The Best One Yet - 🚅 “Magnetic levitation” — Japan’s 300 mph flying supertrain. Momofuku’s trademark crisis. Nutrition Labels for the internet.

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Japan’s next-gen bullet train uses “magnetic levitation” to coast 4 inches above the track at 300 mph — Japan’s train megaproject reminds us of America’s Fusion Energy project.Starting this week, internet companies must display “nutritional facts” for the cost and performance of their internet — The same nutrition labels from your Doritos are about to land on Xfinity.Momofuku, the legendary noodle brand, owns the trademark on “chili crunch” — But asian restaurant entrepreneurs think copyright feels really a copy-wrong.Plus, Starbucks just acknowledged that its stores are too loud — So it’s turning down the volume so their baristas can hear you.Subscribe to the best newsletter yet: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, April 11th, and today's pod is the best one yet. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But the stock market is not having the best one yet, Jack. The stock market had its worst day in weeks yesterday as the Dow dropped by 400 points. Blame the inflation report, the celebrity inflation report. Consumer prices rose 3.5% in the past year, which is much more than expected.

The flame of inflation hasn't been. fully put out yet, still flaring up every couple of months. So we're probably going to have high interest rates a little longer than we hope. But in the meantime, Yeti's Jack and I got your back. We whipped up a fantastic pod. Jack, three stories for today's T-boy. What do we got? For our first story, Japan's newest innovation is the fastest train in the world.

And get this, it levitates above the rails. This flying bullet train could take you from Boston to Philadelphia in under one hour. For our second story. about to start seeing nutrition labels, but for your internet service. It's right the same label that's on your Doritos will now be on your Xfinity. And our third and final story is Momofuku. The legendary noodle company just tried to trademark the term chili crunch. And hot sauce companies are freaking out right now.

Look, Nick and I respect the copyright, but this feels like a copy wrong. Oh, so wrong. But yet is, before we had that wonderful mix. What a mix of stories for today's show. Love the mix, Jack. Here's the situation we've all annoyingly been in. Order Faye for Rick. Everyone at the coffee shop looks around, but nobody steps forward to grab their latte.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Is that for me? I'm Nick. Did you mean Nick? I think it's for Nick, not Rick. Yeties, you order a coffee at Starbucks and the barista mishears your name. Well, here's the news. Starbucks hears you that it can't hear you. They heard you.

Starbucks just acknowledged publicly that a lot of their locations are way too loud. Starbucks is now turning down the volume on some of their stores, literally, turning it down. That's right. Starbucks is doing something about this noise problem. They're redesigning a thousand stores to lower the volume on your ears. Jack, let's jump in T-boy style. Make it a decaf. What is Starbucks doing exactly, Jack?

First, they're going to add noise-absorbing panels like you sometimes see in podcast studios. Then Starbucks is going to add soundproofing walls like you also see in podcast studios. And then it may lower the music a little bit on that Fiona Apple playlist. I want you to love me, but like maybe in a volume two. Is that okay, Fiona? Because it turns out most mistakes with your latte come down simply to mishearing. Turns out 14% of drive-through orders are actually misheard. Did you say macchiato or cortado?

Soy or oh boy. Rappuccino or cappuccino? It's a double mocha what? So yet he's listen up, your local Starbucks is about to sound more like a library. Because there's nothing baristas hate more than a mumbler. The only downside, Nick, the coffee grinder, it's going to sound even. louder now. What was that, Jack? So let's hit our three stories.

What? Let's hit our three stories. I said Nick, not Rick. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Japan is so close to debuting a magnetic, levitating train, a flying train. The long-awaited magic trains of Japan have taken 40 years to develop, but they are worth the wait. Jack, I'm going to drop a fun mystery quiz fact on you. Okay, last year, Molly and I were on a bullet train in Japan.

