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2 episodes with 90b
4 episodes with 90b
3 episodes with 90b
2 episodes with 90b
2 episodes with 90b
2 episodes with 90b
2 episodes with 90b
2 episodes with 90b
2 episodes with 90b
En este episodio cubrimos los desarrollos clave que mueven el mercado: • Mercado en rojo por tensión comercial y Fed: Futuros: $SPX -0.7%, $US100 -1%, $INDU -0.7%. Persisten los temores por la falta de avances comerciales, comentarios arancelarios de Trump, y la expectativa por la decisión de tasas de la Fed este miércoles. $NFLX sigue presionado y $F cae -2.7% tras retirar su guía anual. • IBM impulsa IA híbrida con alianzas estratégicas: $IBM presentó nuevos productos de IA en THINK, apuntando a integración empresarial con aliados como $ORCL, $AMZN, $MSFT y $CRM. Lanza su suite watsonx en Oracle Cloud y reafirma inversión de $150B en EE.UU. para mainframes y computación cuántica. • DoorDash compra Deliveroo: $DASH adquiere a $DROOF por $3.9B, sumando 7M de usuarios en 9 países. Expande presencia en Europa y fortalece estrategia internacional tras la compra de Wolt en 2022. El grupo combinó $90B en pedidos brutos en 2024. • Pony.ai y Uber expanden robotaxis globales: $PONY +12% en premarket tras anunciar alianza con $UBER en Medio Oriente. Uber también amplía colaboración con WeRide $WRD a 15 ciudades. Uber continúa tejiendo una red global con más de 15 alianzas en tecnología autónoma. ¡Dale play y prepárate con lo más relevante antes de la apertura del mercado!
HEADLINES:- Aramco loses $90B as Middle Eastern Markets crash, Asian Markets Open Red on Monday- Jordan risks sharp economic hit as the Middle East's most exposed to US tariffs- Dubai to Build Eight-Lane Bridge Over Dubai Creek to Ease Traffic and Support Growth
Deven Parekh is Managing Director at Insight Partners, a global software investment firm with over $90B in assets under management. Since joining in 2000, he has led investments in companies including Twitter, DocuSign, Alibaba, and JD.com.In this episode of World of DaaS, Deven and Auren discuss:Why gross retention beats net retentionAI adoption vs previous tech cyclesEuropean tech's struggle to match USBoard decks that actually workLooking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Deven Parekh on X at @djparekh.Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Mercados financieros: Las bolsas suben en el pre-market, destacando Bitcoin con un salto de casi 2%. ¿Qué impulsa esta confianza? La Fed y su próxima jugada: La política monetaria sigue siendo el centro de atención con la expectativa de una nueva baja de tasas. Analizamos los posibles impactos en el "aterrizaje suave" de la economía. Apple y el futuro plegable: La tecnológica se adentra en el mundo de las pantallas plegables con un iPad revolucionario para 2028. Batallas corporativas: Qualcomm y Arm enfrentan un juicio crucial que podría redefinir el mercado de chips. La fiebre de la IA y Broadcom: $AVGO impresiona con una proyección de ingresos de $90B en chips de inteligencia artificial para 2027, mientras otros jugadores del sector ajustan sus estrategias. Criptomonedas: Bitcoin supera los $106K, impulsado por un entorno optimista en tasas y apoyo político. MicroStrategy lidera un rally alcista en acciones vinculadas a criptos. Cambios en el Nasdaq-100: Se anuncian nuevas incorporaciones que reflejan la transformación del mercado.
On November 21 and 22, Fidelity Investments Canada hosted FOCUS 2024 in Scottsdale, connecting our portfolio managers and experts with advisors. The Global Asset Allocation team kicked off the event, with a roundtable discussion about what they do, their career paths and how they got to where they are now, also their market outlook, and fund positioning. The GAA trio of portfolio managers David Wolf, David Tulk, and institutional portfolio manager Ilan Kolet, have a professional relationship that extends beyond their tenure at Fidelity; all meeting many years ago working at the Bank of Canada. Today, the GAA team manages over $90B in Canadian assets with the Fidelity Managed Portfolios. Ilan will be moderating the group discussion. At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information. For a fourth year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2024 Environics' Advisor Digital Experience Study.
In this episode of Uncharted, Poya sits down with Dean Hsu, founder and CEO of Arphie (https://www.arphie.ai), an AI-driven platform that accelerates RFP and questionnaire responses. Dean shares his journey from software consulting and investing to scaling startups like Scale AI, where he learned the skills that prepared him for entrepreneurship. He discusses how personal pain points and deep market research inspired him to become a founder, as well as shares his approach to founder-led sales, building customer trust, and differentiating in a crowded AI market. Dean emphasizes the importance of choosing the right co-founder, setting realistic expectations, and staying outcome-focused. Tune in for insights on navigating startup challenges and lessons from Dean's entrepreneurial path. About our Guest: Dean Shu is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arphie (https://www.arphie.ai), a platform that streamlines the process of responding to tedious requests for proposal (RFPs), security questionnaires, and more. Arphie was born out of his prior experience in responding to these RFPs at Scale AI, where he was the General Manager of a software business unit. Prior to Scale AI, Dean invested in B2B software companies at Insight Partners, a $90B fund based in New York, and served as a consultant to tech companies at McKinsey & Company. Dean graduated from Harvard University, where he met his Arphie co-founder Michael Chen. When he's not building Arphie, Dean spends time with his wife and their Samoyed puppy. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncharted1/support
On Wednesday October 23, Fidelity Canada hosted VISION 2024 in Toronto, connecting our portfolio managers and experts with advisors. On today's podcast we're presenting our Global Asset Allocation team's VISION session, with host Kelly Creelman sitting down with portfolio managers David Wolf, David Tulk, and institutional portfolio manager Ilan Kolet. Fidelity's Global Asset Allocation team currently manages $90B of multi-asset class funds for Canadian investors. As we'll hear, there are two main ingredients for their funds: one - to reach across Canada, U.S., and internationally to pick managers of different asset classes, geography, style, sectors. Two – to use a rigorous and research based “Four Pillar Framework” to lean in or out of asset classes. Among other topics today we'll also hear the team's views on the current investing environment, inflation, interest rates and central bank moves, current under and overweights, and thoughts on diversification. Please note, a few slides were displayed to the crowd in the room. Recorded on October 23, 2024. At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information. For a fourth year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2024 Environics' Advisor Digital Experience Study.
Wes is a Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Whitman Peterson. Since the firm's inception in late 2010, Wes and his partners have overseen the firm's investment in more than 200 transactions involving 300+ assets, representing more than $25 billion of total capitalization. They have sourced and structured highly strategic partnerships with some of nation's prominent companies in their target sectors. Prior to the formation of Whitman Peterson, Wes was a Managing Director and Principal at Greystar, the largest multifamily investment, development and management company globally (with $90B+ of assets and more than 900,000+ apartments under management), where his responsibilities included acquisitions of assets and operating companies, asset management, land entitlements, and leading a 200+ member operating team on the West Coast. Wes graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Finance and received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2005.Links:Whitman Peterson - https://www.whitmanpeterson.com/Wes on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-whitman-b57997/Brandon on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/Juniper Square - https://www.junipersquare.com/Topics:(00:00:00) - Intro(00:02:03) - Wes' background and career(00:19:00) - Making the decision to leave Greystar and forming Whitman-Peterson(00:23:15) - What does the organization look like today?(00:24:51) - What is a GP-aligned investment approach?(00:34:39) - GP-capital vs. Op-Co capital(00:37:08) - How do you think about your platform across different sectors and geographies?(00:42:42) - What are you looking for in your partners?(00:47:30) - How do you approach Scaling the organization(00:52:33) - What sectors are you focusing on in this market environment?(00:56:59) - The Sundance asset (00:58:36) - Getting in touch with the team
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today's podcast dives into the continued innovation in the GP stakes space with someone who has advised some of the industry's largest firms on their businesses and going public.We are joined by Todd Owens, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Cantilever Group. Cantilever is an independent firm focused on providing capital solutions to middle market asset managers. Their capital can be used to accelerate growth, support acquisitions or liftouts, fund GP commitments, seed new strategies, facilitate generational ownership transfer, and provide liquidity to founders. They focus on businesses that have enterprise values between $50mm and $500mm. The team has executed on over $500M of GP stake, financing, and seeding transactions as both investors and principals. Their advisory experience working with stakes funds includes over 15 GP stakes transactions, multiple GP stakes portfolio financings, numerous GP and BDC IPOs, and dozens of asset management financing and control transactions.Cantilever is working with two strategic partners as they build their firm: BTG Pactual, the near $30B market cap Brazilian bank and wealth and asset manager has committed 9 figures into Cantilever's fund, and Broadhaven Ventures, the venture capital arm of Broadhaven Capital Partners.Todd has over 30 years of experience as an advisor covering financial institutions and as a senior financial services executive. Prior to founding Cantilever, Todd has been a partner at Broadhaven Capital Partners, an independent financial services focused investment bank that's completed over $90B in announced M&A transaction volume, as well as the former CEO of Fifth Street Finance. Todd began his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co, spending 24 years including as a Managing Director and Partner in the Investment Banking Division. Todd and I had a fascinating discussion about how funds are becoming firms and why there's an investment opportunity around that transformation. We discussed:The evolution of alternative asset managers from Todd's perspective as a banker to many alternative asset managers.Why GP stakes has become a solution for alternative asset managers.Why and how alternative asset managers are businesses and why it can make sense for them to take investment to grow.The benefits of GP stakes for investors and why the growing AUM of private markets means investors could benefit from exposure to GP ownership.The risks and challenges with GP stakes as an investment strategy.Why the middle market is an underserved and attractive segment in alternative asset management.What the currency of consolidation will look like in alternative asset management.What it means to grow and evolve a business as an alternative asset manager.Thanks Todd for coming on the show to share your wisdom and experience on the evolution of asset management from your 30 years in the industry. We hope you enjoy.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency.To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and more fund sponsors and asset managers are turning to Ultimus, a leading service provider that blends high tech and high touch in unique and customized fund administration and middle office solutions for a diverse and growing universe of over 450 clients and 1,800 funds, representing $500 billion assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,000 professionals. Ultimus offers a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever-changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products.Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus' technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at gharris@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Message01:18 Podcast Opening and Theme01:59 Introduction to Todd Owens and Cantilever Group03:10 Todd Owens' Career Background04:39 Early Days of Alternative Asset Management08:28 Challenges and Opportunities in Alternative Asset Management10:00 Cantilever's Focus on the Middle Market11:35 Investment Opportunities in the Middle Market13:50 Identifying and Investing in Promising Managers16:24 Insights from Working with Founders18:42 Sizing Up the Middle Market Opportunity19:49 Sourcing and Structuring Investments21:16 Offering Diverse Financial Solutions23:15 Evaluating and Picking the Right Managers25:54 Identifying Investment Opportunities26:16 Winning Deals: Strategies and Insights26:51 Providing Strategic Capital and Advisory27:58 Focusing on Growth and Diversification29:18 Underwriting and Growth Expectations31:15 Exit Strategies and Market Dynamics33:13 Diversification and Portfolio Construction34:29 Revenue Streams and Valuation35:54 Cantilever's Market Edge37:33 Strategic Partnerships and Support39:01 Founders' Perspective and Industry Insights41:01 Cantilever's Unique Value Proposition42:40 Leadership and Influences43:34 Concerns and Challenges46:05 Reflections and Future Outlook
Jeffrey is Deputy CIO of DoubleLine Capital, which manages over $90B (as of 6/30/24). Jeffrey provides excellent insights into the big economic picture, the fixed income market, and investment outlook.
