All posts by Danny Leeds

Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Danny is our resident video-artist and intrepid reporter.

Down nearly 4000 points in Five Days in Correction Territory, but Bear is Still Hiding in Plain Sight

At the time of this writing the DJIA futures are down nearly 400 additional points (1.54%) at 25,161. As is often the case at major market turning points there is talk of corrections (commonly measured as a drop of 10% but less than 20%) and, naturally, afterwards, a probable return to all time highs.

There are ridiculous attempts to “blame” the drop on the election, Bernie Sanders, The Corona Virus and even an intentional combination of all of the above to sabotage Trump’s re-election hopes.

The financial press has a similar job to the President, to calm fears. That’s why there are numerous articles that all say the same thing: don’t worry, corrections are healthy, by definition they represent a decline of 10% or more – and are not the start of a Bear Market. Unless they are.

There are articles advising to buy the dip, or to wait a little longer and then buy the dip. There are literally dozens of articles saying that virtually 100% of the downturn is based on “fears” that can be directly attributed to the Coronavirus.

More honest are the articles that use the word “amid” as in “Dow tumbles almost 1,200 points, 124-year record, amid coronavirus scare”. The word amid implying that the two things – the scare and the drop in stocks are in proximity, yet not necessarily a case of causation and causal correlation.

Naturally, being a part of the world economic situation, the virus and fears that it will spread and become a Pandemic have an impact. But 100%? As if all sellers are literally freaking out together about precisely this one thing?

Just as Summer leads to Fall and Fall Leads to Winter, there’s another Explanation the we should All Consider

The minority of the media weighing in, and from anecdotal evidence it is a tiny, tiny faction of the whole, actually mention the most likely and even obvious “cause” for the market showing a very strong propensity for decline at this juncture. The fact that Bull markets always end eventually and are followed by Bear markets.

Further, that the many all time highs that Trump has been touting at every opportunity were, in reality, the last throes of a bull market that was juiced in every possible way, initially to stimulate the economy after the 2008 “Great Recession” and, more recently, at Trump’s prodding, to help with his re-election efforts.

Optimism has been off the charts, and investing and paying insane sums to invest in companies that have zero profits was, until very recently, considered by many a permanent condition that would just keep expanding, along with the beneficiaries.

So, in the midst of all kinds of likely causes and reasons, the most obvious, the most likely, the most logical and the reason that is being emphasized by the extent that it is being ignored and ruled out stands out clearly, like a beacon in the fog.

A long overdue Bear Market has started. Just as with a virus threatening our health, it is best to be prepared if there is a chance ( possibly, a very significant chance) that it is coming.

Say the B Word, have no Fear, as Forewarned is Forearmed

So, rather than being behind the curve as wishful thinking grips us and makes literally any other explanation than the obvious one more attractive, it’s best to at least come to grips with the Bear Market scenario.

If this is the start of a Bear Market phase, here is what will happen next. This initial drop will continue for hours or days longer but not weeks. That will be followed by a rebound, possibly sharp, that will last a few weeks or even longer – climbing and clawing up takes longer than a straight drop.

Then, right around the time that all the articles are saying the worst is probably over, that all time highs are possible even likely, the next down phase will come. It will be at least as strong and deep as the current one and once it is about halfway through it’s decline many will begin to change perspective and become pessimistic for the first time in years.

So, prepare and be safe, both regarding your health, and finances. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst or, at least, the unanimously unexpected.

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Business, Stock Market

Black Swan? Coronavirus? Bernie Sanders? None of these are the reason for the Huge Stock Drop This Week

February 26, 2020 Danny Leeds

And, no, this is not a Conspiracy to Stop Trump from Getting Re-elected

This week, so far, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 1900 points in two days. Although the percentages were not record breaking the point totals qualified as the third and fourth highest loses ever. In the S&P the two day loss percentage was the largest since 2015: 6.3%, while the dollar calculation in market value for that same index was $1.7 trillion, as tabulated by S&P Dow Jones Indices.

In addition to the supposed calculations above the an all time record low for the 10-year Treasury yield was also noted. It is possible that in some cosmic way all of these factors played a role, except perhaps Trump’s delusional conspiracy theory.

You can be sure that if the market continues to decline in a prototypical Bear market pattern, the President will twist this theory and any other that comes to mind in an effort to blame anyone and anything. And, in truth, the coming issues trace back to the stimulus “rescue” actions (TARP) taken in 2008 and many actions not taken since. However, that does not absolve the current occupant of the White House of his ill-advised self-congratulations each time the market made new highs.

There is a perverse tendency to ascribe correlation to virtually anything that is negative in the news on a given day to a concurrent stock market decline. The same bad news on a day the markets rise suddenly morphs into strong “shrugging off” of the “headwinds” or are seen as proof of a “resilient” bullish potential.

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime, Creative Explanations for the Consecutive Down Days Abound

How about Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders causing $1.7 trillion in losses by threatening to become the democratic nominee – which could happen maybe in July? Or it’s just a “Black Swan” out of nowhere a one in a trillion event that is aimed at some specific detail in your life – like Trump projecting that this is all a plot to ruin his re-election hope. All just reasons to pretend that Bull markets are not followed, inevitably, by Bear markets, which, unfortunately they always are.

However, as counterweight to that pattern of assuming a correlation where there is none, are other facts. Such as the fact that the Coronavirus has been known and killing people for months and during that entire time the markets have risen substantially.

And, further, these kinds of superficial causality explanations fail to add context of anything beyond news stories. For example, this has been a nearly 11 year Bull market, the longest in history and more than twice as long as the 4.5 year average.

The measurements that show a likely peak in sentiment and a potential end (bull markets are always followed by bear markets, without exception) to the climb have been flashing red for some time. Of course, since many pundits are invested, literally, in an endless continuation of rising stock prices, there are those that argue that there were several tiny baby bear markets during the last decade, which would negate the longest ever status.

Many indicators and the wise predictors among asset managers are pointing towards at least a drop of 38% likely, which would qualify as a Bear market, but that is also a very conservative estimate.

Want to know more about Putin’s Corrupt Rise to power? Click to buy “Blowout” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores

Further, if available data and common sense are taken into consideration, it is possible that the markets could regain what has been lost in the last week and once again enter positive territory for the year. It is not likely, however, that any such bounce would be anything beyond a temporary respite before the Bear is back.

And the Cornavirus? We all hope that it will be contained and we can all rest a little easier. But don’t plan on stocks having a lock on the ups and downs of that saga, anymore that they are trading in lock-step with the trade war with China, for example. It is absolutely possible that both of those issues could be resolved and have no positive impact on stock prices whatsoever. Of course, if that happened there would be a new convenient scapegoat waiting in the wings.

All that being said, for anyone holding substantial sums in the markets, or if you happen to be an incumbent President, there is a dose of double trouble in the wind. Both the rapid plunge in stock prices and the rise of a potential global pandemic are negative and scary. One just doesn’t happen to be the cause of the other.

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Breaking News, Observation, Politics

Observation: Media Alarm Off the Charts over Rule of Law & Constitutional Emergency

February 23, 2020 Danny Leeds

The Press Responds with Extreme Concern as Last Line of Public Defense Against Trump’s Lawlessness

Media reporters have frequently panned Donald Trump ever since he announced his presidential campaign way back in 2015, and oftentimes for good reason. While many in the public like to play coy, find loopholes, and forgive the controversial President for his past and present wrongs, the objective press have done their job from day one, covering the Trump campaign and administration in nonpartisan print, for the most part, mirroring the facts on the ground.

All throughout the sexual allegations, the Mueller Report debacle, tax evasion accusations, and more, Trump has managed to weasel his way out of facing consequences and the press has dutifully reported on each occasion with measured impartiality. Bending over backwards, as it were, even as he attacked with cries of “fake news” and even singled out individual reports for his ire.

By 2017 the word “lie” in describing the, well, lies of Trumps tweets and speeches became commonplace. There was little alternative language that would suffice.

Recently, however, ever since the Senate acquitted Trump during the impeachment trial, there has been a second change in the press’ language and a shift in the media zeitgeist.

Because all evidence pointed to Trump’s guilt in soliciting election interference from Ukraine, yet he still got off scot free, many reporters are taking on a new, quasi-apocalyptic tone. According to several journalists, academics, writers, and theorists, Trump’s recent acquittal is the final straw, placing the United States in an unprecedented state of post-law politics that demands a call-to-action.

In “How far will you go to save our democracy from Donald Trump?” in Daily Kos the spectre of Tump refusing to accept the outcome of an election he loses is explored:

So then what? What if Trump loses the election, refuses to leave, and the GOP doesn’t make him? Can you imagine a scenario where Trump loses the popular vote AND the Electoral College, yet is still in office after a 5-4 vote in the Supreme Court? What would you do in this case? I am seriously asking YOU: Then what?

Trump has the GOP in his back pocket it seems, as all Republican Senators except Utah’s Mitt Romney defended him at the impeachment. Afraid to side with Democrats or damage their political careers, Republicans are essentially making Trump untouchable, prioritizing politics over morals and placing the President above the law.

Due to Trump’s political record of successfully bypassing legal boundaries, reporters are starting to question where the buck stops. If Republicans won’t reprimand Trump even when the evidence is glaring, then how far is the he able to go? If the Senate and House will protect Trump at all odds, then checks and balances become futile and American Democracy gets deformed.

Even well known outlets such as Salon.com are weighing in at this critical juncture in a way that goes beyond any previous level of alarm – and, bear in mind, Salon has been publishing since 1994 and was named by Time magazine one of the Best Web Sites of 1996.

In the recent Salon.com article “This isn’t an election: It’s a civil war, and our side isn’t necessarily winning” the venerated digital media outlet’s Lucian K. Truscott IV did not mince words:

…Trump also learned from Roy Cohn that you can steal stuff in plain sight and get away with it if you just say “Fuck you” loudly and often enough. I think that’s what Trump is doing to the whole country. He’s saying, “Fuck you. I never believed in your democracy, I never believed in your capitalism, I never believed in your establishment, and look what I did! I got elected president! Fuck you! I’m going to take everything I want! I’m going to fly Air Force One anywhere I want, and I’m going to play golf more often than Arnie Palmer, and I’m going to bellow racism and lies at my rallies, and I’m going to jack up the Secret Service for rooms at my resorts, and I’m not going to pay a fucking cent and what are you going to do about it? I’m going to call Vladimir Putin on the phone and I’m going to get him to help me steal another election, and fuck you.”

That’s Trump’s philosophy in a nutshell: do whatever you want and say “Fuck you.” He’s getting away with it the same way he got away with stiffing contractors and welching on bank loans and going into bankruptcy and taking out more loans and when they come due saying “Fuck you.”

-LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He has covered stories such as Watergate, the Stonewall riots and wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels and several unsuccessful motion pictures. He has three children, lives on the East End of Long Island and spends his time Worrying About the State of Our Nation and madly scribbling in a so-far fruitless attempt to Make Things Better. He can be followed on Facebook at The Rabbit Hole and on Twitter @LucianKTruscott.

Many now fear a Trump dictatorship built from chaos and lawlessness. Especially with the 2020 Election on the horizon, Trump has been quipping about the prospect of never leaving office—something that is obviously illegal in America and more fit for a monarchy. He is likely just saying this to enliven his followers and ruffle the media’s feathers. However, democracies have crumbled many times in the past and Trump has defied the Constitution enough times already, so who’s to say he won’t do it again?

Here’s an excerpt from “The Atlantic”:

One of Trump’s former confidants, Michael Cohen, has suggested that Trump won’t leave. In his congressional testimony before heading to prison, Trump’s former attorney said, “Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, there will never be a peaceful transition of power.”

Likewise, with the high turnover of people within Trump’s cabinet, the media is picking up on yet another domineering trend in the current presidency—whenever someone even hints at betraying the Commander in Chief, he or she ends up fired.

This manifested itself most recently with Trump’s removal of Joseph Maguire form the Director of National Intelligence position. On February 13th, Maguire found evidence that Russia planned to interfere with the 2020 election and briefed his findings to the president. All this was part of Maguire’s job, but Trump threw an enraged fit in response and ended up kicking Maguire out for good.

Perhaps MSNBC reporter Rachel Maddow summarized the state of the nation best in saying “The dark days are not coming, the dark days are here.”

Excerpt form her MSNBC show:

“This is not a warning. The dark days are not coming. The dark days are here, And so those of us who have imagined times like this for our country. You know, who might have thought that heroic thing for us to do as citizens if our country ever took these turns would be to sound the alarm, to articulate what’s wrong with the direction our country is taking and to warn people about where it’s heading.