Jack, do you know what the first? front of the bullet train was designed after in Japan? A bullet? A bird beak. It's designed after a king fisher bird's beak to go really, really fast. Birds of prey have incredible aerodynamics. Well, Yeti's Japan is about to celebrate 60 years of that classic innovation, the fast bullet train. These things go almost 200 miles per hour and they were invented and debuted in 1964 to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics 60 years ago. Japan's bull train is 186 mile per hour on. On average, triple the speed of driving and no traffic along the way. But Yetis, Japan's Central Railway Company can do even better than the bullet trains.

They have a train that goes 375 miles per hour. And Jack, how are they making this train go as fast as a plane? By making their trains fly above the ground, literally. Yeties, get this. This publicly traded train company has invented something called Maglev, which is short for magnetic levitation. It relies on electromagnetic repulsion, which means that the rail and the train, they have opposite forcing magnets, so they push each other apart a little bit. Let me just pull some chemistry physics translation on you there. What Jack's trying to say is that that train doesn't roll on the tracks.

This train, it levitates four inches above the tracks. It flies. And with no friction whatsoever from the rail, it can travel twice as fast as a conventional bullet train. If so fact, we're talking about a hoverboard train. This is a flying train. It goes twice as fast as the bullet train, which go twice as fast as our regular train. Now, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this concept. It's called Flying Without Wings, and eventually it's going to connect Tokyo with Osaka in about 67 minutes.

That's it. 67 minutes to travel 300 miles. Jack, can you sprinkle on some geographical context for us over there? 300 miles is about the distance between San Francisco and Santa Barbara. It's about the distance between Philadelphia and Boston. About the distance between Detroit and Indianapolis or the distance. between Miami and Gainesville. For Americans, those are five-hour car rides.

In Japan, there'll be one-hour train glides. We repeat, you can go San Francisco to Santa Barbara in an hour. Detroit to Indianapolis in an hour. Not just because these flying trains go 300 miles per hour, but also because the track that they laid down is a perfectly straight line. Sit down, stand up, and just stay seated because the Magic Maglev train in Japan is going to be

outrageously straight line, that's an engineering marvel. Because the shortest distance between A and B is a straight line, that's what the Japanese are doing with this train line. So they've built the tracks to be 80% underground because it's easier to build rail underground than demolish a bunch of developments above the ground. And it's a ludicrously straight train rail. And I should point out that China was the first to develop Maglev trains using German technology. You can go from Shanghai to Beijing really quickly. It's easier to get it. big stuff like that done in an authoritarian country. And what she wants, president she gets.

But in Japan, the final segment has been held up, but it's just got a green light. So Japan is close to completion. And you could be in Tokyo. We're already in Tokyo. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the fastest train in the world? Japan isn't afraid of 40-year projects. We can't be either. Now, yet is shocker.

Japan actually invented this technology back in 19. 1990, and yet it's still not open to the Japanese public. When it finally is open, hopefully before 2030, it'll be 40 years and $60 billion later. But Jack and I admire that. We admire that the Japanese people are not letting that sticker price deter them from this ambitiously huge project. Because this train is going to cut the traveling time between Japan's first and third largest city in half. Oh, here in the United States, we're not building magic trains, unfortunately, but we do have a similar powerful innovation.

And that innovation is fusion power. Last summer, the Department of Energy announced grants for eight fusion startups here in the U.S. that could build the next generation of clean energy. And someday, fusion technology here in America will give us unlimited clean energy, which is our best shot to be climate change. But that day could be 40 years away, and it could cost $100 billion to reach. In the meantime, we've got an inspiration in Japan, because Japan isn't afraid of those numbers.

We can't be either. For our second story. The FCC is rolling out, get this, nutrition labels for internet providers. Because transparency is the cure for sneakiness. All right, Eddie's funny thing Jack and I have noticed, the most iconic government image of all is actually not the bald eagle. It's one of the greatest designs ever. And what is it, Jack? It's the nutrition label.

