If you’re interested in keeping up with us and our future projects, feel free to follow us on Twitter @alanglinais7, @TylerCook10, and @jhegges98, or email us at team@90SecondNews.info. 

Thanks once again!

-Austin, Tyler, and Joe

0:25- Elon live from New York on Saturday Night

• In case you haven’t heard yet, both Elon Musk and Miley Cyrus will be on SNL later tonight. For the world’s richest man, this is simply a chance to unleash his Twitter jokes in real life, such as “Baby Shark & Shark Tank merge to form Baby Shark Tank” as well as the potential to spike Dogecoin—a cryptocurrency that has climbed over 12,000% since January largely thanks to Musk’s jokes about it. In fact, he already tweeted about a guest star.

0:46- The April Jobs report didn’t do its job

• The April Jobs report was released yesterday and the US created a total of 266k jobs last month, which sounds great until you realize that the consensus estimate was for 1M. This actually caused an increase in the unemployment rate by .1%, and many sectors saw a net decrease in employment such as Manufacturing who lost more than 18k jobs. On the other hand, the leisure and hospitality industry added more than 331k workers—although that’s still 2.9M lower than it was pre-Covid.

0:58- Who knew people didn’t like being tracked?

• In the launch of iOS 14.5, Apple released a new feature that allowed iPhone users to opt out of targeted advertising by not allowing apps to track your usage across other apps/web activity. A report issued from the analytics firm Flurry has found that only ~4% of users have opted into this tracking—providing a very sharp decline in available data for advertisers.

1:15- WHO did what?

• Yesterday the World Health Organization announced that it had approved the first Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm, for global use under an “emergency use listing”. This decision comes after weeks of debate and testing, and will likely be one of the keys in helping the developing world with its crippling lack of available vaccines. Thomas Bollyky, director of global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, “The world needs as many safe and effective vaccines as possible. This is good for the world.”

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll hopefully see you sometime in the future!

-The 90 Second News Team

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Our final recommendation for your next source of morning news is Dealbook—a “discussion on the intersection of business, policy and culture.” It’s a bit on the heavy side, but the analysis and coverage that they provide is unmatched. If you’re interested, you can sign up here!

An example of Dealbook’s morning headline section

0:15- Unfortunately you can’t eat salsa with this chip

• Moore’s Law dictates that the number of transistors in a processor will double every two years, and yesterday IBM managed to prove that law true once again as it announced the world’s first ever 2 nanometer chip (the previous smallest was 7nm). This newest breakthrough will allow computers to function with a “45% performance improvement or 75% power reduction” when compared to the previous 7nm chips.

0:32- Who knew making a life saving shot would be profitable

• Moderna reported quarterly earnings yesterday and announced their first ever profitable quarter buoyed almost entirely by their vaccine. During the three months, they brought in more than $1.73Bn of revenue, but raised guidance for the rest of 2021 to a shocking $19.2Bn based on a series of advanced purchase agreements that it had recently secured. Following this the stock plummeted off of news that the government was backing a patent waiver for vaccines to help other countries in need, despite Moderna stating back in October that it wouldn’t enforce vaccine related patents during the pandemic.

0:58- Tips for Tweets

• Late last afternoon Twitter finally announced its much anticipated “Tip Jar” feature. This new addition to each user’s profile (in time) will allow them to link their payment services (Bandcamp, Cash App. Patreon, PayPal and Venmo) so followers can send them “tips” without Twitter ever taking a cut. The company is hoping that this will enable “...an easy way to support the incredible voice that make up the conversation on Twitter.”

1:17- Cutting into companies

• In his first ever concrete stance on a corporate tax rate, President Biden said that he would like to see a rate “between 25 and 28.” During the same remark, he also mentioned that this increase would help pay for the infrastructure bill, saying, “That’s a couple hundred billion dollars, and we can pay for these things.”

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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Our next recommendation for your morning news is The Morning by The New York Times. Every morning they break down a big story in extensive detail, and then they provide a curated list of links and headlines for the rest of the day’s news. It’s great for both an in-depth read and a scan! Sign up here!

An example of The Morning’s link section

0:15- Peloton pauses

• Only 18 days after initially rebuking the claim of the Consumer Product Safety Commission that their treadmills posed a threat to households, Peloton formally announced a voluntary recall of more than 125k of their Tread and Tread+ devices. This change comes after more than 70 injuries and the unfortunate death of a child over the lifespan of the product, and led CEO John Foley to apologize for the lack of action and to say, “We should have engaged more productively with them[CPSC] from the outset.”

