Good Morning Britain video published May 27, 2019: Nigel Farage interviewed the morning after the Brexit Party stormed ahead in the EU elections, said the Brexit Party will not stop until the UK leaves the European Union, citing the failure to depart on March 30th as the reason many in the UK chose to vote for the party.
UPDATE: Brexit Party & EU Populists Shatter EU Status Quo With Strong Showing In EU Parliamentary Vote--zerohedge.com. See this EU election results graphic. European elections 2019 UK results: Brexit Party wins nine of first 10 regions; Liberal Democrats triumph over Labour Party in London--telegraph.co.uk
Centrist bloc to lose majority in EU vote as Greens and Euroskeptics gain, early results show--cnbc.com. The European parliamentary election is the second-largest democratic exercise in the world, with citizens across 28 nations voting for their new representatives. Over 400 million people are eligible to take part and the vote has major implications for the functioning of the EU and future national politics in each member state. The EU Parliament has a say on policies like agriculture and trade and is made of 751 MEPs (Members of the European Parliament).
European Elections: May 23-26, 2019: The Netherlands and the UK voted first, on Thursday 23 May 2019, but most of the 21 EU member states vote Sunday, May 26, and results cannot be announced before the last polling station closes at 11pm Central European Time (CET) in Italy (Sunday 6pm EDT in the US). Election Results: officials at the European Parliament expect to announce the first projection of results, based on exit polls and counted votes, as soon as 11:15pm CET (6:15pm EDT) on Sunday, May 26, 2019.
UK Voters Prepare to Punish UK Prime Minister in European Elections Over Brexit Delay--Polls show Theresa May’s Conservative Party is being deserted in favor of The Brexit Party--WSJ.com.
UK's Brexit Party maintains big lead in EU election poll--Reuters.com May 18, 2019.
March 21: May dashes to salvage Brexit deal in Brussels (video); Arriving in Brussels on Thursday for an EU summit, Mrs. May did not rule out leaving the European Union without a deal reports news.sky.com which also reports EU leaders agreed to extend the March 29th deadline to Apil 12. The deadline would be extended to May 22 only if UK MPs pass the prime minister's Brexit deal by the end of next week.
See also "... The faltering and badly drafted [UK Prime Minister's] letter to Mr Tusk is unacceptable, asking as it does for a delay of three months in our exit from the EU ... I agree some MPs have been delaying Brexit as the PM says. These MPs clearly include the Prime Minister herself who has wasted far too much time on a negotiation and Agreement which the public rejects massively. The latest poll shows just 14% support for Mrs May’s Agreement."--johnredwoodsdiary.com.
March 20: EU ultimatum to May: you can only delay Brexit if deal is passed--Channel 4 News video published March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out a long extension to Brexit while she is Prime Minister. See also the Prime Minister's statement (video) later in the day on Wednesday, March 20, 2010. See also: May's Letter Asking for Only Short Extension Came as Shock to EU--"EU officials say they see the risk of a looming catastrophe and the mood in Brussels is bleak as they realize that May has backed them into a corner too."--bloomberg.com.
March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May requests three-month Brexit extension--"I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 period under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, including as applied by Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty, until 30 June 2019." --Letter in full here. See also Newspaper headlines: May's 'blame game' Brexit speech to nation | bbc.com.
But European Council President Donald Tusk said an extension would only be granted if MPs back the Prime Minister's Withdrawal Agreement next week. Three things could happen now: 1) no-deal Brexit, 2) May's 'deal' is somehow voted on yet again and passes, or 3) UK revokes Article 50. After Donald Tusk spoke, the UK pound sterling (GBP) fell, an indication that markets think there is now a greater chance of no-deal Brexit, but the London Stock Exchange benchmarks FTSE100 and FTSE250 have been resilient:
March 19, 2019: EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier: "Everyone should now finalise all preparations for a no-deal scenario" ... UK MPs "voting against no-deal does not prevent it happening." See alsoFrance ready to veto any meaningless Brexit delay: Elysee official--reuters.com: "French officials say in private that they are not alone in their stance but that they are more willing than other countries to stick their necks out because Britain will always blame the French for their misfortunes."
France’s EU minister Nathalie Loiseaunamed her cat ‘Brexit’ because ‘he meows loudly to be let out each morning, but then refuses to go outside when she opens the door.’
