Curated Commons // Edition 1
Thank you for subscribing and welcome to the first edition of Curated Commons. Let’s jump right in.
Our Algorithmic Future:
Apparently, all it takes to score full marks in an online test administered by an edtech AI startup in the UK - coming up with a word salad of all possible keyboards. Essentially, SEO is the future of online tests!
Gig workers live a harsh life, reporting into algorithmic bosses written by privileged devs and administered by bean-counting managers. No wonder, some Amazon gig workers are adapting tricks from high-frequency traders to shave time - hanging their phones on tree branches close to delivery stations so they can increase the chances of getting more work.
From China, with…scale
The risk of Super Apps, or rather, super opaque apps - tragic story of a young shopkeeper’s suicide after a WeChat ban. As apps become bigger, and more powerful, and reliance on automated customer service bots increases, the risks of algorithmic mistakes that cannot be fixed by an algorithmic bot will only increase.
This is a really good read on the hold that the Chinese State has on WeChat, both for Chinese inside the country and outside of it. If you think you should take the ‘we-are-independent-from-Chinese-state’ argument of TikTok or others, I have a bridge to sell you!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/technology/wechat-china-united-states.html
Privacy. Or something like it:
Some jokes make themselves. Like Amazon deciding a version of Alexa for property managers was a great idea!
Coming soon, from your friendly HR department. Glasses that use AI to monitor what you are looking at (and some day ‘inadvertently’ leak data!). Lest we forget, personal productivity tools are only one decree away from entering our surveillance panopticon.
Corporate Politics:
We’ve obviously not heard the last in the Carlos Ghosn case, but this Bloomberg story does a fascinating deep dive into the lengths a Malaysia-born executive, Hari Nada, went to against Ghosn. This is waiting to be made into a movie or a TV series!
Social Richstancing:
India started allowing passengers to book extra seats to facilitate social distancing onboard (not sure if that’s even possible, or worthwhile). Apparently 25% of bookings since July on domestic flightshave seen passengers booking extra seats. And 55% of those opting for extra seats are opting for more than one seat apparently!
Tech…for the sake of tech!
Digital pregnancy kits use the same analog paper strip and some electronics to convert the result to digital output. And charge a multiple. All the while adding to the growing e-waste clutter due to non-repairable electronics. Informative thread!
Pandemic brought in the digital transformation:
Indian Jewelery brand Tanishq apparently did ~$13.5 Mn+ in sales in couple of months of lockdown thro video calls and Whatsapp.
Tech might not have brought in digital transformation everywhere, but it sure has enabled those companies that had already invested in tech to extend their lead. Some very good examples in this WSJ story.
To wrap-up:
One can never read enough about Netflix and Hastings and the culture at Neflix. Another in that series.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/style/reed-hastings-netflix-interview.html
Get out of jail free cards, but in real life. Apparently a real thing in many American cities - https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v7gxa4/pba-card-police-courtesy-cards
When we moved to working from home, it wasn’t just our office spaces that shut, but a larger ecosystem of other businesses and services. Take a look at the micro-economy around any of the big IT offices in India, and you will get a sense of the gravity of the negative impact of this remote work shift. Good read from a US perspective. - https://marker.medium.com/remote-work-is-killing-the-hidden-trillion-dollar-office-economy-5800af06b007
I leave you with this wonderful image from JP Morgan on what shape the recovery is likely to take. Remember, your ability to retrospectively fit facts into a narrative is what determines future value!
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.
Subbu