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Happy Tuesday, TFP. Thanks to the construction boom of data centers — most of which are set to power our increasing demand for AI — your electric bill is starting to go up. Grid operator PJM expects customers will shoulder an extra $9.3 billion in costs this year, and the state of Virginia projects monthly bills could jump by $14 to $37 by 2040. Maybe it’s time we take a cue from Ben & Jerry’s and tap into their ingenious power source: funneling ice cream waste to wastewater facilities, where it’s transformed into biogas. Vermont’s already using it to help power the grid. Delicious electricity.

Meta is positioning AI-powered smartglasses as the next must-have consumer device — one that could even replace the smartphone as the primary tool for on-the-go computing.

The Big Vision: The smartphone — and by smartphone, we really mean the iPhone — has been the most important and widely used consumer device for nearly two decades. That’s long irked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose suite of apps (possibly the most-used in the world) has been gatekept by Apple. Smartglasses could give Meta the edge it needs to reclaim some of that power from the iPhone maker.

Behind The Lenses: Zuckerberg’s big pitch is that merging his investments in AI and smartglasses will usher in what he calls “personal superintelligence.”

Last Looks: Zuckerberg has been laying the groundwork for his planned smartglasses revolution — pouring unprecedented amounts of money into AI and recently taking a $3.5 billion minority stake in Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica. At this point, he may rename the company “Glass” (remember his bet on the metaverse?).

Despite Meta’s grand plans, Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sweating it… publicly at least. While it’s common knowledge that Apple is lagging behind in AI, Cook said that smartglasses are likely “to be complementary devices, not a substitution” for smartphones. Still, Apple is also developing its own smartglasses. You know, just in case.

Foresight: We may soon need to add some extra layers to prescription glasses to account for in-lens displays and AR features.

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New data shows that employees are, by and large, refusing to return to the office despite incessant calls for them to do so.

The Big Picture: COVID brought about one major change to the workplace — WFH arrangements. While employers would love to close Pandora’s box in the name of productivity, loyalty, and teamwork, employees have redesigned their lives around the newfound flexibility — and have no intention of giving it up.

Behind The Offices: In 2022, Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom found that workers would ignore a full-time RTO mandate from their employers… and they weren’t kidding.

Final Warning: The verdict seems to be that hybrid has officially won. Even at companies that mandate five-day in-office attendance, most operate with a hybrid policy in practice — at least according to Occuspace, a sensor-tech firm used by Fortune 500 companies to track badge swipes.

Prediction: Job openings that tout remote or hybrid work are down multiple percentage points this year, so companies that market flexible arrangements may still get the most attention… even in a down employment market.

55.9% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Do you think naming tech products after fantasy elements is effective branding?

“It’s a fun way to name things, and it can tell those who’ve read the related story a bit more about the item… sometimes. Branding is another topic entirely.”

“It’s a toss up. It’ll entice some, but then you also have those (like myself) who do not care for the genre and will only be turned away from the product until we have more to go by than just a name.”

“It would seem like instant product recognition.”

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.

🎥 The new Paramount has locked in its C-suite, naming NBCU vet Jeff Shell as president and appointing Skydance’s Dana Goldberg and former Sony Pictures exec Josh Greenstein as heads of the film studio.

🎮 Film financier Lyrical Media is launching a gaming division under Private Division and UTA alum Blake Rochkind.

🎙️ Amazon is splitting podcast studio Wondery into two separate teams — a narrative division and a creator-led division.

🚁 Electric air-taxi startup Joby Aviation is acquiring the passenger business of helicopter-taxi company Blade Air Mobility, which operates in New York and southern Europe.

🚘 A federal court has found that Tesla is one-third responsible for a 2019 fatal crash involving a driver using the automaker’s autopilot feature.

☕ Tea, an app that lets women anonymously rate and review men, suffered a massive data breach of images and DMs.

🥗 HelloFresh is investing $70 million to make AI a personal dinner planner and increase meal offerings.

👟 Bad Bunny and Adidas are opening a wide-ranging exhibition in the singer’s native Puerto Rico.

🩴 Iconic sandal maker Havaianas is collabing with Zellerfeld on 3D-printed flip flops.