Lifeboat Foundation

How many credit cards do you have? If you’re like the average American, you carry four in your wallet.

Chances are your credit cards are from different banks. But if you dumped out your wallet on the table and laid all your cards side by side, you’d notice something odd.

While all the cards are from different banks—and they all have their own special privileges, prestigious names, and color schemes—most have one thing in common:

Editor’s note: Geoff Woollacott is Senior Strategy Consultant and Principal Analyst at Technology Business Research. IBM and NC State are coperating on quantum computing development.

HAMPTON, N.H. – JPMorgan Chase announced on Jan. 22 the hiring of Marco Pistoia from IBM. A 24-year IBM employee with numerous patents to his credit, Pistoia most recently led an IBM team responsible for quantum computing algorithms. Algorithm development will be key to developing soundly engineered quantum computing systems that can deliver the business outcomes enterprises seek at a faster and more accurate pace than current classical computing systems.

A senior hire into a flagship enterprise in the financial services industry is the proverbial canary in the coal mine, as TBR believes such actions suggest our prediction of quantum achieving economic advantage by 2021 remains on target. Quantum executives discuss the three pillars of quantum commercialization as being:

Three and a half hours later, the group finished the simulation exercise — and despite their best efforts, they couldn’t prevent the hypothetical coronavirus from killing 65 million people.

The fictional coronavirus at the center of the Event 201 simulation — a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the World Economic Forum, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — was called CAPS, and it started with pigs in Brazil before spreading to farmers, not unlike how 2019-nCoV reportedly began with animals before spreading to people.

In the simulation, CAPS infected people all across the globe within six months, and by the 18-month mark, it had killed 65 million people and triggered a global financial crisis.

Fast forward 10 years and Li’s life has completely changed. No longer in finance, he communicates via WeChat and uses apps on his iPhone XS to order food, hail taxis, pay bills, and shop.

Most of the apps that permeate the daily life of Li and hundreds of millions of other Chinese had their beginnings at the start of the decade.

The 2010s will be remembered as the decade when smartphone apps became ubiquitous, spawning new Chinese tech giants whose platforms forever changed the way people live.

Continue reading “How smartphone apps changed the way people live in China” »

Most people believe that modern day capitalism “does more harm than good in the world,” according to a new survey.

The closely-followed 20th annual Edelman Trust Barometer — an annual survey of 34,000 people across 28 countries that measures the public’s trust in NGOs, business, government, and media — underscored how a strong global economy and a booming stock market have failed to completely allay the public’s worries about their own economic prospects.

Edelman released the survey timed to the 50th annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This year’s forum centers around the idea of stakeholder capitalism, proclaiming that a company’s purpose goes beyond generating wealth and instead should be measured by its environmental, social, and good governance objectives.

Technology giant Amazon is working to allow customers to connect their credit card information to their hands, so that they can scan for purchases with their palms at checkout areas in physical stores, people familiar with the project told The Wall Street Journal.

While Amazon’s plan is in the early stages, the company has reportedly begun working with Visa on testing out the terminals, and has discussed the project with Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Synchrony Financial.

The company previously filed a patent for a “non-contact biometric identification system” that features a “hand scanner” to produce a picture of a person’s palm.

Several Greek government websites fell prey to cyber-attacks on Friday evening, forcing some of them to shut down entirely for security reasons, after access to them became problematic.

Among those attacked by hackers were the websites of the Greek Parliament, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Athens Stock Exchange, the National Intelligence Service (EYP) and the Finance Ministry.

A Turkish group named” Phoenix’s Helmets” (Anka Neferler Tim) posted a post on Facebook claiming responsibility for the attacks, in order to respond, as they said, to Athens’ threats against Turkey.

In 2019, many large tech firms announced plans to offer financial products and services. WSJ’s Liz Hoffman explains why Google, Apple, and others are offering products that might someday replace your wallet.

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Continue reading “Why Big Tech Is Getting Into Finance | WSJ” »

Some have called for caution with regards to China’s digital currency, with the urgency to rush through Beijing’s own plan now lessened as Libra, which is perceived by Beijing as a major threat to China’s financial sovereignty, faces major regulatory obstacles worldwide.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) stepped up its plan to launch a sovereign digital currency in response to Facebook’s Libra digital currency.

Continue reading “Shadow of doubt cast over China’s sovereign digital currency plan” »