👋 Good morning. Especially to Sonny, the oldest cockatiel in the world. The Illinois pet turned 33 last month and was named the oldest bird of his species by Guinness World Records. Sonny’s owner said the bird, who loves music and had a quick aptitude for memorizing songs in his younger days, has lived so long thanks to a healthy diet and lots of socialization. Not great news for the introverted cockatiels.
STARTING UP
An app to make study abroad count
❌ The problem: Many students come home from study abroad with nothing more than memories (some a little… blurry), a camera roll of photos, and Euros jangling in their coat pockets.
💡 The pitch: Voyije is building a travel companion app that reminds students to reflect on their experiences while abroad. Instead of end-of-program surveys, it sends prompts to students’ phones to help them record their travels and log their reflections in real-time.
🚀 The outlook: Voyije is already working with the College of Charleston and the University of Georgia, with plans to expand beyond study abroad to gap years, tour groups, and any trips one takes for “personal growth.”
NEWS FLASH
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Not even the Olympics are safe from AI drama: Czech ice dancers Kateřina Mrázková and Daniel Mrázek are in the news for using a track that was half AC/DC, half AI — despite receiving backlash for using AI music in previous performances. Meanwhile, Spanish skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté is just happy he received clearance for the music in his Minions routine.
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All aboard: Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and his wife, designer Catherine Martin, redesigned a 1932 train car dubbed Ceila that passengers can ride this summer on the British Pullman, a Belmond Train, England. They took inspiration from a story they wrote about a glamorous actress, though there are no references to it in the carriage’s sumptuous decor. It’ll cost $20k to book the whole thing, which seats just 12 guests.
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A record: Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke raised $60m for his startup, Entire, which makes an open source tool to help developers manage AI-generated code. It represents the largest-ever seed round for a dev tool startup.
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Clever bot: Apptronik, a $5.3B robotics startup that has partnerships with Google DeepMind and Mercedes-Benz, is focused on “embodied AI,” per TechCrunch. It's working on a robot that can perceive its environment and act accordingly, such as when unloading or choosing inventory.
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT MINDSTREAM
Can Facebook be cool again?
Meta seems to think so.
It’s adding new AI features that let users animate profile pictures, restyle Stories and Memories, and use animated backgrounds in text posts.
It’s part of a rollout with more tools and features aiming to bring back a “classic” Facebook experience.
Will it work?
👉 Read more on Mindstream.
THE BIG IDEA
(Fluff & Boots)
No more beige carpet: Cat accessories are leveling up
The stereotypical “cat lady” has been around for decades, often depicted as a disheveled woman who lives alone with her several felines. Rarely is one stylish, unless you’re talking about Selina Kyle.
That stereotype, however, may be on its ninth life as companies ditch ugly beige-carpeted cat trees and cheap cardboard scratchers and instead offer chic, high-quality cat furniture and accessories.
Like who?
- Happy & Polly offers a variety of quirky cat furniture, though it trends more whimsical (even its “goth” items are adorable).
- Mau offers elegant furniture in a modern palette of earth and gem tones.
- Hammer Woodworking Co sells wooden cat furniture and accessories.
There’s also a growing market for “catios” — the feline version of a chicken coop — that allows cats to safely play outdoors. Lance Harding, founder of Cat Topia, told The Wall Street Journal that his catios start at ~$6k for a basic model, but his most elaborate build costs $125k.
Why now?
More people than ever are adopting cats: In 2023, 40m households had at least one. In 2024, 49m did — a 23% increase, per the American Pet Products Association. Pet owners are also spending more on the furry friends they increasingly consider family.
Ashley OBryan founded Fluff & Boots, which sells the Knead-It Pad — a claw-friendly, portable mat covered in soft faux fur with a durable insert. She was inspired after being unable to find anything suitable for her own cats to safely knead, an instinctual behavior that cats will often perform on blankets, pillows, or clothes.
She attributes the design shift to a broader interest in durable, ethically-made home goods and clothes over fast-fashion and disposables, and an eye for quality aesthetics.
“Pets aren’t an afterthought; they’re part of a broader lifestyle, and the products we buy for them live directly in our homes and daily routines," OBryan told The Hustle. "People want pieces that blend into their space, not things they feel like they have to hide.”
Fun fact: We’re not saying this fits every design scheme, but if you have $3.8k, you could order this 10-foot-tall cat tree that looks like a magical fantasy tree.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Reddit: It’s a powerful way to tap into trends and reach future customers. But it’s hard to do well. One of the platform’s own experts shares her tricks of the trade.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
How much 404 Media paid for a Super Bowl LX ad, which typically cost ~$8m for a 30-second slot. The steep discount was due to it being aired only in Ottumwa, Iowa, the nation’s smallest TV market, with a population of 25k.
The “journalist-owned, human-focused” media company, which had previously never paid for advertising, said the stunt was intended as creative counter programming against the flurry of AI and AI-generated ads that have dominated the event’s commercial airtime in recent years, writing in an Instagram post that, despite its small reach, it “still counts.”
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 1912, Hsian-T’ung, AKA Henry Pu Yi, the final emperor of China, abdicated the throne after Sun Yat-sen’s revolution, ending ~2k years of imperial rule. He was six years old at the time.
🗺️ That’s interesting: Click on a European country to see what neighboring countries call it.
🤔 That’s cool: The Nonsense Laboratory is an experiment where you can manipulate the way words are spelled or sound.
📰 Newsletter: The Daily Upside brings you the market insights that actually matter.
🐱 Aww: Make yourself at home.
SHOWER THOUGHT
With the advent of wearables, it is now technically feasible for someone to live out their life and be able to view their "stats" at the end. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Sara "Cat got your tongue?" Friedman.
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