Android or iOS, Why Smartphones Aren't Exciting Anymore (video)

Why Aren't Smartphones Exciting Anymore?

Smartphone sales are declining, and the pace of innovation is slowing. Manufacturers are scrambling to find new ways to conjure up excitement. Bloomberg QuickTake explains what might be the future of smartphones. Bloomberg.com video above published Jun 19, 2019.

See also: WSJ: Jony Ive Became 'Dispirited' After Apple Watch and Sometimes Failed to Show Up to Meetings--Report: Jony Ive was dispirited by Tim Cook's lack of interest in the product development process and frustrated inside a more operations-focused company--macrumors.com.

source: statista.com

source: statista.com

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Dave Jaggar & The History of ARM Microprocessors (video)

Dave Jaggar: "A History of ARM Microprocessor and it's Rise and Fall"

A "Talks at Google" video published Jun 20, 2019,: Dave Jaggar discusses his inspiring career that led to the ARM architecture which effectively powers the digital world, being the reason that your phone is small and doesn't burn a hole in your pocket. Moderator: Raymond Blum. Transcript (auto-generated, unedited).

In the late 1980’s Acorn, a British one-hit-wonder computer company, faced imminent extinction, with its only assets being 18 months of life support rations and perhaps the worst microprocessor ever designed. What they did right was to hire Dave Jaggar, with the ink still wet on his master's thesis.  Over eight years Dave systematically defined the entire ARM architecture, enabling  it to be a popular embedded controller for the digital revolution, with around 100 billion units shipped.  As ARM’s Head of Architecture Design, Dave authored the ARM Architectural Reference Manual and is the Founding Director of the ARM Austin Design Center. More on ARM architecture.

ARM Holdings is a British multinational semiconductor and software design company, owned by SoftBank Group and its Vision Fund. Processors based on designs licensed from ARM, or designed by licensees of one of the ARM instruction set architectures, are used in all classes of computing devices (including in space). ARM is viewed as the most important chip design infrastructure provider in the world as its microchips go into more than 90% of world’s mobile devices.

On June 22, 2019, SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son said he wants to  re-list ARM Holdings Plc as a publicly traded company within the next five years (the British chipmaker was acquired for $32 billion in 2016):

"I don’t know which market it will be, but ARM will be preparing for IPO within the next five years. Arm management is all excited about it. We are excited"--SoftBank’s founding Chairman and CEO Son, June 22, 2019.

Arm Limited a/k/a Arm Holdings: 

• Number of employees: about 6,250 (2018)
• Owner: SoftBank Group 75%; Vision Fund 25%
• Headquarters: Cambridge, England, UK
• Domain: arm.com

Jaggar's book: Arm Architecture Reference Manual
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Inmarsat Satellite Telecom, IoT & Security Services, Going Private (video)

Inmarsat Fleet Secure Endpoint for cyber resilience at sea

The maritime industry is at increasing risk of cyber security breaches every day but conventional antivirus cover is no longer enough to protect vessels again new forms of malware which use the network to attack your systems. Inmarsat’s Fleet Secure Endpoint has an advanced ransomware detection engine to continually inspect, detect, alert and respond to threats and is remotely monitored 24/7/365. Video above published Jan, 2019.

UK’s Inmarsat Satellite Group Going Private in $3.4 Billion Deal--bloomberg.com: Inmarsat has been in play since last year as it faces growing competition from traditional rivals such as ViaSat Inc. and new challengers including Richard Branson-backed OneWeb and Elon Musk’s SpaceX offering smaller, cheaper satellites.

Inmarsat received an all-cash offer from a private equity consortium for a total consideration of $3.4B. The deal is not expected to close before Q4 2019--until then, any other party can submit an offer. Strong Q4 2018 results for maritime and aviation broadband indicates bright prospects.--SeekingAlpha.com: Inmarsat: Latest Offer Undervalues The Company.

LON: ISAT

Inmarsat plc is a UK satellite telecommunications company. It offers global mobile services, telephone and data services, to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with ground stations through thirteen geostationary telecommunications satellites. Inmarsat has been working on selling faster, more reliable internet services to the world’s airlines.

