Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Google Brings Its Interactive, 360-Degree “Spotlight Stories” To YouTube

From TechCrunch:

Sls specialdelivery twitter 1 1
From TechCrunch:

Google is bringing its Spotlight Stories – immersive, 360-degree animated videos meant to introduce a new form of storytelling – to YouTube, the company announced this morning. The first story to arrive is a holiday film called “Special Delivery,” from Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations. This movie will now be viewable on the YouTube app on many Android devices, allowing you to experience the interactive movie by moving your phone around to watch various scenes.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/22/google-brings-its-interactive-360-degree-spotlight-stories-to-youtube/

Women In Tech Predict Major Change In 2016

From Forbes:
A huge revolution is taking place in the technology industry, with women forming an increasing part of leadership and the entire tech workforce. Women see the change gaining momentum as we go into 2016.
I spoke to several leading women in technology to hear their perspectives on what comes next.
“ My hope for girls and women in tech in 2016 is that we continue to build and expand upon the current progress that has happened over the last three years ,” says Tracey Welson Rossman, founder of TechGirlz, a non-profit focused on getting more girls in technology studies through middle and high school.
Welson Rossman, who is also head of marketing at tech business Chariot Solutions, adds: “Having more companies, leaders, media, parents, teachers, girls and women understand the importance of training, teaching, encouraging and supporting girls and women in all aspects of innovation and technology will help move the needle faster and sooner.”
The Change Is Happening
Patience will be vital as the shift continues to a more gender-balanced tech classroom and tech workforce, she says. More and more women want to participate in the tech economy, given its multiple opportunities around coding, security, robotics, user experience and entepreneurship – evidenced in part by fast growth in annual events such as the Women in Tech Summit that takes place in several US cities.
A number of signs are looking particularly positive for 2016. Non-profit educational organization Girls Who Code has taught over 10,000 young women software coding skills and ensured over 20 large companies have pledged will share paid internships and other opportunities with its students.
Its founder, Reshma Saujani, tells me that the companies signing up to the ‘Hire Me’ pledge is “the surest sign yet that the sector is ready to close the gender gap in its workforce”.
At AT&T, one of the signatories to the pledge, executive director Stephanie Lynch-Habib says “the opportunity to improve results is driving greater interest” from girls and women to enter the industry.
“I hope and expect that 2016 will continue the amazing trajectory of women in technology coming to the forefront – helping to further chip away at the gender gap in the tech sector,” she adds. Positive forces driving the change “include grass-roots, girls-in-STEM initiatives, the amazing feats and examples of women tech leaders, and the proliferation of social media, mobile devices and now the Internet of Things.
http://www.forbes.com/sites#/sites/leoking/2015/12/18/women-in-tech-2016-predictions-alicia-syrett-jj-digeronimo-techgirlz-girlswhocode/?utm_campaign=ForbesWoman&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_channel=Technology&linkId=19702077


Google's Enterprise Value Quietly Surpasses Apple

From Zero Hedge:

since early 2014, "no brainer" Apple's Enterprise Value has fallen below that of its tech giant super-hero nemesis Alphabet (the company formerly known as Google). Since early July, Apple has lost a stunning $112 billion of 'value' while Alphabet has added over $150 billion. In September we asked "have we reached peak Apple?" it appears, for now, the answer is in.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-29/googles-enterprise-value-quietly-surpasses-apple


Wednesday, December 23, 2015

카톨릭 신자는 아니지만 평화방송의 두 프로그램을 즐겨 듣는데 수녀님이 진행하시는 기도의 오솔길과 신부님이 진행하시는 신부님, 신부님, 우리 신부님이란 프로그램이다.  기도의 오솔길에선는 중보기도를 요청하는 사연과 말씀기도를 수녀님께서 전해주시는데 이번 주 월요일에 말씀해 주신 고린도전서를 함께 나눕니다.  한국에 계신분들에게는 해피 성탄이고 외국에 계신 분들에게는 Have a wonderful Christmas.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all to the poor and my body to hardship, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, or boast, or is proud. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
1 Corinthians13

Friday, December 18, 2015

Michael Hudson: The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia

From Naked Capitalism:

How the West is deploying the IMF to fight the nightmare scenario of US geopolitical strategists: foreign economic independence from the US.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/12/michael-hudson-the-imf-changes-its-rules-to-isolate-china-and-russia.html





한국경제 체력, 일본식 장기 불황 견뎌내지 못할 것

I would have to agree with a view from a thinktank of the ruling party.


