It’s a Kentucky Fried Miracle! Cryptocurrencies are still down, meat-less chicken is up. I’m back in the chair with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s top tech stories: KFC is selling fake-chicken chicken, GM gets in the used car business, and Kim Kardashian gets sued. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app.
GM ENTERS HOT TO TROT USED CAR MARKET
Thanks to the microchip shortage, inflation, and other factors, the used car market is hot right now. Seeing the opportunity, GM has setup CarBravo to compete market leaders Carvana, CarMax, and Vroom. GM is trying to tap into the direct-to-consumer market and has begun recruiting dealerships to build up its inventory. CarBravo is going to offer consumers more than dealer inventory however, CarBravo shoppers will also be able to buy non-GM cars through its site. They think this will help it compete against the likes of Carvana by allowing cross-brand shopping. You’ll be able to hop on CarBravo this spring.
KIM KARDASHIAN AND OTHER SUPERSTARS SUED IN CRYPTO SCHEME
Yesterday, EthereumMax (which has no connection to Ethereum) investors sued Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather Jr., basketball player Paul Pierce, and EthereumMax creators for scamming them in a pump and dump scheme. EthereumMax is a cryptocurrency. That’s kind of it about it. The suit alleges Paul Pierce and the other celebrities marketed and trumpeted the cryptocurrency driving up demand. Would-be investors snapped up the currency and as the value rose EthereumMax’s creators, Kim K., and others then sold making lots of money. The crypto rose to 1300% of its value after Kardashian posted about it, then sinking to an all time low a month later. Cryptos have had a tough year. I saw my holdings lose 20% of their value, and I was hoping Bitcoin would drop to $37k, but it rebounded.
KENTUCKY FRIED MIRACLE: KFC SELLING NON-CHICKEN MEAT CHICKEN
To be filed in the food innovation column, the restaurant chain formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, affectionately known as KFC, debuted its Beyond Meat chicken nuggets this past Monday. KFC has been working with Beyond Meat on the fake-chicken nuggets for the last 3 years debuting the nuggets in Atlanta. KFC is noting that the nuggets, which don’t contain meat, are not vegan or vegetarian. This means the nuggets are being fried alongside their clucking brethren. The nuggets come in 6- and 12-piece sizes and are available now at KFC. If you happen to get these please let me know how they taste and if you like them. You can read a full review by Amy McCarthy at eater.com.
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