đ When your co-worker leaves and your boss says, âYou have big shoes to fill,â letâs hope theyâre talking about smaller ones than the giant clog in Nigeria thatâs vying for a Guinness World Record. A fashion designer crafted the massive pink clog â measuring 26 feet, 8.8 inches long â over 72 hours before submitting it to compete for the title of the worldâs largest sandal.
đ Wildfires are ravaging Los Angeles, having left at least five people dead, 2k+ structures burned, and 130k+ residents under evacuation orders. And while the toll of human suffering is unfathomable, the economic impact is already being added up: The total loss is estimated to be between $52B and $57B, according to AccuWeather, though those numbers will rise if fires spread to more densely populated areas. Insurers â many of which had already stripped policies for thousands of California homes â are preparing for up to $20B in losses as high-value homes and businesses are destroyed.
đïž Mall merger: JCPenney is merging with Sparc Group â which owns stores including Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, and Aeropostale â to form Catalyst Brands, a new company launching with 1.8k stores, 60k employees, and $9B in revenue. Combining a 123-year-old department store chain that filed for bankruptcy in 2020 with a group of struggling brands seems like a risky idea, especially when so many malls sit empty. But analysts seem optimistic: One told CNN it will allow âsynergies to be strengthenedâ through cost cutting, shared marketing, and a combined talent pool.
đ Round and round:TechCrunchspoke to a man who was trapped in an autonomous Waymo that got confused at a roundabout last month. Mike Johns says he was headed to the Phoenix airport when he got stuck spiraling for âunder seven minutesâ that âfelt like forever.â He was ultimately able to complete his trip and was not charged. Waymo confirmed the event, and said it had been addressed with a software update. Should something like this happen to you, Waymo notes there is a âpull over buttonâ available in the app and on the carâs passenger screen.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is denying sexual abuse claims made by his sister in a lawsuit filed Monday in Missouri. Altman called the claims âutterly untrueâ in a statement on X.
Banks worldwide plan to cut as many as 200k jobs in the next three to five years, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Back office, middle office, and operations roles are most likely to be cut as AI increasingly automates tasks.
Netflix drew 4.9m viewers for its first episode of WWEâs âMonday Right Rawâ across countries where Netflix distributes the program. In the US alone, it reached 2.6m viewers.
TOOLBOX
If youâre one week into the new year and the burnout is already returning, switch it up with some fresh, inspiring content:
You donât have time to waste: Here are 13 questions that will change your life.
Keep tabs on the most interesting new AI tools with Future Tools.
Listen in:Advice for the next generation of aspiring engineers.
THE BIG IDEA
No, seriously, your phone isnât listening in on your conversations
Last week, Apple paid $95m to settle a lawsuit over allegations that employees heard conversations recorded by Siri.
This seemingly gave credence to the most pervasive conspiracy theory of the digital age: Our phones are constantly listening to us and giving that data to advertisers.
Not so fastâŠ
⊠says Apple, which reiterated its stance on Siri-related privacy in a new statement. Apple claims it:
âNeverâ used Siri data for marketing.
âNeverâ sold Siri data to anyone.
Is âconstantly developing technologiesâ to make Siri more secure.
Both Facebook and Amazon have also denied that they record users.
But this is a conspiracy theory, so we must point out that of course theyâd say that.
So, why canât we accept their denial?
The conspiracy is simply very believable â the tech obviously exists and, unlike other conspiracies, itâs clear who would benefit from this.
Plus, lots of apps do track everything you do, even if they arenât literally listening to your conversations, and give that information to advertisers.
The Verge points out that wireless networks even track multiple users, so if you mention pizza in conversation and your friend looks up local spots, youmight still get ads for pizza.
Thereâs also the Baader-Meinhof phenomenonâŠ
⊠or âfrequency illusion,â which is when you start to see more of a given thing â not because itâs actually more common, but because youâve trained your brain to notice it.
In this case, it might not be that youâre actually getting more pizza ads, you might just be noticing more pizza ads because you suspect your phone is spying on you.
Nine AI tools you really need to know in 2025 â unless you actively want to get left behind. You do you.
Need your execs to buy into your next big idea? Hereâs how to make it happen.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Unique visits to Watch Duty â an app that provides fire alerts â from 8am to 8:30am PT Wednesday. The app has been vital to Southern California residents as they monitor updates and evacuation notices near multiple wildfires. Watch Duty also saw ~500k new downloads on Wednesday and topped Appleâs App Store.
Watch Duty founder and CEO John Mills created the app in 2021 after experiencing wildfires near his own home in Sonoma County, California. It employs 15 staff, seven of whom are reporters providing updates, and, in 2024, brought in $2m in revenue from 65.6k paid members and $3.6m in grants and donations. However, Mills told Gizmodo he has no plans to shift from a nonprofit model or sell, âunlike OpenAI.â
AROUND THE WEB
đ On this day: In 1776, author Thomas Paine published âCommon Sense,â a pamphlet advocating for the American coloniesâ independence from Britain.
đ Thatâs interesting: Retiring food columnist Jenny Rosenstrach leaves behind a collection of learnings, but also some great recipes.
đïž Useful: Subscribe to Mindstream to keep up with the rapid changes happening in AI and learn how to integrate it into your life.
