🐤 Livin' the stream

As Netflix's streaming service turns 15, we'll take a look at its steadily increasing influence.

Tuesday | January 17th, 2023
Early Chirp

Happy Tuesday, chirpers! Wherever you find yourself this morning, there are a few strategies that can probably help you get the most out of life. Among the most important is learning not to let your fears or negative experiences hold you back.

It’s a tough lesson to learn, but perhaps Paul de Gelder can help steer you in the right direction. After losing two limbs in a shark attack, he’s now devoting his life to preserving the very same animals. As he advised: "Fear can be a very powerful motivator sometimes."

-Chris Agee

Markets
Nasdaq
IXIC
$11,079.16
$78.06 (0.71%)
Dow Jones
DJI
$34,302.61
$112.64 (0.33%)
S&P 500
GSPC
$3,999.09
$15.92 (0.40%)
EUR-USD
EURUSD
$1.08
$0.00 (0.14%)
Bitcoin
BTC-USD
$21,159.30
$278.50 (1.33%)
Virgin Galactic
SPCE
$5.19
$0.57 (12.34%)
*Market data for this issue is from January 16th, 2023 at 7:21pm EST

🏦 Markets: Wall Street was closed on Monday for the holiday, but index futures signaled a likely end to the stock rally that brought values up last week. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were all down heading into the reopening of markets today.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market’s upswing continued on Monday as Bitcoin hit its highest value in two months.

World

The Breakdown

A quick look around the world.

Photo by Markus Schreiber - Pool/Getty Images

🪙 Davos downgrade: You might not know it by the record attendance at the annual event in Switzerland this year, but the World Economic Forum in Davos is quickly losing its international luster. The annual retreat has attracted elected officials and the wealthiest elites from around the globe since it was first established about 50 years ago and the topic of discussion hinges on ways to address international problems. In recent years, however, critics have begun to denounce the WEF’s globalist approach while even some of its one-time adherents are starting to think the group is becoming hopelessly out of touch. Nevertheless, about 2,700 people are expected at this year’s event — including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. climate envoy (and former Secretary of State) John Kerry, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

🛡️ Norton notice: The parent company of identity theft protection service Norton LifeLock confirmed this week that thousands of clients were likely targeted in a widespread hack that compromised their personal account information. Experts believe that the breach was made possible with a so-called credential stuffing attack, which allows a hacker to use previously pilfered passwords in an effort to access accounts using the same codes. The company urged customers to use two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized users from logging in using just a password. This incident further illustrates the inherent risk of storing personal information behind a weak password. Even LastPass, a company that exists to make password management easier and more secure, was hit by a similar hack earlier this year.

🧐 Monumental misunderstanding: Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated yesterday and the civil rights leader’s family unveiled a monument in Boston, Massachusetts, ahead of the holiday. The bronze sculpture, called “The Embrace,” was meant to exemplify an iconic photo showing King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, hugging shortly after he won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. While the gesture is touching, some critics — including some members of Coretta Scott King’s family — believe the resulting monument doesn’t do the photo justice. In fact, some people think it looks like a particular part of the male anatomy. As Coretta Scott King’s cousin Seneca Scott opined: “The mainstream media … was reporting on it like it was all beautiful because they were told they had to say that.” Of course, you can reach your own conclusion by clicking here to view the statue for yourself.

⛓️ Library lockdown: Being hooked on phonics is one thing … but abusing methamphetamines in the restroom of your local library is something altogether different. According to reports, two Colorado libraries have been forced to temporarily close as crews work to decontaminate them. In Englewood, officials say a library restroom tested positive for meth residue that exceeds legal limits. Library staff decided to conduct the test after a similar result in nearby Boulder caused the closure of a facility there. In addition to using specialized cleaning techniques on various surfaces throughout the Englewood library, crews will also be removing certain surfaces and equipment to ensure thorough sterilization.

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entertainment

The Netflix Effect: How The Streaming Giant Has Changed In 15 Years

The company has come a long way from its mail-order DVD roots.

Tenor

If Netflix’s streaming service were a person, it’d be old enough to get its learner’s permit in many states. Since launching in 2007, however, you could argue that it has grown and matured more than most people born in the same year.