For those of us who thought that would be the kind of heroism called for, we were wrong. Because at least now that’s no longer the form of heroism that we need. That time is past. These guys are not sneaking around trying to get away with stuff, and the heroism is catching them and telling people what they’re doing. They are proclaiming openly that the rules gone, they will do what they want, the government will be turned against you if you stand against this president. That is not a warning. That is where we are. And so what do we do?”

Waiting idly as Trump’s dangerous behavior and actions are framed as mere potential is no longer an option for the press. Reporters have an obligation to remain impartial, but they also have an obligation to tell the truth, and when America’s democracy is in jeopardy, the truth can often come off as more theatrical and incredible than any dodgy, downplayed professional omission ever could.

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Business, Tech

Facebook Sued by IRS over $9 Billion in Unpaid Taxes for Undervaluing Irish Subsidiary

February 21, 2020 Danny Leeds

Like Al Capone alleging an alternate Crime as a quicker way to Prosecute Social Media Gangster?

Facebook is in hot water once again; this time with the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS filed a lawsuit against the social network company for undervaluing a property it sold to an Irish subsidiary in 2010. The suit went to court in San Francisco on February 18th and Facebook expects that it will last three to four weeks.

If Facebook loses the suit, then the company will owe the IRS up to $9 billion in unpaid taxes plus interest and penalties. Facebook, however, refuses to plead guilty, claiming that its estimates were accurate when proposed, as the company was yet to receive immense ad revenue or reach wide international appeal in 2010.

Click to buy “Facebook: The Inside Story” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores

Just to clarify, what Facebook “sold” to Ireland in 2010 was not exactly a proper sale. Essentially, it was the original “American” Facebook outsourcing itself to its “Irish” Facebook subordinate. Such is not an uncommon practice for global businesses, especially in tech, for Ireland has very low corporate tax rates and thus is an easy place for companies to pocket extra billions of dollars in royalties every year.

While perhaps ethically shady, all of this is indeed legal for an American enterprise. It is but a sneaky loophole that Facebook is certainly not the first or last to take advantage of. According to the IRS, though, Facebook undersold itself to Ireland and thus ends up with a tax evasion charge.

Although a Pittance for the Giant Company there appears to be a Growing Pattern of Problems at Facebook

This is not the first time that a tech company has been caught red-handed getting criminally avaricious with this loophole. The European Union charged Apple Inc over $15 billion for receiving illegal Irish tax benefits in 2016. Similarly, just last year Google paid $1 billion after a French investigation dug into its international tax record. Google announced at the end of 2019 that it would stop abusing Ireland and the Netherlands for their tax incentives.

The trial is ongoing, and will see statements from Facebook executives such as hardware chief Andrew Bodsworth and Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer amongst others. CEO Mark Zuckerberg will likely not be called to the stand this time around. His legal testimonies will probably remain before Congress, wrapped in the realms of international espionage and data rights rather than dry taxation discrepancies. After all, to a company like Facebook or a guy like Zuck, what is $9 billion but a temporary fluctuation?

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Books, Business, Entertainment

Book Miracle: Gutsy Upstart Aims to Resuscitate Amazon’s Original Targets of Destruction

February 15, 2020 Danny Leeds

Amazon represents a New Normal but Not Everybody is Happy with That

From a consumer perspective it’s hard to argue with buying things at a very low price, often, in the case of books, below wholesale and with ridiculously fast free shipping. But who is paying for this? Mainly, it’s complicated, but it has traditionally been people and companies that sold books before the existence of Amazon, later known as the grim reaper, destroyed their businesses and livelihoods.

Recently, deep inside the Amazon system the rot is starting to show. Just as a camel is unlikely to pass through the eye of a needle, you don’t get to be a trillion dollar eCommerce retail giant without some internal corruption. A lot of internal corruption. Who knows? …as a customer, you might even encounter expired lemon curd or a used diaper along the way.

Compare this to Apple, a company that charges a premium for the best products and service. And for the caché of being part of a greater whole that stands for something other than “the cheapest no matter what”. Not without soiled hands perhaps, but on the other end of the spectrum from winning by selling at impossible prices. Instead it is a company known for building a brand that stands for quality, luxury and innovation above all.

Somewhere, on the good-guy side yet between these diametrically opposed behemoths now stands a new, tiny, alternative for the book world: Bookshop.Org

A Formula that just might Work, as People Gradually Realize that a Monopsony is Just as bad as a Monopoly

The ORG is important as it signals the true fact that this is a company with a purpose beyond profit and that it is a cooperative venture in nature. The site is founded as a bet that true Booklovers can be persuaded forego a few dollars of artificial price reduction to support a better entity, and still get a premium product and experience.

Bookshop.org is registered as a B-Corp and therefore pledged to place social good ahead of profit. Since profits are predivirted to help independent booksellers, authors and others that choose to affiliate, profits are limited inherently in the business model.

The idea that the thought content of the books themselves can bind together producer, seller and reader, along with the sharing of an affinity towards authors and ideas, is something that has been all but lost, after the decimation of bookstores of all kinds in the wake of the Amazon explosion.

This is also true of other product categories, say, consumer electronics, but books and bookstores were the first target for extermination, thus the experience of sharing a like-minded love of books with a store that will provide them is now, truly, an all but extinct concept.

Created to help those independent book sellers across the country that have survived in spite of the “success” of the below-cost dumping strategy employed by the “Death Star”, Bookshop.org is an alliance that includes the American Booksellers Association as well as the largest book distributer in the US, assuring a vast current selection and an established fulfillment network.

Communicating the value of opting out of the status quo will fall on the booksellers and new partners that join the Bookshop in its quest. By the way, you too can contribute and become an affiliate member at no cost, for example if you are and Author or an Influencer, or if your blog can send potential book buyers to the site.

Finally, For Booklovers who Love Booklovers a site that Loves Indie Booksellers

John Warner of the Chicago Tribune has likened the endeavor to the Starwars Rebel Alliance fighting against Amazon’s Death Star, and the analogy is certainly apt. However, this is more about the option to inhabit a world where there is a book buying choice beyond the obvious and ubiquitous.

Where, in an Amazon world, is it possible to choose an experience that is, in a sense, also an investment in dignity and diversity, and who better to make such an unique choice than the well-read Booklover?

Ammunition on the supplier side is a commission, more like a stipend really, of approximately double the amount a seller receives if they send buyers to Amazon (known as an affiliate commission and attached to virtually all offers across the web), with the extra bit paid for by not being an only for-profit entity. That’s high concept if ever there was.

For a detailed breakdown of the site’s concept and financial structure you can go directly to Bookshop or read Joan Verdon’s excellent article in Forbes.

So, while the richest man on planet earth pays hundreds of million$ to PHDs to come up with new ways to destroy existing competitors – even those that pose no threat whatsoever, you can side-step all that noise and chose to be Hans Solo, reluctant but ultimately heroic, and support the people who love books more than just money.

If you see Lynxotic book reviews, from now on, they will likely have a link to an offer to buy from our Bookshop.org independent bookstore partner cherrybooks who, yes, will reap a small but meaningful reward for joining the cause.

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Books, Climate Solutions, Entertainment, Politics

’Blowout’ by Rachel Maddow: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

February 7, 2020 Danny Leeds

A Preview of Coming Conflicts that will Determine if Our Planet will Survive

Blowout is Rachel Maddow’s 3rd book and features a journey of intertwined stories that shine a light on the rise of Oil, Power and Corruption. Only after absorbing these fascinating fragments comes the realization that this history is either moving inexorably toward the brink of extinction, or, if somehow other forces intervene, an almost utopian potential.

A New York Times Bestseller upon release, its true weight and import is likely only to be recognized over the decades to come.

The narrative is built as a series of naturally staged and clearly factual anecdotes tracing the genesis and roots of the fossil fuel industry, followed up through the past two decades. Ultimately the story takes us to the moment (now) that represents a final crossroads leading to total world destruction, carbon burning suicide, or to a chance at redemption by replacing the corrupt empire of prettified organic matter with clean, renewable alternatives.

Maddow chooses to omit, for the most part, any discussion of climate change or the crisis that it is already unleashing on the planet, and focuses instead on the corrupt power, money and environmentally destructive nature of all the forces that led to is. As a result, the impact of the book is made all the more potent.

Please click on photo to buy “Blowout” and at the same time you can help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also available on Amazon

Perhaps a Film or Docudrama could be in the Works?

Cinematically told from various POVs, almost sympathetic to even the least admirable characters, and by featuring the minutiae of the lives of individual actors in the drama, there’s a great feeling, as if the reader is privy to the inner workings of this almost infinitely powerful yet secretive society. It’s a wild ride and dramatic twists abound, but in the end the facts and seriousness of the subject matter inspires deeper reflection… and thoughts toward action.

As the narrator bounces from Oklahoma City to New York to Alaska to Moscow, there is a sense that these wildly disparate fates will eventually intertwine into the story’s climax. Meanwhile, the detail and texture of the players and locales is engrossing and even entertaining, like a sometimes shocking virtual tour in the shoes of her heroes and villains.

It’s a wild ride, dramatic twists abound, but in the end the facts and seriousness of the subject matter inspires deeper reflection…
D.L.

Putin’s rise to power and his decision to use oil and natural gas spoils as a way to rebuild Russia into a personal empire of crime is one fascinating thread deftly woven into the narrative. The enormous impact and bizarre facts of the fracking industry is another. And where this all comes together is in twisted links between US industry and politics, International corruption and, yes, the current administration in Washington.

Ultimately, without so much as hinting at this idea, at least until the final chapters, the underlying message is that the events, actions and characters portrayed in this tale are what stands between the survival of all the humans on this planet (not to mention life itself) and extinction. And, that these are the last people on earth that should ever be allowed to have innocent lives in their hands (although, in essence, they already do).

While the timing might be coincidental, the fact is that the book has appeared on the scene at precisely the moment when a showdown is emerging between those that are working to undo the damage of the past 100 years, and those that are hell-bent on continuing down a suicidal path of greed and destruction. A turning point in sustainable transportation, solar and other renewable sources and even computer assisted breakthroughs from mass-transit to agriculture are threatening to leave carbon burning technology in the dust. But, as the book so skillfully points out, the carbon Barrons will not relinquish power without a fight.

As the book comes to a close, the reader is left with a stark realization that the current occupant of the White House is little more than a tiny, powerless pawn when compared with the virtually infinite resources and greed of this cabal consisting of history’s most destructive beings.

Further, that the awesome power and hidden conspiracies are fighting, not just for a continuation of their own reign, but for an increase in all the destructive and dangerous plundering and daemonic infrastructure that they have been building and exploiting for the past century.

The hope, and there is hope, is only in the entire corrupt, dying system somehow being replaced with not only a sustainable clean energy infrastructure, but also a system of cooperating democratic organizations free of the rapacious greed and murderous evil that continue to push the failed agenda of the past. That only the complete eradication of the soon to be redundant fossil fuel industrial complex can lead to a world without the dangers and crimes as detailed so meticulously in “Blowout”.

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Tech

CES 2020 in the Rearview: Highlights and Impressions for the Coming Year (and Decade)

Video January 19, 2020 Danny Leeds

https://video-lynxotic.akamaized.net/CES2020-LF.MOV

CES2020 Highlight reel / lynxotic

This was the year that a Real Path to Long awaited Trends Begins

CES, happening in Las Vegas during the first work week of the year, is touted as the launch platform for everything new in tech for consumers. In the days of CDs, DVD.s, Flat Screens and other 20th Century wonders, that was mostly true. New releases of better TVs or innovative ways to consume entertainment could change a lot in 12 months.

In recent years, along with the rest of the tech world, we have seen instead the constant incremental “iteration” based progress, from the gradual slowing of Moore’s law to the constant criticism of why the iPhone is still just an iPhone. Then there’s the ultimate non event of watching the same content on “HD” or 4K or 8k , or maybe next year 16k “ready” screens, and so on.

Looking to shop newest products featured at CES? Check Amazon’s Selection.
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Then, in the last few years the new new tech began to arrive. Ever evolving Drones, Robotics, AI software combined with new hardware for aquiring and processing visual information have all been a standard element and and represent an ever larger footprint at the show. Added to that are now transportation “concept” innovations and the “smart home” and iOT has morphed into the sustainable city and connected communities.

What was big this year is that these ideas, prototypes and start-up brands for the most part, are nearing the point where they could actually have a place in consumer technology and not just as a sneak peek at what might “someday” be possible.

Here are a few examples that caught our attention, by no means an exhaustive or comprehensive listing but just what stood out during a random sampling of what was on offer and display.

Sustainable Transport and Smart Cities as Upgrade to “Smart Home” products that are now Old Hat

At the top of the list from this category, admittedly to large to even start to dig into, is the “Personal Liberation Device” from Unagi which is a over achieving descriptor for an electric scooter to own, not rent. Especially if you are tired of the stacks of abandoned “Limes” or maybe are not a fan of everything in your life turning into an Uber for this and Air B&B for that, this is a truly realistic and attractive alternative.

