The Best One Yet - 💸 “$3,600 per Fam” — Tariff Day’s price tag. Tinder’s AI flirt-bot. Nintendo’s Mario Kart Metaverse.

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

It was T-Day: Tariffs, Tesla, & Trump… We got an update on all of ‘em (and why it’ll cost you $3,600/year).Tinder launched a Flirt-bot… Because AI’s most powerful use is training pickup lines (seriously).Nintendo’s Switch 2 is its biggest launch in 8 years… and Mario Kart is getting social.Plus, we found a Skier’s Arbitrage: It’s cheaper to fly to Japan for a weekend of shredding than staying here in the states…$NTDOY $TSLA $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… 📱iPhone: The Device Steve Jobs Didn’t Want to Build. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstocks sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, April 3rd, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But first, jetties, we got some wild new data from Spotify that we got to share with you. It turns out only 82% of you who listen to this show actually follow this show. So 18% of you owe us to follow right now. So pause the pod right now if you're listening on Spotify and tap follow. Yeah, that way you won't make it. any episodes, which by the way, today's episode, and it happens to be the best one we've ever done. So, Jack, three stories for today's show. For everyone following T-Boy, what's on today's pod? For our first story, yesterday was Tariff Day. Trump announced the biggest trade war escalation in 100 years.

So what does that mean for your wallet? $3,600. And we'll explain how we got that number. For our second story, Tinder just launched an AI chat bot to let you practice spitting game to a potential date. We call this hottie the flirt body. And it actually highlights a key use case of AI. For our third and final story,

after eight years, Nintendo finally launched a new video game console yesterday. It's called The Switch 2. But here's the wild part. It is not as powerful, and it's not as well-funded, but it just might be more fun. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories,

fantastic mix of stories today. Love the mix. Over in Japan, they have a bizarre and wild problem that I wish I had here in Vermont right now. Too much snow. Because get this. In one single day last month, Japan got 50 inches of snow. That's a national record. We did the math. That's two inches every single hour, man. Oh, my God. This year, Japan's ski resorts have two and a half times more snow than they had last year. And we should sprinkle on some context that Japan's light deep snow is legendary. known as Japao. It's a champagne snow. It's every dude's dream to ski Japo some day. Now, while all that snow is actually a huge challenge for any resort, you know, that's a lot of

snow to shovel. It's a huge opportunity for any skier state side, not satisfied with our snow. Because get this, it's actually cheaper to fly 6,000 miles over to Japan than to ski most mountains here in America. We repeat, it's cheaper to go and ski Japan's Japo right now. then it is to fly to one of the American resorts and ski here. Turns out Japan is now an arbitrage opportunity for skiing and snowboarding. Nick and I crunched the ski math. Let's look at Vail Colorado as our example. Okay, Jack, over in Vail, that's $700 for the flights from San Francisco,

$300 for the lift tickets every day, and a four-star hotel is going to cost you $1,000 a night. So a ski weekend to Vail is $3,300. Now, Jack, let's do the ski math for Hokkaido, Japan. Brown trip flights from San Francisco are $1,000. Lift tickets are just $50 a day, and a four-star hotel is just $500 a night. So a ski weekend in Japan is $2,100. What we're saying is you could spend $2,000 to ski Japan's record snow right now.

Or $3,000 to be stuck in a lift line over here in Colorado. It's cheaper to hit up Mount Fuji than it is to hit Mount Hood. Jack, it is cheaper to buy a week of sushi and Hokkaido than a bowl of soup over an aspen. Now, I'm actually skiing this weekend in Vermont. Not as much snow as Japan, but happy spring skiing to all who celebrate. Jack, get on a flight. Just get on a flight right now. What are you doing?

I know. Japan is deep, but people are buying the dip, baby. Japan's Japao is now an arbitrage opportunity. You heard it here first. Jack, let's hit our three stores. I don't think the arbitrage works as well if you're schlepping three kids. I actually think it does, Jack. The Podson's first ramen, totally worth it.

