Twitter Now Has A Larger Market Capitalization Than 80% Of All S&P 500 Companies

Twitter Now Has A Larger Market Capitalization Than 80% Of All S&P 500 Companies

Tyler Durden on 12/26/2013 18:58 -0500

As everyone is well aware by now, Twitter investors and speculators have been on a sharp, sudden and very relentless buying spree, sending the company nearly 50% higher since the first week of December, and nearly doubling it since late November. Why the stock has exploded the way it has, nobody knows, and frankly nobody cares: it has entered that mythical zone of raging momentum where things work, until they don’t for whatever reason. But in order to present readers with a sense of where TWTR’s $40 billion market cap,which is greater than 403, or 80%, of all S&P 500 companies, puts in in the context of several companies all of which have a market cap that is lower than Twitter’s, we have shown on the chart below Twitter’s 2014 projected Revenue compared to this same universe of immediately smaller S&P500 companies. Again, just for the sake of perspective. Certainly, we have no doubt that Twitter’s growth curve, based on the realistic assumption of infinite and growing advertising budgets, will promptly eclipse not only the revenues but certainly the earnings and cash flows of all the below-listed companies, and why not all other companies, both in the US and the world, too. Surely, more idiotic things have happened under Bernanke’s centrally planned regime.

TWTR vs Revenue Comps_1_0

The Baidu IME Japanese-language input program for Windows computers poses security risk as it sends every character typed to the software provider’s server without the user’s consent

Free Chinese-made software poses security risk

BY ATSUSHI KODERA

STAFF WRITER

DEC 26, 2013

A Japanese-language input program — potentially installed on millions of computers, including those used at government agencies — sends every character typed to the software provider’s server without the user’s consent. Read more of this post

Samsung to offer Smart TVs controlled by finger gestures

Samsung to offer Smart TVs controlled by finger gestures

LONDON — Samsung has announced that it will showcase its new smart televisions, featuring voice- and motion-control, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month.

6 HOURS 25 MIN AGO

LONDON — Samsung has announced that it will showcase its new smart televisions, featuring voice- and motion-control, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. Read more of this post

Rolls-Royce looks to plot a course to the future with drone ships

December 26, 2013 3:42 pm

Rolls-Royce looks to plot a course to the future with drone ships

By Mark Odell

Amazon may have embraced the robotics revolution with the promise of drones making deliveries to your door, but Rolls-Royce has taken it one step further and is predicting the first drone cargo ship will enter service in the next decade. Read more of this post

Robo-Gloves, Meat Hooks Help Ease Human-Machine Teamwork; “If the robot would bump into you, it would actually say ‘Hey excuse me”. It’s almost like another person working next to you.”

GM Robo-Glove to Meat Hook Smooth Human-Machine Teamwork

Robots and humans, for decades kept separate from each other on factory floors, are inching toward integration. After years of walling off robots to ensure safety, some companies are finding ways to put them alongside people, with lightweight materials and new sensors enabling engineers to build machines that can be employees’ partners or even worn on the job. Read more of this post

Overstock to Embrace Bitcoin, Giving the Currency a Lift

DECEMBER 26, 2013, 7:58 PM

Overstock to Embrace Bitcoin, Giving the Currency a Lift

By NICK WINGFIELD

27overstock-span-tmagArticle

Patrick Byrne, the chief executive of Overstock, finds the limitations of creating Bitcoins appealing. One of the biggest questions looming over Bitcoin, the digital currency generating attention in the tech business, is when big mainstream merchants will begin accepting it. Read more of this post

Online shopping grows, with some growing pains

Online shopping grows, with some growing pains

NEW YORK — Americans waited until the last minute to buy holiday gifts, but retailers were not prepared for the spike.

1 HOUR 46 MIN AGO

NEW YORK — Americans waited until the last minute to buy holiday gifts, but retailers were not prepared for the spike. Heavy spending in the final days of the mostly lackluster season sent sales up 3.5 per cent between Nov 1 and Tuesday (Dec 24), according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, which tracks payments but doesn’t give dollar figures. Read more of this post

GrubHub Puts Data on Its Menu; The online food order company is pitching analytics to restaurants

GrubHub Puts Data on Its Menu

By Joshua Brustein December 19, 2013

Things were hectic at Slice on a recent Friday as the month-old cake shop in downtown Chicago hit its afternoon rush. Orders poured in, the gingerbread Bundt cake ran out, and a four-slice delivery order went missing. Slice isn’t a typical restaurant: The manager, relaying online orders from her tablet to line workers, is Sandra Dainora, director of product for GrubHub. In fact, everyone working at Slice is a GrubHub employee, serving cake to co-workers from a conference room in the headquarters of the online takeout company. Read more of this post

