Good Monday Morning
It’s April 7th. Today is World Health Day. This year’s focus is on pregnancy and birth.
Sobering: Women in the U.S. are 4.5x more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than women in a dozen other wealthy nations in Europe and Asia. Black women here are 3x more likely to die than white, Hispanic, or Asian women in America, says this CDC report.
Want to help improve maternal health? Support March of Dimes The 87-year-old charity is fighting to close the deadly gaps in care.
Today’s Spotlight is 1,058 words, about 4 minutes to read.
3 Headlines to Know
Yum Doubles Down on AI Orders
Just months after McDonald’s scrapped its AI ordering system, Yum Brands is teaming up with Nvidia to take drive-thru and phone orders at Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and its other chains.
China Nixes TikTok Sale Deal
After the U.S. launched new tariffs last week, China backed out of a proposed TikTok sale, and Trump extended his original 75-day ban for a second time, despite no legal authority for the first.
Meta’s AI is Coming For Your Personality
Instagram is testing AI-generated comments for users to post as their own while Messenger, WhatsApp, and IG are rolling out AI characters (with voices!) you can chat with like they’re real people.
Retail Sites Out of Room for Ads
By The Numbers
George’s Data Take
Amazon and Walmart now show sponsored products on 99% of their site search results, with over 20 paid listings per page. With 80% of ad spend tied to their own sites, growth is slowing so they’re cramming in more ads, even if it means overwhelming shoppers and muddying search results.
Even Kindle Had to Bring Back Page-Turning
Running Your Business
Amazon’s latest Kindle update lets readers turn pages with a double tap, their clunky concession to years of complaints about fingerprints and missing buttons.
Silver Beacon Behind the Scenes
This is a textbook case of user behavior forcing product humility.
Take the hint: schedule a brainstorming session this week on the small things your customers keep bringing up because they’re not small to them.
Streaming Rebuilt Cable – More Expensive With Less Trust
Image by ChatGPT, prompted by George Bounacos
Streaming Was Supposed To Disrupt The System
Instead, it rebuilt cable. Platforms promised freedom. Creators chased control. Viewers expected choice. Everyone is now paying more for less.
Why It Matters
We’re in the post-disruption era. Streaming is no longer the underdog. It’s the system.
Vimeo Enters The Chat
Vimeo just launched Vimeo Streaming — a new product that lets creators launch their own subscription services with no coding. Features include merch integration, AI translations, piracy protection, and advanced analytics.
The Pitch: Own your audience. Monetize directly. Skip the algorithm.
The Catch: You’re still at the mercy of Roku, Apple, and fatigued viewers.
What Viewers Say
Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends report shows that the average US household now pays $69/month across four streaming services.
*47% think they pay too much.
*60% say they’d cancel if prices rose $5.
*GenZ and millennials churn more than anyone else.
Also New
AI-powered fake trailers are swarming YouTube, racking up millions of views, and some outrank the real ones. Studios aren’t stopping it. They’re quietly taking ad revenue instead of enforcing copyright.
SAG-AFTRA calls that move “a race to the bottom.”
Netflix, Then And Now
Netflix once killed late fees. It killed Blockbuster. But it also killed its own DVD business once streaming became viable. Its binge model created modern viewing habits and made it the new establishment.
Now it’s defending high content spend with high-concept comfort food. And despite saying otherwise, it’s watching its competition closely.
What We’re Watching
The Trust Collapse
Fake trailers, algorithmic junk, and studio complicity are eroding trust. Even national TV has aired AI footage as real. If the gatekeepers stop guarding the gate, what’s left?
The Future
Tall walls. Higher bills. Less choice.
We’re rebuilding cable, only now you’re paying both your ISP and a growing list of gatekeepers.
Sidebar: Your Guide to What’s Still Real
We keep a weekly tracker of what’s coming, going, and worth watching.
Everything Netflix is updated every Thursday. (Disclosure: we run it.) It was the first nationally published Netflix tracker, launched in 2010 after Sue’s viral essay: “The Blind Side not on Netflix? I’ll Tell You Why.”
Tens of thousands of people have relied on her weekly updates, built from actual availability, not regurgitated press releases.
Try it for yourself by subscribing to the free weekly update here.
AI Can Fake a Ghibli Film and Your Expense Reports
Practical AI
OpenAI’s new image generator can conjure fake receipts convincing enough to defraud companies and Studio Ghibli-style art vivid enough to appall the animator, who called AI “an insult to life itself.”
Even US Citizens Can Have Their Phones Searched at the Border
Protip
Border agents don’t need a warrant to search your phone, even if you are a U.S. citizen, and they can detain you or seize your device. Here’s what you can do before traveling to protect your data.
No, Elon Didn’t Install a Neuralink Chip in a Sick Child
Debunking Junk
A viral story claiming Musk paid a 7-year-old’s medical bills and fast-tracked her Neuralink implant was entirely AI-generated from the text to the image, and the supposed miracle.
Stouffer’s OG But Funny Pantry Spot
Screening Room
Scientists Just 3D Printed Bone at the Microscopic Level
Science Fiction World
A new technique from University of Sydney researchers mimics real bone structure at 300-nanometer resolution, a leap that could make future grafts stronger and safer.
Neural Implant Translates a Woman’s Thoughts Into Real-Time Speech
Tech For Good
For the first time since her 2005 stroke, a woman is speaking full sentences aloud via a breakthrough device that streams brain activity straight to a voice synthesizer based on an AI rendering of her pre-stroke voice.
Find That Song From That Scene, That Ad, That Show
Coffee Break
Tunefind tracks the music you hear in movies, TV, games, and ads, down to the timestamp, scene, and even gives you a streaming link.
Sign of the Times
