Alien dust samples from the ‘most dangerous known rock in the Solar System’ have been brought to Earth.
NASA safely landed the probe with the capsule containing the precious space dust in the West Desert of Utah state.
The samples had been collected up from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2020 by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft.
NASA wants to learn more about the asteroid Bennu, not least because it has an outside chance of colliding with Earth in the next 300 years, but more importantly, the samples are likely to provide fresh insights into the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago and possibly even how life began here on Earth.
Touchdown was confirmed at 08:52 local time (14:52 GMT), three minutes ahead of schedule.
The container holding the precious cargo screaming into the atmosphere over the U.S. at more than 27000 mph. A heatshield and parachutes slowed its descent and dropped it gently to the ground.
Eager scientists applauded the remarkable achievement and now anticipate their chance to investigate the precious cargo further. Just 300 grams of asteroid dust were returned.
That might not sound like very much, but the scientists have access to exceptional technology that will enable them to analyse ultra small particles at a very high resolution.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT can now ‘see, hear and speak,’ or, at least, understand spoken words, respond with a synthetic voice and process images, the company announced Monday 25th September 2023.
The update to the chatbot OpenAI’s biggest since the introduction of GPT-4, allows users to opt into voice conversations on ChatGPT’s mobile app and choose from five different synthetic voices for the bot to respond with. Users will also be able to share images with ChatGPT and highlight areas of focus or analysis.
Roll out
The changes will be rolling out to paying users in the next two weeks, OpenAI said. ‘While voice functionality will be limited to the iOS and Android apps, the image processing capabilities will be available on all platforms’.
The big feature push comes alongside ever-rising stakes of the artificial intelligence (AI) race among chatbot leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Google and Anthropic. In an effort to encourage consumers to adopt generative AI into their daily lives, tech giants are racing to launch not only new chatbot apps, but also new features. Google has announced updates to its Bard chatbot, and Microsoft added visual search to Bing.
Investment expansion
Earlier this year, Microsoft’s expanded its investment in OpenAI, an additional $10 billion, it made it the biggest AI investment of the year. In April 2023, the startup reportedly structured a $300 million share sale at a valuation of between $27 billion and $29 billion, with investments from firms such as Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
Concerns
Experts have raised concerns about AI-generated synthetic voices, which in this case could allow users a more natural experience but also enable more convincing deepfakes. Cyber threat investigators and researchers have already begun to explore how deepfakes can be used to penetrate cybersecurity systems.
OpenAI says ChatGPT can now ‘speak,’ listen and process images
OpenAI acknowledged those concerns in its announcement, saying that synthetic voices were ‘created with voice actors we have directly worked with,’ rather than collected from strangers.
The release also provided little information about how OpenAI would use consumer voice inputs, or how the company would secure that data if it were used. OpenAI did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment, and the company’s terms of service say that consumers own their inputs ‘to the extent permitted by applicable law.’
What does ‘ChatGPT’ actually mean?
ChatGPT is an acronym for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer. It is a name of an artificial intelligence model that can generate natural language text based on user input.
It was developed by OpenAI, a research organization dedicated to creating and ensuring the safe and beneficial use of artificial intelligence (AI). ChatGPT can be used for various purposes, such as answering questions, having conversations, and producing creative writing.
Reports suggest as much as $3 trillion is waiting on the sidelines to be invested in tech’.
AI FOMO
The reasoning is that AI is driving a fear of missing out (FOMO). We could very well be experiencing the fourth industrial revolution right now, and it is AI-driven. Strategically, companies can’t just sit around and wait. There’s a window where if they don’t join in or realise the potential and grab the opportunity, they’ll miss out.
IPO’s
Three of the biggest initial public offerings (IPO) in the tech’ sector in nearly two years raised some $6 billion collectively in less than a week. Nvidia has attracted much attention with the AI driven interest it has created recently.
While a handful of tech IPOs and one big acquisition wouldn’t have been much cause for celebration in previous years, they are a welcome return after the drought of pandemic-era hit investment.
The IPO market for tech was effectively shut down until Arm Holdings, Instacart and Klaviyo opened the investors door again. Merger activity such as that driven by Microsoft Corp., OpenAI ChatGPT and Activision Blizzard Inc. is helping to lift up the appetitie for investment again. And it’s pretty much AI induced.
Money ready to go
Some analysts suggest there is $3 trillion sitting on the sidelines ready to invest, mostly held by Big Tech and private equity companies. The fascination with artificial intelligence (AI) and fear of missing out (FOMO) will create massive AI led tech investing opportunities. Everyone will want a slice of this cake.
