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PRESENTED BY MOOD

Welcome to 2025, Future Party! We are officially in the future. Does anyone have resolutions, goals, or just a really ambitious to-do list? We’re always in the mood for some inspiration.

DAILY TOP TRENDS

Social Media Goes IRL

Platforms such as Partiful and Timeleft are using their apps as a jumping off point to get people to meet IRL… and they’re finally taking off in popularity.

The Big Picture: Plenty has been written about how social media has made people more connected than ever, but also lonelier than ever. While there’s been many benefits of creating digital communities, people have come to the realization that physical communities are essential.

Behind the Apps: 2025 may be the year of the get-together.

• Events app Partiful was named Google’s 2024 “app of the year” …and, more importantly, was even used to organize the now-famous Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest.

• Timeleft, a European platform that organizes weekly dinners in over 60 countries, expanded to the US earlier this year… and already has 20,000 people using it.

• Posh, a platform that offers a feed of nearby events, raised $22 million from Goodwater Capital this year.

Final Invitation: Angel investor and VC Zehra Naqvi told Insider that IRL social apps can be split into two buckets — event-focused apps for hosts and attendees that work way better than a Facebook Event invite (Partiful) and apps that organize “whimsical” events that attract people from their sheer uniqueness (Timeleft). 

Like social-media apps before them, monetizing these apps is a problem to be figured out later. But we wouldn’t be surprised if many of them generate revenue by launching their own branded-events with a paid-subscription package.

In other words, it’s the rise of the “Parties as a Service” economy.

Together with Mood

This Cannabis Startup Pioneered “Rapid Onset” Gummies

Most people prefer to smoke cannabis but that isn’t an option if you’re at work or in public. 

That’s why we were so excited when we found out about Mood’s new Rapid Onset THC Gummies. They can take effect in as little as 5 minutes without the need for a lighter, lingering smells or any coughing. 

Nobody will ever know you’re enjoying some THC.

We recommend you try them out because they offer a 100% money-back guarantee. And for a limited time, you can receive 20% off with code FIRST20.

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Aurelia Institute Wants to Be the Ikea of Space

Aurelia Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit space startup, wants to revolutionize space architecture through the use of self-constructing, endlessly-customizable smart tiles that don’t require human supervision.

Why It Flies: The new space race is not about just getting to places like the Moon, but colonizing them. And, constructing space stations in orbit and buildings on far-off planets is a difficult, costly, and laborious task. Letting structures build themselves could put spacefaring into hyperspeed.

Behind the Design: Aurelia Institute CEO Ariel Ekblaw, chief designer Sana Sharma, and advisory member Danielle DeLatte launched the company while they were grad students at MIT, reports Fast Company.

• The company’s flagship development are “magnetized computerized tiles that self-assemble in orbit into changeable geodesic spheres called ‘TESSERAE.’”

• The tiles, shaped in either hexagons or pentagons, can be launched into space, deploy a net or balloon to keep them together in orbit, and then initiate a program to autonomously attract to each other and connect into sphere-shaped structures.

• Each tile is outfitted with various sensors to ensure that they all make a successful connection to other tiles. If the connection isn't successful, they simply try again.

• Tiles can pop off and be reconfigured to create new structures as needed. So, an astronaut can be in a pressurized section of the station, while the tiles are constructing a new area.

The Future: Handsized-versions of the tiles — which Ekblaw describes as “space Legos that build themselves in orbit” — have already been successfully tested in microgravity aboard the ISS. Aurelia is still working on building the full-scale 37-foot tiles and how to seal and pressurize the sTESSERAE, so there’s still a ways to go before the tech is ready for primetime. But an eventual rollout could be key to creating a space port between Earth and Mars.

Together with Tovala

Tovala’s Smart Oven Is Free—and Now, So Are You.

"“What’s for dinner?” That’s a question you never (ever) have to answer again. Tovala is the meal delivery service with its own smart oven and a rotating menu of chef-crafted meals to choose from every week, all delivered fresh to your door and ready in minutes. Tovala lets you eat well without spending all your time in the kitchen. Sign up now and enjoy:

• 35+ meals on our weekly rotating menu: from low-cal to high-protein to comfort food faves—we got you

• Just 1 minute of prep (that’s it!)

• Freshly cooked meals (never microwaved) using precision cook cycles

• No sacrifice to quality, taste, or your time! Eating better has never been so easy. Get your Tovala Smart Oven today!"

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DEEP DIVES

• Watch: Deadline chats with filmmaker James Mangold about his new Bob Dylan-biopic, A Complete Unknown.

• Learn: Mindy Kaling, the creator of shows like The Mindy Project and The Sex Lives of College Girls, launched a Masterclass.

• Read: Insider has a comprehensive guide on the modern job search.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

🧛‍♂️ Nosferatu scared up some great business during the Christmas weekend with a way-above expectations $40.8 million debut.

🎧 SZA’s SOS returned to the top of the Billboard 200 with the release of the album’s deluxe edition, Lana.

📺 AppleTV+ is letting everyone watch its movies and shows next weekend.

→ Technology

🤖 Nvidia wants to power all the robot armies with a new compact computer.

📱 AT&T and Verizon announced that their networks are finally safe from Beijing-backed hackers.

🚗 If you liked renting an EV from Hertz, the company will now try to sell it to you.

→ Fashion / E-commerce

💰 Some of the hottest potential IPOs in 2025 include Klarna, Discord, Stubhub, and Liquid Death.

👕 New York now bans the use of “forever chemicals” on clothes.

🙏 The stock market will be closed on January 9 in honor of former-president Jimmy Carter’s passing.