That Noise? The Rich Neighbors Digging a Basement Pool in Their $100 Million Brownstone – The New York Times

ImageNowhere to go but down: Making room for an in-ground pool at 48-50 West 69th Street in Manhattan.CreditCreditBenjamin Norman for The New York Times The extremely loud and incredibly expensive renovations that have shattered a formerly quiet residential block in Manhattan. Nowhere to go but down: Making room for an in-ground pool at 48-50 West…

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Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook may pay publishers to put their stuff in a dedicated news section – Recode

More than a year after announcing Facebook would feature less news, Mark Zuckerberg says he has a new idea: He wants to create a section of his social network that would be devoted to “high-quality news,” and may pay publishers that share their stuff there. Zuckerberg floated the idea in a conversation with Axel Springer…

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‘It was always a problematic child’: What went wrong for Sizmek – Digiday

Ad tech has had another casualty. The news of Sizmek’s bankruptcy filing has shaken digital ad executives, who regarded the company’s ad server business as an important contender to Google’s. But the company’s vision of becoming a fully integrated buy-side tech stack was built on a crumbling foundation, according to ad tech sources. What didn’t help…

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The House We Live In — Real Life

At the Atlantic earlier this week, Sidney Fussell reported on Airbnb’s policies toward hosts installing cameras to observe their customers and the platform’s apparent ambivalence about enforcing them. As Fussell notes, Airbnb hosts are permitted to have cameras installed in living rooms, common areas, and outdoor spaces, but not bathrooms and sleeping areas. They are…

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Why private equity is growing so fast — Quartz

CalPERS, the $360 billion California’s state pension fund, just announced plans to increase its investments in private equity. It’s not hard to see why. Despite the high fees charged by private equity funds, CALPERs claims there are huge payoffs. Its private equity portfolio returned 16.1% in 2017, compared to just 11.5% for its stock portfolio,  and…

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In Pod-Based Community Living, Rent Is Cheap, But Sex Is Banned – Motherboard

Airbnb, once a saviour from overpriced hotels, has become the new overpriced hotels since becoming the short-term accommodation staple. But with the rise of community living and workcations, an alternative might be to just sleep where you cowork. That’s the idea behind PodShare, a coworking space with beds, which has three locations in Los Angeles….

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