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National

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a major redesign for the world's largest social network, including both its mobile apps and website, to emphasize interactions in private Facebook Groups.

Why it matters: Facebook wants to redefine its services to provide not just the "digital town square" but also to serve as "digital living rooms," and Zuckerberg's sweeping plans involve an effort to regain the trust of users in the wake of 2 years of controversy and scandal. 

Details: The new design — "the biggest change to the Facebook app in the last 5 years," Zuckerberg said — drops Facebook's trademark blue bar for a clean white design and puts Stories and group posts front and center.

Inside Facebook, the main Facebook app was often referred to as "the blue app" to distinguish it from Facebook's other platforms, like Instagram and WhatsApp.

Now, "The app isn't even blue any more," Zuckerberg told the crowd at F8, Facebook's annual developer conference. 

Changes will arrive quickly for Facebook's mobile apps and "in the next few months" for the desktop site. 

The big picture: Facebook had previously announced plans to reorient Facebook around private interactions and to integrate encrypted messaging across all its platforms. Zuckerberg made clear that these changes will take a long time.

"A few years ago we would probably just have rolled this out," Zuckerberg said Tuesday. This time, the company will be moving carefully as it makes these changes, he said — ditching its early motto of "move fast and break things."

"We'll be rolling this out later this year" was the most often-repeated phrase in his talk.

What they're saying: "I know we don't have the strongest reputation right now on privacy," Zuckerberg said. "I'm sure we're going to keep on unearthing old issues for a while. But we've shown time and again as a company that we can do what it takes to build and evolve the product people want."

Our thought bubble: We know Zuckerberg is dead serious about steering the world's largest social network in the direction of private interactions. We don't yet know whether users will trust him to create their "digital living rooms," given the mess he made while building the "digital town square." 

Facebook Messenger will introduce end-to-end encryption, introduce a new desktop app for both Mac and Windows, and it's also getting a backend rewrite that will speed it up. 

Instagram has updated its camera, allowing users to begin making Stories without needing to have an image or video to start with. 

Facebook Dating is adding new features, including one that suggests possible matches in Facebook groups you belong to and another called Secret Crush, which connects a pair of users when both have indicated an interest in the other.

Facebook has begun testing a new Meet New Friends feature that goes beyond the longstanding "People You May Know" feature to propose new connections where Facebook's algorithm thinks two users might hit it off.

Oculus will ship two new VR headsets, the all-in-one Oculus Quest and the Oculus Rift S, on May 21, each at a $399 price tag. 

Facebook announces a new design

CEO Mark Zuckerberg's sweeping plans involve an effort to regain the trust of users in the wake of 2 years of controversy and scandal.

Technology

Facebook

Business

Big Tech

Social Media

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Space

Axios Space

China is pushing deeper into space, but its human spaceflight goals don't directly compete with the U.S. 

Why it matters: Much of the dialogue around the U.S. and China's orbital ambitions calls to mind a new space race. Rather, Chinese and U.S. interests — particularly when it comes to human spaceflight — run parallel to one another. If the world's two biggest economies and science and technology leaders were to collaborate, it could open up new avenues for space exploration.

If China is "racing" anyone, it's likely other Asian nations like Japan and India, Dean Cheng, a space analyst focusing on China at the Heritage Foundation, tells Axios. 

"Also, any such competition is more along marathon lines than a sprint," he says.

The big picture: The Cold War-era space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union eventually yielded Russia as one of America's closest allies in orbit. The Chinese government is interested in collaborating internationally, but U.S. law prohibits cooperation with China in this high-tech realm.

What's happening: Analysts tell Axios that China has consistently followed through on its space ambitions, lending credibility to its future goals.

China operates satellites focused on remote sensing, communications and navigation.

The nation continues to launch people to space, focusing on developing the technology needed to establish a space station in the 2020s.

It is building small satellites, maintaining launch sites and exploring deep space with the Chang'e-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover on the far side of the moon. 

China's space program suffered a setback in 2017 when one of the country's Long March 5 boosters failed. But that rocket is expected to return to flight this summer.

China has publicly maintained that its goals in space are peaceful. However, the nation's military is also working toward shoring up its capabilities in space, driving the U.S. to take stock of its own orbital defenses. 

Competition with China is often cited as a reason for establishing President Donald Trump’s Space Force.

China is developing its anti-satellite systems, according to outside analysts, but it's not clear if they're designed as offensive measures or deterrents. 

