Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada is expected to be the largest building in the world by footprint once completed. CNBC.com’s Uptin Saiidi gets a rare look inside what Tesla founder Elon Musk calls, ‘the machine that builds the machine.’ CNBC International video above published May 2, 2019.
Tech Review (TR 2019-05-04)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1)Tesla $TSLA Going To $4,000? Ark Invest's Cathie Wood, 2) Global Data Creation To Explode, 3)Investing: The Week & Investor Notes,4)ICYMI Tech News: Amazon Freight, Alphabet & Google, Microsoft, 5G, WeWork, Google vs Oracle, China's Bike Unicorns Go Bust, New Physics. 1)Tesla $TSLA Going To $4,000? Ark Invest's Cathie Wood
CNBC.com video above published Apr 29, 2019. Tesla stock price: NASDAQ: TSLA.See also: Tesla Announces $2 Billion Stock, Bond Offering--zerohedge.com
Finally, after discovering that $TSLA has collected 10 billion miles of driving data, compared to $GOOG’s 15 million miles, well what more is there to say about an AI project?
Big Ideas 2019: Introduction from CEO/ CIO Cathie Wood | ARK Invest
ARK Invest video above published Mar 4, 2019: DNA Sequencing, Robotics, Energy Storage, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain Tech. The full Big Ideas 2019 video here.
Saturday, May 4, Annual Meeting, Doors Open 7:00am; Company movie 8:30am; Q&A 9:15am – 3:30pm; business meeting 3:45 – 4:30pm (approximation)
Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and his right-hand man Charlie Munger share their unscripted views on the company, the markets, the economy, corporate governance, and more. LIVE video on Yahoo Finance. Note also berkshirehathaway.comandBuffett says Berkshire Hathaway has invested in Amazon.com, Inc., according to a report at CNBC.com.
The Decline Of India?--zerohedge.com: Every party is operating on a single economic policy: Who will offer the most goodies if elected.
4)ICYMI Tech News:
Amazon's digital freight brokerage platform goes live--freight.amazon.com. See also A "Nightmare Come True"--Amazon Launches Freight Brokerage, Slashes Prices By 30%--zerohedge.com.
Alphabet (Google) loses $80 billion in market cap after revenue miss (video)--Q1 2019 results raise “more questions than answers”, with continued lack of transparency “troubling” to investors.
Microsoft is a BUY say '2 asset pricing anomalies'--seekingalpha.com.
5G: the future of 5G wireless technology holds the promise of total connectivity, but also will be susceptible to cyberattacks and surveillance--newyorker.com.
WeWork a/k/a the "We Company" IPO? "A person close to the company reportedly told Axios.com that it could become the second most-shorted stock, behind Tesla."
US Supreme Court asks DOJ to weigh in on Google-Oracle case--TheHill.com
China: How the boom in unicorn bike-share companies like Ofo and Mobike was quickly followed by a bust, wiping out many investors and littering towns with unused bikes.
The universe is expanding faster than we thought, and no one knows why--explaining the discrepancy between what was happening 13 billion years ago and now "may require new physics"--cnet.com.
Personal Tech: Mobile switch: "How I canceled Verizon and cut my phone bill in half"..."After I made the last payment on a two-year Verizon device contract, I decided to take a closer look at my mobile bill. To my surprise, I discovered I was overpaying dramatically."Editor's note: in the U.S. there are "low switching costs" in changing mobile wireless carriers, thanks to government regulation. Also note: new Google smartphones Pixel 3a (5.6-inch display), and 3a XL (6-inch display) rumored to launch May 7 (Google I/O?).. Both will have 4GB of memory, a Snapdragon 670 processor, a 12-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel selfie camera, and 64GB of storage. Pricing is also rumored to start at $500 for the smaller of the two phones which is still too high, in my opinion, but do the phones have NFC and band 71? If the answer is "No," the phones are a non-starter for me.
Tech Review (TR 2019-03-23)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1)When Will Humans Get To Mars? 2)Amazon $AMZN Media Strategy, 3)Investing: The Week & Notes: 'Japanification’ of the Eurozone OR Eurification?4)ICYMI Tech News: Google, 5G, Facebook, Qualcomm, Tesla, AMD, FIS & Worldpay, Quitting Big Tech.
1)When Will Humans Get To Mars?
Sending astronauts to Mars is a daunting prospect that will not deter NASA and private companies from trying to put humans on the red planet. The Economist.com video above published Feb 28, 2019.
