https://nonobvious.com/insights The award-winning weekly newsletter read by more than 100,000 subscribers: the most fascinating and underappreciated stories of the week, every Thursday. en-us Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://nonobvious.com/insights/retailers-remove-self-checkouts-youtube-s-big-news-and-replacing-dating-apps-533 https://nonobvious.com/insights/retailers-remove-self-checkouts-youtube-s-big-news-and-replacing-dating-apps-533 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: YouTube's Big Announcement Might Change How Everyone Shops; Chipotle Has Figured Out the Marketing Strategy of the Future; The Rethinking of Self-Checkout and the Tech Optimism Cycle https://nonobvious.com/insights/singapore-pays-citizens-to-read-why-we-finally-saved-the-whales-and-how-to-deal-with-obtuse-leaders-532 https://nonobvious.com/insights/singapore-pays-citizens-to-read-why-we-finally-saved-the-whales-and-how-to-deal-with-obtuse-leaders-532 Thu, 17 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Singapore Pays People To Put Down Their Phones and Just Read; Why We Finally Did Save the Whales; The Art of Being Obtuse (Like Mark Zuckerburg) https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-upside-of-rage-watching-why-dumb-awards-matter-and-the-age-of-shamehires-531 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-upside-of-rage-watching-why-dumb-awards-matter-and-the-age-of-shamehires-531 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Why To Stop Underestimating the Ig Nobel Awards; Yes, Social Media Has Gotten Quantifiably Shittier; What Is The Point of An Awards Show? https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-unwondering-project-tales-of-route-66-and-japan-s-vending-machine-obsession-530 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-unwondering-project-tales-of-route-66-and-japan-s-vending-machine-obsession-530 Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Applying For A Job Is Too Easy; Easy Money and Native American Experiences On Route 66; Stereotypes, Satire and Who Is Really In On the Joke https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-worst-car-show-delightful-robot-fails-and-a-revamped-new-website-529 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-worst-car-show-delightful-robot-fails-and-a-revamped-new-website-529 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: What Makes Us Judge Something As Being Wrong?; The Most Entertaining Car Show On The Planet; The Most Powerful Lesson About How To Use AI Without Losing the Ability to Think https://nonobvious.com/insights/your-ai-wearable-grandfather-the-cheese-bank-and-an-online-shopping-trend-of-buying-nothing-528 https://nonobvious.com/insights/your-ai-wearable-grandfather-the-cheese-bank-and-an-online-shopping-trend-of-buying-nothing-528 Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: What To Do When A Teacher's AI Usage Goes Bad; The Absurdity of the World's First Wearable AI Grandfather; The Cheese Bank and What It Says About the Future of Collateral https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-beauty-of-a-24-7-ai-tv-channel-a-matchmaking-app-for-one-date-and-the-ikea-complexity-index-527 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-beauty-of-a-24-7-ai-tv-channel-a-matchmaking-app-for-one-date-and-the-ikea-complexity-index-527 Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Dating App That Gives You One Date and No Swiping Left; The Unintended Consequences of Dumb Solutions; Why Roku's 24/7 AI TV Channel Could Be Better Than You Think https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-tradwife-illusion-an-unexpectedly-smart-dumbphone-and-anti-pervert-glasses-526 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-tradwife-illusion-an-unexpectedly-smart-dumbphone-and-anti-pervert-glasses-526 Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Foreign Language Learning Problem In Schools; Climate Scientists Save Important Data From Disappearing https://nonobvious.com/insights/subscreep-invisible-phantom-drones-and-why-no-one-is-born-right-handed-525 https://nonobvious.com/insights/subscreep-invisible-phantom-drones-and-why-no-one-is-born-right-handed-525 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: What If People Aren't Born Left or Right-Handed, and Just Pick One?; Invisible Phantom Drones Are Here https://nonobvious.com/insights/fauxstalgia-reconstructing-pele-s-lost-goal-the-mississippi-miracle-and-self-destructing-plastic-524 