There was a time when three TV channels, a handful of metropolitan newspapers, and local radio stations told us what we needed to know. True, you could buy a book or a magazine for in-depth information, but, generally, our sources were limited compared with today, which then forces the question: do we have too much information?
- Almond milk sales are soaring, but is it good for you?
Here we go again. Eggs, coffee, and wine are three food sources that have gone through this ringer – good or bad for you? Is the Information Age turning us all into neurotics? I ask this because I drink almond milk rather than dairy. Should I switch to something else that will soon be reported as bad for the environment and bad for me? Should I not?
- Adblock Plus, which claims to be the most popular ad blocking tool, has been victorious again in court versus publishers who took out lawsuits against its owner company Eyeo demanding that users should not be allowed to legally block ads on their sites.
Hooray for common sense. I pay for my web sites because I pay for my Internet access, so I should be able to decide whether I want advertising or not. How crazy is the argument that you or I must be forced to see the advertisements if we don’t want to …
- Although network advertising would have us believe that all of our data is hovering up in the air, zigzagging between light and fluffy light cumulous clouds, in fact, most of it transits underground and underwater.
True, the Internet still depends on trans-ocean cables laid down in the 1950s and 1960s, but a lot of our data now comes through cellular, which is “data hovering up in the air,” moving gracefully from tower to tower or from earth to satellite and back again …
- The world’s two largest e-commerce companies—America’s Amazon and China’s Alibaba—are poised to begin an epic battle for supremacy in one of the world’s fastest growing online retail markets, India.
India has taken its time to get into the world-economic game. Full of promise, yet slow out of the gate, India has promised much and delivered little, until now, or so it appears with the battle between Alibaba and Amazon. Hey! An interesting thought just occurred to me.
In today’s new economic reality, you know, where major land wars with big guns and stuff really don’t help get you what you want (Think Russia), then maybe the war is fought on the economic battle field with conversion rates and click throughs. Maybe Amazon and Alibaba are proxies for China and the US (think Cold War) and both are fighting to gain control over the world’s next truly mega market? Makes sense to me …
- Engineers hunting for a way to make electronics more sustainable have hit on a novel invention – a semiconductor chip made almost entirely out of wood.
Seems the engineers above found a way to coat wood to reduce heat expansion and contraction, minimize moisture ingress, and make wood so smooth it can conduct flawlessly. Okay, so what is the likelihood of moving from oil-based, mass-produced, cheap semiconductors to organic-based, mass-produced, cheap semiconductors? Can these guys think of a way to create synthetic trees?
And now for the greedy …
- The Justice Department unsealed a 47-count indictment Wednesday morning against officials of FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, and others, charging 14 with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, among other wrongdoing in an alleged 24-year scheme to profit from international soccer.
The folks committing the crimes above point to that part of humanity which cares little for anyone but themselves. Their actions deprived young boys and girls around the world of precious money to develop soccer programs, particularly in the third-world countries where parents don’t have the money to set up and run ambitious soccer programs, all because enough is just not enough. Go get em Justice Department
And now for the stupid …
- Texas lawmakers passed a bill allowing faculty and students to carry concealed handguns inside classrooms on public and private college campuses.
Not much to say about the above, other than to say, enough with the stupidity.
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
