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.”