The internet of things (IoT) is one of the more exciting secular themes just starting to reshape many industries across the global economic landscape. At Young Research we follow developments in the Internet of Things to remain current on the emerging threats and opportunities to the companies we advise for both our Intelligence Report subscribers as well as clients of Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd’s white-glove managed account service. You might expect that a cutting-edge Silicon Valley startup would have the drop in the IoT, and while that is likely true to some extent, old economy … [Read more...]
Apple’s iPhone Shipments Crater by 11%
All the air is running out of the iPhone balloon, the WSJ reports. The growth in global smartphone shipments ground to a near halt this year, according to research firm International Data Corp., in the latest sign that the mobile-phone boom is petering out. The accelerating slowdown this year comes in part from an estimated 11% decrease in shipments of Apple Inc. ’s iPhone—the first full year of declining shipments for the device since it made its debut in 2007. Apple held about 14% of the global smartphone market this year, IDC said. IDC estimated shipments this year of smartphones … [Read more...]
Amazon Innovates with Old Tech
Who knew big rigs were on the cutting edge of technology? The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is using trucks to move data from its clients' servers to the cloud servers its web services unit manages. The amount to data warehoused on company servers has grown so large that it could take up to 26 years to move an exabyte (1 billion gigabytes) of data to the cloud via the internet, but with trucks, the time can be reduced to 6 months. Transporting data from companies to cloud providers has become immensely time-consuming as corporate data storage has ballooned from terabytes to … [Read more...]
Is Cyber Monday Infected with More Unscrupulous Fakes?
Today is “Cyber Monday.” It’s the Internet’s response to Small Business Saturday, in which people are encouraged to shop online. Every year people are doing more of their shopping online, with an increase in online shopping in 2015 of 14.6%, online purchases made up over 10% of retail sales (excluding items like gasoline and automobiles). America’s e-commerce surge is led, not surprisingly, by Amazon, which processed over $79 billion in online sales last year. Next come Wal-Mart, with $13 billion, and Apple with $12 billion. But is there trouble brewing in Amazon’s e-commerce … [Read more...]
The Explosion in Lightweight, Flexible, Plastic Food Pouches
The editors of Plastic Make It Possible explain the striking benefits of food packaged in plastic pouches rather than cans. As I walked down the canned food aisle in my grocery store, it struck me that “canned” fish is not sold solely in cans anymore. Tuna fish, for example, is also sold in flexible plastic pouches. I picked up one of these pouches and compared it to a can of tuna and thought: huh, this plastic pouch seems to weigh a bit less. So I put both in my shopping cart to examine at home. As I walked up and down the aisles, I noticed that all sorts of other products typically sold … [Read more...]
Is the World Witnessing a Frenzy of Better Robo-Retail?
After years of development, Lowe’s has rolled out its Lo Bot, a helpful machine created to guide customers around the company’s massive big-box stores. Ask Lo Bot where an item is and the robot will take you right to it. The Lo Bot isn’t the only robot showing up at retail operations. Another robot, a humanoid known as Pepper, has been showing up in different stores around the world. A version of Pepper has been infused with IBM’s Watson cognitive computing technology. The Watson integration is open to app developers and could lead to all new capabilities for the robot. Behind the … [Read more...]
“Apple’s Design Has Always Spoken for Itself”
Here WIRED introduces yet another amazing creation from Apple. APPLE’S NEW BOOK, Designed By Apple In California, is as much an Apple product as the gadgets it documents. It took eight years to develop, is bound in white linen, and printed on “specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matte silver edges.” You really can’t help but hear the description in Jony Ive’s voice. The book, conceived of and published by Apple, is a glossy $300 (that’s for the plus size; it’s $200 for a smaller version) tribute to the last 20 years of the company’s industrial design legacy, and to its … [Read more...]
This is What Makes Investing in Technology Dangerous
The technology sector is one of the most exciting sectors of the stock market. Tech companies are on the cutting edge of innovation and opportunity. It also helps that in tech, unlike in almost any other industry, massive fortunes can be made in a relatively short period of time. The thrill of finding the next Microsoft or Apple before it takes off attracts many to tech shares, but investing in tech also has a downside. Technology may be the most innovative sector, but that also makes it one of the most competitive. For the economy competition helps increase growth and productivity, but … [Read more...]
Just Five Ways this $11 Billion Satellite Can Save Lives and Boost GDP
On November 19, NASA will launch the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) satellite into orbit over America. The GOES-R is a leap ahead of the previous system (GOES) and will sit over 22,000 miles above the earth’s surface. Nature describes GOES-R saying: GOES-R can take pictures as often as every 30 seconds, much faster than the several-minute intervals of current GOES weather satellites. That rapid-fire imagery allows the satellite to track developing changes in thunderstorms, hurricanes and other severe storms. It also enables meteorologists to follow plumes … [Read more...]
Consider the Extraordinary Security Risks of Social Media
Here, hpematter.co explains the enormous lifetime security risks of social media. Social media’s dark side: It isn’t just the vast amount of personally identifiable information (PII) that’s there that makes it a treasure trove for hackers and other criminals. It is also that the shared information may be around forever. Social media sites use terabyte upon terabyte of storage right now, which is expected to increase, said Mark Painter, security evangelist with Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The PII gathered is too valuable to discard. Too many people use social media for digital … [Read more...]