The Best One Yet - 👉 “Poke” — MySpace vs. DisTok. Travis Kalanick’s future-port. Pringles’ perfect AI potato. +Spreadsheet Dating

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, August 6th. Then today's pod is the best one yet. This is a team boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But the big question today, can you wear shorts to the office? Is this okay? Is this happening? No. Okay. Jack, the head of Instagram, Adam Asseri, he's doing shorts right now. He wore him yesterday. But that's like a thirst trap. He literally owns Instagram. Yeah. I think you did it for the comment section. In the meantime, stocks are at all-time highs. This show is at all-time highs, Jack? Nobody wants to see your Harry Shinsnick. What are we got to the best place in business? Have you seen these calves? For our first story, MySpace is making

Starting point is 00:00:39 a comeback while Disney is hooking up with TikTok. Yeties, these two stories explain the future of social media, MySpace 2.0 and Diz Talk. For our second story, your next Pringle may be perfect because of AI. Potatoes, Pringles, and Digital Twins. It's the recipe for the elusive return on AI. And our third and final story is Uber founder Travis Count. He's back. He just raised $1.7 billion for his next startup, Adams. And Travis signed a deal to build a new thing called a vertiport, the travel port of the future. And it's right downtown.

Starting point is 00:01:12 It's coming downtown. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Wonderful mix of stories. Love the mix for the new Friday, Jack. Tinder fatigue, Bumble's been humbled. Dating apps, they've been dead, baby. But the surprise new way for young people to find love... It's in the spreadsheets.

Starting point is 00:01:26 Excel spreadsheets. Get this. Singles are so burned out right now. They're letting spreadsheets decide their dates. Jack, forget intuition, emotion, or romance, man. Alex is crunching Kevin's over on Excel. And redefining the command, V-lookup. She has a whole separate tab just for dudes named Brian.

Starting point is 00:01:43 I mean, Jack, how do you know if he's the one? Because the cell's merged, and I didn't get an error. That's a green flag right there. The Wall Street Journal actually found one woman whose dating spreadsheet is such a good template. She's turned it into a business. She's charging $10 a month for a copy for Excel, and 10,000 people are pecky. For it, man. These spreadsheet singles believe that data is the cure to their dating drama.

Starting point is 00:02:05 So these love hackers have created data sets to spot patterns. Like, I only catch feelings after the fourth date. Or my best dates order two drinks. If they bring up their mom more than once, it's a turn-off. If they bring up more than four times, though, is that a turn-on? Okay, just checking. It's not. I was just curious.

Starting point is 00:02:22 So, Zillennials are now tracking dates like you count steps. Call it a fit bit for feelings. But seriously, Nick, how do you know she's the one? Because, Jack, the conditional formatting told me. Are we going to do a spreadsheets, bedsheets? I'm just going to say, I'm a freak in the spreadsheets, Jack. Let's see our three stores.

Starting point is 00:02:37 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.

Starting point is 00:02:56 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, MySpace is making a comeback. While Disney is hooking up with TikTok, what's going on? These two events show the two different futures of social media. Yeties, let's go back to June 2006. Jack and I were graduating from high school.

Starting point is 00:03:30 Jack actually had just gone to prom in a white tuxedo, which that was a flex, Jack. I saw those picks. You didn't mention the lavender tie, Nick. No, no I didn't, Jack. But the new website, at the time of our high school graduation, the biggest website on Earth, what was it? Myspace. And it just passed Yahoo and Google as the most visited website in the world.

Starting point is 00:03:50 But it turns out Myspace actually started as an internet side project before it accomplished all of that. Because three years earlier, in 2003, two brothers in Santa Monica invented the first social network. That's right, a custom profile page and a way to connect the first social network. On your MySpace page, you actually had to pick your time. eight friends. Wow. So if you thought picking your groomsmen or bridesmaids was a challenge, everyone had to with MySpace. Also, you would add a profile song to your MySpace page, which is how Taylor Swift actually got started in music publicly. Yeah, she posted all her music on MySpace. Now, our favorite stat about MySpace, why do you share this one, Jack?

Starting point is 00:04:26 One user had a record 272 million friends. It's actually the co-founder, Tom, because every new MySpace user was defaulted to be his friend automatically. Which is a very Zuckerberg move, to be honest. Yes, it is. In 2005, MySpace sold to Rupert Murdoch of News Corp for $580 million. Back then, they were doing $800 million in ad revenue. MySpace was looking like a really good business. But that was the peak, because MySpace walked so that Facebook could run. All over it.

