Monat: Juli 2017

Twitter Hires A New CFO After An Eight-Month Search

Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images

Eight months after starting its search for a new chief financial officer, Twitter has finally hired one.

The man picked for the job, Ned Segal, most recently worked for Intuit as senior vice president of finance. Before that he spent a long time at Goldman Sachs.

Segal's hiring frees Twitter Chief Operating Officer Anthony Noto from the burden of holding two C-level jobs inside the company. Noto, a critical player inside Twitter, became both its CFO and COO when he took over Adam Bain's COO role after Bain left the company in November 2016. While serving as COO, Noto continued to hold the CFO job as Twitter looked for a replacement.

Now Noto will simply be the COO, leaving Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as the only member of the company's C-Suite to hold two jobs. Dorsey is also the CEO of Square.

In a release Twitter sent announcing his hiring, Segal said, “I’ve long admired Twitter’s impact in the world, and I’m committed to helping the Company build on its recent momentum, allocate resources against its greatest priorities, and continue toward its goal of GAAP profitability and beyond.”

After years of financial struggle, Twitter is having a good start to 2017. Its stock is up approximately 14% on the year, and it's looking solid next to Snap Inc., a competitor that recently went public and fell below its IPO price Monday. Now all Segal needs to do is help keep those numbers up.

s stock is up approximately 14% on the year, and it's looking solid next to Snap Inc., a competitor that recently went public and fell below its IPO price Monday. Now all Segal needs to do is help keep those numbers up.

Quelle: <a href="Twitter Hires A New CFO After An Eight-Month Search“>BuzzFeed

Did Amazon's Alexa Really Call The Cops During A Domestic Dispute?

New Mexico authorities say Amazon’s virtual assistant contacted police. One problem: The company says Alexa can’t make 911 calls.

Amazon

Police in New Mexico say an Alexa virtual assistant device contacted authorities during a domestic dispute earlier this month, but Amazon said on Monday that its devices are not capable of calling 911.

Eduardo Barros, 28, got into an argument while house-sitting with his girlfriend and her daughter on July 2 in Tijeras, about 15 miles east of Albuquerque, ABC News reported.

The argument became violent — Barros threatened to shoot the woman, whose name is being withheld, before hitting her in the face with a handgun, authorities said in a statement released on Monday.

At some point following the alleged attack, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's office was alerted to the domestic violence dispute. Per the statement, the office received a 911 call for service around 10 p.m.

Here's how the police statement said that the call was made: “Barros asked the victim, 'Did you call the sheriff?' This question, based on the victim's statements, prompted a smart home device known as 'Alexa' [sic] to contact law enforcement. In the 911 recording the victim can be heard yelling, 'Alexa, call 911.'” The device would have been Amazon's Echo or Echo Dot speakers, which can be controlled through the virtual assistant Alexa, which responds when users say its name followed by a command, for example, “Alexa, play country music.” Alexa can also be connected to a number of devices.

“The unexpected use of this new technology to help contact emergency services has possibly helped save a life,” Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III said in the statement. “This amazing technology definitely helped save a mother and her child from a very violent situation.”

However, according to Amazon, the virtual assistant is not capable of dialing 911. “Alexa calling and messaging does not support 911 calls,” a company representative told BuzzFeed News. The phrase “call the sheriff” would not trigger a call to emergency services via Alexa, the representative said. Apple's voice-controlled assistant Siri supports 911 calling via iPhones, whereas the Google Home smart speaker does not.

Eduardo Barros

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office / Via Facebook: BCSDP

When authorities arrived at the scene, officers were able to remove the woman and her daughter, but Barros refused to leave the residence. He was taken into custody following a six-hour standoff with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's crisis negotiation team and a SWAT team, per the police statement.

Barros appeared in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque on July 5. ABC News reported that he has been charged with possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon, aggravated battery against a household member, aggravated assault against a household member, and false imprisonment.

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Quelle: <a href="Did Amazon's Alexa Really Call The Cops During A Domestic Dispute?“>BuzzFeed

Donald Trump Blocked These People On Twitter. Now They're Suing Him.

Seven individuals blocked by Donald Trump's personal Twitter account are suing the president and his communications staff because they say it's unconstitutional for the president to exercise “viewpoint-based blocking.”

The Knight First Amendment Institute filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs on Tuesday morning in New York's Southern District, about one month after the organization issued an open letter calling for the president to unblock users who'd replied to the president's tweets with harsh criticisms. The original open letter suggested that a suit was pending if Trump and his team did not comply. The White House never responded to the letter.

In a formal complaint issued by Knight Institute lawyers Jameel Jaffer, Katherine Fallow, and Alex Abdo, they argue that as president, Trump's personal “account is a public forum under the First Amendment.” As evidence, the attorneys note that the Trump White House has previously acknowledged that Trump's tweets are “official statements,” and that Trump and his communications staff “use the account to make formal announcements, defend the President’s official actions, report on meetings with foreign leaders, and promote the administration’s positions.”

Most notably, the complaint quotes the recent Packingham v. North Carolina Supreme Court case, which noted in its ruling that social media accounts were “perhaps the most powerful mechanisms available to a private citizen to make his or her voice heard.” The Knight Institute attorneys argue in their complaint that a ban on interacting with @realDonaldTrump silences that citizen's voice and also deprives other accounts “of their right to read the speech of the dissenters who have been blocked.”

