Rather late than never, I always say. I must apologise for the late update on the Financial Virgin posts. Substack needed me to comply with new updates and this took me and them some time to approve. Hope you had a great weekend and getting ready for summer. The below is a little outdated, although very relevant. Ill be back on Friday with some fresh posts.
🌟 Zuck stole all the limelight for Metaverse
Marc Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook, recently announced that Facebook would be changing its name to Meta. The World blew up and the cut
Metaverse is a speculative future iteration of the Internet part of shared virtual reality, often as a form of social media. The metaverse in a broader sense may not only refer to virtual worlds operated by social media companies but the entire spectrum of augmented reality.
🍿 Netflix Ventures into Gaming
This isn’t entirely new news, but the company is finally taking the first step in its gaming ambitions with the launch of Netflix Games. The Android-exclusive launch will include five games, including two themed around the platform’s star-studded original, “Stranger Things.” 🌟The company says it will make its way to iOS in the near future.
❌ Valve block NFT’s
Valve’s Steam digital distribution service told Age of Rust developer SpacePirate Games that it would not allow NFT games on its platform because of concerns around the “real world value” of NFT items.
https://venturebeat.com/2021/10/26/29-blockchain-game-studios-and-groups-blast-valve-for-nft-games-ban/
💭 Takeaways from the early days of COP26
- Climate change could make the world unliveable for 3 billion people
- The case for climate reparations.
- The world needs to put a price on forests.
- Satellites could track whether nations keep their climate commitments.
🎮 Remote Workers face pay cuts
Millions of people are seemingly ready and willing to take a pay cut to continue working remotely. 61% of American workers; four in 10 Londoners; more than a quarter of office workers in the UK. “Google is telling its employees to vote with their feet if they don’t like the situation.
💊The official global death toll for covid-19 has now passed 5 million
The word has just passed a grim new milestone. From the first documented cases in China in November 2019 to this morning, there have been 5,005,638 fatalities worldwide. America, the richest country on earth, has seen more deaths than anywhere else: more than 746,000 so far. Brazil has registered more than 607,000 deaths; India almost 460,000.
📉Crystal Ball for travel
Airbnb‘s CEO Brian Chesky had two big travel predictions this year. 1) That we could “expect longer trips after COVID” and 2) that “a record accrual of PTO” would boost end-of-year travel. Was he right about one or both? 🤔
Swing and a miss
Moderna miserably missed earnings and sales estimates this morning. Consequently, $MRNA moved down 18% to its lowest price since Jul 16. The biotech company is still up 174% YTD.
| EPS: $7.70 (vs. $8.96 expected)
|Revenue: $4.97 billion (vs. $6.45 billion expected)
Square Inc slipped 4.7% after hours as Bitcoin demand slowed in the third quarter.
| EPS: $0.37 (vs. $0.34 expected)
| Revenue: $3.8 billion (vs. $4.4 billion expected)
Under Armour surged 16.5% and had its best day since Oct 30, 2018. $UAA caught a bid after surpassing earnings and sales predictions. The sports equipment company also raised its outlook, expecting sales to rise 25%.
| EPS: $0.31 (vs. $0.15 expected)
| Revenue: $1.55 billion (vs. $1.48 billion expected)
DID YOU KNOW ?
One of my favourite cartoons growing up was the Jetsons. Who remembers them?
I thought I would never see the day of flying “cars” as I called them then. Now take a look at the bellow and tell me we are not living in unprecedented times.
Jetson ONE is an ultralight and extremely fun to fly recreational all-electric personal vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.
LINKS THAT DON’T SUCK
🍄 Silo Wellness is the fastest growing name in the legal psychedelic & functional mushroom space.*
🎮 Electronic Arts CEO: NFTs Are “An Important Part of The Future” of Gaming
✈️ Delta Sees 450% Surge In International Bookings After Travel Bans Lifted
📙A lovely piece about how Google Street View lets us wander back in time.
Thank you all for reading and hope you have a great weekend!