DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

CNN —It’s a city at the forefront of modern culture. CNNYouTube sensation Jaejae is perhaps the best-qualified person in Seoul to help understand this phenomenon and how it has come to pass. It is here where US and South Korean forces maintain a major base and where former US President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2019. Yet the worries that arise from it continue to dominate Korean life, with missile tests and the threat of war never feeling that far away. This patriotism, combined with pride in all things K-Pop, K-Drama and Newtro all go towards making Seoul a city like no other.

☆ Richard Dreyfuss on new Oscars diversity rules: ‘They make me vomit’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Actor Richard Dreyfuss is not a fan of the Academy Awards’ new diversity guidelines. Officials announced in 2020 that beginning in 2024, movies must meet certain criteria for representation to be eligible for the Academy Award for best picture. “I don’t think that there is a minority or a majority in this country that has to be catered to like that,” Dreyfuss went on to say during the interview. “Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish they shouldn’t play the Merchant of Venice? “Because it says that we’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt.”CNN has contacted reps for Dreyfuss for further comment but has not yet received a response.

☆ The same year Clarence Thomas sent a child to a private boarding school on Harlan Crow's dime, a parent testified that the academy used children for free labor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The school Clarence Thomas sent a child to has been accused of forcing students into hard labor. A ProPublica report found that Harlan Crow footed the school's $6,000-a-month bill for Thomas. Thomas has been accused of judicial misconduct for not reporting gifts he received from Crow. These activities could go on "for as long as 8 hours," the parent wrote. Justice Thomas has been accused of judicial misconduct after a series of reports from ProPublica detailed his acceptance of unreported lavish gifts from Crow.

☆ Stream These 6 Titles Before They Leave Netflix in May
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Jason Bailey | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

This month’s mix of titles leaving Netflix in the United States include two coming-of-age comedy dramas, a twisty thriller throwback, a wrenching Holocaust documentary and two uproarious comedies (one of them smuggled into an animated family film). Give them a stream before they’re gone. (Dates reflect the last day a title is available.) (It was the early 2010s, so there is also a healthy dose of villainy for the health-care and pharmaceutical industries.) Stream it here.

☆ I was the first woman to be hired as a pilot by a major US airline in 1973. When I first started, they called me 'the little girl' and a uniform for women didn't even exist.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Bianca Giacobone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

When American Airlines hired her in 1973, Bonnie Tiburzi was the only woman among 214 new hires. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bonnie Tiburzi, the first woman to fly with American Airlines as a pilot in 1973. A Boeing 727 jet in American Airlines livery similar to the one Tiburzi would have operated. Look like a female pilotWhen Tiburzi first started working for American Airlines, there was no uniform for female pilots. After 26 years with American Airlines, I retired in 1999.

☆ Harry Belafonte, calypso star and civil rights champion, dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Alex Johnson | Diana Dasrath | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Singer Harry Belafonte speaks during a press junket at The Bing Decision Maker Series with the Sing Your Song Cast and Filmmakers on January 22, 2011 in Park City, Utah. American singer Harry Belafonte performing in a recording studio, circa 1957. By the early 1960s, Belafonte had become a force in the civil rights movement. A crowd of over 10,000 civil rights marchers gathers in the Manhattan Garment Center as Harry Belafonte sings at spiritual at a civil rights rally. A capacity audience of civil rights advocates turned out to watch a glittering array of theater personalities perform.

☆ Upfront's Mark Suster created one of the most exclusive and glitziest gatherings in tech. But there's a dark side.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Mark Suster is managing partner of Upfront Ventures, a Los Angeles venture firmSuster's fastidiousness has created what many now consider one of the best tech conferences of the year. But Suster's abrasive, take-no-prisoners approach has also alienated some startup founders and investors. These luminaries were among the 1,000-plus attendees of last month's Upfront Summit, a glitzy, invite-only tech conference organized by Upfront Ventures and its managing partner, Mark Suster, in Los Angeles each year. "Mark and the Upfront Summit helped put LA tech and investing on the map," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks and WndrCo. Several years ago, a founder whose startup Suster invested in was in a conference room rehearsing their presentation for the Upfront Summit.

☆ We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck that math education startup Innovamat used to raise $21 million in new funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Innovamat is a Barcelona-based edtech startup that uses a new way of teaching math to K-8 students. Now, the team has raised $21 million in Series A funding and will expand into the US. The idea for Innovamat, a startup focused on developing a new way to teach math to K-8 students, came to the company's cofounders when they were students themselves. In 2015, Dotti and Piedra spent their free time working as engineering and math teachers at their university's neighboring academy, which helps first year students study and pass important qualifying exams. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck that Innovamat used to raise $21 million in Series A funding:

☆ Upfront's Mark Suster has become the star of LA's booming startup scene. Not everyone is a fan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

"I have worked with more than 50 VCs and nobody comes close to what it is like to work with Mark Suster," said a founder backed by Suster. "Mark and the Upfront Summit helped put LA tech and investing on the map," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks and WndrCo. Several years ago, a founder whose startup Suster invested in was in a conference room rehearsing their presentation for the Upfront Summit. If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse. "If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse."

