All Eyes on Big Tech Earnings: Here’s What to Expect – Yahoo Finance

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The coronavirus pandemic might have slammed the broader market in the June quarter but tech isnt expected to have seen much effect on earnings.

For the sector, second-quarter earnings are expected to be down 10.9% on 0.3% lower revenues. But thats far better compared to the overall earnings picture. This is because total earnings for S&P 500 companies are projected to decline 42.9% on 9.6% lower revenues (read more: The Technology Sector Shows its Earnings Power Amid Coronavirus).

Thus, investors are now keeping an eye on four big tech companies in terms of market capitalization that are slated to report their June-quarter earnings on Jul 30, after the closing bell. Apple Inc. AAPL, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL and Facebook, Inc. FB worth nearly $5 trillion are mostly expected to come up with encouraging earnings results.

The big four are expected to have benefitted from the coronavirus-led shutdown measures as some of their businesses gained immensely from consumers, mostly working and learning from home. At the same time, these companies have been gaining immensely from secular trends like cloud computing and robust telecommunications infrastructure demand for which skyrocketed amid the health crisis.

The big four tech stocks along with Microsoft Corporation MSFT have in fact returned 49% over the past year, whereas the rest of the companies in the S&P 500 cohort have barely moved. Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at Credit Suisse, noted that net margins of the big four and Microsoft taken together are 17.3% on average in the trailing 12 months, which is 70% higher than the rest of the S&P 500 companies. And profits of the five stocks were up 3.1% in the same period against a 9.2% decline for the other S&P 500 companies.

But if financial results for the to-be-reported quarter fall short of expectations, it could cause big market gyrations in after-hour trading and again on Jul 31. After all, their sheer size no doubt will have a big impact on the market and could easily decide whether the bourses will continue to hit new highs. Nevertheless, Golub has calmed investors concerns by saying that these companies have strong cash positions and their higher margins should certainly help them post better results in periods of market stress. Let us, thus, take a look at how they will fare this time around

One of the areas of Apples business that investors expect to have shone in the June quarter is the services segment. It has always been Apples most lucrative segment in terms of gross profit, and investors anticipate lockdown measures and social-distancing norms in the quarter to have fuelled rapid growth in the segment that includes the App Store and Apple Pay.

But Apples fortunes are heavily dependent on iPhone sales. And the companys fiscal third-quarter iPhone sales are believed to have remained muted due to sluggish demand in China. Thus, Apples sales are expected at $51.94 billion, indicating a year-over-year decline of 3.5%. Earnings per share are also likely to come in at $2.03, suggesting a 6.9% decline year over year. Traditionally, Apples third-quarter fiscal results are always the weakest. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.72%. Per our proven model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 increases the chances of an earnings beat. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

With majority of retail stores remaining closed in the June quarter, online sales picked up lockdown and social-distancing measures. Whats more, financial relief packages by the government and an uptick in employment rates increased disposable income in the quarter, something that boosted online sales.

Separately, Amazons focus on cloud computing might have improved the e-commerce giants financial results. This is because as majority of people remotely worked during the quarter ending June 2020, most companies had to move a bulk portion of their workloads to the cloud. The Zacks Rank #3 company currently has an Earnings ESP of +107.82%.

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The pandemic helped Facebook increase user engagement with its several social media platforms as people had to stay at home amid stringent lockdown measures imposed to curtail the spread of the deadly virus.

Therefore, Facebook is widely expected to have seen a surge in the usage of its services like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp in the second quarter.

Thus, the companys expected revenues for the June quarter is $17.29 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 2.4%. Similarly, the company expects earnings per share of $1.44, indicating a 58.2% increase from the same period last year. Whats more, the Zacks Rank #3 company has an Earnings ESP of +4.86%.

The numbers werent encouraging for Alphabet in the first quarter. But three months later, Alphabets shares went up nearly 21%. So, what happened? This is because the stay-at-home economy in the second quarter buoyed Alphabets YouTube and Cloud services that provided home-based access to the outside world.

However, Alphabet had to bear significant costs in providing cloud services. Needless to say, rising litigations across the world due to its dominant position in search also remained a headwind in the June quarter. As a result, the Zacks Rank #3 company currently has an Earnings ESP of -1.12%.

Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.

Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>

Click to get this free report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

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Sen. Hawley introduces bill to remove Big Tech’s Section 230 ad immunity – Fox Business

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FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr argues there is a growing and bipartisan consensus to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which is in the spotlight after Google allegedly targeted conservative websites ZeroHedge and the Federalist.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Tuesday introduced a bill that would remove Section 230 protections for Big Tech companies that "display manipulative, behavioral ads or provide data to be used for them."

Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act ensures internet platforms and social media websites are not held liable for content published by third-party users, which includeadvertisers.

"Big Techs manipulative advertising regime comes with a massive hidden price tag for consumers while providing almost no return to anyone but themselves," Hawley said in a Tuesday statement. "From privacy violations to harming children to suppression of speech, the ramifications are very real."

He added that the manipulative ads seen on social media and other platforms "are not what Congress had in mind when passing Section 230, and now is the time to put a stop to this abuse."

SHOULD SECTION 230 BE REVISED?

One example when a website used Section 230 to defend its role in publishing problematic ads to its platform is a 2015 lawsuit brought against Backpage owner Village Voice Media Holdings.The suit titled J.S. v. Village Voice alleges that Backpage.com posted advertisements that resulted in the sexual abuse of three underaged girls.

"J.S. allegedly was raped multiple times by adult customers who responded to the advertisements. J.S. filed a complaint alleging state law claims for damages against Backpage ... asserting claims for negligence, outrage, sexual exploitation of children, ratification/vicarious liability, unjust enrichment" and more, the case opinion from a Washington state courtreads.

WHAT IF SECTION 230 IS REVOKED?

Backpage tried to dismiss claims in thetrial court on the grounds of Section 230 immunity,but the court denied the move, giving the plaintiffs an opportunity to prove that Backpage helped develop the ads and was therefore subject to liability. The plaintiffs reached a settlement with Backpage.com in October 2017.

A person working on a laptop in North Andover, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

Hawley, a staunch critic of Big Tech and social media companies, also accused tech giants,in a press release announcing the proposed legislation,like Facebook and Google of tracking users without their consent for the purpose of profiting off ads

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Section 230 has sparked debate recently along party lines; some Democrats believe the law offers unjust protections to platforms that allow third-party users, including President Trump, to post problematic or harmful content, while some Republicans argue that the law protects social media companies that they allege actively seek to suppress certain political viewpoints or users.

Hawley, for example, introduced another Section 230-related bill in June that would require internet platforms to "submit to an external audit that proves by clear and convincing evidence that their algorithms and content-removal practices are politically neutral," according to a release.

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Stop with the egg metaphor in discussing Big Tech break-ups | TheHill – The Hill

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As the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google prepare forhistorictestimony today in front of the House antitrust committee and withlegal chargesexpected soon I have a request: Before we dismiss the possibility of breaking them up, can we please stop comparing the worlds most powerful companies to eggs?

The current Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission stated that after Facebook and Instagram have integrated their systems following their merger, splitting up the two social networks becomes more difficult because the eggs are scrambled. The U.S. Department of Justice antitrust chief under President Obama made a similar observation that it can be very difficult, or impossible, to unscramble the eggs. Over decades, references to this breakfast plate have repeatedly appeared in official speeches, scholarly articles, and judicial rulings.

The metaphor is misguided. Businesses routinely break themselves up. More than3,000 voluntary divestitures occur each year, amounting to abouta third of all mergers and acquisitions. Many are enormous. Not that long ago, Hewlett-Packard split itselfdown the middle to createtwo independent Fortune 100 companies. Last year Fox sold its movie business to Disney for$71 billion.

In other words, while most in the government and academia see breakups as radical and extreme, leading business executives see them as astandard part of corporate governance. I know because I have advised executives at several of the nations largest companies on massive reorganizations. If we must analogize monopolies to eggs, at the very least we should recognize that while nobody unscrambles eggs, we regularly carve up omelets after theyre prepared.

This seemingly harmless metaphor expresses a potentially devastating worldview that helps explain why the government has not broken up any of the largest U.S. companies since 1984. Thats when the Department of Justicesplit the AT&T monopoly into seven pieces, a move widely celebrated especially byconsumers who were paying over eight dollars for a five-minute call from Washington, D.C. to New York.

Today, however, even many leadingleft-leaning intellectualscalling for more aggressive antitrust enforcement opposesplitting up Big Tech due to breakups perceived messiness. They prefer other remedies, like mandating access. Access mandates leave the monopoly in place but require it to help competitors. For instance, rather than forcing Facebook to divest its previous acquisition, Instagram, the social network could be required to allow users to transfer their accounts or post simultaneously to other social networks.

One clear problem with this and other alternative remedies is that theyare unlikely to deter anticompetitive behavior. At trial,companies almost always fight for something other than breakups. Weaker remedies give CEOs incentives to build monopolies. Equally problematic is that these other remedies are extremely difficult and expensive. For example, requiring Amazon to share its platform fairly with competitors would require ongoing monitoring by the government over decades to ensure compliance.

In contrast, breakups are cleaner and cheaper because they provide a one-off event after which the government can move on. By instead pushing antitrust toward government-heavy remedies, the resistance to breakups leaves antitrust with only unattractive options. Unattractive remedies mean enforcers are less likely to take any action.

In other words, the animosity toward breakups has enfeebled the very institution of antitrust in America.

Of course, while breakups of Facebook and Instagram or Google and Waze may make sense, there are limits to how much some of these tech companies can be carved up without harming consumers. And antitrust breakups involve considerable costs in executing the reorganization. As a result, some caution is appropriate in choosing them as the remedy, and access mandates have a place in the antitrust arsenal. It would be a mistake to launch into an indiscriminate breakup rampage of all concentrated industries.