Slim light foldable and boasting dual motors (like the Tesla Model 3) in the top model there’s a hellava lot to like in the design. Maybe steep at around 1k but this is a practical, durable (by all accounts) owned item to be cherished, not a rental to take your frustrations out on.

All of us who support green energy and a sustainable future can take heart in the progress made, in a single year, if not in the final breakthroughs, at least in the intention to take on bigger projects and issues, such as the various transportation and EV exhibits as well as a large hall dedicated to Smart Cities and how AI can improve and enhance lives, while at the same time exhibiting a zero carbon footprint.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0173/9875/9488/files/handlebar_1.1.mp4

Blow-out clip of the internal construction by unagi

Robotics are Still not Quite Mainstream but getting Very Close

One odd feature of CES is that many of the same Companies are back every year and even occupy the same spot on the convention center floor. This makes it easier to find them, sure, but also jogs the memory as to the changes in what is being featured. Some seem to have tweaked and refined what is essentially the same idea or product, such as the Omron Robot vs. Human ping pong presentation. Even there you could see major improvements, meant to show the accuracy and versitility of robot arms and AI.

The applications for various robotics based products at a consumer or pro-sumer level is still an ongoing and developing area with the costs vs. the uses (often still not known as these products have not previously existed) being the primary obstacle. But very soon, as soon as CES 2021 there will likely be major breakthroughs in this category that you will hear about and even start using.

T9 Robot – World’s Most Advanced and Programmable Robot. T9 Is both vehicle and robot, transmuting instantly through voice or app control. Three intuitive and easy programming platforms make coding fun with T9’s advanced robotics and artificial intelligence

There were others that came with changes that seem like a new generation of capabilities and uses. In 2019 there were various companies showing “toy” robots that were meant to bring the science of robotics to the consumer level as a learning tool to help kids (and adults) experiment with programming and even building robots for home use and experimentation.

The cost of these, including the LEGO version of the idea, seemed to be a big impediment to wide adoption at the consumer level and a Prosumer market is not really a niche a significance in the space yet. What has changed, and this is a refrain across the show in general, is that the same relative high price points are producing much more capable and potentially usable products that could entice more engagement and interest.

Robosen Robotics is an example, initially a successful Kickstarter project, now beginning a commercial phase with it’s T9 product that was presented. This T9 Robot also comes with included programming software and has a “wow” factor that was missing in some of last year’s products. Using voice or app control it is billed as the “world’s most advanced”.

T9 features more than 3,000 State-of-the-Art Components and 22 Proprietary Servo Motors

Camera tech combined with software and AI is beginning to get Serious

Chinese and US-China ventures are leading the way in the efforts to go beyond GoPro and Drone photography. For example, last year, a variety of 360º camera systems all seemed to be just “nearly there” and products in search of a use and market rationale. No more. An example is Pilot 1 from PiSoftTech that has increased the functionality of last year’s hardware product offering and, most significantly added free accompanying AI enhanced software and phone app which vastly extend the usability for prosumer and even consumer users.

An example is a function specifically designed to automatically produce and edit 3D virtual tours, such as those used for real estate web listings, at a very high quality just by doing the walkthrough with the camera running. No editing or post production required. There is also a use for carmakers and even aftermarket resellers for a 360º recording for your car that not only shows your surroundings but your own position as well.

All in all the updates in a single year on various 360º photographic products are impressive and most of the progress is due to software and AI contributions to the ease of use and power of production added.

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Climate Solutions, Tech

Dancing to Save the World: Elon Musk’s Infectious Joy is the Real Deal, And he’s Inviting us to Join Him

Video January 12, 2020 Danny Leeds

https://video-lynxotic.akamaized.net/Musk-Dance.MOV

Tesla’s Elon Musk Dancing in Shanghai

The Naked Display of Abandon in Shanghai was a Signal to The Next Generation

It’s not because Tesla’s stock is at a high. It’s not because SpaceX is passing milestone after milestone. Elon Musk is on a mission, and it’s the same one we all need to be on, starting now: to save the world.

There’s a kind of liberation in facing death, like the movie protagonist racing in a stolen car, chased by the killer bad guy, not worried about the tires or how much fuel is being used: it’s adrenaline pumping survival mode, right here, right now.

And yet, with the metaphorical woman of his dreams (who is actually us and the planet) in the passenger seat, the protagonist, and all of us vicariously, feels more alive, in what could be his final moments, than in all his life to this point.

That’s why he’s dancing.

Many say 2019 was the year that the Climate Crisis, formerly known as global warming, could no longer be doubted by any sane or unbiased person. A few dozen catastrophic, clearly anomalous weather events will do that.

And now, as the new decade dawns, Australia burns and #WWIII trends on Twitter, we are all starting to feel like we are in that stolen car.

Elon Musk is a little different from the rest of us. Not because of his money or success or brains or celebrity. Because he has been on this mission for practically his entire life.

And now we need to join him.

Tesla is and always has been on a mission. Not to “dominate” the EV sector of the auto industry, as is so often written. Not to achieve success as measured by profit or cash flow positions. It’s on an energy mission . See it’s stated for all to see on its twitter account:

pic.twitter.com/4tt7wG1ybw
— Tesla Energy Mission (@Tesla_SEM) December 12, 2019

So many constantly trumpet the refrain that solving the climate crisis is all about austerity and sacrifice, and certainly there will be plenty of that.

And the deniers say that changing the system is not worth it if there is even a minuscule chance that we are not doomed. Really? How much Exxon stock do you own ? But what it will really take is a revolution in thought and the contagious motivation of an entire generation. And humans are not prophylactically inclined !

It’s Elon Musk and Tesla’s genius, shared with Apple that they understand that you can change the world if people are moved by aspirational, beautiful, sexy dreams of a better life. Not some granola style golf cart of functionality.

An iPhone is the best, most powerful hand held computing device ever imagined and, oh yes, it’s a sexy, sleek fashion statement that you can love with all your heart as well. Ditto on the last part for every Tesla also, from the Model 3 to the Cybertruck.

That mission is bigger than being a car maker, or battery manufacturer or even tech design firm. It’s a mission to replace the current, suicidal, Fossil Fuel based infrastructure with a sustainable one. Worldwide. Right now. Before it’s too late to matter.

Companies that have a higher mission than just “profit for shareholders” have not just a higher moral ground from which to operate but a true motivation that literally pulses like a beating heart throughout the enterprise. Often overlooked is the mission that Steve Jobs imbued into the soul of Apple and the higher mission of providing the best tools that technology is capable of.

Looking forward, for perhaps the first time in human history, the challenges are sharply defined, as are the methods and players in the game. Massive evil forces, created by humans must be countered by small and also equally massive forces just as human, oriented toward a better world and more, the best of all possible worlds.

In truth, within the total devotion and capitulation to a higher mission lies freedom, inner peace and, ultimately success and prosperity, potentially for us all.

Not a hard choice when compared to pain, suffering and, ultimately the extinction of all life on this planet.

In short, it’s Utopia or Oblivion, folks.

So, thank you Elon Musk, for showing us the steps to the dance, and for having the bravery to show us with those awkward, unselfconscious moves that, you too, are learning as you go.

Now we all just need to apply ourselves, like Greta Thunberg inviting Meatloaf to examine scientific evidence, to the task of finding the joy in changing everything that’s wrong with our world, starting with the energy infrastructure, and replacing it with a better, cleaner, less tainted one.

@GretaThunberg is show the attitude all of us need: when the attacks come do not back down an inch but focus on the truth #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis https://t.co/z26ciyFdEo
— 🌎 Positive Energy Action (@PosEnergyAction) January 7, 2020

There is a paradox here, though. See it? If we are running for our lives from the most fearsome danger we’ve ever faced, and we are not concerned about money, power or the trappings of fame, then why does it sometimes seem like a better life is so close we can almost reach out and touch it?

Because that’s the secret. If we did all dance like Elon, devote ourselves to a higher cause, and put aside our worldly squabbles over money, power and fame, maybe, just maybe, we will survive and prosper, beyond all our imaginings. And that stolen car? It’s a Tesla Roadster hitting on maximum torque in Ludicrous mode.

And with every discovery shared, solution compounded and mission surpassed, we can escape together and let go of the past’s villainous errors. With luck to find a future worth all our hopes and dreams.

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Tech

2019 Was a Huge Year for Apple: Here are some Milestones that will Lead to the “Apple Decade” in the 2020s

December 29, 2019 Danny Leeds

Apple’s Greatest Innovations Lie Ahead in the New Decade: 2019 Laid The Foundation

As is so often the case with Apple, the perennial over-achiever, nothing seemed to be quite enough to truly wow the public in 2019. That is not to say that monumental things were not happening at an astounding clip; they were. Early in the year, skeptics pounced on “weak” iPhone sales and then used one-dimensional linear extrapolation to predict Apple’s slow demise, as they have done many times in the past.

Once again, it was Apple that responded with a barrage of ideas and products that not only turned the year around but point to a new decade that has the potential to outshine even the 2010’s, which brought Apple to heights no one could have previously imagined.

As for 2019, the iPhone 11 Pro series “only” brought smartphone based photography to a whole new level, beyond the level, in some cases, that pro gear can provide. Obviously there is the convenience of a powerful photographic tool that resides in your pocket, but with Night Mode and Deep Fusion, alongside the improvements via 3 dedicated cameras (each with it’s own lens) and iOS 13’s editing and photo management features, for a broad swath of users the 11 pro series is a game changer, perhaps even life changing for some.

The Mac Pro upgrade, fittingly, with 2019 being the year that “pro” emerged and took over for Apple, was nothing short of monumental. There is a slow, currently unformed, realization that computational power and beauty of function will be essential in the next decade, possible even for the survival of the planet, if not at least the enjoyment of our world while we still live and breathe. Our upcoming series on the link between Sustainable energy and enhanced human networked communication, along with AI and machine learning, and how the rapid and profound development of these are the only hope for meeting the challenges that are looming, will begin in early 2020 and Apple has added the perfect exclamation point with its incredible addition at the top of the Mac product family. Expense is no object with everything, literally, in on the line, so, as time goes on, the prices will be seen to be justified.

MacBook pro upgrades, AirPods Pro, iPad and iPad OS, MacBook Air, the list goes on and on and that is only the hardware. Software and services are the real breakthrough story. There is literally so much that was launched this year that it would take a dozen articles to scratch the surface.

If nothing else, at least we can scratch that surface here and then, add links below to our in-depth coverage. Apple TV was huge, with “The Morning Show” getting a nomination for Best TV Series, Best Supporting Actor (Billy Crudup) while both Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon got a nod for Best Actress. As with most Apple projects Apple TV+ is a long term, serious commitment to production with, reportedly, a budget over $6 Billion. Apple Music expanded its offerings, and don’t forget the Apple Card which, added to Apple Pay, expands the foray in to Fintech.

The Next Decade will be about the Increased Benefits of the Total Apple Ecosystem

As we detailed in a thread running throughout our 2019 coverage, ultimately, it is the entire Apple ecosystem, Hardware, Software, Hardware Components, Supply Chain, Services and the innovative ways all the desperate elements are so skillfully integrated that sets Apple apart, now and even more so in the future.

And, further, all of Apple’s brilliance and success can be traced back to something that will be a huge story in 2020 and beyond. After the decade of WeWork and other scams, the shame of surveillance business models from Google and Facebook and the convoluted Pseudo-Ponzi-Scheme Monopsony that is Amazon, the 2020’s will be the decade that companies built on a higher purpose, such as Apple’s devotion to creating better tools on behalf of the entire human race, as envisioned by Steve Jobs and carried out to this day, will rise and the others decline and collapse from the weight their own corrupt conception. Only Tesla is among the largest companies that also have altruism at the heart of their business model.

Without further ado, our picks for the most significant and forward looking products and ideas from Apple in 2019:

iPhone 11 Pro Max/ Leading the Way to the Future of Media and Photographic Innovation:

The War is Over: The Good Guys Won – WWDC Day Explodes with Software and Hardware For The Ages:

8-core MacBook Pro and iPod Touch with A10 chip Released to Coincide With iOS and macOS Upgrade Announcements at WWDC

New AirPods Pro: plus Memes and a Deep Dive into the Innovative Auditory Technology:

MacBook Air and Pro Upgrades Harken Back to Steve Jobs Heroically Simplifying Apple Line Up in 1997

iPhone 11 Pro Max: Night Mode for all and Elon Musk’s Cyborgs come to life

Photo and Video examples shot with the iPhone 11 Pro Max: Manhattan Beach, CA

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Tech

Algorithms in Your Life: YouTube Claims it Pulled Bogus Propaganda but Google Algo not Designed for that

December 27, 2019 Danny Leeds

A Story that’s Getting Old, Lies and Deception are Flooding All Outlets on Precipice of 2020 Election Year

Over the past few months, false videos on YouTube posing as established American news outlets have garnered millions of views. Selling themselves as CNN or Fox News, these fake accounts present inflammatory and fabricated content to their viewers, effectively deceiving the American public by spreading misinformation.

