KPCB's Mary Meeker Presents 2015 Internet Trends

Mary Meeker, a partner at the prestigious venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,  has just released her annual Internet Trends report. Meeker is uniquely qualified as she's been an internet analyst for a rather long time. In fact, this week's 2015 Internet Trend Report is her 20th edition. Such experience and the consistent high quality must be why audiences at this week's Code Conference (and millions of others) were so eager to see what she had to present this year.

As the internet itself is a broad topic, Meeker covers a wider variety of issues in her reports. Some are clearly obvious, while many have not been presented so clearly. To start off, it's important to realize there are now 2.8 billion internet users around the world -- which is up 8% from last year.

There are now 2.1 billion smartphone users -- growing 23% in 2014

In short, mobile growth has exploded and it's increasingly how people access the internet.

From the Advertising perspective, mobile is under-indexed and poised to grow the most.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the ~$25B+ mobile marketing arena. I'm sure we'll see the obvious contenders such as Facebook, Google and Snapchat, though something new could always come out of left field and dominate this space.

The report goes on to cover much more, such as a view from the enterprise data perspective:

Ten Years from Now, When We Look Back at How This Era of Big Data Evolved... We Will Be Stunned at How Uninformed We Used to Be When We Made Decisions – Billy Bosworth, DataStax CEO (2015)

Check out the full presentation here on SlideShare.

2015 Internet Trends Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Nevada to Have First Autonomous Trucks in America

Daimler Trucks North America is the first to get approval for self-driving commercial vehicles in the United States. The Freightliner Inspiration Truck, and other trucks like it, could have massive implications for the future of transportation. The Inspiration truck features a system called Highway Pilot, which uses stereoscopic cameras and radar sensors to give it an autonomous autopilot mode when cruising on the highway. The truck can steer to stay between lane markers and adjust its speed and braking to maintain a safe following distance behind other cars on the road all while the driver is free to do other things.

It’s considered a “level 3” autonomous vehicle, meaning it enables hands-off highway driving under certain circumstances, but requires a driver to be present, ready to take the helm in an emergency or to pass other vehicles in the truck’s path. The driver is likewise required to assume control of the vehicle when exiting the highway, driving over local roads and pulling up to the loading dock for making or taking deliveries.

For the record, a “level 4″ vehicle would be able to perform all driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip, truly freeing up the valuable resource of human time.

Daimler executives are being careful to allay fears of human employment disruption. “We don’t want to get rid of drivers,” says Sven Ennerst, head of Daimler Trucks’ development department. Daimler continues by repeatedly saying the technology won’t can’t change lanes on its own, it won’t be market-ready for a decade, and could never fully replace human drivers.

The reality remains that that it is a big step towards addressing a massive market need: safe and reliable transportation.

Some large freight carriers have already started incorporating innovative new safety features like blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and lane departure warnings. The economic case for these technologies is clear.

“Commercial vehicles are a safety issue,” says Xavier Mosquet, head of Boston Consulting Group’s North America automotive division. “And therefore anything that can get commercial vehicles out of trouble has a lot of value.”

With America's driver shortage continuing to worsen, good truck drivers cost more these days. Costs are also rising for companies that cut corners and hire unsafe drivers. Liability in a commercial truck accident is increasingly falling on the shipper.

HWP - Highway Pilot

In order to get the autonomous vehicle license plate from the state of Nevada, Daimler needed to prove the system could safely cover 10,000 miles on its own. This was done on test tracks in Germany and on quiet roads in Nevada.

Daimler ran a small study (16 drivers on a test track) to see how this autonomous system affects drivers. EEG readings showed they were 25 percent less tired than they were when they had to steer themselves.

Customers are very much interested in this system, according to Daimler. That’s no surprise: Making driving a job for the computer can reduce accidents, improve fuel efficiency, and maybe keep trucks on the road for longer, says Noël Perry, an economist who specializes in transportation and logistics. “They all love this.”

Additional Reading:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27485-autonomous-truck-cleared-to-drive-on-us-roads-for-the-first-time.html#.VVDGtNNVhBd

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/daimler-built-worlds-first-self-driving-semi/

Tesla to Announce Battery Systems This Week

Tesla Motors is expected to announce a new product later this week: Residential and Commercial Battery Systems. It's clear Tesla is expanding its close partnership with Panasonic, the world's largest manufacturer of Lithium Ion Batteries, through the upcoming Gigafactory plant in Sparks, Nevada. Investors and Tesla advocates immediately speculated that the new product line would be a battery system.

The new product and business model were originally alluded to by founder Elon Musk on his twitter account.

Major new Tesla product line -- not a car -- will be unveiled at our Hawthorne Design Studio on Thurs 8pm, April 30

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 30, 2015

SolarCity just hit a new daily energy record of 5GWh two weeks after reaching 4GWh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2015

With all that solar power being generated, it almost feels like something is needed to complete the picture ...

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2015

While formally being announced on April 30th, Tesla seems to have confirmed this reasoning through a letter to investors. The letter confirmed a "home battery" and a "very large utility scale battery."

There is intriguing business genius with this move. The company is planning on scaling up battery production with the aim to achieve massive economies of scale. Designing a high potential battery product for homes and businesses could help create demand and expand its market position into the electric utility world.

For the customers, it makes economic sense to buy and store electricity at night when the price is low. The system could even sell unneeded electricity back to the grid when prices are high.

Widely implemented, systems like these could help the expansion of renewable energy sources that provide power intermittently when the sun shines or the wind blows.

Around 300 customers have already installed Tesla's batteries in their homes, reports The Guardian. "It’s clean, it’s quiet and it looks good in the garage," investment analyst Trip Chowdhry told the newspaper, adding that the system appeals to customers who want a constant connection to the internet. "If you are a gadget person living a digital life — you have iPhones and computers and you always want to be connected — the storage battery is a dream come true."

