Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 141 The unexpected person
Finance was originally an interpersonal game. The initial version 1.0 was to make the money in society flow, make it more efficient, and reap more benefits.

Later on, various middlemen emerged. In order to obtain the interest rate differential, they turned finance into a numbers game. As a result, the updated version 2.0 was officially launched.

However, with the development of science and technology and the emergence of the mobile Internet era, finance has also changed from a digital game to an information war driven by data. When version 3.0 was launched, traditional financial data could no longer meet the needs of investors, because the sources of those data were basically the same, and the methods of quantitative research on those data were basically the same. When investors found that the information everyone had was somewhat homogeneous, they wanted to gain a differentiated advantage and opened up new ways of playing and expanded new tracks, which were specifically reflected in the collection and analysis of alternative data.

When Ethan was working in this industry in his previous life, the first thing he came into contact with was alternative data. At that time, he thought this thing was really interesting because they had done many things that seemed strange to outsiders.

For example, they worked with a radio data company to monitor Tesla's Gigafactory in Fremont, California, and collect mobile phone signal sources there to determine the average daily number of workers at Tesla's North American factories, and then calculate their real-time production and predict stock prices.

For example, they cooperate with some AI companies and use their artificial intelligence software to monitor the platform data of e-commerce companies listed in the Americas. They use the latest technology to crawl the price and sales volume of each product on the platform to ensure that the sales data seen in the end is relatively real.

For example, they work directly with the meteorological department and use satellite monitoring to obtain the latest weather intelligence, so that they can have a certain visual control of the future climate and output of agricultural products in advance, and thus make their own judgments on the futures price trends of agricultural products.

To be honest, when they used technology to collect and analyze alternative data, they were indeed ridiculed by their peers at first. Because everyone in the financial industry knows that if you want to swim in this industry, you need insider information the most. The real stock god is not Buffett at all, but everyone on Capitol Hill. Anyone who wants to make money in the financial industry without insider information is a leek.

But when a restaurant brand was exposed for data fraud, those guys could no longer laugh. Although insider information is the mainstream of profit in the financial industry, what if someone lies?

When news meets integrity...

In this industry, the only person you can trust is yourself.

So, when Ethan wanted to find out whether Milova and Atari really used despicable means to deal with him, what he wanted to do most was to use professional knowledge to analyze it all, but it was too difficult to collect information in this era.

Although General Electric had already developed a network database in 1961, and IBM had developed a relational database in 1970, these had nothing to do with the information about MIT and Atari. If they wanted to find their information, they could only rely on libraries and archives that stored books, newspapers, journals, and documents. Therefore, after receiving the job, Julis immediately took two-thirds of the administrative department to the lending rooms in various parts of the Bay Area, where they kept looking for the information their boss needed.

It took them three full days to gather some general information about Atari.

When Ethan got the information, the nearly four hundred pages of documents made him take a deep breath. After sitting down and reading it carefully, he did not find any useful information from it.

Since its establishment in 1972, Atari's actions have been very transparent. They became the most popular game company in North America by copying games, and then lost to themselves who also copied games and became a better game company... Hehe~
However, there was one piece of news that caught Ethan's attention.

After Nolan Bushnell was fired, Warner Group sent a guy named Redmond Casa to serve as the president of Atari. This guy was the former executive vice president and board member of Burlington Industries and had rich management experience in the industrial field. The San Jose Mercury News said after he took office that this guy who had been very successful in the field of towel sales would definitely bring his successful experience to Atari, and his first goal might be to restore Atari's arcade production line, and it is possible that he would follow the successful cooperation of Ethan Jones and George Lucas and work with the parent company Warner to create a movie-game interactive game. As for the project, it is likely to be "Superman".

"Superman?"

“DC+movies+games?”

"Wow... this newspaper really dares to guess!"

Having said that, Ethan still recorded this possibility.

There's nothing he can do about it. Who made him do that in his previous life, DC's IP was made into games by Warner again and again?
When Ethan found that Atari was "probably" normal, he felt relieved. But three days later, when he flipped through the five thousand pages of information about Milova that Julis brought him, his brows were furrowed. It was not because there was too much information, but because Milova's data seemed to be fine.