조선일보로부터:

한국의 지금 경제 체력으로는 일본식 장기 불황이 닥쳤을 때 이를 견뎌 내지 못할 것이란 전망이 새누리당에서 나왔다. "일본의 '잃어버린 20년'을 따라갈 수 있다"는 얘기는 많은 전문가가 해 왔다. 이에 대해 집권 여당 싱크탱크에서 "그 가능성이 높을 뿐 아니라, 견뎌 내기도 어려울 것"이라고 한 것이다.

새누리당 여의도연구원은 17일 당 최고위원회에 이런 내용이 포함된 '한국 경제 긴급 진단' 보고서를 대외비로 전달했다.
 
1989년의 일본은 GDP(국내총생산) 세계 2위, 수출액 세계 3위, 출산율 1.54의 비교적 튼튼한 경제였는데, 우리나라는 GDP 13위(이하 2014년 기준), 수출 6위, 출산율 1.21로 더 허약하다는 것이다. 김종석 여의도연구원장은 "획기적인 구조 개혁 정책이 시급한 상황"이라고 보고했다.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Fed Raises Benchmark Rate 25 Basis Points, Says 'Gradual' Instead of 'Measured'

From Jesse's cafe:

The distinction is that 'gradual' means as needed, or as seen to be necessary by the ongoing data.

'Measured' was meant to imply a steady 25 basis point at a time rate of increases to an objective which some thought to be 100 bp.

The Fed Funds target rate will be from 25 to 50 basis points, and the amount which the Fed pays to the Banks on excess reserves will be increased to 50 basis points.

In the second press release below, the NY Fed says that they have about $2 Trillion at the ready to back up the Fed's targets.

As suspected, the Fed raised, but it is very likely to be quite gradual, since the data does not fully support it despite all the verbage which has been put out there to justify it.

So to accentuate a very important point, this is not your father's interest rate tightening cycle.

The Fed is raising rates in order to 'end' ZIRP and to begin to provide themselves some maneuvering room out of the policy corner into which they had painted themselves in their thrashing within a credibility trap of lack of reform, top down stimulus, and thereby a continuing lack of broad, organic recovery which is apparent to all those who are not blinded by an ideological bias, a preoccupation with abstract and otherworldly models, and/or their paychecks.


http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2015/12/fed-raises-benchmark-rate-25-basis.html

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Silicon City: How New York Gave Birth to Today's Tech World

From PCMag:

The heart of the technology world may be Silicon Valley these days, but for a long time, the tech world was actually centered in New York, notably around companies like AT&T and IBM. A new exhibit called “Silicon City” at the New York Historical Society, which runs through April 17, recalls those days and the inventions that ushered in the information age. Walking through the exhibit is a great reminder of the area’s contributions to technology and I relished the nostalgia of looking back at products I hadn’t seen in years.
The exhibit focuses on the period when New York and the surrounding areas were preeminent in technology, from the 19th century until the 1980s, according to Chief Curator Stephen Edidin. He said the exhibit was inspired by the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

http://forwardthinking.pcmag.com/none/340122-silicon-city-how-new-york-gave-birth-to-today-s-tech-world

IMF 외환위기 때는 급성질환.. 지금의 경제 위기는 만성질환

In my view, the current situation of Korea is more dire than that of 1997.

