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Submission + - SPAM: My Twitter Timeline is Ad Free

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: Promoted tweets clog up your Twitter timeline, but not mine. For the past six months, there have been no promoted ads in my Twitter timeline. It may have to do with the Block Together list of Twitter advertisers I've been building since 2018. To protect advertisers and its ad revenue, Twitter turned off your ability to import and export blocked accounts earlier this year and soon after it just stopped showing me ads.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Amazon Surpasses $1 Trillion in Revenue (jeffreifman.com) 1

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: Amazon's third quarter revenues brought its cumulative revenue to $989.57 billion, approximately $10.43 billion shy of $1 trillion. With the quarter nearly half over, the company's lower fourth quarter guidance of $66.5 billion indicates the company has now surpassed $1 trillion in revenue. (Amazon would have to miss its fourth quarter guidance by 84 percent for this to be wrong.)

Amazon accomplished this milestone in 25 years whereas it took Apple 40 years and Microsoft 42 years. I estimate that Amazon has earned $16.58 billion at this point, whereas at Microsoft’s had earned $267 billion at $1 trillion, 16.29 times more than Amazon and Apple had earned $232 billion, 14.1 times greater.

Yet, analysts are bullish about Amazon's profitability, saying it could 'turn on the profit spigot' going forward.

Submission + - WordPress Takes Down Sandy Hook Denier Blogs (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: WordPress has updated its policy to prohibit blogs with 'malicious publication of unauthorized, identifying images of minors'. This allowed the company to takedown some blogs focused on denying the reality of the Sandy Hook, where the deranged murderer killed 26 young children and teachers, in less than five minutes with firearms. The company gave no notice for the takedowns. Prior to making the change, WordPress' pre-written replies threatened one father with damages if he kept requesting the company take down material.

Submission + - Anti-Amazon Graffiti Increasing in Seattle (with Photos) (geekwire.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: If you're eagerly awaiting your city's selection for HQ2, you may want to check out GeekWire's photo gallery of anti-Amazon graffiti images from around Seattle. Animosity towards Amazon has grown in the wake of its threats over a per head tax on employees, which the city council passed and then repealed shortly after. The tax would have increased the budget for services for our 12,000+ homeless. Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos also fought the state income tax on the wealthy in 2010.

Submission + - SPAM: Amazon "Get Out" Say Seattle Taggers 1

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: If you're eagerly awaiting your city's selection for HQ2, you may want to check out Taylor Soper and Kurt Schlosser's photo gallery of anti-Amazon graffiti images from around Seattle. Animosity towards Amazon has grown in the wake of its threats over a per head tax on employees, which the city council passed and then repealed shortly after. The tax would have increased the budget for services for our 12,000+ homeless. Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos also fought plans for a state income tax on the wealthy in 2010.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - The OpenBook Challenge Launched to Replace Facebook (calacanis.com) 1

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: 'Can Facebook be replaced?' That's the aim of Jason Calacanis' Open Book Challenge, launched on 4/20. Over the next three months, 20 finalists will compete for seven $100,000 incubator grants. They're goal is to find startups with a sustainable business model e.g. subscriptions, reasonable advertising, cryptocurrency. etc. And they want it to be 'good for society' e.g. Respect and protect consumer’s privacy, respect and protect our democracy from bad actors, respect and protect the truth, by stopping the spread of misinformation, not try and manipulate people by making them addicted to the service, protect freedom of speech, while curbing abuse (not easy!)

Submission + - Is Amazon Good for Seattle? Debate Recording (kuow.org)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: KUOW hosted a four person debate over whether Amazon is good for Seattle (It's a good listen). One difficulty in such a forum is the lack of transparency around Amazon's city and state taxes as well as its gender, race and salary data at HQ1. No one from the company argued its case, leaving it to local business association lobbyists. The pro-Amazon examples were cherrypicked PR victories which did not reflect the overwhelming impact of Amazon over Seattle, the human toll of problems visible everyday on our streets and calling for examples of other companies doing good, as if Amazon didn't dwarf most all of them. Former mayoral candidates Nikkita Oliver and Cary Moon made a good case against Amazon and touched on good ideas hinting that a more appropriate forum might be to talk about what can be done now. Obviously, the voice of those who've had to leave Seattle and those who've been pushed out onto the streets (70% homeless say they lived in Seattle or King County when
they were last stably housed (pdf)) was noticeably missing.

Submission + - Amazon Spends $350k on Seattle Mayor's Race (jeffreifman.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: Until this summer, Amazon had never contributed more than $15k to a city political campaign in Seattle, but this year's different. The company is a lead funder in the Seattle Chamber of Commerce's PAC which dropped $525,000 Monday on Jenny Durkan's PAC, the centrist business candidate. Her opponent Cary Moon is an advocate for affordable housing, which complicates Amazon's growth, and city-owned community broadband. Comcast and Century Link joined Amazon contributing $25k and $82.5k respectively to the Chamber's PAC. Amazon's $350k spend represents .00014 of its CY 2016 net profit.

Submission + - Canary Bricks Security Cameras Unless Customers Subscribe (jeffreifman.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: Canary, the security camera company that raised $1.96 million on Indiegogo, recently turned off everyday features for its backers and pre-existing customers. Videos of intrusion events are cut to useless 10 second clips. Night mode to detect events while you're sleeping is also gone. The product was clearly sold as 'No contract/no monthly fee'.

Submission + - 20 Ways The 2018 Election Will Be Stolen (politicsofpossibility.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: A description of twenty tactics Republicans are actively involved in to win the 2018 elections. Writing this brought me to an unexpected conclusion, the Republican's control of government is built on decades of voter suppression, much of it race-based. Technologists must play a part in delivering verifiable elections. States like Pennsylvania mostly use proven hackable voting machines without any means of verification.

Submission + - For Seattle women called Alexa, frustrating to share name with Amazon device (seattletimes.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: Since Amazon introduced the Alexa-enabled Echo device in 2014, the jokes have become so omnipresent that Alexa Philbeck, 29, briefly considered changing, or at least obscuring, her name. The Seattle Times speaks to four women unfortunately called Alexa in a town that may soon be known as Seamazon.

Submission + - Seattle City Council unanimously approves income tax for the rich (geekwire.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: Amazon, tech employees and those making $250,000 annually will now pay a 2.25 percent income tax. The Council estimates that the tax would bring in an additional $140 million each year. The revenue would go toward the city’s housing affordability agenda and carbon reduction goals and supplant federal funds if they are cut. The revenue is also intended to alleviate the burden of Washington’s property and sales taxes, which are often called the most regressive in the country. Anyone who's seen Amazon's impacts on Seattle and its low and middle income residents will appreciate how this tax will help the homeless, lower income and improve the environment.

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