GM Bro.

You did it. It’s Friday. There’s a chance you’re laid off from your job and are uncertain of what the future holds…but that’s the future you’s problem to deal with. For right now, at this moment, it’s Friday, kick back a bit, you deserve it. Superbowl is coming up and we think the NFL is rigged. (Stay tuned for monday’s edition 😉 ) Oh and GOOD f*ckin MORNING.

In Today’s Morning 6 to 9:

• Elon and Tech updates

• Business Mess ups and New Ed-Tech

• Cultural Happenings

• Bro-Tastic Memes

Elon got that dawg in Him/ Tech Updates

Remember in our December edition talking about the potential demise of Elon’s company, and how we should never bet against this man? Well looks like we were right…It's been a remarkable turnaround for Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk. Despite a difficult 2022 with a $700 billion loss, Tesla's stock has risen 63.4% year-to-date, nearly wiping out the 65% drop it experienced. The company's strong Q4 earnings, investor confidence in interest-rate cuts, and cost-cutting strategy have all contributed to the stock's surge, with some analysts predicting even more growth in 2023. Meanwhile, Tesla's focus on electric vehicles has allowed it to earn five times more per vehicle than Toyota in the April-December period of 2022, putting it on track to close the gap with the Japanese automaker in terms of net profit. 👀 🍿

The Chinese high-altitude balloon that traveled over the United States was equipped with "intelligence surveillance" equipment according to the U.S. Department of State, which added that it was collecting and geolocating communication signals. The balloon was shot down by the U.S. Air Force and its remains have been collected for analysis. The U.S. is sharing related information with other countries and has gained "a lot of information" from the incident.

Researchers and scientists at Yale University wrote in a recent paper that Aliens most likely think we are dumb…and if we ever make contact with aliens, they may not realize we are intelligent life forms, which could actually be a good thing for humanity. They argue that aliens who have traveled between star systems might be so different from us that they don't recognize us as sentient beings, and the good news is that in this scenario, they wouldn't see us as a threat. The authors hope their article will inspire people to think about extraterrestrial intelligence and what it says about humanity.

Business Mis-haps and a Ed-Tech startup

Robinhood suffered a $57 million loss in December due to a "processing error" that caused the trading app to sell shares short in a small stock, Cosmos Health, as it surged in value due to online traders seeking heavily shorted companies. The stock's market capitalization is now less than the amount Robinhood lost due to the error, which was described as "disappointing" by CEO Vlad Tenev. What. a. shit. show.

Google's new AI bot Bard was shown off in a Twitter video, but it answered a question incorrectly and received criticism from astronomers and investors. This caused shares in parent company Alphabet to drop by 7%, losing $100bn off its market value. A Google spokesperson stated that the error highlighted the importance of a rigorous testing process and that external feedback will be combined with internal testing to ensure Bard's responses meet high standards.

Paper, a Montreal-based virtual tutoring platform, wants to make private tutoring more accessible to students and their families. “Paper” offers personalized tutoring to students 24/7 through over 3,000 tutors across North America's 400+ school districts. The service is available at no cost to students or their families as the school districts pay Paper, making it a win-win situation for both families who lack the funds for private tutoring and school districts who want to provide extra support to their students. The platform is currently valued at $1.5 billion after raising more than $390 million from investors such as Google and Softbank.

Cultural Happenings

Chick-fil-A is debuting its first plant-based meal, the Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich, in three US markets next week, as fast food chains have struggled to find meat alternatives to satisfy vegetarian and flexitarian customers, and demand for plant-based meats has slowed. I feel like this is a slippery slope for them and eventually leads to them opening on Sundays. Sigh.

Balenciaga's creative director, Demna, finally decided to address the controversies surrounding the brand's ad campaigns, a move that was long overdue. Demna claimed that the bears were inspired by punk culture, and not BDSM as many had assumed. He tried to play it off as a "processing error" but it's hard to believe that such a huge mistake went unnoticed by the entire team. Demna's apology and assurance to avoid similar mistakes in the future may sound nice, but skepticism remains about the brand's ability to deliver on its promises.

It’s official, Netflix confirmed that it will now charge subscribers in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain to add up to two additional users who don’t live in the same household to their account, limiting the sharing of its standard ($15.49 a month) and premium ($19.99 a month) subscriptions. USA next but we’ll see how it shakes out. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Bro-Tastic Memes