Facebook and Instagram went down for 40 minutes Tuesday morning, leading some to question if a widespread hack was at fault. Facebook, however, claims it was the fault of its engineers. As reported by the BBC, Tinder was also down during this time.
Hundreds of thousands of homeowners who got a break on their mortgages during the financial crisis are about to see their monthly payments start going back up. Known as the Home Affordable Modification Program – or HAMP – the government project provided relief for struggling homeowners by reducing monthly mortgage payments for five years. But those rates are about to reset. Since rate increases are capped at a 1 percent per year, most homeowners will initially only pay around $50 to $75 more on their monthly bills (each year).
What the Koch Brothers-backed Freedom Partners hopes to raise for the 2016 election, the Washington Post reported. It’s about half of what the network of conservative advocacy groups spent during the 2012 presidential election, and it could give the organization a war chest rivaling those of the two major parties. Spending could start as early as the GOP primaries.
What Uber will cap its surge pricing at during what’s been dubbed Winter Storm Juno in New York City. Since a state of emergency has been declared, the company also says 20 percent of its profits will go to the Red Cross.
The number of retweets Denny’s racked up, as of Monday night, for its September tweet “hashbrowns on fleek,” a phrase that was being bandied about the Internet regarding a side dish at the restaurant chain. The tweet was a “masterstroke” of a very specific kind of real-time marketing, in which a brand works to build a social media voice as hip or irreverent as its young prospective customers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
hashbrowns on fleek
— Denny’s (@DennysDiner) September 30, 2014
The strategy is being used by a growing number of brands, though actual financial benefits aren’t clear and missteps can be cringe-inducing.
How much the U.S. budget deficit will decline this fiscal year, according to the the Congressional Budget Office. As reported by Business Insider, this marks the “end to an era of dramatically falling deficits.”
How much more valuable houses on named streets are than houses on numbered streets in the U.S., on average. In some cities, those houses are 20 percent more valuable, according to a New York Times column. A large set of real estate data reveals other interesting patterns in the way street names correspond to cost, and the Times has a tool that allows you to see how the name of your street might affect the price of your home.
As a child, you may remember eating “ants on a log” – raisins and peanut butter on celery sticks. As an adult, you may find yourself eating literal ants on a shrimp so fresh it’s still quivering. And according to Quartz, you’ll also pay $1,265 for this delicacy at one of the world’s top restaurants.
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