live from pier three in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west," where we cover innovation, technology, and the future of business. i am emily chang. hadas no assets, has never any revenue, and yet it is up 28% today, 35,000% in the last few months. does this company, with a more than $5 billion market cap, really exist? the microsoft the ceo has unveiled his first vision statement as ceo. u.s. to shift the company from devices and services to productivity, mobile and cloud. this comes as the decline in pc

sales is slowing as tablet sales start to fall. it was an uber ride one man will never forget, saying it was like an episode of "cops." it took off to avoid idc taxi inspector and started racing down the highway. he said he physically tried to get the driver to slow down and old out -- got out when it pulled to an exit ramp. market cap greater than established tech companies like zillow and yelled. -- yelp. cynk technology is up today and is sort of 35,000% since may. but it is unclear what exactly it does. it is associated with a website which claims to be some sort of social marketplace. the company lists just one

employee and reported zero revenue in the last three years. is it a sign of a tech bubble? out, weus figure this have julie hyman, senior markets correspondent in new york, as well as blue review columnist -- bloomberg review columnist matt levine, and a bloomberg contributing editor who has invested in companies that have sold to twitter and others. does this company really exist? >> unclear. i don't think we can say this has anything to do with the social media or technology bubble. it appears to be a routine pump mp, although we have to do digging into that. it is not like there are other people buying and bidding up the stock. here is what we do know, and it is precious little. there was a website associated with the company. you pay for connections to

celebrities or other people, but it is unclear if you can actually do that. i think matt tried and it didn't quite work. there are different people associated with the company. i spoke to an out of her of the company who said it is a shell company for people to come up with social media ideas. i spoke to an attorney and he has not yet returned my calls. ceo of the company -- i believe this would be the third or fourth -- again, this is a letter from the attorney and it is not clear how much validity as, but he lists an address in belize. i called the office building and there is no suite 400, they never heard of the guy, never heard of the company. still a little mysterious what is going on. belize,n address in appears to be incorporated in nevada. how does a company that doesn't

appear to really have a product get a $5 billion market cap? way, toweird sort of use the old software expression, that is actually a feature, not a bug. -- don'thave somebody have somebody on the other side is as we do this and this and this, or here's a bunch of press releases describing what we do, thatit comes to an otc, works in the favor of people who want to run them up because there was no one on the other side and it is difficult to short and if there is no news flow in the other direction on the company saying that this is reflective of what we do -- i make the analogy that are motors are like what insects are two cadavers. they colonize a dead host. and then they become self-perpetuating. apple is ofison, 18,000% since 1980. the company is of like 35,000% at this point.

matt, does it appear this company has any value? >> it is hard to say. i sort of like the business idea in theory but i think what is happening looks more like if you and i start a company and we give one billion shares to me and one billion shares to you, and then we have a company worth nothing. but if i sell you one share for our dollar all of a sudden we have a $2 billion company. and then we go to someone else and say here is this for billion dollar company and the stock price just double, don't you want in? that is the traditional pump and dump scam and it is not clear exactly what is happening here. there is no business model, or very little of one. >> if you look at how it has been training, there wasn't much action over the last year. over the last few days there has been this huge pop. >> there was no action, not even

little action. in january and february, no -- in january, no shares traded hands of this company. and then the volume spike in june. it went to 100,000 shares over the course of the month. we are almost at that level this month alone. something change, whether it int, peoplet's po trading back and forth amongst themselves or what. i talked to kenneth carter, the gentle man listed as the ceo and a bunch of other positions -- treasurer, secretary, cfo, a grab bag of positions that she was the only employee listed in -- he was the only employee listed in the s-1 january 2012. he said he did not know that the guy who took over for him, the guy who founded the company, and he got out before the shares started trading. he seems ruffled other hernalists conflicting --

