Flickr, the online photo-hosting service Yahoo acquired in 2005, has a new owner: photo-sharing site SmugMug, the company announced on Friday.
Why it matters: Flickr is one of Yahoo's most recognizable assets, but its fate has been uncertain for months since Verizon bought its parent company and then merged with AOL last year. SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill says that his company will give Flickr the resources and attention it lacked under Yahoo's stewardship, he told USA Today.
The top researcher for a new non-profit lab called OpenAI made more than $1.9 million in 2016, and two other researchers at the company made hundreds of thousands of dollars despite joining in March and June of that year, The New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The lucrative salaries illustrate the growing demand not only for artificial intelligence but also for those who understand the technology behind it. However, as the NYT points out, the trend also poses a major problem for universities and government agencies who need AI expertise, both to train the next generation and to integrate the technology into everyday life.
Given some of the key factors behind what Amazon is looking for in a city to host its second headquarters — including being in a major metro area with a "strong university system” — the Conference Board’s economic research group determined that Boston and Washington, D.C. are likely to top Amazon's list, per MarketWatch.
Their findings: Conference Board analysts found that Amazon’s job listings for those types of qualities are growing the fastest in Boston and Washington, D.C. Both cities also already have a substantial Amazon presence, which helps reduce the issue of having to recruit and relocate talent from elsewhere. Meanwhile, 236 other North American cities are also hoping for a bite at the West Coast apple.
Electric scooter company Bird is beginning to look a lot like Uber, with an on-demand transportation service that is ubiquitous on San Francisco streets, a business model that gets ahead of local regulations, and a competitive streak that ruffles feathers.
Bottom line: This isn't a coincidence, as Bird founder and CEO Travis VanderZanden is a veteran of both Uber and Lyft.
YouTube has run ads from more than 300 organizations and brands on channels that promote extreme content, such as white nationalist messages, Nazi ideas and pedophilia, according to a CNN investigation.
The details: The report said ads funded by taxpayers through five government agencies may have contributed as well. So far, at least one company — Under Armour — has reportedly pulled its ads from the site following CNN’s investigation. Some of the companies whose ads ran on the channels include Adidas, Amazon and Facebook. YouTube, which has previously been embroiled in similar controversy over ads appearing alongside extremist content, told CNN it has been rectifying the issue.
Snapchat is letting users buy products through a new advertisers' augmented reality feature in its app called "Shoppable AR."
Why it matters: It's one of the most sophisticated uses of augmented reality for marketing that's been rolled out to date — and now that people can buy things directly using the tool, it's likely to spur more investment in the technology.
Amazon is announcing a new program today that will allow people to create their own games and other programs for their Alexa-powered devices.
Why it matters: The move — part of Amazon's ever-growing expansion plans — could both boost loyalty to Amazon's platform and help people make their own devices more useful.
Lyft is launching a multi-million dollar effort to make all of its rides worldwide carbon neutral, the company announced Thursday.
How they're doing it: The plan, which will make Lyft one of the top voluntary purchasers of carbon offsets in the world, involves "the direct funding of emission mitigation efforts, including the reduction of emissions in the automotive manufacturing process, renewable energy programs, forestry projects, and the capture of emissions from landfills."
Amazon is an iceberg: People only see what's above the surface. Meanwhile, underneath, the company just keeps expanding.
Why you'll hear about this again: This has proven true time and time again. When people thought of Amazon as a bookstore, it was already on its way to being an e-commerce giant. When all people saw was an e-commerce giant, Amazon was well on its way to being a marketplace and web services provider.
FORTUNE editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf introduces the magazine's annual list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders: “If 2018 becomes the year that the United States finally begins to tackle its disease of gun violence ... it will be due not to the good sense of elected officials, but rather to the courage, tenacity, and sheer eloquence of students."
The top five: The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools; Bill and Melinda Gates, cofounders, The Gates Foundation; The #MeToo Movement; South Korean President Moon Jae-in; and Ken Frazier, Merck CEO.
In Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' annual letter to shareholders, he shares seven "essentials of what we’ve learned (so far) about high standards inside an organization" in this age of "customer empowerment."
His first rule: Intrinsic or Teachable? ... People "are pretty good at learning high standards simply through exposure. High standards are contagious."
Intel said Wednesday night that it is halting work on its augmented reality glasses, confirming a report from The Information.
Why it matters: Under CEO Brian Krzanich, Intel has looked to move beyond its computer chip roots and explore areas including VR, AR, wearables and chips for small electronics. However, many of these efforts have been shuttered with few or no products making it to market.
John T. Stankey, Senior EVP of the AT&T/Time Warner merger said that if AT&T and Time Warner were to merge, it wouldn't be in the combined company's best interest to work with another vertically-integrated company, such as Comcast/NBCUniversal, to together restrict their content from digital distribution competitors, or "skinny bundles."
Why it matters: The DOJ has argued that the merger will give two big companies with both content and distribution services an incentive to team up and simultaneously hold back their content from upcoming internet skinny bundle rivals, like YouTube TV or Dish's Sling TV.
Chipmaker Qualcomm confirmed to Axios it is in the process of job cuts, but declined to say how many employees were being laid off. "As part of the cost reduction plan announced in January, Qualcomm is conducting a reduction of our full-time and temporary workforce," the company said in a statement.
Why it matters: The company announced plans to cut costs in January as it grappled with a number of factors including a hostile takeover bid from Broadcom, a legal dispute with Apple as well as antitrust issues around the globe.
