• Mixer is Microsoft's livestreaming platform, offering an alternative to Twitch and YouTube.
• Mixer recently started rolling out a series of new upgrades to the platform titled Season 2, giving streamers new ways to generate fan engagement and revenue.
• Season 2 improvements to Mixer will continue into 2019, focusing on creator support, viewer progression, and interactive features.

Mixer, a Microsoft-owned livestreaming website, is in a battle with Amazon's Twitch to win the hearts and wallets of game streamers.

With its recently introduced pack of new features, Mixer is trying to position itself as the best venue for viewers to support their favorite streamers and for streamers to thrive financially. The update, which Mixer is calling "Season 2," is focused on promoting more ways to interact on the platform and more ways for streamers to get revenue.

Livestreaming has had an undeniable impact on the way that people, and video game fans specifically, interact with their entertainment and build community. By engaging directly with their audience, popular streamers have been able to establish their own communities on platforms like Mixer, Twitch, and YouTube, without constantly relying on specific games. But to be successful, rather than just popular, streamers have to find ways to monetize their audience.

Read more:Twitch raises incentives for creators

Video game streamers are primarily dependent on monthly subscribers and donations for revenue, due to inconsistent returns from advertisements during their broadcasts. In April 2017, Twitch, the most popular livestreaming platform for video games, introduced a virtual currency called Bits, giving players an official way to donate to multiple streams in smaller increments. Every Bit donated is equal to one cent earned for the streamer; Twitch charges $7 for 500 Bits, meaning they earn roughly $2 for every $5 donated to different streamers in Bits.

Only Twitch partners and affiliates, streamers with a proven track record, are eligible to receive income from subscriptions and bit donations. On YouTube, any creator with a Google AdSense account can be eligible for ad revenue, and some gaming channels now have access to a subscription option. Mixer Season 2 is offering streamers a more direct path to monetization with a more elaborate currency system and better incentives for viewers who want to support the creators.

Here's how Mixer's 2 currencies will work

With the launch of Season 2, Mixer plans to use two separate virtual currencies that allow viewers to support their favorite streams in different ways. Users on Mixer can passively earn one currency, called "Sparks", by watching streams or streaming themselves. Sparks can be spent to trigger special chat interactions, called skills, which include animated stickers, GIFs, simple games, and other effects that appear over the Mixer stream overlay. The effects are considerably more involved and intentionally more interactive than the emotes offered by Twitch.

Spending sparks while watching will help boost the creator's channel, and streamers become eligible for a payout after reaching certain spark milestones. The second currency, Mixer "Embers", has not been released yet, but will only be available for cash purchase. Embers will be able to trigger exclusive skills and can be used to tip streamers directly.

Whether it's Sparks, Embers or Bits, the point of the currency is to encourage viewers to support what they're watching. As season 2 continues Mixer plans to provide added incentive for spending sparks with a progression system for viewers. Spending more sparks with the same streamer will give the viewer access to more unique skills and channel-specific perks.

Behind the scenes, Mixer will also be implementing automatic bitrate switching for a smoother viewing experience from mobile devices or less stable internet connections. Creators will also have greater control over their stream feed with the implementation of the RTMP standard used by Twitch and YouTube and the adoption of Mixer's FTL streaming protocol on more devices.

The Mixer development team plans to release Embers and the viewer progression system in the coming weeks while solidifying the other Season 2 improvements. Sparks and skill abilities are already live on the platform and creators are able to use their new tools to set clear goals for their stream. Visit Mixer to learn more about Season 2 and try out Microsoft's streaming platform for yourself.

SEE ALSO: Twitch raises incentives for creators

SEE ALSO: YouTube Gaming gets overhauled, app going offline in 2019

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: First impressions of the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

• The InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland is opening after almost 10 years of being under construction.
• The hotel is built into a quarry 20 miles outside of Shanghai and boasts 337 rooms and suites.
• At 18 stories, 16 levels of the hotel are underground.
• Among the hotel's designers were the architects behind Dubai's famed Burj Al Arab. 

A new hotel opening in Shanghai won't be known for offering city views.

Built into a quarry at the base of Tianmen Mountain, the InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland will be opening its doors later this month after 10 years of construction.

Initially meant to open in October, Departures reports that the hotel opens December 1, but, according to the hotel website, rooms will start becoming available November 20.

Sixteen of the hotel's 18 floors are underground with rooms on the bottom two floors completely submerged underwater in a 33-foot-deep aquarium. The underwater portion of the hotel will also include a restaurant, pool, and watersports center.

The property also boasts its own waterfall adjacent to the hotel. Most of the hotel's rooms face the waterfall, along with scenic cliffs and hills due to its proximity to Tianmen Mountain National Park.

Read more: Underwater hotels to visit in your lifetime

The hotel is planning to make use of the quarry's space by offering bungee jumping and rock climbing.

British architecture firm Atkins led the design for the hotel, and was joined by JADE+QA, an architecture and design firm led by former Atkins employee Martin Jochman.

Rooms will be available on November 20 on InterContinental's website, and start from approximately $487. 

A representative for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts did not immediately reply to INSIDER's request for comment.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A sleep expert explains what happens to your body and brain if you don't get enough sleep

• Control of the Senate will be determined in Tuesday's US midterm elections — and several races could go either way.
• While pollsters predict Democrats will flip the House, they say chances are much slimmer that the "blue wave" will reach the Senate.
• Here are nine Senate races to keep an eye on.

Control of the Senate will be determined in Tuesday's midterm elections — and there are several very competitive races to watch.

Democratic incumbents in 10 states that President Donald Trump won in 2016 are facing tough reelection contests. Democrats are also facing uphill battles in red states where they hope to pick up seats, including Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Tennessee.

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight predicted on Thursday that Democrats had a 15% chance of flipping the Senate and asserted that Democrats would need "some type of systematic polling error to win the Senate."

While Democratic leadership remains bullish on flipping the upper chamber, many operatives are less optimistic. And Trump declared last week that the so-called Democratic blue wave was "dead," expressing confidence that the GOP would maintain its hold on the Senate.

"I think we're doing very well ... I think we'll win the Senate, and I think we're gonna do well on the House,"Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network on Wednesday.

Read more:SENATE BATTLEGROUND MAP: The race for control of the Senate is tight

Here are the 9 most competitive Senate races to watch:

SEE ALSO: 'Ridiculous' attack ads and bitter protests define a divisive Tennessee race that could determine control of the Senate

SEE ALSO: A Democratic campaign that looks nothing like the 'resistance' could be the Democrats' key to flipping the Senate

North Dakota: Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp versus GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer

Heitkamp was elected to the Senate with just 3,000 more votes than her opponent. And her reelection battle is shaping up to be just as tight, with the odds in Cramer's favor.

Heitkamp hasn't led a poll since February, and her decision to vote against Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation may have hurt her.

A recent Fox News poll had Cramer leading Heitkamp 51% to 42% among likely voters. And the nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently moved the race to its "Lean Republican" category.

Arizona: Republican Rep. Martha McSally versus Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema

McSally and Sinema are locked in a very close race to fill the retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake's seat as the number of undecided voters in the purple state has dropped. 

A recent Fox News poll had both at 46% support among lightly voters, and a recent CNN poll had Sinema up over McSally 51% to 47% — a lead within the poll's margin of error. 

Missouri: Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill versus Attorney General Josh Hawley

McCaskill was tied with Missouri's Republican attorney general, Hawley, in a recent Fox News poll.

Trump won the deeply red state by nearly 19 points in 2016, and, evidencing her desperation, McCaskill has tried to distance herself from more left-leaning members of her party, insisting in a late-October radio ad that she's "not one of those crazy Democrats."

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for season nine, episode five of "The Walking Dead,""What Comes After."

While "The Walking Dead" family is wondering how the AMC series will go on without Rick and Maggie, the show gave a subtle answer to one of its biggest plo tholes on Sunday's episode: What happened to Heath?

