August 12, 2020

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

Technology

One impact of creating executive orders on a whim is the unintended consequences. Besides the fact that the EO that restricts WeChat and TikTok doesn’t define what a “transaction” is, the EO will create severe business restrictions for US companies that do business within China, including Apple.

While Apple can just remove the offending apps from its App Store in the US, if Apple removes WeChat from its phones in China, there is effectively no reason for anyone in China to buy an iPhone. WeChat is an all-inclusive, super app that not only facilitates commerce and communication, but also (in theory) makes it easier for the Chinese government to control its citizens (only one app to surveil). WeChat is the equivalent of Facebook, Instagram, Apple Pay and Amazon all in one platform. iPhones will effectively lose their utility in China, and smartphone buyers in China will turn to alternative devices made by Huawei or other local brands.

Also, if you are a US company doing business inside of China, and you can no longer reach your customers through WeChat, you are effectively off the grid. Multinationals will have a difficult time marketing and communicating with their clients within China. Let alone the issue of allowing Chinese citizens to speak to their friends and families abroad. Remember, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other US-based apps are already banned in China so communication technology is severely limited.

Unfollowing the herd: Robinhood, the online investment platform, intentionally gamified the trading of stocks — when you opened the app, you would see the most popular stocks trading on the platform. If you are an individual investor, most likely you enjoy following-the-herd mentality of investing rather than reading SEC filings. If everyone is buying Tesla, why not jump along for the ride? There was even an API and platform called Robintrack that kept track of how many Robinhood users held a particular stock at any point in time.

Unfortunately, Robinhood took notice of the negative consequences of its addictive day trading platform. (One user committed suicide following a massive negative balance.) The platform has decided to stop publicly reporting its users’ holdings. With the increase in day trading due to the pandemic (time on our hands, no sports to gamble on and stimulus checks in the bank), many hedge funds had been eyeing the Robinhood API as a means to monitor stock market moves and create new trading algorithms. As a result of the shutdown, Robintrack will also be out of business. No word on whether Robinhood will be selling its data privately to algorithms in search of data.

Facial ID: Masks have been causing problems for facial ID software, but it seems the biggest bug is that some iPhones don’t recognize their masked owners. In order to unlock your phone, you have to remove your mask, which is causing public safety issues. The NY MTA has even asked Apple to investigate this problem and come up with a fix, so that riders who use Apple Pay can leave their masks on. Maybe Apple should just offer everyone a facial ID mask with their iPhone? or we can all go back to the iPhone 8.

Anti-Government Protests

If you are like us, we’ve been keeping our eyes squarely focused on the protests in the US: Portland, Chicago and Lafayette Square to name a few. However, whether the pandemic has forced more people to the streets, governments are getting more abrasive or social media is forcing more transparency, anti-government protests are cropping up across the globe. Here are just a few of the most notable:

• Belarus: Belarus is often called Europe’s last remaining dictatorship. Becoming independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus has had one ruler since 1994, Lukashenko. This week the country held an election, and the President claimed to have won 80% of the vote. As protests erupted, the government also shut down internet access in the capital. The opposition candidate was forced to flee to Lithuania after security forces cracked down on protesters.

• Lebanon: Following the massive explosion in Beirut last week, the entire Lebanese government resigned. Protesters had been calling for a change to government before the blast as well (since last October), due to accusations of financial mismanagement and corruption. The government was also warned last year about the potential security concerns at the port and the long-neglected chemicals that were stored there.

• Israel: Protests continue in Israel calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Netanyahu faces criminal charges and is under investigation for corruption, and the demonstrators are also calling for changes in how the country deals with the coronavirus. (The protesters have given the Prime Minister a nickname: the Crime Minister.) Over the weekend, an estimated 100,000 protesters arrived in front of the Prime Minister’s residence.

• Russia: Russian’s far east region has also been beset by protesters who are demanding a the release of their governor from a Moscow jail. Furgal, the governor, was elected in 2018, and was quite popular as he was unaffiliated with Moscow. (Furgal is being held on murder charges from 15 years ago, to which is has pleaded not guilty.) The protesters are heavily anti-Putin, and have also included chants against the recent amendment extending Putin’s rule. Protests are new to the city of Khabarovsk, and the “demonstrations are a release valve for anger over economic stagnation, job losses, and a widespread sense that their voices just aren’t being heard.”

• Bolivia: In late 2019, Evo Morales, the first indigenous President of Bolivia, fled to Mexico after accusations of election fraud. Morales was already running for a fourth term (which the people had rejected by referendum), and the vote count was suspended for 24 hours. When Morales was declared the overwhelming winner, the people suspected irregularities. Currently, Bolivia is facing violent protests over the new presidential election which has been moved to October (from September) due to the coronavirus and general feuding between the ruling interim government and opposition parties.

Space

Katie Mack, theoretical astrophysicist, has just published The End of Everything, a book written for non-scientists that discusses how the universe might end. If you are space junkie like us, and loved reading Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, Mack picks up the baton and makes cosmology accessible to all.

On the flip side, Amazon and SpaceX are trying to make space as least accessible as possible, at least to Earth-bound telescopes. Amazon is investing $10B in satellite-based broadband systems that will launch 3,000 more satellites into Earth’s orbit. SpaceX’s Starlink program has already launched hundreds of satellites. The satellites effectively “photobomb” an astronomer’s view of the universe, especially since a lot of astrophotography uses long exposures to capture the distant, night-time light. Next time you look up and see a train of lights or a new “too perfect” constellation, it may be a collection of satellites.

Look up:  The Perseid meteor shower is at its peak this week. Although the moon may add a little wrinkle with its brightness, grab a blanket and look up to the sky, and if the sky is clear, you should be able to see a meteor streaking across the sky every few minutes. (FYI - the Perseid meteor shower is the remains of a comet through which the Earth is now passing.)

Culture

The world’s first fully interactive virtual museum is set to open this weekend. The Virtual Online Museum of Art (VOMA) contains a selection of famous works curated by a London-based art dealer and on loan from some of the most renowned international museums. The digital building will react to your time zone and season, and will have several community features including seeing what works others might have visited. VOMA will also be home to new, digital installations commissioned by the museum.

Feeling Nostalgic: The last Blockbuster video store in the world (located in Bend, Oregon) is now an Airbnb, for $4 a night. The store is celebrating its 20th year in business, so grab your pandemic pod and get ready for some ‘90s movies.

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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