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Friday, January 8, 2016
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YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl on Thursday laid out the direction the service plans to take this year, including new partnerships with GoPro to support 360-degree video content and 4K HDR, or high dynamic range, video.

So-called cord cutters are having an impact on streaming video services, including those of competitors such as Amazon and YouTube, he said during his keynote address at CES 2016.

The amount of time people spend watching digital video is about an hour and 15 minutes a day and is growing 25 percent year on year, Kyncl noted.

"Digital video is exploding," he said. "It has overtaken social media as the top online activity."

With that in mind, it isn't hard to see why YouTube is seeking to widen its appeal beyond fast-trending videos, and its newly announced partnerships and video support could be crucial to its growth. The service will be built into smart TVs alongside offerings from Amazon, Hulu and Netflix.

"YouTube is going to launch support for HDR playback this year," said Mariana De Felice, a YouTube spokesperson.

"At the show floor, partners such as Samsung, LG and Hisense were showcasing YouTube in 4K HDR," she told the E-Commerce Times.

YouTube's Full 360

Kyncl was joined at the keynote by GoPro CEO Nick Woodman to highlight the companies' partnership.

GoPro took the moment to announce that it will release a casual spherical camera as a way to help expand outside the extreme sports and adrenaline junkie market, which could result in greater adoption of 360-degree video creation.

"360 is what is used in virtual reality, and YouTube's popularity and sheer number of users really could make an impact on this technology, and this will help promote awareness and adoption of 360 video," said Greg Sterling, vice president of strategy and insight at the Local Search Association.

What YouTube is "doing for VR is the most important that can happen to the technology for it to be successful," added Colin Dixon, principal analyst at nScreenMedia.

"This partnership with GoPro does something that is pretty unique for video technology, as it was absent for 3-D and even HD before it," he told the E-Commerce Times.

It could allow for the creation of a complete ecosystem that offers most of the features needed to make the content, Dixon noted.

"You can get started with a GoPro that will cost just $500, and you could be making videos soon after," he said.

"The people that are likely to use this are those already using GoPro for extreme sports -- the stuff that is exciting to watch," he added. "This could result in a flow of exciting, compelling content that showcases the technology."

360 on Displays

However, YouTube and GoPro may still have some issues to resolve, at least in terms of ensuring the best way to present the content. VR is something best experienced via a special headset, and the content isn't so easily experienced -- at least not in all its glory -- on a traditional flat display.

"360 works well in headsets and it is awkward on a phone's screen, but less awkward on a PC desktop," the Local Search Association's Sterling told the E-Commerce Times. "It's still meant for headsets, so how it works could very well depend on the content."

That many not hamper early adopters, however.

"This is really a trifecta for the early adopters," said Dixon.

"It will be cheap to produce, provide a flow of good content, and cheap to try it out," he added. "As a result, it will be almost the most important thing to happen to VR, bar none -- $500 and you are in the VR business."

Technology Platform

As consumers adopt larger TVs with greater resolution, people watching in their living rooms will expect more than low-resolution videos.

To compete with Amazon's and Netflix's HDR video support, YouTube will need to remain at the forefront of video technology.

"YouTube's adoption of new technologies, which also includes VR, is important to the overall ecosystem," said Joel Espelien, senior analyst at The Diffusion Group.

"Device companies have to have YouTube app support on their platforms, so in this sense it's a big positive," he told the E-Commerce Times.

One issue is that YouTube's content is all over the map and is often fast trending but also fast to burn out, according to Espelien.

"From this point of view, content providers with more focus -- whether a sports league or someone like Netflix producing originals -- [are] better equipped to create a tight feedback loop between new technologies and the content creation process itself," he added.

The size of the audience could be the key when all is said and done, noted Sterling.

"YouTube can have a significant impact on the technologies, as it is one of two or three destinations that have massive online audience," he added. "Along with Netflix and Facebook, it is where people go to find video online."

Peter Suciu is a freelance writer who has covered consumer electronics, technology, electronic entertainment and fitness-related trends for more than a decade. His work has appeared in more than three dozen publications, and he is the co-author of Careers in the Computer Game Industry (Career in the New Economy series), a career guide aimed at high school students from Rosen Publishing. You can connect with Peter on Google+.

8:25 AM

YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl on Thursday laid out the direction the service plans to take this year, including new pa...

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a deal that would require Uber to encrypt geolocation information about its riders, as well as enhance its data security practices.

The AG opened an investigation into Uber in 2014, in response to allegations that the service had tracked riders and displayed their locations in an aerial format, known internally as the "God View."

The AG's office opened another investigation early last year, after Uber notified it that an unauthorized third-party had accessed the names and driver's license information of Uber drivers as early as May 2014, although the company did not discover it until the following September, according to legal documents obtained by the E-Commerce Times.

"We are committed to protecting the privacy of consumers and customers of any product in New York State, as well as that of any employee of any company operating here," Schneiderman said.

New Data Rules

The settlement requires that Uber encrypt rider geolocation information, adopt multifactor authentication before any Uber employee can access sensitive rider information, and engage in other protection practices, according to the AG's office.

