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It’s Tuesday, fam, and we’d like to wish you a very happy “National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day.” That’s right, it’s a real holiday that falls on April 16th. But, over the past few years, we consider every day Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day… or at least the bottom half when we have Zoom meetings.
In other news… millennials renovate their rental apartments, Disney brings TV channels to streaming, and A24 triumphs with Civil War.
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(Twitter)– Keanu Reeves in Sonic the Hedgehog 3Google – John Sterling retires
.HOUSING.
Rental TLC // GIF by Kate Walker
Millennials turn their apartment rentals into forever homes
The Future. Millennials — financially kneecapped from owning a home thanks to low supply, high interest rates, and soaring housing prices — are increasingly pouring their extra cash into renovations of their rental apartments. If landlords keep the renovations intact even after tenants leave, millennials could push to receive a fraction of the revenue generated by future renters.
Renovation realization
When you can’t afford to buy a home, the next best thing may be to make your rental homey.
Millennials are doing serious apartment renovations, despite the fact that they won’t be able to recoup that investment or even get their security deposit back.
Why? It’s part of a larger mentality of investing in environments that spark joy in the now, as opposed to saving for a future (homeownership) that seems impossible to many.
Some tenants have also generated a new revenue stream by documenting their renovation projects on social media, making creators like Alexandra Gater, The Sorry Girls, and Hattie Kolp go viral.
So, how bad is it out there for young, wannabe homeowners? A 2022 Apartment List survey found that 25% of millennials expect to rent forever. And, unfortunately, a lot of housing experts agree that’s likely true, according to Insider.
No wonder so many home-owning alternatives have popped up in recent years.
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56% of you voted Sped-up in yesterday’s poll: Do you prefer sped-up or slowed-down song remixes?
“Sped-up is usually more upbeat and puts me in a better mood.”
“It ultimately depends on the song.”
.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT NEXT EVO.
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Media, Music, & Entertainment
Civil War, the war thriller from filmmaker Alex Garland, scored the biggest box office debut ever for A24, netting $25 million. [Read More]
Donald Glover announced the final two Childish Gambino albums he’ll release before retiring his stage name for good. [Read More]
A Japanese man was arrested on corporate espionage charges after illegally tampering with two Pokémon games to create custom monsters that he then tried to sell online. [Read More]
Fashion & E-Commerce
Nike is releasing an entirely new line of athletic shoes specifically geared towards Olympic athletes, dubbed the “Blueprint Pack.” [Read More]
A Citigroup report says that Hermès could surpass Louis Vuitton as the biggest brand in luxury thanks to its Birkin bag. [Read More]
US retail sales kept increasing last month despite still-high inflation… meaning that it might be a while until the Fed cuts interest rates. [Read More]
Tech, Web3, & AI
French AI startup Mistral is getting major backing in Europe as the EU hopes that it could be a major challenger to US-based firms like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. [Read More]
Google is testing removing news links in California in case the state passes a law that would force the company to pay media companies for hosting content. [Read More]
Plagiarism-checking software Turnitin found millions of school papers that were written with AI generation tools. [Read More]
Creator Economy
YouTuber Emma Chamberlain has turned her eponymous coffee brand into a bonafide retail hit. [Read More]
YouTube Shopping is rolling out “Collections,” which allow creators to generate digital shelves of their favorite products. [Read More]
The revamped Yahoo Finance has recruited financial influencer Ross Mac as its creator-partner. [Read More]
.ENTERTAINMENT.
Check the schedule // Illustration by Kate Walker
Disney brings back channel surfing for streaming
The Future. Taking a cue from the rise of FAST channels, Disney+ will soon add programmed genre and franchise-specific channels to its app, helping with both discoverability and engagement on the platform — the keys to profitability. Expect other streamers to follow suit as users complain that they spend too much time just trying to find something to watch amid a sea of titles.
Disney Channel 2.0
Can’t decide what to watch on Disney+? Soon, you can just flip to the Marvel or Pixar channel.
Disney announced that it would offer several channels (the old-school, pop in wherever the show or movie is at kind) of its content right on Disney+ (similar to the channels it has on the ABC app), although no rollout date has been set.
The move is meant to get users to spend more time on Disney+, instead of navigating out of the app in search of something else to watch.
It also adds a premium “always on” feature for advertisers, allowing brands to passively reach paying subscribers.
The channels are part of Disney+’s overhaul of the platform from a more kid-friendly streamer into a general entertainment one. Disney+ finished integrating Hulu into the platform, and it plans to do the same for ESPN’s upcoming app.
The pitch: once you’re in Disney+, you won’t want to go anywhere else.
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.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT FINANCE BUZZ.
Hands-down, some of the best credit cards for balance transfers
Did you know that some credit cards can actually help you get out of debt faster?
It sounds crazy, but it’s true.
The secret: find a card with a “0% intro APR” period for balance transfers. Then, transfer your debt and pay it down as much as possible during the intro period.
No interest means that you can pay it off faster.
Watch: Forbes profiles Brett Adcock, the founder and CEO of humanoid robotics startup Figure, which has become one of the biggest companies in the growing industry.
Read: Bloomberg ranks the universities with the best ROI for their tuition costs.
Listen: Matt Belloni’s The Town chats with Matt Stoller, research director for the American Economic Liberties Project, about the state of consolidation in Hollywood.
Smellable billboards // Courtesy of McDonald’s Netherlands
Billboards for your nose are the next era in marketing.
LATEST PODCAST EPISODE
Today we get into how every celebrity now has an alcohol brand, the downfall of Vice Media, and whether or not the DC Universe reboot is going to revitalize Warner Brothers Discovery.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Boye Akolade. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.