1) Bank analysts’ M&A fantasies often feature other banks (Quartz) - There's a pretty fine line between spinning a fantastic yarn about a competitor's potential business dealings and manipulating a competitors stock price. Sounds like a little bit of fomenting to me.
2) RBS risk fuelling pay row as it considers how to avoid EU bonus cap (The Guardian) - Governments and regulators fight to make everyone equal; banks fight to ensure that we're not. It's just what we do. The banks will find a way to circumvent any regulatory roadblock that pertains to compensation. It's just that simple.
3) Even Wells Fargo Wants to Learn More About Bitcoin (Fox Business) - Et tu, Wells?
4) Bitcoin Breaks Out: You Can Now Pay the IRS in Cryptocurrency (Forbes) - Cool idea, but this is a bit of a stretch. You can't actually send the IRS Bitcoin, but you can conceivably do it through a third-party payment processor.
5) Yahoo's COO Walks Out With $20 Million Stock Bonus (Plus $40 Million For Just 15 Months' Work) (Business Insider) - Now that's the right way to get fired.
6) Thorium-Fueled Automobile Engine Needs Refueling Once a Century (Industry Tap) - This thing is bad ass on so many levels. I just wonder if you need to wear a lead suit while driving it to keep from nuking yourself.
7) Building the iTunes of porn (CNBC) - This is actually an interesting business model. Everyone knows the tube sites are killing the margins in porn, and this might be a viable way to stop the bleeding.
8) LETS BUILD OUR OWN INTERNET, WITH BLACKJACK AND H***ERS. (Project Grey) - The mad geniuses behind The Pirate Bay are set to turn the Internet on its head. If there's one article you read this week, make it this one.
9) Reddit, Mozilla, EFF to hold day of protest, activism in memory of Aaron Swartz (Tech World) - When you guys are old and gray (long after I'm dead), you're going to look back at these days and it will be interesting to contemplate what you see. The Internet has the potential to free our species from government control, but only if the people are willing to do the work to make it happen. The various governments know they're losing control (Arab Spring, anyone?), and we can expect them to crack down with an iron fist because no one cedes power willingly. It is my sincere hope that you guys join this fight.
10) Boba Fett Movie: ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff Confirmed, In Pre-Production (Inquisitr) - Are you ready to get sick of Star Wars? Not only are the next three sequels confirmed (the first installment of which will be bringing back Luke, Leia, and Han), but now Boba Fett gets his own movie. I'm not saying they won't make it cool, but I just have a feeling that Disney is going to run this franchise into the ground.
Video of the Week:
The following video was posted to Reddit and it just cracked me up. Let me give you the back story: this guy's ex-girlfriend was coming from out of town to go see Iron Man 3 with him, but he knew she hadn't seen the first two and he wanted her to know what was going on. So he decided to make this video for her, but she changed her mind and didn't come at the last minute and he didn't want all this work to go to waste. Well, it hasn't, because it's already had over 2 million views. Really clever stuff, even if you're not an Iron Man fan. Enjoy:
That's it for this week, primates! Have a great weekend and let me know what you think about this week's Bananas in the comments!
The only problem with #7 is, as opposed to songs, I won't need the whole video..
LOL
While funny, this is a good point. People use the 'tubes' for the full videos because they can. Before that, the 1 minute clips did just fine.
8 is really interesting, but I don't know that I'd participate.
I'm a pretty light user of the internet (email, a few websites, buying stuff and the occasional youtube). Since I'm not doing anything nefarious, I'm more concerned about my privacy and security than anything else.
I don't use the Pirate Bay or any other torrent system because I don't want to deal with viruses or an increased risk of getting my shit stolen. My biggest concern with the system that's setup is security and (as the article notes) not accidentally hosting something I don't want.
Bonus bananas is my favorite time of the week
Regarding #8, Netflix uses PB stats to decide what programs to book? Hahaha, classic.
Very excited to see how #8 will play out, I've used Tor before and it really shows you how scary the internet is. Regular browsers and search engines just skim the top of the ocean of data.
Re: #8, I think decentralization is the way to go not just for the internet, but for a lot of other businesses as well. It's the one nearly foolproof way around regulation. Governments need a central company / entity / person that they can go shut down. If that entity doesn't exist, well...
I think you're seeing a general trend towards decentralization in other areas with some of the sharing services (AirBnB, Uber, EatWith, etc.) -- though those companies are not fully decentralized so they still run into issues with the government. Even medicine, which is a field that has been crippled by regulation is starting to see some decentralized type options outside the purview of regulatory bodies. Next will come manufacturing with the rise of 3D printers. Could be an interesting world in a few years...
Holy cow. I don't know if it's because I've gotten 10 hours of sleep since Monday night, or if it was actually that funny, but I was laughing like an idiot at the video.
2 vs #8+9 - the incentive system indicates that the gov't will be helped by business in their quest to control the internet the way they do TV and radio. It doesn't look good. Fortunately, the internet has a head start and even NSA programmers admit that private sector tech folks are better than them, so it's not all bad.
Occaecati id repellat quia quasi ad. Non ullam iusto ut eum qui. Optio provident molestias officia dignissimos eius nesciunt. Quasi est corporis eligendi incidunt quibusdam quia ea et. Eligendi nesciunt quia voluptas ut.
Vel qui adipisci quae accusamus esse iure. Nihil est ut tenetur aut aut eos rem. Quam adipisci dolor et dolorum voluptatibus provident fuga atque.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...