Category Archives: Technology

Even as the Nasdaq Composite is reaching fresh all-time highs, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) stock's 138% rally over the past 12 months puts the Nasdaq's 25% rise to shame. These numbers certainly don't lie, but they also only tell part of the story when it comes to Micron.

Take a step further back to view the bigger picture, and one sees a company that has experienced both sweeping successes and stinging failures over the years, a point investors enamored by its recent rally must keep in mind. To get a better sense of the company and the forces that drive it, let's examine three charts that sum up Micron Technology and its long-term share price dynamics.

Image Source: Micron Technology

Perhaps the most important thing to understand when looking at Micron is that the DRAM and flash memory chips it sells are effectively commodity products. Market spot prices control what they can charge, which means that Micron's revenue is almost entirely dependent on the current supply-and-demand dynamic for both types of memory chips.

This can lead to the same sort of tremendous top-line fluctuations that are experienced by oil producers or other commodity-based businesses, as you can see from Micron's historical revenue chart.

MU Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

As you can see, the general direction of Micron's sales has been upward, as technology and computing power have become more integral parts of our everyday lives in recent years.

However, since the year 2000, the company's revenue has experienced four major contractions that, predictably, led to steep losses for Micron shareholders (more on that below). Before turning to its stock price though, we need to look at the rest of Micron's cost structure, which plays an important role in a broader discussion of the giant chipmaker.

As is the case for most companies that lack pricing power, Micron Technology's margin structure shows a tremendous amount of variability. When times are good, the company can produce significant profits. However, when memory chip prices soften -- either due to economic weakness or market-wide supply-and-demand imbalances -- its profits can nosedive deep into the red as the following charts demonstrate.

MU Gross Profit Margin (TTM) data by YCharts

It's also important to note that Micron's cost structure differs from that ofchipmakers like Qualcomm in that it owns and operates its own semiconductor manufacturing plants. This means Micron's cost structure is more rigid than that of firms that outsource their chip fabrication.

The added fixed costs that come with this strategy make Micron's bottom line more sensitive to revenue changes. Big picture, it's important to note that Micron's lack of pricing power (gross margins) and its more rigid cost structure (net margins) go a long way toward explaining the company's highly cyclical stock price.

Because of the above factors, it should come as no surprise that Micron's stock has also swung wildly over the years. Take a look at the company's historical performance against its benchmark, the Nasdaq Composite.

MU data by YCharts

This nicely captures my cautious take on Micron, particularly for long-term buy-and-hold investors. Micron can generate market-beating returns when investors buy its shares during a pricing rut and hold them until memory prices recover, which is exactly the scenario that has played out with Micron over the past year or so.

Unfortunately, shareholders who have mistimed their investments -- we don't believe in trying to time the market here at The Fool -- have lost their shirts. To be sure, times are flush at Micron right now, and the continued recovery in its business has Wall Street analysts as bullish as ever. However, the company's highly cyclical nature and lack of meaningful pricing power suggest this same scenario will eventually take place.

Ultimately, this isn't an attempt to dissuade investors from buying Micron stock. Rather, it's an earnest warning that owning Micron shares comes with legitimate risks that need to be fully understood prior to investing.

Andrew Tonner owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Micron Technology Inc. in 3 Charts - Motley Fool

Nasdaq signage is seen in New York City, USA. on Oct. 17, 2015 The NASDAQ Stock Market, is an American stock exchange. It is the second-largest exchange in the world by market capitalization. (Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)Roberto Machado Noa LightRocket via Getty Images

A broad barometer of global stock s posted a ninth straight session of gains on Wednesday as earnings season in the United States and Europe heated up, while the dollar clawed back from 10-month lows and oil prices jumped.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq marked record highs in the United States, picking up from strong performances by major European stock indexes, with the tech sector giving a boost in both regions.

MSCI's world stock s index marked its longest winning streak since October 2015. The global index gained 0.46 percent, setting a record high for a fifth straight session.