This could very well be the biggest transformational spending wave that we’ve seen in years and certainly since the internet arrived in 1995.
Just look out for that ‘bubble’ again – it will pop! But much money will be made before that happens and then again after.
Osiris-Rex is a NASA mission that aims to collect and return a sample from asteroid Bennu, which is believed to be a remnant of the early solar system. The mission hopes to learn more about the origins of life on Earth and the potential for asteroid mining in the future.
Osiris-Rex stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer. The spacecraft launched in 2016 and arrived at Bennu in 2018. It spent two years mapping and studying the asteroid before successfully collecting a sample of about 300 grams (10.6 ounces) of dust and rocks in October 2020.
Asteroid Bennu
Capsule
The sample capsule is now on its way back to Earth and is expected to land in Utah on September 24, 2023. Scientists are eager to analyze the material and look for clues about how the solar system formed and how organic molecules that are essential for life were delivered to Earth.
Osiris-Rex is also planning an extended mission to visit another near-Earth asteroid called Apophis in 2029. Apophis is considered a potentially hazardous asteroid because it has a small chance of hitting Earth in the future. Osiris-Rex will observe and measure Apophis to improve our understanding of its orbit and characteristics.
Nasa’s Osiris-Rex capsule will come screaming into Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday 24th September 2023 at more than 15 times the speed of a bullet.
It will make a fireball in the sky but a heat shield will protect the craft. Parachutes will then deploy to slow the descent and bring it to a gentle touchdown in Utah’s West Desert.
Bringing with it a special space cargo that may help the human race discover the origin of life.
TikTok is a popular social media app that allows users to create and share short videos. But, it has faced some controversies regarding its algorithm, design, and data protection.
Tiktok has issues
The company was fined $368 million in Europe for failing to protect children’s data. The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees TikTok’s activities in the European Union, said that the company had violated the bloc’s signature privacy law.
An investigation by the DPC found that in the latter half of 2020, TikTok’s default settings didn’t do enough to protect children’s accounts.
Anti-social app
TikTok drove online ultra online ‘frenzies’ that encouraged anti-social behaviour to spill over into the real world, a BBC Three investigation revealed.
Ex-employees said that the issue was not being tackled for fear of slowing the growth of the app’s business. These ‘frenzies’ were evidenced by interviews with former staffers, app users and BBC analysis of wider social media data. They included false murder accusations, interference in police investigations, school vandalism, and riots.
TikTok’s algorithm is reportedly failing to provide a safe and positive experience for its users and for society
Anti-social algorithm
The algorithm and design means people are seeing videos which they wouldn’t normally be recommended – which, in turn, incentivise them to do unusual things in their own videos on the platform.
Former employees likened these frenzies to ‘wildfires’ and described them as ‘dangerous’, especially as the app’s audience can be young and impressionable.
NatWest customers reported money missing from their accounts after making a cash deposit. The bank has said an issue with its cash deposit machines has been now resolved
Customers shared their concerns on social media on Thursday 21st September 2023 that recently-deposited cash was not showing up in their account balance.
Early on Friday 22nd September 2023, NatWest said the issue had been resolved and that no-one would be left out of pocket.
Some customers had reported going overdrawn because of the issue and expressed concern they would be charged fees.
In a statement, NatWest said, ‘Cash payments to a small number of accounts have been delayed and the issue is now resolved and customer accounts are being updated’.
It is unclear how many people were affected by the issue.
UK interest rates have been left unchanged at 5.25% by the Bank of England (BoE).
The decision comes a day after figures revealed an unexpected slowdown in UK nflation in August 2023.
The Bank had previously raised rates some14 times in a row to tackle inflation, leading to increases in mortgage payments, business loans and consumer borrowing. But it also delivered higher savings rates.
The maker of weight-loss drug ‘Wegovy’ has become Europe’s most valuable company, dethroning the French luxury conglomerate LVMH.
Is there an irony here…? Exploitation of the obese, or a genuine attempt to help? It is used in the fight against diabetes too.
It’s a business after all
Wegovy is a brand name for ‘Semaglutide‘, a prescription medicine used for weight loss in obese or overweight adults with other weight-related medical issues. It works by regulating appetite and reducing calorie intake, leading to weight loss and helping with weight management.
Wegovy was launched in the UK on 4th September 2023 and is available on the NHS as an ‘option‘ for weight management in line with NICE guidance, alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. However, only people with the highest medical need may qualify for the drug, as it is in short supply and its use will be restricted – but celebrities have direct access – do they have the ‘highest medical needs’? Of course they do.