March 18, 2019: House of Commons Speaker John Bercow told MPs he would not allow PM Theresa May to ask the Commons to vote a third time if the motion hadn't changed. The announcement took the government by surprise--Channel 4 News video. March 18, 2019: A 'Hard" a/k/a 'No Deal' Brexit will benefit UK and emerging markets, says Mark Mobius, founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners. He also says he fears a soft Brexit will prohibit the U.K.'s economic potential, video below:
Theresa May has been warned by her party's biggest donors that delaying Brexit would be more damaging to British companies than ‘no deal’, which has already been factored in.
The uncertainty caused by a long extension would be ‘debilitating for companies’https://t.co/PIW1eUPNfN
Ignore the nay-sayers – here’s why we’re still on course for a clean Brexit on 29th March: "MPs are not fearful of a weak unimaginative Government desperate to push through a failed deal. Parliament does not want to re-join the EU, it does not want a referendum. It cannot ask for an extension to implement the deal if MPs don’t want the deal. And nobody could stomach another drawn-out negotiation going on for potentially years and the imminent prospect of European Elections, manifestos, campaigns and all that comes with them. Once you have eliminated all the alternatives, the conclusion is staring you in the face – the UK will leave on 29th March and take back control"--Christopher Howarth | BrexitCentral.com.
If we agree this deal – we face an even greater humiliation in the second phase. We must now discover some willingness to resist or the diet of capitulation is set to continuehttps://t.co/kXOpRhOdzH
The UK Government and UK Politicians Have Made A Shambolic Mess of Brexit (and the UK civil service is complicit)
Analysis and Opinion by the Editor:
The House of Commons ended its voting on a flurry of Brexit-related motions this week with one more humiliation and embarrassment for the hapless government formed by Prime Minister Theresa May--going back to Brussels and pleading for the EU (via its 27 other members) to agree to an extension of the Brexit date of March 29, 2019, a date May and her UK government chose following the Brexit referendum results of June 23, 2016.
Wherever you live, and whatever you may think of your own national government or its politicians, pity the poor British--Brexit outside the bubble: How do the British think Brexit is going?--UK Channel 4 News video published Mar 14, 2019, indicates how all this latest Brexit chaos is being seen by people who are not obsessives confined to the Westminster bubble.
Unless the British get lucky and get a quick exit from the EU by default on March 29, 2019, their economy will likely soon "tank" due to the continual uncertainty, the UK government having chosen a no-man's land of "neither in nor out" of the dysfunctionalEuropean Union (EU) which is already entering its own economic recession--Italy is already there, Germany and France are not far behind despite renewed "easing" by the European Central Bank (ECB)--see Euro falls as Eurozone growth forecasts slashed | cityam.com: "European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi today announced a significant downgrade in Eurozone growth predictions as he renewed a stimulus programme of cheap loans to bolster the struggling economy." (March 7, 2019)
It appears a majority in the House of Commons prefer to drown with bureaucrats in Brussels and EU member states trapped in the Eurozone, rather than swim to safety and a world full of opportunities. This is Dunkirk all over again, but the boats aren't coming this time. Don't expect even the Almighty to help those who refuse to help themselves.
Regarding Brexit, the single biggest issue gripping the U.K. is indecision, Citadel (citadel.com) billionaire founder Ken Griffin said. “Until they pick a path, it deters capital investment. Politicians don’t appreciate when they create uncertainty it kills the willingness to invest.”
President Trump Meets with the Prime Minister of Ireland
U.S. President Donald Trump and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar discuss Brexit at a press conference at the White House, March 14, 2019. Trump: "The European Union treats us very unfairly."
UK Channel 4 News recap videoof March 14, 2019, in the House of Commons: "May wins vote to seek Brexit delay"-- "In a narrow Commons victory this evening the government fought off an attempt by MPs to take control of Brexit in Parliament. Instead, Theresa May has presented a stark choice to MPs: back her deal in another vote next week - or risk a long delay to Brexit - and even the possibility of having to hold European elections in May. MPs are now expected to have a third meaningful vote on Brexit next week. That's just before Theresa May heads off to Brussels for what is currently set to be the last European summit with a British Prime Minister at the table."
