The Best One Yet - 🔥 “The FyreFest of Firing” — TikTok’s viral layoff trend. Apple iHeadset’s on sale today. Kraft’s Singles strategy.

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Apple Vision Pro goes on sale today for the price of a used car ($3,500) — But Apple’s competitive advantage is its test drive.There have been 7,785 tech layoffs already in 2024, but 1 went viral on TikTok — Employees are now filming their firings because firings should never be a surprise.Kraft’s American Cheese Singles just added new flavors for the first time in decades — Because Big Food is going on the offense: “Processed Food is Good.”$AAPL $KHC $NETSubscribe to our newsletter: 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 Friday, the real Friday. January 19th, and today's pod, it is the best one yet, Jack. Oh, what a T-voy to go to the weekend with, man. Yes, it is. Is this your birthday weekend coming up, by the way? I didn't even tell you what I'm doing this weekend, by the way.

Please, can you spill the beans? Jack, I am flying to Los Angeles. My dad is flying to Los Angeles, and we're going to the Rangers game against the Kings. Rangers Kings? Yeah, we're staying in Beverly Hills. We're getting burgers at the polo bar, and watching the Rangers game. I'm so glad Mike is coming out to L.A. to watch the game with you.

You, like, literally booked this last night. I couldn't wait to tell you, man. Happy early birthday, man. You're the greatest. Oh, thanks, man. Well, you had to celebrate some wins this weekend. In the meantime, Jack, first three stories for our fantastic pod.

For our first story, Apple's Vision Pro VR goggles. Sorry, their headset goes on sale today for $3,500 at Apple.com. Yet he's the most important part of this huge product. It's the test. drive. For our second story, Kraft Singles, the American Cheese Singles, they just unveiled their first new flavor in a decade. Because Big Food is fighting back. And our third and final story is the new job trend of 2024, filming your firing and putting it on TikTok. Yeah, these companies are learning the new cost of layoffs. And that cost is the fire fest of firing. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of pop business news stories. Wonderful mix of stories. Grab your cologne and sprit some perfume right now. That is, it is the busiest date and month of the whole year, and it begins now. According to our buddies at Tinder, the four weeks before Valentine's Day are a dating app paloosa. Fasties, apparently the next four weeks are a quantitative swipe fest. Now, generally speaking,

Sundays throughout the year, Sundays are the busiest day of the week for dating apps. However, based on the date of Sundays in January, happened to be the busiest days of the entire year. Get these numbers on Sundays in the month of January, there are 18% more likes on Tinder than on other Sundays. On Sundays in January, the number of messages on Tinder pops 20%. And the amount of swiping surges by 70% on Sundays in January. Oh, and the best part about all of it, Jack. Ghosting gets ghosted. The average DM gets a response 19.4 minutes faster on Sundays in January. Cupid cleared his calendar on Super Dating Sunday. Part of this is the fresh start to the new year. Part of it is preparation for Valentine's Day coming up.

What do we think it is, Jack? We think it's just you. You look fantastic. Yeah. Honestly, Yetis, you never looked better. So go on hinge and hinge your Tinder. Go bumble your grinder, whatever you got to do. Or put yourself out there in real life.

But Nick, what do we think is the greatest economic force in the first quarter? Oh, it's dating season. And we're bullish on it, baby. I think this date is going to go really well. Happy swiping. Good luck this Sunday. And Jack and I are. in love with our three stars.

15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. 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. For our first story, today, Apple is taking orders

for their brand new Vision Pro headset. Its biggest chance of success? Test drives at the Apple store. But Jagger, we're going to talk about Apple. We're going to talk about the awkward Apple in the room, don't we, man? Apple has lost quite a bit of mojo to kick off 2024. Tim Cook, it's us. Tell us if you want to talk, man.

First, Apple lost its crown to Microsoft as the most valuable company in the world. And then the U.S. banned the Apple Watch 9 after a judge said that it infringed on someone's patent. So Apple has to eliminate the blood oxygen feature in their latest Apple Watch in order to get it unbanned. Oh, and then Apple had to cut prices for it. iPhones in China because the demand for iPhones is so weak over in China. All that's happened in the past two weeks. Hey, Siri, where is Apple's swagger? It's gone.

Oh, actually, Jack, I know, I think I know what we have to do. We have to unplug Apple and then plug Apple back in. That's how we fix Apple. Or Apple can launch the Vision Pro headset, which they're doing today. Yeties, here's the news. Apple is launching the biggest product they've unveiled since the iPhone 17 years ago. Starting today, you can order an Apple. Apple Vision Pro headset for $3,500.

