He modeled the first McDonald's double-decker on burgers at a Big Boy and introduced it in 1967 in Uniontown, Pa. A year later, it was on the menu nationwide.
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AppNexus' long-awaited IPO is about to happen. The ad tech company has filed paperwork confidentially for an initial public offering, The Wall Street Journal's Maureen Farrell and Telis Demos reported on Wednesday. The IPO is expected to come around the second quarter next year and the company may seek a valuation of up to $2 billion, according to The Journal. Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase will serve as the lead underwriters. The 9-year-old New York-based startup was most recently valued around $1.6 billion, according to Pitchbook. In September, AppNexus raised a $31 million funding round, including a $10 million investment from News Corp and involvement from Yahoo Japan. The deal included a partnership with News Corp - which owns The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires - where the corporation's properties would begin using AppNexus products. Shortly thereafter, the startup cut 150 jobs in a restructuring that saw 13% of its staff laid off and created two separate divisions: A division that provides technology to help advertisers buy ads and a division to help publishers sell ads. The move further fueled rumors that an IPO was imminent. Only one other ad tech company has gone public in 2016. Trade Desk debuted on the Nasdaq in September at $28.75 per share, a pop on its $18 price target. AppNexus declined to comment on the report. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: These size comparisons show the true scale of enormous things Restored Hearing launches new sound absorbing hearing protection to reduce growing noise-related hearing damage
Forecasting the "Net": Jack Uldrich to Speak on the Future of Water and the Internet of Things11/29/2016 Global futurist Jack Uldrich will deliver his latest keynote on the future of the water industry In Orlando, Florida on November 30.
Disappointed gamers have failed to get advertising for the universe exploration game "No Man's Sky" banned after the UK advertising regulator failed to find evidence it was "misleading." "No Man's Sky" has not been well-received by many people in the gaming community since it launched in August. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 23 complaints about the game's storefront on the online gaming platform Steam. The page included trailers, screenshots, and text description of the game. The complainants argued that "some of the game content was not as depicted or described" and challenged whether the ad was "misleading." In response to the complaints, Hello Games explained that unlike many other games, each users' experience is very different so it "would be difficult to recreate exact scenes from the ad." The game content is generated by an algorithm that determined the probability of a player encountering a specific creature, physiology, or one of its "18 quintillion planets" and each player starts on their own unique planet, so the outcome of each game is almost infinite. Hello Games added that the ad was produced using a gaming PC of "average specification" and the quality of the graphics shown in the ad was "inferior" to the graphics the game was capable of exhibiting. The company also responded to specific complaints about the way in which "No Man's Sky's" gameplay was advertised. The ASA took into account several specific complaints in its investigation. It acknowledged that the user interface design and aiming system had "undergone cosmetic changes" since the footage for the trailers was recorded. However, the ASA stated in its ruling: "We did not consider that these elements would affect a consumer's decision to purchase the game, as they were superficial and incidental components in relation to the core gameplay mechanics and features."Â
Some complaints referred to the trailers and screenshots exaggerating the quality of the in-game graphics. However, the ASA considered that consumers would "generally be aware" that the graphical output of the game would be affected by the specifications of their computers. Another complained-about issue was text in the ads that stated: "Fly smoothly from deep space to planetary surfaces, with no loading screens and no limits." Players took issue with the statement because the game displays a "warp" sequence when traveling between systems - similar to a loading screen. The ASA took into account that the screen only displayed when traveling between systems - not traveling from space to a planet's surface, for example, which is more of a common occurrence in the game - and that it didn't represent an interruption to the gameplay experience. Again, the ASA ruled that this was not a misleading element of "No Man's Sky's" marketing. The ASA concluded in its ruling: "We understood that the screenshots and videos in the ad had been created using game footage, and acknowledged that in doing this the advertisers would aim to show the product in the best light. Taking into account the above points, we considered that the overall impression of the ad was consistent with gameplay and the footage provided, both in terms of that captured by Hello Games and by third parties, and that it did not exaggerate the expected player experience of the game. We therefore concluded that the ad did not breach the Code." Hello Games announced its first major update to "No Man's Sky" earlier this month, adding more content and improving existing features. AT&T