Clinical trials
Wegovy has been shown to be effective in clinical trials, achieving up to a 15% reduction in body weight after one year. It has also been found to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke in obese people with cardiovascular disease by 20%.
To get Wegovy on the NHS, eligible adults would need a referral to an NHS specialist weight management service, which would usually be made by a GP. Alternatively, Wegovy can be obtained privately, but it may be expensive and not covered by insurance.
Watercolour image of a generic medicine bottle. Wegovy is a brand name for ‘Semaglutide‘, a prescription medicine used for weight loss in obese or overweight adults with other weight-related medical issues.
Shares rose after the Danish pharmaceutical giant, Novo Nordisk, launched the popular drug in the UK.
At the close of trading on Monday, 4th September 2023, the company had a stock market valuation of $428bn (£339bn).
The drug is now available on the National Health Service in the UK and also via private outlets.
Obesity treatment
Wegovy is an obesity treatment that is taken once a week which tricks people into thinking that they are already full, so they end up eating less and losing weight.
Famous personalities such as Elon Musk are among the reported users of the drug, which has gained traction in Hollywood and with the public more widely since it was approved by regulators in the US in 2021.
Wegovy and Ozempic – a diabetes treatment with similar effects – have been described as ‘miracle’ drugs. Would that be a ‘miracle for the user or for the pharmaceutical company – or both perhaps?
Experts warn the drug is not a quick fix nor a ‘substitute for a healthy diet and exercise’.
In trials, users often put weight back on after stopping treatment.
‘Supply restriction as production ramps up’
There has been a global shortage of the drug, so only limited is awailable for the NHS in the UK.
The company said it will continue to restrict global supplies as it works to ramp up manufacturing.
While the findings still have to be fully reviewed, experts agreed the results were potentially significant.
Water stress measures the amount of available supply a country uses to meet demand, and is expected to worsen as the climate warms.
A quarter of the world’s population is currently exposed to extremely high annual water stress, according to new data from the World Resources Institute (WRI).
New data from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas show that 25 countries – housing one-quarter of the global population – face extremely high water stress each year, regularly using up almost their entire available water supply. And at least 50% of the world’s population – around 4 billion people – live under highly water-stressed conditions for at least one month of the year.
Living with this level of water stress jeopardizes people’s lives, jobs, food and energy security. Water is central to growing crops and raising livestock, producing electricity, maintaining human health, fostering equitable societies and meeting the world’s climate goals.
Without better water management, population growth, economic development and climate change are poised to worsen water stress.
What’s Causing Global Water Stress?
Across the world, demand for water is exceeding what’s available. Globally, demand has more than doubled since 1960.
25 Countries, Housing One-quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
Increased water demand is often the result of growing populations and industries like irrigated agriculture, livestock, energy production and manufacturing. Meanwhile, lack of investment in water infrastructure, unsustainable water use policies or increased variability due to climate change can all affect the available water supply.
Water stress, the ratio of water demand to renewable supply, measures the competition over local water resources.
The smaller the gap between supply and demand, the more vulnerable a place is to water shortages. A country facing ‘extreme water stress’ means it is using at least 80% of its available supply, ‘high water stress’ means it is withdrawing 40% of its supply.
Without intervention – such as investment in water infrastructure and better water governance – water stress will continue to get worse, particularly in places with rapidly growing populations and economies.
Which Countries Face the Worst Water Stress?
The data shows that 25 countries are currently exposed to extremely high water stress annually, meaning they use over 80% of their renewable water supply for irrigation, livestock, industry and domestic needs. Even a short-term drought puts these places in danger of running out of water and sometimes prompts governments to shut off the taps. We’ve already seen this scenario play out in many places around the world, such as India, Iran, Mexico, South Africa, and even in England.
The five most water-stressed countries are Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar. The water stress in these countries is mostly driven by low supply, paired with demand from domestic, agricultural and industrial use.
The most water-stressed regions are the Middle East and North Africa, where 83% of the population is exposed to extremely high water stress, and South Asia, where 74% is exposed.
The 25 counties currently experiencing extreme water stress annually.
1. Bahrain
2. Cyprus
3. Kuwait
4. Lebanon
5. Oman
6. Qatar
7. United Arab Emirates
8. Saudi Arabia
9. Israel
10. Egypt
11. Libya
12. Yemen
13. Botswana
14. Iran
15. Jordan
16. Chile
17. San Marino
18. Belgium
19. Greece
20. Tunisia
21. Namibia
22. South Africa
23. Iraq
24. India
25. Syria
Water Demand Is Exploding in Africa but Plateauing in Wealthier Nations
The biggest change in water demand between now and 2050 is expected to occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. While most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not extremely water-stressed right now, demand is growing faster there than any other region in the world. By 2050, water demand in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to skyrocket by 163% – 4 times the rate of change compared to Latin America, the second-highest region, which is expected to see a 43% increase in water demand.
