Will Amazon finally be present in NYC?

If you are reading this, there is almost no chance that you do not know what a giant Amazon is. Recently I visited 12 fashion/tech companies and a couple of conferences, and Amazon was mentioned as a strong competitor and the main concern every single time.

One of the biggest plans of the company is to build 2 new offices in Arlington, Virginia and New York, New York. While Virginia’s government is excited to host such a company and even promised to provide $750 million in cash incentives, New York’s situation is more complicated, because this activity is combated by some politicians as well as activists. Recently this fact led to some rumors saying that Amazon is going to reconsider this decision and will take a look at another possible options.

What kind of benefits are going to be provided?

1.     One of the most obvious is that 25,000 to 40,000 jobs with average salary of $150,000 will be created. Additionally, Amazon plans to resume workshops at Queensbridge Houses starting in 2020 as well as open a training center focused on engineering courses, giving an opportunity to underprivileged New Yorkers to get higher paid jobs;

2.     Now I notice a trend of tech-savvys to move to the Bay area in order to find a job in a well-know and respectable companies as Facebook and Google. So Amazon’s presence will help to preserve these talents;

3.     Expected tax revenue of more than $10 billion over the next 20 years

4.     Even though Bloomberg already refers to New York as “the best place on the planet for technology. This happening will help to secure the name of a developed tech city;

5.     Local businesses also find this idea plausible since new residents will bring more revenue.

There are also downsides that make politicians and activists unwilling to accept the offer.

1.     There is no guarantee that transport system will be able to handle so many commuters;

2.     There is a strong concern that real estate prices as well as living costs will rise, making income gap even bigger and more noticeable;

3.     For low income citizens blue-collar jobs are going to be created. It is a noble intention, besides the fact that quite often work conditions for this kind of jobs leave much to be desired;

4.     Mentioned training program aims to address the issue 3, but it is highly possible that cost of living will rise at faster pace then salaries and skills of trainees.

Taking into account all the information, this deal seems to be questionable. Let’s stay tuned to know what the result is going to be.

FYI 

The New York Times Gets Instagram!

In the face of hyper-digitialization, one could say that the newspapers struggled the most to find ways to survive. It was no exception for the worldly renowned company like the New York Times in its 160-year history. Last year was especially difficult with the executive editor Jill Abramson suddenly fired and leak of an internal report how the paper has been struggling to keep up with digital trends.

Well, it seems like this year has brought a fresh scene of change for the beloved newspaper company. Earlier this week, the Times got -- drumroll please -- Instagram! 

Already with 27.9k followers in four days, they have been posting photographs and snippets from their articles on the theme of "Beginnings" as exemplified by their first post on Insta:

On the company's new presence in social media, the new executive editor, Alexandra MacCallum said, "It's raising our profile with a different set of people than we're used to reaching, and I think that's a really important thing for the Times going forward." (source: Mashable article) 

So what does this mean for the Times and social media in the long run? People have increasingly been using social media as a source of their news feed (literally), and does the Times' Instagram acknowledge that? Is it simply a way to reach out to and engage more variety of audience for them? Or, is this a new way for the people get the real news fed into their minds while spending infinite hours on Instagram? How will the stories be curated anyways?

So many questions aside, many are responding with warm welcoming into their Insta world, instead of raising their eyebrows. I have a gut feeling that we could be witnessing a milestone moment in the history of news and journalism. 

The Big Digital Apple

For all those of us who are interested in tech and, especially, dream to work in the "Silicon Alley", good news! The Big Apple just went online.

New York City government and startup community just launched Digital.NYC, the online, cloud-based  hub for the city's digital economy. The old associations Bay Area-Tech, New York-Finance is no longer so true. New York has become a global hub for tech, with hundreds of the most innovative startups based in the city, from all industries, including finance.

The tech sector is attractive not only for entrepreneurs. It is attractive for the local government too: 45,000 jobs were created between 2003 nd 2013 and $5.6B are generated in taxes every year.Digital.NYC was therefore launched to keep this bonanza going: it is the first platform created with the collaboration of the city government to connect, support and help the city's startup community grow larger and stronger.

The core of the platform is a search database that profiles startups and early stage investors.

This is complemented by news and information such upcoming events and possible deals.Digital.NYC effectively creates an online city where startups and investors can meet and prosper.
The Big Apple just went online.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ibm/2014/10/06/digital-nyc-a-one-stop-shop-for-new-york-citysbooming-tech-scene/