Weekly Reading – 23rd November 2024

Business

Grab built its own map in Southeast Asia, and is now going after Google. It is important for any company ambitious enough to keep building out its competencies. Grab is doing exactly that. It has built a great digital map product that not only enables its drivers to deliver more efficiently, but also opens up new revenue streams.

Inside Big Tech’s Bid to Sink the Online Kid Safety Bill. It is really absurd to me that a bill that was passed unanimously in the Senate has been stalled in the House, by tech lobbyists. Honestly, besides greed, what could possibly be the reason to stall such a bill? And it’s not like these tech behemoths lack money. They are rich beyond any imagination. Yet, they put their interests above everyone else and politicians happily play along, to stay in power. People often say that the government is useless and we should just let the free market work its magic. Well, I don’t think a world run by corporations will necessarily what people really want. Far from it.

How the Maker of Nerf Guns Will Navigate Trump’s Tariffs on China. A lot of people cheered when Trump won the election, hoping that he would peel back layers of regulation. But when you pray for rain, you’ll have to deal with the mud too. A Trump administration will come with tariffs and higher expenses. If not careful, businesses, especially those that rely on imported goods, will have lower margin or pass on costs to consumers and be less competitive.

The Department of Justice asks court to force Google to spin off Chrome. I don’t know if the DOJ really believed that it would get all its wishes granted or if it is playing chess here. By that, I mean the DOJ wanted to throw some hail-mary wishes in the official proposal, knowing that they would be rejected, and hope that the judge would feel bad and grant the other requests. I think it’s likely that Google will be banned from making deals such as the one with Apple or the company will be forced to give websites the latittude to opt out of any content rights agreement. What is unlikely is that Google will be forced to divest Chrome or Android.

How Google Spent 15 Years Creating a Culture of Concealment. I really want to know how Google employees feel about working there, especially when they have to constantly look over their shoulder and can spend years entangled in legal battles

Marijuana Industry Could Stay in Limbo Under Trump. What is your thesis of investing in the marijuana industry? It has been in regulatory limbo for years. That it is banned at the federal level means that it cannot be transported across state lines; which adds complexity and expenses. I don’t imagine that Trump or the upcoming GOP-controlled Congress are in a hurry to do this industry any favor.

Ben Affleck articulated wonderfully why he didn’t think AI would replace the human creativity in the film industry and areas that would be disrupted by AI

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

$500,000 Pay, Predictable Hours: How Dermatology Became the ‘It’ Job in Medicine. I did not expect to see that the rise in virtual meetings would add to the rise of dermatology.

Sorry, Kale. Beans Are the New Nutrition Obsession. Beans are nutritious and a staple of the known Mediterranean diet, but high consumption of beans can lead to a gassy belly. I am ok with highlighting benefits of a food, but sometimes the media becomes overly dramatic and uses words like “obsession” or “superfood”.

China Is Building 30,000 Miles of High-Speed Rail—That It Might Not Need. It’s so interesting to see that China is littered with high-speed trains while the US barely has one. Both countries are enormous in size, yet while China has an extensive train network, US leaves a lot to be desired. But that’s not the whole story. Looking outside in, seeing modern trains and stations may create an impression that the local economy is thriving. The truth is that a lot of these investments have low ROI, if any, and are heavily subsidized by the Chinese government. I am a proponent of public transportation. But you gotta wonder if it is wise to build a high-speed train in a remote area with a shrinking population or to build one where flights are a much cheaper alternative. I am sure other areas in China desperately need those dollars…

A Twitter user posted some useful tips to remember when you plan to buy a used car