2) Amazon $AMZN Media Strategy
When Amazon pursued the rights to a “Lord of the Rings” series in 2017, the company knew it would have to overcome some major obstacles to lure the J.R.R. Tolkien estate to its video-streaming platform. Amazon was a relative newcomer in video, with no track record of shepherding a blockbuster series. HBO, meanwhile, could tout its long history of hits, most notably “Game of Thrones,” a similarly epic series based on fantasy novels with a rabid fan base. Netflix, with more than 100 million subscribers, pioneered the on-demand model with hits such as “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black.” Apple was also in on the negotiations to acquire the rights for the upcoming TV show, according to people familiar with the matter.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, a big “Lord of the Rings” fan, was promising the Amazon Studios team a huge budget to nab the series, a prequel to Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring.” But money alone wasn’t going to separate Amazon from the pack — Amazon’s $250 million offer wasn’t even the highest bid for the show’s rights, according to a person familiar with the matter. The ultimate selling point, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations, related to Amazon’s original business from over two decades ago: books.
The Tolkien estate was convinced that in promoting the series, Amazon could sell truckloads of Tolkien’s fantasy novels, including “The Hobbit” and “The Silmarillion” as well as “The Lord of the Rings.” During meetings with the Tolkien estate and publisher HarperCollins, Amazon’s Sharon Tal Yguado, who was hired from Fox in 2017, demonstrated a near encyclopedic knowledge of Tolkien’s characters, stories and geography, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks were private.
The “Lord of the Rings” series will start production in the next two years. The huge investment in a TV series has made Hollywood wonder just how much Bezos will spend on content. So far, Amazon has dabbled across the TV spectrum, with original content such as “Lord of the Rings,” a growing back catalog of movies and shows, as well as live sports from the National Football League and the Premier League. In February, 2019, Bezos was spotted chatting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the Super Bowl, a reminder that Amazon has several opportunities in the coming years to make a big splash in America’s most lucrative sport. Meanwhile, The New York Post reported that Amazon is nearing a $3.5 billion deal to acquire the YES network, the regional sports network in New York that carries Yankees games. CNBC.com video above published Mar 13, 2019.
Dow drops more than 450 points, S&P 500 posts worst day since January amid global growth worries--CNBC.com, Friday, March 22, 2019. Despite the decline on Friday, stocks are still up sharply for the year: S&P 500 is up 11.7%, the tech-heavy NASDAQ up 15.2%, and the Dow is up 9.2%.
Editor's note: the first four days of the week (graphic below) tell the tale of FOMC Fed Chair press conference Mar 20, 2:30pm, but on Friday the 3-month vs. 10-year Treasury spread inverted for the first time since 2007, a signal (provided the inversion remains for 10 days), indicating a recession sometime within the next 2 years, perhaps sooner, particularly when the inversion is followed by a second one.
"... manufacturing activity in Germany dropped to its lowest level in more than six years in March. In France, manufacturing and services slowed down to their lowest levels in three months and two months, respectively. For the euro zone as a whole, manufacturing fell to its lowest level since April 2013. These data sent the German 10-year bund yield briefly into negative territory, its lowest level since 2016 ..."--CNBC.com
The ‘Japanification’ of the Eurozone--the eurozone is beginning to resemble Japan with its low-growth and low-inflation environment, coupled with still very loose monetary policy, according to economists at ING--"An end to current unconventional monetary policy, i.e. the negative deposit rate and ample liquidity, is not in sight and the ECB is expected to do everything it can to avoid an unwarranted tightening of its monetary stance."
Eurification: "Why is Europe caught in a lost decade – 12 years of minimal growth? There are definitely parallels with Japan, but as many differences ... the core problem is the structure behind the Euro – ill-conceived but now a “must-preserve-at-all-costs” construct that represents the “key-success” of the European polity ... The failure of the Euro structure has magnified one massive difference between Eurofication and Japanificiation. While Japan fell into stagnation at full employment, Europe is substantially below – especially the further you get from Germany. Youth unemployment is massive across the EU and it looks permanent ... Eurofication is a stalled economy, stalled consumption and long-term massive structural unemployment"--Bill Blain. Editor's note: if they are plucky, the Brits will leave the Euromess April 12.
See also Eurozone’s push for unified fiscal discipline is doomed to fail says Dr. Juan Castaneda--cityam.com.
France’s Message for the G7--President Emmanuel Macron and his Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire are using France’s G7 presidency to push an agenda that includes minimum global taxes and higher levies on tech giants like Amazon and Facebook. Le Maire’s view is there’s little choice if Europe doesn’t want to be dependent on U.S. or Chinese giants--use competition law against global tech giants, enabling the creation of European competitors.
4)ICYMI Tech News:
EU vs Google: The EU fines Google €1.49B for “abusive practices in online advertising” and breaching EU antitrust rules--europa.eu.
Google debuts Stadia, a game streaming service for Chrome, Android, and TVs that lets users “instantly” play games, also coming in 2019 with 4K HDR support at 60FPS--youtube.com. Cutting through the 5G hype: survey shows telcos’ nuanced views--mckinsey.comOperators see a marginally positive business case, expect rollout at scale to take until 2022, and don’t think the increase in capital-expense-to-sales ratio will be as big as skeptics claim.
