🗞️ Peanut Allergies

Good morning. Are you the type of person who gets a lot of joy from the travelator at the airport?

Here's an invention for you and your gamer friend - Mo/Go pants, the world’s first powered pants. Arc’teryx and Skip, a spinoff of Google’s X Labs, may have room for excitement as the pants boast:

• A lightweight electric motor in the knee that can make you feel 13kg lighter;

• The ability to adjust the amount of assistance based on real-time information, supporting uphill and downhill walking;

• A rechargeable battery which can last 3 hours;

• Guarantees a City2Surf PB.

They don't come cheap at ~$5k. Could at least be worth it for that guy who comes into the office looking like he came out of a pool.

All the headlines and more below...

PARIS OLYMPICS 2024

File this under: “Nah, I should be all good”

• Australian star-studded Women's 4x200 Freestyle team won Gold this morning.

• Jemima Montag won bronze for Australia in the 20km walk (averaging faster than most people can run at 4 min 20 secs per km).

• Simona Biles of the USA won her 2nd gold medal at Paris taking her total gold tally to 6.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Unit prices rising faster than houses in 60% of all suburbs

• Apartment values are rising faster than houses in 60% of suburbs, driven by declining borrowing capacity and worsening affordability, lifting demand for units. LINK

• Adelaide and Perth home values are set to surpass Melbourne’s in August, marking a significant shift in the housing market rankings. LINK

• Demand for premium CBD office space has increased, while occupancy of B-grade space has declined. LINK

• Australia starts world-first peanut allergy treatment for babies. LINK

• Matildas’ head coach Tony Gustavsson left the team after their Olympic campaign ended with a 2-1 loss to the US, the worst result for the Matildas in 2 decades. LINK

GLOBAL NEWS

Tourists splurge in Japan thanks to the weak yen

• Tourists are flocking to Japan to buy high-end clothes and handbags at a discount due to the weak yen. LINK

• Russia fined Google and TikTok for failing to comply with a communications regulator order to remove banned content. LINK

COMPANY NEWS

Korean Air: Turbulence takes instant noodles off menu

• Korean Air will stop serving instant cup noodles on long-haul flights due to increased turbulence incidents. LINK

• Microsoft said that its Azure cloud service was cyberattacked on Tuesday with some customers across the globe having issues connecting to Microsoft services—including Azure, Microsoft 365. LINK

• Alibaba plans to launch an AI-powered search engine in September that helps merchants source goods online. LINK

• 3 current and former PwC Australia CEOs will testify before parliament about the firm’s tax leaks scandal. LINK

• Uber and Chinese automaker BYD announced a multi-year partnership to bring 100,000 new electric vehicles to the ride-hailing platform globally. LINK

• CrowdStrike was sued by shareholders for allegedly concealing inadequate software testing that led to the global outage. LINK

• ANZ has become Australia’s third-biggest mortgage lender after completing the $4.9B acquisition of Suncorp’s banking arm. LINK

• Major banks, supermarkets and Australia Post are working on contingency plans for cash transit services as Armaguard faces potential failure again. LINK

• JPMorgan has launched an in-house generative AI chatbot with the ability of a research analyst, available to its employees. LINK

• TikTok has been spending US$20M a month to purchase OpenAI models through Microsoft with the purchases making up about 25% of Microsoft's AI revenue. LINK

• Adidas expects the global appeal of soccer to continue driving sales into 2025 after this year’s soccer tournaments exceeded expectations. LINK

• Shell reported a Q2 profit of US$6.3B, down 19% from the previous quarter due to weaker refining margins and oil and gas trading. LINK

• Microsoft said it will pay a one-time performance-based cash award of up to 25% of annual bonus to non-executive employees. LINK

• Nine Entertainment's publishing staff accepted an 11.5% pay increase over 3 years after striking for 5 days over a previous 10.5% offer. LINK

• Meta Platforms exceeded market expectations for Q2 revenue. LINK

• Amazon is expected to report a surge in capital spending on AI, with investments in cloud and AI infrastructure rising 43% in Q2 to $16.4B. LINK

• Etsy exceeded expectations for Q2 revenue and gross merchandise sales, driven by steady demand for personalised gifts. LINK

• eBay beat expectations for Q2 revenue and profit due to robust demand for pre-owned goods and cost-effective automotive parts. LINK

• A Tesla Model S in "Full Self-Driving" mode hit and killed a motorcyclist in Seattle in April, marking at least the second fatal accident involving the technology. LINK

CHART OF THE DAY

The Post-Pandemic Outlook for Global Trade

• Global trade is recovering unevenly, with geopolitical tensions and regional disparities influencing future trends.

• Merchandise trade is expected to grow above the long-term average, with Asia leading the recovery.

• Services trade, digital commerce and travel are growing faster than goods trade.

• Countries are trading more with allies, with a 10% increase in geopolitical distance reducing bilateral trade by 2.5%.

HIGHER OR LOWER

It’s Game Time

Higher or Lower: It's all about world records and gold medals this week but here are some impressive feats which won’t be earning a medal. Can you work out which of the below is higher or lower?

1. The largest bench press in the world is higher or lower than 500kg?

2. The most chin ups in a row was higher or lower than 1,000?

3. The most hotdogs eaten in 10 minutes was higher or lower than 70?

4. The fastest beer mile (1,609 metres with a beer every 400 metres) was faster or slower than 4 mins and 40 seconds?

5. The longest frisbee throw is further or shorter than 100 metres?

Answers below

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ANSWERS

1. Bench press was higher at 625kg (nice bruh)

2. Chin ups were lower at 651 chin ups

3. Hotdogs in 10 minutes was higher at 76 hotdogs

4. Beer mile was faster at 4 minutes and 28 seconds

5. Frisbee throw was shorter at 76 metres