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A majority of companies say lack of access to software developers is a bigger threat to success than lack of access to capital. Still, companies are misusing their most important resource, with too many developers tied up in projects designed to prop up legacy systems and bad software, at a cost of $300 billion a year — $85 billion just dealing with bad code.
Correctly deployed, the expertise of software developers could add $3 trillion to global GDP over the next decade.
Will Gaybrick, Stripe CFO and a member of the CNBC Global CFO Council
Published 3:12 PM ET Thu, 6 Sept 2018 Updated 3:19 PM ET Thu, 6 Sept 2018
CNBC.com
A full quarter century into the era of the modern consumer internet, the C-suite is still grappling with the fundamental problem dubbed digital transformation. One reason this challenge is so pernicious is that it can't be solved the way most transitions can, with money and management consultants. Instead, it requires the expertise of a new breed of corporate leaders: software developers.
Systems engineer configuring servers in data center.
baranozdemir | Getty Images
Systems engineer configuring servers in data center.
As our global economy increasingly comes to run on technology-enabled rails and every company becomes a tech company, demand for high-quality software engineers is at an all-time high. A recent study from Stripe and Harris Poll found that 61 percent of C-suite executives believe access to developer talent is a threat to the success of their business. Perhaps more surprisingly — as we mark a decade after the financial crisis — this threat was even ranked above capital constraints.
And yet, despite being many corporations' most precious resource, developer talents are all too often squandered. Collectively, companies today lose upward of $300 billion a year paying down "technical debt," as developers pour time into maintaining legacy systems or dealing with the ramifications of bad software.
This is especially worrisome, given the outsized impact developers have on companies' chances of success. Software developers don't have a monopoly on good ideas, but their skill set makes them a uniquely deep source of innovation, productivity and new economic connections. When deployed correctly, developers can be economic multipliers — coefficients that dramatically ratchet up the output of the teams and companies of which they're a part. If developers are your company's most constraining resource, the key question is how to increase their productivity. As a C-suite exec, there are three ways to help increase the multiplying impact that developers can have for your company. 1. Understand your current costs and opportunity costs. For CFOs this means considering your allocation of developer time just as carefully as you would consider your allocation of dollars (if not more so). 2. Outsource. Fully embrace the cloud. Not just for storage and compute but for every business function that's not unique to your business — from messaging, payments and CRM to planning, accounting and inventory management. Put your developers on higher-impact projects. If you're considering buy vs. build, the answer is simple: buy. Unless you're Amazon or Microsoft, you shouldn't be deploying engineers to build data centers. Similarly, your developers should be working on what makes your business unique. 3. Hire leaders with technical backgrounds. If not C-suite, then as top lieutenants. Including software developers directly in strategic business decisions will ensure you have the right product road map, the right team and ultimately the right technology strategy for long-term success — and that you'll avoid the pitfalls of increased technical debt and unnecessarily wasted developer time for years to come. As digital transformation remains top of mind for every company, it's critical to empower developers with the tools, infrastructure and guidance to move more quickly. By increasing the multiplying power of developers — the developer coefficient — you can make better use of the resources you have and ignite steeper business growth. —By Will Gaybrick, Stripe CFO. Gaybrick is a member of the CNBC Global CFO Council by TaboolaMORE FROM CNBC
Private Advisory Group LLC Invests $1.29 Million in Invesco Dynamic Software ETF (NYSEARCA:PSJ) Stock September 4th, 2018 - By Renee Jackson Invesco Dynamic Software ETF logoPrivate Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF (NYSEARCA:PSJ) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,285,000. Private Advisory Group LLC owned approximately 0.57% of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF during the second quarter valued at approximately $12,152,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,641,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF by 17.0% during the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 151,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,530,000 after buying an additional 21,896 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF during the second quarter valued at approximately $164,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF by 177.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 12,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 7,902 shares during the last quarter. Get Invesco Dynamic Software ETF alerts: Shares of Invesco Dynamic Software ETF stock traded up $0.38 on Tuesday, hitting $87.03. 29,302 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,763. Invesco Dynamic Software ETF has a 52 week low of $59.38 and a 52 week high of $87.09.
Invesco Dynamic Software ETF Profile PowerShares Dynamic Software Portfolio (the Fund) is a non-diversified fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of the Dynamic Software Intellidex Index (the Index). The Index is designed to provide capital appreciation by evaluating companies based on a variety of investment merit criteria, including fundamental growth, stock valuation, investment timeliness and risk factors. Recommended Story: Moving Average – How it Helps Investors in Stock Selection Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Invesco Dynamic Software ETF (NYSEARCA:PSJ)
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A moving average (MA) is an indicator used by investors, primarily those that practice technical analysis, to get a clearer picture of a trend in price movement. The moving average calculates price movement over a given period of time. A moving average provides a way for traders to filter out random price fluctuations that are not consistent with a current trend.