Facebook: Zuckerberg planning to change Facebook from an open connected platform to a private, encrypted network encompassing its Facebook platform, WhatsApp and Instagram.
Qualcomm: Misunderstood Legal Ramifications And 5G Tailwinds--seekingalpha.com.
Tesla--How Not To Run A Company--A Mess at the Top & Moody’s Gets Nervous, Decision-Making Chaos, Epic Strategy Flip-Flops--wolfstreet.com. AMD: Advanced Mass Delusions--seekingalpha.com
Personal Tech: Quitting the five tech giants, full series:Day 1: Amazon; Day 2: Facebook; Day 3: Google; Day 4: Microsoft; Day 5: Apple.
Editor's Note: I'm minimal Microsoft, zero Apple, zero Facebook, but use Google daily, and use Amazon almost daily. How about you?
And social media?
"Oldsters are on Facebook. Hipsters are on Twitter and vapidity rules on Instagram. As for Snapchat, it’s like Second Life, something overhyped that never broke through"--Bob Lefsetz.
Tech Review (TR 2019-03-02)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1)Bank of the Future, 2)How China Created Its Own Internet, 3)Investing: The Week & Investor Notes:China,4)ICYMI Tech News:Google, Amazon, Nokia, 5G, Ericsson, AT&T, Tesla, Click-and-Collect, Wirecard, Oracle v. Google, Berkshire Hathaway, Gundlach on Facebook $FB.
1)Bank of the Future
As emerging digital finance platforms launch new and differentiated products, including bespoke, consumer-centric solutions and experiences, they are building scale more efficiently and quickly than ever before, according to Brandon Watkins of the Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division. In the video above, Watkins explains how the “bank of the future” is being shaped by three trends – a shift from offline to online banking, growing consumer trust for digital-first platforms and consumers’ desire for personalization and tailored product experiences. “You’re seeing these new digital finance platforms… starting to compete with some of the biggest traditional banks in the world,” he says, while some of the traditional financial institutions are turning to “technology platforms to add to the product capabilities and experiences that they’re delivering to their customers today.” Goldman Sachs video above published Feb 20, 2019.
2) How China Created Its Own Internet
From a single email sent to West Germany to restrictions on Winnie the Pooh and the letter N, this is how the Internet took hold in China.
Bloomberg.com video above published Feb 19, 2019.
Even After Sanders, Harris, and Others Enter Race,Bookies Have Donald Trump as Massive 2020 Favorite--mediaite.com.
Longview:
Investor Notes:
China: Anne Stevenson-Yang, co-founder of J Capital Research, reportedly wrote in a Feb. 18 commentary, that Beijing’s recent exertions have helped banks, but reflation efforts seen in January are insufficient to stem the broad deterioration in financial conditions. China’s economy will likely continue in decline until corporate and financial defaults force the authorities to launch a gigantic stimulus.
A Chinese real estate developer in Shanghai, boarded a flight to Malta last month with no plans to return anytime soon. After landing, Mr. Chen, a former judge and lawyer, shared on social media a 28-page article explaining himself. “Why I Left China,” read the headline, “An Entrepreneur’s Farewell Admonition.” “China’s economy is like a giant ship heading to the precipice,” Mr. Chen wrote. “Without fundamental changes, it’s inevitable that the ship will be wrecked and the passengers will die.” “My friends,” he urged, “if you can leave, please make arrangements as early as possible.”--NYTimes.com.
Imports by China and other emerging Asian economies in December plunged to the lowest level in two years, in the steepest one-month plunge since 2008--wolfstreet.com.
4)ICYMI Tech News:
Shaping the future of mobile with Android--Google says Android One activations grew 250% YoY, 50%+ of new entry-level Android devices are Android Go, and Digital Wellbeing tools are coming to more phones. See also: Helping more families set digital ground rules with Family Link--blog.google.
Nokia CEO warns 5G implementation 'will be delayed in Europe'--CNBC video. AndNokia says 5G would not be delayed by ban on Chinese suppliers--reuters.com.
5G:Ericsson$ERIC buys antenna and filters business of Germany's Kathrein--reuters.com.
AT&T the Next Kraft Heinz?--SeekingAlpha.com: highest debt load in corporate America, poor earnings growth and has paid over $120 billion for acquisitions in recent years. Tesla $TSLA moment of truth will arrive in 2020: "Volkswagen’s electric-car onslaught and an economic recession will put Elon Musk’s company to the test"--marketwatch.com Op-ed Feb 22--Until then, Elon Musk has plenty to deal with: SEC problems again; and Consumer Reports recently stopped recommending the Model 3 because of reliability issues.