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.On today's episode, we are joined by Mercer Investments' US Financial Intermediaries Leader Gregg Sommer and CAIS' MD and Head of Investments Neil Blundell.Gregg and Neil bring deep experience and backgrounds in private markets to discuss how alternatives can be further adopted by the wealth channel.Gregg is Mercer's US Financial Intermediaries Leader, serving US wealth management and family office clients. He is a member of Mercer's Wealth Leadership Team, Wealth Management Strategic Research and Investment Committees, and the Investment Policy Committee. He joined Mercer's Investments business in 2009 and is based in Denver. Gregg began his career at U.S. Trust and over the last 35 years has held several executive positions in the investment industry. He has a comprehensive investment, business, and risk management background and has managed many successful investment teams focused on risk assessment, asset allocation, due diligence, portfolio management, organizational evaluation, and financial analysis across both private and public investment strategies. Gregg served as Chief Financial and Operating Officer of a firm that managed real estate and private equity and debt portfolios and has been a Principal and Portfolio Risk Officer for RCM, a Commodity Trading Advisor. Additionally, he was a founding Partner at Global Trading Partners, a trading firm focused on global market relationships.Neil brings over 20 years of experience in private markets to CAIS. He recently worked at Invesco as the Global Head of Client Solutions and Alternatives for the Investment Solutions team. He was responsible for developing and managing over $90B in customized multi-asset investment strategies spanning both traditional and alternative solutions and was a member of the team's executive committee, investment committee, and chair of the alternative investment committee. Prior to Invesco, Neil was at BlackRock for 10+ years, where he was most recently Managing Director and Alternatives Platform Head within the Institutional Client Business.Gregg, Neil, and I had a fascinating discussion about how the wealth channel can approach alternatives and how they can think about both diligence and customization. We covered:The case for alternatives.How advisors currently approach alternatives and how they can think about it differently going forward.How to think about portfolio construction that includes alternatives.How alts can help advisors differentiate their practice and attract clients.Following the fast river in a career and why alternatives are “the fast river.”The meaning of “structure over strategy.”The rise in popularity of evergreen funds.Thanks Gregg and Neil for coming on the show to share your views and experience in private markets. We hope you enjoy.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency. To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and more fund sponsors and asset managers are turning to Ultimus, a leading service provider that blends high tech and high touch in unique and customized fund administration and middle office solutions for a diverse and growing universe of over 450 clients and 1,800 funds, representing $500 billion assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,000 professionals. Ultimus offers a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever-changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products. Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus' technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at gharris@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Introduction to Sponsor, Ultimus Fund Solutions01:17 Podcast Opening and Guest Introduction01:58 Guest Backgrounds and Career Highlights03:43 Discussion on Wealth Channel and Alternatives03:51 The Case for Alternatives07:47 The Evolution of Private Debt08:23 The Moment It Clicked for Alts12:08 Institutional vs. Wealth Channel Approaches13:54 Educating the Wealth Channel15:47 Evergreen Funds and Wealth Channel19:29 Generational Wealth Transfer20:04 Current Market Trends and Private Markets25:29 Importance of Due Diligence in Alternatives26:33 Advisor Allocation Trends26:53 Expected Allocations in the Next Year27:07 Private Equity and Credit Insights27:17 Real Estate and Hedge Funds Outlook27:27 Emerging Infrastructure Strategies27:47 CAIS Platform Overview28:17 Transactional Volume Trends28:36 Registered Funds Growth29:30 Institutional vs. Wealth Channel Behavior30:25 Customization in Private Markets31:22 Technology's Role in Wealth Management35:52 The Importance of Brand in Investments39:26 Strategic Partnerships in Wealth Management39:56 Concerns About Private Markets Growth43:36 Evaluating Manager's Edge45:54 Future of Alternative InvestmentsDisclosureThis content is for institutional investors and for information purposes only. It does not contain investment, financial, legal, tax or any other advice and should not be relied upon for this purpose. The materials are not tailored to your particular personal and/or financial situation. If you require advice based on your specific circumstances, you should contact a professional adviser. Opinions expressed are those of the speakers as of the date of the recording, are subject to change without notice and do not necessarily reflect Mercer's opinions.
After just three years, AWS is making another change at the top of the leadership org-chart. What lessons can we learn from leadership transitions and what might come next?SHOW: 822SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #822SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW NOTES:Andy Jassy makes AWS leadership announcement“There's no AI without the cloud”, says AWS CEO (Decoder podcast)Six things to know about the new AWS CEO, Matt GarminAWS HAS NEW LEADERSHIP. WHY NOW? Adam Selipsky is out, Matt Garmin is in. What does it mean?Why is AWS making the change now?WHAT LESSONS CAN WE LEARN FROM SELIPSKY'S 3 YEARS AS AWS CEOProbably don't take the job immediately after someone is the Nick Saban of techDon't be the complete opposite of the previous boss (wings guy vs. wine guy)[Andy on X] Lead Amazon, married and father of two kids, big sports/music/film fan, experienced buffalo wings eater. Go Kraken![Adam on X] Husband & dad. Water skier/tennis player. Fan of Seahawks & Sounders. CEO at #AWS.[Andy Jassy] I've always had a lot of respect for Adam, and we met several times to discuss the possibility of coming back to lead AWS. In those conversations, we agreed that if he accepted the role, he'd likely do it for a few years, and that one of the things he'd focus on during that time was helping prepare the next generation of leadership.[Andy Jassy] Matt has an unusually strong set of skills and experiences for his new role. He's very customer focused, a terrific product leader, inventive, a clever problem-solver, right a lot, has high standards and a meaningful bias for action. Realize when your job is to lead and inspire vs. producing the weekly reportThe post-ZIRP CEO of AWS2021 - $62B, , 2022 - $80B, 2023 - $90B, 2024 - $100+BLost key peopleBehind on GenAI vs. other clouds“Wartime CEO” vs. “Peacetime CEO”FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @cloudcastpodInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod
Today's blockchain and cryptocurrency news Bitcoin is up slightly at $51,676 Eth is up slightly at $3,045 BNB is down slightly at $384 EU's new AMLA to headquarter in Frankfurt, Germany. crypto/blockchain funding hits $90B. Magic Square acquires TruePNL Avalanche stalls production for 4 hours Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Step into the future with OpenAI's monumental $90B valuation and its collaboration with design maven Jony Ive on a groundbreaking hardware endeavor. Join us as we explore the implications of this partnership and its potential to shape the next era of AI technology. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: AIBox.aiJoin our ChatGPT Community: Facebook GroupFollow me on Twitter: Jaeden's Twitter
ChatGPT: OpenAI, Sam Altman, AI, Joe Rogan, Artificial Intelligence, Practical AI
Discover the latest industry-shaking news as OpenAI reaches a remarkable $90B valuation and unveils a collaboration with design icon Jony Ive for an innovative hardware project. Join us as we examine the implications of this partnership for the future of AI technology and design innovation. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: AIBox.aiJoin our ChatGPT Community: Facebook GroupFollow me on Twitter: Jaeden's Twitter
Join us as we unpack the groundbreaking news of OpenAI's $90B valuation and its collaboration with design luminary Jony Ive on an ambitious hardware project. Explore the potential of this partnership to redefine the landscape of AI technology and design innovation. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: AIBox.aiJoin our ChatGPT Community: Facebook GroupFollow me on Twitter: Jaeden's Twitter
Explore the groundbreaking partnership between OpenAI and design luminary Jony Ive, as the company achieves a monumental $90B valuation. Join us as we delve into the possibilities of their collaboration and its potential to drive innovation in AI hardware. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: AIBox.aiJoin our ChatGPT Community: Facebook GroupFollow me on Twitter: Jaeden's Twitter
Guest Wayne Winegarden, Pacific Research Institute, joins to discuss unspent COVID funds from federal government. What are the plans for near $90B? Biden admin and KJP start off new year with major media push. Priorities of Bidenomics, student loan forgiveness, and minimum wage hikes.
