New FED Payment System The FEDNOW payment system is a new instant payment infrastructure developed by the Federal Reserve that allows financial institutions of every size across the U.S. to provide safe and efficient instant payment services. Live system It went live on July 20, 2023 and enables individuals and businesses to send andRead More →
Profits up! Rolls-Royce share price soared by 20% in july 2023 after it raised its profit guidance and reported strong demand in its jet engine and defence businesses. The company, which makes engines for aeroplanes, ships and submarines, repoertedly said it expects to make between £1.2 billion and £1.4 billionRead More →
John Dalberg-Acton, 1834 – 1902Read More →
British Gas owner Centrica and Shell see profits soar as bills rise. Profit for the six months ending in June 2023 for British Gas owner Centrica rose to around £1.34bn from £262m a year earlier. The rise in profits came from the company’s nuclear and oil and gas business, rather than from theRead More →
SEC Ruling – July 2023 XRP, the native token of the blockchain company Ripple, soared more than 60% on Thursday after a U.S. judge delivered a major victory to the firm in its legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC had sued Ripple in December 2020,Read More →
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Mark Twain – 1835 – 1910 Who are the oppressors? The few: the King, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idleRead More →
There are eight billion people living on Earth today, according to the United Nations (UN). It’s hard to calculate the number of people in the world accurately, and the UN admits its calculations could be out by a year or two – but it estimated that in November 2022 theRead More →
Twitter rebrands as X and kills off blue bird logo Twitter, the social media platform, has undergone a major rebranding, changing its name to X and replacing its iconic blue bird logo with a simple black-and-white X. The move was announced by the company’s owner, Elon Musk, who reportedly saidRead More →
The entrepreneur Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, has revealed his latest venture: xAI, a new artificial intelligence company that aims to “understand the true nature of the universe”. Musk announced the formation of xAI on Wednesday on Twitter and on the company’s official website, whichRead More →
Stephen Hawking 1942 – 2018 See other quotesRead More →
Baidu said its AI system called Ernie 3.5 outperformed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT4 in several key areas. ERNIE – Enhanced Language RepresentatioN with Informative Entities Ernie was first introduced in 2019, and since then, Baidu has been improving and upgrading it with new versions. The latest version, Ernie 3.5, was announcedRead More →
AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, which is the ability of machines to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. AI can involve various aspects of cognition, such as perceiving, reasoning, learning, problem-solving, and even creativity. Types of AI AI can be classified into different types based on the level ofRead More →
UK house prices have defied expectations by increasing slightly in June 2023 but annual prices fell at the fastest rate since 2009 as soaring mortgage costs took a toll on the market, according to Nationwide Building Society. The surprise monthly rise of 0.1% reversed a 0.1% fall in May 2023 and surprisedRead More →
Oscar Wilde This quote, from Wilde’s essay, ‘The Soul of Man Under Socialism‘, suggests that most people do not live fully or authentically, but merely survive or conform to society’s expectations. Are we restricted by society to conform? Do the rich conform less than the poor? Is it a foregoneRead More →
Albert Einstein 1879 – 1955 Compound interest, an investors best friend This is why? The concept is very simple. Compound interest is simply interest added back to the original or principal sum and then more interest is earned or calculated on ‘that’ added interest over the next compounding period. LikeRead More →
Cryptocurrency Crypto, short for cryptocurrency, is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and operates independently of a central bank. Cryptocurrencies are decentralised currencies, meaning they’re neither issued nor governed by a central bank. Some cryptocurrencies are issued by their developers, while others are generated by their respectiveRead More →
Interest rates and inflation in the UK The UK is facing a cost of living crisis as inflation has soared to its highest level in decades. The Bank of England has raised interest rates 13 times since December 2021 in an attempt to bring inflation back down to its originalRead More →
