Apple and Lidar Technology for Camera

Lidar used to cost $75,000. Apple made it possible for millions users.

Excerpt:

"At Tuesday's unveiling of the iPhone 12, Apple touted the capabilities of its new lidar sensor. Apple says lidar will enhance the iPhone's camera by allowing more rapid focus, especially in low-light situations. And it may enable the creation of a new generation of sophisticated augmented reality apps."

As always, the comments are mighty useful. Great knowledge there. Lidar is going to invade automative industry.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/10/the-technology-behind-the-iphone-lidar-may-be-coming-soon-to-cars/?comments=1

Ouster's Spinning Sensor. Image from the Article.

Global Carbon Pricing

Latest article from the IMF Blog. Carbon price floor arrangement. Carbon taxes or emission trading system.

Excerpt:

"An illustrative example shows that reinforcing Paris Agreement pledges with a three-tier price floor among just six participants (Canada, China, European Union, India, United Kingdom, United States) with prices of $75, $50, and $25 for advanced, high, and low-income emerging markets, respectively and in addition to current policies, could help achieve a 23 percent reduction in global emissions below baseline by 2030. This is enough to bring emissions in line with keeping global warming below 2°C."

https://blogs.imf.org/2021/06/18/a-proposal-to-scale-up-global-carbon-pricing/

Image credit - IMF. 

Tolkien Funding Sukuk

Heard of sterling denominated Tolkien Funding Sukuk named after the famous author JRR Tolkien? The story below. Birmingham. Tolkien. Al Rayan Bank headquarter. The rest is Sukuk Tolkien at maturity of 2052 (34 years).

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/al-rayan-bank-uk-issues-largest-ever-sterling-sukuk-for-250m-674036003.html

Image credit - Vox.

According to Vox, Tolkien wrote LOTR to procrastinate on his academic work at Oxford.

Discusssing Debt: Asad Zaman on Raghuram's Rajan

Here is an interesting discussion on debt threshold and the ABC's of MMT. Learn a new word today from the article 'vivisection.'

https://weapedagogy.wordpress.com/2021/01/02/critique-of-rajan-on-debt/

Image credit - Jamaica Gleaner. From the article Raghuram Rajan's: 'How much debt is too much?'

The Road to Brexit

 

Image credit - Financial Times

Building (Assembling?) "Living Building" - a 10-Storey Apartment in 28 hours

It is China again and their engineering feat! The 10-Storey apartment, named the 'Living Building' is movable - you can actually disassembled  and  relocate. Modular construction technique. Good for flood areas, perhaps. Short video below (51 seconds). Read the comments as well to see the pros and cons. 

The second video is slightly longer (5 minutes) - but it is worth it. More facts. The background music is awesome. I guess it is traditional piece. 

Traditional Malay houses have these features, where it was a tradition for the Malay community in villages to move wooden houses - literally by lifting and carrying the structures. I have seen this when I was young. It was a great festive event and the esprit de corp was unbelievable.  Perhaps this traditional practices should be made a tourist attraction. Like what Korea did with their heritage. (There is one place in central Malaysia, Perak, where you can try lifting a Malay traditional wooden house. Many foreign students try this).

https://archinect.com/news/article/150270302/10-story-apartment-building-in-changsha-china-erected-in-28-hours

Video from Youtube

Video from Youtube

The 1,100 Year Old Ancient Poem: A Poetic Twist?

After Jack Ma, another Tech Billionaire in China has ignited controversial debates on the government's anti-monopoly campaign through his posting of a millennial ancient poem on his social media. Part of it read: "Before the ashes turned cold, rebellion had arisen east of the mountains." (Later, the poem was deleted).

Translated full text of the Poem:

"The ashes of burnt books had not yet faded away but the Qin dynasty was already weak,

The natural military forts did not protect the Qin dynasty,

The bonfire for burning books was not yet cold when the riot in Shandong started,

It turns out Liu Bang and Xiang Yu [who overthrew the Qin dynasty] did not read books at all."