SpaceX CRS-6 Almost Sticks a Perfect Landing

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft successfully carried more than 4,300 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station. A second feat of rocket science was attempted in the landing of the 1st stage of the Falcon 9 rocket on a platform in the ocean.

It was impressively close.

It's important to remember that the ascent part is still a magnificent achievement - those that might be tempted into thinking it's become routine need only to look at the recent Orbital Sciences explosion. The landing, however, would have been an exciting first for humanity.

If SpaceX can perfect this move, they will be able to reuse their rockets, rather than building a new one each time. Such an advancement would dramatically lower the cost of flying cargo (and people) into space.

Below is another angle of footage, this time it was filmed by a chaser plane - in slow-motion HD.

Check it out:

From SpaceX's website:

The odds of success are not great—perhaps 50% at best. However this test represents the first in a series of similar tests that will ultimately deliver a fully reusable Falcon 9 first stage.

Returning anything from space is a challenge, but returning a Falcon 9 first stage for a precision landing presents a number of additional hurdles. At 14 stories tall and traveling upwards of 1300 m/s (nearly 1 mi/s), stabilizing the Falcon 9 first stage for reentry is like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm.

In the end, perhaps it's for the best that Elon Musk didn't stick his landing. His current twitter profile photo looks an awful lot like Dr. Evil. Plus there's this tweet remarking about the Falcon 9 landing.

If this works, I'm treating myself to a volcano lair. It's time.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2015

Joking about being an evil genius is the sort of thing an evil genius might do. Isn't it?

Connect & Collaborate - Space Innovation

Colorado is home to some of the most innovative research in space exploration. The state ranks highest in the nation for private sector employment in the space industry. Even so, much of the work can go unnoticed by many of our residents. We at the Colorado Business Roundtable work to keep you informed of the many great companies and organizations making advancements in aerospace. This week we bring you an inside look at Sierra Nevada Corporation, and the latest on the upcoming Space Symposium.

Mark Sirangelo, Corporate Vice President of Sierra Nevada Corporation's Space Systems, joins us for a Pro-Business Colorado segment with Dave Tabor, from the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry. Mark shares inspiring stories about their work on space vehicles and other important components. SNC boasts 26 years in space, and has been a part of 425 missions, as the largest builder of small satellites. They make possible weather reporting systems which allow farmers to determine which areas of their land require watering, or helping firefighters determine the driest areas where forest fires might flare up, as well as asset tracking for companies like FedEx.

Another current project is a solar probe spacecraft to be launched close to the sun to monitor its' storms. Radiation from those storms have the potential to destroy the GPS satellites and other systems that we rely upon here on earth.  Sierra Nevada also anticipates in coming weeks, the arrival of New Horizions on Pluto, after 10 years of travel, at a speed of 20 thousand miles per hour.

Later in the show, we also check in with Edgar Johansson, President of the Colorado Space Business Roundtable about the upcoming Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, April 13-18th. The Space Symposium is a gathering of top aerospace scientists and engineers from around the world, discussing classified projects so it is not open to the public. But, if you want to indulge your or your child's interest in aerospace, get them registered for Yuri's night, leading up to the symposium on April 12th. Yuri's night is a celebration of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, who circled the earth on April Meet astronauts, and enjoy fun interactive activities. 12, 1961. Find more information and registration information here. Meet astronauts, and enjoy fun interactive activities.

Listen Saturday at 1:00 PM on 710 KNUS –  Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine.

Three Axis Gimbals - An Ancient Technology Is Now Advancing Video Production & Media Services

What technology reaches back to the ancient Greeks, helped navigation during the Age of Exploration, and even enabled the NASA space program? 3-Axis Gimbals. And now, with the rapid increase of their performance-to-price value, three axis gimbals are revolutionizing modern media services. With the advent of brushless handheld stabilizers and gimbal systems suspended from drones, high end production value is now available at reasonable pricing. If you're considering video production to enhance your branding, now is the best time to contact ICOSA Media Services.

Known at least as far back as the times of Philo of Byzantium, a system of interlocking rings - known as gimbals - allows objects to remain independent of the external rotation of its support. While simple to understand when you look at one, the results still appear quite magical.

Gimbals enabled the Age of Exploration by stabilizing a ship's compass, allowing for more accurate measurements and more precise location mapping. While latitude was relatively easy to figure out with simple observations of the sun's maximum height in the sky as seen at noon, longitude was much more difficult - especially at sea with constant changes to a ship's roll, pitch, and yaw. Many great minds worked on ways to solve this challenges and let navigators know where they were around the world. The result has changed the course of history.

Over the years, NASA has also found many uses for gimbals, first and foremost for their navigational instruments. Its uses also range from training astronauts to handle the g-forces of space travel to satellite tracking and dynamic image stabilization. Rocket engines and thrusters are also often on gimbal systems in order to have greater control over the direction of their force. The American aerospace industry, including publicly funded research and R&D initiatives from private firms like Ball Aerospace and the Sierra Nevada Corporation, have dramatically advanced the state of the art. Below, you can see a photo of Ball Aerospace's Space Based Space Surveillance Gimbal.

Just like other NASA-developed spinoff technologies, the original investment in advancing gimbals has rippling returns. In addition to the micro accelerometers in everyone's smartphones, the field of modern videography and film production are now benefitting greatly from successful spinoffs. For a relatively low cost, a film director can achieve shots that would have previously only been possible with carefully planned out crane or dolly shots.

