Tag Archives: Gal Gadot

April 16, 2026 · 03:10

About that woman

Yup, the Amazon. And if you think we are talking about that woman in a tight leather bodice hiding perky breasts looking like a 30 something woman called Gal Gadot, you’d be wrong. We are talking about the other Amazon, the one with a wrinkly face selling books. A few articles hit me a few hours ago. The first one on the table (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyjjr7kzj2o) is the BBC, Fortune with its paywall was rejected) is the one we see first. It sets the tone with ‘Amazon to spend $11bn on satellite firm in growing Starlink rivalry’, now I accept and respect competition and the quote “Amazon is aiming to build-up its satellite business to offer internet and mobile phone services by spending $11.57bn (£8.5bn) on an acquisition of Globalstar. The deal, announced Tuesday, will allow Amazon to get thousands of satellites into low-earth orbit through the Amazon Leo project the company has been working on for several years.” But the added part starts making this setting a more desperate look, with “Amazon will be in closer competition with Starlink, an increasingly popular satellite-based internet and phone service company launched by Elon Musk in 2019. Starlink has a significant head-start on Amazon’s Leo, which currently only has around 200 satellites in orbit. Musk’s company, which is private, says it already has more than 10,000 active satellites offering internet and mobile phone service to more than 10 million paying customers.” Star link is already seeing head waves with the rejection by Canada and next Europe with the sabres rattling that President Trump is throwing in the air. The last words have not been spoken about that and as soon as Ursula von der Leyen is setting the tone of what the American Administration is accepted to get hearing of, this field will become a lot less profitable. But besides that, under the guise of AI (lets keep it real and call it fake AI) “As of January 2026, Amazon is cutting approximately 16,000 corporate roles to reduce bureaucracy and embrace AI, following a previous round of 14,000 job cuts in October.” We are already raising eye brows as that is setting too many people out into the cold and now they are playing with $11.57 billion to play with the competition they have no chance of catching up to? 200 makes no competitor out of 10,000 satellites and as I see it, Starlink is setting several amazing views, does Globalstar have anything to match it? Its like Microsoft with its 5% market share stating that it is time to replace Google, who has over 88% share. It is never going to happen and as I do not trust AI, I will still google things, no matter what some media claims people do and millions of people are on the same side that I am on. 

I reckon that $1 billion could have given these 30,000 people a job and that is before we take under consideration a few other things. Some say that a data centre has 3 to 5 years (source: Fortune) so how can you keep these data centers when the return on investment is at least 5 years out? These are the makings of a pot stew, one that usually is standing besides a few players playing some version of poker. It sounds like the consolation price for something no one needed, or at least that sounds to be the case. You see, this drive to data centers requires a population and as I see it Europeans are now actively rejecting Microsoft and everything that comes with it (like data capturing). So what gives? 

Then we get CNBC, who (at https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/09/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-ai-spending.html) gives ‘Amazon CEO Jassy defends $200 billion AI spend: “We’re not going to be conservative”’ with some of the key points being “Amazon CEO Andy Jassy released his annual shareholder letter, where he once again made the case for huge investments in artificial intelligence. The company has said it expects to spend roughly $200 billion on capital expenditures this year, with the lion’s share going toward AI development. Jassy wrote that AI revenue in its cloud computing segment has hit a $15 billion annual run rate.” And here we expect a few things. You see, investing $200 dollar to get back $15 per year sounds stellar, but it also means that you are 13 years away from getting the original $200 back and now when it concerns billions, there is the matter of interest. Given that they might be drowning their revenue, there is no interest, but it is a large thing to take into account if it is the company handheld on the white that AI becomes real in the next 13 years. I think it is touch and go there, but still the second sized wave of technology will be massive. Once IBM releases the shallow circuit advantage they have, the will cost Amazon billions too, I have no idea what Google has on that term, but as I see out Amazon does not. So, as I see it, Amazon is paying poker with a bank of over $220 billion and the outcome is definitely a gamble and one of the highest order as well. So as CNBC gives us “Amazon shares have struggled so far this year as investors question the company’s aggressive AI spending plans and grow increasingly impatient about when the investments will pay off. Amazon shares closed up 5.6% on Thursday. The stock is up more than 1% year to date. Jassy has said that Amazon needs the capital to go after “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and to keep pace with “very high demand” for the company’s AI compute.”
I merely wonder if anyone has a clue what kind of a gamble Amazon is making, because that bill comes due and it comes due in a most unfashionable way. So whilst we look (and optionally gawk) at what is shown, can anyone see what about to happen? 