☆ Opinion: A rookie officer ran toward semi-automatic gunfire. It was his job
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Michael Fanone | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The job carries unavoidable risks, but to the extent that we can keep them safe we owe them that much. Too many times toward the end of my career I heard politicians, media pundits and even executives in my own department prioritize optics over officer safety. In fact, every single firearms transfer in this country should begin with a background check. As I thought about Officer Wilt, I recalled my own experiences as a rookie cop working in the inner city. This is the job, and this is what is asked of these officers.

☆ Opinion | Promising Signs for Free Speech on Campus
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

William Butler Yeats’s “The Second Coming” has been called the most plundered poem in the English language, and it’s easy to see why. “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”When I read these words, dramatic, violent events come first to mind. The Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 is a prime example of the “passionate intensity” of one of the worst movements in American life. With each mass shooting, I think, “Things fall apart.”But there are other ways in which the center finds itself under siege. I’ve never interpreted the center in Yeats’s poem to mean something like a politically moderate middle but rather a moral foundation, the ideological core of a nation and its people.

☆ This Uber Eats driver only accepts high-value orders in the hope of getting big tips. He says it's 'like gambling,' but 'very exciting.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Uber Eats driver told The New York Times that only accepting high-value orders is like "gambling." He told the newspaper he felt delivery drivers were now considered "the bottom of the barrel." After delivering the orders, he waited an hour to learn from the Uber Eats app how much his tips were worth. "It's like gambling," Bush told The Times about his "very exciting" big tips. Uber told The Times it had improved its app to reduce "verification confusion" for high-value tips and added measures to encourage better tipping.

☆ Leonardo DiCaprio Testifies at Pras Michel’s 1MDB Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Byron Tau | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who has been friends with rapper Pras Michel for years, hasn’t been accused of any crime. WASHINGTON—Actor Leonardo DiCaprio appeared in a Washington federal courthouse on Monday to testify in a closely watched criminal case featuring a potent mix of celebrity, money and geopolitical intrigue. The Academy Award-winning star of blockbusters such as “Titanic,” “The Revenant” and “Catch Me If You Can” appeared as a witness in a sprawling Hollywood-meets-Washington trial against the rapper Pras Michel , a founding member of the hip-hop trio the Fugees.

☆ Why 2023 is the year to visit Mongolia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Breanna Wilson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia CNN —Due to its remoteness and short summer season, Mongolia has long been a destination overlooked by travelers. Here are 10 reasons travelers should start planning their long-dreamed-of Mongolia visit now. A growing visa-free listWith the government of Mongolia declaring 2023 through 2025 the “Years to Visit Mongolia,” citizens from an additional 34 countries can now visit the country visa-free through the end of 2025. Celebrate Naadam as it turns the centuryThe annual Naadam event has always been a great reason to visit Mongolia, but now that the festival has just celebrated its 100 year anniversary, 2023 is as good a time as ever to attend. Yeruu LodgeNestled in the heart of Selenge province on the Yeruu River, Yeruu Lodge is the brainchild of Norwegian founder Eirik Gulsrud Johnsen, who first visited Mongolia in 2017.

☆ Inside a shake-up at the world's 'most feared law firm'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Casey Sullivan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

It's been a tumultuous period for Quinn and the storied law firm he built over the past 37 years — now the world's largest litigation firm with hourly rates that can be north of $2,000. But behind the scenes, a shift at QE has been the talk of elite law firm circles. Indeed, the firm – known as a singular, even freewheeling, institution that brands itself as the "#1 Most Feared Law Firm in the World" — may appear to be less in the image of its founder as a generational shift brings changes. "We all thought it was important that the world understands this is not a one generation law firm." One former firm partner in California says he believes Quinn's inner circle generally got better deals.

☆ Study finds diversity stunted in theatrical film roles but better in streaming
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Danielle Broadway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/LOS ANGELES, March 30 (Reuters) - Despite the Oscars triumph of Asian-led film "Everything Everywhere All at Once," the diversity of leading roles in 2022's theatrical films slid to pre-pandemic levels, UCLA researchers found in a study released on Thursday. The annual UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report looked at 88 films released in cinemas last year and found that 21.6% of lead roles were filled by minorities. More than 33% of lead actors in 99 streaming films were minorities, the researchers said. Additionally, the interest in streaming films about women of color increased. While around a quarter of adults in the United States have a disability, actors with disabilities consisted of roughly 9% of lead roles in theatrical films and 6% in streaming films, the researchers said.

