10 things in tech: Billionaire taxes, PayPal mafia, Bill Gates' potatoes

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10 things in tech: Billionaire taxes, PayPal mafia, Bill Gates' potatoes
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates.Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images; Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/Getty Images; KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/Getty Images; Mike Cohen/Getty Images; Yuqing Liu/Business Insider

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1. The wealthiest Americans avoided billions in taxes by borrowing money. Billionaires often finance their lifestyles by using their fortunes as collateral for loans, which can come with single-digit interest rates - and are not taxed. We explain how borrowing helped grow their wealth.

2. Netflix is launching an e-commerce site to sell show-related merchandise. Netflix.shop will feature exclusive limited editions of clothing and lifestyle products inspired by some of its most popular shows. Here's what you can expect from the new shop.

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3. The PayPal mafia isn't just men - we profiled 20 women who helped build the company early on. These women played key roles at PayPal, then went on to do big things at Ancestry, Google, and LinkedIn. Meet them here.

4. Richard Branson may try to beat Jeff Bezos into space. An unconfirmed report said Branson might make a trip over the July 4 weekend - and Virgin Galactic didn't deny it. They're not the only ones getting in on the space-travel action - Discovery Channel announced a reality tv show that will send the winner into space. Get the details on the show.

5. A Fastly customer changing their settings triggered Tuesday's giant internet outage. Fastly, a popular content-delivery network, was at the root of the outage that took down Reddit, Spotify, and the White House. How one customer's changes impacted the rest of the internet.

6. The Polaroid Go is a tiny retro instant camera that will document your hot vax summer. Our senior tech editor put the camera to the test, and found that it might just be the most fun gadget to come out this summer. Here's what it's like to use.

7. Mark Zuckerberg plans to work remotely for half of the next year. In a memo to staff, the Facebook CEO said working from home makes him "happier and more productive." More on that here.

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8. Bill Gates' farmland reportedly grows potatoes for McDonald's fries. As the largest private farmland owner in the US, Gates is said to have fields of potatoes so vast that you can see them from space. Get the rundown on Gates' potato fields.

9. Twelve top fintech bankers share the trends they're most excited about. The dealmakers who help startups go public told us how they approach the sizzling market. These are the industry trends grabbing their attention.

10. A miscarriage led a startup employee to build a company that's now funded by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six. Poppy Seed Health is a maternal health app that connects people who are pregnant or recently had a baby with doulas, midwives, and nurses. In our exclusive report, founder Simmone Taitt shares her story.


Compiled by Jordan Erb. Tips/comments? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @JordanParkerErb.

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