Then. We are ‘hit’ with the final setting and it is given to us (at https://nationaltoday.com/us/wa/seattle/news/2026/04/14/goldman-sachs-lowers-amazon-price-target-ahead-of-key-earnings/) where we see ‘Goldman Sachs Lowers Amazon Price Target Ahead of Earnings’, which is always going to happen, but the quote “Wall Street analysts see both opportunities and risks in Amazon’s AI-driven growth strategy.” The one side to look at this (an optionally wrong one) is that the added risk is downplaying the opportunity in the field here. That is beside the point, as I see it, that the added quote is merely filling with “Goldman Sachs has lowered its price target on Amazon stock to $275 from $280, while maintaining a Buy rating ahead of the company’s expected earnings report on April 30, 2026. The revision signals a broader shift in investor attention toward the key risks and opportunities shaping Amazon’s next phase, including the performance of Amazon Web Services, the impact of rising energy prices, the commercialization timeline for Amazon Leo, and the growth of Amazon’s advertising and marketing platform.” But what matters is “Amazon’s aggressive push into artificial intelligence through AWS has become a critical driver of the company’s growth, with AWS already reaching an annualized AI revenue run rate exceeding $15 billion. However, the heavy AI spending also comes with trade-offs, as Amazon is significantly increasing capital expenditures, which could pressure free cash flow in the near term. Investors are closely watching these developments to understand Amazon’s trajectory in 2026 and beyond.” As I see it, the risks are adding up and we are likely to see an addition of maturing trade-offs to make the screens, making investors jittery. Personally I don’t think that it is the “pressure of free cash flow”, I believe that there are several risks of Globalstar ignored and that will rear its ugly head soon enough, because at some point Starlink will boost their presence with requirements towards ‘space safety’ and whilst no one is expecting this, I reckon that Globalstar is not ready for those ‘demands’ and as such $11.52 down the toilet as they say, a risk that is (at present) undocumented, but that will raise the risk levels on a few levels, but what do I know. I am originally from tech support, not in any way connected to economic forecasting. 

A setting that gives us that in almost every way it is more appealing to watch Gal Gadot with perky breasts in a leather bodice than it is to look at the presumption of revenue by speculative economic forecasters of Amazon inc. But that might be my hormones talking and not my wallet, which has zero Amazon stock, so I am not listening to my wallet at present, who is eerily empty.

So you all have a great day and consider the risks you are facing today, if you are watching Gal Gadot, the risks are good, if your fortune is in Amazon, a little less so.

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April 17, 2025 · 21:32

As markets floats a new idea

I was reading up on how the markets were doing. Not that I really have any interest, but the actions of President Trump make it essential to keep notice. The larger setting is important and that kinda gave me an idea. So as Microsoft and Ubisoft are hunkering down on iterating the IP they have, I saw the beginning of another IP coming. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with the remake of Oblivion. It was great IP, the reason why I bought the Xbox360 and a setting I enjoyed for over 3000 hours of gameplay. Once to do the story, the second time to find everything that was possible to find and I found plenty more and after that I played to get my character at 100% (100 in the properties and skills) I didn’t get there, but I got it to 90%+ it was harder then I thought, but it was fun while it lasted. As such Microsoft will get money from Oblivion and Fallout 3, they bought it, they are entitled to it. Bethesda created two massive blockbusters, so as I heard that we get Oblivion next week the first question I had was “Did they reprise the role by Sir Patrick Stewart?”

So back to the core of it all, I saw “The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 699.57 points, or 1.73%, closing at 39,669.39. The S&P 500 dropped 2.24% to end at 5,275.70, led down by the information technology sector. The Nasdaq Composite pulled back 3.07% to close at 16,307.16. The tech-heavy index ended the day about 19% off its closing high, sliding closer to bear market territory. Shares of Nvidia sank 6.9% after the chip giant said it will post a $5.5 billion quarterly charge related to exporting its H20 graphics processing units to China and other nations.” The loss is seemingly profound (I am not an economist), but I noticed something in the byline. You see, it is the part of “related to exporting its H20 graphics processing units to China and other nations”, so as Americans are so ‘elated’ with their AI, Nvidia moves its H20 graphics processing units to China and other nations. I reckon that is another slap for this in the foot shooting President. So as the tariffs come to a larger setting, how much more expensive will Nvidia solutions become?

