👟 “Ree-bound” — Reebok’s Shaq comeback. Apple’s AirPod camera. Whirlpool's DIY warning. +Pimp My Cart

0:28This is Nick. to mark your calendars. But we got three fantastic stories to make you the most interesting person in the room. Jack, what do we got on today's T-Boy? For our first story, Apple employees are walking around campus right now testing out their big new product. It's a camera that cannot take a photo. For our second story, Reebok sales have tripled since 2021. And Shaq is dribbling the profits to the bank. Yeah, because Shaq FaceTimed a player 17 times. True story. And our third and final story is Whirlpool. They just revealed that you're not buying a new washing machine. You're fixing your old one instead.

1:05It's the DIY economy, and it tells us something huge about the real economy. But yet, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, like we said, that's just the best mix in business, Jack. Big alert for you. The shopping cart is getting disrupted. We're not talking about those digital e-commerce shopping carts, are we, Jack? No. We're talking about the metal grate Kmart-style clunky thing with the dangling front left wheel. Last year, Yeti's Instacart invented a new shopping cart with a built-in screen. The screen gives turn-by-turn directions to hit every item on your shopping list, which you pre-uploaded on that screen.

1:38Turn left at aisle six for cilantro, Mr. Jack. Your next destination is aisle six. Then, Amazon launched something similar at Whole Foods with a built-in credit card swiper. No line, you just roll on out the store. Over at Chanel, they designed a diamond-crusted shopping cart that cost$152 ,000. The most ostentatious wealth signal of all time, the Porsche Cayenne of the shopping carts. But Target just created the Chevy Suburban of shopping carts. Because this is the first cart with a built-in cup holder big enough for a Stanley mug. Few years too late for the Stanley Cup trend, I should point out.

2:14But this cart has a wide load lane. The diameter fits your 40-ounce tumbler. It's got a second cup holder that fits your Starbucks Venti. because 1 ,700 Starbucks live within Targets. And in between those two custom cup holders is a phone tray and a baby seat. The middle-class fancy experience that Target has always promised just got an upgrade. But Jack, pause the pot. What do we want to see in the shopping cart disruption? A self-parking shopping cart. A shopping cart that takes itself to that little island caddy in the middle of the lot. You know what we're talking about. Because that's the most annoying part of your shopping experience, like bringing the cart back to that caddy.

2:49Hey, exhibit, pit my cart. Jack, let's hit our three stories.

3:21First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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4:25The guide is free to use at netsuite.com slash tboy. Netsuite.com slash tboy. Monarch. All right, Yetis, you're never going to be able to guess how many accounts Jack has linked to Monarch. 31. Are there even that many financial products out there? Hey, Yetis, he's got credit cards, checking accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts. 529 college savings accounts for each kid and my nieces and nephews, Nick. Okay, I'm rounding up. Does that get us to 31? Where are we? Don't forget my mortgage, my house, the car I own. They're all linked and all their values in Monarch. You see, besties, Jack actually linked everything to Monarch one year ago during a little bit of spring cleaning.

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5:40For our first story, according to reports, Apple is in final testing of their next big product. Here it is. AirPods with cameras. But the cameras aren't really cameras. They're just AI lookers. And that should scare Zuckerberg. Yetis call a plumber. We got a leak. Apple is building three new AI devices. One goes in your ears, one goes on your face, and one of them clips to your shirt. But one feature unites all three of those future products. They all have cameras. Cameras. You see, Mark Gurman, the Bloomberg reporting Apple whisperer, says that Apple employees are actively testing one of those crazy new things.

6:17Next generation AirPods, but they're really AI wearables. You see, according to Mr. Gurman, long overdue AI Super Siri is going to be announced at their next September product unveil for Apple. And on that same day, these new AI AirPods that employees are testing out right now, they could be introduced to. Okay, but guess what? These new AirPods are going to have built-in cameras, like a Kodak in your ears situation, Jack. Yeah, the stem is going to go down a little bit longer to hold a camera on each side. But that's not all. After these camera AirPods, then come smart glasses and a pendant that you'll be pinned into your shirt, all made by Apple.

