Category: Info

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Science fiction becomes science fact for India

India lands on the moon

Inspirational achievement, as India becomes only the fourth country in the world to successfully land on the moon and the first at the south pole

India became a new national superpower in space on 23rd August 2023, landing its Chandrayaan-3 mission safely on the moon’s unexplored south pole. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft launched last month and touch downed on the lunar surface around 13:34 GMT.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft launched last month and touch downed on the lunar surface around 13:34 GMT. The feat makes India the fourth country, after Russia, the U.S. and China – to land on the moon, and the first to land on one of the moon’s lunar poles.

South pole is the place to explore

The lunar south pole has emerged as a place of recent exploration interest thanks to recent discoveries about traces of water ice on the moon. India previously attempted a lunar south pole landing in September 2019, but a software failure caused the Chandrayaan-2 mission to crash into the surface.

The south pole is the place to be right now as it is such a very interesting, historical, scientific and geologic area that a lot of countries are trying to get at that can serve as a base for future exploration.

The discovery of water on the south pole of the moon is important for future exploration, as it could serve as a source of fuel for rockets and spacecraft.

Days prior to Chandrayaan-3′s scheduled landing, Russia attempted to land its first spacecraft on the moon in almost 50 years. But the Luna-25 mission crashed into the lunar surface on Saturday, with Russian space agency Roscosmos confirming the spacecraft spun out of control.

To infinity and beyond

During a June visit from India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he signed agreements alongside President Joe Biden to join the Artemis Accords and further collaborate on missions between Indian Space Research Organisation – ISRO and NASA. Next year, the space agencies are expected to work together to fly Indian astronauts to the International Space Station.

Moon mission
No looking back! India becomes only 4th country in the world to land on the moon’s south pole August 23rd 2023

India has also done more with less than its top global counterparts, with ISRO’s annual budget a fraction of NASA’s. In 2020, ISRO estimated the Chandrayaan-3 mission would cost about $75 million. The Covid pandemic delayed the Chandrayaan-3 mission from launching in 2021.

The lander – called Vikram after Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) founder Vikram Sarabhai – carries within its belly the 26kg rover named Pragyaan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.

One of the mission’s major goals is to hunt for water-based ice, which scientists say could support human habitation on the Moon in future and allow for easier future space exploration.

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ARM lists in U.S. and not UK

ARM IPO

British microchip designing giant Arm has announced that it has filed paperwork to sell its shares in the U.S. 

The Cambridge-based company, which designs chips for devices from smartphones to game consoles, plans to list on New York’s Nasdaq in September. The highly anticipated IPO in the U.S. comes after UK Prime Minister, failed to convince Arm to float in London or pursue a dual UK-U.S. listing. 

Arm’s decision to list in New York rather than London has fuelled fears that the City is losing its competitiveness to Wall Street, where valuations are typically higher. SoftBank-owned chip designer Arm on 21st August 2023 disclosed a modest 1% fall in annual revenue as it made public the paperwork for a U.S. listing that is expected to be the year’s biggest initial public offering. The company is reportedly looking for a valuation of between $60bn (£47bn) to $70bn.

Arm was bought in 2016 by Japanese conglomerate Softbank in a deal worth £23.4bn. Prior to the takeover, it was listed in both London and New York for 18 years.

Companies that use ARM processors in their products

Some of the companies that use ARM processors include Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, Broadcom, and Fujitsu. ARM technology is used in a wide range of devices, from smartphones to game consoles to supercomputers.

ARM

Arm is a British semiconductor and software design company that is known for its Arm processors, which are widely used in smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices. Arm was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Computer, and VLSI Technology. The company was originally called Advanced RISC Machines, but later changed its name to Arm Ltd in 1998.

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‘Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom’.

Aristotle

Aristotle 384–322 BC

Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, who is considered one of the greatest intellectual figures of Western history.

He wrote on a wide range of subjects, including logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, biology, natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology and  the arts.

He founded the Lyceum, a school of philosophy in Athens, and tutored Alexander the Great.

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China cuts key interest rate as recovery falters post Covid

Interest rate

One-year loan rate to 3.45% from 3.55%

China’s central bank has cut one of its key interest rates for the second time in three months as the world’s second-largest economy struggles to bounce back from the pandemic.

The country’s post-Covid recovery has been hit by a property crisis, falling exports and weak consumer spending. In contrast, other major economies have raised rates to tackle high inflation. Raising interest rates to tackle inflation is likely creating a econmic problem all of its own for many contries caught in the inflation trap.

The PBOC last cut its one-year rate, on which most of China’s household and business loans are based, in June 2023 – demonstrating China’s commitment to reviving the economy. Economists had also expected the bank to lower its five-year loan rate, which the country’s mortgages are pegged to. However, this was unchanged at 4.2%. In a surprise move mid-August 2023, short and medium-term rates were also cut.

More stimulus

China will need a much bigger stimulus package to boost confidence to drive up consumption and growth. Without it, the economy is risking faltering into deflation which will make it even harder to recover. More rate cuts could be announced in conjunction with government spending, as well as targeted measures to help the property market.

