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👋 Good morning. Rock, paper, scissors — shoot! If your winning streak remains unchallenged, you might be missing out on a big payday. A recent Rock Paper Scissors Throwdown at New Jersey’s American Dream Mall saw ~400 competitors duke it out for a $10k prize. Fun fact: The game dates back to 206 BCE in China, according to the World Rock Paper Scissors Association (yes, that’s a thing), and originally used a frog, snake, and centipede as symbols.

NEWS FLASH

A plate of spaghetti on a red-checkered tablecloth with an ear emerging from either side.

🍝 Prego is listening: Pasta sauce brand Prego will release Connection Keepers, devices that look like jar lids but actually record dinner table conversations, for $20 each (spaghetti, sauce, and conversation prompt cards included). Oh, why? It’s a partnership with StoryCorps, a nonprofit that records and shares the stories of average Americans. Users can choose to upload conversations to StoryCorps’ website and share only with friends and family, other StoryCorps members, the public, or even the Library of Congress if your uncle has a really great tall tale that must be preserved throughout history.

🔋 Cute and novel: Chinese EV maker Nio Power has a solution for drivers who don’t want to stop mid-trip and wait for their cars to charge. Nio's cars can complete automated battery swapping in its battery swapping stations, of which it's installed ~4k, mostly in China. NPR’s John Ruwitch accompanied a Nio Power exec on such an errand, during which the car politely said, “If you feel nervous, I’m here.” Aww.

🦐 An unexpected return: Red Lobster’s endless shrimp promotion will return once more, despite costing the chain $11m in Q3 2023. There are a few changes, though. It’ll cost $25-$30 instead of $20, will only last a limited time, and applies to dine-in guests at participating restaurants only. CEO Damola Adamolekun said the move was driven by seafood fans who have “never stopped asking for it.”

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

R2Dtunes: Deezer says it receives nearly 75k AI-generated tracks per day, representing ~44% of daily uploads. That sounds like a lot, but most end up demonetized and AI music still reflects just 1%-3% of total streams.
ADHD meets VR: German startup Brainjo just closed a ~$2.4m seed round to build prescribable virtual reality therapy for children with ADHD that gamifies everyday tasks, like homework.
Driver-free freight: Startup Humble emerged from stealth this week with $24m in funding to build its fully electric autonomous freight vehicle — the Humble Hauler — designed to haul shipping containers dock-to-dock.
Not an all-hands: Microsoft Teams is redesigning its meeting toolbar to help users avoid accidentally hitting the “raise hand” button on a call (no fix for that embarrassing comment you made).

MASTER CHATBOTS

How Sam squeezes chatbots for the good stuff

If you don’t know the hotdog-selling legend who later launched us, Sam is one of the most deeply productive people on the planet.

Here’s how he trained a GPT to act as his board of advisors. See how he structured the process to optimize yourself.

Life coaching: Pulling advice based on his profile, favorite books, and scientific research.
Boosting copywriting course sales: Just a few tweaks, and suddenly CopyThat is “making way more money now.”
Improving his health by feeding it photos, fitness logs, and bloodwork.

Finding new ‘fits, AKA making it his NYC shopping spree guide.

Chatbot training tips

THE BIG IDEA

Freewheelin' farmstands

Gone are the days when you could Supermarket Sweep through the grocery aisles and not be forced to part with half your paycheck. For many, though, soaring grocery prices are compounded by a lack of access to affordable, healthy options locally.

But one bright pink, solar-powered trailer is hitting the streets to change that.

Prosperity Market, a mobile grocery store that brings Black-owned food businesses to underserved neighborhoods, just launched in Los Angeles.

The 48-foot-long market on wheels is the culmination of a multi-year effort, and its founders aim to create an entire fleet, per the Los Angeles Times.

Not your average farmers market

Before launching Prosperity Market, founders Carmen Dianne and Kara Still worked in the makeup and fashion industry. But when the pandemic hit, the pair felt compelled to pivot to a project that would nourish their community.

Despite a lack of experience in the food industry, they wanted to support Black-owned businesses — which suffered a 41% drop amid the pandemic.
They envisioned a mobile trailer that's part farmers market, part food truck to feature Black farmers, chefs, and food producers.
Following a five-year journey of monthly pop-up markets, $100k+ in crowdfunding, and additional donations, Prosperity Market is finally ready to roll.
The electric-run and solar-powered trailer features produce, a fridge for perishables, shelves of local Black-owned food brands, and a small kitchen.
For those with limited means, Prosperity Bucks are sponsored dollars that can be used to shop.

The team envisions a fleet of trucks expanding throughout California and beyond — an effort aided by a donation from Dr. Dre.

Prosperity Market also offers nationwide shipping.

Helping hands across America

Prosperity Market is part of a growing trend of mobile markets that are popping up across the country, including in Vegas, D.C., Austin, and Indianapolis.

Reports show mobile markets increase access to affordable high-quality foods and can help counter food insecurity.

A USDA study found that many successful mobile markets share key traits:

Partnerships with community organizations with similar goals.

Programs such as nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, and vouchers.

Responding to specific needs of the community.

Recruiting local champions to build support.

Now, if only we could see a return of those 1960s-era Supermarket Sweep prices.

🔗

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

You think you need a raise? “Survivor” has aired on CBS since 2000, but winners still take home a $1m prize. We spoke with recent winners on what that looks like today.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

How many years Minnesota has maintained its tradition of meat raffles, in which people gamble on juicy cuts while raising money for charities, per AP News. In that time, the price of meat has increased significantly, but the $70 prize limit hasn’t budged. Now, a new bill is set to fatten the top prize to $200, which will help keep the games profitable for the organizations involved and players from getting skimped with smaller steaks.

Meat raffles, which originated in the UK during World War II and later spread to other parts of the Western world, raised ~$6m for Minnesotan charities last year.

HOW YOU HUSTLE

We serve ambitious people, and you all serve us right back, dazzling us with the form your ambition takes. Here’s another reader-grown venture:

Who: Tasha Rosenbaum

What: bylittle learning, LLC

The elevator pitch: “Bylittle is a one-stop eLearning studio that designs custom interactive training, animation, and video to help organizations deliver engaging learning that actually sticks.”

Problem they’re trying to solve: “Many organizations rely on training that is outdated, disengaging, or difficult to scale. Traditional eLearning often feels generic, text-heavy, and ineffective — leading to low completion rates and poor knowledge retention.”

One truly innovative thing they’re doing: “... We treat learning like a creative production — combining instructional design, animation, video, and interactive storytelling to build fully custom learning experiences that people actually engage with.”

What are you working on? Tell us here.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated.

🕵️ That’s interesting: An enigma machine emulator.

🎧 Music: This site ranks artists’ songs by how many streams they’ve received on Spotify. Useful if you’re looking for some deep cuts.

😀 Chill out: with this map of human happiness.

🐦 Aww: Pets, please.

SHOWER THOUGHT

It's somewhat unfair to Achilles, a great warrior and hero, that he is now best known for his one mortal weakness. SOURCE

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

Editing by: Sara "On a roll" Friedman.

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