Today European judges are hearing arguments in a closely watched case involving Uber

Yesterday, European judges heard opening arguments in a closely watched case involving Uber. The ride-sharing company argues that its business is software, not transport. Taxi companies and local regulators say it gains unfair advantages by dodging costs. Europe’s highest court, in Luxembourg, will issue its ruling next year. Defeat for Uber would have implications for other “gig economy” companies such as AirBnB.

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Five reasons Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg needs to grasp that with power comes responsibility

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The row about purveying fake news may have grabbed the headlines, but the social-media giant has other woes, too, reports The Economist.

1. The share price is falling, due to predictions of slower growth and lower margins.

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2. Objections from European data-protection authorities have forced it to pause a controversial user-data merger with WhatsApp, a Facebook-owned messaging service.

3. For the second time in a few weeks, Facebook has had to admit to flaws in the way it measures how ads are faring.

4. And it has reportedly developed a censorship tool to gain re-entry to the Chinese market.

All these matter because of Facebook’s heft: it has nearly 1.8bn monthly users, or about half of the internet’s population. With size comes responsibility, but it is unclear if Mark Zuckerberg fully grasps this. When first asked, the firm’s founder said the idea that fake news had affected America’s election was “pretty crazy”.

5. Actually, it’s not.

 

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This week’s best five campaigns: KFC, Uber, Snapchat

 

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KFC’s new OOH and Snapchat campaign lets you take a selfie with the Colonel

http://pioneeringooh.com/discover-the-colonels-snapchat-secret-on-high-streets/

Uber uses its data on Restaurants to offer a guide to the best by city

https://www.uber.com/info/restaurant-guide/

E.g. – New York’s best – https://www.uber.com/cities/new-york/restaurants/best-restaurants/

The Presidential Transition Team has its own YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_NRgn1L4zVWPOEI5Mt5Tog

Thomson Holidays’ new chatbot

https://chatbot.thomson.co.uk/

Where is Snapchat’s Spectacles vending machine today..?

https://www.spectacles.com/map/

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Lidl sets some prices based on tweet popularity

“The grocer claims the ‘Social Price Drop’ promotion is the first time a supermarket has determined the price of a product through crowdsourcing.

Lidl will invite the public to cut the cost of a different festive product each week in the four weeks leading up to Christmas.

Example: the grocer’s Christmas lobster, which usually retails at £5.99, will be the first product to have its price set through the strength of conversation on Twitter.

Customers have two days to drive down the price of the lobster by tweeting about it and on Wednesday the final product price will be announced and the product will be available for sale from Saturday.

A special reduced price tag will highlight the socially driven price cut in-store.

Lidl will repeat the process with three other flagship products in the weeks before Christmas.”

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Five long reads: Dark social in India, Blockchain and more

Amazon has held talks with US sports leagues

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Amazon has held talks with US sports leagues the NBA, MLB and NFL and others to stream live sports, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Amazon has proposed a premium, exclusive sports package as part of its Amazon Prime subscription service.

The online retail giant has also reportedly looked to foreign sports such as cricket and surfing, and has asked traditional broadcasters such as Disney (owner of ESPN) for the rights to games they choose not to air.”

Amazon & Netflix spent an estimated $7.5bn on content in 2015

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The Grand Tour is the biggest show premiere ever on Amazon Prime Video

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The debut episode of new Amazon Original Series, The Grand Tour, has become the biggest show premiere ever on Amazon Prime Video, with millions of Prime members streaming the first episode in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan over the opening weekend.

Viewership has even exceeded that of the previous number one show, The Man in The High Castle.

Additionally, the day The Grand Tour debuted, total new Prime membership sign-ups exceeded all previous days with the exception of Amazon’s renowned Prime Day.

The show is rated 4.9 out of 5 stars by more than 15,000 customers on Amazon, and currently has a score of 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.”

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Instagram introduces live video and disappearing pictures

Instagram has launched live streaming in the form of Instagram Live.

Every stream is gone the moment it finishes, meaning that both regular users and brands that are taking advantage of the new feature need to make every minute count.”

Instagram is also introducing disappearing pics in messages. Observes say Instagram Becoming more like Snapchat with each new iteration

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Why Trump’s plan to save the US coal industry is utterly doomed

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This year, for the first time ever, natural gas is set to unseat coal as the major source of fuel for electricity generation in the US, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (pdf).

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Trump spent a lot of time this fall trying to convince voters in coal-producing states like Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Illinois that he would bring jobs back to their communities.

It used to cost less to generate one unit of electricity from coal than from natural gas. That is no longer the case.

According to The Economist (paywall), 94 coal-fired power plants closed in 2015 and 41 closed in 2016. When future regulation costs are factored in, energy companies are unlikely to invest in new coal plants.

 

 

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