Historically, smooth motion shots required meticulous planning and the construction of expensive tracks or counterweight balancing systems. To the right is an example from the set of the movie The Alamo. It shows crews using a dolly to achieve a tracking shot during a battle scene. A jib crew can also be seen in the background. These processes cost a lot of time and money, which is why they were usually reserved for high budget Hollywood studios and their blockbuster productions.

With the advent of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, cranes may be becoming obsolete. DJI is an industry leader with their Phantom 2 and Spreading Wings platforms. They seem to have become the preferred filming drone based on my conversations with the aerial operators I know. In their development of aerial vehicles that can carry cameras, the issue of image stabilization became apparent, as it did to NASA when trying to stabilize images from cameras aboard satellites and spacecraft. So they used a three axis gimbal system powered with brushless electric motors. Below is an image of a camera suspended below a DJI Spreading Wings uav system.

Now, separating that technology from aerial devices has resulted in the DJI Ronin, a handheld gimbal stabilizer for impressive videography.

Whether you are needing visual communication to improve your company's branding or simply just to share your message with the world, now is the best time to do it. Feel free to contact ICOSA Media Services today to discuss turning your vision into reality.

Self-Driving Cars in 30 U.S. Cities by 2017

There will be driverless buses and pods as well.

By Sage Lazzaro | 03/05/15 10:47am

Originally appearing in the Observer

Finally, we can put up our feet and let computers take the wheel.

Automated vehicle pilot projects will roll out in the U.K. and in six to 10 U.S. cities this year, with the first unveiling projected to be in Tampa, Florida as soon as late spring. The following year, trial programs will launch in 12 to 20 more U.S. locations, which means driverless cars will be on roads in up to 30 U.S. cities by the end of 2016. The trials will be run by Comet LLC, a consulting firm focused on automated vehicle commercialization.

“We’re looking at college campuses, theme parks, airports, downtown areas—places like that,” Corey Clothier, a strategist for automated transportation systems who runs the firm told, The Observer.

He explained that they’re focusing on semi-controlled areas and that the driverless vehicles will serve a number of different purposes—both public and private. The vehicles themselves—which are all developed by Veeo Systems—will even vary from two-seaters to full-size buses that can transport 70 people. At some locations, the vehicles will drive on their own paths, occasionally crossing vehicle and pedestrian traffic, while at others, the vehicles will be completely integrated with existing cars.

What would happen if you combine driverless cars with an on-demand service like Uber? One study says it would make nine out of ten cars on every road totally obsolete.

One of the early test sites will be the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina. There, small pod-like vehicles will transport wounded troops from their barracks to the nearby hospital for treatment and check-ups. The Comet team is also planning a pilot project at The United States Military Academy at West Point, although Mr. Clothier said this site has not been finalized.

An automated vehicle system will also be implemented at Stanford with its first purpose being to provide transportation around their SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory campus. Scientists and academics travel from all over the world to visit the center, and the first application of the automated vehicle system will be to transport visiting scientists to the accelerator.

At the first test site in Tampa, the plan is to start with public transit around the Museum of Science and Industry and eventually expand to the University of Southern Florida campus and the neighboring City of Temple Terrace. The Comet team is also planning trials in two other cities in Florida; Greenville, South Carolina and Seattle, Washington, where the 70-person buses will be used in public transit.

At 25 to 40 percent cheaper, the cost to ride the driverless public transit vehicles will be significantly less expensive than traditional buses and trains, according to Mr. Clothier. They’ll also be far less expensive to operate. The vehicles are electric, rechargeable and could cost as low as $1 to $3 to run per day.

In addition to these first trials of automated vehicles for commercial use in the U.S., the U.K. will begin running tests this year in Greenwich, London as well. The $9 million project called GATEway will consist of public self-driving shuttles that will link residents to transport hubs, The O2 Arena and other destinations in northern Greenwich, carrying eight to ten passengers at a time.

Greenwich was chosen for the Project—which is being led by the U.K.’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL)—because, since it’s home to the Prime Meridian.

“It is the global reference point for time and links to navigation,” Nick Reed, the TRL academy director, said. “It also has a massively growing population, so we’re trying to meet the needs of that with the technology.”

Upon entering the shuttles, each passenger chooses from the pre-determined destinations on the touch screen, and then the computer determines and readjusts the route as riders hop on and off. Each vehicle uses lasers to build up an image of the route and determine where it is and where it needs to go.

These shuttles will drive along their own route but must cross pedestrian and vehicle traffic at times. The lasers will also enable the cars to determine when it’s safe to cross and also to spot obstructions. At a recent launch event, the vehicles proved how safe they are and how well they can sense obstructions and the world around them.

“You can image a lot of the journalists wanted to see this thing run into pedestrians, so they were almost jumping in front of it,” Mr. Reed said laughing. “But it was doing what it was supposed to do and stopping.”

He also explained that these shuttles are only the first part of the trials. They’re also working on autonomous valet parking that would enable drivers with ordinary cars to pull up to their destination, send their car to park itself and then summon it later. Additionally, they’re beginning to research how automated vehicles can be used for grocery delivery and other urban services.

Mr. Reed feels that this technology won’t completely replace today’s cars and trains, but that it is disruptive and will be the norm soon.

He described his first experience in a driverless vehicle as feeling “vulnerable at first,” but said that it quickly became very comfortable.

“It’s a bit unnerving to begin with because you realize the system is in control and you’re relying on the sensors and brakes to keep you safe, but very quickly after seeing it respond to pedestrians and such, you see it work and become very comfortable. I became relaxed even,” he said, adding how happy we’ll all be to be able to just watch Netflix while our cars drive us around.

Mr. Clothier, who has been riding in automated vehicles since their military-only days and has even been passenger to a computer among semis driving at 65mph on a Michigan highway, feels similarly.

