What I wrote last week
My reservation on PYMNT’s study on Apple Pay’s usage in stores
Interesting articles on Business
Why the global chip shortage is making it so hard to buy a PS5. “In the silicon manufacturing process, for the most advanced tool inside a fab, typically you’ll have hundreds of different tools. Actually in a large fab, like one you might see at TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), you’ll have thousands of these tools. And these tools are big machines that process these wafers and do various things. And most tools cost, starting with a couple of million dollars, to the most expensive tools are in excess of 150 million euros. In Asia, they’ll build these things in a year. They’ll move in equipment in the second year, get it qualified, running, by the end of the year. In the US, or in the West, it takes a lot longer, because we don’t have the same mentality they have in Asia. We’re going to do all the permitting, all the hearings, and all that stuff. So it wouldn’t surprise me if it took 50 percent longer to twice as long. Now, let me tell you why that’s a problem. Because to your second question, a modern fab these days, one of the closer-to-leading-edge ones will cost you $10 billion-plus for the smallest efficient scale, and a really efficient scale will probably cost you closer to $20 billion. Think about how much depreciation that can generate. In Asia, the mentality is every day, every hour this thing isn’t running costs me tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars. I’ve been in Asia on Christmas Day, and there are people out there with jackhammers and pouring concrete because it was like, “Man, every minute this thing gets done sooner, we can start generating cash.” We do not have that mentality in the West.”
Companies Need More Workers. Why Do They Reject Millions of Résumés? A gap on a resume should not be used to disqualify a candidate immediately. Many need to take a break, whether it was because a family member was sick or it was for their mental health. A less-than-stellar historical record shouldn’t disqualify a candidate either. We all make mistakes and we all deserve chances. Plus, if someone has the necessary skills, does it matter where they got those skills? Does it matter if they don’t have a degree? We use software to evaluate hundreds, if not thousands, of applications a year. It’s understandable. But I do believe that we can write better software to accommodate hiring needs and give people chances.
The surprisingly big business of Library E-books
PayPal To Acquire Paidy. PayPal agreed to acquire Paidy, a BNPL provider in Japan, for $2.7 billion in cash. Paidy reportedly has 700,000 merchants and more than 6 million users. As PayPal itself already has more than 400 million users, this acquisition isn’t likely about inflating the user base. The second reason is likely capabilities. Paidy, which shoppers can use without creating an account first or using a credit card, has a proprietary machine learning models to evaluate credit worthiness of consumers. In other Asian countries, it’s not uncommon for shoppers to pay cash on deliveries for online orders. Perhaps this is something that PayPal wants to replicate in other Asian markets.
Australia’s Top Court Finds Media Companies Liable for Other People’s Facebook Comments. The Court’s argument is that media companies post articles to stimulate conversations and engagement through comments. Hence, they should be liable for such comments. I don’t think that line of reasoning totally lacks solid grounds. I mean, a company’s Facebook page is essentially its property where it has the ability to curate (with Facebook’s help, of course) and it should have some responsibility for defamatory comments taking place there.
Stuff that I found interesting
This wildly reinvented wind turbine generates five times more energy than its competitors. This proposal, if materialized, can generate power for up to 100,000 households with one station while reducing the waste that is usually seen with the traditional turbines.
A great series on the study of obesity
Stats that may interest you
Mobile transactions in Vietnam are expected to increase by 300% between 2021 and 2025
Apple has around 52% to 57% of the mobile game transactions market (page 138)
Minh Quang Duong 