seems to have told other journalists conflicting things so there is still a lot of murkiness. >> who are these people trading shares of cynk technology? >> this is always the problem. on, the bestearly guess is insiders or people opportunistically swapping a shell company's shares back and forth and hoping that the price appreciation would bring evil in ringa carny barker -- people in like a carny barker, tossing a basketball at the circus. all of a sudden you have people coming in and saying this is moving and look, it seems to have something vaguely to do with linkedin or social connections on that kind of stuff. there is a story there and it is good enough for a stunningly disappointingly large number of investors and i use that word very loosely. this is adly, matt, website that charges you to become friends with famous people. you actually try to use it and

you couldn't. befriendi tried to people i knew were on it but i do not look into it with that much care. the financial statements they've put out have always shown zero revenue. if you go to their website and it will show you this famous person has sold this many french of for $50 per person -- this many friendships for $50 per person. that never goes into the company's financial stamens. it is weird where the website tells you they are selling relationships and making money in the financials don't say that. >> i talked to the auditor and he said the last time he was in touch with the company was october 2013. under were filing said they were not going to put in financial reports anymore. in that case, the company goes away or starts reporting on the pink sheets and it appears that is what happened. it just speaks to the fact that it is a little bit wild westy

here. >> paul, does this remind you of 1999? is this a one-off or are there other "companies" out there like this. >> we have a whole marketplace where you can do this for the thing should you choose to, unfortunately. i am going to disagree with julia little bit. i think this is reminiscent in some ways of the late '90s. you had these experiences were people see if i can get the right narrative for the right thinly traded stock that nobody beganng to -- it happening more and more and more because you could make quick money doing it. the key will be if the sec stetson or anybody steps in and says, the end. it sure seems like nonsense. nonetheless, somebody steps and quickly or it will be to you easy to do this. >> cynk technology has dropped

in the last few minutes. i don't know if it is because of us. [laughter] thanks to all of you. says nothing is off the tablet when it comes to changing the culture at microsoft. here more from his latest letter to employees, next. you can watch a streaming on your phone, tablet, bloomberg.com, apple tv, and m's on fire tv.

>> welcome back to "money cli "g west." i am emily chang. the ftc has said that amazon did not implement measures like password requirements to prevent

kids from purchasing items on their parents' accounts. amazon says it gave refunds for unwanted purchases. microsoft ceo satya nadella is shifting the company mission from devices and services to productivity, mobile, and cloud. in a new letter to employees he writes he also says that microsoft sees plenty of opportunity in mobile. new reportmes amid a that microsoft may still have a bright future selling its windows operating system. pc sales fell just 1.7% in the second quarter, the smallest quarterly drop in at 2 years, as tablet shipments decline for the

very first time, falling to 56 million units in the first quarter. what is the future of tablets, pc's, microsoft? , a researchall down analyst. the pc may be alive but it sounds like the tablet is dying. what is going on? >> what you are fighting is that these categories are settling out. it was an interesting dialogue the last few years that declared the death of the pc, that people was and we need these lean back consumption tablet devices. what we're seeing is that these low-end tablets have propagated many kinds of uses but they have not nailed that lean forward full experience that you need in especially a business environment. what you are finding is that they are finding a bottom, and we have expected this.

we are seeing it is starting to happen and we see that it is starting to stabilize. what hasn't totally stabilize, although we are seeing signs of stabilization, is the consumer segment. the consumer segment has been assaulted by these low-end tablets. what you will see in the future is shorter product lifecycles could we are starting to see a level of saturation in the tablet site and the stabilization on the pc side. >> what do you think? more hope for pc's than for tablets? >> i think there is. as crawford points out, the consumer pc business is still in a tough spot. >> every time someone predicts the death of it we get new numbers -- >> pc's are not dead. that story is an old, crazy story. we have to look at a resettling of what is going on. where i differ with crawford is that i think the lifetime on tablets are going to b late

and, which is going to be a challenge. i wrote a column called "the ra," because i thought the signs were showing him then that we would see this tablet market settle out. the other thing we have to look at his smartphones, because all these categories start to blend together. when you look at a 5.5-inch screen, six-inch screen smartphone, all of a sudden if i have that device, why do i need a seven-inch tablet? i don't. that becomes a big challenge. then you say the best, nation of devices for me is a large phone and a pc. that becomes the ideal combination, especially in business. >> anecdotally, just for myself, when i am on the go use my phone and when i want to get real work done i use my laptop.

