Intel Corporation (INTC) Stock Could Dominate With New Compute Card

Intel stock has always been a good choice, now it's even better

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has been around for a very long time and it has been a mainstay in the technology industry, as well as one of the most recognized household names in consumer electronics since the late 1970s. INTC didn’t invent the computer, but it did develop a superior processor that was designed to be functional in almost any computer, regardless of who manufactured it.

With that, over nearly four decades, Intel has grown into a $173 billion company, giving early INTC stock investors returns in excess of 30,000%.

The company went on to manufacture a growing number of microprocessors and other types of computer chips, which today are found in countless pieces of electronic hardware.

It would seem that Intel stock has dusted off the old playbook, unveiling the Compute Card two weeks ago at CES 2017. The Compute Card, according to an INTC Newsroom press release, is intended to “transform the way compute and connectivity can be integrated and used in future devices.”

If things turn out as planned for Intel, the Compute Card has the potential to become another virtually universal component that can be integrated into a gigantic — and constantly expanding — selection of consumer electronics.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Will Hike App Store Prices … Because Brexit?

The depreciating pound sterling has forced Apple's hand

According to an email to developers, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is making plans to raise prices in its U.K. App Store by approximately 25%. The price hike is, apparently, in response to the weakening pound sterling exchange rate, which has been steadily dropping since June’s Brexit vote.

The price changes are expected to roll out to the App Store over the next week. Per The Guardian:

“Similar price increases are expected to hit other Apple Stores, including the iTunes Store for music and video and the iBooks Store.”

This announcement comes on the heels of October’s unilateral 20% price jump for AAPL hardware, including the company’s newest MacBooks, Mac Pro, and the iMac.

Facebook Inc (FB), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Shouldn’t Fear European Ruling

The EU may consider legislation forcing tech giants like FB and GOOGL to respond quicker

The European Commission recently released a report revealing that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) have thus far failed to comply with the provisions set forth in last May’s voluntary acceptance of an online Code of Conduct agreement.

According to the Code of Conduct, these tech behemoths vowed to implement additional measures aimed at identifying and removing blatantly hateful content, with “the majority” of user reports of such content reviewed and addressed within 24 hours.

Further, each company agreed to implement comprehensive and ongoing training for staff members tasked with addressing these reports, with focus on “current soceital developments” as they may relate to potential surges in hate speech.

Training was supposed to include and encourage participation and involvement by various “civil society organizations” whose goals were to promote tolerance and education.

Apparently, that didn’t happen.

Can Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) Use Solar Roofs to Sell More Cars?

TSLA stock has a great opportunity to cross-promote with its solar roof

After the successful completion of the deal to acquire SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), Elon Musk announced that Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is officially entering the home building arena. According to Bloomberg, TSLA stock will begin offering revolutionary new solar-powered residential roofs sometime in 2017.

In a video presentation on the Tesla website, Musk stated that his company’s new roofs are expected to cost less than traditional roofs, and that “electricity is just a bonus.”

Fortune reported that much of the projected cost savings for homeowners is tied to the expectation that a new Tesla solar roof will be “lighter and easier to ship, thus reducing costs on breakage and transportation.”

Bloomberg called the roofs “stunning” and described them as “a range of four solar roofing materials that look virtually indistinguishable from high-end terracotta, slate or slick modern asphalt shingles.”

Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Reclaims Its Lead With Video Downloads

NFLX stock is now even more secure thanks to downloadable videos

This morning, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) announced a brand new feature: subscribers can now download movies and television shows for offline playback. There’s no extra cost for this added functionality, and it’s “included in all plans and available for phones and tablets on Android and iOS.” The Netflix download option isn’t currently available via desktop computer, though. The question is: Will this have a significant effect on Netflix stock?

According to the official announcement, NFLX implemented this change in response to user feedback. Apparently, the demand for downloadable movies and TV shows is quite significant.

Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) Stock Will Get a Boost From IBM

IBM and NVDA can revolutionize deep learning and artificial intelligence

Earlier this week, news surfaced that a new high performance computing system is now available, and it is the culmination of a partnership between two tech industry powerhouses: International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) and Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).

According to Venture Beat, “A new software toolkit available today called IBM PowerAI is designed to run on the recently announced IBM server built for artificial intelligence that features Nvidia NVLink technology optimized for IBM’s Power Architecture.”

This is potentially a very significant step forward for both IBM and Nvidia stock, as the deep learning arena is still relatively small, yet will certainly be a major factor in the future.

For the uninitiated, non-geek consumer, HPC and deep learning are, in layman’s terms, the use of multiple pieces of high-powered computer hardware components together with software designed to analyze huge amounts of data.

Initially, software teaches the machine — referred to as “machine learning” — how to analyze and interpret the data so, later, it will be able to act independently (e.g., recognizing and understanding spoken words or identifying specific characteristics of an image) without the need for additional instructions.

One of the ultimate goals of die-hard deep learning enthusiasts is to further the development of a true artificial intelligence system.

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Stock’s New Backbone: Artificial Intelligence

As the AI space evolves, GOOGL is determined to remain on top

Last week, Martin Abadi, a computer scientist and member of the Google Brain Team at Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL), along with David Andersen, an associate professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, published a research paper that describes how artificial intelligence entities “can learn how to perform forms of encryption and decryption, and also how to apply these operations selectively in order to meet confidentiality goals.”

In simpler terms, GOOGL created three separate AI entities and instructed two of them to pass secret messages back and forth while the third attempted to intercept and decode them.

When the encryption was broken, subsequent messages were secured with even more advanced methods.

The truly amazing part of the experiment was that “the networks were not taught anything about encryption before the game began, meaning that the strategies they came up with were entirely original.” That also means Alphabet researchers may never know exactly what kind of encryption methods were being used, and they probably won’t be able to crack it, either.