• Domain: inmarsat.com
• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Investor Relations: investors.inmarsat.com
• CEO: Rupert Pearce (Jan 1, 2012–)
• Revenue: 1.465 billion USD (2018)
• Number of employees: 1,500 (2019)
• Founded: 1979
• Subsidiaries include Stratos Global Corporation, Inmarsat Global Limited.
• Stock Exchange & Symbol: LON: ISAT

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The Future of Payments - Using Google Pay (video)

How to pay in stores with Google Pay

How to use Google Pay to pay with your phone in stores. You can use it anywhere contactless payments are accepted. If you run into any issues, check out the help section in the app or visit the Google Pay Help Center. Google Pay merged two formerly separate apps, Android Pay and Google Wallet.

Google Pay (also stylized G Pay) is a digital wallet platform and online payment system developed by Google to power in-app, tap-to-pay purchases on mobile devices, and more. See What is Google Pay? excerpt:

• Make purchases in stores using your phone (See country and device availability).
• Buy items in apps and on websites (See country availability).
• Fill in forms automatically on Chrome (Learn more).
• Buy Google products.
• Send money to friends and family (US/UK only).
• You can also use your gift cards, loyalty cards, tickets, and coupons with Google Pay when you shop at your favorite stores

Domain: pay.google.com

How to use Google Pay | Pixel

Google Help video above published Oct 18, 2018: This video shown how to set up Google Pay on a Pixel smartphone. For more info go to the Pixel Help Center.

See also: Barclays to merge BPay, Pingit Products as banks fend off Apple Pay and Amazon Pay--bloomberg.com, and An inside look at the future of payments | CNBC Reports.

source: Statista.com

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MWC19 LIVE, Mobile World Congress 2019, Barcelona Feb 25-28

MWC19, Mobile World Congress 2019, Barcelona Feb 25-28

• Twitter: #MWC19 

• Domain: mwcbarcelona.com

• Mobile World LIVE video: mobileworldlive.com/studio-stream/

• Mobile World LIVE Keynotes
• What's the latest on #5G? Join the #ReutersMWC chat Feb 26 at 3 pm ET/9 pm CET moderated by @jennifersaba with @Kevin_Jackson, @laurenyoung and more experts during #MWC19 to find out.

• Venue: Fira Gran Via, Av. Joan Carles I, 64 08908 L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain  (map below)

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NVIDIA $NVDA Event at CES 2019 with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang (video)

NVIDIA Press Event at CES 2019 with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang

NVIDIA (nvidia.com) video above published Jan 7, 2019: Watch the live replay of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's press event at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, where he unveiled the GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, more than 40 NVIDIA RTX-powered laptops from every major manufacturer, an expanded ecosystem of G-SYNC displays, and a slew of amazing real-time ray tracing demos.

NASDAQ: NVDA

$NVDA

Jump ahead to:
01:17 - GPU revolutionized graphics
09:00 - AI and ray tracing for next-gen gaming
13:31 - NVIDIA RTX powers next-generation graphics
15:07 - Turing architecture powers NVIDIA RTX
20:33 - Sol demo – showcasing amazing real-time graphics
25:42 - Reflections demo - ILMxLAB and Epic
27:15 - Porsche demo - 911 Speedster concept
28:31 - Mundfish demo - RTX On in robot lab
32:00 - DLSS: AI for graphics
36:33 - Anthem demo, from BioWare
42:52 - Justice demo, from NetEase
47:46 - Battlefield V demo from EA DICE
55:13 - GeForce RTX 2060 GPU unveiled!
1:05:16 - Growing NVIDIA G-SYNC display ecosystem
1:14:23 - NVIDIA RTX advances work of content creators everywhere
1:22:04 - Max-Q design for thinnest, fastest, quietest laptops
1:26:27 - Demo of incredible GeForce RTX 2080 laptop from MSI
1:30:42 - NVIDIA Ansel in-game photography
1:34:05 - Closing video and wrapping up

Learn more about GeForce RTX GPUs at nvidia.com

Nvidia Corporation is a U.S.-based technology company that designs and manufactures graphics processing units for the gaming and professional markets, as well as system on a chip units for the mobile computing and automotive market. Besides gaming, professional visualization, data centers and auto, Nvidia is now also focused on artificial intelligence.

