11 Italian Phrases We Said Out Loud While Looking At Pictures Of Jack Dorsey's Beard In 2015

Mi scusi, mi scusi!

Magnifico!

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When Steve Jobs left Apple

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People Tried Really Hard To Figure Out What's Going On With Airbnb In 2015

Here’s what — if anything — we learned.

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2015 was a huge year for Airbnb. It earned a $25 billion valuation. It was used to book over 1 million stays per night. It launched its services in Cuba.

But 2015 was not a year without obstacles for the tech startup that, for many, has — until this year — represented the softer side of the so-called "sharing economy." Facing regulatory pressure in big cities like New York, L.A., and San Francisco, Airbnb spent much of the year — and its marketing budget — trying to convince the world that the platform is good for cities, good for middle-class families, and good for people in general.

But it's been hard — maybe harder than it should be — to prove that that's true. And meanwhile, Airbnb's opponents have argued that not only is the company not good for regular old middle-income city dwellers, but that its short-term rentals are actually causing a decline in affordable housing in certain cities and neighborhoods.

There's no doubt that some people do rely on Airbnb revenue to stay in homes that, what with rising costs of living, they couldn't otherwise afford. But it's also true that, in certain cases, unchecked short-term renting can have an adverse impact on rent.

Over the course of the last year, city governments, news outlets, and nonprofit organizations of all stripes have strived to figure out whether the net effect of Airbnb is positive or negative. But because Airbnb has been reluctant to share much information about where and how much the platform has been used, they've have had to cobble together a picture of the company's impact by scraping publicly available information from its website. They've been able to draw some conclusions from analyzing that data, many of which Airbnb has actively contested. The company, in turn, has released data reports of its own — reports that, unsurprisingly, tend to confirm that the platform is helping, not hurting, regular Americans.

With all the reports and counter-reports on Airbnb that have emerged this year, what have we actually learned? Given the efforts of housing advocates, attorneys general, data journalists and, to an extent, the company itself, are we actually any closer to understanding the impact of Airbnb?

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The easiest way to spot rule-breaking on Airbnb is to count the number of hosts who list multiple properties on the site, since those people are likely not renting out a room in their home, but operating as a small business.
* In New Orleans, 46% of hosts listed multiple properties.
* In Vancouver, 35% of hosts listed multiple properties.
* In Boston, 15% of hosts listed multiple properties.

Murray Cox is the amateur data scientist behind Inside Airbnb. In 2015, he made it his mission to scrape and analyze as much data about short-term renting on the site as possible — from 50 cities globally. He found that, in most cities, hosts with more than one property listed accounted for a third of the overall listings in that city.

In fairness, Airbnb has taken steps to shut down users running such operations.
* Before April 2014, there were nearly 100 hosts with more than 10 properties listed on Airbnb in New York City. After April 2014, when the company cracked down on these "bad actors," there were less than 10 such hosts. But by early 2015, there were 22 hosts with more than 10 properties listed, according to a report by travel site Skift.

Despite Airbnb's attempts, the problem persists. As of early 2015, 29% of Airbnb listings in New York City belonged to hosts who had listed two or more properties, according to The Verge. And as of mid-November, at least 46 hosts were listing six or more entire-home properties in NYC, according to Airbnb's own data.

Those numbers might seem small, but multi-property hosts actually account for a lot of Airbnb's revenues.
* During a recent 12-month period, hosts with more than one entire-home listing in New York City accounted for more than 30% of all New York revenue. (And that includes share-home and shared-room listings.)
* And hosts with at least three entire-home listings accounted for more than 18% of all New York City revenue.

Airbnb seems fairly committed to getting the major offenders off the site, a development that happened in the last year. But the so-called "bad actors" that remain are still making a solid chunk of change off the site.

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Here are the trends to watch for at CES 2016

Car tech, wearables, and virtual reality are just a few of the cooler technologies that will be on parade at at CES 2016.

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Airbus has engineered a new passenger plane that fights jet lag while you fly

Most airplane design improvements focus on enhancements to either safety or passenger comfort, but a new line of Airbus jets has done a little bit of both.

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Facebook testing topic-based news feeds

Facebook is testing new topic-based feeds within its iOS mobile app and on the desktop.

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Top military innovations of 2015

It was a good year for innovations within the military, including the introduction of a gladiator vehicle and a drone-slaying canon.

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Hot Smartphone Tech for CES 2016

We don’t expect to see many new smartphones from the big phone makers at CES 2016.

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Apple hit with a $5 million lawsuit for allegedly crippling the iPhone 4S with iOS 9 on purpose

Apple looks to leave 2015 on somewhat of a sour note, as the company was recently hit with a class-action lawsuit, with the iPhone 4S and iOS 9 at the heart of it all, reports AppleInsider.

