Selected by our experts, delivered daily.

In May 2024, Tencent and China Library for the Blind jointly launched Barrier-Free Theater, a free online movie-streaming service for visually impaired users. The accessible versions of films function like radio dramas, providing detailed narration and spoken descriptions to help people visualize what they can't see. Tencent Video’s large-scale AI model boosted production efficiency, reducing the time it takes to make a film accessible from 30 to 10 days. Barrier-Free Theater is set to release over 600 popular titles, including YOLO, The Long Season and The Three-Body Problem.

Lil Miquela 🇺🇸 Shudu 🇿🇦 Lu do Magalu 🇧🇷... AI influencers aren't new, but AI tools allow for a speedier and cheaper creation of AI personas, driving demand for the role on freelancing platforms like Fiverr. Global searches on Fiverr for 'AI influencer' flew up by 6,305% over the past six months.

In addition to AI mega influencers, new AI niche influencers like Spanish gamer/model Aitana and 23-year-old Kant reboot Manu are joining the AI creator economy. They won't replace human influencers, but they're yet another competitor for followers and marketing spend. While Gen Z-ers are excited about AI influencers, they also worry their dream career as an influencer is no longer feasible... 💸

So, why not support them in becoming what we've dubbed M.E.O.s, the one-person, maker C.E.O.s of tomorrow? Take a cue from Ariel Marie, who (unlike Scarlett Johansson) actually gave AI companies full consent to use her persona for AI-generated content.

Rotary clotheslines — the kind with a pole in the center, folding out like an umbrella — offer a cheap and sustainable way to dry laundry outdoors. But until now, households without a yard or patio have been out of luck. While indoor drying racks provide a viable alternative, they occupy precious floor space. And on damp days, laundry can take a day or more to fully dry.

Dutch inventor Ans Clements, who started developing new products twelve years ago at age 60, alongside her career as a hairdresser, came up with a solution. The SpeedDryer is a rotary clothesline designed for indoor use. It features a small motor that gently spins the lines to speed up the drying process. Most loads of laundry will be ready in just two hours — comparable to a tumble dryer's cycle. When not in use, the device folds up for storage.

Tumble dryers rank among the most energy-intensive home appliances, using an average of 230 kWh annually and adding EUR 260 to a household's utility bills. By contrast, the SpeedDryer consumes just EUR 6.50 worth of electricity per year. Priced at EUR 219, it's an innovative adaptation of a familiar product that will appeal to consumers seeking to reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs. One to bring to apartment dwellers near you?! We're guessing it might do double duty as a cat entertainment device, too ;)

PwC just published its first Global AI Jobs Barometer, analyzing AI's impact on jobs, skills, wages and productivity in 15 countries. One of the report's key findings? "Sectors most exposed to AI — financial services, information technology and professional services — are experiencing nearly five times higher labor productivity growth than sectors less exposed to AI."

That surge in productivity is paired with a rapid change in the kind of know-how required from workers. Parsing 500 million job ads, PwC found that skills demanded by employers evolved 25% faster for occupations most able to use AI than for roles that are less AI-enabled.

While skills that can be complemented by AI are in demand, so are those that are hard for AI to perform. Examples listed by PwC include laser hair removal, yoga instruction and ecological restoration — careers that lean heavily on inhabiting a human body. For now, at least 🙃

In Q4 2024, Nestlé will launch Vital Pursuit, the first product range by a major food brand designed specifically for consumers taking GLP-1 weight loss medications. Since Ozempic, Wegovy and similar drugs work by decreasing appetite, Vital Pursuit's 12 frozen meals and snacks will come in smaller portions. They'll also contain extra protein to counteract the muscle loss commonly associated with the drugs. 

Meanwhile, Abbott repeatedly referred to GLP-1 medications when releasing its new high-protein nutrition shakes, and Daily Harvest created a GLP-1 Companion Food Collection.

