Google Investing Big in Australia

Companies, , ,

In what will be Google‘s largest investment in Australia to date, the tech giant said it will build a research hub, enlarge cloud computing, and fund joint projects with local organizations to the tune of $740 million.


The investment is called “The Digital Future Initiative” and will likely create about 6,000 jobs directly and support 28,000 more secondary jobs.


“Australia can help lead the world’s next wave of innovation, harnessing technology to improve lives, create jobs, and make progress,” said Sundar Pichai, a Google executive who spoke at the launch in Sydney.


Scott Morrison, prime minister of Australia, also spoke at the launch, saying: “The decision by Google has major benefits for Australian businesses as we engage with the economic recovery before us.”


Other Australian groups will take part in the initiative, including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia’s government science agency.


A representative of DivisionX Global, a hi-tech investment company, Joshua Kennedy-White said Google’s initiative is a “huge win” for the Australian tech sector.


“It takes money to move an idea into innovation and the first money is the hardest to come by. If Google cut $250k cheques to promising start-ups, they could fund 4,000 new tech companies in Australia,” Kennedy-White said.

NY and Miami Mayors Want Bitcoin Paychecks

Finance, Technology, , , , ,

Newly-elected New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and recently re-elected Miami Mayor Francis Suarez both want their first payments as mayor to be in cryptocurrency.

Photo care of Antana

Adams made his announcement on social media, saying that he would like to have his first three months’ worth of salary transferred to him in the form of bitcoin. Since the currency’s launch in 2009 it has been extremely volatile—from about $1,000 at the end of 2013 to $66,000 in late 2021, with lots of ups and downs in between.

Both Adams and Suarez want to make their respective cities “the center of the cryptocurrency industry” and “a hub for cryptocurrency innovation.”

“In New York we always go big, so I’m going to take my first three paychecks in bitcoin when I become mayor,” wrote Mr. Adams on Twitter

“NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait!”

Adams was elected in early November 2021 as New York’s second Black mayor.

Suarez established in August 2021 a new cryptocurrency called MiamiCoin, run by an non-profit organization called CityCoins. The group sends 30% of the value of the currency that is created on someone’s computer to Miami. So far the city has raised over $7 million in this way.
Adams stated that he would like to create a similar non-profit as well.

Three American-based Economists Share Nobel Prize

Economy, , , , ,


The Nobel Prize for Economics went to three US-based academics: Joshua D. Angrist, David Card, and Guido W. Imbens. Card earned his award for work on labor economics, while Angrist and Imbens contributed to the analysis of causal relationships.


Card, 65-years old, is a University of California-based professor of economics, while his partner, Angrist, is 61 and the Ford professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Imbens, the youngest of the three at 58, is based at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he is also a professor.


According to the Nobel Prize committee who chose the laureates, the three winners ” provided us with new insights about the labor market and shown what conclusions about cause and effect can be drawn from natural experiments.”


The committee added that the approach the researchers took to exploring social questions had “revolutionized empirical research.”

New Menu Boosts Sales at Subway

Companies, ,

Subway reported its strongest sales since 2013 in the wake of a complete make-over of its menu.

In the middle of July of this year, Subway’s US restaurants began to offer ten new or better ingredients in addition to ten re-configured or original sandwiches. The changes have been under consideration for over two years, and include new types of bread, better protein choices, and new toppings like mashed avocado.

August sales were the best they have been in eight years, and the projection for sales for the end of 2021 surpass $1 billion. Subway is a privately owned business and does not need to report its monthly sales.

“Our loyal regulars — in addition to many first-time guests — are commenting to our team that they taste a real difference in our new sandwiches and ingredients,” said Subway franchisee David Liseno in a statement.

The restaurant chain grew enormously during the 2008 financial crisis after the company offered a foot-long sandwich for $5. Subway became the largest in the US by number of units. Over the years, however, competitors ate into their market share and sales went south.

Subway’s parent company, Doctor’s Associates, reported annual revenue in 2020 of $689.1 million, down 28% since 2019. Total number of stores has also been in decline since 2016. At the end of 2020, the chain had 22,201 locations in the US.

FDA Finally Certifies Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine as Fully Approved

Health Care, , ,

Despite the fact that hundreds of millions of Pfizer-manufactured mRNA vaccines have been injected into people’s arms, until today the shot’s widespread consumption has been only under an “Emergency Use Authorization.” Today the US Food and Drug Administration has decided it can throw its full weight of approval behind the vaccine, opening the way for organizations, governments, and other large entities to mandate vaccination for staff and others.


It is expected that the certification, which has been in process since the vaccine entered the world stage in December 2020, will increase confidence in the treatment, helping overcome the last traces of vaccine hesitation which has led in part to the current surge in COVID-19 around the world, due to the spread of the Delta variant.


The US defense establishment announced that it will in all likelihood make vaccination mandatory for all members of the armed services. Universities have also said that they will require students and staff to be vaccinated if they want to attend in-person learning, among them the University of Minnesota and major public universities in Louisiana.


The FDA said it was able to upgrade the approval rating based on the large amount of hard evidence proving that serious side-effects are highly unusual, and the benefit of the vaccine vastly outweigh any risk presented by its administration.


President Joe Biden said, addressing those who have been wary of the vaccine because it was only being given under the emergency use authorization, that now that the vaccine has received the “gold standard” approval, “the moment you’ve been waiting for is here!”