조선비즈로부터:

최근 일각에서는 한국 경제 상황이 1997년 외환 위기 직전과 흡사하다는 우려까지 나오는 판국이다. 그때나 지금이나 엔저 공세로 기업의 수출 경쟁력과 채산성이 약화되고, 부채 문제가 날로 심각해지고 있다는 점이 닮았다. 외환 위기 직전엔 기업 부채가, 현재는 가계 부채가 한계에 다다른 상황이다.

중국과 일본 사이에 끼인 한국 경제의 처지도 닮았다. 1997년 처음 등장한 단어 '넛 크래커(선진국에 밀리고 중국에 쫓기는 상황을 빗댄 표현)'는 최근 중국이 우리와 기술 격차를 좁혀오자 다시 회자되고 있다.
 
이 같은 근본적 차이에도 20년 전과 비교해서 한국 경제 위기론이 등장하는 배경에는, 만성 질환에 무뎌진 위기 불감증을 심각하게 경계해야 한다는 경고가 깔려있다. 강봉균 전 재정경제부 장관은 "외환 위기가 급성질환이었다면 지금의 위기는 사람으로 치면 비만이나 성인병 같은 만성질환이어서 20년 전처럼 순식간에 무너지지는 않겠지만 오히려 치유는 지금이 더 어려울 수도 있다"고 말했다.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Your Barbie Could Be Spying On You

From iflscienc:
Your Barbie Could Be Spying On You IFLScience

Well, this is pretty creepy. Did you know there is a Hello Barbie doll that listens to whatchildren say and responds to them with voice recognition via the Internet? Well, there is – and a report has found a security flaw in the doll that means hackers could have quite easily gained access to the voice recordings.
According to researchers from security firm Bluebox Labs and independent researcher Andrew Hay, it is possible that hackers could intercept encrypted data that the toy, made by Mattel and ToyTalk, sent to its host servers over Internet via Wi-Fi, such as children’s recordings. It should be noted that there were no actual reports of this occurring – the research simply outlined this was a possibility.

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/barbie-doll-records-your-voice-has-hackable-security-flaw

저성장 현실화..정부, 경제살리기 총력전

Is Koreea facing a looming crisis?

연합뉴스로부터:

작년 4분기를 제외하면 금융위기 당시였던 2009년 1분기(0.1%) 이후 6년 만에 가장 낮았다.
수출 부진도 심화했다. 수출은 올해 첫 달부터 감소세를 보이더니 11월까지 11개월 연속 마이너스를 기록했다. 올해 전체로도 마이너스가 불가피하다.

나라 밖에서도 한국 경제를 위협하는 요인이 많았다.
금융위기 이후 유례없는 양적완화를 펼쳤던 미국은 연내 기준금리 인상 가능성을 계속 암시해 세계 금융시장과 신흥국 경제를 출렁이게 했다.
한국 수출시장의 25% 상당을 차지하는 중국은 올해 1∼3분기에 6.9%의 성장률을 보이면서 경기 경착륙 우려를 불러일으켰다.
중국은 또 증시가 급락하면서 과잉생산, 부동산 거품, 부실자산 등 구조적 문제까지 노출해 한국의 대외여건을 더 불투명하게 만들었다.
내부적으로는 1천200조원에 육박한 가계부채와 더불어 인구 고령화 및 저출산 추세 등 사회구조적인 요인으로 소비시장이 성장의 한계를 맞았다.
 
◇ 통화·재정 정책 총동원 경제살리기…구조개혁도 추진
지난해 세월호 참사 이후 어렵게 살아난 경기 회복의 불씨가 위태롭게 되자 정책 당국은 가능한 수단을 대부분 동원해 경제 살리기 총력전에 나섰다.
통화 당국이 먼저 움직였다.
지난해 2차례 기준금리를 내렸던 한국은행은 3월에 기준금리를 2.00%에서 1.75%로 내렸다.
한은은 3월의 금리 인하에도 소비 회복세가 확대되지 않고 수출 부진이 이어지는 가운데 메르스까지 발생하자 6월에 기준금리를 사상 최저 수준인 1.50%로 다시 내렸다.
 
