Capitalogix

Merry Chrismakkuh

Today is Christmas ... and it is also the last night of Chanukah.  So, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!  And Happy Festivus to anyone who doesn't celebrate either. 

For those that don't know, Chanukah is the Jewish festival of lights.  This is the holiday that involves lighting the Menorah (Chanukah candles), eating latkes (potato pancakes), exchanging gifts, playing spin the Dreidel (a gambling game), and enjoying a sense of family togetherness for eight days and nights.

That's a long time, right?!  Well, sometimes it seems even longer with my family. 

To help you stay in the right mood, here is a video of "The Chanukah Song," performed by comedian Adam Sandler on Saturday Night Live.  It became an instant classic (and he has since released a second, third, and fourth version.)

Here is the video.  And, if you're feeling left out - here's Adam Sandler's Christmas Song.

The cynic in me believes merchants invented the gift part of the holiday.

Regardless, the Capitalogix team has been festive, and the office has been filled with holiday cheer.  Here is a picture that some of the team took after our ugly sweater contest.

I hope you're having a wonderful celebration surrounded by people you love and food that would make your cardiologist feel safe buying a new Porche.

A-To-Z of The Internet Minute in 2021

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. In fact, the amount of data in the digital universe effectively doubles every two years. 

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 (2021 #: 5.2 billion) 
• Facebook has gone from 80 million users to more than 1.4 billion (2021 #: 2.89 billion
• Twitter had 2 million accounts and now it is 300 million and counting. (2021 #: 206 million ACTIVE users after a big bot deletion)
• The number of smartphones was 250 million in 2008 and today there are more than 2 billion. That is an 800% increase! (2021 #: 6.37 billion)

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

Throughout 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 2021?

DOMO via visualcapitalist 

Looking at the list, we see new editions like Clubhouse and Strava. Partially due to the quarantine, you're still 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. 

Just to pick out some of the key figures in the chart this year. 

• Amazon users spend $283,000
• 6M people shop online
• TikTok users watch 167M videos
• and, Zoom hosts 856 minutes of webinars. 

Before 2020, I already thought that big tech had a massive influence on our lives. Yet, somehow this past year has pushed their impact even higher. 

One other thing this chart also helps put into perspective is the rapid rate of adoption. As you look at different year's charts, you can see how quickly apps have become part of the cultural zeitgeist. 

How do you think these numbers will grow or change in 2022? 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - May 23rd, 2021

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

Lighter Links:

• Clearly AI is Going To Win. How People are Going To Adjust is a Fascinating Problem'. (3QuarksDaily)
• How AI-Powered Ships Can Help Us Collect Valuable Data About the Ocean. (ThePrint)
• How the Personal Computer Broke the Human Body. (Vice)
• How Jewish is Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah? A Forward Investigation in 9 Verses. (Forward)
• The 5-Second Rule: Science Debunks Food Myth that Stretches Back to Gengis Khan. (Inverse)

 

Trading Links:

• More Investors Than Ever are Borrowing To Buy Stocks. Here's What this Really Means For the Market. (MarketWatch)
• Governments are Deploying 'Wartime-Like' Efforts to Win the Global Semiconductor Race. (CNBC)
• Space Inc: 10,000 Companies, $4T Value ... and 52% American. (Forbes)
• The Pandemic Changed Where Americans Live. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Billionaire Creator of Ethereum Already Expected the Collapse of Cryptocurrencies. (Entrepreneur)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - April 4th, 2021

Happy Easter!

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

Lighter Links:

• CDC Says Travel is Safe for Fully Vaccinated People, But Opposes Non-Essential Trips. (NPR)
• Here's the Story Behind the Amazing Moscone Center Vaccine Playlist. (SF Chronicle)
• April Fools' Day: 10 Stories that Look Like Pranks But Aren't. (BBC)
• How NFL Teams Use Sophisticated AI Projections in the Draft. (ESPN)
• Mark Cuban On the Company that Made Him a Billionaire: Why He Knew It Would Succeed Despite Many Naysayers. (CNBC)

 

Trading Links:

• The Microchip Shortage Explained: How It's Impacting Car Prices and the Tech Industry. (USAToday)
• The New Stock Influencers Have Huge and Devoted Followings. (Wall Street Journal)
• 3D Printed Architecture that Shows Why this Trend is the Future of Modern Architecture. (YankoDesign)
• What the U.S. Can Learn From China's Infatuation With Infrastructure. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Death of the American Mall Was a Warning Sign that Our Dystopian Future Was Closer Than We All Thought. (BusinessInsider)

 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - October 20th, 2019

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Six Lessons We Can Learn from Geniuses. (BBC)
• Breaking down the 10 Need-to-know Emerging Technologies. (ZDNet)
• Understanding Heart Zone Training: All You Need to Know. (BTW)
• How Spotify's Algorithm Knows Exactly What You Want to Listen To. (OneZero)
• A.I. Musicians are a Growing Trend. What Does that Mean for the Music Industry? (DigitalTrends)

 

Trading Links:

• Jeff Bezos's Master Plan. (The Atlantic)
• "Demystifying Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Corporation". (Forbes)
• Three Big Things: the Most Important Forces Shaping the World.(CollaborativeFund)
• Goldman Sachs: the Economic Run is Not over and the US 'Is Not Close to Recession'. (CNBC)
• Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller Forewarned Investors about the Dot-com and Housing Bubbles. Now He Tells Us Which Irrational Market Behaviors Have Him Most Worried. (BusinessInsider)

 

Social Media Is Changing Everything: A Reprisal

I came across a post from 2009 about social media. 10 years later, with the knowledge of how much data we use today, it's quite a read.

