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2021-12-08 10:00:04 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝙴 𝙳𝙰𝚃𝙰

1) Netflix has opened up the kimono. After years of being relatively secretive about its viewership data, Netflix has launched a Top 10 on Netflix website, tracking the most popular shows and movies across its platform.

2) Apple is planning to sell parts and tools to help you fix your own iPhone at home, which is a big shift in policy after years of making it hard to fix Apple products without coming in-store.

3) Shares in oat-milk maker Oatly have fallen 20% after it announced it was investigating a "quality issue" with its product.

4) Taylor Swift's re-release of her album Red has broken two records on Spotify, after racking up more than 90 million streams in the first 24 hours.

5) Drug overdoses in the US surpassed 100,000 for the first time in any 12-month period, according to new data from the CDC.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment

2021-12-08 09:00:12 This is one of the most hard riddles 96% of all people give up, and that's why it was nominated for the Guiness World Records Book

Did you find the difference? Open / Comment

2021-12-07 10:00:03 𝙰𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝟹𝟶% 𝚘𝚏 𝟷𝟹-𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛-𝙾𝚕𝚍𝚜 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝙾𝚛 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚕𝚢 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚞𝚗

The proportion of 13-year-old students who say they "read for fun" almost every day has roughly halved since 1984, according to new data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress report. If you're a big reading advocate, you'll be even more worried by the statistic that 29% of American 13-year-olds now "never or hardly ever" read for fun — a proportion that has more than tripled since 1984.

A picture is worth a thousand words

It's easy to blame the rise of screens, the internet or more TV for the slow demise of "reading for fun". If a picture is worth a thousand words, and a TV show or movie has at least 24 frames per second... you get the idea. Reading for fun has stiff competition, and it's probably only going to get more intense.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment

2021-12-07 09:00:08 SHE IS ONLY 32 YEARS OLD

Do you know in which country there are more women smokers than man? Open / Comment

2021-12-05 10:00:32 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚃𝚘 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝙴𝙲 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝙸𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝟻 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜

Recently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that it had received 6,911 tips from whistleblowers, which was up 30% on the year before.

Well, we just got the data in for the 12-months to September 2021, and the SEC got over 12,000 tips... a 76% rise on last year.

It's easy to understand why whistleblowing might go up when working from home. It's harder to look over someone's shoulder, and it's easier to pluck up the courage to tell on some shady practices if you don't have to look your boss in the face.

SEC has powerful financial incentives for those who inform on wrongdoing that results in successful legal action. Recently they paid out $12.5m to a whistleblower, whose tip-off resulted in action. That's a nice payday for doing something good, but it's nothing on the enormous $114m that was paid out to one individual in 2020.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment

2021-12-04 09:13:39 𝚂𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚄𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚢: 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙲𝚘. 𝙲𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝙰 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚒𝚝

"Mattress-in-a-box" company Casper announced recently that it was being acquired, taking the company private less than 2 years after the company's IPO.

The deal values Casper ~$300m, way down on the frothy $1.1bn valuation 2 years ago.

Casper was one of the most successful early direct-to-consumer businesses, selling mattresses and sleep accessories since 2014.

Casper's filings reveal a consistent history of losses, with the company's generous returns policy and aggressive marketing spend both burning millions each year.

Cutting out the middleman, and going straight to the consumer, is extremely tempting. For brands like Nike, which everyone already knows, it makes a lot of sense. But if you need to get the word out? That's going to keep costing you. Casper spent $157m just on sales and marketing last year - 32% of its revenue.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment

2021-12-02 14:00:02 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝙴 𝙳𝙰𝚃𝙰

1) Netflix has released data (usually a closely guarded secret) on its most watched shows and series of all time. Regency drama Bridgerton came top.

2) Searches for "petrol station near me" and "jerry can" have spiked in the UK, as petrol shortages — or just the threat of shortages — have seen long queues at service stations for fuel. The British Army may now be brought in to help deliver fuel across the country.

3) There are reportedly enough empty apartments in China to house 90 million people. That's more than 3x the population of Australia.

4) Beethoven's unfinished 10th symphony has been "finished" using AI and the fragments of musical sketches he left behind. The symphony will debut in October.

5) Canada Goose, famous for its winter jackets and infamous for its... winter jackets, has moved into footwear, debuting a boot that'll set you back more than $1,000.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment

2021-12-02 10:00:04 𝙰𝚍𝚍 𝙾𝚒𝚕 𝚃𝚘 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝙾𝚏 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎

Recently the price of WTI Crude Oil hit $75, which is a far cry from the freak day of negative prices that occurred less than 18 months ago, when you could have theoretically been paid $37 to take delivery of a barrel of oil, as storage shortages froze the market.

Oil's been getting more expensive this week for a number of reasons. Firstly, the natural gas crisis in Europe (which we wrote about last week) has been spilling over into other energy markets. As an alternative source of power generation oil has been a little more in demand, as gas prices have soared.

There have also been some supply disruptions from Hurricane Ida and a global economy that is slowly getting back to travelling and transporting at its usual volume. Put all of that together and you get oil prices at a 3-year high.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment

2021-12-01 10:00:03 𝚃𝚒𝚔𝚃𝚘𝚔 𝙹𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚄𝚜𝚎𝚛 𝙲𝚕𝚞𝚋 - 𝙳𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚘 𝙸𝚗 𝚁𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎

TikTok has officially entered the big leagues of the world of social media, announcing hitting one billion monthly active users.

With its initial release in September 2016, TikTok's announcement means that it has taken the app just over 5 years to hit the 10-figure club. That's quicker than it took Facebook (8.7 years), WhatsApp (6.2 years), Instagram (7.7 years) and YouTube (8.1 years) to get to the same milestone.

In fact, the only platform that technically reached the milestone faster than TikTok is Facebook Messenger — which obviously had an enormous leg up from the main Facebook platform.

If the current trend continues, the data suggests a platform started today could reach the billion mark in just 3 or 4 years as tech adoption cycles continue to get faster. But just how many compelling social media mechanics are left to be discovered?

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment

2021-11-30 10:00:03 𝚄𝚂 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚜 𝙵𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝟸% 𝚈𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙵𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙸𝚗 𝙰𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝟻 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚜

Stock markets around the world did something quite unusual for 2021 in September — they fell more than 2% in value. For US stocks (S&P 500 index) that's something they haven't done for almost 5 months.

Central banks around the world increasingly look like they're going to take action on inflation, with subtle hints and language that can be infuriatingly vague for onlookers. If, or rather when, central banks decide to change the music, it's likely to come via higher interest rates or a tapering down of the enormous stimulus packages that many have implemented in recent years. In the US that's the $120bn-a-month bond purchases that are currently in place.

Zooming out: One bad day doesn't mean too much. US stocks are still up almost 20% this year.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 Open / Comment