Together with
Come together. The Beatles are back with their final song (ever!), titled “Now And Then.” And it’s all thanks to a little help from AI — which split the late John Lennon’s vocals from a piano accompaniment in an old demo. The song was supposed to come out in 1995 when surviving members Paul, George, and Ringo were putting together a compilation album, but the tech just wasn’t there yet to splice the vocals. After all these years, we’re glad they didn’t just… let it be. Hear it for yourself.
In other news… cities flaunt cool climates, Kaiber’s generative AI music videos, and Taylor Tomlinson goes late night.
Top Trends
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CULTURE
Too hot to inhabit // Illustration by Kait Cunniff with Midjourney
The new city amenity is extreme-climate safety
The Future. Cities throughout the northern and eastern US — once booming manufacturing centers — are now hawking their ability to be “climate havens” as a way to attract Americans looking for respite from high heat and extreme weather. That’s already inspiring real estate platforms like Redfin to offer climate report cards to homebuyers. The cities with top scores may see a fresh wave of people, investment, and influence if climate-related disasters continue to increase.
Cool streets, hot housing
Insider says cities are vying for the coolest new accolade in town: “best place to ride out dystopia.”
With extreme weather ramping up in the southern and western US, cities like Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Baltimore are marketing their “climate resiliency” to attract people — on top of their cheap housing, good infrastructure, and clean water.
It’s a smart move considering 14.5 million homes were affected by natural disasters last year… and the weather events that caused more than $1 billion in damage have increased every year over the past decade.
And regions hitting 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer don’t sit well with most Americans who like an average temperature of 65 degrees.
With 8 million Americans moving out of state annually, and a recent USA Today poll finding that 23% of Americans believe they’ll eventually have to move because of climate change, there’s plenty of opportunity for these mid-level cities to pick up a lot of new residents.
For example, if Buffalo captures just one percent of the Americans already moving out of state, it’ll add 80,000 people to a city of 275,000. That’s massive.
And when it comes to high-heat cities like Phoenix, San Antonio, and Miami — they could be in for a literal “urban doom loop” in the coming decade.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Courtesy of Kaiber
Kaiber remixes generative AI for music videos
The Future. Kaiber’s new mobile app hopes to put the power of an animation studio in your pocket, letting users generate customizable music videos from a variety of open source animation styles. With a host of big names lending credibility by using the tools themselves, Kaiber may spawn a wave of popular animated visualizers from indie artists… inspiring major artists to tap professional animation studios for their videos in an effort to jump on the trend.
Machine visualizer
Kaiber’s mobile app allows users to add their music and then use text, images, and videos as prompts for AI-generated, animated music videos — all edited in sync using a feature dubbed, “Audio Reactivity.”
The videos can be generated into two styles: “Flipbook (a frame-by-frame effect) or “Motion” (a more fluid style) — although there are several variations within them.
Users can then customize the camera movement within the videos and download the finished product in whatever aspect ratio they need for different social platforms.
Users who subscribe to one of the three paid versions will own the videos they generate, while those using a free version will be able to use the content but unable to monetize it (they’ll also have a logo watermark).
Kaiber already boasts over 2 million users, including some high-profile acts like Linkin Park and Kid Cudi, who have used the platform for official videos. As part of the mobile app rollout, the company is also rolling out a “Create with” feature that uses animation styles developed by three independent musicians — one being Kaiber’s co-founder and CTO, Eric Gao.
Talk about building an app that you yourself would use.
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Hustle stronger, faster, harder
So, you’re an entrepreneur, freelancer, solopreneur, or contractor? Let’s talk about pay. It should be easy to do on both ends, right? Well, now it is.
Hopscotch is an all-in-one invoicing and bill pay solution for hustlers like you. They offer premium payment tools like on-demand cash flow, accounting integrations, and zero-fee payment options, so you can reduce costs and manage your financial operations all in one place. Amazing, huh?
With Hopscotch, you can:
Pay and get paid on your own terms (fee-free!)
Impress and retain clients with an easy-to-navigate experience
Offer payment gateways that match the look and feel of your brand
Automate your workflows and spend less time on admin tasks (dreams do come true!)
ENTERTAINMENT
Courtesy of CBS
Taylor Tomlinson takes the After Midnight desk
The Future. Taylor Tomlinson, fresh off two hit Netflix comedy specials and in the midst of a popular tour, is getting a late-night talk show on CBS. Although late-night has been dropping in ratings for years now (losing ground to clip-happy platforms like YouTube and TikTok), Tomlinson’s unique perspective and popular online persona may give the format a fresh update.
Stand-up to sit-down
Taylor Tomlinson — one of the fastest-rising comics on the scene and one of the best follows on TikTok — is heading to late night.
Tomlinson will be hosting CBS’ After Midnight, which will follow The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 12:37am ET nightly and air the next day on Paramount+.
The show, which is executive-produced by Colbert and Funny or Die, is an update of the @midnight panel game show that ran from 2014 to 2017 on Comedy Central (it’s even bringing back original showrunner Jack Martin as a co-showrunner).
With the gig, Tomlinson will be the only woman currently with a broadcast late-night show — joining a rare cohort of legendary comedy names who have done so, including Joan Rivers, Wanda Sykes, Amber Ruffin, and Lilly Singh.
Oh, and she’ll be the only millennial sitting behind a late-night desk. Tomlinson’s only 29-years-old.
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Kindred homes, kindred spirits
We’re all familiar with the concept of using our property for something else. À la Airbnb. But what does the future of that look like? It looks like Kindred.
Kindred is building a members-only network to allow people to basically exchange homes. Within a trusted circle of members, the idea is, it’s totally cool and cozy to swap dwellings. The craziest part is, no one pays each other. Instead, they pay Kindred a fee to join the club.
Who’s behind the development of their genius mobile app and internal tool kit? None other than STRV. What absolute pros, huh?
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Six Flags and Cedar Fair are getting in the cart together to form a theme park giant (27 amusement parks and 15 water parks) that give them the scale to compete with Disney and Universal Studios. Read more → wsj
Walt Disney Animation production workers have voted to unionize with The Animation Guild — the first production workers to do so at a feature animation studio. Read more → thr
NASA is launching its own streaming service to host original series and live programming (and, yes, it’ll be called NASA+). Read more → engadget
Fashion & E-Commerce
PUMA and adidas are going all-in on soccer fashion on the (cleated) heels of the Women’s World Cup. Read more → hypebeast
Eight brands — including New Balance, Target, and Crocs — are joining forces on an initiative to make active footwear easier to recycle. Read more → bof
Columbia is collabing with Lucasfilm on a capsule collection of outerwear inspired by Luke Skywalker’s time as an X-wing pilot (where our fashion geeks at?). Read more → hypebeast
Tech, Web3, & AI
Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of all seven fraud charges brought against him in the wake of FTX’s downfall — a conviction that could put him behind bars for over a decade for stealing billions from customers. Read more → wsj
Scarlett Johansson is suing the developer behind AI image editor Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar, Convert Software, for creating a deepfake of her voice endorsing the platform (Her was a little too prescient). Read more → theverge
Israel is recruiting hackers and spyware firms to try to tap into the phones of kidnapped citizens in Gaza. Read more → forbes
Creator Economy
Discord is redesigning its platform to focus on its always-on, “just a place to hang out” vibe. Read more → fastcompany
YouTube is updating its platform to steer young users away from being recommended too many videos associated with sensitive topics. Read more → theverge
Flavrs, a social commerce and recipe discovery platform for foodies, inked a deal with Instacart to order takeout right from the app. Read more → techcrunch
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Melody Song. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.