What I Wrote Last Week
Bologna, The Food Capital Of Italy, Is A Great Less Touristy Destination
Business
Walmart to Lay Off and Relocate Workers. This is going to be cited by a lot of executives around the country in their effort to cut costs AND bring back employees to the office. If I were you, I would not choose a remote job.
Wayfair to open its first large store, as physical locations make a comeback. Native digital businesses now realize that cost of acquisition is too high and gets increasingly expensive. Nothing beats the possibility of seeing and touching the goods physically. Yes, Amazon is killing it, but it does have a few stores and there is only ONE Amazon.
The 100-Year Quest to Make a Paper Bottle. “Putting liquids in paper is inherently challenging. Paper bottles tested so far have needed an internal plastic barrier to stop them leaking. Companies have struggled with other problems too, including keeping flavors intact and stopping fizzy drinks from going flat.”
We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem. I think the article is a little bit too extreme and negative, but I think it makes a good point. It’s also interesting to read the comments where folks talk about their opinions on AI
Visa Reinvents the Card, Unveils New Products for Digital Age. Exciting product releases by Visa. I am most intrigued by the Visa Flexible Credentials, which can turn a 16-digit credential into both a debit and credit card, allowing users to carry fewer plastics around!
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
High Interest Rates Are Hitting Poorer Americans the Hardest. I feel bad for the poor families that are affected by high interest rates. However, if the Fed complied with their request to lower rates, it might put them in even worse situations in the future as it likely would cause inflation to rise even higher. The government could not give assistance either as any extra money injected into the economy would not help the Fed’s objective to lower inflation. All signs are pointing to the fact that rates will stay elevated for a while. Some will declare bankruptcy. The question is: what would that do for the economy?
Apple announces new accessibility features, including Eye Tracking, Music Haptics, and Vocal Shortcuts. I really appreciate this set of new accessibility features by Apple. My wife has motion sickness, so this is even more personal for me.
How much money the U.S. spends on war. I believe that there is a lot of waste that can be removed from military spending. The challenge is that no politicians want to come out against the troops and the military contractors are heavy-spending lobbyists that spare no dime on protecting their livelihood.
OpenAI dissolves team focused on long-term AI risks, less than one year after announcing it. A few years from now, a book that chronicles how this AI gold rush panned out will be interesting. Did we make a mistake in prioritizing the commercial value of AI products? Did we make the right decision to scale it first and fix problems later?
Stats
“App Store stopped over $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in four years”
The US recorded 107,500 overdose deaths in 2023, the first decline in 5 years
Minh Quang Duong 
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