Demand has plateaued in wealthier countries in North America and Europe. Investment in water-use efficiency has helped reduce in-country water use in high income countries, but water use and dependencies extend beyond national boundaries, and the water embedded in international trade from lower-middle income countries to high income countries will increasingly contribute to rising water stress in low and lower-middle income countries.
Water Stress Could Disrupt Economies and Agricultural Production
Increasing water stress threatens countries’ economic growth as well as the world’s food security.
According to data from Aqueduct, 31% of global GDP – a whopping $70 trillion – will be exposed to high water stress by 2050, up from $15 trillion (24% of global GDP) in 2010. Just four countries – India, Mexico, Egypt and Turkey – account for over half of the exposed GDP in 2050.
According to data from Aqueduct, 31% of global GDP – a whopping $70 trillion – will be exposed to high water stress by 2050
Energy, industrial and agricultural production issues
Water shortages can lead to industrial interruptions, energy outages and agricultural production losses – like those already being seen in India, where a lack of water to cool thermal powerplants between 2017 and 2021 resulted in 8.2 terawatt-hours in lost energy – or enough electricity to power 1.5 million Indian households for five years. Failing to implement better water management policies could result in GDP losses in India, China and Central Asia of 7% to 12%, and 6% in much of Africa by 2050 according to the Global Commission on Adaptation.
Global food security is also at risk. Already, 60% of the world’s irrigated agriculture faces extremely high water stress – particularly sugarcane, wheat, rice and maize. Yet to feed a projected 10 billion people by 2050, the world will need to produce 56% more food calories than it did in 2010 – all while dealing with increasing water stress as well as climate-driven disasters like droughts and floods.
Better Management for a Water-secure Future
It’s good to understand the state of the world’s water supply and demand, but water stress doesn’t necessarily lead to water crisis. For example, places like Singapore and the U.S. city of Las Vegas prove that societies can thrive even under the most water-scarce conditions by employing techniques like removing water-thirsty grass, desalination, and wastewater treatment and reuse.
Solution is NOT expensive
In fact, WRI research shows that solving global water challenges is cheaper than you might think, costing the world about 1% of GDP, or 29 cents per person, per day from 2015 to 2030. What’s missing is the political will and financial backing to make these cost-effective solutions a reality.
If this cost conclusion is accurate – why aren’t we doing it?
Consultants and junior doctors in England are holding their first joint strike in the history of the NHS.
Waiting list
The latest data from NHS England, states the number of people waiting to start routine hospital treatment is at a record high of 7.68 million at the end of July 2023. This is up from 7.57 million in June 2023 and the highest since records began in August 2007.
The waiting list has increased by more than 3 million since February 2020, the last full month before the start of the pandemic. The NHS is facing many different challenges due to the impact of Covid-19 on its services, staff and resources. This data suggests that the waiting list was already at 4 million even before the pandemic hit.
The latest strike action is a major factor now contributing to the NHS waiting list. Some reports suggest that over 850,000 routine operations and procedures have been cancelled so far this year, 2023 due to strike action alone.
Factors that may have contributed to the historical rise in the waiting list
The suspension or reduction of non-urgent care during the peak of the pandemic to free up capacity for Covid-19 patients.
The ongoing infection prevention and control measures that limit the number of patients that can be treated safely in hospitals.
NHS Strike action again, with nearly 8 million waiting in the queue
The staff shortages and burnout that affect the availability and productivity of the workforce.
The increased demand for health services as people seek help for conditions that were delayed or worsened by the pandemic.
Strike action.
The NHS is working hard to tackle the backlog and improve access to care for patients
Increasing funding and capacity for elcare, such as by opening more operating theatres, expanding community services and using the independent sector.
Implementing new models of care, such as virtual consultations, digital triage and shared decision making, to reduce unnecessary referrals and appointments.
Prioritising patients based on clinical urgency and need, rather than waiting time alone, to ensure that those who would benefit most from treatment are seen first.
Supporting staff wellbeing and retention, such as by offering flexible working, training and development opportunities and mental health support.
What about health education?
Government action
The government has also pledged to invest an extra £36 billion over the next three years to help the NHS recover from the pandemic and reform social care. However, some experts have warned that this may not be enough to address the underlying issues that affect the NHS performance and quality, such as workforce planning, public health funding and health inequalities.
