How Social Media Changed the Games for China

There is a common misconception among those who invest, rather than trade, in stocks that only companies who are profitable are worth buying. Sure, for a long term buy and hold strategy a company that performs the most basic function of a corporation and makes money is preferable, but from a trading perspective it is

Apple (AAPL) Finally Realized Just How Important Messaging Is
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote was definitely not short on details, with updates coming for watchOS, tvOS, OS X (since renamed macOS) and iOS 10. But as Apple ( AAPL ) begins to realize the power of its services, the biggest announcement of the keynote is Apple has finally embraced iMessage as a

Investing in Video Games: This Industry Pulls In More Revenue Than Movies, Music
The video game industry has undergone significant changes from the early days of Atari. It now covers multiple sectors and generates more revenue than the movie and music industry. Last year total revenue in the U.S. eclipsed $23.5 billion, jumping 5% from a year earlier. A big part of that increase is due to a

Hillary Clinton's Victory Speech Gives Me An Investing Idea
As torturous as it can be to watch political speeches, there are times when doing so is actually quite informative. Watching Hillary Clinton’s speech on Tuesday, for example, when she was celebrating becoming the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for the Presidential election this fall left me with one

U.S. Election Puts $1,000 Bitcoin Within Reach
In my now bi-weekly look at Bitcoin I tend to focus on the news rather than the price. Bitcoin is a long-term challenge to banking and even money as we know it, and I have felt that progress in terms of recognition and understanding is more important than the vagaries of the market. The price can take care of

8 Technologies Revolutionizing the Advisor Space
By Carolyn Rose Kick 1. Marketing: PreciseFP Financial Personalities PreciseFP’s  Financial Personalities  is changing the way prospects interact with your website. This software allows you to install a link to a financial personality quiz on your website. Your website visitors can take the self-discovery quiz

Norway Set To Ban Fossil Fuel Cars In 2025
Tiny oil rich Norway might be the last country one would expect to give a huge boost to Tesla ( TSLA ), yet it appears that the wealthy Nordic nation is poised to make a dramatic change that could be the start of a trend. Norwegian legislators are reportedly preparing to ban or at a minimum significantly reduce the

Ninjas Wanted: How Technology is Changing Amusement Parks
Amusement parks are big business. For proof, witness the major publicly traded corporations behind them including The Walt Disney Co. ( DIS ), Comcast Corp. ( CMCSA ), Six Flags ( SIX ), SeaWorld ( SEAS ) and others. Amusement park customers are as finicky as they come. Newer, bigger, better, faster and more

This Gas Station-Based TV Network Boasts 70 Million Viewers Per Month
GSTV’s slogan is “Driving Consumers.” Make that 70 million consumers. Per month. Over the course of a week, according to GSTV CEO and co-founder, David Leider, GSTV already has more viewers than 99% of all programming on television.  “We’re growing very rapidly,” says Leider, “and soon we’ll reach as many people

A Tech Upgrade Helped Me Speak The Language Of My Ultra Wealthy Clients
By Chris Cecil All too often, those of us in the wealth management space get stuck describing clients’ wealth in terms that we think make perfect sense, but that they don’t understand. It’s an easy habit to fall into. Portfolios that are straightforward to us often seem complex to them. It’s not easy to explain

Self-Driving Trucks Could Revolutionize The Industry
This truck could be self-driving before long. Shutterstock photo While there is a lot of buzz around self-driving cars, interestingly, the economic and operational incentives in the adoption of autonomous technology could have a much bigger impact on the trucking industry. And this may drive trucks to become

The Five Most Useful Properties of Bitcoin
Bitcoin has received plenty of hype as the money of the future over the past few years, but what are the properties of this digital asset that set it apart from everything else on the market? What are the features of Bitcoin that get people to use it in the first place? Blockstream President Adam Back attempted to

Cameron Winklevoss on Bitcoin's Price Volatility: No Reward Without Risk
One of the main criticisms of Bitcoin as a currency has been price volatility. While most people are attracted to the low costs and quick settlement offered by the blockchain, those same individuals do not like the idea of holding on to an asset that has sometimes lost large chunks of value within short periods of

