Algorithmic trading bots react instantaneously to keywords in news reports and even tweets, which is likely why the market fell so quickly. Stocks started to recover about three minutes later but took seven minutes to return to their earlier levels.
via Someone could have just made a ton of money hacking the AP’s Twitter account – Quartz.
That humans can be replaced by robots that do the job faster and cheaper is an idea that now pervades Chinese employers. “Chinese companies usually start considering robots when the payment for a skilled worker exceeds 50,000 yuan ($8,060) a year,” Tan Xueke, a manager at the Xinsong Robot Automation Company in Shenynang, told Xinhua News Agency.
via Chinese Restaurant Owner Says Robot Noodle Maker Doing “A Good Job!” | Singularity Hub.
Bitcoin transactions are verified by the work of software run by other people using the currency, a process that takes on average 10 minutes and can be much longer, an hour in the case of many exchange sites. Lee says that hinders operators of online stores from using the currency. “With Bitcoin, sometimes merchants are forced to accept unconfirmed transactions because confirmations are way too slow,” he says. “Faster confirmations lead to a more useful currency.” Litecoin transactions are confirmed on average every 2.5 minutes, which Litecoin’s developers say is more practical for businesses.
Similarly, The Sims Social rocketed to over 65 million monthly players just after its launch in 2011, only to drop to just over five million monthly players today, according to AppData. SimCity Social seems to have peaked at 10 million monthly players and has managed to hold on to just over one million of them less than a year after its launch.
via As player numbers crater, EA will shut SimCity Social, other Facebook games | Ars Technica.
My colleague Zack Whittaker believes Google Docs will take some of these customers away, but that’s not the biggest threat to Microsoft. The longer Microsoft neglects to release the iOS and Android versions of Office, a greater number of customers owning iPads and other tablets will discover competing Office-compatible apps for those platforms. Having used many of these suites for years, it is clear they are robust enough to fill the need for Office for many owners.
via Big winner with Office for iPad and Android delay: Google | ZDNet.
After having used a tablet I can’t see how one could do any real work on one. Tablets are good consumption devices — reading (and perhaps commenting on) documents produced on workstations with real QWERTY keyboards that fit one’s fingers and hand.
People have to WANT to buy your software, people have to WANT to support you. People need to care about your employees and your company’s well being. There is no better way to achieve that than making sure what you put out there is the best you can do and you treat your customers with respect.
via VA==65731089732bGl2ZXMh – Apathy and refunds are more dangerous than Piracy..
This article is in response to the current SimCity fiasco; one of the most revered gaming franchises that had its recent product launch botched.
Only one day after Dulles-based telecommunications company OpenBand filed a second lawsuit against two supervisors and the board’s of two of the Loudoun homeowners’ associations it serves in response to denial of its franchise agreement application, the Federal Communications Commission issued a statement claiming the company’s telecommunication contracts should not be upheld.
The public cloud confirmed today by VMware marks the first time the company will become an IaaS provider itself, analysts said. Unlike platform-as-a-service, which puts the focus on providing simplified tools to application developers, IaaS clouds let customers (or require them to) manage the underlying infrastructure such as the operating system and virtualization tools.
via VMware targets rival “bookseller” Amazon with its own public cloud | Ars Technica.
“Robotic telepresence”, as the technology is known, allows people to move virtually through a distant building by remotely controlling a wheeled robot equipped with a camera, microphone, loudspeaker and screen displaying live video of its pilot’s face.
via Telepresence robots: Your alter ego on wheels | The Economist.
We redesigned the inbox to make email light, fast, and mobile-friendly. Quickly swipe messages to your archive or trash. Scan an entire conversation at once with chat-like organization. Snooze emails until later with the tap of a button.
It’s a whole new inbox.
via Mailbox – Put Email In Its Place.
Who would have thought a company could arise out of good old email? According to this article this mailbox app has added 1.25 million people while processing 50M messages per day (i.e. ~40 emails per user). I wonder what percentage of that are old fashioned spammers and name squatters?