The Google-owned YouTube says they have taken down as many of these videos as it can, but companies such as CNN insist that the website needs to do more to proactively inhibit such activity. After all, the source of the problem is rooted deep within the very fiber that keeps YouTube (and the current monopolized Internet as a whole) running.

What is really going on in the YouTube case is an exploitation of two fundamental aspects of the Internet. Namely, these fake accounts are taking advantage of the web’s free ranging platform, and they are manipulating the data-based algorithms that keep the Internet efficiently feeding billions in ad revenue to the platforms like, google search, YouTube, Facebook and Amazon.

The web’s “free” policy refers to the fact that anyone can post anything on the Internet, although “free” in this case is a deceiving concept. Long before the Internet was a global phenomenon, the system was built upon a somewhat libertarian foundation where all users had equal access and unrestricted contribution power to information. The potential fault in this model, however, is that there is little accountability or security. As we are seeing today, with so much unchecked info, lying becomes easy and the line between true and false greys.

Algorithms are the Gatekeepers, Automation for Advertising Dollars

As for the algorithms, websites like YouTube, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and so on, depend on formulas that learn more about you the more you use them. A term that is gradually beginning to become more important but not yet fully understood, an algorithm is a set of instructions, managed by Artificial Intelligence.

The key point is that the companies mentioned above maintain total secrecy as to the settings of the algorithm, however, by viewing the public results it is clear that in all cases the algorithm is programmed to benefit advertisers, and thereby increase profits for the companies.

As per wikipedia:

“In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a finite sequence of well-defined, computer-implementable instructions, typically to solve a class of problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are unambiguous specifications for performing calculation, data processing, automated reasoning, and other tasks.”

This is how YouTube recommends videos for you, Facebook shows you suggested posts, Amazon advertises things that fit your taste, and Google can anticipate your searches before you even type anything in. It is based mostly off of your previous use—your activity provides data that these tech companies manipulate, own and sell (which you unwittingly agreed to by clicking the ubiquitous “terms of service” agreement).

However, as the access to Internet platforms, and therefore the ability to interact with others, has become a virtual monopoly controlled by the platforms, the ethics surrounding data rights and algorithms have become less clear.

Most Internet users have allowed access to their personal information in some way or another. Through “free” email accounts, social media, messages, pictures, purchases, and so on, your entire identity is encrypted somewhere in the cybernetic ether, and you have little control over it.

The consequences of this go beyond just getting offered offensive videos or unsolicited ads. The companies that made the bogus CNN accounts, for example, cleverly played YouTube’s algorithms so you would be redirected there after watching legitimate news stories. Because the majority of people consume news through their computers, fake news and real news have become increasingly difficult to distinguish.

More and More Political Manipulators are Gaming the Algos

Moreover, these misleading accounts are not always coming from Internet trolls. Some of them are run by malicious enterprises or foreign governments trying to influence geopolitical processes. Such was the case behind the now well known, infamous case of Cambridge Analytica’s interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Cambridge Analytica—a British political consulting firm—marketed for the Trump campaign using people’s Facebook data. At the height of the campaign, the company allegedly consulted with Russian officials to assist in Trump’s eventual election.

Due to the algorithmic control of websites like Facebook, once Cambridge Analytica had information on a single user, it was able to acquire information on every person that that single user ever interacted with online. Via just a handful of connections, the company was able to quickly collect data on nearly the entire nation. Thus, even if you avoided all of Cambridge Analytica’s tricks, you could still be targeted through just a few degrees of separation.

There is really no way of knowing who Facebook is sharing your data with or how they are using it. In fact, you don’t even know what your own data is, as most websites bar their users from accessing the very information that they provide. The only way to find out how you are being targeted is by consuming the suggested version of yourself that these tech companies feed back to you.

The situation is certainly eerie on a personal level, but it also transcends the individual to impact phenomena on a far greater scale. With the Trump administration as evidence, Cambridge Analytica’s approach obviously worked in some capacity. Likewise, businesses and organizations can manipulate data to promote their version of the world. Through the unrestricted world of the Internet, powerful users can alter history, conflate truths, and shape the American psyche into thinking whatever they deem real.

Certain sectors of the government have been working to try and fix this problem. Mark Zuckerberg has gone before Congress to answer for Facebook’s place in the Cambridge Analytica case. Likewise, the California Consumer Privacy Act will take effect on January 1st, giving people greater personal data rights in the Golden State.

Don’t expect the companies mentioned above, having a combined market value of more than $3 trillion, to cooperate or rein in this problem voluntarily. This algorithmic dictatorship benefits criminals like those that were behind the Trump election meddling, but most of all the system benefits the platforms themselves, at a level that is mind-bogglingly obscene. This system will change only when they are broken up or gone.

Data is the most profitable resource on the planet (recently topping oil), and it is because of our data inputs that Google and Facebook, among others, remain “free” websites. The real price for online “services” like search and social platforms is very high indeed and users are getting scammed out of more than they may realize.

Ultimately, like in politics and life itself, it is the masses, the users themselves in this case, that can decide if they want an algorithmic dictatorship, or if it is time to sweep away the current dysfunctional system and replace it with one where the price is not so steep.

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Breaking News, Climate Solutions, Observation, Politics

Windmills: Trump Admin Sanctions Mass Bird Killing as he Laments Imaginary Eagles

December 25, 2019 Danny Leeds

Trump Imagines Eagles Attacked by Windmills – Collage – Lynxotic

In a weekend speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, close to his winter retreat at Mar-a-Lago where he is spending the holidays, Trump, rambling and nearly incoherent, outlined his lack of “understanding” for “windmills” and how “They kill the birds”.

“I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. They’re noisy. They kill the birds.
Trump at speech to young conservatives

In a recent New York Times article some real facts behind Trump’s true attitude toward birds and the environment in general were detailed. Of course, by now it is well known and standard practice for his speeches to veer off into wild and reckless lies and untruths, but this recurrent theme of a concern for the danger that “windmills” pose for birds is particularly bizarre when compared with the real facts.

His administration’s new interpretation for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act means that companies that literally destroy birds, even by the millions, no longer have to pay fines or even report the destruction. This contrasts his nonsensical and false allegations that “windmills” are killing birds with actual examples such as when BP paid $100 million in fines as a result of having killed or injured at least one million birds during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Quoted in the Times, Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity stated that the Trump administration has engineered “a fundamental shift” in policy that “lets industrial companies, utilities and others completely off the hook.”

“Even a disaster like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, which killed or injured about a million birds, would not expose a company to prosecution or fines.”
New York Times – Lisa Friedman

So, while he is out whining about deaths of birds due to wind power turbines, completely imagined and for which there is no proof, his administration is quietly sanctioning companies to commit what nearly amounts to bird genocide with impunity. It doesn’t take much to see that we are talking something about far more dangerous than a lying clown or entertainer. There is a clear pattern of protecting big oil and other corrupt environmentally destructive entities while at the same time attacking all sustainable energy solutions or pollution reducing projects or policies.

https://twitter.com/Blackwater52/status/1209531699886989320

Trump Tilting at Windmills Tweaks Twitter, acting as Buffoon: the Subject is no longer Humorous

Above and below are some samples of recent tweets, of course there was parody and jokes at Trump’s expense, but also others more on point. The real motivation is exposed behind what appears to be clowning, as Trump attempts to insert imaginary faults to anything that challenges the hegemony of the fossil fuel industrial complex.

#windmills The time for standing up to the fools and the corrupt that support the fossil fuel industry is now@GretaThunberg is right – this is just the beginning

They are afraid of #windmills because, like solar, they represent freedom from dependence on fossil fuels 🌞 pic.twitter.com/r3ESyMtl8T
— 🌎 Positive Energy Action (@PosEnergyAction) December 24, 2019

Finally, our own Eric Cho with his cogent analysis:

The attack against #windmills is no different than attacks on any sustainable energy solution

Unfortunately this “crazy” talk is just more pro-oil propaganda

and shows the long road we still have to overcome the fossil fuel industrial complex and end the climate crisis pic.twitter.com/havmNNRTFY
— Eric Cho (@EricCho1995) December 24, 2019

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Business, Observation, Tech

Wall Street Journal Slams Amazon at Peak of Holiday Buying Season: “Are you Buying (Actual) Garbage?”

December 18, 2019 Danny Leeds

In a Feature article WSJ does an Investigative Report but Leaves out the Real Dirt

opinion

In an article with a date stamp of December 18, 2019 at 3:38 am, WSJ released a scathing report detailing how potentially millions of sellers are allegedly scamming the public by selling discarded and remaindered good through Amazon’s marketplace.

The aim of the investigative piece was to show that Amazon did not pre-qualify or filter its selling accounts in any way and that pretty much anyone can sell anything, at least for a while, until Amazon shuts them down.

In order to add drama to the account and to emphasize how disgusting this situation can be for the buyer, WSJ set up its own marketplace “storefront” and listed items, literally found in a dumpster, for sale on Amazon. The items included a discarded jar of Lemon Curd.

While the interaction with Amazon ( a nicety afforded the Wall Street Journal) was amusing, with Amazon repeating the phrase “Amazon’s high bar for product quality” repeated over and over, for the most part the article, while well researched, totally misses the point.

The Real Rot is not in the Garbage Being Sold but Amazon’s System that Is a Machine Designed to Destroy Legitmate Retail

As is well documented in the, now ancient, saga of how Amazon killed off all competitors in the Book selling business, it has always been a clear goal of Amazon to bankrupt its competitors by any (legal?) means. These extreme tactics have not been abandoned now that all products are target for sales monopolization.

Further, regarding selling products out of dumpsters, for many years Amazon’s system has not only encouraged such desperate methods on it’s marketplace it has made them virtually impossible to avoid. In the WSJ article the question of the motivation of the sellers and why they “prefer” to sell, literally, garbage is never addressed.

It is even implied that they are just “poor” and one seller is even quoted as saying that he started selling products out of dumpsters because “he didn’t have money to buy products”.

It was also mentioned that one of the sellers “couldn’t make money as a photographer” and so he decided to start selling trash from dumpsters.

This is so incredibly misleading that it is difficult to even begin to deconstruct.

The List of Omissions from the WSJ article is Mind-boggling

While it is great to see some of the common practices that make up over 50% of sales on the Amazon platform exposed, omitting the real issues, the built-in ugliness of the system itself, is inexcusable.

First of all, no human sells products out of the trash as a first resort. To imply that these are “poor” people and therefore somehow taking advantage of Amazon’s lack of oversight is utterly ridiculous. Somehow in a “serious” exposé WSJ manages to make Amazon look like the victim. You have got to be kidding.

The fact is that Amazon is based on a system of undercutting, through various tactics, legitimate commerce, especially competing eCommerce, by forcing prices, after fees, to a level well below traditional wholesale levels. This means that anyone, large company or small individual, must source products at an unrealistic “impossible” price level in order to be competitive. Hence the popularity of the dumpster.

Who is the Real Victim? We all are.

That bears repeating: It is not possible to make a single cent on the Amazon marketplace by buying an item legitimately through a wholesale distributor and then adding a retail mark-up as has been the system for centuries (except in cases of price-gouging and other anomalies).

To use a different method to put this into perspective, remember that jar of Lemon Curd from the dumpster? Here’s the rough general breakdown for a similar product based on a 10$ sale price on the Amazon Marketplace:

Price of item “shipped” (free shipping) = $10 (rounded off for illustration purposes)

Cost of shipping and handling = $4.50

Various Fees to Amazon = $4.50

Remaining amount retained by seller = $1.00

Since the cost of this product at wholesale is around $5 and the seller must also survive, the only acceptable price for the seller to acquire the jar is $0. Dumpsters do not charge. Therefore this is the default system for sellers that work 7 days a week to try to make even a modest income.

The absurdity of this is off the charts. Even if you debate the details +- .50 in each category, etc., this is nevertheless the system that gets your Lemon Curd to your porch. A more wasteful and backward system could not be devised if you tried. Thank “modern” finance and devious minds for this wonderful invention of commerce.

The Amazon system is based on these concepts:

A. Set marketplace fees at a level where the maximum allowable “profit” for the third-party seller, after fees, is effectively zero. Fees are added to everything. A “variable closing fee” for the sale itself, fees on storage, “pick and pull” fees, shipping fees, on and on and on. These apply, at varying but always astronomical levels, through the “Fulfillment by Amazon” program and for sellers that ship and warehouse their own goods as well.

