from the chat: ... so we're all just cool with kalshi and polymarket taking over?
ALSO: "life after leggings," an app that tells you if there are smart glasses on ya, SCOTUS decides if states can sue Big Oil, and more
Happy Tuesday, February 24th!
FYSA, every Tuesday and Friday, I’ll be in your inbox with the latest in politics, tech & social media, culture, and other relevant topics – and I’ll share some notes and tips on what I’m keeping my eye on.
I’M ALSO LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO DO MINI INTERVIEWS FOR OPEN TABS :) Tips, thoughts, concerns, good jokes, bad jokes, tea, etc?
And finally, if you enjoy this newsletter and want to share it with your network (and/or your chronically online friends), or buy me a matcha, that would be so appreciated 🙏
Supreme Court to consider whether states can sue over greenhouse gas emissions
The justices will hear an appeal by Suncor and ExxonMobil, which argue the city of Boulder’s legal action in state court is preempted by federal law. They say greenhouse gas emissions are inherently a federal issue because the pollution emanates from outside Colorado and drifts across state lines. (WaPo, 2/23 – free version)
Trump Demands Netflix Oust Susan Rice From Board
Netflix has a $72 billion deal to acquire Warner’s movie and television studios and the HBO Max streaming platform, which requires approval from the Justice Department. It is also trying to hold off Paramount, which has embarked on a hostile bid for all of Warner including its cable-network unit, home to CNN, TNT and other channels. (WSJ, 2/21 – I think this is a free link!)
Dems working on secret report found Gaza cost Harris votes
Bendaas said the DNC should share its findings on Israel widely throughout the party ahead of the “critical” midterms. DNC officials have said they’re integrating their research from the audit into discussions with candidates and campaigns. (Axios, 2/22)
Lucy’s note: … did we really need a report to tell us this lol
OpenAI’s planned cash burn was unlike anything we’d ever seen — now they’re doubling it
Per the new figures reported, OpenAI expects to burn through $218 billion between 2026 and 2029, about $111 billion more than the company’s internal projections from just two quarters ago. That $218 billion is 23x what Tesla burned in its cash-incinerating phase from 2007 to 2018. (Sherwood, 2/23)
This App Warns You if Someone Is Wearing Smart Glasses Nearby
The app works by looking for Bluetooth “advertising frames,” which are small bits of data devices regularly broadcast as part of their normal operation. Jeanrenaud said he referenced a directory of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) manufacturers, then made the app scan for Meta, Luxottica Group S.p.A which partners with Meta on its smart glasses, and Snap, which has its own smart glasses offering. (404 Media, 2/24 – free version)
How many AIs does it take to read a PDF?
OCR tools are designed to detect and correct for these sorts of formatting variations, but tables, images, diagrams, captions, footnotes, and headers all present further obstacles. If you give an AI assistant like ChatGPT a PDF, it will cycle through a variety of these tools, sometimes fail, sometimes pass the PDF to a large vision model to perform OCR, sometimes hallucinate, and generally take a very long time and use a lot of computing power for uneven results. (The Verge, 2/23 – free version)
Why Gen Z and young adults are embracing iPods again
The trend even has a name: Friction-maxxing. The idea is that younger people are choosing hands-on experiences over algorithmic ease. Loading songs onto an iPod one by one instead of letting Spotify serve up a playlist brings meaning back to the act of listening. The culture is shifting away from total seamless convenience. (Digital Trends, 2/23)
How Polymarket and Kalshi are gamifying truth
The companies are also rapidly insinuating themselves into American media. Both have struck deals with major sports leagues to provide data during games. Kalshi has partnered with CNN and CNBC, while Polymarket has a contract with Dow Jones, meaning prediction odds are likely to be integrated into coverage of elections and other events. During the Golden Globes on CBS in January, a Polymarket chyron flashed before each award was handed out, correctly predicting nearly all 28 winners. (Bloomberg, 2/23 – free version)
You’re not as invested in sports as PE is
There are 74 major professional US sports teams with ties to private equity. The NBA has the largest proportion of teams backed by PE (20 of 30), while the NFL and NHL have the lowest, with 10 of their 32 teams, respectively, having PE connections. PE made its first venture into college sports in December, when Otro Capital struck a deal with the University of Utah. (Morning Brew, 2/22)
Life After Leggings
Now, every place from Quince and Old Navy to Costco sells decent leggings and sweatpants, and searches for “Y2K activewear” are spiking on eBay. The wellness heads have moved on from meditation and “clean” beauty to raw milk, peptide stacking, and 100 percent cotton T-shirts. A decade ago, athleisure was fashion’s bogeyman, coming to kill the art of getting dressed with its practical silhouettes and futuristic fabrics. But as Lululemon strains for a new identity and its copycat competitors jostle for clout, athleisure needs a kick in the pants. (The Cut, 2/24 – free version)
Breastmilk is no longer just for babies
Armra, which introduced its colostrum products in 2021, has been one of the earliest entrants and biggest winners of the colostrum hype, with sales bolstered by endorsements from celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Dua Lipa, and Gwyneth Paltrow. For four scoops a day, it costs ~$110 a month. Cowboy Colostrum sells $69 bottles of colostrum powder in different flavors, including a $89 matcha option. (The Hustle, 2/23)
Lucy’s note: THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT COW COLUSTRUM, don’t worry (like I kinda did)
How baby microbiomes in the West differ from those everywhere else
By combining their data with genomes sequenced in prior studies, the researchers found that around 70 per cent of infants from the African and South Asian countries had B. longum infantis in their guts by 2 months old, compared with fewer than 2 per cent of babies from the UK, US and Sweden. “Infantis is basically missing in Western settings,” says Shao. (New Scientist, 2/18)
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Extra Credit 🤓
Some newsletters I thought were excellent recently:
“The State of the Union split screen” from Kyle Tharp of Chaotic Era
I will also be at some of this SOTU stuff tonight, pls come say hi!!!
“The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team Failed the Locker Room Test” from Jessica Valenti from Abortion, Every Day
“The dangerous rise of the centi-billionaires dominating US media and politics” from Steven Hill
That’s all for now – I’ll see you on Friday!