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14歲在體育館擦地板,登上美國《運動畫刊》35歲向台積電喊話:我將是你們的最大客戶現在,他被封為全球AI之王黃仁勳憑什麼贏?

14歲在體育館擦地板,登上美國《運動畫刊》35歲向台積電喊話:我將是你們的最大客戶現在,他被封為全球AI之王黃仁勳憑什麼贏?

Profile 黃仁勳 出生:1963年 現職:輝達執行長 經歷:超微(AMD)、巨積(LSI logic)工程師 學歷:史丹佛大學電子工程碩士、奧勒岡州立大學電機工程學士 家庭:妻Lori Huang,育有2子女 他用一份財報,瞬間炸開這個世界對人工智慧(AI)的進度想像! 美東時間五月二十四日,輝達(NVIDIA)公布今年第一季財報及第二季財測。首先讓一眾分析師跌破眼鏡的,是第一季的「成績單」。 根據輝達公告,第一季(二月至四月底)公司營收七十一.九億美元,高於市場預期的六十五.二億美元;其中,來自「資料中心」的營收達到四十二.八億美元,年增十四%,不僅高於預期的三十九億美元,亦超越了晶片龍頭英特爾同季的三十七.二億美元。獲利部分不遑多讓,第一季調整後(Non-GAAP)的EPS為一.○九美元,儘管年減二○%,仍高於市場預期的○.九二美元。 更讓分析師跌破眼鏡的,是第二季的營收與獲利預測。…

深入星宇心臟,看北美佈局張國煒的不可能任務

深入星宇心臟,看北美佈局張國煒的不可能任務

四月二十六日,星宇航空創辦人張國煒親自執飛,台北洛杉磯的首航。 這是重要性不亞於三年前開航的飛行任務。 飛向北美天空,意味著星宇從區域走向國際。猶如四十年前,張國煒的父親張榮發獨排眾議,大膽開出橫跨太平洋與大西洋的雙向環球航線,讓長榮海運由亞洲船公司變成世界第一。 「他們(父子)DNA是一樣的,都很有魄力、很有魅力,」長榮集團出身、前中菲行執行長林天送評論。 北美首航,轉動了星宇最關鍵的中轉客商模。這位台灣唯一、世界少數同時擁有機師和維修證照的航空公司董事長,要驗證自己「從王子變成King(國王)」,只能贏不能輸的不可能任務。 首航倒數前兩天,星宇航空的營運大腦,張國煒與執行長翟健華所在的內湖總部十六樓,透明辦公室一目了然,從主管房內到開放空間的討論區,沒有一張會議桌是空的,都處於作戰模式。就連秘書遞送文件也都急如風、甚至小跑步。 競爭對手不是兩位老大哥 當年, 看好亞洲成為世界工廠,張榮發大膽擴張海運版圖,捉住趨勢破浪。而張國煒眼中的航空市場,「台灣的地理位置這麼好,如果你善用它,台灣市場無限大,真的太大了,」張國煒左右手,翟健華提高音調分析。…

美中10巨頭領先群雄 將成AI高成長推手

美中10巨頭領先群雄 將成AI高成長推手

「領先的科技巨頭正在積極定義 AI!」投資數據庫公司PitchBook資深分析師布蘭登‧柏克(Brendan Burke)說,今年4月他在接受《財星》(Fortune)採訪時指出,由於科技巨頭擁有研究實驗室和應用工具,在資本投入和創新都居領先地位,接下來將成AI高成長的推手。 那麼,現今領先的科技巨頭有誰呢?根據史登商學院策略遠見教授艾美‧韋伯(Amy Webb)在《AI未來賽局》一書中的調查研究,以及柏克、美國科技股投資家林子揚的長期觀察,在美中競合框架下,將是10大科技巨頭建構未來的AI世界。詳細分析如下: 布局領域 關注美國7巨頭+中國3巨頭 堪稱美、中AI國家代表隊的10大科技巨頭如下: 1.美國7巨頭:亞馬遜(AMZN;編按:公司名括號內為股票代碼,英文名詳見表1,以下皆同)、蘋果(AAPL)、字母(GOOGL)、IBM(IBM)、Meta(META)、微軟(MSFT),以及輝達(NVDA)。而除輝達外,市場取其他6家公司名中的1個字母,合稱之為G-MAFIA(此處的F為Facebook,2021年更名為Meta)。…

你不知道的林書豪

Profile 林書豪 出生:1988年 現職:台灣PLG高雄17直播鋼鐵人隊球員、JLINLLC創辦人 經歷:NBA、CBA球員 學歷:美國哈佛大學主修經濟系、輔修社會系 哇,我在打球的時候,球場感覺好大,怎麼現在看起來這麼小!今周刊 2023, 04/06 64 林書豪在28公尺×15公尺的場上奮戰,也試著站在場外,在更高的高度,開始以投資助人。 搞定妝髮,坐上沙發,林書豪挺起胸膛,輕輕揚起嘴角,兩頰的酒窩跟著淺淺浮了上來。三十四歲的他,現在是P.League+職籃聯盟高雄17直播鋼鐵人隊的一員,在籃球界摸爬滾打這麼多年,林書豪已是沙場老將,比起二十三歲「林來瘋」時他在紐約打球的日子,臉上少了一點膠原蛋白,多了一些風霜。 今年,他回到了老爸老媽的故鄉台灣打球,現在超過一個半月了,他第一次在這裡待了那麼久。 客觀來說,在他的籃球生涯中,這絕對不會是他的巔峰。林書豪曾經歷了好長一段低潮與傷病,二○一九年他來台灣進行布道會時曾落淚哽咽:「NBA(美國職籃)已經放棄我了!」 但現在,眼前的林書豪從容自若。…

你不知道的林書豪
Best Friends Forever

Best Friends Forever

As the tech industry has matured, people in Silicon Valley have become obsessed with developing ways to stop the human aging process. It started with really long bike rides and intermittent fasting, but some venture capitalists and startup employees have moved on to taking dozens of pills every morning, or injecting stem cells into their brain, or infusing their body with the blood of the young and virile. This brand of life-extension experimentation remains fringe, probably because it’s weird and there’s not a ton of evidence any of it works. But Celine Halioua has a plan to take the field mainstream, and it involves dogs. Her startup, Cellular Longevity Inc., is developing treatments that extend the life span of dogs while also making them more active in their later years. Should…

the great escape

the great escape

Tommy and Dee Hilfiger are no strangers to waterfront living. For years the designer couple took respite at a Golden Beach, Florida, home with 100 feet of ocean frontage, and they continue to retreat to a vacation home on Mustique, where the estate’s swimming pool laps up against the sands of the Caribbean. Still, when the duo decided to decamp from their residence in Greenwich, Connecticut (AD, March 2017), and make a full-time move to Palm Beach, Florida, last year, they pondered a new kind of frontier. “We fell in love with this home and the fact that it was on the lake and on the lake trail,” says Dee, referencing the west side of Palm Beach overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, Lake Worth Lagoon. “We definitely wanted to experience something different.”…

MONEY: HOW TO PROTECT PARENTS FROM FINANCIAL SCAMS

MONEY: HOW TO PROTECT PARENTS FROM FINANCIAL SCAMS

When a scam artist called Cameron Huddleston’s mom to tell her to wire money in order to claim a prize, Huddleston had to intercept the calls. Her mom, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, was convinced she had to wire the money as soon as possible. “That was a wake-up call for me. If you have any cognitive decline, you don’t see those red flags anymore,” says Huddleston, who lives in Kentucky and is the director of education at Carefull, a service built to protect aging adults’ daily finances. She also wrote the book “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk,” on how to have important conversations about money with your parents. Scam artists often target older adults, partly because they have amassed greater wealth. “If you are thinking from a criminal’s…

Reef Rescue

AS REPORTS OF CORAL REEF die-offs rolled in year after year, marine biologist Raquel Peixoto couldn’t help but feel inundated. Mass reef bleaching events were already five times more common by 2016 than they’d been in the 1980s — a pace that has continued with ocean warming trends, which only exacerbate the die-offs. That’s a big problem for the larger ocean ecosystem, since coral reefs support thousands of fish and invertebrate species — more than any other undersea environment. With images of corals’ dead white skeletons haunting her, Peixoto started brainstorming solutions. “Trying to do something,” she says, “makes me less depressed.” At some point, a thought occurred to her. What would happen if she dosed threatened reefs with “coral probiotics” — strains of beneficial bacteria known to support coral health? In…

Reef Rescue
我被卡車輾過之後

我被卡車輾過之後

我記得的最後一件事,就是我用拳頭捶打車身的悶響聲,接著我覺得自己好像在翻滾。滿腦子想的都是: 司機快停車吧, 別讓第二組車輪輾軋過來。 想過怎樣才能體驗到被卡車輾過去的感覺嗎?我的建議是,首先要騎自行車。 我住在紐約的布魯克林區。布魯克林的所有潮男潮女都騎自行車: 背個郵差包、戴著復古風眼鏡,就 連騎自行車穿越威廉斯堡大橋(Williamsburg Bridge)都顯得又酷又輕鬆。我就在想,這些音樂迷都可以在布魯克林騎車兜風,沒道理我不行。拜託,我高中時可是全郡的田徑冠軍耶。 於是我也開始騎起自行車來,騎了將近一年。我出門辦事騎車、上班騎車、去附近朋友的公寓也騎車。我會把車鎖在停車牌下,覺得這麼做既環保又有公共意識。夏季裡我還會騎車外出溜達。遲暮時分停在麥卡倫公園(McCarren Park)裡,我感覺彷彿置身於異國電影中,頭戴黑色貝雷帽、頸繫圍巾,坐在公園長椅凳上─但我其實穿著運動短褲和慢跑鞋,坐在東禿一塊、西禿一塊枯黃的草坪上。…

