Tech enthusiasts and/or their assistants are spending this morning like it’s 2007: lined up outside Apple Stores for the new gadget that’s supposed to change everything.

The long-awaited Vision Pro hits Apple’s shelves in the US today. While early reviews are mixed, the Vision Pro still has the potential to deliver wearable tech’s “iPhone moment”…if Apple can convince customers that its device is worth $3.5k and the immeasurable price of looking like you just got your eyes dilated.

This could be a turning point for the entire tech industry. Despite the best efforts of companies like Meta and Samsung, augmented-, virtual-, and mixed-reality headsets haven’t taken off as anything more than novelty gadgets for gamers. Apple thinks it can be the one to change this by marketing the Vision Pro as a must-have tool for both work and play that will usher in an era of what Apple calls “spatial computing,” aka working in a 3D virtual space instead of on a computer (think Tony Stark in his garage).

It’s possible that Apple has already sold ~180k headsets in preorders, but it only expects to sell 400,000 total units this year. Still, that equates to $1.4 billion in sales.

What it’s like to use the Vision Pro

The headset comes with 600 specialized apps but is crucially missing Meta, Netflix, Spotify, Google, and YouTube. Avatar director and technology shaman James Cameron nonetheless called his demo a “religious” experience, while other reviewers who got early access let out some “oohs” and “aahs,” along with caveats:

• Pros: The 23-million-pixel visuals, namely Vision Pro’s immersive content and theater mode, really are all that, according to John Gruber. Navigating the screen with your eyes is pretty cool, too, Casey Newton wrote.
• Cons: Downsides include the virtual keyboard, the killjoy battery pack, isolation (it’s a one-person device), a potentially minimal effect on productivity, and size/weight (it’s heavier than an 11-inch iPad Pro, according to The Verge).

Is there no going back? After trying out the Vision Pro, some reviewers said their regular 2D devices felt outdated.—ML

When incredibly valuable assets come up for sale, it’s typically the wealthiest people who end up taking home an amazing investment. But not always…

One platform is taking on the billionaires at their own game, buying up some of history’s most prized blue-chip artworks. Their investors have already realized annualized net returns of 17.8%, 21.5%, 35%, and more.

It’s called Masterworks. Their nearly $1b collection includes artists like Banksy, Picasso, and Basquiat. So far, every one of Masterworks’ 20 exits has returned a profit to investors, totaling more than $50m in payouts.

Offerings can sell out in minutes, but Morning Brew readers can skip the waitlist to join with this exclusive link.

Biden issued an executive order imposing sanctions on violent Israeli settlers. The unprecedented move aims to punish Israeli settlers and officials who have attacked Palestinians in the West Bank. According to the UN, since Oct. 7, there have been at least 500 attacks, which have killed at least eight Palestinians. The order allows the Biden administration to freeze settlers’ US assets and bank accounts and leaves the door open to sanction Israeli politicians. It came down shortly before President Biden celebrated his UAW endorsement in Michigan, a state with a large population of Arab Americans, many of whom have been angered by his support of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Three of the Magnificent Seven reported earnings. Apple, Amazon, and Meta released their latest financials yesterday, and the vibes were swell. All three beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with Amazon reporting a gargantuan $170 billion for Q4 2023. Meta announced it will pay out its first-ever dividend to shareholders, sending its stock soaring in after-hours trading. And Apple reported a revenue increase for the first time in a year as it prepares to launch the Vision Pro mixed-reality device today. Apple, however, also revealed a 13% sales decline in China amid local competition with Huawei.

EU approved $54 billion deal to fund Ukraine. The European Union announced yesterday that its leaders authorized the fund, which will be used to support Ukraine in its war against Russia through 2027. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the country’s resources will soon run out if it doesn’t receive financial assistance. The deal had been blocked by Hungarian prime minister and Putin ally, Viktor Orban, but he dropped his opposition. It wasn’t clear if Orban received anything in exchange for allowing the deal to go through, the New York Times reported. The US is considering its own deal to further aid Ukraine, but it’s been hindered by Republicans in Congress.

