Google

What's that? It sounds just like Starbucks, Peet's, or any other coffee place on the planet? Yeah, well, I guess you have a point there. But there's a big difference: you have to pay to sit down.

For merchants in Italy, there's a tradeoff for putting up an awning that may end up casting a shadow on the sidewalk. 

• Clinton Charity Tapped Foreign Friends (WSJ)
• Dollar Set for Worst Week Since ’13; S&P Futures Rise (BBG)
• Shale Producers Have Found Another Lifeline: Shareholders (BBG)
• BOJ Kuroda says no sign of 'currency war' brewing in world (Reuters)
• Fed Is Pushing and Pulling on Rates Riddle (WSJ
• Brent oil falls towards $54 on OPEC output, Iran (Reuters)
• Iran Talks Stall Over Ending of Sanctions (WSJ)

A judicial advisory panel Monday quietly approved a rule change that will broaden the FBI’s hacking authority despite fears raised by Google that the amended language represents a “monumental” constitutional concern. The Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules voted 11-1 to modify an arcane federal rule to allow judges more flexibility in how they approve search warrants for electronic data, according to a Justice Department spokesman. The FBI wants the expanded authority, which would allow it to more easily infiltrate computer networks to install malicious tracking software. This way, investigators can better monitor suspected criminals who use technology to conceal their identity....  Google weighed in last month with public comments that warned that the tweak “raises a number of monumental and highly complex constitutional, legal and geopolitical concerns that should be left to Congress to decide.”

On the day that Apple joins the Dow (and juices its volatility), it is a good job analysts have something else to focus on (the TV un-bundling plan) because Apple Watch just found a new 'old' competitor to deal with. As Bloomberg reports, Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer is creating a smartwatch in partnership with American technology firm Google. While TAG is the first traditional watchmaker to pair with Google, the partnership could open the door to other collaborations with high-end brands owned by LVMH, including Hublot and Zenith. Would you rather - $10,000 iWatch, $10,000 TAG?

As the Dept. Of Justice reports, a joint effort by the FBI and several New Jersey police departments has culminated in the indictment of US Air Force veteran Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh who “allegedly” pulled the terrorist trifecta by first accessing the internet and then traveling from Egypt to Turkey with an iPod and a picture of a machine gun.

• Hilsenrath: Fed to Markets: No More Promises (WSJ)
• Fed set to ditch 'patient' rate vow as it eyes U.S., world growth (Reuters)
• Fannie, Freddie could need another bailout (Reuters)
• Alibaba Stock-Sale Lockup Is Ending (WSJ)
• Netanyahu Sweeps Aside Herzog’s Challenge to Win Israel Vote (BBG)
• Oil Bonds Lose Investors $7 Billion in 10 Days (BBG)
• There’s a mysterious $1.1 trillion in spending cuts in the House GOP’s budget (WaPo)
• ECB's Celebration of Its New $1.4 Billion Tower Is Spoiled by Protesters (BBG)

US sales of what the industry calls "luxury" rolls — anything quilted, lotioned, perfumed or ultra-soft, from two- to four-ply — climbed to $1.4 billion last year, outpacing all other kinds of toilet paper for the first time in nearly a decade, data from market research firm Euromonitor International show. The luxury market is one-fourth the size of the standard TP market, but its prominence in Big Wipe is growing faster than many industry watchers expected. Luxury toilet paper sales have grown more than 70 percent since 2000, and they're expected to keep growing faster than all other categories every year through at least 2018.

Despite the endless media onslaught, which courtesy of Apple's hundreds of billions in cash is nothing but the biggest new product paid infomercial-cum-publicity stunt to roll out the latest new "revolutionary" wearable product a just released Reuters/IPSOS poll shows that the vast majority of Americans are greeting the new Apple watch with nothing but iYawns. The poll reveals that 69% of Americans are they are not interested in buying the gadget, with 47.8% responding "not at all interested."

• Fed Likely to Remove ‘Patient’ Barrier for Rate Increase as Soon as June (Hilsenrath) - which year?
• Clinton says used personal email account for convenience (Reuters)
• Euro sinks to 12-year lows as yield gap grows (Reuters)
• Get Ready for Oil Deals: Shale Is Going on Sale (BBG)
• EIA raises 2015 US oil production forecast, cuts 2016 outlook (Reuters)
• How Falling Oil Prices Are Hindering Iraq’s Ability to Fight Islamic State (WSJ)
• China economic data weaker than expected, fuels policy easing bets (Reuters)
• ECB ‘Chasing Own Tail’ as Bond Rates Turn Negative, SocGen Says (BBG)
• Swiss makers quietly gear up with smartwatches of their own (Reuters)

It’s one thing to predict one person’s shopping or investment decisions. But can brain scans be used to forecast the entire market? Neuroeconomist Paul Glimcher says, “If we had access to that data, when people pick stocks, can these models predict macro-level changes in stock prices from individual-level models of angels picking stocks? There’s reason to believe it might work.” Already, neuromarketing consultancies advise large companies like Google and PepsiCo on which products will do well, and how to position them in the marketplace. Maybe one day there will be boutique equity research consultancies that scan the brains of focus group participants as they answer questions about individual securities, and investors could incorporate these neural inputs as they mull whether to buy or sell a security. 

The Apple Watch may be pretty... but you are going to need up to 8 of them to make it through a full day. While Tim Cook proclaimed 18 hours of "all-day battery-life" - itself not particularly impressive compared to competing products, hidden deep in Apple Watch's product page is a little admission that battery life (in use) could be as low as 3 hours...

• ECB Starts Buying German, Italian Government Bonds Under QE Plan (BBG)
• Creditors Reject Greece's Reform Proposals (BBG)
• Is Apple Watch the Timex digital watch of the Internet era? (Reuters)
• Tesla shedding jobs in China as sales target missed (Reuters)
• Malaysia Airlines says expired battery on MH370 did not hinder search (Reuters)
• Gunmen kill more than 12 Islamic State militants in eastern Syria (Reuters)
• GM Plans Share Buyback, Averting Proxy Fight (WSJ)
• Wisconsin capital marked by third day of protests after police shooting (Reuters)

How much does a ________ cost in ________ ?

One of the biggest debates happening at the intersection of technology and privacy at the moment revolves around the U.S. government’s fear that the American peasantry may gain access to strong encryption in order to protect their private communications. Naturally, this isn’t something Big Brother wants to see, and the “solution” proposed by the status quo revolves around forcing technology companies to provide a way for the state to have access to all secure communications when they deem it necessary. “It’s stunningly shortsighted for the FBI and NSA not to realize this... By demanding backdoors, these US government agencies are putting everyone’s cybersecurity at risk.”