Mark Zuckerberg wants to make us all smarter

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The new selection for his online book club is an 800-page thesis from a Harvard psychologist about violence in society. His first choice was no common beach read either: a modestly-selling 300-page argument about how the "antiestablishment drive of micropowers can topple tyrants, dislodge monopolies, and open remarkable new opportunities, but it can also lead to chaos and paralysis."

His book selections so far, combined with Facebook's (FB, Tech30) algorithms that value the substantive over so-called clickbait, say something about the community Zuckerberg is looking to build.

"My goal was never really to make Facebook cool," Zuckerberg said in a chat with users last year. "I am not a cool person, and I've never really tried to be cool."

Related: Don't believe this Facebook hoax

His book club is dedicated to "learning about new cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies." It has collected more than 270,000 fans since launching on Jan. 2, and sales of the first book, "The End of Power" by Moises Naim, spiked after Zuckerberg revealed it as his first read.

The new selection is Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined." It argues that violence among humans has declined over time. "If we understand how we are achieving this, we can continue our path towards peace," Zuckerberg wrote.

Zuckerberg hasn't always been focus on learning. He's among Harvard University's most famous dropouts, leaving the school in 2004 to expand what was then TheFacebook.com.

Related: Facebook kicks drone business into high gear

First Published: January 19, 2015: 9:31 AM ET

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Amazon is going to make movies

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company announced Monday that its Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) Studios division -- the same one that is behind TV shows like "Transparent" -- will "begin to produce and acquire original movies." The first movies will enter production later this year.

Amazon didn't announce any specific projects. But it said the movies will be released first in theaters and only a little while later on the company's streaming video service.

"Whereas it typically takes 39 to 52 weeks for theatrical movies to premiere on subscription video services, Amazon Original Movies will premiere on Prime Instant Video in the U.S. just 4 to 8 weeks after their theatrical debut," the company said in a press release.

The announcement opens a new front in Amazon's competition against Netflix (NFLX, Tech30), which is also financing movies and trying to shorten the window of time between theatrical release and online release.

In August, Netflix is scheduled to premiere a sequel to the 2000 hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" at the same time IMAX moviegoers can see it in theaters.

Amazon's strategy is a bit different, by committing to releasing films in theaters first, while still shortening the window of time it takes to get them online.

Roy Price, the vice president of Amazon Studios, said the company's goal is ambitious: to "create close to twelve movies a year."

Amazon said its development efforts -- reading scripts, acquiring movies, etcetera -- will be led by Ted Hope, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine.

Hope, whose title will be head of production for Amazon Original Movies, said: "Audiences already recognize that Amazon has raised the bar with productions in the episodic realm, tackling bold material in unique ways and collaborating with top talent, both established and emerging. To help carry the torch into the feature film world for such an innovative company is a tremendous opportunity and responsibility."

Related: Woody Allen to create his first television series for Amazon

First Published: January 19, 2015: 9:19 AM ET

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Facebook has more than 1,100 jobs to fill

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company's staffing level jumped by 44% in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, according to a company filing, growing Facebook's headcount to 8,348 jobs as of that date. Facebook's year-end employment level is not yet available.

Many of the job openings on the company's site are for advertising sales. There are 126 ad sales job postings listed.

But Facebook's move into new areas is also fueling its growth. Its Oculus virtual reality unit has 52 job openings listed, and its effort to have drones provide Internet access to different parts of the globe has the company looking to hire aerospace mechanical technicians, avionics engineers and a flight test manager.

Related: Facebook, Apple pay to freeze employees' eggs

The company is also looking for 43 recruiters and 28 human resources job openings to help it handle the flood of hiring it expects to do.

Facebook (FB, Tech30) was not immediately available for comment on the hiring plans, which were first detailed in a story by wire service Reuters.

"We are an ambitious company run by an ambitious CEO," Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told Reuters in an interview. "Our users are growing and our business is growing and we want to support that."

Related: Mark Zuckerberg wants to make us all smarter

Facebook still has a relatively lean workforce compared to other tech companies. LinkedIn (LNKD, Tech30), another social networking company, had just over 5,000 employees despite having only one-fifth of the revenue of Facebook.