In the U.S., the earnings season seems to be surprising a little bit on the upside," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland.

"What we have seen recently in the economic reports suggests it should be even better overseas ... So we have come to the point where things looks pretty good in the U.S. and it looks even better in prospect overseas, so whats not to like about equities."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 66.02 points, or 0.31 percent, to 21,640.75, the S&P 500 gained 13.22 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,473.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 40.74 points, or 0.64 percent, to 6,385.04.

Morgan Stanley shares climbed 3.3 pct after the bank's profit report.

Biotech Vertex soared 20.9 pct after stunning cystic fibrosis drug data.

Not all was rosy in earnings season, as IBM shares dropped 4.2 pct after its report, holding back the Dow's gains.

About a week into the heart of second-quarter reporting season, S&P 500 earnings are now expected to rise 8.7 percent, up from an expectation of an 8-percent rise from the start of July, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Coming off a first quarter which was the strongest in terms of corporate earnings growth since 2011, this market needs to see a continuation of that trend to support these valuations," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "And I think, so far so good."

In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.71 percent. Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML's shares gained 5.8 pct after the firm's quarterly report, lifting the region's tech sector to its biggest daily percentage gain since September.

The dollar edged higher against a basket of currencies a day after the greenback's sharp decline was sparked by a fresh setback to President Donald Trump's domestic agenda.

The dollar index rose 0.21 percent, with the euro down 0.33 percent to $1.1514.

But the greenback hit a more than three-week low against the yen as traders awaited meetings of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan (BoJ). Market watchers will be looking to see if the recent strength of the euro and the yen influence their policy outlooks.

"FX investors had a very substantial long dollar/yen position," said Greg Anderson, global head of foreign exchange strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York. "I think theyre just squaring up ahead of the BoJ," he said.

U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on light trading volume with benchmark yields hitting their lowest levels in nearly three weeks in advance of Thursday's ECB meeting.

Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 2/32 in price to yield 2.2678 percent, from 2.263 percent late on Tuesday.

Oil prices jumped after a U.S. report showed a bigger weekly draw than forecast in crude and gasoline stock s along with a surprise drop in distillate inventories.

U.S. crude rose 1.51 percent to $47.10 per barrel and Brent was last at $49.69, up 1.74 percent on the day. The New York Stock Exchange is seen on Wall Street on May 1, 2012 in New York City.

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Nasdaq and S&P 500 Reach Record Highs Thanks to Technology Stocks - Fortune

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Sex is one of the most powerful, fundamental human drives. Its caused wars, and built and destroyed kingdoms. It occupies a significant percentage of most peoples thoughts. As such, its worth a conversation about how exponential technologies will change our relationship with sex.

Dating in past generations was local and linear. You had access to a small number of potential mates based on where you lived, where you went to school and your social status. In the 1960s, over 50% of marriages globally, and 95% of marriages in India, were arranged. Today that number has dropped to less than 15% (globally). In 1960, the median age at first marriage for the bride was 20 and the groom was 23 years old. Today, the median age is closer to 29 for women and 30 for men. A cultural shift is happening, and its changing the game. Dating has gone digital. As such, it has gone from local and linear to global and exponential. Today, 40 million Americans use online dating services (thats about 40% of the single population in the U.S.), driving the creation of a $2.4 billion online dating industry.

These services transcend geography and social strata. People are matched from around the world. Between 1995 and 2005, there was exponential growth among heterosexual couples meeting online. (See the green line in the chart below.)

For same-sex couples, the online dating trend has been even more dramatic, with more than 60% of same-sex couples meeting online in 2008 and 2009 (see the green line in the chart above).

The implications of this are staggering. Besides moving the marriage age back, there are a number of sociological effects such as decision fatigue, gamification of dating, and the commoditization of people that will start to have population-level effects as mating behaviors change. And this is just the beginning.

In the very near future, we will see machine learning / artificial intelligence-based matchmakers that will find the perfect match for you based upon everything from your genomics to your psychographics. Once youre on a date, your augmented reality glasses will give you real-time dating info, calling up any info you want to know, as you need to know it. Perhaps you want to understand how she/he is feeling about you, and your AR camera is watching her pupillary dilation and capillary flushing. Like all technology, these applications are double-edged swords. My hope is that this tech actually increases the number of successful, meaningful relationships in the world and, in turn, has a net positive impact. But while dating is one side of the coin, sex is another and the implications of exponential technology on sex can be shocking.

Today, sex has been digitized; as such, it has been dematerialized, demonetized and democratized. Sex, in the form of pornography, is free, available to anyone with an internet connection and pervasive across many platforms. In 2015, just one pornography website reported that their users watched over 4.3 billion hours of porn (87 billion videos) that year. The proliferation of internet connectivity, online video players and streaming, mobile phones, and advertisement delivery networks have propelled pornography into a $97 billion industry. This is causing a number of negative social phenomena. More than half of boys and nearly a third of girls see their first pornographic images before they turn 13. In a survey of hundreds of college students, 93% of boys and 62% of girls said they were exposed to pornography before they turned 18. Pornography is influencing everything from how teens language and frame sexuality to how and why they pierce certain body parts to what they expect to give and receive in intimate relationships, says Jill Manning, Ph.D, Witherspoon Institute.

In Japan, a growing population of men report that they *prefer* having virtual girlfriends over real ones (i.e. they believe they are dating virtual avatars that they largely control). 45%of Japanese single women, and 25 %of Japanese single men aged 16 to 24 claim they arent even interested in sexual contact. Given these trends, unless something happens to boost Japans birth rate, its population will shrink by a third between now and 2060. In other words, there is serious concern of significant UNDERpopulation. But again, this is only the beginning as virtual reality (VR) becomes more widespread, one major application will inevitably be VR porn. It will be much more intense, vivid, and addictive and as AI comes online, I believe there will be a proliferation in AI-powered avatar and robotic relationships, similar to those characters depicted in the movies Her and Ex Machina.

VR porn promises to offer a virtual world filled with more sex, better sex, endless sex, and new varieties of sex. The dark secret, however, is that the further a user goes into that fantasy world, the more likely their reality is to become just the opposite. Many psychologists believe that VR porn may numb us to sexual desire and pleasure in the real world, leading to less and less satisfying sex. For many, VR (as well as other exponential technologies such as robotics, sensors and A.I.) will act as a complete replacement for intimacy and human relationships, as it is more easily accessible, cheaper, on-demand, and, well, controllable. As the father of two five-year-old boys, this is really concerning to me. That said, are there upsides too? Perhaps a bit of intimacy (if even technological) for those who are infirmed, aged, crippled and thereby alone. We shall see. One thing is for sure: as with every technology in history, from the printing press to VHS and the internet, pornography will be on the front line funding the advance of technology.

This is the sort of conversation we explore in my digital communitycalled Abundance 360. The program is highly selective. If youd like to be considered, apply here.

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The Next Sexual Revolution Is Going to be All About Technology - Futurism

In her recent post, In Defense of Personal Relationships in the Practice of Law, my fellow columnist, Jill Switzer writes how technology has killed the art of interaction between lawyers. Switzer observes that lawyers rarely have opportunities to meet in person sincehearing conferences that were once handled face to face before a judge now take place by phone; the meet and confer requirements of various civil procedure rules are satisfied through an exchange of emails and nasty-grams, CLE courses are viewed alone via webinar rather than in a room filled with colleagues and depositions are conducted remotely by phone or Skype.Yet while Switzer mourns the changes wrought by technology because theyve displaced the personal relationships that meant almost everything to us dinosaurs, I celebrate technology changes precisely because theyve enabled me to create meaningful personal relationships, and indeed, to build a career that might have otherwise been foreclosed to me as a woman and a parent.