this comment from satya nadella was bold, inspirational, very long. what is your take? what are you pulling out of it? >> what i pull out of it and what i thought was very fascinating is music knowledge meant that the tech industry does not really look to the past, it looks to the future. -- ii see here is satya disagree a bit with your opening comment that it is not about services. i think microsoft is all about services. they are sitting on top of an incredibly valuable franchise with office. that is the language of how people get things done around the world. i think they want to unlock the value of those kind of services, in addition to things like skype and one drive. what they want to do is they want to differentiate on microsoft product. that is where he doubts about a brighter light on microsoft

devices. but he acknowledges they will be on all devices. towards the cloud i think is really -- it is a continuation of a long strategy and is a very good articulation of the fact that microsoft wants to participate on all kinds of devices with their services, consumer and enterprise. >> and yet they are putting resources at microsoft behind 3. surfacepro this is a tablet they have lost $1 billion on and here we are seeing the tablet market is saturating. >> the thing with service -- surfacepro 3 is they're calling it a tablet but they should be calling it a hybrid or convertible device. >> it is much more like a laptop. >> and i've been arguing with folks in the pc industry -- calling it 2 in 1 and size is 50% pc and 50% tablet. 5%se devices are 90-95% pc,

tablet. that is fine, that is ok. what they are doing is saying here is an example of what you can do. yes, they are competing for not really competing that much. i completely agree with crawford's assessment. i think this is a smart move by microsoft. they are setting themselves up to be able to provide services regardless of the underlying platform, and that is where they differentiate themselves from google and apple. those companies are much more closed jda are not as willing to open up their services to other people. microsoft is saying we will continue to do our own os but we will embrace these other platforms. we will do office on entry, office on -- office on android, office on ios. in the long run that will be extremely important. >> crawford, how optimistic are you on what you have seen from

nadella so far? is he the guy that will turn microsoft around for a reasonable period of time? >> i am quite optimistic, emily. people are more excited at microsoft. he is trying to drive more innovation at microsoft. as bob said, the next few years are going to show us basically whether an end-to-end solution or this modular world works. i think what microsoft wants to focus on is taking advantage of this modular world, and nadella is moving there through services. i'm very optimistic that he can turn the ship. both forght, thank you joining us. we will be right back.

>> welcome back to "bloomberg west."

i am emily chang. uber is facing more questions about her driver who took a wild ride on a high-speed chase. that is the lead story in today's "viral roundup." he said his latest ride in washington, d.c. was like an episode of "cops." it took off to avoid an inspector and ran red lights. he tried to get the driver to slow down. the passengers got out when the driver got cornered on an exit ramp. uber says the driver was fired. is the potato salad party over? ckstarter campaign to make a potato salad has lost $30,000 overnight. it had raised more than $70,000 to make a better potato salad. this number has -- this morning the number has fallen to $43,000. "bloomberg west" reached out for

comment but we have not heard back yet. how's this for a dream job -- getting paid to watch netflix? the company is paying people to watch tv shows and movies and described them. they are working on blogger them stupid shows based on -- working on algorithms to pick shows based on watching history. we explain new rules that could impact summer travel plans next. watch us streaming on your tablet, phone, apple tv, and amazon fire tv. >> it is 26 minutes after the hour and that means bloomberg television is "on the markets." stocks are off the lows of the session could remember the big selloff in europe triggered by concerns of financial stress in portugal and spreading throughout europe and the u.s. it looks like telecoms,

agility's, and some technology stemming the declines. the consumer discretionary are taking the most pain.