Starting point is 00:04:57 Yeah, MySpace, it was the original Zucking. It got Zucked by Marky Mark Zuck. In 2011, MySpace sold for just $35 million, a 95% valuation drop as everyone was on Facebook instead of MySpace. Oh, and one of those buyers was Justin Timberlake. Ironic, because just one year earlier, Justin Timberlake was an actor in the social network, which was about Facebook. So it all kind of comes full circle, and here's the news. Those two MySpace brothers, they own it again, and they're planning their third comeback. They announced it in a new documentary called MySpace. Okay, but pause the pod jack. Funny timing here.

Starting point is 00:05:31 because just as MySpace was plotting a return, we got this news on a Wednesday. Disney announced a deal to put TikTok videos inside the Disney Plus app. That's right. Goofy is now an influencer. Now, we should point out, Disney Plus already has a section called VERTs, which is a short-form vertical video feed in the app to help you discover content on Disney Plus. You swipe through clips of shows and movies on Disney Plus, and you click through to watch the whole thing. Yeah, you're like, oh, I forgot Mighty Ducks was on Disney Plus. I'm going to watch this thing. The thing is that verse section is only getting Disney so far.

Starting point is 00:06:03 They want user-generated videos now, you know, TikTok style. So in the coming months, you'll see, and I quote, a thoughtfully curated collection of Disney-centric fan content in the form of TikTok videos within the Disney Plus app. Because participating creators will gain access to Disney's valuable IP, which Disney protects like bootstraps, bootstraps. Captain Hook and Peter Pan, yeah, he would protect that stuff hard. But participating creators in this program can make certifications,

Starting point is 00:06:30 D'Fide Darth Vader videos like nobody else and cross-post them on both TikTok and Disney Plus. Okay, that sounds kind of familiar, actually, Jack. Yeah, Disney signed a very similar deal last year with OpenAI, but had to cancel the deal when OpenAI canceled Sora. Okay, but besties, this is what Jack and I find fascinating. Disney ain't the only media brand pivoting from horizontal TV to vertical phones. We see the geometric pivot to vertical video in microdramas. Ah, microdramas.

Starting point is 00:06:58 Dozens of vertical one to two minute episodes make up a microdrama miniseries. They're borderline soft porny. The divorcee married to a werewolf. And he's a billionaire? It's highly addictive content, Nick. Yes, it is. But these microdramas are the fastest growing media out there right now, expected to reach 14 billion bucks in revenue this year.

Starting point is 00:07:18 So Peacock just added this summer original microdramas under the Bravo brand. And Fox just bought a stake in a microdrama production company. Paramount Plus is testing licensed microdramas on. their app as well. And they're all doing it because our collective attention has shifted from horizontal TV screens to vertical phone screens instead. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies looking at the wild world of media right now? Two roads diverged in a wood. MySpace 2.0 or Dystock? Yaddies, what's wild about these two announcements is they are two opposite visions of social media's future. Disney and TikTok, that represents the algorithmic fast-paced,

Starting point is 00:07:58 endless scrolling that you do by yourself on your phone. While MySpace is a human-focused, algorithm-free digital connection to others. One represents the cutting-edge addictive tactics of tech companies and media companies. And the other represents a return to the OG static image of the industry. Now, maybe the digital detox trend that's been bubbling up, maybe that takes off, and more of us turn to this MySpace, slower, social media. Or maybe the pull's just so great we all just stick with our infinite scroll. Or maybe there's room for both.

Starting point is 00:08:26 But let us know what you think the future is in the conversation. comments. Two roads diverged into what? Do you want MySpace 2.0 or do you want Diz Talk? For our second story, the most successful use case of AI so far, it's Pringles. AI may have just created the perfect Pringle. Did you hear the great news? We have perfect Pringles. I knew I smelled something going on over here, because the next big term in AI is digital potato twins. Oh, we'll explain it. But besties, Jack and I've noticed, we humans, we've done a lot of things with dough. haven't we, Jack? Sour dough, pizza dough, the pretzel, play dough.

