Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 22nd, 2020

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

Lighter Links:

• Every Business is a Software Whose Success is Defined By Data. (YourStory)
• Future of AI: Here's How Machines Become Sentient. (TheNextWeb)
• How China Could Shape the Future of Technology. (BBC)
• Dr. Fauci On Public Trust In Science. (HastingsCenter)
• Costco Will Deliver a 12-Month Long Private Flight Membership To Your Email If You Pay $17,500. (BusinessInsider)

 

Trading Links:

• If You Aren't Using AI, You're Falling Behind According to the US Patent and Trademark Office. (Forbes)
• Boom Times Have Returned for Venture-Backed Start-Ups. (CNBC)
• Venture Returns. (Points & Figures)
• Nasdaq-100 Stumbles Near Dot-Com Era Record Versus Dow. (TheOneDave)
• Top 10 Richest People In the World (1990-2019) | Visualization From Forbes Richest People. (YouTube)

 

What Hacking Isn't

We've talked a lot about hyperbole in the news recently – and, unfortunately, it isn't limited to politics. 

People seek things that engage and entertain.  Consequently, other people's business is to provide things that engage and entertain ... even if those things aren't necessarily accurate or truthful.

For example, I've seen many "silly" artificial intelligence and cybersecurity references on tv shows or the news. These are obviously "hot topics."  But, shocking simplifications are used because most people aren't technical enough to understand real examples.

In AI, it's pretty easy to notice because you'll see killer robots or humans losing their jobs and being left with nothing to do. 

Cybersecurity is tough for "normies" to get as well.  For a laugh, check out this clip from NCIS. 

 

via YouTube

On top of the gibberish, and the unrealistic imagery on what a hacking attempt would look like, do you think two people typing on the same keyboard would be effective?  And, reminiscent of a "peek-a-boo" game you play with babies, unplugging the monitor won't stop a hacker (it will only hide the screen from you). 

Makes for good TV, though.

Sometimes you just have to turn your brain off. 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 15th, 2020

The  upcoming holiday season seems a little different this year.

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

Lighter Links:

• How Your Life Will Be Measured after You Die. (ThriveGlobal)
• Shapeshifting Materials Could Transform Our World inside Out. (Discover)
• Alexa Can Now Guess What You Want before You Even Ask for It. (ZDNet)
• Physics Can Solve Key Challenges Facing AI, Study Finds. (JPost)
• The Greatest Competitive Advantage May Not Be What You Think. (Entrepreneur)

 

Trading Links:

• Beyond Buffett – Does Value Investing Still Work? (Economist)
• Quant Shock that Never Could Happen' Hits Wall Street Models. (Bloomberg)
• The Overnight Business Boom that Took a Century. (Wall Street Journal)
• Biden's First 100 Days: Here's What to Expect. (NPR)
• The Pandemic is Revealing a New Form of National Power. (The Atlantic)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - November 8th, 2020

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

Lighter Links:

• Video: An Exclusive Look inside Microsoft's Election Security War Room'. (ABCNews)
• Forget Traditional Election Maps – This is What the US Vote Really Looks Like. (NYPost)
• Taught by Nature: New Technology Inspired by the Animal Kingdom. (Flipboard)
• Psychedelic Psilocybin 101: The Science of Magic Mushrooms. (Flipboard)
• Want to Calm Your Anxiety in Just 8 Minutes? Neuroscience Says Take a Deep Breath and Listen to This. (Inc)
  
  

Trading Links:

• Texas Becomes First State to Top One Million COVID-19 Cases. (24/7 Wall St)
• Fears of Transition 'Chaos'. (Barrons)
• FTC Likely to Sue Facebook on Antitrust Violations by End of November. (Politico)
• Here Comes the next IPO Wave. (TechCrunch)
• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Swings Back into Action, Spending a Net $4.8 Billion on Stocks and a Record $9 Billion on Buybacks in the 3Rd Quarter. (BusinessInsider)

How Normal Is Your Face?

Project SHERPA recently released an AI-powered tool that analyzes your face and reveals how average it is. 

It's called How Normal Am I?

via How Normal Am I?

It's an interactive video that uses your webcam to walk you through the various assessments on BMI, emotion, beauty, etc.  At the end, it'll give you your life expectancy, and then your "normal score".

It's not the most complex use of AI, but it provides interesting insights, and is becoming increasingly prevalent. 

Governments, police stations, retail stores, etc. all use this technology to track individuals, and if you remember one of my previous articles - there are plenty of cameras to go around. 

If you did the demo, were you surprised by the results?