• CEO: Jensen Huang (Apr 1993–)
• Headquarters: Santa Clara, CA
• Revenue: 9.714 billion USD (2017)
• Founded: April 1993
• Founders: Jensen Huang, Curtis Priem, Chris Malachowsky

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Vodafone Group $VOD Branding and Innovation (video)

Vodafone brand evolution

Vodafone Group short animation video showing the evolution of the Vodafone brand.

Vodafone is the most valuable brand in the UK because it’s pioneered innovation beyond the mobile space says Jane Bloomfield, Head of Business Development at Kantar UK--bloomberg.com. 

Vodafone Group Plc LON: VOD | NASDAQ: VOD | domain: vodafone.com

Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, Vodafone is a UK-based multinational telecom, the second largest mobile network operator in the world with a subscriber base of 469.7 million users  (China's state-owned China Mobile is the largest) . Vodafone is the fifth largest mobile network operator by revenue. Founded in 1991, Vodafone offers mobile network services primarily in the regions of Oceania, Africa, Europe, and Asia, operates and owns mobile networks in 26 countries, with partner networks in more than 50 additional countries. The Vodafone Global Enterprise division provides IT and telecommunications services in 150 countries. Vodafone shares are primarily listed on the London Stock Exchange (constituent of the FTSE 100 Index) and secondarily listed on NASDAQ.
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Tech Review: 1) Mobile's Future Is 5G, 2) Amazon HQ2's Front-Runners

Tech Review (TR 2018-11-03)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Mobile's Future Is 5G, 2) Amazon HQ2's Front-Runners, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes,  4) ICYMI Tech News: Apple, Baidu, Amazon, Monzo, China..

1) Mobile's Future Is 5G

5G is a new, faster network with the potential to completely transform the internet and the world.

What is 5G?

2) Amazon HQ2's Front-Runners

Amazon's search for its second headquarters, HQ2, has created a bidding war between cities and states worth billions. These kinds of tax incentives have a long history in the United States, but experts question their efficacy. Economic development experts say that wherever Amazon decides to bring its HQ2 will also bring along new businesses, skilled workers and higher real estate prices. Amazon has narrowed its list twice and is expected to deliver its decision by the end of the year.

Some locations, like Miami and Washington D.C.-area cities, have reportedly had follow-up visits from Amazon in recent months, while cities like Raleigh, N.C. have not, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Oct 25, 2018. CNBC.com video below published Oct 25, 2018. The shortlist of the 20 locations still in the running is at amazon.com/hq2.

UPDATE Nov 4: Amazon in late-stage talks with several cities including Crystal City, VA (Metro DC), Dallas, New York for HQ2, and may place smaller operations in runner-up cities--wsj.com.

Is Amazon HQ2 A Bad Gamble For Cities?

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite +2.7% | S&P 500 Index +2.4% | DJIA +2.4%

“The [U.S.] economy is in great shape with lots of jobs and more money in workers’ paychecks"--Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York.

"Apple is a ‘buybuybuy’ right now, and other FAANG stocks are bargains too"--MarketWatch.com Opinion, Nov 2, 2018.

Wall Street's Charging Bull

Investing Notes: End of an Era in Germany. 

Angela Merkel’s decision to stand down as leader of the Christian Democratic Union and not run again as chancellor in 2021 ushers in a new age in German politics. Video above published by FT.com Oct 30, 2018. See also Bill Blain: "Europe heads into a very dangerous 2019."

EU: Eurozone GDP Hits 4 Year Low, Italian Economy Flatlines, Euro Slides--zerohedge.com.

US: Jobs smash estimates with gain of 250,000, wage gains pass 3% for first time since recession--cnbc.com.

