Brazil's Richest man: soon to be the World's first $100 billionaire

As down to earth self made business man, listen to his story of how his rich father made him sell insurance door-to-door.

The World of Seven Billion by National Geographic

An interesting look at how wealth and resources are spread out globally among the 7 billion of us.

Video: OnLive CEO unveils the wireless technology of the future; 100x capacity, no more cell towers

From: androidandme.com

Not happy with just showing us the future of video gaming and web browsing, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman also wants to shake up the wireless industry. During a presentation at Columbia University, Steve revealed an “entirely new approach to wireless.” His company, Rearden, has been working on a new wireless technology that’s miles ahead of everything out there today.

Steve starts by describing the fundamental problem wireless networks face today. Basically, there’s a limit to the amount of data that can be transmitted over a certain spectrum. If you’ve ever tried to send a text or call someone in a very crowded place, you already know what I’m talking about. There’s just not enough capacity for everybody to use at the same time. This limit is described by Shannon’s Law, which you can read more about here if you like.

That’s where Rearden’s new wireless technology comes in. Sadly, this wireless technology is incompatible with anything that is used today. So we can forget about using it with our “Droids” any time soon. The technology uses new radios and antennas that are simpler, cheaper and use less processing power than today’s wireless radios. Hopefully, this means we’ll no longer have to choose between 4G speeds and battery life.

Steve and his company have been trying to find a limit to the amount of data they can transmit using this technology, but so far they haven’t been able to do so. They’ve already tested the technology with 10 times the capacity of Shannon’s Law, but theoretically, they could transmit up to 1000 times the capacity. What does this mean? No more dead zones, no more dropped calls, no congestion and faster speeds than today’s wired connections.

Better latency is another huge advantage of this magical wireless technology. There’s a sub-millisecond latency in a 1- to 2-mile connection, and a 2-millisecond latency in a 30-mile one. However, Steve said they could possibly take it all the way to a distance of 250 miles. Think about that for a second. With only one antenna needed per city, or even state, this technology could very well kill cell towers forever.

If you watched OnLive’s presentation at E3, then you know Steve is truly a man of vision. But why would the CEO of a cloud gaming company go into the wireless business? It’s pretty simple, really. OnLive’s gaming service is about to take off in the mobile space. The company has big plans for Android tablets and phones. But none of that will work without a robust wireless network powering those devices. Seeing how Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T are all walking in the opposite direction with their tiered data plans, you’ll be hard-pressed to find somebody willing to pay $80/month just to be able to use OnLive on their Droids.

That’s basically why Steve and Rearden are working on this revolutionary new wireless technology. Could we see OnLive get into the ISP business in the future? It’s possible. But more importantly, could Google become so interested in this that it would acquire OnLive? A guy can dream. Embedded below is Steve’s whole presentation, but the good part starts at around 55:12.

Does Defense Really Win Championships?

In “SCORECASTING: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won”, Tobias J. Moskowitz, a University of Chicago financial economist, teams with L. Jon Wertheim, a veteran Sports Illustrated writer to explore the hidden forces that shape how football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer games are played, won, and lost.

With a combination of first-rate analysis and first-rate storytelling, Moskowitz and Wertheim not only mine the relevant data but also go beyond the numbers to explore the human biases and behavior that affect nearly every pitch, pass, and penalty. In the process, they challenge and overturn some of the most cherished truisms of sports, delivering readers from the sports clichés and misstatements that have dominated for decades.

Does defense truly win championships? Is there really such a thing as momentum in sports? Does icing the kicker work? Are the Chicago Cubs cursed? Are officials biased? Can you really quantify the subjective aspects of sports, like officiating?

They challenge the prevailing wisdom that we accept as articles of faith. Test the unconventional strategies. Reveal the hidden influences. And introduce readers to omnipresent game-changers like “hindsight bias”, “loss aversion”, “omission bias”, “ref bias” and our deepest desires to conform to the group.

Among the insights that SCORECASTING reveals:

* What is really driving the home field advantage in all sports?
* Officials are biased…but not for the reasons you think.
* Using all four downs in football is still considered sports heresy. Wrongly, but everyone punts, right?
* Tiger Woods is, in fact, mortal . . . even on the golf course.
* Why picking first in the entire NFL draft might be worth less than the first pick in the second round.
* Why star players are treated differently (but not necessarily better) by the officials?
* Why the Cubs may not be so unlucky.
* The myth of momentum in sports and why so many fans, coaches, and broadcasters fervently believe in it.

