1) With Bitcoin down ~50% since February, the same group of crypto companies that spent $84.5m on TV ads that month — like this one from FTX with Larry David — spent just $36k on TV ads in July.
2) Tap-to-pay now accounts for 45% of in-person transactions in NYC, with some 90% of US retailers now accepting Apple Pay, up from 3% when the service was introduced in 2014.
3) Good news for anyone in need of internet at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at 19,341 feet. The Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation says the summit will have a speedy smartphone broadband network installed by year’s end.
4) A new Brookings study found the average cost for raising a US child born in 2015 through age 17 to be $310.6k. Taking inflation into account, that’s up 9%, or $26k, from estimates made in 2020.
5) Are we less stressed? User sessions across the top 10 meditation apps are down 48% from their 2020 high. Calm and Headspace saw sessions drop 26.4% and 60.3% YoY, respectively, this past July.