đ Hope all your wishes come true this week, but make sure the star youâre wishing on is a real one â you never know these days. Astronomers had to walk back their discovery of a new asteroid orbiting Earth after realizing it wasnât an asteroid at all, but a car. Who would choose such an unhinged parking spot? None other than Elon Musk, who sent his Tesla Roadster into orbit in 2018.
đ§ On the pod:Are full-body scans the future of health care?
NEWS FLASH
đ Investors arenât always excited about AI, it turns out â just look at the stock market. US stocks nosedived Monday after Chinese AI company DeepSeek presented R1, its version of ChatGPT. The AI model has all the same bells and whistles, but operates on a fraction of the budget needed to power American AI tech. DeepSeek said it spent only $5.6 million building its model, compared to the hundreds of millions, if not billions, spent on AI by companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. For context: Meta just said it’d pour $60B+ into AI development in 2025 alone, and Sam Altman said the AI industry would require trillions of dollars in investment. Also on Monday: DeepSeek said it suffered a large cyberattack and would limit registrations. Wild day.
đ¸ Weird way to do your wedding registry: Alexander Beckman â founder of AI startup GameOn Technology, now called ON Platform â and his wife, Valerie Lau Beckman, are accused of scamming investors out of $60m, which they reportedly used to pay for their wedding, real estate, and a Tesla. The alleged fraud involved misleading investors, manipulating documents, forging emails and signatures, and faking account statements, at one point purporting that the companyâs account contained $13m+ when it had a mere $25.
â Starbucks reverted to old tricks yesterday: The chain started offering ceramic mugs to dine-in customers, reserving bathroom access and water for paying customers only, and restoring condiment bars. The changes, implemented by CEO Brian Niccol, are designed to reenvision Starbucks as the more premium âthird placeâ it once was, with customers who hang out a while and perhaps order additional items as opposed to those who place mobile to-go orders and leave.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Oof: Kia is recalling 80k+ vehicles due to faulty wiring that can stop airbags and seat belts from working properly. The recall follows one in November to fix transistors in 208k+ Hyundai and Kia EVs.
Landmark deal: US defender Naomi Girma broke a womenâs soccer world record with a $1.1m transfer to Chelsea from the San Diego Wave.
See you at Heathrow, dweebs: Fanatics Collectibles is opening its first brick-and-mortar store in London, offering apparel, signed memorabilia, and trading cards from brands including Topps and Merlin.
THE BIG IDEA
The future of EVs is (supposedly) brighter than it seems
The road to global adoption hasnât always been smooth for electric vehicles, and recent events make it seem rockier than ever.
But things are still looking up… Or, at least, theyâre not looking as down as you might think.
Getting the plug pulled
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end Biden-era attempts to promote EVs.
It will likely end the $7.5k tax credit for new EV buyers.
It will also pause funding for EV charging infrastructure.
And EV makers were in trouble alreadyâŚ
Just last week, EV startup Canoo (which made cars and not boats) filed for bankruptcy, making it one of âat least a dozenâ EV-related startups that The Wall Street Journalpredicts will shutter by next summer.
While US EV sales are up, growth has slowed, scaring off automakers.
In its desperation to break into the US market, Alfa Romeo, which sold less than 9k cars last year, just canceled plans to go all-electric by 2027, per Jalopnik.
Unlike Jaguarâs response to similar sales woes, Alfa Romeoâs plan is apparently to avoid anything exciting or new.
How could there possibly be a silver lining?
Last April, as sales were slowing but before the election, the International Energy Agency insisted there would be âsurging demandâ over the next decade.
Supposedly, IEA executive director Fatih Birol told CNN, ânegative headlines about slowing EV penetrationâ were âout of stepâ with actual global demand.
In other words, if â and thatâs if â sales have slowed, itâs not because people donât want EVs.
OK, sure!
And now what?
Tracking consumer demand is still the main story to watch here, considering Trumpâs order might not really do anything (yet).
Kelley Blue Book explains that the proposed changes will require rewriting regulations, which takes time.
And thatâs assuming there arenât legal challenges, which there will be.
Let’s put it this way: Courts are still discussing Bidenâs repeal of Trumpâs repeal of a California clean-emissions waiver. This is where we all shrug and mutter “politics…” to ourselves.
How can your prospecting messages stand out when AI makes everyone sound passable? Some steps to help you rise above the noise.
How much does a Super Bowl ad really cost⌠and is it worth it? Hereâs a data-backed deep dive.
DATA POINT
Mobile games won big in 2024. While you mightâve thought your âCandy Crushâ scores were noteworthy, they pale in comparison to the magnitude of the mobile gaming industry as a whole.
Mobile game revenue hit $80.9B in 2024, up 4% from 2023, according to Sensor Towerâs annual State of Mobile report. The growth came despite mobile game downloads dipping 6% last year.
Four games â âLast War,â âWhiteout Survival,â âDungeon & Fighter,â and âBrawl Starsâ â reached $1B+ in total revenue for 2024, bringing the total number of mobile games in the billion-dollar club to 11.
If those numbers didnât make your eyes pop, hereâs one more: In 2024, iOS and Google Play in-app purchases hit $150B in total revenue, up 12.5% from 2023 â thatâs $285k spent per minute.
AROUND THE WEB
đ On this day: In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing its crew, which included schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first US civilian to travel to space.
