Author: Ben Debski

Uber hitches a ride with Daimler

Posted on by Ben Debski

As the battle for the future of mobility begins, Daimler and Uber have reached an agreement that could set a standard for future deals.

In a release published by Uber, the company announced it has partnered with Daimler to bring the carmaker’s autonomous vehicles to the Uber network. As per the agreement, Daimler will independently develop its own self-driving cars and serve them to riders through the Uber app. The cars themselves would ultimately remain the property of Daimler. This is the first time Uber has agreed to open up its network in such a way.

The agreement represents a new willingness from Uber to partner with outside companies rather then rely on its own technology to bring about its dream of a driverless future. In a post written by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, he laid out in plain terms that the company can’t do everything on its own: “Auto manufacturers like Daimler are crucial to our strategy because Uber has no experience making cars – and, in fact, making cars is really hard. This became very clear to me after I visited an auto manufacturing plant and saw how much effort goes into designing, testing and building cars.”

The agreement represents a new willingness from Uber to partner with outside companies

As noted by The Verge, the deal is different to the agreement Uber struck with Volvo, where the two companies collaborated to bring a number of self-driving cars to US streets last year. Instead, this time Uber is sticking to software and letting carmakers do the heavy lifting. Uber’s deal with Daimler is also non-exclusive, meaning the carmaker could potentially partner with other ride-share companies as well.

The first Daimler cars that would come to Uber’s network would most likely be Mercedes-Benz vehicles, with the company in the past hoping to bring an autonomous car to the roads by 2020.

An increasing number of carmakers are beginning to place their bets on the future of the industry. General Motors has invested $500m in Lyft and launched its own car-sharing service called Maven. Both Ford and Volkswagen have spun off their experimental arms into subsidiaries, while Toyota has so-far focused on driver assistance features instead.

US Army to approve completion of Dakota Access Pipeline

Posted on by Ben Debski

North Dakota Senator John Hoeven has confirmed that the US Army Corps of Engineers will allow the construction of the final section of the Dakota Access Pipeline, just one week after President Trump signed an executive order in support of the controversial project.

“Today, the Acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer informed us that he has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with the easement needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline”, Hoeven said in a statement released on January 31.

“This will enable the company to complete the project, which can and will be built with the necessary safety features to protect the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others downstream.”

Just four days after taking office, President Trump signed executive orders in favour of the pipelines

The planned pipeline has been the target of months of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has argued that the project will damage sacred Native American burial sites, in addition to contaminating drinking water both on the tribe’s reservation and further downstream. The tribe and its supporters also accused the US Government of approving pipeline construction without first consulting it, as required by US law when building work is proposed on Native American reservations.

In December, following months of peaceful protests from pipeline opponents, the US Army Corps of Engineers decided to explore alternative routes for the pipeline, delivering an emphatic victory for the protestors. However, just four days after taking office, newly inaugurated President Trump signed executive orders in favour of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, urging the US Army to reconsider its decision to postpone construction.

The $3.7bn pipeline is intended to transport close to 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day across four US states from North Dakota to Illinois, where it will connect with another line. The one-mile stretch adjacent to the Standing Rock reservation is now the only incomplete section of the 1,170-mile pipeline. The section is due to run underneath Lake Oahe, a large reservoir on the Missouri River.

In a January 31 statement, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe confirmed that it would be taking further legal action against the US Army’s decision to renew construction of the pipeline. The tribe argued that officials must wait for the results of a scheduled environmental impact study (EIS) that was ordered by Barack Obama’s outgoing administration earlier in January.

“The Army Corps lacks statutory authority to simply stop the EIS and issue the easement”, the tribe said in a statement. “We are ready to fight this battle against corporate interest superseding government procedure and the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans.”

VW races to the top of the global car market

Posted on by Ben Debski

Volkswagen has come out on top in the global car industry, beating Toyota to become the world biggest car manufacturer. The results are particularly impressive, as they come at a time when the company is still dealing with the fallout of the emissions cheating scandal that began in 2015.

Last week, VW announced its global sales as 10.31 million for 2016, ending Toyota’s four-year streak as the world’s biggest carmaker. Toyota’s figure of 10.175 million vehicles sold represents a 0.2 percent increase over its 2015 sales, however it suffered from slowing sales in the US. This marks the first ever time VW has held the title.