In weighing those costs, however, authorities should recognize that even private divestitures require tremendous organizational expenses. The key in both public and private breakups is not to let the inevitable reorganization costs prevent economic progress. In 1911, John D. Rockefellers lawyers argued that breaking up his oil monopoly would not only be dangerous to the industry, but calamitous to shareholders. Similar arguments were made before theAT&T breakup.

ButRockefellers wealth skyrocketed after the Standard Oil breakup, and AT&T shareholders who held onto their stock earnedhigh returns. Thats because buyers of broken up monopolies pay for the carved-up pieces. And smaller,nimbler companies can better adapt to changing markets. More importantly, nobody can deny thatthose U.S. industries subsequently flourished and led the world.

A better antitrust analogy would be to firefighting.The Forest Serviceregularly manages controlled burns, which prevent catastrophic wildfires and enable ecosystems to thrive. Occasional breakups that have costs in the short-term can help make markets healthier in the long run. The harms to our economy from large monopolies are far more certain than the speculative fears of messy breakups.

Rory Van Loo is a professor at Boston University and the author, most recently, ofIn Defense of Breakups: Administering a Radical Remedy. He previously advised multinational corporate executives on mergers and acquisitions. Follow him on Twitter @RoryVanLoo

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Big Tech antitrust hearing could be colossal or mere theater – Roll Call

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This hearing is timely and important, said Maurice Stucke, a former prosecutor in the Justice Departments antitrust division who now teaches law at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Its taking place not in isolation, but amid increased scrutiny of the dominant technology platforms from around the world.

Stucke believes the hearing is happening at a critical juncture, when authorities are beginning to grapple with the sweeping market power amassed by a handful of digital platforms, only to realize that current antitrust laws are inadequate and in need of change.

All four companies appearing at Wednesdays hearing are the targets of ongoing antitrust investigations by the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission or bipartisan coalitions of state attorneys general.

The emerging consensus is that first, antitrust scrutiny is a necessary but not sufficient component to address the multiple risks that these powerful platforms pose; second, the antitrust laws need to be updated; and third, we need to go beyond antitrust to a regulatory framework that addresses the risks posed to consumer protection and privacy, Stucke said.

But there are others who see the antitrust scrutiny of major technology companies as misplaced. Geoffrey Manne, president of the International Center for Law and Economics, which advocates limited antitrust regulation of digital platforms, is skeptical of using antitrust enforcement to rein in or break up the companies, as some have suggested doing.

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Top antitrust Democrat opens hearing by comparing big tech firms to past monopolies | TheHill – The Hill

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Rep. David CicillineDavid Nicola CicillineHillicon Valley: House panel grills tech CEOs during much anticipated antitrust hearing | TikTok to make code public as it pushes back against 'misinformation' | House Intel panel expands access to foreign disinformation evidence Five takeaways as panel grills tech CEOs Cicilline grills Zuckerberg on coronavirus misinformation: This is 'about Facebook's business model' MORE (D-R.I.), the chairman of a panel hearing testimony Wednesday from CEOs of four of the nation's largest tech companies, compared Americas biggest tech companies to historic monopolies such as AT&T and Microsoft during his opening statement.

"When the American people confronted monopolists in the past be it the railroads and oil tycoons or AT&T and Microsoft we took action to ensure no private corporation controls our economy or our democracy, he said.

Cicilline, who has led the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust's yearlong investigation into tech companies, also described the biggest platforms asemperors of the online economy.

He argued that the power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google haslimited consumer choice and stunted innovation.

And while these dominant firms may still produce some new innovative products, their dominance is killing the small businesses, manufacturing and overall dynamism that are the engines of the American economy, he said, pre-empting a likely defense from the executives.

Cicilline also noted that the coronavirus pandemic has intensified reliance on tech companies, which have seen their market values swell while the rest of the economy has suffered.

He also outlined some of the competition issues that link the companies, which some experts say should have testified separately because of the unique antitrust cases against them.

First, each platform is a bottleneck for a key channel of distribution, he said. "Second, each platform uses its control over digital infrastructure to surveil other companies their growth, business activity and whether they might pose a competitive threat.

Third, he continued, these platforms abuse their control over current technologies to extend their power. Whether its through self-preferencing, predatory pricing, or requiring users to buy additional products, the dominant platforms have wielded their power in destructive, harmful ways in order to expand.

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Top antitrust Democrat opens hearing by comparing big tech firms to past monopolies | TheHill - The Hill

Big 5 Tech Stocks Have Trounced the Market. So Have Their Fundamentals. – Barron’s

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With four of the five largest companies on the market set to report earnings on Thursday, and technology stocks lagging behind the market on several days over the past two weeks, you have likely read plenty about how Big Tech stocks are driving the market in 2020.

You may have heard comparisons made to the 2000 technology bubble, and dire predictions about how the current run-up in tech stocks will end just as badly for investors.

The combined market capitalization of Alphabet (ticker: GOOGL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and Microsoft (MSFT) is 22% of the S&P 500. Thats a lot. In fact, it is more than the 18% share that the five most-valuable companies commanded at the tech bubble peak in March 2000. Back then, Microsoft, Cisco (CSCO), General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC), and Exxon Mobil (XOM) were the top dogs by market cap.

And just like in 2000, the five Big Tech stocks have trounced the market over the past year. They are up 49% on average, while the rest of the S&P 500 is about flat. Thats a big gap.

So it must be a bubble right? No so fast. Credit Suisse chief U.S. equity strategist Jonathan Golub said in a report on Monday that the comparisons to the tech bubbleand predictions of a coming crasharent justified by a comparison of the companies fundamentals. The top five stocks today make up a larger share of S&P 500 earningswith faster relative projected growththan they did in March 2000. And they trade for a cheaper valuation multiple than the top five did back then, too.

While a nearly 50% performance advantage over 12 months is obviously significant, about three-quarters of that outperformance can be explained by superior earnings. Earnings drive stock prices in the long run, after all.

The comparison to the tech bubble peak falls apart more on the fundamentals as well, according to Golub. In March 2000, the top five stocks in the S&P 500 posted earnings and sales growth of 18.0% and 16.8%, respectively, over the preceding 12 months. That compared with 15.4% and 12.1%, respectively, for the other 495 S&P 500 companies. The big five of 2000 were ahead for sure, but not by leaps and bounds.

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Every weekday evening we highlight the consequential market news of the day and explain what's likely to matter tomorrow.

Today, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft are sitting on 3.1% earnings growth over the past four reported quarters, while the remainder of the S&P 500 have seen earnings contract by 9.2%. The revenue gap is also wide: 11.2% growth for Big Tech and just 0.8% for the rest.

Andsignificant in times of market stress and volatility like the current environmentthe biggest five companies today have net cash positions on their balance sheets and much wider profit margins than the rest of the S&P 500 and the big five of 2000. That means they can withstand shocks much better, and justifies premium valuations and performance in a down market.

For Golub, that means the big can continue getting bigger.

The conclusion seems quite clear, todays larger names are superior on almost every financial metric including revenue and profit growth, margin structure, volatility, and corporate leverage, Golub wrote on Monday. As such, we wouldnt be surprised to see the performance gap widen even further.

Write to Nicholas Jasinski at nicholas.jasinski@barrons.com

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Big 5 Tech Stocks Have Trounced the Market. So Have Their Fundamentals. - Barron's

Biased Big Tech algorithms limit our lives and choices. Stop the online discrimination. – USA TODAY

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Marta L. Tellado, Opinion contributor Published 3:15 a.m. ET July 29, 2020

We would never tolerate age, sex or race discrimination at a grocery store or car lot, but we have allowed it to run rampant in the digital world.

The leaders of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have some serious explaining to do about bias and discrimination when they appear Wednesday at an antitrust hearingbefore the House Judiciary Committee.

The abuse of trust by the platform-based companies we rely on most has largely flown under the radar as a global pandemic heightens and highlights fissures in our society.But our data and our choices continue to be manipulated in problematic ways often by algorithms that subtly introduce bias into the prices we pay and the information and options made available to us. It is essential that we hold our digital gatekeepers accountable.

The algorithms at issue have a veritable fire hose of our data at their disposal,and they arent the neutral equations we might assume them to be. They are the product of humans, and because of that they have a tendency to perpetuate human biases.

To cite just three examples:

In 2017, Consumer Reports and ProPublica discovered that drivers living in predominantly minority urban neighborhoods were charged higher auto insurance premiums on average than drivers with similar safety records in nonminority neighborhoods with comparable levels of risk.

In 2018, software created by Amazon to help companies identify the most promising job candidates was discovered to be biased against women, according to Reuters. The algorithm had learned to spot "good" rsums on a diet of examples heavily skewed toward males.

Apples new credit card came under investigation in November, after a customer complained that its lending algorithm offered him a line of credit 20 times higher than it offered his wife even though hercredit score was better than his.

We would never tolerate that sort of blatant discrimination if it happened at a neighborhood grocery store or a car lot, but we have quietly allowed it run rampant in the digital marketplace without oversight or accountability.

A smartphone screen with GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) apps on September 28, 2017, in Hd-Bazouges, France.(Photo: Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images)

A follow-up joint investigation recently conducted by Consumer Reports and The Markup revealed how better data can alter the power relationship between company and consumer. The latest example of how algorithms, however unintentionally, negatively affect our lives and our pocketbooks: Allstate, the fourth largest auto insurer in the country, proposed big premium hikes exclusively for customers whoits formulas concluded were less likely than others to shop around.

In targeting what the investigation concluded was a suckers list of drivers deemed by an algorithm to be less likely to switch providers, Allstate used factors that have nothing to do with consumers driving records and their risk for filing a claim.In this case, it was middle-ageconsumers who ended up being discriminated against for no reason other than their shopping tendencies. The result was they wereovercharged quite a bit more for the same coverage.

Tech fail:He was arrested because of a computer error. Now he wants to fix the system.

Facial recognition algorithms used in police departments have been found to misidentify African American and Asian faces up to 100 times as often as Caucasian faces, leading to false arrests and baseless confrontations.