Fifteen years before this song, two boys, the northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea boy city on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go.

We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, yesterday was Triple T Day. Trump, tariffs, and Tesla. politics-dominated business and economic news, just the biggest day we've seen that ever happened. So we'll tell you what Trump's tariff, Liberation Day, means for your money.

All right, yeties, let's talk about the first T Tesla, because Tesla has just been accelerating in reverse lately. While SpaceX and X are both benefiting from Elon's conservative politics, his biggest company Tesla is not. Which leads to the news, Tesla announced that deliveries of their electrical, cars fell 13% in the first quarter. That's the worst quarter in Tesla history. But here was the shocking part about the Tesla news. Tesla's stock actually rose despite those bad numbers. That's because of a report from Politico that says that Trump is telling his inner circle that Elon is going to be

quitting his government doge role in the coming weeks. Investors just want Elon back at the CEO desk of Tesla not wearing a suit and tie walking around Washington, D.C. But speaking of Donald Trump, He was the second T. Yes, he was. And he announced the third T yesterday. Yeah, tariffs. Trump announced at the White House a huge economic announcement that he labeled Liberation Day. Liberation Day. And here's what Liberation Day brought. Frankly, some huge tariffs. Trump announced reciprocal tariffs with a 50% discount. Jack, could you do some mathematical translation for us over there? Whatever other countries are tariffing the United States, we will apply half as double. big a tariff on them. When it comes to tariffs, a half tit for 10. Now, we should point out that Trump's

calculation of what other countries are tariffing us, they included alleged currency manipulation and other trade unfairness that he didn't get specific on. But an example of this would be with China, where Trump says they tariff us at 67% based on his calculations. So what kind of tariff will we levy on them, Jack? Half as big. A 34% new tariff on all things made in China. Or just a Jack, what about the EU? Over in Europe, Trump says they tariff us at 39%. So we're going to charge them a new 20% tariff on all stuff made in the European Union. In fact, every country in the world is getting at least a 10% tariff and Trump basically whipped out a map to show us how it's all going down. The image yesterday was Trump holding a chart with dozens and dozens of countries and the new tariff percentage that the United States is going to start charging. Where in the world is Carmen San Diego getting tariffed? 10% at least everywhere.

All of these tariffs are effective immediately, by the way, which means Nick and I were thinking about it. Chinese-made iPhones are going to be more expensive starting really, really soon. Unless, like all of Trump's policies, everything is subject to change at a moment's notice. In fact, as you're listening to this, it may have already changed. Now, in theory, Trump's reciprocal tariffs mean that countries could drop their tariffs on the United States, and then we would drop our tariffs on them as well. Trump also said, hey, if you make your products here in America, your tariffs will go to zero.

Now, there is so much to unpack from the story. This is like a jumbo jet worth of an economic announcement. It's basically going to be the economic story of the year, of the decade, maybe even of the century. And now every country is going to have to decide. Do we retaliate or do we try to make a deal? But the big question we were curious about is what does the tariff news mean for your wallet? So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone, in America. The numbers are in. This trade war will cost each American household $3,600 per year. Yeah, it is the potential benefits to America for Trump's trade war is more U.S. manufacturing. But Yale University's Budget Lab calculated the overall impacts, and overall, it's quite negative

for the average American. Yale calculated how 20% tariffs across the board would affect the average American consumer. So based on 20% tariffs, which I actually think the announcement yesterday was more than that, but 20% tariffs across the board would cost Americans $3,600 each year in more expensive stuff. Because those tariffs will get passed down to the consumer and those extra costs would then hurt low-income households the worst based on the estimates. Now, Donald Trump has said for years, he doesn't believe what experts like Yale University say about tariffs. And he said he's okay with prices going up because he thinks it'll lead to more factories in America, which it might. But we do believe the economists at Yale University because we understand the economics of it.

