Tech Billionaires Accumulated More Wealth Than Anyone In 2017

Money makes money. JL

Tom Metcalf and Jack Witzig report in Bloomberg:

Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos added the most in 2017, a $34.2 billion gain that knocked Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates out of his spot as the world’s richest person. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg had the fourth-largest U.S. dollar increase on the index, adding $22.6 billion. Tech startup billionaires were identified, including the CEO of Roku Inc. and the two co-founders of Wayfair Inc. Investor euphoria created bitcoin billionaires, including Tyler and Cameron Winkelvoss.

Scientists Claim Hangover-Free Booze Will Replace Real Alchohol Within a Decade

Happy New Years! JL

Rebel Circus reports:

Alcoynth is "a substance which mimics the effects of alcohol without inducing all of the dreadful symptoms of that next-day hangover.” (But)  the taste of alcohol might actually be compromised by the alcosynth. Why? Because most of the compounds that cause the not-so-fun side effects of drinking are the same ones that contribute to the flavor of your drink.

3 Million People Are Staying in Airbnbs Over New Years. In 2009 Only 1,400 Were

The growth is impressive, but like Amazon and now Uber, a reckoning over the advantage non-payment of taxes and comparable wages may be looming. JL

Theodore Schleifer reports in Re/code:

For consecutive years until 2017, the number of guests doubled every 12 months. Just eight years ago, only 1,400 guests booked an Airbnb home to celebrate the turning of the year. Five years later, that number jumped to 540,000. More than three million guests are using the service over the holiday this year.

Is America's Happiness Industrial Complex Working?

It may be that commodifying and scaling happiness is not the answer. JL

Mary Pilon reports in Outside:

Globally, wellness is a $3.7 trillion industry. there are happiness consultants, happiness coaches, happiness summits, and happiness workplace seminars. There are more than 70 TED Talks tagged with “happiness” themes, with tens of millions of views. Amazon’s pages contain more than 100,000 hits for happiness. In 2007, the United Nations ranked the US as the third happiest nation in the world, but in 2017, it dropped to 19th. “Americans have been getting more anxious and depressed, and no one is sure why.”

How Blockchains Go Well With Cocktails. And Everything Else

Bubble? Nah. You just don't get it...JL

Matt Levine reports in Bloomberg:

Long Island Iced Tea Corp. is shifting its corporate focus towards investment in opportunities in blockchain technology. With the shift in strategic direction, the Company is changing its name from “Long Island Iced Tea Corp.” to “Long Blockchain Corp.” and has reserved the web domain www.longblockchain.com. (It) had an equity capitalization of $23.8 million, but that  was up more than 500% in pre-market trading. What distinguishes (it) from other juice, sports-bra, e-cigarette, or whatever companies that have pivoted to blockchain and seen their stocks jump?

Ride-Hailing Apps Are Clogging New York's Streets. Should Users Pay More?

Can congestion pricing reduce the overflow - and give cities a bigger piece of the action - without alienating customers?

New Years Eve's surge prices will be an interesting test. JL

Winnie Hu reports in the New York Times:

103,000 for-hire vehicles operate in the city, more than double the 47,000 in 2013. 68,000 are affiliated with ride-hailing app companies, 65,000 with Uber. There were 10,500 yellow cabs and vehicles working for ride-hailing apps from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., double the 5,100 in 2013. A third of ride-hailing cars and taxis are empty at any given time “It’s very easy to get a ride when you want one, but once you get in, you’re stuck in traffic."

The Year We Wanted the Internet To Be Smaller

2017 will be remembered as the year when social and economic limits of scale were revealed to users - and maybe even to its most fervent promoters. JL

Kaitlyn Tiffany reports in The Verge:

The mainstream social internet is so big; everyone is connected to everyone, over a billion on Facebook alone. The consequences of connection — fake news, radicalization, massive targeted harassment campaigns, algorithmically-generated psychological torment, inane bullshit — were not part of what we were sold. We don’t really have the option of moving our lives off of the internet (but) the old promise of the internet — niche communities, human connection, people exchanging ideas never lost its appeal.