Hi, this is an issue of my monthly newsletter. I’ve picked a few interesting articles on technology, startups, growth, marketing and other topics for you.
Hope, you enjoy the read with your morning cup of coffee. Let me know what you think! ~Max
Technology and Startups
- Deep Learning: Application Landscape – March 2018. An informative and very visual overview. (106-slide deck)
- F8 – Keynote Day 2. Facebook talked about ML applications to video analysis, social VR, AI ethics, etc. (FB Video)
- Top AI research researcher can be paid $1M. Some argue that the majority will be replaced by their own code. (NYT)
- Iran and Russia have been trying to ban Telegram. Telegram’s end-to-end encryption made several governments uneasy. (NYT)
- Attack of the micro-brands. Dropshipping, Instagram advertising, and other trends that open the way for niche consumer brands. (Scott Belsky)
- How merchants use Facebook to flood Amazon with fake reviews. Amazon has a fake review problem (duh!) and is unwilling to do much to fix it. Fakespot and ReviewMeta to the rescue! (WaPo)
- Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report. Mobile growth stalled; people are spending more time online; voice interfaces are taking off. 11 of the world’s 20 biggest Internet companies are in the US. The rest are in China. (Recode)
- Google I/O 2018 Keynote in 14-min. The announcement of Google Duplex and Smart Compose probably generated most
fearsexcitement. Duplex allows Google Assistant to make calls on your behalf. Smart Compose auto-suggests email responses – paving the way for Yuval Harari’s dystopian vision. - Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation, and Inequality. A very detailed report on the impact that automation might have on labor markets. 40M jobs might be eliminated in the US alone. The report offers no insight into the degree to which this loss will be (over)compensated by the creation of new job categories though. (Bain & Company)
Growth and Marketing
- The top marketing statistics for 2018 and why they matter. Trends in content marketing, video, email, paid ads, messengers, and social media. (Intercom)
- How startups die from their addiction to paid marketing. Instead of relying on paid marketing to grow, try to create a product-based viral loop. If you cannot, carefully measure LTV/CAC by channel. (Andrew Chen)
Product Management and Design
- 7 Practical Tips for Cheating at Design. Tiny design changes that can make products look sleeker.
Leadership and Management
- The Power of Listening in Helping People Change. Listening might help lower social anxiety and increase motivation. (HBR)
Books
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. Key Practices: make everyone comfortable and find/invent a common goal.
Podcasts and Documentaries
- Mark Zuckerberg talked to Ezra Klein about Facebook vision, fake news, electoral interference, privacy violations, etc. (Vox)
- JUMP Bikes founder Ryan Rzepecki talked to Jason Calacanis about the ways in which multimodal transit solutions can transform cities, the future of commuting versus denser cities, etc. (This Week in Startups)
- Airships and the Future that Never Was – an educational episode on the history of airships and the hype cycle they went through. (99% Invisible)
Cognition and Psychology
-
Mental Models: The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions (113 Models Explained). (Farnam Street Blog)
Products
- Bubble.is is trying to make visual programming work. If successful, it could enable a whole new wave of makers to create apps without learning to code.
Smarter Living
- Safest seats on a plane are middle seats in the rear section.
- Cook at home instead of eating out to minimize your exposure to phthalates from plastic. (Guardian)
Science and Research
- The Non-Scientist’s Guide to Genetic Testing. (Elysium Health)
Photography and Art
- Earth’s Wonders Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before. Beautiful satellite pictures, taken at an angle.
Numbers
- 70M MAU on bike sharing platforms in China.
- 35% is the claimed Lyft’s market share of the ride-hailing market.
- 121 is the number of emails the average worker receives each day.
- 40M jobs might be eliminated by automation by 2030 in the US alone.
- 100M customers subscribed to Amazon Prime and bought 5B items in 2017.
My Essays
Contemplation Break
“Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations.”
– Tim O’Reilly
Previous Issues
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