Starting point is 00:09:03 Oh, good call, good call. Well, the Pringle, it delivers the most dopamine, and we can stand by that one. In 1968, engineers at Procter & Gamble aim to solve the world's broken, greasy, stale potato chip problem. The solution? A parabolic-shaped, non-perishable, stackable break-resistant potato chip. That's the first time we've said parabolic on this show. Yeah, yeah, it's the first, maybe the last.

Starting point is 00:09:24 No, we should point out, Prinkles are extremely processed. Yeah, they are, Jack. They were literally developed by a chemist in a lab. But fascinatingly, the chemist behind the Pringle was so proud of his creation, he had his ashes buried in a Pringle can. Yeah, his Pringle can. That was his urn. No joke.

Starting point is 00:09:39 RIP. The Pee's stands for Pringle. Well, Fesdies after that, Procter and Gamble sold Pringle to Kellogg, which then spun off its snacks division, Kellanova, which then it sold to Mars the candy company. Yeah, the business Pringles has been passed around like a Pringle's can. But now Pringles is doing $4 billion bucks a year in revenue. Jackie Springle on some context, please.

Starting point is 00:09:58 That's bigger than Lace potato chips or crocs. This is why Jack and I want to cover this story. This is the first AI story we've covered about chips that aren't computer chips. Actual potato chips. Because for four years, Pringles has poured $5 million into AI to try to create the perfect Pringle. The perfect Pringle. You see, while every potato chip you eat looks the same, no two Pringles are actually exactly alike. Because Pringles uses 705 million pounds of potato.

Starting point is 00:10:26 every year. And potatoes, they come from different farms, they come in different shapes. Every potato is different. There are actually 200 different variables that influence a specific Pringle's form. From dough humidity levels to the number of flower particles. Now, historically, a human looked at each potato for quality control at the Pringle factory. They're known as dough makers. They touch, look at, and smell each Pringle at each stage of the production line. But now, Pringle's introduced new sensors that capture tiny variances in the raw potato materials. Variances that the human eye can't detect, like the skin of this potato is one millimeter thicker than usual. Then those sensors feed that data into an AI model that creates a digital twin of the potato chip.

Starting point is 00:11:06 But here's the most interesting part. They simulate putting that digital chip twin through the rest of the digital production line, which they've also twinned. And they see how the chip comes out at the other end, which lets you adjust the machine to correct for imperfections before the real dough actually goes through the machine. It kind of lets you see the future and then correct the preference. to make the future how you want it to be. So Pringle can create the perfect potato chip based on real-time results of the digital twin. And funny timing, because NVIDIA just published in an article about how huge digital twins like

Starting point is 00:11:38 this is going to be. Jack, what's been the result for Pringle with their digital twins? 10% quality improvement, 13% waste reduction, and 40% return on their $5 million AI investment. Besties, it took four years and $5 million bucks and a whole lot of potatoes hurt in the making of this film. But tubes of Pringles are now nearly guaranteed to include only perfect Pringles. If only AI could actually solve the final problem that we all face when we eat a Pringle chip. Your breath, especially after sour cream and onion. Put that in the dating spreadsheet, Jack.

Starting point is 00:12:10 So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies looking for the perfect Pringle? The new stat everyone wants to know, not R-O-I. R-O-A-I. Yadies, Jack and I actually read two big articles this week that were dissing on AI. They say that the hype is overblown. First was from Lulu Lemon's former CTO, who wrote in the New York Times that AI initiatives always overpromised. And then the Chili's CEO

Starting point is 00:12:32 canceled almost all of their AI projects, also saying they were overblown and not working out. If you're curious about one of those two stories, drop a comment we could cover it tomorrow. Comment stretch for Lulu or a triple dipper for Chili's. But yet he's, after two to three years of the AI era we're living in, investors are now demanding measurable results.

Starting point is 00:12:50 And Pringle is one of the rare companies sharing a case study of AI success, a 40% return on their $5 million investment. So the big term to start looking out for on earnings calls, R.O.A.I. The return on artificial intelligence. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, nine years after getting pushed out of Uber, Travis Cowanick has returned and he's building the vertiport. What the heck is a vertiport?