Represented in the suit are seven individuals, all of whom were blocked after criticizing Trump. While a majority appear to be Trump critics, a few claim to be joining the suit for less partisan reasons. “I’m troubled that the president can create a space on Twitter — where there are millions of people — that he can manipulate to give the impression that more agree with him than actually do,” Philip Cohen, a university professor, said in a statement about the suit.

When contacted, Twitter declined to comment on the lawsuit. Still, the complaint highlights the peculiar and uncharted territory of a presidency whose messaging is conducted largely across social media. Trump's @realDonaldTrump account, while used for official statements, is still a personal Twitter account. @POTUS remains the official account of the 45th president. On his personal account, Trump is theoretically able to control who he blocks and follows, as well as whether to make his account public or private (at the time of writing, his account remains unprotected and accessible to those he hasn't blocked).

But since taking office, Trump and his staff have been criticized for not subjecting his personal Twitter account to the usual levels of transparency normally affixed to White House communications. Trump has, for example, deleted a number of tweets with typos, which critics say is a violation of the Presidential Records Act. In June, an Illinois Congressman introduced the “Covfefe Act” — a tongue-in-cheek nod to Trump's infamous typo tweet — which aimed to make all Trump tweets subject to the Presidential Records Act and cataloguing in the National Archives.

Still, the First Amendment argument is a murky one. The suit alleges that “those who are blocked from the account are impeded in their ability to learn information that is shared only through that account” — however, users could still set up a new account to see Trump's tweets, or log out of the blocked account and go to Trump's profile. Similarly, the nature of a Trump tweet — each one is obsessively covered across the internet, and in print and cable news, as retweeted and quote retweeted — makes it highly unlikely that even a blocked user would never see a controversial 140-character presidential missive.

But for vocal opponents of Trump and his policies, Twitter has become ground zero for the resistance. In June, one active tweeter recently blocked by Trump told BuzzFeed News that engaging with a Trump tweet was a form of catharsis, and a chance to “fight back” during what he calls a “particularly depressing time” in politics. Similarly, duking it out in the President's mentions virtually guarantees vast exposure in the form of likes, retweets, and impressions, which, for many, is proof that their message has been heard. And though they could create another account or log out, one of the defendants in the suit suggests that, when it comes to the leader of the free world, that option is not sufficient.

“If I protest something that the president says or does, I want to do it under my own name,” Holly Figueroa, an organizer and party to the lawsuit, said, “not hiding in the shadows.”

Quelle: <a href="Donald Trump Blocked These People On Twitter. Now They're Suing Him.“>BuzzFeed

I’m Sick Of How Commercial Prime Day Has Become

Last night, we covered the mantle place in bright blue packing tape, hung our mustard yellow stockings, and we sang our carols to the UPS man. This morning, we awoke to another blessed Amazon Prime Day. But it sure as hell isn’t the Prime Day I once knew and loved. This formerly sacred day has been savaged by the corporations and their unrelenting greed. Apparently, it’s all about the Benjamins for them. Frankly, I'm DISGUSTED.

The usual gang of vultures — Walmart, eBay, Best Buy, Kohls, and a bunch of other retailers who probably think they merit mention in this column — seem to have decided that Prime Day shouldn’t simply be celebrated by browsing Amazon all day in your cubicle and hoping the boss won’t notice. No, they decided it’s about sales. About making money. About the “bottom line.” As if Prime Day was simply some consumerist holiday with no real meaning.

It's time we end this War on Prime Day.

Regular readers of this column know I love history, so here’s a healthy dose of it: Past experience tells us that anything good will be taken over by the corporations. These leeches will do whatever it takes to insert themselves into the zeitgeist. Remember Christmas? What if I told you it was once about something other than Starbucks. Remember the Super Bowl? What if I told you it was once about a football game. How would you feel? Not good, right?

Can’t we simply celebrate Prime Day as it was meant to be observed: clicking through an endless stream of algorithmically recommended discount Amazon products, as opposed to spending the whole day shopping and buying stuff from other retailers? I’d ask Jeff Bezos for comment. But frankly the Great Founder’s special day is now too depressing for me to speak about aloud. Plus I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t respond. And no, I don’t want to talk about my feelings.

A story: my nephew Timothy is a good kid. But he simply didn’t have the $99 it takes to become a Prime member. That’s okay, he’s 8. So Timmy Boy sent out an email to our family asking for some help. I personally like the young man, so I committed $5. My sister Dorthy added in $20. Aunt Winnie contributed $15. Anyway, we raised the money. And now Timmy Two Days gets shipping for free. Our family rarely comes together like this, and we only have Amazon to thank for it.

Which brings me back to the devils who think they can turn Prime Day commercial. Into something “non-Amazon.” I have a message for you: I’ll see you in hell.

First they came for Cyber Monday, and I said nothing.

Then they came for Toyotathon, and I said nothing.

Then they came for Prime Day, and I’m drawing the fucking line.

Quelle: <a href="I’m Sick Of How Commercial Prime Day Has Become“>BuzzFeed