After Secondary Offering, Is Tesla (TSLA) Still A Buy?
Recently news broke that Tesla ( TSLA ) would be having a secondary offering of their stock in order to fund the development of the Model 3 car. Tesla’s Model 3 car seems to be geared towards the general person; priced at $35,000, substantially lower than its previous iterations. Tesla’s website notes these vehicles

Can GoPro (GPRO) Turn Things Around?
GoPro. Shutterstock photo The journey of GoPro, Inc. ( GPRO ) stock has been quite dramatic. The company made its debut in June 2014 by selling shares for $24, and was trading three times its IPO price over the subsequent months. Shares ended 2014 with a 178% gain. However, 2015 turned nightmarish for its

Bitcoin: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
As increasing numbers of companies, both old and new, take the blockchain concept behind Bitcoin and adapt it to other uses, it’s easy to lose sight of something pretty basic: Bitcoin was not created as just an operating system, but as an actual currency that could be used to execute transactions. The distributed

U.S. Postal Service Considering Using Blockchain Technology
U.S. Postal Service fleet. Shutterstock photo The blockchain has a new endorser and it’s the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). At its core, blockchain technology offers a way to transfer and permanently store information in a tamper-proof, cost-efficient, fast, cryptographically secure yet transparent manner. The

Why Venture Capitalists Are Flocking to Blockchain Startups
Although some venture capitalists, such as Andreessen Horowitz cofounder Marc Andreessen and Union Square Ventures cofounder Fred Wilson, have been interested in Bitcoin for some years now, the latest trend in the industry is to focus on the blockchain technology that underlies the peer-to-peer digital cash system.

How Unit Economics Can Place Value On Tech Startups
You have probably heard that there is a growing problem in Silicon Valley. Startups are being valued too high, stay private for too long and have soaring burn rates. But one thing continues to be overlooked; unit economics. It is a basic concept that looks at the direct revenues and costs associated with a particular

More Banks Turn to Biometrics to Keep an Eye on Security
Are you a technophile who likes signing in to your banking app with a fingerprint? Or does it make you cringe? Get ready for more, because banks are now capturing not just fingerprints but scans of your voice, eye and face. Biometrics provide a layer of security beyond passwords, which are looking increasingly

Amazon (AMZN): Where Amazon Is Growing Next
The share prices of Amazon.com Inc. ( AMZN ) are up 250% over the past five-years, 65% year-on-year and 10% year-to-date. While it sounds like a smooth ride, the journey in the stock markets is never without bumps; the stock has been through ups and downs (an opportunity for investors) over this time period. During

Six Benefits of Taking Payments in Bitcoin
In 2016, Bitcoin merchant adoption slowed as a percentage of overall growth, while consumer adoption sped up, marking the coming year as one of noteworthy momentum driven in part by consumer demand for alternative payment options. Meanwhile, venture capital is pumping at record rates into Bitcoin and blockchain

What Apple's Investment in Didi Means For Investors
Traders and investors naturally spend most of their time dealing with reality. Yes, some degree of forecasting the future is called for, but rarely do those involved in financial markets embark on flights of pure fancy. That, however, is exactly what I have been doing since I heard about Apple ( AAPL )’s $1 billion

Elon Musk's Hyperloop Inches Forward With First Successful Test
Imagine a fossil-fuel independent world where those who don’t want to give up their road autonomy drive electric cars, while those who need to get from A to B as fast as possible whoosh at close to 1,000 mph in aerodynamic pods hidden behind air-free tunnels. No planes, no gas-guzzlers, no trains, just clean air,

Thoughts on Google Surpassing Apple to Become the World's Largest Company
Yesterday, after four years or so as the most valuable company in the world, Apple ( AAPL ) was surpassed by Google’s parent company Alphabet ( GOOG : GOOGL ). As the comparative chart below shows, this is as a result of a year of each stock moving in a different direction. In the last 12 months, AAPL has dropped

Top 10 Myths About Bitcoin
Although Bitcoin has been around for more than seven years now, there are still plenty of myths about this technology percolating among the general public and the mainstream press. Bitcoin is sometimes a difficult subject to grasp because it requires a basic understanding of many different areas of study such as