How did it get so bad?
Lack of money or management failures? It has to one of these two. Throwing funds at an already badly managed ‘business’ will just amplify the problem allowing even more waste. And as the ‘system’ tackles the problem, more and more people will needlessly continue to suffer.
Fix our health service by fixing the people first!
Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, two of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile venture firms, are poised to take a massive hit on their investments in grocery delivery company Instacart, a deal that closed in 2021 as tech stocks were soaring.
In its latest IPO prospectus update, Instacart said it plans to sell shares at $28 – $30 a share, valuing the company at around $10 billion at the top of the range. That’s more than 75% below where Sequoia and Andreessen invested in early 2021. At that time, Instacart sold shares at $125 a pop valuing Instacart at $39 billion.
Valuation plunge
The reason for the valuation collapse is that the U.S. economy reopened after the pandemic, then inflation spiked and the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates, which were stuck near to zero throughout the Covid pandemic.
Borrowed money suddenly became expensive again, and quickly too. Tech’ companies in early stages of development, need access to research and development finance – interest rate increases restricted investment.
Instacart 75% plunge in valuation from original price of $125 per share
Then consumers started shopping again on foot, and with capital costs increasing, investors began demanding that companies find a strong path to profitability.
IPO
Instacart is trying to crack open an IPO market that’s been closed for venture-backed companies for nearly two years, so it won’t be easy. However, the ARM IPO recently may re-adjust that view.
The FTSE 100 is the index of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by market capitalization. It is one of the most widely used indicators of the UK economy and the performance of British businesses.
The FTSE 100 had its best week of the year in the week ending 15th September. The index closed at 7,711 points on 15th September 2023. This was the highest weekly gain of 2023.
Flights at Gatwick Airport were cancelled, delayed or diverted at short notice on Thursday 14th September 2023 due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Gatwick confirmed some cancellations, while the website FlightRadar24 said hundreds of flights in and out of the airport were delayed.
The National Air Traffic Services (Nats) apologised for its staffing shortages.
Gatwick Airport said it expected a normal service on Friday, 15th September 2023.
EasyJet expressed frustration at Thursday’s delays and cancellations, while Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary called on Nats’ boss to resign.
Mr O’Leary reportedly said: ‘It is unacceptable that more flights and hundreds of passengers are suffering delays to/from Gatwick Airport due to Nats CEO, Martin Rolfe’s blatant failure to adequately staff UK ATC’.
‘Airlines are paying millions of pounds to Nats each and every year and should not have to see their passengers suffer avoidable delays due to UK ATC staff shortages’.
Update
Gatwick Airport said it was ‘operating as normal’ on Friday after a shortage of air traffic controllers caused disruption to flights overnight on Thursday, 14th September 2023.
Masayoshi Son says AI to surpass human intelligence and that SoftBank will ‘rule the world’. Oh dear…!
Main points in brief
Masayoshi Son reportedly said AI is capable of helping solve the world’s biggest problems and could potentially surpass the intelligence of humans.
He said he was a ‘big believer’ in AI and that Arm, a chip design company owned by Softbank, was a ‘core’ beneficiary of the AI revolution.
He said AI would supercharge human ability and that Softbank would ‘rule the world’ and win the latest generative-AI race thanks to its heavy investment in startups and its majority stake in Arm.
He also acknowledged that AI posed some threats to humanity if mishandled and that society should regulate it to protect humankind.
Masayoshi Son and SoftBank
The 66-year-old founded SoftBank, which still controls about 90% of Arm Holdings after the IPO, back in 1981 after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley. Forbes estimates his net worth at more than $24 billion, making him the world’s 69th richest person.
Son made his early reputation as an investor in Japan’s mobile phone industry, and went on to become one of the first backers of Yahoo as well as Alibaba. Son continues to serve as the chairman of Arm’s board of directors.
AI does pose some threats to humanity if mishandled, Son said, likening its potential misuse to the dangers of speeding, or drinking alcohol while driving a car. But, more positively, AI can also help solve key world problems like diseases or help mitigate or recover from natural disasters, he reportedly said.
‘AI, society should regulate to protect humankind’, Son said. ‘However, it has more merit than the demerits. So, I think I’m a believer. I’m optimistic that AI is going to solve the issues that mankind couldn’t solve in the past‘.
According to news reports, France has banned the Apple iPhone 12 because it emits too much electromagnetic radiation, which could be harmful to human health.
The French watchdog (ANFR) said that the iPhone 12’s specific absorption rate (SAR), which measures the rate of radio frequency energy absorbed by the body, was above the legal limit of 4.0 watts per kilogram in tests simulating the phone being held in the hand or kept in a pocket.