Ethan simply reviewed their business data before the launch of Odyssey, because the 61-year history did not have much reference value in his opinion. Ethan also knew almost all the stories after the launch of Odyssey. The launch of Odyssey caused a sensation in North America, but unfortunately, all gamers were attracted to Atari. Because of plagiarism, the two sides sued each other. In the process, Milova was acquired by Philips. The reason why Philips proposed the acquisition was also very simple. According to the Wall Street Journal, Philips' move was to ensure that their VLP Videodisc technology could be successfully promoted in North America...

'etc! '

'VLP Videodisc?'

When the word "laser video disc" appeared, Ethan felt something hit the back of his head!
Because in his memory, Philips was just a disc seller!
The VCD used at home in his previous life was produced by Philips!

Or perhaps, it was because of that projector that he opened the door to a new world!
And now, Philips' purpose of acquiring Milova is to sell discs?
Ethan felt like he had grasped something. He frantically searched through a pile of materials for reports related to the Milova Apollo. When he discovered that the Apollo product had a CD interface...

He instantly remembered his evaluation of the Apollo product half a year ago.

At that time, he thought that this machine looked like the XBox of the future!
"MFxxk! These people are not guarding against me because of this!" Ethan muttered to himself.

The next second, he immediately picked up the receiver on the table and called Professor Ralph Bell, "Rudolph, I have something to ask of you."

"I want to know what the current plan of MILOVA is? Or, I want to know how Philips will deal with the Apollo product after taking over MILOVA?"

"Oh! Yes! I know they have completely cut off contact with you. But I really need your help now. I have encountered some difficulties, which may be related to Philips..."

"Yes, yes, yes! Please help me find out! Okay, okay... Thank you, thank you..."

After hanging up the phone, Ethan leaned on the sofa in the office and waited for news.

He lay on his back, staring at the snow-white ceiling.

Although there was nothing on it, Ethan always felt that he saw a lot.

After waiting for about an hour, the phone in the office finally rang.

Ethan jumped up in surprise and picked up the receiver. Then he heard Professor Ralph Bell on the other end of the phone say, "Ethan, I asked several friends for you and got a general idea of ​​how Philips dealt with Mirowa Apollo."

"After Philips took over MILOVA, they decided to keep the Apollo product..."

"Oh no, the word 'retain' is not really appropriate, because Philips seems to be negotiating a business deal with Walmart right now. They want to continue promoting the Apollo product so that it can appear on Walmart's shelves for a long time, just like their own light bulbs, razors, and kitchen supplies."

"As for the reason..."

"According to my friends in New York, Philips is very satisfied with the video interface of the Apollo product. They think it is a very excellent design. If it weren't for you, they might have gained enough potential optical disc market share with this product..."

“Those shares will make up for what they lost on tape.”

"I think you know all these things, right?"

"They fought over this stuff back in 1972."

Ethan Jones certainly knows what Professor Ralph Bell is talking about!
Because in his memory, the war over video storage formats started as early as 1972!
When it comes to the video storage format war, most people probably think of Sony Blu-ray and Toshiba HD after the millennium. But in fact, before that, these companies had fought back and forth countless times, and at the most fierce time, they directly beat the other's dog brains out.

The story started in 1972, when Philips brought a product called Philips N1500 to the world, which was the world's first home video recorder.

Its appearance shocked the world because it meant that the film and television industry would usher in a new spring.

Before it appeared, people in the world could only watch TV programs at home and go to the cinema to watch movies for entertainment activities with limited choices. But after it appeared, videotapes, which carried images, could enter thousands of households. When people found that they could watch their favorite movies at home, all entertainment giants could share a lot of profits.

Because this product could create countless wealth, many electronics manufacturers joined in, hoping to get a piece of the pie. In 1975, Sony launched the Betamax video recorder. Even though it was expensive and the recording time was only one hour, it received wide acclaim from the market as soon as it was launched, and its sales were good because of its good picture and sound.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. In 1976, JVC, wanting to reap the profits, came out with its own new product, a VCR that used the Video Home System format.