• 156,562,000 people in the U.S. employed: Record Employment for 12th Time Under Trump

• US economy adding 1,000 manufacturing jobs per day

• Hispanic unemployment at all time low

• Wage gains strongest in a decade  

• POLL: TRUMP Approval 51% (Nov 2, 2018). The Trump Scoreboard--Editor's note: everything looks great except the trade deficit which can be attributed to an increase in imports before the new tariffs on China come into effect in early 2019.  See also Peter Thiel Pledges to Support Trump’s 2020 Campaign--bloomberg.com.

China: China's currency slips to weakest level in 10 years against the U.S. dollar--ft.com video.

Trade: Trump, Xi upbeat on trade after phone call; U.S. targets more Chinese firms--reuters.com.

World:

While the second annual “Future Investment Initiative” conference in Saudi Arabia was lightly attended by US executives, it still seems to have been a successful event. Here's a recap of various press accounts: https://t.co/l8ov1QzmNK pic.twitter.com/qNYM7XP21U

— DataTrek Research (@DataTrekMB) October 26, 2018

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Apple Store Expansion in China 'Hit Massive Brick Wall'--zerohedge.com. See also Apple $AAPL FY18 Q4 Earnings LIVE Webcast Nov 1. Apple said it will stop reporting unit sales data for its iPhone, iPad and Mac computer products--“Companies typically stop reporting metrics when the metrics are about to turn. This is not a good look for Apple”--Walter Piecyk, BTIG Research analyst. 

Editor's note: Apple's focus is on high-end premium hardware and services. The hardware products (iPhones, iPads, iMacs, etc.) come with hefty profit-margins, positioned as high-quality products, with less need for frequent replacement. Its target consumer demographic is nearing market saturation. Accordingly, I expect Apple will increasingly focus on its services and subscriptions, to reach untapped potential within its core consumer markets. "Unit sales" are therefore of decreasing importance, as long as Apple's "market share" within those hardware and services categories is maintained.

• Baidu's fourth-quarter sales forecast misses estimates as regulation, trade fears bite--reuters.com. Also Ford and Baidu are collaborating on driverless vehicles. Ford's autonomous vehicles have been equipped with Baidu's autonomous driving system Apollo, and on-road testing is set to begin by the end of this year--cnbc.com.

• Amazon $AMZN: Should You Buy Amazon On The Dip?--SeekingAlpha.com. Editor's note: read the next item.

• Cloud: analyst firm Gartner.com says 10 percent of enterprises will have shut down their traditional data center by the end of 2018 -- and that's expected to rise to 80 percent by 2025.

• London-based 'app bank' Monzo (monzo.com) hits unicorn status--reuters.com.

• U.S. Department of Justice charges two of China's intelligence officers 'and their team of hackers' in connection with IP and confidential data theft from US and French aviation companies--zdnet.com.

• U.S. will restrict exports to China's state-owned Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, as posing a national security threat, following claims by Micron Technology $MU of IP theft.--NYTimes.com. FT.com video on YouTube.com here.

• How to secure the US electoral system: Cris Thomas, global strategy lead at IBM.com's X-Force Red, details some of the steps that can be taken to shore up the American electoral system--techrepublic.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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5G Mobile Networks, A Deep Dive Into The Future

Who will get 5G networks deployed first? U.S., China, and South Korea are leading, depending on the factors one measures: launch, coverage, etc. The U.S. will have some 5G smartphone service next year with a few commercial launches for mobile broadband this year. China is investing much more in 5G and will likely be the first nation with broadly deployed 5G networks. See also The hot race for 5G will change the world we know now | TheHill.com.

Deep Dive: The future of 5G

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Swift Business Forum New York 2018, Sep 12 (video)

Business Forum New York 2018 Preview

SWIFT Business Forum New York 2018, will bring together 600+ senior business leaders and industry experts to discuss the latest developments and innovations shaping the financial industry and to debate issues of mutual interest or concern, on Wednesday, 12 September at Chelsea Piers. This year’s theme: Seizing the Opportunity.

