📍 No more “checking in”

👋 It’s never too late to make things right. Even if you’re a century overdue, like the copy of Shakespeare’s Life of King Henry the Fifth that was finally returned to a New Jersey library 101 years after being checked out in 1923.

🎧 On the pod: RIP, Foursquare. (Sort of.)

NEWS FLASH

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi delivers remarks on stage.

📸 An ongoing debate: Apple software chief Craig Federighi said the company has debated the extent of its AI image editing tools. With iOS 18.1, users will be able to remove objects (e.g., a stray water bottle or passerby) from photos, which Apple ultimately decided wouldn’t “fundamentally change the meaning of what happened.” Any photos that use Apple’s “Clean Up” tool will also be tagged as modified in the Photos app and embedded with related metadata.

🐟 Feels like an April Fools’ joke… in October? Goldfish is changing the name of its iconic fish-shaped crackers to “Chilean Sea Bass.” Kind of. The newly named crackers are only available online and for one week. Parent company Campbell’s said the rebrand is meant to create buzz and lure adult snackers. Campbell’s invested $160m last year in a Pepperidge Farm factory to expand Goldfish production and, once complete, will be able to make 5m+ Goldfish per hour — 1.5k per second.

💼 It’s a banner day for serious people who like wearing fleece sweater vests: After two years of declining MBA program applications, business school is back in vogue. Applications for full-time, in-person business programs increased 32% year over year, per a survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council, a 10-year high. Why is this happening? One theory: Recent college grads are struggling in a competitive job market and need to skill up to stand out.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

No smoking ever again: Though smoking has been banned on US commercial flights for decades, the FAA ended a rule that required off switches for “No Smoking” signs. The signs will now glow on forever as a reminder to passengers looking to light up.
The latest salvo in the Return-To-Office War plaguing corporate America comes from… Sweden? Spotify’s HR chief clarified the company’s continued flexible work policy, saying, “You can’t spend a lot of time hiring grownups and then treat them like children.”
Yikes: Sex educators are warning against buying adult toys from Shein, citing a lack of transparency regarding product materials — previous research found chemicals, including lead, in Shein apparel — and dangerously misleading product descriptions.

TIME FOR A RAISE

The fast guide to clutching some funding

Fact: Companies wither without cash. You need funding to afford all the things, like office space, equipment, employees, and subscriptions to inspiring newsletters.

But we are always free — and so is this startup fundraising kit, which helps you nail down the prep, pitch, and due diligence to impress potential investors.

How to ask for capital:

Define your fundraising goals
Research potential investors
Perfect your sales pitch
Forecast your finances

Plan for slam dunks with this good-lookin’ guidebook.

Fundraising basics

THE BIG IDEA

A young woman looks at her phone against a map with red pins specifying various points of interest.

Foursquare is officially coming to an end… or is it?

People once battled their friends to become the mayor of the local dive bar on Foursquare, a social app that let users “check in” at various locations, leave reviews, earn badges and discounts, and become the “mayor” if they were the most frequent visitor.

The gamified app was silly and fun, but also useful for keeping up with friends or exploring new places.

It’s probably news to you that it wasn’t already dead, but now the end is nigh, per TechCrunch. Well, sort of.

Foursquare launched…

… in 100 metro areas in 2009 before expanding globally in 2010.

In 2011, it crossed 10m users — among them: President Barack Obama — and 30m+ in 2013.

In 2014, it split into two apps:

Foursquare City Guide, featuring local reviews and recommendations.
Swarm, for location sharing and check-ins. It now bills itself as a “lifelogging” app.

Usage petered out with the rise of other platforms — Instagram, Twitter, etc. — and amid privacy concerns over sharing your location with the internet at large.

Yet on Dec. 15, it’s City Guide that will be taken offline (the web version to follow in 2025) while the company shifts focus to Swarm.

So, what’s next?

The company still has $100m+ in revenue, per co-founder Dennis Crowley, who no longer works with Foursquare full-time but is co-chair of the company’s board.

It’s Foursquare’s data that has proven valuable; in 2017, it began offering Pilgrim SDK, a software development kit that other companies — Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Twitter, etc. — have used for location-based features, including those that automatically know where a user is.

The company’s plans for Swarm, besides updating it in 2025, are unclear, but there’s been some speculation that:

Swarm isn’t sunsetting because it’s the better app for collecting location data.
The apps will re-merge. The company hinted that its updated Swarm may have “familiar” features.

Whether there’s a market for a new Swarm remains to be seen. People are staying home more, but inflation also drives customers to loyalty and rewards programs — part of Foursquare’s early success.

🔗

DATA POINT

Seventy-two percent of office workers have a “work wife” or “work husband,” AKA a colleague one shares a close bond with, according to a recent survey of 2k people by Health Assured, a UK workplace mental health service provider.

But such relationships often extend beyond the water cooler, with ~20% of respondents saying they know everything about their work spouse, and 23% saying they’d rather share their emotional woes with them than their actual partner.

While studies have found benefits to work friendships, like higher job satisfaction, reduced stress, and improved productivity, there are downsides to blurring work-life boundaries — like an increased susceptibility to overworking, and perceived favoritism, which can lead to conflict among other colleagues.

Given the connotations of exclusivity and special privilege around the term “spouse,” one expert suggests referring to these friendships as work siblings or, plainly, “colleagues who have worked together for a long time” — which really rolls off the tongue.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 1951, President Harry Truman declared that the war with Germany was over. Fighting had actually ended in 1945, but a treaty had yet to be signed.

🧹 That’s interesting: Turns out we had the wrong link yesterday, so here’s what’s really up with those witches and warlocks on paddleboards.

🚂 Game: Which way is the train facing?

🛰️ That’s cool: Spell your name via satellite images.

😍 Aww: Surprise.

HOT TAKES

Yesterday, we asked if you were lucky enough to get a raise in the last year.

For the majority of you, the answer was yes: 43% received merit-based raises, 16% got cost-of-living increases, and 13% got their pay bumped through a promotion.

Unfortunately, the remaining 28% saw no extra money at all.

The general consensus: If you don’t ask, you won’t receive. As one reader said, “Do the salary research, list your accomplishments and sell yourself! You’re worth it.”

SHOWER THOUGHT

Buying Halloween candy as an adult is like paying your dues for all the years of free candy you took from people. SOURCE

Today’s email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Sara Friedman.
Editing by: Ben “On his sixth work-marriage” Berkley.

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