Read, Learn, Improve - 15-Oct-16

Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad - How did a substance that falls from the air, springs from the earth and comes out of your tap become a hyperactive multibillion-dollar business? – Link here

The science (and business) of sleep – Link here

We’re getting closer to clothing made entirely by robots – Link here

Your Next Friend Could Be a Robot – Link here

The Most Complicated Simple Problems – Link here

American cows have been bred into milk machines, and it’s backfiring on farmers – Link here

China’s Days of Exporting Deflation May Be Drawing to a Close – Link here

Netflix or Hulu won’t win the streaming wars. Your cable company will – Link here

America’s Dazzling Tech Boom Has a Downside: Not Enough Jobs – Link here

27 charts that will change how you think about the American economy – Link here

Uber Slayer: How China’s Didi Beat the Ride-Hailing Superpower – Link here

The oldest human lived to 122. Why no person will likely break her record - Even with better medicine, living past 120 years will be extremely unlikely – Link here

Read,Learn, Improve – 8-Oct-16

Short Basic Automakers, Long Luxury/SportsCar markers from 10-20years view  - People buy car for two basic purpose one for travel and second to indicate status and this is clearly visible by two type of car maker – Basic efficient ones - Toyota, Suzuki, Ford, GM, etc and Status - Luxury, Sports,etc  – BMW, Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren etc. Now once cars become automatic/driverless, I wonder how many people would buy car for its looks and driving pleasure, huge mass would shift to driverless cars (in case you wondering why we would shift to driverless car, we would be more happy to chat with our friends or read or entertain ourselves or as they call it stay glued to our mobile screen – snapchat, facebook, twitter, etc) while we are traveling in car. Most probably I think most of the population would cease owning a car when it would be easily available at push of the button, hence there would very few people actually buying car and those would be buying self drive (opposite of driverless cars) – I believe this would be pure luxury & sports car aficionados or connoisseurs. Read “More Evidence Cars Will Never Be Sexy Again – Link here “ to get idea where my views are coming from.

Ride-hailing apps are creating an inefficient and unfair transit system – Link here

The Absolute Return Letter - The New Normal, Mk. II – Link here . One of the interesting points raised is how we calculate GDP. Not counting contribution of housewife has been one of the age old criticisms of how we calculate GDP. However if you observe closely new economy has to offer lot of things for free and doesn’t get captured in our GDP calculation. Case in point Google Map, we don’t pay for it (although technically we share our info, so we are selling our personal habits & life) but it helps lots of us.

Shiller’s Powerful Market Indicator Is Sending a False Signal About Stocks This Time – Link here

Cut-throat competition is slashing offshore wind costs to unthinkable levels – Link here

If War Can Have Ethics, Wall Street Can, Too – Link here

Out of Prison, Out of Work – Link here

Why the next 20 years will see a lot less technological disruption than the past 20 – Link here

Why thousands of millionaires don’t pay federal income taxes – Link here

In the age of the algorithm, the human gatekeeper is back - The rise of algorithms has been relentless, but we need human input in our world of technological innovations – Link here

A Dozen Things You can Learn by Reading “The Success Equation” by Michael Mauboussin – Link here

10,000 years of smart beta data – Link here

Oil Discoveries at 70-Year Low Signal Supply Shortfall Ahead – Link here

These Technologies May Actually Deliver Elon Musk’s Dream of Changing the World – Link here

Panasonic reveals bendable battery at Ceatec – Link here

Read,Learn,Improve-1-Oct-16

Practicing a “Punch Card” Approach to Investing – Linkhere

Tamal Bandyopadhyay is one of the finest business journalists when it comes to banks and financial institutions. Last year I read his book “Sahara: The Untold Story” and would recommend you to do the so too. Currently I am midst of his another book “A Bank for the Buck” based on HDFC bank, again very insightful and goes through history of the bank. He recently wrote interesting piece called - How corrupt are our bankers? – Linkhere – makes for an interesting read.

SEBI Finally Cracks down on NSE’s Suspect Algo Trading. What does it mean? – Link here

10 Commandments of Financial Modeling – Linkhere

Hot Mess: How Goldman Sachs Lost $1.2 Billion of Libya’s Money - When Wall Street’s most aggressive bank took on the world’s most incendiary client, someone was going to make a killing – Link here

How to hide it: inside the secret world of wealth managers - They know more about their clients than the clients’ own wives. They are loyal in the face of appalling behaviour. They are the brains behind the most ingenious tax avoidance schemes. And there are more of them than ever – Linkhere

Peak Finance Looks Like It's Over – Linkhere

China’s Ambitious Plan to Make the Yuan the World’s Go-To Currency – Linkhere

How to change the world with a $1 microscope – Linkhere

The genesis of Zoomcar – Linkhere

Sword of the Brother Enemy by Shashi Tharoor – Linkhere

These Mammals Are Just Straight-Up Murdering Each Other All The Time – Linkhere

The Difference Between a Bubble and a Cycle – Linkhere

Stupefied - How organisations enshrine collective stupidity and employees are rewarded for checking their brains at the office door – Linkhere

Hell on Earth - What happens to life sentences if our lifespan is radically extended? A philosopher talks about future punishment – Linkhere

The nightmare of finding an ‘ipill’ in Chennai, TN – Linkhere

Can Lok Sabha & Assembly Elections be held simultaneously? – Linkhere

Read,Learn,Improve - 1-Oct-16

Practicing a “Punch Card” Approach to Investing – Link here

Tamal Bandyopadhyay is one of the finest business journalists when it comes to banks and financial institutions. Last year I read his book “Sahara: The Untold Story” and would recommend you to do the so too. Currently I am midst of his another book “A Bank for the Buck” based on HDFC bank, again very insightful and goes through history of the bank. He recently wrote interesting piece called - How corrupt are our bankers? – Link here – makes for an interesting read.