As we continue to get the bad press of the tariffs, as we get more and more bad impacts on the American economies, like tourism, or the USA Today giving us allegations of insider trading (see yesterdays article) people are starting to wonder what the hell they elected in the first place. 

I, one the other hand had a really weird dream and the beginning of a new IP. In this dream I was in a dead town, it seemed to be in the regions of New Mexico. The town was empty,  stripped, and the place looked empty. The people were gone, anything of value was seemingly gone. Seemingly was the right description. I cane to a room filled with people. It was a workout room and it had about 20 people in there. As I came closer they were robots, looking exceedingly yummy in their workout outfits. The men were ribbed and handsome, the women well shaped and some marvel superhero dream of what women looked like, there was even a model looking like Gal Gadot in her wonder woman outfit, and yes, she was complete ;-), or was that ;-)… ? (Yes, that was a sexual reference) When I turned on the lights they started to move like in some exercise routine, the lights went on and then off a few seconds later. A few second later more the light turned on again, but now dimmed. The robots continued their exercise. I looked at them, but they didn’t look at me, they were simply empty glared. I walked on and I got to a desk with an elderly woman. She looked at me and bid me welcome. Was I interested in buying equipment, robots or merchandise. She did not have many merchandise she stared at me and told me “we do have your size” she looked at me awaiting an answer. I merely looked at her for a few seconds, she looked away and looked at her desk with a larger display pad where she wrote things down.

This is the setting I saw and I started to see the setting and I thought that the game Portal (by Rob Swigart) 1986 was a pretty unique setting and worthy of rebooting. I tried to do this in 2011, but three weeks later I got the boot from my boss, and no not because of this, I did this at home and I was planning to reboot the CBM Amiga original to set this to Flash, which would have been more then ample to do this. My plan crashed but the idea never did. So this is a setting where you are an alien who crash-land on the planet and in an attempt to learn where you are, you are the one in New Mexico and the robots might not seem intelligent but their programming is the continuation of the species on this planet. We now get to a Battlestar Galactica setting where the Cylons are the human remains and the game portal is setting up the game premise. Instead of the screen being the stage, the setting are that you open 12 locations (over time) and as you start in New Mexico, you are given more locations over time. The portals you open position you from location to location and as you learn more, you will interface the computers and other ways to a work desk near a portal. As the story evolves, you will interface these computers so that the workstations on any location will have all the information that the original location has. And as you find more and more computers and robots the story evolves. I think that whomever makes this story (and game) should involve Rob Swigart as it is his original IP, even reengineered, I would never steal the original idea. It is his IP that created whatever I had in mind. I merely put it in a 3D single player environment and added locations and as the game gets the 12 locations, you get to explore the location, you get additional requirements and you see a post nuclear era, the stories that are in the computer and the revelations outside of the computer. As such I created a new IP, one that sets the premise of finding explorable locations and investigate places.  

Not a bad day, got myself a new idea and Microsoft seemingly is merely predigesting old ideas. I don’t fault them this, Oblivion is one of the most appealing IP ideas that we have had in 20 years only surpassed by Skyrim which Bethesda launched 5 years later. So it is what I would have done initially as well. Just funny that I create a new idea that could be the next place that gamers seek (when they are not lusting over the Metroid Prime games and their upcoming Switch 2). 

So I feel pretty dandy, have a great day.

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September 17, 2022 · 17:40

The option in the open

There is always an option, there is always a way. Those are the words we hear, those are the advice we are given. But one mans option is another man’s abyss, or another man’s vacant lot of nothingness. Options are what WE see, not directly the options another person observes or recognises. I got into that frame, not be looking at my IP, but at watching a movie. I was watching the bluray of Death on the Nile, the 2022 remake by Kenneth Branagh. I watched the first movie which I personally did not like as the previous Murder on the Orient Express (1974) with Albert Finney. Still, I was curious and I was blown away. This version was much more overwhelming than the previous version with Peter Ustinov. Now this is not about the actors, they are all top notch. There are two reasons, the first is the curse all the Agatha Christie books have. Any whodunnit remade will lead to the same guilty party. It is not her fault. She never banked on people remaking the same book again and again. The second part is that the music is overwhelming in the remake. It is magnificent and gives the movie added life. Kenneth Branagh really outdid himself and lets be fair, does anyone mind watching Gal Gadot as much as possible (for as long as we can)? No, I really loved this second remake. 

