Good Monday Morning! It’s May 24th, which means we’re a week away from the first national holiday where vaccinated Americans are projected to gather in record numbers since lockdowns began in March of 2019. Thanks science! Since Monday will be a holiday, SWIRL will be lounging by a pool with a cold drink🍹.
We’ll be back in your inboxes a day later on Tuesday, June 1st.
Anyway, here’s the SWIRL:
📱 Tech: Spectacles at Snapchat
📈 Business: Budget airlines take off
🏛 Politics: Vaccine efforts get a little romance
If this is your first SWIRL, keep reading this part. If not, carry on to the content.
Welcome, new Swirlers! Here’s a brief reader guide: the three teasers above unfurl below to briefly cover a buzzy development in their respective area. You’ll read a little about each one. At the end, we pull on a common thread among all three and explore what it might mean for us. If you missed last week’s SWIRL, tuck in here.
📱 Tech: Spectacles at Snapchat
Several weeks ago, we talked about the US Army snapping up some augmented reality (AR) goggles 🥽 from Microsoft for its soldiers. Today, we’re talking about Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, announcing their latest version of AR smart glasses.
The new ‘Spectacles’ 🕶 allow users to view digital objects overlaid on the real world through AR technology.
Snap has released previous versions of its AR glasses, but the latest smart shades 🤓come with a new bright spot for the California-based tech company.
In its biggest deal to date, Snap has acquired 💸the developers of the AR displays that are built into Spectacles — a company called WaveOptics — for $500M.
In addition to the components made by WaveOptics, the new glasses feature two cameras, four microphones, a touchpad & buttons for controls, and 30 minutes of battery life. The microphones enable an audio feature that activates Spectacles with a user’s voice prompt 🗣 “Hey Snapchat.”
Since we’re on the topic of visuals, I thought it’d be helpful to share Snap’s intro video 📽 for the new product to help show off the tech:
The high-tech eyewear isn’t available to most consumers just yet. Snap is rolling them out to selected creators at first.
Consider yourself a creator? If so, you can head here to apply.
📈 Business: Budget airlines take off
A new airline ✈️ will take to American skies on May 27th.
Breeze Airways is the second air travel company to announce operations this year.
Tickets went on sale on Friday. Fares start at $39 for Memorial Day ⛱ weekend flights servicing Charleston SC, Tampa FL, and Hartford CT — destinations Breeze believes are underserved by current carriers.
By July, they plan to expand to the 39 routes mentioned in their tweet, adding several more locations 📍in the midwest and south:
The budget airfare won’t get you many in-flight perks; all flights will be 100% economy class. Bags are $20.
However, you won’t be charged to change or cancel flights, which is in line with moves made by legacy air carriers during the pandemic 😷 .
The founder of Breeze is David Neeleman, who has founded several other airlines, including JetBlue. On Friday, he explained Breeze’s strategy to CNBC:
“Covid’s been really tough on our industry, but we’ve been able to take advantage of low aircraft prices…”
“…We have really low prices. We’re flying routes that really haven’t been flown nonstop, really, ever, and with really low trip costs.”
Before Breeze’s debut, another budget airline took off this year. Avelo Air began operating flights 🛫 in late April. They offer one-way flights for as little as $19, serve 200 locations, and have a fleet of Boeing 737s. Their founder is an alumni of United and Allegiant Airlines.
🏛 Politics: Vaccine efforts get a little romance
The latest CDC data 📊 indicates only 38% of Americans are fully vaccinated. A new plan released by the White House on Friday aims to spice up vaccination efforts.
Users on dating apps 🤳🏼 like Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid, Bumble, and Badoo can provide proof of vaccination to enable premium app features "like boosts, super likes, and super swipes”, per the administration.
The partnership 💞 between the government and dating apps will also allow love (or hookup) seekers to filter potential matches by vaccination status and book appointments for vaccines.
President Biden’s goal is to have 70% of Americans with a least one shot by July 4th 🎆.
What’s behind this new relationship between the White House & dating apps?
50 million Americans have user accounts on the participating apps. OkCupid found that people who are vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated receive 14% more matches 💕 than people who don’t plan to get vaccinated.
The White House is targeting the…
…crowd with this campaign to boost 📈 vaccinations.
The US isn’t the only government adopting this approach. Earlier this month, a similar plan was announced in the UK 🇬🇧.
So, how do our three stories swirl together? All of our stories share an undercurrent of moving past the pandemic. How?
😎 Snapchat: the new AR glasses are designed to create new experiences for engaging in novel ways with the world outside. As we gradually spend more time out and about, forging a new post-pandemic reality, technologies like ‘Spectacles’ will increasingly focus on bringing mixed-reality experiences to us wherever we are.
✈️ Breeze: Budget airlines are popping to up answer pent-up demand for travel, and with large aircraft available at record-low prices, we’ve seen a couple early entrants to the air carrier market this year. We all want to travel and we’re getting more options to do that as the threat of Covid abates.
⚕️Vaccines: White House plans to achieve herd immunity numbers have stalled in recent weeks, but partnerships like those announced with dating apps could reinvigorate demand for vaccines. And those creative efforts to boost vaccination rates could help speed us towards more meaningfully moving past the pandemic.
Will it all work😳?! Who knows.
You don’t read this newsletter to peer into the future. That’s covered here instead.
And that’s it for this week’s SWIRL - see you next week!
-Matt from SWIRL
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