Will's Weekly Roundup

Nov 27th - Dec 3rd

Will Sullivan
December 04, 2023

Will's Weekly Roundup is a curated list of tech, business, and startup headlines from last week to kickstart your Monday.

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Business

The business headlines you missed (or need to see again)...

Black Friday shoppers spent on average $321.41 on holiday-related purchases last weekend. LINK

Mark Cuban is leaving Shark Tank and is also selling his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks. LINK

Charlie Munger, investing genius and Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, died at age 99. LINK

Uber, once banned in London, is now on track to list 15,000 of the city’s iconic black cabs in its app. LINK

U.S. Whiskey is "collateral damage" in the trans-Atlantic trade fight. LINK

The US is producing a record 13.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. LINK

DoorDash is collaborating with Best Buy on an on-demand tech delivery service. LINK

Blackstone is eyeing real estate deals in Europe. LINK

The NFL Black Friday game is predicted to be more valuable to advertisers than the Super Bowl. LINK

Tech

The tech headlines you missed (or need to see again)...

The Pentagon is moving toward letting AI weapons autonomously decide to kill humans. LINK

Flying taxi company Lilium received EU regulatory approval to manufacture and operate its vehicles. LINK

Virgin Atlantic launched the first-ever transatlantic flight from London to New York powered entirely by sustainable fuel (a mix of cooking oil and biomass). LINK

Apple has a secret team in Paris trying to hack into the iPhone. LINK

Defense-tech startup Anduril has unveiled a new mini fighter jet called "Roadrunner," which can autonomously take off, land, and blow up enemy drones. LINK

Clear, the airport security fast-pass company, is helping to verify LinkedIn’s users. LINK

600k cybersecurity jobs are unfilled in the U.S. LINK

TikTok’s CEO faced questions regarding the prevalence of pro-Palestine content on the platform. LINK

Watchlist

Startups and companies I’m keeping an eye on…

Coffee Closers helps you find cash-flowing real estate in up-and-coming areas. LINK

Zest is a Duolingo-like app that teaches you how to cook. LINK

ZeroAvia creates hydrogen-electric engines for zero-emission flight. LINK

Sono Motors is putting solar panels on trucks, buses, and other 3rd party vehicles. LINK

1nhaler is creating the most convenient single-dose disposable inhaler. LINK

WeRoad organizes adventurous group trips for 15 people or less. LINK

PaySend, backed by MasterCard, lets you send money online to over 170 countries around the world for only $2. LINK

Acctual created the smartest way to pay bills in crypto. LINK

EditGPT makes proofreading and editing content easier and more efficient. LINK

Outside Interests

Interesting internet finds…

Taylor Swift was Spotify’s most streamed artist of 2023. LINK

Chick-fil-A is revamping its drive-thru strategy with a 4-lane prototype restaurant, an elevated kitchen, and conveyors that send food to chicken valets. LINK

Uber is finally launching in Ibiza. LINK

Google receives over 99,000 searches every second. LINK

Formula 1 is opening a go-karting facility. LINK

The Sphere in Las Vegas will turn into an enormous pizza. LINK

Thanksgiving Sunday was the busiest day for US airports in history, with the TSA screening over 2.9 million passengers over the holiday weekend. LINK

Harvard, Penn, and MIT’s presidents have been called before Congress to address antisemitism on their campuses. LINK

The world’s largest iceberg, roughly 3x the size of New York City, is on the move for the first time in over 3 decades. LINK

Verification Codes for 2-factor authentication can be sent to your Mac automatically. LINK

The shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world takes 1.5 minutes. LINK