View from Swift Business Forum New York 2018

TheBanker.com video above published Aug 28, 2018: Brian Caplen, editor of The Banker, and Joy Macknight, deputy editor, discuss the hot topics on the New York agenda, including developments in real-time and cross-border payments, cyber security and technology such as blockchain, AI and APIs.

Website: https://www.swift.com/news-events/events/swift-business-forum-new-york-2018 provides more info re: speakers and agenda.

Swift videos on YouTube here.

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Tech Review 1) Perils of Tech Stocks, 2) High Growth Tech Companies

Tech Review (TR 2018-07-28)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Perils of Tech Stocks, 2) High Growth Tech Companies, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes: Another China Crisis Looming?, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Facebook, Bitcoin ETF, Qualcomm, Apple, Intel, Google Cloud, Q2 2018 Earnings, and more.

1) Perils of Tech Stocks

RBC Capital Market’s (rbccm.com) Senior Tech Analyst Mark Mahaney gives 10 lessons in 10 minutes about the stock market and investing in tech stocks at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech 2018. Fortune.com video above published Jul 17, 2018.

How Wall Street Is Reacting to Facebook's Q2 2018 Earnings effect on $FB shares this week:

On Thursday, 26 Jul 2018, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) closed down 19% after the disappointing user numbers and revenue growth projections, losing almost $120 billion in market value in a day, and dragging the rest of the sector lower. Before Thursday, Facebook's largest single-day loss came in July 2012 when it shed 11 percent. The company missed projections on key metrics. See also Update: The Great Facebook GDPR Debacle.

Only surprise in FB bad guidance was how obvious it was to happen yet so many chose not to see it. 90+% of 1Q earnings were B4 the trouble.

— Jeffrey Gundlach (@TruthGundlach) July 25, 2018

Editor's note: Facebook $FB closed Friday at $174.89, DOWN -19.56% since Wednesday's close (graphic below). Twitter $TWTR closed DOWN -20.54% on Friday (Jul 27) at $34.12.

$FB

2) High Growth Tech Companies

a16z.com podcast with Elad Gil (@eladgil) and Chris Dixon (@cdixon): There's a lot of knowledge out there -- and networks of talent (especially in Silicon Valley) -- on what to do in the early stages of a company, going from 0 to 1, and even in going from 1 to 100... but what about beyond that? It's not as simply linear as merely doubling or tripling resources and org structures; it's actually much more complex on many levels, communication to coordination. Because with great scale comes great complexity... and many, many more places for things to break down.

How should founders/CEOs of growing tech startups think about everything from hiring (including key executives) to product management (what is it, really, beyond common myths/misconceptions around the role?) to thinking about late-stage financing, M&A, and other key aspects of building a company? This episode of the a16z Podcast shares both specific answers to -- and general mindsets for thinking about -- these questions. Chris Dixon, general partner on a16z crypto, interviews Elad Gil, investor/advisor to numerous tech companies; co-founder of Color Genomics; formerly of Google and also co-founder and CEO of Mixer Labs (acquired by Twitter, where he also became a VP). He's the author of the new book, The High Growth Handbook, on scaling companies from 10 to 10,000 people.

The two also explore the growth -- and evolution -- of market and tech trends, including the continuation of mobile/cloud; machine learning (and silicon); crypto; and finally, longevity -- both in the near term and further out in the future. Should people -- and even companies for that matter -- really live longer?

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite -1.1% | S&P 500 Index +0.6% | DJIA +1.6% The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) booked weekly gains, but losses in the tech sector left the Nasdaq Composite lower for the week.

“As we discussed previously, what happens in the middle of the week is of little consequence to us. We are only truly interested in where the week ends"--Lance Roberts.

G.D.P. Grew at 4.1% Rate in U.S. Q2 2018: "Some economists think full-year growth in gross domestic product could hit 3 percent in 2018 for the first time in the nearly decade-long recovery, a prospect that became more likely following Friday’s strong numbers."--NYTimes.com 27 Jul 2018.

Wall Street's Charging Bull

Investing Notes: Another China Crisis Looming?

