There’s a surveillance camera on every corner and in every store. There’s a smartphone camera in every pocket. Drones are flying over our homes. And now Facebook wants to get more personal.
The social media giant is sending out free Bluetooth beacon devices to all US businesses that ask for one. Starting next week, they can set up these beacons. Through a user’s mobile device, they know when the potential shopper is at or near the store. Though Facebook insists no personal connection will be collected, they can still tell which stores you visit and when you visit them. Businesses can send information about themselves to a user’s Facebook Newsfeed through their smartphone, especially when the shopper is nearby. The shopper’s location isn’t only determined through these Bluetooth beacons, but through GPS, WiFi technology, and cellular networks. Facebook is already partnering with businesses in New York City for trial runs with this Bluetooth beacon tracking. Only Apple devices can carry this system, but Google/Android is working to get in on this. Obviously this system is in a very early stage. So they’re kinks to work out, like pushing this to smaller businesses or taking this international.
You know businesses are going to jump on this. They’re around 1.35 billion users on Facebook globally; over 210 million of those in the US and Canada. Who wouldn’t want a free Bluetooth device from one of the most successful businesses of our generation? I can already see businesses offering free or discounted deals through this move. They’re assuring us no personal information will be compromised. I’ll believe it when I see it. But some say Facebook is getting too addictive and overreaching as it is. Some say it’s getting too big brother and getting too much power. So is the latest Facebook move good business sense? Or is my opening statement the honest truth?
Fortune Magazine released the top 500 companies of 2015. Walmart took this year’s number one spot this year (somebody give me a barf bag!), followed by big oil companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron (make it a bigger barf bag!). Let’s see how technology companies rank.
The top tech giant is Apple, taking the #5 spot. But according to Fortune’s editor Alan Murray, Apple is #1 when it comes to profits and market value. But these rankings are in order of revenue. Apple is the first company ever to have a market cap worth $700 billion. And they have a nice bed of cash on hand. I think their iPhone 6 products had a lot to do with their position. Facebook made a significant leap up in this poll. They jumped a whopping 99 spots, form #341 last year to #242 this year. Profit wise, they’re in the top ten. With the innovations Facebook is coming out with, expect to see them cross the #200, or maybe even the #150 mark next year. If Murray is right, we can expect a lot of tech companies to rise up next year. This will be especially true in mobile technology and cloud computing. Did you know Tim Cook was among the most admired CEO’s among his fellow CEO’s? Other top tech/telecommunication companies that made top of the list inclue AT&T (#12), Verizon (#15), HP (#19), IBM (#24), Amazon.com (#29), Microsoft (#31), Google (#40), Comcast (#43), Intel (52#), Oracle (#81), Direct TV (#95), Time Warner (#104), and many others that go down this list.
And for technology take this many spots tells you how important technology is today. The fact Facebook ?jumps 99 spots show how important social media is. I‘m already curious about next year’s list. How many spots will Facebook climb? And with the Time Warner/Comcast merger, how far up will they be in this poll? With Google and Microsoft gaining so much momentum, where will they rank? Will Apple take the number one spot next year?
Would you eat Amazon foods? I’m not talking about foods produced in Brazil’s Amazon. I mean foods made from the Amazon.com corporation.
Amazon Corporation Inc. wants to do more than sell you food online. They want to do more than deliver groceries from the store to your home. They want to produce organic foods like milk, cereal and baby food. They want to make their own household cleaning products too. In some circles, so called ‘generic’ brands are synonymous with low quality. But with Amazon’s major following and trusted name, they may destroy that stereotype. Amazon seeks trademark protection for the following products under it’s Element brand: coffee, soup, pasta, bottled water, vitamins, dog food, razor products. Amazon actively seeks a partner in food manufacturing. Various sources say Tree House Foods Inc. is a likely candidate, though neither Amazon nor Tree House Foods is talking. From the charts I’ve read, Amazon may be onto something. In the last 10 years, generic baby food sales have more than quadrupled. ?Generic coffee sales have increased over 50% in that same time span. Generic brand surface care products, cereals, and women’s razor sales have gone up in the last decade. We can partially thank the Great Recession of the late 2000s for this trend. But are generic products really getting better in quality?
That’s the question Amazon needs to ask itself before taking such a risk. I would maybe start with Amazon baby food, since their numbers are doing so well. Then see how it goes. In business, we must take risk. But those risk better be researched and educated risk. Personally, Amazon already has so many factions going for them as it. They’ve got grocery delivery services, drone services, and countless other services. Shouldn’t Amazon focuses on improving these things? Would you buy or consume Amazon generic products?