China's space plans have not been subject to the same political whiplash that NASA’s have, which has worked to the country's benefit.

Space development is part of China's overarching desire to develop its own technology and project power. Both civil and military space endeavors are seen as one part of a larger puzzle.

What's next: China's long-term vision for space exploration, however, is murky. 

The Chinese plan to construct a space station in orbit by 2022. 

Whereas NASA has a clear desire to land humans on Mars in the 2030s, which it says is driving exploration of the Moon, China doesn't have a large, unifying deep space mission in its sights yet.

The closest China seems to have to that kind of mission is a desire to build a moon base on the south pole, according to Xinhua. 

"It's not clear that there is an 'ultimate' goal for the Chinese space efforts."

China's long march to space superpower

China is pushing deeper into space, but its human spaceflight goals don't directly compete with the U.S.

Illustration of astronaut on the moon with China flag

Science

China

World

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

Cable provider Altice USA announced Tuesday that it acquired the streaming news network Cheddar for $200 million, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it matters, via Axios' editor-in-chief Nicholas Johnston: The move comes as a sign that Altice, a relative unknown, is jumping into the streaming wars.

The backdrop: Altice and Cheddar's relationship dates back to 2017, when Altice first invested in the live-streaming news startup. 

Cheddar, launched in January 2016 by CEO and founder Jon Steinberg, managed to successfully negotiate deals on a variety of platforms without affiliate fees, allowing the company to build its distribution to become available in 40 million pay-TV homes — as well as on free, ad-supported services.

Details: The all-cash deal is built on the idea that Altice can raise the profile of its budding news unit, which includes News12, an umbrella of New York news networks, acquired via Cablevision in 2016. Steinberg will transition into the role of president of Altice News.

"Cheddar has demonstrated an innovative approach to live news while building an engaged audience, solid followership and a strong brand," Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said in the official announcement.

Steinberg added the goal of the deal is to make Altice News "a leader in local, business, national, and international news everywhere as we look to build a live news offering for customers in the traditional pay TV ecosystem."

Go deeper: Even Grandma is streaming TV now

Cheddar acquired by Altice USA for $200 million

The cable provider is jumping into the streaming wars.

Cheddar CEO and founder Jon Steinberg. Photo: Matthew Eisman/Getty Images

Streaming media

Media

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaidó has taken to the streets alongside newly freed opposition politician Leopoldo López to call on the military to rise up and topple President Nicolás Maduro, a bold step that comes three months into a fierce power struggle.

The backdrop: Guaidó declared himself Venezuela’s interim president in January and was swiftly recognized by the U.S. and a string of other countries, but Maduro has maintained his hold on power. The Trump administration and senior members of Congress have backed today’s high-risk move, while senior members of the Venezuelan regime have denounced what they’ve described as a futile "coup attempt."

López, one of Venezuela’s best-known politicians, was detained in 2014 for organizing anti-Maduro protests and had been under house arrest. He claimed to have been freed "by members of the security forces responding to an order by Guaidó," per the AP.

Venezuela’s foreign minister has since said the U.S. likely paid a guard to free López.

“As [López] spoke on a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro sporadically fired tear gas from inside the adjacent Carlota air base as the crowd of a few hundred civilians, some of them brandishing Venezuelan flags, scurried for cover,” the AP reports.

"The crowd swelled to a few thousand as people sensed what could be their strongest opportunity yet to overthrow the government after months of turmoil that has seen Maduro withstand an onslaught of protests and international pressure with the support of his top military command and allies such as Russia and Cuba."

"The dramatic events playing out in the opposition’s stronghold in wealthier eastern Caracas appeared not to have triggered a broader military revolt."

The latest: An armored military vehicle rammed into pro-Guaidó protesters in Caracas. Meanwhile protesters broke through a fence and into the military base where this morning's uprising took place, per Bloomberg. News coverage shows billows of smoke coming from the base.

The big picture: As the world has waited for a decisive moment in the Maduro-Guaidó showdown, the suffering of the Venezuelan people has only intensified. The U.S. has ratcheted up sanctions, arguing that Venezuela’s economic crisis will never end until Maduro leaves power. But it’s not the only power with a stake in the outcome — Russia has sent troops in support of Maduro, and China has also defended the regime.

Clashes in Caracas as Venezuelan opposition tries to topple Maduro

The Trump administration and senior members of Congress have backed today’s high-risk move.

