Summer Book List

Bill Gates released his annual summer book list on Monday. Go to Bill's blog, Gates Notes for more info.

Earth Break

Earth Break: A Few Suggestions For Survival, With Additional Hints and Tips About How to Make Yourself More Comfortable During the Alien Apocalypse, is a new narrative podcast in which Jenny Slate plays a woman who may be the sole survivor of a planet-decimating alien invasion. A must listen.

Idagio

Idagio GmbH is a unique Berlin startup. Idagio streams classical music, from Gregorian chants to the minimalist movements of Philip Glass. Take note.

The Terrifying Potential Of The 5G Network

Two words explain the difference between our current wireless networks and 5G: speed and latency. 5G--if all goes well--is expected to be a up to hundred times faster.

Useful link:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-terrifying-potential-of-the-5g-network

Robert Wan: A True Legend

Spot on.

Useful links:
https://www.jewellerynet.com/en/magazine/features/23152
https://www.robertwan.com

A Grande Dame Of The Perfume Industry Turns Ninety-Five

Get to know Annette Green.

Useful link:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/the-grande-dame-of-the-perfume-industry-turns-ninety-five

Macallan

Rare. Only for whisky lovers with a deep pocket.

Useful link:
https://robbreport.com/food-drink/spirits/the-macallan-72-years-old-is-going-fast-at-one-beverly-hills-hotel-2848087

Whispering Angel

Whispering Angel. Get to know Sacha Lichine, owner and founder of Chateau d’Esclans, the French wine house behind Whispering Angel. 

Jody Lidgard

Get to know Jody Lidgard, one of Chelsea’s most decorated and brilliant garden designer.

How To Change Your Mind

Writer, activist and food guru Michael Pollan continues to explore the relationship between human identity and plants. His most recent book, How to Change Your Mind, argues that psychedelics, like travel, can feed both the body and soul. Over interviews from his wood-lined Northern California home study, the author of classics like The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food described how travel has the potential to break down cultural walls. Pollan is famous for thought-provoking mantras like ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants’. He explains how people can best follow this principle when they travel; discusses how travel helps us shift our perspective; and dishes on some of the most memorable meals he's had around the world. A must read.

On Mexican Time

Get to know Tony Cohan through his popular memoir  “On Mexican Time.” 

We’re Entering A New Age Of Meatless Meat Today

As always, America starts the trend.

Useful link:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/turn-century-meatless-meat-180972042

Hacking Darwin

Get to know Jamie Metzl.

Useful link:
https://jamiemetzl.com

Are Some Diamonds Still Overgraded? Here’s What Retailers Say

Diamond grading is so subjective you will never get a correct answer.

Useful link:
https://instoremag.com/are-some-diamonds-still-overgraded-heres-what-retailers-say

Gold Worth Billions Smuggled Out Of Africa

Gold confidential.

Useful link:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gold-africa-smuggling-exclusive/exclusive-gold-worth-billions-smuggled-out-of-africa-idUSKCN1S00IT

Legend Of Sumeria

Jay Webb and Biju Parekkadan foresee in their recent graphic novel, Legend of Sumeria, their vision of a near-future dystopian society: a corporation called Nyima acquires a DNA ancestry company (think 23andMe or Ancestry.org), along with its huge database of genetic profiles. From there, all of that data is used to create a new social media platform-cum-genetic security system called the SEQ Network, which recommends products, services, and even romantic partners based on what inferences about people can be gleaned from their genetic profiles, and tracking everything—from users’ banking transactions to their location—using their DNA signatures. It's already beginning to happen.

Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace symbolize meaningful progress toward an important goal. Clean up the planet.

The International Grown Diamond Association

There is already a group, the International Grown Diamond Association (IGDA), which represents the lab-grown diamond industry. Stay tuned.

GemGeneve 2019

Now in its second year, GemGenève is the new European jewellery show with 210 exhibitors as well as being the place to meet in person the designers to watch. GemGenève, organised by two industry insiders, offers a space where trade and press can mingle with many of the independent jewellery professionals from around the world who have emigrated from Baselworld and beyond.  Located in Geneva’s Palexpo, it is a short walk from the international airport and can be explored in a day. Take note.

D'USS'E Cognac

D’USS´E Cognac, a division of Bacardi USA, is clear about who the consumer is: Historically, Cognac has been recognized as a male-dominated spirit. But now it appeals to a diverse mix of men and women from different demographics. The reality is, women love Cognac just as much as men do.

Les Clefs d'Or

Get to know Les Clefs d'Or, the international association of elite concierges. Recognizable by a pair of golden keys pinned to their lapels, the network spans 80 countries and has approximately 4,000 members. They pride themselves on making the impossible possible.

How SoftBank And Its $100 Billion Vision Fund Has Become A Global Start-up Machine

SoftBank is the patient capital of the world.

Useful link:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/softbanks-100-billion-vision-fund-reshapes-world-of-venture-capital.html

How To Prepare For A Future Of Gene-Edited Babies—Because It’s Coming

It's a reality.

Useful link:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-to-prepare-for-future-gene-edited-babies-180972027

A Prototype Patek Philippe Aquanaut Sells For CHF 401,000 At Antiquorum Geneva

The definition of price is as much as we can get you to pay for.

Useful link:
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/prototype-patek-philippe-aquanaut-sells-antiquorum-geneva?mc_cid=175bc24451&mc_eid=9e3639944a

Scientists Need To Talk More About Failure

I think they should.

Useful link:
https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-need-more-failure-talk

LVMH Has Just Discovered A Way To Make Bordeaux-Style Wines In China

Made in China is getting a whole new spin.

