The World Bank’s annual Doing Business survey has been described by some as the “World Cup” or “Olympics” for governments competing to make their countries attractive to businesses. The ranking measures how easy it is to do business in a country by examining regulatory environments and is enormously influential: it has inspired more than 3,500 reforms across 190 economies; in 2017-18 alone, 128 economies undertook a record 314 reforms.
While this attention to policy responsiveness is admirable, a key element is missing from rankings such as Doing Business: they say little about the ease or difficulty of doing digital business. We aim to close this gap with the first analysis of the Ease of Doing Digital Business in 42 countries around the world. We picked these countries because they constitute the most significant markets for digital businesses worldwide and offer a consistent set of data across a wide range of indicators. We find that digital business environments require distinctive policy focuses and investments. Our evaluation is intended as a complement to that of the World Bank; it provides decision-makers a basis to compare countries not only in terms of “traditional” business-friendliness but also in terms of factors affecting setting up digital businesses.
While all businesses have elements of digital technology built into them, we define “digital businesses” as ones that have a digital platform as core to its business model. We analyzed four essential digital platforms: ecommerce platforms (e.g. Amazon, eBay); digital media platforms (e.g. YouTube, Netflix); sharing economy platforms (e.g. Uber, Airbnb); and online freelance platforms (e.g. Upwork, Toptal).
See more at Harvard Business Review.
President Trump displayed an outdated and falsely altered National Hurricane Center forecast map on Wednesday during a public briefing on Hurricane Dorian’s threat to the Carolinas over the next two days.
The map, showing a six-day-old forecast, was altered with a black marker to make it appear that the agency’s official forecast included parts of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida that were not included in the actual forecast. The alteration was an apparent attempt to bolster the president’s incorrect assertion last weekend that Alabama could feel the effects of the hurricane as it moved up the southeast coast.
The map the president displayed in the Oval Office shows the National Hurricane Center’s forecast for Hurricane Dorian at 11:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 29, a long-outdated forecast that doesn’t reflect the threat posed to the southeastern coast this week.
See more at Forbes.
The Jeffrey Epstein saga has a “John Doe” now.
An anonymous man on Tuesday urged a New York judge to permanently keep secret many of the remaining sealed documents in a defamation lawsuit filed by one of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, against the late money manager’s confidante, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
See more at Bloomberg.
How do you communicate when the government censors the internet? With a peer-to-peer mesh broadcasting network that doesn’t use the internet.
That’s exactly what Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters are doing now, thanks to San Fransisco startup Bridgefy’s Bluetooth-based messaging app. The protesters can communicate with each other — and the public — using no persistent managed network.
And it’s led to swift growth for Bridgefy: downloads are up almost 4,000% over the past 60 days, according to Apptopia estimates (Apptopia is an app metrics company).
The app can connect people via standard Bluetooth across an entire city, thanks to a mesh network. Chatting is speediest with people who are close, of course, within a hundred meters (330 feet), but you can also chat with people who are farther away. Your messages will simply “hop” via other Bridgefy users’ phones until they find your intended target.
See more at Forbes.
- Pentagon research to sift 250,000 news items in initial phase
- Fears grow about viral political memes polarizing society
Fake news and social media posts are such a threat to U.S. security that the Defense Department is launching a project to repel “large-scale, automated disinformation attacks,” as the top Republican in Congress blocks efforts to protect the integrity of elections.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants custom software that can unearth fakes hidden among more than 500,000 stories, photos, video and audio clips. If successful, the system after four years of trials may expand to detect malicious intent and prevent viral fake news from polarizing society.
See more at Bloomberg.
The blockchain technology has been enjoying great strides of progress in terms of mass adaptation., thanks to the big tech companies and financial institutions starting to focus significant resources to develop the blockchain technology for the public.
Omega Prime Group, a fintech startup based in London, is also helping push the technology for the public. Seeing the great potential on the emerging decentralized economy, the company started building infrastructures to harness the blockchain. As a part of their efforts to expand their operations, they acquired Hashtechz, a software development company focused on building trading bots that uses data-driven AI.
Their mission is to offer low risk investments with the potential for high returns. Since their public launch, the members of their platform has been getting an average of 20% in returns on investment month after month according to their monthly financial reports.
Recently, Omega Prime Group has presented their technological portfolio at a financial tech conference held in Jeju Island, Korea. The conference was attended by over 600 investors keen to take part on the growing blockchain technology opportunities.
Justin Hale, CEO of the Omega Prime Group who conducted the presentation said, ” Given the current wave of disruption, decentralized finance lies at the core of our investment thesis. Critically, we believe that by leveraging advances in AI and the proliferation of structured data, we can position ourselves as a powerhouse at the center of the De-Fi revolution. By doing so we can enable our stakeholders to profit immensely in the coming shift towards a decentralized economy.”
For more info on Omega Prime Group company and Hashtechz, visit their website and check this article.
Travelers were left stranded at Hong Kong’s international airport after protesters disrupted transport to and from the facility, blocked roads and vandalized train stations.
Queues of people sat on their suitcases in the airport terminal building and others walked down the highway pushing luggage, with no buses or taxis to be seen. Riot police dispersed the crowds of protesters, some of whom had earlier damaged offices and equipment at train stations on the airport route.
See more at Bloomberg.
- Treasury chief discusses long-term debt in Bloomberg interview
- Yield on 30-year Treasuries dropped to record low on Wednesday
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said issuing ultra-long U.S. bonds is “under very serious consideration” in the Trump administration, possibly setting up a move that would mark a historic revamp of the $16 trillion Treasuries market.
“If the conditions are right, then I would anticipate we’ll take advantage of long-term borrowing and execute on that,” Mnuchin said Wednesday in a Bloomberg interview in Washington. He said officials held a meeting earlier in the day to review the possibility.
See more at Bloomberg.
American Airlines says it will fly the Boeing 787 from Philadelphia to both international and domestic destinations starting in January.
The aircraft, nicknamed the Dreamliner and applauded for its bigger windows, quieter flights, improved cabin air circulation and lighter weight, will serve international routes from Philadelphia to Amsterdam, Zurich and Manchester as well as two domestic routes: Philadelphia-Chicago and Philadelphia-Dallas.
American laid out its new Philadelphia 787 destinations on Wednesday in a letter to pilots from J.C. Gulbranson, vice president of operations and crew performance.
The new flights are just the start of a 787 buildup in Philadelphia which will require the establishment of a 787-crew base in the city, Gulbranson wrote.
“PHL will continue to see an increase in Boeing 787 flying long term,” he wrote. “To support this network growth, we will open a pilot bid position for Boeing 787s in PHL in January 2020.”
Until that base is fully staffed, some of the flights will be flown by 787 pilots based on Dallas and Chicago, he said.
See more at Forbes.
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