재정당국인 정부도 나섰다.
메르스에 가뭄이 겹치면서 산업계의 심리까지 극도로 침체될 위기를 맞자 정부는 2013년에 이어 추가경정예산 카드를 꺼내 들었다.
정부는 7월 초 국무회의에서 11조8천억원의 추경 예산안을 의결했고 국회는 같은 달 말 11조5천639억원 규모로 추경 예산안을 통과시켰다.
정부의 적극적인 경기부양 노력에도 소비는 쉽게 살아나지 않았다.
그러자 정부는 추석을 앞둔 8월에 소비진작 대책을 발표했다. 자동차와 대형 가전제품의 개별소비세율을 5%에서 3.5%로 내리고 코리아 블랙프라이데이 등 다양한 소비 촉진 마케팅 행사를 마련했다.
덕분에 소비심리는 살아났고 수출 추락 속에 소비의 힘으로 3분기 경제성장률은 1.3%까지 상승했다.
정부는 단기적인 경기부양 정책을 추진하면서 노동, 공공, 금융, 교육 등 4대 부문의 구조개혁에도 박차를 가해 장기적인 성장의 틀을 마련하려고 시도했다.
 
http://media.daum.net/economic/others/newsview?newsid=20151214080213967

'카드론', 2010년 이후 최대 증가.."한도관리 필요"

Korea underwent a credit card crisis before.

머니투데이로부터:

13일 금융권에 따르면 올해 카드론 이용액은 34조원에 이를 것으로 추정된다. 2000년대 10조원대를 기록하던 카드론은 2010년 20조원 시대에 들어섰고 지난해에는 30조원을 넘어서는 등 꾸준히 증가하고 있다.
/그래픽=김지영 디자이너

문제는 증가율이 가팔라지고 있다는 점이다. 올해 상반기 카드론 이용액은 17조원으로 전년동기대비 19.7% 급증했다. 올해 연간 증가율은 13.3%에 이를 것으로 추정된다. 이는 2010년 이후 최고치다.
http://media.daum.net/economic/finance/newsview?newsid=20151214053028299

Sunday, December 13, 2015

“'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace and goodwill toward men.'"

Luke 2:10

The Eerie Echo Of 2007: It Really Is Bear Stearns, All Over Again

From Zero Hedge:

In a supreme twist of irony, Bear Stearns is back - maybe not the firm itself - but the people who were in charge of its distressed and junk bond trading group, and just like the summer of 2007, it is an ex "Bear"-run hedge fund that was the first to gate, just as the credit cycle is turning and the default cycle has begun, as we explained last week, just one day before everyone's attention finally focused on junk debt.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-12/eerie-echo-2007-it-really-bear-stearns-all-over-again

Demise of the U.S. middle class now official

From Naked Capitalism:

 study by Pew gives a new look at the fall of the middle class and how the accompanying rise in income stratification is playing out.

The Financial Times headline is uncharacteristically dramatic: America’s Middle Class Meltdown: core shrinks to half of US homes. And I find their infographic that charts the the shrinkage of the middle class cohort over time to be more informative than the Pew charts that presented the same information; we are partially replicating it by showing the starting and end shots:
Screen shot 2015-12-10 at 4.41.01 AM
Screen shot 2015-12-10 at 4.42.45 AM

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/12/demise-of-the-us-middle-class-now-official.html

American Exceptionalism: Endless War, Parasitic Financialisation, Wage Stagnation, and Oligarchy

From Jesse's cafe:

What went wrong? Follow the money. The American republic has been waylaid and twisted for the very obvious benefit a powerful few, and is in dire need of genuine political and financial reform.

