Who Knows More About You Than FaceBook and Google?

Your cable box is the ultimate in "big brother" and yet the cable companies have yet to capitalize on it. It is at the top of the data food chain. It knows more about you than FaceBook and Google.


The FCC has a plan that would allow you to get rid of your cable box and make it easier to watch your favorite programs. Apps will soon replace the cable box.

Cable companies have been laggards in how to truly monetize the various opportunities they have from the "pipe"  into your home.

Don't feel bad for the cable companies that will lose out on all of that income renting you those boxes though. They have one thing that is a lot more valuable than that.

You think FaceBook and Google know a thing or two about you, try your Internet provider.

They know what web searches you made, sites you visited, your downloads, your emails. They know what you liked on Facebook. They know what texts/pics you shared on your apps.

They know what TV shows you recorded, when and where you watched them. They know what you were doing with your other devices while you were watching TV.

Sure you can clear your cookies and history on your web browser, but that doesn't stop the cable company from following your online activity because they control the pipe. They can even monitor you when you surf on another provider. * There is only one way I know you can hide your Internet traffic from your provider.

Why the cable companies haven't capitalized on this goldmine is beyond me.

Apple Kills Headphone Jack But Fails To See Real Trend

Hey Apple,

The future of audio may be wireless, but the future of computing is on the cloud, not the device.

Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack, "diminutive legacy port", in new iPhone is definitely a  step ahead of the crowd and will force even more sales to another new consumer Apple product (Lightning Ear Pods and adapter).


Apple is arguing that the future of audio is wireless, that the world’s current assumptions about mobile audio are not only antiquated, but worthy of immediate abandonment.

 
But right now that future comes with a price: You’ve got to leave behind the perfectly good headphones you own and you’ve got to purchase the new wireless ones as an iPhone accessory.

Don't get me wrong, Apple makes great products but they are behind the curve when it comes to the future of computing. The rapid sales growth of the Chromebook is showing us, the cloud computing shift is already taking place.
 
When the functions on the device (Siri, pinch zoom, camera etc) can be used with the computing power (and content) from the cloud, your disruption takes place. The operating system will be the cloud, not on the device..so what will the new iPhone or Samsung Note really be?..just some metal and glass. I dont think you will see many consumers paying $700 for some metal and plastic.

I dont see consumers paying $700 for that.

Your Online Privacy Is Now In Jeopardy

A big court defeat for the FTC this week is putting the agency's power to protect your online privacy in jeopardy, analysts say. The ruling could wind up giving Google and Facebook, not to mention other companies in the internet ecosystem, the ability to escape all privacy oversight from the FTC, and possibly from the rest of government, too, critics claim, unless Congress intervenes.

Unless regulators can persuade the courts to overturn Monday's decision, the result will be "a fatal blow" to consumer protection, said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

 "The decision will enable a company like Google … to engage in unfair marketing and data-gathering practices without having to worry about possible FTC consequences," he said.

  (Source)

WhatsApp Sells Out Their User's Privacy

That didn't take long. It can only stay "free" for so long.

Two years later, "Free" service WhatsApp,  will soon begin to share some member information with Facebook. That move that is rankling some of the company’s more than one billion users.

WhatsApp said on Thursday that it would start disclosing the phone numbers and analytics data of its users to Facebook. It will be the first time the messaging service has connected users’ accounts to the social network to share data, as Facebook tries to coordinate information across its collection of businesses.

Remember, when you're not the consumer, you're the product. 

Amazon Cuts Out The Middleman, Could Kill Fedex?

Why pay a service to deliver goods bought from your store when you can do it yourself?


Amazon is leasing 20 Boeing 767s from Air Transport Services Cargo and negotiated to buy 20% of the company. They can now ensure one and two-day delivery. 

How long before Amazon is considered a monopoly?

What other companies do you see that will adopt the same strategy?

Why Google Should Be Worried

Smartphone applications now account for half the time that U.S. users spend online, up from 41 percent back in July 2014, according to a new report from comScore. And when you add tablet applications into the mix, that figure rises to nearly 60 percent. (Source)

Doesn't it seem archaic that one application must be created for every operating system and device?

Imagine if that would have been the case for URLs.

