The DoorDash problem was coined by Nilay Patel of the Decoder podcast. He's been asking AI and tech executives about it. They mostly dodge or respond in very vague terms.

The DoorDash problem: Instead of opening the DoorDash app, scrolling through restaurants, seeing ads, and choosing a sandwich, you simply tell an AI agent "Get me a chicken sandwich." Or similarly, "Order me socks."

AI companies are working to remove user interaction with apps like DoorDash and Amazon. Doordash is set to lose user relationships, eyeballs on ads, loyalty programs, etc...

Why would they possibly allow that?

Now we have part of the answer. Amazon is suing to prevent Perplexity from shopping on Amazon.com.

https://www.theverge.com/podcast/823909/the-doordash-problem-ai-agents-web-amazon-perplexity-lawsuit

This is a new interest for me. Maybe it'll be interesting to others.

Workflow automation platforms are software tools that automate repetitive tasks and processes, streamlining workflows and improving efficiency by minimizing manual work and human errors.

There are a couple of tools that are recently generating significant interest. Specifically, n8n and make.com. (I have no affiliation.)

In a nutshell, you can integrate hundreds of different systems to complete tasks. LLMs, email, Google sheets, databases, http requests, social media platforms, wordpress, shopify, rss feeds, home automation, etc...

These two tools require minimal or no coding and allow you to schedule and automate complex tasks. Entrepreneurs are building and selling custom tools for small and medium size businesses to automate customer service and personal assistant functions. Others are using the tools to create completely automated social media content farms.

These tools will replace human labor and there will be a large market for custom agents, IMO. I think there are income opportunities and I'm going to spend some time exploring their utility.

It's only been a couple days, but I built a basic chatbot that pings my database and uses the returned data to build a natural language answer informed by my content. Pretty neat.

"...equipping some store employees with body cameras to thwart shoplifting and keep customers and employees safe."

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/05/business/tj-maxx-body-cameras-shoplifting/index.html

Ugh.

900 watts of walking assistance or resistance, depending on your use case. That's more than my electric bike. Youtube reviews seem to focus on hiking, running, jumping and resistance training, but I think they'd do even better marketing to seniors.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dnsys/dnsys-x1-exoskeleton-unleash-superhuman-athletic-potential

"Balls of human brain cells linked to a computer have been used to perform a very basic form of speech recognition. The hope is that such systems will use far less energy for AI tasks than silicon chips."

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2407768-ai-made-from-living-human-brain-cells-performs-speech-recognition/

Dear Publisher,
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Over that time, we've continued to evolve our network and services to meet the needs of our partners. As part of this evolution, Google AdSense will be updating its revenue share structure early next year, which will split our rate into separate buy- and sell-side fees and move to per-impression payments for all inventory. This update will provide a more consistent payment structure for publishers to be paid for their inventory value across Google's products and third party platforms. There is no action for you to take as an AdSense publisher, and we don't expect publishers to see a change in their earnings.
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View our FAQ page for full impact details across the AdSense product range.
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https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/19/apple-generative-ai-late-2024-jeff-pu/?utm_source=tldrai

"Apple plans to start implementing generative AI technology on the iPhone and iPad in late 2024"
"Apple plans to incorporate large language models into Siri to let users automate complex tasks"

Maybe iphones will be better personal assistants.
Maybe this will become the biggest threat to Google search.
Maybe it'll just be used to generate memes.

Cruise (robotaxis) is now offering rides in Austin. It works just like Uber. The electric Chevy Bolt pulls up to your location, you unlock the doors via app. My first ride was... boring. Which is to say, truly amazing tech. I sent it into the most densely-trafficked area of downtown. It navigated with ease. When the fleet isn't driving passengers, they are still actively rolling around collecting miles and data. They're everywhere downtown between 8pm and 5am (currently evenings/nights only).

Perhaps most interesting is that my first robotaxi experience was in a GM-backed Chevrolet, not a Tesla.

https://youtu.be/EEWP0U9mAm8

https://runwayml.com/

I've seen many mentions of this company recently. They are a "do it all" AI image and video production and editing company. Potential to be the next Figma or Canva?

The website homepage does a great job of visually explaining each area of expertise.

https://heypi.com/

"A new class of AI, Pi is designed to be a kind and supportive companion offering conversations, friendly advice, and concise information in a natural, flowing style. The Pi experience is intended to prioritize conversations with people, where other AIs serve productivity, search, or answering questions. Pi is a coach, confidante, creative partner, or sounding board.

