1. ‘You belong’: How first-gen students have succeeded in STEM
Here, Galván and other students and faculty members from the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA share their experiences as first-generation STEM students for National First-Generation College Celebration Day and National STEM Day. Their stories touch on familiar struggles — from dealing with financial hardships and “imposter syndrome” to the burden of “making it” for one’s family — and offer encouragement and advice on how first-gen students can make the most of their academic journey. Continue reading.
2. Google loses challenge against EU antitrust ruling, $2.8-bln fine
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager fined the world's most popular internet search engine in 2017 over the use of its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
The shopping case was the first of three decisions that saw Google rack up 8.25 billion euros in EU antitrust fines in the last decade. Continue reading.
3. MoviePass’ co-founder has bought back the company and wants to relaunch it next year
MoviePass might be making a comeback soon, after Stacy Spikes (one of the service’s original co-founders) successfully bought back the company out of bankruptcy earlier this week, according to a report from Insider. Spikes is hoping to relaunch the company sometime next year, although there are few details on that yet. Continue reading.
Throwback: Why MoviePass Really Failed
It’s naive to think MoviePass simply got in over its head with a poor understanding of unit economics. The company’s new bosses understood that they would lose money on every subscriber, but they didn’t care. They wanted leverage in the form of a large, dedicated user base. The company amassed more than 1 million subscribers in the three months after introducing its new unlimited, $9.95 plan. In January 2018, the company announced that it would start financing, acquiring, and distributing new films under a separate brand, MoviePass Ventures. According to BI, that same month, Lowe fired Spikes, MoviePass’ founder, with an email. Continue Reading.
4. UCLA prepares for winter transition to Canvas system from CCLE
UCLA will transition learning management systems to host all courses via Canvas on Bruin Learn by winter.
A learning management system is a web-based software that manages course materials and resources for institutions, instructors and students. UCLA will fully transition from CCLE, the current learning management system, in the winter and is currently hosting some fall quarter courses on Canvas, according to the UCLA LMS Transformation website.
Bruin Learn is built on the Canvas platform but will also include other tools and programs, according to LMS Transformation. The website also notes that the university decided to transition from CCLE to Canvas because the platform offers more powerful tools to integrate Gradescope and Slack, leads the learning management system market and is better suited for UCLA’s future. Continue reading.
5. Would Schubert have liked cat videos and Squid Game memes? TikTok’s classical music sensations
You might not think TikTok lends itself to the best of classical music and opera. After all, no classical fan ever said: “What I really want is something recorded on a phone that lasts no more than 59 seconds and repeats itself immediately.” But TikTok does have something to offer – mainly to the intimidated potential listener who wants the music world to be demystified, or a music student who needs to be kicked back into the practice room. Continue reading.