OpenAI shockingly fired the man responsible for its $90B valuation: Sam Altman — But 48 hours later, it's scrambling to rehire him, because AI requires real intelligence.The winner of the big Formula 1 race in Las Vegas wasn't a car, it was a drink — Red Bull's racing team turned a cost center into a profit center.And The Gap's stock just had its best day in its entire history, jumping 30% on Friday — And it's all thanks to Old Navy (and their new Barbie CEO).$MSFT $MNST $GPS $NFLXSubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
WeWork, the company that invented the “hot desk,” has declared bankruptcy — Adam Neumann injured the WeWork, but the real estate market killed it.Shein pioneered ultra-fast fashion and now reportedly wants to IPO at a $90B valuation — To explain Shein's fashion, we're going to quote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.And the Great Resignation is over. Nobody is quitting anymore — Quiet Quitting has become Loud Lingering.$WE Subscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
AI Unraveled: Latest AI News & Trends, Master GPT, Gemini, Generative AI, LLMs, Prompting, GPT Store
Video: https://youtu.be/-3z9aL8voD4Unravel the CIA's new ChatGPT-like technology and OpenAI's valuation leap to $90B. Dive deep into Boomerang, the LLM reshaping GenAI accuracy, and reflect on Google's quarter-century AI journey. Explore the future with open-source AI, tools for perfecting prompt quality, and the magic of VideoDirectorGPT transforming text into multi-scene visuals. Discover how Colossal-AI is redefining ad-free experiences.The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has some exciting news to share. They are in the process of developing a ChatGPT-style AI that will be used within the US intelligence community. This AI aims to revolutionize data analysis and intelligence gathering efforts. It's a big step forward for the intelligence community, which includes 18 different agencies such as the CIA, NSA, FBI, and various military offices. So, what exactly will this AI do? Well, it's a large language model (LLM) chatbot that has been specifically designed to provide summaries of open-source materials and citations. But that's not all - it can also engage in conversations with users, potentially answering questions and providing additional information. The goal is to help analysts efficiently parse through massive amounts of data and have interactive conversations with the AI, expanding their capacity for collecting and processing information. One of the most exciting aspects of this AI is its potential for unlimited data collection. Randy Nixon, the director of the CIA's Open-Source Enterprise, emphasized this point, noting that the technology allows for continuous growth, with the only limitation being budgetary considerations. This means that the intelligence community can gather as much data as they need, without any constraints. Nixon also highlighted the continuous evolution of technology in the intelligence field. From traditional media sources like newspapers and radio, we have now moved into the era of data-driven approaches. He stressed the importance of adapting and effectively harnessing the capabilities of AI to stay ahead in the game. Interestingly, this announcement coincides with China's own aspirations to lead in AI technology globally by the end of the decade. China has already introduced strict regulations for AI services' security assessments, which could potentially impact technological advancements in this field.Full transcript at: https://enoumen.com/2023/09/02/emerging-ai-innovations-top-trends-shaping-the-landscape-in-september-2023/Keywords:CIA AI, ChatGPT, OpenAI Valuation, Boomerang LLM, Google AI Legacy, Open Source AI, Prompt Quality, VideoDirectorGPT, Multi-Scene AI, Colossal-AI, GenAI Accuracy, AI Developments, Text-to-Video AI, Commercial-Free LLMAre you eager to expand your understanding of artificial intelligence? Look no further than the essential book "AI Unraveled: Demystifying Frequently Asked Questions on Artificial Intelligence," available at Apple, Google, or Amazon today: https://amzn.to/3ZrpkCu
Now on his second startup, Santiago Molina's latest venture has raised tens of millions of dollars, to facilitate the movement of $90B in merchandise. His latest venture, FinKargo, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Community Investment Management, ONEVC, Maya Capital, and Pear VC.
Banking was today's main focus M&A activity helped overall risk sentiments. The markets seem to be taking a “no news is good news" approach as there was nothing out of Europe following UBS' recent takeover of Credit Suisse.First Citizens Bank will acquire deposits and loans of failed SVB bank and operate their 17 branches. First citizens will purchase roughly $72B of assets at a discount of $16.5B, leaving ~$90B of securities and other assets with the FDIC.Quiet banking headlines pulled attentions back to interest rates where a gap between the market and Fed Projections continues to widen.
First Citizens Bank ha acordado comprar los depósitos y préstamos de Silicon Valley Bank, aproximadamente $90B en valores y otros activos permanecerán en administración judicial para su disposición por parte de la FDIC. Según un informe de Bloomberg News, las autoridades estadounidenses están considerando ampliar el apoyo gubernamental a los bancos para proporcionarles liquidez adicional. $FCNCA $FRC $WAL $PACW $KEY $MSFT $ATVI $PINS $RKLB
In this episode, Patrick Bet-David and Ed Dowd will discuss: Pfizer Increasing their revenue to $90B after Covid-19 Why more Americans are dying young The demographic of people who took the covid-19 vaccine Covid vaccine mandate in schools FaceTime or Ask Patrick any questions on https://minnect.com/Want to get clear on your next 5 business moves? https://valuetainment.com/academy/Join the channel to get exclusive access to perks: https://bit.ly/3Q9rSQLDownload the podcasts on all your favorite platforms https://bit.ly/3sFAW4NText: PODCAST to 310.340.1132 to get added to the distribution list --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pbdpodcast/support
When he was a senior Pentagon official, Charles (or Chuck) Beames and his fellow military planners would speak forebodingly about “a day without space.” The nightmare scenario would involve a wide-ranging attack, kinetic or otherwise, on space systems, which could produce cascading communications and navigation failures for the armed forces (and wreak havoc on civilian technology systems as well). While that scenario hopefully never comes to pass, space is no longer a sanctuary nor uncontested higher ground. And securing civil, commercial, and military spacecraft is the order of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by Kepler Communications, a company bringing the internet to space. To learn more about Kepler and how they are modernizing space communications, visit https://kepler.space/• Sneak peek •On Pathfinder #0035, Chuck joins Ryan for a conversation on reconnaissance, security, and the growing cyber threat in space. Among other things, Chuck is the executive chairman of SpiderOak, a startup focused on shoring up the digital defenses of satellites, space networks, and the ground segment. The company recently raised a $16.4M Series C to develop, test, and fly OrbitSecure 2.0. SpiderOak employs two novel security approaches—zero-trust encryption and distributed ledger technology (DLT)—to secure space assets, along with the creation, communication, and management of data. OrbitSecure wraps up the company's design philosophy and latest defensive techniques into one offering. The product securely compartmentalizes data for complex, interconnected space infrastructure. That's important, per SpiderOak, because “today, the horizontal integration of ground stations, spacecraft, and payloads means you're trusting third parties with mission-critical data.” Rest of the resume: Chuck is also the executive chairman of York Space Systems, a satellite manufacturer, and cofounder/chairman of the SmallSat alliance. In a past life, Chuck held executive positions in the Pentagon and served as the president of Vulcan Aerospace, where he oversaw $1B of AUM invested in space and tech initiatives and directed the Stratolaunch project. In one of his government posts, Chuck oversaw a $90B annual acquisition budget mostly focused on remote sensing, space-based communications, and orbital launch services. Lastly, Chuck served 23 years on active duty as an Air Force space and intelligence officer, and retired as a colonel. • Chapters •02:30 Chuck joins show 03:18 SpiderOak mission + raise 07:29 Waking up to cyber threat from peer/near-peer adversaries 09:14 Thoughts on the Chinese spy balloon? 12:10 Balance of offensive vs. defensive capabilities on orbit 15:44 Cybersecurity and the gray zone 17:22 Vulnerabilities of space systems 19:37 Should space have its own critical infrastructure designation? 21:12 A day wthout space 27:15 SpiderOak using COTS 32:09 The zero trust security framework 37:10 What's unique about cybersecurity in space (vis-a-vis terrestrial applications) 45:36 Max Q 49:01 Staying focused while dealing with diverse mission needs across military, commercial, and civil space 53:24 Chuck's hobby • Show notes •Chuck's Twitter — https://twitter.com/ChuckBeamesBio — https://spideroak.com/executive-chairman/Recent TV appearance — https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6319232902112#sp=show-clipsOrbitSecure — https://spideroak.com/orbitsecure/Ryan's socials — https://twitter.com/Ryandoofy / https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfduffy/Payload's socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspacePathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_uY3GaNf67hP-i6TRWF2n06xMv1kdkZ6Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes
Today's episode of The Lead With Trust Show is the first in our Bringing Women into Construction series, and to that end Sue chats with Emily Cohen, Executive Vice President of United Contractors. Emily oversees government relations, public policy, political advocacy, and external affairs. Over her tenure, she has helped secure more than $90B in funding for the industry through local and state ballot measures and legislation. She has secured dozens of bills to improve the business environment, increase safety, and expand the market share for CA union signatory contractors. Emily is motivated by the opportunity to directly assist members —large and small —with issues that impact their bottom line.During the episode, Sue and Emily discuss the reasons why the number of women in construction, percentage wise, is abysmal. They discuss the workforce and talent shortage currently being experienced by the industry, and the conversations and solutions that they hope will arise from this series.Emily explains why she believes that the companies which are moving to recruit and retain and develop a diverse workforce based on talent and hard work are the companies that will succeed.They also explore the role of men in the conversations being had throughout the industry, and why their advocacy and allyship is vital to addressing the problem of diversity in the workforce.Join Sue and Emily for this informative discussion into the need to bring more women into the construction industry.If you have any questions or suggestions for Sue, feel free to reach out via email.Enjoy!What You'll Learn in this Show:Why there are currently, half a billion jobs going unfilled in the construction industry.The importance of having a high-trust culture in your business.Why women represent the future of the construction industry.And so much more...Resources:Emily's Email: ecohen@unitedcontractors.orgSudyco websiteLead with Trust NewsletterSue's Email: suedyer@sudyco.com
On today's Manager Meeting, Tim McCusker interviews Jack Sommers. Tim is the CIO at NEPC and a past guest on Capital Allocators. He oversees investment research and strategy for the $1.5 trillion consultant. Jack is the co-founder and Executive Chair at Income Research and Management, a $90B core fixed income investment firm. He was instrumental in developing IR+M's disciplined bottom-up investment approach and served as a Portfolio Manager for 20 years. Their conversation covers the early days of IR+M, when Jack and his father faced the challenges of establishing an investment management business, growth of the business over time, evolving landscape for active fixed income investing, and importance of culture. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership
"ETF flows are as follows - +$90B in treasuries, +$56B in active ETFs, and -$550B in mutual funds. United Kingdom ETF volume is up significantly this week and the U.S. Dollar Bullish ETF (UUP) is up 18% year-to-date. International currency hedged ETFs have not seen positives, despite outperformance," says Ben Slavin. Slavin provides his overall take on ETF investing in a bear market.
