Think, Thought, Imagine: Daily tech, media & more (1/27/16)

Quick News (read the headlines and you’re done)

Facebook Sales Soar 52%, Eclipsing Forecasts – NY Times
 
“Mobile ads made up 80 percent of the company’s total ad business in the fourth quarter, compared with 23 percent in the same quarter of 2012.”
 
90% Of Facebook’s Daily Active Users Access It Via Mobile [daily. on mobile.] – The Next Web
 
Spotify Is Said to Be Seeking $500 Million in New Funds [up to this point they’ve raised $1 billion] – NY Times
 
Google Has Shipped Over 5 Million Cardboard Headsets [no precedent, but 5 million is more than no million] – The Verge
 
Venmo to Take On Apple Pay and Android Pay With In-App Purchases [reminder: Venmo is the PayPal owned peer to peer payment platform] - recode
 
The Zebra, A “Kayak For Auto Insurance,” Grabs $17 Million To Better Educate Drivers About Rates & Coverage [why interesting: because paying for too much for insurance sucks. suuuuucks] - TechCrunch
 
Tinder Now Lets You Send Gifs To Your Matches [why interesting: this, along with Facebook making it easier to send quick Reactions (see below), highlight how people communicate online not always through words (and the importance of that fact)] – The Verge
 
Facebook to Launch Reactions ‘In the Next Few Weeks’ [reminder: they’re the new options in addition to the Like Button – more on how they came to be, and the potential implications (a lot when you’re serving a billion people a day) in the article in Great Reads] – AdWeek

Please Explain (someone's gotta do it)

SpaceX Successfully Tests Parachutes That Will Help Bring Astronauts Back To Earth [why interesting: since NASA stopped the shuttle program, SpaceX and Boeing have been contracted to send American astronauts into space (they’ve been going with other countries) and this is a big step to making that happen – side note: eventually they want to land via a rocket system (with parachute backups?)] – The Verge

Great Reads (why settle for good?)

Swallowed By Jaws - ESPN
 
“On Jan. 15, legendary surfers took on Maui's skyscraper-sized waves. The best-case scenario was an epic, record-breaking ride. The worst was death.”
 
Inside Facebook’s Decision to Blow Up the Like Button [partly a profile on Chris Cox, product chief, who is point on Facebook (vs their other businesses like Instagram)] - Bloomberg
 
“This update may seem trivial. All it’s doing is increasing the number of clickable responses. People already comment on posts with emojis or, in some cases, actual words. But the feature will probably make Facebook even more addictive. And it will certainly give Cox’s team a lot more information to throw into the News Feed algorithm, thereby making the content more relevant to users—and, of course, to advertisers.” [bolding emphasis ours]

Look, Listen (and um, learn?)

Listen: Rihanna – Work feat. Drake [off her upcoming album ‘Anti’]

Culture (more)

Powerful People Are Terrible At Making Decisions Together [maybe a bit dramatic, but shows how situations can alter behavior] – quartz
 
“Researchers from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, undertook an experiment…The higher the concentration of high-ranking executives, the more a group struggled to complete the task. They competed for status, were less focused on the assignment, and tended to share less information with each other. Their collaboration skills had grown rusty with disuse.
 

Industry (we're so Hollywood)

Classic Nicktoons Heading To The Big Screen In Movie Mashup [why interesting: 90’s nostalgia is strong] - Polygon

Google Trends
View the full list

Kanye West – went on a twitter rant
Rihanna Work – you already listened to it
Joseph Fiennes – the actor has been cast to play Michael Jackson in a British TV show and people are talking about his it due to him being white
Tyler Sash – former Giants football player who died in September reportedly had advanced CTE, and at a young age – CTE is a head issue resulting from head trauma
Kinkajou – a rare animal was caressing the face of a 99 year old woman in Florida while she slept 

Top YouTube Videos
Watch the Full List

Watch: Our Pick —  DRL: The Sport of the Future | Drone Racing League

Watch: the Full Playlist

*we honestly don't have any ill will towards the Harolds of the world. Sorry Harolds.