Journal

Hypocrisy or evolution? A company that zaps annoying digital ads now wants to make money by brokering the sale of less annoying ads.

Hypocrisy or evolution? A company that zaps annoying digital ads now wants to make money by brokering the sale of less annoying ads.

The number one company that makes money from blocking online ads is now looking to make money by brokering ad sales. Whether that’s hypocritical or evolved may depend on your feelings about internet advertising and your appetite for nuance. Germany’s Adblock Plus (ABP), by far the most popular ad-zapping software maker, said today it is joining with ComboTag, an Israeli ad-tech startup, to broker the sale of certain advertisements that target Adblock Plus users.

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When it launched in 2007, YouTube’s copyright control system was far from perfect. But Content ID has grown smarter and more lucrative.

When it launched in 2007, YouTube’s copyright control system was far from perfect. But Content ID has grown smarter and more lucrative.

When Google bought the world’s biggest user-generated video site in 2006, the company knew it could also be be acquiring the world’s biggest legal headache. So a year after YouTube became a Google subsidiary, it launched a copyright management tool that only a company with Google’s scale and knack for innovative problem solving could muster: Content ID.

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Once aspirational, companies like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger have lost their luster, while innovative new brands are shining bright.

Once aspirational, companies like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger have lost their luster, while innovative new brands are shining bright.

Fifteen years ago, when I was in high school, I remember flipping through the pages of Teen Vogue and marveling at glossy Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein spreads. These brands each still represented distinct styles: Ralph Lauren portrayed fresh-faced girls with bouncy ponytails wearing tennis skirts and polo shirts, while Calvin Klein was edgier, with black-and-white photos of skinny models wearing nothing more than jeans and a tank top (if that). Depending on whether I was in an optimistic or angst-ridden phase, I’d gravitate toward one aesthetic or the other.

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Can the company’s move to stream major events right inside its app, including Thursday night NFL games, woo the masses?

Can the company’s move to stream major events right inside its app, including Thursday night NFL games, woo the masses?

Once upon a time, there was an ocean that surged with a billion and one stories. Every one was different, and they combined in unexpected ways to create new stories. Fishing one out of the torrent took patience, but could be enormously rewarding.

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The high-tech fashion brand spent two years developing women’s garments that promise to get you through a workday without the usual fails.

The high-tech fashion brand spent two years developing women’s garments that promise to get you through a workday without the usual fails.

There are few items of clothing professional women love more than a well-draped silk shirt. They’re the equivalent of men’s well-tailored Oxford shirts: classic, elegant, and versatile enough to look appropriate in almost any business context. But they’re also difficult to maintain: Silk wrinkles easily, doesn’t absorb perspiration, and needs to be dry cleaned.

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“I receive hundreds of thank-you notes each year,” says one recruiter. “Unfortunately, many are terrible.”

“I receive hundreds of thank-you notes each year,” says one recruiter. “Unfortunately, many are terrible.”

My team and I interview hundreds of job candidates each year. And that means I receive hundreds of thank-you notes each year. Unfortunately, many are terrible.

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It took the Chromebook just five years to become the country’s most popular education device. Here’s how Google won the classroom.

It took the Chromebook just five years to become the country’s most popular education device. Here’s how Google won the classroom.

A Mozart duet echoes through the dim auditorium of Philadelphia’s String Theory high school, performed by a pair of plaid-skirted violinists reading music off their school-issued iPads. In other classes at the performing-arts-themed public charter school, students use their iPads to plot DNA data, design graphics, and make movies. At first glance, the school is a model Apple education customer, buying into both its hardware and iOS ecosystem.

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The company’s CEO talks about focusing on news, ramping up video, incorporating AI, balancing safety with freedom of speech, and more.

The company’s CEO talks about focusing on news, ramping up video, incorporating AI, balancing safety with freedom of speech, and more.

In a tech industry full of executives prone to loudly proclaiming their intention to transform the world in multiple ways all at once, Twitter cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey stands out for his understated approach, which involves picking a few things that matter and then obsessing over them. Our October cover story chronicles the focus that he’s chosen for Twitter: making it the best place to follow live news and events, including even NFL games and other sports playing right inside the app. That’s how the company hopes to defy its skeptics—who, more than ever, are legion—and get the world thinking of it as something other than a social network that will never catch up with Facebook in terms of sheer scale.

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Text, still images, and GIFs are now part of the mix that the service gives creators to keep their fans engaged.

Text, still images, and GIFs are now part of the mix that the service gives creators to keep their fans engaged.

Last March, half a dozen people met for breakfast at Hugo’s, a restaurant in Los Angeles. Two of them were John and Hank Green, the brothers who are among YouTube’s most popular content creators as well as the founders of VidCon, the annual festival that brings together fans, creators, and industry types for a celebration of online video.

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Photographic memory, instant artworks, instantaneous translation, lifelike virtual reality and much more are all coming to your pocket.

Photographic memory, instant artworks, instantaneous translation, lifelike virtual reality and much more are all coming to your pocket.

IPhone owners will get an upgrade on September 13 that allows them to find a picture of nearly anyone or anything, anywhere and from any time. Neural network artificial intelligence in the new iOS 10 performs 11 billion calculations in a tenth of a second on each photo snapped to figure out who people are and even what mood they’re in.

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