Sunday's "Talking Dead" confirmed Anne's junkyard escape vehicle was the very same RV Heath was last seen driving before mysteriously disappearing on season seven, episode six. INSIDER asked showrunner Angela Kang whether or not Heath was also taken by the helicopter which whisked Rick away and if Anne traded him to them for supplies. 

"That was kind of the intention that we had in the back of our heads this whole time," Kang told INSIDER of whether or not Anne traded Heath to the helicopter people. "Even back in that season where you know we had to write the wonderful Corey Hawkins out because he had huge opportunities in the feature film world... those seeds were already set there."

Heath's character was out on a run with Tara during season seven when the two were separated and he was never seen again. The series handled it in such a strange way. Tara never mentioned Heath's disappearance and no one ever attempted looking for him on the show. It was as if he was never there. A big character in Robert Kirkman's comic series, who's still alive, it felt like a giant oversight and remained one of the series' largest plot holes. 

Since then, a major theory was that Heath may have been taken by the helicopter crew. The RV was previously spotted in the junkyard where Anne/Jadis resided.

While Heath left the show, Hawkins worked on several high-profile movies, including "Straight Outta Compton" in the lead role of Dr. Dre, "Kong: Skull Island," and "BlacKkKlansman." He also took on the lead of Fox's short-lived "24: Legacy" series.

Since then, former showrunner Scott Gimple has said Heath would make a return at some point to "The Walking Dead" universe.

At New York Comic Con in October, Kirkman addressed Heath's absence and told fans he hopes he'll be back.

"We are hoping to get him back and tell his story," Kirkman said during a panel INSIDER attended. "There are definitely plans in place there. It's just a matter of making sure that everything can line up because it is somewhat complicated."

"I hope so too," Kang told INSIDER of seeing Hawkins again in the "Walking Dead" universe again. "He's a wonderful human being and a terrific actor." 

Read more: 'The Walking Dead' showrunner explains how they came up with Rick's surprising exit on the show

Even if Hawkins doesn't return to "The Walking Dead," there's a chance he could wind up on one of those "Walking Dead" movies alongside Andrew Lincoln. If he was taken by the helicopter crew, Rick may be on his way to reunite with him. That should be interesting since the two didn't exactly see eye to eye.

"The Walking Dead" airs Sundays on AMC at 9 p.m. You can follow along with our "Walking Dead" coverage here. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 4 lottery winners who lost it all

• The 2018 midterm elections are upon us, and the country is anxiously awaiting to hear the results of an array of consequential elections nationwide.
• Most polling places open between 6 and 8 a.m. and close between 6 and 9 p.m. local time. Times vary based on location.
• It can take hours, days, and sometimes even weeks for results to come in based on numerous factors.
• Given polling will start to close in many states between 8 and 9 p.m. ET, we may have an idea of whether Democrats have a chance of flipping the House by sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight ET.

The 2018 midterm elections are upon us, and the country is anxiously awaiting to hear the results of an array of consequential elections nationwide.

There's a lot at stake on Tuesday, November 6. If Democrats are able to retake either the House or Senate, it has major implications for President Donald Trump's agenda over the next two years.

When polls close

Most polling places open between 6 and 8 a.m. and close between 6 and 9 p.m. local time. Times vary based on location.

If you're not sure where your local polling place is or what time it opens and closes, Vote.org and Google offer easy ways to search for more info (click the links here or search "where is my polling place" on Google).

If you're not sure if you're registered to vote, you can also easily search for this information via Vote.org.

When we're likely to know the outcome of races

It could take hours, days, and sometimes even weeks for outcomes of races to become official. This is affected by factors such as the size of states and time zones, the total number of absentee ballots, and various state rules that can lead to runoff elections if candidates don't get at least 50% of the vote.

There are also a number of tight races this year, which can also play a big role in terms of final results. 

A number of key races are occurring in eastern states like Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Given that polling will start to close in these states and many others between 8 and 9 p.m. ET, we may have an idea of whether Democrats have a chance of flipping the House by sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight ET.

But there are some competitive races in California as well, where polls won't close until 11 p.m. ET. With that said, the results of many races may not be available until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Read more: 9 Senate races that are shaping up to be nail biters and will determine which party controls the Senate

California has a notoriously long ballot-counting process and a large number of mail-in ballots. In 2014, it took two weeks for the state to announce the results of two House elections. 

Many polls predict Democrats will take the House.

The Associated Press called the Senate for Republicans at 11:25 pm ET in 2014, so it's possible we'll know results in that regard before midnight.

Republicans are expected to maintain control of the Senate.

The gubernatorial races in Georgia and Florida are among the most closely-watched this election cycle with Democratic candidates — Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum — poised to make history in either state if they win. Polls begin to close in both states as early as 7 p.m. ET, meaning we may know the results of these races fairly early into the night. 

It's true that exit polls come in quite quickly, but as we learned in 2016 they can be misleading and it's better to wait for full results. 

SEE ALSO: Early voter turnout is surging across the country, including in key battleground states

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote

• Before there was Pokémon Go, there was Ingress — the original map-based augmented reality game, originally introduced in 2013. 
• Now, developer Niantic has relaunched the game with Ingress Prime, bringing revamped graphics, sound, tutorials, story, and pretty much everything else. 
• Ingress Prime is way more complex than Pokémon Go. But for Pokémon trainers who are on their way to catching them all, it could be a welcome level of new challenge.
• Niantic itself sees Ingress as a platform for experimenting with its own real-world gaming technologies, as it works to build better augmented reality tools.

Before Pokémon Go turned the entire world into a Pokémon scavenger hunt in 2016, there was Ingress — the original map-based augmented reality smartphone game that was also created by game developer Niantic.

Ingress first launched in 2013, back when Niantic was still a subsidiary of Google. It never attained the mainstream success of its Pokémon-flavored successor, but Ingress had, and continues to have, legions of dedicated players all around the globe. For a taste, here's my friend Laura Michet's account of her experience falling down the Ingress rabbit hole circa 2014. Even now, Niantic hosts Ingress events, called Anomolies, that draw players from all over the world.

“Everything that we put into Pokemon Go, everything we’re putting into [Niantic's forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite], came from insights we got from Ingress," Niantic CEO John Hanke said in a meeting with reporters last week. 

Now, Ingress is back, baby, with Ingress Prime, a revamped and relaunched version of the game with new graphics, new sound effects, a new storyline, and various and sundry other improvements. It's functionally the same game as before, but revitalized to bring it up to modern standards. Indeed, if you already have Ingress installed, Ingress Prime comes as a normal app update to the base game. 

Here's the trailer:

Niantic was nice enough to hook me up with early access to Ingress Prime, before it started rolling out to players on Monday. In truth, I haven't had much time to play: My home is in kind of a dead zone for Niantic's brand of real-world location tracking, which made it tricky to play over the weekend. 

Read more:The creator of Pokémon Go bought an LA-based gaming studio as its acquisition spree continues

What is clear, however, is that Ingress Prime is way more intense than Pokémon Go — and it could be the perfect challenge for any Pokémon player who's already "caught them all." 

How Ingress works

The basic components of Ingress should be familiar to any "Pokémon Go" player. You walk around the real world, finding points of interest — public art, historical landmarks, or other notable sites — and claiming them for your team. The two games are built on the same database of interesting locations, so there's a ton of overlap. 

But where Pokémon Go has Pokéstops and Pokémon gyms, Ingress has Portals. Same idea, but...this is where it gets complicated. 

Whenever you're near a Portal, you can hack it to gain resources, like Resonators and XMP Bursters. Resonators help you claim a Portal for your team, while XMP Bursters are your main weapon for taking down those guarded by the opposition. 

Still with me? Okay, so: You can link two or more Portals together, strengthening them and making them harder to take down. But for the link to work, there can't be any Portals claimed by the enemy in the way. This means that linking is easy at short distances, but harder over long range. 