According to the American Pharmacists Association, one in 60 adults was prescribed a GLP-1 medication in 2023, and that number is expected to jump this year. Morgan Stanley estimates approximately 10% of the US population could be on the drug by 2034 — that's around 35 million people no longer experiencing constant cravings for processed foods... 

In April, May and June 2024, IKEA is turning many of its store parking lots into consumer-to-consumer marketplaces with a series of flea markets and car boot sales. The retailer is inviting IKEA Family members to clean out their homes and garages and sell any furniture, toys or knick-knacks they no longer need. IKEA will also sell its own 'last chance' and secondhand items.

Following successful pilots in 2023, IKEA is hosting flea markets in various European countries, from Switzerland to the UK. Pricing varies per location. In Cardiff, for example, sellers are requested to make a GBP 5 donation to support a local charity. In France, all events are organized as 'solidarity garage sales,' with EUR 10 fees benefiting various non-profits. In Belgium, IKEA is organizing 'the country's largest flea market,' with eight stores participating on 8 June 2024. Admission to all markets is free. 

Unexpected recurring payment from an unknown brand name showing up on a bank statement? That happens regularly, with 36% of Brits spotting a scamscription or payment trap in 2023. Considering that inflation ranks as the number one concern for the 25th consecutive month, this is becoming more of a concern.

From LatAm to Asia, the subscription economy is booming, with consumers appreciating the convenience, cost-effectiveness and personalization these services provide. Yet many people don't realize they're signing up for a recurring payment: per Citizens Advice, 13 million Brits (26%) accidentally signed up for a subscription in 2023. Auto-renews, free trials and unclear terms are the most common reasons.

Earlier this month, Nokia launched an all-new 3210 4G feature phone, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the original model. Within two days, it was completely sold out in China. The reboot incorporates modern features, including a 4G connection, a larger screen, built-in music apps and support for Alipay. The phone also has a two-megapixel camera that produces results similar to old-school point-and-shoots, now regaining popularity on Xiaohongshu.

Most notably, the model released in China does not support WeChat, which strengthens the product’s value proposition as a stripped-down yet stylish option for consumers actively choosing to eschew smartphones.

We know England can be prone to the odd spot of rain ☔😉, but wet days are becoming more than a mild inconvenience. Three in five English adults say extreme weather affects their ability to be active. According to the UK's Football Association, 30% of community pitches are flooded for two months of the year, resulting in an estimated 120,000 lost soccer matches annually.

Recognizing the impact of flooding and unusually heavy downpours, UK sporting body Sport England has announced Every Move, a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the effects of climate change. Planned initiatives include restoring flooded pitches and making swimming pools more environmentally and financially sustainable. Sport England has also warned of funding cuts to organizations without robust sustainability measures in place by 2027, stating: "It's time we moved from informing and encouraging to enabling and requiring."

Findings from Sport England's recent survey of sports clubs and other stakeholders underscore the need for change: 4 in 10 organizations are already affected by disruptions to play caused by weather events, and 59% state that funding for environmental initiatives is the type of support they want most. As Sport England says, "While it might not be convenient or easy, we have to act now."

_______

P.S. The accompanying image isn't a random cute pic. Since harvest mice are suffering from a loss of habitat, Wimbledon tennis balls are donated to conservation programs around Britain to serve as spherical mouse homes.

In a bid to redefine the home climate industry, California-based startup Quilt just unveiled a heat pump that packs energy efficiency into a smaller, sleeker design. Its compact indoor units come with front panels in either white oak veneer or plain white; the latter can be painted or wall-papered to match any interior. The units also feature built-in lighting that can be dimmed and color-adjusted.

Price before rebates is USD 6,499 per room, including the outdoor unit, permitting support and installation. Quilt will start installing units in the Bay Area this summer, with Los Angeles to follow.

A Kraft Mayonnaise campaign in Venezuela is encouraging buyers to repurpose its glass jars. Underneath regular labels, Kraft has printed names of items that can be stored in the containers once they've been emptied of mayo. Ten versions are available: for flour, grains, coffee, salt, sugar, pasta, rice, office supplies and an all-purpose 'something delicious.' One even functions as a measuring cup.

