P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #426

Yankee Summer

my story 🚀

Bye for now, Texas!

fun facts 🙌

Tulsa’s remote worker incentive seems to have paid off. The city famously launched Tulsa Remote during the panedmic, a program to get tech workers to move there and earn remotely. This is a summary of a long economic paper, where the researcher found a 4.3x ROI for every dollar spent on their incentive. ~ learn more

Music producer Steve Albini’s letter to Nirvana. This got him the job on their next album. “If, instead, you might find yourselves in the position of being temporarily indulged by the record company, only to have them yank the chain at some point (hassling you to rework songs/sequences/production, calling-in hired guns to "sweeten" your record, turning the whole thing over to some remix jockey, whatever...) then you're in for a bummer and I want no part of it.” ~ learn more

Harvard kicks out Francesca Gino. It only took two years. “In 2023, Harvard launched an internal investigation into Gino’s work after concerns were raised on a blog called Data Colada, run by a group of behavioral scientists who scrutinize academic research. The Harvard investigation concluded that Gino had manipulated certain data to support her hypotheses in at least four of her studies.” ~ learn more

oh, chicago 🏆

Uber catching heat after overcharging city taxes on rides. I didn’t dig into how malicious or widespread this was. I kinda assume neither? “A city official has called for a hearing into the matter, while state lawmakers want to mandate rideshare fees be disclosed before a ride.” ~ learn more

oh, austin 🤠

Austin’s Moody Center finding great success. “Since Moody Center opened in April 2022, it's hosted 538 events and generated $315 million in gross ticket sales from 412 non-UT events — and ranked eighth in the world in 2024 in terms of ticket sales at $117.2 million. In this Q&A with the general manager, we discuss the performance and strategy of the venue and the plans for the future.” ~ learn more

tech, startups, internet ⚡

Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott talks AI agents and the future of programming. “With 41 years of programming behind him, Kevin has lived through nearly every big shift in modern software development. Here’s his clear-eyed take on what’s changing with AI, and how we can navigate what’s next…” ~ learn more

Google’s ‘world-model’ bet. “Google’s doubling-down on what it calls “a world model” – an AI it aims to imbue with a deep understanding of real-world dynamics – and with it a vision for a universal assistant – one powered by Google, and not other companies – creates another big tension: How much control does Google want over this all-knowing assistant, built upon its crown jewel of search?” ~ learn more

The agentic web and original sin. From Ben Thompson at Stratechery. Since payments weren’t embedded in the original web, advertising has come to be the dominant business model on the internet. AI agents threaten to disrupt that. Maybe micropayments finally could have a role to play? ~ learn more

better doing 🎯

They see through it all. “But your kids? They’re not so easily impressed. They don’t appreciate the trappings of your success. They don’t care much for status or seniority. All they know is how it affects them.” ~ learn more

under the microscope 🔬

Canine cancer drug fast-tracked for treating kids. “New York-based biopharmaceutical company OS Therapies (OST) is focused on developing immunotherapies for osteosarcoma and other solid tumors. And it’s utilizing comparative oncology to achieve its goal. The company recently announced it had formed a subsidiary, OS Animal Health, to commercialize OST-HER2, its off-the-shelf canine osteosarcoma treatment, using clinical trial data to fast-track a treatment for kids with the same type of cancer.” ~ learn more

Superwood that’s 50% stronger than steel is coming this year. “Maryland-based startup InventWood is set to mass-produce the first batches of 'Superwood,' a new material made of modified timber that's stronger than regular barky stems, and even stronger than steel. It's set to go on sale later this year.” ~ learn more

Infrared contact lenses allow people to see in the dark. Here’s something neat… they do not require a power source. “The contact lens technology uses nanoparticles that absorb infrared light and convert it into wavelengths that are visible to mammalian eyes (e.g., electromagnetic radiation in the 400–700 nm range). The nanoparticles specifically enable the detection of "near-infrared light," which is infrared light in the 800–1600 nm range, just beyond what humans can already see.” ~ learn more

New blood test can diagnose and track progression of Alzheimer’s with 92% accuracy. “This blood test clearly identifies Alzheimer’s tau tangles [aka, neurofibrillary tangles], which is our best biomarker measure of Alzheimer’s symptoms and dementia,” said co-senior author Randall J. Bateman, MD, professor of neurology at WashU Medicine in the WashU news release.” ~ learn more

profiles of people 🚶

Only the paranoid survive. “Most people protect their identity. Andy Grove would rewrite it again and again. He started as a refugee, became a chemist, turned himself into an engineer, then a manager, and finally the CEO who built Intel into a global powerhouse. He didn’t cling to credentials or titles. When a challenge came up, he didn’t delegate; he learned.” ~ learn more

thanks for reading!