First Published: January 19, 2015: 9:45 AM ET

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Fox News apologizes 4 times for inaccurate comments about Muslims in Europe

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Several of the cases involved incendiary comments about "no-go zones" in Europe, where Islamic law supposedly supersedes local law and where non-Muslims fear to go.

Other media outlets have accused Fox of exaggerations and falsehoods, and even British Prime Minister David Cameron mocked one of the assertions.

On Saturday, Fox apologized morning, noon and night.

Jeanine Pirro issued the final correction of the day, at 9:10 p.m., for something her guest Steve Emerson said a week earlier: that Birmingham, England is a "totally Muslim city where non-Muslims don't go in." Emerson was ridiculed for his comments, and he subsequently apologized.

"Last week on this program, a guest made a serious factual error that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected," Pirro said. 

She went on to say that "the most recent census data, which is from 2011, indicates 22% of the population of Birmingham identifies themselves as Muslim. Also, we could find no credible source that indicates Birmingham is a so-called no-go zone."

Related: Murdoch and Fox draw online backlash

"No-go zones" have been a theme on Fox. Critics have accused the network of advancing a frightening narrative that demeans peaceful Muslims.

Earlier on Saturday, on the morning show "Fox & Friends," co-host Anna Kooiman referred to the previous week's program, when "we showed a map of neighborhoods in France labeled as no-go zones."

"Some of the neighborhoods were highlighted incorrectly," she said. "We apologize for the error."

Earlier this week, a French comedy television show observed that the map in question was identical to a map, made by the French government in 1996, of poor neighborhoods in need of help.

One of Saturday's apologies was prompted by something said on the network just a few hours prior.

An anchor at 1 p.m., Julie Banderas, asked guest Jessie Jane Duff to talk about a poll measuring support for the terror group ISIS in Europe.

"The EU poll shows that 69% of the Muslims in France actually support I.S., ISIS," Duff responded. "And not only that, when you look at that same survey, throughout all of Europe, it's relatively very similar, as high as 40% in some locations."

That's not true. Eric Shawn, an anchor at 4 p.m., followed up. "We at Fox News have subsequently determined that that poll is not credible, and should not have been used or referred to, and we apologize for that error."

Banderas was back at the anchor desk at 7 p.m. And she delivered the most thorough correction of the day -- a blanket apology to "the people of France and England."

"Over the course of this last week we have made some regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe -- particularly with regard to England and France," Banderas said.

"This applies especially to discussions of so-called 'no-go zones,' areas where non-Muslims allegedly aren't allowed in, and police supposedly won't go."

"To be clear," she continued, "there is no formal designation of these zones in either country, and no credible information to support the assertion there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion."

"There are certainly areas of high crime in Europe, as there are in the United States and other countries -- where police and visitors enter with caution," she said. "We deeply regret the errors, and apologize to any and all who may have taken offense, including the people of France and England."

Pirro, on her 9 p.m. show, also said "we deeply regret these errors."

Then she encouraged viewers to vote in her show's weekly Internet poll: "Will our free speech suffer so that we can say nothing negative about Islam?"

First Published: January 18, 2015: 8:10 AM ET

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This $3,300 refrigerator has a Keurig coffee maker built in

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The $3,300 GE Café series refrigerator features a Keurig (GMCR) K-Cup brewer that uses the fridge's filtered water to make a single cup of joe.

To make a cup of coffee, you snap the brewer out of the fridge's water tap, put in a K-Cup coffee pod and slide the brewer back into the water dispenser. The fridge will ask you what size you want. After the fridge heats up the water, you push a safety knob to the left (so you don't accidentally scald yourself), and your fridge will brew the coffee.

General Electric (GE) had already brought hot water dispensers to some of its refrigerators over the past couple years -- also a first for the industry.

Dan Goldstein, GE's refrigeration marketing manager, said the company surveyed customers who had bought the hot water dispensing fridges, and asked them what they'd like to see next.

"They asked us, 'When can we have a refrigerator that dispenses coffee or tea?'" Goldstein said. "In fact, two-thirds said they'd be interested in a single-serve hot beverage dispenser."

The fridge will be available in the fall. In the meantime, you'll have to reserve a place on your counter for coffee brewing.