Starting point is 00:13:21 It's the transportation of the future, and it's coming to your cities down. downtown. Yetis, Travis Kalanick is back, baby. Those are his words, actually. And they're Injuries and Horowitz's words, too. Yeah, you see, Travis is part of the Mount Rushmore of move fast and break things. Who else's faces on that, Jack? Mark Zuckerberg did it first. Travis Kalanak moved fast and broke things second. All right. Robin Hood third? Yeah, I guess we could have Vlad Ten of up there. And Sam Altman fourth. But Travis moved so fast and broke so many things, he was shown the door over at Uber. Before Uber's IPO in 2017, Travis had to leave the company heartbroken. Again, his words, because venture capitalists forced him out as CEO.

Starting point is 00:14:01 But in Travis's post-Ur Uber era, he hasn't been sitting at home crying. He became a pioneer of the ghost kitchen. Ah, the ghost kitchen. Like how your pad tie was made by Travis's mystery delivery only restaurant that has no seats inside. But now, with Andresen's backing, he launched Adams. A-T-O-M-S-Adams. To digitize the physical world. Now, Travis says Uber already did that. Uber digitized taxis and digitized food delivery. But now the rest of the rest of it. of the physical world is Travis' disruption canvas to digitize. So yet he's Jack and I Doven T-boy style. We read Travis's new manifesto two weeks ago when he announced this brand new thing,

Starting point is 00:14:36 along with a $1.7 billion fundraise that was led by A16Z. But two weeks ago, when we read it, you know, digitizing the physical world, that was so vague. We decided not to do a story on it. We passed on it for the pot. But this week, we got the first concrete example of what he was talking about. Emphasis on concrete, by the way. And that's why we're covering it right now. because Travis's Adams startup just partnered with Joby, the electric takeoff and landing vehicle.

Starting point is 00:15:00 Or EVTol for short. Which is like an electric helicopter that also flies like an airplane jack? But some people call it an urban air taxi. It's so new, we're still figuring out what to call this thing. But what is Travis Cowanick and Adams' role in this brand new idea? Joby wants Adams to build a network of vertiports for these aircraft to pick up and drop off passengers. Ah, the vertiport, the airport of the future. Adams actually provided a picture of what the first vertiport would look like.

Starting point is 00:15:26 We looked at the picture. It's kind of like a train station designed by Luke Skywalker after he took ketamine with Elon Musk. The structure is a compact parking garage, basically, with three circular helipads on the roof. And it's built right in the downtown of a major city. So the initial use case is likely to shuttle you to the airport from downtown L.A., Manhattan, Miami. Five minutes, you're at the airport terminal. So, Nick, the roof is used to board these urban air taxis. but the ground floor is for the robotaxies. Right, because you arrive at the vertiport in the middle of the city on a robo-taxie ride.

Starting point is 00:15:59 So this vertiport, they're building for the future. Underneath the roof is three levels where robotaxies can charge the vehicles. Because robo-taxie charging and cleaning is a huge piece of the self-driving future. Add it all up, digitizing the physical world is my life's work, Travis said. Uber was first, ghost kitchens were second, and now we're seeing it with Adams and vertiports. A vertiport. purpose-built downtown urban airport for flying taxis and robo-cabs. That George Jetson cooked up with Elon while they were doing drugs.

Starting point is 00:16:27 So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies named Travis? The next era of public infrastructure will actually be private. Yeties, wonderful trivia stat, Jack shared with me earlier. The first transatlantic commercial flight was June 28, 1939, New York to Lisbon, Portugal. It was Pan American Airlines, and this was the first time a regular person could pay to fly across the ocean instead of having to sail on a boat. Okay, but here's the trivia part. That plane, it didn't take off from LaGuardia or JFK in 1939.

Starting point is 00:16:59 Because those airports didn't exist yet. That's right. The plane took off from Long Island Sound, the water, because it was a seaplane. Similarly, existing port infrastructure doesn't work for the new transportation technology we're emerging into. No, but with the cost of building things so high and government less capable than in the past, We expect vertiports and robo infrastructure to be built by private companies. And Jobi, a publicly traded company and Adams, a VC-backed company, give us a first glimpse of that. Besties ad all up and the next era of public infrastructure will be private.

