Taran Mann

Just a learner, everyday few steps at a time

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

Stepping up the game

[Kyle Conner @itskyleconner]

INSANE

[Tesla @Tesla]

Roadster

The last best driver's car

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

If true this will be game changer

[Theoretically Media @TheoMediaAI]

Our first look at Bytedance's new World Model, and it looks impressive (Subtitled video):

More than just a world model, check out what it can do with Camera Paths in Stephen Chow's King of Comedy.

Text-to-navigable 3D worlds: A single sentence/description generates an explorable virtual environment.

Free exploration: Users can roam or fly through the scene (e.g., on a paper plane) with keyboard/mouse controls.

Real-time interaction and editing: Spawn objects on demand (such as a spoon), interact with them (climb it), and further modify the scene with additional commands.

Cross-scene connectivity: An “any door”/portal feature that links unrelated environments (e.g., walk out of a room into outer space).

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

Awesome

[跑步机 @pokgaii]

没点艺术细菌都刷不到

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

I am vividly remember Dominos CEO interview on how they beat everyone else with technology

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

Yum Brands yesterday completed the sale of Pizza Hut, in two parts, for a total of $2.7 billion, which is a paltry sum for a global, 19,000-unit franchised brand.

Pizza Hut famously lost its status as the country's and world's largest pizza chain to Domino's, for many reasons. Pizza Hut shifted away from dine-in and lost ground to its tech-forward and delivery-native rival.

But one thing that sticks out about Pizza Hut is the condition of the franchise system. Pizza Hut has historically had a large number of very big franchisees.

Some of them were owned by PE firms that took on massive amounts of debt. These debt-laden operators had some real problems as the chain's sales stagnated and costs increased.

The biggest of these was the giant NPC International, which operated 16% of Pizza Hut locations when it filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

Pizza Hut also had some franchisees with broader problems, such as EYM Pizza and Eduardo Diaz, whose franchisee empire, including Burger Kings and Panera Breads, largely collapsed. EYM filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and was highly critical of the franchisor.

Jay Pandya operated Pizza Huts and was booted out of the system before he went on to take Boston Market from 342 restaurants to just six in less than six years.

And then there was the dispute earlier this year between Pizza Hut and Chaac Pizza, a 111-unit operator. Chaac, you may recall, alleged that Dragontail Technology, the Yum-owned technology that PH mandated was basically substandard and damaged its valuations.

None of Pizza Hut's main rivals, including Domino's, Little Caesars, and Papa Johns, have the same level of major bankruptcies and disputes as Pizza Hut. But then again, they all have stores with stronger unit volumes and better profitability. Here are the average unit volumes (per @technomic) of the four biggest pizza chains and see which one sticks out:

Domino's: $1,400,000
Papa Johns: $1,090,000
Little Caesars: $1,040,000
Pizza Hut: $790,000

Tough to compete in a price-sensitive environment when you make $250k less than your next lowest competitor. The volumes made it tough on the over-leveraged operators, and it sometimes drew in substandard franchisees.

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

Unbelievable, never thought about this, just like Movie script

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

So I spent the past couple of days poring through legal documents to understand the allegations against Jan Risi, the longtime former head of Subway's nonprofit purchasing co-op, the Independent Purchasing Cooperative, or IPC.

(I would not recommend this ... if tempted to do the same, just smack yourself in the face and do something else ... my brain still hurts.)

But this is a big, big deal, one that may have cost Subway operators millions in unnecessary charges for roughly everything, from deli meats to cleaning products.

In short, the alleged scheme used the supply chain to funnel money to Risi, her family, and others. It used kickbacks, common in supply chain contracts, that were routed through brokers and disguised as brokerage fees to hide them from the IPC.

And the scheme, allegedly, dates from the moment the group was created. One of the wilder sets of allegations I've seen in a while.

