Tech Review | Why Alibaba and Tencent Dominate Mobile Payments

Tech Review (TR 2018-03-31)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Why Alibaba and Tencent Dominate Mobile Payments, 2) AI & Deep Learning Conference | GTC 2018 | NVIDIA, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) How Alibaba and Tencent Became Dominant in Mobile Payments

Chinese tech companies Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Tencent have emerged as global leaders in mobile-payment technology. This animated video charts the key steps along their rise to the top. Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) video above published Mar 23, 2018.

2) AI & Deep Learning Conference | GTC 2018 | NVIDIA.com March 26-29, 2018

Check out the latest and greatest from the first days of #GTC18, the world’s premier AI event. Get all the keynote highlights at https://t.co/1dwOgpzMJU. pic.twitter.com/otesV7VuaH

— NVIDIA (@nvidia) March 28, 2018

Nvidia & AI: Parallel processing units will likely power advanced artificial intelligence which is key to self-driving cars and significant research products in healthcare, climate, and next-generation transportation. “We’ve been pioneering this computing approach called GPU computing for over the last decade,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. “Over the last seven or eight years, it really went into turbo charge because the model is perfect for artificial intelligence.”

3) Investing

The Week and end of Q1 2018--U.S. financial markets were closed March 30 for Good Friday--the Dow and S&P 500 ended the first quarter of 2018 DOWN 2.3% and 1.2% respectively, while the NASDAQ Composite ended Q1 2018 UP 2.3%:

Wall Street's Charging Bull:

Investing Notes:

• Trump Sends To-Do List to China on Trade | WolfStreet.com. See also China’s Empty Threat of Dumping its US Treasuries: "the Fed could easily mop up a trillion of Treasuries, as it has done before"--WolfStreet.com.

• Don’t rule out EU-US trade renegotiations after Trump's tariff threats | cnbc.com: "we should not be surprised if U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross seek to reopen discussions about specific European export products."

• UK: Britain shrugs off Brexit to enjoy boom in dealmaking | Reuters.com.

• "Price is what you pay, Value is what you get"--How Much Does It Really Cost to Buy a Luxury Condo in San Francisco, Not Live in it for 10 Years, Then Sell at a Loss? | WolfStreet.com: "A lot, as the co-founder of YouTube is finding out."

• “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no' to almost everything.”--Warren Buffett, Understanding Speed and Velocity: Saying "NO" to the Non-Essential | fs.blog.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• China's Huawei sees Europe as stepping stone in Samsung/Apple rivalry | Reuters.com: Huawei, the world’s No.3 smartphone maker, launched a new flagship phone in Paris on Tuesday.
• Games represented nearly 80 percent of total worldwide consumer spending for the combined iOS and Google Play app stores in 2017, even though games were only 35 percent of total worldwide downloads--Why Apple cares about mobile game developers | VentureBeat.com.
• Twitter says it will ban cryptocurrency advertising on its platform, including ads for ICOs, token sales, and crypto-wallet services--Reuters.com.
• Startups: At Y Combinator's Demo Day, Companies Are No Longer The Next Airbnb, Uber or WhatsApp | WIRED.com: "The mega-companies remain unchallenged, as do their adjacent industries. Instead, founders are going after smaller, less explored sectors to stake out ground."
• Telegram chalks up 200M MAUs for its messaging app | TechCrunch.com 

• Tesla Bonds Are in Free Fall | Bloomberg.com: “It’s getting worse and worse every single day ... That’s the nature of being in this negative feedback loop. Everyone is worried.”--Bill Zox, chief investment officer of fixed income at Diamond Hill Investment Group. 
• Appeals court revives Oracle's copyright claim against Google | Reuters.com
• Facebook scraped call, text message data for years from Android phones--ArsTechnica.com. Also EU presses Facebook on sharing of user data | Reuters.com
• US Department of Justice Antitrust Division vs. AT&T: DISH executive testifies against planned AT&T merger with Time Warner | Reuters.com
• British Virgin Islands-based trading platform, known as CoinfloorEX, will provide physically settled bitcoin futures--Reuters.com 

• China Allows Foreigners to Enter $27 Trillion Payments Market | Bloomberg.com

• Waymo to use Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles in robotaxi program | Reuters.com

• FCC approves SpaceX plan for broadband satellite services:using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies--Reuters.com.