Commercial real estate has been on the struggle bus since the pandemic hit in 2020, and now it’s taking regional banks along for the ride.

Yesterday, New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) shares took an 11% tumble—on top of a 38% plunge on Wednesday—after the bank said it’s dealing with surging losses from office buildings and multifamily apartment buildings. It’s a sign that commercial real estate (CRE) lenders are reckoning with the fact that they might not get their money back as commercial landlords struggle with high vacancies and interest rates:

• More than $2.2 trillion in US commercial property loans will come due by 2027, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The default risk is worse for regional banks, where CRE loans make up nearly 29% of all assets, versus 6.5% at big national banks.

Deja vu? The KBW Regional Banking Index dropped 9.2% since Wednesday, the most since Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse last year. (Coincidentally, most of the assets of Signature Bank, which failed shortly after SVB, were bought by NYCB.)

Zoom out: It’s not just a problem in the US. A small bank in Tokyo and another in Switzerland also reported troubles this week.—CC

The Las Vegas Sphere is ready to jam. Dead & Company will be the Sphere’s third residency starting in May, the band announced yesterday, accompanied by a video of the $2.3 billion orb wrapped in one of the many Grateful Dead logos.

The group, which includes Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart alongside early aughts villain and guitar virtuoso John Mayer (and others), just finished what they said was their final tour last year. But this residency isn’t technically a tour—it’s a mere 18-show Sin City installation, joining a growing list of dad-friendly rockers that includes Phish and U2.

There’s a lot going on in Vegas

Even more than usual. Earlier this week, the owner of the historic Tropicana Las Vegas hotel and casino said it would be torn down after six decades to make way for the new $1.5 billion stadium for Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics.

Meanwhile, this month’s Super Bowl is expected to help smash December’s record-setting ~$1.4 billion raked in by the city’s casinos. Brands are already wrapping entire buildings in ads: Doritos turned the Luxor’s pyramid facade into a chip.—MM

Quote: “I’m sorry, but there aren’t a lot of smart executives anymore...y’all aren’t creative people. Stick to the money.”

Insecure co-creator and star Issa Rae, as her recent Time magazine profile put it, did not mince words in her assessment of modern Hollywood executives. Rae, whose edgy Max comedy series Rap Sh!t was canceled last month after two seasons, said the network’s parent company, WarnerMedia, would never greenlight a show like that now because execs play it way too safe. Her comments came a day after Dune director Denis Villeneuve, in a Time profile of his own, came to a similar conclusion about Hollywood decision-making. “We’re in a very conservative time; creativity is restricted,” he said. “Everything’s about Wall Street. What will save cinema is freedom and taking risks.”

Stat: Rates of syphilis in the US haven’t been this high since the 1950s. Per the CDC, cases of the sexually transmitted infection are up almost 80% since 2018, continuing a long-running trend across every age group. Cases of congenital syphilis, when a mother passes an infection to the fetus, have skyrocketed 937% in the last decade. Experts say increases in substance use, decreases in condom use, and fewer sexual health clinics are to blame. The CDC also said the burden that the Covid-19 pandemic put on public health resources likely exacerbated the issue. It’s not all bad news, though: Cases of gonorrhea fell 9% in 2022, the first decline in a decade.

Read: How 23andMe’s valuation went from $6 billion to nearly zero. (Wall Street Journal)

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to when the stretch your PT showed you actually works.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

Master the elements: A simple and addicting online infinite crafting game.

Know your surroundings: A map showing places near you that have Wikipedia pages.

Take us higher: Paramount+’s truly bizarre Super Bowl commercial, starring Sir Patrick Stewart, Drew Barrymore, and, yes, the band Creed.

Make it a true Daily Double: In response to a prompt from Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer, fans of the iconic quiz show are posting their favorite clips on X.

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