Greed and Capitalism

What kind of society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system.
- Milton Friedman

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Michael Lewis - Avoid Bankruptcy



Michael Lewis: How to Avoid Bankruptcy

http://bigthink.com Michael Lewis takes a swipe at cable shows like Mad Money.youtube.com 3:18
 
 

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Spending Habits of the Super-Rich


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How the super rich spent their money in 2014:




 

The Silk Road Trial



Inside The Silk Road Trial:
U.S. v. Dread Pirate Roberts
The Trial - The Takedown - The Charges - The Pirate - The Silk Road

The Trial - The Takedown - The Charges - The Pirate - The Silk Road

The Takedown

/
A year ago, the FBI shut down Silk Road, an anonymous online narcotics website that generated $1.2 billion in sales, and arrested its alleged creator Ross Ulbricht in a San Francisco library. On Thursday, the FBI announced that it has done it again, seizing Silk Road successor Silk Road 2.0 and detaining 26-year-old Blake Benthall in the same city.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/silk-road-trial/?utm_campaign=Forbes&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_channel=Technology&linkId=11735188

 

Petrobras bribery scheme

The Economist@EconBizFin
New revelations about a billion dollar bribery scheme bring bad news for oil giant Petrobras



 

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Oil Prices Impact On The Economy

Forbes
View this content on Forbes's website

Oil Prices And The Significant, Long-Lasting Impact On The Economy

In 2014, a number of events will go down in history as major, market-moving events. From an economic viewpoint, though, perhaps no other event will have a more significant and long-lasting impact...

 
From an economic viewpoint, perhaps no event will have a more significant impact than the collapse of oil prices:
 
 
 
 

Monday, January 12, 2015

Toyota opens up hydrogen patents


IN ASSOCIATION WITH

 

CES 2015: Toyota opens up hydrogen patents

Toyota Mirai at CES Toyota used physicist Michio Kaku to talk about its hydrogen-powered car

Car maker Toyota has announced that it will freely share almost 6,000 patents it owns covering hydrogen fuel cell technology.

 
It said it took the step in a bid to drive development of cars that use the alternative fuel source.
The announcement was made soon after it showed off its Mirai hydrogen-driven car in Las Vegas.
 
Toyota is one of a record number of car makers attending CES to unveil new models or connected-car strategies.
 
Power plan
The patents will be made available free of charge to anyone wanting to use them. The patent portfolio covers fuel cell stacks, high-pressure hydrogen tanks, software control systems and the industrial processes involved in generating and supplying the gas.
"When good ideas are shared, great things can happen," said Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota in a statement.
He added that the first generation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which are expected to be launched over the next five years, would require "unconventional collaboration" among car makers, governments, power firms and researchers.
BMW Active Assist demo BMW showed off its "active assist" technology that does away with the need for a driver
While the infrastructure to support electric cars is slowly starting to appear in many nations, re-fuelling stations for hydrogen powered cars are much harder to find. By opening up its patents, Toyota hopes to boost the number of places that fuel-cell powered cars can fill up.
The announcement was made soon after Toyota showed off its Mirai car at the tech show. The hydrogen-powered vehicle went on sale in Japan in December and will go on sale in Europe and the US in late 2015.
Toyota's move follows that of Tesla motors which shared its patent portfolio in 2014.
A total of 10 car firms are attending CES in 2015 - more than ever before. Some, such as Audi and BMW, are showing off innovations that help drivers park, avoid crashes or which can take over behind the wheel when cars are on motorways or major roads.
As a publicity stunt Audi is attempting to let a specially-made A7 drive itself 550 miles from San Francisco to the tech show. Test drivers and journalists will be passengers in the car and will take over when the vehicle passes through towns and cities. Audi said the "piloted driving" system in the car is almost ready to put in its production models.
Volkswagen unveiled a gesture-controlled in-car entertainment and information system which used a 3D camera tucked into a compartment by the rear view mirror. This captures hand gestures activating buttons on touch screens between the driver and passenger seats.
The Golf R Touch system enables people inside to open and close the sun roof by with a push gesture.
Google autonomous car Some tech firms such as Google are considering creating their own autonomous vehicles
 
VW's new cars will also be connectable with smartphones via both Android Auto and Google Car Play apps by the end of 2015 in the US and Europe, said spokesman Peter Thul.
It is also continuing to work on autonomous driving and parking technology, he added.
The presence of so many auto makers is seen as a response to the number of tech firms that are steadily aiming to get their innovations into cars or, like Google, produce their own autonomous vehicles.
At its press conference, Nvidia talked about its Tegra X1 processor, which it claims will have the power to handle the computational needs of futuristic autonomous cars.
Processing units it demonstrated will be analysing data from sensors or processing images that appear on screens inside a car to help a driver or to entertain passengers.
In addition, Qualcomm showed off a concept car powered by Android 5.0 that handles entertainment and keeps an eye on what is happening on the road.
 
Click here for more coverage from the BBC at CES 2015



Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30691393

 

Resilience?

strategy+business
View this content on stratandbiz's website

What Is This Thing Called Resilience?

 
It is a hot buzzword, but often clouded in mystery. Here’s what executives need to know.
"It’s more accurate to think of as the ability to bounce forward."
 
 
 
 

The Self-Made Billionaire Effect: How extreme producers create massive value



Published on Dec 15, 2014
 
Learn more at PwC.com - http://pwc.to/1wvfa0J
What are you doing to keep the billionaire talent in your firm from leaving?

Authors John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen identify five habits of mind that allow self-made billionaires to create value on a massive scale—habits that are in direct conflict with the traits most businesses value and promote in their employees. Businesses are quite literally pushing out the very people who offer the potential to create billions.

Unleash your company's growth potential by learning to identify and keep the talent your business needs.
Link: http://youtu.be/qYdQRTG2pDc





 


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Getting hooked: How digital firms create products that get inside people’s heads
    Jan 8
RT : Toyota opens up 6000+ hydrogen patents. Will this accelerate us towards a hydrogen economy?
 
Decoding leadership: What really matters? It may not be what you think.








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