đ Enjoy your quiet sleep while you have it… Research startup REMspace claims it has achieved a wild first: two people successfully communicating during lucid dreams. You may be thinking, âWhoa! Great! Cool!â right now â but so are advertisers. Hereâs hoping the premium version of sleep without ads isnât too expensive.
đ§ On the pod: The future of big-box stores, as we pour one out for the last full-size Kmart in the continental US.
NEWS FLASH
đ Did Meta finally do it? Engadgetâs Devindra Hardawar is calling Metaâs Quest 3S the âbasic Honda Accord of VR headsets,â but in a nice way that improves upon the Quest 2 for an affordable $300. VR has failed to take off among consumers, with Apple losing ~$1.4B on its $3.5k Vision Pro and new Meta Quest users dropping off within weeks, leaving Zuckâs beloved metaverse a ghost town. Hardawar notes Metaâs new headset also offers an easier platform for developers, which could lead to more apps and more VR users.
đ Those who worship Warren Buffett are all ears: Buffettâs Berkshire Hathaway is a big believer in SiriusXMâs future, upping its stake in the audio company. After picking up $87m worth of shares, the âOracle of Omahaâ now holds a one-third stake in SiriusXM, which is vying for an increased share of the streaming business. Buffettâs interest in the Pandora owner follows a string of recent exits, from Paramount Global to Apple to Bank of America.
đ¤ Hereâs a new kind of AI lawsuit: Two Massachusetts parents are suing their sonâs school district after he received detention and a D for using AI on a history project â something they claim the school did not expressly forbid â allegedly jeopardizing his chances of getting into Stanford. The districtâs student handbook forbids the use of âunauthorized technologyâ and plagiarism, but doesnât specify borrowing language from a bot. Schools have struggled with when and how to allow AI use since ChatGPT launched in 2022.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Universalplans to open Epic Universe â its 750-acre, $1B Florida theme-park expansion â by Memorial Day 2025, earlier than expected.
Ferrero-owned Butterfinger is 101 years old, brings in $200m+ annually, and has never offered another flavor, until now. The first of several limited-time flavors is Butterfinger Salted Caramel.
Walgreens will close 1.2k stores through 2027 to achieve a âhealthier store base.â The pharmacy chain owns ~8.7k US locations, 25% of which arenât profitable.
WHATâS HOURS IS YOURS
How to be more productive
You can mull, moan, mourn â but there are still only 24 hours in a day. If you find yourself wishing for more, consider us facilitators.
Operate at work like a bona fide titan of industry with this free productivity kit by ClickUp and HubSpot. It has tips and templates to help you purge procrastination and punch the metaphorical workplace clock with pride.
The richest families have congregated in cities like London and New York City, increasing demand.
Many bought additional properties amid the pandemic and need even more help.
Bureaucratic backlogs for visas and other paperwork, especially post-Brexit.
British-accented workers are reportedly in demand among Asian and Middle Eastern families who are new to the UK or hope to send their children to British schools.
Meanwhile, in BritainâŚ
⌠many Eastern European workers left following Brexit and covid, per The Times.
At the same time, many wealthy families bought manors in the countryside, where rising rents have priced out those whoâd be paid to maintain them.
Now, a head butler can make $130k+ a year, while nannies have seen their annual salaries increase by ~$26k since covid.
But thatâs not all: One expert toldThe Times that staff wonât even consider a gig unless theyâre offered accommodations â âideally a two-bedroom detached cottage with a private gardenâ â and can bring their families and pets.
Consequently, such properties have skyrocketed in demand, while other buyers must purchase cottages nearby to attract staff.
Complicating mattersâŚ
⌠both the job and the workforce have changed. Modern butlers not only manage the household, but now travel with families and serve as confidantes and even mentors.
That comes at a cost thatâs hard to whittle down. Younger workers donât want the long days the job requires, and cheaper workers lack the training and niche skill sets.
BTW: If this has you thinking about switching gigs, the largest such school in the world is apparently the British Butler Institute, where you can learn the proper way to present a newspaper.
Letâs get real meta here: These A+ strategies helped companies like Xerox and The Economist turn clicks into conversions, and now theyâre all yours â if we can get you to click and convert. Trippy.
We ran this experiment so you could spare yourself the indignity:See what happened when one colleague tried creating a YouTube channel exclusively using AI.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Share of managers who say new college grads need workplace etiquette training, per an Intelligent.com survey of 1k leaders. You may recall how the pandemic forced young people to spend critical education and early working years online. Now, they apparently need help handling conflict, taking constructive criticism, dressing and communicating professionally, being on time, and understanding workplace cellphone etiquette. One-third of surveyed managers said their company offers workplace etiquette training now, while 20% said it will in the future.
AROUND THE WEB
đ On this day: In 1987, 18-month-old Jessica McClure was famously rescued from a well in Midland, Texas, a process that took 58 hours.
đ§ Thatâs cool: The best butter for every situation.
đ§ My First Million: Prolific Silicon Valley investor Elad Gil shares the three things he looks for when betting on startups.
đ˝ Thatâs interesting: The history of corn mazes.
When a story ends with the protagonist waking up from a dream, it breaks your suspension of disbelief while also breaking the characterâs suspension of disbelief.SOURCE