The surgeon general loves this thing. It's the black and white box that we've seen on. everything we eat, it's got the nutrition label. It shows you the calories, the saturated fats, the vitamin Cs. This thing's the periodic table of edible elements is on the potato chips, the hummus, or the chaco taco. You've seen this thing. It's actually referred to by health experts as a masterpiece of information architecture. It's like Frank Lloyd Wright could not have designed something better than this, Jack. Because it communicates food information perfectly and consistently so that you can compare one product to another. Although I don't know who's measuring these

serving sizes. I've never eaten one serving size. Let's just put it that way. Gets us every time. But yeties, here's the history of the nutrition label. We were actually the first country to mandate food labeling. And in the 1990 Nutrition Label Education Act, we required a new nutrition label. It's the one we know today. And it was designed by a Berski Belser. A designer, he tried pie charts, he tried bar charts. He created 35 versions of this thing before we ended up with the nutrition label we know and love today. It's the reason you look at the back of a cranberry juice and you're like, oh my God, the sugar. Well, this nutrition label, it is timeless.

The only change in the last 25 years, what is it, Jack? They added trans fats. Sit down, stand up and check the label because another government agency is borrowing the same design of our nutrition label, but for the internet. Here's the news. Starting yesterday, the FCC requires nutrition labels for all big internet providers to be clearly displayed both in store and online. line. That's right. Time Warner Cable, Charter, Xfinity. They're all about to get nutrition labels just like your food.

They already do, actually. And it's literally the same label as Doritos, but for your broadband. And what's the goal of this exactly, Jack? To clearly show consumers the cost of the high-speed internet that's being offered. So yet, if you're shopping around for a new internet provider, you're going to now see a nutrition label that shows you the length of the contract, the introductory rate, the price after the introductory rate. It'll show you the one-time fees you'll have to pay. The ongoing fees you'll have to pay and the fee fees that you'll get really frustrated about. Oh, this nutrition label, it's even going to show you the performance of the internet that that provider is offering you. Every internet provider must show their download speeds, the upload speeds, the data limits, and the customer service phone number you can call.

From now on, you're going to have the standard nutrition facts of your internet consumption. So you can compare Comcast to Xfinity to AT&T and find the best one for you. Just like you can compare Doritos to Cheetos to Fritos to see which one is the least bad for you. So you can just honestly tell how much the internet will cost you. Which can be annoyingly hard to actually find out. Representative! Please just give me a representative. Operator, operator, Jack, what's the takeaway for all of our buddies who are just trying to get internet?

The best way to regulate fees is transparency. The idea is we have all experienced the order confirmation sticker price shock. It hits us every time. You thought you understood. the price, but then you saw the junk fees. Internet providers are famous for this. They love to market dishonestly low prices, only to reveal later on the real price at the end when it's too late for you to back out.

And it's not just internet providers who sneak these fees in at the end. Airbnb used to be famous for this. Watch out for the cleaning fee. And Ticketmaster is currently infamous for this. Watch out for the fee fee. So our FCC has started a campaign against junk fees for honest prices up front. And this campaign began a few years ago. Because the FCC can't ban fees.

It's a free country, but the FCC can force transparency. It's a free country so they can still charge fees. That's why the best way to regulate fees is through transparency. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Momofuku, the legendary noodle brand is in some serious, serious hot sauce right now. Literally, because sometimes trademarking a term feels like stealing a term. Saracha. Let's begin by talking about

Saracha. Saracha is still fantastic, but Jack and I were on a little bit of a chili crunch kick, aren't we, Jack? Nick discovered this chili oil product

called Boone that he introduced to me the last time I was in San Francisco. Now, every month, Nick sends me a bottle of Boone in the mail and he wraps it

in both like a waterproof layer and like a breakproof layer to make sure it's not a mess when it arrives. We just love these chili sauces, But Jag and I noticed that the biggest chili crunch label out there right now is another delicious sauce owned by the legendary restaurant Momo Fuku. Momofuku is a Korean-inspired restaurant brand founded by the celebrity chef, formerly known as David Chang, but now he goes by Dave.

