The Money Is Not Actually Moving

Economic Growth and the Production Possibility Curve (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If all money is digital, and if M-Pesa is the future, not just in Kenya but also in the rich world, and if the blockchain technology does to money moving what the Internet did to information moving, as in bring the costs down to pretty much zero, then the money is not actually moving, is it? You are just managing accounts, you are adding and subtracting.

And that digitization allows for a potentially massive increase in the velocity of money. If the same dollar exchanges hands 200 times instead of 20, that is a ten times increase in economic activity and hence economic growth. Moving money should be instantaneous and free globally. Just like when you send email, there is no lag. In the old fashioned ways, it can take days for money to move. There is no reason why it should be that way. That "lag" is a tremendous drag on economic activity.

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Twitter Making Second Big Mistake On Jack Dorsey

The first one obviously was when Jack Dorsey was ousted as Twitter CEO the first time around. Evan Williams, smart guy, shot himself in the foot. You shouldn't do something just because you can.

It is a DNA thing. Only the inventor can come up with killer features for the product. That person in this case is Jack Dorsey. The Twitter Board is in no position to decide.

If I were the Twitter Board, I would salivate at the prospect. Jack Dorsey is no longer a green horn CEO. He has now become really good at it. The first time around he was like, I should have held weekly meetings.

Twitter Board's problem should have been, maybe Dorsey is not available. Giving an ultimatum is bad manners. And it will hurt Twitter, which has been stagnant for a long time now.

I always thought Dick Costolo was more of a COO person. Evan Williams could have been Chairperson. But neither were cut to be CEO. And Twitter lost major momentum along the way.

A new direction would be to get much better at curate-and-display. Most people don't really want to tweet, they just want to consume.

This is not about whether Jack Dorsey is a Steve Jobs or an Elon Musk. This is about whether there is anyone better for the job, and there isn't. It goes with the territory.

Sorry Jack Dorsey, Steve Jobs And Elon Musk Are Exceptions

Currently, Musk serves as the CEO of publicly traded Tesla Motors and the private company SpaceX. Tesla is currently valued at about $25 billion and Musk has his sights set on a $700 billion valuation.

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Earth 2100

Ceres

Watch NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Buzz Dwarf Planet Ceres in the Asteroid Belt

Ceres accounts for 25% of the mass of the asteroid belt, and unlike most of its irregularly shaped neighbors, it is massive enough to be nearly spherical like a moon or planet. ..... Models of the dwarf planet’s interior suggest its mantle may consist of a slurry of water and dirt that contains more fresh water than Earth. .... early images from the Dawn mission showed mysterious bright spots on the surface .... highly reflective patches of surface ice are one possibility. ...... Discovering water on Ceres would have implications for space exploration. Water is a potential source of hydration, breathable air, and rocket fuel, and will therefore prove a precious resource for space wanderers. .... Ceres would make a good extraterrestrial outpost. Its low gravity makes landing and taking off less energy intensive, and resources on the surface could resupply missions—perhaps even trips to the outer solar system.

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From 3 Gigawatts To 100

as the Indian government targets a massive expansion in the country’s solar output from some 3 gigawatts today to 100 gigawatts by 2022...... “India can become probably the largest country for solar energy” ..... “India has two times the sunshine of Japan. The cost of construction of the solar park is half of Japan. Twice the sunshine, half the cost, that means four times the efficiency” ..... India is one of the world’s largest carbon polluters; coal dominates the country’s energy mix 

SoftBank in tie-up for $20 billion in Indian solar projects

SBG Cleantech will be a harbinger of solar and wind energy. Following the Indian Prime Minister's 100GW solar and 60GW wind target by 2022, the venture will invest in and develop renewable energy plants across India.

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The Real Drug Problem

Substance abuse is the symptom. The real problem is the world lags way behind on mental health issues.

If medical care is hard to come by in much of the world — in rural Indiana as well as rural India — mental health care is often impossible to get. In the United States, at least half of major depression goes untreated, and in very poor countries the figure is close to 100 percent.

The war on drugs should be a war on depression.

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News Lab By Google

Final Cut Pro (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Better video editing tools on YouTube would go a long way. 

News Lab

How to Edit Video on YouTube

there are now more than 1 billion smartphones in the world, and YouTube video views surpassed 1 trillion in 2011. Basically, the world has video fever. .... The YouTube editor is rudimentary, even when compared with simple video editing programs like Movie Maker and iMovie. Let's not even talk about how it stacks up to Final Cut Pro — it doesn't. .... The only way to edit the length of your videos is by trimming from the beginning or end. Unlike most video editing programs, YouTube does not let you split and cut parts out from the middle of the video. ...... Also, be aware that the trimming process isn't always smooth. While you're adjusting the slider on the timeline to trim a video, the video constantly reloads on the display. The best way to trim a video is to pre-decide the exact startpoint and endpoint, rather than trying to eyeball it while dragging the trim bar. ..... Thinking About Adding a Soundtrack? Proceed With Caution ...... Another shortcoming is that you can't trim the audio clips at all. If a song is longer than your video, the song will simply end awkwardly at the point where the video ends. ...... The secret to great YouTube videos, if there is one, is to start out with solid footage. As with anything, post-production techniques generally won't yield any miracles.

Being able to tap into what words and phrases people are putting into that Google Search box I would think would be the number one help item. If you can zero in by geography, and by timeframe, that would be a big help. By country, by city, district. What were people searching for today, this past week, and so on. This past year.

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