Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Ford Starts Up $4B Autonomous Vehicle Unit
July 29th, 2018Via: Oilprice.com: While Ford has been emphasizing trucks and SUVs over passenger cars, that may soon be changing over to a new business model. On Tuesday, the Detroit automaker launched Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC to accelerate the growth of its autonomous vehicle business and to capitalize on market opportunities. The new subsidiary will receive a […]
Quantum Computing: With Just Over 2000 Qubits, “You Can Crack Bitcoin”
July 28th, 2018Disclosure: I am long Quantum Resistant Ledger. — Via: IEEE Spectrum: In response to an audience question about the future of Bitcoin in the quantum computing era, Troyer pointed out that his group calculated that once a quantum computer can be built with just over 2000 qubits, “you can crack Bitcoin.” “We joke that then […]
Facebook Down 20%
July 26th, 2018Via: BBC: Facebook shares opened sharply lower on Thursday, after the social media network warned investors of slowing revenue gains and increased spending. The firm’s shares opened down nearly 20%, a drop that wiped more than $100bn (£76bn) off Facebook’s market value. The fall also dragged down the tech-rich Nasdaq share index, which was almost […]
Google Cars Self-Drive to Walmart Supermarket in Trial
July 25th, 2018Via: BBC: Google’s sister-company Waymo has announced a trial in which its self-driving cars will ferry shoppers to and from a nearby Walmart store to pick up their groceries. For now, the pilot is being restricted to 400-plus members of its early rider programme in Phoenix, Arizona.
Why Some PhDs Are Quitting Academia for Unconventional Jobs
July 24th, 2018“Why did they accept so many of us into this program when there are no jobs?” The answer is simple: Universities profit handsomely from graduate student slave labor. It’s a similar model that of prison industries, where convicts are paid pennies per hour to manufacture a wide variety of products. Instead of goat cheese, or […]
Now Is The Time to Be a Cockroach
July 20th, 2018I definitely wouldn’t count on banks and cash, as she suggests, but this is an OK article to share with your “normal” family and friends who might perceive the current economic situation as A-OK. Once people understand that things are not A-OK, that would be a good time to explain what a bail-in is. Via: […]
New Way to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries
July 20th, 2018Cobalt has been a very well known choke-point in lithium based energy storage systems for many years. Tesla, for example, has been reducing its dependence on cobalt and will go cobalt free for its next generation of cells. Although, what that means, in terms of an ETA, isn’t clear. The point is that the largest […]
The United States of Arms
July 19th, 2018Via: Will Geary: The United States of Arms from Will Geary on Vimeo. U.S. weapons exports from 1950 to 2017. Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's Arms Transfers Database. Units are expressed in trend indicator values (TIV). Each dot on the map = one TIV. Visualization by Will Geary.
The Twitch Streamers Who Spend Years Broadcasting to No One
July 16th, 2018Via: The Verge: When John Hopstead first descended into the virtual world of Dark Souls in 2013, his mission was to save a decaying world. Famed for its brutal and exacting gameplay, Dark Souls is a popular game to live stream: if you’re going to die hundreds of times, you might as well perish with […]
Trump: “I Think the European Union Is a Foe”
July 15th, 2018Via: CBS: Coming off a contentious NATO summit and a trip to the U.K. in which he seemed to undercut the government of America’s closest ally, President Trump took aim at another Western institution just days before his high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor Jeff Glor […]
