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Geography for $500. Happy Friday, FutureParty people. Did you know the capital of Croatia is actually Zagreb, not Dubrovnik? Don’t worry. Neither did we. In typical American fashion, we mixed up the two cities in yesterday’s newsletter and are now eating crow, as they say. Shout out to Gregory R. for catching the typo and keeping us honest! We should really look at a map more.
In other news… Foot traffic returns to downtown, 3D ambitions unite Big Tech, and Hollywood strikes cost states billions.
Top Trends
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ECONOMY
Fortune follows feet
US downtowns recover unevenly from the pandemic
The Future. Years after the pandemic, some US downtowns have restored or surpassed their pre-pandemic levels of foot traffic — and, by extension, their economic health. But others haven’t, and while the path to recovery is different everywhere, data suggests cities better make specific changes if they don’t want to become ghost towns.
Best foot forward
Axios gauged the health of US cities based on mobile device activity in their downtown areas.
Some, like Salt Lake City and Fresno, have more than recovered, clocking 139% and 115% of pre-pandemic foot traffic, respectively.
Others, like San Francisco and St. Louis, need major help, with foot traffic at only 32% and 38% of previous levels.
In general, cities that prioritize office space are doing worse, while places with a diverse array of amenities (housing, office space, and parks) fare better.
Next steps
Office-to-apartment conversions are a good idea everywhere. However, cities should also prioritize green spaces, walkability, and public transit, as hybrid work arrangements make suburbs more attractive and shift workers’ priorities away from offices and typical commutes.
Otherwise, the tumbleweeds might roll in.
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TECHNOLOGY
Has Meta met its match? // Illustration by Kate Walker
Pixar tech may build the metaverse
The Future. Apple, Pixar, Nvidia, Adobe, and Autodesk have formed the Alliance for OpenUSD, a group aimed at popularizing an open-source Pixar technology that could facilitate 3D content creation. If successful, the Alliance could make the metaverse a reality… with or without Meta’s help.
Stronger together
The Alliance centers around Universal Scene Description (USD), a Pixar technology that streamlines 3D content creation pipelines.
USD makes it possible to integrate typically incompatible elements of scene description (lighting, rendering, animation, etc.) in one place.
While USD’s not the only available standardization tool, its ability to handle complex projects gives it an edge over competitors.
Open-sourced by Pixar back in 2016, USD is already widely used in animation. The Alliance’s leap is expanding its adoption to VR, gaming, and the metaverse.
Meta-analysis
Meta’s glaring absence from the Alliance suggests the company doesn’t want the metaverse to be created on Apple’s terms, and for good reason — widespread adoption of OpenUSD would likely cause a surge in 3D content developed for Apple devices like the Vision Pro headset.
While there’s no doubt 3D standardization is coming, the big question is: who will make it happen?
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Learn a new language, but make it fun
Lingopie is on it. They teach languages through the movies and TV shows you already know and love (so cool, right?). All of the content on Lingopie’s platform comes with two subtitles. The more you watch, the more you learn!
So, whether you’re a beginner or a linguistic genius, Lingopie is for you. And yes, you’ll learn to speak like a real person, including cool slang and stuff.
ENTERTAINMENT
Your TV is gathering dust // Illustration by Kate Walker
Film & TV production halt costs states billions of dollars
The Future. Amid high inflation and the rising cost of living, production hubs like California, New York, and Georgia are suffering major revenue drops as they grapple with Hollywood strikes. If contract negotiations don’t lead to a new system where artists are paid enough to maintain decent living conditions, there could be devastating economic repercussions for not only individuals but also communities and states.
Entertainment’s economic impact
Axios reports production was already slowing down before the strikes (as early as January), as media companies tightened their belts in the face of a possible recession. This downturn hurt thousands of local businesses — including restaurants, hotels, and dry cleaners — because “as much as $250,000 can be injected into local economies per day when a film shoots on location,” according to the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
California benefits from tax credits that make the golden state appealing for productions to shoot there.
185,000 New Yorkers work in the film and TV industry, representing 6.5% of New York City’s GDP.
Georgia raked in $4.4 billion from movie and TV productions in 2022.
The film and TV industry generally pays over $186 billion in wages annually, per the MPA, so it's a massive loss to workers when production grinds to a halt.
From middle class to… minimum wage?
Most people can’t afford to go without work for one month, let alone three to six months. So, it comes as a relief that the WGA will meet with the AMPTP to discuss negotiations today (!) for the first time since the writers strike began in May.
We’re crossing our fingers for a happy Hollywood ending.
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Taylor Swift recently gifted over $55 million in bonuses to her team, including dancers, sound technicians, and caterers, who helped bring The Eras Tour to life (and make bank). Read More → people
Barbie, on track to cross the $1 billion mark at the domestic box office next week, will hit streaming service Max this fall. Read More → deadline
While Warner Bros. Discovery has experienced some disruption amid its Max rebrand (losing 1.8 million subscribers), it’s still seen lower-than-expected churn throughout the process, per CEO David Zaslav. Read More → techcrunch
Fashion & E-Commerce
Later this month, Reebok will release an exclusive sneaker with Gary Vaynerchuk featuring a hand-drawn character (“Aspiring Alpaca”) from his VeeFriends collection. Read More → adage
Long gone are the days of wearing a bandage dress and sky-high heels to the club; dressing purposely comfy and silly is now in, according to Gen Zers who are tackling both a closet and a climate crisis. Read More → insider
Nike will serve as the official apparel and footwear partner of USA Gymnastics, designing all shoes and sportswear for the women’s and men’s teams in 2024 and 2028. Read More → forbes
Tech, Web3, & AI
Puma sees the metaverse as its next great commerce opportunity, approaching its NFT sneaker drops as a form of product testing before manufacturing them in the physical world. Read More → digiday
Match Group, the company behind Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid, is planning to integrate new AI features that select profile photos and explain why a match is compatible across its line of apps. Read More → insider
Google’s “results about you” dashboard on web and mobile now automatically retrieves websites containing matches to your personal information — allowing you to review each page where your information appears and request removal if desired. Read More → theverge
Creator Economy
Meta just introduced an open-source AI tool called AudioCraft (bundled with three models — AudioGen, EnCodec, and MusicGen — trained using company-owned and licensed music) to help users create music and audio based on text prompts. Read More → reuters
After Twitch locked out streaming of gambling sites (including slots, roulette, and dice games) that weren’t licensed in the US, views of gambling streams dropped 75% on the platform. Read More → tubefilter
For one night only, Gwyneth Paltrow is putting her Montecito guesthouse (not home) on Airbnb, where two lucky guests can “take home valuable techniques (and an abundance of goop products!) to continue your journey towards emotional health long after your stay.” Uh-huh. Read More → cnn
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Today’s email was written by Luke Perrotta and Kait Cunniff.
Edited by Nick Comney.
Published by Darline Salazar.