thoughts of food
Blue Apron goes from $2bn to $120mm in 2 years
“What happened and what can we learn?” A series of tweets by strategic finance consultant Adam Keesling. | learn more
under the microscope
DARPA wants to remove hallucinations from hallucinogens
They acknowledge that agents like psilocybin can be really useful, but wish they could use them without the pesky “deleterious neurological effects.“ | learn more
to your health
Google says its AI detects 26 skin conditions as accurately as dermatologists
“…[W]hen the system was compared against … dermatologists, primary care physicians, and nurse practitioners … the team reports that its top three predictions demonstrated a top-3 diagnostic accuracy of 90%, or comparable to dermatologists (75%) and “substantially higher” than primary […]
under the microscope
Truths about CBD from a cannabis researcher
“CBD is being hailed as a cure-all, but what does it do? Jeffrey Chen, executive director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, explains.” | learn more
to your health
Why chess grandmasters lose weight playing chess
“You wouldn’t think that chess players, who sit for hours on end and extend their arms only from time to time, would struggle with weight loss. But they do. Inside the very real, very bizarre metabolic phenomenon gripping chess.” | learn more
better doing
Your life in weeks
This is an old post from Tim Urban at Wait But Why, and I don’t think I’ve shared it before. It’s an amazing reminder of how short life can be, and therefore a timely reminder to appreciate life now. | learn more
tech, startups, internet
Disposable $100 IoT satellites could swarm Earth’s orbit
“The test satellites, essentially just sensors, were deployed in a batch in March. They captured data, communicated with one another, and then after a couple of days in orbit, as was planned, burned up as they reentered the atmosphere.” | learn more
tech, startups, internet
Synthetic media, and why it will matter
Last year, betaworks had a discussion session about so-called Synthetic media, “… the term we use at betaworks to describe algorithmically created or modified media — the nefarious version of this are deepfakes.” The write-up is interesting, as is the […]
tech, startups, internet
What is a tech company?
Ben Thompson of Stratechery takes us on a tour of tech companies over the decades to build a framework to classify whether a company fits the description. His framework is a great one (IMHO). Then he applies it to WeWork […]
oh, chicago
What CTA workers know
“Train operators, bus drivers, and station agents are the heart of Chicago’s circulatory system. Seeing the city through their eyes reveals us at our best and our worst.” | learn more