All Con & Lab MPs were elected on manifestos to get Brexit through. The public can't believe that so many are now saying, “We didn't really mean it; we want to stop it; we want to delay it; we want to redefine it in a way that means it is no longer Brexit.” pic.twitter.com/un5yMDEoDQ
Tech Review (TR 2019-02-23)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1)Big Tech's Data Privacy Problem, 2)Amazon Air Expands, Look Out FedEx and UPS!, 3)Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: a.Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN,b.EU, ECB & Italy,4)ICYMI Tech News: Google's Waymo, Amazon, Samsung, IBM, eBay, Uber, Walmart, HFT Speed Bump, Zillow, Brick-and-Mortar Meltdown, Password Managers Vulnerabilities.
1)Big Tech's Data Privacy Problem
Sean Parker, former President of Facebook and current Chairman of The Parker Foundation (parker.org), discusses big tech's data privacy problem--"Amazon not guaranteeing you any privacy"--CNBC International TV video published Feb 13, 2019.
See also: The U.S. government's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Facebook are negotiating a record, multibillion-dollar fine for the company’s privacy lapses--WashingtonPost.com.
2) Amazon Air Expands, Look Out FedEx and UPS!
Amazon $AMZN aims to compete with FedEx $FDX and UPS $UPS in the logistics and shipping industry. That's what analysts told CNBC.com after Amazon Air recently expanded to 50 planes and announced it will open a $1.5 billion air hub in Northern Kentucky in 2021. Amazon is handling up to 26% of its own shipping, meaning FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service are losing a portion of Amazon's business. FedEx says it's not worried, but Morgan Stanley reports the major shippers have already lost 2% revenue to Amazon Air. CNBC.com video above published Feb 16, 2019.
On Amazon's Nixing New York for HQ2: "I’m confused. I really can’t understand why anyone would want to build a corporate HQ in Queens? Have you been there?"--Bill Blain
Italy headed for 'vicious' debt crisis--government actions eroding investor trust--omfif.org.
"... the news changes our perceptions. The trick is to separate the chaos of new flow from the tau of markets. Markets are linear functions of buy/sell – they are not necessarily about common sense. To illustrate: last week I wrote about Italy, pointing out just how hopelessly its ensnared and entrapped within the strait-jacket of the Euro, with little prospect of growth, employment or upside. Yet Italian bonds are one of the top performing assets – AND WILL REMAIN SO – because the ECBcan’t afford to let Italy go, and Europe sliding back into downturn pretty much ensures they’ll continue to bailout Italy and likelyresurrectQE in some form ..."--MorningPorridge.com
Google’s Waymo risks repeating Silicon Valley’s most famous blunder--how to build a minimum viable product for driverless cars--arstechnica.com; andGoogle to unveil Project Stream, its "Netflix-Like Game Streaming Service" at a Game Developers Conference keynote on March 19--fortune.com. Amazon has secured central London retail space for its checkout-free Amazon Go food stores, in what would be the first expansion of Amazon's automated convenience shops outside the United States--thegrocer.co.uk.
Samsung trying to reinvent itself as a top-tier supplier for 5G wireless networks and bridge a big gap with market leader Huawei,Ericsson and Nokia.
Cisco$CSCO--'Nothing But Network' Is Taking Cisco To A Very Good Place--seekingalpha.com.
IBM Watson Anywhere initiative makes Watson AI services available across AWS, Azure and GCP, in addition to their own IBM Cloud offerings.
eBay $EBAY: hedge funds and institutional investors place bets on the e-commerce platform.
Uber (uber.com) sues New York City over the law that caps the number of ride-hail cars and pausing the issuance of licenses to drivers for 12 months--theverge.com.
Why Walmart farms out same-day grocery deliveries to low-cost freelance drivers--reuters.com.
"Flash Boys" HFT Speed Bump (a 3-millisecond trading delay), to be implemented in the ICE Futures U.S., Inc. (IFUS) (pdf), gold daily and silver daily futures markets. Comments must be submitted on or before March 15, 2019.--CFTC.gov.
Zillow (zillow.com), a new breed of high-tech real estate flippers “iBuyers” using algorithms (and a healthy dose of Silicon Valley venture capital) to buy at massive scale--bloomberg.com.
