5 minutes estimated reading time
Taylor Swift Happy Land mispress
I was taken back to to memories of Skeleton Records in Birkenhead during the early 1990s due to a Taylor Swift album mispress. As a young record buyer I used frequent secondhand record shops to pick up promo copies of records. A rock orientated shop would often not realise what they had, this was before widespread internet access.
The gaunt middle-aged shop assistant was sat behind the counter looking at a picture disc of Fish – State of Mind on picture disc. Fish had recently left then popular rock band Marillion and State of Mind was a single from his first solo album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors.
Apparently one of his customers worked as an assistant shop manager, realised what they had and ‘lost’ the record before the distributor came to collect all the copies of the mispress. The reason why the distributor would want to collect the records? Because they played Madonna’s Cherish instead. The shop assistant said to no one in particular, that will be worth something one day. He wasn’t wrong, I have seen prices quoted as high as 650 dollars paid – if the right Madonna or Marillion completist collector actually finds a copy for sale.
A similar thing happened to Taylor Swift fans this week, who ordered her latest album and ended up with Taylor Swift artwork, but songs from the early 1990s electronica compilation Happy Lands volume 1 playing instead.
This mispress became know as the ‘cursed version’ presumably because of its dark electronic sounds featuring Cabaret Voltaire and others. They might be able to take heart when they realise the such mispresses have become collectors items in the past with an appreciating value.
Beauty
Business
Does private equity improve companies? | Financial Times – TL;DR evidence suggests not
China
China’s youth left behind as jobs crisis mounts | Financial Times
Consumer behaviour
Most white Americans do not think their ethnicity affects their success | Financial Times
Economics
Everyday inflation clues for investors | Financial Times
China on brink of consumer deflation | Financial Times
Energy
Fab to build miniature solid state batteries | EE News Europe
Back when I was a child, the oil refinery was a cathedral to industry rather than a climate crime scene and working in the oil industry was a cut above working in other industries.
FMCG
The march of the mash-up enters increasingly bizarre territory | Financial Times
Germany
Germany’s chemical groups look outside Europe to build new plants | Financial Times – interesting that they are going to the US and China
Health
Exclusive: Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year, data show | Reuters
Klick Wire | 84% of HCP telemedicine users are weekly+
Hong Kong
Hong Kong police question family of exiled activist Nathan Law — Radio Free Asia
Hong Kong’s crypto grey zones lure Chinese visitors | Financial Times – are the shops are a capital flight vehicle and will they be regulated?
Innovation
3D printing industry gripped by intrigue, litigation and churn | Financial Times – 3D printing or additive manufacturing is currently used for small batch manufacturing by the likes of GE, Rheinmetall, Airbus and Lockheed Martin. You had a similar set up with CNC milling (including multi-axis machines) and multitasking machines which were confined to manufacturing ‘cells’ until Apple went out and bought thousands of them and had them running in parallel on Foxconn lines manufacturing iPhone chassis’. Additive manufacturing needs its ‘iPhone moment’ to cross the chasm to mainstream use. That is reliant on an innovative client rather than supplier innovation and the current players like Stratasys aren’t in a position to drive this next stage of innovation, but their customers might be.
Luxury
Xin zhong shi, and the rise of the made-in-China movement | Financial Times – disappointed that Shanghai Tang and its founder Sir David Tang didn’t get a mention
Marketing
CULT LDN + NYC | FFFACE.ME first official partners of Metaverse Beauty World – fashion isn’t giving up on VR and AR, as for the Metaverse read more about it here.
Inclusive Advertising Requires A Process, Not Just People | Forrester Research
Media
How The X-Files foresaw the chaos of our post-truth times | Dazed
Online
ChatGPT web traffic falls 10%, analytics show • The Register – will it fade away like Clubhouse?
Security
A Former Insider on What’s Happening in China – The New York Times
Abu Dhabi Secrets: How Qatar Seeks to Leverage Its Influence in Europe – DER SPIEGEL
Singapore
Sequoia China’s push into Singapore sets up fight against Indian arm | Financial Times – this was inevitable given the the declining opportunities in China and the move of UHNW Chinese from the mainland to Singapore
Software
Letter Statement March2023 | DAIR – Tl;dr: The harms from so-called AI are real and present and follow from the acts of people and corporations deploying automated systems. Regulatory efforts should focus on transparency, accountability and preventing exploitative labor practices.
Technology
Samsung Q2 2023 – Supercycle pt. XII – Radio Free Mobile worthwhile reading in conjunction with South Korea, China Locked in Intense Battle for Display Market Dominance – could BOE displace Samsung and LG? They are giving it a very good attempt
Cryo memory test chip tapes out for quantum computers | EE Times Europe
Web of no web
Google’s AR software leader is out over the company’s ‘unstable commitment and vision’ – The Verge