• As China Suffers Its Biggest Bankruptcy Of 2018, The PBOC Finally Panics--zerohedge.com, and
China steps up management of cross-border financial network and information services--reuters.com. See also China Caves: The Full Details Behind Beijing's Launch Of Fiscal Easing.

• China's devaluation of its currency:

China's renminbi hit by trade and economic woes: China's currency has devalued sharply against the dollar (US$) in recent weeks. The last time China surprised the markets with a devaluation, in the summer of 2015, it prompted a global sell-off of risk assets. China’s currency has topped the Rmb6.8 per dollar mark, its weakest level in a year, reflecting slower growth and tighter credit. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published July 23, 2018.

4) ICYMI Tech News

• Facebook's plans for an innovation hub in China are apparently now off.
• Bitcoin ETF: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday stood by a decision blocking Winklevoss bitcoin ETF--SEC.gov (pdf).

• Qualcomm $QCOM says Apple $AAPL will use only modems from a competitor, likely Intel $INTC for next iPhone release, making iPhones slower than Android phones--CNET.com. Qualcomm also says it will drop its $44B offer and pay a $2B breakup fee to NXP since the latest deadline has passed with no approval from China--reuters.com.

• Uber contributes $706 million to Miami's economy, study says--bizjournals.com.
• AT&T $T is in trouble--SeekingAlpha.com.

• Google Cloud: the full breadth of Google Cloud serverless technologies--cloud.google.com.

• Q2 2018 Earnings Season this past week on DomainMondo.com: Alphabet (Google) $GOOG $GOOGL; Texas Instruments $TXN, Facebook $FB, Verisign $VRSN, Amazon $AMZN, Twitter $TWTR. 
• Q2 2018 Earnings this coming week: Apple $AAPL, Tesla $TSLA, GoDaddy $GDDY.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Alphabet $GOOGL $GOOG Q2 2018 Earnings LIVE Webcast July 23

Alphabet 2018 Q2 Earnings Call

Alphabet Investor Relations LIVE video scheduled for Jul 23, 2018: Alphabet 2018 Q2 Earnings Call, transcript here.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) holding company of Google, Q2 2018 quarterly conference call to discuss second quarter 2018 financial results: Monday, July 23, at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

The live webcast of the earnings conference call can be accessed here (embed above). A replay of the webcast will be available through the same link above following the conference call. The Investor Relations website has published the earnings release: earnings release prior to the conference call (embed below):

$GOOG

See also 

• Antitrust: European Commission fines Google €4.34 billion for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google's search engine--europa.eu 18 Jul 2018.
• EU's Android fine, a futile effort to curb Google's dominance in mobile or a first step to check Google's data hoovering and guaranteed ad distribution?--Brussels takes aim at Google’s mobile strategy | ft.com.
• Alphabet earnings: "Android antitrust fine will demolish Google Q2 2018 profit even as it appeals"--Marketwatch.com Jul 23, 2018.

• 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (video) Jun 6, 2018.

source: Statista.com

source: Statista.com

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Mobile Payment Platform Alipay and How It Works (video)

The Alipay phenomenon and how it works

Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Jun 5, 2018: In China cash is no longer king. Why? Because of the Alipay (domain: alipay.com) phenomenon. It's China's biggest mobile payment platform with 622 million users, handling more than half of the country's $15.5 trillion payments market.
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Tech Review | Internet Trends 2018, What Mary Meeker Missed

Tech Review (TR 2018-06-02)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Internet Trends 2018, What Mary Meeker Missed, 2) Most Hyperscale Data Centers are Operating in the U.S., 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes: Fallout from Italy's political crisis,  4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Internet Trends 2018

2018 Internet Trends by Mary Meeker, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers

Editor's note--takeaways:

