Th3 Core

Cruise (robotaxis) is now offering rides in Austin. It works just like Uber. The electric Chevy Bolt pulls up to your location, you unlock the doors via app. My first ride was... boring. Which is to say, truly amazing tech. I sent it into the most densely-trafficked area of downtown. It navigated with ease. When the fleet isn't driving passengers, they are still actively rolling around collecting miles and data. They're everywhere downtown between 8pm and 5am (currently evenings/nights only).

Perhaps most interesting is that my first robotaxi experience was in a GM-backed Chevrolet, not a Tesla.

https://youtu.be/EEWP0U9mAm8

https://heypi.com/

"A new class of AI, Pi is designed to be a kind and supportive companion offering conversations, friendly advice, and concise information in a natural, flowing style. The Pi experience is intended to prioritize conversations with people, where other AIs serve productivity, search, or answering questions. Pi is a coach, confidante, creative partner, or sounding board.

Pi stands for “personal intelligence” because it can provide infinite knowledge based on a person’s unique interests and needs. Pi is a teacher, coach, confidante, creative partner, and sounding board. Pi is:

-Kind and supportive: it listens and empowers, to help process thoughts and feelings, work through tricky decisions step by step, for anything to talk over;
-Curious and humble: it is eager to learn and adapt, and gives feedback in plain, natural language that improves for each person over time;
-Creative and fun: it is playful and silly, laughs easily and is quick to make a surprising, creative connection;
-Knowledgeable, but succinct: it transforms browsing into a simple conversation;
-All yours: it is on your team, in your corner, and works to have your back;
-In development: it is still early days, so information could be wrong at times."


It's quite good. Imagine how real it'd feel plugged into an AI voice generator.
Apple should buy it and turn your iPhone into your best friend (always complimenting your selfies).

Hell's Gate is no joke. Part of the infamous Hell's Revenge trail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yeth5v_5dPM

Texas hog hunt helicopter crash is very Texas.

"Sorry about that boys"
"No worries"
"That's alright"
-AR-15 tossed out the door
"You're one hell of a f***ing pilot"

https://youtu.be/uYBf3XPwvaU?t=80

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2020/03/23/new-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-introduces-digital-dollar-and-digital-dollar-wallets/#23dc68024bea

"As the markets continue to drop and the U.S. looks to Congress for agreement on a massive stimulus package to save the economy from impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the newest offer by House Democrats includes a very forward-looking kind of stimulus: the creation of a ‘digital dollar’ and the establishment of ‘digital dollar wallets.’ In what will send shock waves through the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, particularly for those following central bank digital currencies around the world, this signals the U.S. is serious in establishing infrastructure for a central bank digital currency."

Carmelle Cadet, Founder and CEO of EMTECH, a modern central bank technology and services company, is a technology provider in the world’s first live retail CBDC with the Central Bank of Bahamas called the Sand Dollar. She has recently started a new initiative in the U.S. called ‘Project New Dawn’ to ensure the unbanked and underbanked receive economic stimulus payments. Pointing to a FDIC report in 2017 that identified 63 million people that are unbanked and underbanked in the U.S., she notes, ‘If checks are the form of payment, the stimulus is not going to reach many of them. That would be approximately $100B underutilized of stimulus for lower income householders.’

For those not familiar, the "Black Mirror" series often examines unanticipated, dark and dystopian consequences of new technologies. Episodes are usually set in the present or near future.

In 2016 they released an episode called "Nosedive" about social credit systems.

China has since begun testing social credit systems.

Today: "Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-Style social credit system"

https://www.fastcompany.com/90394048/uh-oh-silicon-valley-is-building-a-chinese-style-social-credit-system

"It’s a technology-enabled, surveillance-based nationwide program designed to nudge citizens toward better behavior. The ultimate goal is to “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step,” according to the Chinese government."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

"Nested on the servers’ motherboards, the testers found a tiny microchip, not much bigger than a grain of rice, that wasn’t part of the boards’ original design. Amazon reported the discovery to U.S. authorities, sending a shudder through the intelligence community. Elemental’s servers could be found in Department of Defense data centers, the CIA’s drone operations, and the onboard networks of Navy warships. And Elemental was just one of hundreds of Supermicro customers.:

Got an e-mail about a single word, 8-letter domain. Potential buyer threw out a $$$$ offer. I declined, saying we aren't in the same ballpark. He came back with "What do you want? I might be able to go there."

Where do you guys go for research, or what methods are you seeing for domain valuation in 2018?