While Brazil celebrated the latest results reaped by its economy–the Central Bank announced the first positive numbers in the past four months, with a GDP growth of 0.54% in May–the real battle took place worldwide in the technology market.
Forget all your predictions for the future, it is all much closer to happening than you think. Two announcements are responsible for revealing this to the world: Elon Musk took the concept of the neural link from science fiction and made it a reality, and Netflix, always considered the single leader of the streaming market, is actually going through a hard time, struggling against the competition.
We are living in the era of innovation, and here’s all you need to know about the latest news of the week:
4. Amazon Day sales exceeded Black Friday results for the company in Brazil
Amazon Day did not even need 48 hours to break sales records in Brazil. In the first 24 hours of its sale, the company sold more in Brazil than they did during last Black Friday. With discounts of up to 60% and free shipping, the favorite products for Brazilians were books, according to the Brazilian media outlet Folha de S. Paulo.
In a market where Amazon is already making an effort to gain a more significant share of the retail market, this result is great news. But Amazon is not the only one that is celebrating the interest of Brazilians in the Amazon sale this year. Grabr, a Silicon-Valley startup that connects travelers to international consumers, making possible for tourists to buy products on demand and deliver them to consumers in their countries of origin, also had reasons to celebrate.
By offering Latin American consumers a chance to buy products on sale directly from the United States, the startup broke barriers and reached an increase of 184% in sales amount just in the first day, growing more 33% the next day.
3. Meet the Silicon Valleys of Brazil
Silicon Valley in Brazil? Yes, and not only one! At least four cities dispute the title of ‘Brazilian Silicon Valley,’ shaped by the concentration of tech companies and the booming scenario of innovation.
In these Brazilian Silicon Valleys, companies and entrepreneurs have been developing solutions for transportation, logistics, education, financial access, and health care. In some of the cities, tech is already responsible for at least 20,000 jobs.
Check out the full article and get to know all of them!
2. Netflix’s reign is coming to an end?
With more competition, leading the streaming market isn’t an easy mission for Netflix anymore. Last week, the company had already been impacted by the announcement of a new streaming platform called HBO Max that is taking Friends out of Netflix’s portfolio. While everyone was asking themselves how the giant was dealing with it, the results report announced became one more challenge for the company.
Contrary to Wall Street predictions, whose estimations were at 309,240 new Netflix paid-subscribers in US only, the company’s base shrunk in the country by 130,000 in the period of Apr-Jun, due to a price-hike. As a result, the stock prices of the Stranger Things company fell by 11%. This is the company’s first slump in US subscribers since 2011.
Although the last quarter drop seemed unsettling, the company is confident that it can reach its best performance regarding customer growth in 2019, with new releases such as a Martin Scorsese movie and new seasons of The Crown and Orange Is The New Black coming – all of this right after the 3rd season of big hit Stranger Things. But competition is surely growing stronger and the next chapters of this saga remain to be seen.
1. Neural link is about to happen outside a Black Mirror episode
The business world is used to the comparisons of Elon Musk‘s ventures and science fiction. But this week, he sure got one step closer to making fiction a reality (or the opposite?). As reported by Bloomberg, the Tesla founder unveiled his brand new project at an event in the California Academy of Sciences: a device that can read your mind once implanted in the brain. What is it for? To control virtually any other device – using only your thoughts.
“This is going to sound pretty weird, but ultimately, we will achieve symbiosis with artificial intelligence. This is not a mandatory thing. It is a thing you can choose to have if you want. This is something that I think will be really important on a civilization-level scale,” said Musk during the conference in San Francisco.
Neuralink has so far run tests on animals only – rats and monkeys – but the startup will seek approval to start clinical trials in humans as early as next year.
LABS +1: Who run the world? Beyonce and Disney!
Nigeria’s music industry is about to reach a whole new level globally thanks to Beyonce’s new album launched today (Jul 9), “The Lion King: The Gift“. The soundtrack of the live-action remake of Disney’s classic movie launched and is totally focused on showing African cultural diversity, revealing a completely new artistic side of Beyonce. The album counts with 6 songs featuring well-known artists in Africa: Tekno, Yemi Alade, Mr Eazi, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, and WizKid.
According to Bloomberg, Nigeria’s music industry is one of the fastest-growing globally, growing by 13.4% annually. It’s time for the world to discover this hidden treasure, and Beyonce’s new album is a great place to start.
