Brief - The Hustle

Digits: Beer Can Island, sky-high cuisine, a serious Mac fan, and more wild numbers

Written by Juliet Bennett Rylah | Apr 1, 2024 12:00:00 AM

40 weekends: How long it took German designer Kevin Noki to 3D-print a working replica of Apple’s 1986 Macintosh Plus. Noki found a real Macintosh Plus in poor condition on eBay, then meticulously recreated each part for his spot-on “Brewintosh Plus.” It even takes floppy discs and makes all the same sounds. Though the process was arduous, Noki told PopSci that such work not only “preserve[s] computing history but also ensures it’s accessibility for generations to come.” (Check out a video of his work here.)

9 acres: Unsubmerged land on Pine Key — AKA Beer Can Island — an unzoned island located in Tampa Bay. Four friends purchased the man-made island, which got its nickname thanks to boaters littering it with beer cans, in 2017 for $63.6k and turned it into a venue for parties and concerts. Now they’re auctioning it off as an NFT for crypto, though they will accept cash offers. Buyer beware, though: Last year, during Hurricane Idalia, it was submerged under five feet of water.

40%: Share of managers who want to replace workers with AI, according to a survey of 3k of them from AI company Beautiful.ai. Forty-one percent said they thought they could swap humans with “cheaper” AI tools, while 40% thought their teams would be fine if they replaced multiple people with AI. Yet, as Inc. points out, these same managers may find themselves being replaced, as such positions are often the first to go when a company downsizes.

$495k: How much it’ll cost you to enjoy a meal from a Michelin Star restaurant in a so-called “SpaceBalloon” 100k feet above sea level. The six-hour “Stratospheric Dining Experience” will take place aboard Space Perspective’s Spaceship Neptune in a pressurized cabin that can accommodate six diners, all outfitted in custom gear from French fashion house Ogier. There will be WiFi for guests who wish to bypass the glory of looking down at our pale blue dot to let all their friends know how cool they are.