Hello, Quartz members, and welcome to Sunday Reads!
Well, that was another week for the record books. Boeing’s 33,000 machinists voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer, Disney set a retirement date for its immortal CEO Bob Iger, Tesla started selling cars again, and Frontier and Spirit may finally tie that big knot in the sky.
But it’s Sunday, and time to shift your gaze to some hand-selected reads. Here are some of our favorite Quartz stories from the week, plus a sneak peek at one story coming next week to get your day started.
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5 things we especially liked on Quartz
🏦 Breaking the banks: It has long been a challenge for consumers to ditch the banks where they keep their checking accounts. Now, the first open banking rules in the U.S. aim to change that. As Rocio Fabbro explains, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau now requires banks to simplify how customers transfer their data from one bank to another without losing their transaction and bill history.
🤖 Microsoft wants to be your AI buddy: By combining advanced language processing with visual and auditory capabilities, and envisioning how AI could help people throughout their day, Microsoft is aiming to become the go-to AI platform for both work and personal life. Jackie Snow takes a look at how Microsoft, the oldest of the Big Tech firms, wants to become your AI buddy for life.
🍔 Deadly eating this order: Boar’s Head liverwurst, Walmart’s frozen waffles, and less well-known brands of hotdogs and ice cream have all been recalled by regulators this year over contamination with listeria, a bacterium that can cause severe illness and even death in people who eat foods infected with it. Bruce Gil explains why our food is so dangerous.
🏭 Energetic investing: As demand for electricity to power AI and data centers balloons, Bill Gates is personally investing in a half-dozen clean power startups that could become highly lucrative — if they can cheaply and cleanly supply the juice needed to power the AI revolution. Britney Nguyen takes a look at Gates’ objects of attention.
🌡️ Too damn hot! Heat waves are getting longer, and more workers are getting injured or dying in hot workplaces. Now California is trying to protect workers most at risk with new heat safety protections for indoor workers. Bruce Gil has the details.
1 sneak peek
🧠 Forget the metaverse. While Meta’s metaverse dreams have yet to come true three years after the big Facebook rebrand, the company’s artificial intelligence efforts are paying off — and Meta’s share price has recovered all it lost in the great Artificial Reality debacle. Jackie Snow has the details. Visit qz.com on Monday morning for a look at the future of everything.
What we’re watching this week
- Tuesday: Google reports earnings. So do JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines. Will anything be revealed about a potential merger?
- Wednesday: More Big Tech earnings, with Meta and Microsoft reporting. Coinbase and MicroStartegy also report.
- Thursday: It’s Halloween. Plus still more Big Tech earnings, with Apple, Amazon, and Intel reporting.
- Friday: The October jobs report is released — the last one before Election Day.
Thanks for reading! Here’s to the week ahead, and don’t hesitate to reach out with comments, questions, feedback, joy, or details of the latest food recall. Sunday Reads was brought to you by Peter S. Green.