Who not call it a virtual reality goggle thing. Don't do that. Out of all the features these eye goggles have, there's two that we want you to focus on. First, it's the spatial computing. That's a made-up word Apple created that they're using instead of virtual reality and instead of augmented reality. Like we told you, Apple does not want you to say this is a virtual reality headset. Spatial computing.

It basically means that your computer screen is the space. around you. If you're wearing this headset during a Zoom meeting, you're going to see the faces of the people over here and the presentation over there and the background of your living room behind you. And there's going to be your favorite apps all around you, which you can tap with your hands while you're on the Zoom call in your living room. So Yeties, that's spatial computing and that's one key feature of this new product. But the second key feature is multitasking to the max.

Because this headset's not about escaping the world. It's about enhancing it. Yeties, when Apple showcased this brand new headset, they focused on these streaming apps that are available on day one. Which includes Netflix, Disney Plus, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video. So if you're wearing the Apple Vision Pro, you can set the transparency of these glasses to 50%. That way, you can watch Parks and Rec, but still see all the stuff around you as the screen follows where you're looking. Yeti's most VR goggles, they take it to the metaverse. But Apple's VR goggles are going to keep you in the universe.

universe. So you can watch Parks and Rec on Peacock while cleaning your pots and pans in your kitchen. So Yeti's Apple's new headset goes on sale today. We'll arrive on February 2nd. But here's what Jack and I think is the most important part. It's that you can take this product for a test drive. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy is over at Apple? The test drive is Apple's competitive ARVR advantage. Yeties, for 3,500 bucks, this new Apple headset is literally, the price of a used car. Like Jack, are you getting this headset or are you getting a Honda? And what do people do before buying something as expensive as a car? You take it for a test drive. Yeah, $3,500. People are going to want to try out the Apple Vision Pro before you buy it.

Especially since it's such a revolutionary product, you don't really know what it's going to be like. And therein lies the advantage that Apple has over all the other headset companies. Apple has stores. The Apple stores, they're taking reservations right now to try out the head. headset at the Genius Bar. Honestly, the way we see it, this has date night potential, doesn't it, Jack? The next Sunday in January? Yeah. You're going to go on a date in the Apple store and you and your date are going to try out

this wild headset. I mean, frankly, Jack, that's a green flag. That's not a red flag. That's a green flag for a date. Doing an Apple headset test drive. On the other hand, meta, which has Metaverse headsets, they have to convince you to buy their $1,000 product just based on like a YouTube video on a website. Because Zuck's meta doesn't have to be.

a huge footprint of stores. Every city has a dozen Apple stores and they're all like car dealerships showing off Apple's latest products. Apple stores let you take a test drive and that is its big competitive advantage. For our second story, for the first time in a decade and like the second time ever, Crafts American Cheese singles are adding brand new flavors. They're adding new flavors because big food is done apologizing. I mean, Yeti, sometimes Sometimes Jack and I see a stat, and we just got to tell you this stat. It's a hero stat. Jack, can you share the hero stat with our audience, please? Craft cheese says that 40% of American households have craft singles in their fridge. 40%. Four out of 10 of you yetis have got a little yellow

showing struck in your mouth right now. Oh, and Kraft also boasts that 480 craft singles packs are bought every minute in America. Craft single is the greatest addition to sliced bread since sliced bread. It was invented in 1950. Yeah, this cheese was invented. Yeah, it was. And they recently had to add to the label made with real dairy because we assumed it wasn't. This was the unofficial food of every playday. Like, you chose your friends based on Kraft Singles availability growing up.

In Vermont, it was borderline outlaw, Dick. Cheddar is better. You don't want to mess with Ben and Jerry. But yet here's the news. For the second time ever, Kraft is adding three new flavors to Kraft singles cheese. is now craft singles jalapeno flavored, garlic and herb flavored, or caramelized onion. It's a square yellow plastic cheese product now with garlic and herbs. But Nick and I noticed a bigger trend.

Jeddies, Jack and I pay attention to what the big companies and industries are doing. And we notice that big food is done playing defense. Big food is on the offense now. Yeties, growing up as millennials, we came of age learning that processed food was the enemy. GMOs are bad and organic is good. Kale is better, avocados are best. The fewer the number of ingredients in a product, the better it is for you. That's what we learned.

Processed food is the enemy. You put the 2% milk down and you grab yourself some apricot milk jack. So, to adapt in the 2010s, processed food companies changed their recipes. In the last decade, processed food companies pivoted their product and their message to apologize for their entire history. They basically were apologizing to us for their food. Pepsi removed aspartame from their recipe. We're sorry. Ha Ha-Hans offered a kid-friendly ketchup with 25% less sugar and no high-fructose corn syrup.

