Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Has Been Redesigned To Place A Higher Priority On Photography On Users Homepages

With a new year ahead of us, Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) seemingly has made a new year’s goal to redesign it’s homepage, with the primary focus of appealing to users interests. The company seems to have achieved this goal, with a completely new look for Yelp users.

However, the company did announce that design, would not be the only change, which would be coming out in updates throughout this year, with the company already detailing a few of the update changes, which will accompany the new design of the homepage.

How the redesign effectively entertains more Yelp users

In the statement, which detailed a few of the changes, which were recently made to the Yelp platform, in light of the new year, it was announced that the homepage, will now incorporate some of the top-ranked photographs on the Yelp database, supplied by the users of the platform.

The company also clarified that the search bar, would still be the main feature of the homepage, with the picture in the background, and the Yelp user who took the shot in question, will allegedly still get credit, straight from the home page of the platform.

In the same statement, Yelp stated, “Why? Yelp is all about high-quality, reliable, and useful content from members of our community so that you can really get to know your local business.”

However, the company also revealed that the changes made on the platform did not incur through a whim. Contradictory to this, it has been in the work line-up for months of planning, and brainstorming, in order to bring the best possible changes, and updates to the platform, to maximise user experience.

Other changes made on the Yelp platform

In addition to the design change, the company also noted that the homepage will incorporate various interesting content, by some of the top users on the company’s platform. These will include some of the most popular categories, businesses, and even fellow Yelp users.

Yelp stock closed on Monday at $41.53, after rising by $0.47 or 1.14%

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Alphabet Inc. (NASDAG:GOOGL) Google Search Advertisements Appear To Be Bias In Favour Towards Google

 is assuredly one of the largest search engines that currently exists, with thousands of advertisements being run through its systems daily. However, recent investigations into the companies search engine advertisements, appear to illustrate that the advertisements are positively biased to Google.

According to those, who investigated the matter, when searching for anything that may be related to Google products, such as ‘phones’, ‘speakers’, ‘watches’, and so forth. Google products appear in the top advertisement spots, almost nine-out-of-ten times.

Is Google Running Analytics To Unfairly Boost Its Advertisements

Although this may not seem significant, if the company is bolstering its own search engine, to rank its own advertisements higher than that of competitors, the company is essentially its own conflict of interest in an industry, which is worth $187 Billion.

However, when questioned on the matter, a Google spokesman stated, “The platform has been consciously and carefully designed so as to not impact other advertisers.”

However, despite this, it still seems to be a sketchy concept, as Google is completely able to “pay” itself to market its own advertisements. However, if the rumours are true, the company does not have a fixed price, to which they have to be paying, meaning that they could be paying less, for better quality advertisements.

Scrutiny of the Google advertisements

This is not the first time that Google advertisements have faced the scrutiny of the general public, including the likes of the European Union Anti-Trust regulator. The EU anti-trust regulator accused Google of giving preference to their own products in advertisements, over that of competitors. Google, of course, adamantly denied these accusations.

However, this is not where the suspicions over Google preferences end. In addition to this, After the reports, relating to preferential advertisements, on behalf of Google, were released, which was December, 15. There appears to have been a decrease of Google related advertisements taking the top-spot, to a mere 20 percent.

Google stock quote closed on Monday at $828.17, after rising up by $3.80 or 0.46%

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Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE: SNE) May Be Selling Its Film And TV Studio Unit

Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) no doubt took a hit when the company was forced to announce that the former CEO of Sony Entertainment, Michael Lynton would be leaving the company. However, the entertainment giant seems to have just more unexpected news for the public, including that the company is considering selling its film and TV studio unit.

Sony Pictures, which is responsible for some of the top hit films that are ravaging the popularity on TV screens, such as the highly-anticipated Spider-Man: Homecoming and series of that calibre, including the likes of The Black List are allegedly for sale.

More details about the sale of Sony’s Film and TV studio unit

It was first reported by the New York Times that Sony was in the process of meeting with banks, in order to evaluate different pitches, for the sale of Sony Pictures entertainment. However, the company has not yet released any confirmation to the public, regarding this information.