SEBI Finally Cracks down on NSE’s Suspect Algo Trading. What does it mean? – Link here

10 Commandments of Financial Modeling – Link here

Hot Mess: How Goldman Sachs Lost $1.2 Billion of Libya’s Money - When Wall Street’s most aggressive bank took on the world’s most incendiary client, someone was going to make a killing – Link here

How to hide it: inside the secret world of wealth managers - They know more about their clients than the clients’ own wives. They are loyal in the face of appalling behaviour. They are the brains behind the most ingenious tax avoidance schemes. And there are more of them than ever – Link here

Peak Finance Looks Like It's Over – Link here

China’s Ambitious Plan to Make the Yuan the World’s Go-To Currency – Link here

How to change the world with a $1 microscope – Link here

The genesis of Zoomcar – Link here

Sword of the Brother Enemy by Shashi Tharoor – Link here

These Mammals Are Just Straight-Up Murdering Each Other All The Time – Link here

The Difference Between a Bubble and a Cycle – Link here

Stupefied - How organisations enshrine collective stupidity and employees are rewarded for checking their brains at the office door – Link here

Hell on Earth - What happens to life sentences if our lifespan is radically extended? A philosopher talks about future punishment – Link here

The nightmare of finding an ‘ipill’ in Chennai, TN – Link here

Can Lok Sabha & Assembly Elections be held simultaneously? – Link here

 

Read, Learn, Improve – 24-Sep-16

12 cutting-edge technologies that could save our oceans – Link here

How a small Bengaluru biotech company is leading the way in global cancer diagnostics – Link here

Toyota is using sewage sludge to power its new electric car – Link here

It's not who buys a fancy car. What matters more is why - For the seller, variables such as gender, age, education and income are important, but what really matters is the customer's needs – Link here

Amazon Says It Puts Customers First. But Its Pricing Algorithm Doesn’t – Link here

In 20 to 40 years, most Americans won’t have sex to reproduce. Get ready. – Link here

Raghu Raman, the former CEO of the National Intelligence Grid has a unique blend of career experiences. Raghu began his career with the Indian Armed Forces and during his 12 year stint there, he was in operations in Punjab, then in the frontline at the highest battlefield in the world in Siachen Glacier followed by a tour of duty in war torn Angola as a UN Peace Keeper. Raman's last stint with the army was as an instructor in prestigious School of Armoured Warfare teaching young officers leadership and combat tactics. Mr Raman has been writer and has written some fantastic piece in Mint. Recently on back of Uri attack he has come up a fine plan on how to counter Pakistan - Seven powerful ways India can attack Pakistan – without crossing the border – Link here

How to invest like… Warren Buffett's hero Philip Carret – Link here

The Difference Between Rationality and Intelligence – Link here

The Coming Anti-National Revolution – Link here

The rise of the superstars - A small group of giant companies—some old, some new—are once again dominating the global economy, says Adrian Wooldridge. Is that a good or a bad thing? – Link here

Why Do Famous People Get Paid $250,000 to Give a Speech? – Link here

The Greatest Bubble of All-Time? – Link here

Wall Street’s 0.01%: The Guru Who Only Talks to Hedge-Fund Elite – Link here

A Dozen Ways to Apply the Lessons Taught in the Book “The Most Important Thing” by Howard Marks – Link here

A global corporate conspiracy helped catalyze a food crisis and drove 44 million into poverty – Link here

 

Read, Learn, Improve – 17-Sep-16

Bayer-Monsanto Combination Likely Too Big in U.S. Cottonseed – Link here

Can the open hardware revolution help to democratise technology? – Link here

The John Bogle Expected Return Formula – Link here

Adblock Plus now sells ads – Link here

Would you fly in a pilotless airliner? - Driverless trains and cars are already with us – but how soon before pilotless airliners? The biggest challenge may be getting passengers on board – Link here

How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language - Fascinating ethical shifts come with thinking in a different language – Link here

Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert – Link here

Banks and Colleges Are Wasting Our Money – Link here

How Does America Keep Finding Vast Stores of Energy? – Link here

What Fiat Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne told us over lunch – Link here

India’s Sham-Scam Scooter Policy of the 1970s – Link here

How India’s digital economy can recover its mojo – Link here

A Bored Investor Is a Dangerous Thing - If the stock market feels too quiet, resist the urge to spice things up in your portfolio – Link here

Two Key Checklist Items – Link here

Hacking a Company's Stock Price – Link here (what happens if a researcher discovers vulnerability in a niche medical device? A pacemaker, for example?)

Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari review – how data will destroy human freedom – Link here  - It’s a chilling prospect, but the AI we’ve created could transform human nature, argues this spellbinding new book by the author of Sapiens.

Watch: This anytime pizza machine might soon be at a railway station near you (if you're in Mumbai) – Link here

 

Read, Learn, Improve - 10-Sep-16

(Links open in new window)

Indian IT sector has been shining example of Indian industry as well stock market for wealth it has created. However off lately, there has been a concern whether Indian IT companies can compete & stand against global biggies in wake of change in technology. Basic question being it’s true we do have tonnes of engineers and software programmer but how competent are they for new tech? And it looks concerns are very legitimate if you see global ranking of our programmers, they are nowhere near top on overall basis or on domain basis. Read this to get more insight - Which Country Would Win in the Programming Olympics? – Link here . Many of you might spot that even US is not amongst the top – 5 either on overall basis or in any particular domain, very true, thought they have ability to attract best talent from across the globe. I guess Vishal Sikka is probably on right path of training its employee, will it yield fruits? Let’s wait & watch.

