"Do you ever lie to your friends?," Jam asks, popping up in a private message box at the bottom of your screen. If it seems like a personal question, don't worry -- Jam isn't a person, but a chatbot, eager for a bubbly conversation about the news, environment, pop culture and more. This particular cryptic query leads to Jam telling the story of Romain Gary, a French author who deceived the literary world by writing under a pseudonym. Jam is one of a new generation of sophisticated chatbots that mimic how real people write in messages and on social media to inform their readers, rather than the traditional dry question-and-answer format. The French "chatbot media" startup launched three years ago and now has exchanges with 150,000 people every day, most of them young. Jam communicates via Facebook Messenger and adopts a talkative, casual tone, like a friend telling an anecdote, peppering its banter with plenty of smiley-face emojis, pop-culture gifs and links to viral content. It chats … [Read more...] about I, Chatbot: Getting your news from a talkative automaton
Business news
News Corp posts surprise profit as HarperCollins profits grow
Business Wall Street Journal-owner News Corp reported a surprise quarterly profit on Thursday, driven by strong growth in earnings at its book publishing and subscription video services units. 10 May 2019 05:22AM Bookmark REUTERS: Wall Street Journal-owner News Corp reported a surprise quarterly profit on Thursday, driven by strong growth in earnings at its book publishing and subscription video services units.Trying to offset declines in print advertising, News Corp has been focusing on its book publishing business, which includes the famous HarperCollins brand, and its digital businesses."News Corp reaped rewards from our digital strategy this quarter, underscored by a robust rise in digital subscriptions across our media properties, a sharp increase in digital audio book sales," Chief Executive Robert Thomson said.The company, controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, said HarperCollins' core earnings rose 29 percent in the quarter, helped by strong sales of audio books … [Read more...] about News Corp posts surprise profit as HarperCollins profits grow
News DoubleDragon’s Sia ventures into grocery business with MerryMart
MANILA – Billionaire Edgar "Injap" Sia II opened the first branch of his grocery store foray, MerryMart, expanding his retail holdings, his holding firm said Tuesday. MerryMart is located in Sia's own DoubleDragon Plaza. It will the first of the planned 1,200 branches, Injap Investments Inc said in a statement. DoubleDragon develops, among others, the CityMall chain of community shopping centers and the Hotel101 chain. "Our family initially had no plans to expand the grocery business, but our recent experiences made us realize the need for us to be in the modern grocery retail business," said Sia, who chairs MerryMart. "Moreover there are undeniable synergies between the real estate and retail businesses, and in our case, gladly the grocery retail have always been in our blood," he said. Sia said his grandfather started a grocery store in the 1950s while his parents started their own grocery business in 1989. The MerryMart brand can grow through company-owned stores and … [Read more...] about News DoubleDragon’s Sia ventures into grocery business with MerryMart
‘Playoff fever’ for the Halifax Mooseheads and how it’s helping downtown businesses
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By David Lochead For Star Halifax Mon., April 29, 2019 HALIFAX—The Halifax Mooseheads are off to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final, meaning the cash registers will keep ringing for downtown bars and restaurants. The team’s playoff run will see them skate directly into the Memorial Cup starting next month in Halifax. It was official after the team’s 2-1 overtime win against the Drummondville Voltigeurs in Game 6 on Sunday afternoon at Scotiabank Centre. Halifax took the best-of-seven series in six games and advanced to the QMJHL President Cup final against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, which opens Thursday in the Quebec city. This lengthy playoff run — one many thought would be out of reach after the Mooseheads lost the first two games in the opening round to the underdog Quebec Remparts — is great news for bars, restaurants and stores in the downtown core. “It’s great to reward the fans with this type of run and … [Read more...] about ‘Playoff fever’ for the Halifax Mooseheads and how it’s helping downtown businesses
News Selling Condoms or Pet Food? Inside New York’s Business ‘Bible’
NEW YORK — The first issue of The City Record, on June 24, 1873, listed a procurement notice for a steamboat engine for the New York City Department of Charities and Corrections. A more recent notice, from 2017, listed the purchase of almost $4.4 million worth of condoms and lubrication packets as part of a city public health campaign. In between lies the vast history of the city and of The City Record, a bottomless trove of municipal minutiae and legally required announcements that calls itself the “Official Journal of the City of New York.” While most New Yorkers have never read, or even heard of, this city-published paper, it is indispensable to many city officials and to those seeking city contracts. “This is the bible of doing business with the city of New York,” said Eli Blachman, the paper’s longtime editor. “If you want to bid for a city contract, it’s like the lottery,” he said. “You’ve got to be in it to win … [Read more...] about News Selling Condoms or Pet Food? Inside New York’s Business ‘Bible’