1) The Future of Facial Recognition AI Software
San Francisco is the first American city to ban facial recognition software used by police and other agencies. Bloomberg QuickTake explains why the technology's advance is so alarming to regulators, the public, and even the people developing it. Bloomberg.com video above published May 16, 2019.
2) How Amazon Is Fighting Rakuten For E-Commerce In Japan
Amazon is involved in around half of all e-commerce transactions in the United States, but in Japan it faces competition from Rakuten (rakuten.com). The Japanese e-commerce giant has a loyalty program and a suite of products including its own credit card, online bank and streaming services. In recent years, Amazon’s superior logistics capabilities and focus on price have allowed the company to capture greater market share. This video shows how the two e-commerce giants are borrowing the most successful parts of each other’s models as they look to the future. CNBC.com video above published Apr 30, 2019.
3) Investing
"The yield on the S&P 500 is getting close to Treasuries."
China is running out of options to hit back at the United States without hurting its own interests, as Washington intensifies pressure on Beijing to correct trade imbalances in a challenge to China’s state-led economic model. Even Lloyd Blankfein is now a Trade Warrior.
Trade war can seriously derail China economic development, according to Mohamed El-Erian--China could slip into a middle income trap if trade war persists, but by ending the trade war, El-Erian believes China could regain its economic momentum--scmp.com. Why an economic war with the US blows China up--zerohedge.com.
"The US is willing to take a short-term hit in the form of higher consumer prices, and welcome inflation, from Chinese imports until global supply chains re-adjust and new domestic and international lines open, knowing the long-term damage is limited. Meanwhile, the hit to China is long-term and directly on production, thus right across the economy right at the most difficult phase of economic transition. Chinese economists are talking about a 1-2% hit to GDP. I suspect much more plus increased domestic social and political tension. Xi is in more trouble than we think."--Bill BlainEurozone banking at risk of dangerous fragmentation, ECB warns. Euro hits 20, but will it make 30?--dw.com. French Incomes Are Below America's Poorest States... And The Protesters in France Know It.
Brexit: Watch the European election results, particularly from the UK, to be released late Sunday May 26. See also: Why Freedom From Brussels' Tyranny Is Worth A Small Loss Of British GDP, and UK Prime Minister Theresa May resigns after having failed to deliver Brexit. Conservative Party successor in place by late July, without need for a general election, is likely to be Boris Johnson who has indicated that leaving the EU without a deal ("no deal Brexit") is a possibility.
Beware M&A:
- Occidental's Big Mistake: Overpaying For Resources In An Age Of Energy Abundance--seekingalpha.com.
- Bayer's Acquisition Of Monsanto May Have Sown The Seeds Of Bayer's Own Destruction--seekingalpha.com.
4) ICYMI Tech News:
E-commerce sales in the U.S., over the past five years have doubled. On a seasonally adjusted basis, e-commerce sales in Q1 2019 hit an all-time high of $137.7 billion. "E-commerce sales" include sales by the online operations of brick-and-mortar retailers Walmart, Home Depot, BestBuy, and Macy’s, which operate the fourth through seventh largest e-commerce websites in the U.S., behind Amazon, eBay, and Apple.--wolfstreet.com.
Out of 50 of the largest companies in the U.S., the highest median employee pay in 2018 was at Texas-based oil giants not Silicon Valley tech giants.--bizjournals.com.
Google has had a huge run, and with financial and potential political challenges looming, now looks like a good time to sell $GOOG, $GOOGL--SeekingAlpha.com.
IBM and Red Hat after IBM's acquisition of Red Hat is complete later this year--zdnet.com.
By 2023, Uber Eats may own 25% of the global food delivery industry worth $191B, but both DoorDash and GrubHub make more sales, and DoorDash is growing fastest--fortune.com.
Huawei: Wi-Fi Alliance, semiconductor standards body JEDEC, and SD Association suspend Huawei's membership, which will limit Huawei's future ability to shape these standards. U.S. Tech Companies Begin to Cut Off Huawei. Experts are skeptical of Huawei's claims that it can ensure a steady components supply without U.S. tech, saying Huawei will struggle to replace chips, lasers, other parts. For example, Huawei relies on chip design software from the American global "gold standard" market leaders Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), and Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), used by manufacturers worldwide.
Note also: Google reportedly suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware and software products except those covered by open source licenses.
China's tech transfer problem is growing, says EU business group. European firms are reportedly increasingly required to transfer technology in China in order to gain access to the Chinese market.
Facebook has apparently formed a new financial tech firm, Libra Networks LLC, according to a filing on the Geneva Commercial Register.
T-Mobile (63% owned by Deutsche Telekom AG) got a big boost from FCC on the Sprint deal.
Google Chrome browser pushes "SameSite" cookie security overhaul--an IETF standard called SameSite (RFC6265bis)--which Google and Mozilla have promoted since 2016 and Google has announced it will start pushing more aggressively in Chrome from version 76 this July--nakedsecurity.sophos.com.
SpaceX launches first satellites for Musk's Starlink internet service (domain: starlink.com). Competitors include Airbus SE-backed OneWeb which launched satellites in February, LeoSat Enterprises (domain: leosat.com), and Canada’s Telesat (domain: telesat.com).
Smart Redesign: in a letter to employees, Ford CEO Jim Hackett confirmed:
"... we will have eliminated about 7,000 salaried positions or about 10% of our global salaried workforce. This includes both voluntary and involuntary separations over the past year. Within that total, and consistent with our goal to reduce bureaucracy, we will have reduced management structure by close to 20%. This will result in annual savings of about $600 million ..."
Personal tech:
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
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DISCLAIMER
- 10 best cheap phones: for summer travel, leave your $1,000 iPhone or Galaxy at home. Editor's note: my 'short list'--LG K30 – 16 GB – Unlocked (AT&T/T-Mobile/Verizon) ($139.99) or Unihertz Jelly Pro The Smallest 4G Smartphone in The World, Android 7.0 Nougat Unlocked Smart Phone with 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM ($124.99). Almost everyone could use a second "backup phone" / "emergency phone" / "vacation phone" anyway.
- Personal security: hacker steals $1 million using just a phone number--bitcoinist.com.
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo
DISCLAIMER