July 31, 2023
what we've been watching...
empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines
Business
Cash Only: Mastercard has landed another blow to the legal cannabis industry: instructing financial institutions to stop allowing purchases of cannabis on its debit cards. Although cannabis is legal in several US states, it is still federally outlawed, so cannabis cannot travel through the federal banking system. Unfortunately, this forces more cannabis companies to be cash only and raises more security concerns. A bill to legalize the marijuana banking system has been stalled in the US Senate, and doesn’t seem to have any chance of movement, despite the fact that the cannabis industry contributes roughly $100BN to the economy.
Connected Cars: Modern vehicles have become essentially a vast array of computers on wheels (which was one reason why the chip shortage was such a blow to the supply chain of vehicles over the past year). With this connection, comes data, and car companies have been collecting a lot of it. California has some of the strictest data privacy laws in the US, and its privacy watchdog is now coming after the automakers. We thought seeing the videos of Amazon delivery drivers, and the subscriptions for BMW’s heated seats was dystopian, we can’t wait for our car to start selling us shirts that go hard too.
Iconic Listing: Birkenstock may be listing itself out of its hippie reputation. The private equity owners of the sandal maker announced that they are considering an IPO in the fall (at an $8BN valuation). Birks have had a renaissance lately — with Margot Robbie’s Barbie wearing a pink pair in the Barbie movie, Birkenstock Clogs went viral on TikTok last year causing sold out signs, and there have even been collabs with Dior, Manolo Blahnik, and Staud (to name a few). The company has been around since 1774, so we’ll see what public shareholders will do to its roots.
Legal Emojis: Be careful what you emote. Earlier this month a Canadian judge ruled that a thumbs up emoji is legally binding, and now a smiley face emoji (that also may look like the full moon) is getting the Chairman of the Board at GameStop Corp into potential legal hot water. If you play with meme stocks, or play with memes, not everyone might get the joke.
Technology
Eyes and Orbs: A new cryptocurrency launched this week, but US investors were blocked from “playing” in the market (most likely due to the new SEC rulings regarding crypto tokens and securities), as were those in China, Turkey and Sudan. Sam Altman, of OpenAI fame, launched Worldcoin — which was meant to be a totally universal, digital financial system linked to one’s iris in order to prove that you are a person. 2M people did line up to have their irises scanned by a strange metal orb. Unfortunately, in order to train the orb what an iris was, Worldcoin reportedly paid residents of impoverished villages in Asia and Africa for their personal and biometric data (aka data colonialism). Worldcoin aims to create some form of digital universal basic income, or just may be another plot to revive the cryptocurrency market. Despite the company’s claims that its objective was to inspire ultimate trust and security, there is already a black market for verified credentials. Both the UK and the EU regulators are already raising privacy concerns around collecting biometric data, so if you happen to be traveling to Europe and encounter a World ID orb, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Faking out the Deep Fakes: Several artists and authors have been racing to sue AI companies for using their intellectual property to train the models without the artists’ consent. And now MIT has created a new technique that can possibly protect imagery from being read by algorithmic models. MIT’s PhotoGuard alters individual pixels within an image that disrupt how a computer model might read an image, but not how the human eye sees it. By camoflauging the image, the model can’t decipher what it is seeing, and the image doesn’t become part of the model’s training set. The engineers who created the code have made it open source, while the largest AI players are working on image watermarks.
Feeling Nostalgic: Many Millennials were first introduced to the internet through Neopets, an online world filled with adorable pets reminiscent of an early Minecraft + Roblox + Pokemon + Tamagotchi (we think). Neopets started in 1999, and attempted to prosper through the crypto era by creating NFTs and eventually even a short stint in the metaverse. However, the game seems to have found a new footing rebooting itself with a game makeover and hiring John Legend as brand ambassador. So if you were missing some cute, vintage online pets in your life, or want to introduce your kids to them, jump back into the World of Neopets.
Watch a Horror Movie: When reading science headlines, we are often prompted to exclaim: “haven’t these scientists ever watched a horror movie?” Well, here’s a headline that will either make you scratch your head or your skin crawl. Scientists have revived a 46,000 year old worm from the Siberian permafrost. No word on why; just because they wanted to an organism’s ability to suspend its metabolism.
Culture
Re-launch: If you’ve been waiting for 10 years for the reboot of Futurama, or you’ve simply run out of things to watch due to the writer’s strike, Hulu has you covered. Season 11 of Matt Groenig’s Futurama relaunched this week with 20 new episodes. And if that isn’t enough, their is a cross-over event in Fortnite, where you can buy skins, weapons and emotes themed as your long lost characters.
Chef’s Table: When we think of a unique dining experience, KFC is definitely not top on our list (or anywhere on the list actually). However, “to celebrate the launch of its new Teriyaki Burger, KFC is creating its own omakase – or ‘Oh My KFC’ – menu, available for one day only this August.” Looking for some Japanese inspired fried chicken and happen to be in London, why not make a res at the Waterloo KFC (the proceeds go to charity).
Cosmic Burgers: If high-end chicken isn’t your protein of choice, then wait until 2024, when McDonald’s will be launching a spin-off concept store targeted at GenZ. The CosMc’s sites should roll out next year, but we may get more details on the menu in December.
Coffee with a Smile: The US Women’s National Soccer Team is gearing up for its Tuesday game against Portugal, and Nike has been helping the women with their caffeine fix. Nike has provided a photo-printing coffee machine for their sponsored coffee bar in the team’s hotel. The machine not only makes any type of coffee you might like, but also can print any image from your phone in the steamed milk.
Party on: We recognize that the pandemic stole the social lives and skills of many, but we were shocked to learn that Silicon Valley has decided that they have “invented” the party. A 27-year old Google employee has been throwing events where “people [are] getting together simply for the purpose of having fun.” Wake me up, when they invent the rave.
Aged Chocolate: Have you ever been told to savor the tastes of barrel-aged wine and whiskey, notice the hints of the forest and the woods? Now you can have the same experience with your chocolate. Small batch chocolate producers are using wine and whiskey barrels to age their creations in order to change the flavor profile.
Paper Pop-Ups: One of our favorite pop-up book artists is starting a subscription program. Kelli Anderson — the author of such amazing books as This Book is a Camera and This Book is a Planetarium — will send you a monthly paper experiment.
— Lauren Eve Cantor
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