Microsoft's Continuum...Very Disruptive

 Simply put..Microsoft's Continuum turns Windows 10 phones into desktops.

Could a Windows 10 phone be the "mobile Chromebook"? One device that connects to the Cloud and delivers content to any display. Could those Chromebooks and other "dumb clients' get even dumber?

Using a Win 10 phone your iPad, laptop, PC, TV becomes just a display.

In contrast to Apple’s “Continuity,” which aims to make moving between phone, tablet and desktop seamless, Microsoft’s Continuum instead has the phone you’re using adapt its interface depending on the context you’re using it.


Dubbed Continuum for Phones, it’s designed to take advantage of new universal apps that run across Windows 10 on phones, PCs, tablets, and the Xbox One. If you’re running a mobile version of Excel on your phone it will magically resize and transform into a keyboard- and mouse-friendly version for use on a bigger screen. It feels like the future.

In an on-stage demo, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore connected a phone to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and instantly the UI he was using adapted to the new inputs and outputs. While the operating system interface we saw on screen didn’t look exactly like Windows 10 on a laptop or desktop computer, the applications shown (especially PowerPoint) did. Instead of making minor adjustments to a presentation using a 5-inch screen, you can simply connect to an HDMI-compatible monitor and have all the space and tools you would on a full PC.
 
 the feature really shines when apps have been built to scale across form factors,(source)

lets Windows 10 devices use a single device for mobile, tablet, and desktop interfaces. For example, a Windows 10 Phone can be converted into a full-sized desktop after being plugged into a larger screen. In the near future, consumers might only need a single all-in-one mobile device instead of a phone, tablet, notebook, and desktop. 

Ideally, all those users would be tethered to Microsoft's cloud-based productivity apps like Office 365 and OneDrive, while user data would be synced to Azure, its growing cloud computing platform. (source)

Google's Project Fi

The cloud comes to mobile phones...one number to any device, anywhere in the world.

Microsoft, what are you going to do with Skype and Windows 10?  Microsoft is sitting on what I think could be the next Iridium..will they unleash this?
 

Google is removing the notion that a mobile phone number has to be tied to a single device. “With Project Fi, your phone number lives in the cloud, so you can talk and text with your number on just about any phone, tablet or laptop.

Your call will seamlessly transition from Wi-Fi to cell networks so your conversation doesn’t skip a beat...yes there was a company called Calypso Wireless that patented this technology years ago

How it works.

Project Fi aims to put you on the best network wherever you go. As you move around, the best network for you might be a Wi-Fi hotspot or a specific 4G LTE network. We developed new technology that gives you better coverage by intelligently connecting you to the fastest available network at your location whether it's Wi-Fi or one of our two partner LTE networks.(Source)

Microsoft's New "Chromebook Killer"...What I Would Do

For a couple years the world's largest software company was pointing out faults in its rival Google’s policies with a campaign called Scroogled.

 

When Nadella starting running this campaign. Apparently the guys at Google know where the future is heading which might be why Microsoft changes their motto from "be what's next" (huh?) to "mobile first- cloud first".

Google's Chromebook, which was once considered a joke because it only worked if there was an Internet connection, is now becoming a serious contender in the low end cloud computing device, especially with the next generation of computing users (kids) are being raised on them.

So we learn that Microsoft has introduced a product to compete with Google, excuse me, kill the Chromebook called the ASUS X205. Yes that's right there will be people lined up outside Best Buy the buy the new ASUS X205.

If Microsoft really wants to penetrate and ultimately dominate the low end market, they need to give this device a name. It all starts with branding, and brand names sell, not SKUs. When you're selling a very high end item you can get away with just the brand (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolex etc) but when you're selling a low end item you better find a way to make yours different.

 

Here's my idea. These devices are all dependent on the cloud for computing right? What is the quickest connection from the cloud to the ground?..a lightning bolt.

Microsoft could brand it the LiteNing Book, FlashBook or the BoltBook...or they could just keep the name ASUS X205.

When Did This Lack Of Respect For Police Start?

When you blame others, you give up your power to change...Robert Anthony

As I read the stories about deaths because of a confrontation with a police officer, I am astonished at how the media and masses fail to see the "cause and effect" relationship here. Who REALLY should be held accountable for these events?