Here it is in its full glory. 

Social Media Is Changing Everything: October 18th, 2009

My son won't use e-mail the way I did. So how will people communicate and collaborate in the next wave of communications?

Here is a peek into the difference that is taking hold.  I was looking at recent phone use.  The numbers you are about to see are from the first 20 days of our current billing cycle.

• • My wife, Jennifer, has used 21 text messages and 38 MB of data.
  • I have used 120 text messages and 29 MB of data.
  • My son, at college, used 420 text messages, and is on a WiFi campus so doesn't use 3G data.
  • My son, in high school, used 5,798 text messages and 472 MB of data.

How can that be?  That level of emotional sluttiness makes porn seem downright wholesome. 

But, of course, that isn't how he sees it.  He is holding many conversations at once.  Some are social; some are about the logistics of who, what, when, where and why ... some are even about homework.  Yet, most don't use full sentences, let alone paragraphs.  There is near instant gratification.  And, the next generation of business people will consider this normal.

Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?

Welcome to the World of Socialnomics.  This video has a bunch of interesting statistics ... and is fun to watch. 

 

 

Other Resources:

• • Here is a link to a short-version of this video.
  • This reminds me of the "Shift Happens!" video.
  • Worth Looking At ... Here are the Stats.

Social Media Is Changing Everything: April 20th, 2019 

Looking at the stats from 2009 is pretty funny

• My son was using 472 MB of data a month
• Hulu had grown from to 373 million total streams in April 2009
• Only 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video on their phone

For some context, I looked up the comparative numbers for 2018. 

• I picked a random month in 2018 ... in August my son used 10.85 GB of data. He doesn't text as often - but has sent/received 282,000 snapchats since downloading it 5 years ago.
• Hulu has over 20 million subscribers who streamed more than 26 million hours a day in 2018 
• People spend over five hours a day on their smartphones on average. 70% of web traffic happens on a mobile device, and more than 50% of videos are watched on mobile (93% of twitter videos). 

Here's what happens every minute of every day on the internet

via Lori Lewis and Chadd Callahan

 

A little different than 2009 ...

A Beautiful Rendition of Hallelujah

Sometimes the real thing is worth paying attention to ...

In a world of fake news and technologically enhanced music, this performance of Hallelujah should do the trick. 

Watch and listen to K.D. Lang sing Leonard Cohen.

 

 via Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen

Masterful!

The Sound of Silence [The Disturbed Music Video Version]

I spent last week with almost no Internet or cell service.  On one hand, I suffered some withdrawal symptoms.  On the other hand, it was nice to hear the sound of silence.

50 years ago, Simon & Garfunkel become folk-rock stars with their song, ‘Sound of Silence’.  I don't think that's what they meant.

Recently, someone else made it a hit ... a heavy metal rock band, Disturbed.

Here is the video.  Believe it or not, totally worth watching.

 

 

 

 

YouTube.

Surprisingly good.

Misheard Song Lyrics with Peter Kay

Years ago, when my kids were still children, Macy Gray came out with a song called "I Try."

When I heard the kids singing, the chorus went: 

I try to say goodbye and I choke, I try to walk away and I stumble, though I try to hide it, it's clear, I wear goggles when you are not near.

Of course, it's not "I wear goggles when you are not here", even if my youngest son swore it was ... The actual line is "My world crumbles when you are not near" ... which makes a lot more sense. 

This has happened to me several times as well (recently, too – which prompted this post). 

Turns out, we humans are pattern-matching machines.  But not all of the patterns we perceive are really there.

Peter Kay plays on our disposition with this funny bit about misheard lyrics. 

Worth a watch. 

 

via YouTube 

Rich People Spend Their Time Differently: An Income Distribution in Americans' Pastimes

When it comes to American pastimes, many people focus on the big 3 sports: Football, Basketball, and Baseball. Nevertheless, there are a lot of different ways people spend their time.  It is interesting to see what they watch - and what they actually play. 

Nevertheless, there are a lot of different ways people spend their time.  It is interesting to see what they watch - and what they actually play. 

There is also a big difference based on income distribution.   Here is an infographic.

 

via VisualCapitalist

Apparently, rich people like golfing,  yoga and racquet sports ... while poorer people disproportionately liked relaxing, writing for personal interest, and having hobbies.

It is also kind of interesting to see when people tend to do certain activities.   Here is a chart showing the peak time for various sports and activities.

via Henrik Lindberg

You could build a business around data like that.

Interesting?