• How to make money off America’s love affair with fake news | TheOutline.com: #Resist #Resister "Maria #TheResistance. Elena #Resist. These are just a few of the names listed on the hundreds of Twitter accounts causing drama in the past few months. Each account’s feed has identical tweets promoting liberal news articles from VegasHill, LuxuryPolitics, HillPress, Epolitico, ShareDoom, and dozens of other politics blogs you've never heard of .... The majority of the content posted to the blogs come from a site called WashingtonPress.com, which is run by Occupy Democrats ...." See also: Fake news 2.0: personalized, optimized, and even harder to stop | MIT TechnologyReview.com: "Artificial intelligence will automate and optimize fake news, warns a technology supplier to the CIA."

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Ridesharing App Via: Technology, Transportation, Commuter Vans

source: ridewithvia.com

Via Transportation, Inc. (domain: ridewithvia.com) also known simply as Via, is a privately held U.S. transportation network and real-time ridesharing company based in New York City. Via operates in all five boroughs of New York City, areas of Chicago, and Washington DC. The company's technology is used in ridesharing ventures in Paris, United Kingdom, and Austin, Texas.

• CEO and Founder: Daniel Ramot (Jun 2012–)
• Type of business: Privately held company

Texas town ditches its bus service for ride-sharing app Via | TheVerge.com Mar 12, 2018: "Trading public transportation for subsidized private van service" Arlington, Texas, ditched charter buses as public transportation for a ridesharing service Via, which will offer $3 rides and have 10 commuter vans on call.

Tweets by ridewithvia

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Cloudera $CLDR Cloud Technology "Could Lead To Explosive Growth"

Cloudera, Inc.
Domain: cloudera.com
Stock exchange: symbol NYSE: CLDR

See: Cloudera: Cloud Technology Could Lead To Explosive Growth - Cloudera, Inc. (NYSE:CLDR) | SeekingAlpha.com: "CLDR now has more than 50 large enterprise customers with annual recurring revenue in excess of $1 million, collectively contributing to roughly half of the company's subscription software revenue."
Tweets by cloudera


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Bret Taylor on Tech & Digital Change, Salesforce Developer Conference

Salesforce's Bret Taylor on M&A Strategy and Facebook's Data Scandal

Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) President Bret Taylor discusses his transition to enterprise tech, digital change, as well as Salesforce's agreement to buy MuleSoft Inc. for $6.5 billion. Finally, he gives his take on Facebook's user data scandal. He speaks with Bloomberg's Emily Chang on "Bloomberg Technology" on March 22, 2018.

Salesforce Essentials Demo

Salesforce Essentials, simplified versions of its Sales and Service Cloud products, is aimed at small businesses and organizations, ($25/user/month for teams up to 10). Competitors include ProsperWorks, Zoho, Freshworks and Infusionsoft. Salesforce video above published Nov 6, 2017. More info: https://www.salesforce.com/form/signup/freetrial-sales-essentials.jsp.

TrailheaDX | The Salesforce Developer Conference: March 28-29, 2018, San Francisco, CA (full conference sold out)

#TDX18 @SalesforceDevs
Tweets by SalesforceDevs

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Planet.com: 'We scan the whole world, every day' (video)

'We scan the whole world, every day'

The FT.com's innovations editor John Thornhill investigates how privately held Planet Labs (domain: planet.com) uses a fleet of tiny satellites to image every inch of the globe, and update it every 24 hours. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Feb 14, 2018.

Planet: See Change. Change the World.

Tweets by planetlabs

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Qualcomm $QCOM, NXP, Apple $AAPL, Trump & China: The Path Forward

$QCOM shares UP 5.2% since end of October 2017 (dividend 4.25%), in spite of the Broadcom bust by Trump

It's been a turbulent environment for Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) (domain: Qualcomm.com) and its shareholders, on various fronts:

• Trump issues order blocking Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm, citing national security | TheVerge.com Mar 12, 2018