“It’s a whole new thing, but it will be comfortable,” he said. “People are very comfortable riding in [them]. It’s kind of like an elevator: you go in, put in your destination, the doors close and you’re off.”

SEE: Mercedes-Benz’s New Car Is Driverless

Correction: The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory participated in the Smart America Challenge as a possible future pilot site but a trial is not set to run there at this time.

Draft Drone Rules Rule Out Long Distances

The technological advances of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been remarkable over the last couple of years. Their increasing capabilities and affordability promise many opportunities for commercial applications, ranging from farming to logistics. Despite the immense potential, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long been quiet about the upcoming regulatory framework. Until now.

The FAA has just released proposed rules for commercial drones within the United States.

Although the rules are not as draconian as some people feared, commercial applications for UAVs are still facing limitations compared to other countries.

The FAA isn't requiring commercial drones to undergo a lengthy and costly certification process. UAVs under 55 lbs can be flown as long as the operators have passed a basic aeronautical test.

They must, however, be flown below 500 feet, only in daylight, and remain within view of their operators at all time. They also can not be flown over people, such as at concerts and sporting events.

This is a “good first step”, says the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems. It would easily allow, for example, a real estate agent to take aerial photographs of a house being put up for sale. It would also allow for farmers looking to survey crop conditions.

Not being allowed to fly over crowds might prevent television companies from filming sporting events with drones. Perhaps further certifications would allow such maneuvers in the future.

The requirement that the UAVs stay within line of sight is also a big limitation, preventing long-distance flights (inspecting forests and monitoring pipelines, for example). This would also rule out Amazon's plan of using drones to deliver goods ordered online.

Michael Huerta, head of the FAA, says that as drones develop the rules will continue to "evolve."

As the technology improves and operators build experience, perhaps the agency will eventually permit longer-range, out-of-sight flights.

In the meantime, the current proposals will undergo a lengthy period of public comment before being finalized- possibly in 2017.

Drone operations in other countries are already getting airborne with pilot projects. In China, Alibaba has launched a drone delivery service for tea orders. In Europe, the logistics firm DHL has begun delivering medicine and other urgent supplies to a small island off the coast of Germany.

To see some of these pilot programs in action, check out this video from the Wall Street Journal:

Apple's Auto Ambition

Reports over the last couple weeks show growing evidence that Apple is gearing up to create an electric vehicle. Apple has already hired more than 60 former Tesla employees. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk says Apple has been offering his engineers a 60% salary increase and $250k signing bonuses.

Apple has also recruited Johann Jungwirth away from his position as head of Mercedes-Benz’s Silicon Valley R&D unit.

According to a new report from Tim Higgins of Bloomberg, the company’s car team is planning to launch the electric vehicle by 2020.

Higgins adds that the company has additionally hired former engineers of Panasonic Corporation, Johnson Controls Inc, LG Electronics Inc., A123 Systems and others.

The Bloomberg report speculates Apple is speedily designing an electric vehicle that can be marketed to the masses - a car with a range of over 200 miles on a single charge and a price tag of less than $40,000.

Barclays said in a research note that the electric car market is worth $16 billion a year, and will grow to $71 billion by 2021.

Apple has plenty of cash on hand after several consecutive quarters of very high profits. They would be wise in diversifying and investing in the future. While some analysts deride this strategy by pointing to low margins in electric vehicles, Apple's bigger play could be the use of connected cars as a platform, similar to the iPhone and the Appstore.

Though connected cars make up less than 10% of auto sales today, their share is expected to skyrocket to 80% by 2020.

A even larger opportunity exists with the advent of self-driving technology. Think about all the hours people spend driving their cars. What is that time worth? What else could people be doing with that time? The answers to these questions could be worth trillions of dollars.

With Google, Uber, and traditional car manufacturers working on autonomous driving vehicles, it could very well become a reality by as soon as 2020. Reuters says it has learned from industry sources that Apple’s secret project involves self-driving electric cars.

In 2021, will people be listening to Tesla's Slacker Radio, Google Play Music, or Apple's iTunes Radio?

Farmers Smell The Returns Investing In Biogas

Imagine driving past a ranch or farm and not have one’s olfactory receptors assaulted. Emerging technology in biogas conversion is doing just that by transforming waste produced by cattle and livestock into energy and fertilizer and reducing emissions. Given that cattle and livestock actually produce more emissions than vehicles and our western diet is very animal protein centered, this new industry in biogas conversion is an answer to the dilemma of what to do with excess agricultural waste from both livestock and plant material. The process is called anaerobic digestion (AD), and an enterprising company from the UK called New Generation Biogas (NGB) has developed a new type of AD digester.

Anaerobic digestion is a biological process where microbes break down biodegradable material to produce biogas, which then can be used as energy to generate electricity, heat and even fuel. NGB has been fine tuning the mechanics in this relatively new field since 2009 which has resulted in an accelerated conversion rate, breaking down organic material in days rather than months. And now NGB has managed to scale down this AD system to be made commercially available for small to medium-sized farms under the brand name Archemax.

As developing countries adopt a more westernized diet, there will be a higher demand for things like dairy and meat, which will mean more livestock producing more emissions. To ease the pocket books of farmers, initial investment would be comparable to the cost of machinery like a combine harvester. Having a system in place that not only helps reduce emissions and odor, but produces a viable energy source as well as fertilizer, will have farmers see a return on their investment within five years. As NGB director Howard Sutton says, “This [Archemax] is about as environmentally friendly as you can get.”