Why Luck Plays a Big Role in Making You Rich – Link here

The court that rules the world - A parallel legal universe, open only to corporations and largely invisible to everyone else, helps executives convicted of crimes escape punishment. Part 2 of a BuzzFeed News investigation – let’s make them poorer, and we’ll get rich – Link here

The Wrong Man - Thomas Webb survived a false conviction, but freedom failed him. Then he met his accuser – Link here

A Chinese Mystery: Who Owns a Firm on a Global Shopping Spree? Owners of Anbang, a Chinese insurer behind a wave of multibillion-dollar deals, include relatives and friends of its politically connected chairman – Link here

An Insider’s View: Why is Bollywood Going Bust? – Link here

Smashed Fortunes - How market speculators in China upended life in India’s ship-recycling yards – Link here

Aadhar seems to be on verge of creating a revolution for india, blockchain is another tech that I believe can ease how business is registered and run – take a look at global examples how it is being used - The Blockchain is Perfect for Government Services, Here’s A Blueprint – Link here

Exclusive: how Elizabeth Holmes’s house of cards came tumbling down – Link here

5 Interview Tips to Find the Long-Term Employee – Link here

Judges Need Not Know All Laws – Link here

Proof of evolution that you can find on your body (Video – 3:54) – Link here

When You Change the World and No One Notices – Link here

This Is Your Brain's Default Setting—Here's How And When To Change It - We may be hardwired for overconfidence, but there's more than one trigger for it and it's not always a bad thing – Link here

Why China Isn't a Financial Center – Link here

Apple’s little-known (and somewhat unsexy) secret to success – Link here

 

Read, Learn, Improve - 3-Sep-16

How good is it? How bad is it? - Modi, as a Delhi outsider, has shut down access to power and its benefits – By Monika Halan – Link here

The court that rules the world - A parallel legal universe, open only to corporations and largely invisible to everyone else, helps executives convicted of crimes escape punishment. Part one of a BuzzFeed News investigation – Link here

Meet the Greater Honeyguide, the Bird That Understands Humans – Link Here

The EpiPen was her ‘baby.’ Now this pharma CEO is in the hot seat over price hikes – Link here

Busting the billion-dollar myth: how to slash the cost of drug development - A non-profit organization is proving that new drugs don't have to cost a fortune. Can its model work more broadly? – Link here

Gut reaction: the surprising power of microbes - Most of us think of microbes as germs to be feared and killed. In fact they hold the key to improving our health – and may be the key to tackling obesity – Link here

After US and China, India is the third-largest market for morning after pills – Link here

Yuval Noah Harari on big data, Google and the end of free will – Link here

How should we read investor letters? - Considering the correspondence between C.E.O.s and shareholders as a literary genre – Link here

Today’s Inequality Could Easily Become Tomorrow’s Catastrophe - By Robert J. Shiller – Link here

The other side of Warren Buffett - Don’t Buff it up - An investing hero is not a model for how to reform America’s economy – Link here and here is reply by Fortune on same – Link here

A 1977 Warren Buffett Interview from the WSJ Archives – Link here

Why being bilingual helps keep your brain fit - Most people in the world speak more than one language, suggesting the human brain evolved to work in multiple tongues. If so, asks Gaia Vince, are those who speak only one language missing out? – Link here

Finland's Basic Income Experiment Is Too Timid – Link here

 

Read, Learn,Improve - 27-Aug-16

 

This may just prove to be positive for Indian pharmaceutical companies - Counterfeit pills, potentially from China, killed Prince, investigators now believe – Link here

Have you heard of Galapagos syndrome – well It explains how the country’s geography, history, and culture have come together to create a love for a technology that the rest of the world has all but forgotten. In case you wondering one such business here is bamboozle for you - Why Japan has more old-fashioned music stores than anywhere else in the world – Link here

DEUTSCHE BANK’S $10-BILLION SCANDAL - How a scheme to help Russians secretly funnel money offshore unraveled – Link here

98 personal data points that Facebook uses to target ads to you – Link here

How a British plan to convert an illiterate boy into a loyal maharaja failed – Link here

XXXI Olympics came to end last week, here is interesting take on what it takes to win medal - Letter from… Milton Keynes – Link here . In Stock market, investor pays attention to Top Management – their value system, habits, capability, etc – same thing goes for sports. If we want to win medals we probably need to clean up & bring in right people along with right culture – InGovern one of the top Corporate Governance and Advisory firm came up with full fledge report that looks at - Governance of Sports in India – 2016:01 – Link here , or alternatively you can read news-story on same report - Link here

The watchers - Alternative-data firms are shedding new light on corporate performance – Link here

Data Geeks Are Taking Over Economics – Link here

How to Stay Rich in Europe: Inherit Money for 700 Years – Link here

Accountancy’s Big Four need more competition - I myself have been wondering about this and hopefully we should have more competition, but it’s difficult market to break in – Link here

The Upside of Losing Half Your Money - The importance of extreme diversification – Link here

The Spectrum Auction: How Economists Saved the Day – Link here

The Man Who Woke Up One Morning and Forgot How to Read – Link here

Mapping the Greatest Empires of History – Link here

Read, Learn, Improve - 20-Aug-16

The Global Guru on Valuation Aswath Damodaran seldomly writes on valuation without numbers and when he does, it’s a treat in its own way - Investing and Valuation Lessons from the Renaissance – Link here

Bronze Trumps Silver? Counterfactual Thinking and the Olympics - Link here

Katsuyama Shakes Up Industry Even Before His IEX Exchange Opens – Link here

As a kid I was made aware about Bigfoot/Yeti through Bollywood & believed it to be true. Come internet age and satellite channel I was disappointed to learn this was purely fiction or rather imagination. But looks like there are always some people who continue to remain irrational or hopeful and create a business out of it estimate to be worth $10bn – move on unicorn, we have mega unicorn- The mystery of how a company set up to search for Bigfoot hit a $10 billion value – Link here