By definition, the moving average is a trailing indicator. This simply means that it relies on data that has already happened. So while it is useful as a predictive indicator, it is not the only tool that traders will rely on for information.
Moving averages can be set for any length of time an investor wants to measure. The longer the time frame, the greater the amount of trailing data, meaning the less sensitive it is to current price movements. So a 200-day moving average will have a greater lag than a 20-day moving average. Which moving average an investor uses will depend on their trading objective. Investors with shorter term trading objectives will generally want to use short-term moving averages. Conversely, investors with longer-term trading objectives will typically look at long-term moving averages.
Two of the most widely followed moving averages are the 50-day and 200-day. When prices break above or below these averages it is considered a significant trading signal. Other common moving average periods are 10, 20, and 100-day averages.
Moving averages typically are based on the closing price of a security. However, because the moving average is just a calculation, the price that is used is flexible. There are moving averages that are based on the opening price or another regular data point. For the purposes of this article, assume that we are looking at the closing prices.
How is a moving average calculated?
There are three basic types of moving averages: a simple moving average (SMA), a linear weighted moving average (LWMA or just WMA) and an exponential moving average (EMA). The difference between the three is the formula used to calculate them. To understand why each one exists, it’s important to look at them individually.
Simple Moving Average (SMA)– this is really just basic math. SMA is a calculation of the arithmetic mean that you learned in school. You take a series of recent closing prices, add them together, then divide that total by the number of closing prices you’re measuring (i.e. the time period).
For example in the 10 trading days between August 14-August 27, 2018, the closing price for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock was as follows:
Date
Closing Price
8/27/2018
219.50
8/24/2018
217.94
8/23/2018
216.16
8/22/2018
215.49
8/21/2018
215.04
8/20/2018
215.46
8/17/2018
217.58
8/16/2018
213.32
8/15/2018
210.24
8/14/2018
209.75
To calculate the SMA, you would add up the closing prices for all 10 days:
(219.50 + 217.94 + 216.16 + 215.49 + 215.04 + 215.46 + 217.58 + 213.32 + 210.24 + 209.75) = 2,150.48
Then you would divide that number by 10 (the number of days in the set): 2,150.48/10 = 215.04
So Apple’s SMA for that 10-day period was $215.04.
To plot the 10-day moving average on a stock chart, you would place a dot each day indicating the 10-day moving average calculated for that day and then draw a line to connect the dots.
This brings up a key point about moving averages. The reason why they're called moving averages is that the data is always "moving" to reflect the latest prices. So in our example, once the closing price for Apple was set on 8/27/2018, that price went into the 10-day SMA and the price for 8/13/2018 was removed. So you’ll always be dealing with only a 10-day sample.
Before computers and their processing power became accessible to a wide audience, the Simple Moving Average was the primary moving average tool used because it was quick and easy to calculate. However, with the advent of software that can perform sophisticated calculations at the blink of an eye, coupled with the movement towards online trading, traders began to desire more precision than the SMA is intended to deliver. As traders began to look at price movement, they theorized that current closing prices should have more weight in the moving average than prices further back in time. This led to the creation of weighted moving averages. The most common types are the linear weighted moving average and the exponential moving average.
Linear Weighted Moving Average (LWMA or WMA)- This type of moving average assigns a multiplier (or weight) to data points according to how current they are, and the difference between one data points “weight” and another is 1 (i.e. linear).
If this sounds complicated, it’s really not. Let’s use our Apple example, but let’s just use the five most recent trading days.
Date
Closing Price
Multiplier (Weight)
Weighted Price
8/27/2018
219.50
5
1097.50
8/24/2018
217.94
4
871.76
8/23/2018
216.16
3
648.48
8/22/2018
215.49
2
430.98
8/21/2018
215.04
1
215.04
To calculate the 5-day WMA, you would multiply the closing price by its multiplier for all 5 days. I did this in the "Weighted Price" column. After that, you add all five numbers and get 3,263.76.
Here’s where the magic happens. If you add up each of the multipliers, it totals 15. So you would divide the weighted price by 15 to get the WMA.
So Apple’s WMA for that 5-day period was: 3,623.76/15 = $217.58
The SMA, by comparison, is $216.91.
As you can see, the weighted average is more closely reflecting the higher closing prices since 8/24.