• China Pushes Qualcomm to Protect Local Companies in NXP Deal | Bloomberg.com Mar 20, 2018.
• China Started the Trade War, Not Trump | WSJ.com Mar 23, 2018: "If there’s a trade war between the U.S. and China, don’t blame Donald Trump: China started it long before he became president. Even free traders and internationalists agree China’s predatory trade practices ...."  
• Qualcomm: A Fearful Aftermath | SeekingAlpha.com Mar. 19, 2018: "Looking across all three major issues for Qualcomm going forward, namely the NXP acquisition, 5G launch, and the legal dispute with Apple, there are substantial concerns and uncertainties hanging over each ... a majority of Qualcomm's institutional holders are frustrated with the level of earnings and share price performance achieved by the current board over the past four years" (links and emphasis added).
• On top of everything else, Qualcomm's former chairman, Paul Jacobs, wants to take Qualcomm private.
• On Friday, Qualcomm shareholders re-elected the board of directors with only "tepid support"--Reuters.com March 23, 2018.
• Qualcomm CFO George Davis told shareholders at the Friday meeting that Qualcomm's offshore cash was needed in connection with the $44-billion acquisition of chip maker NXP Semiconductors NV NASDAQ: NXPI, (pending clearance from Chinese regulator MOFCOM), and therefore could not be distributed to shareholders via dividend.

And finally, in spite of Trump's national security concerns, it is clear Qualcomm has deep relationships with the government of China and Chinese companies such as Huawei, which Broadcom pointed out in the following infographic (pdf) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC:

Opinion and Analysis: what's the best path forward?

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has the cash, buys Qualcomm. No major Silicon Valley company has more credibility than Apple, with either the Trump administration or China, as US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will attest:

Glad to visit @Apple HQ with @tim_cook. Thank you for your commitment to invest 350B in USA! #TaxCutsJobsAct pic.twitter.com/TasRA55smG

— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) March 16, 2018

Yes, it would be a big step in vertical integration which Apple's major global competitors, including Samsung and Huawei, have been pursuing for some time. It would also provide a future profitable growth trajectory for Apple and its shareholders. Apple CEO Tim Cook, a global logistics and supply chain expert, could pull it off:

Apple's Tim Cook calls for calm on China, US trade: China Development Forum | cnbc.com Mar 24, 2018: "Apple CEO Tim Cook called for "calm heads" and more open trade amid rising fears of a trade war between the United States and China. "I'm cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn't benefited, where the benefit hasn't been balanced," Cook said. Cook was speaking at the annual China Development Forum in Beijing."

-- John Poole, editor, DomainMondo.com (Disclosure: I own no shares in any of the companies mentioned in this post and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.)

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News Review | EU's GDPR Causing Slower Growth at Facebook $FB

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-03-25) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) EU's GDPR Causing Slower Growth at Facebook $FB,  2) ICANN news: a. Data Protection & Privacy Issues: GDPR & WHOIS Next Steps, b. Terminating ICANN's 'Extortion Racket' .BRAND new gTLDs, and more, 3)Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read.

1) EU's GDPR Causing Slower Growth at Facebook $FB

Pivotal Research's Brian Wieser Says the EU's GDPR Is Causing Slower Growth at Facebook

Bloomberg.com video above published Mar 19, 2018: Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group (domain: pvtl.com), discusses the Facebook (facebook.com) (NASDAQ: FB) data breach and how regulatory efforts like the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are most likely causing slower growth for the company. He speaks with Bloomberg's Jonathan Ferro on "Bloomberg Markets: The Open." See FTC Probing Facebook for Use of Personal Data, Source Says | Bloomberg.com. Facebook $FB shares down 17.45% since Feb 1, 2018:

See also:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) | European Commission | ec.europa.eu

• How Europe's New Privacy Law Will Change the Web, and More | WIRED.com 19 Mar 2018: "Most of the data rights enshrined under GDPR were already established in the EU, but went unenforced. GDPR standardizes data rights across all EU countries, empowering regulators with the same big stick and sharper teeth. Violators face fines of up to 4 percent of annual global revenue. For Facebook, that would be $1.6 billion; for Google, $4.4 billion."
• How Facebook Made Its Cambridge Analytica Data Crisis Even Worse | Bloomberg.com

• Facebook under pressure as U.S., EU urge probes of data practices | Reuters.com

• Facebook, Not Cambridge Analytica, Is the Source of the Problem | Bloomberg.com

• WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook | TheVerge.com 20 Mar 2018: "Facebook bought his app for $16 billion ...."
• Elon Musk Joins #DeleteFacebook With a Barrage of Tweets | NYTimes.com

• To Completely Block Facebook Add these entries below to your hosts file | GitHub.com:  "0.0.0.0 apps.facebook.com, 0.0.0.0 connect.facebook.net, 0.0.0.0 facebook.com, 0.0.0.0 fbcdn.com ...."
• Apple CEO Tim Cook says privacy regulations may be necessary; Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges Facebook may need to be regulated--TheVerge.com.