Sorry. I love how you just said that. And Kraft removed artificial preservatives flavors and dyes from their famous craft macaroni and cheese. We're sorry. I was wondering what you were going to do. Yeah, these big food spent a decade on the defense about their artificially enhanced foods. But not anymore. Because of our takeaways.

So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Kraft Hines? Big food has made a big pivot. Processed is good. Yet, he's mark your calendars on this one. The U.S. government is about to publish their once every five years nutrition guidance for the entire country. And the government may make it an official statement that highly processed food is bad for you. Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, big food like Kraft Hines is lobbying against this. and they are doubling down on processed foods.

For the first time in decades, big food companies are arguing the benefits to society of processed food. Honestly, Jack and I read this and we were really interested because we've never seen this before, right, Jack? Like, they make some interesting points. Big food argues that processed food reduced waste, keeps prices down, and for many Americans is the only choice. Because not everyone has a farmer's market and two co-op selling heirloom tomatoes right down the street from them. So preservatives and a little bit of processing is necessary to extend the shelf life. The eddies, that is the key context here. That is why infamous craft singles have the confidence right now to add three new flavors.

Now with garlic and herbs. Because big food is on the offense. They're arguing that processed is good. For our third and final story, one employee just went viral for filming her firing. This is actually a new trend. where you film the screen while you're getting laid off over Zoom. And then you shame the company by posting the video on TikTok. But yet he's here's the key about firings Jack and I have discovered.

Firing should never be a surprise. Now, before covering the story, Nick and I checked out layoffs. FYI, which is a website that tracks the number of layoffs that are happening across the whole tech industry. This has been a really helpful resource for us. And here was the shocker we noticed on layoffs.fye. We're just two weeks into 2024, and almost 8,000 tech workers have been laid off across 58 companies. To be precise, 7,785 people have been laid off across 58 companies in tech. There have been headlines, too.

Like last week, Google announced they laid off 1,000 people. And Amazon laid off entire media teams. And Apple shut down their entire San Diego office. And honestly, Eddie's, with so many layoffs last year and tech stocks now at all-time highs. No one saw these layoffs coming. But here's what Jack and I found fascinating about. this story. Of the 8,000 firings in two weeks, there's one that's got in the most attention. It's Britney Peach, who was laid off, actually she was fired from Cloudflare.

Because yet he's Britney, she filmed the firing. Oh, and then she posted it on TikTok. Oh, and then it went viral. It's been viewed 1.6 million times. Two of them are from Nick and me. And now we know you're probably wondering, why did this particular firing happen to go viral on TikTok and be seen by nearly two million? billion people in just the last few days. Because I think Billy McFarlane was in charge. This was the fire festival of firing. I mean, the company botched the layoff, like Mark Sanchez botched that one snap. Now, Brittany knew that the layoff was coming because her laid off fellow colleagues

warned her that if you get a 15-minute block from HR, that's not a good sign. Well, she got that calendar invite, so she set up her phone and she recorded the whole nine-minute conversation. It kicked off with two random HR people she'd never met instead of her manager. Strike 1. Those HR people cited performance as the reason they were firing her, but didn't give any further details. Strike 2. She couldn't believe that performance was the issue because her manager had said all along she's been doing great. And yet the HR team had no answers to her questions and didn't even know the metrics on which she was being judged. And that was strike 3. Add it all up and it's like

Brittany was getting let go by Bill Lumberg and Michael Scott. So Cloudfare comes off in this video as a corporate villain with no empathy just getting rid of someone's job. And Brittany comes off as the sympathetic hero. Jack, can we say that Brittany, she came off as Batman? I think she came off pretty heroic because what happened, it seemed wrong. Yeti, she was Batman. The hero we deserve. She stood up for herself and for her colleagues and she demanded justice. Now this video and this trend reveals a new cost companies should consider before firing people. Yeties, the new cost isn't a severance cost. The new cost for companies laying off people is reputable. Because two million people saw the video, including the MBAs, college grads, and techies who Cladflare wants to hire.

And guess what, Yetis? Brittany, she wasn't the only one to film her firing lately. Other people have posted on TikTok the entire day that they got fired because again, they got that 15-minute HR meeting at 5 o'clock so they knew it was coming. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the economy? Layoffs can be a surprise. firings shouldn't be. Yeties, this is an interesting and important distinction. Most layoffs that happen right now are unrelated to worker performance.

Layoffs are about the company's performance. A layoff happens because the company is cutting costs or changing direction. A firing happens because the worker isn't performing. So layoffs aren't the workers' fault. They can be a surprise because just the business environment has changed and the company's doing something different. But firings are the workers' fault and that shouldn't be a surprise. that they're getting fired. The reason firing shouldn't be a surprise is because managers should have been clearly communicating expectations to their workers along the way for like a long period of time.