Dispute
Apple disputed the tests and said that the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies and compliant with all global radiation standards. The French digital minister said that Apple had two weeks to respond and fix the issue, or else he would order a recall of all iPhone 12 devices sold in the country.
The minister also said that France would share its findings with other regulators in the European Union, which could lead to a wider ban of the phone.
France ban Apple iPhone 12 due to excessive radiation fears
What is electromagnetic radiation?
Radiation from mobile phones is a type of electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by cell phones and cordless phones when they send and receive signals. Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that travels in waves or particles through space.
It can be classified into two types: ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation has high energy and can damage DNA, which may increase the risk of cancer such as; x-rays, radon, and cosmic rays. Non-ionizing radiation has low energy and cannot damage DNA directly – such as; radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet light.
Cell phone radiation
Cell phones use radiofrequency (RF) waves, which are a type of non-ionizing radiation, to communicate with cell towers and other devices. RF waves have frequencies ranging from 0.7 to 80 GHz, depending on the generation of the cell phone (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G). The human body can absorb some of the RF energy from cell phones, which may cause some heating to the area of the body where the phone is held (e.g., the ear and head). However, it is suggested this heating is not enough to raise the core body temperature or cause any harmful effects.
Research
There has been a lot of research on whether cell phone use can cause health problems, such as cancer, in humans. However, it has been reported that the evidence so far is not conclusive and does not show a clear link between cell phone use and cancer risk. There could be a link but we do not know 100%… yet?
Some studies have suggested that there may be a small increase in the risk of certain types of brain tumors (such as acoustic neuromas) for people who use cell phones for a long time or frequently. However, other studies have not found any consistent evidence to support this.
The incidence of brain and central nervous system cancers has not changed significantly during the time that cell phone use has increased dramatically. Therefore, more research is needed to understand the possible effects of cell phone use on human health.
The upcoming IPO of Arm Holdings, the British chip designer that is owned by SoftBank Group is already oversubscribed by more than 10 times. Bankers plan to stop taking orders by the afternoon of 12th Deptember 2023.
This means that there is a massive demand for the shares and the company may raise more money than expected. The IPO could end up as much as 15 times oversubscribed by Wednesday 13th September 2023, which would indicate a very high valuation for Arm.
High end valuation $55 billion
Arm filed for its IPO at $47 to $51 a share, which could value the company at $54.5 billion at the high end of the range. However, Arm is still reportedly considering raising the price range of its IPO. This could easily make Arm one of the most valuable tech companies in the world.
ARM IPO over subscribed September 2023
Arm is a key part of the chip supply chain, designing semiconductors found in most of the world’s smartphones, as well as other devices and applications.
Arm is poised to become a bigger and more profitable business, as it shifts to high-margin chips and benefits from the boom in cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).
Arm’s CEO Rene Haas has been pitching investors on this pivot and the growth prospects of the company.
He was an anti-colonial nationalist, Indian lawyer and political ethicist who employed nonviolent methods to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule.
He inspired civil rights movements and freedom across the world
Gandhi, who led a major nonviolent protest against the British rule in India by marching to the sea to make salt. He was also known as Mahatma Gandhi, meaning ‘great soul’ in Sanskrit.
He inspired millions of Indians to join his campaign of civil disobedience, or satyagraha, which means ‘truth force’ or ‘soul force’ in Sanskrit.
He was arrested several times by the British authorities, but he never gave up his fight for India’s independence. He is widely regarded as the father of the Indian nation and a global symbol of peace and justice.
‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world’.
According to a report by Henley & Partners, a professional consultancy firm, there are 22 people who have crypto holdings worth at least $1 billion as of September 2023. Six of them hold their investments in Bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Six Bitcoin billionaires reported net worth
Micree Zhan, the co-founder of Bitmain, a leading manufacturer of Bitcoin mining hardware. He has a reported net worth of $3.2 billion as of January 2021.
Chris Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, a blockchain platform that facilitates cross-border payments. He has a reported net worth of $2.9 billion as of January 2021.
Michael Saylor, the founder and CEO of MicroStrategy, a business intelligence company that has invested over $1 billion in Bitcoin since 2020. He has a reported net worth of $2.3 billion as of January 2021.
Bitcoin billionaire pile
Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. He has a reported net worth of $1.9 billion as of January 2021.
Tim Draper, a venture capitalist and early investor in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He has a reported net worth of $1.5 billion as of January 2021.
Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. He has a reported net worth of $1.3 billion as of January 2021.
