Curated Commons // Edition 55
Thank you for subscribing and welcome to the 55th edition of Curated Commons. Let’s dive right in ($ indicates potential paywall).
Is the stock market rigged?
Interesting read on insider trading and how much of it, or a version of it, happens legally in the US. - Read here ($)
There’s a law for everything
#TIL Laver’s law. And I am already in love with it!
Your location, courtesy signal eavesdropping and smart algorithms
Researchers have been able to pin-point location to under 8 metres using Starlink satellites, but without involvement from SpaceX. - Read here
Energy storage is hitting big time
Softbank Energy is buying a whopping 2GWh of iron electrolyte flow batteries. Long-term energy storage is coming. - Read here
Mental health and the Internet
This is an interesting read on how the Internet, in its unending wisdom, has made mental health into a subculture. Be advised though - you’ll likely have strong views one way or the other. And you can thank Twitter for that too! - Read here
We end up treating mental illness like a subculture, complete with its own vocabulary that only those in the know can use and weaponize.
Amazon wants the Macy’s billboard
Something straight out of the Amazon playbook. Macy’s has advertised its brand on a giant billboard next to its flagship store for ~60 years. Amazon is now trying to displace it from the billboard. - Read here
Amazon wants more eyes and ears inside the home
icymi, Amazon launched a personal robot. The Washington Post, a newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos has the best take! Or as another journalist there said - “Amazon is increasingly a surveillance company.” - Read here ($)
What started seven years ago with a microphone in a speaker has turned into a flying indoor surveillance drone and an autonomous robot with a telescoping camera in its “face.”…At the heart of almost all its new products is some form of surveillance…Amazon’s other Ring offerings pushed the idea that real security requires even more angles. Ring’s tiny flying drone — a kooky home security gadget first shown last year — will finally be able offer interior airborne views later this year, though would-be beta testers will need an invitation to purchase one. All these cameras create a new problem: too many feeds to watch and not enough time. Now users can pay $99 a month to have a third-party security company watch their home security video feeds for them…
"Ask not what your AI system can do for you, but instead what it has tricked you into doing for it."
Very good read from Rodney Brooks (founder of iRobot) on how to think of AI and its abilities. - Read here
Once you read it, read this thread and story from The Times. Our future has too many saviors in the present! Particularly if they have a book to sell or a newsletter to pitch or a YouTube channel to push!
One more brilliant reason to follow xkcd
Cyborg cockroaches are here…
…And with it, the ethical questions over free will.
“Windows” in content release might still be back
The pandemic forced most studios to go online-first and not the big screen. One side effect - the 4K quality of the videos made them ripe for piracy. Which is causing them to rethink the release window. - Read here ($)
An artist who truly understands the times we live in
Your front lawn joins the sharing economy
This startup in the US wants to turn unused front lawns into a farm, grow vegetables, and put it into a subscription program and share revenue with you. - Read store
How to win allies and buy influence
China style.
“China hands out at least twice as much development money as the US and other major powers” - Read here
Ride-hailing and climate change
Efficient mass, public transport works, folks. - Read here
A new study out of Carnegie Mellon figures that on a per-trip basis, greenhouse gas emissions from an Uber, a Lyft or some other ride-hail are about 20% higher than if you simply drive your own car. That’s the result of “deadheading” (“all the driving that a driver does while they’re waiting to get a ride request, as well as driving to and from passengers”).
Birds in Australia don’t like drones encroaching their airspace
When MVNOs meet influencers
This is truly a story of the 2020s. For years, MVNOs (mobile virtual network operator) have operated only in market niches. But it was hard identifying those niches. Cut to present day, and those niches can also be influencers and their fan base. In Mexico, influencers are apparently launching mobile services through MVNOs. - Read here
Wild story of the week
Can't make this up. Shit people do and think they can get away with! Co-founder of media company claiming tearaway growth, and in middle of raising funds From Goldman Sachs, impersonates Youtube exec on call with GS claiming terrific growth numbers. - Read here ($)
Big finance is coming into rental properties
Wait for the collateral damage in coming years… - Read here ($)
An estimated $87bn of institutional money went into America’s rental-home market during the first half of this year, according to Redfin, a residential brokerage. Around 16% of single-family homes for sale were bought by investors in the second quarter, up from more than 9% a year earlier. A similar shift is under way in Europe where firms such as Goldman Sachs, Aviva and Legal & General are wading into the market. Lloyds Banking Group, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, is also moving into housing with a target to purchase 50,000 homes within the next decade. That could make it the country’s largest landlord.
And finally, I went viral (OK, micro-viral)
More interesting reads:
Netflix launched a free (and ad-free!) plan on Android phones in Kenya - Read here
Long-haul self-driving trucks are progressing. Volvo here - Read here
Very good read on garage scientists manipulating DNA and the risks - Read here ($)
Read this biting take on Theranos just for the sound-bites! - Read here
If lost nuclear weapons interest you, this is the thread to check out!
Want to panic about our surveiled future? Flying microchips the size of a sand grain can apparently be used for surveillance - Read here
Why vaccines do not produce more dangerous variants - Read here
Good read on how Toast, a s/w & h/w provider to restaurants, built out, explicitly avoiding the bay area - Read here
Firm raises $15m to bring back woolly mammoth from extinction. Fascinatingly scary - Read here
Fascinating read on a vaccine that existed for Lyme disease. And doesn’t any more. And the reasons behind it - Read here
Stay safe, and happy reading! And if you liked the newsletter, please do share on your social networks. My DMs on Twitter are always open for any feedback.