OVERWORLD:
-Why Spotify AI needs to scan your thoughts-

ONE BETWEEN:
-Will your dog eat you if you die? Short answer: Yes-

THE DEPTHS:
-Remembering Roberto Cavalli-

“I spend shockingly little time thinking about real-world stuff.”
— Trey Parker

✦TREND PICKS✦

▶️ YouTube:
The Rise of Zyn: The Oral Nicotine Pouch Going Viral

👽 Reddit:
Damn, i really felt that “fuck”

🔎 Google:
Bluey

✖️ X:
Grimes screaming

❓Random 

Music/Tech

Why Spotify AI needs to scan your thoughts

Spotify is fat as shit. As in figuratively big, not literally obese. It's basically the Library of Alexandria of streaming with its 100 million tracks.

And with so many tracks (or books), organization is key - especially when you want to discover something new.

As your dopamine receptors continue frying from hearing Black Beatles a 100th time, you’re going to want to hear a new song (seriously, please stop).

And so, Spotify has gathered hundreds of the best music editors and tech experts to build AI and algorithms that will know when you get that crackhead itch for new music.

New and old tools include:

This proves a point: Spotify's business is not just offering on-demand mp3-files. The winner of the streaming wars is also the one who gets curation, trends, packaging - and most importantly, targeting.

A prime example of Spotify winning at this game is the Sadgirl Starter Pack playlist. The playlist is doing massive numbers - 1.5 million likes to be exact.

Creating such a meme-able name plus new and familiar depressing bangers for Gen-Z requires a certain sense of flavor.

Now imagine if a robot had that sense of flavor. Big money.

✦QUICK HITS✦

Bitcoin dropped dropped 8% to below $62,000, marking its steepest sell-off in over a year The reason: Market fear from Iran’s attack on Israel. Also, Iran’s national currency, the rial, hit a record low against the dollar.

Roberto Cavalli, the flamboyant Italian fashion designer and contributor, has passed away at 83. Celebrated for his leopard prints and bejeweled jeans, Cavalli was a master of reinvention across decades. More about that in the Depths.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sold his half of DeLeón tequila for $200 million amid lawsuits and a federal investigation. Despite denying sexual assault claims, his long-term partnership with Diageo ended, resolving disputes and controversies involving alleged racial typecasting and mismanagement.

Spotify is building DJ mixing tools directly inside of the streaming app. Users will be able to create remixes with features like speed-ups, slow-downs, inserts, and edits. Pretty sick.

Tesla halved its Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscription to $99/month amid financial struggles and to boost user adoption, despite its system's mixed reliability reviews and ongoing safety investigations.

Nike’s CEO, John Donahoe, admitted they’re flopping because of over-prioritized direct sales via its own platforms but is now realigning its strategy and reinvesting in retail partnerships.

The Winklevoss twins, famous for suing Zuckerberg for stealing their idea for Facebook, invested $4.5 million in Bitcoin into a little British soccer club: Real Bedford FC. They’re aiming to develop the club as the first Bitcoin-powered football club.

Apple is easing its iPhone repair restrictions, allowing the use of used parts, following Oregon's new law against "parts pairing" and as Colorado considers similar legislation. This change starts this fall for selected models.

Read: These identical twins both grew up with autism, but took very different paths

Explore: Green’s Dictionary of Slang

💀 Will your dog eat you if you die? Short answer: Yes. Here are 5 facts.

1. It might happen instantly: Yes, dogs can start scavenging immediately after their owner’s death. In a case from 1997, a German shepherd began eating his owner’s face 45 minutes after he shot himself in his mouth.

2. Not Just About Hunger: While we might think pets eat their deceased owners because they’re starving, that's not always the case. For example, in the 1997 case, there was still dog food available. We don’t know exactly why dogs do this, but research says it could be more about instinct or confusion in a stressful situation.

3. Face First: When dogs do scavenge, they often start with the face. It’s a bit gruesome, but the face is usually more accessible and, for pets, potentially the most familiar part of the person. Weird.

4. No Hard Feelings: There’s no indication that dogs who scavenge their owners have a bad relationship with them. In fact, many reported cases involve dogs who had loving relationships with their owners. It seems to be more about the animal's instinctive behavior in a confusing time.

5. Any Pet Might Do It: It’s not just big or certain breeds of dogs that might scavenge. Pets of many types, including cats and even smaller dogs, have been known to engage in this behavior under certain conditions. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it emphasizes that pet scavenging can stem from instinct and extreme circumstances rather than personality or past treatment.

THE DEPTHS

Fashion

Remembering Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli, the “King of Bling,” passed away at the age of 83 in Florence last Friday.

Everything he did, he did it big. Whether it was hitting the beach in the world's smallest swimsuit, or getting another kid at the age of 82, the man did not have fucks.

And he knew the liberation of lacking fucks so well that he wanted to provide the world with that feeling. That's why he built a fashion universe for us lay people to step into.

Draping us in his furs, animal prints, and exotic Italian swagger, we too were invited to what he called the "Cavalli World."

✦Drama, opulence, decadence✦

The guy was epic. He lived in a 15th-century Tuscan farmhouse, a 40-acre estate filled with luxury cars, a custom-painted helicopter, and a home adorned with runway-inspired decor and exotic animals.

He didn't exclusively make clothes. A true mogul lends his golden touch to everything. "Cavalli World," was an actual world - he designed nightclubs, mega-yachts, helicopters, and had a vodka brand.

Cavalli’s life and design ethos could be summed up as fearless, opulent, and dramatic Italian excellence.

From patchwork denim in the '70s to luxury sandblasted jeans in the '90s, Cavalli was a pure source from whence everything luxury has drawn inspiration.

His style made waves through the decades, constantly reinventing itself while staying true to the "molto sexy, molto, molto Italiano" soul.

✦Cavalli after Cavalli✦

In 2014, Cavalli sales peaked at $250 million, and Roberto then sold a majority of Cavalli in 2015 to Clessidra, a private equity fund.

After that, the brand had trouble grasping its identity. Creative directors came and went, and they couldn’t get the brand to stick with modern audiences.

A bankruptcy in 2019 led to all its U.S. stores and operations closing. This led to Dubai-based luxury real estate developer Hussain Sajwani buying the company. Since then Fausto Puglisi has worked the creative director role, and it’s… well it just is.

✦Sleep tight, Rob✦

But the legend status remains, probably forever. It’s just a question of time for the brand to get in the right hands.

It’s just too classic, for decades and decades, celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé have lit up red carpets and concert stages with Cavalli creations.

Roberto’s designs weren’t just clothes; they were him bleeding his individuality into the world’s objects, a celebration of life lived at full throttle.

What a guy we just lost.