採取正確的具體行動Take the right specific actions

習慣15 避免自我破壞 Habit15 Avoid self-sabotage 106成功人士有4 種方法破壞他們的生活,讓他們感覺不到應有的快樂: There are four ways successful people sabotage their lives and feel less happy than they should: 1 錯誤欲望──人類不擅長預測什麼會使他們快樂。當人們高估自己購物時的快樂程度時,就會產生欲望。 1 Miswanting– humans are bad at predicting what will make them happy. Miswanting occurs when people overestimate how happy they will be when they purchase stuff. 108 2 享樂跑步機──以為只有再買一輛車/一間房子/一個玩具,你才會快樂。快樂的增加只是一時,之後又會回到基本水準。 2 Hedonic treadmill– where you think you'll only be…

the forbidden question

the forbidden question

IN APRIL, THE CIA’S TWITTER ACCOUNT REMINISCED ABOUT THE TIME THE United States supplied Afghan guerrillas with Stinger missiles. That was back in the go-go 1980s, when the U. S. national-security establishment was determined to ensure the Soviets, who had invaded Afghanistan, experienced “their own Vietnam.” By 1989, the CIA website crows, “the Soviet Union had concluded that the fight was not worth the cost and withdrew from the country.” The Soviets were in Afghanistan for ten years. The United States has been there for 20. When the U. S. invaded following the attacks of September 11, the Taliban was in control. As President Joe Biden announces plans to withdraw by September 11, 2021—an admission, witting or not, of the arbitrariness of it all—the Taliban rules large swaths of the country.…

China’s Boozy Work Culture Fuels a #MeToo Reckoning

China’s Boozy Work Culture Fuels a #MeToo Reckoning

Erine joined the Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Global Inc. in 2020, she says, attracted by the opportunity to work for one of the world’s hottest tech companies. That July she had one of her first assignments in a small town—a client meeting that ended with a banquet, the food washed down with many bottles of red wine and the Chinese liquor called baijiu. That wasn’t unusual: Chinese business dinners often involve lots of alcohol, not unlike the boozy work meetings of 1960s New York featured in Mad Men. Erine, now 33, was the only woman at the table, and she says she felt obligated to join the heavy drinking and keep going when the party moved to another restaurant. The next thing she says she remembers is the client groping her…

Student Loan Relief Changed Lives

Student Loan Relief Changed Lives

The pandemic-era pause on student loan payments has been a financially transformative experience for many Americans, allowing them to pay down debt, improve their credit scores, and save for the first time. The forbearance period, which was extended multiple times by both the Trump and Biden administrations, was set to end on May 1, but the White House has pushed the date out again to Aug. 31. A look at the finances of those who’d been struggling under mountains of college debt helps explain why it’s so hard to end the freeze. Since the government suspended payments on federal student loans in March 2020, the average credit score among borrowers rose to 668, from 640, according to an analysis by the California Policy Lab and the Student Loan Law Initiative. (Credit…

GOODBYE, PLAN. HELLO, SCENARIOS

GOODBYE, PLAN. HELLO, SCENARIOS

Imagine that you’re at an elevation of 28,000 feet (8,534 meters) on Mount Everest, trudging the final thousand feet to the top, and something goes horribly wrong: a whiteout disorients you, some crucial equipment fails, or a friend collapses. Nearby climbers leap into action, with only seconds to respond in the low-oxygen environment. The lesson for leaders? Preparation for that scenario would have occurred weeks earlier, down in oxygen-rich air, when the head of the expedition would have guided climbers through possible situations and trained them accordingly. Douglas Hicks, dean of Oxford College at Emory University, has used this Everest analogy in his introduction to leadership class since 1999. The scenario was originally part of his teaching on how leaders should approach extreme crises. But he recently realized that his trusty Himalayas…

First Test: 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring

First Test: 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring

We don’t blame you if you think to yourself, “Here we go again; MotorTrend is about to laud yet another 911 GT3.” We also won’t apologize, because few cars deserve the consistency of praise given to the latest 911 GT3 range, from the standard GT3 that won our 2022 Performance Vehicle of the Year award to the next-level-and-then-some GT3 RS we drove for the first time recently (January 2023). Now we’ve taken a 2022 911 GT3 Touring with a manual transmission to our testing grounds to see how the “least extreme” version gets on with its job. The wing delete is the only significant performance-altering change between the GT3 and GT3 Touring models, thanks to the aerodynamic downforce lost by replacing the large, fixed version with an active rear spoiler and…

Oscar Night: Grand, Golden and Everything

Oscar Night: Grand, Golden and Everything

THE BEST DRESSED STARS BEST DRESSED ARRIVALS AND WINNERS EXECS ON PARADE PARTIES BASSETT, PUGH: MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES. BLANCHETT, OLSEN: MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES. MESCAL, CHAU, DE ARMAS: GILBERT FLORES/VARIETY VIA GETTY IMAGES. GURIRA, JORDAN: ARTURO HOLMES/GETTY IMAGES. MONÁE, KEERAVAANI: ABC/GETTY IMAGES. YEOH, URBAN, DEBOSE, DANO: EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES. DEL TORO, POLLEY: RICHARD HARBAUGH/A.M.P.A.S. VIA GETTY IMAGES. ALL OTHER EXECUTIVES: RODIN ECKENROTH/GA/THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER VIA GETTY IMAGES (16). JOHN: DAVID M. BENETT/GETTY IMAGES FOR ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION. QUAN, CURTIS: EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES. DAVID, MAJORS: ANGELA PHAM/BFA.COM.GARFIELD: AMY SUSSMAN/GETTY IMAGES. NOAH, PASCAL: RANDY SHROPSHIRE/GETTY IMAGES FOR CAA. CARDI: JEMAL COUNTESS/GA/THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER VIA GETTY IMAGES.…

OPERATION WEALTH SPEED

OPERATION WEALTH SPEED

On March 18, 2020, the United States registered its 150th coronavirusrelated death while trying to gauge, along with most of the world, just what was happening. Major market indices fell 5% after jumping 6% the previous day. Spring breakers partied blithely in Florida while officials decided to close the border with Canada. And a statistical team at Forbes locked the numbers for our 34th annual ranking of the world’s billionaires, unwittingly creating a snapshot of global wealth at the precise moment the world lurched into its most disruptive 12 months since World War II. Over the ensuing year, those 150 U.S. deaths swelled to 550,000; some 3 million souls were lost worldwide. Tens of millions of jobs evaporated, along with hundreds of thousands of small businesses. Remote work went from exotic…

The Next Comcast: City Hall

The Next Comcast: City Hall

After years of unhappy reliance on Comcast Corp. and other carriers, Pleasant Grove, on Utah’s Wasatch Front, is turning to a new broadband option: a municipally owned company called Utopia Fiber. The choice follows a pandemic year that showed just how much households need fast, reliable internet connections for jobs, schooling, and medical care. To reach homes that lack good service, or have none at all, President Joe Biden has proposed funding networks such as Utopia Fiber that are run by cities and nonprofits. That’s not sitting well with Comcast, AT&T, Verizon Communications, and other dominant carriers, which don’t like the prospect of facing subsidized competitors. Pleasant Grove shows why established carriers might be vulnerable. With 38,000 residents, it’s nestled between the Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake Basin, just south…

Greenhushing

Greenhushing

Sustainable investing was a feel-good business for Wall Street, a way for asset managers to tout their ability to make money while paying attention to companies’ carbon footprint and social impact. Then it got pulled into America’s culture wars. The acronym ESG—for environmental, social and governance investing—was transformed from finance industry jargon into another three-letter acronym for something conservatives don’t like, alongside DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and CRT (critical race theory). Elon Musk has attacked ESG on Twitter, and many Republicans want to cancel it. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a likely 2024 White House candidate, signed a bill in May banning the use of ESG criteria when investing public money. Other anti-ESG bills are wending through statehouses, while GOP-controlled states have collectively pulled billions of dollars from funds run by…

基金停贖風暴完全調查─揭!澳豐基金15年爭議內幕

基金停贖風暴完全調查─揭!澳豐基金15年爭議內幕

二月十六日, 農曆春節剛過完不久, 一則「 澳豐基金爆雷」的報紙標題引起市場不小關注,在台灣銷售逾十年、被指以年報酬穩達八%為行銷訴求的澳豐金融集團(Ayers Alliance Financial Group,市場簡稱A.A)相關基金,驚傳客戶紛紛收到暫停贖回、匯款延遲通知。 隨後數日,被點名持有基金的寶齡富錦、台端等上市公司陸續發布重訊,至三月六日,兩家公司終於證實接獲澳豐來信,確認相關基金暫停淨值計算、延遲贖回。 一家神祕的境外基金公司、其所銷售的多檔高報酬基金,至此,在國內資本市場與投資圈瞬間引爆話題,同時也引發主管機關金管會的高度關注。畢竟,所謂的澳豐基金,影響範圍絕不僅只是兩家上市公司而已。 根據《今周刊》透過經濟新報資料庫調查,至去年第三季底,帳上有投資澳豐相關基金的掛牌公司達十家,除了寶齡富錦與台端,還包含義隆、宏致、時報、新復興、巨有科技、欣天然、南光、創為精密,合計持有約二十三.六四億元。…

The US Expands Its Tech Blacklist

The US Expands Its Tech Blacklist

When the Trump administration in 2019 blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co., most US companies immediately cut ties with the Chinese multinational, then one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers. One notable exception was Seagate Technology Holdings Plc, the leading producer of hard-disk drives. For years, Seagate continued to export to Huawei, eventually selling it about 7.4 million drives worth more than $1 billion. In April the US Department of Commerce announced that Seagate had agreed to pay the largest fine ever against a US company to settle an administrative violation of export controls. The $300 million penalty was a sign of the increasing importance of such controls to US foreign policy. They’ve been key to the Biden administration’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are playing a central role as the…

Escape From LA Offices

Escape From LA Offices

From a distance, downtown Los Angeles can look like the Wizard of Oz’s Emerald City, a shimmering skyline with the Hollywood Hills and San Gabriel Mountains as a backdrop. Up close, its buildings tell a bleak story of the turmoil roiling US commercial real estate. With downtown LA’s office-vacancy rate at a record 30%—up from an already high 23% before Covid-19—buildings have plunged in value as workers stay away from the urban core of a sprawling, car-centric region. It’s a scenario unfolding in downtowns across the US after a pandemic that turned millions of Americans into remote workers, afflicting cities with vacant storefronts, crime concerns and fiscally strained transit systems. Now rising interest rates are colliding with falling real estate prices, hurting building owners whose debt burdens exceed the market value…

CHAPMAN’S CAYMAN

Just imagine a Lotus able to fight Porsche without the excuses: a sports car funded by a multi-national and sold globally, at a price that’s in the ballpark, with a significant uplift in quality, room to put stuff, and state-of-the-art rather than off-the-shelf infotainment. Then imagine it still upholding all the Lotus virtues of best-in-class ride and handling, driver engagement and striking design, having been developed and assembled at Hethel. Like England football fans, it’s best to keep expectations in check when dealing with Lotus, but that’s the potential in its new Emira – a sports car developed under Chinese majority owners Geely Holdings, with design like a downsized McLaren, but an ‘under £60k’ price that floats it in mid-spec Porsche Cayman S waters. A Lotus to sell lots, possibly doubling…