https://nonobvious.com/insights/fauxstalgia-reconstructing-pele-s-lost-goal-the-mississippi-miracle-and-self-destructing-plastic-524 Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Beautiful Second Life of Decommissioned Buses; What AI Generated Bird Photos Can Teach Us About Database Pollution https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-immersive-events-succeed-the-rise-of-negative-energy-pricing-and-launching-the-new-infowars-521 https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-immersive-events-succeed-the-rise-of-negative-energy-pricing-and-launching-the-new-infowars-521 Fri, 03 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Why the Best Immersive Experiences Succeed; Summer Heat Waves Create the "Problem" of Negative Energy Prices https://nonobvious.com/insights/highlights-from-the-cannes-lions-algospeak-and-the-most-meaningless-stories-in-america-520 https://nonobvious.com/insights/highlights-from-the-cannes-lions-algospeak-and-the-most-meaningless-stories-in-america-520 Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Now You Can Automate Your Automation With Prompt Generators; The Indianis Dentris and Other Big Winners from Cannes https://nonobvious.com/insights/gen-z-s-music-problem-how-ai-artists-think-and-one-person-who-doesn-t-deserve-a-second-chance-519 https://nonobvious.com/insights/gen-z-s-music-problem-how-ai-artists-think-and-one-person-who-doesn-t-deserve-a-second-chance-519 Sat, 20 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Imagining the Shared AI Future For Technology and Art; Is Gen Z the First Generation To Have No Signature Sound? https://nonobvious.com/insights/inside-the-world-cup-chaos-the-truth-about-china-s-fast-fashion-empire-and-the-future-of-bmw-design-518 https://nonobvious.com/insights/inside-the-world-cup-chaos-the-truth-about-china-s-fast-fashion-empire-and-the-future-of-bmw-design-518 Thu, 11 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The 14-Day Bikini and How Fast Fashion Really Works; Your Ongoing Tech Problem: Haunted Updates and Software Death https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-the-world-is-losing-color-a-powerful-silent-keynote-and-automating-west-african-mammies-517 https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-the-world-is-losing-color-a-powerful-silent-keynote-and-automating-west-african-mammies-517 Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The World Is Losing Its Color; The Most Powerful Silent Keynote In History; Can Communal Knowledge Be Automated? https://nonobvious.com/insights/olympics-adds-ninja-warrior-obstacle-event-a-blue-octopus-and-why-college-majors-don-t-matter-anymore-516 https://nonobvious.com/insights/olympics-adds-ninja-warrior-obstacle-event-a-blue-octopus-and-why-college-majors-don-t-matter-anymore-516 Fri, 29 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Most Important Reminder About Tech Is Appearing Everywhere; The Newest Olympic Sport Features Humans Jumping Instead of Horses https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-college-mass-discard-problem-retro-restaurants-and-more-generated-podslop-515 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-college-mass-discard-problem-retro-restaurants-and-more-generated-podslop-515 Fri, 22 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Solving The Mass Discard Problem on College Campuses; Pizza Hut and the Retro Restaurant Movement https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-older-people-are-cooler-the-worst-graduation-speech-and-meta-s-big-problem-514 https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-older-people-are-cooler-the-worst-graduation-speech-and-meta-s-big-problem-514 Thu, 14 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Why Streaming Entertainment Is The One Place People Hate Ads Less; Everything Looks Cooler With Age; The Science Is In. https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-future-of-markups-why-kings-matter-and-the-rise-of-hotspan-instead-of-healthspan-513 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-future-of-markups-why-kings-matter-and-the-rise-of-hotspan-instead-of-healthspan-513 Thu, 07 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Future of Markups and Margins Will Be Harder to Justify; Forget “No Kings,” Maybe We Need More MODERN Kings (and Queens) https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-writing-is-your-digital-identity-proving-telepathy-exists-and-a-nipple-saving-sponsorship-512 