So when did society lose respect for the police?

Shooting at, or assaulting a cop or trying to steal his gun seem foreign to me but it happens every day now. Everyone is fixated on the "effect" but not the "cause" in EVERY one of these situations. What triggered (cause) the incident (effect)? When you look at the cause, the effect makes more sense.

As as child I grew up respecting ANY police officer. They were always intimidating to me. As a cop walked by, or entered a room, I would always be aware of my actions.

This talk about police officers needing to be trained how to deal with people is nonsense. Try walking in his shoes for a day. He is approaching you not knowing if you're on drugs, just committed a crime, if you have a weapon..and when you don't do as you're told, this only raises his anxiety.

When you reach into your pocket, or act in a threatening manner, YOU are escalating the situation. YOU are creating the "cause".

When a police officer flashes his lights, pull over. When he tells you to spread your legs while he frisks you, do it.

Accountability...EVERYONE should be held accountable for their actions.

The irony here is that perhaps if more "victims" really did put their hands up, we wouldn't be having these issues.






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Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• Major media publisher admits it is “afraid of Google” | Ars Technica

  • Google is not only the largest search engine in the world, but the largest video platform, the largest browser, and the most used e-mail service and mobile operating system.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• Daily Report: Google's Results Disappoint as Ads Are Less Profitable - NYTimes.com - NYTimes.com

  • Alexander the Great is said to have wept because he ran out of kingdoms to conquer. Google is eager to avoid such a miserable fate
  • Google is unleashing its vast cash hoard on robotics, artificial intelligence, smart thermostats and, just this week, high-altitude drone satellites.

• 86M Full-Time Private-Sector Workers Sustain 148M Benefit Takers | CNS News

  • Buried deep on the website of the U.S. Census Bureau is a number every American citizen, and especially those entrusted with public office, should know. It is 86,429,000.
  • The Census Bureau also estimates the size of the benefit-receiving population.
  • The 147,802,000 non-veteran benefit takers outnumbered the 86,429,000 full-time private sector workers 1.7 to 1

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• App-etite for Destruction? Android and iOS Are Killing The Web - Forbes

  • mobile is taking over from the desktop. On top of that, the amount of time on mobile is increasingly spent inside of apps, not the web browser
  • Mobile is the future. What wins mobile, wins the Internet. Right now, apps are winning and the web is losing … This will hurt long-term innovation … Apps have a rich-get-richer dynamic that favors the status quo
  • Once you build a good app, users will overwhelmingly prefer it to whatever mobile website you might offer, which will then cause you to spend your development resources on that app

• Philip Morris A Staple Play Despite S&P 500 Performance | Benzinga

  • Firms such as 22nd Century Group, which alters the biological make-up of tobacco plants, may be targets of interest for Philip Morris through product licensing rights for the company to purchase and control.

• New FCC rulemaking could set up a spectrum superhighway -- FCW

  • a plan to create a massive, sharable, dynamic spectrum superhighway to support Wi-Fi and other broadband applications is on the horizon, with consequences for federal agencies that have spectrum holdings.
  • The new order would supplant the existing method of moving spectrum from the public to the private sector. Currently, agencies are compensated for the cost of relocating operations to new frequencies, but there are no major incentives to push agencies to vacate spectrum

• U.S.: Attorney General Holder Expected to Answer Questions About Federal Marijuana Policy at Tuesday Hearing | Hemp News

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• 3 Worries for Citrix Systems in 2014 (CTXS)

  • Microsoft is believed to be working on a desktop-as-a-service product, titled Mohoro, that could be released around the middle of 2014. It isn't clear how this will influence Microsoft and Citrix's traditionally close working relationship

• Wearables: one-third of consumers abandoning devices | Technology | theguardian.com

  • strengthened by research from Endeavour Partners in the US, which found that one-third of American consumers who have owned a wearable product stopped using it within six months. What's more, while one in 10 American adults own some form of activity tracker, half of them no longer use it.
  • What does that presage for wearables? It may be that they are presently so primitive that it's no surprise that people give them up: they're too big, haven't discovered the killer app that we want out of them, and have battery life that is too limited.

