Hiro Protagonist & more things
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Hiro Protagonist
Hiro Protagonist is the main character of Neal Stephenson’s iconic novel Snow Crash. In the novel talks about the rise of the corporation to become a quasi-nation state, a winner takes all economy, a vision of a future metaverse, hacker culture and service hyper-competition with Uber-like employees.
Hiro Protagonist is a hacker who moonlights as a courier to make ends meet. The story starts with Hiro Protagonist trying to deliver a pizza at high speed. The idea is that the courier would deliver a pizza to any location, not just delivery to a building like getting pizza to work or home. Now we’re starting to see these kind of services being rolled out in real life, by building them into in-car systems and mapping applications. This will add more importance to dark kitchens over store fronts, but store fronts are important as they build brand experiences.
- You Can Now Order Domino’s From Apple CarPlay | WeRSM
- Alibaba’s Amap and Starbucks Launch Curbside Coffee Service in China
Beauty
Return of lipstick: China will lead the growth of Asia’s ‘lipstick comeback’ – Sensient
Here’s why Ozempic is popular for the wrong reasons – Macleans.ca
Business
Consumer behaviour
South Korea to start paying young people to leave the house | Dazed
Interesting changes in consumer behaviour
Design
The SAMMANLÄNKAD collection – IKEA Global
Gadgets
Walmart drones help Ukraine stay in the battle for Bakhmut – War Is Boring
Hong Kong
Beware of pickpockets in Hong Kong, city’s Japanese consulate tells nationals | South China Morning Post – interesting that this comes up after the border has been opened to mainlanders….
Survey finds 70 per cent of Hongkongers in Greater Bay Area job scheme have quit, plan to resign or had no return offers | South China Morning Post – the mainland isn’t quite the economic equal of Hong Kong was my take from this scheme
6,500 teachers quit Hong Kong schools in last academic year, bringing total to nearly 12,000 since 2021 | South China Morning Post – This is an attrition rate below 10 percent per yea; but still an annual rate about 83 percent above before the braindyain started in Hong Kong
Japan
Luxury
French stocks enjoy renaissance on back of Chinese demand for luxury | Financial Times
Rick Owens fans are diametrically opposite to the luxury as investment instrument narrative
Materials
Why airplanes are still worth millions after they stop flying | CNBC
Marketing
Has marketing investment in digital and social been effective? | Michael Farmer – Mr Farmer suggests that it hasn’t
Media
The US advertising industry has marked its biggest decline since January 2021 after losing 2100 jobs in March – this doesn’t bode well for media spend moving forwards
Online
‘Algospeak’ is helping social media users evade algorithmic detection | FastCompany – the parallels with getting around Chinese platform censorship is striking, as is harking back to traditions like Polari
Russia now sends men to war with an electronic summons
Alibaba – ChatCCP – Radio Free Mobile
Security
Style
Shredding Slopes to Running the Streets: the story of Northwave’s Espresso in Japan — sabukaru
The Stylist and Fashion Director Pioneering Japan’s City Boy Trend – AKIO HASEGAWA — sabukaru
Technology
Can Intel become the chip champion the US needs? | Financial Times