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Global Market Comments
July 17, 2020
(JULY 15 BIWEEKLY STRATEGY WEBINAR Q&A),
(EEM), (GLD), (GDX), (NEM), (GOLD), (UUP), (FXA), (FXE), (FXY), (AMZN), (AAPL), (GOOGL), (FB), (BIDU), (TLT), (TBT), (IBB), (ROM)
Global Market Comments
July 17, 2020
(JULY 15 BIWEEKLY STRATEGY WEBINAR Q&A),
(EEM), (GLD), (GDX), (NEM), (GOLD), (UUP), (FXA), (FXE), (FXY), (AMZN), (AAPL), (GOOGL), (FB), (BIDU), (TLT), (TBT), (IBB), (ROM)
Below please find subscribers’ Q&A for the July 15 Mad Hedge Fund Trader Global Strategy Webinar broadcast from Lake Tahoe, NV with my guest and co-host Bill Davis of the Mad Day Trader. Keep those questions coming!
Q: Do you expect foreign equities to begin to outperform US equities sometime soon?
A: I expect them to outperform imminently simply because Europe did their shutdown properly, a total shutdown, and got rid of the virus, so their economy and schools are opening. We did a partial shutdown, some states did not shut down at all, and as a result, the epidemic is on fire here, and our shutdown will have to last an extra six months to a year. So that means you’ll probably want to be rotating out of US stocks and into emerging stocks, and the (EEM) is the ETF to go with there.
Q: Would you buy gold LEAPS at this point?
A: Normally, I say only buy LEAPS on capitulation selloffs like we had in March. We actually put out 25 LEAP recommendations on the long side in tech and biotech in March and they all proved spectacular winners. However, at this point, gold is just short of an all-time high; if you break the high you could get a $500 or $1,000 move very quickly to the upside. If you want to do LEAPS, I would go out one year, I would go fairly close to the money, something like a $200-$210 LEAP in the (GLD) ETF. Your much bigger bang, by the way, would be to do LEAPS on the individual stocks; go 10% or 20% out of the money, you might make 100%-200% on those and the stocks to do there would be Newmont Mining (NEM) and Barrick Gold (GOLD).
Q: Would the US or any other country consider backing their currency with gold?
A: Absolutely not. We went off the gold standard in 1972 for a reason. That’s because they’re not making it anymore; there isn’t enough gold to support growth in a global economy. On the other hand, a supply of paper is unlimited, and that’s why we’ve had such terrific economic growth since we’ve gone off the gold standard.
Q: I’m seeing some really great deals in energy. Should I get involved?
A: Absolutely not. Don’t confuse “gone down a lot” with “cheap.” We think the oil business is long term going out of business. It can’t compete with alternatives and electric cars; the economics for investing in a non-scalable energy form just are not there. It’s like asking an analog adding machine to compete with a computer.
Q: Is it too late to sell the US dollar or the Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund ETF (UUP)?
A: No, we’re only in the very early stages of the collapse of the US dollar, so you want to be buying all of the nondollar ETFs like the Australian dollar (FXA), the euro (FXE), and the Japanese yen (FXY). Massive over issuance of currency will destroy its value, that’s one of the seminal lessons of currency markets. The US is not immune to that.
Q: Biotech is getting overheated here—should I buy the rumor, sell the news?
A: We’re also just in the opening stages of the biotech golden age. Even if they cure corona tomorrow, there are another 100 diseases they will cure over the next 10 years using all of the new advanced technology that has just been developed, like gene editing, monoclonal antibodies, and quantum computers. It’s another reason to subscribe to the Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter for $1,500 a year (click here).
Q: I see Bill Gross is bullish on value stocks—would you go with that view?
A: No, leave the value stocks for Bill Gross. He’s semi-retired and hasn’t been as good on the stock market lately as he used to be, as much as he is a dear friend. This is a chasing-a-winner type market. I would wait for value stocks. You could die a long horrible death by the time value stocks turn around so I would avoid them. Go for earnings growth, that’s the only thing that counts in the future.
Q: What would you recommend as a portfolio starter?
A: I would recommend 100% cash. I know you don’t want to hear that you should keep cash if you just bought an expensive trade alert service, but the fact is the risk now is the highest it’s been in years. I only add new trade at market sweet spots, and you don’t get those every day of the year. I will send you an alert if I see a low-risk high-return trade. Wait for the summer correction—that will set up another bet-the-ranch opportunity. Don’t worry about trade alerts, we’ll be doing about 400 of them this year, but they do tend to come in bunches at market bottoms and market tops.
Q: Do American companies have much of a chance against Chinese tech?
A: The US has an overwhelming lead, which will probably increase at an exponential rate. I think the threat of Chinese tech is vastly overstated by the administration. They needed an enemy to protect us from to stick around. The reality is that the US is so far ahead it’s unbelievable; that’s the reason they steal our technology. And they only have leads in very specific areas, such as surveillance of large populations. I wouldn’t worry too much about tech—if the Chinese really had a lead on tech, would Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL), Facebook (FB) all be going to new highs every day, while Baidu (BIDU) lagged?
Q: Should we close out the Regeneron call spread?
A: At this point, we’re so far in the money I would just wait two more days and it will expire at its maximum $10 value, and you can avoid all the fees. You’ll end up making $1,600 or 16.28% 15 trading days.
Q: Presidential candidate Joe Biden has just had a huge surge in the polls in battleground states. Will he be damaging to the market?
A: No, ever since he started his rise in the polls, the stock market has been rising almost every day, and that’s even after announcing in advance that he’s going to raise corporate taxes from 21% to 28%. He’s also going to eliminate the carried interest, which should have been eliminated a long time ago. I imagine there will be some super punitive Roosevelt style 90% tax on net taxable income over a billion dollars—a real billionaire’s punishment tax, as they’ve basically made all the money for the last 30 years. The stock market is voting with confidence for the future Biden government, who am I to disagree? The market is always right.
Q: Will gold hit a new high?
A: Yes, I think we will have a new high in a couple of weeks. That’s why I said it’s a rare case when you actually buy LEAPS in a rising market, especially if you go one or two years out. Guess where gold will be in two years? My bet is $3,000, so a $200/$210 LEAP in the (GLD) could bring in a 1,000% return, The overwhelming fundamentals are in favor of gold. I’ll keep hammering away at that in the newsletter.
Q: I only trade stocks; how can I take advantage of your recommendations?
A: First of all, buy the stocks. Second, you can buy stocks on margin, which gives you double exposure. Third, there are many 2X ETFs on the stocks or sectors we recommend, like the (TBT), which you can also trade in a stock account. For example, for biotech, you can get your exposure there through the (IBB), and through tech, you can buy the 2X (ROM); but I wouldn’t buy it today because it is too high. In fact, only about 25% of our followers do options, the rest trade stocks or use it to manage their own long-term portfolios.
Q: Will we hit 0% yielding US Treasuries (TLT)?
A: Probably not, that move is behind us. We got down to a 31 basis points yield at the lows. Now, massive oversupply from the US government will be the primary factor dictating Treasury prices, and that means going down a lot.
Good Luck and Stay Healthy
CEO & Publisher
The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader
Global Market Comments
October 1, 2019
(LAUNCHING THE NEW MAD HEDGE BIOTECH AND HEALTHCARE LETTER)
(THE NEW AI BOOK THAT INVESTORS ARE SCRAMBLING FOR),
(GOOG), (FB), (AMZN), MSFT), (BABA), (BIDU),
(TENCENT), (TSLA), (NVDA), (AMD), (MU), (LRCX)
A better headline for this piece would be “The Future of You,” as artificial intelligence is about to become so integral to your work, your investment portfolio, and even your very existence that you won’t be able to live without it quite literally.
Well, do I have some great news for you. A blockbuster book about the state of play on all things AI was released in September last year, and I managed to obtain and read a copy before it was released. The title is AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee.
The bottom line: The future is even more unbelievable than you remotely imagined. We are in the very early days of this giant megatrend, and the investment opportunities will be nothing less than spectacular.
And here is a barn burner. The price of AI is dropping fast as hundreds of thousands of new programmers pour into the field. Those $10 million signing bonuses are about to become a thing of the past.
Dr. Lee is certainly someone to take seriously. He obtained one of the first PhDs in AI from Carnegie Mellon University. He was the president of Google (GOOG) China and put in stints at Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL). Today, he is the CEO of Sinovation Ventures, the largest AI venture capital firm in China, and is a board director of Alibaba (BABA).
AI is nothing more than deep learning, or super pattern recognition. Dr. Lee dates the onset of artificial intelligence to 1952 when an IBM mainframe computer learned to play checkers and beat human opponents. By 1955, it learned to develop strategies on its own.
Dr. Lee sees the AI field ultimately divided into two spheres of dominance, the U.S. and China. No one else is devoting a fraction of the resources needed to become a serious player. The good news is that Russia and Iran are nowhere in the game.
While the U.S. dominates in the original theory and algorithms that founded AI, China is about to take the lead in applications. It can do this because it has access to mountains of data that dwarf those available in America. China processes three times more mobile phones, five times more Internet customers, 10 times more eat-out orders, and 50 times more mobile transactions. In a future where data is the currency, this is huge.
The wake-up call for China in applications took place two years ago when U.S. and Korean AI programs beat grandmasters in the traditional Chinese game of Go. Long a goal of AI programmers, this great leap forward took place 20 years earlier than had been anticipated. This created an AI stampede in the Middle Kingdom that led to the current bubble.
The result has been applications that are still in the realm of science fiction in the U.S. The Chinese equivalent of eBay (EBAY), Taobao, doesn’t charge fees because its customer base is so big it can remain profitable on ad revenues only. Want to be more beautiful in your selfies sent to friends? A Chinese app will do that for you, Beauty Plus.
