Centives

It seems that even the beloved Watson has found a job for himself in this economy. Beth Jinks reports that Watson, of jeopardy fame, will soon be making billions of dollars, although he’s unlikely to have the opportunity to keep any of it. Instead the revenue will go straight into the pocket of its owner, IBM:

• Watson’s ability to process natural language and comb through large datasets gives it a wide variety of applications in the business world.
• Health care providers have already been taking advantage of Watson’s services. Citigroup is the first financial services firm to do so.
• IBM believes that Watson is currently suited to manage portfolio risk. It monitors sources of information including conventional news sources but also sites like Facebook.
• Watson is expected to earn $2.65 billion in 2015.

To read more about some of Watson’s competitors, areas where the software still lags, and other applications for the loveable computer system click here.

Source: Bloomberg

Via: Marginal Revolution

The Hunger Games, a series of books that has been compared to both Harry Potter and Twilight, premieres a movie by the same name on March 23^rd. The Wall Street Journal looked at some of the considerations involved in marketing the film.

• The book series is more popular with females, but male moviegoers drive blockbuster openings and ticketing sales. Lionsgate’s challenge then is to attract male viewers without alienating the female fanbase.
• The fear is that males will not want to be seen going into movie theaters with a primarily female audience.
• The film makers have partly dealt with this problem by focusing more on the heroic parts of the book rather than the relationship aspects of it.
• The advertising campaign for the books and movies have also tried to focus on male oriented things such as video games and promotions during the Supwerbowl
• The publisher of the book series, Scholastic, have themselves dealt with this problem by having a gold symbol of a bird on the cover rather than a picture of the female protagonist.

To read what it means for The Hunger Games to be a four quadrant movie, why people might be yelling “Teem Peeta” in the theaters, and why older males might be the next wave click here.

Interested in the struggles of Katniss Everdeen? Take a look at our analysis of the population of Panem here and check back next week for multiple articles on Centives’ analysis of The Economics of The Hunger Games.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Via: Marginal Revolution

Slate has produced a series of articles examining what a society without cash will look like. Will Oremus looked at some of the consequences for beggars:

• Beggars make a fair amount of money, in the millions of dollars, through people who want to get rid of their loose change.
• Beggars can make use of mobile phone technologies that allow for the wireless transfer of funds. On the plus side people would be able to give more since they wouldn’t be limited to the change in their pocket. On the other hand people might be willing to give less if they’ll see it as a direct expense in their banking statements.
• It might also undermine the message of begging if beggars start waving around mobile phones while asking for money.
• This might lead to a future where beggars are given tangible goods instead of cash.

To read more about the amount of money you can make through begging, how charities such as UNICEF are adjusting to a cash-less society, and Denver’s surprising experiment, click here.

Source: Slate

The ECU recently instituted a dress code for chess tournaments. Anastasiya Karlovich went over some of the highlights of the new policy:

• The “cleavage rule” states that the second from the top button may be open.
• Miniskirts are no longer allowed.
• The people behind the rule point out that all sports have uniforms and chess was just joining those ranks. The problem was that people were showing up to tournaments in beach-wear.
• Hats are also no longer allowed.

To read some of the other rules, how the dress code compares to the one instituted in tennis, and some exceptions to the rules click here.

Source: Chessbase

Via: Marginal Revolution

In a wide ranging article that looks at the rising costs of law enforcement in the United States, Stephan Salisbury’s look at some of the examples of potential police excess stand out:

• One county in Texas has purchased a weapons capable drone.
• New York’s Police Department purchased submarines.
• Tampa is equipping its surveillance helicopters with digital video uplinks.
• Tampa also added an eight ton armored personnel carrier to its existing fleet of two tanks.

To see the dollar amounts that the United States has spent in developing security systems since 9/11, other examples of the technology being used to combat terrorist threats, and what this suggests about the United States, click here.

Source: Salon

A record 104 women made the 2012 Forbes billionaire list, although it continued to be dominated by men. Life Inc. took a look at some of the more colourful women that made the cut, including:

• Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, who after the inheritance from her husband is estimated to be worth $9 billion.
• France has the richest European female billionaire in Liliane Bettencourt, worth $24 billion, mostly due to L’Oreal.
• India has the richest Asian female billionaire in Savitri Jindal, worth $20.9 billion, with her wealth coming from the steel industry.
• The richest women in the world is American Christy Walton, of Wal-Mart fame, worth $25.3 billion.

To read about the 30 year old who lost $12 billion (you thought your day was bad), the woman who turned $5,000 into $1 billion, and a woman who happens to be from Mars, click here.

Source: Life Inc.

Alexis Madrigal reports on a study done on the privacy policies that we all mindlessly agree to:

• The median length of the privacy policy of the 75 top websites is ~2,500 words.
• On average people read 250 words a minute.
• The average American is estimated to visit around 1500 websites a month.
• To read the privacy policy of all the websites you visit would require 76, 8-hour work days.
• Across the United States that’s 53.8 billion hours of reading time.
• This puts the opportunity cost of reading privacy policies at $781 billion – more than the GDP of Florida.

To read more details of the analysis, why this is probably an under-estimate, and what this tells us about the way we deal with privacy, click here.

Source: The Atlantic

Via: Marginal Revolution

Centives reserves the right to distribute information about the third toenail of your left foot. If you do not have either toenails or a left foot, you are not permitted to read Centives. We’ll miss you. =(

Victor Lustig, a conman from the early 90s who once managed to sell the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal left behind a list of commandments for aspiring con-men. Some of them include:

• Be a patient listener
• Wait for the other person to reveal political or religious beliefs – then change yours to match theirs.
• Never boast, instead let your importance be quietly obvious.
• Don’t get drunk.

Aspiring to be a con artist? Then you might want to check out the full list and find out about the role that sex-talk has to play.

Source: Lists of note

Via: Kottke

Why was the automotive industry concentrated in Detroit? Slate answered the question:

• Detroit did have several geographical advantages. Iron and wood (crucial components for manufacturing cars at the time) were abundantly available in the region. Rail and water access meant that cars could easily be shipped to other regions.
• However several other regions had those advantages and more. What made Detroit different was that several automobile innovators including Henry Ford happened to be from that city.
• After that, cross-pollination of talent, and a silicon-valley type model where workers would often change industries or start their own entrepreneurial efforts, led to significant advantages in having an industry based in one location.

To read more about the one decision made by a car manufacturer that changed everything, as well as the role that Mitt Romney’s father played, click here.

Source: Slate