Facebook has announced its third quarter numbers, with solid results across the board. Facebook’s monthly active user count (MAU) is now up to 1.55 billion users – up from 1.49b in the second quarter.
Continue reading… “Facebook has more than a billion users and 8 billion video views every day”
Illegal drugs from China are as easy as typing on a keyboard to order. More than 150 Chinese companies sell alpha-PVP, according to guidechem.com. alpha-PVP is also known as flakka, a dangerous stimulant that is illegal in the United States but not in China, and was blamed for 18 recent deaths in one Florida county.
Continue reading… “Illegal drugs are easy to order on China’s open online drug market”
By Adam Riva: The global economy and any form of government that utilizes it are inherently obsolete and structurally unsound. They cannot be “fixed” because their very underpinning is a mishmash of competition, hierarchy, fractional reserve banking, and fiat currency – all operating under scarcity, coercion, inequality, and varying forms and degrees of economic slavery. We must stop trying to patch the tire and replace it altogether. We are long overdue for a true revolution in the monetary sector of society.
Continue reading… “25 signs that the global economy is broken and obsolete”
Markthal Rotterdam
The Markthal Rotterdam is an enormous new market hall that has opened its doors in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and it’s turning quite a few heads. The market hall is a curiously elongated horseshoe of a building, has a 36,000 square foot mural covering its rounded ceiling. (Photos)
Continue reading… “Markthal Rotterdam – a spectacular 36,000 sq ft architectural masterpiece”
Google makes so much money that it is now worth three times more than every U.S. airline combined.
This question is harder than it looks – what valuable company is nobody building? That’s because your company could create a lot of value without becoming very valuable itself. Creating value isn’t enough—you also need to capture some of the value you create.
Continue reading… “Competition is for losers: Peter Thiel”
The app market continues to boom. According to the latest data from Distimo, via Ben Schachter at Macquarie Research, combined spending in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play store, was up 83% year-over-year in April, hitting $1.4 billion.
Continue reading… “The app market is booming”
It used to be about “us” and “them.” “Us” were the people who believed that design could add significant value when tightly integrated with other business processes. “Them” were the majority of managers who didn’t get what design was all about in the first place.
Continue reading… “Design can lead to exceptional returns for shareholders”
Like the Cloud in 2012, the Internet of Things is about to come on strong.
Google bought Nest for an incredible amount of money a few weeks ago. Do you know what Nest is or what they do? More specifically, do you have any idea what Nest is trying to do or what platform they are built upon? If the answer to all those questions is no, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Continue reading… “Where does the Internet of Things stand?”
Nielsen put out its latest figures on the state of the advertising market across old and new media platforms this morning. One big takeaway is that Internet advertising continues to be the fastest-growing medium, but it remains a small player. Global display advertising across the web, mobile internet and apps collectively grew by 32.4% in 2013 — by far the biggest leap of any media — but that still worked out to a 4.5% share of the overall spend in ads. In contrast, television grew only 4.3% but remains the behemoth when it comes to ad spend, taking nearly 58% of the market.
Continue reading… “Internet display ad spending up 32% in 2013, but still just 4.5% of market share”
The home automation market size is around $8.8 billion.
In terms of homes that have a broadband connection as a market for home automation, the market size turns out to be around $8.8 billion at $100 spent per home or $880 billion at $10,000 for the U.S. If we are a little more conservative and say that only those broadband subscribers who use smartphones are targets, the range turns out to be about $5.63 – $563 billion. In order to capture this opportunity a number of business models have come into play. While these are not new business models, it is interesting to see how this opportunity is being captured.
Continue reading… “The home automation business is enabling the Internet of Things”
David Brooks, in a recent column for the New York Times said that the U.S. has one clear advantage over Chinese competition: branding. He notes that U.S. firms are powered by “eccentric failed novelists” (presumably from agencies and consulting firms that are gifted at brand positioning and execution) and “visionary founders” (think Steve Jobs) who have created exceptional brands.
Continue reading… “Why Chinese firms have weak branding”
Investment banks will no longer be the gatekeepers to access to capital markets.
The gatekeepers of access to the capital markets have traditionally been investment bankers. Now it is time for crowdfunding to play a greater role.
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.