What We're Reading

The giant international trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership died last week. It was supposed to be the largest regional trade deal in history.

The TPP itself was a massive 30-chapter lawbook that would have freed access to markets for things like car manufacturing, data storage, online commerce, intellectual property and medicines.

Hoards of technology and media companies supported the trade deal. Google was pro TPP. As was Microsoft, Apple and Facebook. The Motion Picture Association of America supported it too. The deal would have allowed them to make it easier to store user data across borders, offer stricter copyright protections and clamp down on digital pirating.

President-elect Donald Trump positioned his opposition to the trade deal as one of the defining issues of his campaign. He compared the TPP to the North American Free Trade Agreement of the 1990s that allowed U.S. manufacturers to move jobs to Mexico.

President Obama, on the other hand, was betting on th

The numbers are astounding, and hopefully help to create perspective on the scale of technology and business.  In just 10 seconds, close to 225,000 GB of data is transferred, with over 500,000 posts on Facebook, 57,000 tweets, 46,000 searches on Google, and 2 million messages sent on WhatsApp. 

There is no question that the most profound factor affecting modern life is the ability to replicate and store data at almost no cost. This revolution in information has provided us with a wealth of benefits and possibilities for an incredibly low marginal price.

At zero cost, we can connect to a global store of all human knowledge. New apps with impressive features can cost less than a dollar, and our monthly Netflix subscriptions hardly register on our credit card statements. Meanwhile, we share our thoughts about the world with our friends and family at no cost through social networks, email, or other means of communications. This hasn’t been possible throughout human existence, and it is onl

There are a lot of things the world does better than the US: Literacy, life expectancy, general happiness, and, of course, soccer. You can now add Netflix to that list.

On Monday (Sept. 14), the US streaming television service updated (and redesigned) its monthly speed index website, where it ranks Netflix speeds by internet provider. Given that the company has expanded into over 50 countries, with plans for hundreds more, the index now ranks Netflix speeds by country as well.

The US and Canada, where Netflix accounts for a whopping 37% of peak web traffic, are both in the middle of the pack when it comes to Netflix speeds. Scandinavian countries dominate the rankings, which shouldn’t be too surprising, as those same countries generally boast some of the fastest internet speeds in the world (pdf).

The index measures how well Netflix performs during prime viewing hours. Essentially, the higher the ranking, the better the Netflix viewing experience is in that country. Viewers in count

Once is a great while you come across a blogger who takes a subject in the limelight, such as Ted Cruz's ridiculous tweet today on Net Neutrality, and he proceeds to absolutely NAIL it explaining why he's wrong in such a way, that even a 5th grader can understand it. 

It's gone viral on Facebook and the comments continue to fly in.  Nice effort on Cruz's part to get the 'uninformed' and 'Obama haters' to turn against Net Neutrality without even knowing why..........because Cruz says so!  He has, after all, recently issed a comic book entitled "Ted Cruz Saves America".  *LOL*  This is classic.  Read on.

*Source: Consumerist.




Source: Washington Post via Netflix

Courtesy of Oatmeal

With the recent news that a Russian hacker ring has amassed some 1.2 billion username and password combinations, it's a good time to review ways to protect yourself online.

The hacking misdeeds were described in a New York Times story based on the findings of Hold Security, a Milwaukee firm that has a history of uncovering online security breaches.

Hold Security told the Times that the data was pilfered from some 420,000 websites and is "the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials." Hold's researchers did not identify the origins of the data or name the victim websites, citing nondisclosure agreements. The company also said it didn't want to name companies whose websites are still vulnerable to hacking, according to the Times report.

If there's reason to believe your information might have been compromised, change your passwords immediately.

One of the best things you can do is to make sure your new passwords are strong. Here are seven ways to fortify them:

• —Make your

Over the years, I've read over and over again that consolidations in an uptrend were a healthy phenomenon. Inability to break down meant investors (basically) have every faith in a companies abilities and find value at the current price.  After a consolidation (the longer the better) a move higher would come.  Let's look a few examples: (click all charts to enlarge)

AAPL is very well known for it's consolidations, or taking a "rest" before moving higher as this weekly chart reveals.  Investors clearly believed in their innovation and were willing to add to positions during these consolidation periods; thus holding up  the price and holding the range.   That's called appetite, right there.

In fact, the longer the consolidation, the greater the move holds true; especially when you take a look at the biotech ETF IBB.  After it's debut as a new ETF, investors found value in it at $40 and began to accumulate.  After a brief reversal up, held it in consolidation for an amazing eight year