🧠 “Air Brain” — Nike’s neuro-sneaker. Zuck’s nuclear reactors. NYC Congestion Pricing’s Birthday. +Planuary

0:28This is Nick. in the episode description to buy those tickets. So snag your tickets. In the meantime, Jack, three fantastic stories for today's T-Boy. What do we got on the show? For our first story, it's Nike. Because Nike just launched a shoe that connects to your brain. Literally. Literally. But it's already sold out because this is a Paul Revere product. For our second story, Mark Zuckerberg just announced two nuclear power deals that caused the stocks of those nuclear companies to jump by 18%. Because Meta's built in one data center that needs the electricity city of five Vermont's. And our third and final story.

1:04Happy birthday to New York City's congestion pricing scheme. You're looking great over there. It launched one year ago. Was it fantastic or has it been a disaster? Jack and I just got the data, so we will dive in T-boy style. But yet he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Now that's how you start a week. No one else is starting the week like that, Jack. I will start exercising every day and do it every day this year, except uplag day. Jack, I will stop consuming alcohol except for mouthwash with, I think includes alcohol. I will start a journaling routine and a meditation routine and run a marathon and a half marathon and go gluten-free and test out not having dairy.

1:40Combine, besties. If you're feeling a new year's peer pressure, we have a resolution idea that won't fail you. Because our new year's resolution only lasts this month. It's called planuary. Planuary. Basically, you plan all your trips and travel for the whole year in just the month of January. All right. I just finished planuary. In April, I'm flying with the family to Florida. In June, I'm finally doing my honeymoon in Italy. And in August, we're doing a family vacation in Block Island. And in November, I'm going back to New York City for a weekend. Well, Jack, we are planning a trip to Italy too in August, but I think if we go at the same time, it's a write-off, right?

2:15Yeah. Yes. So you should come in June, I guess. Besties, all of this travel booking, it was a doozy on the January credit card statements, wasn't it, Jack? No joke, I actually hit my limit on my credit card, something I've never done before, because I bought four trips in one month. Jack, I thought we learned in calculus the limit does not exist. Yes, it very much does, Major. You flunked finance class. Besties, it feels fantastic to have the full year planned thanks to Planuary. And we got good rates for airfare because we booked so early. Because you can't build without a plan. And never forget our favorite quote from Yogi Berra.

2:49If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else. Perfectly said, Jack. Although now that I have kids, I end up someplace else even if I know where I'm going. And yet, if planuary is not your back, try our other resolution. Pie January. Pie January. It's like dry January, but instead of no alcohol, it's only pie. If you know, you know. Happy planuary to all those who celebrate, Jack. Let's do it. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. Jack Nick, that's it.

3:21I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.

3:36Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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5:08For our first story, Nike just launched the first ever mind-altering shoe last week, and it sold out in minutes. But Nike is facing an even bigger challenge. Have we hit peak sneaker? Pull up the IR, Jack. Nike stock fall on each of the last four years. It's down 63 % from its all-time high. Thanks for giving it to me as a Christmas gift the other week. That was a poorly timed gift. I'm sorry. You got to time the market better when you're gifting me stock jack. Yeah, Nike's looking less Michael Jordan, more Tony Kukoc, if you know what I mean. Scotty Pippen, we know you're listening and we know you laughed just now.

5:41But the new CEO of Nike, Elliot Hill, is determined to get Nike's edge back. Over the last year, he's invested billions into the Nike Sports Research Lab that had languished under the previous CEO. And the fruits of those R &D labors are beginning to launch, starting last week with the Mind 001 and the Mind 002. We're talking 95 bucks for the slip-on version, 145 bucks for the sneaker version. And what do they look like, Jack? Well, they're wild. They look like Crocs, but with 22 tiny little balls on the sole. Those balls are 22 nodes on the soles that, as they put it, move in a piston-like rhythm to activate key pressure point areas connected to sensory regions of the brain.

6:22Translation, a mind-altering shoe. So yeah, it sold out in minutes. And the purpose, well, as the PhDs put it, scientifically activate your brain through foot pressure points so that you feel present. 22 strategic little masseuses under each foot, pushing your feet on each step. Sounds pretty amazing, actually. That's how we see it. The early reviews, by the way, in case you're curious, they didn't change the wearer's brain, did they, Jack? No, but they made the wearer's steps feel more intentional. Yes. I'm into that. I want to try this out. Tony Kukoc, if you're listening, you may want to try him out.

