Someone recently told me they stopped using Instagram and, instead, scroll through Airbnb for fun.

Others are doing that, too. Not the Airbnb thing, but the spending-less-time-on-Instagram thing.

For many, the preferred destination is TikTok. So to combat the trend, Instagram’s been making increasingly blatant moves to TikTok-ify itself.

This week…

… new updates gave rise to an angry mob which included Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian.

• By bringing algorithm-driven recommendations to feeds, funny clips from a random 15-year-old in Nebraska could theoretically outperform Kim K’s yacht pics. Hence the uproar.

In response, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, quite literally looking like a Minion, said that the updates need work but video is still the focus.

To make matters worse, all this was followed by Meta posting its first-ever quarter of declining sales Wednesday.

Then yesterday…

… in an interview with tech reporter Casey Newton, Mosseri said Instagram will walk back these changes so the company can design a better experience around them.

But while his update may have eased the tension, Meta still finds itself in a pickle.

• On one end, it’s squeezed by TikTok in terms of engagement and ad dollars. On the other, it’s working toward the Metaverse, and a strong Instagram is necessary to fund its virtual future. (Apple, in the meantime, is finalizing its own VR headset.)

For the time being, Mosseri has put out the fires. Perhaps now he can figure out why my friend is more interested in scrolling Airbnb than Instagram.

About 91% of US homes have air conditioning. But in Europe, it’s far less common. Why?

The climate: It’s neither as hot nor as humid in many parts of Europe as it is in many parts of the US.

• The UK is often dreary and damp — much like Seattle, where only 44% of US households are equipped with AC. (Conversely, in Greece, where summers get toasty, 99% of households do have AC.)

They don’t like it: Cranking the AC can be seen as wasteful, and some Italians think it’s bad for your health.

But that could all change given recent heave waves

Amid record-breaking heat and wildfires across Europe, portable AC sales in Britain spiked 2.4k% in a week, per The Washington Post.

An International Energy Agency estimate sees AC units across the EU more than doubling from 110m in 2019 to 275m by 2050.

Of course, more energy use…

… leads to more emissions, leads to more climate woes.

But Paul Hockenos, a Berlin-based author who covers renewable energy, suggests some more planet-friendly solutions, including:

• Energy-efficient units
• Passive cooling (opening windows at night, drawing shades by day
• Geothermal cooling (which moves heat into the ground)
• Switching to clean energy

Then there’s this guy who’s proposing Naked Day.

… Recs to pair with your Friday chocolate milk. Or Saturday IPA. Or Sunday kalimotxo.

ICYMI

• Mark spoke to economists and real estate agents across the US to understand why a hot housing market isn’t actually good for most agents.
• Jacob wrote about TikTokers getting huge overnight and whether that’s a good thing.
• Starting a new business is exciting. Figuring out the differences between LLCs, LPs, C-Corps, and S-Corps? Not so much. Learn to pick the right business structure for your startup on The Hustle blog.

Spot the fake

• Saudi Arabia wants to build a 106-mile-long building.
• John Deere is partnering with Meta on an immersive lawn mowing experience.
• A chess-playing robot broke a kid’s finger during a match last week.
• Scientists are using dead spiders as robotic grippers ‘cause of course they are.

We’d like you to launch a thriving business off our content.

Pick up best practices from the pros. Maybe hone the shit out of some baller entrepreneurial skills. But ideally the first. So we wrote about it.

A couple Trendsters running with our ideas:

• Our air conditioning Flare led Sudhir to the lucrative opportunity of “heat pumps,” which are 2-3x more efficient than modern AC units — with low market penetration in the US. One Circle launches soon.
• Our February 2020 digital privacy report pushed Taylor to start Eden Data, a cybersecurity outfit catering to startups. Their team of ten already does $300k MRR.

Read the meta Trends article for dozens more success stories and the three steps to start executing.

🔔 On this day: In 1981, nearly 1B people tuned in to watch the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

👂 That’s interesting: What’s “prairie madness” and how did it affect 19th-century American settlers?

🧠 Useful: Check out this collection of the best newsletters, threads, and Twitter follows on a variety of topics, including productivity, finance, and more.

🎨 Art: Lucy Jean Green makes incredible artworks out of paper, like this one.

🐶 Aww: And now, a true maestro.

1. “Finger whistling must’ve really lost popularity in the past couple of years.”  SOURCE
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2. “Happy Birthday is the only song that’s more endearing when sung out of key, and more obnoxious when sung in key.”  SOURCE
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3. “Champagne is the most wasted alcohol.“  SOURCE
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4. “When you buy a bell pepper you also buy the potential for unlimited free bell peppers.”  SOURCE
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5. “Ideally, purchasing a smoke alarm is a total waste of money.”  SOURCE
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