Feeling a bit behind on the latest tech news?
Here are the top stories you need to be aware of to start your week.
1. Silk Road creator behind bars
An online based store dubbed as “the worlds largest online narcotics emporium” was shut down back in 2013, and the creator Ross Ulbricht had to forfeit the $184 million the site made up until that point. Roughly $1.2 billion dollars worth of illegal drug transactions took place on “Silk Road”. Ross has been now sentenced to life in prison without parole.
2. Apple In talks with famous musicians to DJ streaming service
Apple is looking to give new users a 3 month trial period, and then eventually charge $10.00 a month. The company is in talks with rapper Drake, Pharrell, and David Guetta to guest DJ on iTunes Radio, to help push the service initially. Drakes deal is worth roughly $20 million, and it truly shows why Apple will always be the best at whatever it sets out to accomplish, because money talks!
3. Slack continues to turn down acquisition offers
Business communications Slack that launched 2 years ago is now tied to a $2.8 billion valuation, and founder/CEO Stewart Butterfield has turned down 10 offers from other companies, or private equity firms. Everyone has a price, and if he keep turning down offers, eventually the competition could heat up enough to make a crazy offer that he may not be able to refuse.
4. Snapchat investors taking common stock
Snapchat is about to raise $650 million at a $16 billion valuation, but the key difference between this round and previous rounds, is that investors are taking common stock instead of preferred stock, which forgoes certain privileges. These privileges include voting rights, downside protection, also the right to get paid earlier than regular shareholders. This show just how big the demand is for Snapchat, and investors are lining up, and this type of competition is creating easier negotiations for the company.
5. Apple is partnering with Postmates to offer same day delivery
Postmates is courier service that is one of the hottest star-ups coming out of Silicon Valley, which runs a vast network to deliver goods locally. Apple has now partnered with Postmates, and offering same day delivery for a handful of its own products this week, thanks to this service. Will be exciting to see how far Postmates can expand, if they keep adding huge partners like Apple their national success should be inevitable.
6. Google creating “Smart Clothes”
Google is currently in development of creating new yarn, that would make it easier to help connect your clothing to your mobile device, and preform certain actions like adjusting volume, or denying a call perhaps. There are other companies hard at work, but it seems as if Google is trying to perfect the material, and then implement the technology after it is easier to connect.