Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Vladimir Putin visits Turkey for a summit on Syria. Russia’s president will meet with Turkish and Iranian counterparts Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Hassan Rouhani. Putin will also join Erdoğan for the official opening of a Russian-made nuclear power plant being built in Turkey.
Spotify goes public. The music-streaming company has opted for an unusual IPO process that could lead to a volatile first day of trading. However, the direct listing will help Spotify save millions in banking fees (paywall) and give insiders a chance to cash out their shares.
Google and Facebook bid for Indian cricket rights. The tech giants will compete against Reliance Jio, Star India, and Sony Pictures Network India in an online auction for broadcasting rights through 2023.
While you were sleeping
Tesla fell short of its Model 3 production goal. Elon Musk claimed “mind-blowing progress” as the company ramped up to produce more than 2,000 Model 3s per week. But investors had been expecting at least 2,500 per week after a number of delays, and Musk reportedly has taken control of Model 3 manufacturing from Tesla’s senior VP of engineering.
Villanova won the NCAA tournament again. The Wildcats won in the US men’s college basketball tournament for the second time in three years, beating Michigan 79-62. Villanova also scored the most three-pointers in an NCAA tournament.
The SEC charged the founders of a Floyd Mayweather-backed ICO. The US securities regulator said the co-founders of Centra Tech had plans to raise $25 million through selling a digital token without registering the offering. Mayweather, who wasn’t charged with any wrongdoing, promoted the offering on Twitter in September.
Apple plans to use its own chips in Macs by 2020. The move, reported by Bloomberg, would be a harsh blow to longtime supplier Intel, whose shares dropped 9.2% on the news. The goal is to make Macs work more seamlessly with iPhones and other Apple devices, which have processors designed by Apple using technology from SoftBank’s Arm Holdings.
Quartz obsession interlude
Abdi Latif Dahir on the crack in Kenya that may split Africa in two. “The East African Rift System (EARS), part of the Great Rift Valley… is an actively developing rift, a process that will slowly thin the earth’s lithosphere crust, spread the seafloor, stretch and break the topography through faulting, and eventually break the continent apart.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Women can’t win—even in the kitchen. Men who use weird and wonderful gadgets are heralded, but women with smart hacks are viewed as spoiled dilettantes.
Makeup-wearing women are perceived as less competent. And they’re unlikely to be seen as strong leaders.
The myth of the infallible creative genius needs to go. Putting auteurs on a pedestal keeps abusive men in power in creative industries.
Surprising discoveries
A powerful hallucinogen makes people think they’ve seen aliens. Researchers are studying why users of DMT frequently report meeting “angels, demons, and even elves.”
India’s “cheating mafia” is getting to work. They aim to profiteer from students desperate to pass their exams to get into prestigious universities, for example by leaking exam papers.
Nancy Pelosi is the new Hillary Clinton. One in three Republican campaign ads target the Democratic congress member.
Some NFL cheerleaders aren’t allowed to wear sweatpants in public. It’s one of the many rules dictating how women who cheer for US football teams should behave outside of work (paywall).
A four-eyed lizard walked the earth nearly 50 million years ago. Saniwa ensidens fossils from what is now Wyoming revealed two additional eyes on top of the reptile’s head.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, alien sightings, and sweatpants to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Isabella Steger and edited by Steve Mollman.