And Trump's new taxes, they will cost the average American household nearly $4,000 a year. For our second story, Tinder just launched an AI chat bot to test your pickup lines on, and we call it the flirt bot. The flirt bot actually highlights one of the biggest opportunities for AI. AI is a judgment-free zone. But yetis, let's start with some industry context right now. The biggest drama with dating apps these days, what is it, Jack? They're stocks. Match and Bumble are both down over 80% from their all-time highs.

Everywhere we look, we are seeing stories about Tinder fatigue, and that is hitting the companies. You found love on LinkedIn instead. How'd you two meet? You both ran the same route on Strava. Adorable. Well, Tinder thinks they found the solution. to your Tinder fatigue, and that solution is improving your game. This week, they launched a product called The Game Game, as in a game to practice your game.

Now, what is this thing? Well, Tinder's launching an AI persona to test your pickup lines on. So in the Tinder app, you can practice out like, is it hot in here? Is it just me? Are you a stock? Because I'd invest all my time with you. I think you're a long-term hold. Now, Jack and I saw this story. We dove in T-boy style, and we decided to call this a flirt bot. Because it's designed to help you practice your flirting. Yeah, you talk to it in the phone. Like, are you compound interest?

Because my feelings are growing exponentially. But here's the key to the flirt bot. It's not just for practicing pickup lines. It's actually gamified. Are you Wi-Fi? Because I'm starting to feel a strong connection. That's solid, dude. Yeah, now here's what Jack and I mean when we say that this is gamified.

You win points as, you spit game to this chatbot. And the goal is for the flirtbot to agree to meet you for a first date. Yeah, because flirtbot grades you on a three-point scale. And they measure your success with flame emojis. And how's it go down? Basically, the AI will reenact a meet-cute scenario. It's going to test you out in a scene from a rom-com movie,

like straight out of a hallmark film. So this chat bot will set the scene like this. You're at the airport, and your luggage gets mixed up at the baggage claim, and you and a beautiful woman reach for the same suitcase. Do you ask her where she's from? Do you make a joke about Delta? Do you offer her a ride to the hotel? What do you do? Now, if you make the flirtbot laugh? Yeah, you're going to get three flames. That's a win. But if you make the flirt bot cringe, you're going to get some feedback. Like, next time, don't mention your mother in the first interaction. Seriously, Tinder is going to coach you on how to say and not say the right thing.

Now, the risk here is that you flirt too much with the flirt bot. The risk is that you spend all day chatting with a flirt bot and no time. I'm chatting with actual human beings. Yeah, so Tinder actually set limits on this thing. They've capped your usage at five game flirts per day. Although the cap is probably just to keep their AI costs under control, if we're being honest. Because this isn't actually Tinder's technology, is it, Jack? No. The whole thing is powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT40 platform.

Tinder bought a whole lot of enterprise licenses. Yeah, they did. So, Jack, I got to ask you, are you a Chick-fil-A sandwich? because I'd wait in line for you even on a Sunday. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I messed up. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Tinder? That's what I meant to ask. The most overlooked AI use case, it creates a judgment-free zone.

Yet is Jack and I've been tracking how companies are successfully using AI. And most of the time, it's insights, cost-saving, time-saving, research, all that. But one key use case that's little discussed is that AI can assuage human beings. anxiety. We've noticed that companies that offer AI to solve human awkwardness are finding success. Here's the opportunity. If a person worries that they'll be judged by another person, replace that other person with AI instead. Okay, one example we've seen of this, when you're learning a new language. Duolingo found that people learning Spanish prefer practicing their Spanish with an AI chatbot instead of a real tutor who might judge them.

Or Jack, we've also seen this with therapy, right? We've seen a big jump in AI therapy startup. that let you talk to an AI therapist because the person feels more comfortable. We even think this could work with doctors if you're like a teenager who may be uncomfortable discussing real things with a real human. Like an STD, who knows? Like maybe you'd be more comfortable sharing your actual symptoms with an AI doctor. Hey, AI doc, what is this thing on my thigh? You're not nervous about that.