Modern Concept Blows In The Wind

Imagine living in an apartment building resembling a hybrid of a nautilus and a Dyson table fan. Beyond the aesthetics which looks like it came out of a Star Trek episode, the Dutch Windwheel’s appearance actually serves the function of utilizing wind energy. How appropriate that those resourceful folks in the Land of Windmills would conceptualize this radical design.

Striving to obtain complete sustainability, this motionless wind turbine would house 72 apartments within a round steel and glass frame, while also harvesting alternate energy from the sun with the installation of assorted solar PVs, as well as the bio gas produced by the residents’ organic waste. The structure will also be equipped to capture rainwater and recycle tap water.

The concept is destined for Netherlands' port city of Rotterdam, where it is surrounded by wetlands and would have an underground foundation, giving it the illusion of floating. It consists of an inner and outer ring. In addition to containing 72 apartments, 160 hotel rooms, and commercial space within the inner ring, the outer ring has 40 rotating cabins giving visitors spanning views much like the UK’s London Eye. Or one can enjoy dining atop the entire structure in the rooftop restaurant.

There’s no need to worry about endangering birds either with this motionless, bladeless design. Thanks to the electrostatic wind energy converter (EWICON), the Windwheel “converts wind energy with a framework of steel tubes into electricity without moving mechanical parts.” The result is a structure that is quiet and low maintenance.

The Dutch developers (a collective of Rotterdam-based companies BLOC, DoepelStrijkers, Meysters and NBTC Holland Marketing) will use this structure as a “dynamic showcase for Dutch Clean Technology”. Demonstrating creative innovations, the Windwheel is a quite the update on the traditional windmills of the Nederlands.

Apple Just Became the World's First $700 Billion Company

Author: Myles Udland On Tuesday, shares of Apple closed at $122.02, a new split-adjusted all-time high for the iPhone maker.

At this price, the company's market capitalization is around $705 billion, making it the first company to close a trading session with a market cap above $700 billion.

At this level, Apple is more than twice the size of Microsoft.

This new record high in Apple comes two weeks after the company reported a monster fourth quarter in which it sold more than 74 million iPhones and a record $18 billion in profit.

Apple's latest milestone comes as its CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference, and you can follow Business Insider's complete coverage here.

With Apple's latest gains, the stock is now up more than 60% in the last year.

Google Finance

And over the last decade, Apple is up a staggering 2,000%!

Google Finance

As posted on Business Insider

Google to Invest $1 Billion in SpaceX

Google is in the final stages of investing in SpaceX to create an internet-beaming satellite constellation, as first reported by The Information. While the deal is still in the works, the apparent aim is to support the development of SpaceX satellites that will beam low-cost Internet around the globe --- connecting billions more people.

"The price and terms Google and SpaceX are discussing couldn’t be learned although one person familiar with them said Google has agreed to value SpaceX north of $10 billion and that the size of the total round, which includes other investors, is very large." writes Jessica E. Lessin

While SpaceX continually makes headline with its bold advancements, they have not taken on a big primary round of investment in many years. SpaceX’s current investors include Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Valor Equity Partners.

Elon Musk spoke about SpaceX's plans for the satellite-enabled Internet system last week in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek , which described the program as "hugely ambitious."

Hundreds of satellites would orbit about 750 miles above earth, much closer than traditional communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit at altitudes of up to 22,000 miles. The lower satellites would make for a speedier Internet service, with less distance for electromagnetic signals to travel. The lag in current satellite systems makes applications such as Skype, online gaming, and other cloud-based services tough to use. Musk’s service would, in theory, rival fiber optic cables on land while also making the Internet available to remote and poor regions that don’t have access.

To Become a Billionaire, Help a Billion People

"Bold is a visionary roadmap for people who believe they can change the world"President Bill Clinton

In 2012, Dr. Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler published their bestseller Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think. Standing out in stark contrast from the common theme of doom and gloom that was pervasive in the news and on bookshelves back then, Abundance provided a new perspective on the history and future of humanity and technological advancements.

Now Diamandis and Kotler have just announced their follow up book project, BOLD, as a practical guide for entrepreneurs and change makers. It's now available for pre-ordering.

"Abundance showed us where the world can be in 20 years. Bold is a roadmap for entrepreneurs to help us get there."

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google

In Abundance, four potent emerging forces are explored — exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, techno-philanthropists and the rising billion. These give us the opportunity to solve many of the world's grandest challenges and the potential to meet the needs of every man, woman and child over the next two to three decades.

In BOLD, a game plan is laid out for taking the the next steps. It's a highly practical playbook that arms today's entrepreneurs, activists and leaders with the tools they'll need to positively impact the lives of billions while making their biggest dreams come true.

BOLD unfolds in three parts. Part One focuses on the exponential technologies which are disrupting today's Fortune 500 companies and enabling upstart entrepreneurs to go from 'I've got an idea' to 'I run a billion-dollar company' far faster than ever before. With advice garnered from their own experience and hundreds of interviews with Silicon Valley elite, the authors provide exceptional insight into how anyone can harness the power of 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, networks and sensors, and synthetic biology—the very technologies enabling today's entrepreneurs to tackle the kinds of enormous challenges that were once only possible for governments and major corporations. Part Two of the book focuses on Psychology of Bold—the mental toolkit that allows the world's top innovators to raise their game by thinking at scale, including detailed interviews with and lessons from Larry Page, Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos. Also in Part Two, Kotler reveals the keys to ultimate human performance garnered from fifteen years of research with the Flow Genome Project and Diamandis reveals his entrepreneurial secrets garnered from building fifteen companies, including such audacious ventures as Singularity University, the XPRIZE, Planetary Resources (for the mining of near-Earth Asteroids) and Human Longevity, Inc. (focused on extending the healthy human life-span). Finally, BOLD closes with a look at the incredible power and essential best practices that allow anyone to leverage today's hyper-connected crowd like never before. Here, Diamandis and Kotler teach how to design and use incentive competitions to find breakthrough solutions, how to launch million-dollar crowdfunding campaigns to tap into ten's of billions of dollars of available capital, and finally how to build communities – armies of exponentially enabled individuals willing and able to help today's entrepreneurs make their boldest dreams come true.