In this episode we discuss: Forgiven student loans are not taxable on a federal level, but your state/locality may be different. The IRS has announced that they will give relief for the failure to file penalty for 2019 and 2020 returns. The IRS is enhancing focus on compliance for Subchapter – S and Partnerships. Expect enhanced questioning regarding virtual currency on 2022 Individual Tax Returns. Erroneous IRS Notices Did you know that the FBI estimates 10% ($80B) of all PPP funds were taken by fraudsters. Additionally, $90B up to $400B of COVID unemployment programs are thought to have been defrauded, half of which is thought to have been stolen by international hackers. We hear the story of the worst of the worst. Richard Ayvazyan and his wife Marietta Terabelian, along with several members of their families stole over $20M in PPP loans and Economic Disaster Loan funds. Hear how this California couple defrauded America and then fled.
In today's episode of The Lead With Trust Show, Sue chats with Emily Cohen, executive vice president of the United Contractors Association, where she oversees government relations, public policy, political advocacy, and external affairs. Over her tenure with UCON, Emily has helped secure more than $90B in funding for the industry through local and state ballot measures and legislation. She has secured dozens of bills to improve the business environment, increase safety, and expand the market share for CA union signatory contractors. You'll learn a little about Emily's background and the high-trust culture she's helped build at UCON. You'll discover how she has used this culture to create some really remarkable legislation for the construction industry You'll also learn how she's been able to secure more than $90B in funding for the industry. Join Sue and Emily for this fascinating and eye-opening discussion. Enjoy! What You'll Learn in this Show: A little about Emily's background and the high-trust culture she's helped build at UCON. How she has used this culture to create some really remarkable legislation for the construction industry How she's been able to secure more than $90B in funding for the industry. And so much more... Resources: https://unitedcontractors.org (United Contractors Association website) https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-99749714/ (Emily's LinkedIn)
In this episode, Stefan Tsvetkov shares examples of how you can use publicly available data sources to analyze the past impact of economic trends on real estate and make predictions about what might happen to the real estate market going forward. Learn more about interesting data analysis Stefan has done during past historical events and how it can help you think differently about what is going on in the economy today. Stefan is the Founder of Realty Quant, a company that brings data-driven and quantitive technologies to the real estate industry. He also holds a master's degree in financial engineering and during his finance career managed a derivative portfolio of over $90B. Connect with Stefan on LinkedIn and check out his resources on his website https://www.realtyquant.com/ Elisa Zhang is the owner and principal of over $450M in multifamily apartment buildings. She is also a mother of two kids, an artist, an educator, and the breadwinner of her family. She provides in-depth advice and education on financial independence, real estate investing, generating passive income, mindset hacks, and productivity hacks through EZ FI (Financial Independence) University. She is on a mission to help others have the financial freedom to retire early from their jobs and make money while they sleep by investing in real estate. Other ways to stay in touch: Facebook: https://fbook.cc/3sPG LinkedIn: https://ggle.io/4vpg Instagram: https://fbook.cc/3sPI or @elisazhang_fi Apple Podcast: https://bityl.co/4Rpd Spotify: https://bityl.co/4Rpb
Ahead of United Parcel Service (UPS) reporting 1Q earnings on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 before markets open, Kim Forrest and Scott A. Schneeberger join Nicole to break down analyst expectations for the company's quarterly performance. Consensus calls for UPS to report EPS of $2.87 on $23.90B in total revenue, which would indicate a roughly 11.5% rise in sales year-over-year.
Nike's (NKE) earnings were released Monday, March 21st. Joe Mazzola discusses these earnings as NKE 3Q revenue came in at $10.90B versus an estimated $10.60B. He also compares NKE to other footwear stocks such as Under Armour (UAA), Skechers (SKX), and Adidas (ADDYY). He then talks about how Alibaba (BABA) boots its buyback program to $25B and goes over Carnival's (CCL) earnings highlights. Tune in to find out more.
news, local sports, local weather, and local events you can handle. SPONSORS: Many thanks to our sponsors... Solar Energy Services because solar should be in your future! The Kristi Neidhardt Team. If you are looking to buy or sell your home, give Kristi a call at 888-860-7369! And Rehab 2 Perform Today... Three Baltimore firefighters were killed in a fire yesterday and another is in critical condition. The Feds are investigating PPP and CARES fraud estimated to be $90B. Annapolis is celebrating Black History Month with a speaker series called "The State of Black Annapolis." We have tickets to give away at the Rams Head On Stage, and some exciting local business spotlight podcasts! Scott MacMullan with Scott MacMullan Law is here with some legal tips in his periodic segment-- Legal Briefs! George from DCMDVA Weather should be here with your local weather forecast, but isn't because I am having technology woes! Please download their APP so you can keep on top of the local weather scene! The Eye On Annapolis Daily News Brief is produced every Monday through Friday at 6:00 am and available wherever you get your podcasts and also on our social media platforms--All Annapolis and Eye On Annapolis (FB) and @eyeonannapolis (TW) NOTE: For hearing impaired subscribers, a full transcript is available on Eye On Annapolis
Topics: 1) The "Taper" is reduced to $60B of Bond purchases in January from $90B this month then winding down the program by the end of March *Dr. Michael Busler provides analysis along with the Pitfalls and Opportunities of the policy shift. The ECB increases Bond Purchases? 2) The stock market roars ahead after the announcement - Easy money ending and clarity of the rate hikes or is there something else at work here *Easy money is the drug the stock market craves 3) Wholesale PPI up 9.8% while the 10 Year note hovers near 1.50% - What does the bond market see ahead and will Inflation come down? 4) The $1.75T Build Back Better Bill is temporarily stalled on the Senate - Action not likely until 2022 5) Weekly Jobless claims total 206K, the 4 week average is the lowest since 1969 - 1.84M Continuous Claims which is the lowest since the beginning of the Pandemic 6) We have 11 M job openings and we are still 3M jobs below the pre-pandemic levels - Are Retirements to account for this shift? 7) Half of Voters believe Biden Policies are making Inflation worse - Inflation is at a 30 year high *"Transitory' may have been the worst Fed prediction EVER 8) How will raising interest rates coupled with a Labor Shortage and supply chain disruptions tame inflation? 9) Projections for 2022!
For our special three-year anniversary episode, we put a twist to our regular format and Matt was joined by Karl Heckenberg, CEO and President of Emigrant Partners for a compelling conversation on the RIA industry. Known for their strategic partnership with RIAs, Emigrant Partners is currently invested in 19 firms and has close to $90B in cumulative assets. Matt and Karl talk about industry trends including the investment outlook for RIAs, the role of the COO moving forward, RIAs now being run as true business, and much more, including: The history behind Emigrant Partners After a bit of teasing by Matt, Karl shares an in-depth version of his professional background Karl shares the signs he looks for to determine if an RIA needs operations help What role the COO plays in an RIA’s M&A pitch to other firms The “gating issue” Karl sees when it comes to onboarding clients of different generations and how operations can enhance that client experience We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! Click here to read our article “Why Professional Management Fails for RIAs”. You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.
For our special three-year anniversary episode, we put a twist to our regular format and Matt was joined by Karl Heckenberg, CEO and President of Emigrant Partners for a compelling conversation on the RIA industry. Known for their strategic partnership with RIAs, Emigrant Partners is currently invested in 19 firms and has close to $90B in cumulative assets. Matt and Karl talk about industry trends including the investment outlook for RIAs, the role of the COO moving forward, RIAs now being run as true business, and much more, including: The history behind Emigrant Partners After a bit of teasing by Matt, Karl shares an in-depth version of his professional background Karl shares the signs he looks for to determine if an RIA needs operations help What role the COO plays in an RIA’s M&A pitch to other firms The “gating issue” Karl sees when it comes to onboarding clients of different generations and how operations can enhance that client experience We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! Click here to read our article “Why Professional Management Fails for RIAs”. You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.
