Articles, Streams, and Books - March 10
Things catching our attention we think you might enjoy. Carry on!
7 Weekend Reads
What We’re Streaming
The Reading List
7 Weekend Reads
Elon Musk’s X is launching a YouTube clone for smart TVs, starting with Amazon and Samsung, in its bid to pivot to video
“In a bid to compete with YouTube and recast itself as a video platform, Elon Musk’s X is launching a television app for Amazon and Samsung smart TVs, a source at the company told Fortune. The company plans to launch the app next week, and a source says it looks “identical” to YouTube’s TV app.” Read more here
OpenAI, Google, Meta or Anthropic? A Guide to the Best AI for Your Business
“… I canvassed executives, engineers and researchers who are knee-deep in the process of applying the world’s most powerful AIs to real world problems, to find out what they have learned. Their answers surprised me. There was plenty of practical advice about the relative strengths and weaknesses of AIs from Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. But the overall message was that the best AI for any task depends on both the user and the task. Their insights also offer a glimpse of where the entire field of AI is going.” Read more here
Meet ChatGPT's sister, Sora: A text-to-video AI that turns you into Spielberg with a sentence
“While companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google strive to turn today's AI into the the digital assistants of tomorrow, other companies have embraced the generative capabilities of AI to create tools that allow users of all skill levels to unique works of art in seconds. From Midjourney's image creation to Meta's MusicGen audio jams, there's an AI out there that can create just about anything on your behalf. The latest of which to cause a stir is Sora, an generative AI from ChatGPT and Dall.E 3 creators OpenAI that creates high-quality, realistic videos from text prompts with results so good, you'd have to see them to believe them.” Read more here
Brain-boosting substances are all the rage
“A film from 2011 entitled “Limitless” is often credited with driving an uptick in interest in products that improve focus or enhance memory. It depicts a struggling writer whose life is transformed by a smart pill. More recently the real-life version of nootropic supplements, as such boosters are called, have received celebrity endorsements. Bella Hadid, a supermodel, is behind Kin Euphorics, a brand which offers consumers the chance to “achieve an elevated state of health, mood or well-being”. Joe Rogan, the alpha-male host of the world’s most popular podcast, endorses “Alpha Brain”, which, he says, “seems to fire up” that organ.” Read more here
The Youths Have Spoken: Wallets Are Uncool. Go Digital.
“Younger people are increasingly using their phones for purposes that older adults would use a traditional wallet for, like carrying documents such as a driver’s license, boarding passes and event tickets. Some of these digital items can be added into the Apple and Google wallet apps, while others, like insurance cards, can be downloaded through third-party apps. The shift in behavior is a reflection of how far mobile wallets have come.” Read more here
The Battle to Unseat the Aeron, the World’s Most Coveted Office Chair
“Today, an Aeron rolls off the manufacturing line in Holland, Michigan, every 30 seconds, and more than 9 million have been sold to date. It’s also become the white whale of rival office-furniture makers who’ve been chasing it for three decades. That’s because high-end “task chairs,” as the industry refers to them, are the profit engines of the $21 billion office-furniture market.” Read more here
What’s Ozempic doing to our brains?
“We cannot live without wants, yet we cannot be overcome with them. The solution that has eluded researchers for a long while is a trick to help people reset the balance. A trick that turns down the dial of desire enough to be effective, but not too much, preserving our motivation to find joy in the world. And one that could work for a wide array of issues, including substance use disorders and overeating. Scientists are starting to see the potential for GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic to pull off this trick.” Read more here
What We’re Streaming
The Reading List
Nothing new this week as we’ve got a few books to finish chewing through, but don’t fret we’ll have a fresh recommendation for you next week!
Fans First: Change The Game, Break the Rules & Create an Unforgettable Experience Paperback by Jesse Cole
Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky
Don’t be a stranger
Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed below.
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.
EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansions.
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.
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.