In terms of sales, VW appears to be relatively unaffected by its ongoing emissions scandal

VW’s brands, which include Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Seat, have seen a surge of popularity in China, according to the BBC, posting a 3.8 percent increase. The Volkswagen Golf was also the most popular new car in Sweden for 2016, marking the first time a Volvo didn’t top the list.

At least in terms of sales, VW appears to be relatively unaffected by its ongoing emissions scandal. The company has admitted eight million vehicles had software installed capable of cheating emissions tests and is still in the process sorting through various fines from regulators and repairs to affected vehicles. As reported by The Guardian, six former executives at the company were recently charged in the US for their role in the alleged decade-long conspiracy, with the company agreeing to pay an additional $4.3bn penalty. VW had already agreed to pay $17.5bn in the US to settle claims from car owners and fines from regulators. The penalty is even larger than the $1.2bn fine the US placed on Toyota in 2014 for the company’s sale of cars that accelerated unintentionally.

Toyota’s dominance in the industry has been enduring. General Motors was the world’s biggest carmaker in 2011 only after Toyota’s production dramatically fell in the wake of the earthquakes and tsunamis that struck north-east Japan that year. GM is yet to release its 2016 results, but it is expected to be behind both Toyota and VW.

Alibaba’s Ant Financial buys US-based MoneyGram for $880m

Posted on by Ben Debski

Ant Financial, the digital payments arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has agreed to buy US money transfer company MoneyGram for $880m. With more than 680 million active users, Ant Financial is one of the world’s biggest financial technology companies. While Ant Financial has historically been used almost exclusively in China, MoneyGram is a more globalised business, with over 350,000 outlets in nearly 200 countries. The acquisition marks a significant step forward for the fintech giant as it looks to expand its operations overseas.

“The acquisition of MoneyGram is a significant milestone in our mission to bring inclusive financial services to users around the world”, said Eric Jing, CEO of Ant Financial, in a statement confirming the acquisition.

While Ant Financial has historically been used almost exclusively in China, MoneyGram is a more globalised business

“We believe financial services should be simple, low-cost and accessible to the many, not the few. The combination of Ant Financial and MoneyGram will provide greater access, security and simplicity for people around the world to remit funds, especially in major economies such as the US, China, India, Mexico and the Philippines.”

China’s Ant Financial has been expanding its global presence of late. The digital finance firm owns a substantial stake in India’s leading mobile payment provider Paytm, which has seen a 700 percent increase in overall traffic since the country’s demonetisation of its currency in November 2016. Daily transactions on the Paytm app have now reached 500 million per day. Similarly, the Chinese firm has recently partnered with Thailand’s e-payments service, Ascend Money, which operates in the south-east Asian nations of Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

The deal comes as President Trump’s newly assembled administration moves towards a protectionist economic policy, focused on ending the outsourcing of jobs. Ant Financial has insisted, however, that MoneyGram will remain headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has pledged that it is “committed to continuing to invest in MoneyGram’s workforce and growing jobs in the US.”

In December 2016, Alibaba founder Jack Ma met with Trump at Trump Tower in order to discuss the creation of US jobs. The Chinese business mogul told reporters that his company would create a million US jobs by allowing SMEs to sell US goods to Asian consumers through the Alibaba platform. While the MoneyGram acquisition still requires regulator approval, Jack Ma’s job creation promise may ultimately prove influential to the regulators’ decision.

Artificial intelligence finds a new game to beat humans at: poker

Posted on by Ben Debski

AI systems have long been able to out-think humans at games like chess and backgammon, but now they can out-bluff them too. In a tournament against a number of poker pros, Carnegie Mellon University’s AI system Libratus has so far been making short work of its human competitors. As reported by The Verge, at the 80,000-hand mark of a 120,000-hand tournament, humans are down roughly $750,000 to the machine.

Libratus’ playing style in the tournament has so far been characterised by unpredictable aggression and brazen bluffs. The AI system also tends to over-bet on hands it feels are strong in order to win a comparatively small amount. This style of play is uncommon among human players, who are unlikely to risk much more than is necessary. Unconstrained by this thinking, Libratus has demonstrated it is happy to go all-in on comparatively small pots to spook opponents. This unpredictability has left human players struggling to find a ‘tell’ for its bluffs.