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Microsoft Wants You To Take Pretty Selfies -- With Your iPhone

Microsoft Selfie promises to tweak your pics for age, gender, skin tone and lighting.

Remember when Microsoft released that age-guessing tool?

Microsoft

Well, the company is once again bringing its machine learning techniques and algorithms to bear on our photos, but this time it's using them to do something that's actually useful: making selfies look better.

"Microsoft Selfie" is an iOS app that promises to subtly optimize selfies, calibrating them for things like "age, gender, skin tone and lighting." It's not exactly a novel concept — Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi offers a similar feature. But it is another example of Microsoft extending its reach beyond Windows as it course corrects for our increasingly mobile world.

This isn't Microsoft's first selfie app. Indeed, Microsoft Selfie appears to be a stripped down version of the Windows Phone app Lumia Selfie rejiggered for iOS. That said, with Microsoft's share of the mobile market at a piddling 1.7%, the company has a far better shot of getting some traction for its new selfie app on the iPhone than it does on devices running its own mobile OS.

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Take A Look At The Future Of Facebook

Jason Stein

While on vacation in Aruba yesterday, Jason Stein, CEO of social media advertising agency Laundry Service, tweeted two screenshots from a new Facebook test that showed up on his wife’s phone. The test inserted a number of different content feeds next to Facebook’s traditional News Feed, with Travel, Style and Headline channels visible in the pictures.

Stein described these specialized content feeds as a “a newspaper made up of all the world's newspapers.” The vision is one previously articulated by Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who once said he hoped his platform would be a “perfect personalized newspaper for every person in the world.” Text, photos and outside links are still the dominant form of content shared on Facebook. And the importance of links to outside media, for example, drove the company to build Instant Articles, a product that hosts outside publisher content within Facebook in order to get stories to render as fast as possible (BuzzFeed is a partner). Scrolling through specialized content feeds, each replete with Instant Articles could potentially be a great experience.

It’s All About The Movies

But the test gets especially interesting when you consider video. As far back as 2014, Facebook proclaimed that video would be its dominant content format within five years. This shift made sense given that costs of producing and publishing video are falling while the bandwidth availability is increasing.

But Facebook gave little indication of how it could present all this video content in a coherent, enjoyable way. It could, perhaps, turn the News Feed into a big video feed. But jumping from a CNN segment, to a clip of your friend’s baby, to a traditional goofy internet video sounds a bit jarring. Facebook’s recently-rolled-out dedicated video experience, while still new, is subject to this problem.

These specialized feeds, though, might provide an answer. At the very least, they’re an attempt by Facebook to figure out how to make the content people consume on its platform more coherent than the sometimes scattershot News Feed. It paves the way for a better video experience.

If people do want to consume video within these feeds, still an open question, then Facebook can puts its most powerful tool into play: its algorithm. For years now, Facebook has been trying to figure out the exact pieces of content to show us based on what we’ve interacted with in the past, what our networks are interested in, and a handful of other factors. The algorithm powers the News Feed which while far from perfect, is effective at displaying relevant content. Put Facebook’s algorithm to use within a Style or Sports vertical and one day it could display a stream of videos catered to each user’s specific interests.

Stein believes Facebook’s algorithm can help organize web videos in a way that might make sense out of the overabundance of them. “When when you sit down to watch video, especially longer form, you’re in the mood for a specific genre, be it sports, comedy, music, drama, news, documentary, and so on,” he told BuzzFeed News. “Algorithmically organizing videos within genres is critical to the future of video. This new Facebook UI is likely the backbone for its video and TV apps.”

Stein then provided screenshots revealing the existence of far more content feeds available outside the three displayed in his initial screenshots. Among them: Food, Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Animals & Pets, Sports, Games, Science & Tech. Not only that, each vertical is customizable. So someone interested in the Style channel, for instance, can decide whether they want to see women's fashion or men's or whether they're interested in beauty tips, jewelry, accessories, or some combination of the above. This is the foundation of even more personalized channels.

For Facebook, the business implications are clear. It already has the best audience data in the world, since we, its users, have effectively helped it build it the dream catalogue for advertisers by telling it everything about ourselves. But advertisers understand that while a well-targeted ads may be good, a well-targeted ad in context can be great. In other words, when a beer manufacturer knows you’re a beer drinker, they’re better served showing you an ad while you’re watching sports highlights as opposed to a video of your nephew’s first steps. The ad served next to the baby video still hits its target, but it won’t be as effective.