• RIP, the server. It's time to breathe the air of cloud connection - Tech News and Analysis

  • The era of the on-premise server is clearly behind us, with the cusp of change literally on our calendars.

     

    In just the past week, we’ve seen significant server-shedding events and announcements from Google, Box and Amazon Web Services. Even Microsoft finally seems to get it: enabling people to work from anywhere is more important than keeping them leashed to a platform going nowhere.

• 10 Reasons The Future Doesn't Include Your Job - StartupBros

  • This shift will ultimately steady itself, but in the meantime – you better start out-human-ing the machines. You need to create a platform. You need to serve others in the way computers can’t. You need to use the leverage being created by these computers.

• microCapClub

  • “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” —Max Lucado

• The Tech Bubble's Silver Lining: Cheap Services for Everyone - NYTimes.com

  • Thanks to the high hopes and deep pockets of tech investors, a host of high-profile tech firms are now offering incredible business and consumer services at impossibly low prices. The trend is playing out across a range of industries, including business I.T. services, communications, media, payments, local delivery and e-commerce. And because these start-ups are exerting pricing pressure on established market players, even customers who don’t use their services might benefit from their rise.
  • So as long as you don’t make the mistake of investing in dubious tech dreams, you may be able to ride out the bubble to some pretty great swag

• Bitcoin Tax Ruling - Credit Slips

  • the IRS Bitcoin ruling is that for a currency--or any payment system--to work, its units must be completely fungible.  One reason dollars work really well as a currency is that one $20 bill is entirely fungible with another $20 bill.  This means that when I pay, I don't have to make a decision about which $20 bill to use
  • The IRS ruled that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are property, not currency.  This means that they are subject to capital gains taxation.  And that means that Bitcoins are not fungible.  The price at which a particular Bitcoin was acquired (and this is traceable) determines the capital gains on that particular Bitcoin when spent.
  • If I spend Bitcoin A, which I bought at $10, but is now worth $400, I’ve got a very different tax treatment than if I spend Bitcoin B, which I bought at $390.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• GigaOM

  • By the end of next year, there could be nearly four times as many devices sold running on Google Android than on Microsoft Windows. That’s a staggering figure from research firm Gartner, which forecast device sales on Thursday. The company expects that of the 2.6 billion computers, tablets, and mobile phones sold in 2015, 1.3 billion of them will run Android.
  • Quickly doing the math, that means for every one Microsoft Windows device sold, 3.6 Android devices are purchased.

• AFP: Russian officials dump iPads over spy fears

  • Russian government officials have swapped their iPads for Samsung tablets to ensure tighter security, the telecoms minister told news agencies on Wednesday.
  • American special services... will significantly increase the volume of information they intercept (which) of course causes serious concern to many governmental clients."

• Democrats' great green hope? Americans only want to vote for marijuana. - The Week

  • While 82 percent of respondents disapprove of Congress — with both parties "universally despised," according to Democratic pollster Celinda Lake — 73 percent support medical marijuana in their states, 53 percent back decriminalizing pot, and most importantly, 68 percent said they are more likely to go to the polls if marijuana is on the ballot.

• Pew: White majority over, next generation over 50% non-white | WashingtonExaminer.com

  • For the first time in American history, non-whites will make up half or more of the next generation, likely pushing Washington toward a bigger government

  • Their tendency is more liberal, their tendency is bigger government,” he said of so-called “millennials” born between 1979 and 1995. They will likely set the trend for the still-unnamed next generation.

     

    “This is a generation that is 41 percent non-white; the generation behind it is likely to be close to 50 if not more than 50 percent non-white, and the anti-government kind of tone is one that really doesn’t resonate with that non-white sector in particular,

• Is There Any Hope For The Middle Class? | Market Daily News

  • At this point, our economy has stabilized at a much lower level than it was at before.  For example, 32 million Americans were on food stamps when Barack Obama took office, and subsequently that number shot up to about 47 million.  Fortunately, that number has been relatively stable for the last couple of years, but there has been no recovery.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• Teslas in California Help Bring Dirty Rain to China - Bloomberg

  • The link is graphite, a vital component in batteries used in Tesla’s Model S, Toyota’s plug-in Prius and other electric cars, as well as in electronic gadgets including iPhones. It’s mostly mined and processed in China where graphite pollution has fouled air and water, damaged crops and raised health concerns. Now, in response, Chinese authorities are closing dozens of graphite mines and processors in a bid for cleaner air even as global demand for the commodity is surging.

