Walmart's Amazon Prime killer; Twitter may give you more characters, and more news
Lorraine K. Lee
Corporate Keynote Speaker & Trainer | LinkedIn Learning, Stanford CSP Instructor | Ex-Founding Editor at LinkedIn, Prezi | Author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career (Wiley 2025)
Goliath vs. ... Goliath? It’s a big day of announcements for Walmart, which is developing a two-day shipping subscription service, ShippingPass, considered to be “the boldest attempt yet by a major traditional retailer to compete head-on with Amazon Prime.” It also launched its mobile payment service Walmart Pay in Texas and Arkansas to encourage purchases in brick-and-mortar stores (or alternatively, to discourage Amazon purchases). Walmart’s big bet though is e-commerce sales; it’s expanding its regional delivery network as part of a $2 billion investment to increase them. Amazon isn’t taking it sitting down, though. Yesterday it announced plans to roll out its own private label brands of food and household items for Prime customers. May the best retailer win.
Pfizer will buy the Silicon Valley biotech group Anacor for $5.2 billion to build out the innovation arm of its business. The news resulted in an unchanged Pfizer stock but a 54% increase in Anacro’s pre-market trading price. Pfizer has been in the news frequently as of late, most recently for its decision to eliminate its products from use in lethal injections, and then for a failed $160 billion merger with Allergan meant to give it some tax breaks.
Write to your heart’s content: Twitter may soon stop counting photos and links in the 140-character limit in tweets in as soon as two weeks. That means 23 more characters gained if you use links, and 22 for photos. The additional space may help encourage users to add more rich media to their posts. The Twitter-verse also has another big change: The addition of BET CEO Debra Lee to its board. It’s a move that fits well in Twitter’s playbook “as the company tries to play an even bigger role in live events such as awards, sports matches and news.”
A new rideshare option… kind of: Traffic navigation app Waze is venturing into the carpool game with Waze Rider, a separate app which allows users to request rides from other Waze users headed in the same direction. The Google-owned app, which has more than 700,000 Bay Area users, is open to more than 25,000 employees at select companies in the area, reports SFGate. For now, riders will pay their drivers a suggested amount -- 54 cents per mile.
#Chart: Apple recently invested $1 billion in Didi, aka China’s Uber.
Mobile messaging app Line is moving into the on-demand services realm with Line Man, which provides courier, food and grocery delivery services. The pilot program is available in Thailand, where staff will travel on motorbike with green jackets sporting Line’s emoji characters. It won’t be easy; a number of ride on-demand services already exist throughout Asia.
In other messaging app news… Google launched Spaces to make it easier to share content from the web in group conversations. So what makes it different from the countless messaging apps out there? Spaces aims to keep your conversations organized with built-in Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome so that you never have to exit the app. Keep your eyes peeled for more releases during Google I/O.
Britflix: No, that’s not a typo. The BBC may be building its own Netflix competitor for the UK as a way to create new revenue streams in a move supported by the government. The streaming subscription service would show existing content from the BBC, though original content isn’t out of the question.
Just for Fun: Check out the top 10 commencement speeches so far this year, from Oprah and Sheryl Sandberg to Ryan Seacrest and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Cover Art: A poster from the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Today marks its 50th anniversary, which had been met with silence from state media until the party's main newspaper "urged people to accept the past condemnation of the event and focus on the future."
manager at Mishank Enterprises
8 年people into brick and mortar business model will continue throwing big challenges to online retail.
Project Civil Engineer || Planning || Structure || Highway || Gas Line || Water Line || OQ Permit Applicant
8 年check out my new profile ??
Security Officer at Wolfspeed, Inc.
8 年Now that's scary.
Senior Quality Assurance Analyst at The E.W. Scripps Company
8 年I don't stand on the side of thinking Twitter making this change is a good thing. I feel that Twitter is better BECAUSE they have that character limit. If they change it to unlimited, or even more, it's going to be another Facebook and goodness knows we have enough of that already.. Twitter is meant to be just a quick and to the point message, not something that can be a novel. Sometimes it can be annoying, sure, but overall I think the change is a terrible idea.