Starting point is 00:17:34 Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Disney's putting TikTok videos in the Disney Plus app while Myspace 3.0 is being planned. Two roads diverged in a wood. One of those is our social media future. For our second story, Pringles wants every chip. to be perfect, so they created digital twins and it worked. It delivered a 40% R-O-A-I return on artificial intelligence. And our third and final story was Travis Kaldick. He's back with Adams, digitizing the rest of the physical world. Because the next public infrastructure will be private. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

Starting point is 00:18:10 First, stocks were chilling close to all-time high ATHs on hopes of a strait of Hormuz deal. Oman and Iran will control the straight according to leaked reports of a not yet final deal. Now, investors would just be happy if the oil started flowing freely right now. And by the time you listen to this, the deal might be announced already. And second, we got a tariff refund winner here. It's Elf Beauty. Why did the dupe beauty profits jump 100% last quarter? Why, Jack? That was thanks to a $50 million tariff refund. Now, here's the wild twist. Jack and I asked the CEO of Elf Beauty, Tarangamine, what he would do if the Supreme Court struck down tariffs and he got a refund. He pledged to,

Starting point is 00:18:49 our pot that he would return those savings to customers, and he's honoring his word. That's right, Elf Beauty's reversing a whole bunch of those $1 price increases on your lipstick. And finally, it's the craziest breakthrough in toilet paper since the roll. Kimberly Clark, the world's biggest toilet paper maker, just announced a Goldilocks Discovery Wild. Instead of using trees to create toilet paper, it can create stronger and softer TP with hesperalo. Never heard of Hesparallo? We hadn't either. It's actually a flowering plant like a grass, but it wouldn't require cutting down timber or bamboo to have it. It's going to have a smaller impact on the world than the same impact on your butt. They spent 20 years, $230 million

Starting point is 00:19:29 bucks and now have 30 patents for Hesperallo toilet paper. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Tony B who's commuting in from Connecticut. New York City is winning in its war on rats. And it's all thanks to the bins. Where you been? Get this best. New York City. This is a lot. pays for the lowest number of rat sightings since before the pandemic. Rat sightings are down 22% right now compared to the same time last year. See, back in 2022, Mayor Adams announced a war on rats. We covered it on the pod.

Starting point is 00:20:01 He even hired a rats are, and the key solution was on-street trash bins. Shocker, but when you put your garbage in a bin and not a bag like New York had for 300 years, the rats don't have as much fun. When Nick and I lived in New York, we would put our trash on the sidewalk and sit there for like 12 hours. Rats can chew through plastic bags. They can't chew through plastic bins yet. By the way, this is a plot point in House of Dragons season three. In House of Dragons, they just brought a bunch of cats in.

Starting point is 00:20:30 That's the other option. Also, in the Ninja Turtles movie, I believe this is also a plot point, Jack. So this is life-imitating art right here. Yeties, you look fantastic out there. Jack, you are glowing. And the best way we can see you glow is if you come to our next live show, San Francisco, September 23rd. The Palace of Fine Arts. Palace.

Starting point is 00:20:50 It's going to be our biggest show ever, and we can't wait to see you there. We got two more shows after that in Boston and Seattle, and you can buy your tickets at T-boypod.com. And the Boston show? Just inside Boston. Literally, literally, literally. Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yetty, Dill Win,

Starting point is 00:21:14 who's got a birthday and launched a coffee company in New Orleans just one year ago. Happy birthday to Gary Climman, living it up the best way, playing golf in New Jersey. And Adrian Cheparin, we see your 11th birthday, keep celebrating it down in Maryland. Big shout out to Margot Bissette, who just completed her dream of a cross-country road trip. Did you go north or did you go south? And Shahil and Julie Patel, happy five-year wedding anniversary over in Brooklyn. We'd never forget it.

Starting point is 00:21:38 Happy 15-year anniversary to Timothy and Carolyn Gaparth in Indiana. Congratulations, guys, and Jamie and Blake are getting married in Maple Valley, Washington this weekend. Congrats, guys. These two are OG Market Snackers and huge fans of the best I do. idea yet too. And Logan Miller promoted to biz Intel developer at Ring Power. Congrats on the big win. And a thank you to Yeti's Will Birdsy and Grace and their whole family who took a huge trip to Sardinia and sent Jack and I picks of that new Fiatopalino. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock in Disney and Bumble.

Starting point is 00:22:18 Nick own stock in Lou Lemon and we both own stock in Robin Hood.

The Best One Yet - 👉 “Poke” — MySpace vs. DisTok. Travis Kalanick’s future-port. Pringles’ perfect AI potato. +Spreadsheet Dating

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.