https://nonobvious.com/insights/why-writing-is-your-digital-identity-proving-telepathy-exists-and-a-nipple-saving-sponsorship-512 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: How AI Analyzing Your Writing Style Might Kill Online Anonymity https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-world-famous-monkey-selfie-fifa-is-ruining-the-world-cup-and-the-legacy-of-tim-cook-511 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-world-famous-monkey-selfie-fifa-is-ruining-the-world-cup-and-the-legacy-of-tim-cook-511 Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: What If the Biggest Threat to Human Thinking Isn't AI?; What We Can Learn from the Complex Legacy of Tim Cook https://nonobvious.com/insights/coachella-marketing-highlights-tax-cheating-and-the-rise-of-ai-sabotage-510 https://nonobvious.com/insights/coachella-marketing-highlights-tax-cheating-and-the-rise-of-ai-sabotage-510 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: 4 Brilliant Marketing Stories From the Coachella Festival https://nonobvious.com/insights/how-ai-shamed-irish-pubs-into-lowering-beer-prices-the-tragedy-of-taxes-and-india-s-impossible-census-509 https://nonobvious.com/insights/how-ai-shamed-irish-pubs-into-lowering-beer-prices-the-tragedy-of-taxes-and-india-s-impossible-census-509 Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: How One Man Lowered the Price of Guinness by Using AI to Call 6,000+ Pubs Across Ireland https://nonobvious.com/insights/dangerous-passwords-best-and-worst-april-fool-s-pranks-and-why-alterna-casts-are-the-future-of-sports-508 https://nonobvious.com/insights/dangerous-passwords-best-and-worst-april-fool-s-pranks-and-why-alterna-casts-are-the-future-of-sports-508 Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Future of Sports & Live Broadcasts Is In "Alterna-casts"; Colombia's Brilliant Tourism Campaign Focuses on Animal Behavior https://nonobvious.com/insights/united-brings-a-couch-to-economy-why-we-need-casting-directors-and-a-rumor-about-lego-507 https://nonobvious.com/insights/united-brings-a-couch-to-economy-why-we-need-casting-directors-and-a-rumor-about-lego-507 Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: United Unlocks Excitement by Finally Serving the Neglected Back of the Plane https://nonobvious.com/insights/huggies-expensive-sh-t-campaign-the-gen-z-pout-and-my-new-book-announcement-from-sxsw-506 https://nonobvious.com/insights/huggies-expensive-sh-t-campaign-the-gen-z-pout-and-my-new-book-announcement-from-sxsw-506 Thu, 19 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Words That Don't Exist (Yet) - A Big New Book Announcement!; Huggies Expensive Sht and the Age of Experiential Advertising https://nonobvious.com/insights/world-modeling-anti-surveillance-products-and-a-hotel-suite-that-rewards-human-kindness-505 https://nonobvious.com/insights/world-modeling-anti-surveillance-products-and-a-hotel-suite-that-rewards-human-kindness-505 Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Secrets of Human Connection and My Deeply Personal Annual Challenge; The AI Startup That Raised $1B While Betting Against Generative AI https://nonobvious.com/insights/dream-engineering-how-to-effectively-boycott-ai-and-the-mysterious-black-taj-mahal-504 https://nonobvious.com/insights/dream-engineering-how-to-effectively-boycott-ai-and-the-mysterious-black-taj-mahal-504 Thu, 05 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Wildly Effective QuitGPT Movement May be the Easiest Boycott In Human History; How People Are Taking Pride In Using Old Devices https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-professor-saving-history-a-myth-about-las-vegas-and-your-afterlife-soundtrack-503 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-professor-saving-history-a-myth-about-las-vegas-and-your-afterlife-soundtrack-503 Fri, 27 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: The Professor Saving History and Truth With Guerilla Teaching Methods https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-myth-that-women-are-more-empathetic-what-countries-are-proudest-and-a-dancing-squirrel-502 https://nonobvious.com/insights/the-myth-that-women-are-more-empathetic-what-countries-are-proudest-and-a-dancing-squirrel-502 Wed, 25 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Inside this issue: Why Boycotting the State of the Union Address Is A Bad Idea; What Countries Are Proudest Of Their Culture and Lifestyle?