Le Studio Weekly
🧮 Numbers of the Week
73%--The proportion of voters who said they lean towards supporting the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which would limit tech giants from giving preference to their own products and services over rivals’
0.2%--The decline in the gross national product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2022, the second decline in economic output in a row. Two consecutive drops in GDP is considered the unofficial definition of a recession.
11–The number of inches of rainfall that fell on parts of St. Charles County, Mo., early on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, triggering flash flooding in some areas. By 8 a.m., 8.3 inches of rain had fallen at Lambert Airport, surpassing the previous daily record of 6.85 inches that was set on Aug. 20, 1915.
👥 Venture Capital
Variant — a venture capital firm founded on the idea that the next iteration of the internet is going to be defined by decentralized, user-owned networks — has raised $450 million to be deployed across two new funds. In this episode of The Scoop, Variant co-founders Jesse Walden and Spencer Noon reveal how they plan on allocating the capital — and why Variant remains bullish on the long-term future of the web.
🏛️ Culture & Trends
Twitter storm erupts over Ukrainian president's Vogue photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz
A Twitter storm over a Vogue photo shoot of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska has highlighted the power and pitfalls of wartime images following Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine.
The digital cover featuring Zelenska and additional portraits of her against dramatic backdrops and with her husband were shot by the celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, who travelled to Kyiv for the project. In the accompanying interview, the writer Rachel Donadio charts the development of Zelenska into a diplomat representing Ukraine as it staves off Russia’s assault. Donadio describes how Zelenska used shocking photographs to drive home the tragedy of the war when addressing the US Congress in a bid for more military support.
The political analyst Ian Bremmer, the founder of Eurasia Group consultancy, took the Zelenskys to task **for a public relations misstep. “Zelensky has done an extraordinary job in beating the Russians in information warfare,” he tweeted. “Vogue wartime photo shoot: bad idea.” While others **praised them for their acumen in promoting Ukraine’s cause.
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