Amazon celebrated its 20th-anniversary last week.
With 244 million active users, Amazon is by far the largest online retailer in the world.
But how does it stack up against brick-and-mortar retail giants? This infographic compares the e-commerce giant to the world’s largest retailer: Walmart.
via WebpageFX.
Kind of surprising.
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It has been a tough several weeks for Chinese markets.
As such, the Chinese government has taken some extreme measures to intervene and minimize the selloff.
Some of these measures include more than half the companies on the exchange "voluntarily" suspending trading.
But, it has not worked yet.
via WSJ.
Stratfor posits: Beijing has an underlying interest in ensuring that China's stock markets do not collapse, even though any intervention risks exacerbating whatever financial and political fallout may come from an eventual market decline or crash. Therefore, the government will likely continue to intervene to the best of its ability, propping up markets and market sentiment whenever the risk of a major sell-off becomes too great.
This does not mean that stock prices won't slide further, or that the market will stabilize — indeed, it could well become even more volatile over the coming months. Until Beijing invents more avenues for investment, or unless it embraces interest rate hikes and any post-crisis restructuring, it will have to rely on the few tools available to ensure that citizens can generate the wealth and financial security they need to consume.
So, are you conflicted about Trump running for President?
Good for entertainment ... Just not sure how good it will be for the country?
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
I'm not a big tennis fan. But while flipping channels this Sunday, I saw Serena Williams hit tennis balls over 120 miles an hour in her Wimbledon win.
My son and I commented how impressive that was, and how much the game has changed.
Then, I saw this clip of Dustin Brown playing. Wow! Click it, and watch it.
It surprised me by how fast the game was played, and how the ball's path seemed to bend. More importantly, one of the best players in the world seemingly had no response.
Even though Brown was defeated in the third round of the tournament ... Sometimes the game changes right before your eyes.
Here is a list of the top ten militaries in the world.
USA, Russia, China, India, and the UK arm the top 5 strongest militaries in the world.
That didn't surprise me, but some of the countries on the bottom half of the list did.
Even more surprising was the list of military spending, as a percentage of GDP.
via Statista.
According to a SIPRI estimate, Saudi Arabia's military spending now amounts to at least 10.4 percent of its GDP. The kingdom boosted spending on its armed forces by 17 percent last year and it is now splurging more on its military than ever before.
Meanwhile, U.S. military expenditure "only" amounted to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2014, despite the amount spent topping $570 billion.
Some would say, "The price of freedom."
In the spirit of 'Independence' ... here is a photo of the British Royal Family. It could be captioned: "Did Phillip Fart?"
The expressions are priceless! Notice Harry, and of course, the Queen.
What do you think?
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
These are the 10 biggest employers in the world.
The list was published last week on the World Economic Forum's Agenda blog.
via Business Insider.
While the top two largest employers are not private companies, Wal-Mart and McDonald's are three and four.
Did this list surprise you?
To put a bad decision in context. Take a look at this.
The actual date was April 12, 1976, but other than that, you get the point.
One of the links below is to a story about an investor who lost $15 Billion in an hour.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye this week. Hope you find something interesting.
My father used to warn me that whatever I made fun of him about, would happen to me too.
This seemed unlikely since he was overweight, while I was the athletic picture of health ... and he was "technology-challenged" (to put it nicely), while I was the poster-child for early adopters.
The practical realities of age and time have once again proven him right. So I'll use this Father's Day message to remind my kids the same message.
The world changes quickly.
I remember when I was one of the youngest and most tech-savvy people in the room during business meetings. Somehow, now, my kids seem to think I'm like 30 minutes away from needing them to set the VCR so it doesn't flash 12:00 AM all day.
Don't get me wrong, most of my friends still think that I know a lot about technology. And what we do at work may not be rocket science, but it's pretty close. We use neural networks, machine learning, GPUs, and lots of cool technology ... and, yes, I still love gadgets.
Technology has always been my friend, and it still is. I love finding a new piece of software that makes me more efficient, more effective or simply makes life a little bit easier. Same with gadgets ... I've waited in my share of lines to be among the first for plenty of stupid products. Apparently, however, I'm a little over the hill - and in danger of losing my "early adopter" pin.
The Bigger Picture Is Better
(Or Perhaps I'm Just Jealous I Can't Read The Fine Print Anymore?)
It is true, lots of the technology heavy-lifting is done by others at this point. That is progress.
As my father said, not worrying about all the little details helped him see the bigger picture and focus on what was possible.
My father never used a computer in business. He did buy one later in life, but I think it was only to shut me up - so I'd stop telling him that he needed one.
On the other hand, I wish my mother never got one. She actually makes me feel sorry for tech support workers around the globe. If I wasn't worried about how soon my sons say the same about me, I'd joke that if the military could figure-out what she does -- and weaponize it -- we could crash enemy computers at will.
So it is funny when one of my sons asks me to move away from the computer so he can fix something or make something work a lot easier than to tell me how to do it. It is the circle of life.
A Little Extra Proof of My Age.
I was in a meeting this week with some people (and my 21-year-old son). We were looking at a picture that appeared to have been altered, and I said "that sure looks like it's been Facebooked to me." I'm pretty sure my son still hasn't stopped laughing. Yes, I meant "Photoshopped", and I do know the difference ... yet it only adds to the growing proof.
At least I'm good for something, even if (sometimes) it's just a laugh.
Still, it's only a matter of time until his kids think that he is behind the times. And that will be a sure sign of progress too.
Happy Fathers' Day.
Weekend Links
Hillary Clinton may have to deal with more fall-out from her deleted e-mail fiasco.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
Lighter Links:
The Economist Explains: The End of Moore's Law. (Economist)
Big Data Explained in Less Than 2 Minutes - To Absolutely Anyone. (DSC)
A Preliminary Taxonomy of the Voices Inside Your Head. (Digest)
Disney’s Research Lab Figures Out How To Put Words In Your Mouth. (TechCrunch)
'What I Would Tell My 20-Year-Old Self'. (Fortune)
Trading Links:
Tech Boom 2015: What's Driving Investor Insanity? (Forbes)
This Is Your Brain on Money: How Investors Trip Themselves Up. (WSJ)
These 2 Simple Slides Show Just How Hot FinTech Is Right Now. (BizInsider)
Soros Says China Is Major Risk For World War 3. (ValueWatch)
China’s Yuan Has ‘Long March’ To Reserve-Currency Status. (MarketWatch)
Posted at 01:46 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Film, Gadgets, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Personal Development, Trading, Trading Tools, Travel, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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