6:53And they all have cameras. The reason? It's that so Siri won't just be all-knowing, Siri will be all-seeing too. You can finally say, hey Siri, did these khakis make my butt look big? And she can actually share the opinion with you. Now, right now, wearables are just 7 % of Apple's revenues, but all three of their next products reportedly are in the wearables category. But besties, this is not what you are thinking. Because these cameras, they can't take photos and they can't record video. To sprinkle on some context, we're going to flip open the pages of AI 101. Oh, I love that book. I love that book.

7:28You see, Yetis, the more context AI has on you, the more helpful it can be. Basically, AI eats context. And that's what these cameras are for. These next generation AirPods AirPods will feed Siri the context of your visual environment based on what the cameras see. According to the reporter Gurman, the cameras can take in visual info in low resolution that users can then query Siri about. So Siri could say to you, hey, turn right after the Walgreens on the corner there. The restaurant is just two blocks down on the left. Siri knows because she can see where you are on the street. Or while you're looking at a wine shelf at a store, you could ask Siri, hey Siri, which of these pairs well with the slammin' salmon I'm sautéing tonight?

8:07Plus, these wild new AirPods will include a small LED light to indicate when visual data is being sent up to the cloud. Picture the green light, like, on your phone or MacBook when the camera is on. The green light is a privacy thing. It's to let everyone around you know that, you know, something's being recorded here. But the key is that these new camera AirPods won't require a new behavior or lifestyle like the Apple Vision Pro headset did a couple years ago. Wearing AirPods is already part of your daily routine. So, these new AI AirPods are an AI wearable. And Jack, who is leading in the category right now?

8:39For AI wearables, it's the Meta Ray-Ban sunglasses. But pause the pause, Jack, because there is one particular problem with the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. The videos that are being recorded on those glasses, and you don't even know about it, you'll be surprised when they get posted on Instagram. On the other hand, video from these camera AirPods never will end up on Instagram. Nick, have you heard about the disturbing reports that Meta employees are able to snoop in on Meta Ray-Ban wearers and see the footage that they're seeing with their sunglasses? Are you talking about like a peeping Tom situation going on in Menlo Park?

9:12That's happening at Meta, but it better not happen with Apple because of our takeaway. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Apple must avoid the surveillance ick. Yetis, remember back on April 1st, we covered Apple's 50th birthday? We said that to win the next 50 years, Apple must solve privacy in the age of AI. Well, these cameras that don't actually record video or photos, that you can't actually look at, only Siri can, this is aligned with that prediction. You see, China's already using AI for surveillance. Our government probably is too, and our private companies definitely are doing that kind of AI surveillance.

9:48But Apple is the brand that's powerful enough, it's best suited to fight mass surveillance. And it would be lucrative if they could succeed. And that's why when Apple finally launches these, it'll include a new name to describe the cameras. Apple's been pretty good at trademarking privacy and security features. Face ID, Touch ID, those are some pretty solid Apple copyrights right there, man. Cameras that inform your AI, but are also protecting the privacy of the people around them. That's a technology that needs its own Apple trademark. Oh, it does. Like Jack, they could call these Apple Insight.

10:18Clean, one word, implies understanding rather than watching. Or my favorite, they could be called Context Lenses. Not contact lenses. They're just for context for the AI assistant. I see what you did there. Besties, Apple should trademark anti-surveillance privacy because it must avoid the surveillance ick. For our second story, while Nike struggles, one surprise brand has rebounded more than any other. It's Reebok. Reebok is back because of Shaq, Allen Iverson, and 17 FaceTime calls to Angel Reese. Oh, besties. You already know Nike pulled a hammy. The stock, it's down 75 % from its all-time high.

11:01Pulled a hammy. Nick, they ruptured their Achilles. Yeah, it's true. Now, they've tried to come back. Like, Nike launched a puffer jacket for the Winter Olympics and a Kirkland-branded Costco shoe that was really cool. And of course, they replaced their CEO. And yet, sales for Nike have continued to slump. And yes, you already know that upstarts like On and Hoka have jumped into that Nike void, including New Balance as well. But leading the pack is actually Reebok. Reebok is back, baby. Reebok is putting up numbers like a young Alan Iverson. Yes, we wore his Reebok basketball sneakers growing up as you did too.

