Remarkable stories from the web in a new, easier format.
There are many hidden secrets tucked away in the media we consume, placed there by mischievous – or perhaps just bored – programmers and developers. They’re known as “Easter eggs” – and the web has them in abundance.
BBC News – Easter egg hunt: Seven secrets of the world wide web
Having the central heating on may be contributing to our ballooning waistlines, Dutch researchers suggest. They say higher temperatures in homes, offices and hospitals provide more comfort, but mean bodies no longer need to burn extra calories to keep warm.
BBC News – Central heating may make you fat, say researchers
The stagnation in middle-class wages is not just a middle-class problem. It’s an economic problem. And it’s one of the main reasons that global economic growth is so lousy.
Eric Schmidt On Inequality… – Business Insider
Chipset manufacturer Qualcomm has suggested that 4K phones will be the industry’s next big area of progression, a move that is closer than you might expect.
Qualcomm predicts 4K phones are the next big thing – News – Trusted Reviews
Argentina’s peso is poised to extend losses as the government said it will relax controls on the currency, a day after allowing the biggest devaluation since 2002 to arrest a decline in foreign reserves.
Argentina Seen Extending World’s Biggest Currency Decline – Bloomberg
Sir Richard Branson says there will be a global currency—whether its bitcoin or something else—that will “take on Jamie Dimon and the other banks.”
Branson on bitcoin: Take that, Mr. Dimon
Perhaps on this philosophical Friday, it might be a good time to wonder aloud as to the causes of this change in fortunes. Why the sudden shift, from excess bullishness and exuberant expectations of more double-digit gains, to a recognition that perhaps the party won’t go on forever?
Look Out Below, Follow-Through Edition – Bloomberg
The decades-long war on drugs has failed and the world’s lawmakers need to consider decriminalization, influential world leaders including ex-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the President of Colombia have said.
Why world leaders think drugs should be decriminalized
Jamie Dimon Gets Pay Raise After Raking Up $25 Billion In Legal Fees
Jamie Dimon Gets Pay Raise After Raking Up $25 Billion In Legal Fees | Zero Hedge
A new approach to harvesting solar energy, developed by MIT researchers, could improve efficiency by using sunlight to heat a high-temperature material whose infrared radiation would then be collected by a conventional photovoltaic cell. This technique could also make it easier to store the energy for later use, the researchers say.
How to Tap the Sun’s Energy Through Heat as Well as Light | MIT Technology Review
A court in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi has sentenced a 70-year-old British man to death after convicting him of blasphemy. Muhammad Asghar was arrested in 2010 after writing letters to various people claiming to be a prophet, reports say. His lawyers argued for leniency, saying he has a history of mental illness, but this was rejected by a medical panel.
BBC News – Blasphemy case: Briton in Pakistan sentenced to death
As we’ve reported, large grid-scale energy storage has moved from its demonstration and pilot program phase to its early commercialization phase.
Grid-Scale Energy Storage Photos and Milestones : Greentech Media
Gedion Zelalem is primed and determined to make his mark. Remember the name.
Arsenal’s next Fábregas? Wonderkid Gedion Zelalem has world at his feet | Football | theguardian.com
The fastest men can be the slowest to simmer down. Jon Drummond proved that in the quarter-finals of the 100m dash at the 2003 world championships in Paris. The American was astonished at being disqualified for a supposed false start, repeatedly insisting “I did not move!” as he demanded to be reinstated. He then demonstrated his ability to not move by lying motionless on the track and resisting all pleas to get the hell out of the way. After delaying the race for almost an hour, Drummond eventually got up and stomped away, sobbing uncontrollably. Two hours later his manager informed the press: “He’s still crying. We’re making him drink water because he’s becoming dehydrated.”
The Joy of Six: bad losers | Paul Doyle | Sport | theguardian.com
Google has big plans for Chromecast in 2014, having finally scored an unequivocal hit at connecting media apps to your TV after years of near-misses and not-even-close-misses. Google has revealed plans for international Chromecast distribution and widespread app support later this year. According to Queiroz, the $35 Chromecast represents Google’s desire to integrate your various media obsessions into one streamlined device.