As Ive written many times, when I started my law firm back in 1993, the most advanced technology available to me was word-processing and email which wasnt much use since few others were using email for business at that time. Researching legislative history back then entailed a trip to the bowels of the House Office Building, Annex 2 which could consume several hours. Filing a brief required at least a full day of lead time to allow sufficient time for production of an original and fourteen bound, 50-page copies and that too, necessitated a drop off at the copy store. As for networking, two of the bar committees that I was involved with at the time (back when I still could tolerate bar activities) each met monthly during lunch, (which is also when brown bag CLE programs were held) all of which took over two hours out of my day when taking into account travel from my office to the event then back.

As for personal connections I didnt make any. As a young lawyer starting out in my practice, most colleagues wouldnt even return my phone calls. I managed a couple of meetings by trekking over to colleagues offices under the guise of young lawyer seeking advice, but honestly, I cant recall a single occasion when another lawyer reciprocated or invited me out. The so-called personal connections among lawyers only work when one a lawyer stands to gain something be it a referral or new connection and as a young lawyer, I had nothing to give so I was persona non-grata in networking circles. I wonder, how many times Ms. Switzer or her colleagues have actually introduced themselves to a newbie lawyer at a networking function, asked about their practice and then called to invite them out to lunch. My guess is somewhere between one and zero.

In any event, I could have tolerated the networking and committee lunches and long trips to courthouses and Congress and worked longer hours to make up lost time. But once I had kids, all of that changed. Because I wanted to spend time with my daughters, I moved my practice back to my home but I was able to continue working because most of my clients were remote. Back then, I workedin the short stretches of time when my daughters napped or were in pre-school or with a part-time nanny, then after they were in school and at night between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. when my husband was able to take over. Back then, every minute counted and suddenly a lunchtime meeting with the bar committee wasnt just a lost lunch time, but a lost work session since it would consume the entire period that my girls were in pre-school. A two-hour deposition two hours away amounted to a six hour day where my husband might have to step in to do pickup. I barely had enough time to get my existing client work done then to go out evenings and network. I very nearly lost my practice .

But then, shortly after my younger daughter was born in 1999, technology happened. Of course, it had been around for years before, but it wasnt until the late 90s that it really began to penetrate the legal profession.Now, instead of spending an afternoon to carry a brief over to the D.C. Circuit, I could zap it out a few seconds before midnight. Legislative history and other legal research were available at my fingertips so my research wasnt confined to the hours when the law libraries were open. And with scheduling conferences now taking place by phone, I could expand my practice to federal courts several hours away without having to worry that Id have to drive 4 hours for a 10-minute conference.

Meanwhile, rather than take away personal interaction, technology facilitated connections with other lawyers all over the country. In 2000, I joined the ABAs Solosez list serve which gave me 800 welcoming people from all over the country to talk to about my practice and personal matters as well. In fact, it was through Solosez that I met one of my best friends, a woman a few years younger than me who was also balancing a home-based practice with raising kids. A few years after that, came blogging which is how I found clients and bolstered my reputation in my industry and also met and befriended three other ATL columnists, Bob Ambrogi, Kevin OKeefe and Nicole Black. Finally, social media like Facebook and Twitter and Instagram emerged, which provided an opportunity to learn more about my lawyer-colleagues personal lives their hobbies, their recipes, vacations, their triumphs and sorrows.Ive since met many of my online friends as well either when they or I am traveling to another city or at conferences. Those relationships also go far beyond the professional.After my husband died two years ago, only a small handful of my colleagues here in D.C. lawyers whom Ive met and worked with on multiple occasions reached out to me. By contrast, dozens of lawyers whom I knew only through social media sent cards, condolences and donations to my husbands designated charities.

Technology has enabled hundreds of female lawyers who 20 years ago might have left the law to stay home with children to instead remain in the legal profession or reinvent themselves within it. And its given lawyers access to a far more varied and diverse group of colleagues than any of us could find even in a metropolitan area such as Washington D.C. where I am based.For me, its not even a close call that technology has improved the legal profession in large part because it has provided more opportunity for personal interaction, not less.