Director at Confederation of African Organisations
8 年THE ANSWER TO THE QUANTUM EQUATION O° = O?O?O. = Olumba Olumba Obu. = Omnipotent?Omniscient?Omnipresent. W°= Love?Power?Wisdom. = The King of kings?The Lord of lords?The Word of God Almighty. = The God Factor. Rom. 13:1, 1st Corinth. 4:20. = Almighty God?Almighty Father?Almighty Holy Spirit Divine. = The Changeless Foundation of Divine Love?Truth. Δ = The Holy Trinity. = The Causeless Cause?the Rootless Root?the Sourceless Source. = From whom all thing proceed and to Whom all things return. = With eternity shot in a span with all wonders in one sight. = The Void?The Spirit (Invisibility) ?The Seen (Sensuousness). = Time, matter and Space. ∞ = The Alpha and the Omega. = The First and the Last. = The Beginning and the End. = The All and in all?Beyond us, Amongst us and Within us. = Quantum Brotherhood. 1st Peter 2:17, 1st Corinth.12:6. ? = The Cross is the symbol of redemption. Eph. 4:10. = Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?The Way,the Truth and the Life. = The Speed of Taught?Divine Light?Quintessential Quorum. = Sole Spiritual Head?The Promulgator?Ultra Awesome God Almighty = Godspeed. ★ = The Star is the Glory of God Almighty. 2nd Corinth. 3:18. = The Kingdom of God Almighty. = The Supernatural Megastar. John 1:14. = The Great I Am?I Am That I Am. = The Utopian Theocracy. Quotes from the Holy Bible: Genesis 1:1, John 1:1, Rev. 1:1. Isaiah 46:9-10, 55:11, John 6:63, 14:6, 19:11.1st Peter 1:23, Luke 8:11, 1st John 5:7-8, Rev. 19: 11,13,16, Acts 19:11-20. Songs of Praise: 1. Absolute Zero Zero Zero. 2. Solution Control. 3. Amazing Love Chemistry. AMEN!!! O.O.O. THE INFINITE ZERO ∞O = O° = O.O.O. = Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient. = Olumba Olumba Obu A°,B°,C°= The Alpha, Agape Love, Atman, Brahman, The Comforter Promised. D° = Absolute Divinity, The Divine Deity. E° = From Everlasting to Everlasting, El Shaddai, Elohim. F° = From Faith to Absolute Divine Faith; Changeless Foundation. G° = From Glory to Divine Glory. H° = The Holy of Holies. God of Hosts, Homologio. I° = The Great I Am; I Am That I Am, Immutable. J° = Our Lord and Saviour Divine, Jesus Christ. K° = The King of kings and the Lord of lords. L° = Logos, The Supernatural Divine Love/Life/Light of God Almighty. M° = The Long Expected Messiah. N° = None-Other God Almighty. O° = The One and Only One; The All and In All, The Omega. P° = The Promulgator; The Conduit of Power. Q° = The Quintessential Quorum. R° = The Redeemer, Savior Lord Divine, Rhaimah. S° = From strength to strength, The Sole Spiritual Head, The Divine Holy Spirit, His Supreme Supernatural Divine Might. T° = The Absolute Divine Truth, The Holy Trinity. U° = Ubiquity, Unstoppable, Unmoved-Mover, Unsearchable Greatness. V° = The Vanquisher. W° = The Holy Divine Word, Will, Wisdom of God Almighty. X° = XXX, The Three-In-One Olumba. Y° = Yonder-All; Yahweh. Z° = Zoe, The Infinite Zero. The Sourceless Source, the Rootless Root and the Causeless Cause; from Whom all things proceed and to Whom all things return: the Divine Supernatural Spiritual Language, Knowledge, Revelation, and Discernment. The Infinite Letter in the Infinite Love. St. John 4:24:- God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.2nd Corinth. 13:8:- For we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth. Ephesians 3:20-21:- Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21:- Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. AMEN!!! O.O.O. PRE-EMINENT SOVEREIGN: SOLE SPIRITUAL HEAD THE PROMULGATOR. THE IMMUTABLE FOUNDATION: DIVINE LOVE AND TRUTH. O.O.O. = OMNIPOTENT, OMNIPRESENT, OMNISCIENT; OLUMBA OLUMBA OBU : Holiness - Righteousness - Purity – Faithfulness. LOGOS - HOMOLOGIO - RHAIMA Ps. 138:2: I will worship toward Thy Holy Temple, and praise Thy Name for Thy Lovingkindness and for Thy Truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy Name. My Only Source and Supply; the Unstoppable Holy Divine Word of God Almighty, Rhaima. Colo. 1:18: And He is the Head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. 1st Corinth. 4:20: For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 1st Peter 5:7: Casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you. James 1:8: A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. 1st John 4:4: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. 1st Timo. 6:6: But godliness with contentment is great gain. 2nd Corinth. 13:8: For we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth. Rom. 1:17:- For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith. 2nd Corinth. 3:18: But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Math. 16:27:- For the son of man shall come in the Glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works. BROTHERHOOD OF THE CROSS AND STAR: CHRISTHOOD KINGDOM OF DIVINITY. AMEN!!! O.O.O. Education is the mountain of knowledge to equip the fallen man to know his Creator, Lord God Almighty Father O.O.O., and worship Him with all reverence. AMEN!!! O.O.O.