Since JVC had solved the problem of recording time when it launched its products, increasing the standard length of videotapes from one hour to two hours, which matches the length of most movies, when JVC's products were launched on the market, they were welcomed by countless companies.

They were killing it in the entertainment market, crushing the old veteran Philips, the former big star and now the cow lady Sony, and other competitors Sanyo.

Currently, the most popular product in the North American videotape market is JVC's HR-3300U!

Its market share in North America has even reached 60 percent!
Its peak was actually in the 1980s. At the end of the 1980s, they obtained more than 90 percent of the global market share, achieving a truly complete monopoly!

It was precisely because JVC had crushed Philips and Sony in the videotape field that they changed track and entered the optical disc field. In Ethan's memory, they successfully killed JVC with this move, but at the same time, both sides also hit each other hard because of the format dispute.

And that, in fact, is the second video format war.

This battle is actually more easily known to people because Philips skipped the cooperation with Sony and Nintendo, and then was defeated by the angry Sony with PS. This war brought the PS game console onto the stage of history, and also brought Nintendo, the king of the gaming field, down from the altar.

In his previous life, Ethan heard these gossips while playing games.

So our understanding of this industry is actually very one-sided, just like an outline.

But it doesn’t matter anymore, right?
When the Wall Street Journal published an article that Philips' motive for acquiring Milova was to promote its own VLP Videodisc, Ethan really dared to pat his chest and guarantee that the accidents last year were definitely related to Milova, and those things were definitely done by them!

"What the hell! Philips wants to use MILO's game console to promote its own video format?"

"They're doing this so early?"

Ethan held his head with both hands and ran his fingers through his hair. He really couldn't believe his own analysis.

Because this is just too fucking bullshit, right?

You know, the video game industry was not truly born until 1972. In the same year, Philips launched its home VCR. While Philips was promoting its home VCRs to the outside world, were they also thinking about using video games to promote the next generation of products?

What is the difference between this kind of foresight and cheating?

However, Ethan just sighed a few words and put it all behind him.

Because he felt... "I seem to have dug up a huge mine!"

"I have killed Philips' future products. Will they keep targeting me in the future?"

After sorting out everything, Ethan felt like his head was about to explode!
He is just a game developer, how come he is the only party in the video format war? If he also makes videotapes, laserdiscs, DVDs, and high-definition discs, that would be fine, but the point is that he doesn't! In this case...

"wrong!"

"I don't do it?"

Ethan, who was still complaining, stopped.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered that laser discs, DVDs, and high-definition optical discs are not just for burning movies and TV shows, or storing music videos. Optical discs related to the video format war are not only profitable in the film and television industry. As a carrier for storing data, PCs have designed optical drives for them, and PS, XBox, and Wii are all inseparable from them.

So in this case, Philips was punched by them first?
"Hiss...it seems that Philip is still a good person!"

"Although I was targeted by you, I also remembered the big gold mine of CDs!"

Ethan Jones suddenly felt that being beaten continuously by Milova might be a good thing. If it weren't for Milova's caution, he might not have remembered the thing called CD for a while. After all, in this era, the mainstream storage medium is still magnetic cassette.

When Ethan in his previous life had not wandered around in this industry, it would be very difficult for him to recall.

However, even if Ethan remembered the CD, he was not in a hurry now.

Firstly, the CD technology is not perfect at present. Even though Ethan is not very familiar with this content, he knows that the explosion of CDs did not start until the late 1980s, which is at least ten years ago. With so much time, he can slowly try to plan.

Secondly, he didn't know much about this kind of product that required a lot of professional knowledge, so he needed to go home and ask Evelyn if she knew what stage this thing had reached in development.

And when Ethan returned home, went into Evelyn's study and asked what was on his mind, the girl who was studying circuits there suddenly looked confused.

"Ethan, why do I feel like your thoughts are jumping so fast?"

"Like a frog!"

"Haven't you been studying the conspiracy between Milova and Atari these days?"

"Why are you suddenly interested in CDs again?"

The girl didn't understand.

She tucked her long hair behind her ears, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.

Ethan had no intention of hiding anything and expressed his guess.

When the girl learned that Ethan thought Philips felt that it had lost the videotape war, that their VCR format was completely inferior to JVC's VHS format, and that they wanted to find another way to promote the disc...