Libratus’ playing style in the tournament has so far been characterised by unpredictable aggression and brazen bluffs

An AI system overcoming humans at poker is, in some ways, a more important achievement than doing the same in other games. Draughts, chess and go, for example, have limited parameters and allow players to have the same, perfect knowledge of the game at all times. There is no chance involved or any information that a player does not have access to. Poker, on the other hand, is focused on odds, prediction and an imperfect knowledge of the situation. It’s also a game of interpreting actions and quickly calculating risk versus reward, much like most real-world scenarios.

The researchers that built Libratus hope the system could eventually be used to solve more complex real-world situations, including issues of military strategy or cybersecurity. However, the AI system is still not completely independent of its human programmers. As reported by Wired, the researchers could be altering the programme each night of the tournament to sure up any weaknesses exposed. If they aren’t, their secrecy surrounding the workings of the machine is likely impacting on the behaviour of the human players. Like any poker game, what is happening off the table is just as important as the cards that are being dealt.

Sony and LG the last two to bid adieu to 3D TV

Posted on by Ben Debski

Seven years on from iconic blue Avatars coming to life on viewers’ screens, couch dwellers are no longer donning chunky glasses to watch them, or in fact anything, in 3D. As a result of dismal sales in 2016, Sony and LG, the last two manufacturers of the technology, have this year put an end to 3D television.

Sales of 3D TVs in 2016 only accounted for eight percent of all television sales which, according to US market research, equated to a 23 percent drop from 2012. This reflected a change in consumer demand that has been a long time coming.

The end came despite movie enthusiasts embracing a revival of 3D’s popularity following the huge success of the movie Avatar in 2009. In 2013, Alfonso Cuaron’s Oscar-winning space thriller Gravity also spurred a minor 3D revival.

Although a fun novelty, in the long run the technology was not worth the hassle

Nonetheless, the complicated technology requires not only a 3D capable television, but also 3D glasses and a properly formatted version of the screened content. Albeit affordable, the functionality was not widely accepted on the home front.

As LG’s Tim Alessi told CNET: “3D capability was never really universally embraced in the industry for home use, and it’s just not a key buying factor when selecting a new TV.” Although a fun novelty, in the long run the technology was not worth the hassle. “We decided to drop 3D support for 2017 in order to focus our efforts on new capabilities such as HDR, which has much more universal appeal”, Alessi said.

Companies such as Vizio and ESPN dropped the technology in 2013 as a result of falling consumer demand, while both Sky3D and Samsung scrapped the functionality two years later.

In the face of a new era of VR capabilities, the television industry has made a smart move away from outdated technology. Although some old-school fans of 3D functionality are calling for its return, for the majority of the audience, its demise is nothing but another passing fancy, and one that is unlikely to be missed.

Donald Trump signs executive order to revive Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines

Posted on by Ben Debski

On January 25, US President Donald Trump signed several executive orders in a move that cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, projects that had previously been halted by the his predecessor Barack Obama. The move was met with steep criticism from both environmental activists and Native Americans, who have bitterly opposed the pipelines.

The $3.7bn Dakota project involves building a 1,172-mile underground pipeline, starting at the Bakken shale oil fields in north-west North Dakota, passing through South Dakota and Iowa, and terminating at a shipping point in Illinois. The project sparked high-profile protests after being bitterly opposed by Native Americans in Iowa and the Dakotas, whose sacred burial sites are threatened by the planned route. After a hard-fought battle by the Native American Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their supporters, the Obama administration halted the project in December by denying the company a permit to build through the Missouri River.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe decried the order a violation of “law and tribal treaties”

The Keystone pipeline had also been a subject of contention, and was blocked in late 2015 by the Obama administration. Trump’s executive order, however, will clear the path for construction to be revived. Upon signing the order, Trump said: “This is on the Keystone pipeline, something that has been in dispute and it is subject to a renegotiation of terms by us…we are going to renegotiate some of the terms. And then if they like, we’ll see if we can get that pipeline built. A lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs. Great construction jobs.” If the Keystone project comes to light, it will span around 1,200 miles across six US states, easing oil transport from Canada to refineries in the Gulf Coast. The executive orders will not spell the end to opposition, but will substantially ease the path of the disputes for construction to resume for the pipelines.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe decried the order a violation of “law and tribal treaties”, with the Chairman of the tribe, Dave Archambault II, stating: “Americans know this pipeline was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent.”

