OVERWORLD:
-GameStop’s lore keeps going-

ONE BETWEEN:
-Good students being good students-

THE DEPTHS:
-How a 17-year-old changed music forever, without making a single song-

“I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me – they’re cramming for their final exam.”
— George Carlin

✦DISCOVERY PICKS✦

▶️ YouTube:
Suga Free - On My Way (Official Video)

👽 Reddit:
$12,000 worth of cancer pills

✖️ X:
Kim Kardashian flew all the way from LA to Paris just because she wanted this

❓
Mystery link.

You think this is a game? Stop.

GameStop’s lore keeps going — will Gill get nailed to the cross?

GameStop stock rallied like a motherfucker on Monday.

Once again, a simple post caused it.

And once again, Keith Gill, AKA RoaringKitty, AKA DeepFuckingValue is responsible.

For that, people got hyped. In premarket trading, GameStop's shares surged by approximately 84%, reaching $42.55.

Coinciding with his portfolio update, Gill posted a cryptic image of a reverse card from the game "Uno" on X.

✦Enemies✦

Somebody is on the losing side of Gill’s crusade.

Famously, Robinhood—the platform of choice for Gill’s followers was hit with two lawsuits in 2021 after it blocked purchases of more GameStop stock during its historic one-day run. One month after that, Gill testified in Congress to prove that he isn’t an institutional manipulator.

This is most likely why he’s been posting on r/superstonks. He is creating a public evidence trail that proves he is investing personally.

The potential ban of Gill: WSJ reported that Morgan Stanley is considering banning Gill off their platform E*Trade. They’re contemplating whether Gill's actions constitute manipulation The firm has not yet decided on a course of action.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Securities Division and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are investigating Gill’s activities, including his trades and their potential manipulation.

Morgan Stanley faces a delicate decision. Shutting down Gill’s account could lead to significant client loss, especially considering the loyalty of his followers.

The firm’s client agreement allows it to restrict or close accounts at its discretion, but the broader implications of such an action are complex, given Gill's considerable influence over the meme-stock community.

Here’s what smart enemies and followers are saying:

✦QUICK HITS✦

✦Business & Tech

Google's head of search, Liz Reid, admitted that their AI Overview feature produced misleading results, highlighting areas needing improvement. Google is implementing technical upgrades to address these issues and ensure better accuracy.

Superstar CEO: Jensen Huang signed a woman’s titties.

Elon Musk will testify in the SEC’s investigation into his $44 billion Twitter acquisition. He waived his right to appeal a court order and agreed to a confidential interview date.

Damn: Despite nearly four years since the PS5's release, the PS4 still has around 49 million monthly active users, similar to the PS5. This suggests many have not upgraded yet. Still, PS5 sees more gameplay hours and higher spending on add-ons.

Saudi Arabia plans to sell a 0.64% stake in Aramco, valued at up to $11.95 billion, raising 41.25 to 44.805 billion riyals. Announcement was expected this week, per WSJ.

✦Fashion & Culture✦

Anti turned pro: Donald Trump, who once tried to ban TikTok, posted his first video on the platform under @realdonaldtrump. He’s pro-TikTok now. Trump reversed his stance after President Biden signed the ban into law.

Tables keep turning: "BBL Drizzy," Metro Boomin’s very funny Drake diss was just sampled on a song with Sexy Redd and Drake himself. This is the first official release with an AI sample — which means there are some grey areas. Does an artist need to clear a song with an AI-generated sample? Overall, this is a new area of law and both lawyers and the music industry are figuring it out.

A new Lego set featuring the Notre-Dame Cathedral is being released. This is the first religious structure Lego released in 67 years. The set is designed for adults and includes 4,383 pieces.

✦Hmm… Interesting✦

Hardware: Making USB devices - end to end guide to your first gadget

Hardware, again: Meet the Canon Cat, the forgotten 1987 alternate-reality Mac

Cozy 1-minute read: Are you milking the basics anon?

Poets’ Odd Jobs: There’s no money in poetry. So how did famous poets make money?

Use this: A simple, secure and private note taking tool inside your browser

ONE 

BETWEEN

Tracing this motherfucker

Investigating where “All Eyes On Rafah” actually came from

You can’t possibly have missed the "All Eyes on Rafah"-campaign on Instagram.

