DigiDay has reviewed a pitch deck detailing a 2017 bidding program for the “Amazon’s Choice” label, a mark that denotes than an item is recommended and gives certain products higher placement in search results. While the mark is now believed to be operated by Amazon’s algorithms, sources say that Amazon actually offered sellers the chance to bid on the mark back…
Tag: brands
Verizon To Sell Tumblr To WordPress Owner
According to The Wall Street Journal, Verizon has agreed to sell its blogging website Tumblr to the owner of popular online-publishing tool WordPress. Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in 2013, and was later included in Verizon’s $4.5 billion purchase of Yahoo’s web assets in 2017. Bloomberg reports: Automattic Inc. will buy Tumblr for an undisclosed sum and take…
High-Security Locks For Government and Banks Hacked By Researcher
pgmrdlm shares a report from Reuters: Hackers could crack open high-security electronic locks by monitoring their power, allowing thieves to steal cash in automated teller machines, narcotics in pharmacies and government secrets, according to research to be presented Friday at the annual Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas. Mike Davis, a researcher with security firm IOActive, discovered the vulnerability last…
Sony and LG Continue To Struggle To Sell Smartphones
In news that will shock absolutely nobody, LG and Sony continue to struggle when it comes to selling smartphones. An anonymous reader shares a report: Despite posting record second-quarter and first-half revenues and operating profit totaling $559.4 million — largely due to strong home appliance sales — LG’s Mobile Communications division continues to underperform. Sales of $1.38 billion equate to a…
YouTubers Union Teams With Actual Labor Union To Pressure YouTube
A group of content creators say they’re organizing to make YouTube become a fairer platform, reports Motherboard: The YouTubers Union, a community-based movement fighting for the rights of content creators and users, has joined forces with IG Metall, Germany’s largest union and Europe’s largest trade union. Together, they have launched a joint venture called FairTube and sent a letter of demands…
TV Antenna Listings on Amazon Are Rife With Dubious Claims
An anonymous reader shares a report: Early last week, during Amazon’s Prime Days, I decided to see if the e-tailer had any good deals on over-the-air TV antennas. I was appalled by what I found. Searching for “antenna” on Amazon.com revealed listing upon listing for products with dubious performance claims. In Amazon’s most popular and sponsored results, antenna makers were advertising…
Western Tech Brands Are Recognized in China, But Their Products Are Rarely Used
Despite having insignificant market shares and being marginal players in mainland China, western tech giants have a very high brand awareness among Chinese consumers, a market survey published last week revealed. From a report: The survey, which factored in answers from more than 2,000 respondents, showed that for the most part, top western tech companies have established themselves in the consciousness…
Bankrupt Maker Faire Revives, Reduced To Make Community
After being shut down last month with 22 employees losing their jobs, Maker Faire and Maker Media are coming back, but in a weakened capacity. Founder and CEO Dale Dougherty tells TechCrunch that “he’s bought back the brands, domains, and content from creditors and rehired 15 of 22 laid off staffers with his own money.” The report says that he will…
Banned Chinese Security Cameras Are Almost Impossible To Remove
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: U.S. federal agencies have five weeks to rip out Chinese-made surveillance cameras in order to comply with a ban imposed by Congress last year in an effort to thwart the threat of spying from Beijing. But thousands of the devices are still in place and chances are most won’t be removed before the…
Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem
Mexican physicist Rafael Gonzalez has found the solution to spherical aberration in optical lenses, solving the 2,000-year-old Wasserman-Wolf problem that Isaac Newton himself could not solve. Newton invented a telescope that solved the chromatic aberration, but not the spherical aberration. PetaPixel reports: Fast forward to 2018 when Hector A. Chaparro-Romo, a doctoral student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM),…