The Physics of Baseball
At any instant, one side of the ball will be moving in the same direction as the air and the other side will be moving against the air. The side of the ball moving in the same direction as the air will have a region of air at higher velocity, and therefore less pressure (Bernoulli’s […]
Zeynep Tufekci on COVID Mutations
Zeynep Tufekci has a great piece in the Atlantic about the COVID-19 mutation first documented in the United Kingdom. Like I her, I discounted the initial news because viruses mutate and there have been many “doomsaying headlines” in the last year related to virus mutation. To understand the difference between exponential and linear risks, consider […]
Battling Zoom Fatigue
Advice for battling Zoom fatigue from business psychologist Stuart Duff, a partner at Pearn Kandola Mr Duff says that companies should try to make video meetings less structured, and that more time should be built in for allowing informal chit-chat. When it does come down to formal meetings by video, he helps his clients to […]
Might Tech Companies Become Nonprofits?
Given the early mission of the internet to democratize information, it’s somewhat surprising that we don’t see more nonprofits operating in the tech space. Wikipedia is the strongest example of what that model might look like. In New York, The Driver Cooperative (TDC), is trying to launch a ridesharing app that would get closer to […]
The Future of On Demand Retail
We’ve seen how Ghost Kitchens have started to change the face of restaurants. Ghost Kitchens are essentially restaurants with no physical space for customers which means they are delivery-only restaurants. And in fact, some Ghost Kitchens will actually support multiple online-only restaurants from the same location. The economics of Ghost Kitchens are very different than […]
The Competitive World of Bird Watching
…anyone can view rankings of the top eBirders in different hot spots, counties, states, and entire countries. You can even peruse a list of the top 100 eBirders in the world. These types of competitive lists have birthed trends like endless Big Years, in which birders constantly compete to see who can spot the most species in a year. […]
Reid Hoffman’s Airbnb Reflections
Reid Hoffman posted some reflections on Greylock’s investment in Airbnb. Reid is a wonderful writer and his post is provides a wonderful narrative on how the investment came about. The part that caught me was this: Part of the reason that Blitzscaling opens with the Airbnb story is that it demonstrates how when you win a winner-take-most […]
Facebook’s Antitrust Woes
Tim Wu is out with a few things press keeps getting wrong about the Facebook antitrust case. Tim’s second point is most insights. The government doesn’t have a duty to prove that Instagram or WhatsApp, absent the merger, would have become significant competitors. Too many journalists have been falling for this assertion — and reporting […]
COVID and New Product Introduction
In March I wrote about the impact COVID was going to have on new product introduction (NPI). Google delayed the release of its new Pixel smartphone by several months. The newest iPhone line-up was a month later this year. And last week Ford announced they would be delaying next year’s Bronco launch. So even some […]
Growing Unemployment Across States
Roughly one in ten workers have filed for unemployment in the last three weeks. Here’s a look at estimated unemployment by state: Three states might have unemployment rates over 20% right now: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. 15 states (and the District of Columbia) likely have unemployment rates over 15%: Alaska, California, District of Columbia, […]