2) ICANN news

a. Data Protection & Privacy Issues: GDPR & WHOIS Next Steps | ICANN.org 21 Mar 2018:

"... At the end of March we anticipate having our next interaction with Article 29 representatives since sending them the proposed model. This next stage is critical to determine what appears in the public WHOIS, including what is collected, escrowed and transferred from registrants to registrars and registries. There are open questions about several elements in the Proposed Interim Model and it's important we determine what are the best ways to answer those in a final model. In presenting our plan of action, we want to ensure that access is not lost if an accreditation model is not implemented in time for the GDPR's 25 May 2018 enforcement deadline. We will also highlight again, the importance of additional time to implement our solution. We are very aware of the need for additional time beyond May 2018 to implement a compliance model by which accredited users with a legitimate purpose may gain access to non-public WHOIS data. Feedback may also allow further refinement of the accreditation model. We will share any information that we gain from our next meeting with you by posting it to our Data Protection/Privacy Issues correspondence page ..." (emphasis and link added)--see also:

• Cautionary Tale: Interpol Is Also a Crime Victim | Bloomberg.com: "Russia and other authoritarian states are gaming the system to go after dissidents."

• News Review | EU GDPR & ICANN WHOIS, What's Next? Timeline

• News Review | ICANN WHOIS & EU GDPR: Points of View (video)

• Data Protection/Privacy Issues | ICANN.org

Note also comments at this week's WSIS Forum 2018: ICANN, Data Protection and the GDPR | GIP Digital Watch | dig.watch: "Mr William J. Drake, international fellow and lecturer at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich, reminded the audience that the first function of the WHOIS service was a narrow technical one, namely, to identify the parties to be reached out to in order to ensure stability of the infrastructure and continuity of the operation. He said that other uses were not part of the discussion in the original bottom-up definition process. He added that current uses of the service cannot be confused with its purpose, mainly now that human rights are in ICANN's bylaws. He called for more involvement from privacy and data protection stakeholders, so that ICANN does not end up running a repository to be used by third parties, out of its scope and mandate.

"Mr Paul Mitchell, senior director of technology policy at Microsoft, said that the GDPR is more closely attached to the European authorities and people, but it impacts all over the world. He highlighted that Microsoft does not see a contradiction between full compliance with the GDPR and legitimate access to WHOIS, which is an important tool to make sure the system is safe. Mitchell concluded by saying that the development of the tiered access model was highly unlikely to be an operational solution with the involvement of stakeholders such as the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), Article19 working party, and data protection authorities, however critical and complex that model might be on the way to a permanent solution." More on that session here.

b. Recently Terminating ICANN's 'Extortion Racket'* .BRAND new gTLDs: 

• .XPERIA (SONY) 
• .MEO (MEO) 
• .SAPO (MEO).

*Editor's note: re ICANN's "extortion racket" .BRAND new gTLDs -- see testimony of Dawn Grove (pdf), Corporate Counsel for Karsten Manufacturing (.PING), September 14, 2016 hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts.

c. Tweet of the Week: NEUSTAR clueless, shameless, or just increasingly desperate?

Judging by all the comments, pretty clear no one really cares. https://t.co/q42Qv58YzV #newgtlds

— thereforeICANN (@thereforeICANN) March 19, 2018

d. Budget Discussions at ICANN61 | ICANN.org by Göran Marby, ICANN President and CEO, 20 Mar 2018: "... The ideas stemming from these initial conversations, are just that – initial ..."

e. More Information on the Adobe Connect Issue | ICANN.org, by Ashwin Rangan, 20 Mar 2018:  "...We will continue to provide updates on this issue pursuant to our coordinated disclosure guidelines. This means we will work jointly with CoSo and the person who reported the issue on the investigation and on sharing information about this issue. Until we know more, ICANN's Adobe Connect services will remain offline. In the meantime, we will be rolling out alternative collaboration tools to the community soon ..." (emphasis added)

f. ICANN Public Comment periods closing in April (subject to change):