BOLD: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World is both a manifesto and a manual. It is today's exponential entrepreneur's go-to resource on the use of emerging technologies, thinking at scale, and the awesome power of crowd-powered tools like crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and incentive competitions. All around us, technology is democratizing the power to change the world, and BOLD spells out how anyone can spy the opportunities and put their vision into action, blazing a path from mind to market.

About the Book Cover The BOLD Book Cover show's the Earth being hit by an asteroid. What is the relevance of this image?

66 million years ago, dinosaurs were the uber-dominant species on Earth. But when an asteroid collided with our planet—unleashing everything from mega-tsunamis to global firestorms—these creatures were unable to adapt to the upheaval and instead went extinct.

For our species, this was very good news. While the dinosaurs were large, lumbering and inflexible, those early small, furry mammals—our ancestors—were far more nimble and resilient. They took opportunistic advantage of the radical changes sweeping the globe, adapted to their new environment, and never looked back.

In today's business world, this tale is especially relevant. Right now there is another asteroid impacting our world—it's called: “exponential technology.” And its awesome power is threatening a different breed of dinosaur—large and innovation-resistant companies. Yet there's a new breed of small, furry mammal starting to emerge. These mammals are today's exponential entrepreneurs—those using radically accelerating technologies to transform products, services and industries to pave the way for a world of abundance. Abundance

"If you read one business book in the 21st centry, this should be BOLD. It clearly explains how to change the world and overcome the age old afflictions of human civilization." Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author, a director of engineering at Google.

Jason Silva Video Review of Abundance

SpaceX Successfully Supplies the Space Station

A much-needed shipment of groceries and other supplies, including belated Christmas presents, has finally arrived this morning at the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX's supply ship pulled up at the ISS two days after its launch. Station commander Butch Wilmore used a robot arm to grab the capsule and its 5,000 pounds of cargo while they flew over the Mediterranean at an altitude of more than 260 miles.

The six astronauts aboard the station were getting a low on supplies because the previous supply ship — owned by Orbital Sciences Corporation — was destroyed in a launch explosion back in October.

Rocket science isn't easy, however, as SpaceX's Dragon itself was stalled nearly a month by technical issues. It was originally planned to arrive at the space station well before Christmas. Better late than never.

"We're excited to have it on board," Wilmore said. "We'll be digging in soon."

NASA is paying SpaceX and Orbital for shipments, though Orbital's rockets are grounded until next year because of the recent launch accident. SpaceX is working hard and picking up as much slack as it can to deliver the supplies the ISS needs. As the station is an international venture, Russia and Japan are also planing on sending up deliveries later this year.

In addition to the main resupply mission, SpaceX conducted an experiment in return-landing the 1st stage of the rocket safely aboard an autonomous ocean going vessel. SpaceX's team is still poring over data from Saturday's rocket-landing test.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk is optimistic that recovering and reusing rockets will lead to a dramatic reduction is the cost of spaceflight. He asks people to imagine how expensive air travel would be if you had to build a new airplane for every flight.

The "hypersonic fins" on the booster ran out of hydraulic fluid, however, right before touchdown, and the landing was too hard and broke into pieces.

Elon Musk was encouraged regardless and plans another rocket-landing test next month. He had gone into the experiment with an understanding that there was a 50 - 50 percent chance of success, according to a recent Reddit AMA.

International CES 2015 Focuses on Internet of Things

The International Consumer Electronics Show is the world's largest stage for presenting the latest in consumer technology. It's an exciting time, and it's all happening this week. The trade show, hosted every year in Las Vegas, is an important indication of what's coming up and what's going to be big in the near future.

This year, the Internet of Things (IoT) is taking center stage with more than 900 exhibitors sharing their products, services, and technologies that connect everyday devices to the network.

“The ‘Internet of Things’ is the hottest topic in tech right now,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, International CES and corporate business strategy, CEA.

She continues by saying, “It’s all about the opportunity to connect everyday items  like cars, home security systems and kitchen appliances to networked devices like PCs and smartphones for greater control and management of our everyday lives. We’re excited that the 2015 CES will bring together all of the companies and products that are making this a reality.”

The IoT, while less flashy than a new TV model, is more important because it is all about creating an infrastructure. Building upon this nascent infrastructure will be many new startups and products from existing companies. Some will flop, while others will change the world in which we live.

The Sensors Marketplace will highlight one of the key technologies that is enabling the growth of the IoT movement. Some exhibitors participating in the marketplace include eyeSight Mobile Technologies, Logbar and QuickLogic Corp. In addition, the Smart Home Marketplace will showcase a smarter, more efficient home accelerated by smartphones and tablets interacting with a myriad of connected objects and devices, from basic security systems to connected lighting systems. Some of the 2015 CES exhibitors expected to showcase IoT technologies include Bosch, Lowe’s, Konnect Labs, iDevices, Muzzley and Blinksight among many others.

2015 CES keynoters Boo-Keun Yoon, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel Corp., are expected to share their insights on IoT innovations.

Other CES conference programming will also explore the future of this trend with the following sessions:

Privacy and the IoT: Navigating Policy Issues

The Impact of the Internet of Things

The State of the Internet of Things

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Another interesting highlight of the CES is the second year of Gary's Book Club, showcasing the works of prominent, thought-leading authors in the tech industry.

