3MTB Newsletter - COVID-19 may have just killed the movie theaters; Bored, and need a Physics challenge?
"This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom,"
— Elon Musk on the lockdowns
First, my apologies for the very much delayed edition of the newsletter. A heavy combination of personal and professional commitments just burnt me out.
I hope everyone is safe and sound during this epic Pandemic.
Some bits
WhatsApp sues NSO Group, an Israeli company, for allegedly hacking or attempting to hack 1400 accounts in 2019. (To refresh your memory, this included the account of 14 Indian journalists).
Salesforce has moved all its 2020 events online. Dreamforce, its flagship event in fall 2019 attracted 170,000 attendees to San Francisco and contributed 150m $ spending towards the local economy.
Weird as it may sound, the .org domain was actually sold to a private equity firm called Ethos Capital for a rumored $1 billion. ICANN, the internet’s governing body, has just blocked the sale.
Bytes
CAIT to take on Amazon, Flipkart & JioMart
The website’s name may not be catchy, but the intent is serious. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has always been critical of deep discounting policies of Amazon & Flipkart, alleging that such policies provide an unfair playground to offline retailers.
Now, it will launch a new e-commerce marketplace www.bharatemarket.in to connect retail traders and provide end-to-end solution from manufacturers to consumers. The website will initially be piloted to deliver essential goods in 6 cities/towns. Link
COVID-19 may have just killed the movie theaters
Due to the pandemic Universal Studios decided to release its widely anticipated movie Trolls World Tour directly as Video-on-Demand (VOD). And boy, it exceeded expectations.
With a rental cost of $19.99, the movie made $77 million in just 3 weeks. This is more than what the first Trolls movie had made ($76 million) after 5 weeks of its theatrical run in North America.
As expected, movie theater owners are miffed. AMC decided not to play any movie from Universal in the future.
A Physics project for your bored mind
What is the Holy Grail of Physics? The Unified Field Theory. It is an attempt to an attempt to describe all fundamental forces and the relationships between elementary particles in terms of a single theoretical framework. Albert Einstein and other physicists never succeeded in their attempts to construct an unified field theory.
Stephen Wolfram, a well know physicist of modern times, launched the Wolfram Physics Project for those who are bored and need an intellectual challenge during these pandemic times.
You can build various graph-like models of Universes. When the graphs become really complex, one ‘may’ discover the real physics that govern the Universe, everything from gravity to theory of relativity.
Who is Stephen Wolfram?
Stephen Wolfram is a British-American scientist popular for his work in particle physics, mathematics and computer science. He authored 3 books on particle physics by the age of 14.
Through his company Wolfram Research, he developed a technical computing system called Wolfram Mathematica and pioneered the Wolfram Language.
Till the next edition, Stay Home & Stay Safe.
Best,
-SK