On November 11, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba brought in nearly $38.3 billion worth of goods in the 24-hour period known in that country as Singles Day. That surpasses last year’s Singles Day that bought in $30.8 billion. Both figures dwarf the numbers for Black Friday, the massive commercial day-after-Thanksgiving sale in the U.S. Alibaba invented Singles Day ten years ago and, since then, has become a tech giant along the line of Amazon or Alphabet. China also has become wealthier and more digitally connected. Read more

Facebook unveiled Facebook Pay, a system to enable payments across its own platform as well as Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. The user will be able to send money to people, shop and donate to fundraisers. According to the company, Facebook Pay, which is completely separate from the company’s newly released Calibra wallet and Libra cryptocurrency network, is built on “existing financial infrastructure and partnerships.” Facebook Pay for Facebook and Messenger will debut in the U.S. this week. Read more

HBO, Netflix and major cable companies have joined forces to crack down on password sharing. The group is discussing ways to close that loophole, which, with piracy, is costing them a projected $6.6 billion in lost revenue this year. According to sources, among the potential measures are to require customers to periodically change their passwords, or to text codes to subscribers’ phones that they’d need to enter. Another option would be to make rules on devices that can be used to access a subscription outside the home. Read more

As reported in The Information, Apple is planning to launch a hybrid augmented reality/virtual reality headset in 2022 and a pair of AR glasses the following year. This recently released report stated that Apple chief executive Tim Cook spoke about the AR project in a 1,000-employee meeting, an unusually large gathering for the company. The report contained detailed information about Apple’s ideas about wearable AR devices. Apple has also developed a new 3D sensor system that will be integrated with the AR and VR devices. Read more

Following pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, Nielsen Holdings announced plans to split the media research firm into two independent publicly traded companies. Nielsen revealed it would create two separate companies by spinning off its Global Connect business. In a deal expected to close in 9-12 months, the two companies will be named Global Connect and Global Media. “Both the Global Media and Global Connect businesses are independently essential to the industries they serve, but each business has unique dynamics,” explained CEO David Kenny, who will stay on as chief exec of the Global Media business.  Read more