☆ Asia's 'best restaurants' list is out — and it's no surprise which country made the list 17 times
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

William Drew, director of content for Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, said Japan's strong performance is "no surprise." The top 50 restaurants in AsiaThis year commemorates the 10th anniversary of the "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" list. Asia's top 50 restaurantsThe list of "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" for 2023 are: 1. Ten restaurants that ranked among Asia's best 50 restaurants last year fell into the 51-100 ranking this year. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2023Labyrinth also rose 29 spots to No.11, winning the "Highest Climber" award.

☆ Factbox: How Alibaba's six new business units stack up
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The company's CEO Daniel Zhang said the business units will each be free to pursue funding and IPOs independently, which points to a possible carving out in the future. Below are the six divisions:TAOBAO TMALL COMMERCE GROUPThe Taobao Tmall Commerce Group will cover Alibaba's domestic-facing e-commerce marketplaces, which make up over two-thirds of Alibaba's total revenue. Despite the scale of Alibaba's e-commerce operations, growth in the business has slowed. Taobao Tmall Commerce Group will remain wholly owned by Alibaba Group after the restructuring, the company said, even as the other units will be free to seek fundraisings and listings. Daniel Zhang, current chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, will serve as CEO of the Cloud Intelligence Group.

After nearly two decades of Western-led intervention and engagement with the world, 18% of the population had internet access, according to the World Bank. "For girls in Afghanistan, we have a bad, awful internet problem," Sofia said. "It's too hard to access internet in Afghanistan and sometimes we have half an hour of power in 24 hours." Seattle-based Ookla, which compiles global internet speeds, put Afghanistan's mobile internet as the slowest of 137 countries and its fixed internet as the second slowest of 180 countries. She was working with international companies to find solutions to poor internet access but said she could not elaborate.

Both are owned by Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, but Douyin launched before TikTok and became a viral sensation in China. Like TikTok, it’s a short-form video app. Then in 2017, the privately-owned tech company bought a US-based video startup and released TikTok as the overseas version of Douyin. The download page for the TikTok app displayed on an Apple iPhone. Besides TikTok, there’s also shopping app Temu, fast fashion retailer Shein and video editing app CapCut, which is also owned by ByteDance.

☆ Movie theater stocks pop after report says Apple plans to spend $1B a year on releases
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Cinema stocks jumped Thursday after a report said Apple plans to spend $1 billion a year on theatrical film releases. The investment is part of the tech company's efforts to raise its profile in Hollywood and lure subscribers to its streaming service, Apple TV+, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Typically, Apple has released films directly to its streaming platform or allowed limited runs in a small number of theaters for Academy Award eligibility. No plans have been finalized, but these releases could remain in cinemas for at least a month. Last year, Apple TV+ became the first streaming service to win the Academy Award for best picture, with "Coda."

☆ Delta to launch flight academy to train more pilots
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 21 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) said on Tuesday it would launch a flight academy to train pilots for the airline as the industry struggles with a shortage of aviators. The carrier said the academy, operated in partnership with training provider Skyborne Airline, would start training its first batch of students in June. The Delta Propel Pilot Academy will be based in a 12,000-square-foot facility situated within Skyborne's Florida campus, the statement said. Atlanta-based Delta joins United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL.O), which agreed to purchase a flight training academy in Phoenix in 2020, in an effort to bolster its roster of pilots. Reporting by Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta AgarwalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ‘Everything’: Foods, and Now an Oscar Movie, With All the Fixins
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Ben Zimmer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Linguist and lexicographer Ben Zimmer analyzes the origins of words in the news. Read previous columns here. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” dominated the Academy Awards last Sunday, winning seven awards, including Best Picture. The gonzo comedy indeed has a bit of everything, combining science fiction, martial arts and family drama in a narrative that bounces among multiple parallel universes.

☆ TV ratings for Sunday's Oscars rise to 18.7 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The audience rose 12% from last year, when 16.7 million people tuned in, ABC said. While the Oscars audience increased compared with last year, it ranked as the third-lowest on record for the ceremony. ABC said Sunday's awards were the subject of 27.4 million interactions on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The highest-rated Academy Awards telecast took place 25 years ago, when megahit "Titanic" swept the honors. In 2021, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oscar ratings hit their low point with 10.5 million viewers.

☆ On Oscars Carpet, the ‘Naked Dress’ Ruled
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Rihanna and red carpet host Ashley Graham in complementary revealing looks on Oscar night. Today’s Naked Dress trend, in full effect at the Oscars and its various celebrations Sunday, is in line with Saint Laurent’s prescient vision of glamorous nudity. On the Academy Awards’s red carpet, the Naked Dress continued its proud, chilly parade with looks such as Eva Longoria’s Zuhair Murad white lace gown and Ashley Graham’s fully sheer black tulle dress with cutouts. To the Vanity Fair Oscars party, Olivia Wilde wore a white Gabriela Hearst column cut away to reveal a leather bra. Rihanna’s custom Alaïa leather dress worn over a sheer jersey bodysuit was a provocative pregnancy twist on the look.

Search resuls for: "THE ACADEMY"

25 mentions found