👋 Good morning, and an extra kudos to the ketchup scientists at Heinz, always working hard to evolve the condiment game for the rest of us. Their latest brainchild, the Love Lid, has three variable settings — ”like,” “love,” and “crazy love” — that toggle the amount of runny ketchup water that'll initially squirt out of the bottle. Finally, a soggier burger!
NEWS FLASH
🧻 Rethinking the roll: After spending 20 years and $250m on R&D, Kimberly-Clark — the maker of Scott, Cottonelle, and Huggies — thinks it’s found the future of toilet paper and paper towels. The company evaluated 70 potential fiber sources, from seaweed to chicken feathers, in search of a wood pulp replacement. What it found: a prickly desert plant called hesperaloe that could one day make softer, stronger, cheaper paper goods more sustainably.
🎥 We're talking about practice: Gone are the days of every YouTube livestream starting with a panicked “oh, sh–” as a hand reaches forward for a hasty camera adjustment. YouTube introduced Practice Mode, a feature that’ll help creators confirm that everything looks good — and also to look inward and confirm that this is really how they wish to use their finite time on this planet — before their livestreams go live.
👕 The fog of wore: Newly-funded startup WashWise shared its first product — a “dry shampoo for clothes” called Reset Spray that they claim merges the powers of wrinkle releasers and fabric spray into one refreshening outfit spritzer. Their bet? That many people have a lot of laundry sitting in clothing purgatory — worn once and not quite nasty enough to toss into the washing machine, but also not quite fresh enough to wear out of the house.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
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Yeah, we know: Mark Zuckerberg released a 6.5k-word AI manifesto, but we can save you the 20+ minutes: He wants everyone to use Meta’s AI products, believes in open-source AI, and welcomes some government regulation as long as they don’t slow him down.
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Having their way: Burger King is back on top… of being second place among burger chains. The Whopper slinger played third fiddle for six years behind Wendy’s, which slipped to third, and McDonald's, which is still way ahead of the pack.
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Outgunned: Cambridge Aerospace raised $300m for its drone-intercepting defense tech, which is a significant chunk of change — until you compare it to the $6.2B that VCs put toward developing more advanced drones last year alone.
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Probably right, but still rude: Cloudflare CFO Thomas Seifert, noting that if trends hold, bots will account for 1k times more online traffic than actual people, said “humans will be a rounding error on the internet” in the next five years.
PRINT MILLIONS
14 business models, ranked
Serial founder Andrew Wilkinson has:
- Owner-operated a pizza restaurant
- Dropped $300k on cat furniture
- Bet $10m on a software company (Flow)
- Been a billionaire (briefly) (in CAD)
Today, his design agency MetaLabs prints millions, while his investment arm Tiny buys up majority stakes in “wonderful businesses.”
Case in point: He’s seen a lot of crud… and this is what works.
THE BIG IDEA
How age tech is keeping grandma out of a nursing home
Seventy-five percent of elderly Americans want to live out their golden years from the comfort of their own home, but aging at home safely often requires more caregiving support than families can provide alone, and professional in-home care can be costly.
To bridge the gap, a new generation of age tech is stepping in. The devices, many outfitted with AI, help monitor and support health and safety, aiding older adults’ independence and giving loved ones greater peace of mind.
Caregiving gets an update
One example is Sensi AI, a little white box that constantly listens for signs of danger.
- It monitors movement, speech patterns, and deviations in a person’s regular routine (e.g., a new cough or too much time spent in a bathroom).
- Caregivers can request transcripts and receive automatic alerts when the AI hears trigger words like “fall” or “help.”
There’s also JubileeTV, a smart TV with a built-in camera that can be controlled remotely, and AI companions like ElliQ, which can help with everything from medication reminders and managing appointments to solving crossword puzzles.
They’re not necessarily cheap (JubileeTV costs ~$800) but far more affordable compared to nursing home care, which averages $10k a month in the US, per Business Insider.
The biggest trade-off…
… is privacy. But for many seniors, the ability to remain independent and comfortable at home seems to outweigh the concerns.
Wired writer Steven Blum, who installed Sensi’s device for his 86-year-old father, said the older Blum, who insisted on staying put in his home, found it “pretty weird” but “worth it.”
Plus:
- Amid a caregiver shortage and the rising cost of assisted living, the adoption of age tech might just be necessary, if not inevitable — already, ~25% of caregivers are using apps, video platforms, wearables, and other systems to remotely monitor loved ones, per AARP.
- As for those who don’t want to compromise, other solutions have also emerged, like homesharing platforms that match seniors with roommates to make aging in place more affordable and less lonely.
Now, about the 25% of seniors who don’t want to grow old at home… We can only assume they’re all trying to get into the Margaritaville-themed retirement community.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Putting in 20 hours per month… but generating $50k? Sounds like a pretty sweet gig. Steal this entrepreneur's system.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
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Cost of Atlanta-based cocktail bar Roaring Social’s new martini experience. The drink is made with premium vodka, dry vermouth, and Champagne, topped with Beluga caviar, and — to justify the sobering price point — comes with an ice-cold 5-carat diamond tennis necklace.
The pricey menu item, which the business told Forbes is about the experience more than anything else, is presented with a bottle of Champagne, a custom marquee sign, and sparklers. Hopefully the Instagram pic is worth it!
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 1973, hip-hop was born at a teen party in a Bronx rec room.
🥁 That’s cool: Hear what shapes would sound like as drums.
💰 Game: Guess how much these celebs charge for Cameos.
🗺️ That’s fun: Find strange sites on your next road trip.
🐶 Aww: Sleepy doggy.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Civilizations started from kids running away from home. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Singdhi Sokpo and Ben Berkley.
Editing by: Sara "Aging not-so-gracefully" Friedman.
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