Facebook will end its unpaid market research programs and proactively take its Onavo VPN app off the Google Play store in the wake of backlash following TechCrunch’s investigation about Onavo code being used in a Facebook Research app the sucked up data about teens. The Onavo Protect app will eventually shut down, and will immediately … Continue reading Facebook will shut down its spyware VPN app Onavo
Entrepreneurship
Steve Jurvetson tells all: about his new $200 million fund, his new partner, his new shopping list, and more
Steve Jurvetson is staging a comeback, disclosing today that his new San Francisco-based, early-stage venture firm Future Ventures, has raised $200 million for its debut fund. “It’s good to be back in the saddle again,” says Jurvetson, whose career was somewhat derailed in the fall of 2017 when a former girlfriend wrote a Facebook post, … Continue reading Steve Jurvetson tells all: about his new $200 million fund, his new partner, his new shopping list, and more
Screen time inhibits toddler development, study finds
In news that will surprise few but still alarm many, a study has found that kids 2-5 years old who engage in more screen time received worse scores in developmental screening tests. The apparent explanation is simple: when a kid is in front of a screen, they’re not talking, walking or playing, the activities during … Continue reading Screen time inhibits toddler development, study finds
Boasting about how many hours you work is a sign of failure
Talking about how many hours you work is not impressive. Far from being an indication of industrious achievements or alpha status, it should be seen as a professionally embarrassing sign that, quite frankly, you have nothing else to boast about. Showing off about overwork is now so ubiquitous it’s difficult to remember a time when … Continue reading Boasting about how many hours you work is a sign of failure
The risk of thinking of your job as a higher calling
In a memo announcing that Tesla will lay off 3,000 workers, or 7% of its employees, CEO Elon Musk outlined his reasoning, explaining the mounting financial pressures the company faces in its quest to build an affordable electric car. The memo also included a noteworthy emotional appeal. Musk essentially asked employees— those who have already … Continue reading The risk of thinking of your job as a higher calling
The most powerful person in Silicon Valley
Billionaire Masayoshi Son–not Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg–has the most audacious vision for an AI-powered utopia where machines control how we live. And he’s spending hundreds of billions of dollars to realize it. Are you ready to live in Masa World? It’s a bright September morning in San Carlos, California, and Masayoshi Son, … Continue reading The most powerful person in Silicon Valley
Inside Facebook’s ‘cult-like’ workplace, where dissent is discouraged and employees pretend to be happy all the time
More than a dozen former Facebook employees detailed how the company's leadership and its performance review system has created a culture where any dissent is discouraged. Employees say Facebook's stack ranking performance review system drives employees to push out products and features that drive user engagement without fully considering potential long-term negative impacts on user … Continue reading Inside Facebook’s ‘cult-like’ workplace, where dissent is discouraged and employees pretend to be happy all the time