The Chinese equivalent of Yelp, Dianping, has 600,000 deliverymen on mopeds. The number of takeout meals is so vast that it has been able to drop delivery costs from $6 a meal to 60 cents. As a result, traditional restaurants are dying out in China.
Teachers in Chinese schools no longer take attendance. Students are checked off when they enter the classroom by facial recognition software. And heaven help you if you jaywalk in a Chinese city. Similar software will automatically issue you a citation with a fine and send it to your home.
Credit card fraud is actually on the decline in China as dubious transactions are blocked by facial matching software. The bank simply calls you, asks you to look into your phone, takes your picture, and then matches it with the image they have on file.
Dr. Lee sees AI unfolding in four waves, and there are currently companies operating in every one of these (see graph below):
1) Internet AI
The creation of black boxes and specialized algorithms that opened the door to monetizing code. This was the path for today’s giants that dominate online commerce, Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), JD.com (JD), and Facebook (FB). Alibaba (BABA), Baidu (BIDU), and Tencent followed.
2) Business AI
Think big data. This is the era we just entered where massive data from online customers, financial transactions, and healthcare led to the writing of new algorithms that maximize profitability. Suddenly, companies can turn magic knobs to achieve desired goals, such as stepping up penetration or monetization.
3) Perception AI
Using trillions of sensors worldwide, analog data on any movement, facial expression, sound, and image are converted into digital data and then mined for conclusions by more advanced algorithms. Cameras are suddenly everywhere. Amazon’s Alexa is the first step in this process, where your conversations are recorded and then mined for keywords about your every want and desire.
Think of autonomous fast food where you walk in your local joint and it immediately recognizes you, offers you your preferred dishes, and then auto bills your online account for your purchase. Amazon has already done this with a Whole Foods store in Seattle.
4) Autonomous AI
Think every kind of motion. AI will get applied to autonomous driving, local shuttles, factory forklifts, assembly lines, and inspections of every kind. Again, data and processing demand take an enormous leap upward. Tesla (TSLA), Waymo (GOOG), and Uber are already very active in this field.
The book focuses a lot on the future of work. Dr. Lee creates a four-part scatter chart predicting the viability of several types of skills based on optimization, compassion, creativity, and strategy (see below).
If you are a truck driver, in customer support, or a dishwasher, or engage in any other repetitive and redundant profession, your outlook is grim. If you can supplement AI, such as a CEO, economist, or marketing head, you’ll do fine. People who can do what AI can’t, such as teachers and artists, will prosper.
The Investment Angle
There have been only two ways to invest in AI until now. You can buy shares in any of the seven giants above whose shares have already risen for 100- or 1,000-fold.
You can invest in the nets and bolts parts providers, such as NVIDIA (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron Technology (MU), and Lam Research (LRCX), which provide the basic building blocks for the Internet infrastructure.
Fortunately for our paid subscribers, the Mad Hedge Trade Alert Service caught all of these very early.
What’s missing is the “in-between companies,” which are out of your reach because they are locked up in university labs or venture capital funds. Many of these never see the light of day as public companies because they get taken over by the tech giants above. It’s effectively a closed club that won’t let outsiders in. It’s a dilemma that vexes any serious technology investor.
When quantum computing arrives in a decade, you can take all the functionality above and multiply it by a trillion-fold, while costs drop a similar amount. That’s when things really get interesting. But then, I’ve seen trillion-fold increases in technology before.
I hope I live to see another.
Millennials usually stick with the stocks that they know.
That’s all fine until it takes a bite out of their wallet.
Some of these decisions based on the products that represent this generation have been stock market disasters of late.
Sadly, many Millennials were too young to catch the ride up for Tesla.
Many older generations got into the stock at $20, $40 and $100 and rode the elevator up with an ultra low-cost basis.
I can’t say the same for Millennials as many came of age and finally had the money to splurge for shares after the stock had plateaued.
This was a cringe-worthy lesson that just because a company has a great product doesn’t always mean the stock is just as great.
Electric Vehicles (EV) are front and center of the Millennial consciousness and that also meant that many scooped up NIO which is the Chinese version of Tesla.
After peaking at $10 in March, the stock is now trading at $3.
Many Chinese IPOs that go public in New York are of a pump-and-dump mentality as they shower the public with losses.
In fact, many Chinese IPOs only have the goal of going public without the goal of doing much more after that.
NIO has yet to be found out completely, but the Chinese economy is hurting and the Chinese consumer has reigned back the purse strings as times become lean.
As we head into a global slow down, electric car companies that lose boatloads of money will be in the firing line for value revaluations.
In fact, I would urge any reader to steer clear of any Chinese company traded on the public markets because of opaque financials that are intentionally obfuscated.
Baidu is another favorite of the Millennial generation pigeonholed as the “Google search of China.”
That moniker is an impressive catchphrase but it doesn’t do much to rejuvenate the large loss in market share that Baidu has ceded to Alibaba and WeChat platforms.
Baidu has lost its mojo and is bleeding usership and it will be hard to reverse it as Baidu never evolved with the changing trends of Chinese consumers.
Baidu peaked in April 2018, at $250 and is now trading at less than $108 and the slide isn’t over yet as Baidu has no adequate response to the domination of the other Chinese tech behemoths.
Yes, many tech trends have legs and are secular shifts that have major ramifications to the global economy.
But the devil is in the details and peels back the layers to be aware of developments such as CEO of Tesla Elon Musk building an American Gigafactory in Shanghai at the worse time in economic history as a legitimate canary in the coal mine.
As robust as the Chinese consumer has been, the latest contagion of African swine flu that culled a major amount of Chinese pigs has raised the price of pork by over 45%.
Chinese consumers are hyper-aware of these economic developments in the year of the pig.
After a massive ride up in Chinese tech shares and electric car story that took many investors breath away, we are at the beginning of a meaningful revaluation that will change the narrative moving forward.
Timing is everything in this game.
Global Market Comments
August 23, 2019
(AUGUST 21 BIWEEKLY STRATEGY WEBINAR Q&A),
(FXB), (NVDA), (MU), (LRCX), (AMD),
(WFC), (JPM), (BIDU), (GE), (TLT), (BA)
Below please find subscribers’ Q&A for the Mad Hedge Fund Trader August 21 Global Strategy Webinar broadcast with my guest and co-host Bill Davis of the Mad Day Trader. Keep those questions coming!
Q: Hey Bill, how often have you heard the word “recession” in the last 24 hours?
A: Seems like every time I turn around. But then we’re also getting a pop in the market; we thought it bottomed a few days ago. The question was: how far were we going to get to bounce? This is going to be very telling as to what happens on this next rally.
Q: Can interest rates go lower?
A: Yes, they can go a lot lower. The general consensus in the US is that we bottom them out somewhere between zero and 1.0%. We’re already way below that in Europe, so we will see lower here in the US. It’s all happening because QE (quantitative easing) is ramping up on a global basis. Europe is about to announce a major QE program in the beginning of September, and the US ended their quantitative tightening way back in March. So, the global flooding of money from central banks, now at $17 trillion, is about to increase even more. That’s what’s causing these huge dislocations in the bond market.
Q: If we’re having trouble getting into trades, should we chase or not?
A: Never chase. Leave your limit in there at a price you’re happy with. Often times, you’ll get done at the end of the day when the high frequency traders cash out all their positions. They will artificially push up our trade alert prices during the day and take them right back down at the end of the day because they have to go 100% cash by the close of each day—they never carry overnight positions. That’s becoming a common way that people get filled on our Trade Alerts.
Q: Will Boris Johnson get kicked out before the hard Brexit occurs?
A: Probably, yes. I’m hoping for it, anyway. What may happen is Parliament forcing a vote on any hard Brexit. If that happens, it will lose, the prime minister will have to resign, and they’ll get a new prime minister. Labor is now campaigning on putting Brexit up to a vote one more time, and just demographic change alone over the last four years means that Brexit will lose in a landslide. That would pull England out of the last 4 years of indecision, torture, and economic funk. If that happens, expect British stock markets to soar and the pound (FXB) to go up, from $1.17 all the way back up to $1.65, where it was before the whole Brexit disaster took place.
Q: Is the US central bank turning into Japan?
A: Yes. If we go to zero rates and zero growth and recession happens, there’s no way to get out of it; and that is the exact situation Japan has been in. For 30 years they have had zero rates, and it’s done absolutely nothing to stimulate their economy or corporate profits. The question then—and one someone might ask Washington—is: why pursue a policy that’s already been proven unsuccessful in every country it’s been tried in?
Q: Will US household debt become a problem if there is a sharp recession?
A: Yes, that’s always a problem in recessions. It’s a major reason why financials have been in a freefall because default rates are about to rise substantially.
Q: Given the big spike in earnings in NVIDIA (NVDA), what now for the stock?
A: Wait for a 10% dip and buy it. This stock has triple in it over the next 3 years. You want to get into all the chip stocks like this, such as Micron Technology (MU), Lam Research (LRCX), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Q: Baidu (BIDU) has risen in earnings, with management saying the worst is over. Is this reality or is this a red herring?
A: I vote for A red herring. There’s no way the worst is over, unless the management of Baidu knows something we don’t about Chinese intentions.
Q: When will Wells Fargo (WFC) be out of the woods?
