👋 Buy yourself something nice today, like a coffee or a croissant — or a World Series trophy? There are just four MLB teams in title contention, and three of them — the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees — lead the league in payroll by a wide margin, spending a combined $1B+ on fielding their rosters. Our low-spending underdog: the Cleveland Guardians, outspent by their opponent, the Yankees, by $175m.
🎧 On the pod: Here’s how robotic exoskeletons can be your next cash grab.
NEWS FLASH
🥤 Your Slurpee is in danger: Seven & I Holdings is closing 444 underperforming 7-Eleven locations — 3% of the chain’s 13k+ stores in the US and Canada. It’s not just the universe telling you to shake that late-night snack habit — the chain cited inflation, shifting consumer tastes, a decline in cigarette sales, and slow traffic, which dropped 7.3% in August, as reasons for the closures.
😈 Did people laugh at you when you said your robot vacuum started shouting slurs and chasing the dog? Vindication is yours: Hackers did, in fact, access several Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni robovacuums across the US in May, prompting the devices to hurl racist invective through the robot’s speaker and giving some poor, sweet pups the scare of their lives. Ecovacs claims it has since blocked the IP address the hack originated from.
🍖 The fastest-growing snack in America is a meat stick. Chomps — which makes chicken, beef, venison, and turkey sticks in a variety of zero-sugar flavors — has seen sales grow 206% over the past year. The brand’s co-founders wanted something like jerky, but without added sugars and preservatives, and they’re not alone: “Better-for-you” snacks, a market worth ~$47B, is a rising trend.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Elon Musk had a rough Friday: He unveiled Tesla’s years-in-the-making robotaxi concept, along with a Robovan, last Thursday night — Wall Street wanted more. Tesla stock sank ~9% on Friday.
… But he had a great Sunday: SpaceX caught a rocket booster the height of a 23-story building with giant mechanical arms on its Texas launchpad yesterday.
Joker: Folie a Deuxnotched the worst box office decline in comic book movie history, bringing in just over $7m in its second weekend. Terrifier 3, another clown-fronted film, took the top spot despite being so gory it made someone vomit in a preview screening.
WRITE YOUR OWN WINNING TICKET
How to write brilliant copy
For that Midas-like touch for telling stories, steal strats from two of the best.
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri built eight-figure newsletters before becoming big-shot podcasters, and a lot of their early success stemmed from a superhuman knack for clever copy.
If the only things holding you back from venturing into low orbit were the lack of wood paneling and fluffy duvet covers, it’s time to start picking out your spacesuit.
Vast, the California space startup founded by crypto billionaire Jed McCaleb, is working on a space concept worthy of five stars, perWired.
Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station, will enter low-Earth orbit next year with the help of SpaceX’s Falcon rocket. When the first paying customers hop aboard in 2026, they’re in for a treat:
The space station will have four bookable spots for customers, and trips are expected to average 10 days.
Along with four private crew quarters, a common area brings travelers together with a communal table, a resistance band exercise system, and a large central window with a view of Earth. In the next room, there’s a microgravity R&D lab.
Peter Russell-Clarke, who’s helped design some of Apple’s most famous products, oversaw Haven-1’s interior design, complete with fire-resistant maple wood slats.
Temperature and lighting settings will be adjustable, and a patent-pending sleep system uses an inflatable, queen-sized duvet to hold travelers snuggly in place for space slumber.
Travelers will receive safety training before their flight, but won’t have to do any heavy lifting — or flying.
Up, up, and away
If hitting REM under a space duvet sounds like it would fix all your problems, Vast is already accepting reservation inquiries on its website.
While the trip’s cost isn’t publicly listed, we can only assume it’s not comparable with your average plane ticket — a 2022 trip to the International Space Station with SpaceX cost $55m a seat.
But serious space travelers are exactly who Vast has in mind. “This is not like a carnival ride,” the company’s chief design and marketing officer told Wired. Noted.
Meet our maker:Hustle founder Sam Parr joined our podcast to share his secrets for building profitable digital media and community businesses.
B2B2C: It could easily be a boy band name, but unfortunately we’re helping you understand something way less flirtatious — business-to-business-to-consumer marketing.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Share of US health care providers experiencing IV fluid shortages. Why? Hurricane Helene hit medical supply company Baxter’s North Carolina manufacturing plant, which is responsible for 60% of the nation’s supply. The shortage has left hospitals conserving fluids, sometimes hydrating patients with Gatorade and Pedialyte instead, while Baxter boosts production at its other plants. It hopes to have its North Carolina facility back at 90%-100% production by year’s end. Luckily, Hurricane Milton left another IV fluid manufacturing facility in Daytona Beach, Florida, intact.
AROUND THE WEB
✈️ On this day: In 1947, US Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier.
👍 That’s interesting:How far back does the urban legend about a mysterious hitchhiker go?
🎧 Another Bite:How to sell a niche product that is only needed after a wedding.