Furthermore, environmental groups reacted with fierce opposition to the move. “Donald Trump has been in office for four days and he’s already proving to be the dangerous threat to our climate we feared he would be”, said Michael Brune, Director of US environmental organisation Sierra Club.

The move signals that Trump is serious about following up on his anti-environmentalist stance. His campaign heavily pushed for the expansion of energy infrastructure, dismissing his democratic rivals’ concerns as being anti-business. “From now on we’re going to start making pipelines in the United States…like we used to do in the old days”, he said.

Onkalo aims to solve the 100,000-year problem of nuclear waste storage

Posted on by Ben Debski

The disposal of high-level nuclear waste is a problem that should have been solved by now. As the deadly material lurks in temporary storage all over the globe, the first steps towards permanently storing some of it are finally being arranged. But keeping humans away from anything for 100,000 years remains a challenging task.

Current solutions for storing high-level nuclear waste, mostly spent uranium fuel rods no longer useful for generating electricity, are temporary. The rods, still hot, are housed in spent fuel pools. These concrete and steel structures filled with water cool the rods for at least five years before they are moved into dry storage – similar casks, but without the water.

While generally safe, these containers will not survive long enough to house the material for as long as it remains dangerous. The rods’ time in the casks will be a mere blip in the 100,000 years they need to be contained. Thankfully, the world’s first truly long-term solution has finally been set in stone.

Burden of proof
Olkiluoto Island is located off Finland’s west coast, and will house Onkalo, the world’s first truly long-term solution to storing high-level nuclear waste. The hazardous material will be locked in over 42km of tunnels stretching 450m below ground. It is the first step of a project that began in 2004, with a small research station investigating the suitability of local geology. In late 2015, the project received final approval, and the facility will begin taking on waste in 2020. It has space for 100 years’ worth of nuclear waste. While the facility has been criticised by environmental organisations, including Greenpeace, who claim further investigation is needed, the project has been widely accepted as the first real answer to long-term waste storage.

Current solutions for storing high-level nuclear waste, mostly spent uranium fuel rods no longer useful for generating electricity, are temporary

Certainly, Onkalo has made further strides than the equivalent project in the US, Yucca Mountain. Located in the Nevada desert, the similar development was first conceived in 1987. Construction has since been on and off, thanks to the political toxicity of the issue. The most recent barrier to its completion has been the declaration of the Basin and Range National Monument in the path of a planned railway line that would have transported the waste to the facility. What’s more, if the project was ever completed, it would have an even bigger problem: the entirety of the nuclear waste in US temporary storage facilities is now more than the planned total capacity of Yucca Mountain.

Time of the preacher
Beyond the immediate practicalities, perhaps the biggest problem, faced equally by Onkalo and all similar projects, is how to make sure future civilisations don’t irradiate themselves by opening the facility. Since the waste will remain dangerous for 100,000 years, there needs to be a way to communicate the danger of nuclear waste not just to our grandchildren, but to societies in the distant future. These societies may not understand the concept of radiation and, more pertinently, may not be able to comprehend any current languages or the cultural symbols we use to denote danger.

It is a far bigger problem than it may seem. Various academics, from sociologists to philosophers, have been attempting to determine the best way to signpost this danger. In 1990, artist and architect Mike Brill was invited to a panel tasked with solving this problem for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, which stores low-level nuclear waste. He suggested a landscape of thorn-like concrete spines to instil a sense of dread.

US podcast 99% Invisible lifted the lid on an even more curious solution. In 1981, the Human Interference Task Force, a panel put together for Yucca Mountain, suggested ‘ray cats’. The plan was to genetically modify cats so their fur changed colour when exposed to radiation, and then culturally embed the rule “if your cat changes colour, move far away” by way of tales and folksongs – the idea being that such media tend to retain their meaning and pass through time more fully intact than visual signage.