Tech Review (TR 2019-02-09)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1)Why Apple $AAPL Is Losing In India, 2) Amazon $AMZN Analysts Alarmed?3) Investing: The Week & Notes: EU, Eurozone, France, Italy, US, China,4) ICYMI Tech News: Boeing, Microsoft, Go-Jek, Foxconn & Amazon HQ2, Zucked (Facebook), Quantum Fiber, Amazon, Google, Visma.
1)Why Apple $AAPL Is Losing In India Why Apple Lags Behind Samsung And Xiaomi In India
Why is Apple$AAPL struggling to reach one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world?
In the fourth quarter of 2018, Apple reported selling about 47 million iPhones worldwide. But Apple is still struggling to make a dent in India, where high import duties and price-sensitive consumers have resulted in weak sales. Apple began selling iPhones in India more than ten years ago but is still struggling in the world's second-largest smartphone market.
According to research firm Counterpoint (counterpointresearch.com) data, Samsung and Xiaomi led in smartphone sales in India in the third quarter of 2018, with 22 percent and 27 percent of the smartphone market, respectively. In the same period, Apple made up only about one percent of India's smartphone market share, behind Chinese phone makers Vivo and Oppo. CNBC.com video above published Jan 29, 2019.
See also:
Global Smartphone Market Declines for The First Time in CY 2018--Q4 2018 Smartphone Shipments Decline 7%; Fifth Consecutive Quarter of Smartphone Decline--Chinese Players HOVX (Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi) Continue to Defy Market Decline Ending the Year with Positive Growth--counterpointresearch.com Feb 1, 2019.
5 Takeaways from Apple’s Q4 2018 Earnings Call--counterpointresearch.com Jan 30, 2019: "... Lastly, we might see a strong push from Apple into the health and wellness space in the future ..."
Amazon$AMZN delivered its third consecutive record quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of 2018 but raised alarm among some analysts with a cautious first-quarter sales forecast. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Feb 1, 2019.
But here is a counterview:
Amazon revenue growth shows strength across the business, analyst says--Christopher Rossbach, chief investment officer at J. Stern & Co, discusses Amazon's latest quarterly earnings report.--CNBC International TV video published Feb 1, 2019.
Investing Notes: EU, Eurozone, France -- 'Gilets Jaunes'
France’s 'Gilets Jaunes' or ‘Yellow Vest’ movement originally formed over planned fuel tax rises in November 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron has scrapped the tax hike, but demonstrations have continued and even spread to other countries. CNBC International video above published Jan 31, 2019.
See also:
Big cash holdings in Europe signal unease over stock market outlook--euronews.com.
The Eurozone is at risk of renewed crisis in 2019, and this time it’s all about Italy--cityam.com: "French and German banks have massive exposure to Italian sovereign debt ... Italy already accounts for a quarter of all Eurozone bad debt."
Italy in recession amid sluggish eurozone--bbc.com. Eurozone Growth Slows Sharply to 1.8% in 2018--novinite.com.
US jobs growthsurgesbutmore disappointing data for Eurozone--independent.ie.
China "experiencing probable economic stagnation and internal decay"--theatlantic.com.
4) ICYMI Tech News:
Boeing goes bionic to roll out more Dreamliners--reuters.com: "Melding humans with robots."
How do you turn around the culture of a 130,000-person company? Ask Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella--qz.com.
Go-Jek raises $1 billion in round led by Google, Tencent, JD.com--reuters.com.
The Foxconn & Amazon HQ2 sagas: bidding wars to attract private employers create a dilemma for politicians, often promoted without any real cost-benefit analysis. Interstate competition in tax giveaways "is not an overall winner for taxpayers"--dashofinsight.com.
Zucked, "a book by early Facebook investor Roger McNamee, details Facebook's damage to society, the dystopia it created, and advocates breaking up its monopoly"--NYTimes.com.
A fiber-optic cable that harnesses the power of quantum mechanics to protect critical banking data from potential spies--bloombergquint.com and quantumxc.com.
Amazon spent $1.65B on acquisitions in 2018, including Ring and PillPack--geekwire.com.
Google announces Live Transcribe, a near-real time transcriber, and Sound Amplifier--theverge.com.
China hacked Norway's Visma to steal client secrets--reuters.com.