Exponential Moving Average (EMA)– this is another form of weighted average and the most commonly used. The EMA also uses a multiplier. However, instead of using a linear weighted method (which is arbitrary), the EMA is calculated using the closing price, plus the EMA from the day before. This is done using a three-step calculation:
Calculate the SMA Calculate the multiplier (or weight) Calculate the EMA So let’s use our example one more time:
Date
Closing Price
8/27/2018
219.50
8/24/2018
217.94
8/23/2018
216.16
8/22/2018
215.49
8/21/2018
215.04
Step One: Our SMA, as we calculated above, is 216.91. Easy, right?
Step Two: To calculate the multiplier, you divide 2 by the number of time periods plus 1. So in our example, the multiplier would be 2/(5+1) = 0.33
Step Three: This step relies on you knowing the previous day’s EMA. You take the closing price, subtract the previous day’s EMA, then multiply the difference by the multiplier and add the prior day’s EMA:
EMA = (Today’s closing price - Yesterday’s EMA) * Multiplier + Yesterday’s EMA
Of course, manually calculating the EMA would require you to go back to the beginning of the dataset and calculate each day’s EMA, since the EMA calculation requires data from the day before. Hypothetically, let’s assume that the linear weighted moving average (217.58) was the previous day’s EMA.
You would take the closing price of $219.50 and subtract 217.58 = 1.92.
Multiply 1.92 by our multiplier (0.33) = 0.63
Then add 0.63 to the previous day’s EMA (217.58) = 218.21
Although this is a hypothetical example, you can see how there is almost a $1.30 difference between the SMA and the EMA. What is more significant is how the EMA will react to price changes. When viewed on a stock chart, the EMA will respond to a trend faster than the SMA, which is why short-term traders usually prefer the EMA.
A final note about calculating moving averages: you don’t have to do it. Any charting software package will do those calculations for you. The formulas were provided here to illustrate the difference and explain why traders may prefer one over another.
How to use a moving average for trading
Since a moving average is tracking the price of a stock it is logical to say that when the moving average is moving up it signals a positive price movement and when it’s moving down it signals a negative price movement. A moving average can also indicate where a stock has support or resistance. When a stock cannot seem to cross above a moving average, the stock is said to be at a resistance point. The moving average will look like a ceiling that prices cannot rise above. On the opposite end, when a stock price is failing to cross below the moving average it is seen as providing support for the stock price. In this case, the moving average will look like a floor that the stock price will not fall beneath.
One of the most popular strategies that traders employ is the crossover strategy. When the price of a stock crosses above its moving average this is usually a good signal that the price is ready to increase. Likewise, when the stock price dips below its moving average it's usually an indicator that the stock is about to drop. To help add more certainty, traders will often use two moving averages of different lengths, for example, a 20-day and a 50-day. Because the 50-day has more lag, seeing a price move past both averages is more significant. When a stock rises above both averages it is referred to as “The Golden Cross”. This is seen as a good indicator that the price of a stock is about to rise significantly. Conversely, when a stock dips below both moving averages it is seen as an indicator that the price is about to drop. This is known as “The Death Cross”.
What are the disadvantages to the moving average?
The primary disadvantage to the moving average is the same disadvantage that is inherent in all stock price movement. Stocks don’t always behave logically. They certainly don’t move in the same direction all the time. When a stock is behaving in a volatile fashion, the moving average will not adjust in time to be the best predictor of short-term movement.
The bottom line on moving averages
As we said earlier, if it can be measured, our society tends to measure it. The only question, then, is how much weight we give these measurements in our decision making. There are many variations on the moving average. Some traders will create custom moving averages that may work very well for them. As with any statistical analysis, however, care must be taken to ensure data integrity. The key to effectively using moving averages is to suspend your own predictions and go where the data leads.
Often times a moving average can be tweaked to the extent that it shows only what the trader wants to see and not what is actually there. We see this phenomenon commonly in sports where a heavy reliance on “deep data” can cause organizations to overlook a player’s obvious shortcomings, or to discount another player’s intangibles. In the same way, slicing the onion of moving averages too fine can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby the inputs are skewed to deliver the desired output.
To recap, a moving average is a lagging indicator that is intended to give investors a view of where a security is trending without the outlying moves in price that can cause knee-jerk reactions. There are three basic types of moving average: the simple moving average, the weighted moving average, and the exponentially weighted moving average. Each serves the same purpose but has a different correlation to price movement based on how it is calculated.
The so-called dark web, a portion of the hidden internet, is usually associated with a host of illegal activities including the buying and selling of drugs, firearms, stolen financial data and other types of valuable information. The selling point?
That may sound nefarious, but some experts argue that the dark web is also useful in circumventing internet censorship. While most people spend their time online on what is known as the surface web — the portion of the World Wide Web that can be accessed with standard browsers and search engines — it has become relatively easy for anyone to access the deep web.