• Plan to Restart the Root Key Signing Key (KSK) Rollover Process 2 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

• Draft Procedure for Community gTLD Change Requests 2 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

• Uniform Board Member Integrity Screening Process 17 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

• Draft Project Plan for the Proposed Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) 18 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC
• ICANN Reserve Fund: Proposed Replenishment Strategy 25 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

g. ICANN61 postscript: Puerto Ricans and Ultrarich “Puertopians” Are Locked in a Pitched Struggle Over How to Remake the Island | theintercept.com.

h. UPDATE: CEP and IRP Status Update – 29 March 2018 [PDF, 247 KB]

Editor's note: there are no active IRPs

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. DomainNameStats.com--"We've now officially released DomainNameStats.com, a new domain statistics site covering all TLDs that exist on the internet today."--Stats Blog | namestat.org.

b. New gTLD .APP--There’s an App for That; Now There’s .APP for That Too | Dorsey & Whitney LLP | JDSupra.com: "Google’s minimal requirements for .app domain names include the following: (1) .app domain name registrations are secure namespaces; (2) all content must be served over HTTPS so that browsers can load .app websites; and (3) any registrant of a letter/letter two-character ASCII label represents that it will take steps to ensure against misrepresenting or falsely implying that the registrant or its business is affiliated with a government or country-code manager if such affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement does not exist ..." Sunrise Period: Mar 29-Apr 30, 2018; Early Access Period: May 1-8, 2018 (anyone can register available .app domains for an extra fee); General Availability Period starts May 8, 2018.

.APP Registry-Registrar Agreement (pdf), see also Registrar Abuse Policy

c. Domains: How to avoid SEO issues when taking your business website international | marketing-interactive.com

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. American Bible Society’s .bible domain policies restrict religious freedom online, critics say | ReligionNews.com.

b. Turkey blocks access to VPNs, ProtonMail | ahvalnews.com

c. Spain’s “Gag Law”: Amnesty report slams Spanish government for restricting freedom of expression | ELPAÍS.com

d. FCC Chairman Cites James 1:22 in Vow to Fight Internet Censorship of Christian, Conservative Views | christianpost.com

e. This Insane Map Shows All The Beauty And Horror Of The Dark Web | forbes.com

f. Google News Initiative | newsinitiative.withgoogle.com: news filtered by Big Brother?

5) Five Most Read posts this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

1. News Review | EU GDPR & ICANN WHOIS, What's Next? Timeline

2. World's Five Richest Tech Companies Facing Techlash (video)

3. New gTLD .WEB: Afilias vs ICANN, Verisign $VRSN & Nu Dot Co?

4. How a Steel Box Changed the World: A Brief History of Shipping (video)

5. ICANN61 San Juan, Puerto Rico: GAC Communique & ICANN61 Tweets

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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Tech Review | Nvidia CEO On The Future of Autonomous Vehicles (video)

Tech Review (TR 2018-03-24)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Nvidia CEO On The Future of Autonomous Vehicles, 2) Uber’s Self-Driving Trucks Delivering Cargo for Real Customers, 3) Investing: The Week,Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) The Future of Autonomous Vehicles | Nvidia CEO Full Interview

The future really is now—or at least sooner than it seems, according to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Speaking at Fortune Brainstorm Tech in Las Vegas, Huang, a co-founder of Nvidia, the gaming giant turned artificial intelligence powerhouse, said the full expression of the technology is a mere decade away. NASDAQ: NVDA (domain: nvidia.com).

2) Uber’s Self-Driving Trucks Are Delivering Cargo for Real Customers

Fortune Magazine video above published Mar 6, 2018: Uber’s self-driving trucks moving consumer goods for real customers near Topock, Arizona and utilizing the Uber Freight app.

See also: Self-driving Uber car kills Arizona woman crossing street | Reuters.com: “I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident,”--Tempe Police Chief.

3) Investing

The Week: S&P 500

 S&P500 now in negative territory for 2018

Markets got sidelined this week by Facebook's data debacle and Trump attacking all the "bad deals" other U.S. administrations made in good times--Trump may be testing the adage, "Bad deals are made in good times ... It takes bad times to be able to make good deals."--WolfStreet.com.