Home Depot (HD) is today's 360 round stock. Ken Leon, Global Director of Industry and Equity Research at CFRA, and Seth Basham, Managing Director of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, discuss the outlook for home improvement and the housing market. They talk about HD's earnings highlights, as its earnings report was released today, November 16th. HD's 3Q revenue came in at $36.82B versus an estimated $34.90B. Tune in to find out more.
Episode 92Chris Bell is Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Perch, a technology-enabled consumer products company that acquires and operates Amazon FBA businesses with winning products in their respective categories. Chris had designed and built the Wayfair Delivery Network, which has delivered over 3 million heavy bulky orders annually, before starting Perch. At Bain & Company, Chris worked with Fortune 500 companies on growth strategy and leading private equity firms on M&A, working on over 40 transactions, representing $90B+ in value, including the largest tech merger in history. Prior to business school, Chris was a leading sales rep of office hardware and software and he started his career at GE Healthcare. Chris has a BS in Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon.Listen to Chris and learn the secrets of an expert FBA aggregator![00:01 - 05:40] Opening SegmentLet's get to know Chris BellChris shares his thoughts why people buy from Amazon[05:41 - 14:31] Starting His Entrepreneurial JourneyChris shares the humble beginnings of PerchHow he overcame his fears and start his entrepreneurial journeyHe walks us through the process of quitting his job[14:32 - 25:03] Bringing Your Business To New HeightsDo you work hard at everything you do?Here's a piece of advice from ChrisIf you want to sell your business, try PerchChris tells us whyWant some Amazon refunds? Check out GetidaPromo code: FTM400Chris shares their approach in buying businesses[25:04 - 37:49] Why Contact Perch NowSell your business to Perch with this one easy step!When to contact brokers and when to call Perch directlyChris talks about this acquisition and the lessons you can learn from itPrepare for an exit with this great tip from Chris[37:50 - 42:01] Closing Segment Know more about Chris in the Fire Round!Connect with Chris. Links belowFinal words Tweetable Quotes:“If you are a hard worker and you have some tenacity, take risks.” - Chris Bell“You gotta understand that the goal of whatever business you're in is almost always to delight the customer.” - Chris BellResources mentionedAmazonWayfair Delivery NetworkFiring the Man episode 91: How to Scale from $0 to $80 million on Amazon with Adam Feinberg from Web Deals DirectAdam FeinbergBook: How to win Friends & Influence PeopleEmail cbell@tepper.cmu.edu to connect with Chris or follow him on LinkedIn. Bring your business to new heights by getting in touch with Perch!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Send us a voice message and let us know how we can help you fire the man! FacebookYouTubeInstagramEmail us --> support@firingtheman.comLEAVE US A REVIEW!
Google (Steady Compounding) Revenue grew 62% to $62B for Q2 2021 Operating income grew 203% to $19B, a margin of 31%. What's more amazing is the numbers Youtube is throwing off. Youtube with a monster quarter growth of 84% Y/Y to hit a run-rate of $7B. It now accounts for 11% of Google's revenue! And we're still in the early innings. Share of US TV Time in June 2021. Streaming is still only 27%: 8% Netflix 6% YouTube 3% Hulu 2% Prime Video 2% Disney+ 8% Other small platforms Alphabet reported $61.9 billion in total revenue versus $56.1 billion expected by analysts. Google's ad services brought in $57.1 billion, while Cloud revenue grew to $4.6 billion. Apple Apple Q2 2021 earnings are out: iPhone revenue up 65% Mac revenue up 70% iPad revenue up 78% wearable revenue up 24% services revenue up 26% $89.6 billion in revenue overall, up 54%. massive numbers here during a pandemic Amazon Here's how the company did: Earnings: $15.12 vs $12.30 per share, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv Revenue: $113.08 billion vs $115.2 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv Amazon's headcount continues to swell. At the end of the third quarter, Amazon employed 1.33 million people worldwide, up 52% year over year Bezos' last quarter as CEO. Facebook: Q2 GAAP EPS of $3.61 beats by $0.61. Revenue of $29.07B (+55.5% Y/Y) beats by $1.18B. DAU of 1.91B vs. 1.91B consensus; MAU of 2.9B vs. 2.90B. Operating margin of 43% vs. a consensus of 37.6%. Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $64.08 billion as of June 30, 2021. TTM: Revenue: 104B Operating margin: 42.5% Net Profit: 39B Resources: https://steadycompounding.substack.com/p/3-bullet-sunday-is-it-safe-to-invest https://stockrow.com/ https://seekingalpha.com/ https://www.hardwaretimes.com/apple-airpods-revenue-more-than-nvidias-total-revenue-and-2x-more-than-amds-revenue/ Subscribe to Cold Brew Money | About Cold Brew Money | Cold Brew Money All Episodes | Cold Brew Money Rabbit Hole Buy Cold Brew Money A Coffee Hosts: Atit & Tapan [podcast_subscribe id="111"] Contact us: Twitter | Instagram | Email Please note: Information is only for educational and entertainment purposes and should not be relied upon as investment advice. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cold-brew-money/message
Welcome to the 5x5 Crypto podcast. Each week, we cover the “so what’ of 5 key crypto stories in about 5 minutes. My name is Afo and I’m interested in crypto. I think you’ll enjoy this week’s episode. Like and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Substack. Let’s go!Happy Easter y’all! Q1 2021 is over and we are in a new month. I hope you have been keeping up with your new year resolutions. If you have fallen off the horse, now is a great time to get back on. Last week, I shared that I will be tinkering with the format over the next couple episodes. I appreciate the feedback. Please keep it coming. Let me know why you subscribe and what you are looking to see. Thanks! This episode includes 5 news stories and a link to help you explore bitcoin mining. NewsVisa to support digital currency paymentsVisa became the first payment network to settle transactions on USDC. USDC is a digital currency that is pegged to the value of the dollar. Unlike Bitcoin, the price of USDC is stable (1 USDC = $1), hence the name stablecoin.What does this mean? Why should I care? Why is this important?Have you ever wondered why some gas stations offer a discount if you pay with cash instead of card? Well, it is because when you swipe your debit card, it takes several days and dollars before the funds reach the gas station’s bank account.With USDC, the funds will be transferred near real-time and cost a fraction of a cent. It’s plausible that some merchants could eventually offer discounts to customers who pay with USDC. This is a win-win for the customer and merchant.USDC will achieve near real-time payments by batching transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. Figure 1. Illustrates fees associated with a credit card paymentEther soars to an all-time high (ATH)This week’s announcement that Visa would utilize Ethereum to settle USDC transactions fueled an 18% rally in the price of ether to ~$2100Ether has almost tripled this year as deposits in DeFi doubled to $38B in Q1 and new Bitcoin investors explored Ethereum and the suite of applications built on top of it Coinbase to finally go public on April 14Lots of retail and institutional investors are prepping funds to go shopping on April 14. The US largest crypto exchange will directly list 115 million shares. They are expected to price around $350 each which was the average weighted price in the private market in Q1. Up to $40B could be raised putting Coinbase valuation up to $100B. This would make the highly anticipated debut one of the largest tech IPOs. Coinbase would be larger than some banking heavyweights like UBS, Barclays and BNP Paribas. Coinbase will release its Q1 2021 earnings report before the going public. It’s most recent disclosures indicate it had $90B assets under management, over 43 million customers in more than 100 countries. Figure 2. List of largest tech IPOs (CNBC)Goldman Sachs goes crypto but don’t hold your breath for the others Goldman Sachs wealth management to allow high net worth clients invest in bitcoin. This follows Morgan Stanley’s lead two weeks ago. It’s unlikely that Wells Fargo would follow suit shortly. The bank has been under significant regulatory scrutiny in recent years. Many retail banks won’t move on crypto until they have to. They are focused on upgrading their dated technology, being compliant with regulators, and keeping up with FinTechs and Neobanks. Some traditional retail banks have not yet put in the work to fully appreciate the promise and challenge of crypto and decentralized finance. They view it as a fad or an experiment waiting to crashFormer Chainalyis exec becomes FinCEN bossThe rise of digital currencies is expected to attract more regulation. There are concerns that some legislators and regulators may not be sufficiently well-versed in these technologies to adequately police and/or support them. Some of these fears were abated with the recent appointment of Michael Mosier as the head of FinCEN (the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network). Michael was previously the Chief Technical Counsel of Chainalysis, the leading crypto surveillance firm. ExploreBitcoin mining for dummies: Yesterday I dived into Compass, a company which makes it easy for anyone to become a bitcoin miner. I profiled Meltem Demiror’s experience, she used to be a treasury analyst with ExxonMobil but now she is the Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares. Check it out if you are curious about what bitcoin mining is and the potential returns you could earn. Click here.I hope you have a great day. Let me know what you think and what you’d like to see. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afolabio.substack.com