However, as absurd as this report may sound to the well-versed guru, it does align with the reason that a new interim replacement for the former CEO has not yet been announced by the company. According to people, who are familiar with the matter, if the sale were to be true, it would not include the music assets of Sony, which were also run and managed by the former CEO.

The reason why the rumours of this sale come as a surprise to critics and analysts

Most rumours, which are likely to be guaranteed, often cause doubt and surprise to analysts and critics who are watching the specific industry. This rumour is no different, except for a lot more surprise. This is due to the fact that previously in 2014, CEO Kazuo Hirai adamantly repeated that Sony would not be unloading its Film and TV studio unit to any of its competitors.

Hirai often also stated, “Our entertainment business is an essential part of Sony Entertainment operations.”

However, everything changed for the company, when it experienced a brutal cyber hacking breach, which resulted in the loss of confidential information, which related to Sony Pictures data, which just further emphasises that this rumour of a sale, is not an unfounded one.

Sony Corp stock closed on Monday at 3, 432.00, after witnessing a decline of 40.00 or 1.15%

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Russia Pro-Trump RT News Has Been Cut Off From The Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) and Facebook Social Media Platforms

It is no secret that there are suspicions towards the election of current President Donald Trump, with many believing that the ballads were only won, due to interference from Russian Intelligence. Although this may just be speculation, companies such as Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) are ensuring that Russia has no social legs to speak on.

An emphasis of this was illustrated the day before the president-elect Donald Trump, was to have his inauguration ceremony. However, not only Twitter was involved, both Twitter as well as another social media giant, Facebook, located and banned at least one entity, which had ties to a Russian official, Vladimir Putin Kremlin.

More details about how these social-media giants blocked off Russian pro-trump feeds

Allegedly, the first sign of anti-Russia was from Facebook, where RT, which is a Russian-funded news company, was blocked from posting content onto its profile page. Then, in addition to this, the same news company was cut the access of RT to its Twitter page, thanks to the Twitter analytical engine, Dataminr.

Although neither company has disclosed the exact reason behind the cutting off of RT from social media, it is clear to many, that it comes in light of the speculation circling around Russian interference in the presidential campaign.

This rumour, which also led to the ban of RT on both social media platforms, also includes the fact that RT is a known news provider, who often ranks articles, which are biased in the favour of Donald Trump, for unknown reasons.

The official reasons that the two social media giants suspended RT

Allegedly, according to those who are familiar with the matter, the initial reason behind the suspension of RT accounts over the platform, was due to disputes over the legal rights, to which RT had not to post the latest conference made by the former president Obama. However, this suspension was lifted 20-hours later.

In comparison, however, according to officials, who are responsible for this matter, Dataminr is a tool that the company integrates, in order to ensure minimal government spying and surveillance. However, prior to this, the company announced that it would not be sharing information gained from Dataminr with the U.S government, which in turn, led to the suspension of the RT account on the platform.

Twitter stock closed at $16.58 on Monday’s trading session, after witnessing a decline of $0.21 or 1.25%

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Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) And Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX) Spending Huge Chunks Of Money Into Oscar Nominations

Hollywood is already embracing the mood of hosting, this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Hollywood’s biggest players are up to speed putting their acts together perhaps playing safe to an event that is still more than a month away. Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX)  and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)  are among big timers that are seeking for the Oscar nominations. Currently, La La Land, which frisked away seven Golden Globe wins seems to be the favorite for the most Oscar nominations. However, it is just a matter of time before this year’s Academy Awards nominations can be revealed.

Earning a nomination will be a huge milestone for Amazon

As every star seeks to embrace a nomination in their different genres, Amazon is hoping to have its movie, Manchester by the Sea get a slot. In last year’s Sundance Film Festival the e-commerce giant spent $10 million buying rights for the movie. On the other hand, Netflix is said to have spent $20 million for the distribution rights of its The Birth of a Nation.

Apparently, the two streaming services spend billions of dollars each year in the engagement of something of a content arms race.  They are both so keen on increasing their production and distribution of original content that can challenge traditional television and film studios.

