Robinhood, the investing app, is slated to begin trading today, after its highly anticipated initial public offering priced at $38 a share last night. Robinhood’s IPO raised $1.9 billion from investors, the New York Times reports, valuing the eight-year-old firm at nearly $32 billion. Robinhood has 22.5 million accounts, but they are far smaller, on average, than rival Charles Schwab’s, with a balance of $4,500 versus $200,000. However, Robinhood’s customers, with an average age of 31, are far younger than rival brokers’—which could be a big advantage in years to come.
Facebook said Monday it was forming a new Metaverse product group to advance its efforts to build a 3D social space using virtual and augmented reality tech, Axios reports. In an interview with journalist Casey Newton of The Verge, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he sees the metaverse—a term widely used in both tech and science fiction to describe broadly shared, open virtual environments—as "the successor to the mobile internet."
Google parent Alphabet just made in three months what it took until recently an entire year to earn: a profit of $18.5 billion, the New York Times reports. Meanwhile, Apple's Q2 earnings nearly doubled, as iPhone sales rose 50 percent, and Microsoft had its most profitable quarter ever. Facebook surpassed analysts’ estimates for earnings and revenue, CNBC reports, but warned of a significant growth slowdown.
Fifteen years after Facebook and Twitter opened their platforms to the public, social media manager is an established, mainstream career choice, the Wall Street Journal reports. Those in the field see more bargaining power and more full-time roles than ever before.
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For the sake of both national and economic security, the U.S. needs a multifaceted strategy for providing a competitive, resilient, secure and sustainable supply of semiconductors, Laura Tyson and John Zysman argue in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. They say such a strategy must address all parts of the industry—from design, fabrication, assembly and packaging to materials and manufacturing equipment.
At the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, a detailed 3-D tracking system has been installed to provide near-instantaneous insights of athletic performance, Scientific American reports. The system, an Intel product called 3DAT, feeds live footage into the cloud, where an artificial intelligence program uses deep learning to analyze an athlete ’s movements and identifies key performance characteristics such as top speed and deceleration. That data one day may enable digital replicas of athletes.
The Summer Olympics this year are anything but business as usual, with marketers employing digital and omnichannel tactics put to the test as they try to engage viewers, Marketing Dive reports. Dwindling viewer interest and the absence of live spectators mean brands must get more innovative to stand out.
Starting in April 2022, Google will require all apps on the Play Store to have a privacy policy, Gizmodo reports. The new requirement, which covers both third-party apps and first-party apps from Google, is part of ongoing changes to boost safety, security, and transparency for apps on the Play Store.
When it comes to thriving in the digital space and beyond, streaming giants like Netflix and HBO Max get a lot right. Writing on Inc., Michael Levitz, chief business officer at Reaktor, describes three key lessons they can teach e-commerce retailers of all sizes.
A Toyota robot named CUI is equipped with artificial intelligence—and an ability to shoot hoops that put world-class basketball players to shame, Design Boom reports. The robot can shoot with nearly 100 percent accuracy at short distances. In a halftime performance during the Olympics, CUE shot a free throw and three-pointer, followed by a bucket from half court. (Video)