Boston is among the municipalities that have recently taken steps to prevent facial recognition technology from being used by city agencies, including the police. Amazon has imposed a one-year suspension on the sale of its Rekognition software to law enforcement.

Progress has been made on this front in part because of efforts byJoy Buolamwini, a computer scientist and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, and others to call attention to the very real potential harms of this technology.

In the years ahead, algorithms are poised to influence an ever larger share of what we pay, receive, see, learn and decide between from the cost of goods and services to the headlines and search results that do and do not make it into our personal feeds.As their influence rises, the question becomes more critical: How can we guard against algorithmic biases and hold our tech giants accountable for maintaining fairness in the digital marketplace?

So far, we havent pursued policies to ensure that fairness,or even transparency for that matter. We havent created avenues of recourse for consumers who get the short end of the stick. Wealso know that industry thus far cant be counted on to self-regulate in many cases, they arent even aware that potential discrimination is going on until after journalists or customers happen to unravel it.Too often, the watchdogs arent watching closely enough.

Failure to enforce: Despite COVID-19 pandemic, tech giants still profit from anti-vaccination movement

The good news is that consumers hold tremendous power to set us on a better path. By wielding our collective influence, we can press for policymakers to enact new laws and standards to bring fairness and transparency to the hidden world of algorithms. Companies should not be permitted to use "proxy" data, like users' ZIPcodes or credit scores, in algorithms where it isn't relevant these are data points that frequently lead to discriminatory outputs. And we need vigorous oversight and enforcement of laws that prohibit bias.

As the CEOs of the most powerful tech companies take questions, we must get answers on platform accountability and plans to limit discrimination. Many biases may still be hardwired in our society, but that doesnt mean we have to sit idly by as they replicate themselves in the digital economy. It is within our power and, indeed, it is our responsibility to ensure that the digital world evolves in the direction of greater fairness and greater trust.

Marta L. Tellado is the president and chief executive officer of Consumer Reports. Follow her on Twitter: @MLTellado

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Biased Big Tech algorithms limit our lives and choices. Stop the online discrimination. - USA TODAY

Vergecast: Big Tech antitrust hearing preview and the Xbox Games Showcase breakdown – The Verge

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This week on The Vergecast, The Verges Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, Makena Kelly, and Casey Newton join a Zoom call to discuss the upcoming big congressional antitrust Zoom call featuring CEOs from Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

Though the hearing is likely to be postponed (that news came after this episode was recorded), the discussion is still relevant. Signaling a big move to regulate Silicon Valley, the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee will talk to Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai about their potential monopoly powers in the digital marketplace and social media. The Vergecast crew discusses what to expect at the event, the likelihood of legislation as a result of the hearing, and how various investigations factor into the future of Big Tech regulation.

Also, in the middle of the show, games editor Andrew Webster and reporter Megan Farokhmanesh stop by to give us a brief breakdown of what was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase from the new Halo game to the growing significance of Microsofts Xbox Game Pass subscription model.

Theres a whole lot more in between all of that like some of the weeks latest gadget rumors so listen through here or in your preferred podcast player to hear it all.

Stories from this week:

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Big tech antitrust probe report from Congress likely by early fall – Reuters

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A much-anticipated deep dive into antitrust allegations against four of Americas largest tech companies and recommendations on how to tame their market power could be released by late summer or early fall from the House of Representatives Judiciary Committees antitrust panel, senior committee aides said.

FILE PHOTO: The logos of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are seen in a combination photo from Reuters files. REUTERS

The committee has received 1.3 million documents from the companies so far, they said in a call with reporters on Thursday.

The panel will question the CEOs of Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Google parent Alphabet Inc and Apple Inc as part of its investigation into whether the companies business practices hurt smaller rivals. The hearing was supposed to be held on July 27 but has been delayed.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that the chief executives will defend themselves by saying their companies face intense competition and by pushing back against claims they are dominant.

All four companies will testify voluntarily and no subpoenas have been issued, the committee aides said.

In May, Representative David Cicilline, chair of the Judiciary Committees antitrust panel, had demanded Jeff Bezos testify and threatened Amazon with a subpoena, after reports surfaced Amazon employees tapped data from small sellers in the companys marketplace to make decisions about the online retailer launching its own competing products, despite telling lawmakers it did not engage in such practices.

Addressing questions about the format of the high-profile hearing, the aides said, there will be a single panel with all four CEOs attending virtually. Members of the subcommittee led by Cicilline, however, will attend either in person or online.

The number of rounds of questioning is up to the discretion of the chair, said one committee aide.

Asked if the hearing would uncover new information, a senior aide said that despite the risk of companies not always answering questions fully it was important to hear from decision makers.

This is not like a normal oversight hearing, where we hear from the CEOs and move on.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington, Editing by Chris Sanders and David Gregorio

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KULR Technology Receives US Patent Covering Risk Minimization of Fires and Explosions in Lithium-Ion Battery Packs – I-Connect007

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KULR Technology Group, Inc., announces that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded it a patent on itsThermal Runaway Shield (TRS) a passive propagation resistant solution designed and successfully tested to reduce the hazardous risks associated with thermal runaway in lithium-ion battery packs. This is the second patent the Company has been granted on its TRS technology.

The Companys TRS is a sleeve-like shield that surrounds and separates individual cells in multi-cell packs and contains carbon fiber core and liquid coolant. The unique combination and configuration of the shield passively draws intense heat of cell failures away from nearby cells while dousing the failed area in a cooling and fire-prevention liquid. The TRS product is used byNASA to transport to and store batteries aboard the International Space Station.

Securing this patent is a substantial leap forward in our research and development of products that make batteries safer, said Dr. Timothy Knowles, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of KULR. We are very pleased with the development of our patent portfolio. This new issuance expands the breadth and depth of our battery safety technology covering catastrophic battery failures.

In a comprehensive analystreportby Litchfield Hills Research last month, the firm estimated that KULR technology has an addressable market of $8 billion. The analyst further expounds: Both the growth of electric-motor based transportation and demand for increased safety of lithium-ion batteries are key drivers for KULR, continuing, KULR has what we believe to be better and lighter materials for thermal management.

Battery safety is a global concern across many large and rapidly growing markets such as electric vehicles, battery storage, 5G infrastructure, and space exploration. said Michael Mo, CEO of KULR. We continue to work with government agencies, regulators and commercial customers across the world to deploy our technology.

The patent, issued as #10727462, was awarded on July 28th, 2020.

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KULR Technology Receives US Patent Covering Risk Minimization of Fires and Explosions in Lithium-Ion Battery Packs - I-Connect007

‘Bartlow’s Dread Machine’ (ALL) Available On Steam Early Access – Trailer – WorthPlaying.com

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Set entirely within the confines of this titular relic from the dawn of the Electric Age, Bartlows Dread Machine casts one to two players as government agents in a series of escapades through New York, San Francisco, and all across the continent as they seek to rescue the kidnapped President Roosevelt from the forces of evil. But beware, sinister forces are at work!

Bound to the clockwork gizmos running this contraption, agents are mere metal figurines roving around on rails. But these arent any ordinary tin toys as they have free rein on how to navigate these forking networks of tracks. Think Pac-Man if he were made of metal, wore a cool peacoat, and was packing some serious heat! Sets made of wood and tin unfold around you in real-time as you navigate this immersive puppet show. Encounter a cast of improbable monsters and historical characters as you traverse the high seas and beyond using trains, ships and even a newfangled automobile!

Your journey begins in New York City with the discovery that President Teddy Roosevelt has been abducted by anarcho-satanists of the worst kind. Track his kidnappers across the Great Plains to the Pacific coast in today's Early Access release, which contains the first three of six chapters. About once a month the game will be updated to include levels set at sea, deep in the Panamanian jungle, and finally in Washington D.C. as you close in on the culprit to save America from certain doom.

Bartlow's Dread Machine is available through Steam Early Access for $14.99 USD and supports English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

The final game features a wealth of content with 6 worlds, a host of guns, and all manner of outfits to deck out your clockwork agent. Unlock unique spins on historical characters, like Zombie General Custer and Annie Oakley. Plus the drop-in / drop-out couch co-op contains per-player difficulty, allowing each player to set the challenge level to their preference.

As much as we love video games, were also admirers of old analogue tech, particularly the clockwork precision of early 20th century arcade games, so we wanted to combine the rinky-dink charm of these rustic cabinets with the smooth gameplay of contemporary titles, said Matthew Hoseterey Co-Founder and Director of Design of Tribetoy. Bartlow's Dread Machine transports us back to this wild time at the dawn of the Electric Age, when technology and entertainment were evolving so fast that the world quickly became almost unrecognizable. Plus everyone wore snazzy hats back then, which is always a plus!

Bartlow's Dread Machine will launch on Xbox One and PC (Steam) in Fall 2020.

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'Bartlow's Dread Machine' (ALL) Available On Steam Early Access - Trailer - WorthPlaying.com

Revaluing the Oceans – Architecture – E-Flux

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The oceans throughout history provided seemingly inexhaustible fish for people brave and skillful enough to exploit them. Whenever fish catches declined, fishers would sail farther and farther from home to meet their needs.1 Nowadays the entire global ocean is accessible. Large factory ships and the magic of refrigeration have allowed fishers to venture out for months or years, and more efficient and diverse ways of fishing have increased catches with little care or understanding about the incremental reduction of fish stocks.2 Before the middle of the twentieth century, no one but a few scientists worried about how long the bounty could last, until suddenly, everything began to collapse. Mini wars over fishing rights between Iceland and the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, along with increasingly protective measures by other nations, led to the unilateral establishment of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) to keep foreign fishers away, the legitimacy of which were formally recognized in 1982 under the auspices of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea. Yet even still, as in Newfoundland, fisheries kept collapsing, with tragic consequences for entire communities.