These charts are from Jeremy Grantham in Give Me the Good News, with a hat tip to Zerohedge.




http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2015/12/american-exceptionalism-endless-war.html

“MIT needs to step up and protect its community”

From Adafruit blog:

I am asking is that MIT fix its approach and stand behind the people who make its community what it is, and as part of that, commit to providing support in the inevitable future situations when they occur.

I propose that MIT make a shift in its stance. MIT must find a way to value the culture that its name stands for. The current take-least-action policies of the General Counsel’s Office need to be weighed as costs also, accounting for the long-term impact that it has. Innovation is not (should not be) solely measured in terms of lucrative filed IP. Upstream from that, is an even more precious environment for experimenting. Legally protecting members of the MIT community is fundamental to protecting MIT the institution long-term. MIT must be aware of what it stands to lose if it does not.

https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/12/11/mit-needs-to-step-up-and-protect-its-community-mit-starsandrobots-f2i/

韓 제조업 경쟁력 5위.. 5년후 인도에 밀려




Productive capacity is the wealth of a nation.  Although manufacturing decline may have been a natural state of development, manufacturing base is still important for further technological advance and job creation.  Korea has undergone a deindustrialization process and good quality jobs have disappeared.

조선비즈로부터:

한국의 제조업 경쟁력 순위가 올해 중국에 뒤처진 세계 5위이며 2020년에는 인도에도 추월당해 6위로 밀릴 것으로 분석됐다.
컨설팅·회계 기업인 딜로이트는 11일 발표한 '글로벌 제조업 경쟁력 지수'에서 한국을 중국과 미국, 독일, 일본에 이은 세계 5위라고 밝혔다. '5년 후 예측'에서는 올해 11위인 인도가 한국을 제치고 5위가 될 것으로 예상했다.이 조사는 세계 제조 기업 CEO와 고위 임원 등 550명을 상대로 한 것이다. 인도의 부상(浮上)은 작년 5월 취임한 모디 총리의 제조업 육성 전략이 높은 평가를 받고 있기 때문이다.



http://media.daum.net/economic/world/newsview?newsid=20151212030709087

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The IMF Just Entered The Cold War - Forgives Ukraine's Debt To Russia

From Zero Hedge:

The IMF has now been drawn into the U.S. Cold War orbit. On Tuesday it made a radical decision to dismantle the condition that had integrated the global financial system for the past half century... By doing so, it announced its new policy: “We only enforce debts owed in US dollars to US allies.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-09/imf-just-entered-cold-war-forgives-ukraines-debt-russia

The Nation: In South Korea, a Dictator’s Daughter Cracks Down on Labor

This is a controversial article.  In broader context, linking state-led capitalism and dictatorship is not a simple one.  Addpvosyomh market-economy eiyh democracy is a complicated one as well.  I'd like to do a post on this complex issue when I have time.

From the Nation:

Following in the footsteps of her dictator father, South Korea’s President, Park Geun-hye, is cracking down on labor and citizens groups opposed to the increasingly authoritarian policies of her ruling “New Frontier” party known as Saenuri.

The situation could reach a critical point this weekend, when tens of thousands of workers organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) join forces with farmers, students, and other civic organizations in a national action in Seoul to protest Park’s conservative labor, education, and trade policies.

In 1979, Park’s government was in the midst of a savage repression of workers and students who were trying to organize for improved conditions and livable wages during a time of rapid, export-led economic growth. After his death, conditions worsened when another general, Chun Doo Hwan, took over in a bloody coup that culminated in the Kwangju citizens’ uprising, which was put down with assistance from the United States. Chun continued Park’s draconian treatment of unions and dissidents for nearly a decade.
A democratic system was finally established in 1987 after millions of Koreans filled Seoul’s streets for weeks, demanding an end to military rule and for direct elections of their president. It was out of that tumult, and a series of famous industrial strikes, that the KCTU was born. It is now the country’s second-largest union group and by far the most militant.

http://www.thenation.com/article/in-south-korea-a-dictators-daughter-cracks-down-on-labor/

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Canada Just Warned That Negative Interest Rates Are Coming

From Zero Hedge:

Moments ago, the Bank of Canada's chief finally said what we had been patiently waiting for over the past several months: admission that Europe's experiment with negative rates is about to cross the Atlantic.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-08/canada-just-hinted-negative-interest-rates-are-coming

中企 "인재 직접 키우겠다".. 대학에 맞춤학과 추진

This would be a good move.