Meanwhile, those close, collegial relationships of yore that Switzer longs for, if they did exist as she recalls were only open to a small select circle of insiders but not to young lawyers with few clients or contacts or to mom-lawyers working the 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. shift. Lets never return to that world again.

Carolyn Elefanthas been blogging about solo and small firm practice atMyShingle.comsince 2002 and operated her firm, theLaw Offices of Carolyn Elefant PLLC, even longer than that. Shes also authored a bunch of books on topics likestarting a law practice,social media, and21st century lawyer representation agreements(affiliate links). If youre really that interested in learning more about Carolyn, just Google her. The Internet never lies, right? You can contact Carolyn by email atelefant@myshingle.comor follow her on Twitter at@carolynelefant.

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Has Technology Really Killed The Personal Touch In Law Practice And Is That Really A Bad Thing? - Above the Law

The Sun

These are the nostalgic technology struggles that only 90s kids will understand The Sun THESE DAYS if a page takes more than a 1.6 seconds to load, we're ready to hand the computer back to the shop and claim a new one. But remember when you could leave the screen to make a cup of tea and still be waiting for your webpage on your return?

Excerpt from:

These are the nostalgic technology struggles that only 90s kids will understand - The Sun

One measure of technology stocks is now higher than during the dotcom boom.

The S&P information technology sector grouping closed above $992 on Wednesday, smashing through the $988.49 dotcom bubble high from March 27, 2000, according to FactSet.

The constituents of that group have changed considerably since then: Facebook for instance, wasn't even around in 2000. And the technology sector SPDR ETF, a slightly different grouping that includes some telecom companies with the ticker "XLK," was only around $57 on Wednesday, well below dotcom-boom highs of $65.44.

Still, it marks a milestone in the growing dominance of technology companies in the stock market, as companies like Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft have grown more valuable than most other public companies around the world.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also hit fresh all-time highs on Wednesday. Shares of Amazon.com, Microsoft, Facebook and Adobe traded at highs not seen since their IPOs, and Priceline shares were also at an all-time intraday high.

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Tech sector finally gets back to where it was in the bubble 17 years ago - CNBC

On-skin sensors that monitor vital signs can often cause inflammation, but that may be about to change. According to a new study in Nature Nanotechnology, a new approach to this technology using a nanomesh structure could have positive implications for long-term health monitoring.

The new sensors are inflammation-free, are very gas permeable, and theyre thin and lightweight, without the use of any pesky substrates that can contribute to skin discomfort. That means they can be directly laminated onto human skin for longer periods of time. The sensors mesh structure is made of biocompatible polyvinyl alcohol, which enables that gas permeability without blocking sweat glands, and its stretchable without causing any additional discomfort, even if its affixed for a considerable amount of time. In tests, only one case of inflammation was discovered, and that was due to a patients metal allergies. Theyre also versatile. The mesh conductors can attach to irregular skin surfaces -- say, the tip of a persons finger -- and maintain their functionality even when a persons natural body movements folds and elongates the skin. Nanofibres with a diameter of 300 to 500 nm were prepared by electrospinning a PVA solution, and were intertwined to form a mesh-like sheet. When the nanomesh conductors were placed on the skin and sprayed with water, the PVA nanofibers easily dissolved, and the nanomesh conductor attached to the skin. According to the study, the approach has opened up a new possibility for the integration ofelectronic devices with skin for continuous, long-term health monitoring.

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Nanomesh technology results in inflammation-free, on-skin health monitoring electronics - MobiHealthNews

BMW's new Connected Plus service uses real-time traffic reports to give you a heads-up when it's time to leave and even sends out an alert to the folks you're meeting to let them know when they can expect you. BMW

BMW is by no means the only maker racing to introduce such high-tech features into your car, truck or crossover. Ford, for example, now lets you access Amazons Alexa with a tap of a button on the steering wheel. Among other things, you can use that digital voice assistant to have your favorite beverage waiting at Starbucks for your morning commute.

