Gongol.com Archives: September 2013
Brian Gongol


September 3, 2013

Business and Finance More capital spending, less hiring
How can businesses be blamed or criticized for making that choice, when the future costs of hiring more employees remains terribly uncertain (What will health care cost? What about changes to tax rates for entitlement programs?) and when the cost of capital (like computers and robotics) keeps falling? People who are failing to prepare themselves for these trends to continue are going to regret that failure in the not-so-distant future.

Computers and the Internet A comprehensive look at the near future of self-piloted cars
Embrace them as soon as they become available; taking human drivers out of the control spot means vastly more safety, more options for people who can't (or shouldn't) drive today, and greater efficiency (of fuel, road use, and our time). It's going to be a huge win for society when these things become a commercial reality.

Business and Finance "Gen X's moment to shine in leadership may prove all-too-brief"
Squeezed between the Boomers and the Millennials, the much-smaller Generation X cohort may have a harder time keeping a grip on management roles

Computers and the Internet Facebook reports 38,000 user-information requests by governments worldwide in first six months of 2013
More than 20,000 individuals were the subjects of inquiries from government agencies inside the US. The company complied 79% of the time with domestic requests.

Computers and the Internet Anecdotal evidence: College freshmen like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
A lot more than they like Facebook and Tumblr...and don't even ask about LinkedIn

Iowa Iowa Gov. Branstad appoints committee to recommend plan for broadband to the entire state
The state doesn't rank well for broadband Internet access, and there's no doubt that economic development will be difficult in places that don't have it.

Business and Finance Analyst floats the idea that China's manufacturing boom may be ending

Computers and the Internet Mark Zuckerberg floats a plan for broadening Internet access worldwide
The white paper casts the issue in terms of connectivity as a human right. But then there's also that funny little issue for Facebook that it really could use some new users, and they've pretty well saturated the market in Internet-developed countries.

Computers and the Internet Companies using Windows XP as of April 8, 2014 could face serious liability risks

Computers and the Internet University of Iowa student spends a weekend in the spolight for all the wrong reasons
Getting really drunk, then getting arrested, then telling the world about it -- not a recipe for long-term life success

Broadcasting Know your demographics
Univision beat Fox in overall viewers last night, and beat both Fox and ABC for viewers ages 18 to 49.

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