Wheels: Virtual Reality Is Carmakers’ Latest Selling Tool, at Shows and in Showrooms

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Supported by Business Day Virtual Reality Is Carmakers’ Latest Selling Tool, at Shows and in Showrooms Photo An engineer, Howard Lin, fine-tuning the Dodge Drag Strip Simulator for this year’s New York International Auto Show. Credit Joshua Bright for The New York Times Advances in microprocessor and electronic-sensor technology have helped turn today’s car into an immersive multimedia experience spread across high-definition screens. But car companies do not limit the technological flash to the inside of the car — high-tech, gaming-inspired marketing pitches are following right on its bumper.
Automakers are offering augmented reality experiences, video displays that involve the viewer and lifelike virtual reality simulations to lure buyers. The most sophisticated executions are developed primarily for events like the New York International Auto Show, opening to the public on Friday.
At shows filled with outrageous concept cars and shiny models making their debuts, it takes more t..

Common Sense: Facebook Falls From Grace, and Investors’ Stock Holdings Tumble Too

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Supported by Business Day Facebook Falls From Grace, and Investors’ Stock Holdings Tumble Too Photo Jeff Zuckerberg’s company has lost $100 billion in market capitalization since hitting its peak on Feb. 2. Credit Drew Angerer/Getty Images Over the last half decade, few stocks have been more beloved by investors and Wall Street analysts than Facebook. No wonder: After a rocky initial public offering in 2012, it has rolled over one obstacle after another, including the shift to mobile computing and the rise of photo sharing. It delivered revenue and user growth that surpassed even the most optimistic projections.
By the end of last year, Facebook had 2.2 billion active users. Its stock rose 53 percent last year, single-handedly accounting for 3.7 percent of the 21.8 percent gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, according to S.&P. Dow Jones Indices. By early February, its market capitalization had surpassed $560 billion, making it the fifth most valuable company in the inde..

Wall Street Rises as Technology Shares Gain

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Wall Street Rises as Technology Shares Gain

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks were higher on Thursday as technology shares showed signs of recovery following a selloff in the last two weeks that was triggered by worries over increased regulations.
Shares of Facebook, Apple and Alphabet were up between 0.15 percent and 1.3 percent, driving a 0.4 percent gain in the S&P technology index.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were on track to log their worst quarter in more than two years on concerns over a global trade war and interest rate hikes, as well as a rout in technology stocks caused by Facebook Inc's data scandal.
“We've gone through a period of increased volatility and one with competing narratives – the bond market is telling us something about the economy and the stock market is concerned about valuations in technology shares,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR in Boston.

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To Avoid More Racist Hoodies, Retailers Seek Diversity

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Supported by Business Day To Avoid More Racist Hoodies, Retailers Seek Diversity Photo Annie Wu was hired as H&M’s diversity manager after the company was taken to task for a hoodie that raised complaints of racism. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times Every once in a while, tucked into the stream of speedily made garments rushed into stores, designs with shockingly bad taste stand out: a shirt comparing women to dogs at Topman, symbols of the Holocaust on a top at Zara, a slogan that trivializes sexual consent on a piece at Forever 21, or words like “slave” and “slut” used as decorative details on T-shirts at ASOS and Missguided.
Brands, even as they offer mea culpas, rarely explain how such blunders come to pass. But problematic designs seem to repeatedly slip past layers of buyers, designers, stylists, marketers and managers before being caught by consumers.
Retail experts blame a heated competitive environment, where companies, many of them based in Europe, are spread t..

New Creative Time Leader From Dallas Contemporary

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Art & Design

New Creative Time Leader From Dallas Contemporary

Creative Time, the New York-based nonprofit arts organization that is known for large-scale public art projects, has chosen Justine Ludwig, who has served as deputy director and chief curator at Dallas Contemporary, as its next executive director.
The appointment ends a nine-month search for a new leader at Creative Time. Ms. Ludwig is to take up the post on June 15.
Her predecessor, Katie Hollander, a Creative Time veteran, was chosen in 2016 to fill the shoes of the organization’s longtime, Anne Pasternak, who departed for the Brooklyn Museum. Ms. Hollander left Creative Time in June after a year and a half as executive director.
“We are thrilled to be working with Justine,” Jon Neidich, Creative Time board member and head of the search committee, said in a statement. Her “commitment to social justice and devotion to the realization of artists’ dreams make her the perfect person to further Creative T..

