Author: Colin Henderson

Progress in era of productivity
Geopolitics

Putin, Kim and the $4 Trillion Threat on Cold War’s Last Frontier

Colin Henderson

South Korea is a semiconductor factory built on top of a geopolitical fault line. War is a very low probability. If it does break out, the human and economic cost would be devastating July 28, 2024 Bloomberg Jul 28, 2024 The human toll would be staggering. Semiconductor shortages would snarl supply chains worldwide. And the global economy would slide into recession. The odds of an all-out war between North and South Korea are very low, but they aren’t zero. Vladimir Putin’s embrace of Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last month — the Russian leader’s first visit to North Korea in … Continue reading Putin, Kim and the $4 Trillion Threat on Cold War’s Last Frontier

AI

Apple says its AI models were trained on Google’s custom chips

Colin Henderson

Kif Leswing Apple said on Monday that the artificial intelligence models underpinning Apple Intelligence, its AI system, were pretrained on processors designed by Google, a sign that Big Tech companies are looking for alternatives to Nvidia when it comes to the training of cutting-edge AI. Apple’s choice of Google’s homegrown Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) for training was detailed in a technical paper just published by the company. Separately, Apple released a preview version of Apple Intelligence for some devices on Monday. Nvidia’s pricey graphics processing units (GPUs) dominate the market for high-end AI training chips, and have been in such high demand over the past couple years that they’ve been difficult … Continue reading Apple says its AI models were trained on Google’s custom chips

AI

Apple releases iOS 18.1 developer beta with the first ‘Apple Intelligence’ iPhone features

Colin Henderson

 / New AI features from Apple are available to test on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac in early developer previews. By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.  Jul 29, 2024 at 1:32 PM EDT Some of the Apple Intelligence features previewed during WWDC 2024.Image: Apple Apple has just released the developer betas for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, giving users access to the company’s first set of AI features.  Some of the Apple Intelligence features arriving with the beta include Siri … Continue reading Apple releases iOS 18.1 developer beta with the first ‘Apple Intelligence’ iPhone features

AI

Executives see an opportunity to free their staff from manual and repetitive tasks and make better forecasts and predictions

Colin Henderson

OK Computer Blooomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-07-28/ai-s-promise-is-being-put-into-practice-by-cfos?cmpid=cfo-briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=240728&utm_campaign=cfo-briefing Artificial intelligence has been a driving force of technology and markets, especially since the emergence of ChatGPT more than a year ago. Lately, though, investors have questioned whether AI’s promise will actually pay off anytime soon, causing a pullback of the rally that drove tech shares to records this year.  Ask any CFO about working with AI, and the common refrain is that it’s early days. But most also acknowledge that the fast-growing technology will shape the future. And so many are already testing or using it – in their finance teams, or across the business more broadly. … Continue reading Executives see an opportunity to free their staff from manual and repetitive tasks and make better forecasts and predictions

Economy

So, shorting bonds is OK for the central bank because their prices are too high

Colin Henderson

China’s recent actions contradict President Xi Jinping’s vow to let markets play a decisive role in resource allocation. The People’s Bank of China has adopted “yield curve control” and is borrowing government bonds to drive up long-term yields. However, short selling in the stock market is restricted. These actions risk discouraging investor participation. [27 Jul 2024] Bloomberg Among the steps taken recently by China’s central bank is a new initiative to borrow government bonds from banks—the biggest holders of those securities—and sell them in the market in order to avoid drive up longer-term yields. In other words, shorting—just what hedge … Continue reading So, shorting bonds is OK for the central bank because their prices are too high

AI

UK experienced a £6mn spike in cash withdrawals from ATMs on Friday last week

Colin Henderson

on.ft.com/4fjGKbI The UK experienced a £6mn spike in cash withdrawals from ATMs on Friday last week when the global cyber outage disrupted digital payments, exposing the vulnerabilities of the transition to becoming a cashless society. The inconvenience of being unable to use card or contactless payments may well have caused you to gnash your teeth. However, this problem is experienced daily by millions of UK adults who use cash. Last year there was an unexpected 66 per cent increase in the number of people mainly using cash for everyday spending; the first rise in four years. These figures were revealed by banking … Continue reading UK experienced a £6mn spike in cash withdrawals from ATMs on Friday last week

AGI

AI’s impact on labor productivity will depend on how we use the technology

Colin Henderson

July 16, 2024 Fortune Magazine Hello. Today, I’m writing from Deer Valley, Utah, where Fortune is holding its Brainstorm Tech conference. AI has, unsurprisingly, been a major theme of the event. Here’s a recap of some of the key AI tidbits so far: On Monday, my colleague Emma Hinchliffe interviewed San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly, who said generative AI’s impact on the labor market will depend on what we do with the technology. Daly said we should expect generative AI to contribute to at least average productivity growth, which is currently 1.5% annually. But she also said that … Continue reading AI’s impact on labor productivity will depend on how we use the technology

AGI

OpenAI, Perplexity, Suno and More: The 10 AI Startups to Watch

Colin Henderson

Artificial intelligence is developing at a dizzying pace, with technology that can do everything from churning out pop ballads to writing code. And while it’s still early days—even the best chatbots make things up—the implications for humans are good, bad and inescapable. A boom in innovation has led to more funding, with tens of billions of dollars put into AI companies in just the first half of this year. Here are 10 of the biggest, most important and best-funded startups to watch in 2024, plus six of the industry’s most significant up-and-comers. COMPANY OpenAI CEO Sam Altman PRODUCT Chatbot ChatGPT, … Continue reading OpenAI, Perplexity, Suno and More: The 10 AI Startups to Watch

AI

Open banking is coming, heralding big changes in how Canadians bank

Colin Henderson

My take on Open Banking Citation FP —————————————– The Canadian Press – Ian Bickis – Published – Mar 11, 2024  Framework to give Canadians more control over their financial data and boost competition TORONTO — A long-promised revolution in banking is headed to Canada, but you might not notice when it arrives. Change is in the works that will give Canadian consumers and businesses significantly more control over their financial data, including who they share it with, in what’s known as open banking. The federal government has promised framework legislation in next month’s budget to bring the system to Canada after years of … Continue reading Open banking is coming, heralding big changes in how Canadians bank