CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Why TikTok Might Be A Threat To Music Key Takeaways: Viral TikTok videos have meant success for new and established artists alike. The short-form video service has earned US$12 billion (£10.5 billion) in advertising revenue in 2022. Many of its most popular videos feature music – available to use for free – through its audio library. TikTok pays the “Big Three” record labels […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE TECHNOLOGY Important Lessons From FTX’s Collapse Key Takeaways: Cryptocurrency exchanges are sometimes described as being like stock exchanges. But they are very different to the likes of the London or New York stock exchanges, which are highly regulated and serve a regulatory function. Cryptocurrency exchanges make money by helping “mum and dad” investors into the market. Seven of the world’s ten biggest crypto […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK POLITICS The Secret Geopolitics Of FIFA World Cup 2022 Key Takeaways: The Fifa men’s World Cup 2022 in Qatar is arguably the most political in history. Qatar Airways is an effective instrument of soft power, transmitting signals to global audiences about what Qatar is and what it aspires to be. The Fifa men’s World Cup 2022 in Qatar is arguably the most political in history. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE Fireflies: The Mystery Of Nature’s Chaos Key Takeaways: The phenomenon of some fireflies’ flash synchrony has puzzled scientists for over a century. The phenomenon piqued the curiosity of many, including mathematicians Daniel Abrams and Steven Strogatz, who named it “chimera” In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a hybrid monster made of parts of incongruous animals – so a fitting name for […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK Ads Are Coming To Netflix Soon: The Implications For The Streaming Industry Key Takeaways: Ads are coming to Netflix, perhaps even sooner than anticipated. By bringing a hybrid advertising/subscription tier, Netflix is adopting a business model already present on other streamers like Hulu. Earlier this year Disney announced a highly successful quarter from a subscriber uptake perspective, growing by 15 million subscribers, however streaming-induced losses were $300 […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ART & DESIGN EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY TECHNOLOGY Is DALL-E Considered Art? Key Takeaways: A picture may be worth a thousand words, but thanks to an artificial intelligence program called DALL-E 2, you can have a professional-looking image with far fewer. Until recently, the program produced 10 images per prompt. Today the human authorship and craft involved in artistic photography are recognized, and critics understand that the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Can Twitter Really Bring Absolute Free Speech? Key Takeaways: Elon Musk is the planet’s number one billionaire. When free-market elephants like Musk or Jeff Bezos (who bought the Washington Post in 2013) take charge of major mass-media outlets, concerns are raised about the direction of free speech, which remains the essential ingredient of democratic participation. There can be no question that protest […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK Will FIFA Take Over Global Football Broadcasting? FIFA has announced the launch of FIFA+, a proprietary streaming platform that includes documentaries, live matches and an archive of more than 3,000 historic games, available free of charge, with advertising. The move has been interpreted as a trial run to cut out the middleman: better bandwidth has lowered the entry barriers for content broadcasting to such an extent that just about […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGY How Cup Noodles Became One of The Biggest Business Success Stories Of All Time See a container of Cup Noodles at a convenience store and you might think of dorm rooms and cheap calories. But there was a time when eating from the product’s iconic packaging exuded cosmopolitanism, when the on-the-go meal symbolized possibility – a Japanese industrial food with an American flair. Cup Noodles – first marketed in […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY STRATEGY Is Moving Away From Social Media A Form Of Corporate Social Responsibility? UK cosmetics company Lush has announced its decision to leave Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, saying its decision reflects concerns about the alleged effects of these social networks on the mental health of their users. The brand will maintain its presence on Twitter and YouTube. Lush has more than 900 stores worldwide, and some 10.6 million followers between Facebook […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How Will ChatGPT Transform Philosophy Key Takeaway: In 1950 English mathematician Alan Turing proposed an “imitation game” where a judge entered into a typed dialogue with an AI pretending to be human as a way of testing if the AI was intelligent. Lex.page is an AI-enabled writing tool that can generate text or answer questions. In 2018, Google unveiled Duplex, […] Written by Geoffrey Rockwell January 30, 2023January 30, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
What Ancient Wisdom Can Teach Us About Finance Key Takeaway: The rate of species extinctions as a result of human activity is at least 1,000 times higher than the natural rate. The effects of business on our climate are also clear, with 71%of the world’s fossil fuel emissions coming from just 100 multinational corporations. They aim to work within the nature and limits […] Written by Atul Shah January 24, 2023January 24, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why Amazon Became So Successful Key Takeaway: Amazon with a market capitalization of over $1.5 trillion and net revenue of $386 billion in 2020. Customer Service and Convenience is one of the key factors that has contributed to its success. Amazon’s focus on customer service and convenience has played a major role in its success. Innovative Business Model is another […] Written by Andreas Lehmann January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
What The Art Of David Hockney Can Teach Us About Life Key Takeaways: David Hockney is the great modern mark-maker. He brings new joy and richness to the very act of seeing, writes art critic Richard Brinsley Wylie. David Hockney’s latest book, My Window, is a visual diary of what he observed from his bed. At the age of 72, he started using iPhone and iPad […] Written by Martin Kemp January 9, 2023January 9, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Cats In The Medieval Ages Key Takeaways: In the middle ages, men and women were often identified by the animals they kept. Keeping an animal that was lavished with attention, affection and high-quality food in return for no functional purpose – other than companionship – signified high status. Pets became part of the personal identity of the nobility. The 14th-century […] Written by Madeleine Killacky January 6, 2023January 6, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A Look At The Global Economy In 2023 Key Takeaways: EU energy ministers have capped gas prices at €180 (£159) per megawatt hour (MWh) for this winter. The cap is an attempt to control the unruly market forces that saw gas prices spike to nearly €340/MWh last summer. Political intervention risks repeating mistakes made by the US during the 1970s oil price shocks. […] Written by Adi Imsirovic January 5, 2023January 5, 2023 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
What We Can Learn From Kanye West And Adidas Key Takeaways: Brand collaborations are strategic partnerships between two or more brands. When done well, the collaboration helps both partners grow their brands and amplify a shared message. But just like any marriage, it doesn’t always go well; recent examples include Yeezy’s breakups with Gap and Adidas. Adidas has ended its partnership with Yeezy after […] Written by Pankhuri Malhotra December 28, 2022December 28, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Rethinking Education Key Takeaways: The Industrial model of education that fueled the modern era and its dizzying reach did its job incredibly well. In his writing, Flynn illustrates study after study, spanning nations and decades, in which modern educational gift of abstraction — a transcendent sign of intelligence, as we saw in Raven’s Matrices — has been […] Written by Anthony Fieldman March 2, 2022October 19, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How China Is Transforming Its Economy Through Learning I highly recommend reading the McKinsey Global Institute’s new report, “Reskilling China: Transforming The World’s Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learners”, which focuses on the country’s biggest employment challenge, re-training its workforce and the adoption of practices such as lifelong learning to address the growing digital transformation of its productive fabric. How to transform the country […] Written by Enrique Dans February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why You’re Not Seeing Success With Influencer Marketing With the new year around the corner, now is a good time to re-evaluate your past marketing strategies and gear up for the year ahead. For some businesses, influencer marketing has simply not seemed to live up to its lofty promises of genuine engagement, credibility, and transparency. Some have claimed that it has been failing […] Written by Michael Tan January 14, 2021January 15, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A New Philosophy of Business I’m about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and I’ll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what “community” means for business. “Where should community fit in my organization?” and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