The great majority of fisheries data come from coastal ecosystems including estuaries, marsh and mangrove wetlands, seagrass meadows, kelp forests, and coral reefs. In spite of great differences in their inhabitants, the dominant predators in each of these environments were historically large animals, including some combination of killer whales, sharks, seals, crocodiles, predatory fishes like tunas and sharks, and seabirds.3 Nowadays, however, most of these animals are so severely depleted as to be ecologically extinct. Humans have taken their place as the dominant predators at almost all trophic levels above the zooplankton.4 There is even a major fishery for krill in Antarctica, which are critically important for the survival of whales, without the necessary ecological data for an adequate stock assessment to know what is sustainable.5

Biomass of groundfish and sharks has been diminished by an order of magnitude in the northwest Atlantic.6 Similar depredations have affected coral reefs, kelp forests, estuaries and coastal seas, and the high seas.7 Many fisheries biologists originally claimed that the depletions of fish stocks were overstated, but a detailed assessment by the US National Research Council strongly supported the original claims.8 It is now generally accepted that two-thirds of global fisheries are overfished and getting worse, while many of the remaining, better-managed fisheries are not yet sufficiently recovered to be economically viable.9

Global fish catches are declining in spite of increased capacity supported by misguided government subsidies that only accentuate the problem.10 The greatest losses are for large-scale industrial fisheries, whereas artisanal catches appear to be more sustainable. Risks of biological extinction are also increasing for large animals.11 Caribbean Monk seals have already been lost, and their Hawaiian and Mediterranean counterparts are gravely threatened.12 Killer whales are rapidly diminishing globally, especially those species that depend on highly specific overfished prey like salmon.13 Caribbean sea turtles have declined in abundance 100-fold, and Caribbean crocodiles are threatened to endangered throughout most of their range.14 Sharks are globally threatened with losses of numerous species exceeding 90% or more.15

The oceans have long been the terminal point for our garbage, excrement, and chemicals. Coastal pollution most obviously began in the stench of estuaries like New York Harbor, which by the nineteenth century had become serious hazards to human health.16 Soon afterwards, entire semi-enclosed seas like the Baltic and Adriatic seas, Chesapeake Bay, and embayments of the Mississippi Delta were so polluted by excess nutrients and organic matter that oxygen levels declined, and fish kills were commonplace.17 More recently, the industrial pollution of toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels have extended to the farthest reaches of the oceans and the atmosphere, poisoning tuna and swordfish with mercury and littering the oceans with plastic.18

There are currently more than 500 coastal hypoxic dead zones worldwide that are largely due to massive increases in nutrient runoff from intensive agriculture made possible by cheap nitrogen fertilizer manufactured from petroleum.19 Excess nitrogen runoff fuels population explosions of phytoplankton far beyond the capacity of zooplankton and other suspension feeders to consume them. As a result, the excess phytoplankton die and sink to the seafloor where they are metabolized by microbes, a process that consumes most or all of the oxygen in bottom waters. Animals including fisheries species that cannot swim away die from asphyxia, except for a very few species that can survive in extremely low oxygen conditions.

The structural integrity of coastal marine habitats, from the tropics to the temperate zone, is dependent on the abundance of a small number of structurally dominant species of mangroves, saltmarshes, seagrasses, kelps, and reef corals that stabilize sediments and provide critical shoreline protection from storms.20 They are also important sites of carbon deposition and sequestration, and are important nursery habitats for fisheries.21 Coastal development and climate change effectively kills the environment, reducing biological structural stability and complexity. Global losses have been alarming, reaching 50% for mangroves and 30% for seagrasses.22 Global declines in living coral cover on reefs is also highly variable but commonly exceeds 50% throughout the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific.23

Other increasingly widespread forms of anthropogenic habitat change are more immediately destructive in reducing habitat complexity and biodiversity.24 The most damaging include dynamite fishing on coral reefs to harvest the fish that float to the surface; seabed trawling for shrimp, scallops, and groundfish that transforms biodiverse underwater forests into depauperate level bottoms of mud; and deep seafloor mining that, if it is allowed to proceed, will inevitably destroy seafloor ecosystems for decades and possibly centuries.25 Container ship traffic is also increasing almost exponentially and carries the double risk of fatal collisions with endangered whales and sound pollution that is dangerous for all cetaceans.26 Seismic oil and gas exploration causes even more severe sound pollution that can cause mass mortalities of whales and dolphins.27

Introductions of exotic species are also increasing due to expanding ship traffic, which discharge ever-increasing volumes of ballast water that contain larval stages of invertebrates, fishes, plankton, and pathogens.28 While the data are mostly circumstantial, the first mass mortality of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum occurred next to the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal, and the first widespread outbreaks of coral diseases in the Caribbean were recorded from nearby Colombia and adjacent Netherlands Antilles.29 Coral diseases are exacerbated by global warming, but these first Caribbean disease outbreaks occurred two decades before the first reports of coral bleaching due to extreme warming events.30 Introductions also occur due to deliberate or accidental release from aquaria, as with the Indo-Pacific lionfish that has devasted native fish populations of the Caribbean.31

Farmed salmon bones preserved in a laboratory in collaboration with palaeontologists at the University of Bergen, Norway. Michelle-Marie Letelier,Outline for The Bonding (Still #3), 2017. 16mm film transferred to HD. Image courtesy of the artist.

Impacts of climate change due to the burning of fossil fuels are also both direct and indirect, including rising average temperatures, extreme heating events, declining oxygen, ocean acidification, disease outbreaks, and intensification of extreme storms.32 Sea surface temperatures are rising globally, but disproportionately, with the greatest increases in polar seas and semi-enclosed basins in the temperate zones, such as the Gulf of Maine. The latitudinal limits of myriad species are rapidly increasing in response, as in the case of the Humboldt squid, whose northern limit shifted from southern California to the Gulf of Alaska in just a few decades due to a combination of climate change and overfishing that reduced the abundance of predators.33 Most species range shifts are more gradual but pervasive, with great implications for fisheries.34 For example, optimal conditions for Atlantic and Barents Sea cod are moving northward out of traditional fishing grounds and into different international jurisdictions, further exacerbating the consequences of historical overfishing.35 Tropical reef corals are also migrating towards higher latitudes, most strikingly along the southwest coast of Australia, where kelp forests are dying off and being replaced by subtropical species including reef corals.36

As oceans continue to warm, species characteristic of colder polar conditions have nowhere else to migrate and are at risk of extinction. Arctic species and entire ecosystems are increasingly threated by the loss of summer sea ice.37 Populations of polar bears, which historically fed on seals captured at breathing holes, are plummeting, and starving bears are showing up around human settlements where they forage on garbage and potentially whatever else.38 Other effects on polar food webs are still poorly understood, but the collapse of Antarctic krill, for example, would have grave impacts on the baleen whales that feed upon them.39

Global warming is also causing increases in the magnitude and frequency of extreme heating events wherein sea surface temperatures may rise 2 to 3C above normal maxima in just a few months.40 Consequences for reef corals can be catastrophic.41 Healthy reef corals exist in symbiosis with the dinoflagellates within their tissues that are critical to coral nutrition and calcification.42 Extreme heat breaks down this symbiosis, whereby corals evict the symbiont (which leaves them ghostly white, hence bleached). This is commonly fatal to the corals unless symbiosis is reestablished within a matter of weeks. Mass bleaching events are increasingly frequent and severe, raising questions about the very survival of coral reefs. The most recent extreme example was in 20152016 when most corals along the northern Great Barrier Reef bleached and died, and similar mass bleaching and mortality occurred across the Pacific.43 Another example is the enormous blob of hot water that appeared in the northeast Pacific in 2014 that was associated with collapses in species abundance and outbreaks of diseases.44

Climate change also sets off a cascading series of indirect effects that magnify its impact. The impact of coral diseases has greatly increased, especially in connection with mass bleaching events.45 Outbreaks of coral diseases are especially impactful on polluted reefs and those where overfishing has resulted in population explosions of fleshy algae, which have been shown experimentally to increase the vulnerability of corals to disease.46 In contrast, disease outbreaks are comparatively rare on unpolluted reefs in marine protected areas with abundant grazing fishes. Lobsters along the northeast coast of North America are also more vulnerable to shell wasting disease as waters warm, effectively wiping out the fishery in Long Island Sound.47

Oxygen concentrations are declining in the open ocean because warming surface waters makes them lighter, which in turn slows down the vertical mixing of the oceans; a runaway process that decreases the rate of oxygen transport to the deep sea and upwelling of nutrients to the sea surface.48 The process is especially striking in the equatorial Pacific, and in the Arctic ocean where the cover of summer sea ice is rapidly decreasing.49 Sea ice is highly reflective, dispersing heat back into the atmosphere, whereas seawater absorbs heat and sets up a positive feedback that is effectively irreversible. Reduced nutrient upwelling and declining oxygen are strongly associated with decreases in open ocean productivity, which is the basis for high seas fisheries.50

The ocean is also becoming more acidic. Solution in seawater of increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide has resulted in a global reduction in ocean pH of 0.1 units over the past century.51 The biologic consequences of acidification are still poorly understood and controversial, but could affect the reproduction, physiology, growth, and development of a wide variety of plants and animals. The most obvious impacts are on organisms that form their skeletons of calcium carbonate, which is more easily dissolved under more acidic conditions. This is already affecting shellfish aquaculture industries in the state of Washington, where pH has been steadily declining.52 Aquaculturists have been forced to raise vulnerable juvenile clams and oysters under less acidic conditions in aquaria on land before placing them in the ocean.53 Reef corals are also vulnerable to increasing acidity. Corals grown under present-day more acidic conditions grew 15% more slowly than corals where pH was maintained at historically less acidic conditions.54

Bird watchers were pioneers in the early rise of the conservation movement, with organizations such as the Audubon Society fighting to stop the slaughter of herons and egrets for womens hats.55 Similarly, its not just important for tourism that increasing numbers of people pay good money to see whales up close in the wild and increasingly to SCUBA dive with sharks.56 Besides the thrill of witnessing their power and grace, whale and shark watchers learn about the lives and behavior of these animals and how they fit into ocean ecosystems which, in turn, leads to increased support for their protection.

