- Will's Weekly Roundup
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- Will's Weekly Roundup
"I haven’t been this excited about a new year since last year." - Unknown
Happy New Year! This email marks the 65th consecutive week of the newsletter. Whether this is your first read or your 65th, thank you for your support.
There are a lot of new things planned for 2024, including weekly polls and topic deep dives, so stay tuned. Also, it’s a new year, so I had to give the newsletter an updated look. I hope you like it.
Top stories this week:
Business
The business headlines you missed (or need to see again)...
Holiday spending rose 3.1% amid inflation and a strong job market. LINK
Abercrombie surged 285% in 2023, outperforming Nvidia. LINK
Prime Video will start showing ads on January 29th. LINK
Israeli tech startup funding dropped 15% YoY to $1.45 billion in Q4. LINK
Unicorn funding dropped to $78 billion in 2023, the lowest since 2016. LINK
FTX’s SBF evades 2nd trial as prosecutors drop charges. LINK
Snapchat earns 41% of its revenue from minors, followed by TikTok (35%), YouTube (27%), and Instagram (16%). LINK
Beer sales in the U.S. are at a 25-year low in 2023. LINK
Trader Joe’s has 563 stores, $16.5 billion in annual sales, and 4x sales / sq ft than Walmart/Target. LINK
Macy’s might be taken private in a $5.8 billion buyout. LINK
2023 Gains
Stock gains for select companies in 2023…
Source: Google Finance (as of Dec 30th)
Tech
The tech headlines you missed (or need to see again)...
Airbnb is using AI to stop New Year’s Eve parties. LINK
Semaglutide found to reduce heart failure beyond weight loss effects. LINK
Harry Potter continues to be used in AI research. LINK
Tesla robot caused a bloody attack at the company's Texas factory. LINK
Humane’s AI Pin will ship in March 2024. LINK
Fridges, Samsung’s new smart fridge can design recipes. LINK
Moderna’s mRNA cancer vaccine works even better than expected. LINK
Tesla clocked in the worst accident rate in the U.S. this year. LINK
New antibiotics were discovered using AI, the first in 60 years. LINK
EVs, The world’s first lithium-free sodium battery car hit the roads. LINK
Open AI will make hardware with former Apple design legend Jony Ive. LINK
Cybertruck seemed undamaged in its first reported crash, while the same can’t be for the other car. Here’s the photo. LINK
Watchlist
Startups and companies I’m keeping an eye on…
Poe makes it easy to access and share new and existing AI models. LINK
Cue offers live one-on-one math tutoring. LINK
Notarize lets you easily get documents notarized online. LINK
GummySearch helps find customers and validate products on Reddit. LINK
Jenni helps you research and write papers using AI. LINK
Perplexity helps with everyday and advanced research projects. LINK
Top Picks
Specific articles and videos worth taking a look at…
2023 in 7 minutes: a video summary by Vox. YOUTUBE
How to pick a career (that actually fits you). TIM URBAN
Amazon's $43B ad business, explained. SUBSTACK
How to ask good questions, according to an MIT professor. MIT
81 Things that blew our minds in 2023. ATLANTIC
Masculine bravado is taking over Silicon Valley. VOX
Visuals
Three visuals worth taking a look at...
Distribution of S&P Returns by Year
U.S. Electricity Generation by Major Energy Source
The Most Remarkable Al Releases of 2023
Outside Interests
Interesting internet finds…
South Korea will offer “digital nomad” visas starting Jan 1 for foreign residents to stay up to two years while maintaining a job back home. LINK
MyLens creates visual timelines with dates of any topic using AI. LINK
Red Bull’s heir is Europe's richest millennial, recently receiving a $615 million dividend payment. LINK
Houthis faced U.S airstrikes in response to Red Sea shipping attacks. LINK
Lifeguards, There’s a lifeguard shortage, and it’s been going on for a century. LINK
Raiders-Chiefs was NFL's most-watched Christmas game since 1989. LINK
New Jersey is pulling off basic income programs. LINK
Wisely is a browser extension that summarizes Amazon reviews. LINK
Human lives are now valued at $220K per year, according to a study. LINK
Area codes, North America may run out of 3-digit area codes by 2051. LINK
Harvard was founded in 1636, decades before Isaac Newton developed calculus (mid-1660s). LINK
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