You Got Droned

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Happy Thursday, Future Party. To market the upcoming season of Severance, Apple constructed a pop-up office from Lumon Industries inside of Grand Central Station… and cast members Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, and Tramell Tillman all showed up in character to do some good ole macro-data refinement. We still don’t know what that actually means, but we can’t wait to find out with the new season kicking off on Sunday.

Chinese tech company DJI — one of the biggest drone sellers in the world — announced that it was removing its “Restricted Zone” geofencing tech that automatically stopped drones from flying over sensitive or dangerous areas.

Thousand-Foot View: Removing the geofencing amid drones hampering firefighting efforts in LA and causing mass hysteria in New Jersey may be the masterclass in poor timing. It’s technically legal under FAA rules, but it sure won’t benefit public sentiment.

Behind the Flights: DJI is grounding Restricted Zones, aka “No-Fly Zones,” ten years after one of its drones crashed on the White House lawn.

The Future: Although the company says that the new software update is about “placing control back in the hands of drone operators,” DJI was recently designated a “Chinese Military Company” and will now be subject to new import bans… so it feels a bit like the company is throwing in the towel. 

DJI successfully rolled out a similar update in the EU but was forced to keep the geofencing around airports. Don’t be surprised if the same happens here, especially after a DJI drone was found responsible for damaging the wing of a “Super Scooper” aircraft fighting the Palisades Fire, resulting in its grounding for days. Again, talk about terrible timing.

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The Australian Open is showing (almost) live coverage of its tournament on its YouTube channel but with a twist: everything onscreen is an animated rendering of the actual matches.

Why It Hits: The Australian Open can’t stream its matches live because of its exclusive broadcast deals, but simulcasting an animated rendition is a clever hack that can grow the tournament’s viewership and maybe convince broadcasters to pay for rights to it as well, eventually.

Between the Serves: Welcome to AO Animated… or, as we call it, Sims: Tennis.

Final Score: The Australian Open actually rolled out this tech last year, where it peaked at almost 800,000 views during the men’s final. This year’s tournament, which began on January 5th, has already attracted 4x as many viewers. Coupled with the popularity of CBS’ Nickelodeon-fied broadcasts of football games and Prime Video’s alternative commentary broadcasts of Thursday Night Football, creating niche ways to watch sports may take over the game.

74% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Do you drink alcohol?

“Few things are as cozy and comforting as having an after-dinner conversation with friends and some vino. Or traveling abroad and having a glass of the local spirit while sitting on a terrace.”

“Dry January is not in my plans. Adults can enjoy alcohol without binge drinking — that’s the difference.”

“I like red wine with my meals or to wind down at the end of the week.”

“I am 3.5 years sober, after too many years of drinking alcohol.”

“Stopped drinking three years ago, never felt better. The biggest difference isn’t necessarily the health benefit but the clear-eyed view on how deeply ingrained drinking culture has become. The classic ‘let’s grab drinks’ to get to know work colleagues is so normalized. There are even scenes of the TV show Criminal Minds (about a behavioral FBI team) where they drink at a club before they get called into a murder case. It’d be outrageous if they were all smoking a joint in the same context. But drinking? No problem.”

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.

🏛️ Drake dropped his complaint that UMG and Spotify juiced numbers for Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” …but is now suing UMG for defamation for promoting the song.

🎤 Bad Bunny is the first Latin artist to have 100 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

🏈 Fox will stream the upcoming Super Bowl on Tubi.

👕 The LA Rams dropped a capsule collection to raise funds for the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Red Cross.

🤡 Phaidon is publishing a retrospective and deep dive into all of MSCHF’s incredible works of trolling.

🔴 The US is officially banning the use of Red Dye No. 3 in all products.

📱 Bluesky will soon have an Instagram-alternative platform called Flashes.

💸 Funding for US creator startups jumped 51% last year after two years of declines.

👶 Attention toddlers (and parents of toddlers): Ms. Rachel is on Netflix.