The indictment of 13 Russians for interfering with the Presidential election has intensified the pressure put on Facebook, which uncovered about three-thousand Russian-linked ads on its platforms before and after November 2016. Cheddar Senior Reporter, Alex Heath, breaks down the the latest developments.
Facebook's Vice President for ads, Rob Goldman, tweeted about Russia's disinformation effort. President Trump then cited him. Facebook did not intend for Goldman’s tweets to be quoted by Trump. They thought the tweets would only be seen by a contextually-aware audience of techies and media types who follow Goldman.
Heath believes that the tweeting from Goldman and other execs is part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign by Facebook to make itself appear more transparent and relate-able through engaged spokespeople on Twitter.
The founder and CEO of Vangst, a cannabis recruiting platform, wants to help budding cannabis companies staff up ーand she has Snoop Dogg's support to make that happen. Founder and CEO, Karson Humiston, told Cheddar she was inspired to create the company back in college after a trip to Colorado.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling year that cleared the way for sports gambling, fans in seven states can bet on the upcoming Super Bowl for the first time ー and leaders in the budding industry are anticipating the Big Game will deliver their biggest day yet. “We expect the Super Bowl to be our single biggest day in the company’s history,” Mike Raffensperger, the chief marketing officer for betting platform FanDuel, told Cheddar.
Microsoft inked three major partnerships in just one month ー and each union has a common theme, according to the company's executive vice president of worldwide commercial business."I think to sum it up, we're about empowerment," Judson Althoff told Cheddar. "We're about empowering our customers to achieve their potential."
Listeners have come to expect their podcasts free of charge. But Pocket Cast has still managed to become one of the leading podcast platforms as a paid app. The company was recently acquired by NPR, WNYC Studios, and WBEZ Chicago, in a move that CEO Owen Grover told Cheddar will only move the medium forward.
President Trump's longtime ally Roger Stone was arrested Friday in connection with Robert Mueller's Russia probe. The FAA reported delays at several major airports across the U.S. because of an increase in employees taking sick leave at air traffic control centers. And Lois Backon, head of Corporate Partner Marketing for JPMorgan Chase, tells Cheddar how the bank partners with celebrities to share their financial planning tips.
A new startup is using the technology pioneered by Amazon in its cashier-less stores and applying it directly to the grocery cart. "Checkout is by far one of the most annoying experiences in physical retail," said Caper CEO Lindon Gao in an interview Friday on Cheddar. Caper will allow customers to bypass the checkout line completely and pay for their purchases directly via an interface on their carts.
T-Mobile will join the streaming wars in the next few weeks with a free, ad-supported mobile video service, according to a source familiar with the matter. The company has plans to launch the mobile TV service based on licensed Xumo technology through its Layer3 division, which provides free over-the-top (non-cable or satellite) television and video-on-demand services, the source said.
Cord cutters, rejoice! YouTube TV, Google's ambitious live-television streaming service, is going nationwide. The platform will soon add 95 new markets, making it available to 98 percent of U.S. households, Google announced Wednesday ー just one of several major announcements in the streaming industry this week.
Pennsylvania's new, relaxed approach to cryptocurrency regulation is narrow in scope, but could serve as a model for other state regulators adopting a "lighter touch approach," said Drew Hinkes, co-founder and general counsel at Athena Blockchain.
