Influencing The Weather

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Happy Thursday, Future Party. Here’s a fun architectural Easter egg for you. The façade of Oxford University’s new Life and Mind Building — a hub for experiential psychology and biology — features a “rippling surface effect,” per Fast Company. But it doesn’t just look cool; it serves a cool purpose. The design is modeled on a brain scan of Oxford researcher Sage Boettcher, captured while she “actively envisioned the future of the LaMB lab.” We wish more buildings were constructed with such deep intention.

Snap has decided to spin out its AR glasses into a separate company called Specs Inc.

The Big Bet: AI-powered AR glasses are becoming a key tech battleground, with Meta currently dominating the market while Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Google develop their own devices. But Snap has been pioneering the technology for over a decade and wants to ensure better-capitalized competitors don’t push it to the sidelines.

Behind The Lenses: Snap wants all eyes on its upcoming version of Specs.

Last Look: Snap’s new Specs will be packed with cutting-edge features when they’re finally released. That includes four cameras that enable hand tracking to interact with AR imagery, an AI chatbot that explains what you’re looking at, instant translation of foreign street signs or menus, and games that sync with another Specs wearer for collaborative play.

TechCrunch notes that the glasses currently look and feel cumbersome (especially compared to Meta’s offerings), but they’ll have a redesigned form before launching to the masses. While cutting-edge capabilities are paramount for smart glasses, the design of the Specs may be the deciding factor in whether people actually want to wear them.

Future Vision: The new social media war may come down to which company offers the best interactivity between its smart glasses and apps — Snap or Meta.

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People are increasingly turning to social media personalities for weather reports rather than traditional news sources.

Blue Sky: Just like with traditional news, people want to get information from personalities they trust (read: like) rather than from institutional organizations. A Pew Research study found that 20% of Americans already get their information from social media. That influencer ecosystem creates plenty of room for misinformation or hyperbole for clicks (people literally saying “the sky is falling!”), but it also enables unprecedented boots-on-the-ground coverage.

Behind The Reports: Fast Company reports that weather has become so extreme (just look at last week’s monster winter storm) that it’s no wonder people are rushing to cover it from their smartphones… and audiences are tuning in. Some of the most popular include:

Final Report: Interestingly, Hall, Velocity, and Timmer are all accredited meteorologists. They have the bona fides to work at a network, but have decided the creator economy is better suited to their skill sets… or at least offers more freedom and the potential to earn more than working in a newsroom. It’s also possible that they didn’t fit the traditional look of a weather reporter, so doing the work on social media freed them from those standards.

Instead of fighting the trend, the American Meteorological Society is leaning in to support it — the organization now offers a certification program for digital meteorologists. The main criteria are “scientific competence and effective communication skills in their weather presentations.” No suit and tie required.

Next Forecast: With people wanting weather updates as fast as the internet, it’s only a matter of time before traditional news networks contract meteorology influencers to get on the ground as quickly as possible during extreme weather events.

News you actually want to keep up with just hits different.

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35.9% of you voted Keeping up with friends and family in yesterday’s poll: What’s your primary reason for using social media?

“It sounds almost cliché to say I use social media to keep up with family and friends. But I check my screen time each day, and it’s only 45 minutes or less, during my first cup of coffee. That’s it.”

“I also like that it shows memories.”

“And what local businesses are up to — fun events, new menu items, where support is needed, etc.”

“All that’s left is LinkedIn and Bluesky, and I’m letting those compost naturally into nothing. I’d rather talk to people.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

📈 KPop Demon Hunters is officially the most-streamed movie of 2025 with 20.5 billion minutes watched, according to Nielsen.

📺 Speaking of Nielsen, multi-hyphenate Seth MacFarlane has been named its “Streaming Icon of the Year” after his shows amassed 60 billion minutes watched last year. Whoa.

🎫 Ticketmaster and Ariana Grande teamed up to reclaim a tranche of illegally purchased tickets for the artist’s upcoming tour and will put them back up for sale.

💰 Softbank is in talks to invest an additional $30 billion in OpenAI as the startup looks to raise a $100 billion round.

🚚 Self-driving truck company Waabi is pivoting to AI-powered robotaxis in a new deal with Uber.

🤖 Fauna Robotics has emerged from stealth with a soft, “approachable” humanoid that’s aimed to be a personal helper.

👟 Sustainable shoe brand Allbirds is closing nearly its entire brick-and-mortar footprint by the end of February.

💕 Sydney Sweeney is launching her own lingerie brand, Syrn, hoping to challenge Rihanna and Kim Kardashian for the underwear crown.

🍌 Instacart will now let customers choose how ripe they want their bananas.