In this week's episode of Reformed Millennials, we're talking about the consequences to misunderstanding the players inside of the game you are playing, the winners and losers in the Game Stop saga and Facebook’s fire flame earnings.Listen on Apple, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you aren’t in the Reformed Millennials Facebook Group join us for daily updates, discussions, and deep dives into the investable trends Millennials should be paying attention to.👉 For specific investment questions or advice contact Joel @ Gold Investment Management.📈📊Market UPDATE💵📉Every major index finished higher on Tuesday.The Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average both advanced over 1.5%. Every sector also settled in positive territory. Financials flew 2.42% as they break out to all time highs - as mentioned on the podcast. Consumer discretionary and industrials both gained 2.12%. The cryptos crept higher. Ethereum broke above 1500 for the first time ever while Bitcoin bounced 6%. Emerging markets gapped up and gained 1.3%. iShares India 50 ETF $INDY closed at a new all-time high. Shut up RM - let’s talk about how GME longs are losing their shirts.📈Hold The Line and Hold My Bag📉I'm sorry to inform those that are holding the equity or out of the money calls in AMC and GME - but you didn't take on Wallstreet and win.You just bailed them out. Silver Lake (SL) thanks you for taking their 710mm in AMC stock off their hands. SL never thought they would get the price WSB paid for the investment they made back in April. They were down 200mm on the position, now they're up well over 100mm.Citadel would like to thank you for the mint they made arbitraging the complete disregard for bid and ask spreads, ignoring duration and implied volatility all in the name of "owning the suits" for Dave Portnose.Diamond Hands? Todd Marchant?Silver Lake - https://www.reuters.com/.../us-amc-ent-holdg-silver-lake...Citadel - https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/the-citadel-link-what-ken...📬FACEBOOK With Record Quarter📊Everyone knows I love $FB. Heres some notes on their 4Q’20 earningsDaily Active users were up +11% YoY; Monthly Active Users up +12%; Family DAP +15%Revenue +33% YoY; Ad revenue +31% Europe +35%, North America +31%, APAC +29%, RoW +25%Number of impressions +25%, avg price/ad +5% (first-time in a long time)Other revenue reached $886 mn, up 156% driven by Quest 2Operating margin +46% (+400 bps)Free Cash Flow (FCF) $9.4 Bn, up ~90% YoY (what?!) FCF margin +33.6%, up by ~1,000 bps (what?!)Four themes in 2021: Communities Private MessagingCommerce Tools for SMBs and Building the next computing platformCOMMUNITIES:600 mn people are part of at least one FB group. There were 1million groups removed last year alone because of policy violation. PRIVATE MESSAGING: Zuck is bringing the heat against Timmy $AAPL. This level of candor is usually not reserved for earnings calls, but I think he’s a little more than annoyed with the latest tantrum related to WhatsApp. Zuck identified $AAPL as major competitor in 3 of the 4 core themes. I wonder whether he is also trying to teach the regulator the lens thorough which they should view competitive dynamics. COMMERCE: “when you hear people argue that we shouldn't be doing these things or that we should go back to the old days of untargeted television ads, I think that what they're really arguing for is a regression where only the largest companies have this capacity." (Image 5)Zuck is excited with VR. He wants it to succeed so that $FB can control its own destiny:“This is going to unlock the types of social experiences that I have dreamed about building since I was a kid. And it's what we're building towards at Facebook Reality Labs.”😈BIG TECH Earnings Round-Up🙀Amazon had itself a quarter as the company crushed Wall Street’s estimates, topping $100B in revenue for the first time ever. 💸Here are the numbers:EPS: $14.09 vs $7.23 estRevenue: $125.56B, +38% YoYThe most interesting part of the call wasn’t earnings, though— it was announced that CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos will step down and transition to executive chair. 🤭 He will be replaced by AWS CEO Andy Jassy. Initiate the buy back? Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime’s insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more. If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.$AMZN was up 1% after hours.Alphabet, Google’s parent company, posted record quarterly numbers, but its cloud business struggled.Check out the info:EPS: $22.30 vs $15.90 est.Revenue: $56.90B, +23% YoY$GOOG was trading above $2000 after hours. Alibaba reported earnings early this morning. The company’s cloud division was profitable for the first time in Q3. ☁️Here are the stats: EPS: $3.38 vs $3.22 est.Revenue: $33.88B, +46% YoYAlibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said: Our cloud computing business continues to expand market leadership and show strong growth, reflecting the massive potential of China’s nascent cloud computing market as well as our years of investment in technology.$BABA dropped 3.8%.🤖 Roblox S-1👾After a two month delay, social gaming platform Roblox is headed to the public markets. It looks like time well-spent with the company using the interlude to raising $520 million in private capital. That new funding valued the business at $29.5 billion, a far cry from the $8 billion to 10 billion at which Roblox was expected to price its offering.That enthusiasm may be well-founded. Roblox grew revenue 58% year-over-year, logging $588.7 million in their original filing. Bookings expanded a staggering 171% over the same period. Perhaps more important are the company's bright prospects in China and the unique cultural apparatus that powers the platform.🌊Best Links of The Week☔Ford and Google, 2023’s Power Couple - Ford and Google just announced a partnership in 2023 to bring Google’s AI, machine learning, and data expertise to Ford and Lincoln vehicles. 🤭 🤯How to understand options and derivatives - an info graphic hereCannabis! We’ve written often that fast money bought US cannabis into the election but smart money was and remains focused on the killer fundamentals. That’s where we land, not that we’re smart: we’re here for expanding TAM + eastern seaboard adoption; the fed arbs of SAFE / Cap markets / 280E are gravy.Today Uber announced its acquisition of Drizly, the alcohol delivery service, in a deal worth over $1.1B. Cheers to that. 🍻It’s official, CFB fans. The NCAA franchise is baaaaaack! 🎉 EA Sports announced today that the first edition since NCAA 2014 would be released at a later date, but no specifics were given.All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. For our full disclosures and disclaimer, visit our website: https://gold-im.com/disclaimer/ Get on the email list at www.reformedmillennials.com
With bitcoin bouncing and ether hitting a new all-time high, CoinDesk’s Market’s Daily is back with the latest news roundup.Add Markets Daily to your Alexa Flash Briefing here.This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io.Today's stories:First Mover: Bitcoin Flushes 'Weak Hands' as Ethereum Hits New All-Time High Last week's rout in bitcoin market looks like "weak hands" selling out because bidders appeared to materialize whenever prices fell to $30K.U.S. President Biden is unlikely to raise taxes anywhere close to covering his spending proposals, (NYT)China overtook the U.S. as world's leading destination for foreign direct investment, from the (WSJ)Investor demand for the lowest-rated junk bonds pushed yields to record lows; That’s below where 10-year U.S. Treasury-bond yields traded for most of the 1970s, '80s and '90s (WSJ)A third of staff may work from home permanently post-virus, says (Bloomberg)A key executive at Huobi crypto exchange is said to have been taken into custody by Chinese police investigating the over-the-counter trading service (CoinDesk) Valkyrie digital assets filed an application with the SEC for a bitcoin ETF, joining VanEck in the struggle to win U.S. regulatory approval, (CoinDesk)Wladimir (Vladimir) van der Laan, lead maintainer of Bitcoin Core, the key software underpinning the Bitcoin network, is seeking to move further into the "background" for the sake of decentralizing the project. This move comes following criticism of his decision to pull the Bitcoin white paper from bitcoincore.org after the project received a takedown notice from the controversial leader of BitcoinSV (CoinDesk) Crypto exchange Coinbase now has more than $90B of assets on their platform and more than 43M registered users, (CoinDesk)New Innovation Hub from Bank of International Settlements (the central bank for central banks) is planning a platform for testing central bank digital currencies (CoinDesk)Early exchange Coinbase plans to offer a secondary market for private shares ahead of public stock listing, as pre-IPO contracts change hands at valuations of more than $70B, that one’s from (The Block)CNBC stock-picking personality Jim Cramer suggested to the winner of the $731M Powerball jackpot that they should put 5% of their newfound fortune in bitcoin, from CoinDesk’s Danny Nelson (CoinDesk)Microstrategy's recent sale of $650M of convertible bonds offer QUOTE "very little downside and an almost-free call option on bitcoin," writes investing legend Bill Miller of Miller Value Partners (Miller Value Partners) In an opinion piece, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst argues that the SEC is long "past due" in approving a bitcoin ETF (Bloomberg Opinion) Crypto Twitter trader and analyst @CryptoCapo_ says the drop in open interest in coin-margined bitcoin-derivatives contracts signals market bottom is in, that’s from the (Daily Hodl) Earn up to 12% APY on Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD, EUR, GBP, Stablecoins & more. Get started at nexo.io.
The Future of Mobility and Manufacturing with Game Changers, Presented by SAP
The buzz: “The potential value unlocked by AI in helping design out waste in a circular economy for food is up to $127 billion a year in 2030…for consumer electronics is up to $90B a year in 2030.” mckinsey.com As industrial manufacturers begin or continue to embrace innovative technologies, important challenges emerge. What role does a commitment to sustainability play in their business decisions, especially in the current business climate? If they decide to contribute to the circular economy, how can they do it meaningfully? And how do they ensure they are using Artificial Intelligence applications ethically? Our panel will discuss these questions from multiple perspectives to discover the business case for embracing and embedding sustainable and ethical practices into the manufacturing process. We'll ask Lian Jye Su at ABI Research, and Georg Kube and Elvira Wallis at SAP for their take on Manufacturing of the Future: The Central Role of Sustainability, AI and Ethics.
This week on the Money Movement we'll be talking about USDC at 1 Billion. USDC has become the fastest growing stablecoin in history, seeing over 200% growth over the past six months alone, and has become a de facto standard as a trusted, compliant digital dollar format and protocol on blockchains. At time of writing, USDC sat at ~1,380,000,000 in circulation, and has supported ~$90B in on-chain transactions. To reflect on all of this, and also to share some really exciting news about the next chapters for USDC, we're going to be joined by two of the top product executives from Circle and Coinbase who have been responsible for the development, launch and growth of USDC. Joining us will be VP of Product at Circle, Joao Reginatto, and Group Product Manager at Coinbase, Nemil Dalal, with reflections and visions on the history and future of USDC. If you're in the broader crypto ecosystem, you don't want to miss this episode, we're going to have some nice surprises.
This week on the Money Movement we'll be talking about USDC at 1 Billion. USDC has become the fastest growing stablecoin in history, seeing over 200% growth over the past six months alone, and has become a de facto standard as a trusted, compliant digital dollar format and protocol on blockchains. At time of writing, USDC sat at ~1,380,000,000 in circulation, and has supported ~$90B in on-chain transactions. To reflect on all of this, and also to share some really exciting news about the next chapters for USDC, we're going to be joined by two of the top product executives from Circle and Coinbase who have been responsible for the development, launch and growth of USDC. Joining us will be VP of Product at Circle, Joao Reginatto, and Group Product Manager at Coinbase, Nemil Dalal, with reflections and visions on the history and future of USDC. If you're in the broader crypto ecosystem, you don't want to miss this episode, we're going to have some nice surprises.
In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Randy Rusnak, and Mike Malarsie discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this podcast include: iPad at 10: Why apps made the iPad a success Apple Q1 2020: The company cracks $90B in a single quarter for the first time as the iPhone returns to glory Things Apple Didn't Want to Talk About in its Q1 Earnings Report Apple rings in new era of Services following landmark year Apple's App Store generates over a billion dollars per week Apple Releases iOS 13.3.1 and iPadOS 13.3.1 with Some Improvements to Smart Invert Apple Planning to Make Original Podcasts Promoting Its TV Shows Apple Requiring Notarization for Non Mac App Store Apps Starting February 2020 Apple's Upcoming Low-Cost iPhone Could Launch as Early as March Kuo: Apple to Launch AirTags, Small Charging Mat, New iPads and Macs, High-End Headphones, and More in First Half of 2020 Rumor: iOS 14 to support all of the devices as iOS 13 How to Enable Low Data Mode on iPhone Cellular to Reduce Mobile Data Use How to clear all your notifications at once on Apple Watch You can contact the Unleashed Team with feedback or questions at unleashed@applevis.com
In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Randy Rusnak, and Mike Malarsie discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this podcast include: iPad at 10: Why apps made the iPad a success Apple Q1 2020: The company cracks $90B in a single quarter for the first time as the iPhone returns to glory Things Apple Didn't Want to Talk About in its Q1 Earnings Report Apple rings in new era of Services following landmark year Apple's App Store generates over a billion dollars per week Apple Releases iOS 13.3.1 and iPadOS 13.3.1 with Some Improvements to Smart Invert Apple Planning to Make Original Podcasts Promoting Its TV Shows Apple Requiring Notarization for Non Mac App Store Apps Starting February 2020 Apple's Upcoming Low-Cost iPhone Could Launch as Early as March Kuo: Apple to Launch AirTags, Small Charging Mat, New iPads and Macs, High-End Headphones, and More in First Half of 2020 Rumor: iOS 14 to support all of the devices as iOS 13 How to Enable Low Data Mode on iPhone Cellular to Reduce Mobile Data Use How to clear all your notifications at once on Apple Watch You can contact the Unleashed Team with feedback or questions at unleashed@applevis.com
In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Randy Rusnak, and Mike Malarsie discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this podcast include: iPad at 10: Why apps made the iPad a success Apple Q1 2020: The company cracks $90B in a single quarter for the first time as the iPhone returns to glory Things Apple Didn't Want to Talk About in its Q1 Earnings Report Apple rings in new era of Services following landmark year Apple's App Store generates over a billion dollars per week Apple Releases iOS 13.3.1 and iPadOS 13.3.1 with Some Improvements to Smart Invert Apple Planning to Make Original Podcasts Promoting Its TV Shows Apple Requiring Notarization for Non Mac App Store Apps Starting February 2020 Apple's Upcoming Low-Cost iPhone Could Launch as Early as March Kuo: Apple to Launch AirTags, Small Charging Mat, New iPads and Macs, High-End Headphones, and More in First Half of 2020 Rumor: iOS 14 to support all of the devices as iOS 13 How to Enable Low Data Mode on iPhone Cellular to Reduce Mobile Data Use How to clear all your notifications at once on Apple Watch You can contact the Unleashed Team with feedback or questions at unleashed@applevis.com
In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Jonathan Heiliger of Vertex Ventures. They kick off the interview learning how Jonathan got into early stage investing as well as what his fund focuses on. In this episode, Jonathan also shares his views on: The continued landscape change in enterprise software Outsourcing to the cloud and how it continues to progress Data governance and data privacy is coming to the forefront as witnessed by the launch of GDPR Industry 4.0--digitization across the heavy industries $90B of direct spend on industrial IoT will be spent Blockchain and 3D printers and other technologies will eliminate spare parts and provide them upon demand. A little about Vertex Venture: They seek founders who want to tackle fundamental challenges. People who identify with a problem or concern that's kept them up late at night — broken tools, broken lines of communication, broken processes, broken boundaries of trust.Sometimes this will require new skills; sometimes it will require different processes. Sometimes, it will require a completely new organization.Whichever of these is necessary is ultimately beside the point, because there is just one result when the solution is in place and the naysayers have bought in to the vision: Things will simply be better.
A medium-size business with a $20m marketing budget can run into issues when aiming to track an attribute, what marketing dollars brought in customers, etc. But when you're managing $90B for customers all over the world and working in every conceivable channel, things get all the more complicated. Josh Sutton, global head of Data and AI at Publicis.Sapient, speaks in this episode about the future of advertising attribution with machine learning. Specifically, Sutton discusses how his team of publicists is working on managing, tracking, and determining cohorts and attribution across more channels and numerous clients, and touches on ways that the company is applying ML to make sense of marketing data and spend marketing dollars more effectively.
The O’Reilly Security Podcast: Randomness, our dependence on entropy for security and privacy, and rating entropy sources for more effective encryption.In this episode, I talk with Richard Moulds, vice president of strategy and business development at Whitewood Encryption. We discuss whether random number generation is as random as some might think and the implications that has on securing systems with encryption, how to harness entropy for better randomness, and emerging standards for evaluating and certifying the quality of entropy sources.Here are some highlights: Randomness: The linchpin of encryption When people think about cryptography, which is a broad subject, they tend to think about encryption. They think about the algorithms we use to encrypt our data, the keys we use, and how to keep these keys secret. A key is just a random number. Generally speaking, crypto in encryption applications gets these random numbers from the operating system. There are standard calls that you can make as a software developer to get a random number. We're focused on researching how good operating systems are at actually generating random numbers. If random numbers stop being truly random, then keys become predictable and the value proposition of encryption and cryptography in general fades away. It starts to become a real issue as attackers get even stronger computers, notably quantum computers, which would make it devastatingly easy to break the crypto in encryption algorithms. These algorithms—essentially pseudorandom number generators—have been defined and certified for years, but they’re dependent on the availability of entropy. A few hundred bits of perfect randomness can be used by a pseudorandom number generator to generate hundreds of megabits or gigabits of actual random numbers that might be consumed by applications. Provided they can find entropy in the real world somewhere, the algorithms can use that to randomize their internal random number generators. Think of it like a pack of playing cards. You've got the process of dealing a pack of cards, and you've got the process of shuffling a pack of cards. The pseudorandom number generators in the operating system like Linux, for example, are the process of dealing the deck of cards. Entropy is the process of shuffling that deck of cards, randomizing the pseudorandom number generators that are in the operating system. Programming entropy into secure systems: A necessary oxymoron Entropy is fundamentally a physical property, a measure of randomness reflected in the physical world. Hardware developers and system architects have been trying to find ways of scavenging random entropy from existing sources because entropy doesn’t naturally exist in the digital world, where everything is programmed. Potential sources are everywhere, though quality varies. For example, you could calculate the entropy in the text of Romeo and Juliet and find that it has some entropy—although not very much—because it's using English words that have certain grammatical instructions and a plot that makes some sense. But entropy in the Chinese language is three times as high as entropy in English just because of the way the characters are calculated and strung together to form sentences. Everything's got entropy; the question is how you can find a source of randomness that is unpredictable and can be kept secret from attackers. For the systems that we have today, we derive entropy from things like the timing between keystrokes on the keyboard, mouse movements, the arrival of packets on a network, or the timing jitter for processes running on the CPU. None of these are perfectly random. They’re not periodic, and they’re not completely predictable, but they have some entropy. That calls into question several things: how good are these sources? How good's that distillation process? What happens if these sources dry up? Your phone has a radio antennae and a keyboard and a gyroscope and location detectors and cameras and microphones—all manner of potential entropy sources—but the issue is, when you start running crypto applications for that phone in a data center, particularly a virtualized data center, there's not much going on: no users, no noise, not even a hard drive. Worse still, if you snapshot a virtual machine and make one hundred copies to scale out a web server, then each virtual machine would have the same randomness that exists in that one particular instance. You’d actually end up replicating whatever minimal levels of entropy existed across these virtual machines, thereby undermining the randomness and, thus, the encryption. When random isn’t as random as we think Developers have generally assumed that the operating system can scavenge enough entropy to do its job when making random numbers. Very few people worry about this issue. If you think about an IT stack, you’ve got a developer who writes applications, you've got an operating system, you’ve got the physical hardware, and you’ve got the physical environment. It's fine if somebody owns that whole stack and can point cameras at lava lamps or put up microphones to capture background noise and can build a system that has sufficient entropy. It sounds funny, but people have tried all manner of crazy things to scavenge randomness. That's okay as long as you're in control of that whole system, because when you’re not, eventually your keys can start to become predictable. The issue is that, unfortunately, you can't measure the quality of your random numbers. If you could measure the output of /dev/urandom and say, "Okay, this number's good—you should use it. This number's not so good—you shouldn't use it," that would be fine, but it's not possible to do that. All a developer can do (when they don’t control the full stack) is just consume what's being delivered. There are horror stories of various studies that have tested for the reuse and duplication of keys on the internet. Even though in principle, with the length of keys that we use in modern systems, the chances should be infinitesimal that you'd ever see the same key twice, these studies have found millions of keys that are the same. Improving the status quo: NIST standards for entropy sources Years ago, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standardized pseudorandom number generators because they're just algorithms. If you know what number you put on the input side, you can predict what number you get on the output side. Those have been around as standardized and certified for years. But the difficulties in measuring the quality of entropy sources have made entropy sourcing a tough standard to write. NIST is now on their second draft of a standard, to actually define how to measure the entropy in random number generators and to, ultimately, certify entropy sources as they apply to seeding pseudorandom number generators in operating systems for crypto applications. I think this will be a big step forward. There have been a lot of suggestions that back doors have already been built into systems to weaken random number generators. It turns out the random number generator is one of the perfect places to put a back door because it's essentially undetectable. This NIST standards draft is called SP 800-90B. There's actually a suite of these -90 standards: -90A covers pseudorandom number generators, and that's already out and finished; -90B covers entropy sources; and -90C covers the various architectures for stringing entropy sources and PRNGs together. Once it’s complete, this trio of standards will create a mechanism for certifying products and assigning them an entropy score, like a car’s average miles per gallon. The entropy score will give security architects and system administrators a way to measure the quality of their cryptosystems and the ability to attest that the encryption and key generation that's happening in their environment is up to grade.