CHAPMAN’S CAYMAN
The Plant Manager’s Almanac

The Plant Manager’s Almanac

The pandemic has tied a series of paralyzing knots in the global economy, but beyond the transportation delays and parts shortages lies a more enduring challenge for supply chains: climate change. Consider that last year alone saw Hurricane Ida, a typhoon near Chinese ports, the Texas freeze, British Columbia flooding, and freak December tornadoes across the U.S., and it’s clear that global trade is struggling to cope with much more than a health crisis. As temperatures creep higher, nature is likely to be a more frequent, intense, and random economic disrupter. An analysis of 405 extreme weather events over the past decade by Carbon Brief, a website in London devoted to climate science, shows that 70% were more likely to occur, or made more severe, because of global warming. “It’s not the…

The Appeal of Civic Pride

The Appeal of Civic Pride

By the end of March, the Cleveland Ballet’s prospects were bleak. The company was barely 5 years old, without an endowment, and responsible for the salaries of its five full-time and two part-time staff, plus 24 dancers—many of whom had moved to the city from other countries for the job. And because of the pandemic-related shutdown, the ballet’s revenue was reduced to grants, loans, and donations. “Our company had a better-than-average formula,” says co-founder Mike Krasnyansky. Almost 58% of revenue was from ticket sales, while 42% was from donations. “But that was working against us,” he says. Krasnyansky cut the Cleveland Ballet’s budget from $1.5 million to $1 million for the fiscal year begun in August and eliminated 80% of its performance costs—not hard, given that when performances did resume they were…

AIRBNB HAS A NIGHTMARE PROBLEM

AIRBNB HAS A NIGHTMARE PROBLEM

The first-floor apartment on West 37th Street, a few blocks south of Times Square, was popular with tourists—so popular that a set of keys was left at the counter of a nearby bodega for Airbnb renters to pick up. That’s where a 29-year-old Australian woman and a group of her friends retrieved them, no identification needed, when they arrived in Manhattan to celebrate New Year’s Eve in 2015. The apartment had been advertised on Airbnb even though most short-term rentals are illegal in New York. The city, prodded by powerful hotel unions, was at war with the company, which was listing thousands of apartments in the five boroughs despite some of the strictest regulations in the country. Soon after ringing in the new year, the woman left her friends at the…

A FOSSIL-FUEL FUTURE

CAN NATURAL GAS—A FOSSIL FUEL THAT EMITS 50% less carbon dioxide than coal, but still contributes to global warming—help us achieve a transition to green energy? The question has long divided policymakers, but the debate is now coming to a head in Europe. After years of delays, the E.U. wants to finalize its green “taxonomy”—an official list of investments the bloc classifies as sustainable for the planet—by the end of January. The taxonomy aims to help Europe’s private sector, which is trying to overhaul spending to meet recent environmental pledges, move its money to the right places. A draft version, sent to member states on Dec. 31, says natural-gas projects should count as green under certain conditions; natural gas is labeled as a “transitional fuel,” and investments in it will count…

A FOSSIL-FUEL FUTURE

微醺在世界盡頭

飲 酒 過 量 , 有 害 健 康 • 禁 止 酒 駕禁止酒駕 美國 納帕谷姜豐年、陳怡樺夫妻 從野火中孕育的粉紅珍釀 手指端起晶透的酒杯, 輕輕搖晃兩、三下, 粉紅色液體在杯中旋轉流 動, 一股幽香立刻縈繞其 中。當舌尖循著杯身線條,探索粉紅酒(Rosé)由澀到甘的各種層面,這些風味,也正好訴盡了姜豐年一家人的釀酒心境。 很多人知道姜豐年是新浪網創辦人、趨勢科技前總經理、運動潮牌DADA董事長,他的人生就像最愛的籃球一樣,總是不停地在轉身切換跑位;然而,許多人不知道的是,他現在又變換到另一個身分,成為酒莊莊主。 如今的姜豐年, 既擁有自己的葡萄莊園,還推出「Kanpai Wines」的品牌酒,但這一切其實不在他的計畫中。四年前的一場大火,雖然毫不留情地肆虐美國加州酒鄉,卻也意外成為姜豐年開始釀酒的關鍵推手。 時間拉回二○ 一七年四月,到美國參加婚禮的姜豐年與妻子陳怡樺,順道探望在米其林餐廳工作的兒子姜理得,路過納帕谷(NapaValley)正在出售的梅鐸布魯克酒莊(Meadowbrook Farm)時, 被如畫一般的綺麗風景深深打動。回台後,…

微醺在世界盡頭

Everybody Wins

HOME RUNS “These intricately hand-carved and -dyed wooden trays make serving holiday drinks even more elegant.”—style director Tanya Graff SMALL VICTORIES “Art supplies are my go-to gift for kids. These colorful pastels from a century-old company will be hits with my daughters.”—creative director Abbey Kuster-Prokell KITCHEN ALL-STARS “These will make my mom’s legendary pizzelle cookies the high point of the dessert table.”—art director James Maikowski“This has become my favorite pan for nearly every cooking task. I especially love that it can go straight from stove top to table!”—senior food editor Lauryn Tyrell STYLE SCORES “My fashion-loving 23-year-old niece in Chicago will look so polished in this, and it will keep her toasty-warm all winter.”—executive editor Jennie Tung SLAM DUNKS COURTESY OF MANUFACTURERS (1, 2, 4–7, 10). COURTESY OF MANUFACTURERS (2–6, 8–10, 12). PETER ARDITO (13); COURTESY OF MANUFACTURERS (1–4,…

Everybody Wins
How to keep kids safe

How to keep kids safe

With the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine newly given emergency-use authorization for children 5 to 11, many parents are asking the question: Should we vaccinate our kids? Many of them may have already made up their mind. Some of those arguing against vaccinating kids make the case that COVID-19 typically does not cause severe illness among children with healthy immune systems. Thankfully, purely as a percentage of total cases, it does hold true. To date, around 6 million children in the U.S. have contracted this coronavirus, which has led to more than 65,000 hospitalizations and 897 deaths. These numbers pale in comparison to the over 3 million hospitalizations among U.S. adults, and a staggering 754,000 deaths. The low rates of complications and severe illness from COVID-19 in children are the exact data needed to…

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (2021): A Superlative Aspirational System

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (2021): A Superlative Aspirational System

We won’t try to keep you in suspense. When we reviewed last year’s model, we called the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon the best laptop in the world—though we later decided it shared that title with the Dell XPS 13 OLED—and it hasn’t done anything in its latest revision to change that state of affairs. The X1 Carbon Gen 9 catches up with the Dell and other elite ultraportables by moving to an 11th Generation Intel “Tiger Lake” Core processor and a slightly taller 16:10 rather than 16:9 screen aspect ratio. Its premium price and lack of an SD card slot still knock half a star off what would otherwise be a perfect five-star rating, but it effortlessly collects yet another Editors’ Choice award as the most desirable executive notebook on…

Is Quantum Computing a Bubble Ready to Burst?

The massive intersection of James Avenue and East Boughton Road in Bolingbrook, Illinois, looks like many other crossroads in suburban America. A drive-through Starbucks keeps watch over 15 lanes of turning and merging mid-size SUVs, most headed for the sprawling parking lots of the Promenade shopping mall to the south, a few others en route to the shooting gallery and gun shop across Interstate 355 to the east. Few of the people in the SUVs realize they’re driving over part of America’s blossoming research into quantum information technology. Beneath the interstate, entangled photons—quantum particles moving at the speed of light—are teleporting to and from the Argonne National Laboratory in the next town over, through repurposed fiber-optic cables that make up one of the longest land-based quantum networks in the nation. Researchers hope…

Is Quantum Computing a Bubble Ready to Burst?
直擊〉新日本來了

直擊〉新日本來了

「這次,『它』真的變得不一樣了……。」時間往前推,今年三月,全球最大的上市避險基金集團英仕曼(ManGroup),在官網發布了一篇分析報告,報告核心,圍繞在一個已開發國家近年推行的資本市場改革。報告的結論是這麼下的:「它付出的努力,曾經收效甚微,但,這一切很可能即將改變。」 「轉型」、「不一樣」……,這些象徵著自我革新與重生的語彙,指向的,是一個經濟發展停滯逾三十年的國度——日本。 「過去十年,是這個國家的盤整期,」談到日本的未來展望時,元大金控策略長吳杰用篤定與樂觀的語氣提出定調:「現在,它即將全面邁入復興的階段。」 時間回到五月十七日,當天,代表日本大型股表現的日經二二五指數升破了三萬點關卡,不僅創下二○二一年九月以來新高,更逼近一九九○年八月以來的最高水平;同期間,反映日本整體企業表現的東證指數(Topix)也突破了二一二七點,來到三十三年高位。 帶動日股創新高的一大功臣,是外資。 根據日本財務省日前公布的統計資料顯示,今年四月,外資在日本股市總計買超四.九八兆日圓,這個單月買超金額,創下自○五年一月日本開始統計外資動向以來的歷史最高紀錄。 另一邊,…

王品2.0的祕密..快

王品集團 小檔案 成立/1993 年 資本額/ 7.7 億元 董事長/陳正輝 店數/台灣306 家、中國102 家 員工數/逾1.5 萬人 成績單/2022 年營收183.2 億、淨利3.9 億、EPS 5.15 元 陳正輝 出生/ 1961 年 現職/王品集團董事長 學歷/北京大學光華管理學院EMBA 經歷/王品牛排和西堤牛排創辦人、王品集團總經理、王品大陸事業群董事主席 這是一個在成長趨緩、消費者快速喜新厭舊,新品牌蜜月期很短、失敗率又高的市場,重新找到獲利模式的故事。 三月底,本土連鎖餐飲龍頭王品集團在台中烏日高鐵站特區的臻愛花園飯店,召開因疫情停辦三年的供應商年會。 董事長陳正輝領著一班難得穿上正裝的高階主管們,向超過七百個供應商代表致謝。上台發表完年度策略,像人形立牌般站在門口和供應商輪流合照的陳正輝,好心情全寫在臉上。 原來,在中國一百多家店因封城整年無法營業的情況下,二○二二年王品兩岸合併營收還能繳出一八三.二億的好成績,由虧轉盈,獲利三.九億,每股盈餘甚至來到五.一五元,不但超越疫情前,還創下五年新高。(見71頁表1)…