China struggling to shake off the effect of the 2020 pandemic

Beijing is trying to restore confidence, but officials will also be mindful of the long-term implications of the policies may create. China’s economy has struggled to overcome several major issues in the wake of the pandemic, which saw much of the world shut down.

Property problems

Concerns with China’s property market still remain and were highlighted again when ongoing crisis-hit real estate giant Evergrande filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S in August. The heavily-indebted company is attempting to arrange a multi-billion dollar deal with creditors.

Also, earlier this month, another of the country’s biggest property developers, Country Garden, warned that it could see a loss of up to $7.6bn (£6bn) for the first six months of the year. At the same time data showed China had slipped into deflation for the first time in more than two years. That was as the official consumer price index, a measure of inflation, fell by 0.3% last in July 2023 from a year earlier.

Exports, imports and youth employment figures

Official figures indicated that China’s imports and exports fell sharply in July 2023 as weaker global demand threatened the country’s recovery prospects.

China exports and imports slow July 2023

Beijing has also stopped releasing youth unemployment figures, which were seen by some as a key indication of the country’s slowdown. In June 2023, China’s jobless rate for 16 to 24-year-olds in urban areas climbed to a record high of more than 20%.

There is a serious ongoing message here of concern and worry for global stock markets, and not just from China – do we need to act now?

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89 UK security threats identified by National Risk Register

Security

The 89 threats to life in the UK are listed in a recent report called the National Risk Register (NRR), which was published by the Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden on 3rd August 2023. 

The NRR is an assessment of the risks facing the UK that would have a significant impact on the UK’s safety, security or critical systems at a national level. The NRR is based on the government’s internal, classified risk assessment and offers more detail on the potential scenarios, response and recovery options relating to the risks.

The 89 threats are divided into four categories: natural hazards, malicious attacks, accidents and system failures, and global events.

Some of the threats

  • Natural hazards: These include extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires; geological hazards, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and landslides; biological hazards, such as pandemics, animal diseases, plant diseases, and invasive species; and space weather events, such as solar flares and geomagnetic storms.
  • Malicious attacks: These include terrorism, such as bombings, shootings, chemical weapons, biological weapons, radiological weapons, cyberattacks, and drones; espionage and sabotage, such as interference with critical infrastructure, communications, or data; and conflict and instability, such as war, nuclear weapons, state-sponsored attacks, civil unrest, and violent extremism.
‘Cyber security hack – just one of the potential risks facing the UK’.
  • Accidents and system failures: These include industrial accidents, such as explosions, fires, spills, or leaks; transport accidents, such as plane crashes, train derailments, ship collisions, or road collisions; infrastructure failures, such as power outages, water shortages, gas leaks, or internet disruptions; and technological failures, such as software bugs, hardware malfunctions, or AI errors.
  • Global events: These include economic crises, such as recessions, inflation, debt defaults, or trade wars; political crises, such as coups, revolutions, sanctions, or human rights violations; social crises, such as migration flows, refugee crises, humanitarian emergencies, or famines; and environmental crises, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, or resource depletion.

Threat level

The NRR also provides information on how likely each threat is to occur in the next five years (from very low to very high), how severe the impact would be on the UK (from minor to catastrophic), and what actions the government and other stakeholders are taking to prevent or mitigate the risks. 

The NRR is intended to help the public and businesses better understand and prepare for potential threats facing the country now and in the future.

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‘The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.’

Robot AI

Isaac Asimov 1920 – 1992

Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the ‘Big Three’ science fiction writers, along with Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein.

My favourite book by Isaac Asimov is I, Robot. If you haven’t read it yet, go lift one off the shelf – it’s well worth a read.

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An August U.S. stock market stumble, or more?

Eurozone interest rates

August typically a rocky month

The U.S. stock market has experienced a 5.6% slide for the S&P 500 index over 15 trading sessions through 17th August 2023 and levelling off in the last trading day of that week. 

This is about as bad as August typically gets, as August is a rocky month with low volume and high volatility. Some of the reasons for the pullback include the rise in the 10-year Treasury yield, the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, and the signs of a slowing Chinese economy.

Pullback temporary for August?

However, some analysts argue that the pullback will likely prove to be temporary and not turn into a serious market rout. It has been suggested that the bull run isn’t quite over just yet, and that a 10% ‘pullback’ was on the cards.

Analysts also suggest that the rise in yields would need to threaten a serious shift or there would need to be an additional shock to cause a larger selloff. 

NASDAQ

NASDAQ drops some 7% in one month from 19th July – 18th August 2023

However, some suggest that the market is showing signs of stability, as the speed of the surge in the 10-year yield often occurs near the end of a selling cycle for equities. Investors should watch for indicators such as oil prices, wage pressures, and inflation expectations to gauge the market sentiment.

The S&P 500 and the Dow levelled off the week at the close of trading Friday 18th August 2023.

The NASDAQ did score its best first half of the trading year since 1983 January to June 2023 so a pullback was likely to happen.

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‘Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.’

The electric light bulb

Thomas Edison – inventor 1847 – 1931

Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in areas such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the ‘motion picture camera’, and early versions of the electric ‘light bulb’.

