In partnership with
Midweek greetings to all, as we unveil the 301st chapter of Weekly Olio — a delightful concoction of laughter, insight, and a sprinkle of mystery. Within these pages, you'll discover a handpicked selection of fascinating finds from the vast realms of the internet.
Keep your eyes peeled for this week’s Publisher’s Parmesan, arriving this Sunday!
A word from our Sponsors…
State of Product reveals what AI still hasn’t solved
80% of product professionals say AI helps them ship faster, but customers aren’t seeing value any sooner. Atlassian’s State of Product 2027 explores the gains AI is delivering and the challenges that remain, from decision-making that hasn’t kept pace to gut instinct overriding customer evidence.
The Quote 💭
“Be the one who puts things out there rather than the one who sits back and offers sophisticated - sounding criticisms of them. ‘It’s easy to criticise’ is true in the most literal sense, and the route to great work is never easy. ”
The Tweet 🐦
Venture capitalist Venky Ganesan warns that the AI boom’s massive capital spending—projected at a $4 trillion floor through 2029 by Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Oracle and others—must eventually deliver returns. At a 12% required return, that implies roughly $500 billion in annual free cash flow by 2029, needing about $1 trillion in AI-compute revenue. Frontier labs, currently growing at unprecedented rates from a ~$100 billion base, would need to roughly quintuple revenue in three years to cover half of that. Two paths emerge: under-delivery triggers write-downs and slowed spending (not a 2008-style crisis, given stronger credit), or success funded by wage cuts, broader growth, or shifts from software/SaaS budgets. Much of the spend has already enriched Nvidia. The story and cash flows remain far apart; history suggests the “bartender” eventually presents the tab.
The Infographic 💹
The EU’s trade deficit with China has more than doubled since 2010, from €139 billion to €350 billion in 2025, with goods — cars, chemicals, industrial machinery — driving the imbalance.
It peaked in 2022 on an import surge and has narrowed since, but the gap is still far wider than anything before 2020.
How Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads
The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Aniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.
The Short Read 📝
Ukraine turned war into a points-based game with a real-world reward market - by We Are The Mighty
The article presents Ukraine’s Brave1 Market as a battlefield “Walmart,” where military units earn ePoints for verified combat results and spend them on drones, sensors and other equipment. DELTA uses timestamped, geolocated video to confirm targets and award points. The model is portrayed as a way to bypass slow centralized procurement: frontline units choose gear suited to their needs, while manufacturers receive rapid performance data and can improve products quickly.
The article says leaderboards reward effective units with more resources, potentially creating a cycle of better equipment and stronger performance, though this may widen gaps between units. It also notes criticism that rewarding combat risks gamifying violence. As a counterbalance, the system reportedly gives substantially more points for capturing a Russian soldier than killing one, encouraging surrender and supporting prisoner exchanges. Overall, the article frames Brave1 as a pragmatic response to attrition, intended to keep Ukrainian forces supplied and adaptable. Read more…
The Long Read 📜
Big Winners & Losers from India’s ‘Breakpoint’ - by Marcellus
The article argues automation’s effects depend less on technology than on whether workers share productivity gains and influence its introduction. It contrasts post-war US, where unions shared gains, with Germany, where works councils negotiated automation, retraining and job security. India, it says, took a different path after 1991: policies made machinery and capital cheaper, while labour rules made permanent hiring costly and gave workers little voice.
Employers automated and increasingly relied on contract labour. The article cites factory wages falling from 29% to 14% of value added, while profits rose from 16% to 43%. It sees generative AI extending this pattern to white-collar work: entry-level roles are shrinking as gig employment expands, with limited bargaining power or protection. In Marcellus’s view, winners are capital owners and firms that grow without adding staff; wage earners and mass-market consumers risk losing out. It expects affluent spending and exports to matter more. Read more…
Discover laptops with built-in intelligence.
Shift your workforce into hyper-productivity mode with Dell Pro laptops powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra with Intel vPro®. Shop on Dell Premier.
That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed this edition, we’d really appreciate if you shared it with a friend, family member or colleague.
We’ll be back in your inbox 2 PM IST next Wednesday. Till then, have a productive week!
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.