OVERWORLD:
-We’ve entered the golden age of breaking into phones.-

ONE BETWEEN:
-What the fuck is going on at Burberry?-

THE DEPTHS:
-Soviet calculators are a trip.-

“Until death it is all life”
— Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote

✦DISCOVERY PICKS✦

▶️ YouTube:
Falsely ACCUSING AI NPCS in Skyrim

✖️ X:
The value proposition of an Airport Lounge goes up 10x when you have kids

❓
Mystery link.

Change

We’ve entered the golden age of breaking into phones.

Maybe you didn't think much of it but... only 2 days after Trump was almost shot in the head, the FBI announced it had “gained access” to the shooter’s phone.

That is ridiculously fast, perhaps record-fast.

In previous instances of mass shootings or domestic terrorism, the FBI has spent weeks or months trying to break into suspects’ phones. For example, the 2015 San Bernadino shooter.

The feds famously beefed with Apple in late 2015 over the shooter’s iPhone, as Apple refused to help them bypass the encryption. Apple CEO Tim Cook argued that building a backdoor would undermine security advancements.

This time is different, the feds have some bomb ass tools:

✦Anyway…✦

The bureau hasn’t explicitly said how it got into the phone, nor what has been found on it. But the speed with which it did so is significant, which is telling of the times we live in.

(Per The Verge)

✦QUICK HITS✦

✦Business & Tech✦

Are you not entertained? Global entertainment and media revenue is projected to grow 3.9% annually, reaching $3.4 trillion by 2028. Ad sales will hit $1 trillion by 2026. Live events, gaming, and cinema are significant growth drivers.

Damn, that’s good: Apple’s annual sales in India reached nearly $8 billion, a 33% increase, driven by growing iPhone demand and local assembly. Apple's India market is expanding, despite iPhones representing just 3.5% of smartphones.

Oops: President Biden regretted using the phrase "put Trump in the bulls-eye" before the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally. Biden clarified he meant to focus on Trump’s actions and policies.

Big hack: A group called "NullBulge" claims to have leaked 1.1TB of Disney's internal Slack data, including unreleased projects and sensitive information. The hacktivist group targets entities violating their principles against cryptocurrency promotion, AI-generated artwork, and theft from artists. Security experts warn that Disney may face more attacks.

✦Fashion & Culture✦

It’s time!! EssilorLuxottica will buy Supreme from VF Corp for $1.5 billion. The sale comes after Supreme's revenue decline to $523.1 million in 2023. VF cited limited synergies as the reason for selling.

Check this out: Somebody made a game based on Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us. You play as Kendrick whacking an owl with a baseball bat. The game becomes increasingly harder when you score over 18 points, because Drake supposedly enjoys the company of minors. Lol.

Also: Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" has returned to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its official music video release. This is his first solo song to hit No. 1 multiple times.

Death: Less than a month after facing a lawsuit from Goyard, customizer Dominic Ciambrone, aka the Shoe Surgeon, is now being sued by Nike for unauthorized use of trademarks and counterfeiting. Nike accuses him of misleading consumers with custom designs resembling official Nike collaborations and seeks over $60 million in damages.

✦Hmm… Interesting✦

Cozy 45-second read:The torture of being exposed to people who live on a totally different frequency.

Big read for big brains: How do jewellers capture every last particle of gold dust? (2017)

For copywriters: This Writing Technique Turns Your Copy Into a “Mind Movie”

Really cool read for developers: We need visual programming. No, not like that.

ONE

BETWEEN

The struggles of luxury

What the fuck is going on at Burberry?

Burberry is down bad.

Here are the latest piles of shit it's been eating:

✦It ain’t easy✦

Akeroyd didn’t exactly have the easiest job in the world. He came in just as Burberry transitioned from Riccardo Tisci's bold streetwear designs to Daniel Lee's contemporary take on British luxury. The brand basically did a 180, from minimal street to opulent British luxury.

The price followed: Lee's first collection was pricy, and alienated aspirational customers. Items like $3,000 leather bags and $4,500 beanies (yes, for your head) failed to attract a broad audience, leading to dramatic price cuts. Pricing like that makes Burberry look undesirable, and not-so luxury.

✦What now✦

With Schulman as CEO, Burberry will now focus on accessible luxury, with an accent on heritage. Burberry's long-term strategy to elevate the brand stays unchanged though. It’s just that Schulman wants to set up some more inclusive products and accessible pricing.

Haha: The market actually responded positively to firing Akeroyd. Burberry's shares rose 2% post-announcement. However, analysts caution that successful brand turnaround requires effective execution amid a competitive luxury market.

We’ll see though.

THE DEPTHS

For perverts

Soviet calculators are a trip.

In the 1960s, the Soviet Union had to balance the impossible; ambition and isolation. Somehow, they had to technologically compete with the US for superpower-status, whilst remaining in the dark.

People often think of the Space Race as a manifest of this fight, but it poured into everything tech; most interestingly, calculators.

✦Pre-Cold War✦

Before any high-tech was present, Soviets had the Russian abacus, known as the schoty. Of course, there’s nothing significantly Soviet about these, they’ve existed for about 4000 years worldwide. This is the foundation upon which all calculators were made.

Calculation first got automated in the early 1900s. The “Felix" Arithmometer, which allowed for basic arithmetic operations. But, these motherfuckers were noisy — not so office friendly.

So, electrical accounting machines became a thing. The VMM-2, introduced in the 1950s, was an early example of these machines, featuring a full keyboard and more automated functions.

✦Post-WW2✦

Post-1945, the development of electronic computing machines (EVMs) accelerated — probably symmetrically with US/Soviet competition.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was largely isolated from Western technological advancements due to political and economic embargoes.

This led to some pretty funky indigenous technology, often based on snatching and reverse-engineering Western devices.

In 1961, Leningrad University tapped revolution; one of the first desktop electronic calculators, the EKVM.

In 1964, the Soviet Union began serial production of the EKVM "Vega." By 1965, integrated circuits dramatically reduced the size and weight of these machines, leading to the creation of portable calculators.

✦Handhelds✦

Soviet had crazy resource constraints. But constraints lead to innovation; this sometimes resulted in calculators that were bulkier or less aesthetically refined compared to Western counterparts but were highly functional and reliable.

The first Soviet pocket calculator, the "Elektronika B3-04," was developed in 1973. It had a liquid crystal display and was powered by a single AA battery.

Throughout the 80s, Soviet calculators evolved rapidly. They turned into mini-PCs, kinda. Meaning, they incorporated features such as scientific-technical subroutines, programmable memory, and even BASIC programming language, as seen in the MK-85. By 1986, the MK-85 offered a 16-digit display and programmable memory.

The Soviet calculator peaked with the MK-85 and MK-90. The MK-90 had a large graphic display and fat computational power — also, it looked like Super Nintendo.

These bad boys actually laid the groundwork for future technological advancements in computing and electronics. For example, they had a QWERTY keyboard, and was the foundation from which lots of programming and computational thinking was learned. Nice.