6:58So it is a big year for Nike. You got the Olympics, you got the World Cup, and they're kicking off the year with mind-altering sneaker launch. But it's also super tough timing for Nike right now, because here's the big question. Have we hit peak sneaker? Have we hit peak sneak? Nike stock was downgraded last week, and so was its rival, Adidas. And the reason? Well, Bank of America analysts say that the end of the 20-year casual cycle has happened. Basically, we've reached the pinnacle of chill. Now we're past the pinnacle of chill. Yeah, you're right. These investment bankers said that since 2006, we have gone more casual as a society when it comes to our clothing.

7:35Slacks are out, leggings are in, but that's ending. The era of sneakers at work is over. And we know this because I've seen Jack's closet, right Jack? When Nick and I launched our full hustle media company, it was the summer of 2008, All I wore to work every day was stretchy pants. Jack would begin every business and be like, you gotta feel these khakis. They were Lululemon ABC pants, and they were stretchy, they were comfortable, they were casual, but they were good enough for work. You bought eight of them that summer, if I remember correctly, Jack. How many of you bought though in the last year or two?

8:04None, none. So I'm a data point in this investment bank. And yeah, I haven't bought as many sneakers either. We may be past peak sneaks. So besties, Nike investors aren't just worried about competition from On, Asics, and Hoka, right? Nike investors are worried that you might not buy sneakers like you used to. Bank of America saying, hey, loafers, monk straps, chukkas, those are the shoes making a comeback right now. I don't know about chukkas, Nick. Can't go wrong with a good desert boot, Jack. But this investment bank warning reveals the real value of Nike's mind-altering sneakers. It's not about the sneakers.

8:38It's about our takeaways. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Nike? This is a shock and awe campaign. It's not about sales, it's about the signal. Yetis, Nike's mind-altering shoe sold out, but it will never be a big source of their revenue, in our opinion. Sometimes it's not about what the product sells, it's about what the product signals. And this shoe signals that Nike is really about mindfulness, longevity, health, and innovation. It shows that while other brands return to nostalgia, which is easy, Nike is pivoting to novelty with big R &D. At the same time, Nike just unveiled their winter coat that inflates when you need it to be warm.

9:16Team USA is wearing them next month in the Olympics. You push a button and it inflates with air to provide extra insulation. That's wild. Jack added all up a mind-altering shoe and a self-puffing jacket? It's a shock and awe campaign that would make Donald Rumsfeld proud. The sneaker competition is shocked and consumers are odd. For our second story, Zuck just issued a Meta press release that said the words nuclear power 40 times. Tech companies are now nuclear companies, but to what end? Now, Yeti, since half of you have watched Chernobyl on HBO, that was such a good show. Definitely sprinkle on some context for you.

9:59Meta is not building nuclear power plants, and they are not investing in power plants either. But on Friday, they promised to buy nuclear electricity if those nuclear power plants get built by someone else. And that is actually huge. Meta just promised to splurge on nuclear juice for 20 years from nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania. And with a blue-chip financial commitment like that, investors will happily provide money to two startups to build next-generation nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania. And those companies, they are Vistra and Oclo, whose stocks rose over 18 % on Friday.

10:35Zuckerberg has gone full-on radioactive, Nick. Oh, he's glowing, baby. Plutonium-234, whatever it is. This is Meta's third and fourth nuclear deal. Who would have thought this? What we're saying is Meta is now one of the biggest buyers of nuclear power in American history. That's according to the company, actually. Fission is the new poking. So, besties, before we go any further, we should issue a quick reminder on why Meta, a company that does software, apps, and get-ready-with-me videos, needs nuclear plants. Back in the day, this would have been absurd. Because back in the day, Facebook's mission was connecting people.

11:10But then Facebook dropped the Facebook and rebranded to Meta. The mission became the Metaverse. And the Metaverse didn't work out. So now Meta's mission is build personal superintelligence for everyone. Superintelligence is Zuckerberg's word for AI that's so intelligent, it's as smart as humans. But here's the problem. Using an AI chatbot requires 10 times more energy than using Google search. Which is why Zuckerberg needs nuclear power plants. Yeah, Instagram's AI is thirsty. And Zuck is also going full Hollywood with these data centers. Oh, these are crazy names. The data center he's building in Ohio is called Prometheus and needs more electricity to run than the entire state of Maine.

11:49The other data center Zuck's building in Louisiana is named Hyperion. It'll be the size of Manhattan. And get this, it requires the same electricity as five Vermonts. And both will be powered by nuclear power plants, all just to power your chat. We're running out of New England states to share as, like, context here. New York City-sized data centers and brand new power plants? This is why our GDP is growing. Yeah, it's Zuck's nuke budget. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in nuclear? The$1 trillion question in Menlo Park right now is how will Meta make money on AI? Yetis, Zuckerberg is treating this race to superintelligence as the race of his life.