will give away free Apple TVs and Amazon Fire Sticks with its new $35 streaming TV service (T)11/28/2016 AT&T is giving away free Apple TVs and Amazon Fire TV Sticks with its new streaming TV service, DirecTV Now. DirecTV's new service comes in several packages, starting at 60 channels for $35 per month, and going up to a $70 per month package with 120 channels, the company announced on Monday. Currently, DirecTV is offering a 100 channel tier for $35 per month, although it said that offer is available for a limited time. Make no mistake: This is a monster giveaway. Users who pay ahead of time for three months of DirecTV Now can receive the latest Apple TV for free, which retails for $149. AT&T will also give away an Amazon Fire TV Stick for free if customers pay for 1 month of DirecTV Now, AT&T said in a press release. DirecTV Now's least expensive package is only $35 a month, which means AT&T is asking for just a $105 commitment. An Apple TV alone costs $150 at retail. And if you don't want to commit to three months of DirecTV Now, you can sign up for one month ($35) and get a free Amazon Fire TV Stick. That would cost you about $40 at retail. Making wavesÂ
AT&T says it will be able to make the economics work at that price in part by cutting out legacy equipment like satellite dishes. DirecTV Now will be delivered over the internet, eliminating the need for cable or satellite but, to watch it on a TV, requiring a streaming box (like an Apple TV) or a smart TV. Not everyone, however, has a streaming box ready to go. With this promotion, it seems as if AT&T is trying to bridge the "streaming gap" for customers by simply giving them a free streaming box. The best channelsÂDirecTV now will have a lot of commonly-requested channels. AT&T has already signed deals with HBO, Discovery, NBCUniversal, Turner, Viacom, Disney, AMC, Scripps, Starz, and more. So it seems as if all the big guns will be signed up for launch, except for CBS, which will not be included.. HBO will cost an additional $5 per month. The company has not yet revealed which channels are in which packages. Another major advantage to DirecTV Now is that it will have a "72-hour catch-up window," according to Variety, which will let you watch shows on-demand for three days after they air. But there may be limitations on this feature - ESPN isn't on that catch-up list, for instance. DirecTV Now will also have an on-demand library of "up to 14,000 titles," according to Variety. For those who don't want to start paying before testing it out, DirecTV Now will let you have a seven-day free trial, AT&T said on Monday. The future is streamingAT&T has big plans for DirecTV Now and thinks it will be the company's primary TV platform by 2020, according to Bloomberg. In the immediate time period, a recent report from MoffettNathanson estimated that DirecTV Now could snag 11 million subscribers. Here's the potential breakdown: 2 million cannibalized from DirecTV, 6 million from other pay TV, and 3 million "cord-cutters." The 2 million subscribers transferred from DirecTV's traditional packages would be of concern to AT&T. Eleven million is a huge number, however, especially considering Sling TV is the market leader after only recently reaching 1 million subscribers, according to Bloomberg. If you're ready to cut the cord, DirecTV is offering a 100 channel tier for $35 per month, although it said that offer is available for a limited time. But if you sign up now, you can have the deal grandfathered, the company said on Monday. SEE ALSO: This news startup is dominating Facebook, and it just snagged an interview with President Obama Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: France will trial a flying water taxi which surfs two feet above water Yooya Tops One Billion Monthly Video Views
Known for its incredible perks, impressive salaries, and great corporate culture, Facebook is one of the world's most desirable places to work. The Menlo Park, California-based tech giant consistently earns top spots on rankings like Business Insider's annual "best companies to work for," Glassdoor's "best places to work," and LinkedIn's "top attractors," among many others. To see what all the fuss is about, Business Insider recently visited Facebook's Manhattan office ... and let's just say, we get it. Here's what we saw and learned during our tour: We arrived at Facebook's Greenwich Village office on a mild Friday afternoon in November. Once we checked in, we were greeted by engineering director Jeff Reynar and corporate communications manager Jamil Walker.![]() The first thing that jumped out at us on the tour was this physical embodiment of a Facebook "wall." Reynar told us New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker recently stopped by to sign it. âWhat's kind of fun about this is that there's a wall at most of our offices," Reynar says. "It's kind of temporary. At some point, we'll probably do some kind of construction and this will go away and we'll start a fresh one with new signatures."