Hi, I'm Matt Turner, the editor in chief of business at Insider. Welcome back to Insider Weekly, a roundup of some of our top stories.
On the agenda today:
- Employees are using a controversial tactic $4.
- Streetlights are turning purple — and it could be $4.
- Meet 30 real-estate professionals who are $4.
- Former Noom employees say they were $4.
But first: Jordan Parker Erb, the author of $4, is taking us behind the scenes of Elon Musk's feud with Apple.
- P.S. $4 is a fun and engrossing read, bringing you the most fascinating stories about Big Tech and innovations each weekday. $4.
If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.>$4 Download Insider's app here.>$4
Elon Musk goes to war — then makes up — with Apple>$4
This week, Elon Musk, the world's richest man and new Twitter owner, declared "war" with the world's biggest tech company: Apple.
At the heart of the issue was Apple's 30% App Store fee, our associate editor Jordan Parker Erb writes. Musk isn't the first to enter this fight — developers, tech CEOs, and regulatory bodies have long decried $4 — but he may be the most mainstream figure to do so. Even so, $4.
Here's what went down:
- The $4 was made in true Musk fashion — by tweeting a since deleted meme.
- Musk also tweeted that $4 from its App Store — but things changed quickly.
- Two days later, Musk said the "misunderstanding" about Apple pulling Twitter $4, ostensibly after the two took $4 together.
- It's not the first time Musk has beefed with Apple CEO Tim Cook. $4.
Sign up for 10 Things in Tech to get stories like these right in your inbox.>$4
Now, on to this week's top reads.
'Everybody's a free agent'>$4
More and more job candidates are applying for new roles with no intention of jumping ship, according to recruiters. They're just looking to land an offer that they can use to force their employer to give them a raise.
Employers hate that people are using job offers as bargaining chips. If you weren't serious, hiring managers are complaining, you shouldn't have wasted their time. And the bosses scrambling to put together counteroffers are grumbling, "Where's the loyalty?" But employees are responding: "Loyalty isn't free."
How employees are winning big raises.>$4
Why are the streetlights turning purple?>$4
You may have seen it for yourself. From California to Wisconsin to Florida, there have been reports of hundreds of thousands of streetlights spontaneously turning purple.
There has been no shortage of wild theories for why. But no, it isn't ghost- or football-related. Nor is it some grand conspiracy. Instead, the mystery of the purple lights is more mundane and worrisome than anyone has ever realized.
Read more on 'The Great Purpling.' >$4
See Insider's list of real-estate rising stars>$4
Insider's third-annual slate of emerging talent in commercial and residential real estate is in.
Amid $4 and the $4, we sorted through more than 100 nominations to identify the top 30 professionals in real estate who are 35 and under.
Inside Noom's promise of psychology-driven weight loss>$4
The promise of the popular app Noom for psychology-driven weight loss attracted users who appeared to be suffering from depression, eating disorders, and other acute mental-health conditions, according to interviews with more than 30 people, including former coaches and former employees.
Some users understood Noom's "psychology-based" offerings to be something like therapy.
But Noom's coaches lacked the qualifications, preparation, and training to be psychological counselors and often found themselves working with clients who exhibited complex and sometimes frightening behaviors.
Also read:
This week's quote:
"I wrote a memoir for one executive two months ago. He served in the French military and it was like writing an adventure story."
- Billy McIntyre, a ghostwriter who makes about $14,000 a month on Fiverr and works just five hours a day. $4
More of this week's top reads:
- As Disney insiders fret over $4, these are the six execs he'll $4.
- China's Xi Jinping is facing the $4.
- Who earns more per hour: a $4?
- Secret memo reveals Bush rewriting $4.
- NBCUniversal layoffs are coming in January. $4.
- Andreessen Horowitz's buzzy $4.
- "I worked from the beach in Mexico $4."
- Some Amazon advertisers are fuming after a Black Friday glitch cost $4.
Another newsletter for you: 10 Things on Wall Street is our weekday look at the biggest stories in finance and beyond. $4
Curated by Matt Turner. Edited by Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, and Lisa Ryan. Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.>$4