But if your team manages to make a triangle by linking three Portals, it gets to claim the entire area for its own, thusly winning major points over the other team, in a process called "fielding." This means that Ingress players — who, by the way, take it incredibly seriously — get into real turf wars, trying to claim entire cities, counties, and sometimes states for their own.

Even the story is complicated. It involves a clash between the two teams: The Enlightened, who want to use the power of the Portals to benefit mankind, and the Resistance, who want to close the Portals to protect humanity. As part of the Ingress Prime relaunch, the story, too, has gotten something of a reboot. A new web series from Niantic introduces the major characters, while an Ingress anime will soon come to Netflix, featuring new music by Alt-J. 

The story can be affected by player choice. Those Anomoly events come with their own story developments, and however each team performs, that has some kind of bearing on what happens next in the struggle between the Resistance and the Enlightened. 

It's kind of a lot. As an Ingress newbie, it's all kind of overwhelming. But as an active Pokémon Go player since day one, I do have to admit, I'm intrigued by the apparent depth of Ingress Prime's story, and its more competitive aspects.

The bigger picture

In the grand scheme, the launch of Ingress Prime comes at a pivotal moment for Niantic.

Pokémon Go may no longer be the global phenomenon it once was, but it's still a very popular smartphone game in its own right. And there's no reason to believe that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the next big Niantic game due out later this year, won't be popular, too.

At the same time, though, Niantic is trying to reposition itself, not as a gaming company, but as the creator of tools and software to build augmented reality games and apps powered by the technology pioneered in its hit titles. Niantic has promised to detail more of its plans in that regard later this year. 

"Our vision of AR is that the world is the computer, the world is the interface," Hanke told reporters. 

That's why Ingress is important, said Niniane Wang, Niantic's senior engineer. As Niantic builds out its "Real World Platform," Ingress is the company's first and best platform for trying out new things. After all, unlike its other titles, Niantic owns the rights to Ingress lock, stock, and barrel, freeing it up to play around without restriction.

To that end, a later update to Ingress Prime will include an augmented reality mode that projects a map of the area over the real world, as a way to play with the combination of those technologies.

“Since we own this IP, we can be more innovative and experimental," Wang said. 

SEE ALSO: There are over 70 playable characters in 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' — here they all are

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: First impressions of the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

• Icelandair has agreed to acquire ultra-low-cost carrier Wow Air.
• WOW Air shareholders are set to receive 5.4% of Icelandair's value at $18 million to $25 million.
• The deal is still subject to approval from Icelandair Group's investors, Icelandic antitrust authorities, and due diligence.  

Since its founding in 2011, Wow Air has fought Icelandair, the country's flag carrier, for business to the island nation. That competition has officially come to a close. On Monday, Icelandair announced it has agreed to acquire the upstart Icelandic ultra-low-cost carrier.

"Icelandair Group has entered into a share purchase agreement to purchase all shares of airline WOW air," the carrier said in a statement.

In the deal, Wow Air's shareholders will receive a 5.4% stake in Icelandair. Reuters values the deal at $18 million. However, Bloomberg reports the Wow Air deal to be worth around $25 million, based on a $455 million valuation of Icelandair. Wow Air's shareholders will be barred from selling any newly received Icelandair stock for six months with half of the shares subject to an additional six-month moratorium.

Read more:  The 20 safest airlines in the world

"WOW Air has in recent years built a strong brand and enjoyed great success in the company's markets to and from Iceland and across the Atlantic," Icelandair Group interim president and CEO Bogi Nils Bogason said in a statement. "There are many opportunities for synergies with the two companies but they will continue to operate under their own brands and operating approvals."

Led by founder and CEO Skuli Mogensen, Wow Air has become well-known among value-conscious traveler for its rock-bottom prices and flashy fuchsia jets.  

The 7-year-old airline made headlines over the past couple of years with sales featuring $55 and $70 transatlantic flights. 

"I am very proud of the success and development that we at WOW Air have enjoyed in the past few years and I am thankful for the response we have received since our very first flight," Mogensen said in a statement. "We have created a strong team that has reached remarkable success and has been a pioneer in low-cost flights across the North Atlantic."

However, in an internal email obtained by Bloomberg, Mogensen explained to his employees that part of his rationale for selling to Icelandair was due to the tough market conditions. 

Read more:Singapore Airlines executive reveals why its new Airbus jet is such a game-changing advantage for the airline over its rivals

Both Icelandic airlines had been struggling this year due to high fuel prices, a slowdown in tourism to Iceland, and increased low-cost competition. With the acquisition of Wow Air, the merged company would hold 3.8% of the transatlantic market. However, the airlines will continue to operate as separate brands. 

Icelandair operates a fleet of Boeing 737, 757, and 767 aircrafts, while Wow Air flies only Airbus A320 family and A330 family jets. 

Icelandair's acquisition of Wow Air is still subject to approval from Icelandair Group's investors, Icelandic antitrust authorities, and due diligence.  

SEE ALSO: We flew on the longest flight in the world in both business class and premium economy to see how they compare — here's what we discovered

FOLLOW US: On Facebook for more car and transportation content!

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The science behind the viral videos of mounting tires with a controlled explosion

• Bird, the $2 billion electric scooter company, is launching in the UK on a single route inside the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London.
• Bird is the first electric scooter company to launch in the UK, beating competitors like Lime and Uber to the punch.
• UK laws prevent scooters from being used on roads or pavements, and Bird is in the process of lobbying for legislative change.

Electric scooter company Bird has taken a step towards entering the UK market by launching within the confines of London's Olympic Park.

While the buzzy US startup can't fully launch in Britiain because of laws that prevent scooters from being used on roads or pavements, Bird has found a way to get off the ground.

From Tuesday, Bird will make its scooters available along a route in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London. It follows talks with "multiple private landowners," according to Bird UK Head Richard Corbett.

The Olympic Park was selected because its owners, the London Legacy Development Corporation, have toyed with new tech ventures in the past (such as a driverless bus), and because Bird was keen to solve what it views as a "mobility issue."

At one end of the Olympic Park sits a business campus which houses multiple companies, plus two university campuses, to which Bird aims to provide faster access. Here's the route:

"This particular location suffers from a 30-minute walk from here all the way to the nearest tube station," Corbett told Business Insider. "Using electric scooters we're able to turn a 30-minute walk into a four-minute Bird ride."

The plan is to start out with just 50 scooters and scale up depending on demand. "Gone are the days where you've seen dockless schemes in the past flood a market and annoy the city," said Corbett. "We do responsible scaling."

Capped at a maximum speed of 15 mph, the scooters are geofenced, which means if anyone rides outside of the designated route the scooter will start to slow down and stop working.

Meanwhile, a handful of designated "Birdwatchers" will be stationed in the park throughout the day to make sure people are parking properly and dismounting to crossroads.

To mark the launch, Bird invited Olympic skier Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards to be its first UK rider.

Bird lobbying against old laws

Electric scooter companies have been unable to launch in the UK because of a 1988 law forbidding them from being used on the roads, and an 1835 law preventing them from riding on the pavement. Business Insider saw emails from Bird to London transport regulator TfL complaining about the 1835 law.

Corbett told Business Insider that Bird is focussed on lobbying to get scooters onto the road, not the pavement. "It's just a matter of time, we need to take everyone on a journey and we're patient," he said.

He said Bird doesn't know how long it might take to effect any legislative change, as the scooters will have to go through rigorous safety testing.

"We're not going to launch without the city's approval. So anything the DfT [Department for Transport] wants us to do we will do to demonstrate viability," Corbett added.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk says he doesn't want to make electric scooters because they lack 'dignity'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: After using Samsung Galaxy phones for 5 years, I made the switch to the iPhone XS

• Proposition C is a ballot measure in San Francisco, California that would tax the city's largest corporations to provide more funding to homeless services. 
• On Saturday, the gloves came off over Twitter between Zynga chairman and co-founder Mark Pincus and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. 
• Pincus tweeted: "Prop c is the dumbest, least thought out prop ever."
• Benioff countered by asking: "Mark what’s your plan & what’s your contribution to helping our homeless?" 