A: I hate the sector so I’m really not desperate to reach for marginal financials that I have to get into. If I do want to get into financials, it will be in JP Morgan (JPM), one of my favorites. The whole sector is getting slaughtered by low interest rates.
Q: Any idea when the trade war will end?
A: Yes, after the next presidential election. It’s not as if the Chinese are negotiating in bad faith here, they just have no idea how to deal with a United States that changes its position every day. It’s like negotiating with a piece of Jell-O, you can’t nail it down. At this point the Chinese have thrown their hands up and think they can get a better deal out of the next president.
Q: Would you short General Electric (GE) or wait for another bump up to short it?
A: I would wait for a bump. Obviously—with the latest accounting scandal, which compares (GE) with Enron and WorldCom—I don’t want to get involved with the stock. And we could get new lows once the facts of the case come out. There are too many better fish to fry, like in technology, so I would stay away from (GE).
Q: How do you put stop losses on your trade?
A: It’s a confluence of fundamentals and technicals. Obviously, we’re looking at key support levels on the charts; if those fail then we stop out of there. That doesn’t happen very often, maybe on 10% of our trades (and more recently even less than that). Our latest stop loss was on the (TLT) short. That was our biggest loss of the year but thank goodness we got out of that, because after we stopped out at $138 it went all the way to $146, so that’s why you do stop losses.
Q: How about putting on a (TLT) short now?
A: No, I think we’re going to new highs on (TLT) and new lows on interest rates. We’re just going through a temporary digestion period now. We’ll challenge the lows in rates and highs in prices once again, and you don’t want to be short when that happens. The liquidity is getting so bad in the bond market, you’re getting these gigantic gaps as a global buy panic in bonds continues.
Q: Do you have thoughts on what Fed Governor Powell may say in Jackson Hole, and any market reaction?
A: I have no idea what he might say, but he seems to be trying to walk a tightrope between presidential attacks and economic reality. With the stock market 3% short of an all-time high, I’m not sure how much of a hurry he will be in to lower interest rates. The Fed is usually behind the curve, lowering rates in response to a weak economy, and I’m not sure the actual data is weak enough yet for them to lower. The Fed never anticipates potential weakness (at least until the last raise) so we shall see. But we may have little volatility for the rest of the week and then a big move on Friday, depending on what he says.
Q: What is your take on the short term 6-18 months in residential real estate? Are Chinese tariffs and recession fears already priced in or will prices continue to drop?
A: Prices will continue to drop but not to the extent that we saw in ‘08 and ‘09 when prices dropped by 50, 60, 70% in the worst markets like Florida, Las Vegas, and Arizona. The reason for that is you have a chronic structural shortage in housing. All the home builders that went bankrupt in the last crash has resulted in a shortage, and you also have an immense generation of Millennials trying to buy homes now who’ve been shut out by higher interest rates and who may be coming back in. So, I’m not expecting anything remotely resembling a crash in real estate, just a slowdown. And new homes are actually not falling at all. That’s because the builders are deliberately restraining supply there.
Q: What is a good LEAP to put on now?
A: There aren’t any. We’re somewhat in the middle of a wider, longer-term range, and I want to wait until we get to the bottom of that; when people are jumping out of windows—that’s when you want to start putting on your long term LEAPS (long term equity anticipation securities), and when you get the biggest returns. We may get a shot at that sometime in the next month or two before a year in rally begins. If you held a gun to my head and told me I had to buy a leap, it would probably be in Boeing (BA), which is down 35% from its high.
Global Market Comments
June 14, 2019
(WEDNESDAY JUNE 26 BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA STRATEGY LUNCHEON)
(MAY 29 BIWEEKLY STRATEGY WEBINAR Q&A),
(TSLA), (BYND), (AMZN), (GOOG), (AAPL), (CRM), (UT), (RTN), (DIS), (TLT), (HAL), (BABA), (BIDU), (SLV), (EEM)
Below please find subscribers’ Q&A for the Mad Hedge Fund Trader June 12 Global Strategy Webinar with my guest and co-host Bill Davis of the Mad Day Trader. Keep those questions coming!
Q: Do you think Tesla (TSLA) will survive?
A: Not only do I think it will survive, but it’ll go up 10 times from the current level. That’s why we urged people to buy the stock at $180. Tesla is so far ahead of the competition, it is incredible. They will sell 400,000 cars this year. The number two electric car competitor will sell only 25,000. They have a ten-year head start in the technology and they are increasing that lead every day. Battery costs will drop another 90% over the next decade eventually making these cars incredibly cheap. Increase sales by ten times and double profit margins and eventually, you get to a $1 trillion company.
Q: Beyond Meat (BYND)—the veggie burger stock—just crashed 25% after JP Morgan downgraded the stock. Are you a buyer here?
A: Absolutely not; veggie burgers are not my area of expertise. Although there will be a large long-term market here potentially worth $140 billion, short term, the profits in no way justify the current stock price which exists only for lack of anything else going on in the market. You don’t get rich buying stocks at 37 times company sales.
Q: Are you worried about antitrust fears destroying the Tech stocks?
A: No, it really comes down to a choice: would you rather American or Chinese companies dominate technology? If we break up all our big tech companies, the only large ones left will be Chinese. It’s in the national interest to keep these companies going. If you did break up any of the FANGS, you’d be creating a ton of value. Amazon (AMZN) is probably worth double if it were broken up into four different pieces. Amazon Web Services alone, their cloud business, will probably be worth $1 trillion as a stand-alone company in five years. The same is true with Apple (AAPL) or Google (GOOG). So, that’s not a big threat overhanging the market.
Q: Is it time to buy Salesforce (CRM)?
A: Yes, you want to be picking up any cloud company you can on any kind of sizeable selloff, and although this isn’t a sizeable selloff, Salesforce is the dominant player in cloud plays; you just want to keep buying this all day long. We get back into it every chance we can.
Q: Do you think the proposed merger of United Technologies (UT) and Raytheon (RTN) will lower the business quality of United Tech’s aerospace business?
A: No, these are almost perfectly complementary companies. One is strong in aerospace while the other is weak, and vice versa with defense. You mesh the two together, you get big economies of scale. The resulting layoffs from the merger will show an increase in overall profitability.
Q: I had the Disney (DIS) shares put to me at $114 a share; would you buy these?
A: Disney stock is going to go up ahead of the summer blockbuster season, so the puts are going to expire being worthless. Sell the puts you have and then go short even more to make back your money. Go naked short a small non-leveraged amount Disney $114 puts, and that should bring in a nice return in an otherwise dead market. Make sure you wait for another selloff in the market to do that.
Q: What role does global warming play in your bullish hypothesis for the 2020s?
A: If people start to actually address global warming, it will be hugely positive for the global economy. It would demand the creation of a plethora of industries around the world, such as solar and other alternative energy industries. When I originally made my “Golden Age” forecast years ago, it was based on the demographics, not global warming; but now that you mention it, any kind of increase in government spending is positive for the global economy, even if it’s borrowed. Spending to avert global warming could be the turbocharger.
Q: Why not go long in the United States Treasury Bond Fund (TLT) into the Fed interest rate cuts?
A: I would, but only on a larger pullback. The problem is that at a 2.06% ten-year Treasury yield, three of the next five quarter-point cuts are already priced into the market. Ideally, if you can get down to $126 in the (TLT), that would be a sweet spot. I have a feeling we’re not going to pull back that far—if you can pull back five points from the recent high at $133, that would be a good point at which to be long in the (TLT).
Q: Extreme weather is driving energy demand to its highest peak since 2010…is there a play here in some energy companies that I’m missing?
A: No, if we’re going into recession and there’s a global supply glut of oil, you don’t want to be anywhere near the energy space whatsoever; and the charts we just went through—Halliburton (HAL) and so on—amply demonstrate that fact. The only play here in oil is on the short side. When US production is in the process of ramping up from 5 million (2005) to $12.3 million (now), to 17 million barrels a day (by 2024) you don’t want to have any exposure to the price of oil whatsoever.
Q: What about China’s FANGS—Alibaba (BABA) and Baidu (BIDU). What do you think of them?
A: I wanted to start buying these on extreme selloff days in anticipation of a trade deal that happens sometime next year. You actually did get rallies without a deal in these things showing that they have finally bottomed down. So yes, I want to be a player in the Chinese FANGS in expectation of a trade deal in the future sometime, but not soon.
Q: Silver (SLV) seems weaker than gold. What’s your view on this?
A: Silver is always the high beta play. It usually moves 1.5-2.5 times faster than gold, so not only do you get bigger rallies in silver, you get bigger selloffs also. The industrial case for silver basically disappeared when we went to digital cameras twenty years ago.
Q: Does this extended trade war mean the end for emerging markets (EEM)?
A: Yes, for the time being. Emerging markets are one of the biggest victims of trade wars. They are more dependent on trade than any of the major economies, so as long as we have a trade war that’s getting worse, we want to avoid emerging markets like the plague.
Q: We just got a huge rebound in the market out of dovish Fed comments. Is this delivering the way for a more dovish message for the rest of the year?
A: Yes, the market is discounting five interest rate cuts through next year; so far, the Fed has delivered none of them. If they delayed that cutting strategy at all, even for a month, it could lead to a 10% selloff in the stock market very quickly and that in and of itself will bring more Fed interest rate cuts. So, it is sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The bottom line is that we’re looking at an ultra-low interest rate world for the foreseeable future.
Good Luck and Good Trading.
CEO & Publisher
The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader
Mad Hedge Technology Letter
May 14, 2019
(AAPL), (MSFT), (ADBE), (PYPL), (QCOM), (MU), (JD), (BABA), (BIDU)