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/a-1-100-year-old-poem-cost-meituans-outspoken-ceo-2-5-billion-2439724

Image credit - Bloomberg

Bond as a Giffen Good

Heard of Giffen Good and Giffen Behaviour? An interesting article below.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/view/the-bond-market-is-now-a-giffen-good

Image credit - BloombergQuint

Ekonomi Tingkah laku dan Proses Vaksinasi (Malay Article)

Artikel dalam Tinta Minda, Bernama berkaitan Teori Ekonomi Tingkah Laku dan bagaimana ia boleh diaplikasi dalam meningkatkan jumlah vaksinasi.  Baca artikel penuh di bawah.

Ringkasan bagaimana Teori Ekonomi Tingkah Laku (Behavioral Economics) boleh digunakan untuk meningkatkan vaksinasi:

1.  Daftar individu secara automatik.

2.  Pihak KKM hantar peringatan sebelum vaksinasi. 

3.  Testimoni penerima vaksin untuk sebaran.

https://www.bernama.com/bm/tintaminda/news.php?id=1973284#abc

Image credit - KKM

Stepping Outside the Box

Professor Asad Zaman's Blog. Many insightful thoughts. 

Excerpt:

"Some questions trap you by creating boxes far removed from the truth. ..The only way to handle the situation is to REFUSE the question as being valid, and step outside the boxes created by the question. Recently, the Palestinian Ambassador was asked on a TV interview whether or not he approved of Hamas actions in sending rockets to Israel. He refused the question by saying that focus of attention should be on the enormous amount of suffering being inflicted on innocent civilians of Palestine. The cartoon below provides another illustration."

https://azprojects.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/stepping-outside-the-box/

Image credit - Prof Asad Zaman Blog

Award Winning Short Film (Nature)

Simply Inspiring short film. Only 2-minutes (1.56 actually). Enjoy. 

Credit - Youtube

Investment in Intangibles

An article from the IMF Blog on 'Getting Back to Growth.'

Excerpt:

"Ensuring an efficient reallocation of resources while protecting vulnerable groups can support a strong recovery. This can be achieved in multiple ways, including by:

• Ensuring that capital in failed firms is quickly put to more efficient use, through policies such as improved insolvency and restructuring procedures.
• Promoting competition to enable the exit and entry of firms to help curb market power.
• Supporting displaced workers, by gradually refocusing policy support from retention to reallocation, to facilitate adjustment to the new normal as the recovery gains speed. Efforts to reskill workers, including through on-the-job training, will also help support inclusiveness as well as boost human capital and strengthen potential growth.

Finally, to reap the benefits for productivity of investment in intangibles, ensuring adequate access to financing for viable firms is essential."

https://blogs.imf.org/2021/06/10/getting-back-to-growth

Image credit - IMF Blog

KPOP - Kulit Popia by Tisha Holdings

KPOP is not the K-Pop you think of. It is  a spring roll skin frozen product More on the story below. Another product, paratha is fit for a Queen. 

https://www.salaamgateway.com/story/instagram-deliveries-and-paratha-fit-for-a-queen-3-malaysian-food-smes-cheer-unexpected-success-amid

Image credit - Pybli 

Metals Price Rally

According to the article in the IMG Blog, there are four factors contributing to the increases in the metals price:

1. A manufacturing-based recovery.

2. Supply-side factors.

3. Expectations for faster energy transition and infrastructure spending.

4. Storability of metals.

https://blogs.imf.org/2021/06/08/four-factors-behind-the-metals-price-rally/

Image credit - IMF Blog

10 Best Inspirational Stories

Have a good read.

https://wealthygorilla.com/10-most-inspirational-short-stories/

Image credit - Pinterest

Apple Employees' Complaint Letter

The complaints from Apple employees' will determine the roadmap of working in the future after the Covid-19 pandemic. The employees revolt over having to work in open-plan offices in 2017. The story below, along  with the impressive glass building of the new headquarters.    The most expensive office building in the world. Earthquake ready. Some employees got hurt walking into a glass wall. What a story!

https://qz.com/work/2018276/what-the-apple-employees-complaint-letter-got-right-about-hybrid/

Image credit - The New York Times

49 Best Short Films

Today I attended a 8-5 pm short course on Writing A Script for a Short Film. Very interesting. Learn about the free software that you can use in screenwriting here.

49 Best Short Films in the link below:

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/best-short-films/

Animated film 'Piper' from PIXAR. Image credit - The Smalls

Brexit Referendum as an Inelastic Good

A 5-page perspective on the recent Brexit tough choices below. Brexitland vs Remainia.

https://www.intereconomics.eu/pdf-download/year/2016/number/5/article/brexit-as-an-inelastic-good-a-microeconomic-theory-of-direct-democracy.html

Image credit - The Kathmandu Post

The Six Thinking Hats

Which one is you?