As election day approaches, the gloves are coming off for some Silicon Valley execs over the controversial Proposition C, a ballot measure in San Francisco that would tax the city's largest corporations to provide relief in the city's ongoing homelessness crisis. 

The latest bout came Saturday between Zynga chairman and co-founder Mark Pincus and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff — the latter of whom had previously taken Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to task for his opposition to Prop C.

Over the past two months, Benioff has become the undisputed top evangelist in support of Prop C, with him and his company donating a combined $7.9 million to the cause. That's put him at odds with figures including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who vocally opposes Proposition C, though prominent politicians including Nancy Pelosi and Diane Feinstein agree with him.

Pincus, who according to public records has not donated to either side of the measure, tweeted on Saturday, calling Prop C, "the dumbest, least thought out prop ever." He questioned how much taxes would increase for Salesforce and Zynga should the proposition pass muster with voters, and said the proposed measure "doesnt connect the problem to the money in a logical way." 

Benioff said the homelessness issue in San Francisco was urgent and that,"we can not wait any longer for a 'better' or 'more fair' plan."

Here's how the conversation went down. 

Pincus' tweet set things off. 

Later that night, Benioff responded, setting off a short social media donnybrook.

Some back-of-the-envelope math ensued to better understand how much Salesforce would be paying in taxes under Proposition C — Benioff said it would range between $10-$11 million per year. 

Pincus shot back that it didn't matter how much Zynga would pay — he stood by Mayor Breed's position that it wouldn't help, no matter how much was raised by the measure. 

The two execs went back and forth: Pincus agreed with Benioff that business gives a new platform to effect change, but like many in opposition to Prop C, he believes there needs to be a better plan in place to fight homelessness in San Francisco. 

They eventually reached some kind of impasse. At 10:25 PT, Benioff walked away, revealing his Bitmoji to the world as he slammed the door on Pincus.

Read more:San Francisco’s tech billionaires are fighting over how to deal with the city's homelessness crisis — Here’s what each tech bigwig says about Tuesday's vote on Prop C

While Benioff's own support for Proposition C is often credited to a direct message conversation with a San Francisco bookstore owner back in September convinced him to back the measure fully, the man himself says it started with a report from the San Francisco city controller's office — though the conversation helped. Either way, Benioff has thrown all of his might behind the Prop C fight, urging fellow executives to back the measure. 

If passed, Prop C would bring in an additional $250 to $300 million annually to help fight homelessness in San Francisco. Mayor Breed and other critics say that the city's homelessness crisis can't be solved by throwing money at it, and that it could make things worse. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A running coach explains how to get through the NYC marathon this weekend

• "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd appeared on the "Today" show Monday morning to discuss the midterm elections.
• Todd said the voter turnout could cross the 100 million mark.
• Such a high turnout renders predictive polls practically useless, he said.

Early voting numbers suggest that Tuesday's elections will have one of the highest voter turnouts for a midterm election in recent years.

But while it's good that Americans are exercising their civic duty, it makes predicting the outcome of the election almost impossible, according to "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd.

Todd appeared on the "Today" show on Monday to discuss the midterms, which Democrats are hoping will win them back control of the House, and possibly the Senate.

Read more: These 25 Congressional races to watch are some of the most competitive in the 2018 midterm elections

Todd says he expects the vote to cross the 100 million mark, and that the numbers he's seeing so far are more like the engagement one would see for a presidential election, which are far more popular.

"When you have a turnout like this, it's gonna make pollsters look ridiculous, not because they don't do a good job, but because you can not accommodate for all these new voters in any sort of model," Todd said.

Pollsters ran into a similar issue during the last election, when a wave of voters turned out to vote for Trump. Almost every poll at the time predicted Hillary Clinton winning the race.

SEE ALSO: The 2018 midterms will be the most expensive in history – here are the candidates who have raised and spent the most money since Trump's election

DON'T MISS: See if you need to bring an ID to vote in this handy map breaking down all the state rules for the 2018 midterm elections

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

Regtech solutions seemed to offer the solution to financial institutions' (FIs) compliance woes when they first came to prominence around 24 months ago, gaining support from regulators and investors alike. 

However, many of the companies offering these solutions haven't scaled as might have been expected from the initial hype, and have failed to follow the trajectory of firms in other segments of fintech.

This unexpected inertia in the regtech industry is likely to resolve over the next 12-18 months as other factors come into play that shift FIs' approach to regtech solutions, and as the companies offering them evolve. External factors driving this change include regulatory support of regtech solutions, and consultancies offering more help to FIs wanting to sift through solutions. Startups offering regtech solutions will also play a part by partnering with each other, forming industry organizations, and taking advantage of new opportunities.

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, provides a brief overview of the current global financial regulatory compliance landscape, and the regtech industry's position within it. It then details the major drivers that will shift the dial on FIs' adoption of regtech over the next 12-18 months, as well as those that will propel startups offering regtech solutions to new heights. Finally, it outlines what impact these drivers will have, and gives insight into what the global regtech industry will look like by 2020.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Regulatory compliance is still a significant issue faced by global FIs. In 2018 alone, EU regulations MiFID II and PSD2 have come into effect, bringing with them huge handbooks and gigantic reporting requirements. 
• Regtech startups boast solutions that can ease FIs' compliance burden — but they are struggling to scale. 
• Some changes expected to drive greater adoption of these solutions in the next 12 to 18 months are: the ongoing evolution of startups' business models, increasing numbers of partnerships, regulators' promotion of regtech, changing attitudes to the segment among FIs, and consultancies helping to facilitate adoption.
• FIs will actively be using solutions from regtech startups by 2020, and startups will be collaborating in an organized fashion with each other and with FIs. Global regulators will have adopted regtech themselves, while continuing to act as advocates for the industry.

In full, the report:

• Reviews the major changes expected to hit the regtech segment in the next 12 to 18 months.
• Examines the drivers behind these changes, and how the proliferation of regtech will improve compliance for FIs.
• Provides our view on what the future of the regtech industry looks like through 2020.
  Get The Regtech Revisited Report
  

   

Join the conversation about this story »

• JPMorgan Chase is investing $30 million over the next five years in the Greater Paris region of Seine-Saint-Denis.
• The money will be in the form of grants for job training and mentorship.
• It is the first investment of the $500 million global AdvancingCities initiative.
• This article is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.

JPMorgan Chase announced Monday that starting January it will begin a five-year, $30 million dollar investment in Seine-Saint-Denis, a region of France to the northeast of Paris. It's an area marked by high unemployment, crime, and homelessness, and has 28% of its population living below the poverty line.

It also, however, is on the cusp of two developments that JPMorgan wants to take advantage of: the 2024 Olympics  — Seine-Saint-Denis is home to France's national soccer and rugby stadium — and the Grand Paris Express rapid transit line that will connect Greater Paris

As Stephanie Mestrallet, JPMorgan's vice president of global philanthropy in Europe, told Business Insider, "OK, we know that there are these issues, we know that a lot of people are going to invest in these areas — can we add to this effort that is currently happening?"

The money will go toward apprenticeship programs for young people, job retraining programs for older adults, and small business development.

The investment is a continuation of JPMorgan's philanthropic commitment to the region and will be the first made from the $500 million AdvancingCities initiative when it begins in January. AdvancingCities is itself a five-year program that the bank developed as an extension of investments into Detroit in 2013, after CEO Jamie Dimon decided to assist the city after it declared bankruptcy.

The bank found its Detroit project so successful that it made similar investments in Chicago, Washington, DC, and the New York City borough of the Bronx. Advancing Cities is built upon the lessons learned in these American cities over the last five years.

