At the intersection of social media and live streaming, there is Periscope. Not the conclusion you would’ve expected is it? Let’s dig a little deeper. Periscope is a way to live stream anything you do. Not only that, but you can interact with people from all over the world while doing it. Make new friends from across the pond, talk food with a guy in Pittsburgh, all these things and more are possible with this technology. It’s new in the arena of social media, launching only a wee bit ago in March 2015. With competition from rivals Meerkat and Facebook, someone seems to think there could be something to all this. It feels more personal than Google hangouts and reminds me of the college experience in general in how you can just walk up to anyone and start a conversation with them, even though it seems most of us don’t do that. The interface is simple and uses familiar elements to get you going. It can speed up your log-in by linking to your Twitter account. Or just drop your name and a username to open up a new look at the world. Here’s a less intimidating way for you to dip into a world of communicating with new people. Oh the possibilities.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/04/facebook-live-video-streaming-to-take-on-twitter-periscope.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/12/05/what-is-periscope-and-how-can-you-use-it-for-business-video-streaming/

Here’s something you probably knew: Uber is not good for the yellow cab business. Here’s something you might not have known: how bad it actually is for it.

There are people who love Uber, in fact so many that it has caused one cab company to lose 50% of its business.

To have a taxi in NYC you need a medallion. The companies that lease and sell medallions have been able to sell them for upwards of $1 million dollars in the past.

As people switch to services such as Uber, the companies that give medallions have seen demand for traditional taxis plummet.

Private companies own the taxis and the ability to use the taxi to pick people up in the city is controlled by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) in New York City. The TLC sets regulations for the taxis. This impacts the amount they can charge a customer. Uber on the other hand doesn’t have these restrictions and has more control over its prices.

By cutting out the cost of medallions, vehicles, and regulations, Uber is saving a lot of money and this saving can be passed on to the customer through lower prices. Or it can be used for higher profit margins in the company.

The decrease in traditional taxi riders, to the tune of 3.83 million between April and June of this year compared to last year has lead some companies into bankruptcy and lead to companies being unable to pay back loans for taxis.

Now some of these companies are taking this issue to court and they are suing New York City over it.

While things like Uber are good for us, they’re completely changing the game in ways we might not even realize.

Unfortunately, it seems that with any disruptive innovation, some people will benefit and others, well, you know…

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0T700J20151118

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=what+is+a+taxi+medallion

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/cab-medallion-owners-sue-nyc-blame-uber-for-ruining-business/

Two words, Youtube Red.

Youtube is changing its business model. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Way back in the year 2005, Youtube was a free to view video content site. No ads for miles. More recently though, they’ve inserted ads on the search results page; in addition to before, during, and after video playback. If you want to go back to those good old days of ad free video watching, there’s a fee to you as the consumer.
How well this will work remains to be seen. If Youtube had done this from the beginning, would it have been as successful as it has been? Maybe not. In the beginning they needed eyeballs to legitimize their product, with the type of service it was at the time, people may have gone to other video sites and we may have long ago forgotten about Youtube if we had to pay to view it without ads. But its a new day, things are changing and it’s common to have ads so maybe people will just pluck down the cash and pay to take a trip back to those good old days.

http://www.wired.com/2015/11/youtube-reds-subscriptions-might-just-mean-a-better-youtube-for-everyone/

Apple, Google, Facebook. All of these household names needed funding early on in their  lifetime.
There is a belief that if you want to start a tech company, you need to go to Silicon Valley. But one question that I never hear asked is why? Why is it that this became the go-to place and how did it even come to exist?

In the 1960’s Silicon Valley came into existence as a result of many technology related companies being started. One of the big companies, Fairchild Semiconductors, began branching off into multiple companies when employees came up with ideas while working there.

There have been attempts to bring the stream of venture capital funding to other parts of the country and build other “Silicon Valley’s” but as time passes, things become more and more centered in this area of California instead of growing in other areas of the country.

Since the companies that they funded were all in the same area and the workers to supply to the companies were as well, there was no need to move to other parts of the country.
Fast forward some decades and investment in this area is continuing to grow.
43 percent of Venture Capital money goes to Silicon Valley today which is an increase from 28 percent in the late 1980s.

There are firms that are located on the east coast, but it may take a lot of successes and continued investment in them to help them build a reputation like the west coast.

image: https://seattle.score.org/sites/default/files/venture%20capital.jpg

Information: Silicon Valley movie, http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/252225