Articles, Streams, and Books
February 4, 2024
7 Weekend Reads
What We’re Streaming
The Reading List
7 Weekend Reads
The Money and Drugs That Tie Elon Musk to Some Tesla Directors
“At the upscale Austin Proper Hotel, Musk has attended social gatherings in recent years with Tesla board member Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder and a friend of his, where Musk took ketamine recreationally through a nasal spray bottle multiple times, according to people familiar with the drug use and the parties. Other directors, Gracias, Jurvetson and Kimbal Musk, have consumed drugs with him, according to people who have witnessed the drug use and others with knowledge of it.” Read more here
Why Tim Cook Is Going All In on the Apple Vision Pro
“I think it’s not evolutionary; it’s revolutionary,” Cameron said to me when I told him about my experience. “And I’m speaking as someone who has worked in VR for 18 years.” He explained that the reason it looks so real is because the Apple Vision Pro is writing a 4K image into my eyes. “That’s the equivalent of the resolution of a 75-inch TV into each of your eyeballs—23 million pixels.” To put that into perspective, the average 4K television has around 8 million pixels. Apple engineers didn’t slice off a rectangle from the corner of a 4K display and put it in the Apple Vision Pro. They somehow compressed twice as many pixels into a space as small as your eyeball. This, to people like Cameron who have been working in this space for two decades, “solves every problem.” Read more here
Why the + Is Everywhere
“Tech companies have lately demonstrated the challenge of finding the right words when naming new products. Consider Google—the company’s AI models are named Gemini Ultra, Gemini Nano, and Gemini Pro. As Casey Newton said recently on the podcast Hard Fork, “The fact that we’re living in a world where there is something called Google Assistant with Bard, powered by Gemini Pro, does make me want to lie down.” Google has its own fraught history with the plus: The company struggled for years to make its social-media site Google+, sometimes called G+, catch on… One appeal of the plus sign is that there’s not much there to mock.” Read more here
The End of the Social Network
“The weird magic of online social networks was to combine personal interactions with mass communication. Now this amalgam is splitting in two again. Status updates from friends have given way to videos from strangers that resemble a hyperactive tv. Public posting is increasingly migrating to closed groups, rather like email. What Mr Zuckerberg calls the digital “town square” is being rebuilt—and posing problems. This matters, because social media are how people experience the internet. Facebook itself counts more than 3bn users. Social apps take up nearly half of mobile screen time, which in turn consumes more than a quarter of waking hours.” Read more here
The Hottest New Bedtime for 20-Somethings Is 9 p.m
“Today’s 18-to-35-year-olds say they understand the link between sleep and health better than people once did, with many seeing the long- and short-term benefits of more shut-eye. Younger people also say they take comfort in seizing control over their bedtime routines, finding solace in saying no to even a late-night dinner. Businesses have adjusted in turn, with bars adding matinee dance parties and other daytime events.” Read more here
The dream of cheap, ad-free streaming TV is dead
“Most major streaming apps have embraced ads as another way to make money … It’s not only streaming. Ads are making a comeback in other tech products that didn’t start out that way. Uber is using its app to show ads to people waiting for or riding in its cars. TikTok’s launch of TikTok Shop has given the app a mall-like feeling with a tab dedicated to selling random goods and videos of people selling things themselves, with worrying results. Even Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant includes ads.” Read more here
6 Questions to Ask at the Midpoint of Your Career
The demands of work, home, and other commitments can leave little room for introspection. But finding the time and mental space to look back on your career and reassess is worthwhile, says Ebony Joyce, founder of Next Level Career Services, which provides coaching for mid-level professionals. “It gives you perspective to chart the shape and direction of your future,” she says. Here are six questions that Conley and Joyce suggest asking as you take stock of your career in midlife.” Read more here
What We’re Streaming
The Reading List
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant
“Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn… Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe all our thoughts or internalize all our emotions. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility, humility, and curiosity over consistency.”
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
“Chip War shows that to make sense of the current state of politics, economics, and technology, we must first understand the vital role played by chips.”
Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets Hardcover by Jeff Horwitz
The strategies behind our Thematic Models:
Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.
Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.
CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.
Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.
Consumer Inflation Fighters - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.
Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.
Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity -The buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment.
Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.
EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.
Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.
Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.
Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.
Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.
Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.
Precision Ag & Agri Science – Companies that look to address shrinking arable land by helping maximize crop yields utilizing technology, science, or both.
Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.
Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.
Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.
The strategies behind our Dividend Income Models:
Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name says – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.
ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.
ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.