It’s understandable that many consumers were shocked and outraged to learn that the credit card info of tens of millions of …
Big Data
Hewlett-Packard Is Not the Lost Cause Everybody Thinks It Is
A year ago, the news about Hewlett-Packard was sounding pretty dire. The stock had plunged following an $8.8 billion write-down from its botched purchase of Autnonomy. Some observers saw the company in a perpetual turnaround. …
Guess Who’s Getting Some Pretty Awful Reviews: User Review Sites
The trustworthiness of Yelp, Angie’s List, and other “unbiased” ratings services is called into question in a new study by Consumer Reports. And the consumer advocacy publication is hardly the only one taking issue with …
The Weird Reason Consumers Write Bad Online Reviews for Products They Never Bought
It’s not complicated why people write fake online reviews: The goal is to help a company out, either by praising its services or products and pumping up its ratings, or by bashing the competition with a scathing critique. But researchers have another theory about why some consumers—with apparently no axe to grind or financial interests …
Big Data Is My Copilot: Auto Insurers Push Devices That Track Driving Habits
Increasingly, Big Data – make that Big Brother? – is in the front seat of your car, and is affecting how much you pay for auto insurance.
Gmail Segregates ‘Promotions’: Why This Won’t Slow Down the E-mail Marketing Machine
Gmail’s new tabs system separates marketing messages into a “Promotions” box, making it easier than ever to ignore e-mail ads. Yet one theory holds that Gmail’s new design could actually make e-mail marketing more effective.
Alleged Fake Online Review Spammers Get Taken to Court
Websites that rely on user reviews and ratings often use filters to screen out opinions that are likely to be fraudulent. But the filters can only do so much. This week, Edmunds.com decided to file a lawsuit to get alleged spammers to stop flooding its ratings service with fake reviews of car dealerships.
Give Disney Visitors Hi-Tech Wristbands and They Spend More Money
Once again, Disney appears to have mastered the art of rolling out a new perk for guests—that actually winds up with them spending more money at Disney. This time, it’s a wristband that serves as a combo admissions pass, room key, credit card, and reservation assistant for rides and restaurants.
A Disloyalty Movement? Supermarkets and Customers Drop Loyalty Card Programs
The Real Reason Telecoms Cooperate on National Security? Money
Verizon, the phone company whose disclosure of customer data to the U.S. federal government is at the center of the furor over cooperation by technology companies with top-secret national-security programs, has offered a precise, clear, but little-noticed public explanation of why it did what it did.
The Verizon explanation is not in the
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How Nonprofits Can Use Data to Solve the World’s Problems
Like their for-profit counterparts, charities are starting to embrace Big Data as a means to perform more efficiently and share that performance with potential donors.
Can a Payday Lending Start-Up Use Facebook to Create a Modern Community Bank?
Social media and big data are being used in an innovative new payday loan banking model that’s more Silicon Valley than Wall Street. Most interestingly, the operation seems to have more in common with old-fashioned hometown …