The man heading up any potentially US government antitrust probes into tech giants like Apple and Google used to work for… Apple and Google. In the revolving-door world that is Washington DC, that conflict may not seem like much but one person isn’t having it: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) this week sent Makan Delrahim a Read more about Anyone else find it weird that the bloke tasked with probing tech giants for antitrust abuses used to, um, work for the same tech giants?[…]

In an interview this week with CNN, Google CEO Sundar Pichai attempted to turn antitrust questions around by pointing to what they say is the silver lining of size: Big beats China. In the face of an intensifying push for antitrust action, the argument has been called tech’s version of “too big to fail.” “Scale Read more about Facing Antitrust Pressure, Google Starts Spinning Its Own Too Big to Fail Argument[…]

The investigation will include a series of hearings held by the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law on the rise of market power online, as well as requests for information that are relevant to the investigation. A small number of dominant, unregulated platforms have extraordinary power over commerce, communication and information online. Based on Read more about House Judiciary Committee aims guns at Big Tech and antitrust laws[…]

The company sought to completely change how we interact with computers, but now Leap Motion is selling itself off. Apple reportedly tried to get their hands on the hand-tracking tech, which Leap Motion rebuffed, but now the hyped nine-year-old consumer startup is being absorbed into the younger, enterprise-focused UltraHaptics. The Wall Street Journal first reported Read more about Leap Motion sold to UltraHaptics[…]

Just 376 people hold a third of all Ether, the cryptocurrency that powers the Ethereum blockchain, according to new research by Chainalysis Inc. Large holders are known in the crypto market as “whales,” which Chainalysis defines as individuals who hold their assets in digital wallets and not on an exchange, Kim Grauer, a senior economist Read more about One-Third of Ether Held by 376 People – Bloomberg[…]

The company’s mistakes — the sloppy privacy practices that dropped tens of millions of users’ data into a political consulting firm’s lap; the slow response to Russian agents, violent rhetoric and fake news; and the unbounded drive to capture ever more of our time and attention — dominate the headlines. It’s been 15 years since Read more about Facebook co-founder pleading to break it up in long letter to NYT[…]

These marketing statistics have been divided across seven key trends, both in the infographic below and in the list that follows it, helping you zero in on your primary marketing channel of interest. On the other hand, like most modern marketers, if your campaign strategy involves multiple channels, this division should help you update your Read more about 7 Trends You Must Know For a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign – loads of statistics infographic[…]

March 11, a Vice President at Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing behemoth, published a blog post announcing the release of its own version of Elasticsearch, a powerful open-source software search engine tool. Elastic is a public company founded in 2012 that is currently worth over $5 billion; the vast majority of its revenue is Read more about Amazon Has Gone From Neutral Platform to Cutthroat Competitor, Say Open Source Developers[…]

March 11, a Vice President at Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing behemoth, published a blog post announcing the release of its own version of Elasticsearch, a powerful open-source software search engine tool. Elastic is a public company founded in 2012 that is currently worth over $5 billion; the vast majority of its revenue is Read more about Amazon behaving as a monopoly is really affecting open source development and their income models, leading to changes in open sourcing (finally, but in the wrong way). An example from Elasticsearch which Amazon calls a kettle.[…]

Last night, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney tweeted that his company would end its controversial exclusivity agreements if Steam raised its revenue cut for developers. It’s a strong statement, even if there are reasons to be skeptical of Sweeney’s position. “If Steam committed to a permanent 88% revenue share for all developers and publishers without Read more about Epic Games Boss Says They’ll Stop Doing Exclusives If Steam Gives Developers More Money because some people seem to be happy to live with a Steam monopoly[…]

Police from around the world shut down the biggest active black market on the dark web this month, according to announcements from law enforcement agencies in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands released on Friday. Wall Street Market, as the black market site was known, was the target of a 1.5-year-long multinational investigation. Three Read more about Dark Net’s Wall Street Market Falls to Police[…]

