đ Happy Halloween. Especially to the children in Des Moines, Iowa, who will trick-or-treat on October 31st for the first time since 1938. Usually, theyâre stuck celebrating Beggarsâ Night on the 30th, where kids tell jokes in return for candy between 6pm and 8pm. They better savor Halloween â the change was only made this year due to inclement weather.
đ§ On the pod: Will Topps strike gold with its Westminster Kennel Club partnership?
NEWS FLASH
Starbucks
â Maybe olive oil coffee wasnât the best idea? Starbucks is cutting its line of olive oil-infused Oleato drinks, which were launched less than a year ago by former CEO Howard Schultz. Despite the brandâs fanfare around the launch, customers werenât sold: At best, people didnât want to start every morning with an olive oil coffee. At worst, some said the drinks caused major gastrointestinal distress. Yikes. đ€ Itâs a day for feeling the heebie-jeebies, and Boston Dynamics can help with that: The robotics company showed off a new look at Atlas, the humanoid robot thatâll either aid, replace, or enslave humanity, depending on how youâre feeling today. The latest video shows Atlas walking around like a horror movie villain, completing a wholly autonomous sorting task, admirably adjusting its height, grasp, and approach angles, and making just one mistake â that it instantly learned from and corrected. The robots are getting real smart, yâall.
đ» Animals are getting lit. A new study suggests that animals likely consume more alcohol â found in the wild in nectar and fruits where sugar has fermented â than previously believed. Some have even evolved to have higher tolerances; another recent study found that Oriental hornets can drink as much as they like without any adverse effects. What we still donât know is why they choose to consume alcohol or if theyâre aware theyâre doing it.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
The US economy is going streaking: The nationâs GDP increased at a 2.8% annual rate in Q3. Despite all the weird economic vibes, this marks the economyâs 10th straight quarter of growth.
Sounds bad: Ernst & Young resigned as Super Microâs auditor, saying it was âunwilling to be associatedâ with the companyâs financial statements. Super Micro shares plunged 33% Wednesday.
Dropbox will lay off 528 people â 20% of its workforce â due to a âtransitional period,â per CEO Drew Houston. Dropbox has struggled to compete with Google Drive and other rivals, reporting record low growth in Q2.
GET AHEAD, STAY AHEAD
How to teach yourself to code
In place of taking boring online courses or paying for a professional education, might we suggest buddying up with chatbots?
Start to become among the most essential employees in tech â see Google data scientist Sundas Khalidâs top tips on learning how to code by turning ChatGPT into your personal tutor.
30 pages on coding with AI:
The fundamentals of coding
Choosing your first programming language
AI in relation to coding
Leveraging ChatGPT as your teacher
Resources beyond chatbots
Building out your own coding road map
Gain more skills. Tackle new projects. Build something big.
Would you collect trading cards if they had dogs on them?
If you care less about the World Series than Decoy â Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtaniâs dog who performed the ceremonial first pitch at a game in August â this is the story for you.
Topps, the trading card company Fanatics acquired for ~$500m in 2022, and the Westminster Kennel Club are partnering on cards featuring champion dogs.
The Westminster Dog ShowâŠ
⊠sees ~3k dogs each year, judging each dog against how well it matches its breedâs official standard. The top dogs across seven categories (sporting, hound, terrier, etc.) then compete for Best in Show.
Dogs like Sage, the black mini poodle who took this yearâs Best in Show, will appear in a 40-card set as part of Toppsâ Allen & Ginter series.
Allen & Ginter was a Virginia tobacco company that began manufacturing trading cards in the late 1800s featuring not just sports stars, but entertainers, flags, birds, and more.
Topps SVP of product Clay Luraschi toldSports Illustrated he had a set of tobacco cards depicting English Bull Terriers as a kid, and considered the partnership a âno-brainer.â
Among the regular cards will be extra collectible relic cards containing pieces of âBest in Showâ ribbons or handlersâ winnerâs lapels.
But will people buy them?
Well, people still collect trading cards:
The global sports trading card market was worth $44B as of 2023.
Topps generated $640m in baseball card sales in 2023, the lionâs share of Fanaticsâ total $1B revenue.
Westminster sees the cards as a way to make an event often seen as snooty appear more accessible and reach a broader audience.
Itâs not exactly the Super Bowl â the cheapest tickets for this yearâs Best in Show were $36 â but not all dog lovers can make the trip to New York.
For people who arenât into sports, dog trading cards may make for a quirky hobby. I mean, just look at this Pekingese.
To get in the spooky season spirit, check out five reasons the marketing campaign behind horror film Longlegs was so effective.
Turning grief into greens: How businesses can breathe new life into the $63B death care industry, from our friends at Trends.
DATA POINT
The future of the restaurant industry is looking bright: 28% of restaurant decision makers are hoping to open a new location in the next 12 months, with 63% reporting increased profits in 2024, according to a new Toast survey of 755 restaurant operators.
Whatâs making that future even brighter? Likely the glare of digital screens â 26% of respondents said theyâre looking to adopt new tech to help run their business, up 7% from last year, as operators embrace a rapidly changing industry landscape shaped by evolving tech and consumer expectations.
Other trends on the horizon: 70% of surveyed restaurant operators say theyâre very or extremely interested in implementing dynamic pricing, AKA fluctuating prices during certain times depending on demand and foot traffic. Unless that means more happy hour deals, catch us enjoying 3pm lunches from now on.
AROUND THE WEB
đ On this day: In 1997, referee Violet Palmer became the first woman to officiate an NBA game.
đ± Thatâs interesting: Why we react to jump scares.
Yesterday, we asked if you regularly make charitable donations.
Turns out, youâre a very philanthropic bunch: 66% said they make them regularly and 29% said they donate occasionally, with only 5% saying they never pay up for a good cause.
As for what youâre donating to, most said social welfare organizations (53%) followed by religious (43%), educational (33%), and animal welfare organizations (29%).
While some said their motivation for donating is a tax deduction, bragging rights, or stroking their own ego, the majority had selfless intentions.
As one reader put it, âIf you are blessed, be a blessing.â
SHOWER THOUGHT
Someone should throw a Halloween party where everyone dresses like cops so if it ever gets busted, there would just be mass confusion.SOURCE
Today’s email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Sara Friedman, and Singdhi Sokpo. Editing by: Ben “Seeking an Air Bud rookie cardâ Berkley.