Simple design, lofty goals: Chromecast prepares for the global stage | Internet & Media – CNET News
Not in the slightest, according to Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs:
“The strength (in profits) is directly related to the weakness in hourly wages, which are still growing at just a 2% nominal pace. The weakness of wages and the resulting strength of profits are telling signs that the US labor market is still far from full employment.
Why are US corporate profits so high? Because wages are so low | MacroScope
Four years later, Greece is down about a quarter of its pre-recession national income – one of the worst outcomes of a financial crisis in the past century, comparable to the worst downturn of the United States’ Great Depression.
Greece Will Likely Begin Recovery This Year: Is Austerity Working? | Op-Eds & Columns
There have been a lot of arguments lately that the battle to reform Wall Street has been won. Housewright Ben White of Politico does his best to turn it into an established fact with a piece last week titled “How Washington beat Wall Street,” which claims that “Washington went to war against big Wall Street … And Washington won in a blowout.” In White’s narrative, Wall Street has been reduced to a shell of its former glory, the result of “a strong reform bill” and the “mistake after mistake” that Wall Street made in pushing back on reform.
Wall Street Reform: D.C. Has Not Won the War Yet | New Republic
He said some $2 trillion of corporate cash is on the sidelines in the US, $700bn in the UK, and another $2 trillion in the rest of the world. “There is an investors strike. This is a problem of demand in our economies, they are comatose,” he said.
Will the 2nd Great Machine Age be a frightening jobless dystopia? – Telegraph
Americans are about as likely to move from one income quintile to another as they used to be. That, put as prosaically as possible, was the big economic news of the week, as the epic income-mobility study led by Harvard’s Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren, UC Berkeley’s Patrick Kline and Emmanuel Saez, and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Nicholas Turner generated another data-rich installment.
We Can’t Afford to Leave Inequality to the Economists – Justin Fox – Harvard Business Review
Keynesian models (including the monetarist subclass, which isn’t really very distinct in content as opposed to attitude) argue that money has real effects because some wages and/or prices are sticky in nominal terms. (This is not the same thing as arguing that increased price flexibility would help end recessions – I’ve written about that before, but just leave that on the side right now.)
None So Blind, Macroeconomics Division – NYTimes.com
In effect, even factoring in future pay increases for the Chattanooga employees, Volkswagen has moved production from a high-wage country (Germany) to a low-wage country (the United States).
The Myth of Industrial Rebound – NYTimes.com
As Europe’s first earnings season of the year gets underway, Goldman Sachs has warned that European equity valuations no longer look cheap and that short-term risks are increasing.
Goldman warns of risks in European stock markets
Investors looking to up their exposure to Japanese equities may be in luck, with the market approaching attractive levels, according to equity strategists. The Nikkei 225, which is trading at a two-month low of just over 15,000, has tumbled 8 percent since the start of the year in tandem with the risk-off trade in global stock markets.
Golden buying opportunity for Japan stocks may be near
It’s less than a month into 2014 and already currency strategists are seeing their top trade recommendations for the year upended by the rout in emerging markets.
Top Trades in Disarray Amid Emerging-Market Rout: Currencies – Bloomberg
Momentum investing — going in and out of sector mutual funds to catch those that are currently performing best — did well in 2013 and has a good long-term track record too, says Mark Hulbert, editor of Hulbert Financial Digest.
Hulbert: Momentum Investing Warrants Another Look
It’s been a tough day for EM. But just in case you were tempted to bundle the whole region together to make a sweeping generalisation about future performance, it’s worth reading through the following note from Capital Economics on Friday. As they explain, EM is no longer the place it used to be. There are clear divisions emerging, and understanding which countries influence into each other more directly than others matters now more than ever:
Your guide to EM compartmentalisation | FT Alphaville
