Increased search crawler activity is threatening Google’s existence
The following excerpt is taken from Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign:
“Here’s to the crazy ones — the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. …
The perils of introducing ‘a cashless infrastructure’ to the lower socioeconomic class within rising Asia
Pandemics have always managed to trigger revolutionary changes in the way people pursue their lives. For the past nine months, I do not recall a single instance where I touched a coin or banknote, instead, I relied exclusively on electronic payments systems and credit cards for all my purchases.
I believe I am not alone.
Global online merchants like Amazon have experienced outstanding growth and have shifted to a system of delivering goods directly from their warehouses. Even businesses that have resisted credit cards within parts of Asia for decades are welcoming ‘digital payments’.
Throughout much of human history, physical money has evolved from tokens connected to goods at warehouses to precious metals to promissory notes and now into paper and plastic notes backed by central banks. …
What South East Asians should have learned from the Minneapolis massacre
I vividly recall this incident from a couple of years back, where one of my friends got offended when someone stated explicitly that the color of his skin is “dark”. What was funny about the situation was that the guy calling him out was also considered to be a “dark fellow” according to local standards.
He derived a sense of entitlement about the fact that he was just not as dark as my friend. This happened during my studies in Canada, a country known for its multiculturism and diversity, and the two people in context were neither black by ethnicity nor by nationality. …
What an hour and a half of server downtime taught us about our reliance on ‘BigTech’
My students were sending me requests via MS Teams to cancel their finals on Monday, December 14th, 2020, not because they were unprepared but rather because of the fact that they had developed an inherent need for “Google Search” with regards to anything and everything!
According to various news reports covered by CNBC, The Express, and others, “Down Detector, a site that aggregates reports of online service outages, problems with the platform spiked at around 6:30 a.m. ET, confirming that all of Google’s services — including its calendar, e-mail application, and videoconferencing apps — were facing downtime”.
An hour and a half later, around 8 a.m ET, Google tweeted the following, “We’re all clear folks! Thanks for staying with us.” …
The one book which helped me to dissect the exact metrics that the “Oracle of Omaha” seeks prior to investing in a company
I have yet to come across an investor who has not heard of either “The Intelligent Investor” or “Security Analysis”. The pillar of Warren Buffett’s investment success can be attributed to these two texts in addition to Phil Fisher’s “Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits”.
However, after having spent almost eight years in the financial markets, I have come to a realization that neither of the above books gave me an insight as to how the Oracle of Omaha thinks about an investment.
But, one particular book titled “Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements” by Mary Buffett and David Clark seemed to be the best possible answer to all my queries. …
Going above and beyond the statistics paradigm
“Zuckerberg: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuckerberg: Just ask.
Zuckerberg: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend’s Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?
Zuckerberg: People just submitted it.
Zuckerberg: I don’t know why.
Zuckerberg: They “trust me”
Zuckerberg: Dumb f — — s”.
What started off as a university dorm room experiment is now ready for a coveted leap —turning into a self-proclaimed “fifth estate” revolutionizing the social media scene. …
“In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”
The ‘Oracle of Omaha’ is famous for many reasons but acquiring a large chunk of an IPO isn’t one of those. Mr. Buffett has abided by his mentor, Benjamin Graham’s advice in business and in life for the longest possible time until he shifted his stance from “cigar butts”.
Graham believed that any stock should be acquired when it’s trading way below its intrinsic value, thus having the opportunity to obtain a handsome return all with the added cushion of “margin of safety”.
Over the years, Warren has shifted his stance in terms of what he defines as “intrinsic value”. Granted that the stock should trade below that figure and have some sort of cushion to hedge the downside risk, but his sudden shift in preference in terms of choosing companies that were either industry leaders or those that had a ‘durable competitive advantage’ (i.e- …
Dr. Micheal Burry’s bet against Elon Musk could be Wall Street’s ultimate nightmare
If there’s anything that I have learned in my investing journey thus far, it’s been to ‘never bet’ against Elon Musk. Whenever the skeptics went ‘short’ on Tesla a vast majority of traders had lost money betting against this “extraordinary billionaire visionary”.
In short Elon Musk can be compared to a ‘real-life Tony Stark’: “Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist”.
But Dr. Micheal Burry who is well known for his bets against big banks during the 2008 housing market crash has recently gone on Twitter to express his views about Tesla, and this clash of the titans has Wall Street in shackles.
According to a recent tweet, the veteran investor stated the…
“It’s not very good as a store-hold of wealth”
Throughout much of human history, physical money has evolved from tokens connected to goods at warehouses to precious metals to promissory notes and now into paper and plastic notes backed by central banks.
In a nutshell, any “legal tender” backed by faith can be labelled and used as ‘money’.
Ray Dalio, the co-CIO and founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates recently tweeted his thoughts on Bitcoin and as to why it may not be the “future of currency”.
Any “legal tender” that can be used to purchase or sell other goods is essentially what people can label as a currency but there are a few other things that constitute what money is.
According to textbook definitions, “ money needs to be divisible, represent a store of value as well as be a medium of exchange”. …
It pays to invest in the future
When I boarded the flight to Toronto on 31st August 2010 little did I know that I would end up losing my entrance scholarship after my very first year of university.
Being an international student is a struggle in itself. Staying away from family, having to do all the daily chores whilst balancing studies isn’t something every southeast Asian boy/girl is accustomed to.
The transition from a confused science geek into an aspiring engineer dreaming of constructing electric vehicles was not smooth.
Although I did manage to do well, it was not good enough to hold onto my entrance scholarship at the University of Toronto. I was feeling guilty in having to ask my parents to fund all the expenses from then onwards because, let’s face it, paying upwards of $33,000 was by no means possible for a college student working a side-job in a call center. …