>> you are watching "bloomberg ont," where we focus innovation, technology, and the future of business. i am emily chang. the tsa is upping security for some passengers at u.s. airports and it involves mobile devices. yang yang joins us from reagan national airport to explain why your phone needs to be on when you go through security. what is the latest? >> the big question we are all asking is did they find a phone bomb? that is something we don't have an answer for.

tsahis point in time the has not named a reason or specific threat or incident for these new rules. u.s. authorities have been on heightened alert to prevent terrorist activity from al qaeda stemming from yemen or syria. they could be a u.s. airliner. the department of homeland security announced a directive requiring u.s.-bound travelers to europe -- from europe or the middle east to power on the phones to prove that they are -- notd not just guys disguise explosives as they embark on planes coming to the united states. that rule is being expanded to domestic flights in the united states, according to 2 people familiar with the matter, who were not able to disclose the names because this is not public yet. they spoke to tsa offices to say if they knew about the requirement.

something we all know is that the tsa has these rules the travelers don't always love. in 2001 we had the shoe inspection requirement. in2006 we had the limits carry-on liquids from liquid explosives plot that was foiled by british police. and now in 2014 we have this potential for having turned -- having to turn on mobile phones. again, explanation for why this is, but the message should travelers is make sure your phones are charged. they are taking this seriously. no sweet talking your way out of this one. >> what if your phone is in charge -- isn't charged? >> you have to throw it out or figure out a way to send it to wherever you are going.

if you are someone who likes going to the airport a little earlier, find a spot to charge your phone. but if you are like me and show up at the last moment you might be out of luck. some airlines have disclose how they plan on dealing with this. british airways say they will pay to help you shape your phone to your destination. if you can't go through security, go to an agent and they will help you with that. virgin airlines says they won't help you, it is up to you. american airlines said if you want to take extra time to charge your phone they will help you book a new flight free of charge. but who wants that? >> may be the tsa should set up a charging station, right? >> maybe they should fit right now all the charging stations are past security. but at this point in time it sounds like they don't want to be with that burden. the charging will have to be on the burden of the travelers. >> yang yang at reagan national

airport, thanks so much. on what specific threats to be hiding in mobile devices, we turn to the senior policy director of the united states travel association. said, nobody has said why they are doing this, but did they find a phone bomb somewhere? >> there are concerns that the technology may have been developed, that there are now ways for bad actors to plant explosives in small electronic devices. they can be hollowed out and could be difficult to detect with current x-ray machines. this is an added layer of security to guard against the threat. there don't seem to be specific out in the general public at this time. why can't machines detect this and should we be worried that they can't? >> well, they can. it is difficult to tell whether

the electronics are native electronics that are supposed to be there or if it is actually explosives that have been implanted in hollowed out of ice -- hollowed out device. because that is difficult to tell the tsa has decided they will do extra checks by making travelers turn on their cell phone or power on their electronic device just to make sure it is not something that could threaten to bring down aircraft. >> first it was international travelers, and now it is to master travelers -- domestic travelers. are we going to see more and more of this? >> tsa more and more is doing selective process for the screening. if you remember the shoe bomber or the underwear bomber or the liquids lot, all of those security measures were carried out in a one-size-fits-all fashion. everybody had to take off their shoes, everybody had to take out the liquids. now you see tsa employing a

risk-based approach where they are targeting-airports, a high threat individuals who they think pose a risk to the system. these added layers of security are targeting those individuals or areas that may pose a higher risk than others. i don't think this is something that is going to impact everyday travelers. is not something you can count on 100% of happening in the airport. but it is something to keep in mind and prepare for just in case. >> i know they have been on heightened alert for people traveling to certain countries. as the threat level been raised? >> i don't know that it has been raised. it is probably a change to the landscape more so than a heightened threat due to a specific plot. i think we are living in the same world we were before except there is new technology out there that could perhaps pose a threat and tsa is guarding against that. >> senior policy director of the

united states travel association, thanks for sharing your thoughts. netflix scored big at the emmy nominations, getting nods for best drama and best comedy.

