What We're Reading

• Better than expected China PMI over the weekend and ECB meeting on Thursday with LTRO announcement being anticipated and a (speculative) rate cut to help boost their economy.
• $GOOG is planning on extending its customer base by offering internet usage to the un-wired regions of the world via satellite and boost revenue as well as earnings. The new project's estimated price ranges from $1B-$3B, and will start with 180 small, high-capacity satellites orbiting Earth at low altitude.  180 "low altitude"?  Just how many are up there anyway?  lol
• Cost-cutting in a digital age to continue.  Imagine the possibilities.  For example one bank digitized it's mortgage-application and decision process, cutting the cost per new mortgage by 70% and slashing time to preliminary approval from several days to just one minute. A telecom created a self-serve, prepaid service where customers could order and activate phones without back-office involvement. A shoe retailer built a system to manage its in-stor

Enough said

For those concerned about a bubble in startup land, the number of VC-backed companies attracting valuations north of $1 billion increased sharply this year.  “This clearly is shaping up to be the best year for IPOs in a decade,” said Steve Case, the former head of AOL and now head of his own private investment firm, Revolution.  IPOs are at the core of U.S. and global economic growth and job creation.  A sustainable IPO market requires valuations based on fundamental performance over the long-term. Today’s markets are focused instead on short-term trading profit extraction.  A bubble or the beginning of a new, higher trend?  You be the judge.

You may disagree on whether Dropbox is worth an estimated $9.6 billion, Pinterest, $3.8 billion, or Uber, $3.5 billion.  But you will agree on this: All are rich valuations and a surge of pre-IPO money is fueling them to extraordinary heights.

“This is momentum investing,” said Tim Guleri, managing director at Sierra Ventures. “Overall, too much o

At their inception, autos were considered speculative investments. In fact, so were railroads, the light bulb, telephone and internet.  They'll never catch on.  It'll be too expensive.  No one will be able to afford it.  There's no infrastructure for it.  It'll pass.  It's a FAD.

McKinsey feels "The world is on the cusp of a resource revolution". 

So, is cleantech failing? In a word, no. Rather, the sector has experienced a cycle of excitement followed by high (and often inflated) expectations, disillusionment, consolidation, and then stability as survivors pick up the pieces. We’ve seen this before with other once-emerging technologies.

The shakeout is brutal—and typical. It has weeded out weaker players, making the industry as a whole more robust. Despite the rough patch, annual growth is at double-digit rates. It’s also important to look beyond financial statements. Global wind installations, for example, have soared about 25 percent a year since 2006 (exhibit). And global co

• For all the worrying about weather impacting job creation, Trim Tabs say real time tax receipt data (allegedly more reliable than BLS data) suggests that the economy has been picking up steam.  24/7WallStreet
• A 8.2% magnitude earthquake overnight off the coast of Chile with a 2 meter tsunami.  Supposedly mining operations have not been affected buy you try to tell that to silver and gold this morning.  They're not buying it (so far)
• Interesting metrics from Flurry on mobile usage today.  GOOG accounts for 18% of time spent by consumers which includes YouTube, while FB is 17%.   Android web browsing is losing market share, going from 20% or usage down to 14%
• Facebook apps continue to hold strength ahead of Google according to Comscore data..  Twitter's app was only used by 22.8% of U.S. smartphone users in January. 77.6% used Facebook's core app, and 27.5% Instagram. Five different Google apps were used by over 40% of users.
• The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) met it's targ

We've already seen China build subdivisions, a mall, amusement park, a university and more, all sitting (essentially) empty so what is next?   For your consideration, this McKinsey video where their research shows that over the next 10 years, China plans to spend tens of billions of dollars building thousands of kilometers of metro lines to connect 35 cities (I wonder how many of those are currently ghost cities) which will not only transport people, but enormously improve efficiencies on shipment of goods.

I still remember being kept after class and having to clean the erasers, clouds of white dust billowing through the air leaving a film across my skin and causing me to cough like a three-pack-a-day smoker.  The smell is imbedded in my memory as if it as yesterday.   Boy are those days gone.

Fast forward to 2013 and not only are tablets and ipads becoming more prevalent in the classroom, but phones can share files with merely a touch and "the cloud" is only beginning to penetrate the education system, but what lies ahead for technology in the classroom?

For over a decade, the New Media Consortium (NMC) has been charting the landscape of emerging technologies in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry on a global scale.  Here are some quick insights....ALL within the next 4-5 years: (comments in italics mine)

• By the end of this year, the mobile market is expected to consist of over 7 billion accounts
• Mobile users will have downloaded 70 billion apps across smartphones and ta

I see education in the future being done exclusively in the home Via the Web and Biometric ID or as I like to call em the "digital truancy officers." Also consisting of virtual hologram technology. Both on the lower and higher levels meaning pre-k on up to collegiate. Not only driven by advancements in technology, but combined with the vast data resources/info present NOW that would allow us to do so. And for sure within 10 years time. It's a shame that MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte's XO-Laptop or the "$100 Laptop for Every Child in the World Program" was just a little early. But not wasted nor in vain. Yet one of the Bush Family members is capitalising on the revamping of the computer aided education system not only in this country, but in the bombed out countries we invaded and destroyed their school systems in. A story for another time. The power that be were just too stacked against it along with where we were development and market release wise.. Also with the added catalyst o