Technology’s Power of Aggregation

Today’s Pnut is an abbreviated version in honor of the July Fourth long weekend. We will be taking the day off tomorrow–see you back here on Wednesday!

Even Zuck and Facebook Are Getting Into The Drone Biz: The world is one step closer to borderless connectivity as Facebook announced the successful flight of a test drone. Mark Zuckerberg envisions a fleet of solar-powered drones that will bring the internet to the 4 billion people worldwide who currently do not have access. Using data gathered in a test flight last December that ended in a crash, Zuck’s engineers made improvements that resulted in the drone executing a 106-minute flight up to an altitude of 3000 feet at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona.Facebook’s drone, named Aquila, weighs in at around half a ton, but has a wingspan greater than that of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Performance data was live-streamed to engineers, and the drone was chased through the flight via helicopter.

Angie Merkel, G20 Host and MC: In the run up to the G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7-8, host German Chancellor Angela Merkel flexed her international leadership muscles via a podcast on Sunday. She laid out a philosophy of sustainable growth based on inclusivity and hinted at a conference agenda closely aligned with her domestic campaign for the upcoming German elections. In the spirit of “we’re all in this together,” Angie is looking for world leaders to address distribution of wealth, responsible consumption of resources, climate change, free markets, consumer protection, and social standards. While none of these are particularly novel topics,she emphasized that business as usual won’t cut it anymore. “If we simply try to carry on as we have in the past, worldwide developments will definitely not be sustainable and inclusive,” she stated. Bravo, Angie, bravo.

Boxing Down Under: This past weekend, Manny Pacquiao defeated Jeff Horn in a unanimous decision by anyone who watched the fight, but he lost by a unanimous decision from the 3 judges who scored the boxing bout. Boxing has long been tagged as a corrupt sport, and this fight should be a reminder to all that one should avoid games and real-life scenarios that are inherently rigged.

Hoop Dreams to Hoopin’ and Hollerin’ Dollars: This seems like the first weekend that LaVar Ball didn’t make the news, but given his obstreperous mouth he will likely find a lucrative career in professional wrestling. Meanwhile, the NBA free agency period has begun, and plenty of basketball players who can hit bank shots are going to be making bank for many years. Stephen Curry leads the pack with a 5-year, $201 million deal that is the biggest contract in NBA history. Even with this supermax deal, one could persuasively argue–as Lebron James does–that Curry is probably underpaid.

The Warriors seem to have the financial wherewithal to commit to winning several championships as several role players also signed up for major deals: Shaun Livingston (3-year, $24 million), along with glue player Andrew “Iggy” Iguodala (3-year, $48 million).

Rotten Tomatoes vs. Movie Studios: This past weekend once again confirmed the predictive power of Rotten Tomatoes. If it’s fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, then movie success! If not, then millions of Hollywood dollars will not be recouped. Despicable Me 3 had a rating of 63% (anything over 60% in Rotten Tomatoes is ‘fresh’) and raked in around $75.4 million, whereas The House received a 16% rating and made $9 million on a production cost of $40 million.

The power of Rotten Tomatoes in the movie industry speaks to the meta question of the power of aggregators. They don’t just aggregate individual viewpoints, but end up directing opinions and making choices for us instead of just informing them. Google is the aggregator of all information, Facebook and Instagram are the aggregators of people’s lives and pictures, Yelp is the aggregator of Where You Should Eat, and Amazon is the aggregator of well…Everything. How many of you have friends who refuse to see a movie that is not Rotten Tomatoes ‘approved’ or travel buddies who won’t even consider eating at a restaurant that isn’t listed on TripAdvisor? Come on people, give your brain and instincts some credit. They were there long before Faang (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) ever was, right?  

• Anti-globalization activists took to the streets in Hamburg ahead of this week’s G20 summit (Reuters)
• Beijing has called the presence of a US warship near a disputed island in the South China Sea “a serious political and military provocation” (BBC)
• Rwanda’s opposition candidates finally have a voice—but no real shot at the presidency (Quartz)
• With Social Media, Vietnam’s Dissidents Grow Bolder Despite Crackdown (NYT)
• Xi stops in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the G20 summit in Germany (CNN) and President Donald Trump is planning to visit Warsaw (ABCNews) and then Hamburg will play host to one of the strangest encounters in modern history, when Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet on the margins of–you guessed it–the G20 summit! (The Guardian)
• Qatar is given a further 48 hours to agree to demands (BBC)
• On the Road With Protesters Marching Across Turkey to Condemn Erdogan’s Purge (NYT)
• No, Africa is not lacking talented scientists. We’re just not investing in them (Quartz)
• GOP Operative Sought Clinton Emails From Hackers, Implied a Connection to Flynn (WSJ; paywall)/GOP investigation sought connection between Clinton’s emails and Russia (The Hill)
• Trump Vows to Increase Pressure on North Korea in a Phone Call With Leaders of China and Japan (TIME)
• Pope replaces top rival in latest move to make church more inclusive (The Guardian)
• The Adoptee Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, estimates that 35,000 adult adoptees in the United States may lack citizenship, which was not granted automatically in the adoption process before 2000 (NYT)
• Xi Jinping Warns Hong Kong on Separatism as Marchers Call for Greater Autonomy (TIME)

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