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We think our cars need to play well with the digital lifestyle owners choose, Tom Brenner, head of BMWs digital services, told NBC News during a tour of the companys technology center in downtown Chicago.

The facility more closely represents what youd expect to find in Silicon Valley than a typical automotive development center. Filled with young, latte-drinking cyber-geeks, it works at a pace that sees new products, services and updates of existing software roll out, on average, every two weeks. Consider that the average BMW vehicle has a life cycle of about six to seven years, with only a modest update halfway through.

BMWs intense focus on digital technology might seem an oxymoron considering the brands long-running advertising tagline, The Ultimate Driving Machine. But Brenner and other company officials say there should be no surprise. Why, they ask, would you expect that the typical Americans increasingly digital lifestyle be interrupted once they slip behind the steering wheel?

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BMW began its foray into technology with the launch of the 2001 7-Series. Its flagship sedan introduced the concept of an iDrive, a sort of mobile mouse that controlled an array of onboard functions, including navigation, audio and climate control. The list of features built into todays cars has rapidly escalated, especially with the debut of driver assistance technologies like Blind Spot Detection, as well as the addition of hands-free Bluetooth phone and audio pairing.

"The new asset in the automotive business is data."

BMW Connected Plus will go several steps further. It tracks appointments in an owners calendar and, if there is driving involved, it calculates not only driving time but how long it might take to walk to your car and then help you find where to park. Youll get an alert 10 minutes before you should leave to give you time to get ready.

You can then ask your Alexa device to turn the car on and, on the sort of sweltering summer day that Chicagoans faced this week, turn on the air conditioning.

There are plenty of other services coming, including the ability to access e-mail on your Microsoft Exchange server, even dictating a voice reply.

(Some functions, BMW and Microsoft stress, will be disabled when the car is in motion to avoid compounding the already serious issue of driver distraction.)

Such functions are likely to become even more desirable in the years to come, explained Brenner. According to various studies by organizations like the Boston Consulting Group, one-third or more of the miles Americans travel by 2030 are likely to be in driverless automobiles. That will provide plenty of time to watch content, Brenner said, work, or catch up on some sleep.

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It takes only a little imagination to think about all the possible services and features that will migrate into the automobile in the coming years, Gerri Martin-Flickinger, the chief technology officer for Starbucks, said during a joint news conference with Ford last March.

Meanwhile, auto manufacturers are racing to pair your car with all the digital devices in your life. Chevrolet on Friday announced owners can operate the MyChevrolet app through their Apple watches to lock or unlock a vehicle, find directions to where it was parked or sound the horn.

One of the challenges will be to add new functionality to vehicles already on the road. Tesla has addressed that by incorporating over-the-air, or OTA, updates that can be used to install new services, replace old software or even diagnose vehicle problems. Honda launched OTA capabilities with its new Odyssey minivan, and BMW is working on similar technology for Connected Plus.

Its difficult to find an automaker that isnt working on in-car technologies, and theyre partnering with the obvious list of major Silicon Valley and other tech companies: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, as well as major restaurant chains, digital service providers, and an endless list of smaller tech firms and start-ups.

Some manufacturers are offering their services at no charge at least for an initial period that can run from one to three years. But all are looking for the right business equation. General Motors has developed a steady revenue stream from its OnStar service, with an la carte menu of safety, convenience and service features.

Theres another pay-off. BMW believes it can boost its loyalty rates measured in returning customers by several percent, which is worth millions of dollars, explained Dieter May, the head of digital products and services. Thats on top of potential revenue streams from various paid services.

Yet as with other access points to the connected world, there is a potential downside.

Data is becoming a currency, with actual value, and it must be protected," Danny Le, principal and automotive leader, at KPMG, told NBC News. "Security needs to be invested in.

In-car technology is the single biggest source of complaints about todays vehicles.

Indeed, the threat of hacking has become an all-consuming conversation within the automotive digital community, as it has throughout the tech world.