The initiative has two components, involving a competition among cities around the world that want help with kickstarting their economies, as well as investments outside of the contest. Seine-Saint-Denis falls into the latter, and Peter Scher, JPMorgan's head of corporate responsibility, said that the 150-year anniversary of JPMorgan's involvement in France (when JPMorgan's business partner opened a firm there) this November was a great occasion to move forward with a project they deemed ready to go.

JPMorgan had sent 16 employees to the area this past spring to get familiar with the area and see if there were necessary conditions for successful investments. They decided there indeed were. And though the AdvancingCities competition is still fielding proposals from more than 1,000 cities for the rest of the month, Scher said, "When we feel like we're ready and we can make the investments we do."

Using lessons from Detroit and London

When Scher explained AdvancingCities to us in September, he said that one of the key takeaways from their initial work in Detroit was that the level of partnerships on the ground is contingent on the success of the investments. That is, the bank's team has to rely on business and government leaders in each respective region to determine where money will be best spent and loaned.

In Seine-Saint-Denis, the French President Emmanuel Macron's administration is involved in the project, and the minister of employment, Muriel Penicaud, will join Dimon on Tuesday in an announcement press conference at the Les Compagnons du Devoir (LCD) charity in the region. JPMorgan partnered with the charity last fall and made a 460,000-euro investment into apprenticeship programs.

The AdvancingCities initiative as a whole utilizes both low-cost loans and philanthropic spending, but this upcoming $30 million investment will be entirely in the form of grants. They will support more apprenticeship programs like those offered by LCD, as well as small business accelerators like Impact Partenaire and Pact PME.

Scher said the JPMorgan will send around 100 employees from its global offices to assist with these programs over the next five years, as it has done with its previous city investments.

He said that the Great Paris initiative's success will be measured by effects on employment rates and small business growth, particularly in the poorest sections of the region. The AdvancingCities team is using its insights from its American projects, as well as how the bank's investments in East London during the 2012 London Summer Olympics affected the city's economy, for Seine-Saint-Denis' benefit.

"I think it demonstrates that not just the challenges are quite similar wherever you go, but many of the solutions are quite similar," Scher said.

SEE ALSO: JPMorgan's experimental investment in Detroit was so successful that it's decided to invest $500 million in up-and-coming cities

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote

• Ivanka Trump's brand won a slew of new Chinese trademarks in October despite its doors being closed in July.
• The trademarks were filed for everything from umbrellas to sausages.
• Critics warn that the trademarks raise questions of continued conflicts of interest.

Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's daughter and senior adviser, won initial approval for 16 Chinese trademarks despite the company shutting its doors in July, according to records released by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

The trademarks are the largest grouping approved in a single month for the brand since Trump's election, and raise questions surrounding continued conflicts of interest for one of Trump's senior advisers.

The applications for the trademarks, which were pertain to everything from bags to umbrellas to sausages, were filed in May 2016, but were notably not withdrawn when Ivanka's business was shuttered.

In July, Ivanka closed down her business, saying "my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington." 

"I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business,” she said.

But according to an unnamed source from a July report in The Washington Post, the president's daughter planned to continue to seek trademarks, even after her company shut down.

Shut down, but not shut out

Ivanka's brand received intense scrutiny after Trump's election. Her products were almost exclusively made overseas despite her and her fathers championing of local labor, and the brand was dropped from retailers like Marshall's, Nordstrom, and TJ Maxx. Those developments were prompted in part by public animus toward her father. By June 2018, sales had dropped nearly 45%, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

In May, Ivanka's brand received approval for seven trademarks. The same month, Trump announced that he had reached a deal with China to lift the US ban on telecom giant ZTE. The timing of that news raised some eyebrows as well.

 Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Business Insider in May that "It raises significant questions about corruption, as it invites the possibility that she could be benefiting financially from her position and her father's presidency or that she could be influenced in her policy work by countries' treatment of her business."

When Ivanka announced her brand's closure in July, it was speculated that certain ethics conundrums stemming from the business would be sealed.

But according to Caroline Zhang, social media manager at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, these new approvals revive previous concerns of conflicts of interest: "Since she has retained her foreign trademarks, the public will continue to have to ask whether Trump has made foreign policy decisions in the interest of his and his family’s businesses."

Previously, officials from Ivanka's company have claimed that her international trademarks were measures to prevent foreign entities from capitalizing on her name. Business Insider has reached out to brand president Abigail Klem and will update this post with any response.

The first daughter's business strategy isn't entirely clear. While it's possible that she is continuing to pursue trademarks in the hopes of one day reopening her business, it's also possible that the approved trademark applications were simply loose ends that were never tied up.

SEE ALSO: These 25 Congressional races to watch are some of the most competitive in the 2018 midterm elections

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote

• Proposition C is a ballot measure in San Francisco that would tax the city's largest corporations to provide relief in the city's ongoing homelessness crisis. 
• San Francisco's biggest tech employer, Salesforce, and its CEO, Marc Benioff, have been the biggest advocates in favor of Prop C. 
• The city's second largest tech employer, Uber, has been nowhere to be found in the debate.
• A company spokesperson told Business Insider on Monday that "Uber remains neutral on Prop C with no plans to engage." 

San Francisco's biggest tech employer, Salesforce, is not mincing words when it comes to the city's homelessness crisis.

The cloud computing company, and its CEO Marc Benioff, have donated a combined $7.9 million to Proposition C, a ballot measure in San Francisco that would tax the city's largest corporations to help fix San Francisco's ongoing homelessness problem. Benioff has spent the past few weeks openly clashing with other San Francisco tech bigwigs, including Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, who is opposed to Prop C. 

But one important voice in San Francisco's tech establishment has been silent in the fiery debate over Prop C.  That would be Uber, the ride-hailing company that ranks as San Francisco's second largest tech employer and which is no stranger to controversy itself. 

An Uber spokesperson confirmed with Business Insider on Monday that "Uber remains neutral on Prop C with no plans to engage." 

Uber is staying away from controversy

The decision not to take a side in San Francisco's most argued ballot measure may seem odd for such an important company in San Francisco. In addition to Uber's 5,000 full time San Francisco employees (that's excluding drivers), the company's gig-economy business model plays an important role in the individual welfare and livelihood of many San Francisco residents. And Uber, whose headquarters are in the same building as Square's, is also a beneficiary of the controversial payroll tax break for businesses in the city's Mid-Market neighborhood. 

Of course, after getting battered in a series of scandals in 2016 and 2017, including former CEO Travis Kalanick's presence on a Trump advisory board, Uber is trying to stay away from anything that carries any risk of controversy.

Opposition to the corporate tax would have also put Uber in the same camp with companies like Visa, Stripe, and Square, as well as industry thought-leaders like Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham, Sequoia's Sir Michael Moritz, and Charles Schwab. 

And Uber's biggest competitor, Lyft, also opposed Prop C with a $100,000 donation. 

Uber, however, is staying neutral on the tax that's opposed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed who argues that the city's homelessness crisis can't be solved by throwing money at it. 

An Uber spokesperson did tell us that the company decided to donate $10,000 in support of Prop A, which would help retrofit and replace parts of the seawall that holds the San Francisco Bay waters back from flooding the city's downtown area. 

SEE ALSO: San Francisco’s tech billionaires are fighting over how to deal with the city's homelessness crisis — Here’s what each tech bigwig says about Tuesday's vote on Prop C

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: First impressions of the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

• Amazon is said to be close to selecting two cities as the site of its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2: the Long Island City section of Queens, New York, and the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia, The New York Times reported on Monday evening.
• The reported selection follows nearly a year of lobbying by cities and regions across the United States and Canada.
• The Washington, DC, metro area was long seen as the frontrunner for the contest, with Northern Virginia specifically seeming to pull ahead in recent months.
• The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the e-commerce giant is considering a plan to develop its second headquarters in two different cities, with 25,000 employees at each of the campuses. 

The long wait is over.