            

    “There’s little question that the Chinese are between a rock and a hard place environmentally,” said Josh Landess, an advanced transportation analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “There’s an obvious irony that the disruption it’s causing is within the clean vehicle and transportation industry.”

          

    The graphite outcry is the latest among environmental flashpoints in China that have ranged from lead poisoning to acid spills and “unbearable smog” in big cities. And while the clampdown may help improve the quality of China’s environment, it could also affect as much as a third of worldwide production

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• Alec Baldwin: Good-bye, Public Life -- Vulture

  • I think America’s more fucked up now than it’s ever been. People are angry that in the game of musical chairs that is the U.S. economy, there are less seats at the table when the music stops. And at every recession, the music is stopping.

• Obama advisers want to "crowdsource" patents, call again for new law | Ars Technica

  • what has happened in the arena of patent policy since then and announced new initiatives going forward—including one to "crowdsource" the review of patents
  • The Innovation Act, which includes fee-shifting and customer protection measures for patent lawsuits, has passed the House and is being debated in the Senate.

• Tech's New Feeding Frenzy - NYTimes.com

  • by valuing the number of users above revenue, Facebook is inflating another dot-com bubble.
  • In WhatsApp, Facebook sees not a trove of patents or a lucrative advertising model but the future of communications — mobile, cross-platform, cheap and international. I

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• James Piereson: The Truth About the 'One Percent' - WSJ.com

  • It is a fool's errand to try to raise the living standards of the bottom 60% through higher income taxes on the top 1% or 0.1%.
  • The shift in incomes in favor of the wealthy has been due to several large forces, including a world-wide boom in asset prices, the rise of global markets, and technological innovation that has increased the earning power of the well educated.
  • At a time of slow economic growth, mounting government debt, a stalemated politics and the impending retirement of the "baby boomers," the attacks on the "one percent" look more and more like a diversion from the nation's real problems.

• At Newark Airport, the Lights Are On, and They're Watching You - NYTimes.com

  • Using an array of sensors and eight video cameras around the terminal, the light fixtures are part of a new wireless network that collects and feeds data into software that can spot long lines, recognize license plates and even identify suspicious activity, sending alerts to the appropriate staff.
  • The light fixtures are outfitted with special chips and connect to sensors, cameras and one another over a wireless network. Data that is collected — say, a particular car pulling up to the terminal — can then be mined and analyzed for a broad range of applications

• Apple exploring cars, medical devices to reignite growth - SFGate

  • The newspaper has also learned that Apple is heavily exploring medical devices, specifically sensor technology that can help predict heart attacks. Led by Tomlinson Holman, a renowned audio engineer who invented THX and 10.2 surround sound, Apple is exploring ways to predict heart attacks by studying the sound blood makes at it flows through arteries.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• Change the Way Stock Prices Are Quoted to Help the Economy? The S.E.C. Is Skeptical - NYTimes.com

  • The Small Capital Liquidity Act largely adopted the task force’s recommendation but, this being Congress, takes it even further. The act would set up a five-year program in which all public companies with a market capitalization below $750 million would no longer have their stocks quoted in pennies. Instead, shares will be quoted in 5-cent increments or, if the company chooses, 10-cent increments. Companies would also have a one-time chance to opt out of the program altogether.

• http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/Filing/FilingInfoTop.aspx?FilingID=9713820-806-380347&type=sect&TabIndex=2&companyid=3687&ppu=%252fdefault.aspx%253fcik%253d715446

• Manufacturing in Africa: An awakening giant | The Economist

  • The World Bank has been suggesting for several years that Asian manufacturing jobs could migrate to Africa

• Why 'Gen Z' May Be More Entrepreneurial Than 'Gen Y' | Entrepreneur.com

  • Gen Z, those born between 1994 and 2010 -- a group that's comprised of high school students and younger, and is poised to become the most entrepreneurial generation we've ever seen.
  • Also considered "The internet generation", this is by far the most tech savvy, connected and self-educated group. While Gen Y is known for "side gigs" and having multiple careers, Gen Z is more focused on working for themselves.