Trump vs. the WTO?  The U.S. has much lower tariffs on some foreign goods than other countries have on the same US-made goods. For example cars: the European Union has a 10 percent tariff on all imported cars, including those manufactured in the U.S., and China hits all foreign-made cars with 25 percent tariffs. But the U.S. only charges 2.5 percent on foreign cars imported into the U.S. market--Axios.com.

How far is Trump willing to take this? Watch Steven Mnuchin--US will consider re-entering TPP, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says | CNBC.com 21 March 2018: "The U.S. will consider re-entry to the 12-nation trade agreement once Washington accomplishes its other trade goals, Mnuchin said."

Above left, Fed Chair deflects question about Trump's tariffs.
Above right, President Trump signs Presidential Memorandum re: China

Investing Notes:

• Bill Gross: "The U.S. and global economies are too highly leveraged to stand more than a 2% Fed Funds level in a 2% inflationary world." See also: Morgan Stanley says "Rising Libor Is The Story Of The Year, Not Fed" | Bloomberg.com.

• ECB still loose as a goose: Euro zone banks may get reprieve until 2021 from ECB bad-debt rules--reuters.com. But Italy is storing up trouble for the eurozone | ft.com: "... a parallel currency as the harbinger of a future monetary fracture. This is in addition to the appointment of a hawkish successor to Mario Draghi as president of the ECB ... Italy will remain the principal source of risk for the eurozone for the foreseeable future." See also PIMCO's Andrew Balls says Italy is a long-term challenge in Europe | reuters.com.

• Exclusive: Russian billions slip through Latvia's loose net | reuters.com.

• Caveat Emptor: Obama-era fiduciary rule on retirement planners overturned--a federal appeals court has ruled that the Department of Labor overstepped its authority when it wrote a rule that required financial professionals, including brokers and insurance agents, to put their customers’ financial interests ahead of their own.
• Outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says farewell | CBSnews.com: "This [Washington, D.C.] can be a very mean-spirited town," Tillerson said, to applause. "But you don't have to choose to participate in that." [Editor's note: that's one reason I cut the cord on cable TV.]

• We don’t actually see the world as it is--"Expertise and filtering [can] work together. The better we know our subject matter, the easier it is to filter out irrelevant noise ... Clarity ... [versus] biases and beliefs, reactive emotions ...."-- cfainstitute.org.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Facebook in Crisis: EU plans tougher consumer laws for Facebook, Gmail [Google] | Reuters.com. See also "Here's what no one needs from Zuckerberg: A pledge to 'do better' or an attempt to recast Facebook as the victim of the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica"--Shira Ovide. 

• Dear Apple: iOS is now a toxic hellstew | ZDNet.com: "proprietary code and proprietary hardware are supposed to give us a more polished experience. It doesn't. Not anymore."
• Tech / Antitrust: The high stakes for AT&T's courtroom showdown | Axios.com: the trial is also a test of vertical mergers, a favorite acquisition strategy of big tech companies.
• Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU)--The Glaring Risk Coming To Crush Micron's Rally | SeekingAlpha.com: "Chinese courts are far from impartial and rulings, especially when politics are involved, are often fraught with meddling from higher courts, local governments, and the federal government. Judges are often pressured by these groups to give rulings that favor their policies, initiatives, or goals."
• Android security second to none says Google (pdf)
• Crypto: Bitcoin miners on the verge of losing money--cointelegraph.com. Note: "Reuters estimates that more than 980,000 bitcoins, worth more than $10 billion at current prices, have already been stolen from exchanges."--qz.com.
• Tencent to invest more in video, payment services and AI after profit beats estimates--Reuters.com. But China's Tencent loses $51 billion in market value in two days | Reuters.com 23Mar 2018.
• Dropbox IPO $DBX Dropbox shares close up 35 percent in biggest tech debut since Snap | Reuters.com. But note: "Could Dropbox’s IPO be another overpriced offering that leaves investors holding the bag? Look no further than Snap’s recent IPO for a cautionary tale on sell-side research."--SeekingAlpha.com
• Elon Musk could earn up to $55.8 billion in stock and awards, if Tesla's market cap reaches $650 billion. $TSLA market cap is currently around $52 billion, and Musk will receive no other compensation for his work at Tesla outside the plan approved by shareholders this week--cnbc.com.
• Amazon in a protracted battle with Walmart and Alibaba in India--SeekingAlpha.com. See also French retailer Carrefour calls on Google for voice boost in battle with Amazon | Reuters.com.