王品2.0的祕密..快
馬斯克的魔鬼算盤

馬斯克的魔鬼算盤

二○二三年,全球最褒貶兩極、擁護者與唱衰者最壁壘分明的企業,必然就是電動車龍頭廠特斯拉(Tesla)。 一月上旬,特斯拉旗下最熱銷兩大車款: Model 3與Model Y, 先後在中國、歐美、日韓等市場啟動大降價。以長程版的Model Y為例,美國消費者只要晚一天買車,就可以拿到便宜近兩成的價格,省下新台幣三十多萬元,而台灣市場也在一個月後,加入這波降價潮。 產品大降價 公司市值逆勢暴增 失去顧客信任 馬斯克無所謂 「之前買的虧大了!」「老車主被當盤子(台語「盼仔」的諧音,意指「凱子」)!」「韭菜割起來!」這些聲音,在台灣的車主間此起彼落;在中國,甚至有車主相約「維權」,跑到門市高喊退錢;在美國,則有消費者發起連署,企圖向該車廠追討折扣。 然而,一片罵聲中,特斯拉在去年重摔的資本市場,竟出現驚人翻轉。 總計今年初至二月中旬,該公司在短短一個半月內,股價從最低點的一○八美元,一路翻漲到二○八美元,帶動市值暴增逾三千億美元(約近九兆元新台幣);反觀去年一整年,它股價、市 值雙雙蒸發近七成,該公司執行長馬斯克(Elon Musk),也因此交出坐了兩年的世界首富寶座。…

Sanctions Can’t Clip Russia’s Wings

As western Europe and the US imposed sanctions last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, civil aviation looked like a promising place to inflict maximum pain. Russian airlines, after all, fly jets mostly from Airbus SE and Boeing Co., which are barred from doing business in Russia. And more than two-fifths of those aircraft were owned by foreign leasing companies that immediately demanded their property back. But one year into the war, Russian carriers are still operating 467 Airbus and Boeing jets, versus 544 a year ago, according to researcher Cirium. Although Russia’s airlines have eliminated flights to the US, western Europe and allied countries, they’ve ramped up service to Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, alongside former Soviet republics such as Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. They fly…

Sanctions Can’t Clip Russia’s Wings
What Happens When You Use Plastic For Weed

What Happens When You Use Plastic For Weed

The McDonald’s in Great Barrington, Mass., had hired extra employees to keep up with the flow of hungry customers from a marijuana shop nearby. What its managers didn’t realize, on a Saturday afternoon in December, was that the payment processing technology at the dispensary was misidentifying a purchase of pear-flavored THC chews as a withdrawal from an ATM—at the burger joint’s address. The dispensary, Theory Wellness, didn’t know about the wrong address either. But why did the purchase show up as a cash withdrawal? Theory’s payment machine, which looked to a customer a lot like a card reader at a coffee shop, was in fact running a so-called cashless ATM. Instead of spitting out $20 bills, the machines work with software that programs them to send signals down debit rails, where…

M2 MACBOOK AIR REVIEW: APPLE’S EVERYDAY LAPTOP HAS ITS GOLDILOCKS MOMENT

M2 MACBOOK AIR REVIEW: APPLE’S EVERYDAY LAPTOP HAS ITS GOLDILOCKS MOMENT

So you’re ready to buy a new laptop. What do you need it for? What do you really need it for? It’s tempting to look at a top-of-the-line model, but most of us aren’t doing complex professional video edits on 4K video, heavy-duty scientific work, or really big coding projects every day. Most of us spend our time with some browser tabs open, a handful of apps for email and messaging, editing photos or maybe some simple videos, watching streaming video, that sort of thing. If you’re a gamer that wants to play the latest games, our sister site, PCWorld, can point you in the direction of a Windows laptop, but for everyone else—everyone who doesn’t use their laptop for very intensive tasks all day long—the MacBook Air is exactly what…

確認基本要件Identify essential building blocks

確認基本要件Identify essential building blocks

習慣4 認識獲取技能的科學 Habit4 Know the science of acquisition 26許多人觀看影片課程、參加研討會、閱讀好書,然後回去仍舊繼續做他們一直在做的事情。有4 個原因讓人難以改變: Many people watch video courses, attend seminars, and read great books, and then go back to doing what they have always done. There are four reasons why it's hard to change: 1 你不能百分之百確定你得到的建議是有用的──還是只是行銷炒作。 1 You're not 100% certain the advice you're receiving is helpful– or whether it was all marketing hype. 28 2 許多書籍和研討會都是變相的資訊娛樂──它們關注的是人,而不是相關的科學原理。 2 Many books and seminars are…

Is the Future Of the Internet In This Van?

The ideal way to connect people to the internet is to run a fiber-optic cable into their homes. When that’s impractical, there are various options to use wireless networks as a substitute. The entire global telecommunications industry is focused on building 5G networks, which promise speeds rivaling those of broadband. The world’s two richest men are backing competing efforts to beam down signals from tens of thousands of orbiting satellites, while Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. have mothballed their plans to build networks of internet-transmitting balloons and drones, respectively. Tarana Wireless, based in Milpitas, Calif., is working on another approach, with a novel way to direct wireless signals around obstacles. With sufficient computing power and the right algorithms, Tarana’s antennas can send multiple signals to each customer, rapidly hop among…

Is the Future Of the Internet In This Van?
Chile’s Copper Conundrum

Chile’s Copper Conundrum

André Sougarret won global acclaim in 2010 as the chief engineer on a rescue of 33 Chilean miners who’d spent more than two months trapped 2,300 feet underground. Now, as chief executive officer of Codelco, he must attempt another difficult feat: digging the world’s No. 1 copper producer out of its current hole. At the state-owned behemoth, output is running at its lowest in a quarter century, costs have surged, and profit has slumped—all at a time when Chile’s government needs more money to fight festering inequalities and the world needs more copper for batteries and electric grids as it transitions away from fossil fuels. Codelco’s production is down by about a fifth from only six years ago. After a double-digit percentage drop in 2022, it’s expected to fall as much…

思考如何更聰明工作Figure out how to work smarter

思考如何更聰明工作Figure out how to work smarter

習慣9 掌握成功的12 項核心特質 Habit9 Master the 12 core traits of success 60諾貝爾經濟學獎得主詹姆斯.赫克曼在1960 年代展開一項為期50 年的研究計畫,目標在找出長期成功的核心特質,最終他提出了「成功的12 項核心特質」: Nobel-prize winning economist James Heckman started a 50-year research project in the 1960s to identify the core traits of long-term success. He came up with a list of the "12 Core Traits of Success": 1 制定計畫的能力──成功人士擅長制定小計畫來實現大目標。 1 Ability to plan– successful people are good at making small plans that feed into larger goals. 62 2…

Elder care grows up

Elder care grows up

FOR THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, ONE OF THE FIRST SIGNS OF THE COVID-19 pandemic to come was a tragedy at a nursing home near Seattle. On Feb. 29, 2020, officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Washington State announced the U.S. had its first outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Three people in the area had tested positive the day before; two of them were associated with Life Care Center of Kirkland, and officials expected more to follow soon. When asked what steps the nursing home could take to control the spread, Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for Seattle and King County, said he was working with the CDC to provide guidance, “but,” he acknowledged, “it is a very challenging environment, particularly with so many vulnerable patients,…

Facebook’s Top Politician

Shortly after Russian troops invaded his country in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sent separate letters to Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. He wanted them to block Russia’s state-backed media outlets from posting to Facebook in Ukraine; he also asked that they cut off Facebook and Instagram in Russia itself. Neither Zuckerberg nor Sandberg responded. Instead, Zelenskiy heard from Nick Clegg, Britain’s former deputy prime minister, who’s worked the past three years as a high-ranking executive at Meta. Clegg, who spent his political career as a Liberal Democrat, had talked to Zelenskiy several months earlier, on a video chat in which the Ukrainian president pitched him and Sandberg on opening an office in the country. Now, Clegg told Zelenskiy that Meta would…

Facebook’s Top Politician
Airbus to Qatar: Sorry. Not Sorry

Airbus to Qatar: Sorry. Not Sorry

For more than two decades, Airbus SE and Qatar Airways have been locked in a tumultuous relationship. The Gulf airline’s chief executive officer, Akbar Al Baker, has always relished a good fight, ridiculing the plane maker’s managers in public or refusing to take aircraft because of a perceived defect. Each time, Airbus endured the torment because the carrier is among its best customers, with billions of dollars’ worth of planes on order. Now the two are airing their grievances in public once again—only this time Airbus is fighting back. The companies are facing off in court in a highstakes showdown that’s being closely watched in the industry, because it stands to redefine the relationship between manufacturers and airlines. It all started with flaking paint on an Airbus A350 aircraft. The airline, the…

Media Mogul Is Peyton Manning’s Comeback Play

Media Mogul Is Peyton Manning’s Comeback Play

Josh Pyatt and Jamie Horowitz flew to Denver in September 2020 armed with a pitch deck and a prayer. Pyatt, an agent at talent firm WME, had helped basketball stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant build their respective media companies, SpringHill Co. and Granity Studios. Horowitz, a former executive at ESPN and Fox, had demonstrated an eye for talent in nurturing the careers of sports commentators Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless. Both saw potential in Peyton Manning, a generational performer on the football field and a popular spokesperson off it. But first they had to persuade Manning to start a company. “From what everyone had told me, he wasn’t interested,” Pyatt says. Manning had retired from football in 2016 with no plan. He knew he didn’t want to coach and had…

Class of One

Class of One

BMW should have picked a name and stuck with it. After our David E. Davis Jr. sang the praises of the 1968 2002, BMW might have said, “Our overachieving compact sports coupe will be called 2002 forevermore.” But no. BMW kept building cars in the 2002 idiom, joyful rear-drive coupes, but the names were inconsistent: 3-series, 1-series, 2-series, 4-series. If BMW hadn’t stopped building the 2002—and it basically didn’t—the redesigned 2022 230i would be the latest model, and we’d all know what to expect, which is to say a practical everyday car with a secret rambunctious side. Though BMW rates the 230i’s turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four at just 255 horsepower, these are Bavarian horses, meaning a good number of them escaped the count. As such, the 3554-pound 230i rips to 60 mph…

