Paperjam.lu

Netflix stock dropped after it announced slower user growth than expected. The company’s CEO, Reed Hastings, told investors that the firm’s “fundamentals have never been stronger. Our viewing is setting year-over-year records that shows that we have come in, so we are feeling very strong about the business.” Hastings is seen here during a technology conference in 2010. Photo credit: JD Lasica on Flickr (CC BY 2.0) 

Netflix misses growth number

Netflix shares fell 14% on Monday after the company missed its customer growth targets, reported the Financial Times and Mercury News. The streaming media company added 5.2m net new subscribers during the second quarter, but had forecast getting 6.2m.

Tesla down on Musk comments

Tesla shares fell 3% on Monday after its CEO, Elon Musk, criticised one of the British cave divers, Vernon Unsworth, who helped save 12 Thai boys last week, reported Reuters. Unsworth had said that Musk’s plan to send a submarine to save the youngsters had “absolutely no chance of working.” Musk then called Unsworth a paedophile on Twitter, although the post has since been deleted. According to CNBC, Unsworth is considering legal action.

Chinese GDP slows a bit

China’s economic growth rate has slowed slightly ahead of a possible trade war with the US, reported Nikkei Asian Review. GDP grew 6.7% during the second quarter, compared to 6.8% during the first quarter.

“Big is Beautiful”, says author

Bigger businesses do better than smaller firms in terms of how employees are treated and environmental protection, according to a new book. The economist Robert D. Atkinson told PRI that’s because larger outfits face greater scrutiny and have “a reputation to uphold”.

Trump backs Putin denial

At a summit in Helsinki with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin denied that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, reported the Guardian. That was accepted by Trump, going against the opinion of US intelligence agencies. This prompted a vigorous reaction from opponents and Trump’s own Republican party.

Russian woman charged with conspiracy

Prosecutors in Washington have charged a 29 year old Russian woman with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian government, reported the BBC and Washington Post. The gun rights activist allegedly developed close contacts with the Republican party at the behest of the Kremlin. The case is unrelated to the Mueller probe.

Radioactive materials missing

A small amount of plutonium and caesium were stolen from a car, driven by two US Department of Energy security experts, that was parked overnight in a hotel parking lot in Texas, according to the Center for Public Integrity. But this is not the only nuclear material that’s missing.

Military robots

Researchers at the US Army Research Laboratory and the Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute have developed a new technique to quickly teach robots how to be autonomous “teammates” for soldiers, reported Science Daily.

Regulate facial recognition, says tech giant

Microsoft would like the government to regulate facial recognition technology, according to a company blog post by its president and chief legal officer.

Amazon promotion proves popular

Amazon’s “Prime Day” marketing push caused its servers to crash, according to the Register.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by @aarongrunwald.