Curated Commons // Edition 57
Thank you for subscribing and welcome to the 57th edition of Curated Commons. Let’s dive right in ($ indicates potential paywall).
Squid game takes over the world
Is Netflix a tech company or a content company? Depends whom you ask, but their push into original content sure is working like anything!
Pics from around the world - See here
A South Korean ISP has apparently sued Netflix for the data surge - Read here
A South Korean woman was deluged with thousands of prank calls and text messages after her phone number was highlighted in one of the episodes - Read here
It is Netflix’s biggest ever launch (bear in mind though that Netflix counts just two minutes of an episode as a ‘view’) - Read here
Which one do you prefer?
And talking of robots, dogs, this was just waiting to happen I guess… (that’s a robot dog with a mounted gun).
Don’t shoot the cybersecurity messenger
If there’s one thing that governments and companies need to get comfortable in in the digital age - there will always be security issues. And the worst response possible is denying it outright (as most Indian firms do). The second worst response is to shoot the messenger! - Read here
It’s hard to be a teacher these days
No, machines are not taking over the world. Yet.
Then - One Waze driver sharing a good shortcut crowding a quiet street.
Now - Algorithmic weirdness resulting in streets filled with self-driving cars.
A dead-end street in San Francisco is plagued with confused Waymo cars who can’t seem to stop going in, and coming back. - Read here
Web 3.0 is finally here(?). How do we govern it?
The folks at a16z have a good document, aimed at policymakers, on understanding ‘web3’ and what it means. Some very interesting suggestions in there. Do read. - Read here
Fast payments, faster frauds
A record $1 Bn was stolen from consumers in the UK in H1 this year. And it’s increasing rapidly, and spreading everywhere. - Read here
Can you see a city…in the sky?
Fascinating post on light-bending illusions. - Read here
Does manufacturing need to move from “Just in Time” to “Just in Case”?
A short piece with focus on US manufacturing, but a question every Government and company should ask itself in light of the rolling supply chain issues that have plagued the world since the start of the pandemic - is it time move from “Just in Time” to “Just in Case”? And what does that mean by way of policy and global trade implications? - Read here ($)
The oil industry…dirty in all corners
A+ piece on old oil wells, a company that now has more natural gas wells than Exxon Mobil, and is bent on doling out dividends than closing old decrepit wells. The oil industry, and any part of it, continues to set the benchmark for ‘dirty’. - Read here ($)
Content rights, sliced and diced
EA might apparently break-up with FIFA for one of the most popular video games of all times. - Read here ($)
Food and carbon footprint
There’s been a lot of coverage in recent years on the effects of beef on the planet. But not much attention has been paid to milk/cheese. This piece shows how British cheese has been linked to widespread deforestation in Brazil. - Read here
The world is discovering how private labels work, thanks to Amazon
Not a week passes by without a new report of how Amazon is doing something that every other respectable physical retailer has always been doing. - Read here
On a related note, worth noting, Costco’s Kirkland Signature drew in ~$39 Bn in sales in 2019.
Behind every weird anomaly in the world, there lies…a Twitter thread
Language training models are getting…bigger and powerful
Nvidia & Microsoft have announced a 540 Bn parameter language model. It’s 3-x larger than GPT-3, which already produced some wild results. How soon before we start rivaling the human brain? - Read here
US, China and the fight for AI superiority
Something that should make the US Govt sit up and take notice. Wars of the future might not necessarily be tied to physical might alone. - Read here ($)
The Pentagon’s first chief software officer said he resigned in protest at the slow pace of technological transformation in the US military, and because he could not stand to watch China overtake America.
The creator economy, not for all
Two good pieces on how the benefits of the creator economy aren’t going to all.
Top 1% of Twitch streamers earn 50%+ all revenue. Top 1% podcasters earn almost all ad revenue. Top 10 Substacks make $20M - Read here
Very interesting deep-dive into an “influencer” from small-town India who, despite having over 50K followers, struggles to get any paid opportunities given Instagram’s broader positioning as a tool of the elites in India. - Read here
More interesting reads:
Have money, more avenues of saving money magically appears. Be it by design, or by loophole. Case of apartments in NYC. - Read here ($)
The State of AI report is out. Worth a quick scan - Read here
Can nuclear fusion help slow down climate change? - Read here ($)
Autonomous flights? A startup wants to try for cargo flights - Read here
Or will autonomous trains come first for transporting cargo - Read here ($)
"Autonomous tech could lead to deaths at the hands of robots. But is continuing to let humans drive even worse?" - Read here
How green is your electric car? - 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.