The deep web is part of the internet that is not found using search engines, and can be accessed only with specific software. It is estimated to be about 400 to 500 times larger than the common internet. The dark web is a small subset of the deep web, and it is a series of encrypted networks that can hide users' identities and locations. The most popular of those networks is called TOR, or The Onion Router, which was developed initially for government use before it was made available to the general public. "When people typically refer to the dark web, a lot of the time they're referring to a portion of the internet that's accessible using an anonymous browsing network called TOR," Charles Carmakal, a vice president at cybersecurity firm FireEye, told CNBC's "Beyond the Valley" podcast. One of the primary functions of the TOR network is that it allows users to access ".onion" pages, which are specially encrypted for maximum privacy. Carmakal explained that TOR also lets users connect to normal websites anonymously so that their internet service providers cannot tell what they're browsing. Similarly, the websites will not be able to pinpoint the location of the users browsing their pages. On the TOR browser, the connection requests are re-routed several times before reaching their destination. For example, if a user in Singapore is trying to connect to a website in London, that request on a TOR browser could be routed from Singapore to New York to Sydney to Capetown to, finally, London. “You do not want to give Jeff Bezos a seven-year head start.” Hear what else Buffett has to say
GET YOUR ESSENTIAL TECH INSIGHT FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE PODCAST SERIES SUBSCRIBE E-NEWSLETTER SIGN UP According to Carmakal, a service like TOR is a useful tool for many users to bypass state censorship and crackdowns on the internet. With it, he said, they can communicate with the free world without any repercussions. The service is also used by journalists and law enforcement, he said. Still, the term dark web today is commonly associated with illegal activities. In recent years, a number of high-profile marketplaces on the dark web were taken down for selling drugs and other contraband, including Silk Road, AlphaBay and Hansa. Law enforcement agencies around the world have been working hard to take down communities on the dark web that criminals use, according to James Chappell, co-founder of a London-based threat intelligence company Digital Shadows. PLAY VIDEO
Hansa, for instance, was taken down by the Dutch national police last year after authorities seized control of the marketplace. In a press release, the officials said they had collected around 10,000 addresses of buyers on the marketplace and passed them onto Europol, the European Union's law enforcement body. "It was very interesting to see the effect this had. Initially, we thought that lots of websites would come back online, just replacing Hansa as soon as it was taken down," Chappell told "Beyond the Valley." Instead, a lot of the users moved away from TOR and onto message-based services like Discord and Telegram, he said.
CNBC's "Beyond the Valley " brings listeners the brightest minds in technology discussing all the trends shaping the tech industry — and your world. Listen to the podcast or sign up for the "Beyond the Valley" newsletter here .
Saheli Roy Choudhury Reporter, CNBC.com
Arjun Kharpal Technology Correspondent by TaboolaMORE FROM CNBC 'This is treason': Read the most dramatic quotes from Bob Woodward's new tell-all… If you invested $1,000 in Amazon in 1997, here's how much you'd have now UK attacks Google over China censorship and failure to remove child abuse content Warren Buffett: The iPhone is 'enormously underpriced' Tyler Perry offers former 'Cosby' actor Geoffrey Owens a job after Trader Joe's s… JP Morgan's top quant warns next crisis to have flash crashes and social unrest not … by Taboola Sponsored Links FROM THE WEB Top CEOs Everywhere Are Using This App Blinkist Learn to Trade US Stock with $100K Demo Account. Access to 1,000+ Financial Assets. - Register Now! eToro Language expert shares the secret to learning a language in 20 mins a day Babbel See The Minimalist Watch Brand Everyone Is Raving About Linjer
Why Amazon Stock Jumped 13.2% in August Last month, the e-commerce giant’s stock continued its powerful 2018 performance. Here's what investors should know.
Beth McKenna (TMFMcKenna) Sep 3, 2018 at 8:15AM What happened Shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) increased 13.2% in August, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. This brings the e-commerce and cloud-computing behemoth stock's year-to-date 2018 rise to 72.1% through Friday, Aug. 31.
For some context, the S&P 500 returned 3.3% last month and has returned 9.9% so far this year.
Arrow pointing upward at about a 45% angle on a blue graph background. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
So what We can attribute Amazon's robust August performance to a continuation of the strong momentum the stock has had all year and the company's release of powerful second-quarter earnings on July 26.
For the quarter, Amazon's revenue jumped 39% year over year to $52.9 billion. Net income increased more than 12 times to $2.5 billion; on a per-share basis, results soared 1,168% to $5.07. The bottom-line demolished Wall Street's consensus of $2.50 per share.
