- Will's Weekly Roundup
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- Will's Weekly Roundup
"Be stubborn on vision, but flexible on details."
— Jeff Bezos
Top stories this week:
Capital One will buy Discover for $35B, 2024's largest deal so far.
Nvidia had the largest one-day gain ever last Thursday (+$272B).
Reddit will license its data to Google for AI for $60M/year.
NASA wants volunteers to live in a Mars habitat simulation for a year.
Business
Headlines you missed (or need to see again)...
Boeing will replace the head of its 737 Max program.
Rivian stock is down 14% as the company lays off 10%.
DraftKings bought Jackpocket, a lottery ticket app, for $750 million.
Tax evasion by the wealthy topped $150B/year.
PE payouts at major firms plummet 49% in two years.
Apple has been fined $540M for Spotify’s antitrust complaint.
VCs returned 5.6% to investors in 2023, the lowest yearly return in 14 years.
FedNow, an instant payment infrastructure for the US, is now live.
Tech
Headlines you missed (or need to see again)...
Apple sports app launched with score, stat, and betting odds tracking.
A human can control a computer mouse by thinking with a Neuralink implant.
Apple’s smart ring is going to be released sooner than expected.
Covid vaccine study of 99M people shows link to blood clots and heart inflammation.
Vision Pro’s demo-to-purchase rate is “pretty low” at 10-15%.
Apple is building a new AI coding tool for Xcode to rival Microsoft's GitHub Copilot.
Watchlist
Startups and companies I’m keeping an eye on…
Arc makes electric motor boats.
Revel is an EV ride-sharing company founded in NYC (raising $200M).
Dub is an app that makes it easy to copy trades of other investors.
TaxGPT is an AI chatbot for tax guidance and advice.
Creme provides step-by-step video recipes for home cooking.
Frvr lets you customize existing video games using AI and text prompts.
Melengo is the easiest way to create, launch, and produce new fashion products.
Oula Health is a modern maternity center providing a personalized pregnancy experience.
Wondercraft creates ads, podcasts, and audiobooks with one-click using AI.
Podcast AI generates show notes and edits podcasts using AI.
Top Picks
Specific articles and videos worth taking a look at…
The cyber warfare of the Israel-Hamas War. BLOG.GOOGLE
How Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie star founded a satellite tech company. CNBC
Bill Ackman on investing, Harvard, and DEI. LEX FRIDMAN PODCAST
Inside Google's $7B venture wing, CapitalG. TECH CRUNCH
Visuals
Three visuals worth taking a look at...
Outside Interests
Interesting internet finds…
Trump launched a sneaker line.
AT&T’s national cellular service outage cause is still unknown.
Ukraine alleges that SpaceX is letting Russia use Starlink.
Half of college grads are in jobs that don't require degrees.
Prime Hydration now outsells Gatorade at Walmart.
Argentina's poverty rate hit 57% in Jan, the highest level in 20 years.
Rice, Apple is telling people not to put their phone in rice if it gets wet.
Russia may launch an anti-satellite nuclear weapon into space this year.
NYC has a greater GDP than the entirety of Canada.
YouTube is still the leader in TV streaming with 8.6% of total TV-watching time.
Meme Cleanser
Weekly Poll
Apple is rumored to be releasing a smart health-tracking ring (like the Oura Ring) sometime in the near future. Would you buy the Apple smart ring? Click the corresponding link to record your answer.
Last Week’s Poll Results: 71% of you think someone at Lyft should be fired for letting the fat finger mistake make it into the public earnings outlook.
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Newsletter researched/written by Will Sullivan
and edited by Andrew Coath.