🎮 Meta’s big announcements

Plus: The economics of rotisserie chicken, the world’s most expensive pigment, second-chance hiring, and more. [View Online]( [The Hustle] We want to know how your business is tackling sustainability. Share your experience in this [47-second survey](. In today’s email: - Meta: The good and bad of Zuck’s metaverse. - Chart: The economics of Costco’s $4.99 rotisserie chickens. - Labor: Companies are hiring people with criminal records. - Around the Web: The most expensive pigment, a chill music player, a “Sesame Street” first, and more cool internet finds. 🎧 On the go?[Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast]( to hear Zack and Rob break down the good, the bad, and the ugly from Meta’s Connect event. The big idea [zuck-metaverse-gif]( Zachary Crockett / The Hustle Is Zuck too early to the metaverse? Yesterday, Meta held Meta Connect, an annual event dedicated to the company’s latest releases in AR and VR. The event summarized the company’s progress over the last year and gave a sneak peek at where its platforms are heading. First, Meta’s good news Meta made promising [announcements]( across its most important VR use cases, including: - Social experiences: A partnership with NBCUniversal that will let users interact in a VR world modeled after “The Office” - Gaming: A previously announced Iron Man VR game will be released on Nov. 3 - Fitness: An “active pack” for Meta’s Quest 2 headset that can better handle sweat - Work: An integration with Microsoft that will make its apps available in VR Meta also announced the Meta Quest Pro, a mixed reality headset that retails at $1,499 (compared to $399 for the Meta Quest 2). But it’s not all good news On Monday, Platformer’s Casey Newton [detailed]( Zuck’s struggles to get employee buy-in on the metaverse: - In one survey, only 58% of Meta employees said they understood the company’s metaverse strategy. - Meta leadership recently complained to managers that employees aren’t using the company’s Horizon VR platform enough. One issue, Newton poses, is that the company’s metaverse efforts are too early, and that employees are more interested in working on projects where they can have an immediate impact. For what it’s worth, Zuck didn’t exactly refute that — in his opening keynote, he [dedicated]( the event to “the people who would rather be early than fashionably late.” [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Is+Zuck+too+early+to+the+metaverse%3F%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F10122022-zuck-early-metaverse%3Futm_campaign%3DWednesday%2BEmail%26utm_content%3D10122022-zuck-early-metaverse%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( TRENDING [eyeball wearing a hat] Free: Prosecutors [dropped]( all charges against Adnan Syed, subject of the hit podcast “Serial,” who served 22 years in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. SNIPPETS Snapchat partnered with Disguise Costumes on an [AR feature]( that lets users virtually try on and buy Halloween costumes. TikTok’s eyeing fulfillment centers in LA and Seattle to “ensure fast and sustainable growth of TikTok Shop,” [per]( new job postings. The US Labor Department’s [new proposal]( could reclassify gig workers as employees. Upon the news, shares dropped for Lyft (12%), Uber (~10%), and DoorDash (6%). Honda and LG are [partnering]( on a $3.5B battery factory in Ohio that’s expected to create 2.2k jobs. Crypto exchange Bittrex was fined [$24m]( for breaking US sanctions in Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, and the Crimea region of Ukraine. Google [introduced]( three new Chromebooks designed for cloud gaming. Google is sunsetting its gaming platform, Stadia, in 2023. FT 1000 insights: Our Trends team reported on The Financial TImes’ list of Europe’s fastest-growing private companies. Read about sludgemucking, biohacking, and members-only marketplaces [inside Trends](. Chart [chicken-chart] Zachary Crockett The economics of Costco rotisserie chicken Chicken holds a special place in the carnivore’s heart. This year, the average American will scarf down 99 lbs. of chicken, handily outranking our consumption of beef (56 lbs.), pork (52 lbs.), and fish (19 lbs.). - That’s ~20 whole chickens per person, per year. About 900m of the [9.2B]( chickens we consume on an annual basis are rotisserie chickens — precooked, seasoned, ready-to-eat birds. Of those 900m chickens… … 106m are sold by one retailer: Costco. The chain debuted its chickens around 2000, pricing them at $4.99. More than two decades later — despite record-high inflation and rising production costs — they’re still $4.99. Many Costco chicken loyalists have been blissfully perplexed by this pricing strategy. Zack’s visual story explores the question: How the cluck are these chickens profitable? [Read the full story →]( Free Resource The five steps to a hardy marketing plan The blueprint can’t be busted. That would be unwise. Make your marketing plan a staple worth revisiting — something that sets the tone and aligns your team for success. It should be a pretty complete rundown of strategy and logistic essentials... … which we’ve compiled for your convenience. Watch the [five-minute video](. The five-step method: - State the mission - Outline buyer personas - Define the content strategy - Break down the budget - Identify team responsibilities See how Rimi from HubSpot ideates for an imaginary travel agency. [Make your roadmap →]( Second Chances [help-wanted-image]( Second-chance hiring, explained Second-chance hiring is when companies hire people who were formerly incarcerated. It’s picking up across several industries, [per]( The Wall Street Journal, due in part to: - A national labor shortage - Groups like the Second Chance Business Coalition, which consists of 40+ companies committed to the practice, including American Airlines, Target, and Microsoft. Why it matters There are 70m+ Americans with arrest or conviction records, and ~600k people are released from prison each year. Finding a stable job can [reduce recidivism](, but there are often significant barriers. - More than [90%]( of employers conduct background checks. A criminal record can reduce chances of a second interview by [50%](. - A 2018 [analysis]( found that the unemployment rate among formerly incarcerated people was over 27%. A 2014 report [estimated]( 1.7m-1.9m people were excluded from the workforce due to these barriers, costing the US $78B-$87B in annual GDP. Second-chance hiring results are positive A 2021 Society for Human Resource Management report [found]( that 85% of HR pros felt that employees with criminal records performed the same or better than those without. They also have lower [turnover rates](, which in turn saves companies money. BTW: Last week, we wrote about remote work [increasing opportunities]( for people with disabilities. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Second-chance+hiring%2C+explained%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F10122022-second-chance-hiring%3Futm_campaign%3DWednesday%2BEmail%26utm_content%3D10122022-second-chance-hiring%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( AROUND THE WEB 🖥️ On this day: In 1988, NeXT Inc.’s [NeXT computer]( debuted, earning high praise from Steve Jobs. Apple purchased the company in 1997, and used its operating system as the basis for Mac OS X. 🖌️ Art: Watch the Getty Conservation Institute [attempt]( to create ultramarine blue, the most expensive pigment ever made. 🤗 That’s cool: A profile of [Megan Piphus Peace](, the first Black woman puppeteer to work full-time on “Sesame Street.” She plays a 6-year-old girl named Gabrielle. 🌧️ Chill out: This site [simulates]( looking out a window. Seasons pass, rain falls, chill music plays, and you can draw the aurora borealis. 🐍 Aww: And now, a very small [snake](. Meme Some things will never be better in VR. (Source: [Imgflip]() TELL FRIENDS → GET PRIZES Help your friends aboard our growing pirate ship. Share The Hustle Daily to start winning loot. [all prizes]( [Share The Hustle 🤠→]( Or copy this custom referral link: [ Your referral count: 0 How did you like today’s email? Today's email was brought to you by [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, and [Rob Litterst](. Editing by: Mark “Would rather be fashionably late” Dent. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. [PODCAST]( [JOBS]( [CONTACT US](mailto:news@thehustle.co) [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( 25 FIRST ST. 2ND FLOOR, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02141, UNITED STATES  +1 888 482 7768 Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](list=thehustle). [The Hustle logo](