Amazon is said to be in talks to develop its second headquarters, HQ2, in the Long Island City section of Queens, New York, and the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia, The New York Times reported on Monday evening, citing people familiar with the plans.

The decision follows more than a year of speculation and lobbying by communities around the United States and Canada.

Amazon will likely now get to work planning its new headquarters. It has said it hopes to have at least part of the new campus operational sometime in 2019.

The saga of HQ2 began in September 2017, when the company put out its official request for proposals. In the request, Amazon promised 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment to the new host city. Nearly every major metro area in the United States threw its hat in the ring.

Amazon had whittled down the list to 20 by December but has barely made a peep about the selection process otherwise.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the e-commerce giant had decided to develop its second headquarters in two different cities, with 25,000 employees at each of the campuses.

The Times' report later that same day seemingly confirmed that, but added that the two selected areas were likely Long Island City and Crystal City. The Times report also confirmed that the deal is close to being finalized.

Read more: Amazon is reportedly planning on crowning 2 HQ2 winners, with 2 new headquarters in separate locations

Selecting two cities is something of a curveball, as it was not originally part of the plan Amazon proposed for HQ2.

Amazon declined to comment on if it has made any final decisions.

The evidence had long been pointing toward the Washington, DC metro area, which had submitted three separate regions for consideration. Amazon joined DC's chamber of commerce in August. Add to that the fact that Amazon has already had its public policy and lobbying operations in the district, and the US capital seemed like a shoo-in.

In recent months, the betting odds had quite literally zeroed in on Northern Virginia. The region is in what has been referred to as the "bull's-eye of America's internet," adding to its chances. A local news site called ARLnow.com said it had seen an unusual spike in traffic from Amazon to an article from December titled "County Wins Top Environmental Award from US Green Building Council" explaining how Virginia's Arlington County was the first in the US to be selected for an environmental award.

There had been less speculation about New York City, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently made his desire to host Amazon clear.

"I'll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that's what it takes," Cuomo told reporters on Monday. "Because it would be a great economic boost."

According to NY1, Cuomo reportedly met with Amazon executives in Seattle two weeks ago, and he is willing to meet with them again to try and close the deal.

Once Amazon confirms the selections, it will begin the more tedious job of working with local business leaders to integrate itself into the community.

Read more about Amazon's HQ2 project:

• Amazon made an important investment in Seattle, and it highlights a key issue for HQ2
• Amazon HQ2 candidates are going to great lengths to keep their plans secret
• HQ2 is making cities consider projects they've been ignoring for years — and it shows the power of Amazon
• 7 horrible things that could happen to cities if they win Amazon's HQ2 bid
• The cities where homeowners will benefit the most if Amazon's second headquarters lands there

SEE ALSO: Amazon is reportedly nearing a deal to make New York City one of the homes of its second headquarters — here's why it would be disastrous

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Target has a few sneaky ways it gets customers to spend more money

• Amazon is reportedly planning to name Long Island City neighborhood in Queens, New York half of its second headquarters, HQ2.
• HQ2 — which The New York Times reports will be split between New York and Crystal City, Virginia — will create roughly 25,000 new jobs in the area. 
• HQ2 sounds like a great opportunity for New York, but it could contribute to a rise in housing prices, as well as population and transportation woes.

On Monday evening, The New York Times reported that Amazon was finally nearing a decision on where to place its second headquarters. After more than a year of deliberation, the e-commerce giant is reportedly nearing a deal to split HQ2 between New York City, in the Queen's neighborhood of Long Island City, and Crystal City, Virginia. 

In January, soon after Amazon realized its short list of 20 finalists for HQ2, Business Insider's Leanna Garfield published a story on why New York City would be a horrible choice for Amazon's second headquarters. Here is why:

In mid-January, Amazon named New York City as one of the top 20 contenders for its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. The campus is expected to bring 50,000 high-paying jobs to the chosen North American city, and Amazon said it will invest $5 billion in HQ2's construction.

At first glance, it sounds like a sweet deal. But if HQ2 came to New York, with its influx of tech workers, the campus could exacerbate several problems that already plague the city, including high housing prices, overpopulation, and gridlock — all things Seattle, Amazon's home, has seen since the company arrived in the late 1990s.

A shortage of housing stock and commercial space

New York City has proposed 26 million square feet across three boroughs as possible sites for HQ2. In response, seven local community organizations signed an open letter to CEO Jeff Bezos listing several concerns, including out-of-state hiring, unaffordable housing, and gentrification.

Their worries about higher rent prices are not unfounded, according to a recent report from real estate website Apartment List. The site made a few predictions about HQ2's potential impact on housing prices in 15 major cities based on historical home-building statistics and data from the US Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

According to the report, the city could see an additional annual rent increase of 0.1% to 0.2% if HQ2 comes to town. Already, the median rent surpasses $3,000 per month. Considering that the average rent in New York City increases around 3.7% annually, HQ2 could cost renter households $1,391 to $2,182 over the next decade.

In New York, it has been difficult for housing supply to keep up with a quick pace of growth over the past two decades. It's a similar story in Seattle, where Amazon is the largest property taxpayer and private employer. Since 2000, the area has added 99,000 new jobs, with 30% of them in tech, contributing to a construction boom. Seattle is now the second-highest-paying city in tech, with an average salary of $99,400, according to the tech recruiting company Dice Holdings.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the growth has made Seattle's housing less affordable for some longtime residents, who have accused Amazon of perpetuating income inequality in the city. From 2005 to 2015, Seattle's median rent went from $1,008 to $1,286, an increase nearly three times the national median. 

Amazon's presence could also potentially impact small businesses in New York. In the 2017 book "Vanishing New York," author Griffin Hansbury wrote that the city is in a state of "hyper-gentrification," which has culminated in the death of small businesses like mom-and-pop groceries, used book shops, and dive bars. Seattle has seen this as well, and some local businesses say Amazon's presence makes it more expensive for them to find space.

"Some landlords aren’t even talking to us about (leasing) full floors," Eric Blohm, a senior managing director for Savills Studley (which represents companies looking for office space in Seattle), told The Seattle Times. "They’re holding out for the full building user. Or they’ll say, 'Get in line, you’re third in line, we’re talking with other people.'"

The subway system and roads would not be able to handle thousands more Amazon workers

Though New York City is the densest city in the US, the promise of 50,000 jobs is likely to attract even more residents. That could be bad news for the city's struggling public transit. The city's subways handle 5.7 million riders every weekday, and 50,000 more people could make a dent, however small.

In 2016, a New York Times investigation also found the city's s explosive population growth over the last century has been a big contributor to the subway system's inefficiency. The aging subway faces funding challenges, as well as an impending temporary shutdown of the L Train — a main (and majorly congested) line that travels from Manhattan to Brooklyn — to make repairs for damages incurred by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

It's uncertain whether the city's subway system and roads could cope with thousands of new Amazon commuters or drivers.

In Seattle, drivers spent an average of 55 hours in traffic in 2016, placing it among the top 10 worst US cities for congestion, according to the most recent analysis by Inrix. In June 2017, Seattle's metro system even added more buses to accommodate Amazon's summer interns. In New York City, high-frequency, cross-town bus service is still lacking. In November, the New York City's comptroller's office said the bus system is "in crisis," a reality the city would need to reckon with if HQ2 came.

Worries about the "Amazon effect" on public infrastructure

In a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, a coalition of community organizations asked the City of New York to hold Amazon accountable if the company expanded its footprint there. The groups argued that Amazon should invest in public infrastructure, like schools and transit, as well as small businesses if it chooses to come to New York.

"You should focus on pushing Amazon to be a better corporate citizen and improving how it treats communities and workers," the letter said. "You should also actively work to ensure that this multibillion-dollar company, who already has a significant presence in New York, does not receive financial incentives simply for doing business here. New York communities are facing massive cuts to public goods and services, and working families are struggling to make ends meet."

Leanna Garfield originally contributed reporting. 