Revenue growth was strong across all three segments, rising 44% in North America, 27% in international, and 49% in Amazon Web Services (AWS). The North America business got a boost from the company's acquisition of Whole Foods in the third quarter of last year. North America and AWS posted robust profit growth, with North America's operating income soaring 321% to $1.8 billion and AWS's climbing 79% to $1.6 billion. International's operating loss narrowed 32% to $494 million. Overall operating income went up 378% to $3.0 billion.
Now what More fantastic growth appears to be on the horizon. For Q3, Amazon guided for revenue of $54.0 billion to $57.5 billion, representing growth of 23% to 31% year over year. It expects operating income of $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion, representing growth of 303% to 592%.
10 stocks we like better than Amazon When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Beth McKenna has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Here’s how to do it:
Relax the muscles in your face, including tongue, jaw and the muscles around the eyes
Drop your shoulders as far down as they’ll go, followed by your upper and lower arm, one side at a time
Breathe out, relaxing your chest followed by your legs, starting from the thighs and working down
You should then spend 10 seconds trying to clear your mind before thinking about one of the three following images:
You’re lying in a canoe on a calm lake with nothing but a clear blue sky above you
You’re lying in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room
You say “don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” to yourself over and over for about 10 seconds.
The technique is said to work for 96 per cent of people after six weeks of practice.
187 geocar 23 hrs 78 https://medium.com/commitlog/how-to-design-for-the-modern-web-52eaa926bae2 news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17897404 Unable to load the content https://medium.com/commitlog/how-to-design-for-the-modern-web-52eaa926bae2
天時暑熱，很多人外出都自備手提電風扇，冀如小鳳姐名曲《風的季節》般「涼風輕輕吹到，悄然進了我衣襟」，只是當室外氣溫高達30幾度，扇葉吹出來的熱風，一點也不涼爽；此時若有部冷氣機在手，定必妙不可言。我是陳家潤，6年前專注研發便攜式手提空調裝置，去年中大功告成，計劃明年初推出，讓大家暢快淋漓地「吹呀吹，讓這風吹……」。
我本身很怕熱，有次與朋友行山，閒談間發覺大家均渴望有部「行走的手提冷氣機」，驟聽純屬妄想，卻因自己從事半導體行業多年，覺得科技世界日新月異，沒什麼不可能；既然心動，不如行動，遂決定告別20多年打工仔生涯，在2012年創業，理由很簡單，當時年過40，可算剛「踢完」人生上半場，心想有些事情此刻不做，一世都不會做。
幾經失敗 改良蒸發技術
不過現實是殘酷的，原以為一年可研發成功，投入後卻比想像中困難得多：起初試做傳統壓縮式冷氣裝置，惟因耗電嚴重，要配備大電池，失去「迷你」效果；遂改以半導體式製冷，可是前方製造冷風，後方釋放同等熱力，效果同樣不理想，最終想到朝蒸發式冷氣方向發展，好處是毋須壓縮機和雪種，較傳統冷氣機環保。
事情當然不會如此簡單。測試後才發現，蒸發式一直未能普及確有其原因：體積大、易漏水，用起來相當不便，尤其室內更易導致牆壁發霉，難怪「不得民心」，於是我積極研究改良，包括利用超聲波技術把水點霧化，又改變水缸與風扇位置，提高水點蒸發度等。
經過無數失敗、反覆試驗和優化，2016年總算做到技術上可行，產品有了雛形，我滿心歡喜參加貿易發展局電子產品展，測試市場水溫，現實是單憑技術和創意不足以成功，商業社會講求藝術性和包裝，不少參展商說我的產品概念雖好，外形卻不夠美觀，也有嫌體積太大，難以隨身攜帶。
氣候變化增需求 產品反應正面
市場意見最直接，沒法子，只好再作調整，「改頭換面」之餘，盡力縮小體積與一般手機相若；如是者用多一年時間，製成品去年中誕生，屈指一算，前後足足花掉我5年光陰，真箇是「付出多少熱誠，也沒法去計得真」。
一路走來不易，可是過程中從沒想過放棄，原動力來自氣候變化，皆因香港夏天實在愈來愈熱，而全球暖化已屬不可逆轉趨勢，既然溫度高處未算高，相信這類產品的市場，未來有增無減。
去年秋天我再接再厲參展，反應正面得多，有杜拜商家更表示，他們國家沒有冬季，平日在室外逗留太久會熱到頭暈，期望手提冷氣裝置能盡快面世。得知潛在用家意見後，我本想今年開始投產，為求盡善盡美，確保萬無一失，寧可賺少半年錢，決定再進行多重安全測試，明年3月正式推出。