John Legend and the ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ Cast on Faith and Musicals

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Supported by Arts John Legend and the ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ Cast on Faith and Musicals Photo A live concert version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” will air Sunday night on NBC. Credit Virginia Sherwood/NBC John Legend hasn’t done musical theater since high school. But when NBC called to ask if he might be interested in playing the title role in a live broadcast of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” he said, “I had a hard time turning down the role of Jesus Christ.”
Now Mr. Legend, best known as an R&B singer and songwriter, is channeling his inner rocker as he leads a starry cast of the latest televised musical.
“Jesus Christ Superstar,” with songs by a young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, is a rock musical about the week that ends with Jesus’s crucifixion. Controversial when it opened on Broadway in 1971 — some Christians found either the style or substance of the storytelling blasphemous, and some Jews were concerned about the portrayal of Jewish leaders — it has since become a staple..

Uber agrees settlement with family of self-driving car victim

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Elaine Herzberg died after being hit by an Uber self-driving car in the US earlier this month
The family of a woman killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle in Arizona has reached a settlement with the ride services company, ending a potential legal battle over the first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle.
Cristina Perez Hesano, attorney with the firm of Bellah Perez in Glendale, Arizona, said “the matter has been resolved” between Uber and the daughter and husband of Elaine Herzberg, 49, who died after being hit by an Uber self-driving SUV in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe earlier this month.
The terms of the settlement were not given. The law firm representing Herzberg’s daughter and husband, whose names were not disclosed, said they would have no further comment on the matter as they considered it resolved.
Read more Uber agrees $10m settlement in gender and race discrimination lawsuit An Uber spokeswoman declined to comment.
The fallout from the accident could stall the de..

Trump Attacks Amazon, Saying It Does Not Pay Enough Taxes

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Supported by Politics Trump Attacks Amazon, Saying It Does Not Pay Enough Taxes Photo Amazon and the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, are among President Trump’s regular Twitter targets. Credit Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times WASHINGTON — President Trump spoke out against Amazon on Thursday, saying that the online behemoth does not pay enough taxes and uses the United States postal system “as their Delivery Boy.”
The president’s commentary, made in a Twitter post, comes amid reports that Mr. Trump has expressed an interest in reining in the e-commerce business.
I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018 Amazon and the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, are among Mr. Trump’s regular Twitter targe..

DealBook Briefing: Are FANGs Losing Their Bite?

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Supported by DealBook Briefing: Are FANGs Losing Their Bite? Photo Credit Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Good Thursday morning. Another FANG stock took a tumble and the Trump administration wants to further thwart sensitive Chinese investments. This newsletter will be taking a break for Good Friday. We’ll be back with you on Monday. Some links require subscriptions.
Are we witnessing the end of a tech boom?Investors, always willing to believe in technology companies, spent the last three years piling into their shares with abandon. Now the intellectual underpinnings of that rally are being tested.
Exhibit A: Facebook, down 20 percent from its recent high.
Exhibit B: Nvidia, off 12 percent from its recent high.
Exhibit C: Tesla, not a tech stock but in the FANG+ index.
Concerns about Tesla’s ability to fund itself can also be seen in the trading of its debt.
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Continue reading the main story The WSJ’s Charley Grant explains:
Tesla can’t simply cut..

DealBook: Citigroup Acted. Now, Two New Ideas on How Banks Can Limit Gun Sales.

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Supported by Business Day Citigroup Acted. Now, Two New Ideas on How Banks Can Limit Gun Sales. Photo A gun shop in Virginia. Asked about the response to Citibank’s new restrictions on gun sales by its retail clients, the chief executive, Michael Corbat, said, “The positives have significantly outweighed the negatives.” Credit Erin Schaff for The New York Times On Saturday afternoon, as hundreds of thousands of people joined the March for Our Lives around the nation, I was on the phone with Michael Corbat, chief executive of Citigroup.
Mr. Corbat had taken the remarkable step on Thursday of authorizing a new set of rules to restrict gun sales by Citi’s clients, the first time a Wall Street bank had used its position to influence the gun control debate.
Five weeks earlier, a gunman’s attack at a high school in Parkland, Fla., had left 17 dead. Soon afterward, I wrote a column challenging the business world to “effectively set new rules for the sales of guns in America,” given Washi..