You Got Snackfished

James Cameron turns the Meta Quest into a blockbuster, fake snacks come to life, and Uber rideshares with a Christmas tree

TGIF, Future Party. Hopefully, you weren’t one of the people who bought into HAWK, the memecoin created by “Hawk Tuah Girl” Haliey Welch. Launched on the Solana blockchain earlier this week, the crypto hit almost half a billion dollars before plummeting in a matter of hours. In other words, people lost a lot of money, and now, they’re seeing red. While Welch may not have been trying to commit a pump-and-dump scheme, it looks like things just got out of control. That’s the Wild West of memecoining for you…

DAILY TOP TRENDS

James Cameron Will Bring 3D Entertainment To Meta Quest

Facebusters // Illustration by Kait Cunniff with DALL-E 3

James Cameron’s Lightstorm Vision inked a multi-year deal with Meta to make immersive 3D content for the Quest mixed-reality headset.

The Immersive Picture: James Cameron has been one of the biggest boosters of 3D in cinema — the Avatar franchise is the only one that still successfully employs the tech — so having his expertise leading the creative at Meta could turn the Quest into a must-have device.

Behind the Goggles: Cameron has conquered the big screen, so now, he’s coming for the one attached to your face.

  • His stereoscopic tech firm, Lightstorm Vision, will exclusively work with Meta to co-produce movies, shows, live-sports content, and immersive concerts for the Quest.

  • No projects have been announced, but the first slate will be announced “in the coming months.”

  • The deal will also make Lightstorm’s tech and production capabilities available to other entertainment companies and individual creators working with Meta.

Closing Credits: The partnership continues the Terminator filmmaker’s growing fascination with AI, which will be used to create projects with Meta (but to what extent and in what capacities have not been revealed). Cameron recently joined the board of Stability AI. For Meta, having Cameron in the camp may be a big step back into Hollywood… where so many of its tech-giant rivals are making names for themselves.

Go Deeper: Meta isn’t alone in developing high-quality, cinematic, immersive content. Conclave director Edward Berger just made Submerged for Apple’s Vision Pro.

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Have You Been Snackfished?

Courtesy of uksnackattack via Insta

A 28-year-old UK Instagrammer named Benji has gained virality — and the attention of snack conglomerates — for fooling the internet time and again with fake food flavors that are just interesting or wild enough to be real, potentially.

Why It Hits: Satire has been around forever, but the internet has turned it into a bonafide way for anybody to skewer the powerful — whether it be snacks (Benji’s “UK Snack Attack” account), Enron (the rebrand by the Birds Aren’t Real duo), or Infowars (The Onion’s in-the-works purchase). If the skewering starts making the creators money, satire may become a legit business model beyond entertainment.

Between the Packages: Benji’s nine-second video of “finding” a clear version of Heinz Tomato Ketchup at a grocery store fooled the internet in November 2023.

And the jokes haven’t stopped.

  • Benji is the leading creator of the growing “snackfishing” movement (yes, catfishing, but for snacks), where people make fake flavors of food items, complete with packaging, and pretend they’re actually in stores.

  • Benji has snackfished items, such as pistachio-flavored Coco Pops, pickle-shaped Haribo, mint Coca-Cola, ice-cream Pringles, and butter Oreos. He even started making the insane flavors for real.

  • Besides getting a lot of laughs, some people have actually been interested in Benji’s fake flavors… which has led some companies to be inundated with calls to ask Benji to please put a disclaimer that they’re fake. He now does so.

Last Bite: Benji told Wired that he really doesn’t make money from his account yet, but the ultimate dream is for one of these flavors to get picked up by one of the gatekeepers of mainstream snacks and become an actual product. An extremely literal “fake it ‘til you make it.” If that happens, and the snack becomes a bestseller, satirical Instagram accounts could morph into unofficial R&D departments.

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DEEP DIVES

  • Listen: Crew Call Podcast talks with Finneas O’Connell about composing the score for Alfonso Cuarón’s star-studded Apple TV+ show, Disclaimer.

  • Read: Wired chats with Apple CEO Tim Cook about how the company is positioning health as its new frontier for innovation.

  • Watch: Bloomberg explores how Starbucks is trying to overcome issues at its stores in the face of insane demands and growing wait times.

Do you prefer buying new snack flavors or sticking with the classics?

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64.2% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Are you carrying a balance on your credit card?

“Paid off every month. If you can’t afford to pay it off, you can’t afford the luxury. One must have discipline, or your life will be cancelled by debt.”

“Just finished paying off my 20s at 34!!!”

“I’m actually in Gen Z, and I always make sure to pay my bill off each month. However, I do live with my mom, so I don’t have the stress of making rent or paying my bill. It’s a hard economy to be young in.”

“Unfortunately, yes. But I have made it a priority not to use it anymore, so now I’m just paying it off slowly.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Technology

🏙️ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is personally on a roadshow pitching AI as the new world infrastructure project.

🤖 Counterpoint to Huang’s pitch: researchers have figured out how to make AI-powered robots commit acts of violence.

🎭 Yet, Google is rolling out an AI that can allegedly read our emotions… but safety researchers also say that’s very troubling.

→ Fashion / E-commerce

📬 Snoop Dogg is DTCing cannabis to US customers from his S.W.ED dispensary in LA.

🏃 Barbie had pink dresses. Wicked has witch costumes. The new season of Squid Game has stylish tracksuits and PUMA sneakers.

🎄 Uber will deliver Christmas trees and carolers right to your door.

→ Creator Economy

📱 TikTok has struck a viewership-measurement deal with Nielsen, which has typically worked with TV outlets.

🤳 TikTok also dropped its annual trends list.

📣 Instagram is rolling out a way for influencers to make a digital call and response with fans.

Let us know how we are doing...

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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.

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