all News of 01/23/20

‘Who Is She?’ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Questions Greta Thunberg’S Economic Expertise At Davos

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin suggested that Greta Thunberg isn’t the best person to give advice on economic issues related to climate change — at least not until she goes to college. At a press briefing at the World Economic ...

Is Impeaching Some "Normal" Politicians Too High A Price To Pay For Getting Rid Of Presidents Who Abuse Their Power?—A Rejoinder To Josh Blackman

Is Impeaching Some In a thoughtful recent post , co-blogger Josh Blackman takes issue with part of my earlier post criticizing the "slippery slope" argument against impeaching presidents for abuse of power. In the original post, I made the point that: In ...

One Medical Targets IPO Valuation Of Up To $2b As We Unpack Its q4 Results

Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. Today we’re digging into One Medical’s updated IPO filing released this week. The document contains directional ...

Jira Software Gets Better Roadmaps

Jira Software gets better roadmaps image Atlassian today announced an update to Jira Software , its popular project and issue tracking tool, that brings a number of major updates to the roadmapping feature it first introduced back in 2018. Back in 2018, Atlassian also launched its rebuilt ...

The End Is Nigh: Doomsday Clock Reaches 100 Seconds To Midnight

Here’s the bad news: we’ve all got just 100 seconds to live. Here’s the good news: they’re metaphorical seconds, but the fact is we’ve got just 100 of them and when they tick down, it really could be the end of human ...

Jeff Clavier, Sarah Guo, Ali Partovi, And Caryn Marooney To Speak At Early Stage SF

Early Stage SF is sneaking up on us and there is plenty to be excited about. The one-day event, which brings together a wide variety of startup experts to host breakout sessions, is going down on April 28 and we have a handful of speakers to ...

India’S Space Agency Will Fly A Half-Humanoid Robot To Prepare For Its First Human Spaceflight Missions

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready to begin its human spaceflight program, which aims to carry its first astronauts starting in 2022. In advance of that milestone, however, the agency will be launching its ...

Brooke Hammerling Launches The New New Thing, A Strategic Communications Advisory

Brooke Hammerling , the strategic communications veteran that brought us BrewPR, announced her new project today. Dubbed The New New Thing, Hammerling’s new communications advisory wants to help startups bring more authenticity to brand ...

Some Tech I Loved Is Getting Worse And I’M Mad

Some tech I loved is getting worse and I’m mad image Time is supposed to make technology better. The idea is simple: With more time, humans make newer, better technology and our lives improve. Except for when the opposite happens. Google is a good example of this. I’ve been harping on the ...

From Threats Of Gang Rape To Islamophobic Badgering, Indian Women Politicians Face High Levels Of Online Abuse, Says Report

Women politicians in India receive on average 113 problematic or abusive tweets per day, including threats and badgering, according to a report released today by Amnesty International . The report, which analyzed 114,716 tweets directed at 95 ...

Congress Passed A New North American Trade Pact But Failed To Limit Trump's Tariff Powers

The newly passed North American trade deal has some serious flaws , but the agreement's passage through Congress is a welcome sign that there will be greater stability for companies doing business across the continent. At least until President ...

Michelle Carter Released From Prison Early

Michelle Carter was released from prison yesterday for good behavior, several months ahead of the scheduled end of her 15-month sentence. I previously blogged about the case, in which Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging ...

U.S. Mobile App Subscription Revenue Jumped 21% In 2019 To $4.6b Across The Top 100 Apps

U.S. mobile app subscription revenue jumped 21% in 2019 to $4.6B across the top 100 apps image Outside of in-app purchases in mobile games, subscription revenue from non-game apps helped to boost 2019’s mobile consumer spend — a figure that reached $120 billion globally last year, according to a recent report by App Annie. Now, ...

Population Control Isn't The Answer To Climate Change. Capitalism Is.

"We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth," said climate activist and  Time magazine person-of-the-year Greta Thunberg before the United Nations in the summer of ...

Was Trump's Sin Acting "Like A Politician"?

Does the impeachment and potential removal of President Trump threaten to punish routine political conduct due to partisan disagreement? My co-blogger Josh Blackman makes the case for this view in today's New York Times . He makes some very ...

Match Group Invests In Noonlight To Power New Safety Features In Tinder And Other Dating Apps

Match Group invests in Noonlight to power new safety features in Tinder and other dating apps image Match Group, the dating app giant and parent company to Match, Tinder, OKCupid, Plenty of Fish, and several other dating apps, announced this morning it has invested in and partnered with connected safety platform Noonlight to roll out a series of ...

Boston Dynamics’ Spot Gets An SDK And Co-Starring Role In An Adam Savage Video

This next year will be one of the most important since Boston Dynamics was founded back in 1992. After changing hands from Google to Softbank, the robot maker is getting more aggressive about commercializing products, bringing Spot to market, while ...

Boston Dynamics Appoints Its First-Ever New CEO

After more than a quarter-century spent developing some of the industry’s most iconic and advanced machines, Boston Dynamics is a company in the midst of a profound transformation. This week, the Waltham, Mass.-based organization issued a number ...

U.S. Imposes Visa Rules For Pregnant Women On ‘Birth Tourism’

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration on Thursday published new visa rules aimed at restricting “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children can have a coveted U.S. passport. Applicants will ...

Why Chile’S SATs Have Become The New Frontline Of Inequality Protests

School’s out for summer in Chile. But the vacation isn’t proving very relaxing for high school students in the South American country. A group of Chilean teenagers have spent the last few weeks opening a new and controversial front in the ...