The Weekly Slice by Vedaslabs.io - Issue 21

Author

Tom Trevisani
January 31, 2024

Public Market Watch đź’Ľ

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 12:00 am ET.

  • Markets: Stocks tumbled on Tuesday after the Fed hinted it might relax monetary policy (read: cut interest rates) more slowly than investors want. But no one had a worse day than Spirit Airlines, which took a near-50% nosedive after a federal judge blocked its merger with JetBlue (more on that later).

Market Analysis - Last 7 days

Over the last seven days, the market has dropped 1.7%, driven by a decline of 4.1% in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Over the previous 12 months,  the market has been flat overall. Earnings are forecasted to grow by 16% annually.

The global economy is undergoing rapid transformation, and as a result, industries are also evolving at a swift pace. Some industries have experienced remarkable growth, while others have either stagnated or vanished altogether in recent years.

In this article, we will examine 4 industries that have exhibited rapid growth in recent years and assess which ones are positioned for higher levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) activity in 2024 and beyond. 

In the digital era, many businesses are realizing the transformative potential of business intelligence (BI) in decision-making and acquiring a competitive edge. Beyond businesses, Economic Development Organizations (EDOs) can also leverage the power of BI to encourage investment in their regions.

This article discusses the strategic utilization of BI for economic growth shedding light on its benefits for EDOs and providing a roadmap for successfully integrating BI into operational strategies.

Conferences

April 08-12, 2024 | New York

New York Fintech Week was designed to be an inclusive collaboration of the entire startup ecosystem. It’s a series of events highlighting different fintech initiatives and range from conferences and invitation-only roundtables to events free to the community. Please note that these independent events require individual registration.

April 02 - 03, 2024 | Austin

Future Digital Finance is more than a conference – it’s an experience. Discover how financial service organizations of all sizes are prioritizing digital strategies that enhance customer experience, while also creating opportunities for future innovation.

Communities - grow together đźŚ±

SaaS entrepreneurs can apply for access to this free founders club that offers a platform for novice and experienced software entrepreneurs alike to connect and collaborate. The SaaS Club aims to make important information and teachable moments accessible to all SaaS company founders.

One of the drawbacks of working remotely is that it can sometimes mean sacrificing valuable connections. Fortunately, online communities such as Nomad List provide a space for remote entrepreneurs, workers, expats, and online business owners to connect.

On this platform, you can also find resources and tools for the best places to work remotely as well as important information to make your nomadic work life a success. To become a member, you will need to pay a fee, which ranges from $74.99 to $99, depending on the tier of membership you choose.

Emerging Technology Review

Motor Racing-Formula One Trials AI to Tackle Track Limits Breaches

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Formula One's governing body is trialing artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle track limit breaches at this weekend's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Paris-based FIA said it would be using 'Computer Vision' technology that uses shape analysis to work out the number of pixels going past the track edge.

The AI will sort out the genuine breaches, where drivers cross the white line at the edge of the track with all four wheels, reducing the workload for the FIA's remote operations center (ROC) and speeding up the response.

The July 2 Austrian Grand Prix was a high water mark for the sport with just four people having to process an avalanche of some 1,200 potential violations.

By the title-deciding Qatar weekend in October, there were eight people assigned to assess track limits and monitor 820 corner passes, with 141 reports sent to race control who then deleted 51 laps.

MIT CSAIL researchers innovate with synthetic imagery to train AI, paving the way for more efficient and bias-reduced machine learning.

Data is the new soil, and in this fertile new ground, MIT researchers are planting more than just pixels. By using synthetic images to train machine learning models, a team of scientists recently surpassed results obtained from traditional “real-image” training methods. 

At the core of the approach is a system called StableRep, which doesn't just use any synthetic images; it generates them through ultra-popular text-to-image models like Stable Diffusion. It’s like creating worlds with words. 

Space

Microscopic metallic spheres recovered from the Pacific Ocean are likely the result of manmade industrial pollution — rather than pieces of an interstellar meteor — according to several new studies.

Last summer, Harvard astrophysicist and extraterrestrial hunter Avi Loeb declared that several tiny, metallic balls dredged up from the bottom of the ocean were likely remnants from an interstellar meteorite and could even contain signatures of alien technology. Now, independent analysis suggests the spheres have a much less distant origin: They are more likely a by-product of burning coal on Earth.

Over the years, scientists have managed to unveil the existence of quite a few intriguing particles, pushing the entire field of physics forward with each discovery. There's the "God Particle" for instance, aka the Higgs Boson that grants all other particles their masses. There's also the so-called "Oh My God!" particle, an unimaginably energetic cosmic ray. 

But now we have a new particle in town. It's named the "sun goddess" particle  —  and is fittingly extraordinary. 

The Crypto State

A cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of computerized database using strong cryptography to secure transaction records, to control the creation of additional coins, and to verify the transfer of coin ownership.

This milestone was achieved as the price of Bitcoin rose above $40,000, bringing the AUM to over $2 billion. The fund now ranks third in asset gathering among all the more than 600 ETFs that launched.

The next fund likely to cross the $2 billion mark is Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). The rapid growth of the IBIT reflects the increasing investor interest in bitcoin-related investment products

Someone paid $3.1 million in transaction fees for a Bitcoin (BTC) transfer on Thursday. Bitcoin miner Antpool was rewarded for mining the block. It received the standard 6.25 BTC as well as 85.2163 BTC in fees for all transactions included in the block, on-chain data shows.

Today's transfer, mined in block 818087, becomes the largest transaction fee paid in Bitcoin's 14-year history.

New Things For Startups and Innovators

Introducing Startup Foodle

Foodle is an all-in-one app for anyone looking to discover and share the best dining experiences. From food trucks to fine dining, Foodle offers an engaging way to explore restaurants through short, user-generated videos. Foodle simplifies your search for amazing food by showcasing a restaurant's food offerings, atmosphere, and overall dining ambiance all in a quick video! Enjoy a curated and customizable feed filled with videos from foodie influencers and friends alike. You can easily connect with fellow foodies, keep track of the hottest restaurants, and effortlessly share your discoveries with friends. With Foodle, creating lists of restaurants you want to try is a breeze, ensuring you'll never forget the places you want to try. 

Download Foodle here and dive into the delicious world of NYC food, with new cities being added soon. Learn more about Foodle at foodle. nyc. 

That’s a Wrap

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