🐤 Social sales

Markets: December got off to a mixed start on Wall Street, pushing both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to all-time highs by Monday’s closing bell even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed a fraction of a percent. Good news for both Tesla and Super Micro Computer helped those stocks become two of the day’s biggest winners.

Headed home: Whether by plane, train, or automobile, a lot of Americans were traveling over the holiday weekend. According to the Transportation Security Administration, the nation’s airports were particularly busy. Travelers returning from their Thanksgiving trips fueled a spike in demand, with TSA screeners checking more than 3 million individuals on Sunday alone. That total broke the previous single-day record by roughly 74,000. Despite an all-time high number of travelers, the number of canceled flights remained at a relatively low 120.

Smelling like roses: When the 2028 Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, the Rose Bowl is slated to be a major focal point of the games. But before that happens, there are going to be some major upgrades to the historic stadium. The Rose Bowl has stood tall for more than a century, and now a few aging features are going to be addressed to get the landmark ready for its appearance on the global stage. The two-phase project is estimated to cost $80 million and include upgrades to the scoreboard, club seats, and more.

On the road again: Tesla owners are finding some hidden holiday-related features in the latest software update, including the ability to use an Apple Watch as the key instead of a smartphone. There’s also an option to record footage directly to your device from a dashcam or Tesla’s “Sentry Mode” security system. There are also improvements to navigation, traffic alerts, and music. Among the just-for-fun options is the Cybetruck’s “Santa Mode,” which transforms the on-screen 3-D representation of the vehicle into a robot riding in a sleigh.

Out of the blue: There’s a new hot commodity in the social media universe and many disaffected X users are switching over in droves. But for all the positive vibes Bluesky has been collecting lately, there has been a noticeable deficiency. It has been difficult for users to accurately track their reach and other analytics, but a new app hopes to change that. GoBlue promises to provide information about accounts such as how many followers, likes, reposts, and comments they receive. GoBlue has multiple subscription levels and plans to add more features.

For better or worse, TikTok has become the social media app of choice for millions of young adults across America. And with retailers eager to reach this key demographic, it’s no surprise that TikTok shops have become increasingly popular over the past few years.

But with a nationwide ban looming over the Chinese-owned platform, there’s a chance that retailers large and small will lose access to the profitable U.S. market in the near future.

An actual Amazon rival?

For many years, Amazon stood alone in most conversations about the most dominant e-commerce platform in America. When the TikTok Shop began gaining traction in the U.S., those discussions slowly began to change.

• Nearly two-thirds of Westerners say they’ll buy something from a Chinese app this season.
• TikTok posted Black Friday sales in the U.S. of more than $100 million.
• By the end of this year, TikTok Shop’s gross merchandise volume is on pace to exceed $50 billion.

To be clear, TikTok still has a long way before it can topple the Amazon empire … and the possibility of a ban doesn’t help. But for now, at least, retailers of all types are flocking to the app with no real signs of slowing down.

Sarah’s streaming story

One successful TikTok Shop retailer is Sarah Potempa, a hairstylist to the stars who regularly showcases her own Beachwaver curling iron during livestream videos on TikTok.

The new approach to commerce has rapidly changed the perspective of customers, she said, explaining: “When TikTok Shop was new and people hadn’t used it yet, they would ask, ‘Is this on Amazon yet?’ I would get those questions like, ‘Can I buy it somewhere else?’ Now that it’s been around for a year or so, we’ve done 1.2 million orders.’”

Say what you will about its eccentric billionaire owner, but SpaceX is clearly making some impressive strides in the emerging new age of space exploration. Specifically, the Falcon 9 rocket has redefined how we think of spacecraft.

A brief list of accomplishments

The accolades and achievements of this innovative rocket continue to stack higher, but there are a few that deserve special recognition.

• With 16 launches in November, the Falcon 9 set a new monthly record
• So far this year, there have been 119 Falcon 9 launches, well above the previous record of 92
• The Falcon 9 recently went on its 400th mission and recovered its 375th booster

And if SpaceX manages to launch the rocket 15 times this month, it would equal the number of all NASA shuttle missions over the course of three decades combined.

With its ability to shave more than a week off the previous 21-day booster turnaround time, it appears that SpaceX is only poised to launch its versatile rocket more quickly and efficiently than ever.

A bigger bang for the buck

Comparing Falcon 9 to its NASA counterparts is even more eye-opening when you start to crunch the numbers. At a cost of about $1.5 billion per mission on average, each NASA launch is roughly 100 times more expensive than the SpaceX rocket.

That low-cost approach to space exploration has also allowed for many more missions than NASA could muster even with its federal budget — making Falcon 9 launches a staggering 30 times more frequent than the Space Shuttle.

That’s not to say that everything has gone perfectly for Elon Musk’s space firm. A few failures made headlines over the course of 2024, but SpaceX says it is continually making improvements to optimize the process further.

At four times the size of previous seasons, a dozen teams now have an opportunity to come out on top in the upcoming College Football Playoff. That expanded lineup means intense competition within conferences and the likelihood for some late-in-the-season surprises.

But as the CFP draws nearer, a few of the pieces are beginning to fall into place.

Place your bets

Whether you're trying to figure out which colleges represent the safest wagers or which schools could pay off the most upon winning, there’s plenty of data to consider. As it stands, the surest National Championship bet is Oregon, with +350 odds. That means a $100 bet on the team would pay $350 if the Ducks win. Texas is a close second at +400 followed by both Ohio State and Georgia with +475 odds.

On the other end of the spectrum are some longshot teams that could return a small fortune on the same $100 bet. If you’re not satisfied with +25,000 odds from UNLV, Miami’s +30,000, or massive +50,000 odds for Ole Miss, place a bet on Army for the chance to bring home a cool $100,000.

CFP projections

Another way to forecast the playoff is with projections that currently place Big Ten champ Oregon at the top followed by the SEC’s top team Texas, ACC champion SMU, and Boise State, which led the Group of 5.

A few remaining games could seal the fate of teams that remain in contention. For example, Arizona State will take on Iowa State, putting their similar season stats to the test. Both teams are 10-2 overall and 7-2 in conference play.

There are a lot of factors that go into deciding the CFP lineup, and they’re all in play ahead of this unprecedented postseason.

My kids said they want a dog for Christmas.

Usually we just have turkey.