This got me thinking, there are so many great or underestimated movies. I have no idea how players like Netflix overlooked them. In 1989 we were given The Salute of the Jugger. It was an awesome film. I liked the story, I liked the setting. If there is one complaint, than it is the fact that we all got it in 104 minutes, the US cut it back to 90 minutes. But this dystopian movie starring Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, and Vincent D’Onofrio gave us an interesting story, one that would much better fit a mini series of 1 hour over 4-6 episodes, and lets be clear Netflix could use a few more mini series. We need more embossed storylines, a story that better represents the books they came from. I could not find the reference to any book, yet the setting of 9 cities. The reference to the sport, the dog skulls and the interactions of rural and cities beckons a much larger story and therefor a much larger stage. Possibly even 6-8 one hour stories, perhaps even more. Yet that would be up to whomever writes the remake. You see, in those years we all listened to critics and whatever THEY didn’t like too many others would not like either. That needs to stop and perhaps it is a great legacy for an actor like Rutger Hauer to make, to leave us a treasure overlooked in 1989. I just hope we can leave his impression, like the painting of a ruler of of one of the nine cities, accidentally looking a lot like a youthful Rutger Hauer. 

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December 19, 2021 · 13:25

See for creativity

It makes sense, it really does and it all started this morning when I was confronted with an article (at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/search-engines-try-to-rival-google-by-offering-fewer-ads-more-privacy-1.6286925), the CBC is giving you all ‘Search engines try to rival Google by offering fewer ads, more privacy’, yes that is one approach, but that is the iterative approach, it comes from ‘What else can we do with this?’ And that leads nowhere, it will not lead to true innovation. True innovation is different, it goes where no one has gone before. To give you 5 examples lets take you on a little trip this morning.

F is for Facebook
Yes, there is Facebook muddying right along, having a new setting soon enough coming from Mark the Meta man Zuckerberg, it is a natural station forward and as others are all about dangers and all about warnings, the story behind them is fear, they never saw that this was coming (which is fair enough) and they are afraid to miss out twice in the digital environment. I for one saw the massive potential that TRUE Social Media could have. There is Cocoon (at https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/26/cocoons-social-app-for-close-friends-gets-vc-backing-to-chase-paths-dream/) which refers to a private social media, for your friends and family. They can take it a whole level further, but it seems that the people at Amazon (Luna) and Google (Stadia) are just not catching on. But now I do see wannabe’s making a chat and message version of that. Fair enough, yet the stage could grow further, will the see it?  I cannot tell and I actually do not care. It is up to them, but the stage of ‘There is more’ is missed by too many. Whether it is from a ‘How do I get rich fast?’ delimitation, whether they cannot see it, I do not care, not my battle, but options are missed all over the place.

A is for Apple
There is not too much that we can say on Apple. I can see a novel iteration that they are missing (Not the same as true innovation) but it is out there and it is larger than anyone thinks. I wrote about it almost a year ago and I will push the image below, perhaps someone will catch on, perhaps they will not. 

A station where an Apple/Nintendo partnership might appeal to both, but Apple does have what it takes to go it alone, in all this the setting is not what more is there, it becomes (to some degree) where else can we take this and there is a much larger station that is missed, because the wrong people are in charge. It reminds me of a thought I had for the longest time. You see Steve Jobs was clever, was bright yet was not the greatest innovative thinker, Steve Wozniak was but Steve Jobs (unlike some overpriced CEO’s) did recognise true innovation and that brought Apple where it is now. Still there is more that Apple can do, will it? I do not know.

A is for Amazon
Amazon is perhaps the largest power player with growth potential. I saw a potential to grown the Amazon Luna by 50,000,000 consoles (a conservative cautious number), I saw the potential of them becoming a 5G powerhouse. They have the potential to equal if not surpass Apple not merely because they started as an online book shop. They are set in a station where they could become the one powerhouse in Neom City (Saudi Arabia). Amazon has the ability to grow a lot more because they have an interesting balance of Manufacturing, retail and services. Microsoft wanted to focus and get rich fast, they there for hired people who were clueless on several matters. They lost the console world (from Sony and Nintendo) and optionally Amazon Luna if I have my way. To be honest, I fantasise on handing Phil Spencer (who is not to blame) a wooden spoon with engraved (in gold no less) Microsoft 2023. The year that Microsoft ended DEAD LAST in the console world. Their people will spin that, but consider the strongest, most powerful console in the world is behind Sony (PS5), Nintendo (Switch) already and when surpassed by Amazon (Luna), perhaps the people at Microsoft will start thinking instead of boasting Azure (blue) and their hardware when they were for the longest time clueless and there needs to be a penalty for that. Buying Bethesda for $8,500,000,000 might dull the pain and leave the people with the imagination that some good comes from it, yet the station of loss will increase and increase and If I have my way (and fantasy) Phil Spencer gets a wooden spoon in 2023 showing the board of directors at Microsoft that Amazon beat them there too. And that is before the people realise that the decision makers at plenty of places merely had a BS (not BU) presentation and that is when they realise that some made a bet on the wrong horse so whilst Amazon takes the lead, Microsoft becomes a ‘Horse no show’.

