Musk Magic

I have never bought an Apple product in my lifetime. I do appreciate Steve Jobs' excellence. But he did not directly touch me. Elon Musk is a whole different story. I am looking at this guy's battery and I am thinking, this battery could do for energy for the dollar a day people what cellphones have done for communication. And lack of energy is easily the number one reason for poverty. The first computers also cost thousands of dollars. But now you can get a Chromebook (an idea Google stole from me -- I pitched to Google Ventures, bad idea) for 200 dollars. This battery needs to go down in price from 3500 dollars to 350 dollars. You can light up hospitals and schools across the world with this. Kudos Elon!

I actually was one of the first users of X.com --- but I did not hear about Elon Musk until at least 10 years later. Actually I heard of Peter Thiel before I heard of Musk. And I never connected with Thiel at any level.

European Angst On GAFA

English: Google Logo officially released on May 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

GAFA is apparently what Europe calls Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple.

My first reaction (years ago) was Europeans are sore losers. Instead of innovating they are hammering. They are just jealous of Google.

Now I think differently. Instead of Silicon Valley sucking money in from all over the world like the British Empire stole gold from India, these Internet behemoths should pay taxes in each jurisdiction they generate revenues in.

There should be a global regime. So there is an upper limit. Maybe you should not have to pay more than 10% in sales taxes in total at all levels of government put together.

Google is cashing on the infrastructure built by these countries. And I don't mean just broadband. Google thrives on educated populations. And Google should give back as a matter of business decision.

Such negotiations have to be global. That might also push us towards a world government (which both Bill Gates and I think would be a good thing).

The simple formula is, every Internet company should track as to where a sale got generated, and they should pay sales taxes in those jurisdictions, up to a maximum 10%.

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The Next Next Thing

Facebook's Hello Just Might Have Killed Brewster

I don't get the impression Facebook was even gunning for it, it was just trying to get a more meaningful presence on your phone, but Brewster now might be dead. (I gave it a try, multiple times, but it sent me one email too many.)

Hello is a great app. An app I have been needing but was not out there. Not only do people make less phone calls these days, but you also want to receive fewer phone calls. And so, for that small time quota you have for phone calls, it is amazingly offensive that that time might get taken by phone calls that are strictly in the unwelcome category. This app solves that huge problem. If Facebook does not know who you are, you are suspect. That is a fair assessment. Much of the world does not have ID, no Social Security number, no credit history, nothing. A Facebook ID is a good start.

Knowing who is calling you is much welcome information. You can run from Facebook, but you can not hide.

Hello is an awesome app. I read about it in the news and installed it not long after. Heck, that is how I signed up for LinkedIn. I read about it in the news. And then I did not use it much for almost a decade. But Hello I am using.