This is Nick. This is Jack. And it’s time to say hello to Walmart's Shopping Cart 2.0. It has a cup holder, a slot for your iPhone, and even anti-theft tech. Get this: The wheels lock if the cart rolls farther than 40 feet from store grounds. Thieves are playing checkers, and Walmart’s playing chess. Checkmate.

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1) It’s Time to Rent, Not Buy

The Fed update: At its meeting Wednesday, the central bank said interest rates will stay the same at about 5.25%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell added that rates will likely stick around their current 22-year highs through the end of next year.

Why Powell & Co. are making the case for landlords everywhere:

• Higher interest rates have increased 30-year mortgage rates by *checks notes* nearly 3x over the past three years to nearly 8%.

• The double whammy: Home prices are also up 23% over that period.

• Add it all up, the average monthly mortgage payment for a new home has doubled from three years ago.

The Takeaway →

There’s nothing wrong with renting, especially right now. Re: the age old question of rent or buy, there’s a clear answer right now: rent. With renting costs up 18% on average compared to that doubling of mortgage payments, leases are looking pretty good these days. Rates will fall again eventually, but for today, maybe consider putting off buying that duplex in Dallas and renting the ranch instead.

2) Could Neuralink Turn Humans into Optimus Prime?

Elon Musk’s neurotech startup (specialty = brain-computer interface) is now recruiting for its first human clinical trials. No more monkey brains will be harmed…this time.

Here’s the plan: Neuralink is building tech that’ll let you use Google with just your brain.

• So far, tests have only been done on monkeys. 🙈

• And those monkeys didn’t survive, according to Wired. But according to Musk, they had terminal illnesses pre-trial so…no harm no foul? Jane Goodall probably doesn’t think so.

Who’s next? Humans. More specifically: people who are paralyzed. The goal is to enable them to communicate and/or become mobile again using Neuralink tech. In Elon terms: like when Luke Skywalker got a bionic arm after Darth Vader light-sabered it off.

The Takeaway →

Neuralink’s end goal is to save the human race from “The Singularity,” aka when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence. Linking human brains to the web will allow us to tap into the benefits of AI (instead of being taken over by it). That’s how Elon thinks Neuralink can save humanity from the (potential) AI apocalypse.

3) Spotify’s Algorithm Is Making Songs Shorter

Spotify and music streaming have literally changed the sound of music, and we don’t just mean “doooo a deer.”

Back in the day, songs were longer. The Temptations’ 1972 song, “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” was a 7-minute Billboard No. 1 hit without a single word ’til 1:57 in.

Today, songs average under 4 minutes. Nearly ⅔ of songs that hit No. 1 in 2021 were less than 3 minutes long.

• Ed Sheeran’s “Afterglow” illuminates for 3:19.

• Olivia Rodrigo’s “bad idea right?” clocks in at 3:10.

Why are artists slimming singles? The Spotify algorithm’s key metrics:

1. 🎵 The skip rate: When people hit skip within the first 30 seconds of a song, artists don’t get paid.

2. 🎵 Non-complete heards: Even if a song is listened to 95% of the way through, it gets punished in Spotify’s charts if you skip the last 5%.

The Takeaway →

Artists don’t just play for fans, they play for algos too. And it’s not just musicians who are trying to game the system—from the length of that Ambitious Kitchen video to the face MrBeast is making in his YouTube thumbnails, creators across the board are juicing algos for all they’re worth.

🛻 The auto strike may soon expand to Detroit’s profit puppies—the factories that make pickup trucks.

🃏 MGM regained control of its computers 10 days after hackers took over. There’s no word on whether they paid ransom (where’s George Clooney?).

✍️ The writers’ strike may reportedly end as soon as next week—which means so could reruns season.

🫢 The US government is set to shut down Oct. 1 after conservative hardliners voted down a bill to fund the government.

🏌️ Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake opened a golf bar in NYC called T-Squared Social. Date night?

⚾ FanDuel pays out $20M on a bet it never should have offered.

🐕 On the pod today, Amazon can’t groom your pooch but now Walmart can—Walmart’s stock has doubled Amazon’s in the last 5 years and now it’s coming for pet services.

And one more thing. We’re headed back home this weekend—what should we read/watch/listen to on our flights?

—Nick & Jack