Sports media is often about big stars, big tournaments, and big moments. And the big media often ignores those who toil in anonymity. And perhaps that is why I get great joy in seeing someone who plays a game for the love of the game and then get recognized for it. I absolutely loved reading the story of a G. Periyaswamy, a part-time welder/weaver from a village in Southern India, who lit up the Tamil Nadu T20 cricket league on fire with his fast bowling (pitching for my American friends) and never-say-die spirit. He was half-blinded by smallpox as a child. He was stricken with typhoid. He had knee problems. And his family didn’t have money. And yet here he is – knocking on the door of the big time. Yes, that is why we love sports, because it is about beating the long odds. [ESPN Cricinfo]
What to read this weekend
A bizarre tale of a tech bro, doomsday bunker and a dead body. It is one of the strangest stories you will read — and no, it is not fiction. [Washingtonian] The daily habits of a latter day dictator. No, not the one from North Korea. We’re talking about Vladimir Putin here. [Newsweek] The curious … Continue reading What to read this weekend
Snap & Climate Change: Is there a link?
Snapchat announced that in 2018 an average of 3 billion snaps were sent every day. A single snap produces 0.1g of CO2 meaning that in just 24 hours Snapchat generates the carbon equivalent of 1 car driving for 54 years. This is, of course, microscopic in comparison to carbon emissions generated by the aviation industry or agriculture – but it’s not nothing. Joe Hearty, R/GA London Experience Design Director argues that we have underestimated the impact of digital on climate change and it is only going to increase. Check.
A new (tech) front in US-China Trade war?
“Firms such as Huawei, Tencent, ZTE, Alibaba, and Baidu have no meaningful ability to tell the Chinese Communist Party “no” if officials decide to ask for their assistance,” said Christopher Ashley Ford, assistant secretary in the State Department’s bureau of international security and nonproliferation. His speech is another shot across the bow in the US-China trade war. What I am surprised is that there is no mention of DJI, which just might be the biggest eye in the sky for China. The Information has the analysis, but the speech transcript removes all ambiguity about how US is thinking about Chinese technology.
Remember the original Square Card Reader that would plug into iPhone’s headphone jack? This is how it worked and what has happened to it since.
The Jony Triptych
Sir Jony Ive might be leaving Apple, but he can’t get over his creation, the Apple Watch. Here are three photos of him showing the watch to others at the Apple Event earlier this week. Also, I recommend reading this wonderful interview of Ive by Ben Clymer, founder of watch and luxury lifestyle publisher, Hodinkee. … Continue reading The Jony Triptych
My partner at True Ventures, Adam D’Augelli shares True’s journey into what is generically known as “computational biology” and “health 2.0.” And like everything else, it starts with the founders and our founder network guiding us to the future. This should give you an insight into how we at True think about opportunities and founders. our firm.
“It just ushered in something we take for granted now, which is online gaming, online communities, games as a service, games that you can’t finish because the content keeps coming,” says Peter Moore, former president and COO of Sega of America, “It was groundbreaking, but I think we broke the ground for somebody else.” Sega’s Dreamcast was a trailblazer and it died mere 16 months after it was released into the world. This is its story.
Space is running out of space ;-)
Humans have put 8,378 objects put into space since the first Sputnik in 1957 and at the beginning of 2019 4,987 satellites were still up there, and 1957 are operational. From 1964to 2012 roughly 131 satellites were launched every year. In 2017 453 satellites were launched in space. In 2018, the number fell to 382. But 5200 are planned over the next four years and another 9,300 thereafter. That’s 15,000 satellites. First, wow…. how far have we come where the cost of launching a bird is so cheap now. Secondly, the unintended consequences of these many birds are going to be pretty substabtial. No one should be surprised if some complications develop overhead and cause problems down on the planet.
Tesla’s SolarCity gamble has gone wrong
“If he hadn’t bailed out SolarCity, his whole debt-laden empire might have cracked. Yet without the bailout, Tesla would be far more healthy….In the second quarter of this year, SolarCity installed only 29 megawatts of solar panels—far below the 10,000 megawatts in annual installations that Musk had promised.”
Vanity Fair
Bethany Mclean who made her name writing about Enron long before others is explaining the challenge faced by Tesla and Elon Musk due to the 2016 SolarCity acquisition. The much ballyhooed Solar Roof is a flop, and the whole thing seems to be coming apart at seams. Worth a read from a reporter, who has a habit of finding big stories before others.