👉 “Poke” — MySpace vs. DisTok. Travis Kalanick’s future-port. Pringles’ perfect AI potato. +Spreadsheet Dating

MySpace is plotting a third comeback while Disney is embedding TikTok videos into its streaming app. Pringles is using AI to engineer the perfect potato chip. And Travis Kalanick, nine years after being pushed out of Uber, just raised $1.7 billion to build a network of "verdeports" — downtown landing pads for flying taxis. Those three developments anchor this episode, along with a quick round of smaller items: spreadsheet dating is a real trend, Elf Beauty is passing tariff savings back to customers, and New York City is winning its war on rats thanks to plastic bins.

MySpace 2.0 vs. DisTok

Two events this week point in opposite directions for social media's future. First, the brothers who founded MySpace in 2003 — the original social network that peaked at 800 million dollars in ad revenue before Facebook crushed it — now own the company again and are planning a third comeback, announced in a new documentary. Second, Disney signed a deal to put TikTok videos inside the Disney Plus app. Creators will gain access to Disney's intellectual property — think certified Darth Vader videos — and cross-post them on both platforms.