0:38- “Hey Google, where are you working?”

• Yesterday Google finally answered the WFH vs Office question by saying... both. In their release they announced that more than 20% of all staff would be fully remote, 20% will be in the office full time, and the other 60% would be splitting their time between home/office in a 2/3 day split. In addition, they’ll also offer the employees up to four weeks per year where they can work from anywhere virtually, giving them the chance to take an extended vacation while still working remotely.

1:01- Protection for the future (if we need it)

• Moderna announced yesterday that it has several potential booster vaccine shots under development to help deal with future variants if the need arises. Although the current results of the studies are preliminary, there is promising data to suggest that a third “booster” shot would help to strengthen the immune system even further. In other vaccine news, Canada authorized the shot for children between the ages of 12-15—something both the US and Europe are considering in the near future.

1:22- Facebook Neighborhoods?

• Facebook is rolling out a feature called neighborhood that will allow users in a specific area to form a group together that can function as a “virtual town square.” So far beta-testing users have used it to “find missing pets, organize hiking trips, make new friends, find a handyman, and get baking materials.”

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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For our second recommendation, we have Morning Brew! They tackle all of the day’s top stories in a fun, engaging, and informative way. It’s a bit longer than our read, coming in at around 5 minutes, but it’s definitely worth it!

An example of a Morning Brew story

Feel free to sign up here if you’re interested!

0:12- Reels for all

• One of the biggest focuses of technology right now is accessibility, and Instagram is looking to make life easier for a wide range of people by adding a new “captions sticker” to their reels and stories feature. This new sticker will automatically scan the audio generated from the video and then convert the speech into closed captioning that can be placed on top of the video. This will not only allow for deaf users to engage with the video, but also normal users who are in situations where they cannot listen to videos out loud. 

0:37- Aiming for a C grade to pass the test

• Yesterday President Biden publicly set a goal to administer at least one covid vaccine dose to 70% of all American adults by July 4th, a date that he has suggested could be the official “reopening” of the country. Currently 56% of all US adults have received at least one dose while 40% are fully vaccinated. To hit this goal, the US will only need to distribute 100M shots over the next two months, which would actually represent a decrease in the current rate.

0:59- Not one, not two, not three

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is reportedly planning on building up to three additional plants in Arizona beyond the one plant already announced back in May 2020. These plants would most likely be priced similarly to the one already announced, which carries a cost of $12Bn, and would be available for production at roughly the same time—2024.

1:14- Yellen isn’t yelling about interest rates

• During a conversation with reporters at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit yesterday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen refused to suggest that President Biden’s spending plans might cause the federal reserve to raise interest rates, stating, “I don’t think there’s going to be an inflationary problem, but if there is the Fed can be counted on to address it.”

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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An example text from our friends at Dawn.

0:10- A space for almost everyone

• Yesterday Twitter announced that it was rolling out its new audio feature, Twitter Spaces, to anyone with more than 600 followers on both iOS and Android. This copycat of Clubhouse, will also include new features such as “Ticketed Spaces” which will allow creators to charge for entry into the audio rooms, scheduling features, reminders, co-hosting, and a suite of accessibility improvements. 

0:26- Another power couple bites the dust

• After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda gates announced that they were ending their marriage in a joint statement released on both of their Twitter accounts, saying, “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage.” Despite that, they both said that they would continue working together on their charity efforts due to a shared “belief in that mission.”

0:46- Some very expensive dead trees

• If you’ve been trying to build a house in the last month or two, you’ve probably noticed the almost 400% increase in lumber prices that has led to an average increase of almost $35k in the price of a new home. Thanks to an exchange rule, there are now no longer any daily trading thresholds until May 15th, which means that the prices can skyrocket as high as they want each day. Yesterday for example, the May futures for lumber shot up $75.60—the most ever in a single day.

1:10- A Prime deal for Thursday night football

• In March, Amazon announced that they had secured the exclusive streaming rights to Thursday night football for 2023-2033, and then yesterday they announced that the deal would now begin a year earlier in 2022 as the NFL terminated their current deal with Fox. It’s not coming cheaply though—for each year of the deal, Amazon will be paying $1.2Bn for a total of $13.2Bn over the 11 year stretch.

