v.20 n.22 – Released June 20, 2016
YouTube wants to turn video ads on its platform into a DIY possibility for small- and medium-sized businesses.
Today, Google is launching three ways for SMBs to create video ads for YouTube that are—at least for the most part—free. With a new app called YouTube Director, the video juggernaut is helping businesses with little or no marketing budget create commercials on their own. The app includes a number of templates, music and editing tools and is free to use.
According to Diya Jolly, Google’s director of product management, the biggest struggle smaller businesses face on YouTube is the lack of quality of their videos.
A wind-whipped wildfire was advancing near the coast of Santa Barbara, California, Friday as it ripped through some 4,000 acres — more than doubling overnight — and forced homeowners to flee, fire officials said.
About 140 homes and ranches were at risk in the coastal canyons of an area that hasn’t seen such a dramatic burn in 60 years.
An estimated 1,200 firefighters were battling the blaze Friday morning, and were able to contain about 5 percent of it, according to Cal Fire.
Hundreds of homeowners were being called to evacuate late Thursday in the communities of El Capitan, Refugio, Venadito and Las Flores canyons, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said.
Russian track-and-field athletes will remain barred from international competition over a doping scandal, the world athletics’ governing body announced today before this summer’s Olympics in Brazil.
After meeting in Vienna, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decided not to reinstate Russia’s track and field federation, which has been suspended from international competitions after it was implicated in an elaborate alleged state-sponsored doping cover-up in November.
Russia is the first country to be excluded from the Olympics over doping. Its track-and-field athletes are banned from the Rio de Janeiro Games.
v.20 n.21 – Released June 13, 2016
When it rains, it pours for Whole Foods. Literally, it seems.
The Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Whole Foods co-CEOs John Mackey and Walter Robb about what the FDA called “serious violations” it found after inspecting a Whole Foods food preparation facility in Everett, MA, in February.
The FDA said in the letter — dated June 8 — that it found various items, including pesto pasta, mushroom quesadillas, egg salad and couscous, were in areas where “condensate” was leaking from ceiling joints, a doorway and condenser fan.
Microsoft’s blockbuster $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn on Monday may have come out of left field, but it was a courtship many years in the making.
From LinkedIn’s earliest days after launching 14 years ago, Microsoft was considered the only possible “logical buyer,” according to one LinkedIn insider.
The problem was Microsoft — like most of its peers — didn’t see the logic in buying LinkedIn.
“People never fully understood the value LinkedIn was creating until after they went public,” says Mark Kvamme, an early LinkedIn investor and former member of its board of directors. “No one ever truly understood the value of what Reid [Hoffman, founder] and Jeff [Weiner, CEO] were building.”
Everyone is suddenly talking about the coming Brexit vote.
With Britain preparing to vote in a June 23 referendum on whether to leave the European Union, the latest polls seem to suggest that Brits are leaning toward Leave:
The ICM phone and online poll: Remain 47% / Leave 53%
ORB phone poll: Remain 48% / Leave 49%
YouGov online poll: Remain 39% / Leave 46%
What if you could pitch your products to a dream retailer like Nordstrom?
Etsy, known for being an innovative online marketplace for consumers to source handmade and other items from independent designers for their homes, wardrobes and more, is set to help members of its Etsy Wholesale community do just that. The company is bringing together small designers and heavy-hitting retailers from across the country via its Open Call program.
Now in its second year running, the Etsy Open Call program brings together buyers from top retail stores in the country and fresh talent from the Etsy Wholesale community through a series of live and online events to create pathways for valuable business partnerships.
On Bumble, women seeking men have to initiate the conversation. The app, which aims to prevent sexual harassment, does not enable men to make the first move. But that’s not where Bumble’s advocacy for women ends.
The dating app’s women-first approach prompted Ashley Helmbreck to message one of her matches, Connor, with a benign question, “How’s it going?” Connor responded, “Great, thanks and yourself?” Ashley followed up with, “Pretty slow at work” and “What do you do?”
Instead of providing a straight answer, Connor immediately took offense. That’s when the conversation took the turn that prompted Bumble to defend Ashley with an open letter shaming him for his behavior.
Dispatches From The Front 