Curated Commons // Edition 120
Welcome to the 120th edition of Curated Commons! Thank you for subscribing (if you haven't yet, what are you waiting for?). I hope you had a fulfilling 2022 and are looking forward to 2023 with optimism for yourself, and the wonderful planet we inhabit.
Happy reading ($ indicates potential paywall).
Lawyers - the higher the rate, the weirder they get
Can’t make this up. Stuff that passes off as ‘tradition’ - Read here ($)
Also read this wonderful thread and replies on other wild stuff that lawyers at top-tier firms have to do!
Companies are going remote. What do you with the vacant office space?
Film sets, apparently. Along with gyms, storage areas, and more! - Read here ($)
“Digital Transformation” is thought leadership-speak. Till it is not.
No better example than the meltdown that Southwest airlines is facing - most of it traced back to an antiquated manual scheduling system.
Mickey is entering public domain. What might Disney do now?
Disney has historically been a company that kept consumers close and lawyers closer. Now a small copyright around Mickey is expiring soon, and it’s open season on guessing how Disney might respond to ‘violations’. - Read here ($)
AI-generated…X
‘tis the season of viral threads based on AI-created X. Here’s two on Indian men and Indian women. Threads based on satire are more fun though!
The world doesn’t have enough planes
It’s estimated that there’s a shortage of over 12K planes currently. Be ready to continue shelling out more for flights - Read here ($)
Boeing and Airbus, the planemaking giants that largely enjoy a duopoly supplying passenger jets, are sold out for their most popular single-aisle models through until at least 2029.
Avatar, the technical marvel
Irrespective of how you liked/disliked the latest Avatar movie, this thread, and the links under it, is worth reading to understand some fascinating facts. Apparently, the total data for the movie weighed in at 18.5 Petabytes!
Uninsurable - cyber attacks, not climate change!
Natural catastrophes are a big concern for insurers. But CEO of a major firm thinks cyber attacks are the big uninsurable area. - Read here ($)
Pipebots are here
Robots that can be sent inside water pipes to detect leaks. - Read here
Meet the electric ‘bubble’ car
Tata’s Nano was on to something. It just was ahead of its time and in the wrong market! Some 35,000 reservations have been received in Switzerland for this electric car - Read here
Monetizing geoengineering
A startup wants to release reflective Sulphur in the atmosphere to ease global warming. And it is also selling ‘cooling credits’. - Read here
If your smart device has a camera, watch out for someone leaking your pics at some point
Every successful AI system has a bunch of low-cost humans half-way across the world categorizing what a low-cost image sensor captures. And that will also include your personal images. - Read here
More Interesting Reads:
The future of how we respond to email - Read here
In Hong Kong, designers are getting a hand from AI - Read here
Deadly, dirty and indispensable. Good read on the role of Nitrogen in the world we live - Read here ($)
And finally, meet the latest so-called threat to Google. AI that just makes shit up!
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