During his working life he is reported to have held a world-record 1,093 patents

The electric light bulb is one of the most important inventions in human history. It has revolutionized the fields of lighting, communication, entertainment, and industry. The electric light bulb produces light by passing an electric current through a thin wire called a filament, which heats up and glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb that is either vacuumed or filled with an inert gas to prevent it from burning out. The humble bulb has undergone many developments through time including the introduction of energy saving devices using LED’S, Light Emitting Diodes.

Joint invention

The electric light bulb was not invented by any one person, but by many inventors who contributed to its development over the years. Some of the earliest attempts to create electric light were made by Humphry Davy, Warren de la Rue, and Joseph Swan in the 19th century.

However, the most famous and successful individual inventor of the electric light bulb was Thomas Edison, who patented his version in 1879 and 1880. Edison experimented with different materials for the filament, such as carbon, platinum, and even bamboo, until he found one that could last for over 1,000 hours. He also improved the vacuum pump and the socket for the bulb. He demonstrated his invention to the public by lighting up his laboratory and the nearby streets in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

The electric light bulb
‘The electric light bulb invented over time with many contributors – the best known being Thomas Edison’.

World changing invention

The electric light bulb has changed the world in many ways. It has extended the hours of work and leisure, improved safety and health, enabled new forms of art and entertainment, and stimulated scientific and technological innovation. 

The electric light bulb is also a symbol of human creativity, curiosity, and progress.

If you want a good read – go find, ‘The Last Days of Night’ by Graham Moore. It’s brilliant!

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Hundreds caught breaking the law on AI camera system in Cornwall UK

AI camera Surveillance

A new artificial intelligence (AI) road safety camera system has been deployed on the A30 near Launceston, Cornwall, by Devon and Cornwall Police.

The camera system uses AI to detect potential offences such as using mobile phones or not wearing seatbelts while driving. The camera system can capture ultra clear images of the car’s interior and send them to a human reviewer who can issue a warning letter or a notice of intended prosecution, depending on the severity of the offence. 

Hundreds caught

The camera system is the first of its kind to be used in the UK and it has caught almost 300 drivers breaking the law in the first three days of its operation. The camera system is part of the Vision Zero South West project, which aims to reduce road deaths and serious injuries in Devon and Cornwall. The project conducted a 15-day trial of a similar vehicle-based system last year and detected 590 seat belt and 45 mobile phone offences across various roads in the two counties. 

The police hope that the new technology will help deter drivers from using their phones or not wearing their seatbelts, which are both dangerous and illegal behaviours that put people’s lives at risk.

The road safety system is from tech’ firm Acusensus.

The police have reportedly said they are ‘disappointed’ by the number of people not wearing seatbelts orand using their mobile ‘phones when drving.

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Bitcoin drops 9% to $26,000

Bitcoin

Bitcoin fell sharply on Thursday 17th August by 9% to just over $26,000

The fall in Bitcoin followed several hours after reports emerged that SpaceX, one of Elon Musk’s enterprises, wrote down the value of its Bitcoin holdings by a total of $373 million in 2022 and 2021, and that the space travel company had sold the virtual currency.

This is likely one of the fastest minute-by-minute selloffs in the history of Bitcoin but this is largely an Elon Musk/SpaceX-driven selloff and probably short-sighted and largely retail-driven. But still, 9% is a big drop for any asset!

In 2022, Tesla, which Musk also owns, announced that it sold about 75% of its Bitcoin holdings after investing $1.5 billion in the flagship cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin had been under pressure earlier, starting after the Federal Reserve issued the minutes from its July policy meeting. In Thursday’s session, the cryptocurrency slumped to its lowest level in almost two months.

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Singapore among world’s first to agree stablecoin crypto regulation – the race is on…

Stablecoins

Big news for the crypto industry

Singapore’s financial regulator has reportedly said it had finalised rules for a type of digital currency called ‘stablecoin’, placing it among some of first the regulators worldwide to do so.

Stablecoins are a type of digital currency designed to hold a constant value against a fiat currency. Many claim to be backed by a reserve of real-world assets, such as cash or government bonds.

Reserves that back stabelcoins must be held in low-risk and highly-liquid assets. They must equal or exceed the value of the stablecoin in circulation at all times, the rules say. The stablecoin market is valued at around $125 billion, with two tokens – Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC – dominating roughly 90% of the market cap value. Stablecoins are broadly unregulated around the world.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) framework requirement

  • Reserves that back stabelcoins must be held in low-risk and highly-liquid assets. They must equal or exceed the value of the stablecoin in circulation at all times
  • Stablecoin issuers must return the par value of the digital currency to holders within five business days of a redemption request.
  • Issuers must also provide ‘appropriate disclosures‘ to users, including the audit results of reserves.

These rules will apply to stablecoins that are issued in Singapore and mimic the value of the Singapore dollar, or of any G10 currencies, such as the U.S. dollar.

Stablecoin regulation
‘Shackles being removed from crypto regulation paving way for stablecoin adoption’

Last year, the collapse of a so-called algorithmic stablecoin named UST put this type of stablecoin in the crosshairs of regulators. Unlike USDT and USDC, UST was governed by an algorithm and did not have real-world assets like bonds in its reserves.