In Santa Cruz, CA, a Google executive dies of a heroin overdose. A model he met online is in jail, facing the trial of her life. Sounds like a novel or movie plot, right? It’s real life.
The Google executive is Forest Hayes. Hayes had a life most men only dream of: a high level job at Google, a 17 year successful marriage with children, respect everywhere he went, and his own yacht. Then he met an aspiring tattoo model named Alix Tichelman through a causal ‘sugar daddy’ website called Seeking Arrangement. This website caters to rich men looking for women seeking casual hookups. ?In November 2013, both boarded Hayes’ yacht, a yacht he decked out with camera equipment. According to local police, Tichelman injected herself with heroin, then allegedly injected Hayes with the heroin. Hays collapses and soon dies of an overdose. Local authorities claim Tichelman drank some wine, failed to call 911, and left the boat while Hayes was dying. A boat captain discovered Hayes’ body the next day. Eight months later, Tichelman was arrested for manslaughter, drug possession, and other crimes, facing 20 years in prison. But last week, the plot thickened again. Alix Tichelman pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, guaranteeing a reduced sentence. You can see this case unfold tonight on the CBS true crime show 48 Hours. Check your local listings for times.
This tragedy has everything the world loves: money, wealth, adultery, sex, drugs, death and celebrity downfall. I call this a tragedy because we need to look beyond the juicy scandal. A wife lost her husband. Five children lost their father. A community lost a pillar. He may have made bad choices, but Mr. Hayes was a human being. They’re lessons we can all learn from this, like be careful of where you look for companionship online, and from whom. Do you think Alix Tichelman’s sentence is too harsh, too light, or just right?
Yes indeed, there’s a fight over the Patriot Act. On June 1, some major aspects of this controversial anti-terrorism law will expire if lawmakers don’t intervene.
So far, intervention isn’t working. Earlier this weekend, the US Senate blocked extended provisions that would have lasted past the deadlines. Now as the deadline approaches with no extensions, and with a Memorial Day vacation, the Patriot Act is in danger of not being renewed. Sixty votes were needed to pass the extensions. Guess when they’re going to re-debate the issue? Not until May 31, the eve of the extension expiration. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and many fellow Republicans desperately want to renew the Patriot Act, and keep it the way it is. They argue that changing government surveillance programs would give an open door to terrorist groups like ISIS. But Democrats and libertarian Republicans like Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) aren’t buying it. They argue these extended laws violate Americans’ privacy. Not only that, they say the extension wouldn’t be effective in catching terrorist groups in the first place. At the heart of the fight is the NSA’s mass collection of phone and email records. Keep in mind these phone and email records collected are from Americans not even suspected of terrorist ties or activities.
Like most Americans, I’m concerned about terrorist groups like ISIS and the death, damage, and destruction can do to this country. I’ve read reports of such groups already nearing our borders. So that’s a major concern. But I‘m just as concerned, and probably more so, at our own government collecting phone calls, emails and social media pictures and posts from ordinary law obeying Americans. What if these psychopathic terrorists decide to strike when the authorities are too focused on the wrong people? The Patriot Act extensions have huge issues right now. Do you really think they can be solved in one day?
I’ve talked about many tech merges. This article will be different. Today, I want to talk about the tech merge that wasn’t.
This spring Microsoft and Salesforce have engaged in intense talks. Microsoft wanted to purchase Salesforce for $55 billion. Both sides failed to reach a deal. The reason? The price was too low. It’s rumored Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff wanted $70 billion. There was also conflict about Benioff getting paid in Microsoft stock, while other shareholders would have gotten paid in cash. But the Salesforce CEO would have had a major management role with Microsoft. It seems like Microsoft was a little reluctant as well. It’s believed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was reluctant about a deal of this magnitude because with such an enormous deal, will come enormous consequence. Salesforce is perhaps the leading software management and cloud company in the world. This would have been a perfect fit for Microsoft, well, according to most experts. Neither Microsoft nor Salesforce are commenting on the issue.
What made this the tech merge that wasn’t? One major factor had to be Benioff’s demand for 70 billion dollars. I believe in knowing the value and worth of your company. But to take it that far and want that much is going a little too far. Fifty-five billion dollars is not chump change, especially when it’s coming from one of the most successful businesses of all time. But if you’re going to ask Salesforce to merge, the least you can do is offer the CEO some cash. I’m not a negotiator, but the deal seemed doomed from the word go. Even Nadella felt that. But I’m not sad about this. If this merge happened, it would have killed a lot of competition and created a borderline monopoly. And remember what we learned in our high school economics class about the dangers of monopolies?
