Drones Light Up the Fourth

America's Second President John Adams originally envisioned a Fourth of July holiday marked with "illuminations" but who says he meant FIREWORKS? Certainly not our pets, who usually spend the evening cowering under the bed. Or, you know…veterans, whose PTSD suffers badly this time of year.

2024 brings an "unprecedented uptick" in the number of drone shows across the country, said Kevin Prince, co-founder of a drone show company in Los Angeles which put on such a performance at the recent Grammy Awards. Boulder and Salt Lake City are both citing environmental and safety concerns about fireworks as justification for their Independence Day switches this year. Meanwhile, drone shows cost about four times as much as regular firework shows, ranging from $25,000 to half a million bucks depending on the scope and scale.

That said, "I don't think fireworks are done," Mr. Prince said. Us either. We like the smell. But we would also like 300 drones to spell out "Cheddar's N2K Newsletter Rocks," this year. And you can't do THAT with rockets. Can you?

Read this in your browser Jul 02, 2024 Greetings! Hello, Cheddar fans! (Cheese-heads?) (Grateful Chedds?)   It's a major holiday this week in America, which means many of us will be heading out of town in a day or two, if we're not hosting a cookout for 30 or 40 close personal friends. Still, before we get to chillaxing, there's plenty of hot news shaking down at Cheddar HQ: Cities across America are shifting from fireworks to drone shows as concerns about public safety and wildfires, and evolving technology, cause them to rethink. Webtoon—the digital content company bringing AI-enabled manga (and more, they swear!) to your cousin's iPad—has debuted on the NASDAQ. And then naturally, of course, we're thinking an awful lot about alcohol... Enjoy Tuesday's Need2Know, safe in the knowledge that nothing really important is going to happen after Wednesday (except the Friday jobs report). —Matt Davis, N2K Chedditor 1. Drones Light Up the Fourth America's Second President John Adams originally envisioned a Fourth of July holiday marked with "illuminations" but who says he meant FIREWORKS? Certainly not our pets, who usually spend the evening cowering under the bed. Or, you know…veterans, whose PTSD suffers badly this time of year. 2024 brings an "unprecedented uptick" in the number of drone shows across the country, said Kevin Prince, co-founder of a drone show company in Los Angeles which put on such a performance at the recent Grammy Awards. Boulder and Salt Lake City are both citing environmental and safety concerns about fireworks as justification for their Independence Day switches this year. Meanwhile, drone shows cost about four times as much as regular firework shows, ranging from $25,000 to half a million bucks depending on the scope and scale. That said, "I don't think fireworks are done," Mr. Prince said. Us either. We like the smell. But we would also like 300 drones to spell out "Cheddar's N2K Newsletter Rocks," this year. And you can't do THAT with rockets. Can you? Watch Now From @cheddar Know someone who needs this car? 🤭 Hyundai has unveiled the crab-walking MOBION, designed to make parallel parking a breeze. With all four wheels controlled individually, the vehicle can perform unique maneuvers such as diagonal driving, sideways motion, and stationary pivot turns, allowing it to rotate 360 degrees in tight spaces. These impressive capabilities are made possible by Hyundai's innovative in-wheel technology, which propels the EV forward seamlessly. Follow @cheddar on Instagram! 2. Webtoon Raises $315M With NASDAQ IPO Digital storytelling hub Webtoon priced its IPO at the top of its range at $315 million on the NASDAQ on Monday. The platform allows creators to create online "web cartoon" stories, then test the market for their work amongst a willing audience of about 170 million active monthly users. The site has spawned successful crossover shows on Netflix ("The 8") and Amazon Prime ("Marry My Husband"), too. "We know years in advance, based on data, not instinct and judgement, when a title on our platform will eventually become a rich film adaptation," said CFO David Lee. "We believe the world needs democratized content." 24 million people around the world create content on the platform, which has 170 million monthly active users. The firm grew its revenue 14% in Q1. Webtoons also pays its creators, with professionals earning an average of $48,000 a year, and the top 100 earning over $1 million each. Watch Now 3. Boeing Experiences Turbulence with Criminal Charges, Spirit Buyback An up-and-down week looms for plane manufacturer Boeing. Or rather, a down-and-possibly-up week. The bad news: Boeing is close to reaching a deal with the Department of Justice to plead guilty to criminal charges over two deadly 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. The DOJ says the company violated a 2021 settlement agreement related to the two crashes, which killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The company would pay a $240 million fine and could be banned from defense and space contracts as a result, with major possible implications for the company's shareholders. Lead counsel for the victims has said they'll oppose the plea deal on the basis that there's no accountability or admission from Boeing that by misleading authorities about the safety of its planes, it caused the deaths. Instead, the victims' families have been pushing the DOJ to take the company to trail and impose billions in fines. The possibly good news: The proposed deal comes a day after Boeing announced plans to buy back Spirit Aerosystems, the supplier for the 737 Max fuselage, in a deal worth $8.3 billion. Boeing spun off the company in 2005 but the goal of the buyback is to improve plane quality and safety. Let's hope its ambitions are realized. Watch Now So, what do you think of Cheddar? We want to hear from you! From shows to site to this very newsletter, we'd love some feedback. Take the Survey! 4. What's Almost as Good as Nine Hours in a London Pub? Going to a 3D Immersive Cinema Exhibit Filmed Over Nine Hours in a London Pub... ScanLAB Project's "Framerate: Rhythms Around Us" Premieres At Tribeca Festival this month, and other scenes include 3D immersive films shot in a forest and a construction site. But what about that pub? Its customers drank 519 pints over the period, which is about 515 more than we could manage at a push. And if you watch the film, you'll get the immersive experience WITHOUT the hangover. Producer Meriko Borogove spent 22 years working at Apple and was on the original camera design team for the iPhone. Now she's leading new 3D scanning camera technology that pushes the limits. Part tech company, part film studio, the firm creates large-scale, 3D timelapses, and they're actually pretty cool to watch. Cheers! Watch Now 5. It's Five O'Clock Somewhere! Cool Off With Summer's Hottest Cocktails We realize it's only Tuesday, but with all this Fourth of July talk, and mentions of English pubs, it's possible we may have alcohol on the mind. We caught up with Bacardi North America President Tony Latham to find out what's hot in summer cocktails. Tequila continues to be a perennial favorite, he said, with some interesting evolutions occurring in the "world of the Margherita." Which is a world we know only too well. Read More This email was sent to salenamartine360.news1@blogger.com unsubscribe     member center     contact us   Cheddar Cheddar • 1 State Street • 25th Floor • New York, NY 10004 • USA