B. Encourage Chinese and other gray-market suppliers to maintain the system and “impossible” price level at below wholesale cost. Next, sell Amazon Branded products as an “alternative” and source these at the lowest possible cost to insure no legitimate seller can compete.

C. Cover all this with “no questions asked” returns (paid for primarily by the 3rd party sellers themselves) and by taking massive losses due to unrealistic shipping speeds. These ultra fast speeds serve as an attack against other companies such as Walmart, that can not be crushed by A. and B. above due to size and other market advantages.

The key objective of this strategy is to destroy legitimate retailers and brands at every level. Large brands like Nike, who recently ended a short-lived arrangement to allow its products to be sold on Amazon, are hurt by a relentless cheapening of the brand and a stampede of inferior knock offs and other damaging effects.

Smaller independent retailers are either bankrupted or forced to reduce costs of supply to well below standard wholesale prices. If you are thinking “fell off a truck” you are on the right track.

As a dramatization of the problem it can be said that to sell on Amazon, and realize any profit at all, your source must be either couinterfeit, aftermarket rejects, stolen or….. wait for it….. from a dumpster.

So, to be clear, the “dumpster divers” so lovingly described in the WSJ feature article are not just “poor” they are an inevitable result of a system, built on endless greed by the “richest man in the world” in order to have a virtual monopoly in US online sales (can’t survive without selling on Amazon is the mantra) and to insure future growth by literally destroying all legitimate competition.

Please let me know when this background “color” will be included in the next hard hitting investigative piece from the Journal.

Sunshine Behind the Clouds and the Future in your Hands

Finally, it is all of us, consumers that control the quality of the products and the purity of the supply chain that fulfills sales, online or otherwise. While it is ceratinly convenient to go online and visit either Google, Facebook or Amazon, competition online is, no less than in traditional commerce, essential to maintaining standards of quality and service.

For all Amazon’s “high standards” a deeper look at the system they have in place clearly shows that it is profit for amazon on every sale – and more importantly using income by gouging smaller marketplace sellers to attack larger competitors with unrealistic shipping cost structures, that is most important, not the quality of goods.

For now they will continue to “bribe” the public with a powerful cocktail of virtually instant delivery and “no questions asked” returns. But does that make you feel better about the dumpster sourced lemon curd you just ate? What about the poor seller than has been forced into dumpster diving to have a shot at the huge success of a $20,000 per year income, which Bezos gets in a microsecond. Maybe there are better places to buy your lemon curd.

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Business, Climate Solutions, Observation, Tech

Capitalists to the Rescue?: Automakers follow Tesla in Race for Electric Car Dominance

December 15, 2019 Danny Leeds

The Tipping Point is Behind us Now, It’s only a question of When EV’s Market Share will Overtake ICE

The most talked about car in 2019 has been Tesla’s Model 3, an electric vehicle from Tesla that is sleek, modern looking, and highly desirable. In Tesla’s latest quarter alone, the company has sold nearly 80,000 Model 3s, sustaining it as the most popular EV on the market.

This is not Tesla’s only achievement for the year. The company’s Cybertruck and Semi have received copious attention; its Model X and Model S continue to be popular; and consumers are eagerly awaiting 2020’s releases of the Model Y and Roadster. It’s been a long time coming, but thanks to Tesla, EVs are growing market share at an extremely rapid pace.

Other car manufacturers, even ones that have been stubbornly committed to ICE vehicles, have had to accept that the tide is turning. Naturally, many of these companies do not want Tesla to have a monopoly on EVs, and they want to have their own stake in the market before it’s too late. For that reason they appear to have capitulated and there is now a large and public shift towards the EV market.

Car companies from General Motors to Ford to Mercedes to VolksWagen and more are now hopping aboard the EV train, announcing new full electric models aimed at competing with Tesla in the upcoming year.

In addition, longer term multi-billion dollar investments to fund an infrastucture and development shift toward sustainable and EV systems have been announced. There has been some scepticism that these are more of a PR effort, with possible changes at anytime, likely due to the extremely poor efforts of the last 25 years, and even the perception that they were trying to intentionally “fail” with EVs just to postpne any meaningful transition away from fossil fuel based transportation.

While the oncoming change in car-culture may be attributed more to Tesla’s sexy, ulta-modern designs than it is to environmentalism, the widespread transition towards electric vehicles is still an enormous win for the battle against climate change.

Transportation is the top CO2 buring category and automobiles are the largest contributors to carbon emission from transport across the globe. The systemic reliance on gasoline makes cars even more environmentally harmful, as their very fuel comes from big oil companies that drill the earth without much regard for balanced ecosystems.

Finally, there has been a Major Shift in Thinking in the Auto Industry

In just the past year, however, we have seen a noticeable increase in the number of charging stations for EVs, and certain governments have started cracking down on vehicle-related greenhouse gas emissions. These changes in infrastructure and politics reflect evolutions in consumer behavior—evolutions that bode well for our planet.

Between the VolksWagen ID.4, Ford Mustang EV, Mercedes ESQ, and all the upcoming Tesla models, there are about to be a whole lot more electric cars on the market, which will (hopefully) create healthy competition.

There remians skepticism in the automobile industry, implying that this could, indeed be some sort of elaborate head fake. In response to General Motor’s recent announcement to invest $2.3 billion in an EV battery factory, for example, Toyota Executive Bob Carter warned of an “electrified armageddon” for the industry. Indeed, despite EVs recent surge in popularity, gasoline-powered cars continue to dominate the streets. To invest so much in EVs at this point is a bold, somewhat presumptuous move for all of the companies, and they run the risk of overshooting consumer demand.

There is Still only one EV Company that Stands Above in Every Way

And the Toyota response while both tone deaf and likely misguided, is not wrong in the sense that a worldwide shift away from a fossil fuel based economic system will certainly lead to hardship and immense challenges and a long time. The problem with trying to wish away that fact is that, by extending the intentional sate of denial that has persisted for over a half century, things will only be worse when the inevitible and necessary changes finally come.

This exposes the brilliance of Tesla’s approach of starting with high end luxury vehicles, spurring demand and desire and then building downmarket into more afforable vehicles as economies of scale begin to kick in. And, even more prescient is Tesla’s stated mission “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” which removes any ambiguity or hesitation and signals a 100% clear commitment to the most important goal a transportation and energycompany can have.

Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

🌞⚡🚗🔋

(a thread)
— Tesla (@Tesla) May 9, 2019

Nevertheless, while this “plays” as an example of corporations displaying a logical reaction to the market for the benefit of the environment, it could, in actuality, more likely be an example of corporations playing the market to make money as per usual. The less cynical among us must hope, nevertheless that this is truly at least partially an ecological conscious choice that happens to transparently project an immediate economic benefit. If these companies are correct, and EVs do ultimately lead the car market, then it will not just satisfy the executive’s bottom line, but it will also help make the planet a cleaner and safer place.

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Tech

iPhone 11 Pro Max: Leading the Way to the Future of Media and Photographic Innovation

Video December 10, 2019 Danny Leeds

https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/iphone-11-pro/2019/3bd902e4-0752-4ac1-95f8-6225c32aec6d/films/product/iphone-11-pro-product-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080h.mp4

Apple video showing the new iphone 11 pro

iPhone 11 Pro Released at Special Event…

They all said it would be boring. That you should skip this year’s model and wait for September 2020. That it would be ugly. And were they wrong? In all the ways that matter, yes, once again they were all wrong. Here’s why:

[Want specs and highlights and a list of reasons why this is a device worth upgrading to? See below.]

First take a look at some of the announcements that just broke regarding possible anti-trust violations by Google, Facebook and Amazon. And, yes, apple is on the radar too, according to reports.

Although it is easy, and, for many, tempting, to lump Apple in with the gang of violators, it is wrong in one extremely important respect.

Click to see “Steve Jobs” and help Lynxotic and all independent bookstores

In each case, the huge and monopolistic tech behemoths are guilty, not of the traditional price gouging necessarily, which is the simple minded way to define monopoly, but rather, in the most egregious and damaging area for society as a whole: stifling and impeding innovation in order to preserve monopoly advantages and profits.

Is there a better search engine than Google? A better eCommerce web site than Amazon? A better social media network than Facebook and it’s owned subsidiaries?

Apple Stands Alone as the One True Innovator (Along with Tesla for EVs)

What about Apple? Apple is based 100% on the need, desire and belief in innovation. Steve Jobs set this drive in motion and embodied the DNA of a person with a core goal to innovate at all costs. Apple continues to follow that credo, chapter and verse.

Machine Learning and the 3 Layer approach to design

As the features and capabilities of the new devices from Apple become more advanced it becomes more and more difficult to fashion the improvements into a single product feature or change.

Wired magazine says “it’s all about the cameras”, is that really true? In a way, yes. The iPhone 11 Pro has no less than three 12 megapixel cameras, along with a triple-lens array. In some modes featured in a presentation from Filmic all three cameras were shown recording video simultaneously.

Additional Features

The new Apple-designed U1 chip uses Ultra Wideband technology, the first ever in a smartphone, for spatial awareness. With iOS 13.1 coming on September 30, AirDrop gets even better with directionally aware suggestions.
Face ID, the most secure facial authentication in a smartphone, gets up to 30 percent faster and easier to use with improved performance at varying distances and support for more angles.
Spatial audio provides an immersive surround sound experience and Dolby Atmos delivers powerful, moving audio to iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
Gigabit-class LTE up to 1.6Gbps and Wi-Fi 6 allow for even faster download speeds² and Dual SIM with eSIM.³

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Business, Stock Market

Shifting to a Sustainable Energy Infrastructure: Saudi Aramco’s IPO shares are a bad Investment for the Planet

December 9, 2019 Danny Leeds

Literally Trillions are Staked on a Carbon Nightmare Future

Saudi Aramco is Saudi Arabia’s largest national oil company and one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, corporations in the world. On Sunday, November 30th, 2019, Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority stated that Aramco is going to be turned into a publically traded corporation and start making initial public offers of 1 to 3 percent of its shares sometime in December.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman initially boasted the Aramco’s worth at $2 trillion. Further research, however, deems the valuation somewhere between $1.3 and 1.7 trillion. Nevertheless, these enormous figures—mixed with the projected IPO of $8.53 per share—still make Aramco more fiscally valuable than Apple or Microsoft.

Putting Aramco in the public sector is a huge move for Saudi Ariabia’s economy and is inextricably linked to the Crown Prince’s “Vision 2030” socioeconomic reform plan for the kingdom. It will make oil a larger money-maker than it already is for the nation by attracting additional foreign investors and combatting the shift towards alternative energy sources.

At the same time, though, this move is not the most environmentally progressive, and although it creates a short-term economic boost for the country, it may not be sustainable in the long run.

Right now the world is trying desperately to reform its energy practices and emissions standards. The 2015 Paris Climate Accord outlined bold plans to address the global climate crisis and currently, the UN Climate Conference in Madrid is working on updating and evaluating those goals. A big part of these initiatives puts focus on transferring global energy away from fossil fuel burning and towards cleaner and more renewable sources and methods.

While Saudi Arabia has made some investments in alternative energy sources, it remains overwhelmingly focused on oil—its most profitable commodity. The nation’s slight investments in solar power are dwarfed compared to its ongoing oil extraction. Then, even when the country does employ solar energy, it often uses it to fund or power oil wells and refineries.

When asked about Aramco’s response to the Paris Climate Accord, the company’s Chief Executive Amin Nasser practically laughed it off, boasting that with all other parts of the world being held to stringent energy conditions, Aramco would easily become the global leader in gas.

Not a Question of When but rather How Fast can the World Switch off the Oil Pumps?

The corporation should not be so quick to celebrate, though. While the planet still has a long way to go when it comes to environmental protection and security, more investors are turning away from oil and starting to consider alternatives. With the scarcity and conflict surrounding the resource, oil is becoming less reliable. The recent surge in electric vehicle adoption is just one example of alternative energy sources affecting the oil economy.

Nasser responded to this observation by calling it a “crisis of perception” facing oil firms. Cynically, he explains that ideas of oil going away anytime soon is a highly exaggerated theory, and that fossil fuels remain the most secure form of energy.

Perhaps this is the case for now. But if big oil continues to pump the Earth without regard for ecological fragility, then there will eventually be nothing “secure” about the practice at all, and economic influence will mean quite little in the face of Armageddon. All humans will be affected, not just the “green” ones.

Even in less dramatic terms, studies suggest that “Peak Oil” will arrive at some point in the next twenty-five years. When this happens, it will severely hurt Aramco’s prices, as demand will go down and investors will have a greater economic incentive to move on from oil. The company will not seem so high and mighty when that happens. Geopolitical dangers will almost certainly rise.

