Today’s Big Story

Throwing Money Away

It will shock you to know how many coins Americans toss in the trash

When was the last time you paid for something with coins? As a society, we’re moving further and further away from a cash-based commerce system, quickly tapping our phones and smartwatches or swiping our credit cards to pay for things. But even if you pay with cash, you hardly ever take the time to fish out a coin, right? Even things that previously relied on coin payments—buses, vending machines, laundromats, toll booths and parking meters—now take cards and mobile payments.

Coins are as good as junk for many Americans. And it’s understandable to see why. How many coins would you need to carry to actually use them to pay for stuff? The U.S. quarter had roughly the buying power in 1980 that a dollar has today. “If you lost a $100 bill you’d look for it. If you lost a $20 bill you’d look for it. If you lost a book you’d look for it,” Robert Whaples, an economics professor, told the Wall Street Journal. “But a penny or a dime or even a quarter … you’re just not going to look for it.”

Whaples has encouraged the government to kill the penny, which costs about three times its value to make. The U.S. Mint spent $707 million making coins last year. Canada, New Zealand and Australia have removed their 1 cent pieces from circulation. Because coins can be hard to spend, they circulate slowly through the economy—or don’t circulate at all. More than half of the coins in the U.S. are sitting in people’s homes, according to the Federal Reserve.

Because they’re seemingly so worthless, many coins are now getting left behind. At airport checkpoints, the Transportation Security Administration collects hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of them each year. Coins are left in couch cushions or in cars, then sucked into vacuums and sent to landfills. The Journal reports that Americans toss as much as $68 million worth of change each year.

Companies like Reworld, a sustainable-waste processing business, is now on a treasure-hunt to find it. The company says that in the seven years since it started the effort, it has collected at least $10 million worth of coins. Workers load incinerated trash into industrial machinery that separates and sorts metals, then sends them to get hosed down. The reward: buckets of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. And a lot of them.

Homicides Are Down in the U.S.

Nearly all crime, including violent and property offenses, was down ‘a considerable amount’ in 2023

The number of homicides in major American cities is falling at its quickest pace in decades following huge jumps during the pandemic. The drop is an acceleration of a trend that began last year, and the declines so far in 2024, on top of last year’s drop, mirror the steep declines in homicides of the late 1990s.

According to The Hill, President Biden touted falling U.S. crime rates last month after new FBI data showed crime in cities with more than 1 million people dropped 11 percent in 2023. Polls show crime is a top concern ahead of the 2024 election—and it's an issue where Republicans regularly edge Democrats. But falling homicide rates could take the steam out of the crucial GOP advantage.

An Pew research poll conducted earlier this year reported “a majority of Americans (57%) [believe] the large number of migrants seeking to enter the country leads to more crime”. Yet national data fails to support several politicians’ claims or the public’s stubborn preconceptions that crime is eternally on the rise. Of course, there were some cities that did see increases in violence and murders. Los Angeles and Atlanta (along with St. Louis and Savannah) saw noticeable jumps in homicides in the first three months of 2024 compared to last year.

Boston Dynamics Retires Its Atlas Robot

After 11 years of jumps, flips and falls, its being replaced by a new, all-electric model

Atlas HD, a humanoid robot which can run, somersault and do backflips, has been retired after 11 years. “Now it’s time for our hydraulic Atlas robot to kick back and relax,” its maker Boston Dynamics said in a video which showed the robot’s highlights and lowlights.

But don’t pour one out for Atlas … On Wednesday, the company announced the arrival of the next generation of humanoid robots—a fully electric robot (also named Atlas) for real-world commercial and industrial applications. The new version has been redesigned with swiveling joints that the company claims make it “uniquely capable of tackling dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks.” The teaser showcasing the new Atlas’ capabilities is as unnerving as it is theatrical. It starts with the bot lying in a cadaver-like fashion on the floor before it swiftly folds its legs backward over its body and rises to a standing position in a manner befitting some kind of Cronenberg body-horror flick.

According to The Verge, the design itself is also a little more humanoid. Similar to bipedal robots like Tesla’s Optimus, the new Atlas now has longer limbs, a straighter back, and a distinct “head” that can swivel around as needed. There are no cables in sight, and its “face” includes a built-in ring light. The only soundtrack is the whirring of an electric motor. It’s not quiet, exactly, but it’s nothing compared to the hydraulic jerks of its ancestors.

Have You Heard the Airchat Hype?

With big-time investors like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the app is being touted as the next big thing

It reminds me of the early days of the pandemic, when Clubhouse took off. Remember that? Because there’s another invitation-only app called Airchat making the rounds among Silicon Valley's top brass. And according to WIRED and Bloomberg, it’s being “hyped in tech circles,” leading to many thinking it’s the next big thing.

So what is it? The audio app feels like a combination of voice notes and Twitter—it looks somewhat like any social media feed upon opening, with blocks of text. They’re transcripts of voice notes posted by users, which you can play to hear. Those voice notes can then be hearted or reposted. TechCrunch says the platform makes it feel like “we’re actually having conversations with one another, but since Airchat is asynchronous, it doesn’t feel as daunting as joining a room on Clubhouse and having live conversations with strangers.”

Intrigued? You’ll need to find a user to send you an invite for now. But if you’ve got FOMO, fear not. Mashable says it may not be worth the hype. It can’t grow large until it fully opens, of course, but the app is losing steam fast. Bloomberg reported that Airchat was ranked no. 29 in the App Store's ranking of top social networking apps just yesterday. As of publishing today, the app has fallen to no. 42. Will it stick around? That depends on what kind of people can find community on the platform.

Don’t Make This Cologne Mistake

Apply your fragrances correctly to make them last longer

Contrary to what your girlfriend or the person at the department store will tell you, don't spray a cloud of cologne in front of you and step into it. That would be the wrong way to apply a scent.

It wastes the product and it covers your carpet (and your knees) in fragrance. And no matter what your buddy claims, there's never a good reason to put cologne on your balls. We’ve put tougher a few dos and don'ts to get the most out of your cologne collection.

Reframe your thoughts.