SEE ALSO: Amazon just revealed the top cities for HQ2 — here are the ones throwing hundreds of millions to land it

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 places you can't find on Google Maps

• "I’ll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that’s what it takes," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said to reporters on Monday in reference to his determination to land Amazon's second headquarters, HQ2.
• On Monday evening, The New York Times reported that Amazon is finalizing plans to open HQ2 in Long Island City neighborhood in Queens, New York, as well as Crystal City, Virginia. 
• Cities and states have proposed billions of dollars in economic incentives in an effort to woo Amazon into naming them the host of HQ2.
• New York is reportedly still in active talks with Amazon, and the company now plans to split HQ2 between two locations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.  

As the competition for Amazon's second headquarters heats up, cities and states are getting increasingly desperate to win over the e-commerce giant. 

"I'll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that's what it takes," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo toldreporters at an event on Monday, referring to his determination to land Amazon's second headquarters. 

Hours later, on Monday evening, The New York Times reported that Amazon is nearing a deal to move HQ2 to the Long Island City neighborhood, in Queens, New York. The Times reported that Amazon is also nearing a deal to have Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia also host HQ2. New York City and Crystal City will reportedly split the second headquarters. 

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon is planning to split its second headquarters, crowning two HQ2 winners in two separate locations. Each of the HQ2 offices will create roughly 25,000 jobs, according to The Journal.  

Amazon is in the final days of its journey to decide which city or cities will host its second headquarters, with the company saying that its pick will be made before the end of 2018.

The company has said it plans to invest over $5 billion and accommodate as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. If the company splits its second headquarters, each location will host 25,000 jobs, The Journal reports. 

As a result, cities and states have been eager to offer Amazon massive incentives to win over the company. 

Companies are offering billions of dollars in economic incentives. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, for example, approved $6.5 billion in tax incentives for Amazon, as well as an additional $2 billion in infrastructure and transportation improvements for Montgomery County, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Read more:7 horrible things that could happen to cities if they win Amazon's HQ2 bid

Not everyone is pleased by the lengths city and state governments are willing to go to win over Amazon. A petition started by a group of elite economists earlier this year argues that cities — including the top contenders for HQ2 — should band together against such incentives because they "divert funds that could be put to better use underwriting public services such as schools, housing programs, job training, and transportation."

However, others — including Amazon and Gov. Cuomo — argue that the infusion of jobs that would accompany the new headquarters far outweighs the negatives. 

SEE ALSO: Amazon is reportedly planning on crowning 2 HQ2 winners, with 2 new headquarters in separate locations

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Buffalo Wild Wings' Blazin' Wing Challenge requires a waiver before attempting

• President Donald Trump's closing message to voters before the midterm elections has offended so many that the three major cable news networks and the world's largest social media site have all refused to carry it.
• As part of his scorched-Earth strategy in the final days before Tuesday's momentous midterm elections, Trump's 2020 reelection campaign released two ads widely viewed as racist attacks on immigrants.
• The media's unified decision to reject the president's ad is virtually unprecedented. 

President Donald Trump's closing message to voters before the midterm elections has offended so many that the three major cable news networks — including the president's favored outlet — and the world's largest social media site have all refused to carry it.

As part of his scorched-earth strategy in the final days before Tuesday's momentous midterm elections, Trump's 2020 reelection campaign released two ads widely viewed as racist attacks on immigrants.

The ads assert that Democrats allowed Luis Bracamontes, an undocumented Mexican immigrant and convicted murderer, into the country and warns that a migrant caravan traveling through Mexico to the US border includes similar criminals.

The fearmongering ads are both factually misleading — Bracamontes entered the country under both Democratic and Republican administrations — and offensive, as they paint a group of thousands of migrants as dangerous criminals without proof.

CNN refused to run the TV spot, calling it "racist."

But NBC aired the 30-second ad during Sunday evening's primetime NFL game between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers — the single most-watched game in the 13-year history of "Sunday Night Football" with an average of 21 million viewers. 

Trump promoted a longer version of the ad on his Twitter feed last week, prompting immediate and widespread denunciation and comparisons to the infamous "Willie Horton"ads that ran in support of former President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential bid. 

NBC faced immediate backlash with some of its top talent, including film director Judd Apatow and "Will and Grace" star Debra Messing, bashing the decision on social media.

Racist Trump champions celebrated the message.

"Go Trump Go! Your Midterm Ad is a masterpiece personifying the insanity of our immigration Policy. Bravo Trump!" white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke tweeted about the ad. 

Democrats immediately slammed the ads as the lastest example of Trump leveraging bigotry to motivate his base. 

"No one [should] be surprised that the guy who fueled his rise to power on the birther movement is now deploying the next phase of white nationalism to fuel the election of his most loyal Republicans," Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist and former spokesman for Hillary Clinton, told Business Insider. 

NBC soon pulled the ad — and Fox News followed. 

"After further review we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it across our properties as soon as possible," an NBC spokesman told Business Insider.

By midday on Monday, the three major cable networks and Facebook had all pulled the president's ad — a virtually unprecedented move. (Facebook continued to allow users to post the contents of the ad). 

Fox's decision to pull the spot — which it aired six times on Fox News and eight times on Fox Business — took many by surprise, and reinforced the feeling that the Trump campaign had gone too far.  

"The President produced an ad that was so offensive that the cable network he openly promotes won't even air it. Where we are as a country,"tweeted Brendan Nyhan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. 

Even Republicans who argued that the the ad wouldn't much impact Tuesday's elections found its contents distasteful. 

"I don't think it matters that much since it came so late," Matt Mackowiak, a Texas-based GOP strategist, told Business Insider of the ad's potential impact on midterm voters. "I wish the Trump campaign had been far more careful. They do not have to go overboard. The contrast on sanctuary cities, border security and interior enforcement is stark enough."

SEE ALSO: 9 Senate races that are shaping up to be nail-biters and will determine which party controls the Senate

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote

• Amazon is closing in on deals to develop its second headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York, and the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia, The New York Times reported on Monday evening.
• While state and cities have been fighting to win Amazon's HQ2, many people are less than pleased with the reported decision. 
• Critics say Amazon's decision to split the headquarters make the drawn-out process seem like a PR stunt. 
• Meanwhile, many New Yorkers are unhappy with the idea of Amazon opening HQ2 in the city, despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo's efforts to win over the company. 

Amazon is reportedly finalizing its HQ2 plans. And, people aren't happy. 

After months of deliberations and dramatics — without many official communications from Amazon — the company is finalizing plans to split its second headquarters between two locations: Long Island City, in Queens, New York, and Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia, The New York Times reported on Monday evening. 

So far, reactions haven't been positive on social media.

Amazon's reported decision to split its headquarters after months of deliberation — essentially opening two offices that would reportedly house 25,000 people each instead of a second headquarters that could rival its more than 45,000 employees in Seattle — rubbed many people the wrong way. 

Insiders have been buzzing about Crystal City being a top pick for HQ2 for some time. However, New York City has been less explored as an option than the Virginia spot. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been pushing for Amazon to move its second headquarters to the state, telling reporters on Monday he would change his name to "Amazon Cuomo" to secure the deal. 

Read more:New York's governor jokes he'll change his name to 'Amazon Cuomo' to win the HQ2 bid hours before a report that New York City will be home to one of the company's new headquarters

However, others are less pleased. 

"If HQ2 came to New York, with its influx of tech workers, the campus could exacerbate several problems that already plague the city, including high housing prices, overpopulation, and gridlock — all things Seattle, Amazon's home, has seen since the company arrived in the late 1990s,"Business Insider's Leanna Garfield reported in January 2018.

Read more: Amazon is reportedly nearing a deal to make New York City one of the homes of its second headquarters — here's why it would be disastrous

In January, Amazon narrowed its selection to 20 finalist cities, including Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The pick of two locations in the general New York City and Washington, DC, areas out of these options disappointed some people. 

Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on whether it has made a final selection, and it declined to comment on The Times' reporting. 

