👋 Up and at ’em. Need a little motivation? Bridgit Mendler had a career as a successful Disney star and singer before becoming a PhD student at MIT and a Harvard Law School grad. With all her free time, she founded satellite startup Northwood Space, which passed its first big development test last week. Now go send that email.
🎧 On the pod: Is AI blending in a bit too well? And if so, should we care?
NEWS FLASH
YouTube / @NintendoAmerica
⏰ The gamification of life intensifies: Nintendo came out with, no, not a new gaming console, but Alarmo, a $100 smart alarm clock. The adorable red clock soothes you to sleep with relaxing soundscapes, then rouses you with Mario, Zelda, and other video game characters, scenes, music, and sounds. Its motion sensor tracks how much you toss and turn, and reacts to your movements as you get up — or intensifies if you snooze too long.
🔎 “I am not Satoshi Nakamoto,” says the guy a documentarian identified as Satoshi Nakamoto: A new HBO documentary claims to have solved the internet’s greatest mystery — the identity of Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. Filmmaker Cullen Hoback believes the evidence points to Canadian crypto expert Peter Todd as the currency’s mysterious originator, whose digital wallet is estimated to be worth $69B. Todd, though, said nah, it’s not him, calling the theory “ludicrous.”
🥤 A rebrand so good you’ll barely notice the 46 grams of sugar and 54 milligrams of caffeine: Mountain Dew is going back to its roots. The brand, which has been marketed as “Mtn Dew” since 2009, is trading in its energy drink-style packaging for more vowels atop a peaceful, mountainous backdrop. PepsiCo, which cut its full-year revenue outlook this week, wants Mountain Dew to keep up in a growing market of natural sodas like Poppi and Olipop.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
The US Department of Justice is considering breaking up Google so that it can’t use Chrome, Play, or Android to “advantage Google search” or related features. However, a final decision will likely take years, considering Google’s inevitable appeals.
Half taxi, half bus? Uber launched a shuttle service between New York’s LaGuardia Airport and three Manhattan transit hubs for $18 a ride. The 14-passenger vans will run between 5am and 10:45pm ET daily.
Already-expensive Disneyland is now even pricier: The park raised most ticket prices by ~6% yesterday. There are seven pricing tiers, with the cheapest single-day ticket running $104 and the priciest at (yikes) $206.
IT’S TIME TO GROW UP
The go-to guide on growing like the pros
If the whole team is laser-focused on leveraging separate channels, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds.
That’s exactly why dedicated growth folks, who use data to deduce new tactics and strive for a scrumptious synergy, are downright essential.
It may as well be you. Read our blanket introduction to making big-picture plays across the funnel and being the growth-focused nerd your team is in need of.
What happens if we stop caring if something is AI?
You can feed Google’s new Audio Overview feature info and generate a podcast with voices so realistic, someone could be fooled into thinking they’re listening to real humans, and perhaps believe any inaccuracies or hallucinations.
It’s hard to imagine a time of more misinformation than right now, when everything is potentially AI — and we’re already used to it.
Case in point: An image of a scared little girl and her puppy has been floating around in relation to Hurricane Helene. It’s not real, but many people seem indifferent because, as one person wrote, “it is emblematic of the trauma and pain” people are experiencing.
404 Media co-founder Jason Koebler is calling it the “fuck it” era, when it no longer matters if something is AI-generated if it matches a vibe.
We’re often moved…
… by movies and other media that use fictional narratives to portray something about real life. So why does this feel so off? Maybe because:
Real people are experiencing real natural disasters, so we don’t need to waste as much energy as it takes to fully charge a smartphone on generating fake images.
Unlike fiction, AI content lives alongside real info, eroding our trust in the things we read, watch, or hear online.
It’s often difficult to trace the source of viral AI content, meaning we don’t know who created it or why.
Here’s how pervasive this issue is: Wikipedia — the internet’s favorite source of information — now has a dedicated team that removes poorly written AI-generated content.
Wikipedia even allows AI in articles, but it has to be accurate with real sources. In the past, AI has sourced articles it completely made up.
There are scary implications…
… of course, like when people need accurate info about natural disaster evacuation and shelters, their health, or upcoming elections.
Ever think about starting a company roller-blading group? Now’s your chance. Take tips for creating a community at your org from an expert who has advised Meta, Nike, and Campbell’s.
Customer acquisition: Everyone wants to do a whole lot of it, few know how. Check out six case studies of companies that achieved big gains (and how they did it).
DATA POINT
The hustle is real: Nearly half of all adults in the UK, US, Australia, and Canada have a side hustle, according to an Omnisend survey of 4k people.
The most popular side hustle by a long shot is selling goods online: In the US, 52% called ecommerce their side hustle of choice.
This was followed by freelancing (21%), and gig jobs like ride-sharing or food delivery (19%).
Many Americans (58%) are hoping to take their side gig full-time, despite 56% saying they make less than $500 a month doing it.
With that many people turning to ecomm, it’s no wonder there’s a seemingly endless onslaught of strange stuff being sold online.
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 1845, the US Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Maryland, with 50 students and seven professors.
📚 That’s cool: If you love organization, you will probably enjoy this video on how to quickly alphabetize books.
Yesterday, we asked if you’d be frequenting Spirit Halloween this year. For the 46% of you who said “hell yes” to celebrating the holiday, we’re guessing a 12-foot skeleton is in your future.
Then there’s the 23% who said their celebrations depend on the year, and 31% who will be turning off the lights and hiding inside.
As for how you celebrate:
Some got extra imaginative with a “life-size animatronic alligator,” a “yard full of skeleton barn animals,” and “a skeleton in a smoking jacket that sits at our dining table.”
SHOWER THOUGHT
Finding a dollar in the 1800s must have been so exciting.SOURCE
Today’s email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Sara Friedman. Editing by: Ben “I am also not Satoshi Nakamoto” Berkley.