11:34Reebok sales surged from$1.8 billion in 2020 to$5 billion in 2023 to an estimated$6.5 billion this year. Now, Yeti's the owner of Reebok today as a private company, so we don't have the best visibility on like all the numbers right now. But that$6.5 billion in annual sales this year, that would make it twice as big as Ahn and Brooks. It would make it bigger than Hoka and Under Armour, and it would make it two-thirds as big as New Balance. But besties, here's what Jack and I find fascinating. Jack, how would you describe Reebok's business history in one sentence, if you will? It's like a late-blooming athlete who spent years playing overseas, but now has come stateside and is like competing for MVP.

12:12You see, Reebok actually began back in 1895 in England. It was a British sporting goods company that stuck spikes onto shoes for the first time. Then in 1958, that company launched the Reebok brand. And the original logo was just the word Reebok plus a British flag. Then Reebok became part of Adidas from 2005 to 2021. And now it's part of a company called Authentic Brands. Authentic Brands buys and tries to resurrect fallen has-been brands. Authentic Brands owns Brooks Brothers, Forever 21, Juicy Couture, Aero Postal, Sports Illustrated, Nine West, and four dozen more brands that you kind of forgot about.

12:48But when they acquired Reebok, their first move was to bring on Shaquille O 'Neal as co-investor and co-owner of the Reeboks brand. And since then, they've been building a dream team for Reebok. Because then they hired Reebok lifer Allen Iverson to be the VP of basketball for Reebok. Now, as Jack and I dove in T-boy style, we noticed both of these hires, both of these moves are both iconic and ironic. Because in 1998, Shaquille O 'Neal got a$40 million endorsement offer from Reebok during Reebok's basketball prime, but Shaq rejected it. And yet here he is a couple decades later, now basically running Reebok.

13:25Also, Allen Iverson, he got the most insane sneaker deal you've ever heard of, and he got it from Reebok 25 years ago. Because when Iverson signed with Reebok back in 2001, he got a deal to be paid$800 ,000 a year for the rest of his life. Plus$32 million randomly on his 55th birthday. Do you see where this is going, besties? Now these former NBA rivals, who competed in the NBA finals the first year of this Reebok deal for Iverson, are now teaming up to run Reebok. Now looking at the X's and O's, strategically, they're targeting where Nike and Adidas have not targeted. Right, like instead of established male stars, they're meeting with high schoolers and women instead.

14:04One recent win for Reebok, they signed the WNBA star Angel Reese, after Shaq FaceTimed her 17 times. No joke. Shaq literally kept calling her until she would do the deal. So Reebok has gone from 19th century British royal cleat to failed asset under the German conglomerate Adidas. Okay. To Shaquille O 'Neal Allen Iverson dream team. Keep going, Jack. To surprise Gen Z female cult favorite. Oh, and did you see what Angel Reese wore to the Met Gala last week, Jack? Reeboks? The Reebok kicks. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Reebok? Let them cook. Yetis, three out of four acquisitions fail.

14:45We told you that before. And this Adidas deal with Reebok, we counted as one of them. Because in an acquisition, the buyer is like the coach and the seller is like the player. And back when Adidas owned Reebok, they basically overcoached him. They misunderstood Reebok's talent and put him in the wrong games, the wrong situations. Adidas pivoted Reebok's focus into niche categories like cross-training and CrossFit while neglecting the more mass market basketball and running sneakers. And the result? Well, sales of Reebok fell 65 % under Adidas. Reebok was crushing it with the CrossFit crowd, but that's just not big enough to pay the bills.

15:18Okay, but then Authentic came in and they let Reebok play. Reebok's new owner brought on Shaquille O 'Neal and let him do what he wanted to do. Like FaceTime Angel Rees 17 times if he has to. You see, often besties, when acquisitions fail, it's not the player, it's the coach. But like Larry Brown did with Allen Iverson on that epic 76ers run in 2001, yeah, Authentic Brands is letting Shaq and Reebok play. Let them cook. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Lisa Sleep. Hi, Eddies. You may not notice this from Jack's voice, but he's become a nocturnal foam roller, haven't you, Jack? Definitely don't notice that from my voice.

