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Apple’s Tim Cook Shares The Four Traits He Seeks From Potential Employees

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Tim Cook has revealed the rubric that the company goes by when considering its most promising job candidates. In end-September, the Apple CEO visited the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, where he was awarded an honorary Master’s Degree in Innovation and International Management.

During his speech, Cook opened up to students hoping to carve out meaningful careers, especially at Apple.

Cook pointed out that Apple employees have a shared goal of changing the world and enriching lives, and this nudges them to create their best work. “I’ve seen it happen again and again, and the results are just unbelievable,” he declared, as quoted by Fortune.

With that, he also divulged the four qualities all Apple hopefuls should possess. The company has found that relying on this formula delivers the best results. Here are its most-desired traits, according to Cook.

Collaboration — As clichéd as it sounds, teamwork makes the dream work at Apple. Cook acknowledged that while the company recruits amazing talents who excel individually, when their ideas converge with others, those ideas become bigger and better.

Creativity — Apple values people who aren’t caught up by how a problem has always been perceived. The ones who “walk around” it and find new angles are those who help build greater value.

Curiosity — Cook shut down the notion that there’s such a thing as a dumb question. Instead, he encouraged his audience to ask questions like a child. It is in those moments of unbridled curiosity that forces a person to think deeply about their answers.

Expertise — The most technical attribute Apple looks at is expertise, which is exactly as it sounds. Apple employees will need to be educated or have solid work experience in the fields of the roles they are applying for.

Cook added that having the right mindset is also crucial. Apple employees will have to work “for a reason bigger than themselves,” like the idea of how they can significantly enrich the lives of others. “With a purpose like that, it’s amazing what people will do from a work point of view,” he noted.

Source: DesignTAXI

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Godfrey On Being Asked To Be More Like Kevin Hart And Chris Rock During Casting Auditions

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Famed comedian Godfrey opened up to VladTV about the media seemingly choosing to focus on one black comedian at a time. He explained that it definitely seems that way in the industry, and Godfrey added that he’s even asked to be more like Kevin Hart or Chris Rock when he goes out for auditions.

During the conversation, Godfrey also spoke about black female comedians not getting any respect in the industry, and being tired of people saying that black comedians are bitter.

To hear more, including growing up in Chicago, hit the above clip.

Reddit Acquires TikTok/Triller Rival Dubsmash

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Reddit has acquired Dubsmash, the lipsyncing video app which launched in 2014 and was largely supplanted when TikTok showed up. 

Announced via Reddit’s blog on Sunday, the annexing of Dubsmash’s 12-person team to Reddit’s 700-strong horde is the popular website’s first major acquisition in its 15-year history.

While the financial terms of the agreement haven’t been disclosed, Dubsmash will be keeping its own platform and separate branding. Dubsmash’s Android and Apple apps will continue to operate as normal, with its video creation tools simply integrated into Reddit’s infrastructure. 

Reddit currently allows users to upload and livestream videos, however its editing capabilities are somewhat lacklustre — a problem this acquisition hopes to address.

“The transition to video will be bigger than the transition to mobile,” Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman said, speaking via the Wall Street Journal. Which sounds fake, but okay. Pivots to video historically haven’t worked out well, but perhaps the distinction between editorial and user-created content will yield better results.

Dubsmash went through a slow decline in the wake of its 2015 popularity boom, before revamping itself in 2017 to stage an unlikely comeback. While still not as successful as TikTok, the short-form video app established a significant audience by focusing on the one demographic still using it — Black teenagers in the U.S. 

As such, both Reddit and Dubsmash’s acquisition announcements heavily emphasised the diverse, underrepresented creators who use the app. According to Reddit, a quarter of Black teens in the U.S. use Dubsmash, while 70 percent of users are women or girls.

“By joining forces with Reddit, we expand our ability to serve the creators that represent the lifeblood of Dubsmash, helping them connect, share, and deepen their impact on culture,” wrote Dubsmash co-founders Suchit Dash, Jonas Drüppel and Tim Specht. The trio further reaffirmed their goal to “[create] a safe and welcoming platform for underrepresented communities.”

“Both Reddit and Dubsmash share a deep rooted respect for how communities come together,” said Huffman. “Dubsmash elevates under-represented creators, while Reddit fosters a sense of community and belonging across thousands of different topics and passions.”

Source: Mashable

Apple and Tesla are doing stock splits. Here’s what that actually means to investors

Posted on by Phil Lam X

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When a company splits its stock, its total value doesn’t change; it just ends up with more stocks, each at a cheaper cost.

Here’s a food metaphor: If you ask the guy at the pizzeria to cut each slice in your large pie in half, you’ll still go home with the same amount of pizza. You just have more, smaller slices now.

Companies typically say they’re splitting their stocks to make them affordable to more people.

But, is that reality? It’s more of a way to grab headlines and bring in money, said certified financial planner Douglas Boneparth, founder and president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York.

“This was done as a marketing tool to get smaller investors to invest in the stock,” Boneparth said. “The actual mechanics of the company are the same.”

And therefore, so are your chances of making a profit on either Tesla or Apple, experts say.

“People ultimately want to know, ‘What does this mean for my bottom line?’” Boneparth said. “The answer is: nothing.”

If you own Apple in an index fund, for example, it’s as if you had a dollar that just turned into four quarters, Boneparth said.

Source: CNBC

2017 – The Carter Effect transformed Canadian basketball: Ex-Raptors star ignited sport’s popularity in a hockey-mad country

Posted on by Phil Lam X

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Prior to Carter’s arrival, Raptors games were such a tough sell even scalpers found it difficult to make anything off their tickets.

The Daytona Beach, Fla., native took the league by storm earning the nicknames “Half man, half amazing” and “Air Canada” for his electrifying dunks and high-flying acrobatics.

“When he was ‘Vinsanity,’ I was enjoying it as a fan like everyone else and noticing the talks amongst my friends in the classrooms — it was no longer about hockey, it was basketball now,” Menard said.

Carter’s performance at the NBA Slam Dunk Contest on February 13, 2000 forever changed the landscape of Toronto and Canadian basketball’s reputation.

The burgeoning star opened the competition at Oracle Arena in Oakland with a 360 windmill dunk and later executed the iconic between the legs dunk off a bounce.

“Without that dunk competition, I don’t know if you have this type of effect [on Canadian basketball]. It was so important that he was wearing ‘Toronto’ across his chest for that dunk contest because it put the city on the map globally — he was representing our city,” Menard said.

Source: CBC

Reddit changes logo in support of #BlackLivesMatter and co-founder Alexis Ohanian resigns; asked to be replaced with black candidate

Posted on by Phil Lam X

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Current CEO Steve Huffman posted a letter to Reddit employees on June 1 outlining support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but it did not include specific actions the company was taking. The logo will remain black for eight days, in symbolism of the number of minutes Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin held his knee on George Floyd’s neck.

Today, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced his resignation from his role on the board of directors and asked to be replaced with a black candidate. He has also donated one million dollars to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights campaign, and said he will funnel all future gains on his Reddit stock to benefit the black community.

Source: SF Gate