Technology

Authorities in the U.S. are now accusing Russia of attempting to infiltrate the electrical grid, in a claim that threatens to destroy Russian-US relations even further. A Vermont electric company claims that it was alerted to the presence of malicious malware on a company laptop, apparently originating from Russia, by the Department of Homeland Security. CNN reports: The company, which serves 19,600 customers in Vermont, said the malware was on a laptop that is not connected to the organization’s power grid systems.

It's that time of year...

Source: MichaelPRamirez.com

By EconMatters

We go over our 2016 Market Returns, Discuss the best and worse performing market asset classes, and look at Hedge Fund outperformers through the third quarter in this video. Some crazy political outcomes in 2016, wonder what surprises are in the cards for 2017?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR3UaoVscZw

In the future you may have to convince a computer that you are telling the truth at airport security checkpoints. A robotic kiosk will ask travellers a series of questions and report those who pose a potential security risk to human authorities for further investigation. The virtual border agent can detect changes in physiology and behaviour during interviews with travellers. The system is called AVATAR and is currently being tested in U.S. and Canada. An SDSU professor is developing a robotic kiosk that could help detect travelers with sinister intentions.

If there is one company that wishes 2016 could be as quickly as possible put away in the history books, it was Apple: with the Apple watch now a confirmed dud, the iPhone 7 a bust relative to Apple's other offerings, demand for Apple's once brilliant creations waning, and the first recorded declines in both iPhone sales and earnings, 2016 was a year Tim Cook would love to never repeat. Alas, according to Japan's Nikkei, 2017 is set to begin with a whimper, not a bang, as Apple will trim production of its iPhones by at least 10% in the first quarter of 2017.