In fact, the streaming platform many of us use on a daily basis shares very few characteristics with the much different platform introduced 15 years ago. One thing has remained consistent throughout its existence, though: Netflix has always sought to disrupt the entertainment industry.

First things first

Today’s ubiquitous high-speed internet connections were only a dream to the web surfers of 2007 and cable television still reined supreme among couch potatoes. Therefore, it would’ve been impossible for Netflix to find any success by positioning itself as a platform dedicated to streaming services.

Ten years earlier, the company reimagined how people rented movies by shipping DVDs and games directly to subscribers’ homes, eliminating late charges, and giving people more freedom regarding their home entertainment options.

Rentals still represented the bulk of Netflix’s services when streaming options were first announced 15 years ago.

Expanding library

For the earliest adopters, $18 per month would grant access to three movie rentals at a time and 18 hours of streaming content. That might not sound like a lot, but there was significantly less to choose from back then.

At its inception, there were roughly 1,000 streaming movies and shows. It seems like ancient history based on the tech we all take for granted nowadays, but it simply wasn’t possible to stream content on smartphones, tablets, or smart TVs back then — so those early customers had to watch this stuff on their computers.

We’ve come a long way since then, and Netflix has been a driving force the entire time.

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business

Home Depot Workers Get Update To Hourly Pay Standards

The changes will address concerns about how hours were previously recorded.

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

There’s been a lot of focus in recent years on America’s minimum hourly wage, which has finally gone up in many areas of the country after languishing for years at a rate that hasn’t budged even as everything has gotten more expensive.

This week, however, Home Depot gave its hourly workers some news about their paychecks that doesn’t necessarily equate to their ability to earn more money.

What the retailer said

Instead of announcing a higher hourly wage, Home Depot confirmed that, starting yesterday, workers would be compensated for time worked to the nearest minute as opposed to rounding to the nearest quarter-hour.

A company spokesperson confirmed that the move came as “laws, technology, and workplace practices continue to evolve,” noting that the prior practice had long been standard in the industry.

Although the Fair Labor Standards Act permits rounding as long as “it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked,” some Home Depot employees have previously complained that they felt short-changed by the practice.

What the changes mean

In broad terms, most employees probably won’t notice a big difference either way since rounding typically tends to even out over time. Nevertheless, keeping things to a one-minute variable is likely to offer some additional peace of mind to those hourly workers who believed they might not have been getting all the money they earned.

Here are a few stats about the home improvement retailer to consider:

  • About 500,000 people worked for Home Depot as of October.
  • The chain operates more than 2,300 stores.
  • Its third-quarter net sales in 2022 were up 5.6% compared to the same period in 2021.
  • Hourly pay varies by location, but the average minimum is about $14.
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environment

What Happens When Your Water Source Dries Up? This Community Found Out.

An ongoing drought is causing big problems for this Arizona neighborhood.

Tenor

Along with the air that we breathe, water is a fundamental element without which human life cannot exist. In one otherwise wealthy Arizona community, about 1,000 residents are trying to figure out how to meet their fundamental need for this life-sustaining resource.

Officials blame the drought

Although Rio Verde Foothills is technically a separate and unincorporated community, it had long shared a water supply with neighboring Scottsdale. As reservoirs in Lake Mead and the Colorado River started to dry up, however, Scottsdale officials had to make a tough decision.

In the end, they chose to take care of their own and essentially left the residents of Rio Verde Foothills to find a solution on their own.

Some locals have wells on their property, but everyone else has been forced to find inconvenient and expensive new sources.

Some much smaller suppliers have been willing to ship in water for a premium price, but that’s not a long-term fix.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Arizona and much of the west have had to make deep cuts to water usage as a result of an ongoing drought. Perhaps nowhere has that been more imperative than Rio Verde Foothills.

The average water bill in the community has skyrocketed from about $220 per month to a staggering $660.

As a result, residents are doing whatever they can to use as little water as possible. Some are collecting what little rainwater they can and using it to flush their toilets. Other measures include skipping showers, using disposable plates and cups to avoid washing dishes, and taking laundry to a friend’s home or using a laundromat.

We should all be doing our part to limit water use, but this community has been forced to sacrifice more than its fair share.

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Crossword

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Early Chirp

Written by Chris Agee

90 N Church St, The Strathvale House
Grand Cayman KY1, 9006, Cayman Islands

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