Will the Car be the Next SmartPhone?

Many believe that auto manufacturers, while continuing to focus on horsepower, who may want to appeal to a younger generation -- who are driving approximately 23% less than they used to -- should look at future cars as, well, iPhones. But a crucial challenge will be to keep up with changing technology. There is the possibility that changes might be made irrelevant by the introduction of driverless car technology, which would free up our hands altogether.

Read more at the BBC...

In this article, Are Legacy Cloud Providers Here to Stay?, we read:

When talking about the legacy cloud providers, the some common names usually come up. Amazon has become the leader in providing cloud services with its Amazon Web Services (AWS), jumping out to a dominant lead in terms of market share at 27 percent. That’s a larger share than its next four closest competitors combined. Microsoft with its Microsoft Azure service is second place with an 8 percent market share, though it is growing at the fastest rate of 154 percent, a much faster rate than AWS. IBM comes in third at 6.5 percent market share and a rate of growth of 80 percent. Combine these tech giants with Google, which is also in the top five, and it forms a clear picture of the level of competition for cloud computing customers.

What is the life-span of such providers? IMHO, quite long -- the incentive for switching from one provider to another is pretty low, assuming the provide meets SLAs. Here is a solid list of infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS) providers.

Yes, the US is an Oligarchy

From this site...

When Americans see charts like this one which illustrate that virtually all the food on grocery store shelves basically comes from no more than 10 megacompanies, or hear statements like this one from our own Attorney General Eric Holder who told the Senate Judiciary Committee that some banks are just too big to prosecute, or check out studies like this one out of Princeton which openly declare we are not a democracy but an oligarchy…it’s kinda hard to believe we aren’t an oligarchy (because we are).

In short, the myth of “democracy” and freedom in the United States – the beacon around the world – perpetuates, despite a few blemishes. But in reality, the Oligarchy took hold some time ago, has not let up and perhaps never will.