Dozen Worthy Reads đź“° (No. 176)
This week : Web3.0 and Product, undersea cables, AI foundational models, tech exceptionalism, Semis, Telegram, Airtag privacy, OnePassword, Insta Reels, Netflix is doomed?, Fractional Investing
Hi All,
I hope you all are doing well and welcome to Dozen Worthy Reads. A newsletter where I talk about the most interesting things about tech that I read the past couple of weeks or write about tech happenings. You can sign up here or just read on …
Let's’ get into this Edition 176 with several interesting finds this week
Web3 is going great?
This article is an interesting interview with Molly White who writes here. I think we can all agree that Web3.0 is rife with problems (scalability issues, scams, rug pulls) and it might not be fair to throw the baby with the bathwater. I mean 4+ decades in Web2.0 is full of interesting scams such as this one where a woman “trusted” someone with, and lost $300k on a dating scam. The end point is technology, be it a smart contract or a human requires some level of trust and the biggest issue for Web3.0 given the lack of a central party is trust. After all the blockchain is uneditable but what do you do when a centralized provider such as OpenSea didn’t, as alleged, “fix a bug” resulting in a rare NFT being stolen? Web 3.0 is great when there is trust, but there isn’t trust. Can smart contracts actually fix trust?
Product in the Web3.0 world
This was an interesting read on Product Management in the Web3.0 world, I might add today. After all, I am a Product Manager and hope to not have my job taken away by a community manager. In some ways Product Managers are well suited to Web3.0 gigs but in some ways they are not suited at all. Also the parallel I like to draw is yes if decentralization takes hold isn’t this similar to most open source projects where you likely won’t have a PM? However taking the case of OpenSea they have PM’s and yes the role will morph for sure. If the last decade is any indication and people think that Web2.0 will be “going away soon”, I think Web2.0 will last for decades. Fax machines anyone?
The race to reconnect Tonga
A good read on the complexity of repairing undersea comms when disruptions such as the recent volcanic eruption happen
AI Foundational Models
Training datasets for AI is one the largest issues for an AI company. In addition to that, creating AI models is another challenging and huge undertaking. So you basically need the right (and good data) as well as models that can predict accurately. If companies want to get a headstart on AI then they can use models like GPT3 to get a head start. If you think about it, the applications are numerous. This can serve companies such as substack that can provide suggestions and completions to struggling authors like me. It could provide legal context to a lawyer in a legal tool, it could provide a website creation tool with pre-generated copy. I would assume that any learnings from these models go back to, as an example, OpenAI, in the case of GPT3 thus making the models stronger and creating an excellent feedback loop for the companies that own these models? Data and Insights are king even in this new world.
The myth of tech exceptionalism
Tech regulation is behind by 20 years but it's probably unfair to say that tech’s promise of endless innovation is why tech ward’s off regulation. Tech should and must be regulated like any other industry. Of course Tech companies are going to lobby and pander and state that they do no harm. The myth of tech exceptionalism
The three kingdoms of semi’s - ARM, RISC-V, x86
Making sense of some of the recent moves my Intel including their $1B commitment to RISC-V
Telegram History
A great read on Telegram, its inception, and how they came to be the company they are – all while being bankrolled while the founder :
Why Information grows
An old but very interesting look at information; more prescient than ever today : Why Information Grows — Remains of the Day
Apple Airtags and Privacy
A look at Air Tags and privacy. Same as any other kind of tech - can be used for good and for bad. Some years ago I lost my house keys while on a run and I didn’t have a tracking device and now I feel so much better having a tracking device just in case I lose my keys again (I did find my keys by walking the entire 8 mile loop AGAIN!)
One Password
I’ve always wondered about businesses like One Password and this was a detailed deep dive on password, the industry and One Password in particular.
Insta Reels v/s TikTok
Has TikTok won the battle against Instagram Reels? It's too early to tell given their user base and their recent expansion to 150 more countries. With TikTok being banned in some countries such as India, this battle might just be getting started.
Why Netflix will falter
A look at why Netflix will falter. Sole control of intellectual property. I do not agree with this. Content catalogs have a long half life. I do agree that having the content licensed out gives Netflix the largest surface area in terms of the number of people that watch the show but Netflix has such a large user base that it matters less than it did for Cable. Yes, it's absolutely accurate that people will reach some level of subscription fatigue and generally a bundle worked well in the past. I still feel with the number of other entertainment options available this is a moot point and Netflix will continue unabated on building their own exclusive catalog - if anything Netflix is catching up on every other streaming provider’s back catalogs!
Fractional investing
As I wrote in The Rise of SoloAngels everyone is looking to diversify and capture more alpha and make more risky moves. It's the #yolo world and it remains to see how this plays out but this read on Fractional Investing was great. It's great to see previously hard to access asset classes open up. Investing is the means to build sustainable long term wealth even if you have a few dollars to start with. The effects of compounding are amazing and really in the long run can you go wrong with investments such as real estate?
Thank you for reading. Stay safe, be well! If you enjoyed reading this please consider sharing with a friend or two (or sign up here if you came across this or were forwarded this)
