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The Fake App That Raised $200k, a Durian Controversy and Disney's Dangerous Experiments | Non-Obvious Insights #224
Dear Newsletterest,

Last week, I got an interesting question after a virtual session from someone who wondered whether I struggle to find enough stories for this email every week. I told her I don't, but I didn't have a great answer in the moment for why not. I've been thinking about it and I have a better answer now: variety. Over the years I have discovered so many different sources for stories that I always have a new place to go in those moments when I feel that everything I'm reading is all same. Do you have sources like that? I'm always trying to expand my media diet - so if you have a publication or a website or a blog that is more unusual, please share it.

As a reminder, if you want to hear me talk about these stories and more, check out the replay of last week's show on YouTube:

Watch the Non-Obvious Insights Show from last Thursday >
The Non-Obvious Virtual Summit on The Future of Book Marketing
Our big virtual summit on book marketing is coming up this week on Wednesday, July 8th - have you signed up yet? There are more than 35 speakers confirmed and we will be talking about everything from the truth about launching and marketing a bestseller to what really gets a book to stand out. Please join me and share the event with your friends and colleagues. Here's the link you can share with the full list of speakers and more information: www.nonobvious.com/bookmarketing.
Register for the Virtual Summit HERE
Are Innocent People Getting Fired?
A timely piece in The Atlantic this week asks a powerful question: as the conversation about racism continues to escalate: are we in danger of overcorrecting and firing innocent people simply because of a mistaken perception of racism? While it may be an uncomfortable question to ask, there do seem to be emerging examples of overreaction to something that doesn't seem on the surface to be racist in nature. Take, for example, the media backlash over an article about Asian fruits that seems to have been blown wildly out of proportion.

So if we are going to have the conversation about latent racism and make corrections for years of lost opportunities (which needs to continue) - it's important to also remember that declaring everyone guilty of profiting from their privilege (if they have it) isn't really justic. Giving more opportunities to the people who should have had them all along is the right thing to do. But punishing people based solely on the color of their skin and not on their actions isn't fair when that skin is black, brown ... or white. 
How a Fake App Raised $200k in 48 hours from Silicon Valley Techies with FOMO
No one likes to miss out on the next big thing, but when you're in Silicon Valley, that fear seems to hit an extreme. Last week, a small group of techies launched a mysterious meme with the emoji combination 👁👄👁. When asked what it was, they only said: "It is what it is." There was a cryptic website and an invitation to donate to several #BlackLivesMatter related charities. Which people did, in a desperate bid to get higher on the waitlist to get into the "app." Late on Friday, the team behind the initiative (mostly "young people of color in tech"), revealed that there was no app. So, in 24 hours they created hysteria, raised nearly half a million dollars and shined a spotlight on the inherent insecurity of the tech elite in Silicon Valley. Not bad for a day's work.  
 
How Disney's Latest Face-Swap Tech Might Accidentally Doom Humanity 
Face swapping technology where you can change one face for another in a photo is already creepy - but the company that might have perfected it is one you may not expect: Disney. Their research studios released a paper this past week illustrating how much better the technology is getting. Clearly, the brand aims to use it for something related to entertainment. The article suggests the tech "could bypass visual effects entirely, and enable the megacorp to cast anyone — living or dead — in its movies." It could also offer a blueprint for any more evil organization to use the same tech to create fabricated videos to bypass security or impact elections. The point is, this is tech with dangerous potential. Even if it happens to be developed by the same people who created the happiest place on Earth. 
 
People Are Afraid To Travel. Airlines Are Making It Worse 
I have talked to half a dozen friends who have taken a flight somewhere in the past few months. I have been completely grounded with no travel, so I admit part of me is just curious about what travel is like these days. All of them come back with stories that are not good. Media reports agree. Airlines are packing planes, ignoring social distancing guidelines and generally making it an even more miserable experience to fly. Travel is certainly not back, but more concerning for the airlines is that I know many heavy travelers who are likely going to avoid going anywhere by plane for at least the next year and maybe longer. Based on the experience right now, it's hard not to agree with them.

UPDATE - After I shared the first edition of this email on Thursday, several people emails to let me know that actually Delta is the one airline doing a good job with masks, distancing and responsible policies. Kudos to them. Like many other professional travelers, I'll be looking at moving my business to them when we start traveling again. 
 
Smell Could Be The Next Frontier With Virtual Reality, But Not How You Think 
Making virtual reality more immersive may have another breakthrough, thanks to researchers at the University of Chicago who found a way to use smells to trigger the brain to feel temperature changes. It's not actually smell as a part of a VR experience, which would be way more cool - but as the article notes, this "digital synesthesia - using odors to trick your brain into experiencing different temperatures in virtual reality" is still a significant step toward making the tech more true to life. We're still a long way from the holodeck, though.  
 
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How are these stories curated?
Every week I go through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Your attention is important to me and I always do my best to share only "non-obvious" ideas with you to help you be more interesting. 

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