The Wall Street Journal's David Pierce details Blade, a new service run out of France that allows customers with high speed internet connections to virtually use a very powerful computer they don't actually own. For a monthly fee, users are given access to a machine powerful enough to play the latest, graphic intensive games or run processor-heavy programs like graphical editing software. Pierce likens the service to an Uber for computers. He writes: Sometimes a game just clicks for me. Last week, when I bought “Call of Duty: WWII,” the latest in the epic series of shooter games, I found a … [Read more...]
Digital Ads a Waste Says P&G
Despite projections that the market for digital advertising will grow to $120 billion by 2021, the world's biggest advertiser, P&G is opting for different ways to reach customers. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Suzanne Vranica reports that P&G cut its digital advertising budget by $100 million in the second half of 2017. With new data, P&G discovered it wasn't getting what it wanted out of its ads. Vranica writes: Once armed with more measurement data, P&G discovered that the average view time for a mobile ad appearing in a news feed, on platforms such … [Read more...]
Will Houseparty Dethrone Facebook?
Facebook is declining in popularity among U.S. teens. The platform has lost 10 percent of its users aged 12-17 according to eMarketer. Ben Rubin, a 30-year old tech entrepreneur has developed a group video chat app that is gaining in popularity with teens. Can Houseparty replace Facebook? The FT reports on Rubin’s goals for his app: Two years ago he landed on the idea for Houseparty, where groups of up to eight friends gather to chat, moving in and out of “rooms” and meeting friends of friends. It has already hosted half a billion chats. The average time spent on the app has gone from zero … [Read more...]
How Revolutionary Satellite Tech is Changing the World
Here the FT reports on the revolution in satellite technology that is having a profound impact on many different businesses and industries. Investors, for example, can now estimate traffic at retail establishments or oil storage tankers moving into China. Today, a new revolution in satellite technology is unfolding at warp speed, and its consequences are just as unpredictable. The rapid adoption of billions of smartphones and other connected devices over the past decade has boosted the market for telecommunications satellites, transforming the demand side of the business. But the supply side … [Read more...]
Investors Wary of Google’s Partnership Fees
It's getting more costly for Alphabet (formerly known as Google) to buy friends in the tech world. Currently Alphabet pays companies like Apple to setup its Google service as the preferred search engine in their browsers. The costs for this privilege are rising, and Alphabet's investors aren't very happy about it. Dan Gallagher writes for the WSJ: For Alphabet, the main issue for investors is the rising costs that Google has to pay partners to direct traffic to its sites. Those traffic acquisition costs totaled $21.6 billion in 2017—up 29% from the previous year. That outpaced the 20% revenue … [Read more...]
Is There a Cloud Backlash Brewing in Tech?
Despite what seems to be relentless drive toward cloud computing by most of the major tech companies, including most importantly Microsoft and Amazon.com, there appears to be a backlash coming. The backlash is broken down into two parts: The first part is a backlash against the large cloud computing providers. Smaller firms working on what has become known as "edge" computing, are making their mark in the industry. The second part of the backlash to big cloud computing is a focus on local computing, being pushed most notably by Apple. Richard Waters explains the trend in the … [Read more...]
Has the World Seen Peak Facebook?
For the first time ever Facebook has reported that daily active users declined in the last quarter. In the last three months of 2017, time spent on the site declined by about 5%. Facebook shares took a hit, but recovered somewhat when Facebook executives outlined their plan to keep revenues up by increasing prices. The lower traffic comes at a time when there is increased scrutiny on the effects social networks and mobile technology are having on children, and even adults. Mark Zuckerberg has begun investigating how to make Facebook users experience better by emphasizing “meaningful … [Read more...]
This is Why We Don’t Recommend Apple Stock
We don’t invest in Apple stock and we probably never will given its current mix of businesses. That may come as a surprise considering that Apple is the largest publicly traded company in the United States. It will come as an even bigger surprise when you learn that Apple pays a dividend, has increased that dividend at a 25%+ compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, has loads of cash on the balance sheet, and trades at a discounted price-to-earnings multiple. For a dividend focused, value conscious investment firm like ours, that sounds like an inside straight. The … [Read more...]
Is the Quantum Revolution Imminent?
There's a race on in the world of technology to build working quantum computers. The biggest technology companies in the world, including IBM, Google, and Microsoft are working hard to make breakthroughs in the quantum tech that could change computing forever. Now, Microsoft and Google are claiming that they are close to some serious progress. Richard Waters writes in the FT: The two impending milestones, from Microsoft and Google, will highlight how ideas until recently at the frontiers of theoretical physics are quickly taking practical form. Despite beginning work on quantum computing … [Read more...]
Is Your City on Amazon’s List of 20 Possibilities for its HQ2?
Of the 238 cities that applied to host Amazon's second headquarters, the company has narrowed its choices down to 20. If your city is on this list, you may soon be sharing the streets with up to 50,000 employees from Amazon. Atlanta Austin, Texas Boston Chicago Columbus, Ohio Dallas Denver Indianapolis Los Angeles Miami Montgomery County, Md. Nashville Newark, N.J. New York City Northern Virginia Philadelphia Pittsburgh Raleigh, N.C. Toronto Washington, D.C. Amazon's choice will most likely depend on the types of incentives … [Read more...]
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