近月看新聞，得悉今夏歐洲、日韓等地熱浪逼人，更有人不幸中暑身亡，本港暫未經歷攝氏40度以上的高溫，難保未來也會出現。
回望當天由零開始，到今日夢想成真，我希望能起到帶頭作用，令其他商家加入研發類似產品，正如電腦改變世界一樣；當有朝一日，每個人都有部手提冷氣機，因中暑導致的不幸個案或可大減，是否用我的產品並不重要，正如《風的季節》最後一句「哀傷通通帶走，管風裏是誰」。
採訪、撰文：許鎮邦 攝影：黃勁璋
果醬，早在古時的西方已非常普遍，農民收成後以時令水果製作天然果醬，散發濃郁果香，甜味口感貼近自然水果，層次豐富。雖然製作果醬的步驟聽來簡單，但其實要對食物有深入了解，如何搭配並突出食材的個性，也是一門學問。
濃稠度因素
影響果醬濃稠度的因素包括水果本身的果膠（Pectin）含量、糖份比例，以及烹煮過程。水果的果膠含量在剛成熟的階段時最為豐富，而加入檸檬酸亦可促進水果釋放果膠。至於糖份比例方面，由於糖可以增加果醬的濃稠度，亦是可以保存食物，具防腐作用，因此市面部分出售的果醬含糖量較高，甚至水果和糖的比例可達一比一，特別是糖尿病患者宜多加注意。至於烹煮期間要注意避免黏底，在果醬入樽後，需要倒轉放置，待其冷卻，有助迫出樽內的多餘空氣。
撰文：黃靜美智子
孫勵貞（Marie）任職建築和室內設計逾30年，負責住宅、酒店及大型商場設計，時常去海外工作，如今自言提早退休，卻沒有停下來，反而製作手工果醬。「以前做設計很辛苦，日日趕deadline，那時年輕，還能捱到，但變相很少時間給家人。我做手工果醬的原意，就是希望家人食得健康，從而推廣健康理念。」
春去秋來，打開一樽時令果醬，細味季節的味道。
孫勵貞（Marie）面帶笑意地說：「我曾看過一句說話，大意是你每日工作做好份工，但可能只是幫人完成他們的夢想，那麼自己的夢想是什麼？雖然室內設計也是我的興趣，但時間是最大的成本，那些年經濟不好，一直在商業社會打滾，唯有咬緊牙關工作。後來退休心思思想做食物，反正我家裏有兩隻化骨龍，什麼都吃，起初就試做麵包和蛋糕，以家人角度出發，希望製作健康食物。」每次提到家人，Marie總是份外溫柔，連訪問當日的妝容也是兒子Justin負責。
她甚至想過開cafe，由丈夫負責沖咖啡，自己則包辦煮食。但由於香港的店租太貴，因此轉而經營網絡訂購和擺賣市集。Marie指丈夫曾對她說：「當你在沒有壓力下做喜歡的事，才能真正享受。如果你背負了經濟壓力，那麼再喜歡的事，也很易不再成為興趣。」她也很同意，甚至覺得以前負責設計項目，積了很多壓力，如今做果醬很輕鬆愉快，對於不同口味的配搭躍躍欲試，更覺刺激有趣。
設計師通常非常有主見，Marie亦非例外，喜歡加減食譜的材料，認為太多牛油不好，或是減低糖的比例，使食材原本的味道能呈現出來。她說：「起初是以麵包機來試製果醬，用上新鮮水果製作已經很好味，無法再吃市面的果醬，因它們加了太多凝固劑、糖精和防腐劑，反而水果原有的果香和味道就淡了，就像模糊了味覺感受。我常常提醒自己，做手工果醬的原意就是希望家人食得健康。」
女士喜愛
Marie主理的「飛鳥工房」果醬款式不少，她表示自己喜歡嘗試不同口味配搭，「我做果醬其中一個方向是追求時令，因為自己本身對於天氣轉變、四季分明很有感覺，因此會考慮果醬口味如何配搭季節，雖然以水果為主，也會糅合花或是草本植物等大自然元素。」例如在剛過去的6月，正值荔枝當造，因此Marie製作玫瑰、荔枝配士多啤梨的果醬，荔枝清甜柔軟，配搭酸甜適宜的士多啤梨，加上淡淡的玫瑰芳香，深受女士喜愛。
提到夏日特色的果醬，Marie首選熱情果、芒果及菠蘿的配搭。在水果剛成熟的階段，其果膠含量最豐富，而Marie挑選果膠成分較高的芒果和熱情果，避免依賴魚膠粉和人造凝固劑。而熱情果的果味很重，挖籽和汁液時已聞到果香，酸甜消暑。手工果醬的特色在於新鮮，Marie指準備水果份量時，不要切得太碎，希望保留果肉口感和纖維。例如處理菠蘿芯，她指有些做法是以攪拌機高速打碎，但她寧願稍微切碎粒，也不會破壞纖維。準備好食材後，便以攝氏100度煮醬，間中加以攪拌，以免黏底，亦澆上檸檬汁。「我會不斷試味，未加糖前先試一試水果本身的甜度，再按實際需要加入天然冰糖。我開辦工作坊也會派發食譜，但我會叫學生不要完全跟足份量，反而應該在煮食過程親自嘗試果醬的酸度或甜度，才慢慢加糖。自己做醬的好處，就是可以調製符合自己口味。」待汁液果肉開始濃稠便可，由於沒有額外添加凝固劑，比市面的果醬較為有水感，晶瑩剔透，Marie解釋：「雖然糖可以增加果醬的濃稠度，但是我只放少量的糖，以免蓋過水果的原味。」
Marie曾到英國修讀建築，逗留了7年左右。她認為歐洲普遍流行吃果醬，早餐以果醬配乳酪或是麥皮，十分方便；下午茶則塗在班戟、曲奇或鬆餅等，食法花樣多變。小食方面，她則推介以果醬配餅乾，簡單快捷。另外亦可以沖水調製水果茶，Marie則喜歡加入梳打水，製作清涼透心的水果梳打，適合炎炎夏日飲用。此外也可以利用不同口味的果醬配搭乳酪，製成三色乳酪杯，同樣滋味香甜。
健康理念
現時Marie主要為參加市集展覽及舉辦工作坊。她自言喜愛和小朋友相處，透過市集和小朋友分享天然果醬，特別快樂。她亦提到每次擺檔都有位女士來捧場，還特意把樽拿回來，Marie因而想到做按樽回收，則更加環保。
她表示市集的客人有不同年齡層，多數是追求健康的人，特別是母親，她依然一貫從容：「我也是過來人，做人媽媽，自有身孕起自然會格外留意健康，注重食物安全，仔細了解成分，如何保存等，都是為了替孩子選擇健康食品。」Marie並不追求貨物上架，因儲放時間很久，她始終想製作新鮮果醬，故此保留小量生產。她也樂於舉辦工作坊，直言不介意和別人分享食譜，「果醬食譜可以很簡單，而我正是希望透過手工果醬，讓人明白只要用心對待食材，健康美味的食物並不難求。」
撰文：黃靜美智子
jimmywong@hkej.com
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https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2018/08/30/changing-our-approach-to-anti-tracking/
Anyone who isn’t an expert on the internet would be hard-pressed to explain how tracking on the internet actually works. Some of the negative effects of unchecked tracking are easy to notice, namely eerily-specific targeted advertising and a loss of performance on the web. However, many of the harms of unchecked data collection are completely opaque to users and experts alike, only to be revealed piecemeal by major data breaches. In the near future, Firefox will — by default — protect users by blocking tracking while also offering a clear set of controls to give our users more choice over what information they share with sites.