Click-and-Collect: sales where customers order goods online and pick them up at a nearby store rose 47% in November and December compared with a year earlier, far more than the 16.5% growth in online sales, according to Adobe Analytics.
Germany’s regulator banned short-selling in Wirecard--share price slid after allegations of false accounting surfaced--economist.com.
Amicus Brief (pdf): EFF Asks the Supreme Court to Clean Up the Oracle v. Google Mess--eff.org.
Do you still have an opinion on Facebook?" ... I just think that Facebook-- their big problem is obviously their business model. And I talked about things that are safe ended up being unsafe. I think that's Facebook I mean, they sold themselves as comfortable and safe, but they're really just a diabolical data collection monster. And they're unrepentant. And I just saw yesterday they were talking about more regulation in Europe in the UK. And when the regulators show up, usually, the stock prices go down. Health care had a meteoric rise until the regulators showed up a few years ago, and then a big decline. So I don't really trust Facebook. So the fact that I don't trust them makes me not like them, and the fact they don't like them makes me want their stock to go down."--Jeffrey Gundlach extended conversation with Yahoo Finance [Transcript] (pdf).
Rivian Makes Electric Pickups, and Is Coming for Tesla
Startup Rivian also plans a SUV. Fortune.com video above published Feb 11, 2019. See also:
Feb 15, 2019:Rivian announces a $700 million round of funding led by Amazon. Rivian, a Michigan-based electric vehicle startup, plans to launch an electric pickup and electric SUV in the U.S. in 2020--cnbc.com.
Upstart Rivian Could Be a Tesla Disrupter in SUVs and Pickups--bloomberg.com.
Tesla Faces 'Serious Competition' From a Detroit Startup, According to Morgan Stanley--fortune.com.
This Is Rivian
"To build the world’s first Electric Adventure Vehicles, we had to build a new kind of car company. This is our story." Rivian video above first published Nov 30, 2018
Rivian is a US-based startup automaker and automotive technology company founded in 2009. The company develops vehicles, products and services related to sustainable transportation, and has facilities in Plymouth, Michigan; San Jose, California; Irvine, California, Normal, Illinois, and the United Kingdom. #ElectricAdventure
The Clean Escape
"Let the #ElectricAdventure begin! Introducing the world’s first Electric Adventure Vehicle, the Rivian R1T truck. Visit our website for all the juicy details: products.rivian.com." See also Ford F150 vs Rivian R1T: How do they stack up? (video). Tweets by Rivian
Tech Review (TR 2019-01-05)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1)5G Roll Out: What's Coming In 2019, 2) Office 3.0 - As Robots Take Over, 3)Investing: The Week, Notes, 4)ICYMI Tech News: Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Tencent, YouTube.
1) 5G Roll Out: What's Coming In 2019
5G Will Be Ultrafast, but the Roll Out May Not Be. WSJ.com video above first published Nov 14, 2018. See also:
As robots take over mechanical tasks, is going in to the office simply a way to interact with others? This is the belief that has shaped Office 3.0, an office design philosophy which runs through the headquarters of The Agnelli Foundation in Turin. FT.com Content Solutions video above first published Jun 6, 2018.
3) Investing
The Week (Friday close to Friday close) ending January 4, 2019:
Sign of the times:DrudgeReport.com headlines, Jan 4, 2019:
JOBS UP BIG! +312,000 RECORD NUMBER WORKING -- MANUFACTURING BEST IN 20 YEARS -- HISPANIC UNEMPLOYMENT LOWEST EVER -- DOW +750
"One fact that no one is talking about, the S&P is up 60+% in the last 30 months. Markets don’t go up forever, they do have corrections."--seekingalpha.com
Long View:
Investing Notes:
The Best And Worst Performing Hedge Funds Of 2018--zerohedge.com.
Better Days Ahead For Tech--the downturn has created an opportunity for investors with a long-term view--seekingalpha.com.
US equities are still very tech-centric, subjecting the S&P 500 to both valuation contraction and regulatory uncertainty. Just five tech companies--Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, and Facebook--represent 14.6% of the S&P 500, more than all Financials (13.2%) and close to all Health Care (15.4%).--datatrekresearch.com.
India: New Regulations a Massive Blow For Amazon--Amazon will be disadvantaged versus Flipkart-(Walmart)--seekingalpha.com. ButAmazon is opening tiny stores, adding local language descriptors, and accepting cash payments to target the 800M people living outside India's big cities--wsj.com.
Amazon is planning to build and expand Whole Foods stores across the U.S. to put more customers within range of its Prime Now two-hour delivery service--wsj.com.
Tesla names Oracle's Larry Ellison to the Board of Directors. Ellison owns nearly $1 billion of $TSLA stock.--reuters.com.