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“We're disappointed with the outcome of the referendum, as we were backers of the Remain position. In spite of the uncertainties involved, a UK exit from the EU is a reality we have to work with. It's clear, however, that it will take considerable time for the UK government and the EU to work through the exit process, which gives us plenty of time to make any adjustments to the way we do business,” said Iain Watkins, spokesperson for Bristol-based Ímperial.
British American Tobacco, with headquarters in London, said the result is not a cause for concern. “We have always said we do not believe Brexit would have a significant impact on our business – our European subsidiaries are supplied by our factories in mainland Europe, and the UK is a small part of our overall EU business. For us, therefore, it’s business as usual,” a company spokesperson said.

domain: news


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TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Read our ethics statement.
Netflix recently released an Android app for smartphones. Unfortunately, the company limited the app to just five phones: the HTC Incredible with Android 2.2, the HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2 or Android 2.3, the HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2, the HTC G2 with Android 2.2, and the Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3.
Hackers have circumvented this restriction by making the app think you are using one of the supported devices. There some unsupported devices which seem to work fine with the app, but others have serious problems, including crashes or no video/sound. A detailed guide has been posted on Reddit for those who want to give this a try (your Android device needs to be rooted) at their own risk, of course.
Netflix explained that because the Android platform has evolved so rapidly, there are significant challenges associated with developing a streaming video application for the ecosystem, such as the lack of standard streaming playback features. The lack of standardization means Netflix has to test each individual handset. The streaming giant says only phones that have requisite playback are being supported right now. The company expects to work with ecosystem partners to expand playback support to more phones, and we should see a Netflix app that works on a large majority of Android phones in the coming months.
Clearly, the hacker community doesn't really care for this and is willing to test the limits of the app. We hope that Netlix reacts appropriately: either by doing nothing or by issuing a standard warning that it cannot support those who use the workarounds.


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The CEO of Finnish developer RedLynx has made an extraordinary confession that the studio deliberately leaked one of its games to various torrent sites.
In what could be seen as a move that validates torrent sites as a potential marketing tool for developers and publishers, RedLynx CEO Tero Virtala argued during a panel discussion that studios can benefit from piracy.
"Piracy is here, so how can we take advantage of that,” Virtala asked at the Develop in Liverpool conference.
“What we did actually, on day one, we put [the PC edition of Trials] immediately on all the torrent networks ourselves," he said, as quoted by GamesIndustry.biz.
However, quite shrewdly, RedLynx omitted leaderboard support from the pirate copy.
The high-score appeal of Trials, which typically emerges after players get to grips with the game, was hoped would convince users to ‘upgrade’ to legitimate copies.
"That game relies really heavily on the server side – the leaderboards are the soul of the game,” claimed Virtala.
Though speaking of the move as a way of capitalising on piracy, Virtala in fact seemed uncertain on whether the leak had helped legitimate sales.
“I’d assume so,” he said, adding that Trials has sold close to 150,000 copies since it launched 18 months ago.
"When we compare that hacked version with those who have access to leaderboards and are accessing our servers they match. So at least people have not cracked out leaderboards yet," he added.
The Xbox 360 version of Trials – entitled Trials HD – had become the highest-selling XBLA game during Microsoft’s ‘Summer of Arcade’ campaign, having sold around 300,000 digital copies.


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The Canadian phone manufacturer BlackBerry has confirmed that its voice assistant will come soon, to take a tough competition to Apple Siri, Google Now and Microsoft Cortona. The company revealed that the new voice-based virtual assistant will debut first on the BlackBerry Passport smartphone, which is near to its release and will be a part of the upcoming BlackBerry 10.3 OS.
The blog post revealed the BlackBerry Assistant interface, which shows a microphone in a circle, very reminiscent to Google Now, which a user can press and start giving voice commands. The assistant can respond to conversational spoken requests or commands, as noted by the blog post.
In the Official Blog Blackberry mentioned that “BlackBerry Assistant is voice activated when I need it to be, and helps manage simple tasks on my device from searching my email and calendar, finding out what’s trending on Twitter, to sending trivia night invitations. The more I use it, the more it learns and adapts to me. The more I speak with it, the more tuned-in to my queries it gets. If you’ve had experience with other smartphone-based personal assistants, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how accurate BlackBerry Assistant is at recognizing your requests”.
The Canadian handset maker also hinted in its blog post that the BlackBerry Assistant will get better with time as a user spends more time with it, a learning process that Microsoft’s Cortana also touts. But the company does not reveal, that when the Blackberry 10.3 OS will available to the blackberry user’s.
This Voice assistant service will be available on Blackberry passport which has 4.5 inch HD display and offered 453 ppi pixel density. The Phone is square in shape with awesome designs


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Your Store Thursday’s weekly rundown of
jewelry retailers in
A jeweler performed a wedding when a couple’s reverend
A Massachusetts jeweler expands his store.
Pittsburgh-area jewelers were interviewed in a gold buying
Wheaton’s Stones Jewelers recently turned 100.
Jeweler gets property tax break to recover from fire.
Jeweler is charged with larceny over diamond switch.
Ashwaubenon Jeweler could face more than 100 charges.
Heat wave contest produced hot returns for jeweler.


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Tabitha Willett has called on fashion house Chanel to explain having two dogs locked in small cages in their Sloane Street store in London at 11pm.
A well-known dog lover, the former reality star called on Chanel to answer for their actions and was told the dogs were in store for “security purposes”.
Photo Credit: Instagram/Tabitha.Willett
According to Sky News, Chanel reportedly told Willett the dogs were kept in the cages for a “few” hours at a time, and were under the watchful eye of a handler.
She has since reported the issue to the RSPCA.
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What you need to know
- Apple has released a new series of ads for its Beats Fit Pro earbuds.
- The new ads feature Vince Staples and Naomi Osaka.
Update, February 8 (4:00 pm ET): Beats has released two new ads as part of its "Move When They Want" campaign.
Beats Fit Pro is getting two new ads to support its launch.
Beats has released a series of new videos to celebrate the launch of the brand's new Beats Fit Pro wireless earbuds. The new ads, titled "Move How They Want," feature both Vince Staples and Naomi Osaka.
The first video, which features Vince Staples, also features the artist's song "Magic." You can watch the video below:
The second video features Naomi Osaka. It also features "Magic" from Vince Staples. You can check out that video below:
Beats Fit Pro features a new, wingtip design, 27-hour battery life, Active Noise Cancellation, and more.
Beats Fit Pro is available now for $200 across multiple retailers.
Update, February 8 (4:00 pm ET) — Beats has released two new ads as part of its "Move When They Want" campaign.
Beats has released two more ads as part of the company's "Move When They Want" campaign. The new ads feature Quen Blackwell and Kaia Gerber. You can check out both of the ads below:
Bottom line: Beats Fit Pro offer most of what AirPods Pro do with some added features aimed at keen exercisers. The look and sound great, integrate tightly with Apple devices, and help to block out annoyances with ANC. Outside of a plasticky case and uncomfortable fit for some users, there's not a lot to dislike.
Master your iPhone in minutes
iMore offers spot-on advice and guidance from our team of experts, with decades of Apple device experience to lean on. Learn more with iMore!
Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.


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Sonrai Security, an end-to-end data security and compliance platform, has raised $18m in its Series A round.
Polaris Partners and TenEleven Ventures served as the lead investors of the round, with participation also came from New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.
As part of the investment, Polaris Partners managing partner Dave Berrett and TenEleven Ventures founder and managing general partner Alex Doll will join the Sonrai board of directors.
Alongside the fundraising, Sonrai has released its new service which offers data and identity controls across cloud accounts and all data stores. The Cloud Data Control is a hybrid cloud security and risk mitigation solution which offers discovery, classification, mapping and automation tools.
The system can track data and users across any cloud service, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others, as well as third-party data sources. Its data security tools can assess and lower risk for identity and data relationships, as well as monitor movement and usage of data.
Clients can use Sonrai to monitor compliance or flag potential violations of regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI and others.
Sonrai Security co-founder and CEO Brendan Hannigan at said, “Cloud adoption affords us a unique opportunity to reimagine how we secure corporate data, and to make a clean break from the limitations of device, data centre and perimeter centric security.
“By putting data and identity at the centre of a security model that spans cloud providers and third-party data stores, Sonrai Security offers a level of control and security never possible in a traditional enterprise network.”
Last year, Polaris Partners took part in the $33m funding round of cybersecurity company Twistlock.
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst


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What happened to Amazon’s delivery drones?
In 2013, Amazon Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos said that in just âfive years,â a significant portion of Amazon packages would be delivered by drone. However, eight years later, Prime Air has yet to take off.
Exclusive: Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Thesis Details for the Biotech Industry
Lee Ainslie’s Maverick USA is up about 32% year-to-date, although it was in the red in the second quarter. Over the past four years, the fund has increased its exposure to the biotech sector from zero to the highest level in its history. Letters, conferences and more on hedge funds in Q2 2021 Maverick Read more
Prime Air has not yet taken place
âIt will happen, it will work and it will be extremely fun,â said the then mogul. Later, in June of last year, the company insisted the first drone delivery service was “a matter of months.”
However, eight summers have passed since the idea was put on the table, and as of August 2021, the project lies in intensive care: the newly redesigned drones still need further testing, the service does. is not fully integrated with Amazon’s warehouse systems, and regulatory hurdles are still there.
As reported by Business intern, Prime Air employees in the UK said the project was chaotic. âManagers who had no technical knowledge of drones were recruited by other areas of Amazon’s business. “
Elsewhere, the project is lagging far behind, to the point of avoiding specific time estimates. They are not known to be more successful than a handful of pilot tests in extremely controlled environments.
Former employees said Wired that Amazon was constantly shifting priorities and every few months an American executive would arrive at Amazon headquarters with pizza to double their workload.
Still, the company has managed to become a retail and tech titan thanks to AWS and its online sales which soared during the pandemic.
Additionally, through Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MFC) – a division of the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) program – the company pursues the logistics industry in the United States by delivering orders from registered sellers at Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) , eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Etsy Inc (NASDAQ: ETSY).
Amazon is also threatening to become a huge entertainment freak with the $ 8.45 billion acquisition of MGM, which could portend unfair competition in the juicy streaming industry.
The company has come under fire with charges of cutting its wages every time it opens new facilities. According to The Economist, “When Amazon entered Lexington County, South Carolina, warehouse workers’ annual earnings increased from $ 47,000 to $ 32,000.”
Reveal News disclosed an investigation last September indicating that the company’s serious injury rate “was double the industry average.” When asked to comment, Amazon declined.
Amazon is part of Entrepreneurs index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or the families of their founders.


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Welcome to the Fox News Autos Newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your email, subscribe here.
MADE IN USA: Tesla swept the top spots in the Cars.com American-Made Index of cars and trucks. Continue reading here
HIT THE ROAD…STER: New kit blows the doors off the Ford Bronco. Continue reading here
SHOCKER: Cadillac reveals a first look at the electric Escalade IQ and the date of its debut. Continue reading here
INTELLIGENT DESIGN: Toyota is using AI to meld the design and engineering of its new models. Continue reading here
BIG NEWS ABOUT SMALL TRUCKS: Here's why Chevy doesn't sell a compact pickup in the U.S. Continue reading here
FLYING HIGH: Classic 1970 Plymouth Superbird soars at auction. Continue reading here
FOLLOW FOX NEWS AUTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA:


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Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a $35,000 version of its Model 3 sedan when unveiling the car nearly three years ago.
- But by Tuesday, the automaker had completely removed any standard battery option for the car from its website.
- The move raises questions about when the base model might be available for order.
- In a regulatory filing Tuesday, the company said it still intends "to offer in the future a variant of Model 3 at a starting price of $35,000."
- A Tesla spokesperson declined to comment.
Currently, the cheapest version of the Model 3 available for pre-order on Tesla’s website is the mid-range battery, rear-wheel drive for $42,900 before any savings. That price can be lowered to $32,850, the company claims, after $5,000 worth of tax savings and when six years worth of "gasoline savings" are also factored in.
In recent months, the standard version was listed as available within "4 to 6 months," Electrek notes. That no longer appears longer the case.
A $35,000 base model was originally announced with the rollout of the Model 3 in 2016, and is widely seen as Tesla’s path to becoming a mass-market automaker. CEO Elon Musk once said that the company could start delivering the cheapest version in by the end of 2018.
A Tesla spokesperson declined to comment.
In a regulatory filing Tuesday, the company said it still intends "to offer in the future a variant of Model 3 at a starting price of $35,000." On an earnings conference call with Wall Street analysts in February, Musk said his "rough guess" is that the model could now arrive by mid-2019.
- Tesla needs to expedite its plans for an electric pickup truck before it loses a key advantage
- The $446 million Airbus A380 superjumbo is the largest and most expensive airliner in the world. Take a look inside.
- Tesla challenger Rivian just announced a $700 million investment led by Amazon


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At Walt Disney's investor day last month, Randy Freer, CEO of Hulu, said the digital video ad industryis expected to surpass $50 billion within the next three years.
Figure a couple of years after that, it could be a $70 billion market.
At that level, the digital video marketplace would be on par with where the total TV advertising market is now: $70 billion. (The digital video advertising market was $28 billion last year.)
When digital video equals total TV, at that point (most probably sometime before) we won’t be speaking about whether traditional TV will be taking back money from digital, or whether digital will be growing faster than traditional TV. Or whether TV is stronger "brand safety"-wise than digital.
Virtually all TV will be digitally distributed via broadband.
At a certain level, TV and media executives believe there will always be an upfront market -- where brands will secure, ahead of time, the content they want. No matter how many audience segments one can divvy up -- all to compete with digital media players -- there still needs to be scale to grab the most most-viewed and most engaged content.
What about addressable and/or auction-based TV buying systems? Sure -- but as a function to get ahead of your competition. AT&T will still need to compete against Verizon, and Toyota versus Honda, and Macy’s versus Kohl’s, even with the juggernaut Amazon.
Will similarly competing brands look at totally different segments of consumers? Not exactly.
The only question: Will those upfront after-parties remain for media executives? If not, perhaps we can go to parties virtually, with Google’s new augmented reality smart glasses headgear.
Only $999. Shrimp, cocktails and chummy conversation not included.


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There are many sectors that have had outperformance this year. Examples are energy, tech and home improvement stocks.
One sector you should seriously consider exposure to in your investing portfolio is ecommerce. Not only is the sector growing at a rapid pace, but the business model of many of the companies makes them very resilient as they quickly can adapt their organization to changing market conditions.
One big player in this sector is ETSY (Nasdaq: ETSY). If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard of ETSY yet, ETSY is an ecommerce platform where ordinary people like you and me can sell handmade or vintage items and craft supplies.
Even before the start of the pandemic, ecommerce was on the rise. But the pandemic was like pouring gasoline on a fire that has catapulted the sector to new highs at a phenomenal growth rate.
In the US alone, ecommerce sales reached a massive $196.66 billion, which equals a 39% year-on-year growth compared to Q1 2020
(source: U.S. Department of Commerce data)
The growth is not limited to US and global ecommerce traffic has been in a steady uptrend for many years, with an impressive increase of 58.33% since January 2019 alone.
Obviously, the growth of ecommerce has had an incredibly positive impact on Etsy’s business as well.
Since the start of the pandemic, ETSY has seen a strong inflow of new buyers which is great news for the company. Between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, new buyers increased by 114%, active buyers by 90.5%, repeat buyers by 114% and habitual buyers 205%. The statistics of repeated buyers and habitual buyers is particularly impressive as those numbers are a strong reflection of customer satisfaction.
With other words, ETSY customers are more than happy to come back often to make new purchases. New sales are good, recurring sales are GREAT as that ensures a consistent cash flow for the company.
Not only does the number of buyers go up, but so does the number of sellers with an impressive 70% year-over-year growth between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, ensuring a strong influx of new products to Etsy’s platform, which in turn likely will generate even more sales long-term.
Thus, from a fundamental and sentiment standpoint, we think that ETSY is in a strong position to take further advantage of the growth in the ecommerce sector, making it a strong candidate for investors looking for long-term investment opportunities.
On the 28th of June ETSY shares rose sharply on news that the company was acquiring the “Brazilian version of Etsy” knows as Elo7 for $217 million.
This bullish impulsive move in the price action cleared a key resistance that had held for more than a month changing the short-term bias to a more bullish stance. The pullback since the surge is slower than the buying preceding it, indicating that the order flow is imbalanced to the buy side.
Based on this price action, we think the support zone between $172 and $179 is a logical area to look for potential entry locations.
Looking at option positioning, ETSY has about 90K calls and 100K puts with 34% of those options rolling off this Friday. This would suggest a short term pullback and potential resistance around $200, which aligns with the current price action and technical analysis.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Chris Capre currently has no stock or option position in Etsy, but he does have pending buy limit orders on ETSY. If you’d like to learn more about Chris’s trades/positions, you can get access via the Trading Masterclass where he shares his live trades, further investment ideas and daily market analysis.


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Chinese mobile payment startup QFPay just announced on its official website to raise a financing of undisclosed sum from Sequoia China to accelerate its growth as the company, Beijing-based, just launched its revamped solution for China’s 60 million local merchants, see our previous report here.
QFPay, which was originally inspired by Square’s success story in America’s mobile payment territory, extended the reach and versatility of its offering by introducing an extensible app platform in the company’s latest product launch.
Founded in last March, QFPay now boasts a strong team of 80 while engineers accounted for more than half of the whole headcount.
The startup has got more than 10k local merchants on board as of now, with RMB north of 300 million being processed by the system from charging more than 500k bank cards.
QFPay disclosing funding news on its website
Image credit: QFPay.com


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A British non-governmental organisation Global Witness says the government should cancel the contract of diamond miner Anjin, a joint venture between a Chinese and a Zimbabwean company.
In its report released on Valentine’s Day, the organisation says the government should also review all other contracts in the Marange diamond fields, and audit concession allocation procedures and operations conducted so far to see whether they represent a good deal for Zimbabwe.
Its main worry is that diamond revenues from Marange may be going to military and security forces closely aligned to the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and could be used in the coming elections to prop the party.
It questions the ownership of Matt Bronze, the joint venture partner in Anjin, and Transfrontier International which has a stake in Mbada diamonds and says Anjin and Mbada should publish details of their ultimate beneficial owners.
Global Witness says the Kimberley process should not authorise sales of diamonds from Anjin.
The organisation pulled out of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme last year after the KP readmitted Zimbabwe.
Anjin says it is now the biggest diamond miner in the world.
Diamonds from Marange, though reportedly of lower quality, have already sent shockwaves in the market and have resulted in the plummeting of prices.


