Yearly Archives: 2013

Bezos Paid a ‘Friendship Premium’ for the Washington Post

"The founder of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) plunked down $250 million for the Post newspaper division, about 17 times adjusted profit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That multiple implies a valuation for the New York Times of about $4 billion -- more than double its current market value. The value of newspapers has been cratering since Rupert Murdoch paid $5.2 billion for Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. six years ago. The New York Times, the last major U.S. family-owned newspaper, has seen its market value fall 50 percent to $1.8 billion as print advertising dropped and readers migrated to the Internet for news." Continue reading →

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Android nears 80 percent market share as iOS plummets

"Google's Android mobile operating system now accounts for almost 80 percent of the global smartphone market while Apple's slice has shrunk to 13 percent, the latest numbers from market research firm International Data Corp (IDC) have revealed. According to IDC's figures for the global smartphone market during the second quarter, Android's popularity is not slowing with Google's mobile operating system now accounting for 79.3 percent of the smartphone market." Continue reading →

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The real Elysium: Send your dead loved one into space for $2K

"A startup called Elysium Space is offering an easier, cheaper way to get into space – and it will have you there by next year. There is, however, a slight catch. First, you have to die. For $1,990, Elysium Space, which is today announcing itself to the world, will send a portion of your cremated remains – or those of your loved one – into space on a CubeSat that will then orbit the Earth for several months before ultimately re-entering the atmosphere and burning up in in a spectacular blaze. With that entry fee, you’ll also get the opportunity to watch the launch live, and you can track the satellite’s movements via a mobile app." Continue reading →

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10 Awesome Startups That Are Looking To Profit From A New Space Race

"In recent years, some of the most famous names in tech, like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have been founding and investing in companies that are looking to the stars. Whether for personal dreams of adventure or for profit, these companies are doing the engineering and basic science needed to get humans into space. They're also looking at other opportunities that space provides, like access to resources that are hard to get on Earth and the ability to collect information about our planet from a different perspective." Continue reading →

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Railroad To Space: A Low(er) Cost Leap Into The Stars

"It currently costs about $100,000 to send a standard 3-pound satellite into low Earth orbit. Larger masses can be a little bit more affordable, but can still cost up to $5,000 per pound. Lucky for the human race, there are smart people out there trying to solve this problem. One company, HyperV Technologies Corp., has proposed a 'railroad to space using a mechanical hypervelocity launcher to enable large-scale space utilization' that will be only one-hundredth of the cost of the rockets we currently use. Fancy, I know. They’re calling it the Slingatron." Continue reading →

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Why is Gibraltar a British territory?

"Gibraltar, a 2.6 square mile (6.7 square kilometre) peninsula that is home to about 30,000 people, is a British territory to which Spain has long laid claim. This week the old argument resurfaced as Spanish officials toughened border inspections, slowing traffic to a crawl, and Spain’s foreign minister threatened a €50 ($67) charge on crossings, to the alarm of locals on both sides of the border. The measures were apparently in response to the Gibraltar government’s decision to sink spiked concrete blocks into the sea to fend off Spanish fishermen, whom it accuses of poaching Gibraltarian fish." Continue reading →

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The Hyperloop: Elon Musk’s futuristic plan to blast Californians through a tube

"The founder of Tesla, SpaceX and Paypal published the design for his futuristic 'Hyperloop' transportation system online. The Hyperloop would use low pressure steel tubes to blast car-sized capsules from one area to another. The system would be entirely powered by its own solar panels. The Hyperloop would be able to transport a person from Los Angeles to San Francisco — a distance of more than 300 miles — in only 30 minutes. Musk previously described the system a cross between a 'Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table.'" Continue reading →

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Jeffrey Tucker: How Medical Innovation Redefines Our World

"I suppose I had thought deafness was a permanent accident that humanity would always deal with. Before the late 19th century, people probably thought the same about infant mortality and hundreds of diseases that have since been cured. In the Middle Ages, it must have been this way with tooth pain, the pain of childbirth, and the inability to communicate with anyone outside your immediate vicinity. All human problems seem intractable and perpetual when they are ever-present. But there are always a few among us who do not see problems this way. They see problems as rooted in the lack of some technological solution. And they get to work on a fix." Continue reading →

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Dental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments [2012]

"Isaac Gagnon stepped off the school bus sobbing last October and opened his mouth to show his mother where it hurt. A dentist’s statement in his backpack showed he had received two pulpotomies, or baby root canals, along with the crowns and 10 X-rays -- all while he was at school. 'I was absolutely horrified,' said Gagnon.'I never gave them permission to drill into my son’s mouth. They did it for profit.' [Dental management-services companies like ReachOut] have been riding a boom in Medicaid outlays on dentistry, which rose 63 percent to $7.4 billion between 2007 and 2010, outstripping the 4.9 percent growth in other dental spending." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments [2012]

Why You Should Take Your “Health” Into Your Own Hands

"Cost-shifting takes place in the form of two insidious scams, patiently described to us by Dr. G. Keith Smith, an Oklahoma City MD who’s doing his level best to undermine the practice. The first scam is called 'uncompensated care.' The second scam involves the insurance scheme known as preferred provider organizations, and is called 'PPO re-pricing.' What is the actual cost of that '$100,000' procedure? About $7,000-8,000. For everything. Including the facility, surgeon and anesthesia charges. That’s what Smith would charge you at his outpatient surgery center in Oklahoma City… a lone outpost of 'price transparency' within U.S. borders." Continue reading →

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