The Golem and the Jinni (P.S.) by Helene Wecker
Reviewed by Catherine from Elk Grove, California.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife were the most generous charity donors in the US in 2013
Feb10
Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have been crowned the most generous Americans in 2013 — after they donated 18 million Facebook shares valued at more than $970 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Associated Press reports.
An annual ranking of the top 50 donors in America, produced by publication The Chronicle of Philanthropy, showed that the wealthy donated a total of $7.7 billion last year — four percent more than in 2012. Aged below 30, Zuckerberg and his wife have become the youngest ever philanthropists to occupy the top position.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy notes that charities are “eagerly awaiting” further news on how Zuckerberg and his wife will allocate the 36 million Facebook shares they have donated to the Silicon Valley non-profit organization over the past two years, which is worth about $1.5 billion.
Image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of eBay, has made his leap into online publishing after The Intercept, an online site from his First Look Media (FLM) network, went online today featuring a big-hitting story about the NSA and drone attacks.
An introductory post explains that the publication will cover numerous industries and topics as part of its mission is to “to hold the most powerful governmental and corporate factions accountable.” The Intercept is described as being the first of “numerous” digital publications that will launch under the FLM banner, though there’s no indication of the areas that these additional sites will focus on.
Former Guardian writer Glenn Greenwald is on board as editor of The Intercept, as had been expected after he announced his union with Omidyar last year. The twelve person team includes film-maker Laura Poitras and investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, both of whom have been prominent names in the continued coverage of NSA leaks and stories, which were kicked off by Greenwald last year.
The Intercept is live right now, featuring @ggreenwald, @jeremyscahill, Laura Poitras and a great team. https://t.co/ns3UZFycyx
— Pierre Omidyar (@pierre) February 10, 2014
Initially, the publication will focus on reporting more disclosures from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, but it will focus on wider independent journalism over the longer term:
Our longer-term mission is to provide aggressive and independent adversarial journalism across a wide range of issues, from secrecy, criminal and civil justice abuses and civil liberties violations to media conduct, societal inequality and all forms of financial and political corruption. The editorial independence of our journalists will be guaranteed, and they will be encouraged to pursue their journalistic passion, areas of interest, and unique voices.
The first two stories are live:
- The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program — by Greenwald and Scahill
- New Photos of the NSA and Other Top Intelligence Agencies Revealed for First Time — a guest post from American artist Trevor Paglen
Omidyar announced his foray into online news last October. The entrepreneur landed Greenwald as his ‘star’ signing, and says he is putting $250 million behind the First Look Media initiative.
Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of eBay, has made his leap into online publishing after The Intercept, an online site from his First Look Media (FLM) network, went online today featuring a big-hitting story about the NSA and drone attacks.
An introductory post explains that the publication will cover numerous industries and topics as part of its mission is to “to hold the most powerful governmental and corporate factions accountable.” The Intercept is described as being the first of “numerous” digital publications that will launch under the FLM banner, though there’s no indication of the areas that these additional sites will focus on.
Former Guardian writer Glenn Greenwald is on board as editor of The Intercept, as had been expected after he announced his union with Omidyar last year. The twelve person team includes film-maker Laura Poitras and investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, both of whom have been prominent names in the continued coverage of NSA leaks and stories, which were kicked off by Greenwald last year.
The Intercept is live right now, featuring @ggreenwald, @jeremyscahill, Laura Poitras and a great team. https://t.co/ns3UZFycyx
— Pierre Omidyar (@pierre) February 10, 2014
Initially, the publication will focus on reporting more disclosures from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, but it will focus on wider independent journalism over the longer term:
Our longer-term mission is to provide aggressive and independent adversarial journalism across a wide range of issues, from secrecy, criminal and civil justice abuses and civil liberties violations to media conduct, societal inequality and all forms of financial and political corruption. The editorial independence of our journalists will be guaranteed, and they will be encouraged to pursue their journalistic passion, areas of interest, and unique voices.
The first two stories are live:
- The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program — by Greenwald and Scahill
- New Photos of the NSA and Other Top Intelligence Agencies Revealed for First Time — a guest post from American artist Trevor Paglen
Omidyar announced his foray into online news last October. The entrepreneur landed Greenwald as his ‘star’ signing, and says he is putting $250 million behind the First Look Media initiative.
Last week, HTC revealed that it is planning to launch a wearable device this year. That probably wouldn’t have helped reverse the struggling Taiwanese firm’s fortune — but with a little more realism, the company now says it is focused on developing a compelling range of cheaper smartphones to revive its struggling business.
“The problem with us last year was we only concentrated on our flagship. We missed a huge chunk of the mid-tier market,” HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang told Reuters.
That blinkered approach, and the fact that much-praised high-end devices like the HTC One didn’t shift in huge quantities, have seen HTC fall. IDC reports that its global market share was just two percent of all shipments, while revenue from sales was down year-on-year for every month in 2013.
The scatter-gun approach of releasing numerous devices at different price points has proven particularly effective for Samsung — the world’s top smartphone-maker based on market share — although margins are lower, making revenue-generation as challenge, as we pointed out about Samsung’s business in China.
Reuters notes that just two of the 53 devices that HTC sells in China are priced below $150, which is the category with the most growth in the country. Just releasing devices into the crowded market doesn’t guarantee success, and HTC will need to get its creative juices flowing to market its phones, not to mention balance price and quality.
➤ Chastened HTC turns to cheaper smartphones in search for profit [Reuters]
Image via Mandy Cheng/AFP/GettyImages