Over the next few months, we plan to release a series of features that will put this new approach into practice through three key initiatives:
Improving page load performance
Tracking slows down the web. In a study by Ghostery, 55.4% of the total time required to load an average website was spent loading third party trackers. For users on slower networks the effect can be even worse.
Long page load times are detrimental to every user’s experience on the web. For that reason, we’ve added a new feature in Firefox Nightly that blocks trackers that slow down page loads. We will be testing this feature using a shield study in September. If we find that our approach performs well, we will start blocking slow-loading trackers by default in Firefox 63.
Removing cross-site tracking
In the physical world, users wouldn’t expect hundreds of vendors to follow them from store to store, spying on the products they look at or purchase. Users have the same expectations of privacy on the web, and yet in reality, they are tracked wherever they go. Most web browsers fail to help users get the level of privacy they expect and deserve.
In order to help give users the private web browsing experience they expect and deserve, Firefox will strip cookies and block storage access from third-party tracking content. We’ve already made this available for our Firefox Nightly users to try out, and will be running a shield study to test the experience with some of our beta users in September. We aim to bring this protection to all users in Firefox 65, and will continue to refine our approach to provide the strongest possible protection while preserving a smooth user experience.
Mitigating harmful practices
Deceptive practices that invisibly collect identifiable user information or degrade user experience are becoming more common. For example, some trackers fingerprint users — a technique that allows them to invisibly identify users by their device properties, and which users are unable to control. Other sites have deployed cryptomining scripts that silently mine cryptocurrencies on the user’s device. Practices like these make the web a more hostile place to be. Future versions of Firefox will block these practices by default.
Why are we doing this?
This is about more than protecting users — it’s about giving them a voice. Some sites will continue to want user data in exchange for content, but now they will have to ask for it, a positive change for people who up until now had no idea of the value exchange they were asked to make. Blocking pop-up ads in the original Firefox release was the right move in 2004, because it didn’t just make Firefox users happier, it gave the advertising platforms of the time a reason to care about their users’ experience. In 2018, we hope that our efforts to empower our users will have the same effect.