Singapore’s stablecoin framework puts it among one of the first jurisdictions to have such rules. In June, the U.K. passed a law that gives regulators the ability to oversee stablecoins, though there are no concrete rules yet. Hong Kong is meanwhile undergoing a public consultation on stablecoins and seeks to introduce regulation next year.

What is a stablecoin

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that tries to maintain a stable value by being pegged to another asset, such as a fiat currency, a commodity, or another cryptocurrency. Stablecoins aim to offer the benefits of cryptocurrencies, such as decentralisation, security, and transparency, without the drawbacks of high volatility and price fluctuations.

Stablecoins can be used for payments, remittances, trading, and storing value. However, stablecoins also face some challenges and risks, such as regulatory uncertainty, technical issues, and trust issues.

There are different ways to create and manage stablecoins, depending on the mechanism used to stabilize their value.

Main types of stablecoins

  • Fiat-backed: These stablecoins are backed by a reserve of fiat currency, such as the US dollar or the euro, held by a third-party entity. The stablecoin issuer promises to redeem the stablecoin for the fiat currency at a fixed ratio. Examples of fiat-backed stablecoins are Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), and TrueUSD (TUSD).
  • Commodity-backed: These stablecoins are backed by a reserve of physical commodities, such as gold, silver, or oil, held by a third-party entity. The stablecoin issuer promises to redeem the stablecoin for the commodity at a fixed ratio. Examples of commodity-backed stablecoins are Paxos Gold (PAXG), Tether Gold (XAUT), and Digix Gold (DGX).
  • Crypto-backed: These stablecoins are backed by a reserve of other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, held in a smart contract. The stablecoin issuer uses over-collateralization or algorithmic adjustments to maintain the stability of the stablecoin. Examples of crypto-backed stablecoins are Dai (DAI), sUSD (SUSD), and BitUSD (BITUSD).
  • Algorithmic: These stablecoins are not backed by any reserve, but instead use an algorithm to control the supply and demand of the stablecoin. The algorithm adjusts the supply of the stablecoin according to the market conditions and the target price. Examples of algorithmic stablecoins are Basis Cash (BAC), Empty Set Dollar (ESD), and TerraUSD (UST).

What is ‘crypto’

Crypto has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Crypto is short for cryptocurrency, which is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography to secure and verify transactions. Crypto can also refer to the underlying technology that powers cryptocurrencies, such as blockchain.

Some examples of popular cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple ( XRP)and Cardano (ADA).

Cryptoman superhero

Cryptocurrencies have many advantages over traditional currencies, such as decentralisation, transparency, anonymity, and lower fees. However, they also face some challenges, such as volatility, regulation, security, and scalability. Crypto enthusiasts believe that cryptocurrencies have the potential to revolutionise the world of finance and beyond.

Some examples of popular stablecoins are Tether, USD Coin and Binance USD.

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Asia promotes Crypto clarity as U.S. muddles through with uncertainty

Asia embracing crypto

Clear crypto rules

Asia is promoting clear crypto rules at a time when large businesses are facing regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. 

Some Asian countries that have taken the lead in crypto regulation include Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. They have proposed or implemented frameworks that protect investors, prevent money laundering, and encourage innovation in the crypto industry.

Lack of clarity in U.S.

In contrast, the U.S. has been singled out for its lack of clarity and consistency in crypto regulation. The SEC for instance and other agencies have different views on how to classify and regulate crypto assets – take alook at the case with XRP and ripple of recent years.

Some industry leaders have threatened to leave the U.S. or sued the regulators over their actions. There is also a debate in Congress that could level crypto transactions with a tax.

Attractive

As a result, some analysts have suggested that Asia could become more attractive to investors and innovators in the crypto industry, as it offers more certainty and stability in the regulatory environment. 

However, there are also challenges and risks involved in crypto regulation, such as balancing security and innovation, ensuring compliance and enforcement, and dealing with cross-border issue.

Welcome to the birth of digtal currency.

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‘Money can’t buy friends, but you can get a better class of enemy.’

Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan 1918 – 2002

Spike Milligan was a famous Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor famously known for writing the hit radio programme, ‘The Goon Show’.

‘I told you I was ill’.

The inscription ‘I told you I was ill’ is the famous epitaph of Spike Milligan.

He died in 2002 at the age of 83. He had once joked that he wanted this phrase to be on his headstone, but the local diocese did not approve of it in English. So he had to write it in Gaelic, which is ‘Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite’.

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Bank error in your favour…?

Bank error

A technical issue that affected the Bank of Ireland’s online banking services allowed some customers to withdraw or transfer more money than they had in their accounts.

The glitch reportedly also added €1,000 to some accounts without explanation. This led to large crowds forming at ATMs across the country, hoping to take advantage of the error.

Some reports suggest that the police were called to calm some situations as some ATMs ran out of cash. The bank has since fixed the problem and warned customers that any excess money they withdrew or transferred will be debited from their accounts.

The bank also apologized for the disruption and urged customers who may face financial difficulties due to overdrawing on their accounts to contact them.

Questions remain – how or even why did this happen?