1:25- A boat powered by trash

• After becoming frustrated seeing trash in the sea, Yves Bourgnon decided to create a 56m (184ft) sailboat that could collect and be powered by the trash that it collects. On the off chance the boat doesn’t find any trash, it also has solar panels that allow it to be 70% self-sufficient. 

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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0:20- An Epic battle between tech titans

• The court case between Epic Games and Apple will begin today, with Epic Games accusing the App Store of being a monopoly and taking anti competitive commissions (up to 30% of revenue from in-app purchases). Naturally, Apple disputes these charges, stating that Epic and other developers enjoy a plethora of options, including console e-stores, Google’s App store, and PC stores such as Steam. The US District Judge in charge of the case, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, told the court last week, “This is going to be a fascinating trial.”

0:44- Basecamp is the last stop

• Last week, Basecamp, a project management software company, released a public memo on their company philosophy that prohibited the likes of “societal and political discussions” on internal message boards and in meetings. In the following days, there was immense blowback, and when the company offered severance packages to employees who disagreed with the stance, more than a third of the company’s 57 employees took it and left the company in shambles.

1:03- “Where’d you buy the gun?” “Etsy”

• Despite being banned by their terms and conditions, a recent investigation conducted by Insider found more than 800 cases of prohibited listings including pet remains, porn, weapons, radioactive substances, counterfeits, and drugs. Following this report, Etsy released a statement indicating that they’ve now pledged an additional $40M to moderate their listings, which will help to multiply their content review team by a factor of 10 by the end of the year.

1:22- A rather... unique new pet

• Planning on a new pet in the future? What about a gargoyle? As the cathedral of Notre Dame is being rebuilt after its destruction in a fire in 2019, the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris are raising money to help with the efforts by giving people the option to “adopt” a gargoyle or saint through a donation.  

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- Release the Kraken

• Yesterday the Seattle Kraken officially became the 32nd team to join the NHL after they made their final payment on the $650M fee to join the league. They’re now free to sign free agents, make trades, and set to play hockey as soon as next season. David Bonderman, the owner of the team, was very excited about the future, saying, “Today is another momentous day on the journey to puck drop. We have an incredible few months ahead of us.”

0:26- Did you hear about 3M?

• In the first lawsuit that went to trial over 3M’s faulty military earplugs, a federal jury awarded more than $7.1M to three veterans who suffered hearing loss while using 3M’s “Combat Arms.” The attorneys for the veterans in the case stated, “The evidence is clear: 3M knew their earplugs were defective, yet they allowed our service members to suffer these life-altering injuries.” In various other cases involving the same earplugs, more than 230k service members (both active and past) have filed claims.

0:48- A spike in income

• The household income data for March was released yesterday and revealed that the numbers had increased at a record pace of 21.1%. Experts say this jump can largely be attributed to the stimulus checks which helped to “fuel an economic revival.” Roughly $3.98Tn of the $4.21Tn increase could be attributed to the checks, although experts also say that the increase was helped by increasing vaccination rates and the decrease in restrictions.

1:08- TikTok, a new CEO is on the clock

• As the social media site continues to skyrocket in popularity, Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok has announced that Shou Zi Chew, the current CFO of Bytedance will also be taking over the role of CEO of TikTok. Mr. Chew, who hails from Singapore replaces Vanessa Pappas, who was a former executive at Google, although she reportedly will still be maintaining all of her current responsibilities.

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you Monday bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- Words matter, a lot

• In a press conference yesterday, President Biden’s Labor Secretary Marty Walsh tossed his support behind gig workers, saying, “We are looking at it but in a lot of cases gig workers should be classified as employees... in some cases they are treated respectfully and in some cases they are not and I think it has to be consistent across the board.” As investors caught wind of this sentiment, shares of gig economy companies plummeted, with Uber (-8%), Lyft (-12%), Doordash (-9%), and Grubhub (-3%) all closing in the red.

0:29- Bezos & Co. Boom

• Amazon reported earnings yesterday after the close, and demolished expectations as the demand for online shopping continues to increase. The retail giant beat EPS estimates by over 63%, and more than tripled its profits to $8.1Bn for the quarter on revenue of $108Bn, a 44% YoY growth. This comes during one of Bezos’ last quarters as CEO before AWS CEO Andy Jassy takes over in Q3.