While its intentions are obviously good, it’s kinda weird that an AI-generated image is at the core of it all. Why couldn’t human-made art have the same pull? Or one of the thousands of horrifying images from the conflict?

It’s also kinda mysterious. Where did this thing come from?

✦Let’s investigate✦

This image's journey began in the most random little corner of the internet; a Malaysian AI image generation enthusiast group on Facebook, per 404.

"Prompters Malaya" boasts 250,000 members and describes itself as a "safe space" for designers, writers, and prompt testers across Asia to explore AI tools.

The catalyst: On February 14, Zila AbKa, a member of the group, shared her creation with a message of support for the people in Palestine.

The image didn't gain significant traction until it was altered and shared on Instagram by user Shahv4012.

The Instagram version, which has gone viral, had the watermark removed and was reformatted for better shareability.

The image’s virality has sparked a wave of similar AI-generated content within the “Prompters Malaya” group.

Since then, “Prompters Malaya” has turned into a hub replicating AI-generated pro-Palestinian sensations.

Most of them are really corny:

THE DEPTHS

Game changer

How a 17-year-old changed music forever, without making a single song.

Almost 25 years ago, on June 1, 1999, the release of Napster ignited a global piracy frenzy that changed the world.

That frenzy indirectly birthed the streaming business models of Spotify and Netflix. Let’s talk about how that happened, very quickly.

✦How it started✦

The CD-era music world dreamed of a ‘celestial jukebox’ that could play any track on demand. No record swapping, no fragile CD cases, no big ass vinyls.

This was considered mythological black magic... until the MP3 format was invented in 1993 by Karlheinz Brandenburg.

The coding format reduced the size of music files without significant loss of sound quality. And that allowed digital files to be stored on flash-memory devices. Basically, MP3 players offered a more compact and shock-resistant alternative to CD players. Sweet.

✦Dream into reality✦

The MP3 format brought the 'celestial jukebox' concept closer to reality, as Napster soon demonstrated.

In the late 1990s, young engineers and hackers were part of a little chatroom called the w00w00 IRC chatroom on the EFnet network.

In there, a gang of pioneers hung out. Two of which were pre-riches WhatsApp founder Jan Koum and a 17-year-old Shawn Fanning.

Instead of dreaming about girls, Fanning dreamt of computers sharing files —specifically a central music database accessible worldwide.

Fanning, with the help of his friend Sean Parker (later the president of early Facebook), brought this vision to life. On June 1, 1999, Napster was released, and the software quickly went viral.

Below is the front cover of TIME magazine in 2000, featuring Shawn Fanning.

✦The world of Napster✦

Millions of users embraced Napster as a magical gateway for musical exploration. Its supply far exceeded any record store on earth.

Of course, the music industry was not amused. According to former RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen, the industry went into panic mode a few months after Napster’s release. In February 2000, major label executives met to discuss the threat.

Within a year, the RIAA sued Napster Inc., and artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre followed suit.

✦All publicity is good publicity✦

These high-profile cases only increased Napster's popularity, and MP3 players began to sell rapidly.

By 2001, Napster had over 26.4 million users worldwide. Despite investor backing, legal challenges forced Napster to shut down in July 2001, just over two years after its launch.

Although Napster was shut down, the file-sharing genie was out of the bottle. Grokster, KaZaa, Morpheus, and LimeWire emerged, and BitTorrent also gained popularity.

✦How it's going✦

Today, music piracy has evolved, but it hasn't disappeared. When Napster debuted, there were no legal options to buy digital music online.

Napster paved the way for platforms like Apple’s iTunes store, which met the evident demand. However, digital download sales couldn’t replicate the ‘all you can play’ experience.

Now, the music industry generates most of its revenue from online streaming subscriptions, with CDs becoming rare artifacts.

This landscape was largely pioneered by a Napster fan from Sweden, Daniel Ek, whose fascination with the ‘all you can play’ experience led to the creation of Spotify. Spotify itself used file-sharing technology to ensure swift playback.

Spotify is just one example of the Napster ripple effect, which has profoundly changed the music industry. The birth of Napster will continue to impact the industry for decades to come, whether for better or for worse.