Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 15

Rimowa Sells Old, Beat-Up Suitcases and Demand Is Off the Charts

Buyback programs are getting popular among retailers in many categories but usually they are for products that are still in “sellable” condition that can be refurbished. When legendary luggage brand Rimowa launched their own in-store buyback program, they began receiving used suitcases from customers that had clearly taken a beating and traveled the world. As they refurbished and resold them, a curious truth emerged. People loved the pieces because of all the dents and bruises and stickers and u...

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis

In the words of bestselling author Garrett Graff who recently wrote a review for The Washington Post, this book “examines some of the remarkable people who make up the federal workforce — career civil servants who have accomplished the extraordinary in quiet ways, people whose jobs are normally buried layers below any partisan rancor. Perhaps never before has there been a book better timed or more urgent.” It is indeed a timely read in a moment when the Federal government is being attacked from ...

The Wild Theory of the “Mar-a-Lago Accord” That Aims to Explain Everything Trump Is Doing

There is a theory circulating Wall Street and other circles that aims to take all the chaos of the first several months of the new Trump administration and offer an explanation for how it all fits a grand master plan that could, if it works, be heralded as “the greatest geopolitical deal of the century.” If this idea seems far-fetched, follow the link and read the full story from The Atlantic which breaks down exactly how these seemingly haphazard tariffs and other early economic moves could mak...

Why the EPA Fighting Back Matters

The EPA has a marketing problem and it’s a basic one that has existed for decades. Despite being largely effective in its mission to protect American air quality and prevent toxic sludge from entering waterways, the government agency receives almost no public credit for their success. Of course, I’m oversimplifying their mission and perhaps overstating their success—but when you compare America to many other nations outside Europe, it’s clear that the moves the US government made decades ago to ...

Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant Is Exactly What Anyone in Business Really Needs

This past month Adobe launched a super useful enhancement that I’ve been testing it for a bit. The Adobe AI Assistant has a number of features to help anyone more easily understand what contracts are actually saying. Given most contracts are in PDF format, it’s a perfect extension to have this built into Adobe. The tool allows you to easily extract a list of deliverables, find key dates and more easily see changes from one version of a contract to another. If you use your own contracts, it can a...

The Quest to Prevent Scalpers and the Rise of the Freebie Bots

There is a word for people who buy a child’s game when it first comes out and then immediately try to sell it online for a huge profit: assholes.

Ok, technically the more common and polite term would be scalpers. It’s a common problem, though. Particularly when it comes to the still popular game of Pokémon where new card packs can be bought and sold online with ease. Recently, to try and curb this black market game, Pokémon Center Singapore has confirmed they will be removing the plastic wrap...

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Look Again by Tali Sharot & Cass R. Sunstein

Humans are great at habituation. We can get used to it when things are great, and we can get used to it when they aren’t too. Both situations can be a problem. The secret to really being more fulfilled may lie in our ability to dishabituate. That’s the simple premise Look Again, a book that delves into the social science and research behind why challenging yourself to do this more frequently matters. It’s a message that resonated immediately for me, as did one of the opening stories where the au...

Astronauts Are Leading the Quest to Prevent Space Advertising from Filling the Sky

The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), is a beautifully imagined group within the United Nations that aims to make sure space doesn’t get misused as the costs for launching satellites continues to go down and the industry continues to privatize. Investor plans show there are several companies aiming to put hundreds of laser-fitted small satellites into orbit roughly 370 miles above Earth’s surface by 2030. Altogether, this many satellites could work together like a space bil...

Can Brand America Be Destroyed?

Diplomats and trading partners don’t trust the word of America anymore. Countries are hosting summits and meetings to discuss alliances specifically omitting the US. Politicians in other countries are winning elections because they argue against America. There are even kits for sale online to help Americans who do travel abroad to disguise themselves as more universally appreciated Canadians. As an article from Fast Company this week suggests, perhaps Brand America itself has become toxic.

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Unnecessary Enhancement and the Upscaling Backlash Against Netflix

What if everything doesn’t need to be better? A series of 80s shows originally released at a 4:3 aspect ratio and with non-HD level filming have been digitally “enhanced” with AI to make them higher quality and in the typical widescreen format preferred now. The upscaling is a disaster.

Anyone watching immediately notices inconsistencies, weird AI-generated remnants and a wide format that cuts off critical pieces of a scene. The end result is that anyone watching will long for a time whe...