1. Machine Learning: An Applied Mathematics Introduction by Paul Wilmott. The book provides the mathematical foundations of the major machine learning techniques. Not an easy read, but Wilmott does a great job of making it a fun endeavour.
  2. Machine Translation of Cortical Activity to Text with an Encoder–Decoder Framework by Makin et al. (2020). Brain activity while reading out a sentence was converted to English text. It is fascinating that brain-to-language and language-to-language translations follow a similar pattern. 
  3. The VR Winter by Benedict Evans. How close is VR towards reaching mass-market adoption? “This should have been a VR moment, and it isn’t.”
  4. Mathematicians Catch a Pattern by Figuring Out How to Avoid It by Kevin Hartnett at Quanta Magazine. Oxford’s Sarah Peluse presents a formula for determining how big a set needs to be in order to guarantee that it contains certain polynomial progressions.
  5. 25 Hot New Data Tools and What They Don’t Do by Pete Soderling for Towards Data Science. New-ish tools and their capabilities. 
  6. TikTok Recommendation Algorithm Optimizations by Xodarap at LessWrong. The TikTok recommendation algorithm consists of an automated component and a manual component. The automated recommendation system uses a combination of discrete fields (hashtags and sounds), NLP, and computer vision. Manual intervention (and content moderation) takes place in batches, depending on the virality of the content. Further reading here.
  7. Mastering TikTok Mobile Ads: Takeaways from Six Months in the Self-Serve Beta by Grant Harbin and Kevin Young at Headlight. As TikTok’s importance (particularly in younger demographics) grows, marketers have to evaluate its potential in their portfolio as well as strategy and approach. Headlight points out that many of the rules valid for Facebook are essentially the polar opposite on Tiktok.
  8. How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You) by Tim Urban at WaitButWhy. Like many of Urban’s posts, “How to Pick a Career” is something one should read repeatedly over one’s life time. Unlike past generations, we now have more freedom to continuously re-asses who we are, how we have changed, and how this impacts the work we want to do. 
  9. Opening an Account by Peter Ramsey at Built for Mars. Great piece on how the UX of opening an account differs between traditional British banks and their challengers. Unsurprisingly, the challengers (and Barclays) prize user experience above everything else, even instant data collection.
  10. BBE W1: HMCM and Notetaking Systems by Spiracular at Less Wrong. A short review of “How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought You Think” and analysis of tools and methods in note-taking. While Evernote has become my second brain, I’m still searching for hacks that improve my knowledge retention.