Yeah, Dave Chang. He is a Michelin star dude. His book is fantastic, by the way. Nick and I lived across the street from the very first Momofuku noodle bar in the East Village of New York City. Do you remember the chilled noodle dish with sausage? It was one of the sports. spiciest things I've ever eat. But yeties, Momofuku isn't just a restaurant anymore. Momofuku is a spicy food empire doing $50 million in revenue a year. They have multiple restaurant chains, like a fried chicken fast food chain you can find a Madison Square Garden or a milk bar bakery chain with tasty sweets. And they've got consumer packaged goods. They have pork bellies that ship nationwide, noodles at your local grocery store, and a lineup of sauces with the

Momofuku brand. They also have a media business. They have a TV show on Netflix, a physical magazine and a pretty big podcast on Spotify. But funny thing that blew up this week. Jack, what's the newest business line over at Momo Fuku? Trademark Trawl. The new drama in Momo Fuku is that they're being accused of being copyright bullies. Let me sprinkle on some contacts next. Jack, pour it all like a little bit of chili oil, baby. This year, Momofuku applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the term chili crunch. And unfortunately, if you happen to be a rival selling a Crunch sauce, you received a cease and desist letter from the lawyers at Momofuku. Now, really quick, chili crunch, it's chili oil with lots of little crushed red peppers

and some garlic flavor. It's incredibly delicious. You've probably seen it served at a Chinese restaurant before. And if you're selling oil of chili peppers with some crunchy crushed peppers and that garlicky goodness in there, you also just heard from Momofuku's legal team. Momofuku is sending Seas and Assist orders saying you can't use the term chili crunch to describe your product because we own that term. And why is Momofuku facing such a backlash in just the last couple days, Jack? Because these Chili Crunch rivals that he's trying to shut down, they're mainly startups. They're Asian entrepreneurs who look up to David.

So they're saying that instead of creating a community of Asian founders, he's creating a monopoly against Asian founders. Plus, it feels a little messed up that one would try to trademark the term chili crunch in the first place. I mean, this is the gray area of trademark law, Jack and I have talked about. Some argue this is the equivalent of trademarking like ketchup or mom. mayo or mustard. What are they going to try to trademark honey? Jack, are they coming next for the soy sauce? Yeah, it is, it's a condiment, not a creation. You shouldn't be able to own the rights to a generic product. It's a crazy copyright and tricky trademark situation. Now, Momofuku's trademark application is still pending and it could take a year for the trademark office to decide.

But if Momofuku wins, it will own what many argue should be unownable, a word that describes a generic product. And if it loses, it's already scared a bunch of restaurants. round owners with that scary cease and desist letter and hurt Dave's reputation. Man, did they make a good pork bun. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in Momo Fuku? There's a new copyright trend that we're calling copy wrong. Copy wrongs. The copy wrong yet is when the commercial benefits of a trademark are outweighed by the PR

costs. Because social media is given new leverage to people who want to challenge a company's copyright. And for example, we saw this last year, Jack. Like when Taco Johns owned the term Taco Tuesday, and they were like after years forced to give it up. The taco community was very upset and they faced a lot of pressure so they finally let it go. Or another example, Match, the parent company of Tinder actually owns the term swipe. Like they literally trademarked swiping.

But they're facing lawsuits from small dating apps who challenge their ownership of swiping right. Now Momo Fuku, the beloved Asian food brand has lost its core support. Sometimes, the marketing upside of being the only. one who can use a term is outweighed by the downside of looking like a greedy bully. I can never talk about this before the pod. It's like if you invented something, that's great. Like that is yours. And you should have trademark protection for that. But if you simply file the trademark application first, it doesn't feel as honorable. That's how a copyright becomes copy wrong.

Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Japan is this close to finally debuting their 300 mile per hour train. that levitate thanks to magnets. Japan, they're not afraid of 40-year projects, and we can't be either. For our second story, it's the FCC. They've started requiring the display of nutrition facts, but for internet service. Because the best way to regulate fees is transparency. And our third and final story, Momofuku is in hot sauce, literally, for trademarking the term chili crunch.

