauty.



The top-to-bottom restoration of the property took two years to complete.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

source http://www.businessinsider.com/kyle-vogt-buys-most-expensive-home-in-san-francisco-2016-10

Toyota is entering the ride-sharing service game

Ride Hailing App DownloadsThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence IoT Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.
Toyota recently invested in a San Francisco-based ride-sharing service called Getaround, according to Reuters.
The automaker, in an email to Reuters, confirmed that the investment was part of the company’s investment fund, known as the Mirai Creation Investment LP. The investment in the ride-sharing service was in the range of $10 million, according to the The Nikkei Asian Review.
Getaround works by facilitating the rental of privately owned vehicles to individuals. The company was founded in 2009 and lets renters use vehicles for as little as $5. According to its website, users can search for nearby available vehicles and book a car right from the mobile application. The service has grown popular, claiming more than 200,000 users in the US.
This model makes the service similar to Tesla’s plans for ride-sharing. While Tesla has yet to launch its Tesla Network for ride-sharing, it has announced the framework for doing so. In both cases, vehicles are privately owned, and customers of the ride-sharing service can search for vehicles that are nearby, and then request access to a vehicle of their choice. However, Getaround is more similar to a service like Zipcar in that it gives users access to a vehicle for a set time period rather than simply providing them with a single ride.
It's likely that Toyota could leverage Getaround to pilot a self-driving taxi service when the technology becomes available. Earlier this year, the Japanese automaker announced a partnership with a Japanese taxi association to find areas of common ground, and also announced a partnership with Uber. With BI Intelligence projecting that the first mass driverless taxi service will be deployed by 2020, Toyota looks to be well positioned to benefit from the self-driving taxi revolution.
Since the start of 2016, automakers, tech companies, and ride-hailing services have been racing to create a driverless taxi service. This service would mirror how an Uber works today, but there wouldn’t be a driver.
So far, the race has been brutal, as companies jockey for position by spending billions to acquire/invest in companies that will help make a driverless taxi service a reality. Uber recently took the pole position by announcing it would begin piloting its self-driving taxi service (with a driver still behind the wheel) in Pittsburgh later this month. But other companies, including almost every automaker, are quickly catching up as we reach the mid-way point in the driverless taxi race.
For the past two years, BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has been tracking the progress of the self-driving car space. As our reports have shown, the evolution is happening much faster than many expected, but there are still many barriers that have to be overcome before driverless cars become a reality.
John Greenough, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, has compiled a detailed report on driverless taxis that analyzes the rapidly evolving driverless taxi model and examines the moves companies have made so far in creating a service. In particular, it distills the service into three main players: the automakers who produce the cars, the components suppliers who outfit them to become driverless, and the shared mobility services that provide the platform for consumers to order them.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:
  • Fully autonomous taxis are already here, but to reach the point where companies can remove the driver will take a few years. Both Delphi and nuTonomy have been piloting fully autonomous taxi services in Singapore.
  • Driverless taxi services would significantly benefit the companies creating them, but could have a massive ripple effect on the overall economy. They could cause lower traffic levels, less pollution, and safer roads. They could also put millions of people who rely on the taxi, as well as the automotive market, out of a job.
  • We expect the first mass deployment of driverless taxis to happen by 2020. Some government officials have even more aggressive plans to deploy driverless taxis before that, but we believe they will be stymied by technology barriers, including mass infrastructure changes.
  • But it will take 20-plus years for a driverless taxi service to make a significant dent in the way people travel. We believe the services will be launched in select pockets of the world, but will not reach a global level in the same time-frame that most technology proliferates.
In full the report:
  • Analyzes the moves 18-plus companies have made in creating a driverless taxi service.
  • Discusses the corporate and societal benefits of a driverless taxi service
  • Examines the regulators conundrum when deciding if they should or should not allow driverless taxis to operate
  • Determines the potential cost of a driverless taxi vs. owning a car, riding in a ride-hailing service, or riding in a taxi
  • Explains the barriers including the technological and regulatory barriers these companies will face 
 To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
  1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
  2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the future of driverless taxis.
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source http://www.businessinsider.com/toyota-is-entering-the-ride-sharing-service-game-2016-10

