INBOXIFY ORIGINAL's [22/September/2023]

Welcome, Friday! Embrace the End of the Week with Open Arms and an Exciting Spirit! Let's make this day filled with positivity, joy, and anticipation for a wonderful weekend ahead!

GAMING

Time to apply for your Fortnite refund

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Did your kid charge your credit card so they could wear a virtual banana suit in a video game? Time to let it go. As of Tuesday, Fortnite players—and their parents—can apply for a refund for unintended in-game purchases.

The $245 million in refunds are part of a settlement reached earlier this year between the Federal Trade Commission and Fortnite-maker Epic Games over what the agency called deceptive billing practices. The FTC alleges that Fortnite players were duped into spending real money in the game through “dark patterns”—or interface designs that get users to buy stuff they may not intend to.

A check with your name on it could be in the mail soon if…

• Your kid bought something in Fortnite on your credit card without your knowledge between January 2017 and November 2018.

• You were wrongfully charged by Fortnite or your account was locked after you told your credit card company that you were wrongfully charged by Fortnite between January 2017 and September 2022.

Hide your kids: The FTC’s settlement with Epic also included a $275 million fine—the largest penalty ever issued for violating one of the agency’s rules—for collecting data on users under the age of 13 without their parents’ consent. Microsoft was hit with a smaller fine in June for the same thing.

FOOD & BEV

Starbucks wants to speed things up a bit

Francis Scialabba

The cringe memes your dad keeps sending about 98-step coffee orders are kinda right. Starbucks has 383 billion unique latte combinations and is investing in changes to help baristas make all of them a lot faster, according to Bloomberg.

Why the need for speed? The coffee chain is struggling to keep customer wait times down. Most customers are continuing a pandemic trend and swarming the Sbux app to order their morning bev, making it easier to add extra pumps of…everything. And Starbucks can’t just do away with the customizations that are slowing things down: Extra charges bring in over $1 billion in revenue every year, according to the president of Starbucks North America.

So, Starbucks is spending billions to shave seconds off your wait time:

• The chain introduced smaller ice cubes for easier scoopability and is rolling out portable cold foamers so baristas don’t have to clog up prep space at the big blenders.

• It also filed a patent earlier this year for a machine that could automate drink-making.

The company claims the changes will make baristas’ jobs easier, but some workers aren’t so sure. Understaffing is still one of the main issues driving the unionization effort among Starbucks locations—not a lack of souped-up Keurigs.

Big picture: Other chains are also vying for speedier order handling to accommodate larger menus and more sales volume. Popeyes is overhauling its kitchens for the first time in a decade to make faster chicken sandwiches.

ENTERTAINMENT

Disney’s $60b parks expansion

Francis Scialabba

Here’s to hoping the Galactic Starcruiser Hotel flop was a learning experience. Disney said Tuesday it will spend $60 billion on its global parks and cruise line over the next 10 years, doubling its investments from the last decade, according to the New York Times.

What will that look like? Disney didn’t give specifics, but it will focus on adding even more IP into its in-person experiences. The Mouse House has packed Disney World, Disneyland, and other parks around the world with rides based on box-office hits like Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, but there are plenty of franchises that don’t yet have a footprint. Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, hinted at a potential new one in a company blog yesterday: “Wakanda has yet to be brought to life,” he said.

There’s always money in the Dole Whip stand

Disney’s parks rebounded nicely from the pandemic. They’re expected to generate about $10 billion in profit this year, almost five times what they earned 10 years ago. And while visitation to domestic parks is down following Covid shutdowns, the company’s international parks are booming. Roughly 121 million people visited a Disney park in 2022.

CEO Bob Iger said the parks will be one of three businesses that “drive the greatest growth and value creation over the next five years,” alongside Disney’s movie studios and streaming. Problem is, those other two businesses are in flux.

With the actors and writers strikes grinding on, investors are doubtful about Iger’s prediction that Disney+ will be profitable by 2024. Cable TV isn’t the reliable cash creator it once was, either. So, the company is doubling down—literally—on what it thinks is a safe bet: fans spending their vacations in Pandora.

Growth won’t be a teacup ride. Disney has made a powerful enemy by suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing him of stifling its free speech rights as retribution for publicly opposing his “Don’t Say Gay” law. The company already canned plans for a $1 billion corporate campus in Florida.

GOVERNMENT

The military found its missing F-35

Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

You can stop looking, because last night the US military found the wreck of the missing stealth fighter jet that it had enlisted the public to help it locate after the plane seemingly disappeared on Sunday in South Carolina.

The search for the $100 million F-35B Lightning II commenced after an in-flight “mishap” prompted its pilot to safely eject, according to the Marine Corps.

The missing jet attracted significantly more attention than a stealth plane usually does when the nearby military base turned to the internet for help: “If you have any information that may help our recovery teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center,” Joint Base Charleston posted on X.

“How in the h*ll do you lose an F-35?” Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina asked on X before the debris field was found north of Charleston. It seems…

• The jet’s tracker stopped working, and the 51-foot-long Lockheed Martin craft was designed with anti-radar to be undetectable while flying.

• Since the stealth plane was in autopilot when the pilot ejected, authorities believed it could’ve kept cruising for several hours—one-upping anyone who’s ever tried to ghost ride the whip (which we do not encourage).

Big picture: The Pentagon’s F-35 program is projected to cost American taxpayers $1.7 trillion over the aircrafts’ lifetimes.

✅Travel tip: A villa on Lake Como was just named No. 1 on the list of the 50 best hotels in the world.

✅Look: Take a moment to marvel at the design that goes into those fruit stickers you chuck in the trash before you bite an apple

✅(Bird)watch: Peep birds all over the world from home with Bird Buddy’s new feature.

✅Money tip: These apps will cancel your unnecessary subscriptions.

✅Learn: The history of vanilla, the most misunderstood spice in America.