All of this is not even to mention the socio-political risks that come with investing in Aramco. Environmental issues aside, Aramco still faces international competition with the U.S. and Russia, stagnant output for the past five years, warlike attacks from Iran, and a lack of corporate autonomy against the Saudi Arabian government.

From an immediate money-driven perspective, investing in Aramco might seem like an easy buck and a booming economic development for Saudi Arabia. However, money (like oil wells) can dry up quicker than one thinks, and when that happens, investors might be left with nothing in their pockets but a long list of political, sociological, and environmental problems.

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Climate Solutions, Entertainment, Music, Observation

Takin’ it to the Streets to Save the World – XR uses Saturday Night Fever to Wake up Planet Earth

Video December 8, 2019 Danny Leeds

https://video-lynxotic.akamaized.net/Madrid-December7-2019.mov

Short Video illustrating the disco-bedience protest in madrid around the climate conference

Civil Disco-Bedience: Inspired Dance Protest Outside UN Climate Conference in Madrid

When it comes to the climate crisis, there is an unfortunate oversaturation of negative news. Rising temperatures, polluted oceans, wildfires, hurricanes, floods and more—all against the backdrop of political inaction. It does not always paint the most uplifting picture.

Even protests are often (rightfully) fueled by frustration and anger. While climate rallies are in the world’s best interests, their participants are usually an aggressively determined and ambitious crowd. Such is what it takes to fight the systemic behemoths that are behind climate change.

A first phase consisted of a kind of shock tactic to try to emphasize the seriousness of the dangers faced by all. “Die-ins” were a way to illustrate, almost literally, the consequences of inaction. Stopping traffic or blocking commerce was a way to force the public and the media to take notice.

The Extinction Rebellion has been putting on protests since May 2018, but it has become particularly active in the past few months. Its rallies can sometimes be perceived as extremism. Multiple members of the group have been arrested for their uncompromising actions and their protests have been made illegal in the city of London.

Then the floods, droughts, fires and extreme weather events started to become commonplace. Scientific reports showed the undeniable connection to man-made climate change. Global Warming became Climate Change then a Climate Crisis. The fear became palpable.

It appears that, even as at least some attention is being paid at the UN Climate Conference in Madrid, a major shift could be emerging in world opinion. World leaders are coming together to follow up on the 2015 Paris Accords and seek to come to sound agreements for the planet’s future.

More importantly, there is a massive shift in the auto industry with carmakers anticipating an eventual end to internal combustion engine (ICE) production in favor of electric vehicles (EVs).

Sometimes it’s necessary to look past the threats and the doom and try to imagine a world where the human race rises to an extinction level threat and not only survives but prevails. To imagine a world where energy is abundant and comes from the sun, from wind power and as yet unknown clean, sustainable energy sources.

Like driving a beautiful, clean, zero emission Tesla on beautiful mountain roads, charged from solar sources, and marveling at a better world all around. A Great fantasy today, but what kind of changes, to our ways of thinking, to our current corrupt infrastructure, to all that stands in the way, would it take to make it a reality?

A tiny first step could be for those that no longer need convincing that the Climate Crisis is real to come together and announce to the world, and more importantly to one another, that the journey towards, not just survival, but to a better life has begun. And what better way to do it than by….. dancing.

This week, the grassroots environmental organization known as the Extinction Rebellion blocked out Madrid’s busy Gran Via to dance in the street—enacting what they are calling “civil disco-bedience.”

Following the Unspoken Ethos of Elon Musk “Save the Planet and have Fun Doing it” is the new Mantra

In Madrid the protestors expressed nothing but upbeat vibes, as hundreds flooded the roads to jam out and move their bodies to songs of celebration and life, not death.

As several members of the party stated, the Extinction Rebellion has tried just about every option in the book to get politicians on board with prioritizing climate change. Sadly, very few of its efforts have been rewarded. Now that all of the leaders are at the conference talking out potential solutions, there is not much left for the organization to do.

Always savvy when it comes to public backlash and highly motivated for a more than righteous cause, it appears that the group has decided that there must be joy, exuberance, energy and even a celebratory atmosphere to the consciousness raising efforts, if they are to succeed.

So they dance. In the cold December air, some go shirtless and all express sentiments of optimism for the future. They stand for saving the world, and are having fun doing it. Hopefully, the politicians meeting inside Madrid’s IFEMA facilities are feeling as progressive as the protestors are, and will find some sort of innovative compromise before the Conference ends on December 13th.

As various groups come together searching for ways to act against the threats of the Climate Crisis and in favor of solutions and changes that will enable a life on earth that does not depend on burning carbon to live, they are realizing, it appears, that finding each other and reinforcing their mutual love for life and this planet may be the first, best, test in what will be humankind’s greatest challenge.

The citizens of earth ultimately have the power to decide the future. Now, and soon, that decision will be made, one way, or another. Perhaps celebrating this certainty by dancing on the streets of Madrid in the winter of 2019 may not be a bad way to acknowledge and affirm those truths, and begin the dance toward changes for the better.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Climate Solutions, Lifestyle

Government and Industrial Responsibility vs. Private Guilt in the Climate Crisis

December 1, 2019 Danny Leeds

Personal Guilt Misconceptions and “Mind Control by the Alligators”

With the entire world soon to be in a state of emergency due to the climate crisis it is government and industry that must lead the way in enacting drastic reforms for survival. If that leadership is not forthcoming then we all must begin fighting against the system that threatens our own extinction.

The idea that the problem is based on a lack of “voluntary” climate footprint reduction by individuals is not only absurd but an intentional method used to prevent the implementation of any systemic changes.

While individuals and individual consumption is clearly a meaningful factor and cause, it is a propaganda ploy to play on individual guilt and responsibility over a massive, essential change in world energy infrastructure.

Even pointing to the differences in carbon burned by rich vs. poor serves only to produce a scapegoat that is an imaginary individual as opposed to starting a real discussion about how government, industry to society as a whole can solve the problem.

Should a person choosing to fly from LA to NYC be shamed or feel guilt and cancel the trip instead? Why are there no high speed, carbon neutral transportation options?

No different than in 2008 at the depth of the financial crisis when 700 billion was gifted to big banks and Insurance companies, who promptly proceeded to award themselves massive bonuses for nearly destroying the entire world economy.

Not only was the “man from Main Street” blamed in much of the media for “irresponsible” used of credit that was, in reality, foisted on him but that same demographic suffered most and was clearly the victim of the systemic greed that was the true cause of the contagion.

Stay tuned, as this theme will re-emerge with a vengeance as none of the underlying causes of that crisis were addressed, let alone corrected.

Simple examples of top down success stories abound but they are rarely mentioned

In Germany, for example, a goal of 65% reliance on clean renewable energy sources is within sight, set as a goal for 2030, but likely will be reached or even surpassed before then.

How was this achieved? Was there a spontaneous surge in individual choices that led to this shift away from Oil and Coal? Of course not. Taxes played a role, industry cooperated, individuals were encouraged, and in some cases required by law, to follow suit.

A very large factor, however, was the lack of Oil interests relative to other countries. In Germany percentage of dependence on foreign oil at very high prices was far above the US or even most of the rest of Northern Europe since WW II. That war itself was lost by the German Axis partially due to the lack of access to cheap oil.

This served, in the short run, to force people to use energy more carefully than in the US. Anything from non essential lighting to refrigeration and air conditioning and individual travel options were limited for the second half of the 20th Century. This was partly due to the market price, but also to the added taxes, which were used to help fund projects like mass transit, and reduce the dependence on oil by having, as a society, a more energy efficient transportation infrastructure.

It’s No Accident that the US has been Lagging Behind in Much Needed Changes for Decades

During the obvious shift in awareness toward this existential challenge facing humankind, with massive predatory greed as its root cause, there can be no foisting of responsibility onto the backs of the common citizen.

It is up to the media to quash and reject the idea that no one can complain about systemic failures unless they lead a private lifestyle that is virtually “carbon free”.

The idea is patently absurd on its face, as if we should all wake up one day and personally replace the freeways with mass transit, for example, even while politicians and industry continue to block sustainable transportation or green lifestyle options for average people through greed and vested interests of the fossil fuel industrial complex.

There is Precedent for this Struggle, and Not a Nice One

Rather, governments, industry and citizenry must all come together against a common enemy, as was done in WW2 in the fight to stop Hitler and the Nazis.

Hitler in this scenario is not the climate crisis itself but rather the corrupt cabal running governments and industry and quietly asserting all its might to prevent positive change from happening.

“If you belong to that small group of people who feel threatened by us, then we have some very bad news for you, because this is only the beginning. Change is coming whether they like it or not.” – Greta Thunberg

A major method the sociopaths of the status quo use to stop positive change is the ridiculous argument that only individuals can solve the problems that are root the cause of the climate crisis.

This is, in fact, true, but not in the way that they are selling. The real and only way that the problems can be solved is by individuals standing up and demanding the worldwide systemic changes necessary to reverse the environmental causes of the crisis.

And if the powers that seek to block those changes stand in the way, they must be removed from power, until they join the dinosaurs they resemble, otherwise all of us face extinction together.

And that goes double for any media outlet that tries to sell you the false narrative the personal, individual actions are primarily to blame, rather than the corrupt decisions of those in power.

It is not just an abdication of responsibility it is willful criminal negligence that would destroy the earth in suicidal destruction, along with the entire human race. Those elements of society blocking the positive changes need to be stopped by any means necessary.

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Entertainment, Movies

5 Trailers of Oscar Contenders: Check out the films that Insiders are Predicting to Win

Video November 30, 2019 Danny Leeds

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/universal/1917/1917-trailer-2_h1080p.mov

Official Trailer for “1917”

1917

Oscar buzz and predictions are building ahead of the Golden Globes, which are traditionally used as a gauge of what will most likely be among the Oscar nominations. The Globes are slated for January 6th, 2020 and the Oscar’s, a.k.a. 91st Academy Awards telecast is on Sunday, 24 February.

Some of the films that are getting the most buzz and are favored to be in the running can be seen by peeking at the trailers (with links to our in depth articles) below:

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/fox_searchlight/jojo-rabbit/jojo-rabbit-trailer-2_h1080p.mov

Official Trailer for “Jojo Rabbit”

Jojo Rabbit

New Zealand director Taika Waltiti’s movie “Jojo Rabbit” was released October 18th. The critic’s reactions have been positive, and the film won the Toronto Film Festival audience award putting it in line, if past years winners are any indication, for a possible Oscar nod. Waititi was also awarded the Festival’s new Ebert Director Award.

Waltiti is known for directing wacky comedies such as “What We Do In The Shadows,” “Hunt For The Wilderpeople,” and the borderline parody Marvel hit, “Thor: Ragnarok.” His latest film, “Jojo Rabbit” follows this same vein of outrageous, yet charming humor, but there is one key difference… “Jojo Rabbit” focuses on Germany’s Nazi party during World War II, making its hilarity just a touch more complicated.

More specifically, “Jojo Rabbit” is about a young boy in the Hitler Youth. Like many German kids of the time, he aspires to be a Nazi soldier when he grows up. He buys into the party’s ideologies and believes their propaganda. That is until he comes face to face with a Jewish girl and learns, despite what the Nazis have taught him, that she is harmless, pleasant, and appealing.

On the surface, the premise seems like the bones of a complex and sophisticated historical drama. With Waltiti behind the camera, though, such is obviously not the case. Instead of dry historical accuracy, Waltiti makes the Hitler Youth look like a summer camp filled with likable children and goofy leaders. Most boldly perhaps, Waltiti himself plays Adolf Hitler in the movie, but rather than depict him as the brutal dictator that he was, Waltiti makes him out to be the kind-uncle archetype, a socially inept, hilarious motivator and idol for the children in the story.

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/sony_pictures/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-trailer-1_h1080p.mov

Official Trailer for Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood

Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino has had success with his ninth movie, “Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood”. In a slight departure from his stark early 70s styled crime dramas, this time Tarantino pays homage to the late- 60’s genre and his love for his hometown, Los Angeles.

The film takes place in 1969 Hollywood, amidst the chaotic events of that year, including the infamous Manson Murders. Much like The Altamont Free Concert, as chronicled in the film Gimme Shelter (with it’s high profile murder during the show), the gruesome, violent Manson murders are often cited as an historical moment marking the end of the free love 60’s and a pivot towards the darker times in the me decade of the 70’s.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, as an actor on a Western television series alongside Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, Dalton’s stuntman. The two work and live closely together as they carry out their urban cinematic adventures. The characters and their friendship are said to be based on 70’s icon Burt Reynolds and his stuntman Hal Needham.