Horror at the slaughter of whales was a major factor in the establishment of the International Whaling Commission in 1946 which, despite persistent opposition from a few countries, has resulted in dramatic recoveries of most whale species.57 In addition to the ethical issues inherent in the mass slaughter of such animals, we now know that the great whales were once (and increasingly are now again) vitally important ecosystem engineers, as predators of massive amounts of fish and invertebrates, prey for other large predators, highly mobile reservoirs of carbon and nutrients, and as carcasses, sources of energy and habitat in the deep sea.58

Similar public concerns about the loss of other marine mammals were a driving factor in the enactment of the United States Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, which prohibits the killing, harm, harassment, or collection of any marine mammal in US territorial waters or by US citizens anywhere else. It also forbids the importation of any marine mammal products or parts. Populations of most marine mammals have varyingly recovered, although their comparative success is strongly associated with their life histories, habitat requirements, and geographic range.59 The depletion of essential forage fish due to overfishing also inhibits their recovery.60 One obvious manifestation of success is the greatly increased abundance of seals along the east and west coasts of the US, where their activities and real or perceived impacts on fisheries are not always welcome. Their rebound has also led to increases in great white sharks near shore, restoring a degree of balance to marine food webs while generating new questions about perceived risks to humans and potential impacts on endangered species.61

Increased tourist revenues have also led to the banning of shark fishing on coral reefs by entire nations because the sharks are vastly more lucrative alive than dead. Economic analysis for the government of Palau demonstrated that diver tourism provides 39% of the countrys total GDP, and that 21% of divers come principally to dive with sharks. The approximately 100 sharks in prime shark dive sites are each worth about US$180,000 per year in tourist revenue, or US$1.9 million during their lifetimes, versus about $110 for their fins and meat.62 Shark diving is a burgeoning global industry that is not without its environmental concerns, although if it is done responsibly, the net conservation value appears to be generally positive.63

New studies of the remarkable behavior and migrations of ocean species are also increasing public support for increased protections.64 The electronic tagging of thousands of individuals of different species of Pacific whales, seabirds, seaturtles, tunas and other large fish, and sharks has revealed striking transoceanic migrations of some species versus others that move much smaller distances.65 Bluefin tuna, for example, move back and forth across the Atlantic and Pacific, hanging out for up to a year or more in the same general location before moving on.66 In contrast, eastern Pacific great white sharks move back and forth between the California coast where they feed on burgeoning seal populations and an area of deep ocean halfway between Baja California and Hawaii dubbed the White Shark Caf, where they feed on vertically migrating fishes and invertebrates.67 Over 200 of these sharks have been tagged and followed for up to twenty years.68

Wild salmon eggs at Arna Sport Fishermens Association, Norway. Michelle-Marie Letelier,Outline for The Bonding (Still #5), 2017. 16mm film transferred to HD. Image courtesy of the artist.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an increasingly popular and effective conservation strategy for biodiversity and habitat protection when effectively financed, administered, and enforced.69 Unprotected paper parks, however, can do more harm than good by lulling people into thinking everything is fine when it is not.70 MPAs are also controversial from the perspective of fisheries management, with some arguing that MPAs are the most effective tool available versus those who believe that other management tools such as catch shares and gear restrictions are more effective in most cases than simple area closures.71

Cabo Pulmo in the southern Sea of Cortez is one of the most spectacular success stories of an effectively enforced MPA.72 Although it was severely overfished at the time, Cabo Pulmo was designated as a Mexican marine national park in 1995 on the basis of its coral populations. Protections did not become effective until local villagers self-organized to enforce the entire park as a no-take area in the late 1990s. Fish biomass was less than one metric ton per hectare in 1999, comparable to other unprotected areas or paper parks throughout the Gulf of California. Subsequent to the villagers protection, biomass increased over the following ten protected years to about 4.5 metric tons, while all other areas failed to increase. Biomass and diversity have fluctuated since 2009, in large part due to the community evolving towards a more natural composition that includes greater populations of schooling fishes as well as more abundant corals. The greatest potential threat to Cabo Pulmo is its notorious success, which attracts burgeoning numbers of tourists and development.

A network of nine well enforced no-take MPAs and two partial-take MPAs was established around four of the northern Channel Islands off the coast of California in 2003 and revisited ten years later.73 The biomass of preferred fisheries species approximately doubled within MPAs at three of the four islands, but non-targeted species showed little response. The biomass of targeted species outside the reserves also increased by about one quarter, possibly because of a spillover effect. Similar results were obtained the Cowcod Conservation Areas established in the southern Channel Islands in 2001, where abundances of six of eight targeted species and four of seven non-targeted rockfish species increased regionally from 1998 to 2013.74 Rising temperatures during the study are a complicating factor. Nevertheless, 75% of targeted species but none of the non-targeted species increased inside compared to outside of the MPAs while controlling for environmental factors.

The establishment of very large marine protected areas within exclusive economic zones has increased the area of ocean within MPAs to only 3.5%, about half of which are under strong protection.75 Meanwhile, most ocean ecosystems are hemorrhaging, as major fishing fleets continue to expand their global operations.76 This may be changing, however, as the international community finally begins to seriously consider international governance of the high seas defined as areas beyond national jurisdictions. The first major achievement in this was the agreement to establish the worlds largest marine protected area by the twenty-five-national-member Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.77 The agreement protects all wildlife and bans fishing for overfished krill and Patagonian and Antarctic Toothfish in 600,000 square miles in the Ross Sea for thirty-five years. Much more will have to be done, however, to preserve populations around Antarctica where these species are threatened by overfishing and rapid climate change and have ripple effects on the marine mammals and penguins that depend upon them.

The scientific case for closing the high seas to fisheries is strong. Nearly 98% of global seafood production comes from the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of individual nations and aquaculture. What does come from the high seas is mostly luxury species such as tuna and billfishes, yet their commercial value is even less.78 Moreover, most high seas fisheries are heavily dependent on government subsidies by a small number of wealthy countries that can afford the enormous costs.79 Closure of the high seas to fishing would therefore have great economic and social benefits in addition to environmental protections of fish stocks and the long-distance migration routes of marine megafauna.80 Most compellingly, the overwhelming majority of high seas fishery species are also major components of fisheries within national EEZs, which means that closure of the high seas to fishing would produce a vast MPA where commercially important species could prosper, reproduce, and spill over into EEZs whose potential catches would increase.81 Further advantages would include simplification of policing the rampant problem of pirate fishing and transfers at sea.82

While commonly overshadowed by bad news, concerted actions to reduce pollution and protect keystone species have resulted in many recoveries of marine populations and ecosystems.83 The installation of modern sewage systems and the reduction in nutrient runoff have varyingly improved water quality, reduced excess planktonic productivity and toxic algal blooms, and restored seagrass meadows, salt marshes, and fisheries in estuaries around the world.84 These efforts demonstrate that even greater progress could be achieved in stabilizing coastal ecosystems if adequate measures are taken to eliminate or greatly reduce pollutant runoff, and most importantly agricultural nutrients.85 Serious efforts to do so have not yet materialized, however, because farmers dont have to pay for what they pollute. There is also a problem of scale in semi-enclosed seas like the Baltic because nutrient buildups in sediments are already so great that simply reducing nutrient runoff may not suffice.

Banning the use of fish pots around Bermuda in 1990, where fish populations had collapsed due to overfishing, resulted in rapid rebounding of fish populations dominated by schools of large parrotfish.86 Since then, abundances have remained high except for the large predatory fish that remain overfished. Coral populations also have steadily increased due to the control of algal populations by the abundant parrotfish. Caribbean coral reefs are generally extremely overfished, but the few places where both fishing and pollution are effectively controlled uniquely support high coral abundance.

Detail of farmed salmon scales, Norway. Michelle-Marie Letelier,Outline for The Bonding (Still #2), 2017. 16mm film transferred to HD. Image courtesy of the artist.

Despite important accomplishments, comprehensive policies are lacking to address the unsustainability of the modern economy that is driving ecosystem collapses and threatening human wellbeing.87 Nature is a complex system, and much of that system as we knew it is irreversibly breaking down.88 Environmental perturbations in one place almost inevitably have repercussions down the line, be it agricultural pollution in the US cornbelt causing the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico or the effects of runoff and overfishing on outbreaks of disease affecting reef corals. Huge energy and investment in projects to restore populations of corals in Florida and on the Great Barrier Reef are making much progress in terms of the technical details of raising, breeding, and growing corals, but they are also absurdly expensive and small scale, not to mention that putting the corals back into the same nutrient polluted environments and expecting them to somehow survive is folly. More fundamentally, they are bandaids to address the symptoms of ocean decline rather than addressing the fundamental root causes of the ocean crisis: global warming, overfishing, and land-based pollution.89

The most encouraging development towards adapting to and managing these realities is that large scale efforts to decarbonize the global economy are beginning to gain traction despite political intransigence, not least because, in addition to its obvious advantages for human health and the environment, green energy is financially a better option than heavily subsidized fossil fuels.90 California, the fifth largest global economy, is committed to be carbon neutral by 2045 and is well on track, and electric cars are becoming a more practical alternative to gasoline and diesel. The outstanding question is how rapidly opposition can be overcome to speed things up and take actions on the appropriate scales.

This paper is adapted from a presentation at the University of Utah submitted to Island Press. The author is grateful to Jennifer Jacquet for her helpful review of the manuscript.

Oceans in Transformation is a collaboration between TBA21Academy and e-flux Architecture within the context of the eponymous exhibition at Ocean Space in Venice by Territorial Agency and its manifestation on Ocean Archive.

