Under Energy Consumption Dual Control Scheme, China Sees Large-scale Electricity Curbs

Have you been cut off the electricity?

 In the past few days, power-limiting has been a very popular term. "Dual-control" and "power curb" have been on the hot search. What is going on? What is dual control? Why was the power cut? These three consecutive questions ask you how much you know, and let's explore it hereunder.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission directly named nine provinces in a regular press conference: Qinghai, Ningxia, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, the energy consumption intensity in the first half of the year did not drop but increased instead of the same period last year! In addition, the reduction rate of energy intensity in 10 provinces did not meet the schedule requirements, and the national energy conservation situation is very severe.

In order to alleviate the pressure from all parties, the energy consumption of many places has been lit up with "red lights", and those provinces  "named" by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have responded with measures one after another.

IBM Go Green and 1000-qubit Chips will be commercialized

At the Entrepreneur Summit Forum at the Wuzhen World Internet Conference in 2021, Alain Benichou, CEO of IBM Greater China, said that IBM is expected to deliver more than 1,000 qubit processors in 2023 and realize the technology Commercialization.

Alain said that this advanced quantum chip technology will revolutionize the fields of molecular science and biological research, reduce the global carbon footprint, and help mankind better respond to the next global pandemic.

IBM recently announced the development roadmap in the chip field. Currently, IBM's quantum chip has a maximum of 65 qubits. The company expects to achieve 127 qubit chips this year and 433 qubit chips next year.

Behind the lack of new product at Apple's conference: focus on cost performance and long market

 Maybe it's Apple who best understands the needs of Chinese consumers.

 At 1 am on September 15, Beijing time, Apple held the 2021 autumn new product launch event as scheduled, and released a variety of products such as the iPhone 13 series, the 2021 iPad, the new generation iPad Mini, and the Watch Series7 at the meeting.

If the iPhone 12 series, which was postponed last year, is a full-fledged 5G highlight, then the iPhone 13 series is more of an extension. Through upgrades and changes in the processor, memory, battery life, color, shooting, etc., it is cost-effective. The advantages. But this is again considered by the market to be insufficient innovation, and the update intensity of the iPhone 13 series is the smallest in history. At this press conference, Apple also did not mention the previously anticipated new Air Pods wireless Bluetooth headset or the rumored low-orbit satellite communication function.

In the capital market, the new product launch still failed to break Apple's curse of "the stock price fell on the day the new iPhone was released". On September 14th, local time in the United States, Apple's stock price opened higher and fell. After the press conference, the stock price accelerated its decline. It once fell to US$146.91, a decline of 1.77%, and the closing decline narrowed to 0.96% to close at US$148.12, the latest market value. More than 2.45 trillion US dollars.

1.  Fast enough, good-looking and long-lasting: Apple plays the ultimate cost performance

For most users, the requirements for the use of mobile phones are fast speed, good taking pictures, long standby time, and it is best to have enough storage space. In the newly released iPhone 13 series of mobile phones, these needs have been met to the greatest extent. In addition, Apple has also optimized and improved the previous functions such as notch screen, weak camera, slow charging, etc., and the appearance of color matching is more abundant, and the price continues to be close to the people. ".

Re-discovering Apple Cars, No Progress in Seven Years

 The core question: Who will make it? What to make? How to make it?

Apple Car -- Steve Jobs's last wish, Apple's long cherished wish!

On September 7, Apple's car project leader, former Tesla executives, Doug Field (Doug Field) suddenly resigned and moved to Ford. Field himself explained that he joined Ford in the hope of getting an opportunity to "make a difference." His successor is Kevin Lynch, the former head of Apple Watch and Health.

In 2008, Jobs had planned to develop its own car brand iCar. In 2014, Apple launched a high-profile automotive project and named it "Project Titan." To a certain extent, "Project Titan" is the "last wish" of Apple's soul Steve Jobs. At that time, after Apple announced that it would build a car, it has attracted great attention from the global automotive industry, and even Musk believes that Apple will be its biggest competitor.

However, it has been 7 years since the establishment of the project. Apple's car building is still "Castle in the sky." The executives are constantly losing and changing, and the strategic direction is still unclear. From car manufacturing to autonomous driving, then switching back to car manufacturing from autonomous driving, Apple has made many detours over the years and has paid too many sunk costs.

Virtual Meeting Rescues Workplaces

 How to make employees, customers and investors live together harmoniously in the meeting.

The lobby can shape people's first impression of a company. When visiting the New York headquarters of investment bank Jefferies, the first thing guests saw was a section of the Berlin Wall purchased by the company from the East German government. In the London office of Slaughter and May law firm, water drips slowly from the curtain wall of the atrium into a shallow pool made of natural stone. At the San Francisco office of the software giant Salesforce, visitors are greeted by a 32-meter video wall with pictures such as the magnificent waterfall or the Pac-Man game.

As the COVID pandemic has forced many offices around the world to close, these key first impressions have been replaced by video conferencing. As employees are trapped at home, meetings with subordinates, colleagues, customers, and investors in the company have almost all turned online. Almost all the once crowded activities, from performance reviews to shareholder meetings, road shows and IPOs, have almost all moved to the Internet.