And if those expectations have been met, there should be a bunch of meetings talking about that and thinking about ways to fix it. There should be an improvement plan in place and feedback and feed forward and all of that should be getting measured before someone gets to the point of getting fired. And that seems to be the issue with Brittany's firing. Not that she was fired, but that it was a complete surprise to her. Besties, layoffs and firings, both are sad to see. Now layoffs, that can be a surprise. But firings never should be. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Apple's Vision Pro headset goes on sale today for the same price as a used car. It's all about the test drive, which you can do at an Apple store. And that is a huge competitive advantage.

For our second story, it's Kraft Heinz. They added three flavors to their American cheese, cheese product. Big food. They're going from the defense to the offense and they are done apologizing. Processed food is good. Third and final takeaway. What do we got, man? Their argument, not ours. Although they make some decent points. I mean, Skippy's peanut butter is pretty good, Jack. But third and final story, it's Brittany Peach. She went viral for filming her getting fired from Cloudflare. But there's a difference between firings and layoffs and firings should never be a surprise. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

First, Congress just passed a bill to fund the government. We're not having a shutdown. Another government shutdown avoided with another short-term spending bill. And second, Cheryl Sandberg, the former C-O-O of META, is leaving META's board after 12 years of leaning in. For over a decade, she led the advertising powerhouse that Facebook has become, and it's now worth a trillion dollars, and a big part thanks to her. And finally, the Sundance Film Festival is kicking off in Utah. It's the 40th year of Robert Redford's independent film fest.

My all-time favorite Sundance movie. Yes, Jack. Is Get Out. Wow, that's a great film. Every Sundance movie is a little bit scary. Not really scary, but like a little bit scary. They're films. Not movies.

Sorry, Thor. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Jim Waltz from lovely Rosco, Illinois. We've actually had two stories this week where we mentioned Minnesota. Minnesota, the heaven for renters. We also mentioned that Minnesota has 10,000 lakes. But get this, Yetis. Minnesota actually has 11,842 lakes to be precise.

And because of all those lakes, Minnesota has more coastline than Florida, California, and Hawaii. Combined. Is it combined? It's combined, yeah. I was kind of waiting to surprise you on the show. It's combined. 90,000 miles of lake shore across those 11,842 lakes. Combined.

Well, now you're just confusing us. Yet is, you looked fantastic this four-day week. And if you want to share the takeaways and the stories from this pod, we actually built a very simple, straightforward, easy way to do so, didn't we check? Subscribe to our newsletter. You can forward our newsletter to your buddies inboxes. And you can get our newsletter at t-boypod.com slash newsletter. In the meantime, Nick, you still look dewy as a cantaloupe.

Thank you. I was hoping you would say it. Are you going skiing this weekend, by the way? You guys still got good snow? Yeah, I'm going to skin again. I'm skinning up 1,600 feet, hurting my turns and skiing down with my buddy Mike. Well, the only reason you skin is so you can tell people that you just skinned, man.

Exactly. It's like Crosfit. Yet he celebrates some wins this weekend. Hit us up at T-Boy pod. We want to see what you're up to. Nick and I, we'll see you Monday. Happy swiping. See you Monday.

And before we go, congratulations. Congratulations to Yeti Tony Morancy, who's turning 25 and opening a food truck delicious over in New Jersey. Happy birthday to Mama Trish, who's celebrating her birthday on a treadmill in Valparaiso, Indiana. And Mariah Alvarez and her Dog Ranger are celebrating a birthday down in Houston. And Ellie Scripps is not at work today because she's turning 30 up in Denver. And a happy 11th birthday to Vivi, who's celebrating with a huge cake in San Antonio, Texas. And happy birthday to Ed, smooth, and sailing, wailing. In Chicago, he's doing logistics on his birthday.

And the whole men family is celebrating three birthdays and a half birthday with the whole family in Honolulu, Hawaii. Cadence, Kiyang, Catherine, and Ezra. Actually, half of Ezra, but still, we're going to round up for you, Ezra. And a happy birthday to Lauren Lyon, who's wearing that vintage turquoise and velvet dress for her birthday extravaganza over in lovely Aspen. Good for you to Kean Lee, who's just being awesome with his Mediterranean diet in Jersey City. And a huge shout out to Dr. Joe's podcast and class at the Piedmont University in the Great Mountains of North Georgia. We're podcasters. We're going to tell you something you're not going to believe.

We're podcasters. We're going to ask you to rate and review the show. We're podcasters. Congratulations to all 18 of those fighting lions you've completed this assignment. Celebrate that win. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple and I own stock of Netflix, Disney, and Amazon.