12:31He's paying people$100 million a year salaries. True story. He's acquired multiple AI startups. Scale AI last year and Manus AI last week. He's building data centers the size of New York City, and he's even funding brand new nuclear power plants. But here's the spoiler. Zuck hasn't even figured out what the AI business model is yet. Yes, Meta does have a chatbot. It's called Meta AI. It's like ChatGPT and Gemini, but it's free. It doesn't make money. And yes, Zuck's also starting to make money selling AI Ray-Ban eyeglasses out there. Or maybe he's doing all this AI just to help advertisers buy ads on Instagram and target us swipers better.

13:09Honestly, Jack, it's probably all the above. The$1 trillion question in Menlo Park right now, how will Meta make money on AI? Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Top hats, baseball hats, Von Dutch hats. We wear so many hats on this podcast. Honestly, we're not great at all of them. No, we've been avoiding hiring someone to wear those hats instead of us, especially the Von Dutch one, because hiring and training can take forever. Well, proud to say that we are hiring right now at T-Boy, and this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Because sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95 % more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs.

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14:57For our third and final story, New York City's congestion pricing just turned one year old. Happy birthday, Jack. How did it work? The data shows it's been a huge success. Oh, it worked. But there's a surprising reason you haven't heard anything about this story in the last year. Yetis one year ago, New York City began charging most drivers a fee to take their car into Manhattan below 60th Street. It was the country's first ever congestion pricing fee. During the peak hours, Monday through Friday, it cost you nine bucks if you drove your car into the biggest city in America. They would scan your license plate and send you a bell.

15:36Cha-ching, that's costly. It's only two dollars to enter during off-peak hours. So as you can imagine, people in New Jersey and Westchester hated this concept with the fiery passion of an angry Jets fan. But econ professors and urban policy majors love this policy with a fiery passion. Well, one year later, the results are in, and what are we looking at, Jack? To quote Upper West Sider Jerry Seinfeld, actually Jerry's from Queens, I thought, the numbers look fantastic. He moved. I guess you didn't get the address change, Jack. Besties, let's dive into the numbers on the most ambitious new city policy since...

16:11Since Bloomberg tried to take away our big gulps? since$1 pizza? I remember our buddy Timmy got angry about that. Yetis, the most immediate and obvious impact of this new congestion fee is simple, fewer cars. The number of cars entering Manhattan, south of 60th Street in the last year, is down 11%. We're talking 73 ,000 fewer cars every single day. And there's a lot of trickle-down impacts of having fewer cars. First of all, with fewer cars, the traffic moved 4.5 % faster than last year. And with fewer cars, it's quieter. 17 % fewer noise complaints from the previous year. And with fewer cars, it's safer.

16:489 % fewer crashes in New York in which people got seriously injured. He's added all up. Fewer Mazdas cruising through Manhattan. Jack, I can actually hear the pigeon singing in Manhattan right now. Plus, those fees added up. The city raised$550 million of badly needed money to invest in public transit and improve the subway, which is 10 % more than they expected to raise. But the best part of the whole situation Turns out it was a surprise profit puppy. It has not hurt businesses, either inside the affected area or outside. It's actually done the opposite. Get this, there was a 2.4 % increase in visitors in the last year, simply because they took buses, subways, and trains instead of their cars.

17:29We repeat, this fee to enter lower Manhattan did not reduce the number of visitors. It increased it. And if you are coming in, you're also dining out. Table for two of Dorosia, please. This next point is the best evidence we have. that the congestion pricing fee has worked. Reservations on Open Table in Manhattan, south of 60th Street, is up in the past year, despite the new existence of this congestion fee. Businesses were vocal opponents of this congestion fee, but those complaints appear to have stopped. But not all critics have become converts. Good point, Jack. Like some people just don't visit New York anymore like they used to.

18:06Because it costs nine bucks in and nine bucks out every time they do. Others who do come in have to pay that nine bucks, which is really expensive. Every new policy has winners and losers, but net-net, on its one-year birthday, the New York City congestion fee is clearly a huge win. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who can now hear those pigeons singing? We click on bad news, not good news. That's why you haven't heard anything about this story. That's the bad news bias, yet is a lack of coverage about this economic success story. It actually reveals our bias as humans for negative news.

18:37If this New York City congestion fee had failed, you would have seen a million headlines. It would have been all over TV. People would have been all up in the comments like celebrating the failure. But it succeeded. So you've seen no headlines until this one-year anniversary. You see, news networks know that we humans click on and stop our scroll when we see negative news, but not positive news. It's something psychological about us. So because news is a business, newsrooms ignore the positive news around the world, and they focus on sharing the negative news with you. Positive headlines don't get as many clicks, don't make as much money, so they focus on the negative news.

