Hey Everyone,
Things have been picking up this week and the holiday hangover has faded, with rising tensions in Iran and catastrophic wildfires in Australia dominating the news. On the bright side, CES 2020 kicked off in Las Vegas and an awesome array of new technology was unveiled. Beyond the headlines, I came across some insightful content that I’m excited to share with you. With that, let’s dive into it.
Quick Bites
The Danger of Comparing Yourself to Others: In today’s social media-driven world it’s incredibly easy to get caught up in what others are doing. This leads us to compare ourselves to others, which in turn allows them to drive our behavior. See your friends on an amazing vacation on Instagram? Now you feel compelled to go on one too. This quick piece from Farnam Street breaks down the dangers that come with these comparisons and sheds light on how we can focus on ourselves. (3 min)
The End of the Beginning: In Ben Thompson’s first Stratechery post of the new year, he outlines his thoughts on why there may not be a generational change or paradigm shift in competition for big technology companies anytime soon. Ben’s articles should be required reading for anyone interested in the tech space. (7 min)
The Genetics (and Ethics) of Making Humans Fit for Mars: The next age of space exploration is underway, and NASA has its sights set on sending astronauts to Mars later this decade. There’s a major issue though—humans aren’t fit for space. This is a look into the Sci-Fi world of biologists who are mapping out genetic modifications that will enable humans to thrive in space. It may not be that long until Sci-Fi becomes Sci-Fact. (6 min)
Deeper Dives
Andrew Bosworth on Facebook & Election Interference: Andrew Bosworth is a long-time Facebook executive who was running their ads business at the time of the 2016 elections. He recently wrote an in-depth internal memo to his colleagues outlining FB’s involvement in the 2016 elections and many of the inaccurate narratives that have stemmed from media coverage on the topic. After The NY Times got their hands on the memo, Bosworth decided to release it to the public in its entirety along with additional commentary. This is the best look behind the curtain of what actually happened at FB and what’s being done differently this upcoming election cycle. (11 min)
Jimmy Iovine Knows Music & Tech. Here's Why He's Worried: The music industry landscape has drastically changed over the past decade, and there’s probably nobody better suited to speak to where it’s headed than Jimmy Iovine. With deep experience on the record/producer side, as well as experience scaling Apple Music after selling Beats by Dre to Apple in 2014 for $3 billion, Jimmy has an extremely broad view of how the market has evolved. His recent interview with The NY Times is worth a read for anyone interested in where he thinks the industry is headed next. (10 min)
This is why Children’s TV is so Weird – and so Mesmerizing: To adults, most children’s TV shows are an enigma. They are undoubtedly strange on the surface, but underneath the hood, there’s a vast amount of research and analysis that goes into their production. This piece in Mosaic offers a look into the science of how these shows are made and the impact they have on childhood development. (22 min)
Media
VC twitter lit up on Friday afternoon after Casper—the D2C mattress company— filed their regulatory paperwork to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. Below is a snippet of their consolidated financials for the past two years showing the operating losses they have incurred. This is worth taking a look at for anyone interested in how Casper, and other buzzy D2C startups, actually operate on their bottom lines.
Tweet of the Week
Song of the Week
Apple Music Link
Books
Currently Reading
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York(Robert A. Caro)
Dark Age: Red Rising #5 (Pierce Brown)
Recently Read
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life (William Finnegan): This is easily one of the best autobiographies I’ve ever read. William Finnegan is an incredible writer and it’s no surprise his reflections on his life in Barbarian Days won him a Pulitzer Prize. This one is well worth your time—whether you’re a surfer or not. (5/5)
Parting Thoughts
This Week in History
On January 6th, 2001 Microsoft debuted the Xbox at CES. Alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Bill Gates unveiled the future of video games. Xbox was released to the public later that year on November 15th, and with that, the console wars were truly underway. (Source)
If you found something that piqued your interest please reply with any thoughts you have, and if you know someone who might enjoy it as well, don’t be shy in forwarding it along. Until next week.
-Cody