October, 2016

• 9 October

  Clinton’s lead doesn’t depend on a debate

  

    General-election debates rarely cause major changes in voters’ choices. That’s what political scientists believe for the most part. Yet after the first presidential debate, on Sept. 26, Hillary Clinton moved back into a strong lead over Donald Trump. Indeed, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecasts, her chances of winning bottomed out on that very day (at 55 percent), and have ...

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• 9 October

  Mixed US jobs report won’t be Fed tiebreaker

  There had been hope the U.S. jobs report for September released on Friday would show faster wage growth and a rising labor participation rate. It had both, though the data was otherwise mixed. After the disappointing drop for August, wage growth picked up to an annualized rate of 2.6 percent in September. Along with an increase in the number of ...

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• 9 October

  Protectionism calls for global coordination

    The world is in the grip of surging protectionism. The anti-free trade and anti-globalization sentiments are taking deep roots. Populism is swaying the masses. The odds seem to be conspiring against an already fragile economic growth. International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of “low growth trap” in the next few years. Despite warnings and calls to stop the tide of ...

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• 9 October

  Garden, like Obamacare, will prove hard to uproot

  

    Michelle Obama has spent a long time building a “kitchen garden” for the White House, intended as an example to the nation of local eating and healthy food. Now that she’s leaving the White House, she doesn’t want to see it wither away. Politico reports: Obama on Wednesday afternoon will formally unveil a much bigger version of the garden ...

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• 9 October

  Meal-delivery startups show that tech is disrupted

  

    Blue Apron, the leading meal-delivery startup, pitches itself as “disruptive tech,” but a recent BuzzFeed article shows that the tech is what’s being disrupted. This company is at the mercy of physical-world constraints just like the brick-and-mortar businesses it’s competing with. As tech looks to muscle its way into more parts of the economy, this may become a theme. ...

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• 9 October

  Maybe companies aren’t so focused on the short term

  

    Tyler Cowen Hillary Clinton thinks U.S. corporations live for the short-term, obsessing over the next quarterly earnings statement to the neglect of their longer-run prospects. That’s a common criticism and the evidence to support it includes testimonials by corporate chief executives, a variety of corporate scandals and high and rising corporate discount rates on future cash flows. Still, it’s ...

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• 9 October

  Tech giants race for edge in artificial intelligence

  

    AFP Major technology firms are racing to infuse smartphones and other internet-linked devices with software smarts that help them think like people. The effort is seen as an evolution in computing that allows users to interact with machines in natural conversation style, telling devices to tend to tasks such as ordering goods, checking traffic, making restaurant reservations or searching ...

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• 9 October

  LG brings streamlined payment option to smart TVs

  

    Emirates Business LG and Paymentwall will give developers the opportunity to create apps that enable LG webOS Smart TVs in over 200 countries to support more than 140 different payment methods. This partnership will give consumers easier access to paid apps, movies, games and much more through LG’s intuitive webOS Smart TV platform. By expanding the number of markets ...

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• 9 October

  Stagnation in store for global PC, tablet and mobile phone sales

  

    Relaxnews Gartner forecasts global sales of just under two billion mobile phones each year until 2018. On the whole, the research institute estimates flatlining sales of smartphones, tablets and even PCs in the coming years. In 2016, total sales of such devices are expected to fall by around 3% to an equivalent 2.329 billion unit sales, comprising 265 million ...

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• 9 October

  Hide LinkedIn job hunt from your employer

    Relaxnews LinkedIn has just made it easier for disgruntled employees to put themselves on the market without their current employer finding out. The professional networking site is launching a new feature called “Open Candidate” which allows members to privately signal to recruiters that they’re open to new job opportunities. Users can specify the types of companies and roles they’re ...

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