How to Manually Enable the Protections
Do you want to try out these protections in Firefox Nightly? You can control both features from the Control Center menu, accessible on the left-hand side of the address bar. In that menu you’ll see a new “Content Blocking” section. From there, you can:
Enable the blocking of slow-loading trackers or cross-site tracking through third-party cookies by clicking “Add Blocking…” next to the respective option. In the “Content Blocking” preferences panel: Click the checkbox next to “Slow-Loading Trackers” to improve page load performance. Click the checkbox next to “Third-Party Cookies” and select “Trackers (recommended)” to block cross-site tracking cookies. You can disable these protections by clicking the gear icon in the control center and unchecking the checkboxes next to “Slow-Loading Trackers” and “Third-party Cookies”.
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Share this Article Stephen Guilfoyle Updated Aug 29, 2018 9:20 AM EDT Salesforce Is an Easy Stock to Like, Here Is How to Play It Marc Benioff is still the visionary behind Salesforce. Long-time favorite Salesforce.com (CRM) reports tonight, and expect a strong report.
The industry is looking for EPS of $0.47 on revenue of $3.23 billion. These numbers would be good enough for year-over-year growth of 42%, and 26%, respectively. You may recall that back on July 11, I raised my target price for CRM from $145 to $152. The last sale that morning was $142.45.
The stock was unfairly punished as trade-related headlines made waves. Twenty days later, on July 31, with the last sale at that point down to $138.03, I again increased my target price from $152 to $160. May the Salesforce Be With You.
I think that Salesforce is an easy name to like. Seems highly valued? Sure, 56 times forward price-to-earnings multiple is expensive. The whole cloud space is expensive, because that is where the growth is in 2018. Margins are rising, cash flows are solid. Debt is manageable. How much of the valuation was priced into having a well known, well liked, obviously competent CEO like Marc Benioff at the helm.
Will Investors Be Ready to Digest All the New Cannabis Stocks? Tilray Feeds Deal-Making Speculation on Analyst Call
Well, we have not lost Benioff. He is still the visionary and the marketing guy. Nearly a month ago, the firm promoted COO Keith Block to the position of co-CEO. Block is going to run operations and execution. Can this work? I think it already might be. I also think that this is an example that maybe a firm such as Tesla (TSLA) should probably follow -- for very different reasons.
Impact of Mulesoft
Back in May, the firm closed on the Mulesoft acquisition. That acquisition is now expected to provide the lion's share of revenue growth for the entire year. What the Mulesoft deal does is provide Salesforce with a high-end technology that facilitates data transfer from a client's on-premise sight to the "cloud."
Over the past two weeks, Action Alerts Plus holding Salesforce has seen upgrades and increased target prices from the likes of Cowen, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Piper Jaffray, and Barclay's. Those target prices now range from $165 to $178. CRM closed last night at $152.99 after trading as high as $154.88 on Monday morning. Those of us long this name have something significant to protect going into tonight's numbers. Let's take a look.
View Chart » View in New Window » Everything looks stellar, which almost scares me. Relative Strength, Money Flow, the daily MACD. Hot, hot, hot. The name most obviously finds support on selloffs at traditional Fibonacci levels, and just as obviously colors within the lines regarding a year-long Andrews' Pitchfork model that has used the central trend line consistently as a pivot, but more recently as support.
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There's one other important item to see here -- and that's timing. Salesforce holds its big dog and pony show, the annual Dreamforce Convention in San Francisco, in late September, from the 24th through the 28th. My thought is to expect positivity around this name at that time, regardless of what happens tonight.
My Thoughts
I don't like to violate basis, but when a long position runs for a year or more, you end up with a rule that will not allow you to add at any price if you stick to it. If the name takes off tonight, I likely leave my equity position unchanged. On a pullback of any kind, the $144 level looks like a spot to me to maybe add a partial buy. Or maybe.... short a put option.
Price Target: $170 (up from $160). Panic Point: $140 (up from $132). Trade Ideas (minimum lots)
Sell (write) one 144 Sept 28 put option (last: $2.58). Note that there was no volume for this product yesterday, and the bid went out at $1.94, so the valuation is volatile and any participation will impact price discovery.
Buy 100 shares at $144 or better on a weak reaction to earnings (which is possible, given the recent run). If hit on such a bid, my immediate reaction would, in my opinion, be to sell (write) a Sept 28 call option with a strike price of a roughly $8 premium to the equity purchase price. This should, in theory, pay the investor $2 to $2.50. If that premium is not there in the morning, the trade then becomes less worth it, and I figure something else out.
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