>> welcome back to "bloomberg west." i am emily chang. netflix doubled down on its emmy in the running for 6 of the top categories, including "house of cards" for best drama and "orange is the new black" for best comedy. as usual, hbo led the pack with 99 nominations. we want to revisit a story we told you about earlier. amazon has been sued by the federal trade commission for making it too easy to make

purchases on mobile apps without parents permission. the ftc says amazon charge parents millions of dollars for inapt purchases. joining us from new york is pulsed when he -- paul sweeney, bloomberg industries director of research. what exactly happened here? >> with the 4 kids myself, i know how this can happen. >> kind of a nightmare. >> there requires obviously some parental controls, but the key issue for amazon and even apple, who has come to an agreement ofh the ftc -- it is tens millions of dollars we're talking about in terms of refunds that amazon has had to make. but clearly it is a public relations issue that amazon and even apple wants to stay ahead of and make sure it doesn't become a problem as it relates to their position with

consumers, particularly parents. >> what kinds of things were kids buying? >> all kinds of goods and services within apps. if somebody's playing a game that requires them to buy something or a dollar here or , a lots part of the game of those purchases can be done very seamlessly within the app. this requires a fair amount of control on the part of the app developer, on a part of amazon, and the parent as well. it has been an issue on the fringe with a lot of these app games, and a lot of the folks that -- platformers, whether it is amazon or apple, they need to stay on top of it. >> do we know how much the ftc is alleging amazon made office? a we don't, but just for point of reference, the fines, restitution's in terms of return fees that apple paid is about

$32 million. for avely small number company the size of amazon so it is not exactly a risk for them, but arguably it is a public relations risk. i think what amazon is claiming here is that they are abiding by the agreement that apple agreed to with the ftc in terms of how they police this issue. from amazon's perspective that they feel like they are in compliance. amazon does give 30% of all those purchases but what exactly have they said about it? they said they are in compliance. what kind of statements have been made? >> they're generally pretty quiet. in the immediate term, the news of the suit just came out today. i suspect they will work with the ftc for resolution on this.

they deal with the federal trade commission on a wide variety of matters across all other business lines. given the relatively small financial impact to amazon, i suspect they will negotiate in good faith with the ftc and get this behind them. >> paul sweeney, thanks so much for sharing that developing story with us. a and new mobile apps. we will speak with the ceo of the company up next.

bloombergily chang on television and this is "bloomberg west." taskrabbit has revamped its website to better help

customers. so how exactly does taskrabbit work? we take a look at a day in the life of one of taskrabbit's taskers. helmet on, feed said, it is just another day at the office. >> in an average day i might do six to four deliveries. living -- hes earns his living doing chores for people using website called taskrabbit. everything from furniture assemblage you have steeping to -- to housekeeping to sushi delivery. technology has ushered in a new era of sharing. airbnb lets you rent out a room in your house. if you need to rent a bicycle,

you can do that on spinlister. only 10% of taskrabbits do enough tasks to make a living on the site. the rest are part-timers. justin is peddling hard. in a typical day he earns about $200. his tasks today involve buying a diver bag for an expectant mother. >> as long as i stay professional,i' i'm free. >> what does the new and improved taskrabbit, launching today, involve? joining me is the founder. thanks for joining me. so what does it involve? >> we have been working on it for a while. we launched this new model in london the last 6 months. over the last 12 month alone reacquired 12.5 million users.