• Starbucks Commits $10M for Greener Coffee Cup | Bloomberg.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Billionaire Peter Thiel on Trade & Tariffs, Bitcoin, Privacy, and Trump (video)

President Trump Signs a Presidential Memorandum Targeting China's Economic Aggression

The WhiteHouse.gov video above published Mar 22, 2018

Billionaire Peter Thiel: Innovation, Bitcoin and Politics (2018)

Interview Date:15 March 2018
Event: The Economic Club of New York

An interview with billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder Valar Ventures, Peter Thiel. In this interview with Maria Bartiromo, Thiel discusses how to create innovation and what future innovation he would invest in. He also talks about Bitcoin, privacy, trade and tariffs, and why he supports President Trump.

On privacy (starts at 30:00):

Question: I want to ask you your thoughts on privacy at a time when these technology companies are so successful, more successful and more powerful than they ever have been in terms of having so much information on all of us, you backed Hulk Hogan's successful triumph over Gawker Media and that sex tape that they resulted in a 140 million dollar judgment against Gawker forcing the media company into bankruptcy. You're a libertarian, I want to get your take on how you see the privacy issues versus this powerful position so many of these technology companies are in. I'm leaning to a question about regulation but first why was this Gawker situation so important to you?

Answer: "Well I think that I'm very proud of having supported Hulk Hogan in his in his a successful lawsuit, you know this sort of egregious [conduct], the claim that you know a pornographer pays people for sex tapes and a journalist is someone who gets to publish sex tapes without paying people that's simply an insult to journalists and that's what that is what Gawker was in effect arguing. You know there is a First Amendment we believe in, free speech, but that doesn't mean that you get to steal a sex tape made in the privacy of a bedroom and post it on the internet for everybody to see and ... of course we have a Fourth Amendment which protects you against unreasonable search and seizure not just by the government but certainly also by by private actors ... I'd seen them [Gawker] you know bully and mistreat people for you know for a long time and I thought it was going to continue ... this ongoing tortious behavior was simply going to continue and someone needed to to try to say stop ...

"This question about privacy in the digital era is something that deserves to be rethought a lot and it's not a matter of technological determinism. We often like to tell these technologically determinist stories where if you are pro privacy you are a Luddite and that privacy is an old-fashioned concept, it went out the window and it's no longer possible in the technological world.

"I don't think that's true. I think it is not always just a technological question. It's a legal question, it's a cultural, social, political question and I think that we're going to have a balance that will be, it will protect more privacy in the future. Now I do think that what Gawker did and what the big tech companies are doing is very different. I mean I think one very basic difference is if you voluntarily give the information, that's quite different from from it being sort of illegally obtained and sort of privacy violating way, but I think these things are always open to be rethought ... as a libertarian I always dislike regulation and worry the regulators will do whatever they will do in an even more ham-handed way and will make mistakes even greater than the companies ... but I would agree with you, that if they don't take these issues seriously, there is a risk they will be regulated whether that's a good thing or not. I think the threat is probably greater in Europe and again there's sort of good reasons and bad reasons. Good reasons are these privacy concerns. The bad reasons are that there are no successful [big] tech companies in Europe and they're jealous of the U.S. and ... they're punishing us, so it's sort of a combination of good and bad reasons but I think the tech industry needs to take this stuff [privacy] very seriously."

See also: Peter Thiel on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Competition (video)

Video Segments:

0:00 Introduction 5:46 How do you see technology changing from here?
13:51 What creates innovation?
15:59 Why have you moved to L.A?
17:20 Why did you support Trump?
19:42 Policies you want to see?
21:57 Views on trade?
24:52 China?
27:15 Are you worried about a trade war?
28:35 Europe? [Editor's note: Thiel comments about U.S. (Trump) vs. China and Germany]
29:59 Thoughts on privacy of technology companies?
33:12 Should there be more regulation?
34:46 Bitcoin? 39:08 Why do you not like other Cryptocurrencies?
40:30 If its price declined, would you buy?
41:42 Thoughts on Space travel?
43:52 Growth stories today?
47:26 Are robots taking over a lot of jobs? [AI]
49:08 Can anyone beat Amazon?
51:43 Other ferocious company?
52:04 Does Trump get a second term?
55:59 Media business?

