Archive for the 'Economy' Category
‘The Goal Is to Automate Us’: Welcome to the Age of Surveillance Capitalism
January 20th, 2019Via: Guardian: The headline story is that it’s not so much about the nature of digital technology as about a new mutant form of capitalism that has found a way to use tech for its purposes. The name Zuboff has given to the new variant is “surveillance capitalism”. It works by providing free services that […]
Drug Maker Payments to Doctors Are Linked to Higher Opioid Overdose Deaths
January 19th, 2019Via: Stat: As efforts intensify to blunt the ongoing opioid crisis, a new study finds that increased marketing of the addictive painkillers to physicians was associated with more prescribing and, subsequently, more deaths from overdose. Interestingly, industry influence over physicians was greater based on the number of interactions, not the amount of money paid for […]
Hackers Broke Into an SEC Database and Made Millions from Inside Information
January 16th, 2019Background: Insider Crimes, Funny Money and Options Rackets They Made a Killing: The Use of Knowledge of Covert Operations in the Stock Market I’m practically positive that there are roomfulls of traders with TS/SCI clearances who do this on a level that is unthinkable to even the most sophisticated crooks on the outside. My guess […]
Ford Planning Pure Electric and Hybrid F-Series Trucks
January 16th, 2019With Ford, who wants to increasingly focus on milking truck profits, it could get ugly over there in a couple of years when Rivian and Tesla enter the pickup truck market. Ford only has a hybrid F-150 planned for 2020. —Rivian R1T All-Electric Pickup Truck Thanks, Elon. Via: Detroit Free Press: Ford Motor Co. confirmed […]
China Turns to Driverless Tractors, Combines to Overhaul Agriculture
January 16th, 2019Via: Reuters: A brand new combine harvester buzzes up and down a field in eastern China without a driver on board, chopping golden rice stalks and offering a glimpse of what authorities say is the automated future of the nation’s mammoth agricultural sector. The bright green prototype was operating last autumn during a trial of […]
U.S. Trade Deficit with China Worst Ever
January 14th, 2019Via: CNBC: China announced Monday that its 2018 trade surplus with the United States was its largest in more than a decade, despite the tariff war initiated by President Donald Trump against Beijing. China’s surplus with the U.S. grew 17 percent from a year ago to hit $323.32 billion in 2018, according to government data. […]
The Super-Secure Quantum Cable Hiding in the Holland Tunnel
January 14th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: Commuters inching through rush-hour traffic in the Holland Tunnel between Lower Manhattan and New Jersey don’t know it, but a technology likely to be the future of communication is being tested right outside their car windows. Running through the tunnel is a fiber-optic cable that harnesses the power of quantum mechanics to protect […]
Pentagon Prepares Options to Build Border Wall as Trump Weighs Emergency Declaration
January 11th, 2019Via: USA Today: The Pentagon is preparing options to build barriers on the southern border in the event that President Donald Trump declares a national emergency there, the latest indication such a move is gaining traction within the administration. “The Department of Defense is reviewing available authorities and funding mechanisms to identify options to enable […]
GM’s Cadillac Will Introduce EV in Fight Against Tesla
January 11th, 2019Good luck with that. Via: Reuters: Cadillac is expected to become General Motors Co’s (GM.N) lead electric vehicle brand as the largest U.S. automaker gears up to introduce a new model under that luxury marquee to challenge Tesla Inc, two people briefed on the matter said Thursday. GM is set to announce Friday as part […]
Former Insys CEO Pleads Guilty to Opioid Kickback Scheme
January 10th, 2019Via: Reuters: The former chief executive of Insys Therapeutics Inc (INSY.O) pleaded guilty on Wednesday to participating in a nationwide scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe an addictive opioid medication and has agreed to become a government witness. … Prosecutors allege that from 2012 to 2015, Kapoor, Babich and others conspired to pay doctors bribes […]