Read more about Amazon's HQ2: 

• Amazon made an important investment in Seattle, and it highlights a key issue for HQ2
• Amazon HQ2 candidates are going to great lengths to keep their plans secret
• HQ2 is making cities consider projects they've been ignoring for years — and it shows the power of Amazon
• 7 horrible things that could happen to cities if they win Amazon's HQ2 bid
• Amazon is reportedly nearing a deal to make New York City one of the homes of its second headquarters — here's why it would be disastrous

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Buffalo Wild Wings' Blazin' Wing Challenge requires a waiver before attempting

• Singles' Day, China's once-timid Valentine's Day repackaged as a 24-hour online retail blitz, is about to get bigger for Alibaba.
• In just a few days' time, the world will meet the 10th edition of Alibaba's "Singles' Day" shopping extravaganza and the company says it expects to receive more than one billion orders.

It's capitalism's shiny new slim-lined version of Christmas, but with none of the gods and more of the goods. The event turns 10 years old in a matter of days.

Next Monday, as one generation meditates on the final shots of a distant war, another generation in another part of the world will be embracing the 10th edition of Alibaba's "Singles' Day."

It's a new kind of commercial extravaganza and the company that runs it says it expects to receive over one billion orders by the time it is done.

The occasion, China's once-timid Valentine's Day gone rogue, viral, off the reservation, and totally, madly, delightfully bananas.

So what's all the fuss about?

The English name Singles' Day derives from guanggun jie (光棍节), but the date is now widely nicknamed shuang shiyi (双十一), or "Two 11," after the date, November 11. (or 11.11)

It's a special day, when China's ecommerce juggernauts atomize prices on anything and everything for a delightfully unhinged 24 hours.

This year, Alibaba, the power behind the festival's throne, is leaning in and stretching 24 hours into 48, and sending China's incredible shopping spree around the world.

The Hangzhou-based company's business-to-consumer platform Tmall promises to present some 180,000 Chinese and global brands for consumers' purchasing pleasure.

Already half a million items are available and rolling off e-shelves on Tmall's pre-sale sale.

In 2018, Alibaba says its Tmall Global platform has, one would suggest, a fairly comprehensive 3,700 categories of imported goods from 75 countries around the world.

Last year, the 9th version of the guang gun jie or Singles' Day shopping festival raked in $25.3 billion in a 24-hour online smorgasbord of unhinged expenditure.

Read more: Xi Jinping caught everyone off guard while celebrating China's $20 billion, 35-mile sea bridge

Where did this all start?

The date.

The presentation or the suggestion of 11.11 has long been connected in China to four lonely or perhaps a group of solitary single figures, as well as four leafless or branchless trees.

The Chinese term guanggun literally means "bare branches" and refers specifically to single men — a quiet, and in many ways, potentially desperate issue in a country that has regulated birth for almost a generation, resulting in a demographic glut of boys — commonly known as the bare branches.

(That said, its also pretty tough for single ladies who push past the ripened age of 28 on their lonesome who are called 剩女 sheng nu or "leftover women.")

Black Friday on steroids

Singles' Day was widely rumoured to have been conceived by a socially awkward group of college dudes in an all-male dorm room at Nanjing University in the 1990s. The concept from there morphed into a nationwide bonding exercise for the socially isolated young singles. It took off thanks to China's over-abundance of young men.

In 2009, Alibaba founder Jack Ma seized on Singles' Day to deal with a lull in sales between October and Chinese New Year in late January.

Ma convinced around 30 merchants to lay on some discounts through the selling platform, Tmall. The event was an instant success.

Five years later, 27,000 merchants were on board and merrily slashing prices.

Ma, using targeted marketing and China's economic shift to domestic consumption to appeal to the country to take a moment to buy stuff online, helped make Singles' Day what it is today.

China was encouraged to stay in and buy. And they did.

For the first time last year, Alibaba surpassed $25 billion in revenue. By comparison, the Thanksgiving Thursday through Cyber Monday sales for 2017 added up to $14.5 billion.

Black Friday on steroids is merely a baby bunny in the terrifying headlights of what will be Singles' Day 2018.

The festival has seen phenomenal year-on-year growth.

Sales back in 2013 pretty much doubled 2012’s $3 billion haul. The next year, Singles' Day sales of over $9 billion first surged past the combined sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In the first 90 minutes of November 11, 2015, Alibaba reported sales of $5 million.

And in 2016, Alibaba smashed records again, bringing in $5 billion in just the first 60 minutes of the festival, as Ma had hoped for.

Alibaba's final figure for last year — 168.3 billion yuan or $25.3 billion — was 40% higher than the previous figure and on-par with the nominal GDP of Estonia or Uganda, according to the World Trade Organization.

An internet of many, many things

The logistical impact is difficult to reckon with, as almost a billion parcels were packed and posted.

This year, Alibaba is preparing for the rush by opening what is said to be the country’s biggest robotic warehouse.

Alibaba’s logistics affiliate Cainiao Network announced the new facility located in Wuxi, last month, to help cope with the ballooning demand, adding that it handled more than 810 million orders last year.

The new warehouse is positioned as an internet of things-powered, "robotic smart warehouse" with close to 700 automated vehicles.

"It was only five years ago that parcel orders surpassed 100 million for the first time," Cainiao Vice President Ben Wang said, rather wistfully.

Alibaba, which started out sensibly enough (and incredibly practically) as a one-stop online mall connecting buyers and suppliers, has since expanded to become an e-commerce blueprint, a monument to consumption, driven by its twin engines Taobao and Tmall.

As Alibaba has invested in China's growing digital innovation, the company has begun experimenting and delivering financial technologies, digital entertainment, cloud computing and on-demand local internet of things services.

With China successfully increasing online access and disposable incomes out of rural China, and as the state closes in on hosting a billion smartphone users (in no small part thanks to the notoriously cheap Huawei and Xiaomi devices on Shuang Shiyi), the parallel boom in ecommerce revenue has been thrilling.

In 2018, the global shopping phenomenon will be embraced across 400 cities, some 200,000 smart stores, and 100 of the mainland China's special economic zones.

Tmall will engage 180,000 Chinese and global brands. About 500,000 items will be available for preorder on Tmall from October 20. The Tmall Global platform will provide 3,700 categories of imported goods from 75 countries and regions.

In the months leading up to Singles Day, supermarket shelves from Ballarat to Brisbane get totally cleaned out of milk powders and baby formula, seen here in Alibaba's showroom, as local "daigou," or personal shoppers ramp up their sales.

China still boasts the highest activity during Singles' Day, but the idea is gaining traction in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Alibaba's partners range from Google to southeast Asian platforms like Lazada out of the Philippines as the company's New Retail Strategy, is aimed squarely at moving Singles' Day beyond China to international buyers.

Alibaba is aware that Southeast Asia alone will be an $88 billion-plus ecommerce market by 2025— and the interest that Lazada and other regional e-commerce platforms are showing in the Singles’ Day sale is the shape of how ecommerce will mature in this region in the short-term.

In turn, the online retail giant hopes to smash last year’s record-breaking revenue of $25.3 billion especially given how the day falls on a Sunday this year, potentially making it more popular than ever with China's dedicated stay-at-home hoppers.

“This year marks the 10th anniversary of 11.11. On the back of China’s explosive digital transformation, the Festival’s astounding growth over the past decade has powered the steady growth of quality consumption sought by Chinese shoppers. The evolution also showcases the development of the Alibaba ecosystem over time expanding well beyond ecommerce,” Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group CEO told a news conference in Beiijing to launch the 2018 event.

Buying begins at midnight on November 10 in Sydney, and from there, like some beautiful commercial butterfly, shuang shiyi will spread its wings and take off across the waiting retail world.

SEE ALSO: Trump and China's Xi Jinping have led their nations into a dark new era of strategic competition — and no one on either side knows where the lights are

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why this Bovet watch costs over $450,000