The perfect solution is yet to be proposed, but there’s still plenty of time. For now, multilanguage warning signs are more than enough. The problem of storage, which Onkalo aims to solve, is a much more pressing matter.

1

Nuclear waste will be locked in over 42km of tunnels, reaching 450m below ground

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The waste at Onkalo will
remain dangerous for a staggering 100,000 years

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There needs to be a way to communicate the danger to societies in the distant future

Uber

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In 1981, cats which change colour near nuclear waste
were suggested as an option

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In 1990, artist Mike Brill suggested concrete thorns
to deter people

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No solution has yet been agreed, but at least the waste is secure for the moment

Yahoo sale delayed, but still going ahead

Posted on by Ben Debski

Yahoo’s prolonged demise is set to continue for a little longer, with the company delaying the completion of its sale to Verizon until the second quarter of this year. The announcement comes after the company discovered it was victim to the largest known data breach ever, with over a billion users affected, and heard reports that it is the target of a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation.

The company announced the delay of the sale alongside its 2016 fourth-quarter results. According to Yahoo, the data breaches, which occurred in 2013 and 2014 but were only discovered last year, have not had an effect on user interaction levels. The company reported that 90 percent of daily users had either changed their account settings, or were unaffected by the breach.

The existence of the data breaches was only revealed after Verizon agreed to purchase Yahoo for $4.8bn in July 2016

“With our 2016 and Q4 financial results ahead of plan, and the continued stability in our user engagement trends, the opportunities ahead with Verizon look bright”, said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in a statement.

The existence of the breaches was only revealed after Verizon agreed to purchase Yahoo for $4.8bn in July 2016. Speaking to The New York Times, Verizon spokesperson Bob Varettoni said the company was still evaluating the effects of the data breaches.

The delay also comes after a report from The Wall Street Journal stated the SEC is investigating whether Yahoo met its obligations to investors by reporting on the data breaches in a timely manner. Yahoo, the SEC and Verizon are yet to comment on the matter.

The delay is another marker of Yahoo’s long demise as an early titan of the internet. After early success, a range of poor decisions and failed turnaround attempts has led the company to where it is today. Mayer stepped into her current role in 2012, but failed to pull the company out of its slow decline.

For an in-depth look at the rise and fall of Yahoo, read The New Economy’s special report on the business and its history.

Samsung reveals cause of Galaxy Note 7 explosions

Posted on by Ben Debski

Following months of silence, Samsung has finally answered the burning question, revealing the specific fault that led to its flagship Galaxy Note 7 phone exploding. In a marathon press conference, the South Korean electronics giant revealed its process for identifying the fault, the precise cause of the problem, and what it plans to do in order to prevent similar issues in the future. The information released offers a rare insight into smartphone manufacturing and a substantial effort to win back consumer trust.

As reported by Wired, in a two-hour press event from the company’s headquarters in South Korea officials explained two separate battery faults led to the debacle. Ultimately, confusion and delays in identifying and isolating the specific problems led to the company’s slow handling of the situation.

The findings concluded the smartphone’s batteries were entirely to blame, not the device’s fundamental design

In Galaxy Note 7 batteries sourced from supplier Samsung SDI, not enough space was left in the battery’s heat-sealed pouch for cells to expand and contract during the charging process. As the cells grew and were squeezed together, some shorted. Samsung’s initial fix was to replace these faulty batteries with cells from their second supplier.

However, the company’s second supplier, Amperex Technology, also produced faulty batteries. Some were produced without insulation tape, and sharp corners on the batteries damaged some cell separators, which also resulted in shorts. The findings concluded the smartphone’s batteries were entirely to blame, not the device’s fundamental design.

In order to identify the faults, Samsung tested 200,000 devices and 30,000 batteries in a facility built specifically for the task. According to Samsung mobile communications chief DJ Koh, a team of 700 engineers worked on the testing process, with their findings reviewed by independent agencies.

Because both Samsung’s battery suppliers had faults, what should have been a minor inconvenience turned into a full-blown crisis. The rush to manufacture replacement batteries after the first recall only exacerbated problems. Developing batteries that are powerful enough to fuel today’s smartphones, yet slim enough to fit more restrictive designs, is also a difficult task.