Jeremy Jackson is Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution and Professor of Oceanography Emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

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Revaluing the Oceans - Architecture - E-Flux

How to find Ashen Lords in Sea of Thieves Ashen Winds update – Gamepur

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Captain Flameheart has unleashed his Ashen Lords against players inSea of Thieves.These fire-wielding generals are dangerous opponents, and taking them down is no easy challenge. You can find the Ashen Lords by searching the high seas for them and looking to the skies to see a large, red tornado circling the middle of an island.

It wont be challenging to find where one of the several Ashen Lords is being summoned. When you look to the skies and search the horizon, you should see where the ritual is happening by the massive tornado lifting up from the middle of an island. The large islands include:

The Ashen Winds event is a rotating world event that can occur on any of the large islands inSea of Thieves.You may need to wander the seas to find any of them. When you do encounter the world event and enter the eye of the storm, you have to fight one of the four Ashen Lords: Captain Grimm, Old Horatio, Red Ruth, or Warden Chi. Each of them has different abilities you need to be careful about, but they reward you an Ashen Lords skull for defeating them.

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How to find Ashen Lords in Sea of Thieves Ashen Winds update - Gamepur

Sea of Thieves Adds Auto Float Accessibility Option To Help Players With Underwater Phobias – GameSpot

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Sea of Thieves has a new feature that should help players who fear the dark depths of the ocean. Earlier this month, Rare added an auto float feature that doesn't let the player sink below the surface.

"Should you leap off a high ledge or a cannonball forces you out of the crow's nest and into the deep blue, this option will automatically see you bob to the surface," the studio wrote in a post on its official site. Players can activate the feature by going to the settings menu and turning "Automatically Float in Water" on.

This option could help players with thalassophobia--which includes the fear of being in deep bodies of water, fear of the vast emptiness of the sea, of sea waves, sea creatures, and fear of distance from land--as well as other similar phobias.

Other studios have implemented accessibility features that help players with phobias play more easily. Obsidian implemented a new type of arachnophobia mode in its sandbox survival adventure Grounded. It lets players adjust how many legs, eyes, and other spider-like features the giant creepy crawlies have in-game.

Rare has added all sorts of new features and content to Sea of Thieves since it launched in 2018. GameSpot's Michael Rougeau broke down how much the game has improved in his updated review of Sea of Thieves.

"Since the game's launch over two years ago, Rare has worked continuously to build on Sea of Thieves' strong framework, and the countless features and systems they've added have all enhanced that core, undeniable truth. They still have work to do, and for some players, it will never be enough. But there are open seas and clear skies ahead. For the current and future Pirate Legends out there--and even for the players who will never reach that level, but simply want to make some of their own tall tales out on the unforgiving waves--Sea of Thieves is finally a voyage worth embarking on."

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Sea of Thieves Adds Auto Float Accessibility Option To Help Players With Underwater Phobias - GameSpot

The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in Portland This Weekend: July 30-Aug 2, 2020 – The Portland Mercury

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In a normal year, this is the part of summer movie season where titles start to dry up, blockbusters start to lumber away from screens, and film fans start taking risks on sleepers and lesser-known flicks. But 2020 is not a normal year, and summer movie season basically doesn't exist. But that doesn't mean we're about to suffer any appreciable lack of filmed entertainment to enjoy. On the contrary, there's drive-in delights, new discs (that's right! Physical media is still around!), and because it's a new month, that means a ton of new (and old) titles are coming to streaming platforms. Oh yeah, all that and Beyonc, too. Here's our guide to the best Things to Watch this weekend!

Want to stay in the loop? Follow Mercury EverOut on Facebook to get the latest updates about things to do in Portland.

Ghostbusters and The Karate KidPull up in your car, turn up your speakers, and let the 99w Drive-In fill your windshield with their latest throwback double-feature, a one-two-punch (or kick, if you will) of mid-'80s blockbuster phenomena. The night starts with the sci-fi/thriller/workplace comedy Ghostbusters, which began life as a weird Dan Aykroyd fever-dream and wound up a barely-contained nuclear bomb of one-liners memorized by 40-year-old-men everywhere, and finishes with a satisfying foot straight to the face courtesy of Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-San in The Karate Kid. It's a cruel summer, indeed, but this makes it feel a little better.99w Drive-In

50 First DatesIf you don't mind the drive south (more opportunities to memorize the Hamilton soundtrack on the way, really), you can visit Silverton's Oregon Garden and take in this Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore... classic? Is that the right word for it? Remember that weird period of time about 20 years ago where Sandler and Barrymore were almost as big as Hanks and Ryan when it came to romantic comedies? Well now you don't have to remember! You can witness it firsthand on the Garden's big screen!The Oregon Gardens

GreaseYou could head east, if you wish, and find an oasis of drive-in magic in The Dalles, where the Sunshine Mill has hung one really big screen on the side of their parking lot and turned it into a theater, one which will be screening the "How in the hell did this become family-friendly-entertainment" blockbuster musical Grease, which is really kind of a sleazy and gross story about greaser assholes constantly mistreating the women who have the bad luck to hove into the cone of their horny gaze. But the music is still great, the dance numbers still pop, and seeing a bunch of late 20-somethings pretend to be teenagers is always amusing! This is your chance to watch John Travolta get his dick slammed in a car door at the drive-in, at the drive-in! Life was not meant for wasting such opportunities!Sunshine Mill

The Man from Hong Kong w/ Live Commentary from Brian Trenchard-Smith and the Hollywood Theatre's Dan HalstedAre you missing the Hollywood Theatre? Of course you are, you're a sane, rational human being who loves independent cinema and the sort of care in presentation that Dan Halsted and the Hollywood staff provides. Especially when they schedule gonzo kung fu classics like they regularly do. This stream is a great opportunity to capture some of that magic in your living room as Dan teams up with director Brian Trenchard-Smith to watch and discuss 1975's The Man from Hong Kong, starring Jimmy Wang Yu as a "master crime fighter" called in by the Australian cops to stop a massive drug-smuggling ring led by former Bond (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) George Lazenby. Mustafa Shaikh, co-founder of 36 Chambers, will moderate the screening.Hollywood Theatre

Gremlins: A Puppet StoryLegendary effects specialist (or special effects legend? Either/or) Chris Walas leads this behind-the-scenes journey made especially for Hollywood Theatre viewers, walking the audience through how Gremlins got made, and featuring very rare photos and video from his own personal archive.Hollywood Theatre

John Lewis: Good TroubleThe late civil rights activist and Georgia congressman John Lewis fought for voting rights, gun control, healthcare reform, and immigration over the course of his long career. Using archival footage and interviews from his late years, Dawn Porter's documentary explores Lewis's childhood, his 1957 meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., and his lasting legacy on the social justice movements of the present.Cinema 21

Lucky GrandmaIn this crime caper set in New York's Chinatown, a recently widowed 80-year-old woman follows a fortune teller's advice and heads to the nearest casino to win some big bucks. But things don't go so great, as they often don't at casinos. When two gambling gangsters show up at her door and start demanding money, she and her newly acquired bodyguard do what must be done: kick ass for the duration of the film.Clinton Street Theater

2020 Sundance Film Festival Shorts TourSundance presents this virtual tour highlighting six short films accepted to the fest for 2020. Previous years featured new shorts from up-and-coming talents like Wes Anderson, Spike Lee, Lake Bell, Todd Haynes, and Taika Waititi. What household name will be discovered this year?Hollywood Theatre

Wonder Woman: The Complete CollectionSometimes revisiting your nostalgic past is an exercise you shouldn't indulge. In fact, it's safe to say that's the case most times. Which makes our culture's predilection towards subsisting solely on nostalgia a weird choice. ANYWAY: This box-set collecting all three seasons of the Lynda Carter-starring Wonder Woman TV series that ran from 1975 to 1979 is definitely worth indulging, because its camp delights have only gotten better and more worthy of appreciation in the decades since. Boy, superheroes used to be fun, didn't they?

The Outsider: The Complete First SeasonSo, the guy who wrote Lush Life and worked on The Wire (Richard Price) decided he wanted to take a crack at adapting Stephen King, and went about it in a really interesting way: He completely rewrote one of King's most popular characters (Holly Gibney), cast Cynthia Erivo to play her, and then stuck Holly in the middle of a supernatural possession story filled with people who are operating as if it's a regular ol' crime procedural instead of a freaky little campfire tale. Yes, this is also streaming on HBO Max, but if you really want to appreciate the cinematography and direction on display (which is stunning every episode), this blu-ray collection is the only way to go.

SpartacusSpeaking of appreciating cinematography: Stanley Kubrick's widescreen epic Spartacus comes to 4K UHD for the first time, and is easily the best the film has ever looked short of being one of the very few people who saw it opening night back in 1960. If you have a UHD player and a 4K display prepare to see Kirk Douglas' oiled, phenomenal chest like you've never seen it before. Oh, that and it's also one of the last legitimately great Hollywood swords-and-sandals blockbusters before Hollywood imploded and filmmakers like Kubrick, Ashby, Peckinpah, and Altman began really changing the game.