we just need to better match supply and demand. thing?t an algorithm what is the tweak? >> before you leave the website you know who you are working with and what you are going to pay and what is going to get done. we have made pricing and payments super easy. numbersus an idea of and users. >> we have almost 30,000 taskers across the u.s. and are in 19 cities now. growth,een tremendous and with this evolution of the new product, it is going to more efficiently match supply and demand. >> there has been this question of how big this business can become. is it more of a niche thing? is it a big future thing? >> what we are seeing is that the majority of our tasks are happening in and around the

home. you see with the new taskrabbit that we focus on home services and we have always been a trusted leader in the home service category. you will have listings for handyman, housecleaning, shopping and deliveries -- and it is those categories that are making up the majority of the service. in the new taskrabbit we make it simpler than ever to get those things done. >> monday tasks like helping to clean your house, but what is the most expensive and crazy task that has ever been on taskrabbit? >> i have a new perspective because as a new mom myself i know how hard it is to pull everything together sometimes. pose for myne four-year-old's zebra-themed birthday party. oryou found this one night had the idea when you could not get dr. for your dog -- could it not get dogfood for your dog.

>> it was a wintry boston evening and i was out of dog food and i thought there had to be someone in my neighborhood who could help me out. amazon is doing a listing site later this year. how big a threat is that? >> i love seeing these n andtutions come i validate this market. having amazon even think about potentially coming in to play in this space is exciting. >> what are your plans for extension? london was recent. >> london was the last number six months. you will see more global expansion from us the next year or so. much asight, thanks so always for joining us. well, it is time for the b.west bite, where we focus on one number that tells us a whole lot. jon erlichman is in sun valley.

what have you got? i know you have been hobnobbing. >> how about $1800, emily? that is the price of stylized google glass, courtesy of diane von furstenberg, a regular here at sun valley. a couple years ago she started talking with the google gang. obviously, we have seen sergey brin make appearances on the runway in new york with the google glass being a big part of it. they work on branded google glass, more fashionable. you have got to buy the original google glass, $1500, but then you get a little dvf style. she was sporting her first pair of these stylized guy fun? -- diane von furstenberg google glass. what are your business expectations? >> i don't know.

it was a great collaboration and i love working with technology and it is just the beginning. >> will not be developed here? -- was that developed here? >> yes, it started here 2 years ago. >> there you go, emily. sometimes we talk about deals, mergers. here is a conversation that led to cool glasses. >> you know, if anybody can make google glass fashionable, it is dvf. it looked for a goo -- looked pretty good. >> it doesn't sound like she is with the all-purpose wear for her good white water rafting -- i'm not sure if google glass is perfect for that so far. but it is interesting that fashion accessories are here, and technology is present beyond google glass, smart

watches can be found. we had a conversation with david kenny from the weather company. paul jacobs, chairman and qualcomm -- qualcomm has made a big push into smart watches. yesterday we talked about how tim cook seemed a little offended that a bloomberg news reporter would ask him questions holding a sensing device -- samsung device. i don't know if tim cook is keeping an eye on the smart watches people are sporting good that this is full of smart, innovative people come and they know the cameras are around and they might get pictures, too. >> i don't think they would look as good on anyone else as they do on her. but on the subject of deals, has anything happened? what is the biggest news? went weger of disney ask him today said "you tell me." there always is a number of

discussions that pop up in the press surrounding an event like this, and certainly -- it is not to say that there isn't anything happening. we find ourselves right smack in the middle of 2 major transactions, as he highlighted. the fact that you have this at&t -directv transaction and additionally the comcast-time warner cable deal, and how can you not think that everybody else was wondering how the chips are going to fall or play out from here? you had dish coming out against -comcast warner hig cable deal. we will see. >> all right, jon erlichman. we are watching disney ceo bob iger walking in, jeffrey katzenberg, michael dell. we will continue to follow whether you can bring us any more scoops. thanks so much, jon erlichman, senior west coast correspondent at sun valley. thank you for watching this edition of "bloomberg west."

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>> from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is matt miller in for mark crumpton. this is "bloomberg online." today, tsa expands mobile device checks to domestic flights. then a look at the sun valley conference. ."o's "game of thrones dominated the emmy nominations. two viewers in the united states and those of you joining us from the world, welcome. we have full coverage of the stocks and stories nicking headlines around the globe today. peter cook and highlights from his interview with rob portman. phil mattingly has a bloomberg exclusive