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/wb/joker/joker-trailer-2_h1080p.mov

Official Trailer for “Joker”

Joker

Even before seeing “Joker” the origin-story from Warner Brothers, there is a sense that this is an epic not easily categorized within the Comic-Book movie genre.

Starring Joaquin Phoenix (Oscar nominee for “Walk the Line”, “The Master” and “Gladiator”), directed and co-written by Todd Phillips (“Borat” and “The Hangover Trilogy”) and with Robert De Niro (as TV host Murray Franklin), the focus on how Arthur Fleck becomes “Joker” screams a muted, uneasy tension, that’s oozing from every pixel revealed so far.

In “Joker”, Batman’s Gotham City is a cesspool of dirt and depravity where Arthur appears doomed to live and die encircled with nothing but depression and humiliation. Mentally Ill and mercilessly tortured by the “sane” members of society all around him, he finds some respite in his chosen career of clown-for-hire and hopeful comedian wannabe by night.

The potential for the story to transcend the genre of Comic book heroes and villains is hinted at in the placard with the words “we are all clowns” scrawled on it, that can be seen in a flash, about halfway through the new trailer (above).

Followed by scenes showing mobs of clown-mask-wearing demonstrators / rioters (shades of anonymous, Guy Fawkes, Antifa and Hong Kong), there’s an implication that an anti-social movement is growing up around, and identifying with, the anger and twisted humor of the emerging “Joker” super-villain character.

The real life parallels to the fictional world of Gotham City and the way many could relate, after having suffered similar fates to those that produced the madness into which Arthur descends, are scary, already in previews, and could portend a film that is not only horrifically entertaining, but thought provoking, when seen in the shadows of current events and today’s zeitgeist.

In the wake of so many “uplifting” but heavily computer assisted films where Comic book superheroes battle cartoon villains (and each other) the emphasis on live action grit and human emotions and failings is, at first look, refreshing and terrifying (in an interesting way), and that seems to have hit a nerve with the general public, judging from the $1 billion plus bos office take so far.

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/fox/ford-v-ferrari/ford-v-ferrari-trailer-1_h1080p.mov

Official trailer for “Ford v FerRari”

Ford v Ferarri

From “Logan” and “Walk The Line” director James Mangold, “Ford v Ferrari” follows the true story of American engineer Carroll Shelby who is solicited by Henry Ford II to build a car that can beat Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans World Championship in France. Shelby, determined to complete Ford’s ambitious task, insists on putting the wild and loose British driver Ken Miles behind the wheel. What ensues is the fast-playing tale of a couple eccentric and erratic people infiltrating a world filled with professional industrialists to take on the impossible.

Matt Damon plays Shelby in the film and Christian Bale as Miles. Rather than one being the lead and the other being a supporting role, both actors are co-leading the film, making them both eligible for Best Actor in a Leading Role nominations at the Oscars come February.

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Business

New Tesla Gigafactory praised as Boost for The German Economy

November 30, 2019 Danny Leeds

Tesla Storefront on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, Germany – Photo / Monique Ly

Brandenberg premier Sees Tesla move as the start of a Trend…

The rapid build-out of Elon Musk’s Gigafactory 4 near Berlin is getting praise from local officials for influencing a trend toward local job and factory growth. In Germany, which is at the forefront of the transition to renewable energy sources, currently at 40% from wind and solar power, with peaks up to 65% in a given week, and local carmakers in a ramp-up to increased EV production, those same manufacturers have recently chosen cheaper foreign alternatives for their new factories.

BMW and Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes Benz, both chose Hungry in recent years for new plants.

However, since Tesla’s announcement of the new Gigafactory near Berlin, Dietmar Woidke, premier of Brandenburg, the area where Berlin is located, has said that he has seen a significant uptick in interest from other companies to move to the region.

“Tesla will cause other companies to follow,”
– Dietmar Woidke, premier of Brandenburg, Germany

“They are already on their way. I’m hearing there are further inquiries with the communities and the regional business development program. Tesla will cause other companies to follow,”, he was quoted as saying in “Die Welt” a german business magazine.

Already expecting Deal Confirmations before the end of the year

He indicated that his office was already in talks with other companies in the electric transportation and energy storage sectors, but could not divulge any names due to non-disclosure agreements.

He also indicated that there would likely be an announcement on the matter “before Christmas”.

With goals, clearly achievable, to increase the percentage of clean energy sources that supply the country to 65% by 2030, and now the transportation infrastructure transitioning to electric vehicles (as well as other non-ICE systems), Germany appears to be on its way to becoming a model for other countries to follow, toward a future of reduced carbon emissions.

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Observation, Tech

Tesla Cybertruck Pre-Orders pass Quarter Mil, a.k.a. Any Press is Good Press

November 28, 2019 Danny Leeds

Memes and Ridicule are spreading the word: There’s a New Truck in Town…

It’s been quite a week in Tesla news since the Cybertruck was unveiled near the SpaceX headquarters on November 21st. There’s been a rollercoaster of love and mocking, most of which has been entertaining. Once the initial barrage of silly memes hit like an avalanche on Twitter, auto insiders piled on, in a nice way with tongue in cheek, and all seemed to combine to take an already massive press event to an even higher level.

While pre-orders for the Model 3 peaked around half-a-million, and as all would know by now, that model is a huge success story, 250k in pre-orders in less than a week for Cybertruck is not a bad start. Yes, the pre-orders for the Cybertruck are only $100, more a token of appreciation than a hard reservation, and are fully refundable at that, but for a truck that was roundly derided and even scornfully laughed at, this cannot be considered an insignificant number.

The evolution of the truck is here. Guaranteed shatterproof 😬 pic.twitter.com/RocTEkzzwI
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) November 27, 2019

There has been much speculation, as the pre-order tally kept growing, that this could all be a ruse and that the publicity would spur on accelerated development at other automakers, which does appear to be the case. However, amid all the noise and squawking, the name, the image, the logo and the concept are splashing across the world like a tsunami of retro-nostalgic-futurism gone wild.

And, deep deep below the surface of that wave, there is something more. Much more. As is often the case with Elon Musk led projects, an attempt was clearly made to break the mold when it comes to the engineering and feature-set capability, not just the aesthetic ethos.

“So, normally the way that a truck is designed, you have a body on frame, you have a bed on frame and the body and the bed don’t do anything useful. They’re carried like cargo, like a sack of potatoes. It was the way that aircraft used to be designed, when they had biplanes, basically. The key to creating an effective monoplane was a stressed skin design. You move the stress to the outside skin.”
– Elon Musk at the Tesla Cybertruck Unveil Event

As can be seen by looking online at the stats, or reading some good Teslarati articles that go further into the deeply practical innovations, there’s a lot more here than meets the eye.

2019 has been a Watershed Year for Tesla and Elon Musk and 2020 will see more Massive Changes

The 250k pre-orders represent, at the very least, a massive world-wide focus group on the idea of the Cybertruck, if not the truck itself. This focus group is very, very enthusiastic about the idea. How much of this is celebrity love? How much is tree-hugger-meets-mad-max eco-rescue lovers? How many are tired of the macho-hillbilly-redneck pro-gas-guzzling Marlboro-Man image of “Made-Ford-Tough”? A lot, clearly.

“So if you think about a truck, you want a truck that’s tough. You want a truck that’s really tough, not fake tough.”
– ELON MUSK AT THE TESLA CYBERTRUCK UNVEIL EVENT

And what if it is just a lot of people with a C-note to spare that would like to vote for an overthrow of the old guard and see the transition to a sustainable energy transportation infrastructure at least get off its ass?

In Southern California you get on the freeway anytime, anywhere and you will see old guard 19mpg, 40 gallon per tank monsters with fat, stupid oversized clown wheels as far as the eye can see. What if they were mixed with Tesla Cybertrucks, in addition to the Model S and Model 3s that are already a California freeway mainstay. Would that be “Blade-Runner-esque? And what of it? At lease a new day will look new and be different.

Haven’t we seen enough of the Status Quo? Haven’t the Dinosaurs had their day? Change can be refreshing, even while retro in a cyberpunk kind of way, and in the end, Saving the Planet and Having Fun Doing It is a much better way than the way we had.

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Business, Observation, Tech

Cybertruck Turnaround tells us a Boatload about Tesla, Elon Musk and the Future

Video November 26, 2019 Danny Leeds

https://www.tesla.com/xNVh4yUEc3B9/11_Desktop_Video.mp4

More than 200k in pre-orders and Future buyers posting Proof Online as a Badge of Honor

The Cybertruck unveiling at the SpaceX adjacent Tesla Design Center on November 21st was one for the the ages. The initial reaction by the throngs of invited press (invitations were required and very hard to come by for the ultra-anticipated event) was to run with the obvious: smash proof window failure and wild twitter responses to the extreme throw-back-style design.

Elon Musk even pre-revealed what the general look the truck would be before the event, as if he was concerned that people needed a preview to reduce the shock of seeing the radical concept without a prior hint of what was to come.

Cybertruck pulls F-150 uphill pic.twitter.com/OfaqUkrDI3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2019

Electric motors also have insane torque. If we load both trucks to the max, electric still wins. Physics is the law, everything else is a recommendation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2019

And then, within 24 hours of the unveiling, literally 100s of online media outlets pumped out articles, perhaps with a ratio of two or three to one ridiculing the design, or the issues with the on-stage window demonstration vs. the minority actually digging deeper into the truck itself and how it might actually fare in the real world. One outlet even speculated that the whole concept was 100% fake and that there was no chance that any truck, at least not similar to this one, would ever be produced.

In the run-up to the epic unveiling, Musk hinted that the truck would possibly be influenced by the “Blade Runner” aesthetic and cyberpunk ethos and might be like “an armored personnel carrier from the future”. And how spot on those hints turned out to be!

Once the pre-orders started to flood in, something changed, big time.

Within 72 hours Elon had tweeted milestones for the $100 fully refundable pre-orders. First that approximately 160k and then more than 200k orders had been taken. Not quite at the level of the Model 3 pre-orders, and at a much lower cost (Model 3 was a $1000 deposit) but, for an unveiling that was considered by the press, generally, to be a failure and even worthy of mocking and derision, this was an abrupt, if not surprising turn-around.

200k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2019

Not surprising because this type of press-vs-the public behavior is commonplace in all areas of commerce and entertainment. Just last summer, Disney’s Lion King was almost universally panned by critics, then went on, predictably, to be one of the biggest financial successes in movie history. Cybertruck is unlikely to be that extreme as it bounces back from the initial negativity coming from the press, but what the bounce back says about Tesla, climate change and the future is an even more fascinating story, to observe and speculate on, than that cute and cuddly digital cat.

[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”30″]

Tesla’s Support and Status as a Hero in the Fight against the Fossil Fuel Industrial Complex and ICE automakers runs deep and strong

The speculation on why Elon Musk chose to design and offer this vehicle at this time has obviously run rampant. There are many theories, most of them pretty silly, and, short of a detailed announcement from the man himself, there can be no definitive statement.

However, now that the pre-orders are proving to be robust and the company’s stock has rebounded (probably unrelated but, that’s another story), the possibility of a “crazy like a fox” story behind it all begins to make more sense.

Reason Cybertruck is so planar is that you can’t stamp ultra-hard 30X steel, because it breaks the stamping press
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2019

One interesting development is the tweets of the deposit receipts as a badge of honor among the faithful. This could just be folks who love everything about the truck and it’s radical design and features.

It could also, however, be something larger in play. Once the truck concept vs. the EV concept is taken into account the process of observing social and commercial trends in this case becomes very interesting.

Factoid 1: Incidents involving Tesla charging stations being blocked and vandalized have generally been perpetrated by strange rogue Pick-up truck owners and there has been an exaggerated hate and pride in driving a gas guzzling anti-Tesla. It’s bizarre to think that Tesla in this case could be creating a kind of counter force to these oddly “pro-gasoline” wackos who seems to see Tesla as some sort of flashpoint for their retro-oil-fetish. And, the Cybertruck is bulletproof (!?).

Factoid 2: While it has been well documented that Tesla stands virtually alone against the power structure of the entire world in its crusade to rid the world of ICE vehicles ASAP, the degree to which the general public has a strong desire and motive to support the company and its products, above and beyond a love for the products themselves or its leader, is as yet an unknown quantity.

In the press at large (many who are beholden to the ICE power structure) Tesla is often seen as just another carmaker selling wares, while customers may have a deeper connection as they search for ways to support solutions to the climate crisis as individuals. This could be a major and growing force in the days and months ahead, and can be a powerful resource to help to keep Tesla afloat even when Elon Musk decides to tackle challenging and even outlandish ventures.

