Happy Friday.
To be ITK, know this:
101 years: Queen Elizabeth II’s first Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was born in 1874. Her final Prime Minister, Liz Truss, was born in 1975.
+ 90% of all living humans were born after Elizabeth became Queen.
+ @RoyalFamily: This afternoon, The King held an Audience at Buckingham Palace with the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Liz Truss MP.
YouGov: Net popularity of the British royals 2022:
Queen Elizabeth: 67%
Duchess Kate: 56%
Prince William: 53%
King Charles: 18%
Queen Consort Camilla: 13%
Prince Harry: -7%
Duchess Meghan: -22%
Prince Andrew: -64%
Read this: Buckle up! The Liz Truss is here James Forsyth
+ The energy freeze is a pragmatic move, not an ideological one – having politicians determine the price of energy is hardly free-market policy. But most governments in Europe, whether left or right, will be doing something similar.
+ The Truss-Kwarteng solution is to move away from traditional fiscal conservatism: to cut taxes, borrow more and reform the economy, hoping that growth will pay for the borrowing.
+ James Carville, Bill Clinton’s political point man, once joked that he wanted to be reincarnated as the bond market because ‘you can intimidate everybody.’
UK energy: Liz Truss will cap energy bills for all households at £2,500 annually for two years. Truss also lifted the ban on fracking.
+ Ministers are reportedly planning a public information campaign to tell the public to reduce their energy use this winter.
GBP/USD: The pound has fallen to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 due to a weak outlook for the British economy.
WP: Blinken, in Kyiv, pledges to support Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’
+ US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Thursday.
+ About $2.8 billion in weapons and aid is headed to Ukraine and its neighbors, the US secretaries of Defense and State announced Thursday.
Gensler Signals support for commodities regulator having Bitcoin oversight: WSJ reports SEC chief Gary Gensler says he looks forward to working with Congress to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission added power to oversee and regulate crypto nonsecurity tokens and related intermediaries.
Research says rising temperatures decreasing global well-being: A new study released by Gallup in collaboration with Citi quantifies for the first time the impact rising temperatures have on people’s wellbeing. Between 2008 and 2020, while the number of extreme heat days tripled, people’s well-being declined by 6.5%.
PayPal is used by a majority of US adults (57%). Smaller shares report ever using Venmo (38%), Zelle (36%) or Cash App (26%).
Electric vehicle maker Rivian and Mercedes team up in Europe: FT reports Amazon-backed start-up and German carmaker will share costs at a factory that will build vans for each brand.
Jeep will launch four all-electric SUVs in the US by 2025: ARS reports first up are the all-new Jeep Recon and the Jeep Wagoneer S.
Quiet quitting: A new YouGov survey indicates that 47% of Americans support the idea of doing a job without taking on additional responsibilities that do not offer added compensation. About one-quarter (27%) oppose the idea, and 26% are uncertain.
Workspace flexibility: The vast majority of employees, 91% according to a Gallup survey, want workspace flexibility, while most executives want to return to the office at pre-pandemic levels.
Read this: Apple used to sell wonder. Now it sells fear: The world is already on fire. You’re already getting burned. Just make sure that you live to tell the tale. Mark Wilson @ Fast Company
+ Drowning in water, freezing in snow, burning in the desert. Just merely surviving. This is how Apple introduced its latest array of Apple Watches at its annual fall hardware event. Once a celebratory glimpse of the future, Apple’s show was downright somber at times—reflecting and fully capitalizing on our era of uncertainty.
+ That company co-founded by Steve Jobs, famous for reframing the esoteric personal computer as a “bicycle for your mind,” was nowhere to be seen.
+ For the past 40-odd years, Apple has been the greatest company on earth at precisely one thing: channeling our optimism for a better tomorrow through objects that were crafted to be faster, slimmer, and more capable than ever before. They promised ease-of-use, aesthetic beauty, and task efficiency. But today, Apple showed it was all-in on another tact.
+ Apple’s newest line of products doesn’t promise to make your life better, per se, but they will do what they can to prevent your life from getting (even) worse. That’s a pretty depressing reason to drop $799 on a new smartwatch. But just imagine what might happen if you don’t.
+ Mark Wilson is the Global Design Editor at Fast Company. He has written about design, technology, and culture for almost 15 years.
Read this: A smartphone that lasts a decade? Yes, it’s possible. A smartphone that is made for longevity can be a real thing. Too bad that’s not how most of them are designed. NYT
+ On Wednesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 14, which bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor. Also, this week Google announced plans to show new Android phones in October. And last month, Samsung introduced an array of cellphones that fold like books.
+ The idea behind the Fairphone is that if you want a phone with new technology, you can get it without having to replace your current device entirely — and if something goes wrong with the phone, like you drop it, it can be easily fixed.
+ Take your iPhone or Android phone and look at it closely. Notice how it is shut tight with unique screws that require special screwdrivers. Apple even invented its own screw.
Ross Rant: The Chief question
If you are a member of Chief, are you required to list your Chief membership on your LinkedIn profile?
Seems too intentional.
Seems highly encouraged.
Seems inspired by Hotmail.
"Let's get our membership to tag themselves, share their membership on the target-rich LinkedIn, and promote our organization virally at the same time!"
"Brills."
See, back in the day, when you sent a Hotmail email, the default settings included the signature line: “Get your own free Hotmail at www hotmail com.”
This simple bit of code and marketing tactic was a massive success.
Within a year, Hotmail went from 20,000 to 1 million users.
Chief inspired by Hotmail.
Chief inspired by a tactic used in 1998 at the dawn of the Internet age.
Amazing.
Rare are original ideas, which matter little.
Solid execution, the use of winning tactics, and understanding human behavior have proven for decades to be a successful marketing formula.
Closing the book: A recent YouGov poll finds that Americans are more likely to give up (55%) rather than finish (26%) a book they're reading and aren't enjoying.
AFP: Horse racing: Queen Elizabeth II's abiding sporting passion
Queen Elizabeth II went to one football game in her life: North Carolina vs. Maryland in 1957.
Fanatics has an online college football store selling jerseys for more than 4,300 players across the country from 40-plus schools.
BetMGM moves to the Arizona Cardinals’ home field as sports betting spreads.
Bloomberg: Fox sets record for Super Bowl commercials with over $7 million for 30-second ad
+ The 2022 Super Bowl generated approximately $434.5 million in ad spending.
The Times: Saudi Arabia to launch 2030 World Cup bid with Egypt and Greece
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
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