Business
The Amazonification of Whole Foods Is Finally Here—Bring On the Doritos. To be honest, I have not felt the Amazonian factor in prices at Whole Foods. Although organic food with great ingredients tends to cost more than commercially produced and processed food, prices at Whole Foods are still ridiculously high. Such high prices inadvertently limit the grocer to just a high-end customer segment; which is why it’s not surprising 8 years after the acquisition, Amazon still has only 4% of the grocery market share.
Apple TV execs talk 2026 content lineup, ad-supported plans, and more. Apple is always about doing things differently and their own way. Apple TV is another example. They did bring some movies and shows on a limited basis as a test, but most content on the platform was created by Apple Studios. I have enjoyed most things I watched from Apple and it’s refreshing to enjoy a movie or an episode without ads. The company has been investing in sports (MLB, MLS and now F1). Moving forward, Apple TV will also broadcast F1 for no additional cost, for now. More value to a decent fee.
Robotaxi Scaling Is Just Beginning. 15 years into this journey and we are still at the beginning. There IS progress, to be clear, but having vehicles run on a limited basis in several major cities doesn’t mean autonomous vehicles will take over. There are a lot of important things to iron out. I honestly don’t think it will happen in our lifetime.
The Boss Has a Message: Use AI or You’re Fired. I don’t think anyone will say that AI is completely useless. It may not be useful in a lot of cases, but there are things that the technology can do very well. The challenge is how to incorporate AI’s strengths into the existing workload. Incorporate, not force usage. It’s insane how some companies lay off staff because they don’t find AI very helpful. I mean, AI is a convenient excuse to cut headcount. But at least be honest about it. “At enterprise-software company IgniteTech, leaders required staff last year to devote 20% of their workweek to experimenting with AI. On one such “AI Monday,” staff brainstormed ways to speed up processes like automating responding to customer-service tickets. Employees also had to share on Slack and X what they were learning about AI. CEO Eric Vaughan said that employees self-assessed their AI usage and, afterward, the company used ChatGPT to rank the results. After a human review, IgniteTech cut the lowest-scoring performers.“
Here is how the AI Crash happens. “Here is where the bubble dynamics get complicated. Tech firms don’t want to formally take on debt—that is, directly ask investors for loans—because debt looks bad on their balance sheets and could reduce shareholder returns. To get around this, some are partnering with private-equity titans to do some sophisticated financial engineering, Paul Kedrosky, an investor and a financial consultant, told us. These private-equity firms put up or raise the money to build a data center, which a tech company will repay through rent. Data-center leases from, say, Meta can then be repackaged into a financial instrument that people can buy and sell—a bond, in essence. Meta recently did just this: Blue Owl Capital raised money for a massive Meta data center in Louisiana by, in essence, issuing bonds backed by Meta’s rent. And multiple data-center leases can be combined into a security and sorted into what are called “tranches” based on their risk of default. Data centers represent an $800 billion market for private-equity firms through 2028 alone“
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
The Risky Movement to Make America Nuclear Again. Nuclear is incredibly useful, but its usefulness also comes with high risks. Hence, it’s very worrrying that a company that could not even answer some basic questions is on the verge of getting a license to build a nuclear reactor.
Rising energy bills are rewiring American politics. Voters don’t relate with “climate change”. Such a concept is too far out while the daily life is right here and now. If voters were required to change their electronics because of a green policy, they would be upset. What has happened recently in American politics, though, is that voters wanted people who might do something about their rising utility bills BECAUSE OF climate change. They may not care about what may happen in the future, but they definitely pay attention to what comes out of their pocket every month. And it showed on the ballots.
One startup’s quest to store electricity in the ocean. Fascinating concept and technology. But it does sound a bit limited in scope.
What I Learned From the ‘New Globalists’ of an Optimistic Nation. Globalization is unpopular nowadays because of a clash in cultures within a country. Folks with different values and cultures want different things. That’s when the conflict starts. For Vietnam, it’s not there yet. The ruling party still controls the policies and laws. The economy is still growing. The country is not at a tipping point when there are enough foreigners to clash with the local. That’s why globalization is still a popular concept there.
What a baby’s first poo can tell you about their future health. “The 2019 study found that in the first week after birth one of three main pioneer species usually set up shop in the baby’s gut – Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum), Bifidobacterium breve (B. breve) or Enterococcus faecalis (E .faecalis). By day seven, vaginally-born babies tended to have either B.longum or B.brevae in their digestive tracts, while babies born via C-section were more likely to be colonised by E. faecalis. The gut microbiome of vaginally born babies tended to match that of their mothers, confirming that bacteria are passed mostly from the mother’s gut, not her vagina. Meanwhile, babies born via C-section had more bacteria associated with hospital environments. The researchers found the differences in gut bacteria between vaginally-born and caesarean-delivered babies largely evened out by the time the infant turned one. However, there were signs that having good bacteria from day one gave babies a health advantage.”
Stats
World Of Hyatt has 60 million members, growing 30% every year since 2017
Energy Star saves Americans $40 billion a year in utility bills
“10% of Meta’s total 2024 revenue would come from scammy ads and sales of banned goods”
Minh Quang Duong 
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