From the blog of OpenFinance: “A digitally formatted security is a digital representation of a private and non-listed security.” | learn more
Four Loko teases a White Claw rival with 3x the booze
If you haven’t noticed, hard seltzer (led by White Claw) is the drink of summer 2019. “Four Loko appears to be entering the battle to become the drink of choice for the modern ‘bro’ with a new hard seltzer.” | learn more
Illinois study finds optimists sleep better
“Results from this study revealed significant associations between optimism and various characteristics of self-reported sleep after adjusting for a wide array of variables, including socio-demographic characteristics, health conditions and depressive symptoms,” Hernandez said. | learn more
A short selfie can now measure your blood pressure
“A new technology, called transdermal optical imaging, can turn your smartphone into a device that can measure your blood pressure by analyzing a short video of your face. The University of Toronto-led research has demonstrated the system is 95 percent accurate and an app is already in development.” | learn more
Shady(ish) tactics that shopping sites use to get your money
You’ve seen a bunch of these first-hand. Quartz sums them all up nicely with entertaining examples and animations. | learn more
A Mexican hospital, an American surgeon, and a $5k rebate check
“A novel twist on medical tourism to avoid the high cost of U.S. health care saves an employer money and even earns the patient a bonus.” I’d take this option, especially if the alternative was Chicago winter! | learn more
NerdWallet’s CEO on shifting from first-time founder to seasoned exec
“Tim Chen reflects on the arc of his journey as founder after more than a decade of company building. He shares the six mindset shifts he needed to make to transition from entrepreneur to executive as his startup scaled, weaving together a collection of lessons that will be invaluable for any founder finding themselves at this very same crossroads.” | learn more
Principles of shaping
The fine folks at Basecamp have released a manual that teaches the world how they work. This page covers a topic they call shaping. It’s supremely interesting and especially relevant if you manage digital products, though I think it’s great even if you don’t. “When we shape the work, we need to do it at the right level of abstraction: not too vague and not too concrete. Product managers often err on one of these two extremes.” | learn more
Some AI leaders think we need an FDA-equivalent to regulate algorithms
“Imagine a couple of caffeine-addled biochemistry majors late at night in their dorm kitchen cooking up a new medicine that proves remarkably effective at soothing colds but inadvertently causes permanent behavioral changes.” | learn more
Boston saved $5M annually routing school buses with an algorithm
Before that, they were using a team of 10 human route planners. Interestingly, no jobs were lost during the transition. | learn more