<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Inspired by Tom Whitell’s annual learning list, this is a tl;dr version of my learnings across a range of personal and professional interests.

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1. tl;dr: The internet is fragile, and difficult to keep free and accessible.

• Egypt is a chokepoint in internet traffic between Asia, Europe and Africa. Just about all information sent from Asia to Europe flows through 11 fibre-optic cables at the bottom of the Red Sea, then mostly through Egypt via land cables controlled by one company, Telecom Egypt, before reaching the Mediterranean.

• Who owns the internet?

  • US and China. China’s has a “digital silk road” strategy: low cost infra build outs in asian countries + contributing to technical standards, and data sovereignty laws
  • Long $GOOG, $MSFT, $META

  

• India, the largest democracy, leads the record for most internet shutdowns.

[https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2024-02-03]

2. tl;dr: Every list needs an AI takeaway

• Anguilla owns the .ai domain. Purchases account for 10% of the country’s GDP. [https://www.luxcapital.com/content/the-closing-door-to-global-tech-riches]

• Asia is leading the way in Deepfake adoption.

  • Porn is the most common use case in Korea. Teenagers using it for bullying.
  • Fraud is the most common use case in Hong kong and Singapore:

  [https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-deepfake-porn-women-df98e1a6793a245ac14afe8ec2366101]

• Recommendation engine for Taliban attacks: US military built AI to predict where Taliban attacks will take place.

  • How it works: Before attacks, optical satellites observe towns dimming at night, except for areas linked to past enemy activity, which brighten. SAR satellites detect increased vehicle movement through metallic reflections, while other satellites notice higher carbon dioxide levels for unclear reasons.

  [https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/07/31/how-america-built-an-ai-tool-to-predict-taliban-attacks]

3. tl;dr: Taco bell has the speediest drive-thrus.

How fast is Fast Food:

• Taco Bell has the speediest drive-thrus. 4 and a half minutes on average
• McDonalds keeps its customers waiting almost seven minutes on average
• Chick-fil-A is the slowest, but most accurate, at 7 mins and 15 seconds on average.

[https://sherwood.news/business/taco-bells-drive-thru-is-really-quick-but-often-wrong/]

4. tl;dr: Sweetgreen loses about $2.50 on every $15 salad it sells.

• Half the costs go to ingredients and packaging and labor. They are trying to sell more steak and introduce more robots to help.

[https://sherwood.news/business/the-economics-of-a-usd15-sweetgreen-salad/]

5. tl;dr: Hermes’ distinct orange color box was only introduced in the 1940s. Wartime shortages in their cream boxes forced Hermes to use the only boxes that were available.