The stock market kicked off 2021 with a swift 2%+ tumble. Ouch. For anyone who follows the market, this doubtless brings back memories of March 2020. COVID cases were on a sharp rise, and the stock market bottomed out, with a 30%+ drop over the course of just a few short weeks. A number of … Continue reading Stocks are on sale
The other day, I got an email from Chase, letting me know about some offer I had waiting for me, provided I downloaded Chase Pay, their digital payments app. When I went to the App Store and searched for “Chase Pay,” I discovered three rather distinct Chase banking products, which, taken together, nicely represent a … Continue reading Finance Apps and their Contents
I started trading stocks on the internet when I was 14, in the early 2000s. My first purchase was a few shares of Microsoft, which I bought with some of my Bar Mitzvah money. I used an online broker, and paid a whopping $7.95 for the transaction. I vividly remember using a school computer to … Continue reading đź’µ Young Money
Bloomberg Business ran an article yesterday on the dilemna many residents of Israel face when ordering items online. Namely, expensive shipping fees and relatively long wait times reduce much of the incentive to order locally. Instead, the article asserts that many Israelis turn to foreign sellers – Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba chief among them – whose … Continue reading Small Country, Big Retailers, Few Options
The New York Times ran two articles this weekend, each one exploring an emerging class of Uber driver. The first article, from January 22nd, is titled “Older Drivers Hit the Road for Uber and Lyft,” and addresses, as you might expect, the increasing number of Baby Boomers who drive for app-based ridesharing services to supplement their income. … Continue reading Ubers, Ubers, Everywhere
Looks like Amazon is opening a bookstore in Seattle. The Seattle Times reports: The store, called Amazon Books, looks a lot like bookstores that populate malls across the country. Its wood shelves are stocked with 5,000 to 6,000 titles, best-sellers as well as Amazon.com customer favorites. Some interesting things here, starting with the exposure it … Continue reading Amazon Gets Physical
Black Friday has become an opportunity for consumers to end their Thanksgiving meal early and mass at the entrance of their nearest big box store, in anticipation of a morning light that will bring with it discounted TVs and marked-down skinny jeans. In the race to be the place for customers, stores are opening earlier, as well … Continue reading Camp in the Outdoors, Not Outside Stores
The New York Times reports that the European Union regulatory division is looking into questionable tax practices by Starbucks, as well as other American firms. The highlight of the piece is the regulators’ contention that Starbucks’s roast technique wasn’t so much a recipe (and therefore intellectual property), as it was just a temperature instruction: The … Continue reading Roasting Regulations
Looks like Samsung has come around to Apple’s design language, what with the headphone jack placement and all. Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S6
In 2013, Facebook tried and failed to create its own phone. Now Facebook has come back with a more considered vengeance, and announced today at F8, its developer conference, the inception of Messenger Platform, which will play nice with third party apps, and ultimately, I believe, achieve some of the results Facebook sought back in 2013. Facebook seems … Continue reading Facebook Messenger: The Trojan Horse
Silicon Spatula 