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T-Mobile USA is the latest carrier rumored to land the Samsung Galaxy S, the handset vendor's latest flagship device running on Google's Android platform.
According to a report in the blog TMoNews, which cited an unnamed source, T-Mobile will launch the Galaxy S July 21. Previously, rumors had pegged the device as heading to AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T). According to FCC documents unearthed in April, the smartphone passed the agency's certification process with support for the 850/1900/2100 MHz 3G bands used by AT&T. Thus, the latest rumor involving T-Mobile adds to speculation that multiple carriers will simultaneously release the phone.
The rumors coincide with efforts by Samsung to step up interest in its Galaxy S release plans. The company sent out boxes with a UFO-shaped USB speaker system to multiple media outlets (including FierceWireless), and said the device will be "landing soon." Additionally, the company is planning an event in New York City June 29 based around Android.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S in March at the CTIA Wireless 2010 conference, and said the gadget will lead its new content initiative, called "S Life." The device runs on a custom 1 GHz Samsung processor and Google's Android 2.1 OS, and features a 4-inch super AMOLED touchscreen display, TouchWiz 3.0 user interface, WiFi and a 5-megapixel camera.
In other T-Mobile rumors, TMoNews also reported the carrier plans to upgrade all of its myTouch 3G devices to Android 2.2 later this year. The phones are made by HTC, and the manufacturer previously said it will "most likely" upgrade the phones it releases this year to Android 2.2. According to the blog, which cited a document signed by T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman, the carrier is planning the upgrade, as well as other software tweaks, to follow a pledge of "no phones left behind."
A T-Mobile spokeswoman declined to comment on the Galaxy S rumors, and could not provide comment on the myTouch rumors at deadline.
Rumor Mill: Samsung Galaxy S speeding toward AT&T
Samsung outlines smartphone strategy with Galaxy S, 'Smart Life'
Google unveils Android 2.2, Froyo, in escalating war against Apple


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As part of regular internal checks, Volkswagen has identified a design flaw in the brake pedal in some models. The holding has announced a large campaign of vehicle recall and inspection. In Germany alone, 17,600 iron horses will be examined in the concern’s workshops.
Volkswagen has recalled thousands of new cars because of the brake pedal. 38,100 copies are recalled worldwide, of which almost 17,600 are in Germany. We are talking about the Golf, Tiguan, Touran and T-Roc models with a release date of 2020. Until now, there were no accidents that occurred due to a brake malfunction, a company spokesman said.
During internal inspections, it was found that the pedal plate, which the driver presses on when braking, can under certain circumstances deform or even come off. This problem has been identified in cars with automatic transmission and left-hand drive vehicles.
The campaign has started. Vehicle owner data are requested from the Federal Highway Administration. The Flensburg-based agency oversees the process. According to experts, a “welding defect” can be a risk factor for a possible detachment of the pedal plate.
Germany says this:
Christmas in Germany: no mixing of friends with family
Germany: Is it possible to visit relatives on Christmas
Is it possible to travel in Germany, despite the strict quarantine from December 16
How many people in Germany can meet on Christmas and New Year’s Eve


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Mullen Automotive (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle (“EV”) manufacturer, today announced that its majority-owned Bollinger Motors has received vehicle orders for 40 B4, Class 4 EV trucks, valued at a total of approximately $6 million. According to the announcement, the company anticipates the 100% American-made Bollinger B4 chassis cab to begin production in mid-2024. The truck is expected to be eligible nationwide for a federal purchasing incentive of 30% of the cost of the vehicle, up to a total of $40,000, through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The announcement noted that the purpose-built Bollinger B4 commercial trucks, which will be made in Michigan, have been designed to be custom-configured by fleets to fit their exact duty cycle needs. This design intends to make the transition to electric as seamless as possible with minimal downtime. In addition, the all-electric trucks’ cabs feature a forward design that provides improved visibility and frees up space behind the driver for more cargo. “The B4 has been very well received to date and it’s great to see our first 40 vehicle orders coming in well in advance of production start,” said Robert Bollinger, CEO of Bollinger Motors.
To view the full press release, visit https://ibn.fm/LoobR
About Mullen Automotive Inc.
Mullen is a Southern California-based automotive company building the next generation of premium electric vehicles (“EVs”) that are affordable and built entirely in the United States. With an end-to-end ecosystem that supports owners from test driving to financing and servicing through a unique hybrid dealership model, customers are supported through every aspect of EV ownership. The Mullen FIVE, the company’s first electric crossover, is slated for delivery in 2024 and features an award-winning design and its patented PERSONA technology that utilizes facial recognition to personalize the driving experience for every individual. For more information about the company, visit www.MullenUSA.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to MULN are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/MULN
GreenCarStocks (“GCS”) is a specialized communications platform with a focus on electric vehicles (“EVs”) and the green energy sector. It is one of 60+ brands within the Dynamic Brand Portfolio @ IBN that delivers: (1) access to a vast network of wire solutions via InvestorWire to efficiently and effectively reach a myriad of target markets, demographics and diverse industries; (2) article and editorial syndication to 5,000+ outlets; (3) enhanced press release enhancement to ensure maximum impact; (4) social media distribution via IBN to millions of social media followers; and (5) a full array of tailored corporate communications solutions. With broad reach and a seasoned team of contributing journalists and writers, GCS is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that want to reach a wide audience of investors, influencers, consumers, journalists and the general public. By cutting through the overload of information in today’s market, GCS brings its clients unparalleled recognition and brand awareness. GCS is where breaking news, insightful content and actionable information converge.
To receive SMS alerts from GreenCarStocks, text “Green” to 888-902-4192 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information, please visit https://www.GreenCarStocks.com
GreenCarStocks is powered by IBN


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April 21, 2012
University of Nevada, Davidson Mathematics & Science Center
AMS started this event last year as sort of a precursor to SNAFU Con, but thanks to the support all of you have given Reno's first anime convention, they're hoping to make their little spring festival even bigger this year!
They'll have a ticket booth where you can purchase tickets, and you can use those tickets to play games, win prizes, and, of course, treat yourself to their lovely barbecued foods! Also there will be various stage games and entertainment where attendees will have a chance to win a VIP pass to SNAFU Con!
Otakupalooza 2012 Guests
- Steve "Warky" Nunez - Actor / Pianist / Comedian
Otakupalooza 2012 Reports and Photos
- No reports found.


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Digital sales generate 55% of HSN’s overall sales, and the retailer is looking to new platforms, such as Facebook Live, to acquire customers.
The singer and actor is the latest celebrity to promote BeachMint.
Justin Timberlake, the actor, singer and former boy band star, is using his fame to help promote the latest e-commerce venture from BeachMint Inc.—the latest example of how online retailers are seeking out celebrity star power.
HomeMint.com, scheduled for a launch later this spring, will sell home decor products selected by Timberlake and his interior designer, Estee Stanley. Home goods and accessories will be sold under the HomeMint brand. The site will also sell art and photography.
HomeMint.com will operate a differently than other BeachMint sites, which offer subscribers products matched to their stated style preferences on a monthly basis and where all products carry the same price. BeachMint says consumers who subscribe to HomeMint.com will pay a monthly fee to access the site’s member-only pricing. BeachMint did not immediately say what the monthly fee is or what prices the products will typically have.
"HomeMint is a natural addition to our family of brands,” says BeachMint president Diego Berdakin. “BeachMint's social commerce experience is about personalization and curation and there is nothing more personal than a customer's home."
BeachMint’s celebrity-infused e-retail sites include JewelMint.com, with actress Kate Bosworth; BeautyMint.com, with singer Jessica Simpson; and ShoeMint.com, with actress Rachel Bilson. Internet Retailer editors selected JewelMint.com, which sells jewelry, to be included in its Hot 100 list, an annual compilation of the most innovative e-retailers. Order your copy of this special issue here.
The Timberlake announcement comes amid a similar one today from LuxeYard.com, a flash sale site for luxury home furnishings and décor, which said it has added Giuliana Rancic to its roster of celebrities that recommend products for the site. Rancic is an entertainment journalist and reality TV personality who is married to the first winner of “The Apprentice” TV show hosted by Donald Trump; the couple has its own reality TV show as well. LuxeYard.com launched in January.
Also this week, UsTrendy.com, an online fashion marketplace that lets designers sell their products directly to consumers, said it was working with singer and actress Jennifer Lopez to promote a style contest. Lopez is promoting the contest via her Facebook and Twitter accounts, and on her personal web site. Lopez last year began selling a Jennifer Lopez Collection apparel line at Kohl’s stores and online. Kohl’s Corp. is No. 31 in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide. And last month, The Honest Company, an e-commerce site that sells organic baby projects on a subscription basis, announced it had raised $27 million in funding. Actress Jessica Alba is the site’s co-founder and president.
Celebrities can be a double-edged sword for companies that work with them, says Nikki Baird, managing partner at research and advisory firm Retail Systems Research LLC. “It's great visibility [for a retailer], especially when the synergy is there—when the celebrity behaves and has a brand that has a lot in common with what the company is trying to establish,” she says. But dependence on celebrities also carries risk, she says, noting how companies rushed to cut their association with golfer Tiger Woods in 2009 after his extramarital affairs became public.