More here: https://t.co/71TooyDIBV

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

That is great 👍

[Elsa Ai @ElsaSofia__AI]

This AI video is absolutely masterpiece 🔥

Made with Seedance 2.5

Prompt: ⤵️

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

This does not stop here

[Mario Zelaya @mario4thenorth]

🚨 MAJOR BREAKING -

What Ontario inspectors found at 3 “career college” locations:

$219 million in OSAP, for 14,800 "students"

Every public college in Ontario combined got $385 million.

One student finished an entire course in a day, final exam in 6 minutes.

One login was used from 211 different IP addresses.

Interviewed students couldn't name their school, program, or speak English.

Three storefronts pulled over half of what every public college got.

Who signed off on this?

Who is getting fired?

Ontario taxpayers just got scammed.

[Manish Singh @refsrc]

India has reached the income level at which the U.S., Europe and China all went on chain-hotel building sprees.

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

Wow Nicely done

[MAX @maxxmalist]

The race for AGI

Script: Sherpa by Pocket FM
Video: Seedance 2.5

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

@SebJefferies LAB

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

@FoodProfessor What does their growth looks like in coming years and how are they using AI to personalize

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

@TopviewAIhq Please share the reference and prompt as well, which model and models.

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

Congrats @xTerraRobotics

[Runtime @RuntimeBRT]

🚨 Bengaluru-based @xTerraRobotics has launched a wheeled quadruped, DHAV-Hy. It is fully indigenous, being designed, engineered and built in India.

It has a max speed of 5 m/s, and a payload capacity 10 kg for all terrains. This wheeled variant has been in R&D for three months, and xTerra is actively piloting DHAV-Hy in industries for inspection.

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

That’s awesome

[GrowMax @Growmaxofficial]

GPT-6 Astra just created this previz in 2 minutes by controlling Blender. 🤯

Adjust the Blender scene → feed it into Seedance 2.5 → turn it realistic → make the explosion bigger. 💥

15 minutes for a workflow that once took months.
#GPT6Astra #GPT6 #Blender #Seedance #AI #VFX #3DAnimation #AIFilmmaking #GenerativeAI #VibeCoding

[Weather Goddess⚡️⛈️ 👑 @Colombiana2691]

Please go to hell lmao, I would have died in the theater if this happened from a heart attack 😭😂🤣😂🤣😂💀💀💀

[Taran Mann @martian007a]

It is just the beginning, can do cars and so on

[Invideo @invideoOfficial]

We shot two actors on a static bike, in a room that was entirely grey, and the output is a seamless shot of them riding through Mumbai.

Here is the full breakdown of how that works, from the shoot to the performance sheet to what actually goes into invideo’s Agent 2.

We are building a feature film in public. Stay tuned as we post every step of the way!

[Cameron Baughn @cambaughn]

Crazy. This is how we should be building everywhere.

[The Wolf of Franchises 🍟 @franchisewolf]

Wingstop is selling roughly $500 worth of wings for $27.99, and only 100 people can buy it.

Here’s what’s going on:

Wingstop just launched its first-ever Wing Pass for the NFL season.

The pass costs $27.99 and unlocks one Watch Party Bundle every Sunday for all 18 weeks of the regular season.

Each bundle comes with:

20 classic wings
Up to four flavors
Large fries
Large ranch

Aside from being a heavily discounted meal, it’s creating 18 separate reasons to open the app, visit the brand, organize Sunday around Wingstop, and potentially add more food to the order.

I think the timing matters too.

Club Wingstop launched in May as the chain’s new loyalty program, but management has said it wants to move beyond the usual points-and-coupons treadmill.

Early members received curated Club in a Box packages.

Even the Wing Pass feels more like a collectible drop than a restaurant promotion.

There are only 100, it releases at a specific time, and the reward unfolds weekly for nearly five months.

Wingstop could have offered 20% off and disappeared into the coupon graveyard, but instead, it turned football season into an 18-week customer ritual.

My initial takeaway is that the most valuable programs may stop rewarding transactions and start manufacturing traditions.

When a franchise brand owns what your family eats every Sunday, does it still need to discount the other six days?

I can't remember the last time I ate at a Wingstop, but I deff think this is good PR for them.

[Robotaxi @robotaxi]

Talk to Grok to control your Cybercab