The food delivery war in China just got (some kind of?) a formal timeout—called by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). In early May, SAMR, together with four other major government bodies—the Central Social Work Department, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Commerce—jointly summoned JD, Meituan, Ele.me, and other platform companies for a regulatory meeting on the intense and increasingly chaotic competition in the food delivery industry....

Thanks to Professor Grant Schoenebeck for pointing me to this awesome paper. 📄 Crowdsourcing and Optimal Market Design Bobak Pakzad-Hurson | EC 2022 Paper Link (ACM) | Talk on YouTube In classic mechanism design, we often assume agents know their own preferences precisely. But what if the knowledge is private and noisy—say, in job market when schools evaluating graduate students? This paper solved an elegant question: how to crowdsource information under imperfect observations to achieve (almost) optimal allocations—with only a small punishment....

The Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, Australia. 🌕 A poem by 张九龄 Zhang Jiuling [he lives in the Tang Dynasty, yes my last name :)] 海上生明月，天涯共此时 As the bright moon shines over the sea, from far away you share this moment with me. 情人怨遥夜，竟夕起相思。 For parted lovers lonely nights are the worst to be, all night long I think of no one but thee. 灭烛怜光满，披衣觉露滋。 To enjoy the moon I blow out the candle stick, please put on your nightgown for the dew is thick....

There’s magic in every second of attention someone gives you—a formal presentation, a tea-break conversation—and even just any surprise opportunity to share your work, like in an elevator. Those seconds are precious. And often, the difference between being remembered and being forgotten is having a lovely pitch talk ready to go. Here’s one I wrote and delivered—not for a conference or a stage, but for a small conversation that mattered. I found the script again after some time, and I still think it’s one of my favorite things I’ve written....

In Consumerism Gossip V on the FTC’s case against Uber, you’ll remember the core complaint: cancellation of subscription service was a maze. For example, one needs to contact human service that almost seems not exist. Like if you’ve ever shouted “转人工!” (“human agent!”) into your phone’s AI agent like it owed you money, you get the picture. Well, this turns out not just a Silicon Valley export. Xinhua Daily Telegraph — the official speakerphone of the China government, reported on related issue with a crisp article:...

The food delivery war just opened a new front, continued from MeiTuan strikes back for JD marching into food delivery business: After weeks of Meituan and JD pummeling each other with coupons and PR stunts, Ele.me—Alibaba’s long-silent soldier—finally raised its sword. On April 30, Taobao Flash Delivery (淘宝闪购) rolled out, seamlessly fusing with Ele.me and plugging straight into Alibaba’s empire. Since users already know what flash-delivery means and work, thanks to Meituan and JD fighting with each other on huge PR budget—Alibaba just walked in and collected the rent....

Always a delight to learn from Professor Ye :) (He was in Shanghai 2023 Winter and I have my LP book signed by him!!!) Prof. Yinyu Ye teaching at SIMIS. Day one of lectures on optimization and a bit market design. Professor Yinyu Ye is currently visiting the Shanghai Institute for Mathematical and Interdisciplinary Sciences (SIMIS), delivering a lecture series on Optimization Methods for Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI....

My advisor once told me what makes Così fan tutte so special and his favourite, is Mozart’s quiet masterpiece of tolerance. Mozart doesn’t judge anyone for being ridiculous or impulsive or foolish or fickle. He just observes—with a kind of tolerant wit—and turns the whole thing into music that smiles at human nature instead of scolding it. OK, so he’ll probably forgive me for being at the Cosi fan tutte’s LA opera premier but drank just enogh wine just to sleep through the 2nd act…...

“Only people who are extremely satisfied or extremely pissed off would rate the products—how to aggregate the real ratings?"—— Mitigating the Participation Bias by Balancing Extreme Ratings Yongkang Guo, Yuqing Kong, Jialiang Liu Rating aggregation plays a crucial role in various fields, such as product recommendations, hotel rankings, and teaching evaluations. However, traditional averaging methods can be affected by participation bias, where some raters do not participate in the rating process, leading to potential distortions....

My ballet class got rained out, so I ducked into a cozy café—and somehow ended up learning a bit more about Meituan and Ele.me’s business models over two cappuccinos—real coffee talk. In that café, when the barista handed the delivery guy one packed coffee. Intro: On these food delivery platforms, cafés are ranked for visibility. The higher the rank, the more orders roll in. And while it’s no surprise that paying to jump the line (read: sponsored listings) exists, what is surprising is how quietly the game is being played—not all money-boosted rankings are labeled....