15:57But I will tell you that every morning, I wake up with an uncomfortable back of my neck situation, so I preemptively foam roll to try to fix my bad neck I know I'm gonna have. Yeah, we record this podcast standing up. It's a standing pod. We can't afford like a nasty neck situation, Jack. But there's definitely a better solution to my preemptive foam rolling. How about a Lisa mattress? Yeah, spring is the time to upgrade and how about that thing that you spend a third of your life on? So with my new Lisa mattress, I sleep on my back and my neck crankiness is gone. Yeah, we both got these things but first we picked it out after completing a short survey on lisa.com because each Lisa mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind.

16:33You take the sleep quiz from Lisa and you get recommended a mattress in two minutes. It's like talking to your therapist. But Nick, can we talk about how fun the unboxing experience is? Oh, it's a joy. It's a joy, Jack. The mattress expands like a Michelin, man. So go to lisa.com for 30 % off your select mattresses, plus get an extra 50 bucks off with promo code T-Boy exclusive to our listeners. That's L-E-E-S-A.com, promo code T-Boy for 30 % off select mattresses, plus an extra 50 bucks off. Support the T-Boy Show and let them know that we sent you after checkout. Lisa.com, promo code TBOI. Top hats, baseball hats, Von Dutch hats.

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18:05For our third and final story, it's the DIY economy gone wrong. Whirlpool just revealed that you've been fixing your own washing machine and that's kind of a problem. This crack in Whirlpool's appliances hints at a much bigger crack, doesn't it, Nick? Refrigeration, Jack. Not that exciting in industry, actually. But the thing that's sexy about owning Whirlpool stock, It's that they've paid a dividend for 70 straight years. Besties Whirlpool IPO'd back in 1955 as every American house got their first fridge, their first oven, their first dishwasher, and their first laundry. And every year since that 1955 IPO, Whirlpool has sent a check to each shareholder.

18:46It's their share of profits. That is the dividend. But Whirlpool announced last week they're suspending that dividend. They're ending their 70-year epic streak that makes every boomer proud. For the very first time. So Jack, the main reason why Whirlpool, which also owns Maytag, is struggling right now? Foreign competition from LG, Samsung, hired. Tariffs were not enough to help this made-in-USA appliance company. But Jack, the flaw that broke the dividends back in this situation, what is it? It's that you fixed your washing machine with some DIY video you saw on YouTube. You see, Yeti's Whirlpool sales fell 10 % last quarter.

19:22We'll explain why in a sec. But really, it's the DIY economy. Get this, the one division at Whirlpool that actually grew last quarter is emblematic of Whirlpool's problem. It's the spare parts and repairs division. Instead of buying a new washing machine, which Whirlpool obviously wishes you would do, we're grabbing our screwdriver to fix the old one. Now, increased DIY, that sounds fun, it sounds resourceful, and it's a good way to save money, but it's driven by something concerning. To quote Whirlpool's CEO summarizing their first quarter, how did he put it? Here's what he said. The quarter was defined by, quote-unquote, rapid deterioration of the macro environment caused by, quote-unquote, consumer sentiment plunging to the lowest level on record.

20:06The CEO specifically said that sales began plunging when the war in Iran began. Whirlpool showed a slide that spending on appliances by Americans fell by 10 % in the month of March. That's a huge drop matching the record drop set in the year 2008. So Bessie's had it all up and Whirlpool can't afford to continue its 70-year dividend streak any longer. Because we're buying appliances like we bought appliances during the Great Recession of 2008. And now the stock is down 82 % since 2021. But Nick, this crack in the refrigerator door is like the first crack in the consumer. There's no Phillips head that could fix that.

20:41So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies looking at Whirlpool? Your appliances are better economists than most economists. You see, appliance purchases are one of the most reliable leading indicators of economic health. Jack and I look at them and study them. And a critical reason why is that consumer spending drives 70 % of America's GDP. So if consumers stop spending, that's a leading indicator for what's coming to our economy. You buy a new oven if you move, an upgraded one if you get married, and you replace one if your old oven dies. But Whirlpool's earnings show that none of those things are happening right now.

