🧹 Sweeping is for robots

Plus: It's statistically likely you speak chicken, remote is harder to promote, build your own emoji, and more. View Online Fellow blatherskites, rejoice! Every year, Wayne State University marks a handful of long-forgotten English words due for a comeback. Its 15th annual list includes rawgabbit, meaning someone who talks confidently but ignorantly; curglaff, the shock from jumping into cold water; pettifogger, a bad lawyer; petrichor, the smell produced from the first rain after a long dry spell; and the aforementioned blatherskite, someone who speaks a lot without making much sense. In today's email: Robots: They'll be doing your chores in no time. Football coaches: Job security sucks, but wow, those paychecks. Digits: Starbucks takes over India, a "generational opportunity" for all, and more newsy numbers. Around the web: Cook in the emoji kitchen, connect musicians via related artists, and more. 👇 Listen: As some communities ban dollar stores, we've got to ask: Are the stores as harmful as they say? The Big Idea Sick of doing your chores? Give them to a robot Robots may finally become a mainstay in our homes. 2024-01-16T00:00:00Z Sara Friedman If you've ever looked at a pile of dishes in your sink and wished you could snap your fingers and make it disappear — we have good news. Toyota is developing robots to help with housework at its Cambridge research lab, per Wired. The robots use a machine-learning system similar to those of AI image generators, called diffusion policy, to handle less structured tasks, like sweeping a home. Rather than being programmed to repeat the same action, as we've seen in factories, Toyota's goal is for these robots to eventually learn by watching videos, allowing them to make real-time decisions and adjustments in your home. This could be helpful… … for more than just a lazy Sunday. Toyota's goal is to use these robots to help people age safely in their homes. In addition to cleaning, Toyota's robots are learning to: Peel vegetables Use hand mixers Prepare snacks Flip pancakes If successful, these bots could help support America's 65+ population, which is projected to reach 82m people by 2050. And we're already seeing other robots pull their weight in eldercare, like the ElliQ robot companion to combat loneliness and nursing home robot assistants. Smart home Whether for keeping us company or cleaning our floors, robots in the home will likely become more common as other major companies work on their own solutions. Samsung's Ballie, first debuted in 2020, is a voice-controlled companion robot that can project videos onto walls and patrol your home. Plus, this year's Consumer Electronics Show was packed to the brim with bots: Yarbo handles hassles outside the home, like shoveling snow or blowing leaves. LG's AI agent follows you around, helping with chores by connecting to smart home appliances. And, most importantly, ORo's robotic dog assistant that keeps your pup entertained. Free Resource Win in 2024 with HubSpot Sales Hub Your sales software shouldn't be a bummer. (Or a burden. Or bleh.) When you step inside your sales platform, you should feel equipped to tackle your entire to-do list. The new HubSpot Sales Hub keeps you productive and ready to win: Use AI-powered tools that actually lighten your workload Manage leads and close sales with smart deal management and prospecting workspaces Scale insightfully with integrated reporting and forecasting tools This is software that's easy to use and made for today's top sales teams. Test-drive HubSpot Sales Hub today. Always Be Closing → TRENDING Flexibility vs. upward mobility: In 2023, remote workers received promotions 31% less frequently than their in-office counterparts, per a Live Data Technologies study. That proximity bias is fronted by chief executives — according to a recent survey, ~90% said they were more likely to favor employees who come into the office when doling out job and salary bumps. SNIPPETS Oxfam's annual global inequality report, always delightfully timed to the first day of the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland, is far from surprising: The wealthiest 1% currently own 43% of the world's financial assets. Artifact, the AI-powered news curation app created by Instagram's co-founders, is shutting down just a year after launching. The NFL playoff game between Kansas City and Miami, which streamed exclusively on NBCUniversal's Peacock, was the most-streamed live event in US history, averaging ~23m viewers, per NBC. The game reportedly accounted for ~30% of the country's internet traffic. Apple is offering rare price cuts in China. The company is temporarily discounting iPhones by $70 and some MacBook Air models by $112 to tempt Chinese consumers who've increasingly turned to domestic brands like Huawei for their tech. Sweethearts will offer new candy hearts this Valentine's Day for people in "situationships." The besotted missives, like "Be Mine," will be distorted, or "as blurry as your relationship," the box reads. Plastics explosive: Mean Girls fetched $32m at the box office over the holiday weekend. Despite advertising that some felt was misleading, 75% of the audience was aware the reboot was a musical. From OnlyFans co-founder to… airline executive? Tom Stokely, who shook up the adult content world, will try doing the same for international travel as a director of Global Airlines, a luxury airline featuring "social spaces" and fancy champagne. How to get hired: Take this pack of 50 interview questions to prep for success, upgrade your confidence, and hopefully hop on payroll. Don't miss this... See four common reasons promising prospects wind up ghosting you (and the best ways to respond). Chart Olivia Heller Win or lose, football coaches keep cashing in Like most things these days, the costs of hiring — or firing — a good coach just keeps multiplying. 