There's a good argument that Apple should buy Netflix (AAPL, NFLX)

reed hastings, netflix, sv100 2015
Last week, Apple finally revealed its grand plan to conquer your TV: a new Apple TV app that brings all your shows and movies together in one place, and serves you recommendations.
The idea makes sense. Apple thinks apps are the future of TV, and that eventually you will have separate subscriptions to Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Hulu, and so on — (maybe you already do).
In that world, it will be annoying to have to navigate a bunch of different interfaces and menus. So Apple will do it for you, with a new app called "TV," which not only works on your Apple TV, but also on your iPhone or iPad as well.
Apple's "TV" app will provide you with one place to find new shows to watch, pick up shows where you left off, and buy episodes or seasons from iTunes. "The one place to access all your television," CEO Tim Cook said last week.
With this app, you can see the outline of Apple's ambitions for Apple TV: a universal search, browse, and suggestion platform that fetches you the right content — as fast as possible.
screen shot 2016 10 27 at 1.18.46 pm

Sorry, Apple

But there's a big problem with Apple's vision: Netflix and Amazon don't seem to be on board. Neither company, so far, will be part of Apple's new "TV" app.
Netflix, which told Business Insider it was still evaluating the opportunity, is a particular blow.
Why is Netflix wary? In note this morning, analyst Ben Thompson explains it this way:
"Apple’s desire to be 'the one place to access all of your television' implies the disintermediation of Netflix to just another content provider, right alongside its rival HBO and the far more desperate networks who lack any sort of customer relationship at all. It is directly counter to the strategy that has gotten Netflix this far — owning the customer relationship by delivering a superior customer experience."
Netflix's direct relationship to its customers is valuable, and it doesn't want to give that up. And the problem for Apple is that, without Netflix (and Amazon, increasingly), the "TV" app isn't compelling. In our current TV landscape, if you don't have these two streaming heavyweights, you aren't providing a "unified TV experience" (as Cook said Apple wanted).
apple tv app 4
This is a position Apple doesn't normally find itself in. Thompson pointed to Apple's domination of the music industry, which played out very differently. "The truth is that Apple’s executives seem stuck in the iPod/iTunes era, where selling 70% of all music players led to leverage over the music labels," he wrote. But the Apple TV is just another streaming box, and Netflix can already put its content on it with its own app. Unfortunately for Apple, "selling hardware isn’t a point of leverage," according to Thompson.
That's why Thompson makes the case that Apple should buy Netflix. "If Apple wants its usual ownership of end users it needs to buy its way in, and that means buying Netflix," he wrote. Analysts at Bernstein also argued earlier this month that Apple could use Netflix to create a competitor to Amazon's Prime bundle, and move Apple away from a transactional business model towards a subscription-based model.
Whatever the reason, Apple would likely have to pay a hefty premium, and Netflix might not want to sell.
But Apple's current strategy just doesn't have the juice to conquer TV without Netflix and Amazon. It needs something else.
Read Thompson's full argument for Apple buying Netflix here.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: This west coast dessert bar makes the best Choco Tacos


source http://www.thisisinsider.com/apple-should-buy-netflix-2016-10

This map tells you the best places to eat after you cast your vote on Election Day

Election Day is just over a week away, so it's time to plan where to cast your vote. 

Location-intelligence company Foursquare teamed up with the Voting Information Project and Mapbox to create a tool that aims to be helpful in two ways: once you input your address, it will point to your nearest polling place and a few places where you can grab a coffee or snack nearby. 

As several states have not yet finalized their polling locations, the map will be continually updated in real time. In some cases, the map shows places where you can cast your vote early.

In most states, the deadline to register to vote has already passed. In some states, like Colorado, Iowa, and Wisconsin, you can register on Election Day at a polling place. For state-by-state voter registration deadlines, click here

You can give it a try here.

Powered by Foursquare

 

SEE ALSO: Inside the $200 million, presidential-themed hotel Donald Trump just opened a mile away from the White House

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NOW WATCH: Meet the Facebook star who’s turning the 2016 election into hilarious musical parodies



source http://www.businessinsider.com/where-to-vote-and-eat-on-election-day-2016-10