First Published: January 18, 2015: 7:08 AM ET

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Charlie Hebdo editor says Mohammed cartoons 'defend the freedom of religion'

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

He said the magazine's newest cover image, published in the wake of the January 7 terrorist attack at its Paris office, "is not just a little figure, a little Mohammed drawn by Luz. It's a symbol."

"It's the symbol of freedom of speech, of freedom of religion, of democracy, and secularism," Biard said.

Biard spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview that was taped on Saturday and televised on Sunday. He spoke in French through a translator.

"Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd asked Biard about the decision by many news outlets, including NBC and CNN, not to republish the cover image. CNN has cited safety concerns and the fact that some Muslims are highly offended by depictions of the prophet.

Biard said he sympathized with newspapers "in totalitarian regimes" that choose not to show the cartoon, but "on the other hand, I am quite critical of newspapers which are published in democratic countries."

When those news outlets "refuse to publish this cartoon, when they blur it out, when they decline to publish it, they blur out democracy, secularism, freedom of religion, and they insult the citizenship," Biard said.

Furthermore, Biard said "we must stop declaring that those who write and draw are 'provocateurs,' and are throwing gas on the fire. We must not place thinkers and artists in the same category as murderers."

A co-founder of the magazine, Henri Roussel, recently said that he thought the magazine went too far by publishing Mohammed cartoons even after the Paris office was firebombed in 2011. Biard did not respond directly, but indicated that he disagreed.

Biard did not say anything about plans for future issues of the magazine. Editors and distributors of other French publication have promised to support the once-obscure satirical magazine for months and years to come, if needed.

On Saturday the distributor of the magazine, MLP, said it had increased the total printing of Wednesday's "survivors issue" to 7 million in response to unprecedented public demand.

Related: Charlie Hebdo now printing 7 million copies

A spokesman for MLP said he had no new updates on Sunday.

Biard -- who was in London at the time of the attack -- told NBC that some of the surviving staff members of Charlie Hebdo are still hospitalized.

"Some of the injured are still in serious condition," he said.

"And then there are also those who were present during the attack but who escaped injury," he said. "They are trying individually to understand why they escaped unharmed. They are also trying to process how they helped the wounded. It's very difficult to process because one obviously feels an enormous relief mixed with a sense of guilt."

Related: Fox News apologizes 4 times for inaccurate comments about Muslims in Europe

First Published: January 18, 2015: 9:54 AM ET

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Charlie Hebdo co-founder: Prophet cartoons went too far

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Henri Roussel, now 80, wrote a letter with his views in the wake of the terrorist attack at the magazine's office in Paris. Twelve people were killed, including Charbonnier, known as "Charb."

Roussel called Charbonnier "brilliant" but "stubborn." He said he thought the magazine went too far with its provocative images, particularly after the 2011 firebombing of the office. That incident came at the same time the magazine published a cover image depicting the prophet.

"What made him feel the need to drag the team into overdoing it?" Roussel asked, according to an English translation of his letter in the French-language magazine Nouvel Obs.

"I'm upset at you, Charb," he added.

Roussel's remarks mimic the public debate about the appropriateness of Charlie Hebdo's depictions of the prophet.

According to British media reports, Charlie Hebdo lawyer Richard Malka condemned Roussel's comments, calling them "polemical and venomous."

The magazine's so-called "survivors' issue," published Wednesday, expressed appreciation for the outpouring of public support after the January 7 attack. The support continues, with sellouts at newsstands across Paris on Friday for a third day in a row.

"It's still sold out almost everywhere we look," CNN's John Berman said.

About 1 million copies of the magazine are being printed each day. Michel Salion, a spokesman for the magazine's distributor, said technical problems will result in fewer copies than expected on Saturday; normal distribution will resume on Monday.

"Merci de votre patience," he wrote on Twitter -- "thank you for your patience."

Meanwhile, opposition to the new issue's cover image, which portrays the Prophet Mohammed, turned violent during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday. Demonstrators tried to march to the French consulate but were turned back by police water cannons and tear gas.

A photographer working for AFP, a wire service based in Paris, was shot during the chaos.

"Investigations are underway to determine who shot him," Ahmed Chinoy, chief of Karachi's Citizen Police Liaison Committee, told CNN.

--CNN's Sophia Saifi contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.

First Published: January 16, 2015: 5:32 PM ET

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