21:14We're not moving to a new house, we're not getting married, or we're making do with the broken old dryer by fixing it. Jack, all of that are early signs that the economy, not in the best place. Headline GDP numbers are still growing, we should say, and corporate earnings just hit a record high, but both of those are thanks to the AI splurge by tech companies. Over in the rest of the economy, this Whirlpool problem reveals an American household problem. Whirlpool's CEO called it a rapid deterioration of the macro environment. Yeah, can you translate that CEO speak for us, Jack? That's CEO for we're in a recession, but I legally can't say so.

21:51Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Apple is reportedly on track to launch this fall AI AirPods with cameras that help Siri see. But to win the era of AI, Apple must fight surveillance. Fight the surveillance ick. For our second story, Reebok sales have more than tripled in five years. They're nearly as big as New Balance now. Yeah, because Reebok's new owner, Authentic Brands, is letting Reebok and Shaq play. They're basically letting them cook. And our third and final story is Michigan's Whirlpool. They sadly ended their 70-year streak of sending dividend checks to shareholders.

22:26Because consumers are DIYing their busted ice machines, and that is a negative leading economic indicator. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, swipe never. Bumble is eliminating the swipe and ending women making the first move in a pivot to AI. Look, dating apps are in a major existential crisis as millennials are sick of them and Gen Z doesn't want them. Tinder fatigue is set in, so Bumble's pivoting to AI matchmaking in a Hail Mary to save the app. Second, the latest company to file to IPO, it's Lime. The e-scooter and e-bike business wants to go public at a$2 billion valuation.

23:02Now, Lime's rival, Bird, declared bankruptcy in 2023 and Uber is an investor in Lime while Lyft has their own bike and scooter business. But there's still the big question, is micromobility a scalable business? So besties, keep your hand on the handlebars and comment if you want us to cover this story this week. And finally, because Apple totally over-promised on Siri a couple of years ago, Apple may owe you up to$95. Besties, Apple settled a class action lawsuit and is emailing affected people to get the money that you're owed. 37 million US iPhones, including all iPhone 16s and all 15 Pros and 15 Pro Maxes, may be eligible.

23:43Apple's paying out a$250 million bag so you could get$25 to$95 TBD. Now time for the best fact yet, which, because we're kicking off the week, means some T-Boy trivia. Jack, what do we got? On Friday, Sir David Attenborough turned 100 years old. That's right. David Attenborough, the British whisper-tongued narrator of every major nature show. Planet Earth. Yeah. That wonderful, soothing voice describing the blue whales blowing through their blowholes. That was David Attenborough. Yeah. He's actually been knighted twice and has multiple animals named after him, but here is our T-Boy trivia question.

24:21Who is David Attenborough's brother? Because this is wild. David Attenborough's brother is Richard Attenborough. Okay. Who played John Hammond in Jurassic Park. The guy who built Jurassic Park and spared no expenses. Attenborough, the real-life naturalist. His brother is the fake naturalist in Jurassic Park who almost destroyed the world. We hope he lives for another hundred years. Jack, you are looking fantastic to kick off the week. Yetis, you are glowing over there. And even though it's not my 100th birthday, I would love if you shared on Instagram why you love the show to help your friends, HYHTVOI.

24:58If you got a buddy who needs something to listen to for the next hour while they're fixing their washing machine, send them the best one yet. H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know.

25:14And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Neil Parth turning four years old in Redmond, Washington. He's been a Yeti for two years, already knows about AI bubbles and profit points. Happy birthday to Erin Rall in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Richard got her onto the show five years ago, and they're a couple who T-boys together. And Nate Howes, happy 34th birthday over in Truckee, California. Happy 32nd birthday to Fahima Syed in Newark, California. And Scott Straithman, happy birthday down in lovely New Mexico. Happy birthday to Taylor in Bozeman, Montana. And Azizi Williams, driving on the 101 for the legendary birthday.

25:47Happy birthday to Lance Kay in Tribeca, New York. And belated birthday to Stuart, turning 33 and celebrating with Sonny and AJ on their first family trip together down in South Carolina. And happy 25th birthday to Rachel Tanawajaja in Jakarta, Indonesia. And Hirsch Cheda is graduating from Duke with an executive MBA. Congratulations, Hirsch. Happy three-year wedding anniversary to Roxy Bartholomew. And to anyone else who's celebrating something, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

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