Tech Blog
By James H.
Biggest Tech Fails in Recent Memory
A Bad Day for Tay
When I think of big tech fails, I think of Tay, a robot / Twitter account from Microsoft. Tay’s job was for users to talk to her and she would pick up patterns in how people would speak. While this would have seemed like a revolution in computing, Microsoft failed to realize one thing. Microsoft failed to realize that a lot of people would take advantage of the AI and say inappropriate things to her. Tay was smart enough to learn how people think, but she wasn’t smart enough to know she was being led on. In the end, after 24 hours, Tay was deleted.
iSmell
The next fail is from a company from the 2000s called iSmell.
iSmell’s goal was to bring smell to the internet. They did this by having a module next to your computer. The company had made a working product but yet they failed to ask why. In the end, it was simply a smelly disaster.
Zillow’s Failed AI Results in Massive Losses
One of Zillow’ biggest failures is happening right now, but it started in 2018 when Zillow announced their home flipping business. The problem was they tried to use AI to price and buy houses, but the thing they failed to realize is that their AI was not good at negotiating. Because of this, they lost over $300 million in 3 months.
Investing Blog
Examples of Major Stock Market Crashes
2008 - Housing Bubble
Who was affected?
The working class was affected because their retirement investments went down. This meant that they would have to work for longer until they could retire. In the U.S people lost a total of $2.4 trillion from their retirement.
Definitions
CDO - (Collateralized Debt Obligation) -loans are shipped together into a bond which then banks will sell for lots of money.
Some examples of the types of loans that go into a CDO were: Mortgages, car loans and credit card debt.
What are the two major banks that went under during the 2008 crisis?
Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns
1929 - The Great Depression
Margin Trading - Using borrowed money to buy stock
From 1924 until 1929, the stock market went up 300%
From Black Thursday until 1932, the stock market declined 90%.
It took 25 years for the stock market to recover to its height in 1929, which was roughly 20 more years than the Great Recession in 2008.
Current Market Conditions - 2022
Why is it a good idea to hold some cash instead of investing immediately right now?
Because the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, the market might take a tumble.
When do the new interest rates start?
Federal Reserve Interest rates went up in March.
The Federal Reserve also stopped purchasing Assets (mortgage bonds) in March from major financial institutions.
What does this mean?
No more free money for the Market, aka it will cost banks more money to take out a loan.
With these things in mind, how do you think the market will act from now until the summer?
It could go up because eventually it should reverse. But on the other hand this bad year has already been so bad. Especially with the new interest rates it could carry on
What does it mean to short a stock?
In order to short a stock, you first need to borrow shares for a fee, then you need to sell the stock you just borrowed.