Social Media Newsfeed: Tech Firms Offer Egg Freezing | Google Takes on Amazon

[emailonly]{{{ sbox300x250 }}}[/emailonly] Click here to receive the Morning Social Media Newsfeed via email. Facebook and Apple Now Pay for Women to Freeze Eggs (NBC News) Two Silicon Valley giants now offer women a game-changing perk: Apple and Facebook will pay for employees to freeze their eggs. Facebook recently began covering egg freezing, and Apple will start in January. The firms appear to be the first major employers to offer this coverage for non-medical reasons. AllFacebook Egg freezing allows women to store fertile eggs until they are ready to undergo pregnancy, and the costs are typically about $10,000 per round, as well as $500 or more per year for storage. Mashable As women age, their likelihood of successful pregnancies begins to dip, though most women will remain fertile well into their thirties. Egg freezing is seen as a method of maintaining fertility over a longer period since younger eggs tend to be healthier. Google Ramps Up the Same-Day Delivery Service War With Amazon (Adweek) Google is hoping that if you're going to shop local, you'll go with Google Express. The company officially rebranded its former Shopping Express service -- which allows people to order items from area retailers for same-day or overnight delivery -- and said it was expanding the program to Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C. Ars Technica Google is offering a three-month trial of the Express subscription, and it will continue to fulfill orders at an à la carte price of $4.99 per shipment. Amazon upped the price of its Prime service in April, from $79 to $99 per year. New York Times / Bits "Last year almost a third of people looking to buy something started on Amazon — that’s more than twice the number who went straight to Google," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt in a speech on Monday. Skype Qik: Microsoft’s Ephemeral Video-Messaging App (SocialTimes) Snapchat’s popularity, especially among the younger demographic, is fueling a trend towards the ephemeral. Microsoft’s Skype is the latest to capitalize on this, introducing Skype Qik for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The app, which launched Tuesday, lets users send video messages to groups or individuals that are set to disappear after two weeks. [emailonly]{{{ jodslot01 }}}[/emailonly] Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan Donate $25M to Fight Ebola (AllFacebook) The Ebola epidemic has been at the top of the news in recent weeks, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Foundation now has $25 million more in its coffers to fight the deadly disease, courtesy of Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Vine Launches on Xbox One (VentureBeat) Following the promise in June of many more apps coming this year, Microsoft announced Tuesday that Vine is now available for Xbox One. You can download it by visiting the Xbox Store on your console. This is a big deal for Microsoft; Twitter has become an important partner to have in the social space. In fact, this is the first Vine app that is designed specifically for the TV. Google Glass User Treated for Internet Addiction Caused by the Device (The Guardian) Scientists have treated a man they believe to be the first patient with internet addiction disorder brought on by overuse of Google Glass. The man had been using the technology for around 18 hours a day and felt irritable and argumentative without it. In the two months since he bought the device, he had also begun experiencing his dreams as if viewed through the device’s small grey window. [emailonly]{{{ sbox01 }}}[/emailonly] First Lady Michelle Obama Goes Viral On Vine (Wall Street Journal / Speakeasy) While participating in a Twitter Q&A Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama managed to one-up a comedian impersonating her husband, promote her healthy eating campaign and become Queen of the Internet in a total of six seconds. The Walking Dead Sets TV, Twitter Ratings Record (AllTwitter) The Walking Dead launched with such anticipation this week that more than 17 million total viewers tuned in to watch. The show also smashed Twitter, generating a total of 1,320,056 tweets, ranking it as the number one season drama premier of the year. At one point, The Walking Dead dominated all 10 of Twitter’s trending topics in the U.S. simultaneously. BuzzFeed’s Growth Czar Is Now Its Publisher (Re/code) Dao Nguyen, the person in charge of data and growth at BuzzFeed, is now the site’s publisher. That doesn’t mean “publisher” in the traditional sense of the role. "She’ll lead publishing for the social Web, in the most modern sense, where data science, the CMS, technology, and a deep understanding of social networks, mobile devices, and digital video matter most," wrote BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti in a memo. [emailonly]{{{ sbox02 }}}[/emailonly]

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Social Media Newsfeed: Tech Firms Offer Egg Freezing | Google Takes on Amazon

Facebook and Apple will pay for employees to get their eggs frozen. Google steps up its competition with Amazon. These stories, and more, in today's Morning Social Media Newsfeed.

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