Business
At 20 years old, Reddit is defending its data and fighting AI with AI. It’s unique and highly challenging to build a community as trusted by millions as Reddit. The company should focus on the long-term health by making sure the community continues to thrive and generate more and more quality content.
Apple Just Patented an Image Sensor With 20 Stops of Dynamic Range. The iPhone is the center of the Apple ecosystem and the camera is arguably THE hardware feature that gets people most excited. Hence, it makes sense that Apple wants to make the camera and its sensors as advanced as possible. But it’s also in line with the company’s MO: own as many as the critical capabilities as possible. Vertical integration. Less reliance on external partners.
Why Krispy Kreme Broke Up With McDonald’s. Krispy Kreme must have thought that they broke the code when they landed the deal with a benemoth in McDonald’s. In business, distribution matters, but it’s not everything. The doughnut chain is an example. A sudden spike in demand led to a rushed expansion, uncontrolled expenses and drop in quality. Now, the brand has to add the terminated partnership with McDonald’s on top of accounting problems and franchisee bankrupcies. The future looks bleak.
I’m Losing All Trust in the AI Industry. ChatGPT debuted like 2-3 years ago and since then, I have not used any of these LLMs and my life has been fine. They talked about having autonomous vehicles on the roads since 2012 and we are not close to having them ubiquitously yet. Even some of my developer friends who first supported AI now claim that AI doesn’t help improve efficiency much because they have to make sure their code works and they don’t trust AI. All these hyperbolic claims about AI are driven by actors with self-interest. Take everything with a grain of salt. Analyze them. Think for yourself and avoid the trap of jumping on the bandwagon.
Structure and Interpretation of the Chinese Economy. An interesting post on the Chinese economy.
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
China Has Paid a High Price for Its Dominance in Rare Earths. Nothing is perfect and neither is having a lot of rare Earths. Extraction of such elements takes a toll on the residents who live nearby. They pay the price for being exposed to the dangerous wastes. Yet, I don’t think they share in the profits. All for living in the wrong place.
Peter Thiel and the Antichrist. The ideas Peter Thiel brought up in this interview were not easy to accept because they were quite unconventional and provocative. What we describe as progress, is it actually progress? Are we progressing enough or are we stagnating? All these technological advances such as AI, what are the concrete implications for us as human-beings?
The Unseen Grind: A Visit to Apple’s Durability Lab. “One is how durability and repairability can lead to a design dilemma, as products that are designed to be durable may not necessarily be easier to repair and vice versa. But durable devices might have a net positive impact on sustainability, as they are likely to be used for a longer period of time, with less material going into their repair cycle. The other thing that struck us was Apple’s attention to detail in every aspect, from the individual line items to the sophisticated machinery and testing methodologies.”
Cuts to US Aid Imperil the World’s Largest HIV Treatment Program. “For more than two decades, the US was the leader in global efforts to treat and prevent HIV infections. Washington funded lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for more than half of the estimated 40 million people living with HIV around the world, along with community counseling and technical assistance largely through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), which since its inception in 2003 has distributed more than $120 billion in funds. Widespread closures of US-funded clinics in South Africa and other countries could reignite an epidemic that had been contained, experts warn. An analysis by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS) projected the discontinuation of HIV programs supported by Pepfar would result in an additional 4.2 million AIDS-related deaths between 2025 and 2029.”
Progress unmoored. “In January 2024 the largest passenger ship ever built, Icon of the Seas, set sail from Miami on her maiden voyage. Icon is five times larger than the Titanic by gross tonnage (the internal volume of a ship) and spans 20 decks containing more than 2,500 passenger rooms. At full capacity she can carry nearly 10,000 people – up to 7,600 passengers along with 2,350 crew. Large cruise ships have enormous infrastructure challenges relative to hotels. They must desalinate seawater onboard to provide potable water. They must sort recyclable waste and provide onboard sewage processing to treat gray water (wastewater from sinks, dishwashing, showers, and so on) and black water (waste from toilets). Larger ships incinerate nonrecyclable waste on board and Icon of the Seas even has its own waste-to-energy system. Cruise ships could be even bigger and more numerous. The main limiting factor is not the ships themselves, but the land-based infrastructure with which they interact, such as ports, bridges, and canals.”
Stats
The Senate’s Big Beautiful Blunder Could Increase the Debt by $6 Trillion
China accounts for roughly 70% of global rare earth mining
Ground beef price hit record high in May 2025 that was 16% higher than 12 months earlier
Minh Quang Duong 
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