동아일보로부터:

12개 협동조합 첫 협력.. 폴리텍대학과 실습교육-체험 연계현장에 필요한 인력 육성하기로

A사는 채용박람회를 다니며 수소문한 끝에 올해 신입사원 6명을 채용했다. 하지만 6개월도 안 돼 5명이 하나둘씩 퇴사했다. A사 총무팀장은 “통상 6개월은 정상 근무해야 기계를 돌릴 역량이 되는데 걱정이다. 지금도 인력 30여 명이 부족하다”며 한숨을 쉬었다.


이처럼 만성적인 인력난에 시달리는 중소기업들이 힘을 모아 해결책 마련에 나섰다. 중소기업중앙회는 산업별 협동조합을 모아 고교·대학과 연계해 맞춤형 인력을 양성하고 취업을 주선하기로 했다고 8일 밝혔다. 현재 총 12개 조합이 뜻을 모았다. 중소기업계가 요구해온 ‘파견 허용업종 확대’를 비롯한 노동개혁 관련 5개 법안 처리가 국회에서 지지부진한 가운데 자체적으로 돌파구 찾기에 나선 것이다. 양옥석 중기중앙회 제조뿌리산업부장은 “업종이 다른 협동조합들이 인력 확충을 위해 조직적으로 힘을 모은 건 처음”이라고 말했다.
 

한국 앞지른 LCD 투자.. 중국의 대역습

This is what Korea used to do so well: early investment in scale-intensive industries.  Now China is playing catch-up.

동아일보로부터:

“시황에 신경 쓰지 않고 투자해 세계 1위가 되겠다.”
중국 최대 액정표시장치(LCD) 디스플레이 제조사인 BOE(중국명 징둥팡·京東方)는 이달 2일 안후이(安徽) 성 허페이(合肥) 시에서 10.5세대 패널 공장 기공식을 열었다. 축구장 20개가 넘는 크기의 이 공장이 2018년 완공되면 월 9만 장의 패널을 뽑아내 65인치 이상의 대형 TV용으로 공급하게 된다. 왕둥성(王東升) BOE 회장은 현지 관영매체와의 인터뷰에서 “시황을 고려하지 않고 투자를 늘려 2022년 삼성과 LG를 넘어 세계 1위가 되겠다”고 공언했다. 제품 가격 하락을 고려하지 않고 생산량을 늘리겠다는 것이다.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

"The way we may be sure that we know the Lord is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked."
1 John 2:3-6

Global Tax Dodging Just One Part of Pfizer’s Corrupt Business Model

Naked Capitalism:

Pfizer whines about needing higher drug prices, when rather than investing, it has spent over 100% of its profits on stock buybacks and dividends.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/12/global-tax-dodging-just-one-part-of-pfizers-corrupt-business-model.html

Do You Really Want to Raise Money From a Venture Capitalist?

From Zero Hedge:

Companies have different capital requirements during their life-cycle, but as I mentioned last week, it is an entrepreneur's job to identify the most efficient and attractive source of capital at any given point in the company's life-cycle.

All that said, VCs are going to protect themselves. They understand they are investing in a risky asset class and will limit those risks as much as is possible. They're going to demand liquidation preferences, maybe even 2x, and they're going to take board seats.

Friday, December 4, 2015

How Google Inspired Raspberry Pi’s $5 Computer

Given macroeconomic conditions, I would agree with Mr. Schmidt.

