Happy Wednesday… we’re up before the enemy.
My friend and prolific writer Jared Dillian says: “The most important decision you will ever make is what to do with the next 24 hours.”
I repeat this to myself every morning. It forces me to be ruthless about how I spend my time.
Because how we spend our days is how we spend our lives.
I read everything Jared writes, and I just pre-ordered his new personal-finance book, No Worries: How to Live a Stress-Free Financial Life.
I don’t get a cut for sharing this. I’m doing it because I love Jared’s writing, and I’m 100% sure the book will be great.
Now, let’s get after it…
This time last year, Facebook’s (META) stock was cratering.
It had ploughed tens of billions of dollars into the “metaverse” with little to show for it.
The metaverse looked like a low-budget cartoon from the ‘90s:
Oh boy, what a difference a year makes.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg just did an interview in the metaverse on Lex Fridman’s podcast last week.
Check out how real “Zuck” looked. The image on the left is a 3D rendering… generated by a computer… yet it’s indistinguishable from reality.
From shoddy video game avatars to photorealistic holograms in a year, woah!
Watching this interview was one of those “holy cow” moments for me. Like the first time I used ChatGPT or wired money through blockchain without a bank. I walked away thinking, “I’ve just seen the future.” Do yourself a favor and watch a clip of the podcast on YouTube.
To produce the interview, Zuck and Lex had to go to a special facility where dozens of cameras scanned their facial expressions and gestures.
Within a year or two, I bet we’ll be able to do this scanning with our iPhones. That means we’ll be able to communicate with family and friends half the world away but feel like they’re sitting with us.
RiskHedge readers have known about the metaverse since early 2021. People still think it’s a dorky pipe dream. A total waste of money.
But it’s clear the days of talking to tiny, pixelated versions of people on a screen are numbered. Fully immersive experiences are the future… the NEAR future.
I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but… I might’ve turned bullish on Facebook for the first time ever.
Facebook also announced a new pair of slick glasses made by Ray-Ban that will cost $299:
They look and feel like regular sunglasses, yet have built-in cameras for taking videos and photos.
But the mind-blowing part is these specs are equipped with Meta AI.
You’ll be able to ask the glasses questions. It’s like having ChatGPT on your face.
On vacation and want to translate a foreign menu? Need help fixing a leaky tap at home? Say, “Hey Facebook, help me out”… and the glasses will walk you through it step by step.
Wow! Facebook is seriously impressing me with these new announcements. I think this is what life after the iPhone looks like.
A decade from now, we’ll wear our computers through glasses, watches, and other devices. We won’t carry around smartphones with us all day.
This is the next step in how computers have gotten closer and closer to us.
First, we sat across the room from giant mainframe computers…
Then we put PCs in our offices…
Along came laptops, making it possible to work from our couches…
Then the iPhone put a supercomputer in our pockets.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will usher in the “post-iPhone era.” We’ll interact with it through wearables, (like Facebook’s glasses), which will allow us to carry our little AI interns around 24/7.
I don’t know yet what the winning AI device will be. But I do know it’ll be powered by Nvidia (NVDA) chips, which is why I continue to like the stock.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) dropped a bomb on Amazon (AMZN) last week.
It accused Amazon of using its monopoly power "to inflate prices, degrade quality, and stifle innovation."
I laughed when I read this complaint. Inflate prices? What? All I’ve ever experienced from Amazon are low prices, better choices, and more convenience.
Imagine life without Amazon... The thought of having to shop in physical stores again is my idea of hell. Amazon saves me hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars each year.
But yes, we must stop this evil monopoly from screwing customers. What a load of baloney!
FTC chair Lina Khan is on a crusade to take down the big tech companies. She already lost cases against Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta… and I’m betting she’ll go 0/3 with this Amazon lawsuit.
Amazon is so successful partially because it’s far, far away from Washington. I can guarantee if power-hungry bureaucrats sink their claws into Amazon, they’ll screw it up.
I never knew my dad, and I grew up in a rough neighbourhood without anyone to look up to.
I’m convinced the reason I didn’t end up in jail like so many blokes I knew was books.
For as long I can remember, I loved to read. And not just books—the back of cereal boxes, the TV guide, religious pamphlets that I’d pull out of the mailbox.
Books are magic. They allow you to learn from—and have a one-sided conversation with—some of the smartest people in history.
Me, a kid from inner-city Dublin, could be mentored by successful entrepreneurs and leaders. How amazing is that? It changed my life!
One in four Americans say they didn’t read a single book in the past year. If you want to get ahead… read more.
Stephen McBride
Chief Analyst, RiskHedge