The CheapAir.com 2019 Annual Airfare Study is based on an analysis of 917 million airfares in more than 8,000 markets. Following the recommendations could save you hundreds of dollars on your travel this year. This report will break down: The average “best day” to buy your airline ticket The airfare booking “zones” – what you Read more about CheapAir.com’s 5th Annual Airfare Study Reveals the Best Time to Buy Airline Tickets | CheapAir[…]

“Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites,” EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Wednesday. “This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits Read more about Google Hit With $1.7 Billion Fine in Europe for Abusing Advertising Dominance[…]

A Japanese court sentenced the former high-flying creator of the MtGox bitcoin exchange to a suspended jail sentence of two and a half years Friday after finding him guilty of data manipulation. The Tokyo District Court convicted Mark Karpeles, a 33-year-old computer whizz from France, for tampering with computer data but acquitted him over charges Read more about MtGox bitcoin founder gets suspended sentence for data tampering[…]

American consumers spend, on average, 13 hours per year in calling queue. According to a 2010 study by Mike Desmarais in the journal Cost Management, a third of complaining customers must make two or more calls to resolve their complaint. And that ignores the portion who simply give up out of exasperation after the first Read more about Why Is Customer Service So Bad? Because It’s Profitable.[…]

As more retailers—including Drybar and Sweetgreen—ban paper money, it’s making things awkward for customers without plastic. [paywalled] Source: Your Cash Is No Good Here. Literally. – WSJ   Oh dear, not accepting money – when the pain signals in your brain are not set off by clicking a bank pass, but are when you have Read more about Your Cash Is No Good Here. Literally. – So how to pay if you don’t like plastic: which helps the banks but not your spending patterns[…]

The Indian government sent a strong screw you to Amazon and the Walmart-owned Flipkart on Wednesday, banning e-commerce companies from selling products from companies that they have an equity interest in or “entering into exclusive agreements with sellers,” CNBC reported. India already bans e-commerce sites from selling products directly, per the New York Times, which Read more about In Blow to Amazon and Walmart, India Bans a Key Part of Their Business Strategy[…]

Over 12,000 Uber drivers found a way to weaponize the ridesharing platform’s restrictive contract in what’s possibly the funniest labor strategy of the year. But first: a bit of background. One of the more onerous aspects of the gig economy is its propensity to include arbitration agreements in the terms of service—you know, the very Read more about Uber’s Arbitration Policy Comes Back to Bite It in the Ass[…]

By tracking the sales of 19,978 deals on Groupon.com and conducting a battery of identification and falsification tests, we find that deep discounts reduce sales. A 1% increase in a deal’s discount decreases sales by 0.035%–0.256%. If a merchant offers an additional 10% discount from the sample mean of 55.6%, sales could decrease by 0.63%–4.60%, Read more about When Discounts Hurt Sales: Too much discounting and too many positive reviews can hurt sales[…]

Under the new rules, traders will not be able to discriminate between customers with regard to the general terms and conditions – including prices – in three cases: for goods that are either delivered in a member state to which the trader offers delivery or are collected at a location agreed with the customer for Read more about EU anti Geo-blocking comes into force: unlocking e-commerce in the EU[…]

Telecomaanbieders moeten stoppen met het laten vervallen van ongebruikte data en belminuten. Dat schrijft de Consumentenbond in een brief aan de tien grootste aanbieders. Consumenten met een mobiel abonnement verliezen nu aan het einde van iedere maand hun ongebruikte belminuten en data binnen hun bundel. Tegelijkertijd betalen ze extra voor iedere minuut of MB die Read more about mobile providers in NL urged to stop killing unused data and phone minutes, as technically the user has paid for it and if they exceed the maximum they are fined[…]

In August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk set off an entirely preventable and catastrophic chain of events by tweeting that he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” Musk provided no financing details, and the Securities and Exchange Commission later determined that he never finalized any kind of deal with the Saudi sovereign wealth Read more about Elon Musk to Resign as Tesla Chairman, Pay 2x $20 Million Fine in SEC Settlement Over Catastrophic ‘420’ Tweet[…]