Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
SpaceX launches a top-secret US government satellite. A Falcon 9 rocket is slated to lift off between 8pm and 10pm local time Sunday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the Zuma satellite to a low-earth orbit. The launch will also include a landing attempt of the rocket’s first stage.
The US and South Korea talk trade. Negotiators meet in Washington today to thrash out changes to Korus, the free-trade pact between the two countries. The White House has criticized the deal, saying that the US trade deficit with South Korea has more than doubled since the agreement started in 2012.
The US jobs report comes out. The Labor Department releases its figures for December (paywall), which will be scrutinized for year-end trends. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expect no change in the 4.1% unemployment rate from November and the addition of 180,000 new nonfarm jobs in December.
While you were sleeping
North Korea said “yes” to South Korea’s high-level talks offer. They’ll meet on Jan. 9, with a key topic being the North’s participation in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea. The White House said it hoped Seoul wouldn’t “go off freelancing” on other issues, while Donald Trump took credit on Twitter for the diplomatic breakthrough.
Travis Kalanick is selling nearly a third of his Uber shares. The co-founder and former CEO of Uber will sell equity worth about $1.4 billion to a SoftBank-led consortium of investors. The group is taking a 17.5% stake in the company, mostly by buying shares from early investors and employees. Kalanick owns 10% of the company.
Apple said all its devices were affected by Meltdown and Spectre. It said there was no evidence that the flaws affecting processors from Intel and ARM had been exploited by hackers. Apple has released iOS, macOS, and tvOS updates, and asked people only to download apps from trusted sources.
Quiksilver and Billabong went surfing together. Boardriders, the parent of Quiksilver, is reportedly buying its Australian surf-gear rival (paywall) for around $315 million. Together, the new global chain would bring in around $2 billion in annual sales—and buoy up both struggling companies.
GoPro made cuts in its drone division. Between 200 and 300 employees are to be let go this week, according to TechCrunch, as problems in its aerial division persist. That division makes the Karma drone, which has suffered ongoing technical issues, leading to a mass recall last year, when the drones started falling out of the sky.
Quartz obsession interlude
Echo Huang and Tripti Lahiri on who will suffer as China greens its economy. “China, a major global importer of many recyclable materials, will stop taking 24 kinds of solid waste from other countries… China took over half of the world’s waste plastic in 2016. The move to reject plastic waste could have a ‘devastating impact’ on recycling worldwide.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Trump’s “nuclear button” tweet is nothing new. The rhetoric may be childish, but other US presidents have been making the same threats for decades.
Getting climate change support by scaring people doesn’t work. What does is talking about the subject a lot more.
Ordering delivery in a treacherous snowstorm is unethical. It may provide income to employees, but it encourages employers to require staff to come to work to meet demand.
Surprising discoveries
This year’s must-see art shows are in Bangkok and Ohio—not Venice and Paris. Biennials and triennials are becoming more diverse and global than ever.
Employees at socially conscious companies are more likely to lie. People tend to give themselves permission to do something “bad” after they’ve done something “good.”
Ocean dead zones have quadrupled in size since 1950. Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels creates warmer waters that hold less oxygen.
“Slow smokers” compete by making cigars last. A Polish aficionado set the record by keeping his stogie lit for 3 hours and 26 minutes (paywall).
Apple app developers brought in more sales than McDonald’s in 2017. They earned $26.5 billion in revenue, an increase of 30% over 2016.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, art-show listings, and densely packed cigars to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.