(Gary Shapiro is the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association)

Books to be featured this year include:

Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D

Digital Destiny: How the New Age of Data Will Transform the Way We Work, Live, and Communicate

What happens when everything is digital? In this provocative new book from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), host of the International CES, CEA’s chief economist and lead technologist, Dr. DuBravac, has a straightforward answer: Everything will change. Most people perceive the digital age as simply the accumulation of sleeker and more powerful gadgets. But our understanding of the digital age is narrow, because we are still in its infancy. This book explains that the world’s mass adoption of digital technologies portends the beginning of a new era for humanity, one that will rival the invention of the printing press for its transformational effects on every person, country and institution in the world. From driverless cars to automated homes to personalized healthcare, digital data will usher in a new phase of living for every person on the planet.

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Andrew Keen The Internet is Not the Answer

The Internet, created during the Cold War, has now ushered in one of the greatest shifts in society since the Industrial Revolution. There are many positive ways in which the Internet has contributed to the world, but as a society we are less aware of the Internet’s deeply negative effects on our psychology, economy, and culture. In The Internet Is Not the Answer, Andrew Keen, a twenty-year veteran of the tech industry, traces the technological and economic history of the Internet from its founding in the 1960s through the rise of the big data companies to the increasing attempts to monetize almost every human activity, and investigates how the Internet is reconfiguring our world—often at great cost. In this sharp, witty narrative, informed by the work of other writers, academics, and reporters, as well as his own wide-ranging research and interviews, Keen shows us the tech world, warts and all, and investigates what we can do to make sure the choices we make about the reconfiguring of our society do not lead to unpleasant unforeseen aftershocks.

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Peter Nowak Humans 3.0 -The Upgrading of the Species

Our species is entering a new era. We’re now applying the latest technology to our own biology, and it is becoming part of our environment. But is that a good thing? Not if media scares about government spying, limitless automation, and electronic addictions are to be believed. Veteran journalist Peter Nowak looks at what it means to be human—from the relationships we form to the jobs we do and the things we believe—and measures the impact of these innovations. Humans 3.0 shows not only how technology is propelling us into a new epoch, but also how it is improving us in the process.

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Frank Gruber Startup Mixology

Entrepreneurship starts with an idea and a dream. Startup Mixology is first and foremost a book about turning your ideas into action. From the cofounder of Tech Cocktail, a veteran entrepreneur and investor who was named one of the most connected people in tech, this book covers the basic "ingredients" of winning entrepreneurship. Author Frank Gruber shows you how to tackle everything from idea generation to launch to marketing to funding and how to start getting things done. Inside, you'll find the stories of companies like MakerBot, WordPress, Zappos, Basecamp, Uber, and more.

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Patrick Stroh Business Strategy; Plan, Execute, Win!

Embrace strategies for improving your business and reaching your organization's goals

"I wholeheartedly agree with Patrick Stroh: Good leaders understand strategy and good strategists need to be good leaders. Make this book a strategic tool for improving your business strategy." — Harvey Mackay, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

In today's fast-moving and competitive business environment, strong leadership, insightful strategy, and effective innovation are critical links to staying ahead of your competition. Getting your business house in order can often be complicated, but does it really have to be? How do you take MBA 101 lessons, great models, and exceptional concepts and put them into play in the real world? Business Strategy: Plan, Execute, Win! strives to answers these questions in an educational and entertaining format. Working as a Fortune 20 practitioner with C-level executives, author Patrick Stroh has a keen understanding of the role played by current day strategists.

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Paul Paetz Disruption by Design: How to Create Products That Disrupt and Then Dominate Markets 

No business buzzword is more frequently discussed or misused than "disruptive innovation". Yet despite widespread misunderstanding, the impact remains great. Disruptive innovators change the competitive playing field, often capturing 40 to 80% of total market revenue and half or more of total profits in categories they create. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of potential disruptors ever succeed, often by accident. It doesn't have to be that way. For the first time, disruption theory is de-mystified into a practical step-by-step guidebook that walks you through creating a disruptive business strategy and putting it into practice. Written for entrepreneurs, CEOs, and product developers, Disruption by Design teaches invaluable how-to insights learned from successful disruptors, and from innovators who could have disrupted, but failed.

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Scott Steinberg Make Change Work for You

Business, culture, and competitive landscapes have fundamentally changed, but basic principles and best practices for succeeding and future-proofing both yourself and your organization haven't. With a mix of compelling stories, research from the social sciences and psychology, and real-world insights, Make Change Work for You shows how to reignite your career, rekindle creativity, and fearlessly innovate your way to success by providing the tools needed to conquer every challenge in life or business. Readers will discover how to develop the vital skills required to triumph in the “new normal” by understanding and engaging in the 10 new habits that highly successful people share.

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Barry Wacksman Chris Stutzman Connected by Design

The twin goals of growth and competitive advantage are proving difficult to attain in a world of fierce global competition and rapid technological change. Traditional strategies for gaining market share no longer yield the returns they once did. How can companies drive consumer preference and secure sustainable growth in this digital, social, and mobile age? The answer is through functional integration. Connected By Design is the first book to show business leaders and marketers exactly how to use functional integration to achieve transformative growth within any type of company. Based on R/GA’s pioneering work with firms like Nike, McCormick and L’Oreal, Barry Wacksman and Chris Stutzman identify seven principles companies must follow in order to create and deliver new value for customers and capture new revenues in the design and operation of functionally integrated ecosystems.