There are other risks. BMW took a lot of heat early on for the cumbersome operation of the original iDrive. Only with recent iterations have consumers given strongly positive reviews. Ford was similarly thrashed for problems with its early Sync in-car system. According to David Sargent, head of automotive practice at J.D. Power and Associates, in-car technology is the single biggest source of complaints about todays vehicles.

The new asset in the automotive business is data, said Le.

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Who's Winning the Fight for the Best In-Car Technology? - NBCNews.com

In America, we regularly endure news reports about some sort of War on Christmas, so dont feel too smug. But in Russia, theres currently an effort to paint fidget spinners as a devious plot by the opposition to zombify kids using political technologies.

After transitioning from an obscure curiosity to a ubiquitous annoyance in record time, fidget

The man saying those silly quotes is Ruslan Ostashko, the editor in chief of the Putin-supporting news outlet, PolitRussia. As the New York Times reports, Ostashko appeared on Rossiya 24 for a special report on these devious devices that are corrupting children. It is a mystery why it has become so popular in Russia right now, a newscaster said as he introduced the investigation. Why are these fidget things happening? Who is spreading them? The Putin opposition, thats who.

Spinners are popular around the world because theyre fun to fiddle with. It appears that these broadcasters dont understand fun, because when they saw some of the young attendees of recent protests selling the toys under a banner that said, Spinners from Navalny, it all made perfect sense.

Aleksei A. Navalny is one of the most prominent anti-corruption activists in Russia and because of that, he spends a lot of time in and out of jail. The case against the spinner grew stronger when the investigate reporters discovered this clip of Navalny sitting in court back in May:

Boom. Right there. Thats Navalny with a spinner.

Whats more, the newscaster held up a spinner that hed bought at a store for children in Moscow. It only featured English text, no Russian.

Ostashko told the reporter that this was an obvious ploy to pull children over to the dark side of politics. Those who understand political technologies, they understand very clearly that this simple thing is controlling the masses, he said.

On Tuesday, Russias consumer protection agency attempted to calm panicked parents by announcing that it will investigate the zombifying spinner. Taking into consideration the anxiety among the community of parents and teachers, Rospotrebnadzor, in cooperation with child health research institutions, will study the effect spinners are having on children, including the possible negative impact, a spokesperson said.

There are a lot of strange and unsettling things going on with the investigation of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 election. There are also a lot of absolutely insane theories going around. Next time you hear something wild, search your soul and ask yourself if it would it sound as completely stupid as this does.

You can see the Russian report below:

[New York Times]

Originally posted here:

Russian Government Investigating Fidget Spinners, a 'Political Technology' That 'Controls Children' - Gizmodo

Part of a Faro Scanner at the Jackson County Sheriff's Office KTVL/Alexander Mesadieu

Jackson County, Ore.- The Jackson County Sheriff's office along with Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement Task Force (MADGE), just got a new gadget.

It's called the Faro Scanner, it's a machine that recreates crashes and crime scenes in 3-d technology.

"The advantage is the huge amount of information we're recording and capturing so we can use it in the future if we need to. That kind of information was just not captured in the past," said David Rathbun, Community Service Officer with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

The information captured on the Faro Scanner can be used as evidence in court, taking juries to the scene of a crime with accurate measurements and a 3-d view of the scene.

"You can actually show the jury [and say] 'ok now we're going to walk you through this crime scene,' or walk you through this car accident scene, and show you where everything was at the time that the scan was taken."Rathbun said.

The technology has already been used in two crashes.

The first was the Greyhound crash in Central Point, the last one was at a crash a outside of Rogue River.

The Sheriff's office plans to use the Faro Scanner in cases of homicide, officer involved shootings, and car crashes.

The Faro Scanner cost around 70 thousand dollars, it was paid for by money from drug proceeds seized during cases.

All police departments that participate in MADGE can borrow the Faro Scanner when it is necessary for their cases.

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Local police forces get new technology - KTVL