Hey @elonmusk are you quoting our article or are we just having a mind meld?https://t.co/jOcTYxIDU3
— Danny Leeds 🗽📽🔮 (@DannyLeeds6) November 26, 2019

Factoid 3: Perhaps more fantasy based than fact supported, the connection between the climate crisis as a motivation to buy and EV truck may go even deeper and wider than just the battery power. As a virtual disaster survival vehicle with various features that would be potentially life saving in a post-catastrophe situation – such as being employed as a bug-out vehicle to escape a flooded urban area. Various features seem to be conceived in response to a potential dystopian fantasy, but could be extremely valuable in a real emergency. The almost tank like durability, the shatterproof windows (as long as a sledgehammer doesn’t hit the door first), the battery powered cooking facilities in the camping-mode version, even the optional ATV come to mind.

“an armored personnel carrier from the future.”
– Elon Musk

Taking this thought experiment to its furthest possible conclusion its not hard to imagine a future (the Cybertruck could be on streets by perhaps 2021-2022) where the factions who support ICE trucks and the anti-fossil fuel “warriors”, each become radicalized and clash in some crazy mad max survival contest on US highways.

A more Optimistic stroke of Genius could also have played a role

Another very interesting possibility is that Elon Musk, known for being a master playing in marketing ventures, as well as being dedicated to sharing the EV market gladly with “competitors”, who he sees more as partners, once they take up the mantel of helping to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy transportation.

It is no coincidence that GM, Ford, and many others have announced EV truck projects and details in the wake of the Cybertruck unveiling. It is a given that they will be watching very closely as Tesla ventures in to the traditional automakers most lucrative market segment.

“Trucks have been the same for a very long time like 100 years, we wanted to try something different,”
– Elon musk

For Musk and Tesla, however, it is clearly a win-win if you understand the higher purpose and motivation that infuses all activities within the company and yet is often misunderstood by others.

Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

🌞⚡🚗🔋

(a thread)
— Tesla (@Tesla) May 9, 2019

If the Cybertruck does not command a large market share and somehow ends up like the DeLorean that it resembles, it will have, nevertheless, been a huge success in forcing the hand of the legacy automakers toward offering more EV options asap.

The legacy ICE carmakers cannot afford to wait while hoping that Tesla will fail. That phase of the battle over sustainable vs fossil-fuel transportation is over. Tesla is a force to be reckoned with and the Cybertruck, along with its on-going army of supporters who’ve ponied up C-notes, are making themselves seen and heard and stand as a warning that it’s not only the climate that’s changing on this planet.

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AI, Tech

iPhone 11, AirPods Pro, All Software and Services not seeing weak sales after all? It’s the ecosystem, (stupid)

Video November 24, 2019 Danny Leeds

https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/airpods-pro/2019/1299e2f5_9206_4470_b28e_08307a42f19b/films/product/airpods-pro-product-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080h.mp4

iPods Pro clip – produced by apple

Same song and dance? First all the negative predictions and then….

In the 80s and 90s there was an almost unanimous consensus that Apple was inferior to Microsoft and that Bill Gates was a genius for choosing to forgo building hardware and creating an empire on selling operating system software and a suite of office applications.

The choice and steadfast refusal by Steve Jobs to change the basic idea that Apple would build and back all aspects of the product and experience has, practically to this day, been seen as, at best, short sighted.

Ironically, the current wave of products for 2019: iPhone 11 Pro and Max, the Mac Pro with Pro Display XDR, the new MacBook Pros and Air and new iPads, AirPods Pro (still more to come) are all getting “better than expected” reviews and sales (at least the products that are available to date).

Although this is not an usual pattern. Like a blockbuster movie (Lion King?), as often as the negative reviews come flooding in, so the performance of the actual product shines in virtually inverse proportion to the dire predictions of the pundits and “experts”.

But this year, for Apple, it goes beyond that knee-jerk pattern. This year the chickens have truly come home to roost.

At this very moment millions are upgrading to iOS 13+ (don’t worry, the bugs will be ironed out soon enough) and next we will see iPad OS and Mac OS Catalina.

Just because these are all “free” upgrades, don’t be fooled by the price. The beauty of a complete ecosystem is that the benefits of one entity within the system (such as system software) accrue in great measure to all others.

And this year the interdependent innovations are nothing short of spectacular. Just take any individual device, service or function and the accelerated improvement virtually explodes in your face.

Buy another iPhone? Is that really necessary? Only for a better camera?

The iPhone 11 Pro? “Just” has a great camera? Really? Well yes, it’s 3 cameras, 3 lenses and looks like a TV news camera from the 60s. But it is the combination of the evolution of the processing software, the “deep fusion”, machine learning within the photos app, also interwoven through iCloud and proprietary internal components, that make features like that unbelievable night mode possible, and make it possible to shoot 60fps 4K videos with all three cameras simultaneously (wait, say that again?) and all of this is just the tip of an iceberg that can only be rendered if you happen to be the company that also designs and builds its own chips (A13 Bionic with neural engine).

But wait, that is just the headline, under the hood, all of these improvements and upgrades are echoed and mirrored in every apple produced stand-alone software application, every third party developer product quick enough to ride the waves that the new system and processor makes possible, every app, every add-on all the interconnected functionality, on and on and on.

The buyers sense value – not just window dressing and hyped up bells and whistles but a complete ecosystem that was always better but now threatens to evolve at a pace that will be as mind-blowing as the original iPhone was just 12 years ago.

Because it’s the sum of the entire system – a “feature” that can not be marketed or even listed on a stat sheet – that is the most powerful force that will draw in users and surprise the nay-sayers again and again.

[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”3″]

All across the device galaxy the upgrades are more than incremental, they are transcendental

Take the iPad – particularly the iPad Pro, Not only will it take a quantum leap forward with added iPad OS features that push it into laptop-like functionality, but all the lame comparisons with the Surface are completely meaningless once you factor in the “Sidecar” function within Mac OS Catalina, not to mention the constantly evolving interconnected software (example: Photoshop and Affinity Photo both now on iPad). Sidecar allows the iPad to be used as an external, extra screen, or, if you have a recent Mac, for example a MacBook Pro or an iMac or a Mac Mini, and you are within 10 meters of it, you can use a mouse or Apple Pencil and you, literally, have a tiny mac in the form of an iPad Laptop.

So, in essence, you have a mostly iPad touch system device with all the special uses that implies, and yet, with iPad OS you also have the option to use it as a touch screen Laptop or, using Sidecar, you can switch to an actual Mac with all the associated functions and capabilities. And, yes, did I mention that if you already have an iPad and a Mac this has a cost of $0 for the double upgrade?

During the coming months features of this type (benefits of the eco-system) will expand and improve and, yes, next year there will be yet another quantum leap. I am writing this on an iPad Pro from 2015 and it has improved in functionality constantly for the last 4 years, and that’s before this huge step forward coming in the next 30 days. Added cost, zero. A product that improves for years after you buy it for free? Only Tesla is even attempting to match such a business ethos.

[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”7″]

Hardware, Chips and Components, Software, Services, Os’s All Evolving in Concert

It will take a series of articles to go into any kind of depth at all regarding how the machine learning and AI within the Apple ecosystem is evolving with amazing speed, how the various hardware design improvements are being optimized for just those uses. How a system which not only has constantly upgraded operating systems, but a growing and deepening array or application software (also “free”) all benefitting from each other.

“Buy any part, piece or product and you are pulled into a vortex of virtuous and redundant improvements, which obliterate cost comparisons.”
– D.L.

What this all adds up to is “just” better performance, functionality and expanded feature sets (as well as entirely new capabilities) across the entire constellation of devices, applications and services. Buy any part, piece or product and you are pulled into a vortex of virtuous and redundant improvements, which obliterate cost comparisons. Could this be the reason the most expensive iPhone is, once again, leading in sales volume? Why are people buying an iPhone 11 Pro Max with 256 GB? Why, indeed.

So, the genius idea to charge people every year or two for another bug filled monstrosity of an operating system is truly genius if you only care about money for nothing (hello windows and android universe).

If, on the other hand, you care about improved user experience, satisfaction and productivity, and have the increased creative and technological capabilities of the new cyborg army (that is the new human race) as job 1, well, to paraphrase a certain former President, it’s the eco-system, stupid.

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Down nearly 4000 points in Five Days in Correction Territory, but Bear is Still Hiding in Plain Sight

Just as Summer leads to Fall and Fall Leads to Winter, there’s another Explanation the we should All Consider

Say the B Word, have no Fear, as Forewarned is Forearmed

And, no, this is not a Conspiracy to Stop Trump from Getting Re-elected

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime, Creative Explanations for the Consecutive Down Days Abound

The Press Responds with Extreme Concern as Last Line of Public Defense Against Trump’s Lawlessness

Like Al Capone alleging an alternate Crime as a quicker way to Prosecute Social Media Gangster?

Although a Pittance for the Giant Company there appears to be a Growing Pattern of Problems at Facebook

Amazon represents a New Normal but Not Everybody is Happy with That

A Formula that just might Work, as People Gradually Realize that a Monopsony is Just as bad as a Monopoly

Finally, For Booklovers who Love Booklovers a site that Loves Indie Booksellers

A Preview of Coming Conflicts that will Determine if Our Planet will Survive

Perhaps a Film or Docudrama could be in the Works?

This was the year that a Real Path to Long awaited Trends Begins

Sustainable Transport and Smart Cities as Upgrade to “Smart Home” products that are now Old Hat

Robotics are Still not Quite Mainstream but getting Very Close

Camera tech combined with software and AI is beginning to get Serious

The Naked Display of Abandon in Shanghai was a Signal to The Next Generation

That’s why he’s dancing.

And now we need to join him.

In short, it’s Utopia or Oblivion, folks.

Apple’s Greatest Innovations Lie Ahead in the New Decade: 2019 Laid The Foundation

The Next Decade will be about the Increased Benefits of the Total Apple Ecosystem

A Story that’s Getting Old, Lies and Deception are Flooding All Outlets on Precipice of 2020 Election Year

Algorithms are the Gatekeepers, Automation for Advertising Dollars

More and More Political Manipulators are Gaming the Algos

Trump Tilting at Windmills Tweaks Twitter, acting as Buffoon: the Subject is no longer Humorous

In a Feature article WSJ does an Investigative Report but Leaves out the Real Dirt

opinion

The Real Rot is not in the Garbage Being Sold but Amazon’s System that Is a Machine Designed to Destroy Legitmate Retail

The List of Omissions from the WSJ article is Mind-boggling

Who is the Real Victim? We all are.

Sunshine Behind the Clouds and the Future in your Hands

The Tipping Point is Behind us Now, It’s only a question of When EV’s Market Share will Overtake ICE

Finally, there has been a Major Shift in Thinking in the Auto Industry

There is Still only one EV Company that Stands Above in Every Way

iPhone 11 Pro Released at Special Event…

Read More: Here are some Milestones that will Lead to the “Apple Decade” in the 2020s

Apple Stands Alone as the One True Innovator (Along with Tesla for EVs)

Read More: iPhone 12 and 5G Revolution, Tesla Takes Berlin and Butterfly is Finally Toast

Machine Learning and the 3 Layer approach to design

Read More: Five New Books about how We can Change the Direction of the USA in November

Additional Features

Literally Trillions are Staked on a Carbon Nightmare Future

Not a Question of When but rather How Fast can the World Switch off the Oil Pumps?

Civil Disco-Bedience: Inspired Dance Protest Outside UN Climate Conference in Madrid

Following the Unspoken Ethos of Elon Musk “Save the Planet and have Fun Doing it” is the new Mantra

Personal Guilt Misconceptions and “Mind Control by the Alligators”

Simple examples of top down success stories abound but they are rarely mentioned

It’s No Accident that the US has been Lagging Behind in Much Needed Changes for Decades

There is Precedent for this Struggle, and Not a Nice One

1917

Jojo Rabbit

Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood

Joker

Ford v Ferarri

Brandenberg premier Sees Tesla move as the start of a Trend…

Already expecting Deal Confirmations before the end of the year

Memes and Ridicule are spreading the word: There’s a New Truck in Town…

2019 has been a Watershed Year for Tesla and Elon Musk and 2020 will see more Massive Changes

More than 200k in pre-orders and Future buyers posting Proof Online as a Badge of Honor

Once the pre-orders started to flood in, something changed, big time.

Tesla’s Support and Status as a Hero in the Fight against the Fossil Fuel Industrial Complex and ICE automakers runs deep and strong

A more Optimistic stroke of Genius could also have played a role

Same song and dance? First all the negative predictions and then….

Buy another iPhone? Is that really necessary? Only for a better camera?

All across the device galaxy the upgrades are more than incremental, they are transcendental

Hardware, Chips and Components, Software, Services, Os’s All Evolving in Concert

News: Climate Solutions, AI, Books, Entertainment and more