Soldiers and protestors loyal to the opposition take cover near Carlota air base. Photo: Rafael Hernandez/picture alliance via Getty Images

Venezuela

Sports

Axios Sports

As baseball, like all sports, becomes more data-oriented and technology-driven, MLB hitting coaches are no longer required to have actually played in the big leagues.

Details: Instead, teams are looking for coaches who are well versed in how to use the new technologies available to them (hitting apps, machines) and leverage the data they produce.

By the numbers: 19 of MLB's 30 hitting coaches played less than 100 big league games, 13 never played in the majors and four never even played in the minors.

All but four were hired in September 2016 or later, proving just how much fresh blood has entered a once insular community of former batting champions.

The big picture: At the turn of the century, most general managers were former big leaguers. They've since been replaced by an influx of Ivy League grads with skillsets seemingly more cut out for the trading floor than the baseball diamond.

The hitting coach revolution is the "next wave of that trend: giving outsiders a uniform and making them coaches," writes WSJ's Jared Diamond (subscription).

The bigger picture: The changing role of an MLB hitting coach is a reflection of what's happening in society as a whole, where technological advancements are fundamentally changing or straight up eliminating jobs, while also creating new ones.

Plenty of professions are starting to resemble the modern hitting coach: less about what you know, more about how good you are at absorbing mass amounts of information and knowing what to do with it.

The bottom line: While their predecessors functioned as history teachers, passing down the lessons they were taught, today's hitting coaches are more akin to if your AP Physics and AP Statistics professors had a baby. (Sorry for the visual.)

Go deeper: Traditional sports look to new tech to survive

Baseball's hitting coaches go all in on tech and data

All but four of baseball's hitting coaches were hired in September 2016 or later.

Illustration of a baseball player's batting form being evaluated by technology

Baseball

Shifts in technology and media are changing the way we play, watch and understand sports. Business models are adapting and social change is forcing those in charge of teams and leagues to reconsider decades-old practices.

Left for dead in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), one of the most notorious agents in the collapse of the financial system, are starting to gain favor again on Wall Street.

The big picture: Synthetic CDOs, seen as particularly risky, both for a bank's balance sheet and its reputation, also have seen a wave of fresh investment this year as investors look for ways to bet on corporate defaults and generate yield.

Details: Christopher Whittall of International Financing Review reports, "Trading volumes in synthetic collateralized debt obligations linked to credit indexes are up 40% this year, according to JP Morgan, after topping US$200bn in 2018 on the back of three years of double-digit growth. Meanwhile, analysts predict more than US$100bn in sales of bespoke synthetic CDOs in 2019 following an estimated US$80bn of issuance last year."

What's happening: Since 2009, after the Fed began its quantitative easing program, investors have piled out of bonds and into riskier assets in an effort to replicate returns of the past. Portfolio managers have tried buying stock options, investing in hedge funds, private equity and alternatives. CDOs look to be the latest pick.

Whittal reports that Citigroup, which was already investing in CDOs, has hired more traders to focus on the synthetic market in recent months. Deutsche Bank and Barclays look to be increasing their presences as well.

"We provide solutions for our clients as there is a need in the market from investors for the yield and exposure from synthetics that is not available in other markets," a Citigroup representative who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter tells Axios.

Yes, but: Today's synthetic CDOs are largely free from exposure to subprime mortgages, which drove much of the carnage in the crisis. Most are credit-default swaps on European and U.S. companies, and amount to bets on whether corporate defaults will increase in the near future.

The amount of CDOs being traded also is much smaller than it was during the crisis, and is even a few hundred million dollars below the total seen in 2011.

The bottom line: "We are still at such a low level that this is not a worry at this stage," Deutsche Bank chief economist Torsten Slok tells Axios, "but we are indeed monitoring it carefully given the role synthetic CDOs played during the crisis."

Axios

Tuesday's top stories

Facebook announces a new design

China's long march to space superpower

Cheddar acquired by Altice USA for $200 million

Clashes in Caracas as Venezuelan opposition tries to topple Maduro

Baseball's hitting coaches go all in on tech and data

The return of synthetic CDOs

Health care's two political realities

The 2020 campaign gets colorful

Facebook takes a licking, but we keep on clicking

The death of prices

Anti-Semitic assaults doubled in the U.S. in 2018, ADL report finds

Trumps sue Deutsche Bank, Capital One over congressional subpoenas

House Democrats prepare to escalate standoff with Bill Barr