July 10, 2023

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

Business

Easing your Commute: Most of us have given up on commuting and chosen to work remotely, but cities are fighting back with free public transit rides in an effort to lure low income riders and ease traffic congestion. Even NYC (despite notorious budget woes for the MTA) is testing free fares on five bus lines this summer. Ridership on public transit is still at about only 70% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the American Public Transit Association, and 35 transit agencies have already eliminated fares. Following a $70BN boost of federal funding during the pandemic, several legislators are proposing continued funding of public transit (the federal government spends much more on roads than on transit, when you look at the breakdown of the federal gas tax.) So if you happen to live in Boston, New York or Kansas City, leave your car behind, and opt for the bus — the view is great.

Apples and Squids: Apple has become one of the leading lenders (offering a high yield savings account and close to $1BN in deposits moved to the service in the first four days after launch). Unbeknownst to most, Goldman has been the banker behind Apple’s credit card, its savings account and other financial ventures, but Goldman has been moving away from its consumer business in the past few years (signaling an end to its Marcus consumer banking arm in 2022). Goldman Sachs is also considering ending its relationship with Apple, and Apple may be partnering with American Express instead. The end of an era of two luxury giants in cahoots.

Minimum Wage: The battle for the gig economy is coming to the East Coast. Last year, Uber successfully lobbied that its drivers could be called independent contractors (and not employees) in California foregoing paying any benefits and minimum wages. Now Uber and DoorDash are suing NYC to stop paying their drivers minimum wage. The law is meant to take effect this week, and several of the gig economy delivery services are suing the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Currently, delivery workers get paid per delivery which amounts to about $7 per hour, and the app companies are fighting the implementation saying they will be forced to pay their employees for any time they are logged into the app (not necessarily delivering). Cheap eats — one more zero interest rate phenomenon to throw out the window.

Travel Light: If you are traveling to Japan this Summer, you can fly baggage free if you choose to fly on Japan Airlines and opt in to their clothing rental program. Tourism is expected to jump now that pandemic restrictions are fully lifted, so the airline was hoping to boost sustainable travel. Travelers can rent up to eight outfits for up to two weeks. We’ve tried shopping at Uniqlo and Muji, and they don’t quite cater to our Western physique, but we’d be interested to see the “tourist chic” dress code in Japan.

Travel with Care: If you are traveling to Florida this Summer, be careful, your drivers license may not be valid. Florida has enacted a new immigration law that designates the licenses from Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Vermont are invalid as of July 1. Honestly, we were shocked to hear that California and New York weren’t on the list, but we’ll wait to read the fine print.

Technology

ChatGPT Drop: You may have seen that ChatGPT lost users for the first time since its launch: website traffic dropping 10% in June according to Similarweb. However, you may have also noticed that school is out for Summer (so students won’t be accessing the site), and ChatGPT just released a bunch of extraordinary plug-ins for its paid users. We don’t think its the end of the road for ChatGPT or the end of its novelty. We’d actually probably like to put in some seasonal adjustments to the data like the labor market does to see the impact of paid users and education holidays (but who are we to complain about click bait).

Viva Las Vegas: The Las Vegas Sphere is the newest mind-blowing, optical illusion or eyesore, depending on your frame of reference. The MSG Sphere is a 366-foot tall concert venue in the shape of a sphere, that looks like an alien has landed on the Vegas Strip, or that James Cameron has had a field day. The Sphere was turned on for the first time this weekend and it displayed fireworks, a live map of the Earth, a huge basketball, and more. It will host U2 as its first immersive concert experience which will either be over the top or a reminder of the time that U2 album was put on our iPhones without our permission. We suspect there will be a lot of traffic jams caused as drivers stop and stare, as it is a site to behold.

Annoying Robocalls: Now that technology has advanced, tables have turned, and you can hire bots to torture telemarketers. Gone are the days where you can spoof a telemarketer by making your voice mail sound like someone picked up. Now you can actually train AI to chat with a telemarketer, talk in circles, and hopefully get them so frustrated that they’ll want to hang up.

Disabling Skynet: If you happen to live in a large city and are slowly getting used to the fact that robotaxis and driverless vehicles are taking over the streets, don’t worry, you don’t have to. Activists have learned that you can confuse and disable the vehicles by putting a traffic cone on their hoods, and the cars will be immobilized. While the vehicles will be annoying in another way (by stopping traffic), at least you won’t be an unintentional part of their tech experiment.

Paleo to the Extreme: We aren’t really vegetarians, but we aren’t a fan of game meats, so we aren’t sure how we feel about the newest item on the menu: Wolly Mammoth burgers. A firm has sourced the DNA of the extinct species, and is combining it with the DNA of elephants and finally mixing it with proteins to make burgers. Supposedly, the burgers taste “more intense” than beef - uh, duh. Other companies have jumped on the Jurassic DNA bandwagon and are sourcing extinct creatures and plants to make cosmetics and perfumes.

Legs of a Cyclist: With the Tour de France in full force, you may have also noticed the spectacular legs of the professional cyclists, but one thing that has been finally proven, that seems obvious: shaven legs are much faster. Scientists have calculated that the human bulk of the rider (not the machine of the bike) accounts for 75% of the aerodynamic drag that cyclists must overcome. Historically, hair on the legs was thought to act like dimples on a golf ball, making the legs travel faster at high speeds, but cyclists don’t travel as fast as golf balls (168 mph vs 25mph for a cyclist on average). Scientists found that even a haircut can improve your speed. Overall, the tests revealed about 70 seconds per 40 kilometers advantage. So don’t be shy, and whip out your razors.

Culture

Surviving and Alien Invasion: Since we survived Independence Day without the help of Will Smith, we were curious if we would actually survive an alien invasion. Well, no need to wonder any longer. The helpful team at NJCasino has ranked each of the US States and your likelihood of surviving an invasion, using UFO sitings and how much each state spends on defense. Sorry Nevada.

Food is Fashion: We thought Barbiecore would be all the rage this Summer, but if you are looking to stand out, stop by your favorite fast food outlet and shop for some ‘fits. Yes, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Panera, and Arby’s have a a fashion line. Or if you want to get real Millennial, the CashApp has a streetwear line with seasonal drops.

Summer Flavors: Pepsi seems to be flexing its creative muscles with some interesting flavors this summer. First up was the Colachup: a pairing of cola and ketchup meant to be used on top of hot dogs at base ball stadiums. And now Pineapple Pepsi, a flavor not seen since 2020, is back; that is if you order a pineapple pizza at Little Caesars. We fear the marketers at Pepsi may have lost their taste buds in exchange for the ‘gram.

Jazz Listening Cafes: If you happen to take Japan Airlines up on their offer and travel to Japan, follow this tour of Japan’s Kissas (or Jazz Listening Cafes). These are either coffee houses or bars but without live music, and the goal is to listen to Jazz.

The Mind of Tim Burton: If you happen to be in Paris this Summer, make sure to visit Tim Burton’s Labyrinth on exhibition at Parc de Villette. The immersive experience is a physical maze of rooms that will take you through a variety of Burton’s films. Burton was actually involved in the production, and he hoped to “transport visitors inside his creative process.” This is the kind of immersive experience we were hoping to confront when we visited the overly enthusiastic projection mapping of van Gogh last summer. So if you get there before August 20, send us some videos!

One more reason to visit Paris: Basketball: We missed the 20th anniversary edition of the Quai 54 street basketball tournament (actually, we were too busy watching Wimbledon and catching up on The Witcher to notice). However, we’ll be racing to the stores (aka StockX) to get our hands on the Air Jordan 1 Low Quai 54 editions.

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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