Data & Eggs
Volume 202
In this week's edition: hundreds of tech acquisitions, a data-driven video on climate change, and a year in lockdown trends.
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How Big Tech got so big: Hundreds of acquisitions
Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google — collectively known as the “Big 4” tech companies — have become nearly ubiquitous in our lives. But how did that happen? All four of them followed a similar path: first by dominating their core business, then by acquiring companies in adjacent industries to shore up more revenue streams. The Washington Post dives deep into the hundreds of acquisitions that the Big 4 have made over the years.
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Degrees of Uncertainty - A data-driven look at climate change and public trust in science
Here’s the latest film from Neil Halloran, who specializes in data-driven documentaries. Neil dives deep into the science behind climate change, examining how various studies and data sources come together to inform temperature projections. Throughout the film, he asks an important question: when are we right to trust experts, even when there is some amount of uncertainty in their conclusions?
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How the Pandemic Did, and Didn’t, Change Where Americans Move
With most jobs becoming remote since last March, many speculated that Americans would pick up and move to new cities. And while many did move, analysis of 30 million change-of-address requests by the New York Times shows that the migration destinations in 2020 were in line with those in 2019. Metros like New York and San Francisco continued to lose citizens, while metros like Austin continued to attract them.
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A year in lockdown trends
During the pandemic, many of us picked up new hobbies to pass the time. Bread baking, bird watching, and tie-dye all had their moments on the internet. Google Trends put together an interactive calendar with data from the last year to show which hobbies were truly the most popular throughout quarantine based on users’ searches