Tech Review (TR 2018-12-01)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1)China's Tech Megacity, 2)Music Industry Renaissance, 3)Investing: US Stocks Surge, Notes: US, China, UK, EU, Italy, Cryptocurrency, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Amazon AWS, Disney, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Personal Tech.
1) China's Tech Megacity
Shenzhen, China, has been dubbed the Silicon Valley of hardware. If you own a smartphone or computer, odds are parts of it came from here. In 30-years the city has grown from a town into a megacity of over 12 million people. Welcome to Shenzhen, the manifestation of China’s economic miracle. Bloomberg.com video published Nov 21, 2018.
The other side of the China story:
China’s factories lost more momentum in November, according to a key monthly survey of manufacturing firms, with domestic demand again looking bleak despite a recent boost in infrastructure spending.https://t.co/DM8wxS3Ycf
Today’s renaissance in the music industry, driven in large part by the continued success of paid streaming services, is leading to a surge in transaction activity across sectors, explains Aaron Siegel of Goldman Sachs Investment Banking. “Investors have caught on to the growth and recovery and the value of these businesses,” explains Siegel, who attributes the pickup in transaction activity to four factors, such as paid streaming subscription services, an uptick in smart speaker devices and the opening up of new markets, such as China and India. “China today represents a low single-digit percentage of global music revenues, but represents 20 to 30 percent of global film box office and global video game revenues,” Siegel says. “There is enormous upside for the music industry as China continues to grow.” GoldmanSachs.com video above published Nov 12, 2018. Read more here.
U.S. stocks surge on Friday amid G-20 talks and cement best week for S&P 500, NASDAQ in about 7 years--marketwatch.com
Wall Street's Charging Bull
Investing Notes: US & China: all eyes on Buenos Aires as high-stakes summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump could have as many as six aides each joining them at the December 1 dinner after the G20 forum--scmp.com. Trump is surprisingly popular in China--reuters.com.
China cross-border e-commerce shrunk by 16.2% in Q3 2018--chinainternetwatch.com. Also China’s state-owned companies are run for-party, not for-profit--ft.com.
EU & UK: Remaining in the EU would come at a big price--spectator.co.uk. See also Britain has nothing to fear from no deal by Tony Abbott: "It’s pretty hard for Britain’s friends, here in Australia, to make sense of the mess that’s being made of Brexit ...." Editor's note: UK Prime Minister Theresa May has warned lawmakers if they reject her "deal" with the EU, the world’s fifth largest economy may have to leave without an agreement a/k/a "hard Brexit."The House of Commons vote is scheduled for December 11.
EU & Italy: European Commission Begins Budget Battle With Italy--forbes.com. Meanwhile the eurozone recovery continues to falter--ft.com. Eurozone's Days are Numbered--Mike Ingram, chief market strategist at WH Ireland is calling time on the eurozone, saying it is fundamentally “dead” (although it could take decades to disband)--morningstar.co.uk.
Bitcoin Plunges to $3,738; Whole Crypto Scam Melts Down, Hedge Funds Stuck ... $714 billion gone up in smoke--WolfStreet.com.
Virtual currencies have been in a steep downtrend since the beginning of 2018, amid increased regulatory scrutiny and thefts at crypto exchanges. Chief economic adviser at Allianz, Mohamad El-Erian: cryptocurrencies are commodities, notcurrencies, “They don’t have the intrinsic attributes of a currency. It is not going to replace money.” Though there are now more than 2,000 different cryptocurrencies in circulation, the total value of all coins has crashed--reuters.com.
4) ICYMI Tech News:
Amazon AWS introduces its own custom-designed Arm server processor, AWS Graviton Processor, claims 45% lower costs for some workloads--Geekwire.com. A summary of AWS launches, previews, and pre-announcements from AWS re:Invent 2018--aws.amazon.com.
Disney$DIS and Google$GOOG$GOOGL expand strategic relationship: Disney will bring its entire global digital video and display business onto the Google Ad Manager, which will serve as its core ad technology platform--blog.google.
Microsoft$MSFT stock market value, a/k/a market capitalization, "catches up" with Apple$AAPL. Nvidia $NVDA to provide AI platform for Chinese EV start-ups--reuters.com.
