đ The view from the top
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A US- and UK-led coalition launched airstrikes against Houthi militant targets in Yemen. The strikes were in response to the rebel force defying an ultimatum to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea.
Microsoft briefly became the worldâs most valuable company. Itâs riding the wave of generative AI, while Appleâwhich has since regained the throneâis struggling with slow iPhone sales.
The US Federal Reserve didnât get a reason to cut interest rates anytime soon. The consumer price index rose more than expected in December, and these are the items driving up grocery bills the most. Separately, a single sentence from WD-40's CFO explains how companies are greasing the wheels for disinflation.
Taiwan will hold its presidential election on Saturday. Globally, results could be pivotal for tense geopolitical relationships, mainly the one between the US and China.
The World Economic Forum starts in Davos on Monday. Follow on-the-ground updatesâthe big, the small, the bureaucraticâby signing up for our Need to Know: Davos newsletter. Itâs free, itâs daily, and itâs back again this year!
CES dispatch: Vertical turntables, folding TVs, and app heroes
CES wraps up today in Las Vegas, and there have been some clear winners and blatant losers launched by companies racing to bring consumers the latest but not-always-greatest techâyou can probably guess where âeasily hackable lawn mowersâ landed.
Which innovations have caught your eye this week? Weâre pretty curiousâlet us know. Here are four final gadgets to choose from if youâre still undecided:
đ” A vertical turntable that looks really cool (and connects to Bluetooth)
đ§ Speaking of Bluetooth, this new capability might keep you sane?
đș A 137-inch (348-cm) TV that folds like a fan
đ A pocket-sized app manager that can book you a Lyft without inputting login info
Exports to the US are looking very 2003
Mexico likely just did something it hasnât done in 20 years: surpass China as the largest exporter to the US.
Data released by the US Census Bureau this week show that very milestone happening in the first 11 months of 2023, and while figures for December wonât be released until Feb. 7, it appears that Mexico is on track to beat China as Americaâs top source of imports.
It looks like the USâs wish to become less dependent on its geopolitical rival is coming trueâexcept in a few key areas that might always keep the economies tied.
OpenAIâs GPT store already has AI girlfriends
It only took two days for people to break the rules of OpenAIâs GPT store, and of course it had to be for AI girlfriend bots.
A search for âgirlfriendâ on the new GPT store will populate the siteâs results bar with at least eight âgirlfriendâ AI chatbots, including one called Virtual Sweetheart that would like to know your darkest secrets (no, thank you).
The AI girlfriend bots go against OpenAIâs usage policy, but that doesnât mean they wonât be a problem. The company is, whether it likes it or not, running headfirst into the Wild West of regulating GPTs.
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đ§ Hindi music listeners are the only group of streamers that just keep growing
đ How AI is transforming fast food drive-thru lanes
đ¶âđ«ïž Binance and other crypto apps disappeared from Appleâs App Store in India
đ Big tech is sliding down Glassdoorâs ranking of top employers
Surprising discoveries
Remember that crazy powerful radio signal that came from deep space? Astronomers found its origins: A big blob of at least seven tightly-knit galaxies, which isnât a bad way to describe your friend group.
An app lets businesses charge people up to $10 to use bathrooms. No.
Louisa May Alcott may have another pen name. Clues indicate that several stories written by someone with the last name âGouldâ could be her work.
Cancer rates among young people are accelerating, and oncologists are alarmed. The cause is frustratingly hard to pinpoint.
Pro tip: Donât send live spiders and cockroaches to someone as an intimidation tactic. Itâs highly illegal, itâs gross, and itâs just really mean.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, a tightly-knit group of seven galaxies, and free bathrooms to [email protected]. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.