• In 2017 smartphone unit shipments did not increase over the previous year.
• Internet user growth slowed to 7 percent in 2017, down from 12 percent in 2016. More than half the world is now online, affluent developed and developing markets have reached saturation.
• Amount of time spent online increased, for U.S. adults, to 5.9 hours per day in 2017, up from 5.6 hours in 2016, of which 3.3 hours were spent on mobile devices. Mobile is the source of overall growth in digital media consumption.
• Global average selling price of smartphones continues to decline, and lower prices drive smartphone adoption in less-developed markets--Apple may be grabbing most of the profits, but Android continues to win market share.
• Mobile payments are becoming easier for consumers and China continues to lead the rest of the world with over 500 million active mobile payment users in 2017.
• The Privacy Paradox: technology companies are trying to use data to provide better consumer experiences yet avoid violating consumer privacy.
• Technology companies are becoming a larger share of U.S. business, corporate R&D and capital spending. In April, tech accounted for 25 percent of U.S. market capitalization. 
• E-commerce sales growth continues to accelerate, growing 16 percent in the U.S. in 2017, up from 14 percent in 2016, but Amazon is taking a bigger share of those sales at 28 percent in 2017. Brick-and-mortar retail sales continue to decline.
• Big tech now competes on more fronts: e-commerce giant Amazon is moving into advertising, while Google expands from an ads platform to a commerce platform (e.g., Google Express).

Editor's note--analysis--what Mary Meeker missed: Meeker, a partner in Silicon Valley VC firm Kleiner Perkins, was apparently afraid to deal with several important core issues now arising in technology, for example:

“The search engine is the most powerful source of mind control ever invented in the history of humanity,” according to Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in California. “The fact that it’s mainly controlled by one company in almost every country in the world, except Russia and China, just astonishes me ... We have determined, through our research, that the search suggestion effect can turn a 50/50 split among undecided [voters] into a 90/10 split just by manipulating search suggestions.”

See, e.g., Vice.com May 31, 2018: Less than a week before the California primary, Google listed “Nazism” as the ideology of the California Republican Party:

Vice.com's screenshot of a portion of Google.com search page results

Vice.com reported "... voters looking for information by searching “California Republicans” or “California Republican Party” were getting “Nazism” next to their search results until Google took the listing down later Thursday after a query from VICE News."

Google later issued a statement: "We don't bias our search results toward any political party. Sometimes people vandalize public information sources, like Wikipedia, which can impact the information that appears in search. We have systems in place that catch vandalism before it impacts search results, but occasionally errors get through, and that's what happened here."

But Google did not disclose how many people in California were exposed to the misinformation Google propagated on the internet--California page views data available to Google via its own geolocation analytics--millions? 

What should be the consequences when a $784Billion search engine monopoly propagates obvious factual misinformation to an electorate searching for "factual information" right before an election? This "misinformation" was presented by Google as "factual content" on the right side of its search results page--not just links in response to a search query--Google makes most of its money from advertising, but Google has also chosen to be in the content publication business on its search engine results pages, and no one is holding Google accountable for its propagation of factually incorrect content to a gullible public, except, perhaps, the European Union.

In a 2015 study, Epstein and Ronald E. Robertson reported the discovery of what they consider “one of the largest behavioral effects ever identified”: the search engine manipulation effect (SEME). Simply by placing search results in a particular order, they found, voters’ preferences can shift dramatically, “up to 80 percent in some demographic groups.” See The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections | pnas.org.

This is far beyond any alleged Russian manipulation via Facebook or Twitter, or "fake news" propagated in the form of "infotainment" by the likes of CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, et al, or even the now comical Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) bias regularly exhibited by members of the Washington, D.C., press corps, including Washington Post and New York Times.

And the issue goes deeper than just manipulating elections. Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google who has since become one of Silicon Valley’s most influential critics, and co-founded the Center for Humane Technology | humanetech.com, an organization seeking to change the culture of the tech industry, described the tech industry as an “arms race for basically who’s good at getting attention and who’s better in the race to the bottom of the brainstem to hijack the human animal.”

Of course, the above is just one of many issues Meeker missed--here's another: A Constitutional Conundrum That’s Not Going Away—Unequal Access to Social Media Posts | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org: "Among the many privacy challenges posed by social media, one has flown largely under the radar: balancing defendants’ due process rights to access exculpatory information against the crucial privacy protections of the Stored Communications Act (SCA). Here’s the problem: prosecutors have broad powers to demand access to stored communications [data] as necessary to pursue their case, but defendants do not ..."