GM: The bottom line is Mary Barra is preparing GM for not only Tesla, but BMW and Mercedes and Uber … She’s doubling-down onelectrics anddriverlessto win in the future, to EXIST in the future.--Lefsetz.com.
Personal Tech:Live on campus or in a city where there is plenty of free wi-fi for internet, texting & voice via apps? You may only need a wireless carrier plan of 30 minutes of talk, 30 texts, or any combination of minutes and texts that add up to 30, for only $3/month. Additional minutes and texts are only $0.10/each. Pay only for what you use (add 4G LTE data when needed, per day or week)--prepaid.t-mobile.com. Editor's note: just remember to turn off your smartphone's cellular network connection when not needed.
Tech Review (TR 2018-10-27)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1)Internet of Things Creating New Avenues for Cybercrime, 2) How China Went From Copying Tech to Cutting Edge, 3)Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4)ICYMI Tech News.
1)Internet of Things Creating New Avenues for Cybercrime
FT.com and Chubb.com video above published Oct 1, 2018: the Internet of Things (IoT) is creating new avenues for cybercrime. Cybersecurity practices in businesses vary from one company to another but just who is responsible for maintaining cybersecurity practices remains a big question in Cyber Risk Management and Cybersecurity.
SoftBank says there will be a trillion connected devices by 2025 and that "these devices, connected through the internet of things" will "generate $11 trillionin value by that time."-VentureBeat.com.
2) How China Went From Copying Tech to Cutting Edge
China's technology industry is developing into a serious rival to Silicon Valley, but there are political hurdles ahead. Bloomberg QuickTake explains how China's tech companies went from copycats to cutting edge, and why the U.S. government is crying foul. Bloomberg.com video above published Oct 16, 2018.
The Market Sell-Off Is Overdone, This Is a 'Buying Opportunity'--Mikio Kumada, executive director and global strategist at LGT Capital Partners (domain: lgtcp.com), discusses the market sell-off and what to look out for in the future--video here.
Wall Street's Charging Bull
Investing Notes: US: The party’s far from over for the U.S. economy, as Q3 GDP growth shows--GDP growth of 3.5% marks best two-quarter stretch in four years--a vigorous gain following a 4.2% burst of growth in the second quarter positions the economy for its best performance in 13 years. The last time the U.S. posted 3% growth for a full year was in 2005. EU: Italy’s Debt Crisis--the European Union rejects Italy's budget--Italy has three weeks to revise its budget under the EU’s rules (Editor's note:don't hold your breath.) China: policymakers in China have been left searching for answers to the trade war with the US because the domestic think tanks called on for guidance have provided “filtered information” to avoid offending supervisors--scmp.com. Brexit:Lloyd's (lloyds.com) Chairman: "Our customers will be unaffected by Brexit."--CNBC.com video.
Why Netflix$NFLX Is Selling $2 Billion of Junk Bonds--Bloomberg.com (video). Netflix will spend $18.6 billion on content, and forecasts $3 billion negative cash flow for 2018 and 2019, betting aggressive spending leads to more subscribers--NYTimes.com.
Lobbying: Amazon spent $3.63M on lobbying in Q3, up from $3.47M in Q2, as it seeks JEDI, a big Pentagon contract; Google spent $5.46M, up 30%+ YoY, while Facebook spent $2.82M--Bloomberg.com.
Verizon $VZ and Altaba $AABA have agreed to pay $50M in damages, up to $37.5M in legal fees, and provide credit monitoring for Yahoo users affected by Yahoo's 2013 security breach.
Facebook$FB is reportedly trying to buy a major cybersecurity firm. Meanwhile Oculus founder Brendan Iribe is leaving Facebook--Bloomberg.com (video).
Cloudflare Inc, is preparing an initial public offering (IPO) that could value the startup at more than $3.5 billion.
Google$GOOG$GOOGL will open source its firmware for Titan M, a Pixel 3 secure chip handling Verified Boot which also has its own isolated storage and RAM--wired.com.
Wealthfront, a digital wealth management startup will offer its automated financial planning tool (robo-advisor) for free by the end of the year.
Personal Tech Tip: "... if you always charge your phone at 25 percent, the battery will only work to its full potential for 500 charges ... opting to charging at 75 percent will give you up to 2,500 fully powered charges"--lifehack.org.
