February 1, 2023

Today's Topics

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Moving’s out

Upping sticks in the US seems to have lost its appeal in recent years, with the overall moving rate and number of movers dropping every year from 2017-2021, according to the Census Bureau. But for those select few who have decided to pack up and switch states, where exactly are they heading?

All change, please

New data from the Census Bureau reveals which states have been the winners, and losers, from domestic movers.

Florida topped the domestic net migration chart, with an influx of ~319,000 people choosing to call the sunshine state their new home in 2022, making a major contribution to its 1.9% overall population increase. Indeed, heading south proved to be a popular choice in general last year as Texas came in second, welcoming ~231,000 new state-hoppers, helping its population rise by 1.6%.

At the other end of the scale, more than 600,000 coastal dwellers from New York and California moved out, with the former’s population dropping by 0.9% and the most populous state in America seeing 343,000 people move away.

Go deeper: check out the full list of data, compiled by the NAR.

Game over

Meta is slashing creator spending on its game-streaming service, Facebook Gaming, after handing millions of dollars to streamers over the years in a futile effort to keep up with the Amazon-owned giant, Twitch.

The creator cutbacks follow Meta’s decision in August to pull the iOS and Android versions of Facebook Gaming as the platform has struggled to carve out its place in the streaming space since launching in 2018.

Still twitching

Like Zoom, baking bread and home workouts, Twitch got a massive boost during the pandemic with people flocking to the platform to play – but mostly watch – video games on stream. However, unlike other lockdown activities, Twitch has managed to stick the landing. Indeed, data from StreamLabs reveals that the platform saw a huge uptick in the pandemic, with the total hours people spent streaming content on the service jumping to 5.1bn in the second quarter of 2020.

3 years later, activity on Twitch has moderated, with 5.7bn hours clocked in for the latest quarter. That’s down modestly from the pandemic peak of 6.5bn, but it’s still a figure that is ~5x and ~14x higher than competitors like YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming managed, respectively.

Clearly, the network effects in live streaming have never been stronger. People want to watch the most interesting streamers, and the most interesting streamers want to be watched by the most people. So strong is that network effect that, even with multimillion-dollar carrots to lure streamers away, the giants of Meta and YouTube haven’t been able to muscle in on Twitch’s territory.

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Queen of the skies

Boeing’s iconic 747 jumbo jet is finally flying off into the sunset as the manufacturer delivered the final 747 on Tuesday, to cargo carrier Atlas Air. Often credited with "shrinking the world", nearly 1,600 models have rolled off the factory floor since the 747 was first unveiled at the Paris Air Show back in 1969.

All 6 million parts of the jet come together in Boeing’s Everett Factory, the largest building in the world by volume, which was built solely for assembling the 747. Of course, all good things come to an end, and over time the four-engined 747 has been superseded by increasingly efficient two-engine planes. In 1990, Boeing 747s were responsible for 28% of the world's passenger widebody fleet, now — with only 109 planes — the jet's share is a mere 2% (thanks CNBC for the chart inspiration).

Although Boeing delivered the final 747 designed to carry passengers to Korean Air in 2017, demand lingered a little longer for its cargo-carrying 747s because of their ability to load through the plane’s nose. Though even that dominance is fading — 747s now make up 21% of the world’s freighter widebody fleet, down from 71% in 1990.

Boeing investors are hoping for something to take the place of the iconic airliner as the company continues recovering from the problems that plagued the 737 MAX. That flagship model was hit with a global grounding ruling in 2019 following two fatal crashes in which 346 people lost their lives.

Boeing will at least continue to have one prestigious, although very demanding, customer for their 747 – the US President.

More Data

Ford is cutting its Mustang Mach-E prices by up to $5,900 in a bid to stay competitive in the EV wars.

• Can describe the music you want but can't find the right playlist? Google’s latest AI turns your text description into music.

• The US government likely awarded $5.4bn in COVID-19 aid to recipients with questionable credentials, according to a new report.

Hi-Viz

• Time’s ability to warp, expand and retract, is represented brilliantly in this scrollytelling walkthrough.

• This beautiful visualization explores the dark world of the rubber trade, race, and colonialism.

• Visualizing the financial trends of 2022 through Google searches.

Off the charts: Which country’s economy, that the IMF predicts will be the only one in the G7 to decline this year, were we charting about back in September? Hint: it's currently experiencing its worst day of strikes in more than a decade. [Answer below].

Answer here.

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