Satoshi Nakamoto
There are also likely to be some anonymous Bitcoin billionaires who have not disclosed their identities or holdings to the public.
One of them could be Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious ‘likely’ creator of Bitcoin, who is estimated to have mined over one million Bitcoins in the early days of the network.
If he still owns them, his fortune would be worth over $40 billion at current prices. However, there is no conclusive evidence that he is still alive or in control of his bitcoins, or even that he was the originator of Bitcoin.
CLOSED: ‘How am I meant to get a decent education’?
School and building closures are disrupting our children’s education in the UK. The issues range from asbestos contamination, building material failures, Covid closures and teacher strikes. What the hell?
With second-quarter earnings season now largely behind the U.S. market, stock investors have been focusing on the latest economic data and for the most part been reacting positively to bad economic news, or any data that may point to an economic slowdown.
It’s been almost nine months since the trend emerged, as softening economic data and lower inflation may mean the Federal Reserve can stop raising interest rates.
Traders are reportedly pricing in an over 90% chance that the Fed will hold its policy interest rate unchanged at its September 2023 meeting, and a roughly 35% likelihood that the U.S. central bank will raise interest rates by 0.25% in November 2023.
Fed policy weakening?
The Fed’s monetary policy has lost some of its potency and interest rates may need to rise as a result, economists say.
U.S. stocks closed higher ahead of the Labour Day holiday weekend, after data released indicated a cooling labour market, though there was speculation that summertime jobs data may have been a factor. The U.S. created 187,000 new jobs in August, while the unemployment rate jumped to 3.8% from 3.5%.
The data supports the narrative of a gradual slowdown in the U.S. labour market, but there are no dramatic signs that the economy is weakening significantly economists say. The economic data has not been bad. It is just softening.
‘Good news bad news, bad news good news’!
However, if investors see a significant decline in the housing and U.S. labour markets, that could change the narrative and break the cycle in which ‘bad economic news is good news’ for stocks, economic data have to be much worse than now, indicating more damage from high interest rates and higher inflation.
The trend may also reverse if there is a meaningful downgrade of corporate earnings ‘expectations’ and then this translates into weakened profitability.
Inflation just may climb again
Investors should also be alert for the possibility that inflation may accelerate again. Data showed that the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.2% in July, but the yearly inflation rate crept up to 3.3% from 3%. Inflation has been trending down but that trend could turn again.
If investors start to treat ‘bad economic news as bad news’ for the stock market, it could put pressure on the 2023 stock-market rally, with the S&P 500 SPX already up 17.6% since the start of the year and the Nasdaq Composite COMP up 34%.
General concensus is that the bull run ain’t over just yet.
He was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher and leading transcendentalist.
Transcendentalism is a philosophical, spiritual, and literary movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the New England region of the United States.
A core belief is in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their best when truly ‘self-reliant’ and independent.
‘It is the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see’.
The creator of Photoshop and InDesign launched a generative AI tool called ‘firefly’, which has recently gained traction. It is quite possible that Adobe has one of the best AI generative tools available and it’s worth checking it out as a stock to *invest in.
Firefly enables users to edit through simple typed commands
Adobe Firefly is a generative AI-powered content creation tool from Adobe that allows you to experiment, imagine, and create an infinite range of images with simple ‘text’ prompts.
You can use Firefly to generate images from a detailed text description, apply styles or textures to words and phrases, use a brush to remove objects or paint in new ones, generate color variations of your vector artwork, and more.
Adobe Share Chart as at 5th september 2023
Morgan Stanley thinks Adobe can benefit from artificial intelligence-powered products even more.The bank upgraded Adobe to overweight from equal weight.
Bank of America has also upgraded Adobe to buy with a revised target price of $63000 per share.
Definitely one to watch!
*Please do your own careful research – this is not a recommendation but simply an observation. Remember RESEARCH! RESEARCH! RESEARCH!
David Ferrucci, a prominent artificial intelligence researcher who led the team that created IBM Watson, has reportedly raised nearly $60 million for his AI company called Elemental Cognition.
Headquartered in New York, Elemental says on its website that the company seeks to develop AI that ‘thinks before it talks‘. It offers two enterprise products, Cogent and Cora, which are essentially chatbots designed for different scenarios. They can be used in financial services, interactive travel planning and for automating research discovery in life sciences.
Elemental Cognition
The new startup company is called Elemental Cognition, and it was founded in 2015 by David Ferrucci, who led the team that created IBM Watson.
Elemental Cognition aims to develop AI that ‘thinks before it talks‘ and can understand the meaning and context of human language. It offers two enterprise products, Cogent and Cora, which are chatbots for different scenarios.