Well, Tinder is now launching an AI for you to test pickup lines without social rejection. It's an overlooked opportunity in AI. creating a judgment-free zone. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, after eight long years, Nintendo finally unveiled a new console, the Switch 2,

which we're calling the Super Nintendo Switch. But the bigger highlight, Mario Kart just basically merged with Grand Theft Auto. Oh, Nintendo. Honestly, one of the most fascinating tech companies in the entire world. Their innovation has been insane. From the OG Game Boy to the Nintendo Wii to Pokemon Go?

We're talking decades here, maybe even centuries. Nintendo, they just do things differently from Xbox or PlayStation. Every 10 years, they do something that is just wild. Yeah, remember, we did a whole story last year on Nintendo's Infinite Game. What is that, Jack? They don't do mass layoffs because they know if you're nervous about losing your job, you can't work creatively and create the next Mario Brother. Nintendo just does things differently, which leads to the news.

They just launched their flagship new gaming console, which will make or break the company's next 10 years. Eight years after launching the original Switch console, Nintendo just unveiled the Switch 2. Like the Switch 1, this new device can be played on a television or on the go, Game Boy style, but this new device also has a microphone and a camera. More on that in a second.

Nintendo stock is up 20% this year, just in anticipation for the Switch 2. Yeah, this was the biggest day for Nintendo since the gorilla discovered a barrel. But here's the price tag. $450. And the games, they're even more expensive. Which lets, and Jackson, my big question,

why would you upgrade if the first console was already good? First, it's social gaming. That's why. Switch 2 basically added a microphone in a camera so you can chat with friends while playing the games. They turned it into a social network. Yeah, they did. Switch 2 is going to replace the meetup that previous generations did at the mall.

And when you meet up in Nintendo's social network, the game you will be playing is Mario Kart World. Mario Kart World is the latest edition of Mario Kart. I think it's like the 25th version of Mario Kart. Yeah. But this one is only playable on the Nintendo Switch 2, and it's basically Mario Kart meets Grand Theft Auto. Yeah, it's not really Mario Kart World. It's more like Mario Kart Metaverse. Because if you play this thing in free roam mode, Jack, what does that look like? It means you can drive off course. Instead of racing, you can just roam across this vast digital universe. Yeah, yeah, you can just like spend three hours out of your day touring Peach's Castle with your buddy Timmy who lives 30 miles away.

And that's what you're doing in this game. It reminds me of Grand Theft Auto. You can just roam and mess around. Take a scenic drive with a bunch of friends riding other go-karts. and take photos together in Nintendo's Metaverse. It's even got its own atmosphere. So if you do a race on the Kupa Troopa Beach, the time of the day and the weather conditions will change

depending on what the actual time of day and weather conditions are. If it's raining down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where you're playing, it's going to be raining on the Kupa Troopers and the shells and the bananas you're tossing along the course. All right, so social gaming and Mario Kart World, which is basically a metaverse. Still, highest price tag ever, $80 for games, $450 for new hardware? We're talking a hardware device that competes with the phone in your pocket. It's half the price of an iPhone.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Nintendo? Nintendo prioritizes feelings over function, and that's how it's winning. Yeties, here's the reality. We don't need video game consoles anymore. Sales of PlayStation 5s and Xboxes, they're actually lower than their predecessors were. Because video games are increasingly played off console for free on a a basic computer or a basic smartphone. Roblox and Fortnite, they are some of the most popular games of all time with no expensive

console necessary. But Nintendo is the exception to this trend. It is because the Switch 1 sold 150 million units, which is more than the Wii and the N64 combined. Oh, Jack, bigger surprise? People have bought 1.4 billion Switch games in an era that other games are free. Now, Nintendo doesn't even have the most powerful processors or the highest budget games to offer. But their characters are the most creative, the most fun, and the most outside the

