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Hello, N2K’ers!

Pick a winner for this week’s world famous News Haiku^TM competition in today’s poll below!

—Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor

Today's news you Need2Know

• Kimmel’s suspension backlash fuels record views

• Instagram hits three billion users

• Waymo starts “Robotaxis for Work” program

• Russia put a €100k bounty on a self-driving tank

• Hollywood is remaking movies before they’re even f …

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▲ 0.53% ) $DJI ( ▲ 0.79% ) $NDX ( ▲ 0.4% )

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$DIS ( ▲ 0.05% )  $GOOG ( ▲ 0.42% )  $META ( ▼ 0.7% )  $CVNA ( ▼ 1.07% )  

Kimmel’s suspension backlash fuels record views

Jimmy Kimmel made a stunning comeback to late-night television after a brief suspension, delivering an episode that drew 6.26 million viewers — the highest ratings for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in over a decade. The surge in viewership followed Kimmel’s controversial remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which ignited a national debate on free speech.

In his opening monologue, Kimmel defended his right to speak out, saying, “This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.” He also addressed the backlash surrounding his comments, stating, “You understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”

Song of the day: Ocean Alley, ‘Love Balloon’

Ocean Alley have offered sun-drenched, woozy surf-rock with shimmering guitars, buttery basslines, and a beach-jam looseness. Just what you need for early fall, in other words. This is the title track off their fifth album.

Instagram hits three billion users

Instagram has reached an astonishing milestone: 3 billion monthly active users. Meta $META ( ▼ 0.7% ) CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the figures on Wednesday. Meta last disclosed user data in 2022, when Instagram reported 2 billion monthly active users.

Meta initially acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, a move that raised eyebrows at the time. Back then, the platform was simply a photo-sharing app with minimal revenue streams. Fast forward to today, and Instagram has not only transformed how people connect but has become a significant revenue driver for Meta. According to industry estimates, the platform is expected to account for more than half of Meta's U.S. ad revenue this year.

A major contributor to Instagram’s growth is its “Reels” feature, launched in 2020. The short-form video content heavily competes with platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts. TikTok, owned by ByteDance, also boasts over 1 billion global monthly users.

Before you get too excited, my account is private. Plus, I’d need to invite you to follow it, I’m afraid.

Today on the ‘gram: Not the CEO, though…

Post of the day: “No stated reason.”

Quote of the Day

Waymo starts “Robotaxis for Work” program

Waymo, the autonomous vehicle pioneer owned by Google $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.39% ) , has launched its first enterprise service, “Waymo for Business.” It has already landed Carvana $CVNA ( ▼ 1.07% ) , the Arizona-based online car marketplace, as its inaugural client. Known for its consumer-focused robotaxis, the move signals Waymo’s ambitious pivot to the business-to-business (B2B) market.

Nearly one in six riders in cities like San Francisco and Phoenix already use robotaxis for commuting. By formalizing these rides into a corporate service, businesses like Carvana can now subsidize employee transportation. Companies manage rides through a business portal, which allows for real-time tracking, budget monitoring, and the ability to designate specific routes or pickup zones. Employees still use the familiar Waymo One app, but the cost is covered by their employer.

Business rides cost the same as consumer fares, a strategy aimed to, ahem…drive adoption. Industry analysts predict this enterprise move could solidify Waymo’s lead in the autonomous vehicle market, and, of course, it’s a tax-deductible perk.

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👎️ 

It’s been a bad week, I’m afraid.

Russia put a €100k bounty on a self-driving tank

The future of warfare is here, and it's being shaped by self-driving tanks. Milrem Robotics is at the forefront of this transformation, developing groundbreaking technologies like the Havoc and Themis, tanks redefining how battles are fought.

The Havoc, a formidable unmanned ground vehicle, boasts electric axles for instant torque, reaching speeds of 70 km/h in both forward and reverse, with eight-wheel steering. This allows it to "come up out of a hide site, engage a target, and then quickly get back to hide from FPV threats [drones]. Anti-tank missiles, anything like that," said Patrick Shepherd with Milrem.

These puppies are so effective there is a €100,000 bounty by the Russians on capturing one of Milrem's Themis systems — including its base station and controller — in Ukraine, Mr. Shepherd told us.

Let’s just hope they don’t unleash them in San Francisco to help tech commuters get to work in the near future, eh?

Hollywood is remaking movies before they’re even finished, now…

If Hollywood loves anything, it’s a remake. Now it’s gotten to the point where they aren’t even waiting for a movie to be released to remake it. 

It’s happened with several high profile flicks lately, like “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” “Justice League,” and Pixar’s latest, “Elio.” Work on the picture begins with a certain creative team, then the studio fires them and replaces them with a new bunch of people to remake as well as ultimately finish the film. It happens when producers want to “save” a movie, but most of the time the films are dead on the operating table.

Instead of paying for one movie, the studio pays for two, albeit without the classic “cash-in” quality of making a sequel. For example, despite “Justice League” making $661 million at the worldwide box office, it was commonly regarded as a flop because it cost upwards of $300 million to make, not including a huge marketing budget of $150 million for Disney $DIS ( ▲ 0.05% ) . If you need to work so hard to market something, there’s an obvious question about whether it might have been more efficient to make a better thing in the first place.  

Studios can usually hide behind the fact that general audiences haven’t seen the initial versions, so they can claim the money loss was worth it because the films became better. Thanks to the pandemic, that’s no longer the case. 

Desperate for new content, Warner Bros. $WBD ( ▼ 0.25% )  handed $20 million to Zack Snyder — the director they already fired once — to complete his version of “Justice League” for HBO Max since it was a way to get a “new” movie without having to deal with COVID.

In other words, he remade his remake as he originally intended. If this all feels a bit postmodern, that’s because it is. What even is an original thing, anyway? Huh?

When the “Snyder Cut” was released, critics and audiences agreed that the new edition of the superhero picture was an improvement over the previous version because it wasn’t a Frankenstein’s monster.  No matter how “disastrous” a movie’s quality is amidst production, I believe it’s always a worse idea to change the creative team half way through. My advice to Hollywood? Hire the people you want the first time, and have the confidence to stick with your decision making.

—Grant Keller

Poll of the day: Haiku of the week

Pick a winner for this week’s world famous News Haiku^TM competition, based on the news that Robert Redford has died at 89.

Poll of the day: Not well handled, apparently.

We asked: Do you think Disney handled the Jimmy Kimmel suspension well?

You answered:

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I can't blame them for caving to political pressure (16)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ They handled it superbly — I'm impressed! (38)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I blame them for placing money over free speech principles (840 votes)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I don't even want to think about this story anymore; can we pretend it never happened? (147)

1041 Votes via @beehiiv polls