First this week is an excellent look “under the hood” of machine learning from OReilly.  While I’ve written on this topic before, OReilly does well exploring some options around reference architecture.  Oh, and there’s this article about AI taking over transcription.  I’m unusually excited about that future.

There’s a trend out there I’ve mentioned before around “the death of staffing agencies” that hasn’t seen the traction/evolution that was predicted in 2016, however there is another trend that might actually help speed that up – the gig economy, in that as entrepreneurs/digitally innovative firms latch on to that notion, we’ll see more companies like Konsus come about.  Buying by work product created has been around for a little bit, but how Konsus does it is what’s interesting.

Speaking of digital firms and a topic from last week, Venture Beat has a good read this week on how digital organizations are facing a severe cybersecurity skill gap.

I think it’s expected that there’d be a follow on article about Amazon this week after last week’s Whole Foods announcement.  This one is a little different though, looking at the monopoly that is Amazon.  Oh, and fun fact, the Whole Foods purchase in effect paid for itself with the surge in Amazon’s stock price after it was announced.  I wonder how many people on Wall Street are longing for the days when PE ratios made sense.

Just to comment in passing, Snap launched Snap Maps this week.  Not a lot of detail that I want to dig into, just to note it and the fact that yet another company that doesn’t do mapping is getting into mapping and all the metadata that comes with … geolocation/geofencing seems to still be a thing.  There’s also this mega road trip across Europe if you’re open to some travel this summer/fall.  Oh, and Kalanicky resigned, which shouldn’t shock anyone given Holder’s report.

For your longer read this week, check out this from McKinsey about how cities can benefit from the future of mobility.

Last this week, check out this TED talk from Stanley McChrystal about how to build sense of purpose across people of many ages and skill sets.