New years tend to bring new laws, and there’s no shortage of legal changes across the US this week. Some of them are harmless, like California adopting an official state mushroom (the Golden Chanterelle). Some of them are sensible, like Illinois banning Zooming and zooming — video conferencing while driving is now illegal. And then some of them are… whatever’s going on in North Carolina: Audiologists there are facing new restrictions on when they can and cannot remove patients’ earwax.
In today’s email:
ICYMI: Catch up on what happened over the holidays.
YouTube: Teens’ favorite platform and it’s not even close.
Digits: A pricey Christmas gift, Tesla’s accident-prone drivers, and other wild numbers.
Around the web: A cool way to get global news, a throwback multiplayer fighting game, and more.
👇 Listen: Looking ahead at everything AI has in store for 2024.
The Big Idea
Seize the day or snooze it away? Welcome to 2024 either way
Stories to start back into the year, matching whichever mood you’re bringing to the table.
2024-01-02T00:00:00Z
Ben Berkley
Ah, the first day back after the holidays… If ever there was a divisive day at work, it’s this one. Every office will be filled with two types of people:
Those entering a new year energized and feeling so full of possibilities…
… and those entering a new year anesthetized, feeling so full, wishing to keep pausing all abilities.
No matter if you’re wasting no time laying into 2024, or nursing that holiday hangover, we’ve got stories that’ll lean into your mood.
Ready to rock this year?
Look at you go. You spent all of December saying, “Let’s put a pin in it until the new year,” and now you’re charging back to their desk to yoink all those pins out. You’re not alone in that:
Opportunity is knocking: For MIT-schooled technologist/artist Alexander Reben, opportunity is taking the form of OpenAI’s first-ever artist in residence. Reben starts this month with a huge, quite cool shot at bridging the gap between AI developers and an art community feeling under threat from AI.
A reminder that making money doing something you love is possible: Just look at the UK’s Little Car Co., which sells two-thirds-size replicas of luxury cars for $45k-$156k. Its toy-sized Ferrari can hit 50 mph, and business is moving fast, too — the company is profitable and growing heading into its fifth year in business, and boasts a monthslong waiting list.
Ready to go back to bed?
Nothing offers perspective like a few days away from work — like how more time off spent with loved ones sounds better than another yearlong gauntlet. You’re already covered with a wet blanket; here’s some more cold water poured on top:
Everyone else is slumbering, apparently: One of Google’s top trending gifts this holiday season was a $499 “dog bed for humans” made by crowdfunded startup Plufl. Searches for the big fluffy oval beds jumped 1,650% last year.
Why bother? The deck’s stacked anyway: The cards favor the nepobabies, naturally. Over the holidays, Max Telles was gifted billionaire father Marcel’s $6.1B stake in AB InBev, and L’Oreal heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers became the first woman to accrue a $100B+ fortune.
Good for them; goodnight for you.
Free Resource
How to attain some of that generational wealth
You might’ve heard of Morgan Housel: the finance journalist turned author who dropped The Psychology of Money and Same as Ever. He’s also written, like, 15 columns for our newsletter (certified friend of the show).
This man has sold millions of books by bridging the gap between mindset and money, and decoding how feelings affect financial behavior. He mixes in timeless quips and A-list anecdotes that make shit easy to remember.
And all of that brainpower is beamed directly into this brand-new episode — which is hosted by our founder and his very dear friend. Hear what three guys who reach millions on Twitter have to say about saving up for the future.
China’s BYD sold 526k+ electric vehicles last quarter, which may be enough to surpass Tesla as the world’s top EV seller. Tesla’s sales figures will be released today. At least they can’t be as bad as thisWashington Post review of Tesla’s post-recall Autopilot updates, which immediately ran through two stop signs without slowing down.
SNIPPETS
Microsoft’s Copilot is now available to iPhone users after its earlier Android launch. Copilot, the company’s generative AI app, is powered by the latest GPT-4 and Dall-E3 models for text and image generation.
Don’t like the sound of this: Boeing told airlines to inspect its 737 Max jets for a possible loose bolt. The Federal Aviation Administration will monitor the inspections after an operator found a bolt with a missing nut in the rudder control system.
McKinsey came to a $78m agreement with insurers and benefit plans to resolve claims that it contributed to the opioid epidemic through its work with drug companies like OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.
The minimum wageincreased in 22 US states yesterday to better account for rising costs of living. Washington has the highest rate (now $16.28 per hour), while 20 states are sticking with the federal minimum of $7.25.
All that Barbenheimer madnessvaulted the 2023 domestic box office total to a post-pandemic best of $9B+, up 20% YoY. That’s cause for celebration in Hollywood, but still marks a 21% drop from 2019’s $11.4B figure.
Snoop Dogg teamed with Hill Beverage Co. to create Do It Fluid, a hemp-infused drink line with CBD and THC blends. Can’t blame them for trying — the global cannabis beverages market is projected to hit $3.9B by 2030.
Weird works: Last week’s Pop-Tarts Bowl, one of 43 (!) college football bowl games, gave its namesake toaster pastry a big boost. Interest in the game’s first-ever edible mascot — a large frosted pastry eaten by the winning team — generated an estimated ~$12.1m in brand exposure for Pop-Tarts.
