Just Realized.

Archive

2023

34 articles from this year.

Year in focus

The busiest threads

One article can appear in several topics.

  1. Regulation8
  2. Stocks8
  3. Business Strategy5
  4. Microsoft5
  5. AI4
  6. OpenAI4

  1. Bird's Chapter 11 made scooter uptime a financial question

    Bird entered Chapter 11 in December 2023 with financing to keep operating. Useful scooters still needed a workable repair and fleet model.

  2. Xfinity's breach exposed the time between a patch and protection

    Attackers reached Xfinity systems after Citrix disclosed a vulnerability in October 2023. The response timeline matters as much as the patch.

  3. Mercedes' turquoise lights signal a limited driving mode

    Mercedes won California and Nevada approvals for turquoise automated-driving lights in 2023. A signal still needed people to understand its limits.

  4. Bolt's layoffs left its checkout advantage unclear

    Bolt's December 2023 staff cuts made me question its checkout advantage. A four-day workweek was a hiring perk, not a business case.

  5. Lime's concert surge tested the fleet between busy nights

    Lime saw a 2023 concert-ridership lift. The real operating test was handling the surge and retaining riders afterward.

  6. Adobe lost the Figma deal. It kept the competitive problem.

    Adobe and Figma ended their $20 billion merger plan in December 2023. Figma's collaboration advantage survived the failed deal.

  7. Epic's Google verdict put app-store distribution on trial

    A December 2023 jury sided with Epic over Google Play's competitive practices. The remedy would decide what changed for developers.

  8. W49 TWIL: Teotihuacan, churros, and the trip home

    I visited Teotihuacan, stopped for churros at El Moro, and returned to San Francisco with a fresh reason to walk around.

  9. I thought regulators would block Alaska–Hawaiian. They didn't.

    I doubted Alaska's 2023 Hawaiian Airlines deal would close. It did in 2024, leaving the promised consumer benefits to prove.

  10. Uber joining the S&P 500 marked a change in its financial story

    Uber entered the S&P 500 in December 2023. The meaningful shift was sustained operating progress, not index-fund buying.

  11. Meituan's reported Foodpanda retreat eased pressure on Grab

    A December 2023 report said Meituan had stepped back from Foodpanda talks. That eased a competitive threat without proving better delivery economics.

  12. W48 TWIL: Cooking and getting around Mexico

    I learned to make salsa and mole in Oaxaca, visited Uxmal, and practiced Spanish while getting around Mexico City.

  13. Why I started "This Week I Learned"

    Chasing financial headlines left little to revisit. I started keeping weekly notes on the things I learned while traveling.

  14. Spanish food words I needed in Mexico

    A small Spanish–English reference for ordering food in Mexico, from flavors and temperatures to cooking methods.

  15. OpenAI’s staff forced a governance reset

    The employee revolt after Altman’s removal showed the board lacked a workable continuity plan. OpenAI soon installed a new initial board.

  16. Microsoft offered Altman a landing place. OpenAI kept him.

    Microsoft’s November 2023 hiring announcement was part of a fast-moving governance crisis, not a permanent transfer of OpenAI’s leaders.

  17. OpenAI fired Sam Altman. The board gave too little explanation.

    OpenAI’s November 2023 removal of Sam Altman exposed a governance crisis. Its public statement did not establish a misconduct finding.

  18. Grab reached positive adjusted EBITDA. The net loss remained.

    Grab reached positive adjusted EBITDA in Q3 2023, while still losing money overall. The excluded costs and cash flow mattered.

  19. Shein's reported IPO target needed more than download counts

    Shein reportedly sought an $80–90 billion IPO valuation in 2023. App popularity could not establish the margins that price required.

  20. Uber's Q3 2023 profit was a repeat, not a first

    Uber reported $394 million in Q3 2023 operating income after turning positive the quarter before. The repeat was the useful result.

  21. Mint's shutdown made the replacement's business model matter

    Intuit moved Mint users toward Credit Karma in 2023. Tracking a budget and recommending financial products serve different needs.

  22. WeWork's bankruptcy brought the leases back into view

    WeWork filed for Chapter 11 in November 2023. Flexible office bookings could not make its long-term lease commitments flexible.

  23. LinkedIn lays off 668 workers

    LinkedIn cut 668 roles in October 2023. A smaller workforce still had to serve employers paying to hire during a slower market.

  24. A displayed price should be the price you can pay

    The FTC proposed a junk-fee rule in 2023. Hidden mandatory charges punish shoppers and honest sellers alike.

  25. Microsoft bought Activision. Game Pass still had to earn the deal.

    Microsoft completed its Activision Blizzard purchase in October 2023. A larger game catalog made Game Pass stronger on paper.

  26. Lyft's board departures needed more than a timing explanation

    Two Lyft directors resigned in October 2023. The filing did not connect their departures to the company's SEC settlement.

  27. Trying DALL-E 3

    I asked DALL-E 3 for a giant cat in San Francisco. The result made me curious about where generated images could fit in my work.

  28. Lyft's $10 million penalty was a disclosure bill

    Lyft failed to disclose a director's financial interest in a $424 million pre-IPO share sale. Investors needed to see the conflict.

  29. Tesla's October price cuts put volume beside margin

    Tesla lowered U.S. Model 3 and Model Y prices in October 2023. A cheaper car still needed enough extra orders to justify the lost margin.

  30. 23andMe's breach reached beyond the accounts that lost passwords

    23andMe's 2023 breach used stolen logins to reach DNA Relatives profiles. The privacy risk extended beyond compromised accounts.

  31. Mysa's in-floor thermostat worked after a stubborn HomeKit setup

    I installed two Mysa thermostats during my bathroom remodel. Clear error codes helped; HomeKit pairing and the floor sensor were harder.

  32. Tesla's Q3 delivery drop left the factory explanation to prove

    Tesla delivered 435,059 vehicles in Q3 2023 after planned factory downtime. Sustained output would show whether the upgrades paid off.

  33. Nadella's search testimony made distribution the problem

    Nadella argued in 2023 that Google's default deals reinforced its search lead. Better software alone might not bring Bing more users.

  34. The Cruise crash was also a disclosure failure

    The October 2023 Cruise crash exposed a dangerous post-impact maneuver and a failure to report it fully. That is the operational lesson.