Allbirds pivoted to AI, a robot won a half-marathon, and Ticketmaster is officially a monopoly

A jury confirmed what we've all been screaming since the $18 convenience fee hit, Allbirds just announced it's becoming an AI computing company (the new name is NewBirdAI, I wish I was joking), and a robot beat a human at a half-marathon over the weekend.

Let's get into it.

The jury has spoken on Ticketmaster, and yes, we were right to be mad

A federal jury in Manhattan found this week that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized the live events and ticketing industry, validating every single person who has ever stared at a checkout screen wondering how a $45 ticket became $94 with fees. The states accused Live Nation of exerting outsized control over ticketing, promotions, venues, and artist management all at once, and the jury agreed on every single count, a 10-page verdict form with a checkmark next to every "Yes." We’re awaiting a second trial to determine what the actual remedy will be, and Live Nation is planning to appeal, so ticket prices won't be dropping anytime soon (possibly not at all in 2026). The Live Nation CEO was quoted calling it an "overreach." Sure, king.

Allbirds gave up on shoes to become an AI company and the stock loved it

Allbirds (yes, the sustainable sneaker brand) announced it’s abandoning footwear entirely to become an AI computing company. If shareholders approve next month, the plan is to raise $50 million, rename itself NewBirdAI, and start buying up GPUs to lease to AI companies. The stock jumped 876% at its peak. For context, CoreWeave, an actual established company that does exactly this, is spending $35 billion on operations this year, so the $50M budget is... ambitious. This came two weeks after Allbirds sold its entire shoe business to the parent company of Ed Hardy and Aerosoles for $39 million. From a $4 billion IPO valuation to Ed Hardy to AI infrastructure. Truly one of the corporate arcs of our time.

A robot beat humans at a half-marathon this weekend and it didn’t even eat pasta before

Over the weekend in Beijing, a bipedal robot named Lightning completed a half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds. This is the second year Beijing has hosted a race featuring both humans and humanoid robots, but the first time a robot actually crossed the finish line before the people did. The number of humanoid robot teams competing jumped nearly 500% from last year, and Lightning navigated the course autonomously (no remote control, just running). I don't have a reassuring take here. The robot beat us. It's faster than us. It probably doesn't need to carb-load the night before either.

This weekend I went into full closet purge mode and basically blacked out the whole thing!! I blinked and suddenly there were four overflowing bags by the door; RIP every going-out top from 2019, you served your time. Naturally, doing a closet purge has now triggered an immediate and visceral need to go shopping, which I am actively trying to resist. We also knocked out our third dance lesson for our first dance, which feels like a milestone! Am I a professional now? I would say the jury is leaning yes (my instructor's face would say "please keep practicing").

One thing I love is flowy pants that feel as light as pajamas and also hardly even touch my skin. Nothing like loose pants + airy flats in spring! Belt makes the whole thing feel a little more intentional than it would otherwise. Great outfit formula as we head toward summer office style!

Block your summer Fridays before someone else does!! It's late April, which means summer schedules are about to get chaotic and whoever moves first wins. Go into your calendar right now and block two or three Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day as "focus time" or "heads-down work." You don't have to take them off, you just need to own them before a recurring meeting does. The people who complain about having no breathing room in summer are the same people who didn't do this in April.

Thanks for reading!