Skype, we hardly knew ye. Used by a third of the online population at its peak, the free videoconferencing app’s set to be retired in May, so parent company Microsoft can focus on Teams. Off it goes to the Great Conference Call in the Sky(pe).
Scroll down to read about vibe coding, the Netflix-deodorant connection, and a new take on an 1879 railway disaster.
Stats to power your week
⚽ A stat to coincide with International Women’s Day, taking place this Saturday: 4 in 10 believe women’s sports should be highlighted more by the media. And men and women are pretty much equally likely to think this. GWI Sports
⛪ Youth trends are often quite fleeting - think fashion cycles, memes, the latest trendy brands, and apps. But one consistent shift among young Americans of late? Faith. The share of 16-24s who describe themselves as “very religious” has risen 37% since 2020. GWI USA
🧵 You might not have thought about Threads for a while, but momentum has been building for it. Since this time last year, monthly usage of it has skyrocketed by 84% - with especially strong growth in Vietnam, Taiwan, and Malaysia. GWI Core
👂 March is Endometriosis Awareness Month and it’s all about raising awareness of the chronic disease that affects up to 10% of women of reproductive age. One thing you might not know about it - compared to others of childbearing age, women with endometriosis are much more likely to report having a hearing condition. And other research backs up the idea that the condition and tinnitus may be connected. GWI Zeitgeist
🎵 If you want to craft a memorable out-of-home ad, you could do worse than look at how musicians and record labels kick off a hype cycle. 84% who’ve seen a new album advertised that way are likely to remember seeing one. The proof? Recent history is flush with some attention-grabbing stunts, from Arcade Fire’s “Reflektor” graffiti, to Aphex Twin’s blimp and of course, the Brat wall. GWI Zeitgeist
What’s on our radar
Another week, another AI model. The biggest headline from the last 7 days is probably OpenAI’s GPT‑4.5, its “largest and best model for chat yet.” The early vibe checks show it may have crossed some kind of creative threshold, as it seems to actually understand humor and performs better than William McGonagall at memorializing the Tay Bridge Disaster in verse.
On the subject of vibes, the concept of “vibe coding” - using AI tools to build software with little human oversight - seems to be taking off. How long until the next viral app is built this way?
Meanwhile, the “vibe shift” - the sense that conservative political ideas are becoming more popular and socially acceptable - keeps picking up speed in the boardrooms of investment management firms and even in the comedy clubs. But the thing to watch out for is the backlash to the backlash, which we’re already seeing signs of.
AI and art is a hot debate in the UK and US (just look at the ongoing protests against the UK government’s proposals in the area), but attitudes are very different across the world. For example, an upcoming Japanese anime will make extensive use of generative AI.
Amazon is rolling out its long-awaited “Alexa+” service, which will upgrade its devices to use generative AI features (including making music), and Meta is planning to release Meta AI as a standalone app. Apple, on the other hand, is taking its time before upgrading Siri.
While AI has attracted some criticism for not being that useful, some pretty serious companies and industries are going all-in on it. Novo Nordisk (the company behind Ozempic) is using the tech to draft critical and sensitive documents, while the UK government is trialing ChatGPT to help peer review in science.
The FDA has taken a key step toward approving an anti-aging pill for dogs, and if all goes well, it could be available by late 2025 for under $100 a month. Promising news not just for all the good boys out there, but for future developments in human longevity.
Chart of the week
How many times do you come across a stat that says X% of people do something? Probably at least once a day. But there’s usually something missing - a sense of context. Is 41% a big or a small number? What about 56%, or 72%? It all depends what you compare it to. With this week’s chart, we’ve found one stat for every percentage from 1 to 100 in the UK, to give the ultimate reference guide of just how popular things are.
There’s any number of stories you could pull out from this. While vegan diets might dominate the headlines, the number of full-time vegans is pretty small. The country’s most-supported football team is as popular as reality TV. Football itself is more popular than equal rights. Immigration is less popular than R&B. Netflix is as popular as deodorant. Amazon is as popular as shampoo.
We’ll be honest - we struggled a bit with the 90s, and had to pad them out with some brand awareness metrics (commiserations go to the 1% who remain oblivious of Waitrose). But this is a valuable lesson in itself. It’s very easy to say that “everyone” does something, but in practice this is almost never the case.
Local lowdown
Harrow to Cairo
Some sports are utterly dominated by one country. China vanquishes all comers in table tennis, while the US sweeps all before them in basketball. A more surprising one is Egypt’s rule over squash, producing most of the world’s top-ranked players and one of the sport’s biggest fanbases. So how exactly did it bounce its way from Harrow School to the pyramids of Giza?
The journey is a familiar one: British officers stationed there in the colonial era built courts to play, and local staff could take part during off-hours. But the biggest boosts came perhaps in the 1990s from a combination of dedicated player and President Hosni Mubarak, along with the talented and photogenic Ahmed Barada. He was forced to retire early, but left a legacy with the next crop of players, inspired by his example.
The final piece of the puzzle seems to be the immense talent pool concentrated in just two cities - Cairo and Alexandria. This creates a virtuous cycle where elite players can continue passing their skills and wisdom down the generations.