Sergey Brin’s Next Big Idea

Sergey Brin’s Next Big Idea

Welcome to LTA: Where we are going to darken the skies.” This is how Alan Weston often greets people visiting his factory. He’s partly joking, partly expressing aspiration. Weston is the chief executive officer of LTA Research & Exploration LLC, maker of airships. LTA, which stands for “Lighter Than Air,” has operated mostly in secrecy since its founding in 2016 at the behest of its backer, Google co-founder Sergey Brin. That is, until now. After years of work, LTA is getting ready to unveil the Pathfinder 1, the first in what the company intends to be a sky-darkening fleet of airships. Built inside a giant hangar in Mountain View, California, the Pathfinder 1 is 122 meters long (400 feet) and 20 meters in diameter at its fattest part. From the outside, it…

Build, Baby, Build

Build, Baby, Build

With coronavirus lockdowns, a real estate downturn, and surging oil prices stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Xi Jinping is turning to reliable allies to keep his ambitious economic growth target in reach: China’s more than 50 million construction workers. At Beijing’s behest, local governments have drawn up lists of thousands of “major projects” they’re under great pressure to see through. Planned investment this year amounts to at least 14.8 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion), according to a Bloomberg analysis. That’s more than double the new spending in the infrastructure package the U.S. Congress approved last year, which totals $1.1 trillion spread over five years. Much of the investment, like that in Washington’s plan, is slated for transportation, water, and digital infrastructure. But China already has more than twice as many miles…

The Limits of Lina Khan’s Power

“She’s certainlytalked about breaking up companies, but, my golly, that’s incredibly hard to do” The fiercest foes of America’s technology giants cheered when Lina Khan, a professor at Columbia Law School, was confirmed by the Senate on June 15 for a seat on the Federal Trade Commission. Then President Joe Biden handed them a gift they could hardly believe: He was naming her chair of the antitrust agency. “I am choked up,” tweeted Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham University law professor and author of the anti-monopoly book Break ’Em Up. “This means so much for workers, equality, community, democracy.” The shock was understandable. Khan had been nominated in March to be a commissioner, not chair, and it was rumored that either the acting head of the agency, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, or Washington, D.C., Attorney…

The Limits of Lina Khan’s Power
怪咖開奇車/CLOWN CAR

怪咖開奇車/CLOWN CAR

2012年7月,我和伴侶凱文、兩名朋友戴蒙和莉安娜在育空河上划獨木舟漂流結束,毫髮無損地上岸後,準備慶祝我們從北方荒野安全歸來。然而經歷了反常的雷暴並與熊不期而遇之後,我們萬萬沒有想到這次旅途最讓人焦慮不安的,反而是回家的這段車程。 我們把撞變形的獨木舟划進道森市,準備買下一班開往白馬市的巴士車票,因為要搭乘黎明時分飛往多倫多的航班,而從道森市到白馬市的車程是6小時,所以時間很緊湊,不能出任何差池。 但我們並未意識到這個星期巴士停駛了,所以當下只有兩個選擇擺在我們面前:(1)在道森市天長地久地住下去,或者(2)找一個有一輛大車的人,裝得下我們4個人和所有的裝備,而且這個人馬上就可前往白馬市。遊客服務中心的櫃檯人員察覺到我們不斷上升的焦灼感,前前後後打了不下⋯ ⋯ 欸唷,2,000通電話,最後大聲宣布: 「我大概找到人了!」 一輛老掉牙、已經褪色的米白廂型車,嘎嚓嘎嚓爬過來,從駕駛座上下來、咧著嘴笑的是史丹。他的年紀在60開外,身材瘦高,繫著螢光黃吊褲帶,頂著一頭卷曲的銀髮。他自我介紹是專業生日小丑, 並笑說他的車子最近不太靈光,還驚詫克朗代克公路竟然如此偏僻,…

COMME UNE PARISIENNE

When American food writer Rebekah Peppler moved to France in 2015 she wasn’t quite sold on the romantic ideal that lures most visitors. “Paris had always been in the back of my mind, not so much as this fantasy city but a place that I would have to live for my job at some point,” Peppler says. Several years after earning a pastry arts degree at New York’s erstwhile French Culinary Institute, Peppler journeyed to the City of Light in search of greater work opportunities. Since then, life in Paris has burgeoned more than just her career. “France has taught me that food brings people together, but the connection happens whether there’s a meal on the table or not,” she says. Enamored with the intimacy of French hospitality, Peppler started hosting…

COMME UNE PARISIENNE
DAISYDISK 4: AN ELEGANT AND FUN WAY TO FREE UP STORAGE SPACE

DAISYDISK 4: AN ELEGANT AND FUN WAY TO FREE UP STORAGE SPACE

Some file optimization and application removal programs on the Mac reach for the stars, trying to perform every possible task of optimization, file cleanup, operating system customization, and malware removal the developers can think of as part of an overarching package. Other apps have been more streamlined, seeking to perform fewer functions and executing them well. DaisyDisk, the brainchild of developers Taras Brizitsky (who programmed the original idea, interaction, and graphic design) and Oleg Krupnov (who now handles the code and technical support), as well as a large group of translators and contributors, belongs to the latter group. The application (version 4.20.3 reviewed here) focuses on locating file clusters, groups them by size, and offers a quick and easy means of dragging them to a delete icon and getting rid of…

HOW TO TASTE

HOW TO TASTE

Tasting is both simple and highly complex. A child can do it (I’m not talking about wine, obviously), and yet it’s a vast subject whose intricacies could fill many books. So how do you go about getting the most out of your wine glass? I’ve talked to some of the world’s best tasters to discuss the tactics that they use when assessing, or just enjoying, a wine. Professional athletes are keenly aware of what affects their form. Wine tasters – especially those on the buying and writing side of the fence – are more likely to promote the myth of the infallible palate (theirs, naturally). Happily, that conversation is now changing as we learn more about our olfactory and taste systems. ➢ ‘The wine taster’s instrument is not only the nose but…

The Chip King Faces The Crunch

The Chip King Faces The Crunch

Decades before he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Morris Chang was present at the creation of modern Silicon Valley. He reminisced at an event this April about being at an industry conference with Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce in 1958, 10 years before they started Intel Corp. The three men attended sessions all day, let the beer flow at dinner, and sang at the top of their lungs all the way back to their hotel, according to Chang. “We felt favored by the gods,” he said. Moore and Noyce’s company went on to become one of Silicon Valley’s most legendary institutions before stumbling in recent years. It’s Chang’s TSMC that now seems like the blessed one, the result of his early embrace of an untested business model and deft execution that’s…

When the Safe Haven Leaves You Wanting

When the Safe Haven Leaves You Wanting

Early January is when many investors give their portfolios a checkup, and this year a sting awaits from the bond market. While equity returns dazzled in 2021, “safe” government bonds registered their first negative return since 2013. Professional investors are of course accustomed to the idea that even so-called risk-free bonds lose money when interest rates rise—or are expected to rise. Those taking a diversified approach with their nest eggs are accustomed to think of Treasuries and high-quality bonds as conservative and safe investments that provide a consistent, if modest, positive return. Except the sanctuary of government bonds cracked last year, with the Bloomberg Treasury index providing a total return of –2.3%. A broader exposure to fixed income that includes debt from high-quality companies, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, lost…

BIG HOT SAUCE WANTS MORE HOT SAUCE

Aisle A3-7, the condiments section of the Walmart Supercenter north of Baltimore, might as well be a theater of war. Shelves of rival ketchups, mustards, mayonnaises, and dressings stand at attention, ready to bombard taste buds. The fight isn’t only about flavor, of course, but also about branding. There’s the classic red coat and bold-black lettering of Heinz, the stout blue-and-white Hellmann’s jar, the proud yellow bottle of French’s. Cheaper, healthier, and perhaps tastier options are available, but these iconic products, conjuring familiar and delicious memories, most often prove victorious at checkout. Minutes up the road, at McCormick & Co.’s headquarters in Hunt Valley, Md., Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Kurzius has been plotting to send reinforcements to Walmart’s shelves, which accounted for 12% of McCormick’s $5.6 billion revenue in 2020. The…

BIG HOT SAUCE WANTS MORE HOT SAUCE

Imagining a Bank Without the Leverage

The collapse of three regional US banks this spring is a reminder that, at their heart, banks are risk-taking businesses. For most depositors, banks are risk-free thanks to federal insurance of as much as $250,000. That’s why “like money in the bank” is shorthand for a sure thing. In reality, of course, the money that people keep in the bank isn’t sitting in cash. Deposits are a liability of the bank—a short-term debt it owes to its customers. On the other side of its balance sheet are a bank’s longer-term loans and investments. If its bets go the wrong way at the same time that many depositors want their money back, it’s in trouble. That’s what happened to Silicon Valley Bank and its fellow failures. But what if a bank did…

Imagining a Bank Without the Leverage
Can Jazz Survive the Streaming Age?

Can Jazz Survive the Streaming Age?

The fabled Village Vanguard in New York is filled on this April evening with fans of Samara Joy. This isn’t simply because the gifted 23-year-old singer brings to mind Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald at their peak. The audience is here to be in the presence of a once-in-a-decade jazz superstar whose career has soared since she was crowned best new artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards in February. In between songs, Joy says she’s still getting used to it. “People come up to me in the street,” she says, laughing in disbelief. “And I’m not even dressed!” Listening intently from one of the club’s banquettes is Jamie Krents, head of Universal Music Group’s Verve and Impulse! record labels, whose catalogs boast some of the most important works of Fitzgerald and…

COMING UP ROSES

PRINCEGEORGE’S BIRTHDAY Ensure many happy returns with practical shorts and playful dresses Prince George’s eighth-birthday party is sure to be a lively affair, so classic but comfortable attire is called for. Smart stripy shorts worn with loafers and a crisp white shirt are de rigueur for any little prince, while their sisters will enchant in pastel-coloured party frocks and Mary-Janes. Presents should aim to please the parents too – eschew garish electronics and opt for a set of stylish Liberty skittles or a Tiffany teddy bear. LYDIA SLATER THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX’S BABYSHOWER Welcome the newborn in cosseting pinks Dressing up for arguably the most exclusive event of 2021 – Serena Williams co-hosted the last one – demands serious thought. Dior’s blush-pink gown is both exquisitely elegant and a graceful nod to the baby-to-be’s gender.…

COMING UP ROSES

Ages + Stages

PREGNANCY HOW TO Include Your Partner by JEANNETTE MONINGER Learn Together. As your pregnancy progresses, one way for the two of you to bond is through prenatal classes. Although not all may be in person yet, online options are available. It’s ideal to attend as many prenatal classes as possible, so search online or ask your ob-gyn. You can also download pregnancy apps to get ready for breastfeeding and prepare for newborn care. In addition, the two of you can listen to the Parents podcast That New Mom Life, which explores the first few months of parenting, and discuss what you’ve learned. Since your unborn child can hear, it’s never too earlyto start reading, singing, and talking to your child! Research suggests that infants remember the rhythms of both parents’ voices after they’re born. You…

