In today’s newsletter we discuss X to charge for Twitter, Google & the Pentagon fight cancer with AI, NASA’s humanoid robots to explore the Moon & Mars, Disney exploring selling ABC, and Zillow Gone Wild coming to TV.

Business

What did you say? You want to see how quickly you can turn a company with a market cap of $44 Billion into a heaping pile of horse manure? Well if that’s the case they by all means go ahead and announce that you’re going to begin charging people a monthly fee to read what has become a cesspool of racist, sexist, and homophobic tweets in the name of “free speech”.

Now that I got that off my chest, in other completely unrelated news (my layers made me say that) Elon Musk announced that X would be “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system” in order to combat “vast armies of bots.”

There has been a very interesting concept of charging micro-fees to read content on the internet for a while. A couple of cryptocurrencies including Reddcoin and Brave (I think I own both, but can’t remember my wallet’s seed phrase anymore). But if you charge a monthly fee to ready X then the vast majority of people will just stop reading it. I’ll grant you bot activity would also probably drop down to 0, but that’s like saying crime will be non-existent if only there weren’t any humans around anymore. On the flip side of the equation if you charge users to post, then again the vast majority of them would stop paying, and you’d have dramatically less content for people to read even if they are paying for a subscription which now has diminishing returns. It’s a vicious cycle to the bottom, but again if your goal is to destroy shareholder value by all means go for it.

Musk says Twitter, now X, is moving to subscription fees and has 550 million users

Tech

I think I found one thing that all Americians, strike that - all human beings can agree on: cancer sucks!

So when I read that Google has partnered with the Pentagon to build an AI-powered microscope to spot cancer I felt that giddy joy that comes from reading William Gibson sci-fi novels. Their goal has been to use AI to quickly analyze the tumor to determine how aggressive the form of cancer is, so they can make a better informed decision to pursue surgery and chemotherapy.

So why is Google investing in AI to fight cancer? How could that possibly help their bottom line you ask? Well, for one, Google needs humans around if they’re going to show them ads and monetize every human being on earth. It also doesn’t hurt that to mention that Google has been researching how it can help fight cancer for decades, and if there’s one thing Google is good at it’s research. They’ve even filed a patent application for a device which would be worn on the wrist and could destroy cancer cells in the blood. By now combining all of that research, with their experience in AI, just imagine how profitable curing or even giving greater odds to fight cancer could be for Google’ bottom line.

So maybe all those doom & gloom conspiracy theorists were wrong that AI was going to rise up and kill the human race. Turns out AI might actually save humanity by helping to fight cancer.

Google and the Pentagon are building an AI-powered microscope to spot cancer

Space

As if it isn’t already hard enough to get kids (and some adult manchildren) to stop playing video games and get off the couch, now they may not even have the option of dreaming of becoming an astronaut and exploring the universe. NASA has partnered with a small robotics firm in Texas called Apptronik to continue the space agency's decades of work developing humanoid robots. They then want to send these humanoid robots into space and entrust them to explore the moon and Mars.

So congrats to Apptronik and their 'Apollo' space robot for securing a SBIR grant to develop a humanoid robot to handle terrestrial tasks like logistics, manufacturing, and home healthcare assistance here on Earth. Turns out NASA has sky high hopes for sending robots into the heavens instead of human beings.

NASA hopes humanoid robots can help us explore the moon and Mars

Entertainment

Disney has begun exploring selling ABC for a rumored $10 Billion dollars in order to spruce up their balance sheet that holds roughly $47 Billion dollars. Why would Disney want to sell off ABC, and couple of cable networks like FX and National Geographic? Well, it turns out Bob Iger mentioned at an event in Sun Valley "We have to be open-minded and objective about the future of those businesses," Iger said when asked about the possibility of selling networks ABC and FX. "They may not be core to Disney."

So there you have it. If a business unit isn’t aligned with Iger’s vision of a streamlined Disney that is more focused on their online streaming, theme parks, and cruises then it up for discussing divestiture of those units.

Maybe instead of singing “It’s a Small World (After All)” at Disney world they should be singing C.R.E.A.M by Wu-tang.

Bob Iger's grand plan for Disney is moving fast with reported talks to sell ABC

Real Estate

You can’t even make this up! The hit social media phenomenon, Zillow Gone Wild, which has garnered more than 2 million followers on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook is making the leap to television where they enjoy a nine-episode season on HGTV consisting of eight half-hour episodes and a one-hour season finale. The popular social media brand is known for sharing bizarre real estate listings, and feeding our obsession with real estate porn (guilty). So obviously you know I’ll be watching.

Zillow Gone Wild goes from viral social media posts to HGTV series

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris