Steve Bannon's Date with Robert Mueller, Facebook's News Feed Makeover
The Hive co-host Kristen Scholer discusses the five biggest news stories in politics and tech. From Steve Bannon cooperating with Robert Mueller, to Facebook's new algorithm, we have it all covered on The Hive.
Steve Bannon has been summoned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to answer questions relating to the Russia investigation...and he's planning to fully cooperate. What does this mean for President Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner? Gabe Sherman talks about Bannon's relationship with Donald Trump Jr. compared to his broken relationship with Kushner. T.A. Frank says Bannon will try to protect Donald Trump Jr. because he'll always be loyal to the cause of Trump, even if he's not loyal to the man himself.
And Mark Zuckerberg is making some big changes at Facebook. Bess Levin talks about the impact of switching the algorithm to show more content from friends and family, rather than publishers. She notes that Zuckerberg becoming a father for the second time may have softened him and caused his change of heart.
Plus, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink sent a stern warning to clients: do good deeds! The billionaire investor is strongly encouraging his clients to invest in charity. Bess Levin questions his tactics, saying she's not sure how much it will help.
Looking ahead to 2020, who could President Trump potentially run against? Vice President Mike Pence is said to be running a "shadow campaign" in the White House. Gabe Sherman says the Trump base is skeptical of Mike Pence, because they see him as a vehicle for the big business style of conservatism. However, Bess Levin says Jamie Dimon has come out with his description of a dream candidate...and that candidate sounds an awful lot like himself.
Driver assistance monitoring systems are meant to keep the driver's eyes on the road, but according to a report from AAA, different ways of monitoring provide significantly different results. The study found that direct camera-based systems that scanned the driver's eye movements were faster and more reliable than those indirect systems that looked at steering-wheel input. Megan McKernan, the manager of automotive services for the Automobile Club of Southern California, joined Cheddar to discuss the findings. "Triple-A is recommending that automakers include both direct and indirect systems just to really prevent consumers from trying to misuse these systems," she said, noting that neither system on its own is not foolproof.
Pinterest recently added augmented reality to its portfolio. The image sharing and social media platform's new e-commerce tech will allow consumers to interact with retailers and visualize online products inside their homes.
Wave Neuroscience is a neurological health tech company that specializes in clinical and at-home personalized brain stimulation technology. Erik Won, president and chief medical officer and Fred Walke, CEO, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss their company's hopes for allowing patients to identify and treat unique brain disorders while empowering them to understand their unique neurological makeups — including for the high-stress positions of professional athletes. "We have a mobile device that provides a very light stimulation that gives them a therapy that gives them confidence so there's a just knowing that they're doing something for it," said Walke. "But it also helps them get back into a rhythm. It helps their brain synchronize around certain frequencies that that we target, and it helps them really understand that they've done everything they can to get to their highest level of success."
Logitech posted better-than-expected earnings in its third quarter, reporting sales of $1.63 billion dollars, down 2% from the year ago quarter, but well ahead of the Wall Street consensus of $1.48 billion dollars. The PC and gaming peripherals company also raised its annual guidance for both sales and profitability. Bracken Darrell, Logitech CEO, joined Cheddar to break down his reaction to the results, how the pandemic played a role in its growth, and where he wants to take the company next.
GM is scheduled to report its Q4 earnings after the bell on Tuesday February 1. Wall Street expects a miss as the automaker navigates the global chip shortage, which has hit car sales hard. Investors are looking for an update on production, as well as outlook for the electric vehicles that GM is investing billions to bring to market. Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iseecars.com, joined Cheddar to give a preview of the automaker's report.
Recent data reveals that streaming giants are struggling to retain subscribers in the months following a major release.
According to data from Antenna, subscriber trends show that users will subscribe to a given streaming service just to watch a particular show, and then cancel those subscriptions shortly after. This comes as the streaming space continues to heat up as new entrants crowd the space. Jon Christian, Founding Partner + Digital Supply Chain Leader at OnPrem joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
As airlines continues to face massive pilot shortages, United Airlines is opening a training academy for future pilots. United projects that the academy will train around 5,000 new pilots by 2030. David Slotnick, Senior Aviation Business Reporter at The Points Guy joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Stocks opening mostly higher to close out a wild week on Wall Street. It comes as investors continue to digest comments from the Federal Reserve, as well as the latest slew of earnings. Gene Goldman, Chief Investment Officer at Cetera, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
