What I wrote last week
I wrote about Clear Secure, which just recently went public
Business
Japan launches bid to regain its semiconductor crown. “Japan’s plans are less about boosting output than about avoiding being caught in the crosshairs of global tensions, notably the fierce competition between the US and China for dominance of future technologies.” It will be hard to play catch-up in the semiconductor industry, but I wouldn’t rule out Japan.
Starting April 22, 2022, Visa will lower interchange rates for Card-Not-Present tokenized transactions and increase rates for some Card-Not-Present untokenized ones. In layman’s terms, it means that merchants will get to keep more money (maximum 10 basis points) if they encourage customers to pay online with mobile wallets such as Apple Pay or PayPal. Nothing spurs actions like incentives.
Universal films will head exclusively to Amazon Prime Video after their run on Peacock. Amazon has been aggressively investing in content on Prime Video. First it secured rights to stream NFL Thursday games starting next year. Then, it bought MGM Studios. Now, it will bring over Universal films after the initial premiere on Peacock. Amazon has been on the record pleased with Prime Video as an acquisition and retention tool for their lucrative Prime customer base. The Prime customer base in the US, since streaming rights are geographically dependent anyway, should be big enough to justify Amazon’s outlay.
FACT SHEET: Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. I like what I saw from this Executive Order. I hope that the responsible Departments will soon introduce and implement policies. I, for one, would love to have another Internet provider in my building, in addition to Cox
Didi Tried Balancing Pressure From China and Investors. It Satisfied Neither. “The regulators in Beijing were under the impression Didi would pause its initial public offering while it addressed data-security concerns, according to people familiar with the company’s conversations with regulators. In New York, Didi offered assurances that Beijing had given it the green light, said people close to the listing process.”. It sounds like Didi wasn’t honest and straightforward with investors; which you know is a crime. On a side note, unless somebody lives in China or really understand what goes on in the country, for the life of me, I don’t understand why they will invest in Chinese companies. Just look at Didi and Alibaba as examples.
What I found interesting
The Senator Who Decided to Tell the Truth. I’d have a beer with this Senator. As a GOP politician, he was brave to tell the uncomfortable truth when his constituents didn’t want that truth. Whether you agree with his report, we definitely need more truth-telling and honest people like McBroom
A new road to an inaccessible land. An awesome write-up on the highly remote Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan. The area looks pristine and beautiful. I love this kind of exploratory pieces that can educate people on places that they would not hear about
Steve Jobs in Kyoto. Just a beautiful story on Steve Jobs. He made the world a better place and was gone too soon. But he is still an inspiration to many now and in the future.
Casualties of Perfection. “If your job is to be creative and think through a tough problem, then time spent wandering around a park or aimlessly lounging on a couch might be your most valuable hours. A little inefficiency is wonderful.”
Hands-on: How to edit PDFs with iPhone and iPad in the iOS 15 Files app
It’s Official. We Can Now Harvest Usable Lithium From Seawater. The science is there. The experiments were tried. I now look forward to the implementation in the real world. If we can get lithium from seawater and inexpensively, that’ll be a major plus for the world
A short movie on Japan
Stats that may interest you
Cleaner air has contributed one-fifth of U.S. maize and soybean yield gains since 1999
Apple stores 8 million TBs on Google Cloud
Minh Quang Duong 