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The U.S. drone industry wants government regulations for private and commercial use of the remote-controlled devices as a way to ensure airspace safety, the head of a trade group says.
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Computer-related crimes may cause as much as US$400 billion in losses annually, according to a new study that acknowledges the difficulty in estimating damages from such acts, most of which go unreported.
Cyberattacks on U.S. networks by other nations may not always demand the same level of retaliation, and only attacks that cause major damage or loss of life should prompt similar responses, a group of national security experts said Wednesday.
The U.S. government should look to incentives as a way to encourage businesses to adopt better cybersecurity practices, instead of creating mandates, recommends a new paper from four trade groups and a civil liberties group.
The CEOs of IBM and Dell have called on U.S. government leaders to put aside their differences and create a long-term agenda to promote innovation and improve the country's competitive stature in the world.
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A Consumer Financial Protection Agency? No, Thanks
On July 14 the Senate Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs Committee met to consider the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. According to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the agency would ensure that financial-services companies provide consumers with clear and concise information regarding services, protecting them from unfair or deceptive practices. The agency would also promote consumer access to fair, efficient, and innovative financial-services markets by monitoring market risks.
But do we need another consumer protection agency? And will the new agency work?
The meltdown in the financial markets and the overall downturn in the economy have created the platform for launching additional consumer protections, or so the argument goes. I think the argument is a weak one. Consumer protection legislation tends to be predicated on the protection of the consumer against fraud and deceptive practices. But the Obama Administration's proposal, as espoused by Geithner and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), goes beyond protection from those two evils. After giving fraud the obligatory lip service, the proposal moves fast-forward into market intervention. The first red flag is the attempt to address the promotion of fair, efficient, and innovative financial services. I'm sorry, but market efficiencies are created in response to financial factors such as cost and price of the service.
Consumers Partly to Blame
How government intervention via a supposed piece of consumer protection legislation is to bring about these efficiencies has not been articulated by Congress or the Administration. Creating efficiencies through regulation typically requires the government to specify allowances for certain costs, expenses, assets, and rates of return. Do we really want a consumer protection bill to go that far?
In addition, aren't consumers partially to blame for the financial meltdown? I don't expect a consumer protection bill to protect consumers from themselves. There is only so much blame that we can put on derivatives and other pieces of faulty financial engineering. The type of intervention that we will eventually end up with only leaves one answer to the question of whether we need this prospective agency: a resounding no.
From a market failure standpoint, such an agency, given its two-pronged approach to consumer protection, may not only find itself a regulatory schizophrenic but it may also bring about the market failure it presumes to stem. Monitoring risk will lead to regulating risk. It is risk that lies at the base of creating and pricing innovative financial products. A consumer protection agency that tries to reduce risk will eventually spawn a market that does not provide innovative services and credit to consumers. This is market failure.
The other point of failure would be the lack of consumer accountability. This bill would basically take consumers off the hook for becoming financially literate and disciplined. It would create another "John Wayne" riding over the hill to save the hapless settlers. It is unclear to me why in a society with so many available and relatively inexpensive sources of information we need an über-regulator to hold our hands.
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Salesforce’s corporate ventures arm Salesforce Ventures has allocated US$100m to invest in European cloud start-ups.
The purpose of the investment is to fuel cloud innovation and customer success in the region.
Global marketing firm IDC has forecasted that Europe’s public cloud software market will grow almost 12 times faster than other IT segments to reach €33.3 billion by 2019.
The new US$100m commitment will provide funding and support to the entrepreneurs driving this growth in Europe.
Salesforce said that the global shift to the cloud has opened the door to new and exciting social, mobile and data science technologies and has created unprecedented growth in cloud computing companies across Europe.
Incredible innovation happening in Europe today
“There is so much incredible innovation happening in Europe today and we want to empower the next generation of enterprise cloud start-ups in the region,” said John Somorjai, EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures, Salesforce.
“Our US$100m commitment strengthens our mission to help start-ups grow and give back to their communities.”
With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage the expertise of the Salesforce Foundation to incorporate its 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy to make giving back part of its business model.
“This new commitment from Salesforce Ventures will stimulate the next generation of enterprise technology and grow the Salesforce ecosystem to drive even greater customer success in Europe,” said Miguel Milano, President, Salesforce EMEA.
The Salesforce Ventures portfolio includes innovative European cloud companies such as CartoDB, CloudSense, Cloud9 IDE, NewVoiceMedia, Qubit, Universal Avenue and YOUR SL.
“Salesforce Ventures provides not only the funding, network and introductions, but also the mentorship and framework to help companies understand how they can give back as they grow,” said Ruben Daniels, co-founder and CEO, Cloud9 IDE.
“We are proud of our commitment to pledge 1pc and expand diversity in the technology industry by making the community a key stakeholder in our business.”
European cloud image via Shutterstock


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Some people in the United States have had troubles when it comes to receiving their direct deposit payments from Walmart through Chime bank.
Although Chime bank, an American fintech service, was created to allow customers to manage their money online and use a Visa debit card, the issues that some have encountered has done little to aid the bank's appeal.
There appears to be an issue with both Chime and Walmart, although the blame has not been taken on completely by either side.
What happened with Chime down?
There are many users who were expecting to get their Walmart direct deposit through Chime, but they are still waiting on this money to arrive.
Obviously, as is the case in examples like this, many of these people need this money to arrive in order to pay for bills, their food and so on.
While it initially looked as though it was just an issue between Chime and Walmart, with messages coming out from both sides acknowledging the problem, it could be a bit more widespread.
"We are aware that some of our members may be experiencing delays receiving their direct deposit from Walmart due to a reported service disruption at Walmart. We don't yet have an estimate on when the issue will be fully resolved," tweeted Chime.
In a separate tweet, Walmart confirmed the problem and stated that they are trying to resolve the issue as soon as possible, although the time at which it will be fixed has not been stated.
"We are currently experiencing technical difficulties and are actively working on a resolution. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please stay tuned," tweeted Walmart.
However, there are some Chime users who are not employed by Walmart who are encountering the same issues, which means the bank could be more responsible than they are making out.


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The popularity of Game of Thrones, the hit TV series filmed in Ireland, has contributed to a surge in visitors from the UAE to the Emerald Isle in the first six months of 2019, according to Dnata Travel.
Travel from the UAE to the island of Ireland has seen strong growth with 58 percent more bookings made through Dnata Travel’s platforms, while room nights booked have also increased by 72 percent.
Additional data also indicates that sales of trips and accommodation to Ireland increased nearly two-fold during Eid Al Fitr alone compared to last year.
This correlated to the travel provider noting that online searches for holidays to Ireland have seen a 675 percent augmentation in the first six months of this year with the most preferred destination for travellers from the UAE market being Dublin and Cork.
Antonio Fellino, vice president of retail and e-commerce for Dnata Travel UAE, said: “Trips to Ireland offer UAE travellers unique opportunities including the chance to stay in a grand castle, or a small cottage at the heart of a colourful local village, or to explore rugged, scenic landscapes that follow in the footsteps of their favourite Game of Thrones characters.”
The ever-strengthening relationship between the two nations, highlighted by visa free entry now available to UAE nationals, also contributed towards the spike in travel figures, he added.
The UAE’s support and celebration of Ireland’s National Day – with numerous UAE landmarks including the Burj Khalifa lighting up in green – further enforced visibility and awareness of Ireland as a top holiday destination.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “The island of Ireland has much to offer to the residents of the UAE, be it adventure, scenic landscapes, or unique experiences, all of which contribute to the rise in visitor figures from this market year on year. Through increased exposure to residents of the UAE, we hope to welcome more guests to explore the island of Ireland and appreciate its rich culture, the friendliness of the people and varied attractions.”


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It’s time for Lynne Dinsdale to sell this home with sea views.
Bunnings and Officeworks could downsize stores after pandemic
Construction to begin on 108-storey, $2.3 billion supertower complex
Stamp duty is dragging down economy by reducing property sales
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Peta Credlin is a columnist for The Daily Telegraph
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New site dialog. Will only be shown once.


