Journal

How to Get Away with Murder creator Pete Nowalk reveals the invaluable lessons he’s learned from working closely with Shonda Rhimes.

Pete Nowalk, the creator of the soapy ABC drama How to Get Away with Murder, knows a thing or two about working for Shonda Rhimes, the über producer behind some of the biggest shows on television. His started out as a writer on Private Practice, spent six years on Grey’s Anatomy, and then co-executive produced Scandal. Then, in 2014, he wrote his own show (which Rhimes produces), How to Get Away with Murder, about Annalise Keating, a cunning professor and criminal defense attorney who becomes embroiled in a murder case involving her husband. The show recently made history when its star—Viola Davis, who plays Keating—became the first African-American actress to win a best acting Emmy in the drama category.

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Nest made thermostats and smoke alarms sexy. Can it do the same for door locks and other mundane appliances?

Nest, the Google-owned company that builds products for the connected home, has turned appliances even as mundane as thermostats and smoke alarms into beloved, sought-after Christmas gifts. Could it help do the same for other staples of the home: lightbulbs and door locks, air conditioners and coffee makers, ovens and refrigerators?

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Marketers need to look closer at the differences between this generation and millennials to find insights with significant meaning.

As the millennial marketing craze reaches saturation, a new obsession is making the rounds among brand marketers: Gen Z. Roughly defined as anyone currently 12 to 20 years old, this group is now falling victim to many of the same vague platitudes and insights that characterized “Who Are Millennials?” articles for years.

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America is switching over to chip-based credit cards. And this means big, big changes for credit card security.

If you’re an American with a credit card, the odds are good you received a replacement card in the mail lately. These cards, with an embedded chip inside referred to as an EMV, are part of a major shift in the way credit cards work in America: In late 2015 and going into 2017, financial liability for credit card fraud will shift to stores and merchants if they don’t accept these EMV chip cards. This means that store owners are rushing to buy the expensive equipment to process EMV chip cards, and card issuers are pumping out cards as quickly as customers can activate them.

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Ready to “Get Out of Your Mind”?

The king of crunk has anointed us with a new app—and in the right hands it just might the best thing that’s happened to texting since emojis. (We believe we have such hands—as you’ll soon see.)

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American Airlines adds online tracking for checked bags—so you can watch your suitcase from start to finish.

Frequent fliers of American Airlines can bid adieu to hour-long waits at baggage claim: The airline recently introduced a tracking service on its website, through which customers can track their bag as it makes its way from check-in counter all the way to baggage carousel.

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IBM says Its atomic-thin transistors can blow silicon-based chips away.

IBM’s Research division says it has discovered a way to replace silicon semiconductors with carbon nanotube transistors, an innovation that Big Blue believes will dramatically improve chip performance and get the industry past the limits of Moore’s law.

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Popular adult site Pornhub has released detailed metrics on how users consume porn on their smartphones and tablets.

Pornhub, the very NSFW adult site, realized something early on: People love watching porn on their smartphones. The company was one of the first adult content services to make the leap to mobile, and its data team—yes, they have a data team—just released a new set of metrics on the porn-viewing habits of smartphone users. As it turns out, Pornhub’s data indicates that iOS and Android users have pretty different porn preferences.

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Please stop, bear . . . It’s not even food. It doesn’t even taste good.

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Amazon wants to make it harder for customers to buy devices from rivals Google and Apple.

As the streaming wars heat up, Amazon is playing hardball: Effective October 29, the e-commerce retailer is banning sales of Apple TV and Google Chromecast units, according to Bloomberg. Amazon’s reasoning is that Apple TV and Chromecast are not compatible with its streaming service, Prime Video. Bloomberg reports that third-party sellers have been told they must stop selling both products; new listings are no longer being accepted, and existing stock must be sold before the ban takes effect.

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