Fleur Pellerin Works to Make France Safe for Tech Startups

Fleur Pellerin Works to Make France Safe for Tech Startups

By Vivienne Walt December 19, 2013

The 12 guests of honor might have felt out of place as they sat down for lunch in October at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris. With its crystal chandeliers, gilded walls, and manicured gardens, the palace is a more natural setting for foreign dignitaries and heads of state than for the technology entrepreneurs who assembled for a three-hour meeting with President François Hollande. Seated next to the president was the person who’d persuaded him to clear his afternoon: a petite, 40-year-old woman of Asian descent named Fleur Pellerin. As deputy finance minister for digital innovation, Pellerin’s mission is to turn France into one of Europe’s premier hubs for tech startups. Doing so will require galvanizing not just entrepreneurs and investors but France’s political leaders as well. Read more of this post

An Interview With Liz Eswein, Instagram User-Turned-Entrepreneur; Just a couple of years after she first opened an Instagram account, Liz Eswein has built a successful business on helping brands use the service

DECEMBER 26, 2013, 6:09 PM

An Interview With Liz Eswein, Instagram User-Turned-Entrepreneur

By NICK BILTON

We often read about how the founders of start-ups become rich and famous, but sometimes, users of new web services also find a way to benefit financially. Take Liz Eswein. Just a couple of years ago, she signed up to Instagram while a senior at New York University. Then she managed to turn that account into an Instagram-based business called The Mobile Media Lab, which has generated more than $1 million in revenue by helping brands use the service. The following is an edited interview with Ms. Eswein. Read more of this post

After Carriers Falter, Questions for Web Shopping

December 26, 2013

After Carriers Falter, Questions for Web Shopping

By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS and VINDU GOEL

After years of preaching the convenience and reliability of online shopping — shop in your pajamas, with fast, free delivery — retailers may have been too successful at spreading the message this year, contributing to the volume of holiday orders that overwhelmed delivery services like U.P.S. and FedEx. Read more of this post

Amazon Reveals a New Hint About Prime Membership Rolls; Amazon Prime is the company’s $79-a-year membership service. Still, Amazon has never said how many Prime members it has

DECEMBER 26, 2013, 3:47 PM

Amazon Reveals a New Hint About Prime Membership Rolls

By NICK WINGFIELD

SEATTLE — The world’s biggest online retailer has mastered the art of talking a lot about its holiday sales, while saying very little. For years, Amazon has blasted out a press release, a day or so after Christmas, filled with a string of tantalizing-sounding factoids about the holidays at Amazon without actually providing a very meaningful picture of its business. Read more of this post

China has adopted a slew of policies aimed at boosting its long-suffering blue-chip stocks, mired at depressed valuations, but analysts say it will take years to change an investment culture focused on speculation in small caps

Regulators in uphill battle to boost blue chips as retail investors dominate

2:03am EST

By Lu Jianxin and Gabriel Wildau

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China has adopted a slew of policies aimed at boosting its long-suffering blue-chip stocks, mired at depressed valuations, but analysts say it will take years to change an investment culture focused on speculation in small caps. Read more of this post

“Day To Night” – 24 Hours Captured In A Single Frame: The Photo Gallery

“Day To Night” – 24 Hours Captured In A Single Frame: The Photo Gallery

Tyler Durden on 12/25/2013 11:17 -0500

“I wanted to take something that everybody had an idea of — ‘I’ve been there, I’ve seen the statue of liberty’ — but I wanted to show it to you in a way that you could never see it”

– Stephen Wilkes

With markets closed around the world (and since 2008 some would say), here is something different. Below is a sampling of some of the most iconic Day to Night photos by Stephen Wilkes, each of which captures the passage of an entire day in a single frame and which, as Wired states, takes an “absurd amount of time and effort to produce” including up to 15 hours to shoot and weeks to edit. “Wilkes says he is “maniacal” in his attention to detail when making these his information-dense, hyper-curated and highly polished accounts of a single day in some of the world’s most iconic locations. Every inch of his photos, some as big as 10 feet wide, are meant to tell a story. He says telling that story is an all-consuming process.” More on this distinctly unique creative processThe amount of work that goes into these photos is insane. After intensively scouting a location and planning the shoot, Wilkes spends as long as 15 hours behind the camera, often on a crane high above the scene. He’ll shoot more than 1,000 frames between sunrise and sunset, trying to capture the shifting light and activity throughout his field of view. Through it all he remains as still as possible for fear the slightest move will shift the camera even a fraction of a degree. He and his assistant pore over the photos for weeks, creating dozens of digital collages that typically comprise 50 images. He uses a complex grid system to arrange the most interesting parts of each shot into a strong composition while staying true to the time of day that they were taken. The attention to detail reveals itself when you’re right next to the massive prints, which when seen up close stretch well beyond natural peripheral vision. The smallest oversight, like a slightly shifted shadow, can shatter the illusion by betraying the fact the epic image is in fact a collage of smaller images shot at different times of day. But when everything comes together perfectly, the viewer can step back or get nose-deep in the image without losing the sense of cohesion. Another important aspect of the work is how Wilkes teases visual narratives out of seemingly chaotic public spaces. A few hundred tourists snapping selfies in front of the Sacre Coeur or an arrest on the Santa Monica Pier become nodes of intrigue in a network connecting individual frames that form the final collage. Wilkes says finding ways to connect the countless moments held within the image and the sweep of time it captures is one of the most exciting parts of the process. “It’s as if I’m a writer and I’ve been given this incredible thesaurus, so I have all these new words to write with,” he says.