And that's why Jack and I have noticed a new copyright trend that we call copy wrong. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Delta just kicked off the earnings season. It's the first big airline to tell us their numbers. They're projecting another quarter of record revenue as you just keep on traveling. Also, unlike the arrivers, Delta has zero Boeing 737 max jets. And that has really helped them out.

That's a lucky turn of events for Delta. And second, we just got a list of the top 10 fastest growing retail brands in America from Yelp and who we got, Jack. The Mediterranean fast casual restaurant, Kava, is number one. Number two is Scooter's Coffee. Number three is Longhorn Steakhouse. And rounding out the top 10

at number 10 is Jersey Mike sandwiches. There's some really neat findings in that list. We're going to link to it in this week's newsletter. And finally, Japan is officially giving the United States 250 brand new cherry trees. Not too shabby. These cherry trees are native to Japan. And when they blossom,

they are beautiful. The current cherry trees in D.C. were actually a friendship gift from Japan in the year 1912. And now they're replenishing our stock with 250 fresh ones. The cherry trees, they're nice. Wouldn't mind a flying train, Jack. Yeah. How don't you have to us a magic 300 mile per hour train? Stick it under the cherry tree.

Like, you know, under the roots, we'll take a couple magnetic levitating trains. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one's saying by... Jack really wants those trains. This one sent in by Dan and Paula in lovely Grafton, Wisconsin. The Masters, the iconic golf tournament kicks off today at Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia. The biggest names are going to be there. Rory McElroy, Tiger Woods, everyone's going to be there.

This year, Tiger's actually going for another record. He's going to try to set the Masters record for making the cut 24 consecutive years. Now, Jack, could you step up to the T and sprinkle on a little context for us? After the second round, half the players are eliminated. Only the top 50 play in the third and fourth round, and Tiger's done that every time. In fact, the only time Tiger hasn't made the cut was in 1996 when he was 20 years old. So if you were born in 1997, Tiger Woods has made the cut in the masters every year of your life. And if it does it this year, it's a record.

Yeties, you look fantastic out there. And if you're over to Starbucks, Yeties, you look fantastic out there. Or is it, Eddies, you look fantastic out there. out there. Depends if the coffee grinder is on or not. But besties, the best way you can help us grow this pod is to turn to a buddy today and let them know H-Y-H-T-B-O-I.

Have you had the best one yet? That's how you share the show. Or if you're at a Starbucks, have you had the best one yet? Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't. And before we go to all our Muslim Yetis out there, celebrating Eid al-Fitter,

happy end of Ramadan. Congratulations on a huge month. And happy birthday. to Graham Graham, Amy Betrose, who's turning 70 in Buffalo, New York. And Elizabeth Carlson's got a birthday in Plymouth, Minnesota. Enjoy those three jumbo packs of Tortolini from Costco. And happy birthday to Ryan Morgan from Red Star, Arkansas. And Caitlin Dubial is turning 24 years old in Ordenville, Michigan. Happy birthday, Caitlin. And happy birthday to Jay Eagleson, who's turning 40 in Rutherford, New Jersey, and also welcoming baby Thomas to the family. Gracie, the best big sister yet. And Ryan Swanson has got a new

job in Lakeville, Minnesota. He's going to be making chassis over at QA1. Copy one-year workovertery to Gregory Cusack in Montecito, California. This is Jack. I own stock of Kava and Netflix and Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb, Chipotle and Spotify. And in fact, Jack, one bullet train came through our station and they didn't, I guess, because they didn't announce in English, didn't make clear it wasn't stopping. Oh, God. I was like seven or eight feet away from the track. Yeah. I know. And Mauna, And I, Ma and I were like, literally, we were, I literally jumped freaked out.

Because like, I kind of saw it coming distance. I'm like, oh, here comes our train. And then it was like, it was insane.