HUMP! Greatest Hits - Volume 1Have you just watched your first HUMP! and are now in a post-coital glow, wondering just what the hell the past festivals must have looked like? Well GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE: After getting permission from filmmakers to bring their films online, we're bringing you several volumes of our (and audience) favorites from 2005-2018. Get ready for HUMP! Greatest Hits! You will see films that shock you, that make you laugh, that turn you on, and ou will also be touched by the sincerity and vulnerability with which these films are lovingly made. HUMP!'s main mission is to change the way America sees-and makes and shares-porn.Portland Mercury

Black is KingDo any other words beyond "A Film by Beyonc" need to be written in order to prompt folks to make the most of that Disney+ subscription this weekend? The question isn't "Will this rule all pop-culture discussion for the next week." The question is probably "Will this break every record that Hamilton only just set last month?"Disney+

SummerlandIFC Films continues to bring the indie goods to VOD, this week premiering Summerland, Olivier Award-winning director Jessica Swale's debut film, set during World War II, about a reclusive English writer (Gemma Arterton) who ends up becoming an adoptive mother to a boy who escaped the London bombings, while also finding herself falling in love with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, like, you know, everyone does when they're around Gugu Mbatha-Raw.VOD

Fast ColorHey, while we're talking about Gugu Mbatha-Raw: A whole bunch of people completely slept on the superhero movie she made last year with writer/director Julia Hart. It's been streaming on Hulu for a little bit now, and the less you know about how it's a superhero story, or what this superhero story is actually about, the better. Just hit play, open yourself to this slow-burn of a drama, and remember to tell your friends about it next time they start in on whether Thor 2 is better than X-Men 8 or whatever.Hulu

I'll Be Gone in the DarkThis weekend sees the finale of HBO's new documentary series, based on the late Michelle McNamara's true-crime book about her life, and her fixation on figuring out the Golden State Killer's identity and bringing him to justice. Directed by Liz Garbus, and using interviews, archival footage, and police files, all narrated using original recordings of McNamara and actor Amy Ryan reading from her book, the series alternates between examining the effect this hunt had on McNamara, and the effect the Killer himself had on California communities in the '70s and '80s.HBO Max

InceptionCelebrate this movie's 10th birthday (it's been a decade since it came out? Damn.) by giving it a spin now that it's been added to Amazon Prime. Inception's surreal, jarring visuals are nothing short of breathtaking; when paired with Nolan's gorgeous, visceral soundscapes (BRAMMMMM), they're riveting to discover and impossible to forget.Amazon Prime Video

Being John MalkovichIt took writer Charlie Kaufman about a decade to get this movie off the ground due to the necessity of having Malkovich in a central role. Malkovich loved the script. He even wanted to produce it, but he wouldn't be in it. Kaufman refused to make the film with anyone else, and Malkovich eventually came around to the idea that a film about an unemployed puppeteer who discovers a portal into John Malkovich's brain wouldnt be the end of his career. Also: Its so difficult to separate the character of Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) from the picture of David Foster Wallace on the back of A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again. This movie will never not secretly be the story of David Foster Wallace finding a portal into John Malkovich's brain. That's just the situation.Netflix

The Umbrella AcademyNetflix premieres the second season of their superhero dramedy based on the stylish, punchy comic written by My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way and drawn by Brazilian artist Gabriel B. Lovers swoon, time-space gets ripped apart, and theres a lot of shooting and punching; The Umbrella Academy captures the same heightened sensation offered by My Chemical Romances music: operatic melodrama, given life by gleeful riffs and catchy hooks.Netflix

Top GunMuch in the same way Die Hard's status as a Christmas movie started as a cute observation that came to swallow it whole, Top Gun's innate gayness was once just a knowing, winking in-joke among film dorks, but now has become the aspect that defines Tony Scott's glistening, teeth-clacking ad for the US Navy. You can try to watch it as it was presumably intended it be seen in the repressed-yet-beefy heart of the Reagan '80s. But those abs! Those butts! ("I want butts!") The volleyball game. 30 years of time has reframed Top Gun entirely, and unlike Die Hard's redefinition, this glossy, fetish-friendly framework has helped make the film more entertaining. We may not be getting Tom Cruise's Maverick sequel this year like we were hoping, but being able to take the highway to the Danger Zone whenever we want is a nice consolationAmazon Prime Video, Hulu

Child's PlayMuch like Freddy and Jason before him, Chucky survived the artificial extension of his celluloid lifespan by descending into self-aware, gloryhallastoopid self-parody as the sequels stacked up. But Chucky also shares with those two titans of horror a (comparatively) more low-key introduction1988's Childs Play introduced the idea that a doll could get possessed and kill the living shit out of you with way more seriousness than the premise ever deserved. Thanks to horror veteran Tom Holland's solid direction and Brad Dourif's sheer force of will, Chucky embodies a successful perversion of innocence that isn't just smirky and smug, it's also legitimately scary.Hulu

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldThe year is 1805 and Napoleon is running roughshod over Europe. The only thing stopping France from infecting the whole of the continent is the tiny island of England, which may be lacking in ground forces, but kicks ass on the high seas. Master and Commander may not be sexy, but it's extremely realistic, filling its ship with lashings, maggot-filled food, dirty stinking sailors, and the occasional goat. It's also the last great film by Australian writer/director Peter Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society, Fearless).Hulu

Idiocracy: Extended VersionIn 2006, 20th Century Fox looked at Mike Judges follow-up to Office Space and decided whatever Idiocracy was, it wasnt good enough for theatrical distribution. They abandoned it in a couple theaters for a week, stuck it on DVD, and called it good. But the film not only found an audience on home video, that audience spent the next decade proselytizing on its behalf. Idiocracy was no longer a sloppy-yet-satisfying satire of our cultures inability to handle progressit was a prophetic vision of how access to all the information in the world doesnt matter if the people accessing it dont give a fuck about reading. Except now, on the other side of the shit-smeared, Trumpian looking glass, Idiocracy seems quaint more than anything. A lot of the jokes still land, yeah. But the belly-laughs are a little more sour and sad than you might remember. For example: Terry Crews was, in retrospect, playing this role a little too well. Damn.HBO Max

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'HooleBefore Zack Snyder was allowed to turn the DC Universe into an objectivist nightmare starring Ben Affleck and Jesse Eisenberg, he was given the keys to a children's book series about warmongering owls with abs and knives strapped to their feet. Maybe the books didn't have the abs and knife-feet, but the movie does, and that's why Zack Snyder is a "visionary." If you're thinking this Ga'Hoole thing sounds like film executives with too much money saw Snyder's adaptation of 300 and thought "What if this, but owls?" you are correct. That's what this is. If you don't have any drugs this weekend but want to feel like you've smoked something dangerous and are now utterly lost and bewildered in an incomprehensible visual wilderness, stream this.Hulu

Deep Blue Sea 3At long last, our national nightmare is concluded. No longer will we as a people have to live under the knowledge that a complete Deep Blue Sea trilogy eludes our grasp. This weekend, the saga concludes! And in grand style, as a sunken island town watched over by an "eminent marine biologist" (Tania Raymonde of LOST) is unduly terrorized by genetically enhanced bull sharks who seek to mate with Great Whites to become the most ultimate of all killer fish. Ponder this, dear reader: Is any other movie premiering this weekend going to have sex-crazed homicidal genetic freak sharks wreaking havoc underneath a rickety town made almost entirely out of houses on stilts stuck in the water? No. The answer to that question is No.VOD

And if you're not feeling any of the above options (crazy!) don't forget to check out our guide to 2020's most Emmy nominated shows, and maybe binge a couple highly-acclaimed series this weekend!

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The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in Portland This Weekend: July 30-Aug 2, 2020 - The Portland Mercury

Massive Growth in Psoriasis Treatment Market Set to Witness Huge Growth by 2026 | Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Amgen Inc., Novartis AG, LEO…

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Psoriasis Treatment Market research is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon is done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail. Well explained SWOT analysis, revenue share and contact information are shared in this report analysis.

Psoriasis Treatment Market is growing at a High CAGR during the forecast period 2020-2026. The increasing interest of the individuals in this industry is that the major reason for the expansion of this market.

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Top Key Players Profiled in This Report:

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Amgen Inc., Novartis AG, LEO Pharma A/S, Eli Lilly and Company, UCB S.A., Johnson and Johnson Services, Inc., CELGENE CORPORATION, Pfizer Inc.,, AbbVie Inc., Merck and Co., Inc., _x000D_,

The key questions answered in this report:

Various factors are responsible for the markets growth trajectory, which are studied at length in the report. In addition, the report lists down the restraints that are posing threat to the global Psoriasis Treatment market. It also gauges the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat from new entrants and product substitute, and the degree of competition prevailing in the market. The influence of the latest government guidelines is also analyzed in detail in the report. It studies the Psoriasis Treatment markets trajectory between forecast periods.

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Table of Contents:

Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Research Report

Chapter 1 Psoriasis Treatment Market Overview

Chapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Industry

Chapter 3 Global Market Competition by Manufacturers

Chapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by Region

Chapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions

Chapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

Chapter 7 Global Market Analysis by Application

Chapter 8 Manufacturing Cost Analysis

Chapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

Chapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

Chapter 11 Market Effect Factors Analysis

Chapter 12 Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Forecast

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Massive Growth in Psoriasis Treatment Market Set to Witness Huge Growth by 2026 | Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Amgen Inc., Novartis AG, LEO...

Ethereum mining rewards hit all-time high. Heres why it matters – Decrypt

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Ethereum is up more than 180% since March 2020 lows, but data from the blockchain suggests the worlds second-most popular digital asset may have further to climb.

Measurements compiled by Glassnode, a blockchain analysis company, shows a number of metrics have passed even their late-2017 highs, including the amount of gas used in transactions and record earnings for proof-of-work miners currently supporting the blockchain.

The data shows a notably different market foundation from that which existed when Ethereum logged epic all-time highs over $1,400 more than two years ago, lending credibility to the idea that additional gains may be in the cards.

Its been well reported by now that fees on the Ethereum network are some of the highest theyve ever been (and might be pulling Bitcoin fees up along with them). Glassnode data shows, however, that the difficulty and hash rate for proof-of-work mining activity that currently secures the Ethereum blockchain are down nearly 25% since topping out in Summer 2018.

A lower hash rate means ETH miners can process more transactions with the same hardware. And while the minting of new Ethereum as rewards for moving the blockchain forward has remained steady since February 2019, less hash power overall means more of the gas paid for Ethereum transactions goes to each miner.

As a result, ETH miners have started to see days where more than 16%, and on some days more than 19%, of all revenue is generated through fees paid to broadcast transactions to the network. By comparison, miner earnings from fees during early January 2018, when ETH prices were at their peak, never topped 15%.

The takeaway is that infrastructure providers for the Ethereum network are increasingly earning their keep as a result of real activity on the blockchain, especially when compared to previous periods of high activity and price optimism.