0:47- Cruising back to normalcy?

• In an open letter to cruise companies yesterday, the CDC indicated that they could begin setting sail as early as mid-July for the first time since last year. In addition, the CDC also indicated that they could skip the necessary “test cruises” if the ships were able to attest to a crew that was at least 98% vaccinated and a set of passengers that were 95% vaccinated. Otherwise the ships will need to conduct the “test cruises” and apply for a certificate more than 60 days before the first normal cruise.

1:11- A warning to heed

• In the wake of the Ant Group debacle, the Chinese government is looking to set even tighter standards for companies in its regime. Yesterday it sent a letter to 13 large tech companies and banks telling them that they’ll need to adhere to a much together set of regulations in the future. Analysts believe this move is an attempt to not let any one company become powerful enough to challenge the state.

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-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- #ResignFacebook?

• In yet another instance of Facebook censoring posts in India, the social media site temporarily hid all posts that included the hashtag “ResignModi” (Narenda Modi is their Prime Minister). According to the results when a user searched the hashtag, the contents were being hidden under the premise of “Keeping our community safe.” When asked for a comment, Facebook responded hours later saying that the posts had been restored and that they are “looking into what happened.”

0:26- “What do you want to watch?” “I don’t know”

• Netflix has officially solved one of its biggest problems—choice paralysis. It officially launched a “Play Something” button that well...plays something. It will essentially put its recommendations for the user on “shuffle”, giving them a “TV” like experience, except for the fact that they’ll be able to “skip” shows (or go back). This feature is now available on all Netflix TV apps, and will soon be available on Android devices in the near future.

0:45- No more menthol?

• According to sources close to the Biden administration, the President intends on recommending a ban on menthol cigarettes, something that would affect more than one out of every three cigarettes sold in the US. This proposed policy is based on a report by the FDA in 2013 that found that menthols are both harder to quit than normal cigarettes, and far more likely to pose a greater health risk. In addition, menthols are commonly used by beginning smokers (due to the cooling properties which help to deal with smoke irritation), and are proportionally used more by the Black (84% of all cigarette use) and Hispanic (47%) communities.

1:14- Facebook finds record revenue

• After the close yesterday, Facebook reported earnings with a massive increase in Q1 revenue and profit (along with a 43% operating margin). They largely attributed this to its advertising revenue which was up 46% YoY to $25Bn, which in turn was caused by a trend in its 1.9Bn active users to spend more time and money while on the site. They did however, suggest that this growth may slow as people return to more normal lives.

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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Good morning everyone, and welcome to hump day! It’s practically Friday, right?

0:05- Mask off (sometimes, and for some people)

• In a press conference yesterday, President Biden and the CDC issued new guidelines that stated that Americans who have been fully vaccinated no longer need to wear their masks outdoors in most situations. The president called this a step towards getting “life in America closer to normal” by the target date of July 4th for the reopening of the country. This policy follows a sharp decline in the number of cases and deaths in the country as the vaccine rollout continues to move quickly.

0:28- Ford forges the way ahead

• As automobile manufacturers continue to enter the EV market, battery tech has been one of the biggest issues. Ford announced yesterday that they’re solving that problem by building the batteries themselves by opening a $185M battery-development center in southeast Michigan within the next year. Ford CEO Jim Farley is particularly excited about producing the tech inhouse, stating, “I think electrification is a game changer in terms of the mix of products we sell.”

0:47- Would you pay for a podcast?

• As a part of its continued push towards additional forms of audio, Spotify announced yesterday that it would begin rolling out paid podcast subscriptions. This new ability will allow creators to place specific episodes under a paywall as “subscriber-only” content for creator selected prices of $2.99, $4.99, or $7.99.  In addition, Spotify will not take any portion of the proceeds for the first two years (Spring 2023), and then will only take 5% moving forward from that date. 

1:09- High stakes smuggling

• Qin Shuren, a Chinese citizen who was living in American, was arrested back in 2018 under felony charges for procuring more than $100k in US Marine technology for Chinese military research labs. According to court records, Shuren plans to plead guilty to those charges through a plea agreement with the US attorney’s office in Boston. This agreement will have prosecutors dropping several charges, and asking the court to prescribe the lower end of the sentencing guidelines, which could be as few as seven years in prison.