The settlement also requires Uber to pay a US$20,000 penalty for failing to provide timely notice to drivers and to the AG's office regarding the September 2014 data breach.

"We are deeply committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of riders and drivers," Uber said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Matt Wing. "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General that resolves these questions and makes it clear our commitment to best practices that put our community first."

We've Been Expecting You

Buzzfeed reporter Johana Bhuiyan in 2014 discovered that her Uber ride had been tracked as she traveled to the company's Long Island City headquarters while on assignment to interview its New York general manager.

She had not given prior consent to the tracking, and it was against company policy to do such a thing, according to a Buzzfeed exclusive report.

The AG's office mentioned the Buzzfeed article in its announcement of the settlement; however, Wing declined to comment on the incident.

Uber last year posted a privacy policy that mentioned the hiring of law firm Hogan Lovells to review the company's privacy practices.

Uber conducts annual privacy and security training, has an employee designated to supervise it, and takes other steps that already comply with the AG agreement, it said.

Companies often fail to protect sensitive customer data, according to Charles Duan, staff attorney at Public Knowledge, who pointed to the AT&T breach in which call center employees had access to customer data, including 280,000 Social Security numbers.

"I expect that many consumers will now start to think twice before hitting that Uber request button," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Uber's ride service is largely based on the idea that it's better than taxis, and now they've shown that taxis are actually superior in at least one respect -- namely, privacy and anonymity."

David Jones is a freelance writer based in Essex County, New Jersey. He has written for Reuters, Bloomberg, Crain's New York Business and The New York Times.

5:37 AM

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a deal that would require Uber to encrypt geolocation information ...

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a deal that would require Uber to encrypt geolocation information about its riders, as well as enhance its data security practices.

The AG opened an investigation into Uber in 2014, in response to allegations that the service had tracked riders and displayed their locations in an aerial format, known internally as the "God View."

The AG's office opened another investigation early last year, after Uber notified it that an unauthorized third-party had accessed the names and driver's license information of Uber drivers as early as May 2014, although the company did not discover it until the following September, according to legal documents obtained by the E-Commerce Times.

"We are committed to protecting the privacy of consumers and customers of any product in New York State, as well as that of any employee of any company operating here," Schneiderman said.

New Data Rules

The settlement requires that Uber encrypt rider geolocation information, adopt multifactor authentication before any Uber employee can access sensitive rider information, and engage in other protection practices, according to the AG's office.

The settlement also requires Uber to pay a US$20,000 penalty for failing to provide timely notice to drivers and to the AG's office regarding the September 2014 data breach.

"We are deeply committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of riders and drivers," Uber said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Matt Wing. "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General that resolves these questions and makes it clear our commitment to best practices that put our community first."

We've Been Expecting You

Buzzfeed reporter Johana Bhuiyan in 2014 discovered that her Uber ride had been tracked as she traveled to the company's Long Island City headquarters while on assignment to interview its New York general manager.

She had not given prior consent to the tracking, and it was against company policy to do such a thing, according to a Buzzfeed exclusive report.

The AG's office mentioned the Buzzfeed article in its announcement of the settlement; however, Wing declined to comment on the incident.

Uber last year posted a privacy policy that mentioned the hiring of law firm Hogan Lovells to review the company's privacy practices.

Uber conducts annual privacy and security training, has an employee designated to supervise it, and takes other steps that already comply with the AG agreement, it said.

Companies often fail to protect sensitive customer data, according to Charles Duan, staff attorney at Public Knowledge, who pointed to the AT&T breach in which call center employees had access to customer data, including 280,000 Social Security numbers.

"I expect that many consumers will now start to think twice before hitting that Uber request button," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Uber's ride service is largely based on the idea that it's better than taxis, and now they've shown that taxis are actually superior in at least one respect -- namely, privacy and anonymity."

David Jones is a freelance writer based in Essex County, New Jersey. He has written for Reuters, Bloomberg, Crain's New York Business and The New York Times.

5:36 AM

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a deal that would require Uber to encrypt geolocation information ...

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Posted by sw at 5:36 AM 0 comments
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no image

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a deal that would require Uber to encrypt geolocation information about its riders, as well as enhance its data security practices.

The AG opened an investigation into Uber in 2014, in response to allegations that the service had tracked riders and displayed their locations in an aerial format, known internally as the "God View."

The AG's office opened another investigation early last year, after Uber notified it that an unauthorized third-party had accessed the names and driver's license information of Uber drivers as early as May 2014, although the company did not discover it until the following September, according to legal documents obtained by the E-Commerce Times.

"We are committed to protecting the privacy of consumers and customers of any product in New York State, as well as that of any employee of any company operating here," Schneiderman said.

New Data Rules

The settlement requires that Uber encrypt rider geolocation information, adopt multifactor authentication before any Uber employee can access sensitive rider information, and engage in other protection practices, according to the AG's office.

The settlement also requires Uber to pay a US$20,000 penalty for failing to provide timely notice to drivers and to the AG's office regarding the September 2014 data breach.