N is for Netflix
Netflix is the hardest case, they started being first, being true innovation, but over time they resorted to invest heavily in more and more scripts. Yet is that enough? Will that take the cake? It is hard to tell, you see we can all make claims, yet Netflix gave the people Love Hard (Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang) a hilarious approach to a Christmas movie and to be honest, it has been a while since I had that much fun watching a movie, then they also took the cake with Red Notice (Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds) a funny movie that is filled with fight scenes and clever situations. To be honest watching a youthful 98 pound young lady (Gal Gadot) slapping Deadpool and the Rock silly will never go out of style and that is merely the tip of an iceberg of fun and excitement. With these two titles alone Netflix rules 2021. I am not judging of making claims against Apple+, Disney+ or Amazon Prime. It is how things go at times. But more is needed and there we see that the Netflix IP division needs to diversify. I for one saw that a place like Netflix could be a great place for the comic books of François Craenhals (de Koene Ridder). 

The intro from Comic books is one thing, yet the transfer as they get to the second book (Les Loups de Rougecogne) the stage could be set for a new legendary franchise. 

I read these comics when I was young, but these comic books can be read at almost every age and the larger stage is there where plenty could be spend on the production and not all on IP to get forward. The comic books have almost everything any successful series need to have and there is more out there. Will Netflix take a leap into the untrodden places? I cannot tell, I do not work there, but there is potential.

G is for Google
There is not a lot of criticism on Google, they have pushed innovation again and again and they are the party to show others how good it can get when you are the innovative player. They are also the one innovative player that a power player like Huawei fears. I reckon that Huawei has the one essential directive stamped in their minds. ‘Get there before Google’, and they are happy that American politicians are so stupid, those politicians are doing the work of delaying the stage of Google again and again, so there is every chance that Huawei will get to a few stages (not all stages) before Google gets there. Can they do more? That is hard to say, Google is too big, too many parties playing and there are larger settings. I believe that not developing software on the Google Stadia (by Google) is not the greatest idea. Relying on Ubisoft will bite and that is where Amazon has the inside track, but there is more in play, so my thoughts make sense but could be wrong for Google. Consoles is not where their strength is and the idea that is in the Apple part could equally apply to Google, but not as wide as Apple can hand it. And all this relies on a free hand to play, all whilst these players are committed to moves, moves that also needs to take Microsoft, IBM and Oracle into consideration. There is no way that me ( or most people) are in the know on all those elements and there is a stage that states that Google is too big. I said it but I do not totally believe it, I believe that Google is too widespread. Apple is too much hardware, Google is too many services and Amazon has seemingly a much better balance, making growth easier (for now). And in this Google needs to consider where Apple and Amazon are going so they can avoid some tug of war in the field that many occupy. It is a rather nasty stage and there is no clear answer.

So here is my view on the FAANG group and my response to the article that gives us “He bills Neeva as an ad-free, private search engine. Results won’t include advertisements, and the company says any information it does collect from users isn’t shared with third parties.” This is fair enough, but that is not the stage, the stage is: ‘What does the consumer need?’ The larger stage that too many avoid because it leads to elements that these players do not want to entertain at present. So you can either make claims that they (might) need it, or you can sail unsailed waters offering something entirely new that was never considered and the consumer suddenly realised that he or she never considered needing that (which I did a few times) and that is where TRUE innovation starts, the stage where a person states ‘That is so logical’ a stage that Microsoft had with releasing Windows 95, but it was forgotten soon thereafter. The idea is not to be complex, but to be simple and let the ship steer its course from there, and when it sails in the right direction without you interfering all the time, at that point you own the IP of an innovate game-changer.

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