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Concept move to larger premises for the third time in a 12 year period
Concept Engineering continues to go from strength to strength, recently relocating yet again to larger premises.
They initially set out in a 3,500 sq ft workshop on Wiltshire Road, which they quickly outgrew, resulting in a move to a 7,000 sq ft unit on Hessle Road. Due to the strong and ever growing orderr book, another move was yet again necessary, and they recently made the move back to Wiltshire Road. This time to a 14,000 sq ft unit which they had specially adapted to suit their specific requirements, creating a modern and light factory, achieving the high-tech manufacturing space they required.
Concept Engineering was set up by directors Steve Larkin (left) and Andy Cowper (right) in the depths of the recession in 2008. But the company has weathered the challenging economic conditions to build a good turnover and create a total of 23 jobs.
Concept Engineering is designing and building equipment which is being exported across the world and is looking to expand its services to new sectors including the petrochemical industry. The company manufactures a range of equipment from bespoke machines, equipment and structures to complex conveyor systems. It handles projects for companies across an array of industry sectors and has particular experience and expertise in the food, fish, manufacturing, medical and pharmaceutical sectors.
Managing Director Steve Larkin said: “Although economic conditions have been unstable we are confident we can meet a need in the market for a high quality and cost effective engineering service.
“We have doubled turnover year on year thanks to wonderful support from local companies and we are continuing to invest in the business to enable us to meet demand from our customers for large and complex projects.
“At the same time we have also been successful in providing a cost effective service for customers requiring smaller and simpler fabrication projects”
From an initial team of five, Concept Engineering now has a 23 strong team of engineers and fabricators plus an in-house CAD design service providing a full drawing office facility. In addition to moving into its new 14,000 sq ft premises investment has been made in technology including CNC machines to deliver the finest precision close limit sheet metal work.
New solution to dried fruit breaking launched in the UK
A new machine designed to loosen up dried fruit has been launched onto the UK market.
The Concept Fruit Breaker System fits directly into production lines and is capable of breaking 25kg blocks of raisins in just seven seconds.
The new machine was developed after one of the UK's leading suppliers of speciality nuts, dried fruit and confectionary required a bespoke solution to improve efficiency.
Concept Engineering of Hull were approached and Director Andrew Cowper designed what is believed to be the only machine of its kind capable of breaking blocks of dried fruit without causing damage.
Concept Engineering Managing Director Steve Larkin said: “This product started life as a bespoke design for a customer who was unable to find an off the shelf solution. Now the machine is going into production to meet demand.
“We are able to provide a full solution including agitator and conveyor system, designed specifically for the client's dried fruit process. Our system speeds up production and produces significant savings in labour costs.”
Mr Larkin added: “We specialise in providing bespoke solutions to manufacturers across a range of industry sectors but where there is clear demand we are now putting our systems into production.”
Concept Engineering Strengthens Workforce
Concept Engineering manufactures a range of equipment from bespoke machines, equipment and structures to complex conveyor systems. It handles projects for companies across an array of industry sectors and has particular experience and expertise in the food, fish, manufacturing, medical and pharmaceutical sectors.
To aid it’s continued growth, Concept Engineering has recently made a number of appointments in both the offices and factory.
The company has recruited another member of senior staff to oversee the project managing and design side of the business.
Additional fabricators have also been taken on to help deal with the additional demand created by a string of new orders.
Concept Engineering has started the programme to support their business by taking on apprentices who are working towards NVQ qualifications in sheet metal working and fabrication and welding in the workshop and business administration in the office.
Mr Larkin said: “We are delighted to be able to launch our new apprenticeship programme and we hope to carry on with the programme into the future. I feel that a commitment to young people is what we need to help grow the business and secure the future for the company.
“Concept is winning a reputation for being problem solvers - designing and building bespoke solutions for our customers.
“The business is in a strong position with a healthy order book from established and new customers and we are expanding our workforce in key areas to meet this demand.
“Our latest financial results show that we have had a record year and we are continuing to invest in the business to build on the strong foundations that have been laid since the business started twelve years ago.”
Precision Glass Testing Rig Designed
When the world leader in specialist glass production needed a bespoke testing rig it turned to Concept Engineering for a solution.
Saint Gobain needed a system to test the strength of its laminated glass which is used for glazing homes and offices across the UK.
Our design team successfully created an effective ball drop device which enables Saint Gobain to ensure its products far exceed the required glass safety standards.
The device is able to be set at four different tolerance heights and uses magnets to release a metal sphere without inducing any momentum or rotation at the point of impact.
The sphere impacts with pin point precision testing three points in each sheet of laminated glass all in close proximity.
Concept Engineering Director Steve Larkin said: “As a world leader in their field, Saint Gobain set extremely high standards. They needed an uncomplicated but effective solution and that is what we created for them.”
The system is now in regular use at Saint Gobain’s production centre at Eggborough, East Yorkshire.


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EU lawmakers, who long lost the innovation game to the United States and China, claim to have found the reason behind the continent’s failure: big American technology. They claim that big tech companies are creating an unfair competitive environment in Europe, preventing small innovators from breaking into the market. To restore “level playing field”, the European Union signed the Digital Market Act (DMA), which, starting from May 2, 2023, will tightly regulate ten US (and one European) tech giants.
With only one European company (Siemens) ranking in the top 20 most innovative companies in the world, Europe must pull itself together. But directly attacking the most innovative companies is a rather strange way of promoting innovation.
The authors of DMA justify their plan based on the concept of a “gatekeeper”. Looking at the digital market, they see a wide range of benefits such as network effects, search engines, operating systems, and software application stores. In their view, digital platforms “emerged” as a fee-collecting dwarf, holding the key to the gates that separate users from the features of the digital economy. Policy makers assume that serving as an “important gateway” leads to unfair behavior, lack of “competition,” higher prices, lower quality, and less innovation. They conclude that reducing the “gatekeepers” allows consumers and business users to “reap the full benefits of the platform economy.”
Policymakers plan to reduce the gatekeepers through a variety of targeted rules and regulations. Apple, for example, would have to give third-party app developers access to the operating system and hardware (for example, the Apple Pay microchip) without security or quality clearance. The law would prevent Amazon from franchising companies that offer their products with “Fulfillment by Amazon,” thus expanding opportunities for sellers to use other delivery services. Google will have to share its search data with other search engines.
In other words, platforms will have to abandon many business decisions or even entire business models, under the threat of massive restrictions and penalties of up to 10 percent of annual revenue. At the same time, smaller contenders will get advantages on an organizational silver platter.
Creating more opportunities for small businesses, and thus enhancing competition in the marketplace, may seem like a benign thing. But DMA shows a massive misconception about which competition and innovation processes will produce opposite results in practice than those presented in theory.
Competition is not an end in itself. There is no goal to compete over. Any business aims to Excellence competitors by innovating and attracting more customers with superior products, services and solutions, particularly in a fast-moving sector such as digital technology. Winners receive a “permanent position” where they can reap the rewards of their efforts and creativity, while consumers enjoy the best possible service. How did Apple, Amazon or Google become so big and influential? By creating the technological portals through which millions of consumers and businesses, scattered and separated, can access and interact with each other. These companies have become “gatekeepers” because they have captured significant market share by creating exceptional value: the digital economy itself, which EU lawmakers assume is “out there” without those companies.
DMA ignores that without the efforts and ingenuity of big tech companies, there were no “gates” to keep. The digital platform economy has become and continues to be an engine of innovation in the 21st century Because Big tech companies have invented ways to connect the world.
Limited selection and overcharging? Google gives away most of its products for free. Its entire business model is to create and give away unique products, thus attracting billions of people, to earn advertising revenue.
Less quality and less innovation? People can’t wait to get their hands on the latest iPhone, iPad, Macbook, Apple Watch or AirPods because they are amazing and constantly evolving products.
In terms of competition, DMA assumes that large firms do not face pressure to improve their services and deliver the best possible product without the threat of numerous competitors keeping them at bay. In fact, however, Ability Competition is a related concern as is the existing one. No one, for example, could have predicted that Thomas Edison would end John D. Rockefeller’s dominance of the home lighting market with his bulb. Likewise, Nokia, which once controlled nearly fifty percent of the mobile phone market, was outperformed by both Apple and Samsung. Facebook’s “lockdown” on social media has not prevented TikTok from becoming a dominant platform among young people.
Even the most prominent and established industry giants must always be on the lookout for the existing one And the potential rivals who could dethrone them. Companies like Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft understand it, so they’re still the most innovative companies in the world (1st to 4th, respectively) rather than stagnant monopolies. That a few giant corporations currently dominate the digital industry does not prove, as EU lawmakers assume, that corporations occupy an unfair position.
Lawmakers systematically avoid providing evidence that big technology is impeding the innovative capabilities of Europe’s creators. Instead, they sidestep a negative attitude towards big business to promote a political agenda disguised as unlocking Europe’s innovative potential. But by taking the competitive advantage from successful companies and giving it to the experienced, DMA will remove the incentive to innovate from both. Today’s giants will pause because their innovation will be taken from them anyway, while smaller players will expect to ride free for those who keep developing.
Unfortunately, there is nothing new under the European sun. Matt Ridley argues that Europe has already stifled innovators in fields such as medical devices and gene-editing technologies with its massive protectionist regulatory apparatus. DMA is just another of Europe’s regulatory wounds. Unfortunately, this will also affect the ability of the Silicon Valley giants to continue making progress in the United States and around the world.


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Analysts agree Viv's a big step forward if it works as promised, but say it's still early and the system will need to learn to be most effective.
According to one Facebook executive, if you think you're drowning in a flood of information now, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
Google's About Me page contains information about your work history, contact information, educational background and places you've lived, along with gender and birthday.
NASA's black-hole-hunting spacecraft NuSTAR hit its first major milestone, detecting 10 "supermassive" black holes.
Mobile Google+ users should expect to see more prominent features such as +1, a display for your current location and photo enhancements.
Before you "like" a friend's or company's post on Facebook, think twice. A new study shows that your Facebook "likes" may be far more revealing than you ever thought.
Social networking has become so critical to the 2012 presidential campaign that one analyst said Facebook is accurately predicting swings in the election polls.
iPhone users frustrated with the inaccuracies in iOS 6's Maps app might get another choice for finding where they want to go from rival Google, which is expected to make Street View available on the iPhone in the coming weeks.
Looking to get in on the booming mobile market, social network Pinterest has unveiled iOS and Android mobile apps for its pinboard service.
Microsoft announced Monday that when users do a search, they can tag their Facebook friends by name and get their recommendations on the search.
The day before the opening of the 2012 London Olympics that are expected to light up major social networks, Twitter has crashed.