box, literally. An example of outside the box, Nintendo, we. That was a risk other game companies were not willing to take. No way they'd do it. So Nintendo, they prioritize feelings over function, and that is why Nintendo is winning the game. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the New Friday? Trump announced tariffs much bigger than expected yesterday. 34% for China. 20% for the EU, 46% for Vietnam. The list goes on and on. It was T-Day. And these tariffs, they could bring some manufacturing back to America, but they'll also cost the average family $3,600 a year. For our second story, Tinder launched The Game Game, a chat bot to practice flirting.

The flirt bot, because AI can create a judgment-free zone. And our third and final story, after eight years, we finally got the Nintendo Switch 2. Yeah, the Switch. It's not as functional as an Xbox, but it's got more feelings. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know that. Okay, we're jumping in further T-boy style on the tariff news. Those tariffs, they created some major stock losers yesterday. Apple, Nike, and the Gap were all winners in 1990s as they outsource their factories overseas. But all those stocks sank 6 to 12% after hours yesterday as their outsourcing is coming back to bite them. Overall, by the way, the S&P 500 is down 1.6% after hours as of this recording.

And second, we got an update on the Who's Gonna Buy TikTok game, which ends on April 5th. Who's going to buy them, Jack? Amazon put in a last-minute bid, according to reports, although Bezos hasn't confirmed. Oh, and Andreessen Horwitz, the venture capital firm, they want to add TikTok to their portfolio. They're putting it a bit as well.

Now, the deadline is this Sunday, but honestly, that's probably not a real deadline. We can't get fooled again by this. Which is why Jack and I are formally announcing our quiet bid for TikTok. And finally, more football news. NFL players will play in the 2008 L.A. Olympics. Yeah, new sport coming to the 2028 games. Flag football tag you're it, Jack.

And ever since that was the announcement, the big question has been, will NFL players be allowed to play? Well, NFL Commissioner Goodell said yesterday, yeah, it's likely to happen. Will Tom Brady come out of retirement? If there's Dogecoin on the line, Jack, yeah, he will probably come out of retirement. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Philip Buster down in lovely Washington, D.C. Starting on March 31st, Corey Booker spoke on the Senate floor for a record 25 hours and five minutes,

smashing the record for the longest Philbuster ever. Okay, whether you're a Republican or Democrat, it doesn't matter. It's just like a physical feat no matter who did that. So we looked into what he did. Did he eat during those 25 hours? Nick? Yeah, he actually did. He had protein bars and a banana mid-speech. We should point that out. Everyone's wondering, did he go to the bathroom? He actually didn't because Senate rules say you cannot physically leave, no breaks, no sitting, no leaning if you were going to hold the podium.

I assume he didn't drink much water than either because... No, he stopped drinking the day before. And in terms of prep, he wore compression socks, marathon hydration prior, and a binder full of quotes and stories and snacks to keep him through it. Basically, a filibuster is the political equivalent of an iron mat. Yetis, you look fantastic over there. Jack, I'm looking right now, and it looks like flights to Montreal to Tokyo. That's like 900 bucks, man. I think we can pull this off. It's a right off. It's a right off. If we discuss business on the chairlift. Yetis, remember to tap to follow the show, and Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Diego Aparicio over in Miami, Florida, a finance bro who loves impressing the clients with the T-Boy takeaway.

And happy 25th birthday to Zavon Patel in Atlanta. and Georgia, who's spending it over at the Baps Temple. Congratulations, Julie Rich down in D.C. Celebrating the birthday with crab legs that are taller than her, and that is how you celebrate a birthday. Congratulations to Rob, from Durango, Colorado, who's retiring. Kick it back, Rob, and Paul and Joni in Hermosa Beach, California, are celebrating the best anniversary yet.

And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock in Roblox and Amazon, and Nick and I both own ETF. of the S&P 500.