A tight race into winning the Sundance event

Many companies have had to spend large expenditures to match the early hype surrounding the impending event. Surprisingly bidding wars have also been known to break out as studios fight over films they think could make it big.  Nonetheless, it remains to be seen how much more the studios are willing to spend this year even though massive healthy competition is still expected.

Talking of competition, Netflix already snatched up a documentary about the murder of JonBenet Ramsey earlier in the month. Its counterpart Amazon was up with another four-hour film documentary, which cost more than $6 million.

Nonetheless, it is not know how many films Amazon is planning to acquire at Sundance this year. Meanwhile, Amazon’s stock closed at 808.33 a decline of $0.71 or 0.09% while that of Netflix was trading at $138.60 an increase of 0.19 or 0.14%.

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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) Hits The Marker Again With Its Longest-Range Electric Car

The Model S 100 D, which is currently offering an EPA-rated range of 335 miles on a full charge, is the new battery option from Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). This comes way long after the introduction of the company’s P100D battery back for the Model S and X. However, the 100D version is now available for both the Model S and X. This latest development elevates the EPA-rated range to being the longest-range consumer electric vehicle in the world.

The Model S 100D is currently listed at $98,300. The availability of a similar 100 kWh option for the Model X SUV is a clear indication that competition is quickly emerging in the electric car market.  Think of it this way, the P100D has an EPA estimated range of 315 miles. The new one 100D hits 335 miles and it is not known what else might just come out of the shadows.

Perhaps shorter-range electric vehicles a sensible choice

It seems like Tesla is not only looking at Model S’ range but it is also vigorously pushing for other makes of electric cars. However, a lot of frustrated environmentalists are also for the idea of embracing shorter-range electric vehicles. A range of between 100 and 300 miles is of more preference for many drives. Nonetheless, this remains one of the greatest tests for Tesla as it takes to observe the value of the range and the impact it has in the larger market.

Tesla’s expectations on its sale of electric vehicles

Seemingly, every automaker is seeking to owe a larger share of the speedily growing automotive market. Expectations are that Tesla’s new option will boost its sales forward. Apart from the significant price reduction, it will also increase the range on a single charge of its longest range option.

It remains to be seen what else Tesla is up to given that it is ever on trail of new technology and products. In the meantime, Tesla’s stock closed at $244.73 witnessing an increase of 0.97 or 0.40%

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Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) New Strides: The Introduction Of Three New Tablets Later In The Year

Apple is upping its game according to DigiTimes, which is a good supply chain trend monitor.  The initial rumor was that Apple was putting together a launch event of three new iPads this March. This may not have been from a reliable source but upstream supply chain sources have confirmed that indeed Apple is planning to release new tablets in the course of the year.  The three devices are in the models of 9.7-inch, a 10.5-inch, and a 12.9-inch.

For the first time in history, the Cupertino giant is introducing a 10-inch size iPad and even breaking the tradition further by with the 12.9-inch giant iPad Pro. Apparently, this may not even be shocking. Wait until the iPad Pro successor, another iPad Pro with a similar size hits the market.

Way into Apple’s new tablets

The three will not be produced at the same time. Sources indicate that the 9.7-inch iPad is likely to have its mass production in the first quarter while the other two follow suit in the second quarter. In terms of price, the smaller the screen the friendlier the cost and the opposite is true. However, for the most expensive one, installment payments will be allowed.  Apple is expecting to use the 9.7-inch model as its weapon to penetrate the education sector given its size and price tag. Nonetheless, even the other two are making sense, especially with their OS.

Apple wants consumers to embrace the 9.7-inch entry-level model

Given that 10.5-inch model and the 12.9-inch are designed to be tablets for the high-end sector, Apple’s appeal is that consumers would identify themselves with the 9.7-inch model. In any case, it is not as pricier.

The two are also being positioned to be Apple’s flagship device of its iPad line. This somewhat explains that Apple is still raring to go with its hunger for innovation that has come out so rightfully. However, it is not clear what processor will be used to power the 9.7-inch iPad. In the meantime, Apple’s stock was trading at $119.78 a fall of $0.21 or 0.18%.

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