Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
Apple may make iPhones in Indonesia. CEO Tim Cook continued his travels through Asia yesterday, meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to talk about possible investments.
Eli Lilly’s weight-loss and diabetes drugs are officially in a shortage. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that most doses of Zepbound and Mounjaro are limited.
Bitcoin halving nerves are setting in. Investors are getting jittery before the big event scheduled for Friday, with the top cryptocurrency falling to $59,900 yesterday.
Boston Dynamics has a new electric robot. In introducing (the new) Atlas, the company promised it wasn’t “a person in a bodysuit” — presumably digging Tesla and its dancing, very human bot.
Superyacht sales aren’t so super
The super-rich are keeping their distance from superyachts, at least for the moment.
17%: Decline in superyacht sales last year
203: Superyachts sold last year
650 feet (198 meters): Max length of a superyacht
40%: Decline in sales of the biggest superyachts last year
The change was in part due to backlogged waiting lists, rising prices, and oligarch sanctions in Russia. Quartz’s Francisco Velasquez has the latest.
Quotable: Boeing’s whistleblower doesn’t trust 787 Dreamliners
“The plane will fall apart at the joints we’re talking about. Once you fall apart, you’re gonna descend all the way to the ground.” — Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour in an interview with NBC News ahead of his testimony before the Senate yesterday.
Salehpour sounded alarms about potential issues with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner plane, alleging that the model has flaws that could cause it to rip apart mid-air (claims that Boeing has dismissed). He wasn’t the only one with harsh words about Boeing for the Senate — the words “criminal coverup” were thrown out.
In other Boeing news: United Airlines blamed the airplane maker for its most recent losses.
More from Quartz
🦞 Red Lobster could file for bankruptcy soon
🍾 LVMH says champagne sales are down because people aren’t partying like they used to
👀 Wall Street is watching the Fed ‘way too much,’ Bank of America’s CEO says
🚗 U.S. auto safety regulators expand probe into Honda Accord and CR-V vehicles over braking issues
🇫🇷 OpenAI’s French rival Mistral AI says it’s worth $5 billion
🤑 Tesla wants Elon Musk to get his $56 billion pay package back
Surprising discoveries
A sea toad that looks like a fish was discovered in the underwater mountain chains off the coast of Chile. That’s just one of the critters we now know about.
Boston Dynamics’ old Atlas did a lot of funny things. We’ll never forget its worst jumps and falls.
There’s a Miss AI beauty pageant. All the contestants will be judged “on their beauty, tech, and clout.”
Storage units are filling up with electric cars. The number of unsold vehicles just keeps climbing, and that means more warehouses will be needed.
When the Final Fantasy 7 Remake came out, millions of copies were sold in just three days. Hype around video game remakes, reboots, and remasters (they’re all different!) is alive and well — and the gaming industry is taking advantage of it. Read all about it in the latest Quartz Obsession email, or listen to the Obsession podcast.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, sea toad names, and the best video game remakes to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.