Bank error
‘Bank error allowed people to withdraw money from their accounts they didn’t have’.
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UK inflation lower at 6.8% in July 2023 as energy costs fall

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – Inflation fell to 6.8% in the year to July 2023, down from 7.9% in June. A reduction was anticipated by analysts, and there are signs the cost of living could be easing finally, after figures on Tuesday revealed wages rose 7.8% annually between April and June 2023. But inflation and therefore prices remain high, placing pressure on household finances.

When the rate of inflation falls, it does not always mean that prices are coming down, but that they are likely to rise less quickly. A fall in gas and electricity prices last month helped drive inflation lower. The cost of some food food items, such as milk, bread and cereals had come down, but that food prices are still some 15% higher than they were in July 2022.

Core inflation

However, according to the ONS figures core inflation a figure which strips out the price of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, remained unchanged in July at 6.9%. With inflation still more than three times the Bank of England’s 2% target, many ‘experts’ expect the UK’s central bank to raise interest rates again in September 2023.

The Bank has steadily hiked interest rates to 5.25%, the highest level in 15 years, meaning mortgage costs have jumped dramatically, but on the flipside savings rates have increased too for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008.

Working?

The Chancellor said July’s figures on the cost of living showed the action the government had taken ‘is working’.

Comment

Well… it’s ‘working‘ in the sense it is having the desired affect to reduce inflation – (that both the government and the Bank of England were way behind on) – but it isn’t helping the economy, as interest rates climb making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to function.

But, at least wages are going up now thanks to all the strikes! This will ultimately add more inflationary pressure in the short term.

Let the tinkering continue!

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UK strike action and wage growth – repeats

Strike action

Wages grew at a record annual pace between April and June 2023, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Regular pay grew by 7.8%, the highest annual growth rate since comparable records began in 2001.Inflation, which measures the pace at which prices are rising, has eased but remains relatively high at 7.9%. Thhe ONS suggested these latest figures demonstrates ‘people’s real pay is recovering‘ and that basic pay is growing at its fastest since current records began’.

However, wage growth is still not quite outstripping the pace of price rises and inflation is still high. Figures suggest that, taking into account the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation, average regular pay fell by 0.6%.

There are signs in the ONS’s data that the UK employment market is easing. The jobless rate rose from 4% to 4.2%, while the number of people in employment ticked lower.

Backward stats..?

The fall in employment in the three months to June and the further rise in the unemployment rate will be welcomed by the Bank of England as a sign labour market conditions are cooling. These comments from an analyst were presented as welcome news – but they are odd really when an economy needs good levels of employment (not unemployment). We live in weird times! Good news! Bad news!

The Bank of England is still generally expected by many pundits to increase its key interest rate again to 5.5% before ending the current run of rate rises.

The number of vacancies in the UK jobs market fell again, down 66,000 between May and July 2023. However, there are still more than one million vacancies.

Strike action adds to inflationary pressure

List of workers striking for higher pay

  • Teachers
  • Tube staff
  • Railway workers
  • Doctors
  • Nurses
  • NHS staff
  • Ambulance workers
  • Passport Office workers
  • Border control staff
  • Airport workers
  • Civil servants
  • University staff
  • Barristers

This is by no means an exhaustive list – just a sample of the demands placed on resources through strike action that impacts inflation through a period of fast wage growth.

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Japan outperforms as GDP up 6% August 2023

Japan GDP up 6%

Japan’s economy beats expectations with 6% annualised growth in Q2

Japan’s economy posted its third straight quarterly expansion, latest government data showed 15th August 2023, as robust export growth contributed to an annualised 6% expansion in the second quarter, easily beating market expectations.

Economists had reportedly expected the world’s third-largest economy to produce a 3.1% growth in the April-June quarter. The GDP data translated to a more modest quarterly expansion of 1.5%, topping expectations for 0.8% growth.

The strong performance was mainly driven by a surge in exports, especially in the auto sector, as global demand recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Japan also benefited from an increase in inbound tourism, as travel restrictions eased and the Tokyo Olympics boosted visitor arrivals.

Outlook

However, the outlook for the Japanese economy remains uncertain, as the country faces a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and a sluggish consumer recovery. The government has extended a state of emergency in several regions, including Tokyo and Osaka, until the end of August, which could dampen domestic spending and business activity.

Quarterly expansion came in at a more modest 1.5%, versus expectations for 0.8% growth.

Optimism was tempered by muted domestic demand, given a surprise drop in private consumption expenditure despite the first employee compensation sequential increase in seven quarters.

Historically low interest rates

The Bank of Japan has maintained its ultra-easy monetary policy stance, keeping its key interest rate at -0.1% and pledging to support the economy with massive asset purchases. 

The central bank has also introduced a new lending scheme to encourage green and digital investment for the future.

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Russia surprises with massive interest rate hike hit of 3.5%

Russia Interest rate increase

Interest rate pushed to 12%

Russia’s central bank has announced a surprise hike in its key lending rate by 3.5%, from 8.5% to 12%, as the country’s economic recovery loses steam amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and weak domestic demand.

The decision was announced after an emergency meeting of the bank’s board of directors was called a day earlier as the ruble declined. The fall comes as Moscow increases military spending and Western sanctions weigh on its energy exports.

The Russian currency passed 101 roubles to the dollar on Monday, losing more than a third of its value since the beginning of the year and hitting the lowest level in almost 17 months. It had recovered slightly after the central bank announced the meeting.