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-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- Win the battle and the war

• In an interview yesterday, Dr. Fauci told Americans that they can expect to see a “turning point” in the fight against Covid soon, saying that if the US continues its current pace of vaccinations, “...literally within a few weeks, we’re going to start to see a turning around of the dynamics.” Currently 28.5% of the population is completely vaccinated while 42.2% of the country has received at least one dose. To achieve herd immunity, the US would likely need to vaccinate between 70% and 85% of the population, which would be roughly 230M to 281M people.

0:31- A concealed case goes very public

• In a monumental decision, the Supreme Court decided yesterday to review a piece of New York legislation that limits concealed carry outside of private property. This will be the most significant case regarding the second amendment since a 2010 case that extended the right to keep handguns in the home nationwide. Currently New York law requires an applicant to demonstrate “proper cause” to carry concealed weapons anywhere, which many gun proponents claim is not open enough.

0:51- A change in the congressional landscape

• The first data from the 2020 Census has come in, and with it so has the data for an updated House of Representatives moving forward. In total, seven states will lose a seat: California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, while six states will gain seats: Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, and Texas (who will gain two.)

1:07- A big Apple in North Carolina

• In a press release yesterday, Apple announced that it would be building a $1Bn+ campus in the North Carolina “Research Triangle.” This campus will ultimately employ more than 3,000 people in multiple fields, including software engineering and machine learning. In addition, the tech giant will also employ 5,000 people in San Diego, 3,000 people in Culver City, and 700 in Boulder, Colorado by the end of 2026.

1:25- The small things in life are actually the big things

• In a study commissioned by poet Laurie Bolger, over 2k American were surveyed on their “top simple pleasures.” The most popular answer? Listening to your favorite song. If you want to check out the rest, you can do so here.

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-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- Restaurant Warfare for new hires

• As the country continues to open up, the demand for restaurants is skyrocketing. The only problem? Restaurants can’t hire enough workers. Due to that, fast food operators are being forced to offer higher hourly pay, and perks like never before. Jimmy John’s for example is offering signing bonuses, while Chipotle is offering college tuition to any employees who are working at least 15 hours a week after they’ve been on the job for four months. Meanwhile, local restaurants who can’t compete with higher wages are being forced to either raise prices for consumers or operate for less hours each week.

0:32- Twitter and Facebook censor posts

• As India continues to struggle with a massive Covid outbreak, the government ordered Twitter and Facebook to take down more than 100 posts in India that were critical of New Delhi's Covid policy, citing concerns that the posts could “incite panic among the public.” Both Twitter and Facebook complied with the requests, however while Facebook did not respond to comments, Twitter did immediately disclose both the government’s request and their response.

0:51- This week on Wall Street

• ‘Tis the season for earnings—more than 1/3 of the S&P 500 will report quarterly results this upcoming week, including giants such as Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Apple, and Tesla. Overall, more than 181 companies out of the 500 will have earnings calls this week, and analyst expectations have those companies increasing revenue by 34% YoY.

1:06- The richest man in the world has Saturday night plans

• In a surprise announcement this weekend, SNL announced that their May 8th edition of the show would include Elon Musk as the host and Miley Cyrus as the musical guest. While CEOs aren’t typically the host for SNL, Musk has appeared in TV/Movies before, including notable appearances in Iron Man 2, and The Big Bang Theory. 

1:21- A billion dollar initiative

• During President Biden’s International Climate Summit, a new coalition called LEAF was formed. This partnership will dedicate more than $1Bn in 2021 alone to large-scale forest protection, and so far the members include the UK, US, Norway, AirBnb, Amazon, Bayer, GSK, Nestle, and Unilever, making it the largest ever private-sector investment in forest sustainability. 

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-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- That’s one quick bird

• At 5:49am ET yesterday morning, the Falcon 9 Crew-2 took off with four astronauts (Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet) in tow, making it SpaceX’s third successful crewed mission in the last twelve months. By the time you’re reading this email, the crew will have already landed at the ISS, joining the seven fellow astronauts already there. This mission was also meaningful as it marked the first time a recycled rocket has been used to transport astronauts, a huge boon for sustainable space travel.

