For decades, U.S. tech startups have been the beating heart of Silicon Valley. But almost unnoticed by economists, they are now in the same funk dogging some other sectors of the American economy.
Why it matters: In the booming 1980s and 1990s, much of U.S. job and productivity growth was the handiwork of a few young startups and their hit innovations. But the decline, which began in 2005, has stripped the economy of one of its most vibrant engines of wage and productivity growth, says John Haltiwanger, an economist at the University of Maryland.
Among efforts to make social media a more congenial place, researchers at Cornell are working on artificial intelligence that detects nasty online conversations when they are only starting to take that turn.
What's going on: Most studies of online conversation look for phrases such as, "What the hell is wrong with you.” But, by then, it's too late. In their new paper, Justine Zhang, Jonathan Chang and Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil say they aim to ferret out anti-social clues "when the conversation is still salvageable."
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, continued his criticism of the media on Saturday, saying he was "stunned to see the level of contempt many in media have for their readers."
The big picture: As previously reported, Musk appears to have taken a cue from President Trump in his opposition of the media on Twitter. Axios' Steve Levine reported in December that Musk has a different persona online than he does in person — he "can seek to humiliate people who challenge him or, in his view, cast him in an adverse light." That kind of response is similar to what Trump has used Twitter for as well.
On Friday Apple released its bi-annual transparency report on government requests which showed a 20% increase in national security requests and announced it will begin reporting government requests to remove Apps in its App Store "in instances related to alleged violations of legal and/or policy provisions."
Why it matters: Tracking such requests could provide "valuable insight into both Apple’s activities and the asks of governments around the world," TechCrunch explains. Reports from July 2018 through December 2018 are expected to detail which government made the request and if the company followed through with said request.
Hillary Clinton said in an interview with Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey on Friday that if she could be CEO of any company right now, she'd choose Facebook, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: Facebook has had a tough few months, as it dealt with a serious data privacy scandal. But Clinton said she's drawn to the company because it's "the biggest news platform in the world. ...I, for one, hope they get it right, because it really is critical to our democracy that people get accurate information on which to make decisions."