Many questions remain — most notably whether Facebook will see this new format through. But also it remains to be seen if content creators will produce the volume of quality video needed to help Facebook live up to its five year promise. But assuming Zuckerberg and Co’s assumptions play out, what we’re looking at today may very well be the next big step for a company determined to seize even more control over the distribution of information and entertainment as we move deeper into the social age.

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Facebook 'disappointed' over shutdown of Egypt service that provided free Internet to millions

Social media site Facebook says a program that had been giving free basic Internet services to over three million Egyptians has been shut down.

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Philippine Catholic priest rebuked, says sorry for riding hoverboard during Mass

Philippine Roman Catholic Church officials have reprimanded a priest for riding a hoverboard and singing a song during Christmas Eve Mass.

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'Tis The Season For Online Dating

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If you've been sitting on your parents’ couch this holiday season glumly contemplating failed relationships past and your inevitable partnerless future, do not despair. There is hope for you yet. Because when the clock strikes midnight Thursday, not only will you be making out with some random stranger, you’ll be entering the hottest month of the year for online daters.

That's right: January sees far more matches and dating-related messages than any other month, according to data from dating apps Coffee Meets Bagel and Hinge. So hit pause on Netflix, take a shower maybe, and get ready to meet the person of your dreams via a match notification pushed to your phone's homescreen.

"Without fail, January is our biggest month each year," Karen Fein, VP of marketing at the dating app Hinge, told BuzzFeed News. Same goes for dating app Coffee Meets Bagel, which saw a 44% growth in matches last January over the previous month, and a 56% bump in messages exchanged on its platform.

The uptick may be due to an unscientific phenomenon called cuffing season, during which people look to form relationships to get them through the colder months.

"We think there is an uptick in matching and messaging post-Christmas because people are seeking a flame to warm the winter/post-Holiday chill," Coffee Meets Bagel spokesperson Liina Potter explained. "You could say 'cuffing season' is in full effect. In the New Year, people also seek the seed to create new beginnings, which includes new relationships."

If you mess up in January, you should still be OK. The next two months or so are still prime time for online dating, according to Hinge's Fein. "Men on Hinge are 15% more likely to want a relationship in the winter than they are in other seasons," she said. "Women are 5% more likely."

If all else fails, pray for snow. According to Fein, snowstorms also tend to cause big increases in activity on Hinge.

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Facebook's Free Basics Shuts Down In Egypt, Continuing Troubled Run

Facebook

Facebook's Free Basics program, which provides free internet access to a select group of apps and websites, has been shut down in Egypt, according to an Associated Press report.

In a statement provided to the AP, Facebook said it hoped to ""resolve this situation soon."

"We're disappointed that Free Basics will no longer be available in Egypt," the statement said. "More than 1 million people who were previously unconnected had been using the Internet because of these efforts."

It's still unclear why the service was halted in Egypt, but the shutdown marks another setback for the program, which has been the subject of a regulatory battle in India. Detractors there have derided the initiative for favoring some apps and sources of information over others, something they say goes against the principles of Net Neutrality. Free Basics is still live in over 30 countries.

Facebook — and social media in general — played a prominent role in Egypt's Tahrir Square uprising in 2011. The platform was a key organizing tool for demonstrators who eventually overthrew the government. There have since been several attempts to block it.

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Four new military aircraft took to the skies in 2015

It was a big year for military aircraft advances. Here’s a look back at four of those – the F-16 Viper, Marine Corps’ King Stallion Helo, a new stealth bomber and fifth generation fighter F-35.

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Here are the best laptops of 2015

In 2015, the march continued to combine the best of the laptop and the tablet. All of the laptops that I focus on in this best-of lineup to some degree attempt to merge the two.

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Top 5 TV Trends at CES 2016

One of the great things about the annual CES electronics trade show is that it helps set our expectations for technology in the coming year.

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A Redditor Made Some Hilarious Honest Ads For Free Basics

“Join your ignorant friends by showing support for what is misleadingly called a ‘Digital India’.”

Twitter: @reifman

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Check out Ford's wacky idea for a rear wheel that doubles as a unicycle

Someone at Ford thinks it'd be cool if you could yank off a car's back wheel and ride away on it.

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12 Times People In Tech Apologized In 2015

#Sorry.

Reddit had a rocky year, to say the least, and its problems boiled over during the July 4th weekend when moderators closed off prominent subreddits to the public. The blackout protested Reddit's dismissal of community moderator and employee Victoria Taylor, whom Reddit moderators had seen as an ally who championed the popular "Ask Me Anything" feature. The crisis prompted then-interim CEO Ellen Pao to post a 335-word apology for Reddit's "long history of mistakes" and pledge to give moderators new tools and more support. "I know these are just words, and it may be hard for you to believe us," Pao wrote. "I don't have all the answers, and it will take time for us to deliver concrete results." But Redditors weren't interested in waiting. Pao resigned a week later.