• Report: NSA bulk metadata program doesn't cover cellphones | Ars Technica

  • According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, which cites anonymous sources, the NSA's telephony metadata program only "collects data for about 20 percent or less of that data, primarily because it doesn't cover records for most cellphones.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• 2 Market Bubbles Finally Burst, Crush Shareholders [3D Systems Corporation, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust] - Seeking Alpha

  • every time AAII bullish sentiment has dipped below 25% during this bull market, the S&P 500 Index went on to rally over the next six months
  • February is the second-worst month for the Dow
  • However, it's essentially a flat month, which is followed by two of the most consistently profitable months of the year.

• Failure to Understand Bitcoin Could Cost Investors Billions | Casey Research

  • Bitcoin is an excellent technology, with many very good use cases. But for the average end user—be it an individual wanting to pay for goods or a merchant wanting to accept payments—the new reality of those risks will be more than they can swallow

  • Bitcoin gives us, for the first time, a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer. The consequences of this breakthrough are hard to overstate.

     

      What kinds of digital property might be transferred in this way? Think about digital signatures, digital contracts, digital keys (to physical locks, or to online lockers), digital ownership of physical assets such as cars and houses, digital stocks and bonds … and digital money.

  • In addition, merchants are highly attracted to Bitcoin because it eliminates the risk of credit card fraud. This is the form of fraud that motivates so many criminals to put so much work into stealing personal customer information and credit card numbers
  • Bitcoin is a monumental technical achievement in its simplicity and effectiveness. But just as the dot-com era overestimated the impact of the Web in the short term by several orders of magnitude (a hype-filled time during which Mr. Andreessen made his initial fortune selling a piece of free software to AOL, only to see it fall from grace and never monetize) so too do investors risk once again pouring billions into the currency equivalents of Web Van and Pets.com, failing to analyze all the dynamics of the market in which it competes
  • And dealing in currency requires protection of government and consumer interests—neither of which Bitcoin is well suited to

• New CEO Nadella Tells Customers Microsoft 'Very Confident' In Software For Mobile, Cloud - Forbes

  • The co-evolution of hardware and software is going to define a lot of what’s going to happen..Everything is going to be connected to cloud and data…All of this will be mediated by software.”

• Obamacare will push 2 million workers out of labor market: CBO - Washington Times

  • Obamacare will push the equivalent of about 2 million workers out of the labor market by 2017 as employees decide either to work fewer hours or drop out altogether, according to the latest estimates Tuesday from the Congressional Budget Office.
  • the health care law’s incentives are driving businesses and people to choose government-sponsored benefits rather than work

• The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World. - NYTimes.com

  • the current recovery has been driven almost entirely by the upper crust,

• This Cloud Thing Is Real - Microsoft Reportedly Appointing Cloud Tzar Nadella As CEO - Forbes

  • the head of Microsoft’s cloud division, Satya Nadella, looks set to be its next CEO
  • Microsoft has struggled with a good response to the dual iOS/Android device and marketplace strength

• When Your App Is in the Cloud - NYTimes.com

  • The telecom gear business has not been touched by the crushing economics of software delivered via cloud computing, the kind of low-price, high-versatility product that has caused so many problems for companies making business software, and for many traditional high-cost computer hardware makers.

• Market Daily News

  • The report found that the most vulnerable workers were those that followed well-defined procedures that were executed on a repeated basis. Jobs such as factory and warehouse workers, paralegals, payroll administrators, office assistants, and retail salespeople are but a few of the repetitive jobs that developers can write code for.
  • While eliminating repetitive middle-class jobs through software automation seems to be inevitable, a dire future also lies in wait for many upper middle-class jobs requiring higher cognitive skills. An increasing commoditization of their skillset will occur through cloud-based technologies.
  • Right now there is approximately a billion square feet of vacant retail space in the United States.
  • While Barack Obama has been in the White House, the average duration of unemployment in the United States has risen from 19.8 weeks to 37.1 weeks.
  • According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, an all-time record 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program each month.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.