19:14And there are negative consequences of that. Like we could do a whole episode on negative news headlines, probably be our best episode check. A negative news story about negative headlines. Yeah, pretty meta. It's meta, but we should be celebrating right now what is so far a smashing success. New York City is safer, quieter, and a better place to live, work, and shop in because of the New York City congestion fee. One sec, you hear that? It's the pigeons. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Nike's mind-altering sneakers actually massage your pressure points as you step in them.

19:49But these Nikes ain't about sales, they're about signals. Nike's innovation is back, baby. Shock and awe products. For our second story, Meta pledged to buy all the electricity from two new nuclear power plants, all for their AI. But the$1 trillion question remains. Meta's got the AI apps, the data centers, and the power, but no business model yet. And our third and final story. New York City's congestion fee has been a success by every measurement. But you haven't heard about it yet because of our society's negative news bias. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

20:23First, the jobs report for December was just published on Friday. 50 ,000 new jobs added last month. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.4%. And since it was December's report, we have the whole year 2025. which was actually the weakest year for jobs growth since 2020. Now, part of that was immigration. Fewer newcomers equal fewer new jobs. And part of it was the federal worker layoffs that happened in Washington, D.C. And part of it was the sluggish economy for everything not AI. Second, the movie theater industry is still struggling, but IMAX is living its best life with record high revenues. Now, U.S.

20:58box office sales rose a tad last year, but they're still way down 28 % from their pre-pandemic highs. And if you adjust ticket sales for inflation, movie theaters are still 44 % below their 2018 highs. But IMAX is bucking the trend. You'd rather watch a movie at home, but your home can't compete with an IMAX mega screen. And finally, a story about Tin Can. The landline phone for kids we covered this fall had a major outage on Christmas Day. Okay, but this is a good problem to have. You see, so many kids got Tin Can landline phones for their Christmas gifts. They all plugged them in and tried them at the same time, apparently.

21:35And Tin Can couldn't handle the massive surge in traffic. So the kids' attempts to call their cousin on their Tin Can phone didn't work. They dropped. Yeah, Tin Can. Can you hear me now? No. No, we can't. But keep going, Tin Can. You got this, Tin Can. Now, time for the best facts yet, which, because it's Monday, we're kicking off with some T-Boy trivia. You ready, Jack? Yeah, I actually haven't heard this one. Okay, so here's the trivia. I prepared it for you from over the weekend. Venezuela, obviously been in the news big time over the last week, but where does the name of the country Venezuela actually come from?

22:05I need a hint. Okay, the name Venezuela is connected to spaghetti and meatballs. Seriously? Yeah. Tell me more. Well, you'll hear more on tomorrow's pod. I'll reveal the answer. Yetis, you're looking fantastic today. Especially all of you who gave us five-star ratings on Spotify and pushed us past 10 ,000 ratings. Finally! Here we go! Okay, now I got an assignment for the Apple listeners out there. What are you thinking, Jack? We're at 9.6 thousand reviews on Apple. If we all push right now at the same time, like those fish in Finding Nemo who all push down on the net at the same time, I know what you're thinking.

22:40I think we can get to 10 ,000 on Apple too. Jack, I like where your mind's at. Besties, tap that five stars. Jack and I, thank you and we'll see you tomorrow.

22:53And before we go, congratulations to Chris and me from Long Beach, California. Their first IDO is coming summer 2026. Huge congrats. Initial baby offering. The best kind of public offering. Congratulations to Daniel Day from Scottsdale, Arizona, who just launched a new app, Tester, helps men boost their testosterone. And congrats on the engagement, Daniel. And a shout out to legendary Eddie Lizzie Horvitz with the big birthday from Cleveland, Ohio, the Paris on the Lake. Happy birthday to Rafa Alvarez Reyes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The boys are hoping you get under a 30 golf handicap this season.

23:29Yeah, no pressure, man. And Kayla Zamora down in Austin, Texas is celebrating the best birthday yet. Kayla, we're sorry your husband dropped the ball on the tickets to our live show. We hope to be back in Austin with you soon. And finally, happy 30th birthday to Drew Glappa in Austin, Texas. A lot of besties down there in the Lone Star State. Can't wait to see you at the after party. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

23:57This is Jack. I own stock of Crocs, Nick own stock of Nike, and we both own stock of Apple and Spotify. Hi, this is Kim Holderness from the Laugh Lines podcast. Let's talk about spring break. You might be thinking, oh no, Kim, nothing good happens on spring break. Well, I'm here to tell you, it's time to redefine our vacation time. We all deserve a getaway that is meaningful but doesn't require a ton of planning. Spring break isn't what it used to be. It's better. This spring, stay three nights and get a$50 Best Western gift card. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions.