Category Archives: Uncategorized
Limit Our Daily Apple Intake? Cook Says Yes
Privacy and transparency are odd bedfellows, to say the least. And yet, Apple CEO Tim Cook is attempting to promote this seemingly contradictory amalgamation in the modern tech space while being surrounded by Silicon Valley firms — like Facebook — that are under increasing scrutiny for its lack of privacy and transparency. Throw in user security as a major issue that needs dealing with and a clear resolution that’s a consequence borne out of the lack of widespread privacy and transparency.
The future of technology is entering an interesting intersection with the public in which the real debate regarding within the consumer market is whether these influential tech firms will take the opportunity to look in the mirror and self-regulate for its consumers or if the government (local, state and/or federal) will eventually be required to legislate decisive, impactful action in this powerful industry?
Right now, the public is angry at the lack of privacy that has always been hearsay around our peripheral. But thanks to recent testimony and reporting, disconcerting evidence of violations to our privacy could be reaching a breaking point. Perhaps the numbers of consumers who boycott and/or disconnect from particular digital platforms won’t bankrupt these companies. However, a substantial number of customer departures could, ironically, be enough to significantly disrupt the disruptors of the 21st-century.
Even though Mr. Cook surprisingly advocates for less screen time — if that is a concern for an individual user of an iPhone or related Apple product (of which I agree) — I will surprisingly ask that you set aside thirteen minutes and forty-five seconds of screen time for a recent interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook conducted by Norah O’Donnell, who will be the new anchor of “CBS Evening News.”
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Tim Cook is the best traditional CEO you can get for the ever-expanding tech industry in the Wild West of Silicon Valley in the 21st century because of his thoughtful leadership and inclination to communicate and debate tough issues with some frequency as well as his outspoken thoughts involving transparency and privacy.
Mr. Cook appears to be doing the right things (sans the critically important Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak-level of innovative prowess and imagination) for managing the financial and moral expectations of a firm with a net worth that has been hovering around an estimated $1 trillion.
Tim Cook will never be Steve Jobs as the leader of Apple and that’s ok. The former simply thinks different than the latter.
Now Mr. Cook still has a few big-picture problems that he and his team at Apple need to find solutions to in the near future. One of these problems is an imaginative innovative breakthrough (as noted above), but that’s a discussion for another day.
Regarding user privacy, Mr. Cook and his genius bar in Cupertino would benefit greatly from developing an update for all of its products that are easy to understand and use. And also like its products, this next-level solution to privacy by Apple should be presented in the way the iPod was dramatically brought out of the pocket by the late Mr. Jobs.
The penchant for performing with Hollywood-caliber drama regarding product reveals is unique to Apple — in the architecturally simplistic yet spiritually imposing Steve Jobs Theater no less — and in a time when customers are wary of tech’s expansive reach, a transparent presentation that’s singular in its purpose (privacy) would add an assurance to Apple users while putting the necessary pressure on its competitors and contemporaries in the tech industry to find a similar solution for their companies before government installs its own world wide web of regulations that would assuredly bring a couple of positive changes whilst usher in 98 terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things.
Building more trust, no matter the application will always be insanely great.
Happy Monday!
The net worth of Bill Gates: $101.3 billion.
The net worth of Warren Buffett: $83.5 billion.
The price of a medium Dairy Queen Blizzard Treat: $4.09.
The price of a large Dairy Queen Blizzard Treat: $4.69.
With a price like that — the Blizzard, not the net worth — how could you not go for the large at Dairy Queen? Another thing that makes sense is that when you love what you do (or what you invest in, according to Mr. Buffett), good things will happen.
And how can you not love watching two titans of industry working at Dairy Queen for the day?
Well, that was a strange time for a couple of admired American billionaires. At least now Mr. Buffett knows what the upside down is…
Have a Better Week Than Last Week.
P.S. There’s also this moment of pure gold.
Well played, Bill Gates.
La Coupe du Monde ne sera jamais trop riche en traditions
(“The World Cup Will Never Be Too Full of Tradition”)
Get excited because the 2019 Women’s World Cup kicks off today with host country France vs. South Korea at 3 p.m. The United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) are certainly one of the favorites in this tournament, having won the ultimate trophy in women’s soccer three times. As a matter of fact, the women in red, white and blue are the defending champions.
The USWNT’s tournament begins Tuesday for its first group game against Thailand at 3 p.m., which is when coverage will start on Jimmy’s Daily Planet.
For now, it’s impossible for the mind not to wander to the future involving the next men’s World Cup and the soccer stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosted by Qatar. Why? Because at this year’s World Cup — hosted by France with its long, distinguished tradition — there’s a clear soccer identity for soccer fans and casual soccer/sports fans to associate with for this world-class tournament that only occurs every four years. French stadiums, ranging in 10,000 – 80,000 seat capacities, have character and history that transports fans to other times and eras of yesteryear. We’ll see this in the next month, even if only through the TV.
The same cannot be said for the next men’s World Cup in 2022 that will take place in the desert (yet crazy rich) country of Qatar.
Being built from the sand up, Qatar will be the center of the soccer universe in just a few years in November and December. The date change from the normal summer months reservation is, coupled with the sheer fact that brand new stadiums and air conditioning apparatuses are being constructed, evidence enough that Qatar can pay for anything it wants except tradition. If it wanted to host the World Cup so badly, it should have clearly established the country’s true love of soccer like every other soccer nation on Earth: Through housing world-class talent, interweaving the sport into the culture and, yes, history and time.
Like sand through the hourglass…
Soccer and tradition go together like America and apple pie. Or France and soccer.
For now, here’s a visual update on the progress being made in Qatar for the biggest stage for the world’s game.
Having visited Qatar and fully enjoyed this unique experience with family, this middle eastern country will, like the fictional John Hammond, spare no expense. And as a non-traditional country for the world’s biggest soccer tournament, Qatar and FIFA are banking on those famous words heard in that Iowa cornfield, “If you build it, he will come.” Change the “he” to “they” and that’s what will ultimately define the success of the 2022 World Cup concerning regional and global attendance.
FIFA gambled with Qatar. Moreover, this forthcoming World Cup seems like it’s being built for FIFA rather than the sport of soccer and its fans, coaches, and players. And there needs to be a real concern that all of the soccer stadiums being built for 2022, though impressive to a certain degree, will be empty in the years that follow. In other words, the post-Olympic downturn could very likely occur. In China, some of the world-class facilities from the 2008 summer Olympics fell to ruin in the subsequent years.
By contrast, the 2006 World Cup in Germany — which I was fortunate to attend with my parents and see some amazing games, stadiums, cities, hotels, players and fellow Quinnipiac soccer teammates — was incredibly unforgettable. And soccer in Germany, it seems, is even bigger now today following the World Cup due to increased global demand and interest in the Bundesliga, the German national team (2014 World Cup champions) and its rich soccer/football culture.
Will Qatar in 2022 evolve into aforementioned Germany circa 2006 or China circa 2008?
That’s a legitimate question, ladies and gentlemen. And one that should have been considered more closely by FIFA when selecting the host country for its biggest competition, specifically following disgraced former FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s resignation in recent years.
At this point, watch and enjoy the many talented teams and players in the 2019 World Cup in France. And while doing so, contemplate whether that special energy on the pitch and off the pitch with teams and fans from around the world will seamlessly translate to a non-soccer nation/Qatar in three years. Will it be the same?
While the new soccer stadiums being built in Qatar may be eye-opening through the lenses of modern design and sustainability, tradition cannot be bought.
Although, FIFA proved winning a bid to host a World Cup can, so there’s that I $uppo$e.
Make Room (Or Space) for ‘Ad Astra’ on 9/20/19
It seems as if major Hollywood studios have unintentionally (or intentionally) designated this week as a new movie trailer week.
On that note, the list of movies that take place in space is long and expansive. As in really long and expansive. Particularly in recent years, there’s clearly been interest from moviemakers in LA and demand from audiences worldwide who want to travel to space via the silver screen sans the otherworldly price tag with acting’s biggest headline-grabbers. Just since 2013, films like ‘Gravity,’ ‘Interstellar,’ ‘The Martian,’ ‘Passengers,’ ‘Hidden Figures’ and ‘First Man’ (to name just a few) have explored space, based either on a true story or with a fairly high degree of realism within a fictional story to critical and box office success. Leading A-list actors and actresses in these aforementioned films include Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Matthew McConaughey, Matt Damon, Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Octavia Spencer, and Ryan Gosling.
And now fellow A-List actor Brad Pitt wants in on the action with his new space thriller called ‘Ad Astra,’ which is Latin for “to the stars.”
Interestingly, Liv Tyler portrays Brad Pitt’s wife who remains on earth while her husband ventures into the unknown in the heavens above for a mission revolving around the existence of this planet, which is oddly reminiscent of her role in the 1998 movie ‘Armageddon.’
Hmmm…
Anyways, the plot seems intertwined with exciting action sequences and personal relationships — near and far — that will surely reveal the true purpose of this film involving the enigmatic father character portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones as well as potentially ushering in the newest chapter in 21st-century science fiction. One of ‘Ad Astra’ director James Gray’s films is the 2015 documentary ‘Hitchcock/Truffaut.’ With this in mind, we should keep a keen eye on whether Mr. Gray (who wrote and directed ‘Ad Astra’) utilized any suspenseful techniques made famous by Mr. Hitchcock. For a movie that takes place in space with infinite scale, weaving in Hitchcock thrills via claustrophobia, for example, would bring a level of closeness to a story that will prioritize every ounce of available oxygen.
We know what ‘Ad Astra’ means in Latin, but what does it mean cinematically in 2019? Does the movie’s poster playfully reveal any clues?
While the eye immediately goes to the astronaut’s warped movement in space — which is tantalizingly puzzling — why is the “R” in the title sliced in half in the poster? And then there’s the movie’s tag line, “The answers we seek are just outside our reach.” That suggests a new dimension in space with a Gandalf-caliber “You shall not pass” barrier. Where have we seen that before?
‘Ad Astra’ arrives in a theater near you on September 20.
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