0:29- A gold medalist goes to Gap

• Simone Biles formally announced yesterday that she was leaving Nike and would be signing a contract with Athleta, a women’s activewear brand owned by Gap, instead. As a new part of her deal, Biles will receive her own line of performance and lounge wear. In her statement, she explained her decision, saying, “I felt like it wasn’t just about my achievements, it’s what I stood for and how they were going to help me use my voice and also be a voice for females and kids.”

0:52- Intel indicates prolonged struggle

• In its earnings report Thursday afternoon, Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger told investors that the supply constraints for semiconductors will continue to affect the global economy for months, saying, “This will take a while until people can put more capacity in the ground. It’s just the way it is when you’re building new factories.” As they delved deeper into earnings, the tech giant released earnings that were weaker than Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines.

1:12- A trip fit for a President

• The Biden Administration released travel plans for the future yesterday that show that the President will be making his first overseas trip in June, where he’ll travel to both the UK and Belgium to take place in both G7 and NATO meetings with allied nations. The reports also indicated that the President will seek to “reset links with various allies.” Currently the President is virtually attending a climate summit as he pushes for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

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-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- A fundraising round that didn’t go to Overtime

• Yesterday Overtime, a sports media company, raised an $80M series C funding round that included investors such as Jeff Bezos, Drake, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and several NBA players. This comes ahead of the launch of their Overtime Elite basketball league that will allow 16-18 year-olds to play professionally in. In a statement, CEO Dan Porter said, “The breadth and diversity of this investment group, including leaders from business, entertainment, technology and sports, speaks to Overtime’s remarkable growth and our future trajectory.”

0:27- Taxes with a Capital T

• Reports from sources close to the Biden Administration indicated that the President would be proposing a new, higher capital gain tax in the coming weeks. This new proposed rate would almost double the top rate that Americans pay, from 23.8% to 43.4%—a rate that would make capital gains the highest-tax income in the country. The new proposed rate would essentially tax the gains as ordinary income (something that is already done for short term gains, which are assets held for less than a year.) You may not need to worry though—according to those sources, the change will only impact those making more than $1M a year.

0:56- Tricking a Tesla?

• Consumer Reports released a new report yesterday saying that it was “easily” able to fool Tesla’s autopilot mode into driving without someone in the driver’s seat. While they cautioned that no one should copy them, the method that they utilized was a weighted chain connected to the steering wheel to simulate hands being on the wheel. While the car performed perfectly under the conditions, Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing, called the situation “frightening.” 

1:16- AT&T posts blockbuster earnings

• AT&T reported earnings yesterday morning and beat Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom line. This was partially due to almost 3M new HBO Max subscribers, as well as ~800k new phone subscribers—a stark contrast to Verizon’s net loss of 178k subscribers over the same quarter.

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-The 90 Second News Team

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0:05- Can you stop AI from learning?

• Earlier this week, the EU officially proposed a ban on both police use of facial recognition software, and certain kinds of AI systems. If passed, it would easily become the most restrictive legislation on advanced technology in the world. Plus, it has huge monetary implications, as fines could be levied against violators to the tune of 6% of their global revenue. The AI bans would include standards for use in situations such as college admissions, critical infrastructure, and loan applications. Not everyone agrees though—Benjamin Mueller, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation said, “It’s going to make it prohibitively expensive or even technologically infeasible to build AI in Europe.”

0:35- Netflix is chilling

• In its earnings report after market close on Tuesday, Netflix told investors that its subscriber growth for Q1 2021 had been much weaker than expected with only four million users added, compared to the six million that had been projected. CEO Reed Hastings described the situation as a “...little wobbly right now,” as the stock crashed down double digits after hours. As of market close on Wednesday, $NFLX was still down more than 7% from Tuesday’s close.

0:56- Miami goes high speed

• Formula announced this week that they would be adding a new race in Miami beginning in 2022. This new track will weave through the streets of the Magic City, and around Hard Rock Stadium. Development of the new track went through 70 different iterations before landing on a 19 turn circuit with the start/finish line on the northern side of Hard Rock Stadium’s northern face.

1:13- Bringing palm reading to a new level

Whole Foods has announced that they’re launching a new palm reading system at one of its flagship stores in Seattle this week, with plans to bring the system to an additional seven new stores in the coming months. This feature is called “Amazon One”, and will allow users to link their palms to their Amazon accounts so they can pay for groceries by simply waving their hand over a scanner. So far, “thousands” of people have already signed up.

