How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet | Netflix made zero dollars from popular ‘Wednesday’ merchandise—now it wants to fix that mistake | Opinion | Giving Workers a Raise Is Not Going to Make Inflation Worse - The New York Times | The drawdown of African peacekeepers from Somalia has stalled

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� � � � � � How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet - WIRED    Recently, a startling piece of information came to light in the ongoing antitrust case against Google. During one employee’s testimony, a key exhibit momentarily flashed on a projector. In the mostly closed trial, spectators like myself have only a few seconds to scribble down the contents of exhibits shown during public questioning. Thus far, witnesses had dropped breadcrumbs hinting at the extent of Google’s drive to boost profits: a highly confidential effort called Project Mercury, urgent missives to “shake the sofa cushions” to generate more advertising revenue on the search engine results page (SERP), distressed emails about the sustained decline in the ad-triggering searches that generate most of Google’s money, recollections of how the executive team has long insisted that obscene corporate profit equals consumer good. Now, the projector screen showed an internal Google slide about changes to its search algorithm. I was attending the trial out of long-standing professional interest. I had previously battled Google’s legal team while at the Federal Trade Commission, and I advocated around the world for search engine competition as an executive for DuckDuckGo. I’m all too familiar with Google’s secret games and word play. With the trial practically in my backyard, I couldn’t stay away from the drama. This onscreen Google slide had to do with a “semantic matching” overhaul to its SERP algorithm. When you enter a query, you might expect a search engine to incorporate synonyms into the algorithm as well as text phrase pairings in natural language processing. But this overhaul went further, actually altering queries to generate more commercial results. Continued here � � � � � � Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium Netflix made zero dollars from popular 'Wednesday' merchandise—now it wants to fix that mistake - Fortune    Netflix is working harder than ever to keep subscribers engaged and reaching for their wallets. The streaming giant is selling action figures and apparel inspired by a new show based on a popular Japanese manga called One Piece.  The move breaks new ground for the company, which has sold merchandise for its shows in the past, including Stranger Things, Sex Education, and The Witcher, but only after they had proven themselves successful. Here, Netflix put all its eggs in its One Piece basket before it knew whether the show would be a hit. This is the company’s latest effort to wring more dollars from its subscribers, from raising subscription prices and cracking down on password-sharing, to hosting Bridgerton-themed balls and Squid Game virtual reality experiences. Continued here � � � � � � Opinion | Giving Workers a Raise Is Not Going to Make Inflation Worse - The New York Times -     As the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis expands and the union continues to hold out for big wage increases, some analysts are worrying that higher pay will be inflationary. The nightmare scenario is that wages drive up prices, which cause workers to demand even more money, and so on, in a ruinous upward spiral. Geoff Yu, a senior market strategist at BNY Mellon, said on Bloomberg Television last month that the unions are “making the gamble or the determination” to ask for more money in a way that could trigger a wage-price spiral. In reality, a wage-price spiral triggered by union demands is pretty unlikely. In fact, wage-price spirals of any origin are uncommon. And there are signs that workers are lowering their expectations for higher pay as inflation ebbs. On Thursday, Goldman Sachs issued a report saying that wage hikes for unionized workers are a “lagging indicator — the final echo of last year’s inflation surge.” Its author, economist Ronnie Walker, wrote that unionized workers, whose contracts last three years on average, are just now getting a chance to catch up to the kinds of pay raises received in the past couple of years by people who don’t work under multiyear contracts. Continued here � � � � � � The drawdown of African peacekeepers from Somalia has stalled - The Economist    No peacekeeping mission anywhere has been as deadly, nor has any African-led one lasted as long. After almost 17 years of trying to stabilise Somalia and beat back jihadists, and perhaps 3,500 casualties among peacekeepers, many had been looking forward to the next phase in the winding down of an almost 18,000-strong African Union (AU) force. Yet plans to withdraw 3,000 troops at the end of September have just been shelved, The Economist has learned. This is because of concerns that Somalia’s army will be unable to hold territory that had previously been recaptured from al-Shabab, a jihadist group that America’s military command for Africa has termed “the largest and most deadly al-Qaeda network in the world”. On September 30th the AU agreed to pause the drawdown for three months after a last-minute plea from Somalia, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. A statement may be released this week, possibly after a meeting between officials from the AU and UN Security Council. An extension needs the approval of the Security Council, which had previously said that the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) should number no more than 14,626 from October and be completely withdrawn by the end of 2024. (A first phase of the drawdown saw 2,000 going home in June). Unanswered, however, is the question of who might stump up the necessary cash to keep them. The European Union, which has provided more than €2bn ($2.1bn) to ATMIS and its predecessor, AMISOM, since 2007, has long been reluctant to keep paying for what some of its members saw as a never-ending commitment. Yet it is tightening its purse strings at a particularly inopportune time. After years of deadlock the Somali army has made real progress. Continued here

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