š Hey, spammers and scammers ā thereās not a moment to waste. Your next 179 days are going to be glorious. After that? A lot less glorious. Thatāll mark the start of the FTCās new āclick-to-cancelā rule, requiring businesses to make it as easy for consumers to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up for it.
š§ On the pod: Why are so many people paying so much money to be terrorized?
NEWS FLASH
Axiom Space
š§āš New lunar fashion just dropped. Axiom Space revealed its Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit ā the spacesuit NASA astronauts will wear during the Artemis III mission, returning humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The suit, made in collaboration with Prada, includes health monitoring and cooling systems and comes in a crisp white to reflect heat. Axiom scored its first Artemis contract in 2022 to the tune of $228.5m.
š Hosting without actually having to deal with your guests? The dream. Airbnb launched a network in 10 countries where owners looking to rent out their homes can hire co-hosts to help with things like furnishing homes, managing bookings, or setting up listing pages. Co-hosts can charge a one-time fee or a percentage of the booking for ongoing support. The network already has 10k co-hosts, with an average rating of 4.86 out of 5.
š As if dating apps werenāt bad enoughā¦ Hong Kong police arrested 27 people in connection with an online romance scam that defrauded victims out of $46m. The criminal enterprise created fake hot people, then used AI face-swapping tech to alter their faces and voices during virtual dates to earn victimsā trust before luring them into phony crypto investments. No matter how awful your last online date was, it probably wasnāt worse than a crime syndicate shaking you down?
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Amazon Web Servicesannounced a $500m+ plan to develop small modular nuclear reactors with Dominion Energy. Google and Microsoft recently made similar nuclear deals aiming to more sustainably power their data centers.
Bed Bath & Beyond is backā¦ sort of. Beyond Inc. will invest $40m in the Container Store, another struggling retailer, and sell kitchen, bath, and bedroom products at its 102 locations.
The mogul in your math class: A research report found that approximately every US high school has at least one āultra high earningā teen annually earning $10k+ from online side hustles.
LAND THAT JOB
How to ace your next interview
Practice? We talkinā about practice?
Damn right we are. But we did the hard part, and bundled this up for you.
Hereās a pack of 50 questions that will prep you for success, upgrade your competence, and help you hop on payroll.
Some of you may wish to be anywhere besides a haunted house, but scaring the bejesus out of people is big business.
We love a good home haunt or an inventive immersive show, but theme parks are some of the largest ā and most profitable ā fright destinations, perThe Hollywood Reporter.
Theme parks rake it in during spooky season:
Most Halloween events happen at night, requiring a separate ticket from parksā daytime and family-friendly attractions.
Guests can buy add-ons ā e.g., fast passes to skip lines, season passes, behind-the-scenes tours, access to themed bars, etc.
Parks sell Halloween-exclusive food, drinks, and merch.
Even events that begin in August or extend past Oct. 31 are popular, with some selling out.
Halloween is bigger than ever
Americans spent a record $12.2B on Halloween last year and, despite inflation concerns, ~50% of respondents in a recent Lending Tree survey said they intend to spend big this Halloween.
For those looking for the most bang for their buck, that may be a sprawling theme park.
Theyāve grown significantly in scale over the years to compete for visitor dollars, and now offer numerous activities, including multiple mazes, fog-filled āscare zonesā with roaming monsters, and live performances.
Universal annually spends an estimated $100m+ to produce its Halloween Horror Nights offering. Itās worth it ā HHN attracts ~1.5m visitors each autumn.
Many events are also connected to, and in promotion of, blockbuster IPs: Universal has maze collaborations with Ghostbusters, A Quiet Place, and musician The Weeknd, while select Six Flags parks have Saw and The Conjuring universe attractions.
OK, butā¦
ā¦ why do people pay money to have costumed actors jump out at them in the dark?
One theory is that millennials like Halloween due to a delayed adulthood, as many are unable to achieve home ownership or start families when their parents did.
Yet, considering that Terrifier 3 ā a gorefest about a killer clown ā was No. 1 at this past weekendās box office, there may be a simpler answer.
Many people just like the adrenaline rush that fear in a safe environment, such as a theme park or movie theater, provides. It can be fun, cathartic, and a way to bond with others.
And afterward, you can get an overpriced churro. Worth it.
Whoa, a rare poll with a consensus: 60% of Americans support universal free lunch in schools, yet across the US, they still arenāt a thing. Look into the costs and benefits of making it happen.
Sorry, but you’re not the hero: One expert says she sees too many marketers position their brand as the heroes of every story ā and that doing so is a big mistake.
DATA POINT
Lunch breakdown: Just because you know somethingās good for you doesnāt mean you always do it. That seems to be true of the corporate lunch break, according to new survey data from ezCaterās 2024 Lunch Report.
While employees say that a lunch break improves their performance (98%), makes them feel happier (51%), and increases mental clarity while lowering burnout (49%), only 38% of workers actually take a lunch break away from their desks every day.
Whatās making employees skip out on lunch? If you ask millennials, itās a bandwidth issue: 27% say they donāt have enough time to complete their work if they take a lunch break.
Itās not all bleak: 30% of employees say they give themselves at least one little treat per day ā the most popular being candy and chocolate ā and 76% have at least one per week.
AROUND THE WEB
š On this day: In 2018, Canadaās law to legalize recreational cannabis took effect.
šø Thatās cool:Winners of a panoramic photo contest.