She stood up immediately.

He unceremoniously grabbed Ethan's arms and turned him around.

"What are you doing?" Ethan was puzzled.

Evelyn stared at the back of Ethan's head and neck for a long time before she said, "I just want to see if you are an alien..."

"What?" Ethan was surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Because your brain is obviously different from that of normal people!" Evelyn said, "I admit that JVC's VCR is indeed very useful, but the competition between them has just begun!"

"Philips will definitely launch new products for its own VCR format. The same goes for Sony. How long has their Betamax been around? JVC has only released one VCR and they've given up? What about the R&D funds they invested previously? Who's going to bear the loss?"

In Evelin's opinion, Ethan's idea was simply crazy.

It’s been less than a year since Philips, Sony and JVC started to officially fight each other, and then Ethan said that Philips might be trying to make a next-generation layout?
Only people who don’t understand technology can say this kind of thing!
"Ethan, I think you might have been spoiled by us."

Evelyn curled her lips and said, "You may be used to me making games and machines by myself, Stephen (Wozniak) making personal computers by myself, Chuck (Pado) and a dozen people developing chips, and Rudolph (Bell) and five people making a circuit board game console and a dozen circuit board games, so you may not know how much money normal scientific research costs."

"If Stephen and I weren't working on a game like Pac-Man, and you hired a team of 20 to 30 people, they would spend a year writing it for you."

"Even if you pay them 20,000 yuan, you will burn 600,000 yuan a year."

"Our knowledge reserves are not something that normal people can have. I have consulted Vinton about programming. Stephen's father taught him the military thinking of building missiles. Who would understand these things? You can't regard our efficiency as the efficiency of the general public."

"Oh Evelyn, I didn't mean that..." His sister's words made Ethan realize that he was using the reserves of a world to analyze the entire incident, which was very unfair to people living in the present. "I just made a simple guess..." he explained.

"I just made a guess based on what the Wall Street Journal reported."

He put all the blame on The Wall Street Journal.

Looking at the guy with his hands spread out and a look of grievance, Evelin shook her head helplessly.

"Don't waste time on something that has no answer. For us right now, designing a new game is more important than finding the murderer of the original incident."

"I know." Ethan agreed without any intention of refutation.

The well-behaved look made Evelin sit down again, pick up the pencil and continue drawing.

Just when Ethan thought that his sister didn't want to talk to him about the CD, the girl who was busy creating said, "If you want to know about the CD, go find Steven directly."

"What?" Ethan didn't understand what his sister meant. "Steven?"

"You mean Spielberg?"

"Yeah." Evelyn nodded slightly.

"Why?"

Ethan was a little puzzled.

"Isn't he a Hollywood director? How does he know what a CD is?"

'...'

Evelin paused when she heard this question.

She stopped painting with her right hand, looked up with a smile, "Wow... Ethan, I thought you were kidding me, but I didn't expect you really didn't know about CDs?"

"The patent for this technology is in the hands of MCA."

"You heard that right."

“It’s MCA.”

"Universal's parent company, M.C.A."

Evelyn said the name of MCA word by word, and then smiled and said, "So, if you want to know the latest situation, why don't you just ask Steven?"

"Didn't you say he was the prince of Universal?"

"With him, you can see all the techniques."

"You don't even need to ask me, because I definitely don't know as much about CDs as they do."

WTF? ? ?

Ethan was shocked!

The patent for the optical disc is in the hands of MCA?
What the hell!

What the hell is this outrageous plot!
Note: ① The alternative analysis of the financial industry mentioned in the article does exist, and there are many ways to obtain it. The simplest way is to buy it. For example, Google has been frequently exposed to sell user data before, and in fact, many of them were bought by financial companies. ② The video format war has been fought four times. The first one was videotape, which is Philips, Sony and JVC mentioned in the article. The second one was laser disc, Philips Sony's CD and Hitachi Panasonic's LD. The third one was DVD, Sony Philips Hitachi Toshiba, and the fourth one was high-definition disc, Sony Philips' Blu-ray and Toshiba Microsoft's HD. Yes, Philips fought four times.



(End of this chapter)