Big Families

Hi, today we explore: (1) Why the island of Anguilla is riding the AI wave, (2) Trends in family preferences and (3) Huawei's sales. TOGETHER WITH Today's Topics Hello! Deep space, we will rock you… [NASA]( successfully collected its first rock and dust samples from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu on Monday, with help from none other than Queen guitarist and astrophysicist, Sir Brian May. Today we're exploring: - AI high: The island of Anguilla is riding the AI wave. - Big families: Attitudes towards having more children are changing. - Huawei: The tech giant is hoping its new phone can revive sales. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply — we'd love to hear from you! [Read this on the web instead]( The dot-ai bubble Countless people have benefitted from the AI boom, whether that’s been students struggling to hit the word count on a recent essay, tech journalists trying to fill out column inches, or chief executives attempting to impress investors on [earnings calls](. However, perhaps one of the more unexpected beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence hype is Anguilla, a small British territory in the Caribbean. The island, which has an estimated population of ~16,000 people, now makes around $3 million [per month]( from .ai — its unique internet domain suffix. Domain demand Companies paying to register their websites with domain suffixes that are, in theory, linked with nations where they don’t operate is hardly a new phenomenon. [In 2011]( for example, Colombia was already receiving 25% of the revenue from sales of the .co suffix: a cheaper (and shorter) alternative to the more common .com address that we ourselves at Chartr.co eschewed for aesthetic, and maybe some financial, reasons 4 years ago. Indeed, as is to be expected with anything vaguely linked to artificial intelligence, registrations for .ai names have accelerated at an almost unparalleled rate — up 156% in May 2023 from a year earlier, compared to a paltry 27% increase for boring old [.com domains](. Searches on Google, which conveniently celebrates its 25th birthday today, also show .ai racing ahead of the competition, with more and more people looking to get those 2 headline-snatching vowels at the end of their website address. Fuller house They say two’s company, three’s a crowd… yet America’s preference for families with 3+ children is currently at its highest level since 1971. New data from a 2023 [Gallup]( finds that 44% of US adults think having 2 children is ideal and 3% favor a single-child household, while 47% say that the ideal number of children for a family is 3 or more — substantially up on the 33% who felt the same in 2011. Interestingly, the yearning for a bigger family is particularly pronounced in younger generations, with 52% of those aged 18-29 years idealizing a family of 3 or more kids, despite most not having any children (yet). Family devalues Of course, survey data always has to be taken with a pinch of salt — and actual birth rates in the US show little evidence of this “big family preference” coming to fruition. As we’ve charted before, America's [birth rate has stagnated]( contributing to [the slowest]( US population growth in 2021 (just 0.1%) since the nation’s founding. Historically speaking, an earth-altering event like the pandemic could have spurred on child-rearing: preferences for larger families peaked in 1945 following WW2, and a baby boom followed in due course. Support for big families, however, soon began to plummet in the late 1960s. Taken together, the declining birth rate may have less to do with Americans not wanting children than them not feeling [equipped]( for them: young people are generally [waiting longer]( to start families, citing financial concerns and career goals as reasons for not settling down sooner. [Sponsored by Incogni]( Data brokers play a shady game — harvesting your personal data online, and selling it to the highest bidder. The mysterious inner workings of the data broker industry mean we don’t really know who’s capitalizing on our data. And, as major corporations continue to acquire brokers, it’s only getting murkier. The highest known price? Moody’s Corporation paid a cool $3.1 billion for broker Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing in 2021. Stop your data being sold to the highest bidder Personal information is more valuable than ever — which means privacy is too. That’s where [Incogni]( comes in: the [data removal service]( that wipes your personal info from hundreds of databases, saving it from scams, fraud, data leaks and robocallers. Created by VPN specialists Surfshark, [Incogni]( keeps your data in safe hands. Use code CHARTR to get [55% off Incogni]( annual plans. [Get ahead of data brokers with 55% off Incogni now]( Missing phone On Monday, Huawei held its own big product launch, just a few weeks after Apple debuted its latest iPhone range. The Chinese tech giant made a lot of noise about new $200+ earbuds, and even teased 2 new electric vehicles, but conversation around the company’s new 5G phone, the Mate 60 Pro, was [much more muted]( — with no new information on the gadget that should be a flagship product. Thousands of fans took to Chinese social media to voice their anger, as the launch event became the hottest topic on Weibo — garnering 6 billion views on 1.6 million [related posts](. However, even though the 36-year-old company wasn’t shouting about it, the new handset is reportedly powering a [sales surge]( for Huawei after revenues slipped in the last 2 years. Dialing down But it wasn’t just Huawei superfans who were keen to hear more about the new phone. The Mate 60 smartphone series, which was quietly launched by the Chinese giant last month, reportedly comes with a highly advanced semiconductor chip — sparking concerns in [Washington]( that Huawei has circumnavigated US sanctions aimed at curbing China’s access to advanced chipmaking tools. Huawei’s efforts to shift focus to its cloud and automotive divisions have helped sales grow in its most [recent quarters]( — but the tech giant is likely to remain at the center of the sensitive tit-for-tat trade wars between the US and China for some time to come. More Data • In a pickle: After a series of noise complaints, including lawsuits and 911 calls, [USA Pickleball]( has announced plans to make the sport quieter — currently in the 70 decibel range, pickleball is about 2x as loud as tennis. • Meta has paid ~£150m ($181m) to break its lease on a London [office space]( as hybrid working becomes the norm for big tech companies. • Who owns your data: since 2017 there’s been a flurry of acquisitions in the murky data broker space. Fight back with [Incogni]( — the service that takes care of wiping your data from broker databases to stop it being sold to the highest bidder. Chartr readers can [get 55% off]( • Netflix is sending out the last iconic red envelope this week, as its [DVD service]( officially shuts on Friday, ending a 25-year run where, at its peak, ~1.2 million discs were distributed per week. **This is sponsored content. Hi-Viz • An eye for an eye: this [chart]( ranks 90 animals by eyesight and how they compare to humans. • Blunderscore: Rolling Stone reels back the 50 worst decisions in [movie history](. Off the charts: An NFL star had a sudden surge in popularity this week, after a sighting at [a football game]( confirmed dating rumors between him and which mega pop idol? [Answer below]. [Answer here](. Thanks for reading. See you on Friday! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi%2C%0A%0AI%20like%20the%20newsletters%2C%20but%20I%20had%20a%20thought%20for%20you...) or want to [sponsor]( this newsletter? Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. [Subscribe]( Copyright © 2023 CHARTR LIMITED, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: CHARTR LIMITED Kemp House 152 - 160 City RoadLondon, EC1V 2NX United Kingdom [Add us to your address book]( Don't want charts in your inbox anymore? 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