2) Most Hyperscale Data Centers are Operating in the U.S. | Statista.com:

Hyperscale data centers have a minimum of 5,000 servers and are at least 10,000 sq. ft. in size but many are much larger. The data in the chart considers operations by 24 of the world’s major cloud and internet service firms, including Amazon/AWS, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Oracle, Alibaba, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Tencent, and Baidu. See Hyperscale Data Center Count Approaches the 400 Mark; US Still Dominates | Synergy Research Group | srgresearch.com: the next most prominent locations after the U.S., are China, Japan and the UK.

3) Investing

The Week-- NASDAQ Composite +1.6% | S&P 500 Index +0.5% | DJIA -0.5% --Investors welcomed strong economic reports, including a solid jobs data for May, while shrugging off concerns over Italian politics and trade wars.

Yesterday’s #BeigeBook gave the #Fed a green light to hike #rates again in June. Not only does the labor market remain tight, but some districts even said their retail contacts were in a better position to raise prices & pass along #inflation. Keep a close eye on Fed Funds

— DataTrek Research (@DataTrekMB) May 31, 2018

Investing Notes: Fallout from Italy's political crisis (apparently averted for now)--Investors mistakenly assumed the world was in a phase of synchronized growth, economist Mohamed El-Erian said on Tuesday, noting "People are now realizing the only economy with real legs to it was the U.S. economy"-- cnbc.com.

"The European Union is mired in an existential crisis. For the past decade, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. How did a political project that has underpinned Europe’s postwar peace and prosperity arrive at this point?"--George Soros--"The strength of the dollar is already precipitating a flight from emerging-market currencies. We may be heading for another major financial crisis."

See also:

• MacroView | Forget Brexit, Fear of Italy Doing a EURO Exit Shakes Markets.
• " .... with the eurozone’s third-largest economy now in the hands of Five Star and the League, it’s anybody’s bet what will happen--John Cassidy, May 31, 2018, Italy’s Challenge to the Eurozone Is Only Beginning | NewYorker.com.
• "... Those outside of Europe may be surprised to learn that Germany's exports are roughly equal to those of China ($1.2 trillion), even though Germany's population of 82 million is a mere 6% of China's 1.3 billion. Germany and China are the world's top exporters, while the U.S. trails as a distant third ..."--Why the Eurozone and the Euro Are Both Doomed | blogspot.com.
• Deutsche Bank CoCo Bonds Plunge, Shares Hit Record Low, after US Entity Makes FDIC’s “Problem Bank List”--by Wolf Richter, May 31, 2018.
•  "Why Brussels feels so dazed and confused in 2018"-- Europe’s losing streak | Politico.com.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Pew Research study  of US teen internet usage finds 85% say they use YouTube, 72% use Instagram, 69% use Snapchat, while only 51% say they use Facebook.
• China Set to Approve Qualcomm-NXP Deal, a Sign of Easing Trade Tensions | WSJ.com: Chinese regulators have expressed concerns that the merged company would crowd out domestic businesses in areas such as mobile payments.
• Tencent chairman pledges to advance China chip industry after ZTE 'wake-up' call: reports | Reuters.com
• Tencent WeChat's 500+ “mini games” have 457M users, according to QuestMobile report, almost half of the app's 1.04B user base--techinasia.com
• Nvidia Rock Star CEO Hinted To Blowout Numbers (NASDAQ:NVDA)--SeekingAlpha.com
• France, Germany push for EU funding for technology start-ups--Reuters.com.
• SeattleTimes.com: ACLU to Amazon: stop selling facial-recognition tools to governments. 
• Disney Is A Potential 3X Hidden In Plain Sight (NYSE:DIS)--SeekingAlpha.com
• Facebook to remove ‘trending’ news from its site amid fake news criticism--Marketwatch.com.
• Antarctica Is Gaining Ice? Some areas of Antarctica, such as the Antarctic Peninsula and the coastal parts of western Antarctica, are losing more ice than they are gaining, but overall, the continent's ice is growing--livescience.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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