Engineers at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, back in mid-December 2009, began to suspect that hackers in China had obtained access to private Gmail accounts. Those accounts included those used by Chinese human rights activists opposed to the government in Beijing.
Continue reading… “Google’s secret alliance with the NSA”
By John Batelle: From time to time I have tracked what I call the “Internet Big Five” – the key platform technology companies that are driving the Internet economy. Nearly three years ago I wrote the first of this series – The Internet Big Five. I identified Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook as the “big five,” and compared their relative strengths in financials, consumer reach, and technology strengths. Some of the metrics were admittedly subjective – ranking relative offerings in “engagement” and “data,” for example.
Continue reading… “The big 5 internet companies doubling in three years on a trillion dollar base”
Nine of the 16 app Glass app makers admitted they’d abandoned their efforts.
A little over a year and a half ago, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said he found having to talk to Google Glass out loud “the weirdest thing” and admitted that there would be “places where Google Glass are inappropriate.” The average person could have told Google this long before they spent millions developing Google Glass.
Continue reading… “App developers giving up on Google Glass before it even launches”
The startup called Spark is building a microcontroller for connected devices.
Billions of devices, from forks to jet engines, are already connected to the internet. All signs point to a huge surge in the years to come. For example, Cisco, predicts 21 billion of them in 2018, up from 13 billion in 2013. But despite those numbers, the companies that will be storing all that device data are less concerned sheer volume and more concerned about making it usable.
Continue reading… “The Internet of Things isn’t set to unleash a deluge of data… yet”
The unemployment rate was at its lowest level in six years, 5.8 percent, according to the latest jobs report. But Americans aren’t convinced that things are nearly that good.
Continue reading… “The average American thinks the unemployment rate is 32 percent”
A battery module built at Aquion’s plant in Pennsylvania.
A new kind of battery that stores energy from solar and wind power cheaply and cleanly has hit the market. It is by far the cheapest of a new generation of large, long-lived batteries that could make it possible to rely heavily on intermittent, renewable energy sources.
Continue reading… “Aquion Energy’s battery helps solar and wind power operate in remote locations”
Setting ambitious goals goes a long way in a company’s development.
There is a big disparity when it comes to the gender wage gap. But there is even a bigger disparity when it comes to how much male- and female-run businesses make. There are more women-run businesses now than there ever was, but they still aren’t making as much money as their male-run competition. Here’s how to change that.
Naval Ravikant at the AngelList office.
Recently, Naval Ravikant, a wildly successful angel investor—Uber, Twitter, etc.—and serial entrepreneur met with a group of institutional money managers to pitch them his latest venture. He didn’t ask them to invest in it, but he asked them to invest through it. If enough of the money managers take him up on the offer, it could usher in an era of radical disruption in the world of angel investing.
Continue reading… “AngelList: A disruptor that is upending angel investing”
The billion-dollar project will complement Google’s balloons and drones.
Google wants to deploy a fleet of satellites to extend internet access to areas around the world that do not have internet access. The fleet of satellites will cost Google $1 billion. Google “will start with 180 small, high-capacity satellites orbiting the earth at lower altitudes than traditional satellites, and then could expand.”
Continue reading… “Google to launch 180 low-orbit satellites that provide Internet access”
Tilt is a platform for people to receive money from a group of friends or colleagues.
Reports of the crowdfunding revolution have been greatly exaggerated.James Beshara, chief executive of a crowdfunding company, acknowledges that the crowdfunding revolution has been greatly exaggerated. “The amount of attention it gets far outweighs the number of people using it,” he says. (Video)
Continue reading… “Is Tilt the future of crowdfunding?”
Over the next 20 years, Ten million British jobs could be taken over by computers and robots, wiping out more than one in three roles.
An Electronic Arts employee works on a character for “MySims.”
The U.S. economy is on the upswing. Unemployment is down to 5.8 percent, and we’re adding hundreds of thousands of new jobs every months — and the video game industry is partially responsible for that.
Continue reading… “The video game industry is growing 4 times faster than the U.S. economy”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.