Billion Dollar Bezos
The Nasdaq hit an all-time high after immense earnings from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, among others. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, surpassed Bill Gates on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index after he added $10.4 billion to his net worth following a post-earnings surge in Amazon’s shares. As of Friday, Amazon stock was leading the tech surge and rising 13 percent, the highest increase in two and a half years. Looks like Amazon just shut down any haters who doubted whether the company could balance their newly acquired Whole Foods chain with online retail. (Source: Business Insider & Bloomberg Tech)
Netflix Goes Upside Down
Don’t know what to do after streaming all of Stranger Things season two in just one night? Well, Netflix launched its first after show titled Beyond Stranger Things for fans like you. The show addresses hot topic questions, provides behind-the-scenes content, and features discussions with the cast and crew. The after show automatically begins after the end of the season rather than after each episode, further encouraging the new binge culture of streaming services like Netflix. Demogorgons, Mouth Breathers, and Shadow Monsters, oh my! (Source: TechCrunch & The Verge)
Just Keep Swinging
Seven-year-old Hailey Dawson is currently on a 30-ballpark tour, throwing the first pitch for every MLB team, with the help of a 3D-printed prosthetic hand created to replace her right hand after Poland Syndrome left her with three missing fingers. Her most recent stop was in Houston, Texas, at Game 4 of the World Series. When Hailey’s mother reached out to the University of Nevada, the chairman of the school’s mechanical engineering department, Brendan O’Toole, agreed to create Hailey’s hand on a Stratasys 3D printer. “That’s the beauty of 3D printing,” Stratasys’ Jesse Roitenberg said. “It’s not just printing the next rocket or the dashboard of a Ford. It’s being used to improve lives.” O’Toole’s team hit it out of the park with Hailey’s prosthetic arm, and this success story will hopefully encourage others to lend a helping hand. (Source: TechCrunch)