One glance at the list of so-called unicorns — those private technology companies valued at more than $1bn — illustrates this point. A handful of these businesses will become the great, enduring companies of tomorrow. But a good number seem the flimsiest of edifices. Forget the fact that some of these valuations are illusory because the most recent investors have structured their investments as debt in all but name, meaning that they will stand to profit even if the company is worth far less.
Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital) on startups playing the stay-private-longer game. Terrific as always.
Well, here’s something interesting: The Australian reports that Evan Spiegel is currently dating super hot Australian model Miranda Kerr -- just months after moving on from Taylor Swift! Guy really knows how to live his life.
From The Australian’s Media Diary blog:
Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr is dating Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, Diary can reveal. While everyone at the 62nd edition of Cannes — the annual gathering of advertising executives — was focused on James Packer and his new beau Mariah Carey, it’s understood Packer’s former flame Kerr, 32, has also started a new relationship.
Spiegel is a baby, having recently celebrated his 25th birthday, but his wealth wouldn’t be too far off Packer’s given Snapchat’s recent speculated valuation at $16 billion. He has previously dated American singer Taylor Swift and was in town to promote a new tie-up with The Daily Mail and advertising group WPP. At his session, Spiegel said Snapchat was unlike other digital platforms because “we really care about not being creepy’’.
Carter Reynolds' brother was suspended from the middle school there he was a PE teacher because he tried organizing "pizza parties" for his female students to meet Carter. One of them claimed that Carter had sex with her.
The New York Times reported a couple hours ago that the United States government is ready to pin the blame of the Sony hacks on North Korea. Right away, the story was picked up by just about every single large media organization... and so that got me thinking.
Who actually hacked Sony? And more importantly, why are we so excited to blame North Korea on the hacks?
(It should be noted that North Korea has denied any involvement in the hacks and an independent group - Guardians of Peace - has taken responsibility for it.)
The Guardians of Peace is a hacktivist (activists who further their cause by hacking other people/corporation) group.
It's just another hacktivist group.
It's just another Anonymous or LulzSec.
It's just another blank, anonymous face.
Sure, we can blame them, but yeah - are they even going to care? Are we even going to care?
Blaming them is as good as blaming the wall.
Simply put, blaming just another hacktivist group for the huge leaks makes for a terrible narrative in the media. It's too boring, and too common. The media, whether they realize it or not, vastly prefers a different narrative - one that is more sensational, and one that hopefully people would give a shit about .
Enter North Korea into the picture and bam, we see every media organization clinging on to any and every speck of evidence that the country may be associated with the hacks.
People love reading about how terrible North Korea is. Now tie that to something tangible, whereby the effects can be seen by the average American reader (the emails are basically on every blog worth its salt now).
And that, is how the North Korea-hacked-Sony sausage gets made.
Apple's gonna have to squeeze the iPhone for all its worth once the Mac and iPad categories (things that people don't buy every year or two years even) become stagnant. The pressure for Apple to make the iPhone even better (profit-wise too) can't be understated when you look at where the majority of their revenues come from.