The central bank blamed the weak ruble on ‘loose monetary policy‘, suggesting that bank has ‘all the tools necessary‘ to stabilize the situation.

More imports, less exports

By raising borrowing costs, the central bank is trying to fight price spikes as Russia imports more and exports less, especially oil and natural gas, with defense spending going up and sanctions taking a toll. Importing more and exporting less means a smaller trade surplus, which typically weighs on a country’s currency.

The bank also made a big rate hike of 1% last month, saying inflation is expected to keep rising and the fall in the ruble is adding to the risk.

After Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ruble plunged to a low of 130 to the dollar, but the central bank enacted capital controls that stabilized its value.

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China cuts interest rates to boost economic recovery

China interest rate

Surprise cut

China’s central bank has announced a surprise cut in its key lending rates as the country’s economic recovery loses steam amid as domestic demand remains weak.

The PBOC trimmed the interest rate on 401 billion yuan ($55.25 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans from 2.65% to 2.50%.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on Monday 14th August 2023 that it would lower the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) by 10 basis points from 3.55% to 3.45%, and the five-year LPR by 10 basis points from 4.2% to 4.1%. The LPRs are benchmark rates that reflect the cost of borrowing for banks and businesses.

Easing domestic contraints

The rate cuts are aimed at easing the financial constraints on households and businesses to boost their financing demand and stimulating economic growth, which slowed to 5.2% year-on-year in the second quarter, down from 6.8% in the first quarter.

Analysts said the rate cuts also indicated a shift in China’s monetary policy stance from neutral to moderately easing, as the PBOC faces increasing pressure to support the economy amid rising deflationary risks, falling producer and consumer prices, and subdued real estate activity.

The PBOC reportedly said it would continue to implement a prudent monetary policy and maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity in the market.

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Britain to unlock £50 billion in pension funding for tech startups

Money in case

UK to unleash £50 billion in pension funding for tech startups

The U.K. government has unveiled a series of reforms that will allow pension funds to invest more in private and high-growth companies, especially in the tech sector. The move is expected to boost economic growth, support innovation and increase returns for future retirees.

The reforms include an agreement with the country’s largest defined contribution pension schemes to allocate 5% of assets in their default funds to unlisted equities by 2030. This could unlock up to £50 billion of investment in high-growth firms if all other defined contribution pension schemes follow suit, according to the government.

AI

The government will also create new investment vehicles that will give pensioners a stake in homegrown private companies, such as fintech and biotech startups, that have increasingly snubbed the London Stock Exchange and turned to foreign investors for cash. The aim is to make the U.K. a more attractive market for technology and a global leader in emerging fields like artificial intelligence.

The Treasury claimed that the reforms would not only help burgeoning industries, but could also result in higher returns for workers’ retirement funds. The government estimates that the average earner’s pension pot could rise up to 12% to as much as £16,000 with defined contribution pension schemes committing to more effective investments.

Unlock

The announcement comes amid criticism that the U.K. is losing its edge in technology and innovation, as evidenced by the recent decision of U.K. chip design giant Arm to list in New York rather than London. The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, reportedly said that he wanted to make the U.K. ‘the world’s next Silicon Valley and a science superpower’ by unlocking investment from the U.K.’s £2.5 trillion pensions sector.

The reforms were welcomed by industry groups and experts, who said that they would help address the funding gap faced by many U.K. startups and scale-ups, and create more opportunities for long-term growth and value creation.

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‘Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do’.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs 1955 – 2011, Inventor and visionary.

Co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple.

Steve Jobs was one of the most influential and visionary entrepreneurs of the 21st century. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc., the company that revolutionized personal computing, music, mobile phones, tablets, and digital animation. He was also the founder and CEO of NeXT, a computer and software company that was acquired by Apple in 1997, and the majority shareholder of Pixar, a computer animation studio that was acquired by Disney in 2006.

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco, California. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs, who raised him in Mountain View, California. Jobs attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but dropped out after one semester. He then travelled to India in 1974 to seek spiritual enlightenment and became a follower of Zen Buddhism.

Apple

In 1976, he co-founded Apple Computer with his friend Steve Wozniak in his parents’ garage. They created the Apple I and Apple II, which were among the first successful personal computers. In 1984, they launched the Macintosh, which introduced the graphical user interface and the mouse to the mass market. In 1985, Jobs left Apple after a power struggle with the board of directors.

NeXt

In 1986, he founded NeXT, which developed innovative computers and software for the education and business markets. NeXT also created the NeXTSTEP operating system, which was later used as the basis for Mac OS X and iOS. In 1997, Apple bought NeXT for $429 million and brought Jobs back as an interim CEO.

Watercolour image and likeness of Apple Lisa computer

iMac

In 1998, Jobs led the turnaround of Apple with the launch of the iMac, a sleek and colorful all-in-one computer. He then introduced a series of groundbreaking products that changed the world of technology and entertainment, such as the iPod (2001), iTunes (2003), iPhone (2007), iPad (2010), and iCloud (2011). He also oversaw the development of software platforms such as Mac OS X, iOS, iTunes Store, App Store, and Safari.