While glass can be infinitely recycled without losing quality, global recycling rates are about 20%. The rest ends up in landfills, where it can take a million years to degrade. Kraft's limited edition jars, available across Venezuela until September 2024, could help divert glass from landfills by prompting consumers to find new uses. Response on social media has been notably positive, with many people planning to collect all ten.

Just under 16 minutes. That's how long it takes to get a mental boost from exercise. The ASICS 2024 State of Mind Study reinforces the positive impact of exercise on psychological wellbeing and identifies a direct link between exercise in teenage years and mental health in adulthood. The study, which surveyed over 26,000 people across 22 countries, also reveals that 57% of the Silent Generation were active daily in their childhood, compared to just 19% of Gen Z.

It could get even worse for the next generation – whose members handle iPads before their third birthday and spend 2.48 hours a week shopping online (US kids 8 or younger). So it's time to nudge kids and teenagers, from Gen Alpha to Gen Z, to swap their digital playgrounds for IRL exercise. It's likely to help them feel more energized (30%), confident (21%), focused (19%) and relaxed (23%), equipping them with life-long mental resilience.

Unsurprisingly, sportswear brands are taking the lead:
🏊 adidas enters the move-to-earn scene with 1,000 NFTs
🏃 Saucony challenges phone users to run further than they scroll
🧘‍♀️ Nike and Dove's Body Confident Sport builds body confidence in girls
🤸 In a generational flip, ASICS' Little Reminders sees 7-to-8-year-olds remind adults to exercise

Aiming to spark a conversation about the lack of diversity in corporate boardrooms, e.l.f. Beauty has developed a provocative advertising campaign called "So Many Dicks." Featuring bold digital displays around New York City's Financial District, it highlights stark statistics on the underrepresentation of women and minorities on the boards of major publicly traded companies.

The campaign draws on original research analyzing the racial and gender composition of nearly 37,000 board members across 4,429 US public companies. The data reveals a concerning homogeneity at the highest levels of corporate leadership. Which is where the Dicks come in — while 566 men named Richard, Rick or Dick serve on the boards, Black women going by any name number just 806. And numbers drop from there, with even fewer Asian (774), Hispanic (283), Middle Eastern (29) and Native American women (3).

OpenAI just announced a major upgrade to its flagship product. Judging from demo videos, GPT-4o ('o' for omni) will bring unprecedented levels of natural conversation to ChatGPT. While previous versions of the app's voice mode featured a noticeable lag, the new model takes an average of 320 milliseconds to respond to audio inputs, approaching the speed of real-time human conversation. It's also able to react to video input, express emotion, crack jokes and interpret tone and sentiment in a speaker's voice.

As OpenAI CEO Sam Altman notes in a blog post following the announcement, "... the new voice (and video) mode is the best computer interface I've ever used. It feels like AI from the movies; and it's still a bit surprising to me that it's real. Getting to human-level response times and expressiveness turns out to be a big change. The original ChatGPT showed a hint of what was possible with language interfaces; this new thing feels viscerally different."

Hardly a coincidence, then, that the female voice in OpenAI's demos bears a striking resemblance to Scarlett Johansson...

Even if your products don't include 🥤👗🧴 and your brand isn't one of the top polluters like The Coca-Cola Company (11%), PepsiCo (5%) and Nestlé (3%), keep reading anyway... 🤓

Historically, the burden of dealing with plastic waste and pollution has been unfairly placed on consumers. But, as young and old alike grow increasingly skeptical of climate actions, their call for robust regulations is intensifying. Enter the UN global plastic treaty, slated to be nailed down by late 2024. This pact will mandate action across the entire lifecycle of plastics, from extraction of fossil fuels to end-of-use disposal.

Instead of waiting for nations to agree on how to tackle plastic pollution, start scrutinizing your products and packaging today. How could your brand ditch single-use and reimagine long-lived plastics?