WTF is Experience Design? – Link here (don’t miss Acron video)

We humans love to predict future, almost majority of stock market participates are involved in doing the same which one should avoid. If one compares historic prediction vs reality, reality is often different. One would be compelled to say how did we miss this? Like since invention of the car, everyone has been predicting personal cars that can fly. I think very few people actually thought of automated cars prior to jumping to flying cars. Anyway here is food for thoughts on what would happen when automated cars hit the road - When Cars Fly – Link here

THE SPORTS LINCHPIN – Link here

What a well-known researcher discovered when he asked people to flip a coin on important life decisions – Link here

Cheating death - Science is getting to grips with ways to slow ageing. Rejoice, as long as the side-effects can be managed – Link here

The Rise of the Buy Side - Financial rewards for trading are down. Incentives for making markets are gone. And the business of bond trading has been turned on its head – Link here

Virtu Never Loses (Well, Almost Never) - In the history of electronic trading, no company has been as successful as this paradigm-changing market maker, which operates in more venues than it has employees – Link here

Things I’m Pretty Sure About - A few big lessons – Link here

Is it time for a world technology organization? – Link here

Mining the Ocean Floor: Good Idea? – Link here

How Progress Occurs – Link here

Here’s a Bunch of Data That Shows How Great The World is Doing – Link here

 

Read, Learn, Improve – 13-Aug-16

Hollywood is known for its VFX and animated movies that are larger the than life, at the same time cost of doing is also very high, as per one estimate on Quora, a 5 second shot would cost around $80,000 (now we know why movies cost so high). As per another website, Steven Spielberg’s Avatar had employed 1,844 people to work on its VFX, while Iron Man had 1,834 and Avenger’s had 1,514. Since most of the businesses are getting disrupted by tech, looks like this VFX industry is also rip for the same - Watch: Technology developed at MIT could make videos truly interactive – Link here – I clearly see two advantage of it. First most of the big studios like Sony & Disney’s of the world have their own studio, so this new tech would probably lower requirement of manpower. Second hopefully our very own Bollywood would start using more of VFX.

Indian Banking - In a Time For Change - Nandan Nilekani (ppt) – Link here

How Think Tanks  Amplify Corporate America’s Influence – Link here

The Insurance Industry Has Been Turned Upside Down by Catastrophe Bonds – Link Here

Economics of sports - its Really Hard to Make Money as an Olympian – Link here

The Decline of War - We are experiencing one of the least discussed, yet most remarkable cultural shifts of all time: war, one of our species’ most abiding and defining social practices, is at its lowest ebb ever – Link here

(Must read) Thirty Years Reflections on the Ten Attributes of Great Investors - Michael J. Mauboussin – Link here

Chinese scientists to pioneer first human CRISPR trial – Link here – and I am not sure whether to be happy or scared, just like knife can be used to chop vegetables or rob someone, CRISPR can be used either way.

Uber – Didi deal needs some more studying and here are few interesting insights - Ola’s non-compete pact with Didi tested in Uber China deal – Link here . However I found this insight to be very interesting - Chinese tech firms forced to choose their market: home or everywhere else – Link here – I wonder why Chinese govt would want their domestic company to choose between home or international market?, I mean, if china think of ruling world, its business that rules and one ought to be more support of home companies that become big globally.

Are Low-Skill Workers America's Next Great Economic Resource? – Link here

How to Read Financial News: Tips from Portfolio Managers – Link here

Walmart and the multichannel trap – Link here

The Eccentric Billionaire Who Ignores Investors to Get Them Rich – Link here

Looks Can Kill: The Deadly Results of Flawed Design – Link here – This is in continuation of design series, how design helps us do work efficiently or save life, but sometime it can backfire and cause harm.

 

Read,Learn,Improve - 6-Aug-16

(The long read) 1MDB: The inside story of the world’s biggest financial scandal – Link here

Why Is the Stock Market So High? Ask the Bond Market – Link here

Nixon's Failed Effort to Withhold His Tax Returns – Link here

Meet the most notorious member of the Haldiram Bhujiawala family – Link here

World is filled with amazing business and business model. China’s Cheating Husbands Fuel an Industry of ‘Mistress Dispellers’ – Link here –  Most likely readers are likely to assume something which is not the case. These days most of the people are educated and have understood stuff like black magic & stuff doesn’t work. Problem needs to be solved by brain and that’s what they are doing.

How Fintech is Digitally Disrupting the Financial World – Link here

The competitor Amazon never saw coming – Link here

Bitcoins Make Bank Robbery Great Again – Link here

(must read) Disrupting Your Own Happiness – Link here

Evidence-based investing requires less religion and more reason - Technical Analysis: The Market’s Oldest Religion – Link here

Less sex please, we're millennials – study – Link here – one wonders what happens to all consumption driven stock, that are partly driven by population growth?

