17% revenue growth is expected between now and 2022, according to a recent report by Research and Markets. Currently, revenues for these 20 countries is $3.5b. The 2022 number will be $4.1, and of the 20 countries, 5 countries will make up 75% of that revenue. The 17% gain in revenue will be from 5m … Read more
The Norwegian 38-year-old political mass-killer has changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, according to his lawyer, who also said Breivik had told him the reasons for the change but the lawyer didn’t want to tell them. Hansen is a common last name. Around 1% of Norwegians are Hansens. Fjotolf is a name carried by only … Read more
It has come up during the Comey hearings, bringing the term to a wide audience. It’s a conspiracy-theory type term that started 60 years ago: It means that besides the regular U.S. government, there is a secret-ish organization of security officials across various governmental domains which work together to enforce their values and goals. Currently, … Read more
Japanese telecom company Softbank (the 62nd largest public company in the world) is buying Boston Dynamics from Alphabet (Google’s parent company). Softbank also got Japanese bipedal robotics company Schaft as part of the deal. Details of the deal weren’t published. Google bought Boston Dynamics in 2013 but put it back up for sale again last … Read more
They’re called digital badges. Or micro credentials. Because a resume stating a person graduated from any college with a 4 year degree doesn’t mean much to employers now, they’re looking for new ways to demonstrate hirability. The badges are for specific things, like critical thinking, good oral communication, creative problem solving, collaborating, reliance, and unnumbered … Read more
A week after Trump said the U.S. would leave the Paris Climate Agreement, the governor of California made an agreement with China to develop more green tech. People are talking widely about states possibly making lots of climate deals now that the U.S. is out. Read more
At a Senate intelligence hearing for an unrelated matter this week, senators ended up asking NSA and other intelligence brass about the president and the Russia investigation. The officials told senators they would not discuss the specifics of conversations with the president. They said they thought it was confidential information that should be protected from … Read more
Fired FBI Director James Comey has delivered a prepared statement to Congress this week. The statement described the six meetings Comey had with the president, some of which are considered quite unusual by analysts. During one meeting with Trump, Comey testified, he shared with the president sensitive information of a salacious nature that had been … Read more
It was invented by some teenagers for a high school business plan competition in Miami. GHB and Ketamine are common date rape drugs (as well as being used voluntarily for recreation). They don’t have a smell or taste, so victims can’t know when they’ve been slipped into their drinks. The straw invented has a strip … Read more
On the test that measures critical thinking, some colleges actually had scores lower for grads than for freshmen, although other schools showed pretty good improvements. ‘Critical thinking’ refers to certain skills: Being able to understand the value of an argument based on the validity of facts involved, forming a conclusion about veracity based on available … Read more
Saudi Arabia and other neighbors of Qatar have accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and embracing Iran, and have cut it off. Diplomatic communications and air transport was halted. Embassies, borders, air space, and maritime access (40% of Qatar’s food supplies come from Saudi Arabia by boat) were shut off. It is considered a dramatic escalation … Read more
Who is Tencent? It’s the largely unknown (maybe because it’s pretty media shy) parent company of China’s ubiquitous WeChat social media app. Their market cap is $330b, more than JPMorgan Chase. 500m people in China (of 650m total) use WeChat for communicating, finding goods and services, getting directions, and paying for things. Who else is … Read more