Hands on With macOS Monterey: Improvements Abound

Hands on With macOS Monterey: Improvements Abound

The public beta of macOS Monterey, released by Apple in early July, doesn’t look surprisingly new. Exceptions include Safari, which gets a dynamically resizing tab bar and other conveniences, and FaceTime, which gets a background-blurring portrait mode and screen-sharing features. As you get more familiar with Monterey, however, you’ll find improvements and conveniences everywhere and may wonder how you managed without them. This is because Apple’s annual updates to the Mac operating system tend to have a regular rhythm. Massive updates arrive on even-numbered years: Big Sur, for example, the 2020 update to macOS that was also the first version that ran on Apple Silicon hardware. Updates in odd-numbered years, such as Monterey, look more or less like the previous version but come with under-the-hood improvements that may do more for…

Beats Fit Pro: Solid ANC

Beats Fit Pro: Solid ANC

After releasing the relatively affordable Studio Buds ($149.99) earlier this year, Beats is back with a new pair of noise-cancelling true wireless earphones, the Beats Fit Pro. Aptly named, the focus here is on in-ear fit security, with built-in earfins made of a pliable material that truly helps create a more secure seal in your ear. They’re also armed with active noise cancellation (ANC), and since Beats is owned by Apple, you get the company’s H1 chip, which enables features including Spatial Audio with head tracking, Adaptive EQ, hands-free Siri, and one-touch iOS pairing. The sonic performance is classic Beats, with intense bass, boosted highs, and a scooped-out midrange. The ANC is better than average, with effective low-frequency noise elimination. For the price, there’s plenty to like, but the Beats…

The Most Satisfying New Cars

KIA TELLURIDE It scores well in testing and with owners. FORD ECOSPORT Unhappy trails for owners of this small SUV. Knowing how much you might like—or even love—your next vehicle would be a pretty valuable insight as you go about researching your next car purchase. Enter Consumer Reports’ predicted owner satisfaction scores. Every year, as part of our Annual Auto Surveys, we ask our members whether they’d buy their same car again if given the chance. The survey also queries owners about their satisfaction with several specific aspects of their car ownership experience, such as comfort, driving, and ease of use when it comes to in-car electronics. Based on the responses, we calculate a predicted owner satisfaction score each year for new models. We believe our findings—which come from the experiences of car owners with 1- to…

The Most Satisfying New Cars
MATHEMATICIANS CRACK THE ZODIAC KILLER’S CIPHER

MATHEMATICIANS CRACK THE ZODIAC KILLER’S CIPHER

IN THE LATE 1960s, a serial killer self-identifying as “the Zodiac” killed at least five people in Northern California and claimed to have murdered more. In November 1969, the Zodiac killer sent a card to the San Francisco Chronicle containing a 340-character secret message that for more than 50 years went unsolved by numerous detectives, cryptography experts, amateur sleuths and curious others. Wonder no more, true-crime aficionados. After months of crunching code during the pandemic, three researchers on three different continents announced that they’d finally decoded the message. Further bolstering the claim, experts at the FBI verified the solution (and even tweeted about it). The encrypted message didn’t reveal the identity of the Zodiac killer, but it did bring decades of speculation, conspiracy theories and guesswork about this cipher to a dramatic…

A CLOSER LOOK

Looking at the mammogram image, with its spiderweb of faint gray lines showing dense breast tissue, you wouldn’t suspect anything was amiss. No human radiologist would hesitate to give this Massachusetts General Hospital patient a clean bill of health. But the Mirai artificial-intelligence system, created at MIT, thinks differently. When it scanned the mammogram, it flagged the patient as high risk for getting breast cancer in the next five years. Ultimately, the machine’s hunch proved correct: The patient indeed developed breast cancer, just four years after the image was taken. Since about 90 percent of people who develop breast cancer don’t have a known genetic mutation, the disease’s emergence can be highly unpredictable. Regina Barzilay, an MIT computer scientist now working on Mirai, was blindsided when she got her own breast…

A CLOSER LOOK
直擊〉中國冷復甦

直擊〉中國冷復甦

落地窗內,多位身著綠色制服的華為門市人員,正忙著回應顧客對購置手機的需求;落地窗外,餐廳與手搖飲料店滿溢著排隊的人流。離開落地窗,沿著這條中國知名的步行街往東走,一路上,熙來攘往的當地行人與觀光客摩肩接踵,搭配歡鬧喧譁的交談聲,一切乍看明朗而美好……。過去三年,因為疫情導致的經濟陰影似乎已快速淡去,眼前,是一片欣欣向榮的消費復甦景象。 時間,四月中,地點,是上海的指標商圈南京路。 據上海復旦大學消費市場大數據實驗室統計顯示,今年二月,上海全市線下消費總額年增率○.八%,全市餐飲業和住宿業消費達到二○一九年一月統計以來的最高水準。 另一方面,衡量服務業表現的中國非製造業採購經理人指數(PMI),在三月分來到五十八.二,創下一一年五月以來新高;至於服務業PMI分項指標,則達到五十六.九,亦寫下一二年三月以來紀錄。 「大家,都被關太久了。」談及這股由「報復性消費」帶起的中國復甦動能,在上海擔任汽車業務銷售的雲芳(化名)向《今周刊》表示。…

ChatGPT引爆大革命 AI投資獲利全解析

ChatGPT引爆大革命 AI投資獲利全解析

去年11月,全球已因通膨、升息及美中角力等冰風暴,經濟凍傷,股市更崩跌20%,虧損金額逼近18兆美元(約合新台幣548兆元)。 但就在同時,一款人工智慧(Artificial Intelligence,以下簡稱AI)聊天機器人程式「ChatGPT」問世,用戶數竟在短短5天就達100萬人,2個月之後衝破1億人,更帶動股市破冰暴漲。2023年以來,美國、中國、台灣凡與AI沾上一點邊的概念股,漲幅動輒2位數起跳,AI概念幣的漲幅則以倍數計,最多竟高達380.2%。 在AI技術模型史,「ChatGPT」只是一個新的小星火,為何能在全球瞬間重燃AI熱火?而歷經過多次興衰的AI革命,這一回真的能帶來商機嗎?又有誰能成為「實利」贏家? 「這一波,AI發展正式進入商業化的成長期!」台灣人工智慧學校校務長蔡明順說。而在3月21日的GTC 2023年度大會上,輝達(NVIDIA,美股代碼NVDA)執行長黃仁勳(Jensen Huang)說得更有感:「AI的iPhone時刻已經到來!」 自1956年夏天在達特茅斯學院的跨領域會議(Dartmouth Summer…

COME AT ME

COME AT ME

“RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU THINK YOU’VE HAD A HARDER week than I’ve had.” It was Feb. 14, 2019, in the early afternoon, and for perhaps the first time in the 25-year history of Amazon.com Inc., Jeff Bezos was prepared to explain himself to his employees. Bezos was a master compartmentalizer; his ability to keep the intricate threads of his personal and professional lives separate was unrivaled. This talent had allowed him to build Amazon while also running a space company, Blue Origin LLC, and reviving the Washington Post—all while keeping his family life private. But those threads had gotten tangled. Bezos, a father of four, was the subject of tabloid stories in the National Enquirer about his relationship with a married former television host. Rather than doing what most billionaires do under…

Hands Off My Football Team!

The blowback against the European Super League can be explained in one word: risk. Fans love it, and owners hate it. In the end, the fans won. Less than two days after the idea was floated, the plan collapsed as most of the soccer league’s would-be founding members pulled out in the face of furious opposition from pundits, politicians, players, and—especially—fans. Eliminating the possibility that your team will be booted out of the top-level competition was a key feature of the elite league that a dozen English, Spanish, and Italian soccer clubs wanted to launch. The way things are organized now, owners have trouble borrowing from banks or selling bonds because they’re at constant risk of relegation to a lower, less lucrative league if they lose too many matches. Fifteen teams…

Hands Off My Football Team!
The World’s WEIRDEST LAWS

The World’s WEIRDEST LAWS

Standing Room Only It’s illegal to spontaneously dance in a bar or restaurant in Sweden. Owners must adhere to a bygone law and get a dance licence. The Swedish parliament announced its intention to repeal the law in 2016, yet a restaurant owner in the province of Härjedalen was prosecuted as recently as 2020. Lights Out No light must be visible within five kilometres of the king’s bedroom in the Palace of Versailles in France. This 18th-century law means the Versailles football club doesn’t have floodlights and, as a result, can’t host all of its home games – including one against Toulouse in January 2022. It had to move the match to its opponent’s pitch nearly 700 kilometres away. Rodent Repellent Rats aren’t allowed to enter the province of Alberta in Canada, not even as…

First Look: 2023 Ford Escape

First Look: 2023 Ford Escape

Few vehicles sharing the same basic platform are better differentiated than the boxy, go-anywhere Bronco Sport and the urban-outfitted, lozenge-shaped Escape. Had these C2 platform-mates looked more similar, the former might have cannibalized the latter’s sales. Both are selling at or near capacity three years into the fourth-gen Escape’s model run, but Ford has toughened up softer-looking Escape’s visage and demeanor anyway. Most of the redesign comes courtesy of a bolder new hood, which sits atop a more deeply sculpted grille flanked by a pair of LED-outlined “four-eyed” headlamps. On upper trim levels, a so-called “coast-to-coast” LED light strip connects these headlamp DRLs, illuminating the gap between the hood and grille. A new fascia incorporating a faux skidplate completes the makeover. Other exterior changes are minimal: new 17-, 18-, and 19-inch…

Tripped Up

Tripped Up

MILLIONS OF PAIRS OF UNSOLD Yeezys are sitting in purgatory, stacked in warehouses from the US to China. Sneakers—some looking like cozy turtleneck sweaters for your feet, others like they’ve grown teeth on their soles or solidified into pillowy clouds—that once would’ve sold out in limited-edition drops, often flipped for much more on StockX and Goat, now await their fate seven months after one of the biggest corporate meltdowns in history. Their owner, Adidas AG, couldn’t decide what to do with all the tarnished merchandise created by the man who was, until recently, its most prominent business partner: Kanye West, who now goes by Ye. The total value of these sneakers: about $1.3 billion. At Adidas headquarters in the medieval town of Herzogenaurach, Germany, senior executives have spent months mulling their…

Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch

The trip Tim Warrillow took in 2004 was epic: He flew from London to Nairobi, then hopped a flight to Kigali, then another to Kamembe. From there, he persuaded a taxi driver to take him through rural Rwanda and across the Congolese border. Along the way, he paid off militias armed with rocket launchers and gangs wielding nail-studded boards. Almost 24 hours after leaving his home in west London, he got to his destination, a cinchona plantation in eastern Congo. What was he after? Tree bark. The bark from the cinchona tree contains quinine, the bitter chemical compound in tonic water that balances the citrus from lemons and limes. As interest in artisanal gin surged, Warrillow had dreamed of creating a lineup of premium mixers. He sought an opportunity to displace…

提前10年看趨勢、搶商機,永遠走在客戶需求之前

訪談間,東台精機董事長嚴瑞雄,談到了幾次關於他個人和公司,都說是主動或被動「逼出來的成長」。 1996年,38歲的嚴瑞雄,從65歲的前任總經理董道華手中,接下東台精機總經理一職。「有一點硬被拉著成長。」28歲進來,38歲接棒,10年用什麼方法最快?直接丟到戰場去!「那10年,從工廠課長,到製造部副理、副總經理,我基本上都在現場,接觸客戶、溝通客戶需求,是我學習最快的時期。」 東台精機是在1969年,由日本人吉井良三與一群台南好友合資創立,為了與當時的台中同業有所區隔,主打「專用機」市場,都是依照客戶需求設計機型,「早期我們根本沒有型錄,客戶要做什麼就做。」 到了1980年代,客戶需求轉換,「我也在想,公司的產品線不能太專一,」於是,嚴瑞雄成立「標準機」產品線,做平價、續訂(repeat order)的產品,同時也用標準機當基礎,依據客戶需求微調,推出一站式服務(turnkey project),帶動公司營收從5億衝到9億元。…

提前10年看趨勢、搶商機,永遠走在客戶需求之前

Horizon

OPPO FIND N £TBC, oppo.com This is the device that will elevate Oppo through the smartphone ranks. The Find N is a true flagship, a phone that doesn’t only match the potential of its ultra-premium competitor but, for what we’d have to assume was a very large proportion of potential buyers, betters it. It’s a phone that changes what we know about foldables, and changes what we should expect in the future. Can you tell we’re rather excited about it? The fact is that this is a very clever handset indeed. Oppo has solved two of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold’s biggest problems through clever industrial design. One, the strangely elongated body of the Z Fold gets chopped down, making the closed Find N look more like a chubby candybar handset, and giving…

Horizon
Why Don’t More Women Run Money?

Why Don’t More Women Run Money?

Linda Zhang started managing money in 2003. At the time, a little more than 1 in 10 portfolio managers were women. Almost two decades later, that number has barely changed. Women made up about 14% of the 25,000 portfolio managers globally who run fixed income, equity, and asset allocation mutual and exchange-traded funds as of Dec. 31, unchanged from 2000, according to Morningstar Inc. In the U.S. about 11% are female, a share that has held constant over the past decade and is down from 14% in 2000. “Our industry hasn’t changed that much,” says Zhang, who thought the numbers were low back in 2003. “I was managing a multi-asset mutual fund at one point, and I had over $2 billion under my management. I just saw there were very few women…

A New Front in the (Un)cola Wars

In January, PepsiCo introduced Starry, a lemonlime soda that the company says is aimed at “a generation of irreverent optimists.” The real optimists, though, are Pepsi marketing executives, who are taking the soft drink maker’s fourth stab at a category in which success has proven elusive. Starry follows closely on the heels of Sierra Mist, which launched in 1999 and was shut down last year. Before that, Pepsi had Slice, started in 1984. And Slice followed Teem, a brand dating to the 1950s. In between was Storm, a misfire that never made it to market. “PepsiCo needs to try, try and try again until they get a brand that succeeds,” says John Sicher, a beverage industry consultant whose clients have included the Coca-Cola Co. Pepsi is hoping Starry will do what…

A New Front in the (Un)cola Wars
The 1,000th Unicorn Joins the Herd

The 1,000th Unicorn Joins the Herd

Hubert Palan signed on to Zoom from his home in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 2 and prepared to address the 400 or so employees at his startup, Productboard Inc. As chief executive officer, he had big news: Productboard had just raised a new round of funding at a valuation of $1.7 billion. That meant the company could now officially call itself a unicorn—the term for a startup that investors deem worth $1 billion or more. Palan, a wide-smiling 43-year-old father of two from the Czech Republic, tried to make the video call a celebratory moment. “I was jumping around over Zoom,” he says. “I was like, ‘Yay!’ ” He took out a unicorn-shaped Christmas ornament, which he’d decorated with a small sticker of the Productboard logo and attached to a long…

Conquering The Laundry Load

If you’ve ever winced after accidentally washing your delicates in the ‘cottons’ cycle, you’ll shudder over the beating ancient clothing took. Literally. Garments were bashed over rocks, scrubbed with abrasive sand or stone, and pounded underfoot or with wooden implements in an attempt to clean them. This probably gives a pretty clear indication of a) the coarseness of the fabric used and b) the extent of stench and grime that needed to be extracted. On the positive side, laundry day was a social event, with communities heading down to the local river en masse to have a good chat while pulverising their clothes into submission. Over time, the role of washing clothes became a primary occupation. This practice of public laundry services peaked in Ancient Rome, with those fancy Romans transforming the concept…

Conquering The Laundry Load

A CRIME SCENE

SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENED IN THE BASEment of the children’s summer camp in Bucha. The steps leading down to its unlocked door were lousy with trash from Russian army rations: dried macaroni, empty juice boxes, tins of meat. Standing at the bottom of the stairwell, Volodymyr Roslik, the camp groundskeeper, looked up and raised an eyebrow at me, as if to offer one more chance to reconsider going in. The airless tunnel behind that door resembled a series of torture chambers divided by concrete walls. There was a room that appeared to be used for executions at the front, its walls pocked with bullet holes. In the next room stood two chairs, an empty jug, and a wooden plank. In another, the Russians had brought in two metal bedsprings and leaned them…

A CRIME SCENE
小費非同小可

小費非同小可

我最近到加拿大參加一場婚禮,地點在鄉村山上,開車就要90分鐘,所以對方特別為賓客安排轎車接送。想到有專車好興奮!我可以假裝是個有錢人!不過,既然我不是有錢人,實在不知道這趟花費要多少錢,因此司機半夜來接我們返程時,我一路上暗自忐忑不安,不知道該給多少小費。 我緊張地在錢包裡翻來翻去,發現只剩下一張100美元紙鈔,本來是要留著以備不時之需。我沒有任何小鈔。 唉呀!小費是萬萬不能不給的,我手邊又只有婚宴上拿到的兩顆巧克力。也就是說,能給的小費不是太慷慨,就是太寒酸。我最後選擇大方一點,一邊帶著兩個小孩匆匆爬下車,一邊乖乖交出小費。我坦誠當時醉茫茫的,壓根沒想到可以請司機找錢。 話說回來,我也不知道小費怎麼算才對。放眼全球各地,小費向來是一件讓人尷尬的事,有些旅客還會因此犯焦慮。每個國家的小費風俗截然不同。我有位羅馬的朋友曾說,義大利人如果拿到太多小費,反而覺得對方失禮。「義大利人覺得給太多小費很庸俗,」她語氣堅定地說。「我有些朋友硬是要我收回小費。」…

Webtoons Go Global

Webtoons Go Global

The boom in Korean television in the US has been hard for anyone with a Netflix account to miss. But at the same time American audiences were bingeing on Squid Game and All of Us Are Dead over the past two years, another Korean cultural phenomenon was quietly insinuating itself into the US media diet: the webtoon. Webtoons are colorful digital comics designed to be scrolled through on mobile devices, usually consisting of serialized stories doled out in short episodes. Since emerging almost two decades ago, the medium has become a force in its home country, pushed by South Korean companies such as Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. These platforms made it easy for authors to release content that might not have appealed to traditional publishers. As with other novel forms…

China’s $220 Billion Biotech Flub

China’s $220 Billion Biotech Flub

Four years after Li Hangwen returned from the US to launch a startup in Shanghai to develop a cancer vaccine with messenger RNA technology, a mysterious coronavirus emerged in the city of Wuhan. Trained in the US and long inspired by Moderna Inc.’s efforts at tapping genetic material for treatments, the cancer researcher quickly turned his efforts toward developing a shot against Covid-19 for China. After three years of painstaking labor, working nights, weekends and holidays, Li was finally able to get his startup, Stemirna Therapeutics, to produce an mRNA vaccine. But it completed human testing only in late 2022, when the worst of the pandemic had passed in much of the world. So far the treatment has been greenlighted only in Laos; it’s still awaiting approval in China. Other Chinese drug…

JANE GOODALL

…BEING BOUGHT A TOY CHIMP AS A TODDLER. It was made to mark the first chimp born at the London Zoo and was called Jubilee. People said it would give me nightmares, but he became my favourite toy. I took him everywhere. I still have him now, though he’s in his 80s, and rather delicate, so he doesn’t travel. …MY MOTHER supported my ambition to work with animals. She was the only one who didn’t laugh at my ridiculous dream of going to Africa. She said I’d have to work very hard, take advantage of all opportunities, and never give up. That’s the message I tell young people around the world, particularly in disadvantaged communities. I wish she was alive to know many people have told me that I taught them…

JANE GOODALL

There’s Still Scary Stuff in Sunscreen

In 2019 the Food and Drug Administration told sunscreen manufacturers it had safety concerns about 12 ingredients that give so-called chemical lotions and sprays their protective power. The one that became the poster child for concern among researchers and consumer advocates was oxybenzone. It can upset the balance of hormones in ways that may increase cancer risk and lead to shorter pregnancies as well as lower testosterone levels in adolescent boys, studies have shown. Oxybenzone has been found in amniotic fluid and breast milk. Four years later, oxybenzone has been largely eliminated as an ingredient—though manufacturers typically can’t get to an SPF above 50 without adding it to the mix. The percentage of chemical sunscreens with oxybenzone on the market fell from 60% in 2019 to 13% this year, according to…