The Time Everyone “Corrected” the World’s Smartest Woman – Link here

Israel Proves the Desalination Era Is Here - One of the driest countries on Earth now makes more freshwater than it needs – Link here

There are tonnes for scam going around, I guess it has been since ages, recently a study discovered that Flossing Might Be a Giant Scam -  Link here

(video) A 7-Circle Roundabout Looks Like It Should Be Pure Hell But Somehow Works Seamlessly – Link here

Mecca of sporting event Olympics are here and India is represented by its largest contingent ever. There are lots of event that India is participating for the first time, however 2 that stood out for me are Gymnastic and Athletics. In gymnastic India is represented by Dipa Karmakar – Read here & her story, she one of the only five women gymnasts in the world to have successfully completed the dangerous Produnova vault (one of the most riskiest, just google to know more about it).  Dhutee Chand would be competing n 100m sprint, whether she will win or not is altogether different debate, however her story of making it to Olympic platform is story of history being made on global level. Imagine you not allowed to compete because god/nature made you certain way. Read here , here and here

 

Read, Learn, Improve - 30-Jul-16

The Questions That Matter - And the questions that don’t – Link here

This Bull Market Is Powered by Your Indifference – Link here

This much I know: Daniel Kahneman - The 78-year-old Nobel prize-winning psychologist on his pessimistic mother, the delusion of investment bankers and the need for irony - Link here

Dumb Alpha: Trailing or Forward Earnings? – Link here

Dollar Shave Club: How Michael Dubin Created A Massively Successful Company and Re-Defined CPG – Link here

Is 2016 the Worst Year in History? – Link here

Feudal trap: Why do Indians fear prostitutes and traders? – Link here

Satan’s Credit Card: What The Mark Of The Beast Taught Me About The Future Of Money – Link here

Is Active Management Dead? Not Even Close – Link here

Platform wars: the final score – Apple vs Google – Link here

Best-Paid CEOs Run Some of Worst-Performing Companies – Link here & Link here

Most of hardcore long term investor are familiar with concept of behavioural finance/science, this article “Set It and Forget It: How Default Settings Rule the World” – Link here - is in continuation of authors earlier article “Too Human (Not) to Fail” – Link here

Driverless Cars Threaten to Crash Insurers’ Earnings - Technology may be decades away, but firms are already scrambling to figure out how to deal with expected decline in premiums as autos become safer – Link here

(info graphic) How Jeff Bezos Built his Amazon Empire – Link here

I have been following Game Of Thrones, House of Cards and few other shows, I use to always wonder how they the whole process of making it works and here it is all explained in 3mins – Link here

Read,Learn,Improve – 23-Jul-16

As per investopedia Gillette has 70% global market share of shaving blades, taking advantage of its strong market hold it has been resorting to strong price hike (my mach 3 was priced at 25% higher compared to last year). I use to always think its opportunity for new player entrant, however it would take deep pocket to do so (marketing & branding) and hence we never so any new entrant. However now things seems to be changing – Unilever recently announced acquisition of Dollar shave – Link here and Link here

Remodeling India’s Investment Treaty Regime – Link here

What’s Next for Artificial Intelligence – Link here

The Diderot Effect: Why We Want Things We Don’t Need – Link here

Which Countries Have the Most Immigrants? – Link here

Indian e-commerce in 10 charts – Link here

Think Less, Think Better – Link here

The $1.3-Billion Defence Deal That India and Japan Don’t Want to Admit is struggling – Link here

We’ve Just Witnessed One of the Least Volatile Economic Recoveries on Record – Link here

A race to the bottom: Can roboadvisors build real businesses? – Link here

The Myth of the Millennial Entrepreneur – Link here

A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Elon Musk About Business and Investing – Link here

My boss shares amazing one line quotes on daily basis and yesterday he sent us this - " There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” and if you remember the The Big Brexit crisis, it’s probably time to check facts that were shared by both Exit & Remain camp – Link here

Entertainment & Investment  – Rush is hollywood movie based on real life incidents/ rivalry between two Formula 1 race driver Niki lauda and James Hunt, go ahead and watch it - very intense and many learnings. There is one particular scene in the movie where Niki Lauda (World Chanpion) communicates his risk appetite clearly.  It’s raining very heavily and race track is as such dangerous with rain more so. If you don’t have time, watch scene here

Read, Learn, Improve - 16-Jul-16

There is new game in town called “Pokeman Go”, let’s just say it has taken pretty much whole developed nation by storm. To know why, simply understand it merges real world with virtual world. And this could probably be beginning of new revolution how we interact, socialize & entertain ourselves. Read more about it here - Pokémon Go isn’t a fad. It’s a beginning – Link here . People take drugs to escape reality of the world, could this or Virtual Reality Headset be an alternative?

My Crazy thought - Mind works in weird way and I had this absolutely crazy thought on why we gone need Virtual Reality Headset (Oculus rift, HTC Vive etc). For that matter many analyst, fund manager, investor, press everybody was surprised when Facebook announced to acquire Oculus rift. First let me be clear, I haven’t used it. However going by online review Link here , Link here, quality of oculus rift is very good – Link here, there are few problems which I think we may be able to solve it. However I think one of the interesting use I could think of was watching live sports /events – post bomb blast in turkey, attacks at various  part in EU, some people might be sacred to go out in public worrying terrorist might target it. Hence what if we can transmit live sport/event to a VR headset and give people experience of live sport in their living room. Just a thought.

The Harshad Mehta case: Where time has overtaken justice by a mile – Link here

Dan Ariely on the Power of Irrational Thinking – Link here

Nettie Stevens discovered XY sex chromosomes. She didn't get credit because she had two X’s. – Link here

Entertain Yourself (The bleak truth about how we spend our time) – Link here

A shopper’s manifesto: These three simple questions are the key to quitting fast fashion – Link here

Rural migrants aren’t the reason why India’s major cities are overcrowded, the apathetic government is – Link here

Why are we still waiting for the male pill? - Despite decades of promising research, the many men who want their own contraceptive pill still have nothing. One of them, Andy Extance, looks at the obstacles – practical, political, economic – and meets the people hoping to make male birth control a reality. – Link here

The World’s Most Powerful Stock Pickers Don’t Manage a Penny – Link here

The Laws of Capitalism are Being Rewritten – Link here

Meet the robots changing modern farming: Prospero, Aquarius and SW 6010 – Link here

Take a Simple Idea and Take It Seriously - When basic beats flashy – Link here

A Dozen Entries from the Venture Capital Devil’s Dictionary – Link here

Prince Oberyn Martell Vs Gregor Clegane in trial by combat- if you have been following Game of Thrones (GoT) that probably bough flashes of heart wrenching fight scenes. In case you haven’t seen GoT, I suggest you give it a try. Just remember in case if you get addicted there are 6 season ahead to finish, so consider yourself warned before beginning. Trial by combat is method where justice is served through fight, many of us know GoT is purely fictional, however many of plots are inspired by true events. Like Trial by combat read on - A Brief History of Trial by Combat – Link here to know more.