Pi stands for "personal intelligence" because it can provide infinite knowledge based on a person's unique interests and needs. Pi is a teacher, coach, confidante, creative partner, and sounding board. Pi is:

-Kind and supportive: it listens and empowers, to help process thoughts and feelings, work through tricky decisions step by step, for anything to talk over;
-Curious and humble: it is eager to learn and adapt, and gives feedback in plain, natural language that improves for each person over time;
-Creative and fun: it is playful and silly, laughs easily and is quick to make a surprising, creative connection;
-Knowledgeable, but succinct: it transforms browsing into a simple conversation;
-All yours: it is on your team, in your corner, and works to have your back;
-In development: it is still early days, so information could be wrong at times."


It's quite good. Imagine how real it'd feel plugged into an AI voice generator.
Apple should buy it and turn your iPhone into your best friend (always complimenting your selfies).

https://thehustle.co/01272023-pickups/

"Less bed, more cab, and a whole lot of pleasure driving."

"The Ford F-150 has been America's bestselling car for 41 years."

"87% of pickup owners frequently use their truck for shopping, and 70% say they do so for pleasure driving."

"To accommodate for this, today's F-150s are 63% cab and 37% bed, a near-total opposite from early generations' 36% cab, 64% bed design."

"Since 1990, the average mass of US vehicles has increased 25%."

"They're getting heavier, too, as the industry electrifies them with enormous batteries. Ford's F-150 Lightning, for instance, at ~6.5k pounds, weighs 35% more than its gasoline twin."

Hell's Gate is no joke. Part of the infamous Hell's Revenge trail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yeth5v_5dPM

I stopped buying traffic in the mid 2000's. A couple new friends (and startup founders) have been asking Internet marketing advice. I'd like to be more knowledgeable about the paid side.

Where should I read to get up to speed on Adwords/FB/SEM in 2021?

Texas hog hunt helicopter crash is very Texas.

"Sorry about that boys"
"No worries"
"That's alright"
-AR-15 tossed out the door
"You're one hell of a f***ing pilot"

https://youtu.be/uYBf3XPwvaU?t=80

What are y'all doing to stay busy during shelter-in-place?

I binged "Tiger King" on Netflix. Seven episode documentary. I couldn't stop watching and I think a lot of folks here would enjoy it. (For mature audiences.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTdxsoa428

Taking a Udemy course on Fusion 360 (CAD software).

Running more - personal theory that aerobic/mitochondrial conditioning would be helpful if infected with COVID19.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2020/03/23/new-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-introduces-digital-dollar-and-digital-dollar-wallets/#23dc68024bea

"As the markets continue to drop and the U.S. looks to Congress for agreement on a massive stimulus package to save the economy from impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the newest offer by House Democrats includes a very forward-looking kind of stimulus: the creation of a 'digital dollar' and the establishment of 'digital dollar wallets.' In what will send shock waves through the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, particularly for those following central bank digital currencies around the world, this signals the U.S. is serious in establishing infrastructure for a central bank digital currency."

Carmelle Cadet, Founder and CEO of EMTECH, a modern central bank technology and services company, is a technology provider in the world's first live retail CBDC with the Central Bank of Bahamas called the Sand Dollar. She has recently started a new initiative in the U.S. called 'Project New Dawn' to ensure the unbanked and underbanked receive economic stimulus payments. Pointing to a FDIC report in 2017 that identified 63 million people that are unbanked and underbanked in the U.S., she notes, 'If checks are the form of payment, the stimulus is not going to reach many of them. That would be approximately $100B underutilized of stimulus for lower income householders.'

This just happened at the edge of my new neighborhood. Looks like they launched from one of the movie studio lots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ILXdFnDmg

For those not familiar, the "Black Mirror" series often examines unanticipated, dark and dystopian consequences of new technologies. Episodes are usually set in the present or near future.

In 2016 they released an episode called "Nosedive" about social credit systems.

China has since begun testing social credit systems.

Today: "Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-Style social credit system"

https://www.fastcompany.com/90394048/uh-oh-silicon-valley-is-building-a-chinese-style-social-credit-system

"It's a technology-enabled, surveillance-based nationwide program designed to nudge citizens toward better behavior. The ultimate goal is to "allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step," according to the Chinese government."

A lyft driver told me about this today, and played me his digital avatar. It was better than I expected.

"Create a digital voice that sounds like you with only one minute of audio. Simply sign up, record yourself for at least one minute and you will be able to generate any sentence you like with your own digital voice."

The 1 minute statement isn't accurate. They require 30 sentences, which takes about 5 minutes. The cleaner and more abundant your input, the better the output.

https://lyrebird.ai/vocal-avatar

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

"Nested on the servers' motherboards, the testers found a tiny microchip, not much bigger than a grain of rice, that wasn't part of the boards' original design. Amazon reported the discovery to U.S. authorities, sending a shudder through the intelligence community. Elemental's servers could be found in Department of Defense data centers, the CIA's drone operations, and the onboard networks of Navy warships. And Elemental was just one of hundreds of Supermicro customers.: