#5 The Weekend Download – Catching Up on What Matters
Essential insights you need to stay ahead
📩 Issue #5 – 22/03/2025
⚡ Quick Hits – What You Need to Know
🗣️ Siri’s real upgrade – Apple just put a top product exec in charge of Siri, signaling a new focus on making it a serious AI contender.
🔗 Read more (9to5 Mac)
✋ Amazon palm scan goes medical – NYU Langone adopts Amazon One for patient check-ins.
🔗 Read more (CNBC)
🎮 LEGO goes gaming – LEGO is opening a new video game studio to expand its digital footprint.
🔗 Read more (Game Rant)
🧠 AI that can reason – Microsoft has partnered with Swiss startup Inait to build an AI model that simulates how the mammalian brain reasons—marking a step toward more human-like machine thinking.
🔗 Read more (FT)
🔥 Top Insights
🌏 Grads head to China for AI – Elite U.S. grads are eyeing China for more dynamic AI jobs.
🔗 Read more (Bloomberg)
👨💻 "Vibe coding" – As AI gets better at writing code, programming is starting to feel less like a technical task and more like a creative skill
🔗 Read more (The Guardian)
🔤 gen z’s lowercase vibe – Young people are ditching capital letters to appear more chill and approachable.
🔗 Read more (The Guardian)
📊 Numbers to Watch
🧺 What yoga mats and VR say about inflation – The UK has added yoga mats and VR headsets to its official "basket of goods" used to calculate inflation, showing how tech and wellness trends are reshaping everyday spending.
🔗 Read more (BBC)
🌍 A new human count – A new method suggests rural populations may be seriously undercounted—meaning the world could have more than the 8.2 billion people officially estimated
🔗 Read more (New Scientist)
🚁 Behind Dubai’s drone shows – Dubai is training hundreds of new drone pilots as the city ramps up light shows—some events now use over 1,000 drones.
🔗 Read more (Rest of World)
💡 Something to Think About
🛒 Eat now, pay later – Klarna has teamed up with DoorDash to let people pay for groceries in instalments—a bleak reminder of how expensive everyday essentials have become.
🔗 Read more (Fast Company)
🖼️ AI erasing watermarks – Google’s new model is being misused to remove image watermarks.
🔗 Read more (Tech Crunch)
🖌️ AI spots art fakes – Machines are helping experts verify—or debunk—claims of lost masterpieces.
🔗 Read more (Wired)
💇🏾 Animation gets Black hair right – A leap in tech is finally bringing accurate Black hairstyles to the screen.
🔗 Read more (The Guardian)
🛏️ IKEA highlights sleep poverty – IKEA Canada is raising awareness on the impacts of poor sleep.
🔗 Read more (Retail Insider)
🛍️ How Facebook changed selling – The evolution of Facebook Marketplace and what it means for local commerce.
🔗 Read more (NYT)
🌀 Offbeat & Unexpected
♻️ Toilet paper from diapers – A recycling breakthrough turns used diapers into eco-friendly toilet rolls.
🔗 Read more (Good Good Good)
🌿 Seaweed supercrude – Seaweed could become a sustainable replacement base component for a range of consumer applications.
🔗 Read more (Wired)
🍺 Trump-era beer survival kit – A Canadian brewery released a 1,461 cans pack called the "Presidential Pack" to help people cope with Trump’s return.
🔗 Read more (Business insider)
🧱 CO₂ to concrete – A former SpaceX engineer is building startup tech to turn emissions into construction material.
🔗 Read more (Fast Company)
🧴 Dove’s smart label – Dove’s new body wash bottle has a heat-sensitive label that shows a "VERY HOT" warning when water hits 41°C—encouraging skin-friendly showers.
🔗 Read more (Premium Beauty News)