The O’Reilly Security Podcast: Randomness, our dependence on entropy for security and privacy, and rating entropy sources for more effective encryption.In this episode, I talk with Richard Moulds, vice president of strategy and business development at Whitewood Encryption. We discuss whether random number generation is as random as some might think and the implications that has on securing systems with encryption, how to harness entropy for better randomness, and emerging standards for evaluating and certifying the quality of entropy sources.Here are some highlights: Randomness: The linchpin of encryption When people think about cryptography, which is a broad subject, they tend to think about encryption. They think about the algorithms we use to encrypt our data, the keys we use, and how to keep these keys secret. A key is just a random number. Generally speaking, crypto in encryption applications gets these random numbers from the operating system. There are standard calls that you can make as a software developer to get a random number. We're focused on researching how good operating systems are at actually generating random numbers. If random numbers stop being truly random, then keys become predictable and the value proposition of encryption and cryptography in general fades away. It starts to become a real issue as attackers get even stronger computers, notably quantum computers, which would make it devastatingly easy to break the crypto in encryption algorithms. These algorithms—essentially pseudorandom number generators—have been defined and certified for years, but they’re dependent on the availability of entropy. A few hundred bits of perfect randomness can be used by a pseudorandom number generator to generate hundreds of megabits or gigabits of actual random numbers that might be consumed by applications. Provided they can find entropy in the real world somewhere, the algorithms can use that to randomize their internal random number generators. Think of it like a pack of playing cards. You've got the process of dealing a pack of cards, and you've got the process of shuffling a pack of cards. The pseudorandom number generators in the operating system like Linux, for example, are the process of dealing the deck of cards. Entropy is the process of shuffling that deck of cards, randomizing the pseudorandom number generators that are in the operating system. Programming entropy into secure systems: A necessary oxymoron Entropy is fundamentally a physical property, a measure of randomness reflected in the physical world. Hardware developers and system architects have been trying to find ways of scavenging random entropy from existing sources because entropy doesn’t naturally exist in the digital world, where everything is programmed. Potential sources are everywhere, though quality varies. For example, you could calculate the entropy in the text of Romeo and Juliet and find that it has some entropy—although not very much—because it's using English words that have certain grammatical instructions and a plot that makes some sense. But entropy in the Chinese language is three times as high as entropy in English just because of the way the characters are calculated and strung together to form sentences. Everything's got entropy; the question is how you can find a source of randomness that is unpredictable and can be kept secret from attackers. For the systems that we have today, we derive entropy from things like the timing between keystrokes on the keyboard, mouse movements, the arrival of packets on a network, or the timing jitter for processes running on the CPU. None of these are perfectly random. They’re not periodic, and they’re not completely predictable, but they have some entropy. That calls into question several things: how good are these sources? How good's that distillation process? What happens if these sources dry up? Your phone has a radio antennae and a keyboard and a gyroscope and location detectors and cameras and microphones—all manner of potential entropy sources—but the issue is, when you start running crypto applications for that phone in a data center, particularly a virtualized data center, there's not much going on: no users, no noise, not even a hard drive. Worse still, if you snapshot a virtual machine and make one hundred copies to scale out a web server, then each virtual machine would have the same randomness that exists in that one particular instance. You’d actually end up replicating whatever minimal levels of entropy existed across these virtual machines, thereby undermining the randomness and, thus, the encryption. When random isn’t as random as we think Developers have generally assumed that the operating system can scavenge enough entropy to do its job when making random numbers. Very few people worry about this issue. If you think about an IT stack, you’ve got a developer who writes applications, you've got an operating system, you’ve got the physical hardware, and you’ve got the physical environment. It's fine if somebody owns that whole stack and can point cameras at lava lamps or put up microphones to capture background noise and can build a system that has sufficient entropy. It sounds funny, but people have tried all manner of crazy things to scavenge randomness. That's okay as long as you're in control of that whole system, because when you’re not, eventually your keys can start to become predictable. The issue is that, unfortunately, you can't measure the quality of your random numbers. If you could measure the output of /dev/urandom and say, "Okay, this number's good—you should use it. This number's not so good—you shouldn't use it," that would be fine, but it's not possible to do that. All a developer can do (when they don’t control the full stack) is just consume what's being delivered. There are horror stories of various studies that have tested for the reuse and duplication of keys on the internet. Even though in principle, with the length of keys that we use in modern systems, the chances should be infinitesimal that you'd ever see the same key twice, these studies have found millions of keys that are the same. Improving the status quo: NIST standards for entropy sources Years ago, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standardized pseudorandom number generators because they're just algorithms. If you know what number you put on the input side, you can predict what number you get on the output side. Those have been around as standardized and certified for years. But the difficulties in measuring the quality of entropy sources have made entropy sourcing a tough standard to write. NIST is now on their second draft of a standard, to actually define how to measure the entropy in random number generators and to, ultimately, certify entropy sources as they apply to seeding pseudorandom number generators in operating systems for crypto applications. I think this will be a big step forward. There have been a lot of suggestions that back doors have already been built into systems to weaken random number generators. It turns out the random number generator is one of the perfect places to put a back door because it's essentially undetectable. This NIST standards draft is called SP 800-90B. There's actually a suite of these -90 standards: -90A covers pseudorandom number generators, and that's already out and finished; -90B covers entropy sources; and -90C covers the various architectures for stringing entropy sources and PRNGs together. Once it’s complete, this trio of standards will create a mechanism for certifying products and assigning them an entropy score, like a car’s average miles per gallon. The entropy score will give security architects and system administrators a way to measure the quality of their cryptosystems and the ability to attest that the encryption and key generation that's happening in their environment is up to grade.
Jeff Scott is the VP of Business Development for DHS Group, a health, wellness and population health software company with offices in Houston, TX, and Cleveland, OH. He has over twelve years of corporate and business development experience spanning financial services, healthcare and software verticals Prior to DHS Group, Jeff was CFO of Movable, a health and wellness software startup that was acquired by DHS Group in 2015. Before Movable, Jeff was VP of Strategy and Business Development for KeyBank, where he developed organic and inorganic growth strategies for all areas of the $90B financial institution, with a heavy emphasis on healthcare and B2B payments verticals. Jeff's experience includes managing P&Ls, building new sales teams, launching new products and developing & executing sales strategies. He has advised companies of all sizes on health, wellness, financial and technology strategies. 00:00 DHS: Dynamic Health Strategies.01:50 Jeff explains what DHS does and the story behind its creation and original mission.02:45 Self-funded companies and what they are.04:30 What sort of savings could come with being self-funded, and how a company often needs to be 5000+ employees large to enjoy the ability to be self-funded.06:00 What makes DHS unique.07:30 How smaller businesses can and do have a say in employee insurance.11:15 Jeff discusses Employers as drivers of healthcare, insurance premiums, and privacy.16:00 Why and how employers want to get their employees engaged in their own health.18:00 Best practices for self-funded employers who subsequently have access to their employee's health data.19:00 “Do you penalize people for not doing certain things, or incentivize people for doing those things?”19:45 What puts DHS above the rest.21:30 How DHS makes employers and employees' lives better.25:00 DHS's unique approach to employee health.28:50 How companies are getting their employees to achieve certain health goals.32:00 How a business's majority employee base often determines the company's interest in employee health.33:15 Find out more at www.DHSgroup.com.
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