Transcript (auto-generated, unedited):

Peter Thiel's Book: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Peter Thiel’s Favorite Books:

• 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith
• Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
• Resurrection from the Underground: Feodor Dostoevsky (Studies in Violence, Mimesis, & Culture) 
• Sir Francis Bacon: The New Atlantis

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ICANN & GDPR Thursday Session at WSIS Forum 2018, Geneva (video)

WSIS – 15 years of impact:

ITU video above published Mar 2, 2018: The WSIS Forum is constantly evolving and strengthening the alignment between the WSIS Action Lines and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2018 Forum will serve as a key platform for discussing the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a means of implementation of the SDGs and targets, with due regard to the global mechanism for follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Highlights Video #1: WSIS FORUM 2018

ITU video above published Mar 19, 2018: First highlights video from the WSIS FORUM 2018, ITU, Geneva, Switzerland.

More than 2,500 information and communication technology (ICT) experts from around the globe are in Geneva for the World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2018 (WSIS Forum 2018), which runs March 19-23, and is co-organized by ITU (itu.int), UNESCO (unesco.org), UNCTAD (unctad.org) and UNDP (undp.org), in close collaboration with all UN agencies.

WSIS Forum 2018 is focusing on sustainable development trends and inclusive ICT initiatives in key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) priority areas such as health, hunger, education, youth inclusion, employment, gender empowerment, the environment, infrastructure and innovation. Participants include at least 500 high-level policy-makers from 150+ countries, including government ministers and experts, civil society leaders, academics, business leaders and international organizations.

Agenda | WSIS Forum 2018 (with links to LIVE & replay video)

Highlighted Thursday March 22, 2018, sessions (all times CET):

• Session 212 | WSIS Forum 2018: Multistakeholder Decision Making in Global Internet Governance 13:15–14:00 [starts 8:15 am EDT (US)]

• Session 197 | WSIS Forum 2018: ICANN, Data Protection and the GDPR: 16:30–18:15 [starts 11:30 am EDT (US)] Proposed Agenda: 1) Introductions and Objectives of Workshop – Moderator Tarek Kamel, ICANN 5m; 2) ICANN and GDPR  - A way forward for WHOIS  - Theresa Swinehart, ICANN 30m; 3) Global Data Protection Developments; 4) Roundtable discussion on Data Protection and GDPR  40m; 5) Wrap up 5m.

See also Friday's session Session 138 | WSIS Forum 2018: ICANN, the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) and Capacity Building: 09:00–10:45, Friday, 23 March 2018.

ICT now recognized across the world + @UN system as a key platform for development and as a powerful tool to help us achieve the #GlobalGoals for #SustainableDevelopment ~@ITUSecGen #WSIS #ICT4SDG pic.twitter.com/2NMoQ5UnzF

— ITU (@ITU) March 20, 2018

Recent correspondence from ITU Secretary-General to ICANN CEO:

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Charles Schwab: The Fed Still A Long Way From Normalizing Interest Rates

UPDATE: FOMC Live Press Conference March 21, 2018

LIVE 2:30 pm EDT March 21, 2018

Federal Reserve Monetary Policy:

3/21/2018 Federal Reserve Board and Federal Open Market Committee release economic projections from the March 20-21 FOMC meeting

3/21/2018 Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement (0.25 increase), excerpt:

"In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting strong labor market conditions and a sustained return to 2 percent inflation."

The Fed is still a long way from normalizing interest rates says Charles Schwab:

FoxBusiness.com video above published Mar 16, 2018:  Charles Schwab Corporation founder Charles Schwab discusses the Fed, President Trump’s tariffs plan and the impact on the U.S. labor force.

NASDAQ Composite UP +6.68% this year (since close of trading in 2017).

The Fed | 2018 Meeting calendars and information:
March 20-21* -- March 21 at 2:30 p.m. EDT:  FOMC Meeting Press Conference
May 1-2
June 12-13*
Jul/Aug 31-1
September 25-26*
November 7-8
December 18-19*
*Meeting associated with a Summary of Economic Projections and a press conference by the Chair.

Chairman Powell Introduction Video

Federal Reserve Board video above published Feb 5, 2018. Chairman Powell's bio.
Tweets by federalreserve

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