Business
Uber Caught Overcharging? How Having Credits in Your Account Might Be Costing You. As an Uber shareholder, I am not particularly happy to read about this issue. Yes, Uber can print more money and the stock price will likely rise. But it eats away the foundational competitiveness of the company. It takes a lot to build something great, but little to destroy it. That’s the thing with multi-sided networks. It is resource-intensive and difficult to build. Once built, it presents high barriers to entry and solid competitive advantages, but if there is a crack, it can lead to demise very quickly.
Argentina Scrapped Its Rent Controls. Now the Market Is Thriving. Another real life example of the consequences of a government’s intervention and the power of free market.
Behind OpenAI’s Audacious Plan to Make A.I. Flow Like Electricity. I don’t believe in Sam Altman’s ambition and vision. But if there is anyone that can do this, it’s him who dares to dream it. The vision is so grandeur and far out there that it’s hard to wrap your head around. My biggest questions would be: how would OpenAI bring its technology to everyone and monetize to justify the massive investments? How would it scale given the constraints such as electricity consumption? On a lighter note, my favorite tibit from the article is that Asian executives made fun of Sam and called him a “podcast bro”.
Inside Activision and Blizzard’s Corporate Warcraft. An example of clashing corporate cultures. Blizzard was all about gamers and the love of games. It had a string of hits because it dedicated resources to making great games for games. Meanwhile, Activision was more about the bottom line.
DOJ’s lawsuit accusing Visa of monopoly and anti-competitive practices in the US debit card market. If you are not familiar with how debit card works, read this lawsuit. It does a pretty good job at explaining who the main players are, how money is moved and how money is made. In my opinion, the government has a pretty good case on hand. The details laid out in the lawsuit are damaging. Even if Visa is the biggest player because of its historical role, it may be liable for what it has done to maintain market share. In my opinion, the outcome of the case depends on who wins the White House and how strong Visa’s lobbying is. Probably some monterary fine and concessions without admission of guilt.
OpenAI Is Growing Fast and Burning Through Piles of Money. OpenAI is expected to lose $5 billion a year after expenses which do not include share-based compensation, despite seeing tremendous growth. Those who plow money into OpenAI must be convinced that large-language-model costs will drop significantly and the company will monetize such LLMs enough that the profit will justify the lofty valuations. Big big assumptions.
Apple Rolls Back Its Big Plans to Release Movies in Theaters. The task of making content production AND streaming services both profitable is so hard that even Apple doesn’t seem to figure out.
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
Here’s What It’s Like to Retire in Rural America. This trend will drive up housing prices in rural areas. For younger folks, they may find it easier to find housing in cities easier and cheaper. A boost especially when companies want employees back to the office.
Inside the BJP’s WhatsApp machine. A fascinating account of how Modi’s political party uses WhatsApp to spread (mis)information to influence the election and potentially win it. Also scary, I’d say.
If WordPress is to survive, Matt Mullenweg must be removed. The author did a nice job outlining what happened between Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, providing some additional context and calling out Matt’s BS actions.
Why the U.S. Can’t Build Icebreaking Ships. There is a lot of fat that the US government can cut by being smarter and more efficient. Then, they can transfer such funds to programs that benefit the society more, such as IRS or infrastructure investments.
London saw a surprising benefit to fining high-polluting cars: More active kids. “A year after the ultra-low emissions zone took effect, 2 out of every 5 London students in the study had switched from “passive” to “active” ways of getting to school. So instead of being chauffeured to school by their parents, the students started walking, biking, scootering, or taking public transit. On the other hand, in Luton, which acted as a control group, 1 in 5 made the same switch to modes that got them up and active, but an equal proportion switched to passive travel. But in London’s ultra-low emissions zone, shifting to driving was rare.”
Stats
The US had 20.2 million GitHub accounts as of Q3 2023
India has more than 400 million active WhatsApp users
Visa’s debit card business in the US has a 83% operating margin
Minh Quang Duong 
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