This insight into the company’s manufacturing and testing process is a clear attempt to foster a renewed trust for the Galaxy Note 7’s inevitable replacement. As reported by CNET, Samsung revealed a new, more thorough eight-point testing procedure for ensuring its future devices will not suffer the same problem.

Uber to pay out $20m after misleading drivers in the US

Posted on by Ben Debski

Uber has suffered another blow with the company agreeing to pay out $20m to drivers who claim they were misled regarding the hourly rates they would earn working for the service. It’s another in the growing list of fights the company has found itself in with regulators and authorities regarding its operations.

The latest case regarding Uber relates to advertisements the company placed on Craigslist between January 2015 and March 2015, the BBC reported. The post claimed drivers would earn $25 an hour working for the service in Boston, but according to a lawsuit brought to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), fewer than 10 percent of drivers ended up earning that much.

The FTC went as far as listing 18 US cities where drivers were earning far less than Uber was publicly stating. In Minneapolis, fewer than 10 percent of drivers were earning more than $18 per hour. The FTC claimed drivers working a 40-hour week in New York took in $29,000 annually, and drivers in San Francisco took in $21,000. These figures are substantially different from Uber’s past claims New York drivers can make up to $90,000 and San Francisco drivers $74,000.

The FTC went as far as listing 18 US cities where drivers were earning far less than Uber was publicly stating

Uber has agreed to pay $20m to drivers who brought the lawsuit to the FTC to settle the claim, but is yet to establish how this money will be distributed. The company also made clear the settlement was not an admission of guilt, and disputed the method the FTC used to calculate its figures.

Uber should be able to easily afford the settlement. The company has raised $12.5bn and recent estimates have calculated its value at approximately $62.5bn.

The rights and employment status of Uber’s drivers have dogged the company since its inception. Disagreements over whether its drivers should be employees, contractors, or something else entirely, has led to a wave of disputes.

However Uber’s long-term plan may be to weather the storm for as long as it takes to roll out driverless cars. After tests in Pittsburgh and Arizona, the company seems closer to fully autonomous vehicles than many expected. It’s not a flawless process though. While trialling autonomous cars in San Francisco in defiance of Californian regulators, several vehicles were caught breaking a wide range of different traffic laws.

Netflix subscriptions soar as viewers move to internet TV

Posted on by Ben Debski

In the last quarter of 2016, Netflix exceeded its own forecasts by attracting a record seven million new subscribers, according to new numbers released on January 18. Just 10 years after the company initially launched its streaming service, Netflix has now amassed a total of 93.8 million members. The company generated $8.3bn in global streaming revenue over the course of 2016, achieving a massive 35 percent year-on-year growth.

The company’s success has been fuelled by a large-scale shift in the way that people are viewing television, with scheduled programmes being replaced by internet streaming and video on demand. “Think of it as this big adoption of internet TV”, said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Netflix’s success is part of a much broader trend in the expansion of internet TV, which is rapidly moving forward in various different forms

Subscriptions to Netflix are influenced by the timings of the launch of various shows and films. The company’s quarterly letter to shareholders cited numerous popular releases of original content as being powerful drivers of its success this quarter, including Narcos, The Crown, Stranger Things, and Gilmore Girls. The timing of releases, according to Hastings, leads to “some lumpiness” in quarter-to-quarter growth. Crucially, however, he noted that “the big picture is remarkably steady”.

Netflix’s success is part of a much broader trend in the expansion of internet TV, which is rapidly moving forward in various different forms. The company letter stated: “It’s becoming an internet TV world, which presents both challenges and opportunities for Netflix as we strive to earn screen time.”

Amazon Prime, a rival streaming platform, has also seen a rapid expansion, and now has a territorial footprint matching that of Netflix. In addition, video is featuring increasingly on Facebook, while consumption through YouTube is still greater globally than either Netflix or Amazon Prime. Netflix’s letter also mentioned Apple as potential competition, citing rumours that it is looking to add video to its music service. Furthermore, firms like Molotov.tv in France and Hulu are building their online presence by creating internet interfaces for TV network bundles.

The structure of the television industry will no doubt see a substantial shakeup in the wake of this shift towards online platforms. The shareholder letter predicted that “the next decade will be even more amazing and tumultuous as internet TV supplants linear TV, and as we strive to remain a leader”.