The Daily Valet. - 7/26/23, Wednesday
✔️ Move Over Threads ...
Wednesday, July 26th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
Did you know there are over 500 different varieties of avocado in the world?
Today’s Big Story
Move Over Threads
As Twitter fades to X, TikTok steps into the arms race with new text-based posts
It was only a matter of time ... but we probably should've seen this coming. Just as Elon Musk abruptly killed Twitter's bird (and name) as part of its supposed transition to an “anything app” called X, TikTok impishly announced it will begin letting its users post—you guessed it—text-based messages.TikTok creators can upload text with a simple background for people to read as they're swiping through content. CNET points out that it's more like on Instagram Reels than Twitter or Threads.So far, there doesn't appear to be a separate name for the text post feature. And it's not clear to what extent users have embraced text posts in their first full day of availability. That's partly because searching on variations of the term “text post” largely turned up examples of a popular video genre—those focused on funny text message phone conversations. There were also a few brave users offering video explanations on how to make text posts.Of course TikTok, with its continued growth and highly addictive quality, is betting that by integrating text directly into its feeds it can peel off many of Twitter's long-time users (and maybe even steal some of the Threads thunder). It's also adding tools that users can use to enhance their text posts, including sound, stickers and background colors.There are already more than 150 million people in the United States using TikTok regularly. But you probably remember that the company has faced backlash recently over concerns that the app's Chinese-owned parent company, Byte Dance, could provide user data to the Chinese government. The state of Montana banned the app in May, which Gov. Greg Gianforte said was to protect residents' data from China.
Threads, You okay?:
The Threads daily active user count peaked two days after its launch. But recent data shows that metric has fallen by 70%. Can it survive?
Where Are High Earners Moving?
SOme states saw a big exodus of people with high salaries During the pandemic
New York and California saw a big exodus of people with high salaries in the pandemic. Those are the two states that lost the most high-earning residents in 2021, according to a new study from SmartAsset, a financial information provider.Their report uncovered the states where the most high-earning tax filers are moving to these days. How? By looking at the inflow and outflow of households making at least $200,000 per year in each of the country's states between 2020 and 2021. And just as in last year's study, no state saw a larger influx of high-earning households than Florida. The Sunshine State gained 40,134 households earning at least $200,000 per year and only lost 12,567. “There's definitely a correlation between cost of living and migration,” one analyst told Crain's. “High-income earners tend to have more flexibility for how and where they operate.”Texas (another state with no income tax) had the second-largest net inflow of high earners, the state's gain was just a third of Florida's net migration. As Digg points out: Of the top 20 states high-earners are flocking to, nearly half are in the Southeast: Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas. Which makes you wonder if what they save in taxes will just go to pay for air conditioning.
FYI:
The researchers found that high earners have left Washington D.C. at a faster pace than any other state.
Airlines Are Ditching First Class
Are those big seats (and perks) a thing of the past?
Last month, Qatar Airways grabbed headlines when it announced that it was doing away with first class seating on long-haul flights. It was a practical decision: The massive footprint of those big seats simply doesn't efficiently maximize revenue—especially when business class gives you many of the same perks.While United just upgraded their first-class seats (the first refresh since 2015), those are only available for domestic flights. American Airlines is the last domestic provider offering first class on international flights, and it plans to phase those seats out at some point next year. So, what gives? Is first class… dead?According to Thrillist, the modern calculus of commercial aviation points to yes, as airline execs seem determined to cram as many passengers on each plane as possible. Ben Mutzabaugh, senior aviation editor at The Points Guy, says that “in the eyes of most passengers today, the difference between first and business class is in name only.” Not to mention, experts believe that since the pandemic, the moneyed passengers who would've booked a first class ticket have started hiring private jets. The PJs offer them all of the luxury, but also the convenience, reliability and flexibility that comes with flying private.
Dig Deeper:
With average ticket prices as high as $10,701, here are the most luxurious airlines in the sky today.
Scientists Unveil the “Luna” Avocado
Wake Up Babe, a New avocado Variety Just Dropped
Is it too early for guacamole? Because after a half-century of selective breeding and agricultural development, the University of California, Riverside has released the Luna UCR™ avocado (apparently, the name is trademarked).It's a new variety of the green fruit, grown on a smaller tree and easier to harvest than the dominant Hass breed. According to Axios, the Hass, with its creamy texture and rich buttery taste, has “fueled our generation's love affair with guacamole and avocado toast. And a competitive alternative could make supplies of the fruit more plentiful.”How? Well, the Hass—the leading commercial variety globally—produces “a very high-quality fruit, but one of the struggles is that it makes a very large tree,” says Mary Lu Arpaia, a co-inventor of the Luna UCR. The Luna will produce “more fruit per cubic meter” and be easily harvested without ladders while requiring less water to grow. Plus, these avocados store better and ripen more reliably. A real win-win, right? But it takes three to five years from planting a seed to producing the first fruit—meaning we won't see Lunas at our local supermarket for a while.
Meanwhile:
Chipotle's news “autocado” robot helps speed up the guacamole-making process by slicing, peeling and coring 25 pounds of avocados in less than 30 minutes.
In Other News
Trump was assured of the U.S. election system's security.
Have you heard about ...
The Long Read
The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars
The behavior we think of as lying requires a more sophisticated kind of cognition than telling the truth does—and certainly a more sophisticated kind of cognition than a bird, flower, or fungus can muster.”
- By Robin Marantz Henig
Read It:
//
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Morning Motto
Fear isn’t always so bad.
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