Goldman Sachs released a chart that shows how tech companies have dominated recently.

It highlights top companies by size, charted for the past 10 years.

2015 marked the first time the top three largest companies in the world were all technology firms.

 

Goldman Sachs via Business Insider.

As the falling oil price pushed Exxon Mobil dropped out of the top three for the first time.  Meanwhile, Google (sorry, Alphabet) and Microsoft took two and three this year.

The list is dominated by tech companies, which take five of the top ten slots.  It also shows the relative decline of the financial sector, which had three companies in the top 10 before the 2008 crisis. This year, Wells Fargo is the only bank.

 

Goldman Sachs released a chart that shows how tech companies have dominated recently.

It highlights top companies by size, charted for the past 10 years.

2015 marked the first time the top three largest companies in the world were all technology firms.

 

Goldman Sachs via Business Insider.

As the falling oil price pushed Exxon Mobil dropped out of the top three for the first time.  Meanwhile, Google (sorry, Alphabet) and Microsoft took two and three this year.

The list is dominated by tech companies, which take five of the top ten slots.  It also shows the relative decline of the financial sector, which had three companies in the top 10 before the 2008 crisis. This year, Wells Fargo is the only bank.

 

Getting ready for the New Year!

   

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Can You Get Smarter? (NYTimes)
• 10 Things You Might Not Know About Geniuses. (ChicagoTribune)
• The Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016. (Gartner)
• YouTube's Top 10 Music Videos of the Year. (Mashable)
• Best USA TODAY Photos of 2015. (USA Today)

 

Trading Links:

• 2016: The Year Ahead. (Bank of America – ML)
• Robert Reich on Why Capitalism Needs Saving. (RollingStone)
• Google will Spin-Off Driverless Cars Into a Separate Company (BW)
• Mark Zuckerberg and the Changing Nature of Philanthropy. (FT)
• Peter Lynch, 25 Years Later: It’s Not Just ‘Invest in What You Know’. (WSJ)

Getting ready for the New Year!

   

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Can You Get Smarter? (NYTimes)
• 10 Things You Might Not Know About Geniuses. (ChicagoTribune)
• The Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016. (Gartner)
• YouTube's Top 10 Music Videos of the Year. (Mashable)
• Best USA TODAY Photos of 2015. (USA Today)

 

Trading Links:

• 2016: The Year Ahead. (Bank of America – ML)
• Robert Reich on Why Capitalism Needs Saving. (RollingStone)
• Google will Spin-Off Driverless Cars Into a Separate Company (BW)
• Mark Zuckerberg and the Changing Nature of Philanthropy. (FT)
• Peter Lynch, 25 Years Later: It’s Not Just ‘Invest in What You Know’. (WSJ)

My son got me a Squatty Potty as a holiday gift this year.  Not nearly as shitty as it sounds … I kind of like it.

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• 10 'Star Wars' Technologies That Are Almost Here. (InfoWorld)
• How to Use the Feynman Technique to Identify Pseudoscience. (BigThink)
• Amazon Announces its 20 Best-Selling Books of 2015. (Mashable)
• The Top 10 Restaurant Dishes of 2015 – The New York Times. (NYTimes)
• The Death of God Is Greatly Exaggerated. (Wall Street Journal)

 

Trading Links:

• ISIS Earned $500 Million From Selling Oil: Treasury Official. (NBC News)
• Consumer Confidence Rises to a 4-Month High. (Insider)
• Bitcoin Creator Is Probably an Australian Entrepreneur, Reports Claim. (Guardian)
• Fintech’s Five Emerging Powerhouse Markets are at a Crossroads. (TechCrunch)
• Fed Officials Worry Interest Rates Will Go Up, Only to Come Back Down. (WSJ)

My son got me a Squatty Potty as a holiday gift this year.  Not nearly as shitty as it sounds … I kind of like it.

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• 10 'Star Wars' Technologies That Are Almost Here. (InfoWorld)
• How to Use the Feynman Technique to Identify Pseudoscience. (BigThink)
• Amazon Announces its 20 Best-Selling Books of 2015. (Mashable)
• The Top 10 Restaurant Dishes of 2015 – The New York Times. (NYTimes)
• The Death of God Is Greatly Exaggerated. (Wall Street Journal)

 

Trading Links:

• ISIS Earned $500 Million From Selling Oil: Treasury Official. (NBC News)
• Consumer Confidence Rises to a 4-Month High. (Insider)
• Bitcoin Creator Is Probably an Australian Entrepreneur, Reports Claim. (Guardian)
• Fintech’s Five Emerging Powerhouse Markets are at a Crossroads. (TechCrunch)
• Fed Officials Worry Interest Rates Will Go Up, Only to Come Back Down. (WSJ)

It's the first increase since 2008 (when the Fed cut rates to almost zero).

The good news is that this means our economy is showing signs of strength.  But what, exactly, does raising interest rates mean? And how will it effect the economy (and our wallets)?

Turns out the answer is complicated and hard to explain (even, confusingly, if you're the chair of the Federal Reserve).

The process reminded the New York Times of a Rube Goldberg machine (you know, those incredibly intricate devices built to accomplish a simple task).

Here's the video:

  

 

 

via The NYTimes. 

The entire article, which explains each step in the machine in detail, is also worth a read.