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Nicole Gallucci Adversperience ~ The Convergence of Advertising & Experiential Marketing

Adversperience is a word and world of her own creation, speaking to the convergence of advertising and experiential marketing. Its Nicole’s take on how brands can relevantly touch consumer senses, engage target audiences, get noticed and win in this era of distraction, mass proliferation and global connection. The book focuses on the pre-event (AWARENESS), the event (ENGAGEMENT) and post event (SHARING). An Adversperience speaks to the physiological impact that occurs when consumers have a relevant personal experience in the context of a brand experience. The two become inextricably linked and part of the consumer’s very being. Once something is experienced it cannot be unexperienced.

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Alexis Ohanian  Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed

As Alexis Ohanian learned when he helped to co-found the immensely popular reddit.com, the internet is the most powerful and democratic tool for disseminating information in human history. And when that power is harnessed to create new communities, technologies, businesses or charities, the results can be absolutely stunning.

In this book, Alexis will share his ideas and tips about harnessing the power of the web for good, and along the way, he will share his philosophy with young entrepreneurs all over the globe.

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Aneesh Chopra INNOVATIVE STATE: How New Technologies Can Transform Government

With INNOVATIVE STATE: How New Technologies Can Transform Government, Aneesh Chopra, the country’s first Chief Technology Officer, provides an essential guide for how we can create a government that is more transparent, participatory, and collaborative, one that harnesses the full potential of today’s technologies and is defined not by its size but by its smarts.

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Anna van Slee & Carolyn Chandler  Adventures in Experience Design

In today’s mobile, global, 24/7 content world, consumers expect products, services and experiences that are personalized and intuitive. They expect good design. You don’t need to be a whiz with code or a Photoshop ace, but design thinking has become an essential skill set for everyone. Adventures in Experience Design is an activity book that interactively teaches experience design through games, pithy lessons and other delightful exercises. With Adventures, you will create a product from scratch (or innovate on your existing one!) and get an introduction to design methodology in the process.

SpaceX to Boldly Attempt Falcon 9 Rocket Landing

As if launching something into space wasn't challenging enough, SpaceX is now about to try to do the reverse process - landing a rocket so that it can be used again. Elon Musk wants to land a Falcon 9 on a small platform in the Atlantic Ocean. The bold experiment, scheduled for launching next week, is a calculated move towards reducing the high costs of space exploration. The company admits that "The odds of success are not great -- perhaps 50% at best.  This test represents the first in a series of similar tests that will ultimately deliver a fully reusable Falcon 9 first stage."

Since the Falcon 9 is roughly 14 stories tall, trying to control the rocket's re-entry would be "like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm." SpaceX said.  SpaceX is targeting a landing accuracy of within 10 meters.

"A fully and rapidly reusable rocket -- which has never been done before -- is the pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access," SpaceX said on its website. "While most rockets are designed to burn up on re-entry, SpaceX is building rockets that not only withstand re-entry, but also land safely on Earth to be refueled and fly again."

If SpaceX can successfully land the rocket, it will have developed a way to reuse rockets in subsequent flights, drastically reducing waste and the overall cost of space exploration. This is in stark contrast with the current status quo model where rockets spend their fuel and subsequently crash into the sea as garbage.

 For years, Musk, who is also the chief executive of Tesla Motors, has been working on a way to land and reuse rockets. In two previous launches this year, the company completed soft landings in the ocean that hovered over the water before toppling over.

“If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred.  A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space.”

--Elon Musk

The Falcon 9 flight was originally scheduled to launch in December but was delayed after a test firing of the rocket engines did not go precisely as planned. The company conducted additional tests last week that were successful. Jan. 7 is the backup date should the scheduled Jan. 6 launch get pushed back.

Earlier this year, SpaceX, along with Boeing, won a NASA contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

Read more at spacex.com

Colorado Man Tests Out New Bionic Arms

Advancing neuroscience clearly has the power to improve lives. While there remain many obvious needs for continuing R&D into the treatment of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, a futuristic type of neurotechnology known as a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is beginning to emerge as a functional reality. A subset of BCIs, neuroprosthetics, are helping a Colorado man to regain his ability to handle manipulate objects. Les Baugh lost both of his arms in an electrical accident over 40 years ago. With the help of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), he'll regain some functionality while making history as the first bilateral shoulder-level amputee to wear and simultaneously control two Modular Prosthetic Limbs (MPLs).

It's not just the accomplishment, but the opening of frontiers and realizing that there's so much more to learn." Courtney Moran, Clinical Lead for Amputee Research.

Lockheed Engineers Develop Graphene Technology That Could Make Desalination 100x More Efficient

In order to make sea water more useful, large desalination plants around the world use tons of power to force salt water through a reverse-osmosis process. An amazing new filter material recently developed by engineers at Lockheed Martin could make this process 100x more efficient. Known as Perforene, this new material uses a graphene nanotechnology.

John Stetson, who has been working on the idea since 2007, said in an interview with Reuters, "It's 500 times thinner than the best filter on the market today and a thousand times stronger. The energy that's required and the pressure that's required to filter salt is approximately 100 times less."

This breakthrough is yet another example of how technology can be a resource-liberating mechanism (to borrow a phrase from Dr. Diamandis).

Imagine greening the Sahara desert and creating a global abundance of sustainable food production.

ULA & Lockheed Martin Launch Orion Spacecraft

Lockheed Martin and the United Launch Alliance, in partnership with NASA, have successfully launched the new Orion spacecraft today. It's the first of its kind --designed to be capable of deep space travel. History is being made right now as this mission marks a new record on the frontier of human spaceflight, nearly 15 times higher than the International Space Station

This system is undergoing some extreme tests today in the hopes that Orion could one day take astronauts to Mars.

After two orbits around the Earth, Orion will actually accelerate before reentry and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.  This is to simulate the high speeds it would face if returning from further out in space. One aim is to test the heat shields, among other systems.

To keep up with the mission, check out NASA's livestream