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Your Daily BriefAugust 11th, 2022 |
Good morning, and happy Thursday! Today, we’re covering a wildfire that has forced more evacuations in France, a recent stock sale from Elon Musk to raise cash, and more. Here’s what we have for you:
In Today’s Brief
- France: New wildfire in Gironde region forces evacuations
- Donald Trump: Former President invokes Fifth Amendment while under oath
- Shohei Ohtani: Joins Babe Ruth with 10 wins as a pitcher and 10 home runs in one season
- Elon Musk: Sells nearly 8 million shares of Tesla stock
- Taylor Swift: Speaks out against plagiarism claims
- Top Tips: Inflation slowed to an 8.5% increase in July; Google launches campaign for Apple to “fix texting” by adopting RCS; Disney passes Netflix with the most global streaming subscribers
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Inflation in the United States slowed to an 8.5% increase in July
According to data released yesterday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation in the United States slowed to 8.5% in July, down from a 9.1% increase in June.
Per the Labor Department’s latest report, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.5% year-over-year in July. While the report shows that the costs of food and shelter increased, the gasoline index price fell by 7.7% in July, reflecting lower prices that Americans are paying at the pump after the national average for gas prices reached an all-time high of $5 per gallon in June. The energy index also fell by 4.6% in July after rising 7.5% the month before. Overall, the CPI rose month-over-month by 1.3% in July–the same as June’s increase from May.
Last month’s slowdown in inflation comes after two consecutive months of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve of 75 basis points each, or 0.75%.
Google launches a campaign to get Apple to adopt RCS messaging
Google has launched a campaign and website to get Apple to adopt RCS, a communication protocol available on Android that Google claims would improve the messaging experience between Android and iOS users.
Under a heading titled “It’s time for Apple to fix texting,” the Android website reads: “It’s not about the color of the bubbles. It’s the blurry videos, broken group chats, missing read receipts and typing indicators, no texting over Wi-Fi and more. These problems exist because Apple refuses to adopt modern texting standards when people with iPhones and Android phones text each other.” According to Google, the campaign aims to tackle not only the green and blue chat bubbles, but also challenges in cross-platform messaging such as end-to-end encryption.
In its campaign, Google asserts that Apple can fix these issues by supporting RCS, which offers many of iMessage’s features in a protocol that both iOS and Android customers can use.
Disney now has more global streaming subscribers than Netflix
Disney has surpassed Netflix in its total global subscribers across all its platforms, according to information the company presented in its Q2 earnings call yesterday.
During the call, Disney revealed that it added 14.4 million subscribers to its streaming service Disney+ last quarter, bringing the total number of paid subscribers for the service to just over 152 million. In total, Disney streaming services–made up of Disney+, ESPN+, Hotstar, and Hulu–now have more than 221 million subscribers worldwide. Netflix, on the other hand, reported that it had 220.7 million global subscribers last quarter, after losing almost 1 million subscribers compared to the previous quarter.
The occurrence marks the first time that any company has passed Netflix in total streaming subscribers globally. According to Disney, only about 100,000 of the new 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers came from North America.
Around the Globe
- China has withdrawn a promise it made not to send troops or administrators to Taiwan if it takes control of the island, according to an official document released yesterday
- Shahram Poursafi, an Iranian man who is a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRG), has been charged with plotting to kill former National Security Advisor John Bolton, according to US officials
- A new wildfire in the Gironde region of southwest France has forced the evacuation of about 10,000 residents; it is the second wildfire to hit the area in two months
On the Homefront
- Former President Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right and wouldn’t answer questions under oath in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his business dealings, according to a statement he released yesterday
- Mexican fast-casual chain Chiptole has begun a campaign to give away $1M worth of free burritos to teachers nominated by local communities across 2,000 schools in the United States
- United Airlines put down a deposit of $10M for 100 electric flying taxis from San Francisco Bay Area-based Archer Aviation Inc; United and Archer said that United will be the launch customer for the four-passenger aircraft Archer is working on
Glitz and Games
- Disney unveiled new pricing and subscription tiers for its streaming service Disney+, including a tier with advertising for $7.99 per month that will be available in the U.S. on December 8th (the current ad-free tier of $10.99 per month will stay the same)
- Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels became the second player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit at least 10 home runs and win 10 games as a pitcher in the same season; the only other player to do so is Babe Ruth in 1918
- Streaming service Discovery+ released the trailer for the upcoming docuseries House of Hammer that details years of alleged abuse from Armie Hammer and the inner machinations of the Hammer family; the series will hit the platform on September 2nd
Money Moves
- Major indexes in the stock market rebounded after yesterday’s inflation data released by the Labor Department (Dow +1.63%, Nasdaq +2.89%, S&P 500 +2.13%)
- Elon Musk sold almost $7B worth of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock–or 7.92 million shares–to raise cash in the event that he is forced to complete his $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter
- TikTok parent company ByteDance’s healthcare unit in China, Xiaohe Health, has acquired Beijing-based healthcare organization Amcare Healthcare for $1.5B
Tips & Tricks
- Bump This: Get funky with the new track “Obsessed” from Calvin Harris, Charlie Puth, and Shenseea - listen on Apple Music and Spotify
- Chow Down: Check out this recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls that will (probably) put your local Cinnabon to shame
- Nerd Out: Learn about a test that the U.S. Space Force conducted using robot dogs to automate repetitive tasks at its Cape Canaveral spaceport
- Go Deep: Read up on how the number of teenagers who say they are chronically online has almost doubled since 2015, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center
- Say What: "Until learning about Plaintiffs' claim in 2017, I had never heard the song 'Playas Gon' Play’ and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW. The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made,” Taylor Swift said in response to a copyright lawsuit filed by girl group 3LW claiming she plagiarized their lyrics in her 2014 song “Shake it Off”
- Hot Goss: Former *NYSNC member JC Chasez has joined TikTok...and we’re starting to find more grey hairs on our own heads every day
- Life Hack: Microwaving lemons and other fruits for around 15 seconds can double the juice you get from them
Looking Back…
On August 11th: Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hits his 500th career home run, becoming the first baseball player to do so (1929); artist Jackson Pollock is killed in a car accident (1956); race riots erupt in the Watts district of Los Angeles (1965); Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak is born (1950).
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