From Blogs.wsf.com:

NewImage

A chance encounter with Alphabet Inc.’s Google chairman Eric Schmidt in January 2013 led the head of a British nonprofit that makes bare-necessities computers to ditch his plans for a more expensive version of its popular $35 computer, the Raspberry Pi. The Cambridge, U.K.-based Raspberry Pi Foundation had received a $1 million grant from Google to distribute 15,000 units of the build-it-yourself, programmable Raspberry Pi computers to schoolchildren.
At an event announcing the donation—Schmidt happened to be in the U.K. at the time—the Google chairman wanted to know what the foundation was working on next.
“I told him we were thinking of making future Raspberry Pi’s a little bit more expensive, up at about $50 or $60, and a bit more powerful,” Eben Upton, the foundation’s founder, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Mr. Schmidt, says Mr. Upton, said that was the wrong thing to do, and told the foundation’s founder he should aim for as low cost a computer as possible.
“He said it was very hard to compete with cheap. He made a very compelling case. It was a life-changing conversation,” Mr. Upton said, adding that he went back to the lab and scrapped all the engineering plans for more expensive versions of future Pi computers. “The idea was to make a more powerful thing at the same price, and then make a cheaper thing with the same power.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/11/26/raspberry-pi-rolls-out-5-computer/

Robots Made Fast-Food Workers Obsolete: Now They Are Coming After These 791,200 Jobs

From Zero Hedge:

For the hundreds of thousands of warehouse, retail and storage workers who will soon be made obsolete, please meet your nemesis: the robot who will do your job without complaints, asking for a pay raise (or salary), or ever threatening to unionize.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-04/robots-made-fast-food-workers-obsolete-now-they-are-coming-after-these-791200-jobs

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Apple Just Patented a Full Color 3D Printer Concept

From Makezine:
Screen Shot 2015-12-03 at 10.22.28 AM
Apple has built its legacy by taking new technologies and innovating on them for ease of use, as seen with the iPod, iTunes, iOS, and so forth. Now their latest patent describes a full-color 3D printer that could possibly do the same for additive manufacturing.

The patent, filed today and titled “Method And Apparatus For Three Dimensional Printing Of Colored Objects” describes a two-head printer, one that deposits filament, and another that applies coloring to the model as it prints. It includes a simple illustration of the machine, but with detailed notes of various configurations being researched, including cartesian, articulated arm, and rotating platform styles.
http://makezine.com/2015/12/03/apple-3d-printer-patent/

장하성: 10대기업 고용 4% 기여

With all due reprect, I would have to disagree with him in some aspects.  And yet, he raises some important, thorny issues.

The old economic model the former president Park Chung-hee engineered had many fundamental problems.  Some led to the 1997 financial crisis. (I don't have time to elaborate on this now, while I have done in my books.  Unfortunately, the current president Park Guen-hye a daughter of Park Chung-hee doesn't seem to realize that.  Pursuing the so-called creative economy initiative and not realizing the downsides of his father's model is a dangerous combination.  The recently deceased president Kim Young-sam commited a similar mistake in implementing the globalization policy.  So did Kim Dae-jung who financialized the Korean economy to a significant degree.

The reasons why manufacturing-based, chaebol-centered, export-dependent economy model of Park Chung-hee succeeded in the early decades of economic developemtn are multifaceted.  Without taking into account the external conditions and Korea's relationship with the U.S., glorifying the old model is dangerous as well.

Korea shoud have prepared itself for the post-manufacturing era and the long-term health of the economy and society.  Quite a few intelligent folks in Korea and abroad visit my blog, so they would get my drift.

한국일보로부터:

2일 오후 서울 성북구 고려대 연구실에서 만난 장하성 교수는 “고용에 불과 4%만 기여하는 100대 기업이 전체 이익의 60%를 가져가는 현 구조는 어떤 합리적 경제이론으로도 설명이 불가하다”고 강조했다.