Credit Summit 2016, July 26, Mumbai – Agenda - complimentary invite - Register now Link here

 

Read,Learn,Improve – 2-Jul-16

The strange story of a fertility drug made with the Pope’s blessing and gallons of nun urine – Link here

4 Important Lessons You Can Learn Now That 3D Printing is Dying – Link here

The secret of taste: why we like what we like - How does a song we dislike at first hearing become a favourite? And when we try to look different, how come we end up looking like everyone else? – Link here

Chatbot lawyer overturns 160,000 parking tickets in London and New York – Link here

How Amazon Triggered a Robot Arms Race – Link here

ISRO launched 59 Indian & 74 Foreign Satellites in the last 20 years – Link here

Be More Successful: New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Do It – Link here

Government employees earn (much) more than private sector ones – but only at the entry-level – Link here

Slavery as free trade - The 18th-century thinkers behind laissez-faire economics saw slavery as a great example of global free trade – Link here

(Infographics) How Machines Destroy and Create Jobs – Link here

3 Ways to Make Money in the Markets – Link here

How do you make the Olympics pay? Fudge the figures – Link here

The Perilous Task of Forecasting - Wharton’s Philip Tetlock on how forecasters can do better – Link here

Can Netflix survive in the new world it created – Link here

Henry Kravis Q&A: ‘Worry About What You Might Lose on the Downside’ – Link here

(Light fun read) Here's What Financial Pundits Mean When They Say...- Link here

Read, Learn, Improve – 25-Jun-16

Let say if Driverless car becomes a reality, which most of the people think it will happen, would it change our living pattern? Will it change composition of our city? Why would anybody buy cars? Just use uber or Ola.  Right now many people don’t buy cars as most of their travel is through public transport and few don’t buy as usage is minimal or it’s purely tiring to drive and get stuck in traffic. However driverless car can change that, driverless car would not make errors that humans are prone to it and hence can drive at way faster speed safely than probably few humans can. Also traffic would be easily avoided as more cars become automated and route management is done by algorithm. Since traveling would not be any longer pain, we would not mind traveling far off as it would be easy and so our city which is probably densely packed would expand…..phew….some impact driverless can have – read more here - Driverless Cars to Fuel Suburban Sprawl – Link here

If you have been regularly follower of Read,Learn,Improve or interacted with me, you would have heard about CRISPR from me. Its revolutionary gene editing tech that seems to solve lot of medical and other problems and looks like FDA just gave it green signal for human trial – Link here  , and FYI its being funded by Sean Parker , the same guy who created napster and was with Facebook too – Link here

(Must read) No One Knows What Will Happen – Link here

Why YouTube stars love to hate multi-channel networks – Link here

With Organic Cotton and Online Ads, Boll & Branch Helps Indian Farmers – Link here

The Economist - TECHNOLOGY QUARTERLY - THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE – Link here

Facebook’s ads will now know what stores you go to – Link here

Why Does a Tire Company Publish the Michelin Guide? – Link here

The attacks on Raghuram Rajan: Lessons from Stanley Fischer's term as Israel's central banker – Link here

Index we trust - Vanguard has radically changed money management by being boring and cheap – Link here

The invisible forces behind all of our decision making – Link here

If you have ever heard of Kardashian family (or Kim Kardashian) you ought to know they are worth easily in access of US$100mn and one ought to wonder what talent they do really have that gives them the ability to make money. Or in analyst language what’s their business model and how they are able to sustain it. Have a look at this short (3mins) YouTube video to know about the same – Link here . It serves a good marketing lesson.

Entertainment – have a look at this interesting short film by Shirish Kunder – Link here

Read, Learn, Improve – 18-Jun-16

This is the best piece for all those people who have zero or very small (not seen one full bull & bear cycle) encounter with stock market and are thinking of making a career as Stock Market Trader (Not investor). I have meet tonnes of people from various backgrounds like – fresh or existing MBA students, doctors, teachers, even few fundamental analysts – who want become trader. Most of these guys have either heard some stories about how a guy with Rs100 in his pocket become rich or heard how Mr. George Soros broke Bank of England and in process made few billion dollars - What you’re not hearing about George Soros today – Link here

Everybody is jazzed up about self driving car, however there is an interesting point which many of us seemed to have missed it. In ethic parlance its called Trolley/Train Problem – problem goes something like this - A train is hurtling towards five unsuspecting people. Do you pull a switch to divert the train onto another track, where only one man is sitting? Or do you do nothing? There are few variation of this problem and trust me it becomes very interesting and gives you very interesting insight into how human mind works, what we consider ethical, how we justify or rationalize our decision. Now going back to basic trolley/train problem introduce self driving car to this equation and you have a problem. Read up here to get more idea - Self-Driving Cars Will Teach Themselves to Save Lives—But Also Take Them – Link here

WHY DO WE WORK SO HARD? -  Ryan Avent reckons that our jobs have become prisons from which we don’t want to escape – Link here

Here’s why robots may someday be doing surgery independently – Link here

A group from Silicon Valley has a serious plan for creating a totally new US stock exchange – Link here