2024-01-16T00:00:00Z Ben Berkley When Alabama's Nick Saban — arguably the greatest-ever college football coach — surprisingly retired last week, two things instantly became givens: Alabama would immediately throw exorbitant sums to attract an already exorbitantly paid coach from another top school. (It already has, paying Washington's Kalen DeBoer an estimated $10m+ annually to take over.) The school whose coach just got poached would turn around and do the very same thing. (Washington roped Arizona's Jedd Fisch with a $7.75m salary.) This is how business is done in the coaching world, which was described as "a 25-year bull market" last week in The Athletic. "Bull market" is no bull Saban, who made $120m+ over his 17-year run at Alabama, topped the NCAA in earnings, but those behind him aren't hurting: 50+ coaches make $4m+ per year. There's good reason: football is the cash cow behind schools' athletic departments and, for winning programs, business is booming. Perennial football contender Ohio State led the nation in athletic revenue in 2022, generating $251.6m. That was before OSU's conference struck a new TV deal that'll add another $80m-$100m to its coffers annually. Making millions as a coach isn't a parade, of course; naturally, a high-pressure, win-now role has wretched job security. Of the 133 Division I football programs, only 13 are fronted by coaches who've been there 10+ years. Fired = set for life A successful coach is "worth his weight in gold," per The Athletic, selling tickets, upping TV ratings, and attracting booster donations. That means leverage for coaches, which they've turned into absurd buyout clauses: Earlier this season, Texas A&M paid Jimbo Fisher a record $77m to not coach. NCAA coaches have a combined $585.5m+ in golden parachutes, led by Georgia's Kirby Smart, who'd get $92.5m if fired. Next up: Jim Harbaugh, who just coached Michigan to a national title, is considering a $125m contract extension — or hopping to the NFL, where the paychecks are bigger but job security's somehow worse. Two other coaching legends —- Bill Belichick (salary: $25m), and Pete Carroll (salary: $15m) — just lost their jobs. Turns out, being among the NFL's all-time winningest coaches only gets you so far these days. FIT THE BILL There are thousands of companies valued at $1B+. How many clues do you need to identify today's billion-dollar brand? Clue 1: Better known today for its titular high-intensity product, this company used to produce a children's juice drink that featured Clifford the Big Red Dog on its packaging. Clue 2: Though it is a US-based company, it's been led by two South African billionaires since 1990. Clue 3: It had a busy 2023, adding Bang Energy to its drink portfolio through a $362m acquisition and targeting the likes of Pokemon and an adult diaper company among its 100+ filed trademark complaints. 👇 Scroll to the bottom for the answer 👇 By the Numbers Digits: Chicken talk, an aggressive Starbucks push, a new buzz phrase, and more Way too many nanoplastics, Starbucks in India, a new corporate buzz term, and more numbers from around the web. 2024-01-16T00:00:00Z Juliet Bennett Rylah ~70%: Percentage of people who could correctly guess how a chicken was feeling based on its cluck, regardless of how much time they'd spent among chickens previously, per an Australian study. Chickens communicate via body language and sounds, which apparently includes screaming to celebrate the laying of an egg. 1k: How many cafes Tata Starbucks, a partnership between Starbucks and Tata Consumer Products, wants to open in India by 2028. India currently has 390 Starbucks stores, meaning Tata Starbucks must open a new one every three days to reach its goal, which CEO Laxman Narasimhan says is doable. Starbucks faces competition from both local chains like Blue Tokai and others, including Canada's Tim Hortons. 3.8k%: Percentage increase in the use of the phrase "generational opportunity" during earnings calls since 2018. What does it mean? Well, it sounds like they're using it to describe a rare or perhaps "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, and The Financial Times would very much like them to stop. 240k: Average number of plastic pieces 100 nanometers in size or less that may be contained in a liter of bottled water, per a study using a new plastic detection technique. This is much higher than the ~10k particles per liter a 2018 study found, and particularly concerning considering nanoplastics are known to have negative health impacts on humans and animals. SPREAD THE WORD Free book giveaway... How about a trade: help us reach world domination, and we'll ship you a fresh physical copy of Noah Kagan's new book, Million Dollar Weekend. (Refer five friends to our newsletter using your special link below by Jan. 30 and you'll receive the AppSumo founder's blueprint for scaling a seven-figure startup.) Share this custom referral link: https://thehustle.co/join?ref=5847034648 AROUND THE WEB 🎷 On this day: In 1938, Benny Goodman performed at Carnegie Hall, a venue that had not previously entertained jazz music. Recordings of the legendary concert, once presumed lost, did not resurface until 1950. 😀 Haha: Pick two emoji to make a new combo emoji. 🎵 Game on: How quickly can you get from one musician to another using related artists? 📸 That's cool: Vote for your favorite of these 25 photos for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award. (Voting ends Jan. 31.) 🐱 Aww: A playful little friend. HOT TAKES Today, we wrote about the many little bots that may soon live and work inside our homes. This tech has been underway for a while, but it seems it might finally materialize. So we want to know: Are you ready for robots in your home? Let us know And come back tomorrow to see the results. SHARE THE HUSTLE Hey. Don't keep us a secret. Refer just 3 people and we'll send Hustle essentials as a thank you. Share this custom referral link: https://thehustle.co/join?ref=5847034648 Your referral count: 0 Today's Fit The Bill answer is Monster Beverage Corp. (market cap: $61.44B) Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Sara Friedman. Editing by: Ben "Whistleblower on whistle blowers" Berkley. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. PODCAST JOBS CONTACT US The Hustle, 2 Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141, US. Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and unsubscribe.