Pixar

In 1986, he also acquired Pixar from George Lucas for $10 million. Pixar became one of the most successful animation studios in history, producing hit films such as Toy Story (1995), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), and Inside Out (2015). In 2006, Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion and made Jobs its largest shareholder.

Stay hungry, stay foolish

Steve Jobs was known for his charisma, creativity, innovation, and perfectionism. He had a vision to make products that were not only functional but also beautiful and intuitive.

His passion to create experiences that enriched people’s lives and inspired them to think differently. He had a motto to ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’.

Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He left behind a legacy that will continue to shape the world for generations to come.

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Amazon – leading or competing?

The power of AI

Amazon is one of the leading companies in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and has been developing its own custom chips to power its AI applications and services.

Amazon’s AI chips are designed to perform tasks such as natural language processing, computer vision, speech recognition, and machine learning inference and training.

AI chips created by Amazon

  • AZ2: This is a processor built into the Echo Show 15 smart display and powers artificial intelligence tasks like understanding your voice commands and figuring out who is issuing those commands. The AZ2 chip also enables features such as visual ID, which can recognize faces and display personalized information on the screen.
  • Inferentia: This is a high-performance chip that Amazon launched to deliver low-cost and high-throughput inference for deep learning applications. Inferentia powers Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Inf1 instances, which are optimized for running inference workloads on AWS. Inferentia also powers some of Amazon’s own services, such as Alexa, Rekognition, and SageMaker Neo.
  • Trainium: This is a chip that Amazon designed to provide high-performance and low-cost training for machine learning models. Trainium will power Amazon EC2 Inf2 instances, which are designed to train increasingly complex models, such as large language models and vision transformers. Trainium will also support scale-out distributed training with ultra-high-speed connectivity between accelerators.

Despite advancements is Amazon chasing to keep up?

Amazon is racing to catch up with Microsoft and Google in the field of generative AI, which is a branch of AI that can create new content or data from existing data. Generative AI can be used for applications such as natural language generation, image and video synthesis, text summarization, and personalization.

AI models from Amazon

  • Titan: This is a family of large language models (LLMs). Titan models can generate natural language texts for various domains and tasks, such as conversational agents, document summarization, product reviews, and more. Titan models are trained on a large and diverse corpus of text data from various sources, such as books, news articles, social media posts, and product descriptions.
Power of AI
Powerful chips for artificial intelligence (AI)
  • Bedrock: This is a service that Amazon created to help developers enhance their software using generative AI. Bedrock provides access to pre-trained Titan models and tools to customize them for specific use cases. Bedrock also allows developers to deploy their generative AI applications on AWS using Inferentia or Trainium chips.

Generative AI

Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy in the past said he thought of generative AI as having three macro layers: the compute, the models, and the applications. He said that Amazon is investing heavily in all three layers and that its custom chips are a key part of its strategy to provide high-performance and low-cost compute for generative AI. He also said that Amazon is not used to chasing markets but creating them, and that he believes Amazon has the best platform for generative AI in the world.

Inferentia and Trainium, offer AWS customers an alternative to training their large language models on Nvidia GPUs, which have been getting difficult and expensive to procure. 

‘The entire world would like more chips for doing generative AI, whether that’s GPUs or whether that’s Amazon’s own chips that we’re designing’, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky is reported to have said. ‘I think that we’re in a better position than anybody else on Earth to supply the capacity that our customers collectively are going to want’.

Fast actors

Yet others have acted faster, and invested more, to capture business from the generative AI boom. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, Microsoft gained widespread attention for hosting the chatbot, and investing a reportedly whopping $13 billion in OpenAI. It was quick to add the generative AI models to its own products, incorporating them into Bing in February 2023. 

That same month, Google launched its own large language model, Bard, followed by a $300 million investment in OpenAI rival Anthropic. 

Chat Bot
AI Chat Bot robot

It wasn’t until April 2023 that Amazon announced its own family of large language models, called Titan, along with a service called Bedrock to help developers enhance software using generative AI.

Amazon is not used to chasing markets. Amazon is used to creating markets. And for the first time for some time, they find themselves on the back foot and working to play catch up.

And Meta?

Meta also recently released its own LLM, Llama 2. The open-source ChatGPT rival is now available for people to test on Microsoft’s Azure public cloud.

The AI battle continues…

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Remarkable feat of human ingenuity

Voyager 1

Voyage 2 Spacecraft

The Voyager 2 spacecraft is a remarkable feat of human exploration and discovery. It was launched in 1977, along with its twin Voyager 1, to explore the outer planets of our solar system. It is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune, and it is now the second most distant human-made object in space, after Voyager 1.

Deep space

However, communicating with such a faraway spacecraft is not easy. It requires a powerful radio antenna that can send and receive signals across billions of miles. NASA uses its Deep Space Network (DSN), a network of giant radio dishes around the world, to keep in touch with Voyager 2 and other deep space missions.

Unfortunately, sometimes things can go wrong. On July 21, 2023, NASA accidentally sent a wrong command to Voyager 2 that caused it to tilt its antenna away from Earth. This meant that the spacecraft could not receive any more commands or send back any data. NASA lost contact with Voyager 2 for nearly two weeks.

