*By Christian Smith*
In a final push before bringing its collapsible, baseball cap-style helmets to market, Park & Diamond launched an Indiegogo campaign on Tuesday ー and hit its goal of $50,000 within an hour.
The company, which was founded in 2015, makes helmets shaped like baseball caps in a safety-first effort to encourage riders to wear protective gear while cycling or taking other modes of alternative transport, co-founder and CEO Jordan Klein said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar.
"We really are going after people who traditionally would not be a helmet user," he said.
It's a cause that is especially important to David Hall, the company's other co-founder and president. Hall's sister went into a four-month-long coma after she was hit by a car while biking at the corner of Park and Diamond streets near Virginia Tech's campus. It was that very accident that led Hall and Klein, then both engineering students at the university, to create their company with the goal of reducing the 85,000 severe traumatic brain injuries that result each year from cycling accidents in the U.S.
"We interviewed thousands of people after Rachel's accident, and we found that people don't wear helmets because they're uncomfortable, they're ugly, and then most importantly they're not collapsible; you can't take them everywhere you need to go," Klein said.
While it may have been a biking accident that launched the idea for Park & Diamond, Klein said the company has other ambitions.
"We may have started around Dave's personal story ー around bike helmets ー but really we're passionate about alternative transportation and safe alternative transportation," Klein said.
Klein and Hall have been in contact with many mobility companies ー including Uber and Lime ー since Park & Diamond was founded. Ultimately, the co-founders want to forge partnerships to spread their mission of safety.
Park & Diamond's helmet is available for pre-order on the company's [website](https://www.park-and-diamond.com/) for $79.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-company-thats-making-helmets-cool-again).
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Starbucks’ AI barista aims to speed service and improve experience. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Business Editor, explains its impact on workers and customers.
As Big Tech reports Q3 earnings, investors await proof that massive AI and cloud investments from Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet are driving real growth.