NExTWORK: Sean Parker & Jimmy Fallon

Sean Parker (Founder of Napster, Former President Facebook, Investor in Spotify, etc...) discusses his career, thoughts on the internet, and why/how Facebook beat MySpace.

Airlines score lowest in customer satisfaction

By Marnie Hunter, CNN
June 21, 2011 2:00 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Airlines score lowest among 47 industries evaluated by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, according to a report released by the national index Tuesday.

Airlines tie newspapers for the lowest-satisfaction distinction.

Not surprisingly, bag fees play a big role in airline passenger disgruntlement. Those who pay for bags are much less satisfied than those who avoid the fees -- a score of 58 compared to 68. Poor service, other fees and higher fuel prices are also contributors.

Overall, airline passenger satisfaction is down 1.5% from last year with an industry score of 65. Southwest leads in passenger satisfaction among the major carriers evaluated, with a score of 81 -- up 3% from last year. Satisfaction with Delta Air Lines dropped by 10%, for a score of 56.

ACSI notes that mergers often have a negative impact on customer satisfaction. Delta merged with Northwest Airlines last year. The United-Continental merger seems to have dealt a blow to Continental, with satisfaction plunging 10% to a score of 64. Still, Continental comes in second place for satisfaction among major U.S. airlines. United so far seems unaffected -- up 2% for a score of 61.

Business travelers, the airlines' most profitable market, are the least satisfied, according to the index.

Airline to charge boarding pass fee

On the flip side, guest satisfaction with hotels is up 2.7% from last year, for a score of 77. Guests perceive greater value for the money due to lower rates and more perks, index analysis says. But despite a jump in satisfaction, hotels still have to fight for repeat customers.

"Although guest satisfaction has benefited from lower rates and various perks, there has been no effect on customer loyalty and repeat business," Claes Fornell, founder of the index, said in a statement. "Price-induced satisfaction tends to make people shop around for the best deal rather than promote loyalty."

Leisure traveler satisfaction with hotels is up 1%, while business travelers' satisfaction level is down by 1%. Hilton leads the pack with a score of 80, followed by Marriott and Starwood at 79.

Verizon Dropping Unlimited Data Plan Next Month

Monday June 20, 2011 3:31 pm PDT by Jordan Golson

Verizon will be dropping its unlimited data option, and transitioning to tiered data plans next month, a Verizon spokeswoman told All Things Digital.
We will move to a more usage based model in July. We'll share more later.
We've known for a while that the unlimited data plan Verizon has offered since it launched the iPhone 4 was likely to disappear this summer.

One site, DroidLife, claims to have details of the new Verizon plans. The site claims these plans will go into effect July 7.
2GB - $30/month
5GB - $50/month
10GB - $80/month

Tethering is an $20/month add-on and includes an additional 2GB of data.

Overages are assessed at $10/GB.
For comparison, AT&T's data plans are slightly cheaper:

200MB - $15/month
2GB - $25/month
4GB + Tethering - $45/month

Overages are assessed at $10/GB.
AT&T dropped its unlimited data plans last June, just before the iPhone 4 was released, but allowed current unlimited plan subscribers to keep their plans as long as they didn't make any changes. Most notably, unlimited data users can't get sign up for a tethering plan to create a portable wi-fi hotspot.

50 Great Examples of Data Visualization

Bellow are a couple of examples but to see the full list go to http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/50-great-examples-of-data-visualization/

The 1000 most-visited sites on the web

(World Wide As of April 2011)

Learn more at www.google.com/adplanner/static/top1000/"

FCC releases full net neutrality rules

By Nilay Patel posted Dec 24th 2010 10:23AM

Here's a fine Christmas Eve present from Uncle Sam: the FCC has just released the full text of the net neutrality rules it passed earlier this week by a hotly-debated 3-2 vote. The rules are basically what we expected: the three basic rules require ISPs to be transparent about their network management practices, and further forbid them from blocking any lawful application or service or discriminating against different types of traffic. The biggest tweak comes in the language around paid prioritization, which would let some companies pay for selectively faster access to an ISP's customers -- the FCC is pretty clear that such arrangements will be heavily scrutinized and probably won't pass muster. And then, of course, there's wireless, which is subject only to the transparency and no-blocking rules; the FCC decided to take "measured steps" with mobile because it believes that is still too new and fluid. We'll have a full breakdown later today, but hit the source and check out the full rules yourself -- you're going to be hearing a lot about them over the next few weeks.