News of the Week (6/28/2021-7/4/2021)

Half of this year has passed already. Looking back on the past six months, what kind of impressions do you have?

This year, the more people take the COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, the more New York is returning to life like it was.

I usually set annual goals at the beginning of the year, and I have achieved small goals that will be milestones, so if possible, I will continue to take on various challenges until the end of the fiscal year.

Well, I would like to introduce the news that I was personally interested in this week.

Rent Situation in New York

On June 23, New York City’s Rent Guidelines Committee passed a plan to freeze rents for the first six months and a 1.5 percent price increase for the next six months for one-year leases starting after October 1, 2021.

The rent market in Manhattan is considerably lower than in its heyday due to the spread of the COVID-19, but looking back on the current economic situation, it seems that you will not be bothered by the sudden rise in rents for a while.

Millionaire with the Roth IRA?

PayPal founder Peter Thiel has successfully amassed about $5 billion in tax-advantaged accounts using the Roth IRA scheme, non-profit news organization ProPublica reported.

At Roth IRA, if you hold shares purchased in the frame of $6,000 per year until the age of 59 and a half, the assets invested at the end of the period will be tax-free.

In other words, Peter Thiel would get $5 billion without paying any taxes if he didn’t withdraw assets from his Roth IRA account until he becomes that age.

According to ProPublica, Peter Thiel had only about $1,700 in assets in his Roth IRA account at the end of 1999, but he grew it to about $3.8 million the following year.

The secret is in the shares that Peter Thiel bought through his Roth IRA.

The shares Peter Thiel bought were PayPal’s shares before it went to the public.

That’s right, Peter Thiel bought 1.7 million PayPal shares at just $0.001 per share, or $1,700, through his Roth IRA.

Since PayPal’s stock price as of July 4 is $290.24, it can be found that the company’s shares alone are simply multiplied by the number of shares held and profited by as much as $500 million.

What’s even more amazing is that Peter Thiel used the funds to invest in other pre-listing startup companies to make the same profit as alchemy of his stock.

The stock price of startups purchased before listing jumps after going to the public.

This is the trick that Peter Thiel currently owns $5 billion in the Roth IRA.

Some people may want to invest in a pre-listing startup, but under current law, you must have $1 million in assets or keep an income of $200,000 per year for two years in order to invest in unlisted stocks.

In the U.S., there is a system in which rich people can obtain even more millions of wealth tax-free, so it is convincing that the gap between rich and poor is widening.

The threshold may be high for a typical individual investor, but if you meet the above criteria, it’s likely to be well worth investing in a pre-listing startup through Roth IRA.

Zoom Acquired Startup for Real-Time Translation

On June 29, Zoom announced the acquisition of Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions, a German startup developing real-time machine learning translation capabilities.

In recent years, the more the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the needs of remote work, the meetings with business partners in a different country is happening online without seeing in person by traveling to overseas.

Meetings with business partners using other languages currently require the attendance of English speakers, but it is likely that it will be common for both parties to speak and proceed in their native language in the near future using this real-time translation technology.

Successful Flight Experiment of Flying Cars

On June 30, Klein Vision, which is developing a flying car, announced that it had successfully flew for 35 minutes in a prototype flight experiment.

According to the company’s announcement, it has conducted more than 40 hours of flight experiments so far, with an altitude of about 2,500m and a maximum cruising speed of 190km/h.

It seems that it will still take time to put it into practical use, but it seems that you do not have to wait too long to ride a flying car that we watched in science fiction movies, such as Back to the Future.

By the way, under current Japanese law, in order to drive a flying car, it seems that various aviation licenses are required in addition to a car license.

The threshold is quite high, but if the technology of the autonomous driving function is combined with this flying car, the spread to the general public may also increase.

Slack Added New Functions

On June 30, Slack, a business messaging app, announced a new feature that allows you to easily chat with colleagues even when working remotely.

Since the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, the number of people working from home has increased, and there have been fewer opportunities to chat with colleagues and superiors which had been casually happening at the office.

Especially for new employees and interns, I think these opportunities to have a casual chat with other employees play a very important role in blending into the team.

In addition, even if there is a small question, it is often difficult for the new hires and interns to communicate because they cannot see the situation of the other party.

Slack’s announced features allow you to chat with participants by entering the talk room, but the threshold for communication is still high, depending on the corporate culture.

It may be necessary for companies and teams as a whole to positively view chats to remove the anxiety of new employees and interns and improve the work environment.

Impact of Bitcoin Mining Ban in China

On May 19, China announced that it would crack down on cryptocurrency-related transactions, which prohibited all cryptocurrency-related transactions at banks.

In addition to this, the Chinese government has tried to prohibit the Bitcoin mining, and for this reason, the mining industry in China seems to be in a state of destruction, with mining companies throwing equipment and selling it, and by making measures to escape overseas.

China once accounted for more than 50% of the world share in bitcoin mining, but with the spread of speculative cryptocurrency trading, it has tightened its regulations to avoid financial risks.

World’s First Artificial Meat Production Facility Was Born

On June 23, Future Meat Technologies, an Israeli food technology company, announced the opening of the world’s first industrial artificial meat production facility.

The company is a food technology company that develops distribution platforms for the production of meat directly from animal cells without raising or breeding animals or using genetically modified crops.

According to the announcement, the facility has the capacity to produce 500 kg of cultured products per day, which is equivalent to 5,000 hamburgers.

They have already succeeded in making chicken, pork and lamb and currently working on beef production. The process is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80%, land use by 99% and freshwater use by 96% compared to conventional meat production.

Cultured meat is scheduled to be sold as a product in 2022, but it is a delicate matter to actually eat it.

AI-Based Cancer Diagnosis Going to A Large-Scale Testing Stage

Grail, a U.S. company that develops technology to diagnose cancer with blood tests, announced in 2020 that it had developed a blood test that could detect more than 50 types of cancer using AI, but announced on June 24 that it would also conduct a large-scale test of 140,000 people in the fall of 2021.

The company says its immediate goal is to detect three-quarter of cancers at an early stage that is likely to be treatable.

Food Report: Harbs

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This week, I will introduce Harbs, a cake café restaurant originating in Nagoya, Japan.

Actually, I’ve been to the Harbs almost every weekend lately, and I order one or two milk crepes on the right of the photo.

However, I ordered a lunch special on the left of the photo for the first time this weekend.

For the lunch special, you can choose your favorite sandwich, and you’ll be served salad and coffee or tea, plus today’s cake.

After all, the dishes served in Japanese restaurants are stable and delicious, and I was very satisfied with every dish!

However, the cake that comes with the lunch special is always about one-third the size of the cake you are asking for separately, so you need to be ready.

Because it is a cake shop, I recommend any cake, but after all, it will settle down to milk crepes.

Harbs
198 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011
There are several other stores
Mon-Thu, 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Fri-Sat, 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Postscript

This week I was traveling to coincide with my company’s summer vacation, and the update was delayed again.

July 4th is Independence Day, and on this day, fireworks displays are held in the U.S. This year, I watched the fireworks while lying on leisure seats and blankets in the park, and it was such a great experience!

I hope this week will be great for you!!