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0:05- Guilty on all three counts

• Late last afternoon, Derek Chauvin was convicted on all three counts for the killing of George Floyd last May, an event that went viral around the world and spiked a series of protests over the course of the next few months. Before the trial, Courteney Ross, Floyd’s former girlfriend was quoted as saying, “Floyd would want us all to come together. I think a guilty verdict would go a long way to bringing this city[Minneapolis] together.” As Chauvin was found guilty, many rejoiced as justice was served, and several topics including, “THANK YOU GOD”, and “BAIL REVOKED” were trending on Twitter.

0:33- Having a kid just got even more expensive

• While reporting earnings this morning, P&G also announced that they would begin charging more money for household items such as diapers, razors, and tampons as soon as this fall. According to the press release, this change was incited by the rising costs of raw materials and transportation, although it also follows a similar move by Kimberly-Clark, a competitor, earlier this month. P&G’s Operating Chief Jon Moeller, who has spent 33 years in the business, said, “This is one of the bigger increases in commodity costs that we’ve seen over the period of time I’ve been involved with this...”

0:59- Spring Loaded

• Yesterday during Apple’s Spring Loaded event, the technology giant announced a series of new hardware and software features. Among the new products were a new purple colored iPhone 12 and 12 mini, redesigned colorful M1 iMacs, AirTag item trackers, an A12 bionic chip 4k Apple TV, new M1 iPad Pros with Liquid Retina XDR displays, a new in-app podcast subscription service, and a new Ted Lasso season!

1:17- “Sorry, can’t talk right now”

• In a surprise announcement yesterday, Discord announced that it had halted acquisition talks with Microsoft, despite it being offered more than $12Bn. Instead, it appears that Discord will be looking to continue independent growth with a potential IPO (rumored in part by its first ever hire of a CFO) in the near future.

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0:05- No more nicotine

• Sources close to the Biden administration have indicated that the government is currently considering requiring all cigarettes sold in the US to reduce nicotine levels until they’re no longer considered addictive. This also comes as the FDA is on the verge of deciding whether or not they’ll be pursuing a ban on Menthol cigarettes after a citizen petition calling for that action went to court. Tobacco manufacturers have naturally argued against this, with an Altria spokesman saying, “Any action that the FDA takes must be based on science and evidence and must consider the real-world consequences of such actions...”

0:32- An $85 million helicopter

• At roughly 3:30am EST yesterday, the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars made history as it officially ended its first flight on the surface of the red planet, making it the first ever powered craft to fly somewhere other than Earth. This $85M helicopter will make at least four more trips during its lifespan of the next few weeks. MiMi Aung, the project manager of the Ingenuity, found herself almost speechless during the flight as she found herself saying, “It’s real. It’s real.”

0:54- $GME gets a new boss

• Yesterday, Gamestop announced that CEO George Sherman would be resigning by July 31st, or whenever his successor is announced. This move comes hot off the heels of massive changes in the organization after Ryan Cohen, co-founder of Chewy, joined the board in January. So far, $GME has changed several VPs, along with their CFO, CTO, CGO, and COO. No names have been announced, but the board of directors is currently searching for Sherman’s replacement. 

1:14- Fitbit goes de-Luxe

• Fitbit announced a new fitness tracker yesterday called the Luxe that will retail for $149.95. The device is designed for 24/7 use, with up to a 5 day battery life, and multiple band types to ensure comfort. It has no buttons, and instead will be controlled mostly through its smartphone companion app, which will also allow it to use the phone’s GPS to track activities. 

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0:05- Back in Vax

• In an interview yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that he currently expects the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine to “return to use” in the US by Friday. This comes slightly less than a week after the vaccine was originally paused due to a total of 6 blood clots out of 7.2M doses given since its initial approval. In addition, on Friday, J&J indicated that there was not enough evidence to prove that the vaccines had been responsible for the blood clots, but as a precaution though, experts say that there is a small chance that age or sex restrictions may be suggested for the vaccine when it returns. 

0:34- Drugmakers to appear in court over Opioid Epidemic

• Beginning on Monday, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical, Allergan, and Endo International will all appear in California courts to face claims that they are responsible for “feeding” the opioid epidemic in the US that has killed more than 500k citizens since 1999. Santa Clara County Counsel James Willimas, who is playing a role in the trial, had this to say about the case, “So many families have been affected, so many lives have ended or been completely devastated.”