The FDA approved a weight-loss device that sucks food out of your stomach – Link here

Starbucks has more customer money on cards than many banks have in deposits - Link here

Nude pics as IOU: a new, risky online loan among Chinese university students – Link here

The Financial Price of Forgetting Bad Times - As we age, we tend to focus on positive memories and that can hurt us financially – Link here

The price of LEDs is falling so fast it’s profitable to farm in a New Jersey nightclub – Link here

Ego is the Enemy: The Legend of Genghis Khan – Link here

Ships Have Gotten Too Big – Link here

The End of the U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance (Such as It Was) – Link here

Tesla Knows When a Crash Is Your Fault, and Other Carmakers Soon Will, Too – Link here

Make The Neanderthals Great Again! – Link here

Explaining Investing In Ways That Make Sense – Link here

Weekend Relax - HBO’s Silicon Valley makes for good fun watch. If you follow tech, Silicon Valley and are little bit familiar with Silicon Valley culture you would be hooked on it in no time. If you are not than you would be more inquisitive to know more.  Here is article that gives you idea of which real life persona has inspired characters – Link here

Read, Learn, Improve - 11-Jun-16

Mary Meeker one of the partners at renowned Silicon Valley venture-capital fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byer delivered her annual Internet Trends, Link here for her complete presentation (200+ slides). Below are the key pointers that I could spot

• Global internet user stands @3bn and is growing at 9% YoY, excluding india growth stands at 7% YoY


• India has 2nd largest of internet user with 277mn, after China, US drops to 3rd.


• India's internet user grew by 40% YoY vs 33% YoY


• Global Smartphone user growth stands at 21%YoY vs 31% YoY


• China's Gross Capital formation in last 6 years is higher than in previous 30 years (in numbers 2010-15 - US$21Tr, 1980-2009 - US$20Tr)


• World population growth rate is slowing to 1.2% vs 2% in 1975


• People shared 3bn photos in 2015 vs 2bn in 2014 and ~250mn in 2010


• In Thailand people shop online through instagram ( a primarily photo sharing app)


• Average global smartphone users has 33 apps of which one uses 12 daily, of which 3 actually take up 80% of time (4hrs) (3 apps are FB, WhatsApp & Chrome)


• As speech recognition accuracy goes from 95% to 99% it would be game changer (currently it stands around 90%)


• Google self-driving car project has driven more than 1.5mn miles, while Tesla customers have driven 100mn miles with Autopilot active.


• Slide 134 to 160 gives insight into how tech would change Automobile (Car) industry


• Amazon has 3% market share of total retail sales in USA, while Alibaba has ~6.5% share of total china retail sales


• Netflix has revenue half that of Viacom, however its market cap is double that of Viacom


• Non-tech companies have become aggressive in acquiring tech companies


• Highlights by other website – Link here

Other Articles

We're all cyborgs living in a simulated reality': Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk makes freaky claim – Link here

Dopamine Investors – Link here

Bring On the Blockchain Future – Link here

Inside McKinsey’s private hedge fund – Link here

Software as Weaponry in a Computer-Connected World – Link here

Gaokao season: China embarks on dreaded national exams – Link here – I wonder if some day MT educare or any other such firm would provide similar services, a potential new business line.

We're beginning a massive experiment on the farm economy - The Texas cotton industry will show what happens when crop subsidies go away – Link here

New Tools Turn Manufacturing Workers Into Robo-Employees – Link here

Explaining Investing In Ways That Make Sense – Link here

It was in Jul’15 I had attended an talk by Jack Hidary (who is he) and from his talk it seemed pretty clear people are having too many apps (Tyranny of app) on their phone - The app boom is over – Link here  and sooner or later it would collapse. And Indian company came up with substitute, but as anybody knows tech industry has lowest entry barrier and typically big gets bigger Google came up with its own version killing it - How Google killed AppSurfer – Link here

Too Human (Not) to Fail – Link here

How Disney found its way back to creative success – Link here

James Randi and the Seer-Sucker Illusion - Illusion is not Forecasting – Link here

Welcome to Larry Page’s Secret Flying-Car Factories – Link here

Read, Learn, Improve - 11-Jun-16

Mary Meeker one of the renowned partners at Silicon Valley venture-capital fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byer delivered her annual Internet Trends, Link here for her complete presentation (200+ slides). Below are the key pointers that I could spot

• Global internet user stands @3bn and is growing at 9% YoY, excluding india growth stands at 7% YoY


• India has 2nd largest of internet user with 277mn, after China, US drops to 3rd.


• India's internet user grew by 40% YoY vs 33% YoY


• Global Smartphone user growth stands at 21%YoY vs 31% YoY


• China's Gross Capital formation in last 6 years is higher than in previous 30 years (in numbers 2010-15 - US$21Tr, 1980-2009 - US$20Tr)


• world population growth rate is slowing to 1.2% vs 2% in 1975


• People shared 3bn photos in 2015 vs 2bn in 2014 and ~250mn in 2010


• In Thailand people shop online through instagram ( a primarily photo sharing app)


• Average global smartphone users has 33 apps of which one uses 12 daily, of which 3 actually take up 80% of time (4hrs) (3 apps are FB, WhatsApp & Chrome)


• As speech recognition accuracy goes from 95% to 99% it would be game changer (currently it stands around 90%)


• Google self-driving car project has driven more than 1.5mn miles, while Tesla customers have driven 100mn miles with Autopilot active.