Interesting stuff!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - October 10th, 2020

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

Lighter Links:

• The Quantum Internet Will Blow Your Mind. Here's What It Will Look Like. (Discover)
• The US Military is Trialing Augmented Reality Goggles for Dogs. (CNN)
• Modern Science Didn't Appear until the 17Th Century. What Took So Long? (NYT)
• Qantas Airways 'Flight to Nowhere' that Sold out in Minutes Takes Off. (FoxNews)
• What Really Happens When You Become an Overnight Millionaire? (Marker)

 

 

Trading Links:

• Tesla Plans to Offer Machine-learning Training as Web Service with Its New 'Dojo' Supercomputer. (Electrek)
• Analysis: We Read the Antitrust Case against Amazon, and these are the Key Takeaways.  (GeekWire)
• Father of VIX Warns Options Glitch is Costing Investors Millions. (Bloomberg)
• Economists are More like Storytellers Than Scientists Don't Let the Nobel for Economic Sciences' Fool You. (TheConversation)
• The Stock Market Won't See the Bullish Outcome It's Expecting from a Biden Win Unless There's a Full Blue Wave, a JPMorgan Stock Strategist Says. (BusinessInsider)

What It Was Like Buying a Computer in 1994

We take for granted a lot of the technology we have today. Computers and phones have evolved so fast that it's hard to remember that they haven't been around for many years. When my youngest son was born in 1993,  cassette tapes and the Sony Walkman were still popular, I had a wired phone in my car, and we had a Macintosh-II in the study. 

Everything in this photo now exists in the cheapest of smartphones. 

For a blast from the past and a look back at what used to be top-of-the-line ... here's a video of people buying a computer in 1994. 

 

via David Hoffman

Video transfer and playback. 160-megabyte hard drive. 32 megahertz. All for the low price of $2,000. 

Pretty cool to see how far we've come!  Still, someday soon, they will look back at the tech we have now as "primitive" and "quaint".

I can't wait!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - October 4th, 2020

Did you watch the first presidential debate this week? I have friends on both sides of the fence, but we all agreed the debate was a mess. 

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

Lighter Links:

• Don't Neglect the Thing that Makes You Weird - People Probably Admire it. (Freakonomics)
• Mindfulness for Skeptics. (RealSimple)
• Elon Musk: Neuralink Brain Implant Will Improve 'Bandwidth' of Human Communication. (CNet)
• The Typical Progression of Covid-19 Virus. (CNBC)
• Why Magic Mushrooms are the next Big Booming (and Legal!) Drug Market. (Observer)

 

 

Trading Links:

• President Trump Tests Positive for Covid. Why the Stock Market Isn't Getting Hammered. (Barrons)
• There's No Place to Hide Anymore When the Stock Market Plunges. (Wall Street Journal)
• Big U.S. Banks to Report Profit Plunge as Pandemic Recession Takes Hold. (Investing)
• Manhattan Apartment Sales Tumble 46%, Leaving 10,000 Homes on the Market. (DailyMail)
• SEC is Willing to Try' a Tokenized ETF, Chairman Says. (CoinDesk)

 

Can A Minute Be Faster? A Look At The Internet Minute

As I get older, time seems to move faster ... but it's also true that as I get older, more is accomplished every minute. 

Technology is a powerful force function.

Every couple of years I revisit a chart about how much data is generated every minute on the internet.  

In reverse chronological order, here's 2018, 2015, and 2011. 

Here's an excerpt from 2015 for some perspective: 

Compared to 2008 here is what's happened with social networks:

• The number of people online has more than doubled from 1.4 billion to over 3 billion
• Facebook has gone from 80 million users to more than 1.4 billion
• Twitter had 2 million accounts and now it is 300 million and counting.
• The number of smartphones was 250 million in 2008 and today there are more than 2 billion. That is an 800% increase!

Today this is what happens every minute on the web.

• 4 million search queries on Google
• Facebook users share 2.46 million pieces of content
• Email users send 204 million messages

Over the course of its (pretty short) history, the internet has been arguably the most important battlefield for relevancy and innovation. 

So, what does the internet look like in 2020?

DOMO via VisualCapitalist

Partially as a result of the quarantine, you're seeing an increase in digital cash transfers with tools like Venmo, an increase in e-commerce shops like Shopify, and an increase in (you guessed it) collaboration tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. 

This year, DOMO also created a chart that shows the services that have appeared in the graphic since 2012. It's an interesting way to look at the relevancy and staying power of different companies and technologies. 

We're currently in a time period of massive competition and turnover. Innovation means incumbents are being challenged every day, and the status quo doesn't stay that way for long. Even within the S&P 500, you're seeing companies stay a member for shorter periods of time.  

You have to stay on your toes to maintain an edge. I think you can expect increased competition, increased volume, and as a result, increased noise vying for your attention or fueling your distraction. 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 12th, 2020

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

Lighter Links:

• Facebook Robots Shut down after They Talk to Each Other in Language Only They Understand. (Independent)
• Finding Beauty in the Imperfection. (Entrepreneur)
• Colors Evoke Similar Feelings around the World. (NeuroScienceNews)
• Alicia Keys: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. (YouTube)
• How Conspiracy Theories are Shaping the 2020 Election and Shaking the Foundation of American Democracy. (Time)

 

Trading Links:

• Trillions What is a Trillion Dollars?(InformationIsBeautiful)
• NYSE Signals It Will Exit New Jersey If State Taxes Stock Trades. (Wall Street Journal)
• There are Now 17,000 Bitcoin Millionaires. (Decrypt)
• Are You an Investor or a Gambler? the Stock Market Knows. (Wall Street Journal)
• JPMorgan Creates New Team to Trade Shares of Pre-IPO Giants Including SpaceX, Robinhood, and Airbnb. (CNBC)