And the photos:

America Cup_0 Read more of this post

China’s Xi notes Mao’s ‘mistakes’ on 120th anniversary

China’s Xi notes Mao’s ‘mistakes’ on 120th anniversary

Thursday, December 26, 2013 – 18:58

AFP

SHAOSHAN, China – Communist China’s president Xi Jinping acknowledged Thursday its founding father Mao Zedong made “mistakes”, as admirers celebrated the 120th anniversary of the late leader’s birth with noodles and fireworks. Read more of this post

E.R. Costs for Mentally Ill Soar, and Hospitals Seek Better Way

December 25, 2013

E.R. Costs for Mentally Ill Soar, and Hospitals Seek Better Way

By JULIE CRESWELL

RALEIGH, N.C. — As darkness fell on a Friday evening over downtown Raleigh, N.C., Michael Lyons, a paramedic supervisor for Wake County Emergency Medical Services, slowly approached the tall, lanky man who was swaying back and forth in a gentle rhythm. Read more of this post

Common Knee Surgery Does Very Little for Some, Study Suggests

December 25, 2013

Common Knee Surgery Does Very Little for Some, Study Suggests

By PAM BELLUCK

A popular surgical procedure worked no better than fake operations in helping people with one type of common knee problem, suggesting that thousands of people may be undergoing unnecessary surgery, a new study in The New England Journal of Medicine reports. Read more of this post

Schroeders to Julius Baer Avoid Singapore: Southeast Asia

Schroeders to Julius Baer Avoid Singapore: Southeast Asia

Schroders Plc and Baring Asset Management Ltd. are avoiding Singapore stocks, the cheapest in Southeast Asia, as slower economic growth in the region and cuts to Federal Reserve stimulus drive capital outflows. Read more of this post

Internet cafés losing out in China’s online battle

December 26, 2013 2:29 am

Internet cafés losing out in China’s online battle

By Sarah Mishkin in Taipei

Cyber cafés were once a social hub for China’s twentysomethings – and, for authorities, a convenient way to monitorwhat Chinese citizens were doing online. But as usage of smartphones and tablet devices expands, internet cafés are becoming the collateral damage in the battle to get the country online. Read more of this post

Alibaba Unit Wins License to Compete in China Wireless Market

Alibaba Unit Wins License to Compete in China Wireless Market

China took a step toward opening the world’s largest wireless market by awarding licenses to operate to 11 companies, including a unit of Alibaba Group, the industry regulator said. Read more of this post

Pettis on Debt, Malinvestments, Hidden Losses, and China’s GDP

Pettis on Debt, Malinvestments, Hidden Losses, and China’s GDP

Posted: 25 Dec 2013 11:24 PM PST

Heading into 2014, Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets remains adamant that growth estimates for China are too high and that rebalancing (while necessary), implies lower growth than most expect. Via email …

It is widely acknowledged that perhaps the most important reason to change the Chinese growth model is its excessive reliance on debt to generate growth. Debt has soared in recent years, to the point where many economists simply look at credit growth in the current quarter in order to determine what GDP growth over the next few quarters are likely to be. Read more of this post

Sony to sell its Gracenote audio-recognition software business to Tribune Co for $170 million

Sony to Sell Gracenote Business to Tribune for $170 Million

Sony Corp. (6758) agreed to sell its Gracenote audio-recognition software business to Tribune Co. (TRBAA) for $170 million, part of the consumer-electronics maker’s effort to shed units as it focuses on fewer products. Read more of this post

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed questioned the wisdom behind the government’s decision to increase the prices of goods and services at a time when people were suffering a financial pinch

Dr M questions Malaysian government decisions to increase prices

Thursday, December 26, 2013 – 17:31

The Star/Asia News Network

PETALING JAYA – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed questioned the wisdom behind the government’s decision to increase the prices of goods and services at a time when people were suffering a financial pinch. Read more of this post

