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👋 Good morning. If ChatGPT is already hard at work answering your emails this morning, this news might hurt: Just 10 minutes of using an AI assistant could significantly reduce your independent thinking, according to a new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Oxford, and UCLA. When help from AI was removed after 10 minutes, users’ performance on math questions dropped ~20%, and they were almost twice as likely to skip questions. Maybe draft that Slack yourself?

NEWS FLASH

A paper strip dropped into a tropical drink.

🍹 Strip before you sip: California startup DipDetect is developing a test strip that can check for allergens in seconds. The strip, which works like a pH test, can detect dairy, nuts, gluten, shellfish, whey, and oats, changing color to show which allergens are present. The startup is starting with beverage detection, but has plans to expand into foods to support the 22m people in the US with food allergies.

💋 Ooh la la: Janitor AI, a platform where users can engage in sexy fantasy roleplay with chatbots, has racked up 2.5m+ daily users, making it the 10th most popular consumer AI app. One user, per Forbes, is creating a whole world via meticulous prompts that includes a nudist werewolf, a 7-foot-tall ghoul, and a sinister organ-harvesting operation. We get it. We miss “True Blood,” too.

🫴 That’s kinda nice, actually: In the US, ChatGPT wouldn’t stop talking about goblins. In China, it responds to users with a phrase that translates to “I will catch you steadily [when you fall]” so often that it’s become a meme, per Wired. Some possible explanations include the bot’s attempt to translate the English phrase “I’ve got you,” or a Chinese phrase often used in therapy that means holding space for someone’s emotions.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

Congrats: India’s Skyroot Aerospace, which builds small satellite launch rockets designed to carry payloads of up to 772 pounds into low Earth orbit, has become the country’s first space tech unicorn following a $60m raise.
Swipe left on swiping: Bumble is replacing the swipe with something new. CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd hasn’t revealed what that is, but said it’ll be “revolutionary for the category.”
“You get a raise! You get a raise! Everybody gets a raise!” — Lovable’s CEO after committing to annual 10% salary raises for all employees on their work anniversaries.
Scooting onto Wall Street: Lime, the Uber-backed electric scooter and bike-sharing company, filed for an IPO after years of pivoting and restructuring.

SMART MONEY

Rules for building wealth

We can’t say how you govern funds.

All we can do as a sentient yet humble newsletter is fork over Shaan’s money rules and pray that they slap some sense in ASAP.

Master one profitable skill (selling, making, designing, hunting)
Don’t rent out your time — own equity.
Be impatient with action and patient with results.
Get close to the action. Be near brilliance.

Read on for real stories from MrBeast, Warren Buffett, Steve Martin, and other loaded lunatics.

Simple money rules

THE BIG IDEA

A lavender handbag with computer keyboard keys on the bottom right. In the foreground are computer chips.

Why Gen Z is building custom computers

For those of a certain age, personalizing our MySpace pages was the closest we came to feeling like hackers.

But that's nothing compared to the creative cyberdecks that Gen Zers are building these days.

The custom-built, portable computers — personalized both for purpose and aesthetic — have become increasingly popular with Gen Zers, especially women, who find the DIY projects a refreshing alternative to mainstream, mass-produced devices, per Newsweek.

Back to the future

Originally coined by William Gibson in his 1984 sci-fi novel Neuromancer, cyberdecks have long had an anti-establishment bent and attracted hobbyists who want to fully control the look and function of a self-built device.

Created for a single purpose, from retro gaming and coding to writing the next great American novel without the distractions of a full-fledged computer, cyberdecks typically consist of a:

Simple, inexpensive single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi
Small keyboard or mouse
Screen
Custom enclosure

While cyberdecks often have a retro-futuristic aesthetic, many feature a minimalist, utilitarian design suited for a post-apocalyptic world. But a growing number of Gen Z tinkerers are bringing a whimsical, creative spin to the genre using repurposed or 3D-printed parts and playful flourishes.

They're also attracting a huge audience on TikTok, sharing their cyberdeck journeys, tips, and final builds:

A game built inside a promotional box from Dunkin'
An audio journal built inside a cyberduck
A mermaid laptop built inside a clamshell purse

Many designs also incorporate the aesthetics and devices of the early 2000s, which tracks with Gen Z's fascination with outdated tech and Y2K nostalgia.

More than just a viral craft project, cyberdecks appeal to many Gen Zers as a means to reclaim control over technology.

It's a quiet rebellion against reliance on the monochromatic closed systems of Big Tech with pre-assembled parts and proprietary designs. Many cyberdecks also tend to be purposefully offline to avoid data surveillance and harvesting, and to escape AI homogeneity.

But cyberdecks are also just a fun way to experiment with hardware and software to create something all your own, rather than just consume.

And for those of us still longing for that MySpace of old, SpaceHey offers a pretty good retro throwback.

🔗

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Why are 600+ planes without engines? We break down what’s behind aviation’s engine crisis, and how airlines like Delta are turning the chaos into billions.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

How many workers say they’ve cried at the office in the past month, up 12 points from the year before, according to a Modern Health survey of 1k US employees via Fast Company. While not being able to WFH in one’s PJs is reason enough in our book, over 60% cited AI’s entry into the workplace, and the pressure it's added to their job performance, as a major source of their stress.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 1949, evidence was finally discovered against Marie Besnard, AKA France’s “Queen of Poisoners.” Yet despite the 13 family members who died under mysterious circumstances, Besnard was acquitted due to a lack of physical evidence.

📚 Useful: See what library cards are reciprocal to yours, giving you access to more books on Libby.

🗞️ Newsletter: Profit Snack delivers bite-sized case studies and business intelligence every Friday.

📻 Game: Listen to the radio. Guess where it’s broadcasting from.

🌼 Aww: Picking flowers.

SHOWER THOUGHT

You are much more likely to become a professional athlete than you are to become a professional referee. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Danny Jensen, and Singdhi Sokpo.

Editing by: Sara "Loves a DIY" Friedman.

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