Negotiation 101: Whether you crave a raise, a promotion, or a 30-minute recess after lunch, our negotiation strategies guide will help you come in clutch.
Don't miss this...
See an expert’s take on the key skills and traits salespeople are going to need as AI changes the sales landscape.
CHART
Olivia Heller
Teenagers are obsessed with YouTube — and so is everyone else
The platform is well on its way to a 2024 takeover.
2024-01-02T00:00:00Z
Sara Friedman
From cassette players to iPods to smartphones, teenagers have been tuning out the world by pressing play for decades.
But social media has brought the addiction to a whole new level, and YouTube in particular is taking off with teens, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.
Pew’s 2023 survey of 1.4k+ 13- to 17-year-olds found that:
93% of teens use YouTube.
71% say they visit the platform daily.
16% report being on the site “almost constantly.”
It’s not just YouTube, of course — teens are spreading their attention spans across other apps, though the rest lagged behind by 30% or more.
TikTok had 63% of teens using the app, followed by Snapchat at 60% and Instagram at 59%.
Altogether, a third of teens reported using at least one of five sites (YouTube, Tiktok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook) almost constantly, a similar finding to last year’s survey.
The teens aren’t alone…
… in their love for YouTube. The platform has 2.7B+ monthly active users.
And it’s just getting started on its 2024 takeover:
YouTube is ending legacy pricing, charging all premium users $13.99 per month as of January.
Google Podcasts will shutter in 2024, and YouTube Music will become the one-stop shop for podcasts.
YouTube is already blazing the AI trail with music tools that can clone the voices of famous singers or generate music from a user’s hum.
As YouTube’s star rises, so too do concerns over the harmful effects of social media. The American Psychological Association recommended teens undergo training before logging on.
And while the risks are very real, so are the possible rewards of YouTube stardom, making “influencer” the new dream job for many young people.
By the Numbers
Digits: A $300m cybercrime bust, Tesla’s crashing dummies, and more newsy numbers
The safest drivers, the biggest gifters, and a giant cybercrime sting.
2024-01-02T00:00:00Z
Juliet Bennett Rylah
~3.5k: Suspects arrested during Haechi IV, a six-month Interpol operation targeting cybercrimes including voice phishing, romance scams, and ecommerce fraud. Interpol reclaimed $300m in assets across 34 countries and blocked 82k+ suspicious bank accounts. UK authorities also reported numerous cases in which AI was used to scam, harass, and extort victims by impersonating the voices of people known to the victims.
24:Accidents per 1k Tesla drivers from November 2022 to November 2023, making them the most crash-prone motorists in the US, per a LendingTree study. Pontiac, Mercury, and Saturn drivers tied for the least accidents with less than 10 per 1k drivers, while BMW drivers were found to be the most likely to drink and drive. Racking up the most incidents overall, however, were Ram drivers.
7.13m: But is the safest driver… no driver?Waymo’s first safety report compared 7m+ miles across Phoenix, LA, and San Francisco and found that, compared to human driving benchmarks, its autonomous vehicles were 6.7x less likely to be involved in a crash resulting in an injury and 2.3x less likely to be in a crash reported by police. Within those 7.13m miles, there were three total crashes resulting in injuries, all minor.
$750k: The price of a Hermes Himalaya Birkin bag with diamond hardware, which you probably did not get for Christmas. But someone once did, and Nicole Pollard Bayme, the luxury stylist who tracked down the rare gift, charged $600/hour to do so. The ultra-wealthy apparently recruit elite services to find lavish gifts, perBusiness Insider — like a $5m vineyard and mansion. And to think, I’m happy with a nice candle.
AROUND THE WEB
🏎️ On this day: In 2009, a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Coupe was discovered in the garage of a late British surgeon, where it had sat since the 1960s. It was later auctioned for ~$4.4m.
🌍 That’s cool:Pale Blue displays news from around the globe, literally. Rotate the Earth to see top stories.
❄️ That’s interesting: How loud a particular language is may depend on the climate.
👊 Game: Take a quick break with a multiplayer fighting game.
Last week, we asked for your biggest predictions on what’s to come in 2024.
Of course, there was talk of AI…
“The AI hype will die down. I think generative AI will be less new and shiny as people realize its limits, potential lawsuits/regulation, plus companies dragging their feet on implementing automation.”
And how the way we live and work might change…
“A lot of remote workers will quit their corporate jobs and start a small business for themselves that will sustain their living and give them more freedom…”
“Tiny house villages will be everywhere, most likely with containers shipped from China. It will be like little sardine cans stacked on top of each other.”
“Rural properties are going to be in big demand in the next 12 months with people wanting a nice lifestyle and starting innovative businesses in agriculture.”
And a bunch of guesses for the world’s most famous couple…
“... Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce get engaged…”
“T-Swift and that football guy will break up and the stock market will fall by 10% because of that.”
Plus, some niche ones:
“Crypto will be back in the limelight and FOMO will set in.”
“The feds will finally decriminalize marijuana.”
“Walmart will start allowing support ponies in the store.”
Now, we wait and see.
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