A round up of some of 2016’s most significant corporate events and news stories. Smartphone sales © EPA A bright start to the year for Samsung Electronicswent up in smoke, after it took the unprecedented decision to axe its Galaxy Note 7 line, following a spate of safety issues that saw the smartphone banned from aircraft, writes Nic Fildes. The 2016 Galaxy Note iteration won substantial praise […]
The vote for Brexit will change the course of Britain’s history, Philip Hammond announced last month. The UK chancellor may be a strident advocate for a soft departure from the EU but he has also been keen to paint a positive picture of the country’s economy, saying the UK’s fundamental strengths will “ensure our future success”. Financial markets are sceptical. The economy may have confounded doom laden […]
Reserachers are using mathematical models to explain how bacteria and cancer cells exploit an evolutionary process known as bet-hedging to resist medical intervention. (via WSJ)
Ma’aden, QIC and Bupa Arabia are fastest growing companies in 2011-15. Nearly 90% of fastest growing companies come from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Share prices rose for almost all the fastest growing companies. Collectively, the fastest growing companies achieved around 100% stockmarket outperformance. 22 December 2016 A landmark report released today by research group Marmore MENA Intelligence profiles 15 of the fastest growing listed […]
By Rodrigo Campos | NEW YORK NEW YORK The year-end stocks rally on the heels of the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president was built on expectations of reduced regulations, big tax cuts and a large fiscal stimulus. Now signs are emerging from the Trump camp that harsher trade policies that could jeopardize the honeymoon are likely in the offing, and investors would be well advised […]
Researchers have created a bacteria-powered battery on a single sheet of paper that can power disposable electronics. The manufacturing technique reduces fabrication time and cost, and the design could revolutionize the use of bio-batteries as a power source in remote, dangerous and resource-limited areas. Source
A recent want ad for a job at a professional services companies had this interesting description: Photo: Joe McKendrick “Robotic Process Automation Analyst: Key responsibilities include: work with business teams to simplify and improve operations by analyzing as-is processes and create end-to-end automation solution designs… Work with process owners/SMEs and technology teams to analyse and assess automation feasibility… Document business requirements, processes and work instructions…. Operate as […]
The chief executive of Lockheed Martin Corp told President-elect Donald Trump on Friday that she was committed to driving down the cost of the company’s F-35 fighter jet, a day after Trump took aim at the cost of the F-35 in a Twitter post. CEO Marillyn Hewson said she spoke with Trump on Friday afternoon and assured him that she had heard his message “loud and clear” […]
Latest study explored the reasons why when walking, people use mostly their heels and not their toes, as opposed to running. Many animals use the balls of their feet to move around, which made for an interesting case study. The research, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, was conducted by researcher James Webber from the University of Arizona, School of Anthropology. Evolutionary Reasons The scientist was […]
While solar cell technology is currently being used by many industrial and government entities, it remains prohibitively expensive to many individuals who would like to utilize it. There is a need for cheaper, more efficient solar cells than the traditional silicon solar cells so that more people may have access to this technology. One of the current popular topics in photovoltaic technology research centers around the use […]
Honda R&D and Waymo are in discussion over self-driving car tech. Honda is in discussion with Google’s autonomous vehicle division Waymo about integrating self-driving technology into Honda vehicles. Honda said the technical collaboration between researchers at its Honda R&D subsidiary and Waymo’s self-driving technology team would allow both companies to learn about the integration of Waymo’s fully self-driving sensors, software and computing platform into Honda vehicles. As […]
Researchers have developed novel membranes, whose selectivity can be switched dynamically with the help of light. For this purpose, azobenzene molecules were integrated into membranes made of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Depending on the irradiation wavelength, these azobenzene units in the MOFs adopt a stretched or angular form. In this way, it is possible to dynamically adjust the permeability of the membrane and the separation factor of gases […]