• Slide 134 to 160 gives insight into how tech would change Automobile (Car) industry


• Amazon has 3% market share of total retail sales in USA, while Alibaba has ~6.5% share of total china retail sales


• Netflix has revenue half that of Viacom, however its market cap is double that of Viacom


• Non-tech companies have become aggressive in acquiring tech companies


• Highlights by other website – Link here

Other Articles

We're all cyborgs living in a simulated reality': Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk makes freaky claim – Link here

Dopamine Investors – Link here

Bring On the Blockchain Future – Link here

Inside McKinsey’s private hedge fund – Link here

Software as Weaponry in a Computer-Connected World – Link here

Gaokao season: China embarks on dreaded national exams – Link here – I wonder if some day MT educare or any other such firm would provide similar services, a potential new business line.

We're beginning a massive experiment on the farm economy - The Texas cotton industry will show what happens when crop subsidies go away – Link here

New Tools Turn Manufacturing Workers Into Robo-Employees – Link here

Explaining Investing In Ways That Make Sense – Link here

It was in Jul’15 I had attended an talk by Jack Hidary (who is he) and from his talk it seemed pretty clear people are having too many apps (Tyranny of app) on their phone - The app boom is over – Link here  and sooner or later it would collapse. And Indian company came up with substitute, but as anybody knows tech industry has lowest entry barrier and typically big gets bigger Google came up with its own version killing it - How Google killed AppSurfer – Link here

Too Human (Not) to Fail – Link here

How Disney found its way back to creative success – Link here

James Randi and the Seer-Sucker Illusion - Illusion is not Forecasting – Link here

Welcome to Larry Page’s Secret Flying-Car Factories – Link here

Read, Learn, Improve – 4-Jun-16

The Untold Story behind Saudi Arabia’s 41-Year U.S. Debt Secret – Link here

(Hence forth many corporates before going for M&A would wonder if their valuation would be overturned by courts and higher payout would follow) Michael Dell Bought His Company Too Cheaply – Link here

The Internet Economy – Link here

The Future of Banking Is in China – Link here

Here is all that you need to know about the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) – Link here

Doctors Test Tools to Predict Your Odds of a Disease – Link here

The curse of culture – Link here

The Remarkable Iscar Story – Link here

Gold & gold industry primer (This is too long - 135 pgs to be precise, but if you are looking at researching gold, this is a good place to start) – Link here

How Advertisers Convinced Americans They Smelled Bad - A schoolgirl and a former traveling Bible salesman helped turn deodorants and antiperspirants from niche toiletries into an $18 billion industry – Link here

Y Combinator is running a basic income experiment with 100 Oakland families – Link here

How well does the post-recession world scale? – Link here

Finding the Killer App for Graphene – Link here

In the 16th Century, the Best Office Decor was a Tiny Rotting Corpse – Link here

Pursuing the Right Goals – Link here

(Visual Data) Alpha female fund managers – Link here

(Visual Data) The Shift to a Cashless Society is Snowballing – Link here

Dog Intelligence and What It Can Tell Us about Our Own Intelligence – Link here

What happens when Meenakshi from Manamdurai beats a pot 3,000 times – Link here

Weekend Recommendation – I watched Zootopia last weekend, if you are a fan of animation definitely watch it. Film shows how politics is played just like politician across the world often do it. It kind of also touches area of racism, gender & caste bias in very unique way.

Joke on Technical Analysis

I got this forward on WhatsApp and couldn't resist sharing with all

Author Burton Malkiel has made fun of chartists by comparing their profession with having sex: “Like a Don Juan or a Casanova, the chartist has an unending series of short affairs with stocks. First there is observation, a watching of the head and shoulders, the neckline, and the shape of the bottom. Flirtation may involve some resistance or some support. As involvement increases, congestion builds. There may be penetration of old tops, or a violation of former lows. These give way to mounting excitement and then climax, followed by the warm afterglow of profit taking.”

Read, Learn, Improve - 28-May-16

If there is something that really fascinates human being is Forecasting or knowing what future would be. Since times immemorial we have always believe that there is someone out there who knows what will happen tomorrow. This is especially true in investing industry. We always like to know which company is gone do well or bad, which industry is gone be future darling of investor, or simpler terms next quarterly/yearly earnings. I remember watching Minority Report and thinking if we can’t predict future of everything that’s fine at least let’s have ability to forecast calamity/crimes etc all the bad things that harm people - to avoid the same. And looks somebody thought same and tried to come up with algorithm to predict individual risk of committing a crime and guess what???  It’s biased against certain race, read more about it here - Machine Bias - There’s software used across the country to predict future criminals. And it’s biased against blacks – Link here

There has never been a country that should have been so rich but ended up this poor – Link here

The empty brain - Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer – Link here

How the West (and the Rest) Got Rich - The Great Enrichment of the past two centuries has one primary source: the liberation of ordinary people to pursue their dreams of economic betterment – Link here

This cartoon explains how the rich got rich and the poor got poor – Link here

Meet the private company that has changed the face of the world – Link here

How to Fail Well - The Amazon way – Link Here (best quote from the article "If you think that's a big failure, we're working on much bigger failures right now. I am not kidding. Some of them are going to make the Fire Phone look like a tiny little blip." – Jeff Bezos on Failure of Fire Phone)

The inside story of Facebook’s biggest setback – Link here

Something’s cooking in Apple’s India business – Link here

Why TIL's proposal to hive off its Caterpillar business is anti-shareholder – Link here

The Benz and the Banjara - Tractor loans at 15.9 per cent trapped Aurangabad farmers like Hirabai in debt. But Mercedes Benz loans there were going for 7 per cent at the same time. Yet, sales of both were seen as rural progress – Link here

Tech Fuels the Winner-Take-All Economy – Link here

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Guide to Trading on Inside Information – Link here

A billion prices can’t be wrong - ‘A “big data” approach to inflation is helping us understand the fundamental question of why recessions happen’ – Link here