Image credit - Pinterest

Where to Get Copyright-Free Images

Recently I wrote a short piece on Minari (yes, the Award-Winning South Korean movie). The Editor ask me to add copyright-free images. I search the Internet, and here are the 3 sites you can use as suggested by some reviewers in Quora:

1. Pexels
2. StockSnap
3. Unsplash

Happy image hunting!

Image - Pexels.com

JOD (Jordanian Dinar)

I did a small research on Jordan's monetary policy and come across this article, written in March 2021. Do you know that JOD is actually stronger than US dollar?

Excerpt:

"The question that should be answered is: “Is it favourable for Jordan to narrow the margin between domestic and US interest rates and deviate in the opposite direction from US interest rate levels?” The answer is that it is pointless to narrow the margin, and it is not in Jordan's interest to deviate in the opposite direction."

https://www.jordantimes.com/opinion/adli-kandah/monetary-policy-independent-jordan

Image credit - IMF

7 Currencies Stronger than USD

Melissa Parietti listed 7 currencies that are stronger than USD (Investopedia, Oct 4., 2020):

Euro, Cayman Island Dollar, Pound, Jordanian Dinar, Omani Rial, Bahraini Dinar & Kuwaiti Dinar. They are among the strongest currencies in the world.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/030216/6-strongest-currencies-vs-us-dollar-2016.asp

Image credit - Wealthy Gorilla

The Asia Pacific Trade Deal

What is the most important things we need during the Covid-19 pandemic? Food. 

Excerpt - Article from WITA (Washington International Trade Association), 12 May 2021. 

"Although agriculture comprises only about 10% of total U.S. exports, the agricultural sector in the U.S. and other countries account for a large share of trade policy considerations. Rejoining the accord has the potential to establish economic ties with emerging economies like Vietnam and Malaysia and embrace the need for improved trade relations in Southeast Asia overall.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership could be the easiest path forward if the U.S. wanted to improve trade relations with Southeast Asia. Joining this partnership could be especially beneficial based on the volume of agricultural trade and expected growth in these markets. At an approximate US$14.3 billion annually, Southeast Asia accounts for a significant amount of U.S. agricultural exports, making it the fourth-leading destination behind China, Canada and Mexico."

https://www.wita.org/blogs/american-farmers/

Image credit - WITA

Covid-19: Miles To Go for Emerging Economies

The 14-min. read from the IMF.

Excerpt:

Source: IMF

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2021/06/pdf/the-future-of-emerging-markets-duttagupta-and-pazarbasioglu.pdf

Image credit - IMF

Fawzal Number (Fa)

Excerpt from this link:

https://www.piston.my/2019/06/11/this-malaysian-helped-with-the-development-of-world-fastest-supercars/

"We’ve recently posted about the one of the world’s latest and most powerful road-going hypercars which were introduced by several top sports car manufacturers. With all the hype that has been going around, did you know that there’s a Malaysian ‘touch’ in the development of these supercars? Enter Ahmad Syahid Ahmad Fawzal, a Malaysian PhD holder in mechanical engineering.

So, what does this brilliant Malaysian have to do with the world of supercars and ultra-fast machines? Well, mechanical engineers from all over the world went through great lengths in figuring out how to optimize their supercar’s cooling system and they managed to optimize that by using what’s now known as the Fawzal Number, the very concept created by Ahmad Syahid."

Image  credit - Twitter

Dr Ahmad Syahid Ahmad Fawzal's Thesis Depository:

https://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/47705bd3-dd54-404f-93a4-313a01174c52/1/

Dr. Ahmad Syahid Video on How to Read Literature Review (in Malay)

'Spend What You Must, But Keep the Receipts'

An article on receipts of the pandemic-related spending from the IMFBlog.  

Excerpt:

"The IMF presses for better governance through greater transparency, and has sought specific governance measures for countries receiving IMF financing during the crisis. These include commitments to publish pandemic-related procurement contracts and the beneficial ownership of companies awarded these contracts, as well as COVID-19 spending reports and audit results."

Image credit - GOBankingRates

Image credit - Pinterest