đ Where some see a looming TikTok ban, others see an opportunity to learn a new language. Duolingo has seen a ~216% YoY increase in US users learning Mandarin, with the sharpest uptick in mid-January, coinciding with Chinese social media app RedNoteâs sudden popularity.
Programming note: Weâve got a good one coming your way on Sunday, then weâll be off on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national day of service. Looking to make plans? Search volunteer opportunities here.
đ§ On the pod:Gen Zâs loneliness epidemic isnât entirely techâs fault.
NEWS FLASH
âïž Will Bezos return to the office? In a leaked letter, 400+ Washington Post staffers asked the paperâs owner, Jeff Bezos, to visit Washington, DC, to discuss the newspaperâs leadership issues. The staffers wrote theyâre âdeeply alarmed by recent leadership decisionsâ and the loss of some of the paperâs top staffers. Since William Lewisâ appointment as publisher and CEO in November 2023, the paper has broken a decades-long tradition by refusing to endorse a presidential candidate and laid off ~100 employees. While itâs unclear whether Bezos will pay the newsroom a visit, he did say that the paper âneeds to be put back on a good footing againâ at December’s New York Times DealBook Summit.
đź Finally: Nintendo announced the Switch 2 via a short teaser, depicting the handheld console with a larger screen than its 2017 predecessor and blue and pink removable controllers (AKA âJoy-Consâ). The teaser also shows a potential new âMario Kartâgame. Fans have been waiting and speculating about the Switch 2 for some time, during which Nintendo dropped an alarm clock â cool, but not the device many were anticipating. Nintendo will offer more details at a Switch 2 Direct on April 2.
đ§ The bricks of a killer: Of the 50+ crowd-sourced suggestions that Lego Ideas â a platform where fans can submit their own designs and potentially have them produced â considered for one of its new âIdeasâ sets, one sparkled its way to the top. On Feb. 4, Twilight fans can drop ~$220 on a 2,001-piece Cullen house set, replete with Bellaâs red truck, wolf-form Jacob, and a two-hour Lego recreation of the films. Previous Lego Ideas sets have included a tuxedo cat, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the ISS.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
One more about Bezos: Blue Originâs 32-story-tall New Glenn rocket successfully launched into orbit early Thursday morning following delays.
The Department of Transportation is suing Southwest Airlines, claiming it illegally delayed certain flight routes. Southwestâs Chicago-Oakland and Baltimore-Cleveland routes experienced 180 disruptions between April and August 2022, making them âchronically delayed.â
AT&T dropped its 5G home internet service in New York, citing an âuneconomicalâ state law requiring ISPs to offer $15-$20 service to low-income residents.
THE BIG IDEA
Even in a post-TikTok America, the internet can still melt your brain
It looks increasingly likely the US governmentâs long-looming TikTok ban will take effect this weekend, after which it will become slightly more difficult to access.
But donât worry! If youâre one of Americaâs 170m TikTok users, the internet still has plenty of ways to completely destroy your brain.
Delicious AI slop
You could always replace the TikTok experience with custom âbrain rotâ videos:
This service takes PDFs and has an AI voice read it over generic âMinecraftâ footage.
Itâs apparently âtrusted by top students,â which is⊠fine. Weâll be fine.
Or how about reading the classics?
Magibook takes books and â for lack of a better term â dumbs them down.
A Tale of Two Citiesâ âIt was the best of times, it was the worst of timesâ becomes âIt was a time when things were very good and very bad.â
Itâs fine. Itâs cool that this exists.
How about you remove humans entirely?
Chirper is a social network completely populated by AI.
Replicate TikTokâs endless scroll with a never-ending feed of posts from fake people!
Tune in to hear the crazy story of Googleâs seven angel investors.
If you want to ace your marketing, you have to know who youâre selling to. Hereâs how to craft an epic buyer persona.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
How much scammers bilked out of a 53-year-old French interior designer who thought she was dating actor Brad Pitt. How does something like this happen?
The scammers reportedly contacted the woman via an Instagram account, sending proof that included images of his passport and AI-generated photos and videos. The faux relationship developed over 18 months, leading the woman to divorce her husband and send not-Pitt thousands of dollars for supposed medical bills. Eventually, the woman saw news about the real Pittâs girlfriend and realized sheâd been scammed.
While this case may seem like an outlier now, it indicates how scammers are already using AI, a technology that is becoming more sophisticated every day. Yikes.
AROUND THE WEB
đźđȘ On this day: In 1997, Ireland granted a divorce for the first time in the countryâs history.
