🤖 Apple Builds Robots, 🚀 Alibaba Rocket Delivery, ⚛️ 800x Quantum Computing & 🖊️ How to Write Better

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1. Alibaba considering reusable rockets for express deliveries!
   Alibaba partners with Space Epoch to explore global parcel delivery within an hour using a reusable rocket. While Alibaba acknowledges the challenges ahead, it remains committed to innovation in logistics (including expanding its fast delivery services internationally).
   

2. Check out how Microsoft has integrated some of the best copilot features
   

3. The US-China chip-war has just escalated with ASML
   The U.S. is pressuring allies to stop maintenance of chip-making tools in China - targeting companies like ASML, the leading lithography tool manufacturer. This move aims to hinder China's advanced chip production capabilities.
   

4. Why Ethereum Layer 2s could reach a $1 Trillion Valuation by 2030

5. Big Tech colludes using consortium to allay fears of AI takeover
   A McKinsey survey found 25% of professionals expect AI-induced layoffs - and significant layoffs linked to AI (e.g. at UPS and IBM) seem to support this. A consortium led by Cisco and supported by major tech firms aims to counter job loss fears through reskilling in the ICT industry.
   

6. Funny Slideshow of 10 Deceptive Mechanical Turks (humans in disguise behind fake “automation”)

7. Apple is working on home robots that will follow you around
   Apple is developing personal home robots, repurposing technology from its discontinued car project. These robots aim to revolutionize home interaction by moving screens for video calls, amid explorations into home hardware. However, concerns remain about market acceptance and expectedly high prices.

8. An incredible 800x improvement in quantum computing (and why you should be concerned)!

Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas, by Paul Graham, co-founder of Y-Combinator

2024 Tech Trend Report, by Future Today Institute

Term of the Day: Counterfactual Thinking
Counterfactual thinking is the psychological process of imagining alternative outcomes to events that have already happened. It can be useful for learning from mistakes and making better decisions in the future.

“Applying counterfactual thinking to our last product launch, we considered how launching earlier might have positioned us better against competitors. This reflection has led us to adopt a more agile approach."

How To Write Better

The ability to write well is a crucial skill across various domains. While there are several frameworks, rule of thumbs, strategies etc., let’s presume you know the basics and want to go from good to really good in the context of business writing. Here is a simple but effective heuristic to enable higher clarity, relevance and impact.

 Why, What, How

Why: Why is this important and why now?

Aim to incorporate the (a) customer value proposition / benefit, (b) business impact, (c) internal productivity implications (if any), and (d) urgency / constraints

“Average” example: We need to procure this logistics SaaS for our distribution centres and teams, in order to improve our core metric of delivery failures by 2.9%.

“Very good” example: Customer retention is critical for our growth. To help improve customer retention by around 4% in 2 months, we should procure this logistics SaaS which can reduce delivery failures by 2.9% at our distribution centres.

What: Share the proposed next steps / solution

You can frame this in two ways: constraints, or requirements.

Requirements outline the expected customer experience and outcome (via metrics). While constraint (and success) factors showcase feasibility, trade-offs, and the overall boundary conditions.

Most proposed solutions incorporate both framing and include clear deliverables and owners with timeline. Also, aim to include first-order and second-order effects and KPIs (e.g. not just the immediate effect, but the effect of that effect).

How: How will you achieve this (i.e. implementation plan)?

The depth to go into here depends on the complexity, audience needs/understanding, and key risks.

But generally, you should outline the decision-making methodology, implementation plan and requirements, and key risks and cost/timeline considerations.

To better illustrate the above, here is the Why, What, How framework applied to 3 use cases (one-pager, product design doc, and problem deep dive):

LINK: Eugene Yan (10 min)