Gm. It’s NFT NYC this week! It turns out only 96% of web3 people switched over to AI! Lol, in all seriousness, there’s gonna be some sick events this week. If you’re in NYC for the week, sign up for our super-secret app with all the cool side events or check out this Google sheets here.

POLLS

We’re back with a very, very important poll!

🏠 CONSUMER SOCIAL

Substack-Twitter-Drama, Dorsey’s Bluesky Offers Help

If you’re on Twitter, you probably saw the outrage of many Substack writers when they realized Twitter had banned retweets of outbound links to Substack.

Why would Twitter do such a thing? Well, Substack launched a product called Substack Notes which the Twitter team apparently deemed to be in competition with Twitter. There’s no way Substack expected Twitter to screw over some of their most active users, but that’s exactly what they did.

Matt Taibbi, a journalist who covered the Twitter files with 1.8 million followers, tweeted, “Since sharing links to my articles is a primary reason I come to this platform, I was alarmed and asked what was going on. I was given the option of posting articles on Twitter instead. I’m obviously staying at Substack, and will be moving to Substack Notes next week.”

This is not the first time Elon’s Twitter has attacked outbound links. They previously did this with Mastodon. Like the Mastodon ordeal, there were of course a bunch of Substack authors who said they would leave Twitter… and then didn’t actually leave Twitter.

What happened next was quite surprising though.

Bluesky Ahead

Remember how Jack Dorsey was starting a decentralized social network called Bluesky? It was big news a few months back, but there hasn’t been much word on it since then… until now.

“Substack writers: If you’d like to try Bluesky, here’s a form to get early access,” their company account tweeted. “We’re still working our way through the signup list for our private beta, but would like to give faster access to writers at this time!

Given that Bluesky’s stated mission on their website is to “give creators independence from platforms, developers the freedom to build, and users a choice in their experience,” this move makes sense. Creators are switching over

“i'm bullish on bluesky because they got a significant chunk of tpot (this part of Twitter) into it all at once, whereas farcaster is like 95% crypto ppl and requires you to have a crypto wallet to sign up,” wrote Rob Hardy.

Are there sunny days ahead for Bluesky? We’ll have to see.

Why should I care? Substack authors are some of the most active, popular accounts in tech/biz Twitter. These people are prolific writers and tweeters. An exodus of them could be a huge loss for Twitter as a platform both on the revenue side and user-experience side. Watch Twitter’s next move closely.

🏠 EVs

The EPA EV Masterplan

Electric vehicles (EVs) had a great 2022. In a year when new cars sold dropped by 8%, EV sales crossed 800,000 for the first time.

But, EVs still accounted for just 5.8% of vehicles sold. Considering that President Biden’s goal is to have half of all cars sold be EVs by 2030, it’s looking like the EV market will need some help to reach that benchmark.

Thankfully, that help is now on the way.

The EPA Proposal

The help is coming from the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, you may be wondering, “how can the EPA help boost EV sales?”.

Answer: By putting a limit on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is that by making it so that cars can only pollute so much, it’ll force manufacturers to produce more EVs.

Specifically, the EPA is designing the new rules so that EVs constitute 67% of new cars sold by 2032, an absolutely massive jump from the current 5.8% number.

But, nothing is set in stone yet. The regulations have to survive the 2024 presidential election and likely multiple legal challenges. Car manufacturers have to change their supply chains to fit the increase in EV production. Millions of charging stations will have to be built while also becoming something other than a nightmare.

Basically, the EPA can set the agenda, but the industry has to bring it to life.

Why should I care? Vehicle emissions are a major driver of climate change, making the transition to EVs something that is in all of our best interests.

🏃‍♀️ QUICKIES

What else is going on?

• The SpaceX Starship is undergoing a launch rehearsal next week.

• OpenAI is working to get ChatGPT unbanned in Italy.

• Tesla has cut prices for the 5th time this year.

• Apple is making solid progress on its noninvasive blood glucose tracking.

Stat: Samsung is projecting a 96% drop in profits for Q1 2023. As the kids say, you hate to see it.

Rabbit Hole: The Frontiers Of Bio Automation (Biocene Thoughts)

🤩 MONDAY MOTIVATION

Everyone remembers Beeple, the NFT artist who sold a collection of his daily artwork for $69 million.

While the NFT craze may be behind us, Beeple’s work ethic is inspiring. Check out this video of him creating his daily piece of art on 9/8/19. It’s no simple thing. Now think about the fact he did this everyday for 5,000+ days straight.

In the words of Naval Ravikant, “it’s not 10,000 hours, it’s 10,000 iterations.”

🛠️ FOUNDERS CORNER

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