Ellen Pao

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The Shade Room is a celebrity gossip site that publishes straight to social media, earning it more than 2.5 million followers and the nickname "Instagram's TMZ." In May, Instagram shut it down, apparently mistakenly. The account was later back online.

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The weirdest tech stories of 2015

In 2015, we were never in short supply of the odd, astonishing, and just plain weird tech stories.

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Google Glass redux: High-Tech wearable gets ready for business

Google Glass is alive and well, and it could be coming to a workplace near you

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Priest Reportedly Suspended For Riding A Hoverboard During Mass

“He will be out of the parish and will spend some time to reflect on this past event,” the diocese of a Philippine church said.

A priest in the Philippines is in trouble after a video showing him singing a Christmas song while riding a hoverboard during Mass has gone viral.

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Several parishioners are seen cheering and clapping in the video as the priest rolls around the nave like a pro.

But the Diocese of San Pablo, Laguna, condemned the priest's actions on Tuesday, saying, "That was wrong," according to a report by Rappler, a Philippines-based news website.

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According to a statement from the diocese, the priest, who has not been identified, sang a Christmas song while riding the hoverboard around the church as a way of greeting his parishioners during the Christmas Eve Mass.

"[The Mass] is the Church's highest form of worship," the diocese said. "Consequently, it is not a personal celebration where one can capriciously introduce something to get the attention of the people."

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Sidecar Is Shutting Down Its Ride-Hailing Service

Sidecar, a ride-sharing and delivery service that never quite caught on like Lyft or Uber, is calling it quits. The company said Tuesday that it will cease operations at 2pm Pacific time on December 31 -- just before the New Year's Eve rush.

Founded in 2012, Sidecar came early to the on-demand ride-sharing market, but struggled to compete with more well-funded rivals like Uber and Lyft. Despite some valiant attempts at differentiation with medical marijuana deliveries and a feature that allowed passengers to choose the gender of their driver, the company -- which had raised about $35 million from a handful of investors -- found it was unable to continue on as a ride-hailing and delivery business.

"Today is a turning point for Sidecar as we prepare to end our ride and delivery service so we can work on strategic alternatives and lay the groundwork for the next big thing," Co-founders Sunil Paul and Jahan Khanna wrote in a post to Medium. "... This is the end of the road for the Sidecar ride and delivery service, but it’s by no means the end of the journey for the company."

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Camper Van Beethoven Singer Sues Spotify For $150 Million

Camper Van Beethoven

Spotify has taken some flak over the years for paying too little in royalty fees to the musicians and songwriters whose music it distributes. Now the streaming music service has been slapped with a lawsuit claiming it sometimes doesn't pay any royalties at all.

On Monday, Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker frontman David Lowery filed a class-action lawsuit against Spotify alleging that the company knowingly streamed songs to its more than 75 million users without obtaining the proper licenses to do so. First reported by Billboard, the suit seeks some $150 million damages for a proposed class expected to exceed 100 members.

At the crux of the suit is Lowery's claim that Spotify has created a "$17 to $25 million reserve" to pay royalties to artists whose work it has streamed without licensing, but it hasn't bothered to find those artists to make payment.

"Our argument is, we're not that hard to track down," Victor Krummenacher, a member of Camper Van Beethoven eligible to participate in the suit, told BuzzFeed News. "If [BuzzFeed] can track me down — and I'm not a principal in the suit — Spotify should be able to track us down to license our songs."

But it hasn't, Krummenacher said. Instead, Spotify is holding on to the money, waiting for artists to hit it up for payment. "They black box the money," he said.

This isn't the first time Spotify has run into trouble over copyright and royalty issues; The company is currently involved in settlement negotiations with the National Music Publishers Association. In the past, Spotify has argued that the byzantine music licensing structure, which requires payments for both recording and publishing rights, is too complex to manage for a catalog of over 30 million songs.

“We are committed to paying songwriters and publishers every penny,” Spotify said in a statement. “Unfortunately, especially in the United States, the data necessary to confirm the appropriate rights holders is often missing, wrong or incomplete.”

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Check out these stunning sequences in GoPro's high-octane year-in-review video

GoPro's just released a high-octane compilation video proving that adventurous folks will fix their cameras to just about anything in a bid to get jaw-dropping footage.

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Hoverboards: Ban won't stop the wheels

Richard Bulliet: The self-balancing vehicles that are fast becoming a craze are illegal in the United Kingdom and banned in New York City, but here to stay.











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