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Thursday, July 20

Things from my Newsblur Reader; 2017 Part II

OM is back!!! Yes indeed - after a short hiatus while he changed jobs and the OM family moved apartments, Our Man has returned.   And what better way to ease back into this blog than providing a short run down on some of the things he’s been reading. 

First gene therapy — ‘a true living drug’ — on the cusp of FDA approval 
In this age of Brexit, Trump, North Korea, Russia et al, it’s easy to forget that things like this – an FDA panel approving a first gene therapy drug and opening whole new genre of medicine – are likely to be looked back upon as biggest news from Summer 2017!  (Washington Post, Laurie McGinley)
 
Amazon’s New Customer 
Why did Amazon buy Whole Foods?   To buy a new customer, of course.  I think Ben Thompson nails it with this explanation, which also helps you think about Amazon’s retail business as a customer of its real businesses (AWS and Fulfillment centres/logistics).  Think of things in this manner and and the Whole Foods deal makes a lot more sense!  Oh, and you can see why AWS is the best business in the world – just a little toll on the internet.   (Stratchery, Ben Thompson) 

The secret origin story of the iPhone 
It’s hard to believe that the iPhone has been around 10 years.  This excerpt from Brian Merchant’s book gives an oral history and some context behind the work (and secrecy) that went into creating it.   
Spoiler alert: both the work and the secrecy were crazy!   (An excerpt from “The One Device” in The Verge, Brian Merchant) 

The Economy-Changing Power of the LED bulb 
One of OM’s first investment theses at his post-MBA job was centred on LEDs, their likely increasing prevalence and that meant for energy usage.  Some 7-years later, it’s nice to check back in on the thesis and see that the impact has even more impressive than OM’s thesis.   
Spoiler alert: “For all the attention given rooftop solar as environmental boon, new age investment and regulatory flashpoint, the LED bulb is three times more significant.” (Bloomberg, Justin Fox) 

AI versus MD 
A fascinating look at how computers are learning to try and spot patterns in medical scans and the difficulties (and successes) that they’re having.  Like many areas where deep learning, and big data, are being used it’s likely to change the nature of numerous jobs in the future.  (The New Yorker, Siddhartha Mukherjee)

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