There’s Still Scary Stuff in Sunscreen

與其追逐AI的工具與功能,不如先找出工作流程的問題

在2022年11月推出,並在2個月後達到1億用戶數的AI聊天機器人程式ChatGPT,標誌了生成式AI的時代來臨。 從2006年開始架設部落格「電腦玩物」,分享多項提升個人生產力工具的站長Esor,也立刻投入研究、摸索各種工具,目前已在網站上分享數十篇關於生成式AI工具的應用情境與方法。他17年來不間斷地接觸各種生產力工具,分享可以應用在工作或日常上的實用技巧,總網頁瀏覽量高達近2.6億人次。 本業為出版社編輯的Esor,最常使用的工具是ChatGPT。「我每天工作,起碼使用它數十次以上。」從構想宣傳文案、規畫新書提案等創意工作,到撰寫email、校對錯字的庶務工作,都可以請ChatGPT協助。 ChatGPT雖然強大,不代表工作能從零開始,Esor表示「我不是請它寫出新的提案,而是把我雜亂的想法,丟給ChatGPT請它結構化。」比方說,跟作者開會的筆記,就能請ChatGPT根據目標市場、讀者痛點、這本書的關鍵特色、可能的大綱,一步一步結構出企畫的草稿。…

與其追逐AI的工具與功能,不如先找出工作流程的問題
Do look down

Do look down

The base model feels less jerky and nervous, and through quick corners it subtly filters out ridges and random surface variations Not a boxer engine, nor a V6. Not a staggering power output. No highly advanced suspension. Yet despite the absence of things we usually treasure about Porsches, the base version of the facelifted Macan is probably the one to go for, because it best embodies that other thing we treasure about Porsches: it’s really good to drive. The new line-up consists of three models: the base Macan, with a 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four making 261bhp; the S, with a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6, making 375bhp and priced from £53,300; and the GTS, with a 434bhp version of the V6, starting at £64,770. All gain some visual tweaks for a more aggressive look to…

Making That Money

Making That Money

Since the pandemic began, Kevin Liles has been running his New York record label, 300 Entertainment, from the patio by the swimming pool at his home in suburban Cresskill, N.J. Early one afternoon in January he’s there, smoking a cigar and conducting a staff meeting on Zoom. He doesn’t seem to notice that it’s started to snow. Sitting at a table near a blazing open-air fireplace, clad in a red hoodie and a green beanie with a pompom, Liles pelts his employees with questions about the performance of a potential hit, Play w/ me, by Bailey Bryan, a country singer turned edgy pop chanteuse. She’s scheduled to perform it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s YouTube channel. Liles wants his promotions people to flog the tune harder to keep…

WHERE DID MARCOS HIDE HIS MONEY?

WHERE DID MARCOS HIDE HIS MONEY?

SENATOR PAUL LAXALT WAS IN A CLASSIFIED BRIEFING ABOUT political chaos in the Philippines when an assistant interrupted: He had an urgent phone call from Manila. On the other end of the line was Ferdinand Marcos, the country’s president. Marcos wanted to know if it was true that Ronald Reagan wished to see him step down. It was Feb. 24, 1986, and for the past several days millions of people had swarmed Manila’s streets in protest. The immediate trigger was Marcos’s victory in a seemingly fixed election, but the ire went much deeper. In the 1970s, Marcos had led a military government of uncommon brutality, disbanding Congress, silencing the media, and using the army to torture and kill thousands of citizens. Marcos partially restored democratic government in 1981, and, in hopes of…

A CITY UNRAVELS

A CITY UNRAVELS

Caracas once looked like a glimpse of Latin America’s future. When petrodollars flowed into Venezuela in the 1960s and ’70s, the nation’s capital experienced a building boom. Highways ringed the growing metropolis, which boasted a university suffused with public art and the region’s tallest skyscrapers. Big American cars prowled the streets, thanks to generous fuel subsidies, while world-class museums and theaters and state-managed housing complexes were built. But when Caracas turned 454 years old on July 25, it was less a cause for celebration and more of a reminder of the city’s reversal of fortune. A spate of economic crises ensued in the ’80s after oil prices crashed and the government accrued massive foreign debts, setting the stage for the election of President Hugo Chávez in 1998 and the socialist project known…

First Look: 2024 Cadillac Celestiq

First Look: 2024 Cadillac Celestiq

Is the 2024 Cadillac Celestiq for real? This head-turning, all-electric superluxury sedan is longer than the brand’s Escalade SUV and priced in a stratosphere Cadillac has long only dreamed of returning to. To wit: Pricing will start above the $300,000 threshold, but customers can easily add up to $100,000 more via customization, all but guaranteeing no two owners have the same exact car. The mere fact Cadillac is producing the Celestiq is nearly as surprising as the vehicle itself, which fulfills a longstanding desire to build a proper flagship. An idea became a vision, then a concept car, and now a fabulous final-form four-door that brings to life almost all the gee-whiz features envisioned along the way. The Celestiq has an estimated 600 hp and 640 lb-ft of torque, a 0–60…

認清差異Know the differences

習慣1 避免12 項危險的失敗 Habit1 Avoid the 12 dangerous failures 有12 種常見阻礙絆住了大多數人,你需要竭力避開。為了出人頭地,成功人士的做法是: There are twelve common roadblocks that trip up the majority of the people, which you need to avoid. To get ahead, successful people: 2 1 不讓恐懼支配自己的行動──反而勇敢走出去,嘗試各種有可能使自己進步的新事物。 1 Never let fear dictate their actions– but put themselves out there and try new things which have the potential to move them ahead. 2 不要陷入沉沒成本謬誤──因為已經投入大量資源而不願果斷放棄。你要知道何時應該放下或轉向。 2 Do not fall for the sunk-cost fallacy–…

elle confidential

Mix & match 5 domande a... Fabio Candido «La nostra donna di riferimento? Una con un animo rock, che mixa gli stili liberamente creando look mai scontati» . È la figura-chiave di NaraCamicie nelle parole di Fabio Candido (sotto), presidente di Passaggio Obbligato, che detiene il brand. Qual è il focus di questa collezione estiva? «Colori accesi e volumi dal taglio over (sopra, due outfit), per raccontare un rinnovato vivere quotidiano. L'abito è il vero protagonista, sensuale e romantico, reinterpretato in ogni sfaccettatura per tutti i giorni e le occasioni speciali». Con quali linee lo proponete? «Dalla silhouette scivolata, con trasparenze e tessuti fluidi, ai tubini in maglia dal sapore più easywear e fresco, che conferiscono eleganza alla figura». Ci parla delle nuove tendenze di NaraCamicie? «Oltre al colore - anche in versione fluo - spazio all’ecopelle per gli shorts,…

elle confidential

the gathering PLACE

Long before any sketches were drawn, the empty-nest owners of this canyon-top property in Phoenix expressed a simple desire: They wanted to create a gathering place that would welcome their large family home. The request for living spaces with strong indoor-out connections conducive to easy entertaining eventually led the owners and their design team—builder Jerry Meek of Desert Star Construction, and interior designer Inga Rehmann, interior designer Laura Huttenhauer, and architects Don Ziebell and Zahir Poonawala, all of Oz Architects—on a journey to Provence. “Having traveled all over the world, the owners appreciated European-style homes that lived elegantly but comfortably,” Rehmann says. “We went to France with the owners to find special things so the house would hold memories and tell stories even before they moved in. We actually picnicked among…

the gathering PLACE
Hands On With the OnePlus Watch: Lots of Promise for Just $159

Hands On With the OnePlus Watch: Lots of Promise for Just $159

I’ll admit, I was pretty skeptical before unboxing the first smartwatch from OnePlus, aptly named the OnePlus Watch. At $159, it’s less than half the price of our Editors’ Choice winner, the Apple Watch Series 6 (which starts at $399). And while it doesn’t work with iPhones, it offers many of the same features as Apple’s market-leading wearable. So far, my skepticism appears to have been unfounded. The OnePlus Watch offers a large color touch screen, built-in GPS, 2GB of storage, a 402mAh battery that promises two weeks of power, and the ability to make and receive calls. It also has plenty of health and fitness features, including support for more than 110 workout types, automatic workout detection for jogging and running, rapid-heart-rate alerts, guided breathing exercises, stress detection, and the…

THE BEST FITNESS APPS

THE BEST FITNESS APPS

Working out on your own can be a struggle, or it can be a blast. It all depends on whether you’ve found a fitness activity that excites you and motivates you to get up and move. Here’s the good news about workout apps: App stores are absolutely saturated with them, which means there’s something for everyone at a range of prices. Whether you like to lift weights on your own, want to join a high-intensity cardio class, or need guidance while training for a marathon, you’re sure to find an app for you. Want more good news? Prices for fitness apps are often lower than they appear; the prices given below are list prices, which is not necessarily what you’ll pay. Workout subscriptions are perpetually on sale. App makers would love for…

Learning a Language Literally Changes Your Brain

Learning a Language Literally Changes Your Brain

If you’ve ever learned a new language — or tried to — you know how difficult it can be. Native languages seem almost built-in. We soak them up naturally when we’re very young. But learning a new language, especially after early childhood, can be a huge task, burdened by long vocabulary lists and genders to memorize, complex cases and troublesome tenses to master. Of course, it’s worth the effort. In today’s interconnected world, learning a new language can change your life. It will certainly change your brain. ALTERNATE ROUTES Learning anything changes your brain, at least a little bit. But learning a language does it in high gear. John Grundy, a neuroscientist at Iowa State University who specializes in bilingualism and the brain, explains that learning a new language causes extensive neuroplasticity in…

CATCHING WIND

CATCHING WIND

CAPTURING OFFSHORE WIND in the U.S. has long been an uphill battle, with various stumbling blocks in the terrain. Objections from fisheries, skepticism from conservationists and tenuous support from tourism have all stalled development in the past decade. That is, until May of 2021, when the U.S. Department of the Interior approved construction of a sprawling wind facility several miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The project marks the first large-scale offshore wind undertaking in the U.S., and includes 62 turbines that will power more than 400,000 homes and businesses. But it almost didn’t happen. Under the Trump administration, the project’s approval halted, while broader national momentum behind alternative energy solutions slowed. The country’s only other offshore wind facility, with just five turbines spinning off the coast of Rhode…

Blood Work

Blood Work

Late one night in 1982, a Yale University medical student named Martin Yarmush witnessed a harrowing scene at a local hospital. A toddler was admitted, and several nurses attempted to insert an IV needle into one of the child’s tiny veins. Each time they missed the vessel, the child screamed more shrilly, and the mother grew more worried. There has to be a better way, thought Yarmush, now a professor of biomedical engineering at Rutgers University. The incident changed his outlook on medicine. Thoroughly unnerved by the anguish he’d witnessed, Yarmush started to imagine what would happen if the process of drawing blood could be automated. At the time, automation was found primarily on assembly lines for cars, where robots were so powerful and dangerous that they were bolted to the ground…