0:55- Peloton problems

• Yesterday the Consumer Product Safety Commission told the public to stop using the Peloton treadmill (simply called “the Tread”) if they have young children or pets. This recommendation comes after a child died in an accident with one back in March, although the CPSC report didn’t indicate how Peleton’s treadmill is more dangerous than other models on the market. Peloton called the report “inaccurate and misleading.”

1:12- A hundred million dollar deli?

• Earlier in the week, investors noticed something odd—$HWIN, a stock trading at a $100M market cap was just a single Deli doing slightly less than $35k a year in sales. Unsurprisingly, reports now indicate that the company was a shell company, and a (now-disbarred) lawyer linked to the creation of it pleaded guilty in 2019. Shockingly, the stock is still trading over the market at $12.99 per share.

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0:05- Lord of the Stacks

• When Amazon does something, they do it big. Yesterday they announced their new Lord of the Rings TV show... with a budget of $465M for season one alone. If that number holds, it would be the largest amount that any studio has ever spent on a single season. This is of course in addition to the $250M Amazon paid for the rights to the show back in 2017.

0:23- Battle of the billionaires

• NASA revealed yesterday that Elon Musk’s SpaceX had beaten out Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to land the $2.9Bn contract that will have the company build the next crewed lunar lander. Kathy Leuders, NASA’s Human Spaceflight Program leader, said in a statement, “It is one more step, in an exciting group of steps, that will get us to a sustainable human landing system to the moon.”

0:41- Who’s a good $DOGE?

• While Dogecoin may have started out as a joke, only those who hold it are laughing now—the coin is up more than 400% over the last week, and 3702% over the last three months. It also hit a new all-time high of 48¢ yesterday. While many analysts say that this may be a bubble, when it’s backed by Elon Musk, you never know.

0:58- Apple doubles Spotify

• Yesterday Apple published an open letter to the music community disclosing their “penny per stream” payout for artists. While that 1¢ might not sound like a lot, it’s more than double what Spotify pays, and has helped some artists to stay afloat during a time when they’re not able to tour. In their letter, Apple said, “We believe in paying every creator the same rate, that a play has a value, and that creators should never have to pay for featuring.”

1:20- Flavortown helps out

• Guy Fieri doesn’t just make good food—he also helps his communities out. Over the past year he’s helped to raise more than $20M for unemployed restaurant workers through his fund. That fund in turn has helped more than 43k people in the industry receive grants of $500 or more.

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0:05- We bet this’ll work

• In a surprise move, the NFL announced yesterday that it had formed a tri-partnership agreement with Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, and FanDuel. This collection of deals is worth just under $1Bn, and will be valid for the next five years, making the three companies the first “Official Sports Betting Partners of the NFL.” With this title, companies will be able to integrate NFL Media properties directly into their apps such as post-game highlights or logos. While the NFL was the last major league to sign sportsbooks, Renie Anderson, the NFL’s chief revenue officer indicated that they had simply been waiting to learn more about the space.

0:33- Vaccines found to be 99.992% effective

• Yesterday the CDC released data that found Covid vaccinations protected more than 99.992% of the study participants from contracting the disease once they had received both shots. Dr. Anthony Fauci indicated that these numbers were in line with expectations, stating that although the cases will be rare, “You will always see some breakthrough infections no matter the efficacy of your vaccine.” Following that, Dr. Hirschwerk chimed in saying, “The experience so far is that the vaccine remains highly effective and those who did have breakthrough infections have had very mild and manageable illnesses.”

0:58- A mind boggling amount of people have Amazon Prime

• In Jeff Bezos’ last letter to shareholders as CEO, he announced that Amazon Prime has gained more than 50M additional users since the beginning of 2020, bringing up the subscription service’s user base to more than 200M. He also stated in the letter that Amazon needs “..a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success.” in regards to the recent unionization effort in Alabama.

1:17- Your vote counts (if you’re a shareholder of $RDS)

• Royal Dutch Shell announced a first-of-its-kind shareholder vote yesterday, indicating that it would be asking shareholders to vote on whether or not it will pivot away from oil over the next few years. Although the vote will be non-binding, it still marks the first time an oil company has set up a regular review of its progress towards renewable energy.

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