Useful link:
https://robbreport.com/food-drink/wine/lvmh-has-just-discovered-a-way-to-make-bordeaux-style-wines-in-china-2847736

The Next Lab-Grown Diamond Fight May Be Over Patents

Quite likely.

Useful link:
https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/lab-grown-diamond-fights-patents

Style Crone

Get to know Judith Boyd through her blog, Style Crone.

Verde Valley Wine Trail

Verde Valley Wine Trail. A must visit.

The 2019 Fortune 500 List

The big are getting bigger, and the rich are getting richer. The economic chemistry is simply difficult to describe.

Useful link:
http://fortune.com/longform/fortune-500-2019-covers

Meet The Bold Independent Designers Disrupting London’s Old-School Jewelry Scene

Nothing is off-limits to the new jewelry designers.

Useful link:
https://robbreport.com/style/jewelry/meet-the-bold-independent-designers-disrupting-londons-old-school-jewelry-scene-2847901

Lucara Finds Largest Uncut Diamond In Botswana

This time it's Lucara Diamond Corporation.

Useful link:
http://www.mining.com/web/lucara-finds-largest-uncut-diamond-recent-history-botswana-mine

Two Wives Shaped Dallas Mogul's Art Collection Coming To Auction

How do art collections come together? It depends on who you marry.

Useful link:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-25/two-wives-shaped-dallas-mogul-s-art-collection-coming-to-auction?srnd=premium-asia

Mercedes Abramo

Get to know Mercedes Abramo, president of Cartier, North America.

Useful link:
https://robbreport.com/style/jewelry/cartiers-mercedes-abramo-on-cultivating-female-leaders-2850877

Why Noise Pollution Is More Dangerous Than We Think

The serious costs to human health and wildlife is phenomenal.

Useful link:
https://video.newyorker.com/watch/the-backstory-why-noise-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-we-think

The Look Book

The Plumb Club has created branded marketing materials, such as in-case signage and social media templates, for members to promote their original collections both in-store and online.

The 'Radiant Universe' collection is set to debut at JCK Las Vegas. A lookbook is available online and will also be distributed at The Plumb Club Annual Breakfast Symposium and in the Pavilion at the JCK Las Vegas show.

Magnificent Jewel Auction

The Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale totaled $62.6 million. To see the full results, visit the auction house’s website.

AlterEgo

AlterEgo is an AI-enabled headset device that Kapur, an MIT Media Lab researcher, has been developing for the past several years and demonstrated for the first time on stage at TED 2019 in Vancouver last month; you can now watch the video of the device in action.

Random Thoughts

Every product you innovate will be out-innovated. Every corporate giant we take as a fact of life will one day be a historical footnote. But when you change a heart, you change it forever. That's what art and creativity do.

The Making Of A Billion-Dollar Burger

Get to know Ethan Brown of Beyond Meat.

Useful link:
https://www.fastcompany.com/video/wheres-the-beef-the-making-of-a-billion-dollar-burger/66ngoGA2

Fabergé's Imperial Easter Eggs

Take a look.

Useful link:
http://www.thejewelleryeditor.com/jewellery/vintage/article/faberge-imperial-easter-eggs-history

Jewelry For Gentlemen

A must read.

Useful link:
https://www.gia.edu/gia-book-review-jewelry-for-gentlemen

Galleries And Museums Continue To Push Into Chinese Market

Think long-term; China will make patient investors and collectors rich.

Useful link:
https://www.barrons.com/articles/galleries-and-museums-continue-to-push-into-chinese-market-01556040589?mod=hp_minor_pos26

Smart Kalasatama

Smart Kalasatama. Take a look.

OpenAI

The way OpenAI works is amazingly simple. A user gives the system, called GPT-2, a prompt — a few words, a snippet of text, a passage from an article, what have you. The system has been trained, on data drawn from the internet, to predict the next words of the passage — meaning the AI will turn your prompt into a news article, a short story, or a poem. (You can give the newest version of GPT-2 a try on a private site hosted by machine learning engineer Adam King.)

Laws Of Motion

A startup called Laws of Motion wants to totally overhaul this traditional sizing model. Take note.

Ghost Work

Ghost Work, a book by Microsoft's Research's Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri is a must read.

PassivDom

A brilliant startup called PassivDom has designed houses to use as few resources as possible. I would really like to live in a functional house that saves everything.

Lepidocrocite In Boulder Opal

Take a look.

Useful link:
https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/winter-2018-microworld-lepidocrocite-in-boulder-opal

The Color Origin Of Gem Diaspore: Correlation To Corundum

One of a kind gem with unique phenomenal effects.

Useful link:
https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/winter-2018-color-origin-of-gem-diaspore-correlation-to-corundum

What Do We See When Our Eyes Are Closed?

A very good question. Ivan Schwab has the answer.

Useful link:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-do-we-see-when-our-eyes-are-closed-11556034564

Woodstock Backers Hope To Export Brand To Other Countries

How do you compliment summer of love with summer of profit? Time will tell.

Useful link:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-23/woodstock-backers-hope-to-export-brand-to-other-countries?srnd=premium-asia

Superforecasters

If you are that Einstein, go here to enter.

In Bloom

Called In Bloom, the sale comprises 75 pieces, and almost as many floral inspirations, from hollyhocks and hyacinths to orchids and gardenias. The pieces have been commissioned and curated in partnership with Carol Woolton, the celebrated historian, author, and contributing director of jewelry at British Vogue. In Bloom will be open to the public in Sotheby’s newly expanded and reimagined galleries in New York City through May 24. Take note.