👋 Good morning. If you’re reading this from the driver’s seat — put the dang phone down! For those of you riding shotty: you might already be late. Friday afternoon is shaping up to be the worst time to hit the road this Labor Day weekend, with congestion running from noon to 8pm, according to AAA and Inrix. The worst routes: Washington between Seattle and Ellensburg on Monday, where travel times will more than double, and Boston to Providence, Rhode Island, on Friday afternoon, when your drive will also 2x. Better UberEats that lobster roll instead.
Speaking of which: We're OOO Monday. See you back here first thing Tuesday.
NEWS FLASH
🍺 Heading deep into the woods? Let us help you with your packing list: tent, hiking boots, beer on tap. If one of those seems a little weird, take it up with Durvag, the Czech startup launching a battery-powered beer tap on Kickstarter that can chill and pour draft beer in the middle of the forest — no electricity required. The 17-kilogram Settler V1 can pour up to 24 half-liter beers per hour on battery, runs for up to 20 hours on a single charge, and is already 77% toward its $50k funding goal with 26 days to go. Suddenly camping sounds appealing…
🤝 No more stranger danger: Secondhand marketplace Commonplace wants to help buyers get their hands on bulky, high-value items like gym equipment, appliances, and furniture without having to invite a stranger into their home to sell a treadmill. The platform currently serves buyers and sellers in the US, and it’s eyeing an expansion to Canada next.
👓 This startup sees the future of healthcare: UK-based Strolll is building AR glasses that guide patients with neurological disorders through physical therapy exercises, whether they're in a hospital bed or at home on the couch. The startup just secured funding from Innovate UK and is now building StrolllAssessment, an AI tool that automates the slow, expensive process of validating new therapy methods — potentially cutting what normally takes years down to months.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
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The sandwich generation: Not as tasty as it sounds, unfortunately. A quarter of US adults are caring for a parent over 65 while raising a child under 18 or financially supporting an adult one, according to Pew Research Center.
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Wait, this also sounds delicious. Maybe we’re just hungry? Singapore startup Kopi Near Me solved the sticky engineering problem of brewing Nanyang coffee — beans for which are roasted with sugar and butter, leaving behind a residue that clogs machines — by developing custom 24/7 vending machines.
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Other not-so-comforting stats: Almost 40% of adults under the age of 50 report using AI for personal, emotional, or social queries — including relationship advice, romantic chats, and connection — according to a poll from Elon University and The Washington Post.
- Where no balloon has gone before: Red Balloon Aerospace is aiming for the largely ignored stratosphere with superpressure balloons and solar-powered airships designed to float for months at a time, with potential use cases including communications, disaster response, and agriculture.
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THE BIG IDEA
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The miniature housing market is a $2.5B business
Homeownership increasingly feels out of reach for many, and while some turn to tiny homes as an affordable option, others find relief in reallllly tiny homes — AKA dollhouses.
No longer mere child's play, designing a dream house in miniature is an increasingly popular hobby among young adults, per Elle.
These grownup dollhouses with elaborate furnishings are small in scale, but can carry surprisingly outsized price tags and could help the global dollhouse industry grow from ~$1.2B to an estimated $2.5B by 2032.
It's a small world after all
Long before Barbie's Dreamhouse, dollhouses — or "cabinet houses" — were stylish status symbols for wealthy adults.
- Miniatures have been around since ancient Egypt, but in 17th-century northern Europe, opulent miniature houses contained expensive collectibles and sometimes were used to instruct girls how to run a household.
- "Baby Houses" in 18th-century England served as exact replicas of the owner's home to showcase their wealth.
- Queen Mary's Dolls' House in Windsor Castle, perhaps the most famous of all, features over 1.5k artisan-crafted items.
- Into the 20th century, mass-produced dollhouses became more affordable and were eventually relegated to kids' playrooms.
A dollhouse revival among adults emerged in the 1970s, but the pandemic and social media have helped supercharge the hobby and art form in recent years.
For some, miniatures and dollhouses offer a creative outlet, relieve stress, build community, and provide a bit of childhood nostalgia.
For others, the resurgence means big business:
- The Kensington Dollhouse Co. creates custom, museum-quality houses ranging from $8k to $134k.
- At NYC's Tiny Doll House, miniatures sell for a few dollars to thousands.
- Small Scale LA crafts hyper-realistic replicas of Los Angeles landmarks, priced between $650 and $2.3k, and accepts commissions with prices ranging from $5k to $10k.
- The International Guild of Miniature Artisans hosts an annual weeklong Guild School where tuition runs up to $2.2k.
- One teenager began selling 3D-printed dollhouses for $700 a piece during the pandemic.
- Tastemade's Tiny Kitchen series generates ~45m monthly views on videos of celebs making real food in miniature.
Some entrepreneurs have even found dollhouses offer useful lessons for building a business.
As someone with a lifelong fascination with miniatures and dioramas, I fully support this resurgence.
As an alternative to homeownership, however, my concern is how we'll fit in the building.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
We don’t have a crystal ball, but can we interest you in four wild AI predictions from a $39B tech founder?
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
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Number of shows on Australian DJ Lenny Pearce’s upcoming “techno toddler” tour, roughly a third of which are over 90% sold out, per The Wall Street Journal. The 35-year-old, who worked at a big-box retailer after his boy-band career fizzled out and before pivoting to children’s entertainment, has found massive success as the pioneer of “toddler raves”: concerts that have proven popular with thousands of little ones and their EDM-loving parents, some of whom are shelling out hundreds of dollars to jam to techno remixes of songs like “The Wheels on the Bus.”
IDK if the lesson here is to follow your dreams, but definitely go find your niche.
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 2002, Kelly Clarkson topped Justin Guarini to win the first season of “American Idol.” America itself won a year later with the release of their film From Justin To Kelly.
🧩 Game: A puzzle, but the board tilts.
🏯 Bored?: Check out what’s going on right now in Japan, via 1.6k livecams.
🤯 Whoa: The very first social network was started in… 1971?!
🙂 Aww: A happy fella.
SHOWER THOUGHT
If you're driving and point at something ahead of you, your fingernail is traveling faster than you are. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Ben Berkley, Singdhi Sokpo, and Danny Jensen.
Editing by: Sara "It’s a small world after all?" Friedman.
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