Twitter will generate more than 500 million dollars in revenue this year. This represents a doubling of the firm’s estimated 245 million dollars of revenue in 2012. Other analysts estimate even higher sales figures.
Notoriously secret, Twitter has not published any figures. However, this is likely to change in the near future. Why? Twitter announced its IPO by Tweet on Thursday. Twitter filed 'Confidential' IPO S-1 Docs.
This year, 131 companies have filed for IPOs — up 44% from last year.
I just spent a few days with family. While that was great, what struck me was how much different our time together was now. Each of us was constantly checking our phones or watching the proceedings through the camera's viewfinder.
We seem to take it for granted that more of our time and attention is spent staring into a screen.
It's become our central interface with the world. In fact, we're consuming as about three times the amount of information today that we did in 1960, according to researchers at University of California, San Diego.
What does this do to our brains, attention span, relationships, and moods?
It would be one thing if our phones just sat there quietly until we needed them. But they don't. They exert a kind of tyranny over our attention and actions. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they cannot ignore their devices and check them within an hour of receiving an email, text, or alert — and 81 percent of those surveyed interrupt conversations, meals, all kinds of fun things, to do it.
Rethink the urge. When you feel yourself reaching for your phone, hit pause. Ask yourself what could be gained from checking right now. Delay it–especially if you're in the middle of food or conversation.
We Feel Worse After Checking
I could almost understand the Pavlovian response we have to buzzing and ringing if we were guaranteed to feel better after tuning in to our screens. But it turns out we'll stop mid-sentence or mid-chew to check our email and texts — only to feel worse. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed reported feeling jealous, depressed, or even annoyed after checking updates! It's no surprise, then, that 73 percent of respondents believe that their devices contribute to stress in their lives.
Rethink the effects. Next time you do a quick scan of email, text, and social networks, ask yourself, what did you learn and how did it make you feel? We rarely take the time to reflect on it, but doing so and owning up to how it makes you feel and what, if anything, it's doing for you, is the first step to making a shift.
We Spend More Time With Screens Than People
It's bad enough that we'll stop what we're doing with those we love to do something that will undoubtedly leave us more stressed — but more and more people are opting for screen time over the company of others. Three out of five people admitted to spending more of their free time on their computers than with their significant others.
Rethink your time. Rather than let digital inertia take over, make a plan: to go out, to see people, to get food, meet someone for a walk. It does require an extra effort to put yourself in front of other people, even the ones you live with — but the rewards you'll reap from that company will outweigh anything you'll find on Facebook.
What happens in a half-second of high frequency trading activity? The answer is a lot more than you'd guess or notice.
This video illustrates an actual half-second of trading in in Johnson & Johnson stock, slowed down so it takes five minutes to watch. Don't worry, you don't have to watch more than a few (slowed down) seconds to get the point. The size and scope of what is happening changes the game and the playing field.
The question isn't whether high frequency trading is about efficient allocation of capital or attempts at short-term market manipulation … it is what you decide to do after you know it is happening and becoming the norm (rather than simply an understood but infrequent risk).
Are you more worried that China is cyber-snooping on us … or that the American government admitted doing it too?
When I travel on business in a foreign country, I assume that my
computer use is monitored. Likewise, many organizations are now
prohibiting production laptops, iPads, or other personal electronic
devices from traveling to certain countries. Instead, the users given a
clean travel device and instructions on certain types of communications
and activities to simply forgo until they're back in the country.
But here we are safe … right?
Many
years ago, my father told me he assumed that people could see what he
did and hear what he said. With that in mind, he told me, it wasn't hard
to act accordingly.
These days, it is hard for me to imagine
someone being genuinely surprised to learn that nation-states monitor
telephone conversations, email, or Internet usage.
Nonetheless,
it is somewhat surprising that digital privacy hasn't been more a higher
profile ("real") social issue in our society.
On some level,
people are becoming desensitized to 'sharing' … For example, look how
much personal information people freely give out every day
via social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and other social
media sites.
The rules of engagement will get more clear as we
start to hash out the laws and protections here in America, and the
conventions and accords that will at least superficially guide global
behavior.