“한국은행 자료 등을 분석해보면, 100대 기업은 전체 고용에 딱 4%만 기여한다. 중소기업은 70%다. 그런데 고용은 딱 4% 하는 자들이 전체 이익의 60%를 가져가는 구조다. 중소기업은 그 절반밖에 못 가진다. 임금 불평등은 고용 불평등에서 온다. 이 구조가 계속되면 평등하게 살 방법이 없다. 지금 한국에선 누구의 자산이 많고 적음이 결정적 문제가 아니다. 국민들의 절대다수는 힘들게 일하고도 임금이 안 늘어서 문제지, 배당을 못 받는 게 문제가 아니다.”
-성장을 향해 맹목적으로 달려왔지만 대기업 곳간만 채웠단 얘긴데.
“대기업도 아니고 초대기업 일부의 곳간이다. 간과하고 있는 사실이 1997년까진 불평등이 완화된 점이다. 보통 고속성장 할 때는 불평등이 심화하는데 우린 그렇진 않았다. 이 시기 중산층 소득증가율이 초고소득층보다 높았다. 그게 잘 알려지지 않은 또 하나의 기적이다. 그러다 외환위기 때 모든 게 반전됐다. 고용 유연화로 비정규직이 생겼고, 임금은 동결됐고, 30대 재벌 중 16개 군데가 망하고 나머지가 시장을 장악하며 대기업 집중은 심화했다. 초대기업과 나머지 하청기업들로 기업이 양분되고 소득구조가 이렇게 됐다.”
 

Duke U. Study Suggests The Fed Consistently Leaked Non-Public Information to Select Insiders

From Jesse's cafe:

This excerpt from a Duke University study is just in from my friend Professor Anthony Sanders at George Mason University, who writes at Confounded Interest.

In reading the paper I did not necessarily get the sense that this was a nefarious form of communication. More like the kind of collegial exchanges of information that are so common to the revolving door nature of our modern financial regime. There are two sets of rules, and two methods of handling things. And insiders never speak ill of the actions of other insiders.

This is the 'money shot' from the
abstract of the paper which is tracks the distribution of stock market gains over the FOMC information cycle:
"High return weeks do not line up with public information releases from the Federal Reserve or with the frequency of speeches by Fed officials.

Systematic informal communication of Federal Reserve officials with the media and the financial sector is a more plausible information transmission mechanism. We discuss the social costs and benefits of this method of communication."

And in related news, the Congress has just used its power to block an investigation of its own insider trading. Again.

Remember this blog post from 2011?
Credibility Trap: US Congressmen and Their Staffs Regularly Engage In Insider Trading

It is hard to escape the credibility trap as a plausible explanation for the lack of serious financial reform and transparency in a system that has been shown to be plagued with a lack of sound regulatory oversight, price manipulation, and corruption in almost every major market.

I would certainly hope that there is a different explanation for what appears to be systematic insider trading since at least 1994.

Here is what Tony has to say about this Duke University paper at his blog:

Fed Consistently Leaked Non-Public Information to Selected Insiders

Researchers at Duke University and the University of California at Berkeley point to quantitative evidence that The Fed consistently leaks non-public information about its meetings, driving an investment pattern that has led to market gains.

Here is the paper: 292092121-Stock-Returns-Over-The-FOMC-Cycle
 http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2015/12/study-suggests-that-fed-consistently.html

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

This pop-up book contains a working camera

I like this sort of attempt.  Learning can be easy and fun.

From UFUNK:

NewImage

What better way to learn photography than a camera? It’s the brilliant idea of the pop-up book entitled This Book is a Camera, which hides inside a real functional camera, to illustrate the principles of photography that it explains. Designed by artist Kelli Anderson, this pop-up book contains a very simple optical system of pinhole camera, but also a starter pack of black-and-white Ilford photo paper, allowing you to better understand the concepts behind photography. A great idea! The pop-up book This Book is a Camera, is available for $29 on the artist’s website.

http://www.ufunk.net/en/gadgets/this-book-is-a-camera/