Archive for November, 2019
Google Pixel 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S10: Which is best? | Stuff
Monday, November 11th, 2019The stockmarket is now run by computers, algorithms and passive managers
Monday, November 11th, 2019QT:{{”
“Jump to 2017, when Google unveiled AlphaZero, a computer that had been given the rules of chess and then taught itself how to play. It took four hours of training to be able to beat Stockfish, the best chess machine programmed with human tactics. Intriguingly, AlphaZero made what looked like blunders to human eyes. For example, in the middlegame it sacrificed a bishop for a strategic advantage that became clear only much later.
Quant funds can be divided into two groups: those like Stockfish, which use machines to mimic human strategies; and those like AlphaZero, which create strategies themselves. For 30 years
quantitative investing started with a hypothesis, says a quant investor. Investors would test it against historical data and make a judgment as to whether it would continue to be useful. Now the order has been reversed. “We start with the data and look for a hypothesis,” he says.”
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Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan – The Atlantic
Monday, November 11th, 2019QT:{{”
“Is there even a choice about Amazon anymore? This is a question that haunts businesses far more than consumers. Companies such as Nike resisted Amazon for years; they poured money into setting up their own e-commerce sites. But even when Nike didn’t sell its products on Amazon, more Nike apparel was sold on the site than any other brand. Anyone could peddle Nike shoes on Amazon without having to explain how they obtained their inventory. Because Amazon Marketplace had become a pipeline connecting Chinese factories directly to American homes, it also served as a conduit for counterfeit goods, a constant gripe of Nike’s. Wired reported that, at one point during this year’s Women’s World Cup, six of Amazon’s 10 best-selling jerseys appeared to be knockoffs. To have any hope of controlling this market, Nike concluded that it had no option but to join its rival. (Amazon has said that it prohibits the sale of counterfeit products.)”
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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/what-jeff-bezos-wants/598363/