So a few months ago, Amazon announced three cities to put their second Amazon headquarters. Those cities were New York City, Arlington, VA and Nasheville, TN. However, yesterday, Amazon cancelled such plans. Amazon pulls out of New York City.
As you can expect, reaction about the IT support giant’s move came swift. Amazon asked for around $3 billion in government assistance. But this led to outrage among many New York leaders, especially progressives and union leaders. The cries against Amazon got louder and louder. Then, eventually, Amazon listened and backed out of the deal. But not everyone is happy. Governor Quomo and Mayor deBlasio say Amazon’s cancellation move hinders diversity and job growth. There were powerful people on both sides of the issue. But the negative attention this got soon won out. This led to Amazon pulls out of New York City.
We know the fight is not over. Because NY Senate Democrats vow to keep Amazon’s new headquarters out of NYC. But now, deBlasio blames Amazon for this fallout. He now says they could have worked with the community. But now, they blew it. For those keeping score, here’s the update. Back in 2017, Amazon announced a second headquarters. The first is in Seattle. They promised that city over 50,000 jobs and billions of dollars in revenue. However, in late 2018, they said the new offices would have to be split in two.
Actually, it came to 2 1/2. Because they chose NYC, Arlington, VA and Nashville, TN. But now, Amazon pulls out of New York City. Personally, I see where the opponents are coming from. Yes, Amazon promised thousands of jobs. But yet not a single New York contractor was hired yet. So I can how that angers people. I don’t feel sorry for Amazon at all. This is a trillion dollar company that asked the government for $3 billion. That’s like…I have a thousand dollars in my pocket. Then I ask a computer repair colleague? for $3. Doesn’t make sense, does it?
So IT support leaders and Silicon Valley billionaires aren’t the only ones that have their eye on artificial intelligence. Global political leaders do as well. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin said whoever controls AI controls the world. Well, US President Trump takes on artificial intelligence.
So today, they expect President Trump to sign an executive order that promotes AI. This is years in the making. Because many in IT service put pressure on him to do this. Trump calls this the ‘American A.I. Initiative’. One focus is education. This doesn’t just mean in the schools, but especially in the workforce. This includes improving services like cloud computing. It also includes improving data to build A.I. systems. Furthermore, it even includes worldwide partnerships about AI.
These are great starts. However, there are a couple of worries. First of all, they didn’t set up a budget of this AI initiative. It’s not going to be cheap. Also, many complain it’s still pretty vague. Maybe we will learn more about it after this signing. But it is a start. And it needs to start now. Because in 2017, China pledged $150 billion to become the greatest A.I. power in the world. Keep in mind the trade war between the US and China right now. Governments like Canada, United Kingdom, Russia and Singapore are also in a hurry be A.I. greats.
There are other reasons President Trump takes on artificial intelligence. It’s not just the race for jobs, education, and technology. Because AI could determine weapons and warfare and could be a threat to our national security. Our potential enemies know it. But here is one thing I wish this initiative addresses: the moral questions of AI. This is why I’m so weary of AI. It’s a threat to our jobs. It’s also a threat to our privacy (or what little of it still exists). But now, they can also lead to outright war, maybe even outright human annihilation. What do you think of the American A.I. Initiative?
So many of you know of increasing tensions between China and Taiwan. If not, then here is a link to explain it all. But it’s not just Taiwan who is on China’s hate list. China criticizes big tech over Taiwan.
So China is angry at?IT support’s biggest names (Apple, Amazon, etc.) simply for ‘incorrectly’ referring to Taiwan and Hong Kong. The beef comes from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences or CASS. You see, China claims both Taiwan and Hong Kong as their territories. But I guess Amazon and Apple see it differently. There are about 50 other major companies that CASS accuses this ‘incorrect’ labeling of.
What these companies do is list Taiwan and Hong Kong separately, as in their own municipality. They totally leave China out of it this listing. That’s what has the Chinese government so upset. China insists everybody, from businesses to governments, recognize Taiwan and Hong Kong as a part of China. However, most do not. This is certainly true for most in IT service. Neither Apple nor Amazon is talking about CASS’s complaints. But China refuses to back down.
So if China is expecting an apology from Amazon and Apple, then they shouldn’t hold their breath. But why am I even reporting this? Because China is one of the biggest markets for Apple and Amazon. In fact, it has the second biggest economy in the world, second only to the USA. Then add the literal threats of war between and about Taiwan. In addition to that, you have the tariff battles between China and the USA. On top of this, China criticizes big tech over Taiwan. Okay, the fourth one seems just more of an annoyance. But where will this lead? And if big tech keeps ignoring this ‘incorrect labeling’ (which I am so glad they are!), then will China take economic revenge?