Total gas use is another area where Ethereum has grown vastly beyond levels seen during all-time high prices. Total gas used has nearly doubled compared to January 2018, as Ethereum transactions move beyond simple sending and receiving between personal wallets or exchanges into the substantially more complex (and expensive) operations carried out by smart contracts used in DeFi activity.

The market shift from speculation on decentralized applications coming soon to the use of functional applications for lending, borrowing, and earning returns is reflected in significantly higher gas usagewill price be next?

Much about the inner workings of Ethereum are set to change with the rollout of Eth2, the long-awaited (and much delayed) upgrade to the network. This includes the number of transactions that can be processed each second, as well as the very nature of how blocks are generated within the network. Until then, there appears to be plenty for ETH holders to feel optimistic about.

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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Ethereum mining rewards hit all-time high. Heres why it matters - Decrypt

EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis July 24th, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

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EOS

EOS fell by 0.43% on Thursday. Partially reversing a 1.55% gain from Wednesday, EOS ended the day at $2.6565.

It was a mixed start to the day. EOS rose to an early morning high $2.6888 before falling to an early afternoon intraday low $2.6323.

Steering clear of the major support and resistance levels, EOS rallied to a mid-afternoon intraday high $2.6951.

EOS came within range of the first major resistance level at $2.6996 before sliding back to sub-$2.65 levels.

Finding late support, however, EOS moved back through to $2.65 levels to limit the loss on the day.

At the time of writing, EOS was down by 0.14% to $2.6528. A bearish start to the day saw EOS fall from an end of Thursday $2.6565 to $2.6528 at the start of the day.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

EOS would need to move through the $2.6613 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $2.6903.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break back through to $2.69 levels.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Thursdays high $2.6951 would likely cap any upside.

Failure to move through the $2.6613 pivot would bring the first major support level at $2.6275 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, EOS should steer clear of sub-$2.60 levels. The second major support level sits at $2.5985.

First Major Support Level: $2.6275

Pivot Level: $2.6613

First Major Resistance Level: $2.6903

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum rose by 4.31% on Thursday. Following on from Wednesdays 7.53% rally, Ethereum ended the day at $275.68.

Tracking the broader market, Ethereum fell to a mid-morning intraday low $260.10 before making a move.

Steering well clear of the first major support level at $247.44, Ethereum rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $282.60.

Ethereum broke through the first major resistance levels at $275.31 before falling back to $271 levels.

Finding late support, Ethereum moved back through to $275 levels, with the first major resistance level capping the upside.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was down by 0.35% to $274.72. A mixed start to the day saw Ethereum rise to an early morning high $275.64 before falling to a low $274.62.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

Ethereum would need to avoid a fall through the $272.79 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $285.49.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to break out from Thursdays high $282.60.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level should cap any upside.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $272.79 pivot would bring the first major support level at $262.99 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer clear of the 23.6% FIB of $257.

First Major Support Level: $262.99

Pivot Level: $272.79

First Major Resistance Level: $285.49

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Ripples XRP rose by 2.30% on Thursday. Following on from a 2.06% gain on Wednesday, Ripples XRP ended the day at $2.0881.

It was a mixed start to the day. Ripples XRP rose to an early morning high $0.20591 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the major resistance levels, Ripples XRP fell to a mid-morning intraday low $0.20208 before making a move.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $0.1987, Ripples XRP struck a late afternoon intraday high $0.21096.

Ripples XRP broke through the first major resistance level at $0.2073 and the second major resistance level at $0.2105.

A late pullback saw Ripples XRP fall back through the major resistance levels before returning to $0.208 levels.

At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was down by 0.21% to $0.20837. A mixed start to the day saw Ripples XRP fall rise to an early morning high $0.20882 before falling to a low $0.20837

Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ripples XRP will need to avoid a fall through the $0.2073 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.2125.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ripples XRP to break out from Thursdays high $0.21096.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Thursdays high should cap any upside.

In the event of a breakout, Ripples XRP should test the second major resistance level at $0.2162 before any pullback.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $0.2073 pivot would bring the first major support level at $0.2036 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, Ripples XRP should avoid the second major support level at $0.1984.

First Major Support Level: $0.2036

Pivot Level: $0.2073

First Major Resistance Level: $0.2125

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.3638

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.4800

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.6678

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis July 24th, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

Alyssa Milano roasted after complaining that Joe Rogan’s podcast has more listeners than hers does – RT

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Actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano has provoked an outpouring of mockery after pondering in a long-winded Twitter rant why Joe Rogans massively popular podcast has more listeners than her own.

We live in a world WHERE JOE ROGANs PODCAST HAS TRIPLE THE LISTENERS AS MINE!! Dear god, Milano wrote on Wednesday, amid a storm of tweets on topics ranging from immigration policy to the renaming of the Redskins football team and her own eating habits.

Rogan, who hosts one of the most popular podcasts in the world, kicked off the Joe Rogan Experience in 2009, while Milano began her Sorry Not Sorry podcast just last year. While Rogan, a UFC commentator, comedian, and former Fear Factor host, uses his podcast to conduct wide-ranging interviews with scientists, politicians, and artists, Milanos is often hyper-focused on Donald Trumps administration and features mainly liberal activists.

Milanos whining about Rogans show appealing to more people than hers and the suggestion that this bodes negatively for the world at large inspired ridicule and mockery on social media, something the Charmed star should be used to by now.

Wow I can't believe an interesting podcast has more listeners than the Screechy McWhinesalot Cry-About-Trump Power Hour, podcaster Noam Blum tweeted in response.

Its like a real-life Whos the Boss reboot with Joe Rogan in the Tony Danza role and Alyssa Milano as Judith Light, conservative commentator Cam Edwards added, referencing the long-running 80s sitcom Milano starred in as a teenager.

There were also many who expressed doubt over Milanos claim that Rogan has three times as many listeners. While podcast streams are difficult to directly compare, Rogans show has existed for far longer, and YouTube clips of his show regularly hit millions of views. Rogans show also has a 4.5 rating based on around 163,000 reviews on Apple Podcasts, while Milanos has a 3.5 rating based on approximately 2,700 reviews.

Milanos Rogan tweet somehow ended up being one of the most straightforward in her stream of consciousness, as she later veered off into topics like dying her hair, her addiction to carbs, not shaving her legs and, of course, some Trump bashing.

While Rogan doesnt associate himself with any political party though hes described himself as libertarian and officially endorsed former Congressman Ron Paul in 2012 he has become a target of some on the left in recent weeks for being critical of Joe Biden, the Democrat Partys presumptive presidential nominee.

Milano, on the other hand, is fully on board with Bidens campaign. Her full-throated support of the Democratic candidate despite sexual assault allegations levelled against him by former aide Tara Reade drew some criticism, given she has been a vocal advocate of the #MeToo movement.

Among the actress other shining moments on Twitter is a tweet encouraging people to wear masks during the Covid-19 pandemic, with an attached photograph of herself wearing a knitted and clearly ineffective face covering. The actress also faced heat after slamming NYPD officers as Trumps Gestapoover a video of them arresting a suspect, who it was later revealedhad been wanted for damaging police cameras.

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Alyssa Milano roasted after complaining that Joe Rogan's podcast has more listeners than hers does - RT

Tropical Storm Isaias Forecast To Become A Hurricane As It Heads Toward Florida – Red River Radio

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Updated at 6:15 p.m. ET

Tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to pick up strength and become a hurricane as it approaches Florida on Saturday.

The National Hurricane Center said that as of 5 p.m. ET Thursday, the storm continues to slam the Dominican Republic with heavy rainfall and strong winds. It is about 155 miles west-northwest of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, and about 250 miles southeast of the southeastern Bahamas.

Isaias is heading northwest, with maximum sustained winds near 60 mph. To be deemed a hurricane, its sustained winds would need to reach at least 74 mph.

The storm's center is forecast to move near parts of the Bahamas late Thursday through Friday, and near South Florida on Saturday. The hurricane center said "strengthening is forecast during the next day or so," with Isaias predicted to become a hurricane on Friday or Friday night.

The agency said that so far a tropical storm watch has been issued for the east coast of Florida, from Ocean Reef northward to Sebastian Inlet.

It added that storm surge watches may be required along parts of the Florida peninsula on Thursday night or early Friday if the forecast track shifts closer to the coast.

The center's latest advisory warned of the risk of winds, heavy rainfall and storm surge this weekend along Florida's east coast and spreading northward along the U.S. East Coast through early next week.

"The details of the track and intensity forecast remain uncertain, and it is too soon to determine the magnitude and location of these potential impacts, but interests along the entire U.S. East Coast should monitor the progress of Isaias and updates to the forecast," it said.

In a briefing on Thursday afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that while the storm remains off shore, it is "an evolving situation." He urged residents to make sure they had safety plans as well as seven days' worth of food, water and medicine.

The National Hurricane Center said that in parts of the central and northwest Bahamas "preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion."

Isaias has already drenched Puerto Rico, and will drop 4 to 8 inches of rain on the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, northern Haiti and Turks and Caicos, the National Weather Service said, with some areas receiving up to 12 inches. Cuba is also expected to get 1 to 2 inches of rain, with up to 4 in some areas.

The weather service said heavy rains may begin to affect eastern Florida over the weekend.

"This rain could result in isolated flash and urban flooding, especially in low-lying and poorly drained areas," it said.

Isaias is projecting tropical-storm-force winds outward for up to 310 miles a sign of rapid growth since Wednesday when it became the ninth named storm of the Atlantic season. The National Weather Service categorizes tropical storm winds as ranging from 39 mph to 73 mph (sustained) at surface level.

Concerns about the storm's impact on Florida prompted officials to suspend coronavirus testing at state facilities for several days, from Friday through at least Tuesday.

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Tropical Storm Isaias Forecast To Become A Hurricane As It Heads Toward Florida - Red River Radio