Links of the Week
Startups - Elad Gil talks about defensibility for startups, especially in the context of ChatGPT-wrapper companies. Short answer: focus on users.
AI - Is prompt engineering a real job that will last? Or is it a skill more like Googling? This Washington Post article examines the question in detail. (Link)
Proponents of the growing field argue that the early weirdness of AI chatbots, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing Chat, is actually a failure of the human imagination — a problem that can be solved by the human giving the machine the right advice. And at advanced levels, the engineers’ dialogues play out like intricate logic puzzles: twisting narratives of requests and responses, all driving toward a single goal.
Travel - On the enduring Western influences in Afghanistan even after the Taliban takeover. (Link)
On most issues, in fact, Taliban governance has had a much lighter touch than most imagined. In the bookstores of Kabul, at least, one can still find books by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama; contraception and tobacco are available, and the Taliban has yet to regulate internet access like other Islamic governments. One can find gyms and restaurants that play Western music, sometimes with young Taliban guards as cautious patrons. Every woman wears a veil of some kind—as was the case before the Taliban took over—but the blue burqas so associated with Taliban rule in the West are worn by only a minority of women. Almost every man in Kabul has a beard, but the Taliban do not bat an eye at the clean-shaven.
Business - A gripping Guardian profile of London’s most successful real estate agent, Gary Hersham. Highly recommended! (Link)
As he swerved from conversation to conversation, Hersham modulated his tone accordingly: from soothing compliments to bawling out an underling. He did this instinctively, it seemed, his personality as volatile as the job required, and indivisible from it. The work was the conversation. “Was it a good price or not?! Just a simple yes or no!” Next call: “Believe you me, I know it was the best apartment I’ve ever seen.” Next call: “You’ve got us into serious trouble because you left a door open!”
Finance - Gripping account of massive fraud at Wirecard. Astonishing stuff. (Link)
The company eventually earned the confidence of Germany’s political and financial élite, who considered it Europe’s answer to PayPal. When Wirecard wanted to acquire a Chinese company, Chancellor Angela Merkel personally took up the matter with President Xi Jinping.
Then, on June 18, 2020, Wirecard announced that nearly two billion euros was missing from the company’s accounts. The sum amounted to all the profits that Wirecard had ever reported as a public company. There were only two possibilities: the money had been stolen, or it had never existed.
Technology - Matthew Ball has consistently produced some of the best writing on AR/VR and the Metaverse. Here, he provides a realistic picture of AR/VR timelines. With Apple soon to release its AR/VR device (reportedly), this is a timely read. (Link)
A simple starting point is weight. Any XR device that aspires for regular use or long session times needs to be lightweight. There is broad consensus that the tolerable range for a VR/MR headset is about 300–700 grams, depending on purpose (consumer v. enterprise) and ideal session length (you’re more likely to play for three hours with 300 grams on your head than 700). So a VR device needs to be roughly 90% lighter than a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, 60% lighter than a Nintendo Wii, and a bit smaller than the Nintendo Switch. AR glasses have to be even lighter.
Music - Why does Sweden punch above its weight on the global music scene?
If you rank songwriters by the number of Billboard no 1 hits they have penned, Paul McCartney and John Lennon have been leagues ahead of the competition for more than fifty years. This is not true anymore. If Max Martin keeps up the streak he has had for the last 25 years, he will overtake Lennon this year and McCartney in a handful more.
And as incredible as this achievement is, Max Martin is just a part of a larger phenomenon: the so called Swedish music miracle.
Happy reading!