The catalyst of late was the release of Poke– a rip off of surging Snapchat. When it launched a handful of Valley insiders were expressing embarrassment that the first real new feature the company was launching in a while was a defensive rip off of a hot new company. Now, about a week later, blogs are piling on with news that Poke isn’t even doing well, with some arguing that Facebook may not even be that powerful of a distribution mechanism anymore.

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s compensation totaled less than $4.2 million in 2012, down from $378 million last year [THE NEXT WEB]

According to the filing, Apple CEO Tim Cook’s compensation totaled a mere $4,174,992. That may seem tiny, considering Apple’s $480 billion+ market cap, but there’s a reason for it. …

The total compensation for the four senior Apple executive offices, other than CEO Tim Cook, in 2012 thus totaled:

– $85,540,637 for Bob Mansfield
– $68,989,812 for Bruce Sewell
– $68,691,612 for Williams
– $68,591,562 for Peter Oppenheimer

Amazon sees its biggest holiday season ever, tops online shopping survey while Apple, Dell, & JCP decline [TECHCRUNCH]

“At this point, Amazon has been dominant for so long and has such a history of focusing on the customer, its hard to imagine anyone else coming close,” noted Larry Freed, ForeSee president and CEO in a statement. “Companies should emulate Amazon’s focus on the customer, which is clearly linked to superior revenues over the years.”

How Warby Parker reinvented retail [INC.]

It was 2010, and the company, which sells eyeglasses online, was flooded with orders after being featured in the pages of Vogue and GQ. With 15 styles sold out in four weeks, and a waiting list 20,000 people long, the founders had to temporarily shut down the site’s home try-on program, which lets customers order glasses to try on before buying them. Suddenly, Blumenthal says, he and his co-founders, all Wharton MBA students, were fielding calls from customers asking if there was anywhere they could go to try the glasses on in person.

Why we love to hate Myspace [THE VERGE]

From here, the new Myspace looks like a tough sell because it’s kind of a Monet: pretty at first glance, but get up close and it dissolves into a jumble. Whether it flops or hits, one thing’s for sure — everyone will be watching.

Box’s gameplan for 2013: A third-party app economy; expanding security and more [TECHCRUNCH]

Another area where we may see Box make some movement is in acquisitions. Levie said he is in talks with an acquisition target now, and may make a few strategic acquisitions in the coming year, though these moves will be more technology and talent, not for users, he cautions. Security is one area where he feels an acquisition may make sense. Despite being six years old, Box has only acquired one company in its history–Increo Solutions back in 2009.

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