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US Democrats push to hold Trump accountable. The party’s lawmakers are discussing what action to take against the president, including the possibility of impeachment, for his role in last week’s insurrection at the Capitol, while Republicans are split. Meanwhile, tech giants are cutting off the social media app Parler, which Trump supporters used to coordinate the riot.
The US challenged China… US secretary of state Mike Pompeo lifted restrictions on diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and signed a joint statement with the foreign ministers of Great Britain, Australia, and Canada condemning the arrest of 55 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong last week.
…as China introduced new rules to counter US sanctions. The regulations block Chinese companies from complying with foreign sanctions, though it’s unclear how stringently they’ll be enforced. Meanwhile, a Trump executive order banning Americans from trading the securities of dozens of Chinese companies comes into effect today.
Authorities retrieved wreckage from an Indonesian plane crash. Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 crashed into the Java Sea with 62 people on board shortly after taking off from Jakarta on Saturday. It is the latest in a number of aviation disasters for the country.
Bitcoin went nuts. The volatile digital currency had one of its best weeks on record, reigniting debates over its value.
What to watch for
The world’s biggest gadget convention, by the digits. CES, the conference formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, is about to take a step into the future it has been touting for decades. Today, organizers will open their first virtual show, trading millions of square feet of exhibits and gimmicks for a few inches of space on attendees’ laptop screens.
The week will certainly lack some of the overwhelming absurdity that Quartz has gleefully chronicled in years past. But if anyone can pull off an immersive virtual experience, it should be the band of geeks and hucksters that has been heralding the arrival of precisely this kind of digital moment.
170,000: In-person attendees at CES in 2020
150,000: Virtual visitors expected to tune in for CES 2021
4,400: Physical exhibits at CES 2020
1,000: Digital exhibits planned for CES 2021
2: Realities on display last time Quartz attended the convention—one utopia and one dystopia
0: Number of people who will miss battling through crowds for the debut of gimmicky gadgets like the “IoT Cat Toilet LavvieBot”
Charting Elon Musk’s millions
In 2018, Elon Musk negotiated a controversial pay package. The Tesla CEO agreed to receive no salary or bonuses in exchange for a purely performance-based compensation plan. Each time Tesla’s market capitalization crossed a milestone, starting at $100 billion, Musk would receive Tesla stock options up to a market cap of $650 billion. Each payday would be worth hundreds of millions—or even billions—depending on the stock’s fortunes.
At the time, observers doubted the electric automaker could enrich Musk as much as the pay package envisioned. Those doubts are gone.
On Jan. 7, Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of $185 billion, up from just over $27 billion in 2020. His wealth has been driven by the meteoric stock price of Tesla, which is now higher than that of Facebook.
Pet profits
Americans spent nearly $100 billion on pets and pet care last year, a sum that has grown by about 4% to 5% a year since the great recession of 2008. That’s more than what they spend on smartphones or at the movies, combined, and greater than the GDP of Ethiopia.
Welcome to the pet industrial complex. As our animals have transformed from our property to our de facto children, a massive and lucrative industry has developed to feed and care for them. Our latest field guide looks at the industry that’s grown around the boom in pet ownership, and why the idea of personhood—viewing our pets as we do humans—threatens to destabilize it.
✦ We’ll sit and stay if you give us the treat of trying out a Quartz membership free for seven days.
Surprising discoveries
China is running low on shipping containers. Soaring demand for Chinese goods has resulted in a shortage of containers, creating bottlenecks in southeast Asia and India, too.
Max is the top dog. A new analysis shows that “Max” has been the most popular name for American dogs ever since the release of the 1979 film Mad Max.
Still, Max needs a “pet shrink.” From trainers to counselors, a burgeoning field of animal behaviorists is promising to help pet owners create optimal conditions to breed human-pet relationships.
Women are turning to unregulated markets for sperm donors. With sperm banks short on supply thanks to the pandemic, women looking to conceive are turning to Facebook groups instead.
There’s a startup bubble specializing in miniature satellites. So-called “nanosat” startups peddle low-cost technology that helps clients monitor everything from Antarctic penguins to far-off wind farms.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, extra shipping containers, and penguin-monitoring satellites to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Sarah Todd, Jackie Bischof, Nicolás Rivero, Oliver Staley, and Michael Coren.