The Ostrich-like dinosaur Limusaurus inextricabilis that lived in what is now China 160 million years ago has a unique trait. It is born with teeth but eventually become toothless as it gets older. The creature was a two-legged dinosaur characterized by short arms and long, slender legs. The largest ones measured about 6 feet long or under 2 meters. Scientists believe they have down-like feathers that covered some parts […]
Each year at the Ira Sohn conference a group of the world’s best known hedge fund managers present their top ideas for what to buy in the stock market. The event is so closely followed by investors that it is not unknown for shares in companies that are picked to start rising before presenters have even left the stage. More recently, however, some of these celebrity investors […]
IDC predicts that 35 percent of leading organizations in logistics, health, utilities, and resources will explore the use of robots to automate operations by 2019. What does the future hold for robotics? It’s hard to say, given the rapid pace of change in the field as well as in associated areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. But one thing seems certain: Robots will play an […]
By Wa Lone and Simon Lewis | YANGON YANGON Before entering the courthouse in the capital of eastern Myanmar’s Shan State, Maw Maw Oo said it was ominous that several blue police vans were already waiting in the parking lot. “But I don’t want to guess what the court’s decision will be,” she told a Reuters reporter by phone. Hours later she was jailed for a month […]
After the heavy attention on ocean-based plastic pollution, the focus is moving to plastic pollution in the Great Lakes. According to a new study by Rochester Institute of Technology researchers, approximately 10,000 metric tons of plastic waste has been entering the Great Lakes every year from the United States and Canada. The study, “Inventory and transport of plastic debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes,” has Matthew Hoffman, assistant […]
America’s biggest defence contractors cannot decide whether to be thrilled or terrified by Donald Trump. The titans of the US defence establishment beat a path to Mr Trump’s Florida resort on Wednesday to hear the president-elect warn that the US government is spending too much money on wasteful, over-budget, out-of-control defence programmes. At the same time, however, Mr Trump has consistently promised a build-up in America’s military — including his […]
Good morning. A media A-list’s favorite books of 2016 Jake Tapper, the CNN reporter-show host, needed far less time than even a hyperactive wire service rewrite guy to answer a question about his favorite book this year: “‘Moonglow’ by Michael Chabon.” Bam, that didn’t take long. But it’s why amid a Trump- and-terrorism-centric moment, I asked busy and smart journalists to go high when so many others […]
Lately, cybersecurity has been the place where IT’s optimism goes to die. It’s been a tough road for companies and organizations the past few years as their network defenses have been bent and broken on a consistent, and often dramatic, basis. Hacks that topple over a billion user accounts are shocking and make a solution seem impossible. But IT is resilient despite on-going challenges in staffing, budgeting, […]
The same researchers who pioneered the use of a quantum mechanical effect to convert heat into electricity have figured out how to make their technique work in a form more suitable to industry. In Nature Communications, engineers from The Ohio State University describe how they used magnetism on a composite of nickel and platinum to amplify the voltage output 10 times or more — not in a […]
Net redemptions from emerging market equity funds reached a five-week high in the latest week amid pressure from the rising dollar and uncertainty about trade policy in the US, especially with China. Investors withdrew $3.7bn from emerging market equity funds in the week to Wednesday, according to EPFR Global, with Asia ex-Japan equity funds seeing net redemptions of $2.36bn, the largest since September of 2015. China equity […]
Nearly a decade ago, Warren Buffett bet Protege Partners, a fund of hedge funds, that over the course of 10 years the S&P would outperform Protege’s returns net of all fees, costs and expenses. To make it real, the loser agreed to pay $1 million to the charity of the winner’s choice. At this past year’s annual meeting, Warren Buffett provided an update on the now […]
A UCI professor and colleagues have created an online survey platform called the Moral Machine to learn what people think a self-driving car should prioritize in the event of a fatal accident – and it’s not necessarily the lives of its occupants. Credit: Thinkstock Despite dramatic reductions in accident-related fatalities, injuries and damages, as well as significant improvements in transportation efficiency and safety, consumers aren’t as excited […]