Keep talking

But NASA did not give up. The engineers tried to send a corrective command to Voyager 2 using the DSN, hoping that the spacecraft would somehow pick it up and respond.

Imaginary watercolour image of Deep Space
Imaginary watercolour image of Deep Space

On August 1, 2023, NASA finally received a signal from Voyager 2. It was a faint ‘heartbeat‘ that confirmed that the spacecraft was still alive and broadcasting. NASA was overjoyed and relieved to hear from its old friend.

On August 4, 2023, NASA announced that it had successfully restored full contact with Voyager 2. The engineers had managed to send an ‘interstellar shout’ to the spacecraft, a powerful command that instructed it to point its antenna back to Earth. It took 37 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 and another 37 hours for the confirmation to come back. It worked!  Voyager 2 was back online and ready to resume its mission.

Amazing

Voyager 2 is an amazing example of human ingenuity and perseverance. It has been exploring space for nearly half a century, and it is still going strong. It has taught us so much about our solar system and beyond, and it continues to send us valuable data from the interstellar space. We are lucky to have such a faithful companion in our cosmic journey

Voyager 1 is an amazing spacecraft that has been exploring the outer solar system and beyond for over 45 years. It is currently the most distant human-made object from Earth, and it is still sending us valuable data from interstellar space.

According to the latest information from NASA, as of April 7, 2023, Voyager 1 is about 14,803,648,909 miles (23,837,577,852 kilometers) away from Earth.  That is equivalent to 160.154936 astronomical units (AU), which is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. 

To put that in perspective, it would take light about 22 hours and 4 minutes to travel from Voyager 1 to Earth. That means that we are receiving signals from Voyager 1 that were sent almost a day ago! It takes approximately 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to planet Earth

Voyager 1 is also moving away from Earth at a speed of about 38,026.77 miles per hour (or 61,198.15 kilometers per hour) relative to the Sun. That means that it is getting farther and farther away from us every second. At this rate, it will take Voyager 1 about 40,000 years to reach the nearest star system to our Sun, which is Alpha Centauri.

Futuristc Space Travel
A vision of futuristc space travel

Voyager 1 is a testament to human curiosity and ingenuity. It has taught us so much about our solar system and beyond, and it continues to inspire us to explore the unknown.

Nice one Voyager 1

Explore

NASA’s StarChild: This is a website that offers information and activities for children about stars and other astronomical topics.

Stellarium: This is a free software that simulates the sky in 3D and allows you to explore the stars and constellations from any location and time.

StarDate: This is a website that provides daily updates on the sky events, such as star sightings, eclipses, meteor showers, and planetary alignments.

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Hackers to compete for $20 million prize

Hackers

The U.S. cyber hacker challenge is a new initiative launched by the Biden administration in August 2023 to use artificial intelligence (AI) to protect critical U.S. infrastructure from cybersecurity risks. 

The challenge will offer $20 million in prize money and includes collaboration from leading AI companies Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, who will make their technology available for the competition. The challenge was announced at the Black Hat USA hacking conference in Las Vegas.

The competition will consist of three stages

  • Qualifying event in the spring of 2024
  • Semifinal at DEF CON 2024
  • Final at DEF CON 2025 

The competitors will be asked to use AI to secure vital software and open source their systems so that their solutions can be used widely (does that create a risk in itsellf)? The top three teams will be eligible for additional prizes, including a top prize of $4 million for the team that best secures vital software.

The challenge aims to explore what’s possible when experts in cybersecurity and AI have access to a suite of cross-company resources. The U.S. government hopes that the promise of AI can help further secure critical U.S. systems and protect Americans from future cyber attacks!

Limitations and risks using AI for security

However, there are flaws and drawbacks of using AI for cybersecurity, both for the attackers and the defenders.

  • Lack of transparency and explainability: AI systems are often complex and opaque, making it difficult to understand how they make decisions or what factors influence their outputs. This can lead to trust issues, ethical dilemmas, and legal liabilities.
  • Overreliance on AI: AI systems are not infallible and may make mistakes or produce false positives or negatives. Relying too much on AI, without human oversight or verification can result in missed threats, erroneous actions, or unintended consequences.
  • Bias and discrimination: AI systems may inherit or amplify human biases or prejudices that are present in the data, algorithms, or design of the systems. This can result in unfair or discriminatory outcomes, such as excluding certain groups of people from access to services or opportunities, or targeting them for malicious attacks.
  • Vulnerability to attacks: AI systems may be susceptible to adversarial attacks, such as data poisoning, model stealing, evasion, or exploitation. These attacks can compromise the integrity, availability, or confidentiality of the systems, or manipulate them to produce malicious outputs.
  • High cost: Developing and maintaining AI systems for cybersecurity requires a lot of resources, such as computing power, memory, data, and skilled personnel. These resources may not be easily accessible or affordable for many organizations or individual.
AI and cybersecurity systems
‘Well, what do you think of AI and cybersecurity sharing resources’? ‘Ha! playing right into our hands’.

These are some of the flaws of using AI for cybersecurity, but they are not insurmountable. With proper research, regulation, education, and collaboration, AI can be a powerful ally in enhancing cybersecurity and protecting against cyber threats – that is until it takes over, but that will never happen… will it?