You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
9.5 percent
Microsoft is giving Windows 10 away for free to current users of the operating system. Microsoft’s motivation: PC shipments were down 9.5 percent worldwide during the second quarter of this year, and only 3 percent of smartphones have a Windows operating system. [The New York Times]
56 percent
That’s the level of support for the Iran nuclear deal in the United States, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post survey. On the other hand, 64 percent of respondents in the same poll said they are “not so confident” or “not confident at all” the deal will work. [The Washington Post]
750,000 people
Need a reason to use Tinder at the airport? Current and former airline employees, and their families, get perks like being able to fly for free in empty seats! In the American Airlines program alone, there are 750,000 people who are eligible. [Bloomberg]
$10 million
Former FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb, after being extradited to the U.S. on corruption charges, posted a $10 million bond on Saturday. He put up the bond in the form of 10 homes, three cars, 11 luxury watches and a load of jewels. Something’s fishy with these FIFA people, I’m telling ya. [Deadspin]
37 million users
Are you on AshleyMadison.com, the online dating site designed to facilitate affairs? If so, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news: You may soon find closure in your troubled relationship. The bad news: That closure may come thanks to hackers, who stole the financial information and user database of the site’s 37 million members and are attempting to publish it. So now’s a great time to pitch a vacation to your significant other — really unplug from modern life. [Krebs on Security]
$100 million
Russian billionaire Yuri Milner kicked in $100 million to sweep space for evidence of alien life. [Wired]
$226.4 million
Since the Green Bay Packers are owned by shareholders and not a single private owner, the team’s reports are public and one of our only glimpses into how the actual business of the NFL gets done. Documents from the franchise show each team got $226.4 million from the league last year as part of revenue sharing from TV and other rights. [ESPN]
904 million
That’s the number of food delivery orders conducted online in the year ending May 2015, compared to 1.02 billion conducted over the phone. Online delivery orders will soon beat phone orders if the trends of the past five years hold. [Quartz]
$19.6 billion
The craft beer market is massive — $19.6 billion this year — and one beer, in particular, is making waves this summer. There are amazing conspiracy theories brewing around Small Town Brewery’s “Not Your Father’s Root Beer.” Namely, that Small Town Brewery is actually affiliated with the folks who bottle Smirnoff Ice and Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Four Loko. So, if true, it’s not quite a small town brewery (kind of like The Simpsons’ Legitimate Businessman’s Social Club). The fact that this is plausible proves to me that the beer market is absurd. [International Business Times]
$50 billion
Over the next 50 years, that’s the cost of a plan to make sure Louisiana’s wetlands don’t disappear into the Gulf of Mexico. The state is losing 16 square miles per year due to erosion, and a $50 billion plan from the government and industry is trying to stop that. [PRI]
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If you see a significant digit in the wild, tweet it to me, @WaltHickey.