Tech
đŹ OpenAI aims at Google
Good morning, Quartz readers!
HEREâS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The CDC thinks it has found the culprit behind the McDonaldâs E.coli outbreak. Shed a tear for the fast food chainâs slivered onions.
Elon Musk has been demoted from a Trump cabinet that doesnât exist yet. Instead of an official post to cut government spending, surrogates say the tech billionaire will instead just provide some computer code.
The latest Gen Z status symbol is groceries. The cash-strapped cohort is spending on treats what it canât afford to spend on traditional luxuries.
OpenAI is getting into the search business. It thinks that ChatGPT can be a worthy competitor to Google.
Comcast might ditch some channels in a reorganization effort. Bravo, E!, Syfy, Oxygen True Crime, and USA Network are on the chopping block.
Airline takes fiscal hit on land
Allegiant Air is an airline, which makes most of its money from flying planes through the air. It also tries to make some money on land through a resort it owns. One problem: That resort is a hurricane magnet.
The Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor has been through almost as many storms as it has seasons, with Hurricanes Helene and Milton providing the latest wallops. But at least itâs making a tidy business serving FEMA workers.
How did Allegiant paint the latest difficulty for its beleaguered hotel project? Quartzâs Melvin Backman pulls out the companyâs comments on the matter.
Hereâs to channeling new business
Starbucks is hoping that customers will grant it a bit of their screen time. The screen in question? Televisions.
As it tries to streamline its business and menu in a bid to capture some of its lost magic, the company is rolling out a series of new TV ads. Starbucks hopes that customers wink-wink âacross age groupsâ will tune in and start showing up again.
Quartzâs Francisco Velasquez previews the coffee giantâs latest media strategy and spells out what it says about how the company sees itself these days.
MORE FROM QUARTZ
đ AI darling Super Micro Computer might get delisted from Nasdaq amid an accounting scandal
đ˛ US companies are preparing to pass along possible Trump tariffs to their customers
đď¸ Microsoft canât build data centers fast enough to keep up with AI demand
đ Stellantis executives say that things are going from bad to worse
đ Rich people are attaching their own private cabooses to Amtrak trains
đ¤ Meta is on an AI spending spree amid the technologyâs growing potential as an ad market
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
Tesla is making a lot of second-hand sales in Uruguay. Customers donât have a dealership they can go to, so theyâre importing the cars from China.
An entire nunnery was once possessed by demons. After a public-square group exorcism, they said a local priest and church critic had bewitched them â he was burned at the stake.
New York Cityâs Meatpacking District will soon have no meatpackers. The last processing facility in the neighborhood is picking up stakes.
A growing specialty in divorce law is influencer social media accounts. Whose followers will follow whom after a split is a question with a lot of money on the line. (paywall)
Donald Trumpâs childhood home has been taken over by feral cats. Neighbors say an absentee landlord has left the Queens tudor a cobwebbed, stinky mess. (paywall)Â
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Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, tainted onions, and influencer asset split suggestions to talk@qz.com. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman and Audrey McNamara.