Yudhoyono braces for election turmoil

Yudhoyono braces for election turmoil

Thursday, December 26, 2013 – 15:10

Ina Parlina

The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

INDONESIA – The recent meetings between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and presidential hopefuls Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto and Yusril Ihza Mahendra have caused speculation about possible political turbulence ahead of the 2014 elections. Read more of this post

Jakarta warns local leader who blocked runway

Jakarta warns local leader who blocked runway

Thursday, December 26, 2013 – 03:00

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

The Straits Times

JAKARTA – A local leader in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, angry that he could not get an airline ticket to fly home, ordered a blockade at his airport to prevent the plane from landing. Read more of this post

Thailand’s political unrest major risk to investors if unresolved

Thailand’s political unrest major risk to investors if unresolved

Thursday, Dec 26, 2013

The Nation/Asia News Network

The Securities Analysts Association (SAA) says political unrest will be a risk for investing |in the equity market next year, and if the dispute cannot be resolved, the forecast for growth in gross domestic product could be lowered from the currently anticipated 4 per cent. Read more of this post

Struggle for resources at root of Central Africa religious violence

Struggle for resources at root of Central Africa religious violence

6:47am EST

By Bate Felix and Paul-Marin Ngoupana

BANGUI (Reuters) – Mariam watched in horror as militiamen burst through the gate of her home in Central African Republic’s capital Bangui and demanded her husband say whether he was Muslim. When he said yes, they shot him dead. Read more of this post

33 Ways To Be Happier

33 Ways To Be Happier

DINA SPECTOR

Humans have remarkable control over their own happiness. In her book, “The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want,” psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky says a person’s happiness is 50% due to genetics, 10% due to circumstances, and the remaining 40% is “within our power to change.” Happiness is different for each person, which is why we’ve compiled dozens of different methods to help you find your inner sunshine.

Find your “flow.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor at Claremont Graduate University, says that the secret to happiness is finding your “flow” — the creative moment when a person achieves an “effortless state of concentration and enjoyment.” These exceptional moments are unqiue to each person, and generally occur when a person is doing his or her favorite activity — cooking, singing, or playing chess, for example. Writing in Psychology Today, Cikszentmihaly provides the example of someone who experiences “flow” while skiing: Imaging that you are skiing down a slope and your full attention is focused on the movements of your body and your full attention is focused on the movements of your body, the position of the skis, the air whistling past your face, and the snow-shrouded trees running by. There is no room in your awareness for conflicts or contradictions; you know that a distracting thought or emotion might get you buried face down in the snow. The run is so perfect that you want it to last forever. We engage in these activities for our own sake, and “the happiness that follows flow is of our own making,” Cikszentmihaly says.

Focus on what you’re doing right now.

Are you thinking about something other than what you’re currently doing? If the answer is “yes” then you are less happy than people who don’t have a wandering mind, according to research from Harvard University. About 46% of people spend their waking hours thinking about something other than what they’re doing, say Harvard psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert. “The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost,” the study, published in the journal Science, concluded.  Read more of this post

Want to build a brand? Make one great product; “Money runs out faster than opportunities.” Make one thing great. Get one thing right.

Want to build a brand? Make one great product

BY ANDY DUNN 
ON DECEMBER 25, 2013

one

A lot of brands don’t make it, because in the process of trying to get many things right, they don’t get anything right. Why are they in such a hurry? A great brand is a privilege, and it’s a privilege best earned through an item, not through a collection. Designers and merchants and founders think about collections. Consumers think about items. Designers and merchants and founders think about one-stop shops. That kind of thinking may lead you to a no-stop shop. Read more of this post

How Choo Chiau Beng shaped Keppel for the future

How Choo shaped Keppel for the future

Outgoing CEO reflects on his five-year tenure – one of the group’s most profitable periods in its 45-year history

Lisa Lee lisalcc@sph.com.sg

MR CHOO
‘As the boss, when I see that something is not fair, I will voice it, so that people are fairly treated. So I think the key is to win the hearts and minds of the people. If you have that, then you have no problems.’ – PHOTO: ARTHUR LEE

‘As CEO of a multi-business company, one of the important skill sets you need to have is to know how to allocate capital and resources to your different businesses. So we looked at (incoming CEO) Loh Chin Hua . . .  When we wanted to start a property fund, we invited him to do it for us.’
Choo Chiau Beng, CEO, Keppel Corp

Singapore

AS Keppel’s group CEO Choo Chiau Beng hands over the baton to a new team over the next few weeks, it will be after a fairly short five years as head honcho – during which the group has experienced one of its most profitable periods in its 45-year history. Read more of this post