Blogotariat

Apple isn't content with just selling you their phones—they want to be your carrier, too. Business Insider reported today that Apple is secretly testing a mobile virtual network operator service (MVNO), a “virtual” cell service that switches between cell towers depending on the strongest signal. The company has allegedly been in contact with telecommunications companies for years, and would plan to launch the service in both the United States and Europe.

Despite a rocky start, Apple will reportedly unveil their new iteration of the Apple TV this September, along with their annual line of iPhones. It's about time; the last hardware update to the Apple TV was in 2012. That's like 328 billion tweets ago. (~500 million tweets per day for 3 years.)

NASA can afford to set up a permanent, manned station on the moon, according to a recent study. By working with private companies and turning water into rocket fuel, say the study authors, colonizing the moon would practically pay for itself. Such a base would cost 90 percent cheaper than we thought—like, $10 billion instead of $100 billion—and provide fuel for sending astronauts to Mars.

It all started with a recruiting ad for a tech company, OneLogic, seen in transit stations in the San Fransisco area. It featured a woman in a black t-shirt and glasses against a white background, with a positive quote about the team she works with. Innocuous enough. But then people started commenting about the ad on social media. One Facebook user said: "But I'm curious that people with brains find this quote even plausible and if women in particular buy this image of what a female software engineer looks like."

Lexus just unveiled what is by all appearances a working hoverboard. This concept was teased about way back in June. Every story about it comes with an obligatory reference to Back To The Future Part II, that 1989 film set in the distant and far-off future of 2015, which featured an iconic hoverboard chase scene. Here's that hoverboard in action:

From the AIG: The services sector expanded again in July 2015, and more strongly than in June. The seasonally-adjusted Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Services Index (Australian PSI® ) increased by another 2.9 points to 54.1 points this month, its highest level since February 2014 (readings above 50 points indicate expansion, with the distance

The post Budget and bubble bounce PSI appeared first on MacroBusiness.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

From the Standard and Poors submission to Australia’s Senate Inquiry Into Infrastructure Financing And Government Expenditure: Infrastructure is a high priority for global leaders focused on promoting global economic growth, as “one of the few remaining policy levers available to support growth, given already accommodative monetary policy”. • Infrastructure investment offers the potential for a significant

The post S&P tells us to build without money appeared first on MacroBusiness.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has released its submission to the Government’s retirement income review, which charts a fairer path for retirement policy by calling for “structural reform of inefficient tax breaks for superannuation to improve retirement incomes for the majority while helping to fund future growing needs in

The post ACOSS charts fairer path for retirement policy appeared first on MacroBusiness.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

By Leith van Onselen In news that is sure to embarrass Treasurer Joe Hockey, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) – a body set up in 2012 to provide independent and non-partisan analysis of budget matters – has found that limiting negative gearing to new builds and cutting the capital gains tax (CGT) discount would save

The post Cut property investor concessions to save Budget $9b appeared first on MacroBusiness.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

By Leith van Onselen The RBA has released its commodity price index for July, which registered a sharp 5.0% decline in SDR (currency weighted) terms – the key determinant of the terms-of-trade – and a 1.7% fall in Australian dollar terms: Preliminary estimates for July indicate that the index fell by 5.0 per cent (on

The post Commodities crash gathered pace in July appeared first on MacroBusiness.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Aussie got as high as $74.23 last night on the RBA rally: Courtesy of Forexlive comes a wrap of sell side thoughts: BofA Merrill: This is the first statement since Mar 2014 when Stevens hasn’t explicitly mentioned the currency was too high – that’s a BIG deal. With positioning short AUDUSD, decent data earlier today and

The post Markets turn on RBA dollar call appeared first on MacroBusiness.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Here are the iron ore charts for August 7, 2015: Spot (Tianjin -0.5% to $55) and paper faded though Dalian put five points back on overnight to finish at 370. Rebar average is now going vertical which says to me that it’s a technical correction with “flame out” written all over it, not a fundamental

The post Daily iron ore price update (rebar rocket) appeared first on MacroBusiness.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]