"We are deeply committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of riders and drivers," Uber said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Matt Wing. "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General that resolves these questions and makes it clear our commitment to best practices that put our community first."

We've Been Expecting You

Buzzfeed reporter Johana Bhuiyan in 2014 discovered that her Uber ride had been tracked as she traveled to the company's Long Island City headquarters while on assignment to interview its New York general manager.

She had not given prior consent to the tracking, and it was against company policy to do such a thing, according to a Buzzfeed exclusive report.

The AG's office mentioned the Buzzfeed article in its announcement of the settlement; however, Wing declined to comment on the incident.

Uber last year posted a privacy policy that mentioned the hiring of law firm Hogan Lovells to review the company's privacy practices.

Uber conducts annual privacy and security training, has an employee designated to supervise it, and takes other steps that already comply with the AG agreement, it said.

Companies often fail to protect sensitive customer data, according to Charles Duan, staff attorney at Public Knowledge, who pointed to the AT&T breach in which call center employees had access to customer data, including 280,000 Social Security numbers.

"I expect that many consumers will now start to think twice before hitting that Uber request button," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Uber's ride service is largely based on the idea that it's better than taxis, and now they've shown that taxis are actually superior in at least one respect -- namely, privacy and anonymity."

David Jones is a freelance writer based in Essex County, New Jersey. He has written for Reuters, Bloomberg, Crain's New York Business and The New York Times.

5:17 AM

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a deal that would require Uber to encrypt geolocation information ...

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All but one of Apple's top team received a pay raise in 2015, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

While Angela Ahrendts, Apple's senior vice president for retail and online stores, didn't get a raise, she's still pulling down the highest executive compensation at the company at US$25.8 million.

Her compensation in 2014 was $73.4 million, but that's because Apple offered her a fat financial deal to jump ship from Burberry.

By comparison, CEO Tim Cook's compensation in 2015 was $10.3 million, up from $9.2 million in 2014.

Stock Holdings

However, Cook has large equity holdings in the company awarded him when he become CEO. They include unvested shares worth $353.3 million and equity incentives worth $192.7 million.

Ahrendt also has substantial stock holdings: unvested shares worth $42.5 million and equity incentives worth $18.4 million.

CFO Luca Maestri received compensation of $25.3 million, an increase from $14.0 million in 2014, the SEC filing showed.

His stock holdings include unvested shares worth $36.1 million and equity incentives worth $9.7 million.

Meanwhile, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president for Internet software and services, had compensation of $25.1 million, a jump from $24.4 million in 2014.

Cue's stock holdings include $92.6 million in unvested shares and $18.4 million in incentives.

Skewed Compensation

Although Apple was a revenue and profit machine in 2015, its stock languished.

Full-year revenues for the company were $233 billion and profits were more than a billion dollars a week at $53.4 billion.

Yet its stock price dropped to 105.26 in December from 111.89 in January.

The stock closed Thursday at 96.45.

Apple's current executive team is responsible for destroying more than $480 billion in shareholder value, maintained Trip Chowdhry, managing director for equity research at Global Equities Research.

"Should they be rewarded for destroying $480 billion of potential shareholder value?" he told the E-Commerce Times. "Their compensation is totally skewed."

Bad P/E

Apple's price-to-earnings ratio of 11.5 is half the S&P 500 average of 20.5, Chowdhry added.

"The team should be compensated based on the P/E multiples. They shouldn't get bonuses until they match the market multiples," he said.

"It's a classic scenario of executives self-congratulating themselves for a dismal performance. These executives are rewarding themselves for underperforming on every metric," Chowdhry continued.

"If Steve Jobs was alive today, he would have gone bananas," he added.

Stratospheric Salaries

One of the problems in corporate America is executives continuing to make good money regardless of how the company is doing, observed Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"There's been a decoupling of company performance and salaries at the top level of firms that's been problematic," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Often, even if a company drops into unprofitability, the salaries will remain stratospheric."

That's not the case at Apple, however, according to Enderle.

"Apple continues to be one of the most profitable companies in the technology segment," he said. "As long as that is the case, you'd expect the compensation to remain reasonably good."

Unreasonable Expectations

While Apple may not be doing as well as it did under Steve Jobs, Enderle continued, it's doing better than most companies do when an iconic leader leaves.

"The fact that Apple was designed around Jobs and they're doing as well they're doing is a testament to their capability," he said.

When Bill Gates left Microsoft to Steve Balmer, the company's value collapsed and still hasn't recovered, Enderle noted.

As for Apple's stock price, "tech companies have a history of being undervalued," he observed.

"The issue with Apple is they're expected to overperform, so they get pounded when they don't," Enderle continued.

"The expectations around Apple are often unreasonable," he added, "largely because Apple has shown they can perform at unreasonable levels."

John Mello is a freelance technology writer and contributor to Chief Security Officer magazine. You can connect with him on Google+.

4:27 AM

All but one of Apple's top team received a pay raise in 2015, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exc...

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