Elemental Cognition has raised $60 million in funding from 17 investors, including Jim Breyer, former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, and Geoff Yang of Redpoint Ventures.
What is IBM Watson?
IBM Watson is used in various areas of AI, such as natural language processing, machine learning, computer vision, speech recognition, and knowledge representation. IBM Watson is a cognitive computing system that can process natural language, analyze large amounts of data, and learn from its interactions with humans and machines.
IBM Watson is a question-answering computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language, developed in IBM’s DeepQA project by a research team led by principal David Ferrucci. Watson was named after IBM’s founder and first CEO, industrialist Thomas J. Watson.
Watson Assistant: A chatbot platform that allows businesses to create conversational agents that can interact with customers and employees through text or voice. Watson Assistant can understand natural language, provide personalized responses, and integrate with other services and data sources.
A watercolour image of an AI microchip powering a mainframe supercomputer computer
Watson Discovery: A data analysis tool that can extract insights from structured and unstructured data, such as documents, web pages, social media posts, and images. Watson Discovery can perform natural language understanding, sentiment analysis, entity extraction, and document classification.
Watson Studio: A cloud-based platform that enables data scientists and developers to build, train, and deploy AI and machine learning models. Watson Studio supports various frameworks and languages, such as Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch and R. Watson Studio also provides tools for data visualization, collaboration, and automation.
Watson Visual Recognition: A computer vision service that can analyze images and videos for content, objects, faces, scenes, and emotions.
Power
The IBM Watson computer consists of a cluster of ninety IBM Power 750 servers, each of which uses a 3.5 GHz POWER7 eight-core processor, with four threads per core. The system has 2,880 POWER7 processor threads and 16 terabytes of RAM. It can process 500 gigabytes (the equivalent of a million books) per second.
Supercomputer now with AI power
The IBM Watson computer has an avatar that is inspired by the IBM ‘Smarter Planet’ logo. The avatar is a globe with a grid pattern and four glowing stripes that represent the four main aspects of Watson: natural language processing, hypothesis generation and evaluation, dynamic adaptation, and evidence-based learning. The avatar also changes color and brightness depending on Watson’s mood and confidence level.
International Business Machines (IBM)
IBM was founded in 1911 in Endicott, New York, as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) by Charles Ranlett Flint. The company changed its name to International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924 under the leadership of Thomas J. Watson, Sr. IBM is one of the oldest and most influential technology companies in the world, with a history of innovation and research in various fields of computing.
The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), nicknamed ‘Big Blue’, is an American multinational technology corporation headquartered in New York and is present in over 175 countries. It specializes in computer hardware, middleware, and software, and provides hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. IBM is the largest industrial research organization in the world.
IBM holds the record for most annual U.S. patents generated by a business for 29 consecutive years from 1993 to 2021?
Happy birthday to Google, the world’s most popular search engine!
Google was founded 25 years ago today (4th September 2023) – by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford University students who wanted to organise the web in a better way. They named their project after the mathematical term ‘googol’, which means 1 followed by 100 zeros.
Since then, Google has grown into a global tech’ giant that offers not only search, but also email, maps, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and many other products and services.
Google has also acquired several companies, such as YouTube, Android, and Waze.
Some of the key moments in Google’s history
Launching AdWords in 2000, which allowed advertisers to buy keywords and display ads on the search results page.
Introducing Gmail in 2004, which offered users 1 GB of free storage and a fast and simple interface.
Releasing Google Maps in 2005, which revolutionised the way people navigate and explore the world.
Buying YouTube in 2006, which made Google the owner of the largest video-sharing platform on the web.
Developing Chrome in 2008, which became the most widely used web browser in the world.
Happy Birthday Google – 25 years today
Creating Android in 2010, which became the most popular operating system for smartphones and tablets.
Launching Google+ in 2011, which was an attempt to compete with Facebook in the social networking space.
Reorganising into Alphabet in 2015, which made Google a subsidiary of a larger holding company that oversees other ventures such as Waymo, Verily, and Calico.
Unveiling ChatGPT in 2022, which is a conversational AI system that can generate natural and coherent responses to any text input.
Influential
Google remains one of the most influential and innovative companies in the world. It has changed the way we access information, communicate, entertain ourselves, and solve problems. It has also inspired many people to pursue their dreams and passions.
Google CEO says
As Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in his public memo on Google at 25: ‘We started with a simple mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. That mission still guides us today. But we’ve also learned that our responsibility goes beyond that. We have a duty to create products that improve the lives of billions of people — not just today or tomorrow but for generations to come’.