![]() Across all of its 66 offices and data centers worldwide, Facebook - which has a market cap of $280 billion as of mid-November - employs almost 16,000 people. About 1,000 of them work in the Frank Gehry-designed Manhattan location, which also houses members of the company's Instagram team. Facebook occupies four floors of the building, which was once a Wanamaker's department store.![]() See the rest of the story at Business Insider The sports-apparel brand Under Armour is booming, with the company on track to generate almost $4 billion in revenue in 2016. Its market share has skyrocketed in the US, partly thanks to memorable marketing campaigns and the company's knack of picking spokesmodels just as they are about to reach the top of their game: Misty Copeland, Stephen Curry, and Tom Brady to name a few. But Under Armour had humble beginnings, and it has met some surprising hurdles and peaks along the way to its multibillion-dollar success. Check out some of the more surprising facts about Under Armour. SEE ALSO: 11 things hardly anyone knows about Nike 1. Under Armour's billionaire founder, Kevin Plank, didn't get off to the best of starts. He was thrown out of private high school after failing two classes and for his part in what Forbes described as a "drunken brawl" with some Georgetown University football players.![]() Source: Forbes 2. But things picked up for him. Plank went on to get a scholarship at the University of Maryland, where he was a walk-on for the football team. (He's not pictured here.) He eventually became the team captain.![]() Source: Forbes 3. Founding Under Armour wasn't Plank's first job. He had a flower business, parked cars, and "grew a shaggy beard, and sold T-shirts and bracelets at Grateful Dead concerts."![]() Source: Forbes See the rest of the story at Business Insider Voice search has created a huge vulnerability at the heart of Google's business (GOOG, GOOGL)11/25/2016 When the world shifted from desktop to smartphones, one thing didn't change: the existence of a screen on both devices. The screen shrunk, but it remained the medium through which we interact with computers. For Google, that meant its core online advertising business - visible search ads on a webpage - remained intact and lucrative. Today, Google may be at the beginning of a new shift - one toward artificially intelligent virtual assistants, in which we use our voice to interact with technology instead of our eyes. The problem with voice assistants is they don't have a screen on which to display ads. And analysts have noticed. On the last earnings call for Alphabet, Google's parent company, analysts repeatedly asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai whether voice searches would be harder for the company to monetize with ads. Pichai didn' have a specific answer, although he reassured investors that he believed the new medium would expand Google's business. Virtual assistants, which are basically voice-activated mini computers, are becoming increasingly intelligent and accessible. A spokesperson for Google told Business Insider that its mobile voice searches tripled between 2014 and 2015. Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google's Assistant are competing to become the most intelligent digital helpers in the virtual assistant race. The hardware surrounding this technology is expanding, too - Amazon and Google have each released a mini Wi-Fi speaker for the home. You can tell the Amazon Echo or Google Home to play music, look up recipe ideas, find local restaurants, and do a variety of other tasks. The side effect of all of this is that in the short term, the available real estate for ads will shrink. You could insert sponsored suggestions into a voice assistant's answers, but it would never offer as many ads as a Google search results page. It's a side effect that analysts want to know more about. Brian Nowak, Morgan Stanley's internet analyst, asked Pichai on the earnings call to talk about what the company might need to put in place to "monetize search in a voice world as well as you do in a phone or desktop world." Pichai responded without directly answering the question, saying "we are in very early days," that one team "talked about" ways to integrate third parties, and that he thinks "we will evolve it a lot in the coming years." Peter Stabler, a senior research analyst at Wells Fargo, asked Pichai if voice queries are "much more skewed to less commercial activity"? Pichai said that instead of replacing search on desktop and mobile, voice search provides an additional way for people to interact with Google. "The sum total of all of this: It expanded the pie," he said. While voice search might indeed expand the pie, history shows that legacy media businesses are often vulnerable to new media tech. The newspaper business has struggled to adapt to the internet. Many newspapers have closed, and entirely new digital news organizations have flourished in a business once dominated by paper products. Similarly, the television business is fighting fiercely against video-on-demand over the internet. From that perspective, screen-based search starts to look like a legacy media business, and voice-based search like a vast, open arena with no dominant players. That is exactly the kind of market that new tech startups seek to disrupt. Google, of course, has a track record of solving complex problems and monetizing products. Four years ago, there were worries it might stumble on the transition from desktop search to mobile search. In 2012, the company actually warned that mobile was hurting revenue growth. Since then, Google has gone from strength to strength, and it remains the dominant search engine on mobile screens. Google is no doubt thinking about these issues already and developing plans to enhance its dominance. But until those plans are unveiled, these are the three questions analysts would really like Pichai to answer:
Disclosure: This author used to be a Google employee and currently owns Alphabet stock. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How to supercharge your iPhone in 5 minutes |
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