--- title: "Digits: A viral boating app, virtual influencers, and more - The Hustle" description: "Plus: Solar retailers, washboard sales, and low-budget horror surprises." image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/284465467-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-30T003712.361Z.webp --- # Digits: A viral boating app, virtual influencers, and more ![Jacob Cohen](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png?width=48&height=48&name=IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png) [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen) [Jacob Cohen Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/ImJacobCohen) Published: January 30, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 **1)** *Skinamarink, *a Canadian analog horror film, has grossed [**$1.8m+ at the box office**](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt21307994/?ref_=bo_se_r_1) despite a production budget of just $15k. The plot: “Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.” ![Digits: A viral boating app, virtual influencers, and more](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/284465467-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-30T003712.361Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=284465467-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-30T003712.361Z.webp) **2) **The Columbus Washboard Co., America’s last, now sells [**~11k washboards annually**](https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-last-washboard-factory-isnt-ready-to-throw-in-the-towel-11674744553?), down from millions in the 1940s. Apparently, sales jumped 57% in 2020 during peak pandemic mayhem, and percussionists make up 40% of sales. **3) **This neat visual report argues we should focus our solar efforts on the roofs of big-box retailers, of which there are [**~21.4k in the Western US**](https://www.hcn.org/issues/55.1/infographic-solar-energy-save-public-lands-put-solar-on-walmart). If solar panels were installed on their rooftops, they’d generate 31m+ megawatt-hours of energy output — enough to power 3m homes. **4) **On Jan. 14, Megan Foulk shared her 62-year-old dad Jeff’s boating app on TikTok in a bid to attract downloads. The clip blew up, garnering [**~24.4m views**](https://www.tiktok.com/@argonavigation/video/7188589858695384366?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7191935959448716842), and the app, Argo Navigation, has since topped the app store. **5) **One of the hottest areas of metaverse content in development is that of virtual influencers, [**~70% of whom are Korean**](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/business/metaverse-k-pop-south-korea.html). Tech firms there are pouring resources into things like virtual K-pop bands. 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Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jacob Cohen", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/jacob-cohen" }, "datePublished" : "2023-01-30T08:46:37.000Z", "headline" : "Digits: A viral boating app, virtual influencers, and more", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/284465467-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-30T003712.361Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/01302023-digits", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jacob Cohen", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:35:28+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-01-30T08:46:37+0000", "headline" : "Digits: A viral boating app, virtual influencers, and more", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/284465467-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-30T003712.361Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```