So since 2016, Facebook keeps getting in hot water over ‘fake news’. In fact, it’s been one scandal after another. Is this why Facebook releases political ad checks?
Facebook launches ‘election security’. This means they’ll check on political advertisements to see if they came from the campaign, or a ‘fake news’ source. They’ll do this in several nations. So they’ll include Nigeria, Ukraine, and throughout the European Union. They’re doing this because in 2019, critical elections are coming up. They’re also doing this while respecting local and national laws and customs. Because what works for the EU won’t work for Nigeria. They know it. Furthermore, Facebook want to have rules and tools for political ads globally by mid-2019.
But the thing is, Facebook has no targets on who can buy how many political ads. This is on all levels, from local to nationals. That could be a problem. Many in the IT support community say the Kremlin preyed on racial, political and social division to promote fake ads back in 2016. But now, India is having a general election in March. Facebook said they’re putting in ad checks for them. This year, they’re having critical elections around the world, from Israel to the Philippines. We don’t know if their checks will be ready for those.
Facebook releases political ad checks, globally.? Some may say this comes just in time. But others in IT service say this is too little, too late. I say it’s a little of both. No, you can’t turn back time to 2016, when this whole ‘fake news’ outcry started. However, we can learn from mistakes and bad choices. Maybe this is what Facebook is doing. Because political volatility isn’t just in America, it’s around the world. Look at France right now. Look at nations like Ukraine. Now, more than ever, there needs to be some ad checking and balancing. Do you think this is just in time, or too late?
So yes, the super rich do have problems. Just ask Amazon CEO, multi-billionaire, and IT support mogul Jeff Bezos. Yesterday, media announced Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie will divorce after 25 years of marriage. Furthermore, this announcement came from the Bezos’ themselves. The Jeff Bezos divorce: What does this mean for us?
So the two met in the early 1990s, at a New York City hedge fund firm. In 1993, they married and moved to Seattle, where they went on to build the Amazon empire from scratch. Eventually, they had four children. However, they had a period of, “…loving exploration and trial separation…”. This is quoting their tweet. Also, according to some media reports, Bezos is seeing? TV icon Lauren Sanchez (who is also married).
MacKenzie played a big role in building Amazon in the early days. Jeff himself said that over and over. But after they got super rich, her role got smaller. Friends say this was her choice because she wanted privacy for herself and the kids. Keep in mind Bezos is worth $137 billion. In addition to owning all things Amazon, he also owns the Washington Post and Blue Origin, a private aerospace company. The Jeff Bezos divorce: What does this mean for us?
So far, Amazon stocks are being pretty chill with this news. Furthermore, Washington state law requires 30 days of ‘cooling off’ before divorce proceedings. After that, it could mean MacKenzie could get almost $70 billion. It could also means she could get some control of Amazon and Bezos’ other companies. It’s way too early to speculate anything. However, we can look at other divorces in IT support’s billionaire’s row. For example, Google and Oracle was left pretty much unchanged after their co-founders went through a divorce. I just hope Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos can keep the divorce civil, friendly, fair,and? clean. They should keep in mind they have over 566,000 employees to think about, That’s 566,000 jobs, careers, livelihoods and families in America and around the world. Obviously, they have their kids to think about as well. How will this turn out? Should this even be tech news?
So 2018 was a so-so year for Apple. But 2019 seems to be off to a catastrophic start for the once trillion dollar company. I say this because Apple’s stocks plummeted yesterday.
Not only did their stocks tank, but they sent the whole Dow Jones stock market tanking. Their stocks went from $157 to $142 a share yesterday. But the whole Dow Jones lost over 660 points, mostly because of Apple. In one day, Apple investors lost around $75 billion. Apple reported they expect to miss earnings by billions of dollars yesterday. So naturally, investors don’t like that news. But why do they expect this kind of loss?
Because Apple sales in China are collapsing. Economists say there are several reasons for this. They include a weakening Chinese economy, and a nationalist movement going on in China. This movement has a lot of people abandoning Apple and other American companies. Also, they’re buying more local, Chinese products. This includes smartphones. There are more China based smartphone companies as well, so they’re more local businesses their citizens can choose from. New iPhone sales also declined in nations like Brazil, India, Russia, even here in the US. All of these nations are critical for Apple’s success in sales.
As of today, January 4, 2019, Apple stocks are making a comeback. But it’s still early. That could change. Apple’s stocks plummeted yesterday, but these problems go way longer. In fact, Apple stocks dwindled over 35% in just the last 100 days. Other stocks haven’t been doing so well, either. The stock market had their worst December since the Great Depression era. Then you have competition from other markets. Many of our computer repair customers love Apple. However, many other computer repair customers love to hate Apple. There is no middle ground there. Does Apple need to work on their consumer relations, around the world, to get people back in their good graces?
