đ An inflated Fourth
Plus: Microsoft settles discrimination claims.
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Hereâs what you need to know
Googleâs environmental plans are being stifled by its own AI endeavors. The tech company is dealing with unsustainable energy demands and it is pushing its carbon footprint up.
Microsoft agreed to pay over $14 million to women and disabled workers to settle a discrimination suit. The filing made with the California Civil Rights Department accused the tech giant of retaliating against workers who used protected leave.
Australia has an egg shortage and itâs impacting breakfast at McDonaldâs. The fast food chain is trimming its breakfast hours to help it curtail the bird flu-impacted supply constraint.
Alaska Airlinesâ flight attendants stand to get a wage boost for helping passengers onboard. Talks of the âboarding payâ bump come after 20 months of back-and-forth bargaining.
Skydanceâs merger talks with Paramount are back on. Should a deal take place, Skydance would fork out roughly $1.75 billion for National Amusements.
Inflation isnât stopping Americaâs party
Higher prices arenât keeping Americans from their independent right to spend billions of dollars on food and drinks to commemorate July 4th, with the holiday projected to garner some $9.4 billion in sales.
A large swath of retailers, including Aldi, Target, and Walmart, are staying open for the federal holiday. But Costco, and its beloved $1.50 hotdog combo, will be off the menu, as the retailer closes for the red-white-and-blue Independence Day.
If you had to guess which party staple inflation has affected the most this year, could you? Your options are:
A. Hot dogs
Find out the answer here, and what you can expect from gas prices, and why you may not see Joey Chestnut at Nathanâs hot dog eating contest.
Formula 1 used to be far from mainstream
As the highest class of international racing for open-wheel, single-seater cars, F1 is worth more than $18 billion and stands to accelerate even more as a bonafide entertainment business, as the Euro-born sport becomes more popular in China, the United States, and elsewhere. But F1 also faces its challenges, from new driving tech to new electrification pressures.
In the third episode of the 8th season of the Quartz Obsession podcast, Jalopnik writer Ryan Erik King navigates a few high-speed laps around the past, present, and future of Formula 1 racing with host Rocio Fabbro in F1: The global race to the future.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora
đ Or, read the transcript
Surprising discoveries
A massive salamander-like creature may have existed before the dinosaurs. The sharp fanged beast is said to have dominated the water ahead of the arrival of dinosaurs on land.
The influencer dry spell is upon us. The days of clawing to social media superstardom may be limited, as the means to âmake itâ become harder to come by.
Humans arenât the only surgical wizards. Florida carpenter ants are said to have been performing life-saving amputations on comrades.
Walmartâs drones need to watch out for bullets. Some gun owners are shooting at the delivery devices because they think theyâre spying on them.
When the going gets rough, retailers are turning to product rebrands. Dubbed, âupflation,â some chains are changing how they market certain items, including full-body deodorant.
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Our best wishes on a safe Fourth of July holiday. Send any news, comments, influencing tips, or full-body deodorants to [email protected]. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Francisco Velasquez and Morgan Haefner.