👋 Good morning. Close your eyes. Now stand on one leg. It’s not a prank — it’s longevity entrepreneur Bryan Johnson’s test for finding your biological age. Johnson says that if you can only stand for zero to seven seconds, your body is 60-80 years old, while seven to 15 seconds is 40-60 years old. If you can avoid toppling for 15-30 seconds, you’re a youthful 20-40. Falling on your head, though, can really change those outcomes — so proceed with caution.
NEWS FLASH
👟 Getting a foot in the AI door: Allbirds announced Wednesday that it will pivot from sneakers to… AI. Sure, why not. The company — which will rebrand to NewBird AI — sold its intellectual property to American Exchange Group for $39m and will invest in “high-performance, low-latency AI compute hardware.” Investors and tech bros alike (the very people who once donned the brand’s wool sneakers) were apparently happy with the switch-up — the company’s stock closed up ~580% following the announcement.
🛑 I just wanted to leave: Google will start treating “back button hijacking” — when a website pushes a pop-up or does anything other than let you go back when you hit the back button — as a violation of its spam policies starting June 15. Websites that engage in it could be punished by appearing lower in search rankings. Google said the irksome practice had increased, potentially making users reluctant to visit unfamiliar sites.
💰 Good luck: Powerball is expanding to the UK this summer, pending approval from a UK gambling commission. The same jackpot will be available to both US and UK players. The $2 ticket price and the very slim odds — 1 in 292.2m — will remain the same for US players, but UK players will help the player pool grow faster, thus boosting the jackpot and drawing even more players. UK players will also have a shot at a much higher jackpot than what’s currently available in Europe.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
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Catch a charge: Ionna is partnering with Circle K to add its “Rechargeries” — high-speed EV charging stations with canopies, lighting, and other driver amenities — to 350+ US Circle K locations.
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Nice ROI: A Parisian man spent $117 on a raffle ticket and won a $1m Picasso painting (which he intends to keep). The lottery raised $14m for Alzheimer’s research from 120k tickets sold globally, $1m of which will go to the dealership that owned the painting.
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In the mood for a drink: Starbucks is testing a ChatGPT app that gives customers personalized drink suggestions based on “vibes,” prompts, and photos.
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Putting the book in audiobook: Spotify will let users in the US and UK purchase physical books through a new partnership with Bookshop.org, making it easier for readers to jump between mediums.
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT MINDSTREAM
Fake it 'til you make it?
Social media influencers are already known to doctor their photos and post only the highlight reels, but AI has taken phony posting to a new level.
For Coachella this year, AI-generated influencers are posting festival content despite not being in attendance because, well, they’re not humans.
The bigger issue: AI disclosures are often missing or hard to find.
👉 Read more on Mindstream.
THE BIG IDEA
(Little Joy Coffee)
How a small coffee shop went viral around the world
While coffee is a universal beverage, it’s rare to see a beverage as viral as the raspberry Danish latte.
It’s not just that it’s delicious. Little Joy Coffee, the Northfield, Minnesota, originator of the drink, offered the recipe to any cafe that wanted it, per The Guardian.
Here’s what happened
People are reluctant to spend $7-$8 on a latte, but that’s what Little Joy’s specialty drinks — which are often dessert-themed and R&D’d like craft cocktails — cost.
To illustrate why, Little Joy frequently posts videos to its Instagram account as part of a “DIY or buy” series.
- In each, manager Serena Walker breaks down how to make a drink and what it would cost if a customer made it themselves.
- While some are cheap and simple enough to make at home, others may be too labor-intensive.
“When you really break it down, you see how little profit we’re actually making off of this, because the ingredients, the labor to make it, the labor to have people give it to you, to have the lights on and everything kind of just gets perspective,” Walker told The Guardian.
So what about this raspberry Danish latte?
It requires a house-made raspberry syrup painstakingly strained, two shots of espresso, milk, and a cream cheese cold foam, so Little Joy recommended not making it at home.
But because many of its 136k Insta followers live nowhere near, it decided to give the recipe to make it at scale for any cafe that wanted it.
Now, over 400 coffee shops have signed on around the world, some with their own variations (vegan, matcha, etc.). A map of locations has received 2m+ views.
Multiple participating shop owners told Today that the drink has quickly become their most popular, with one Texas shop pleased with how being on the map has helped new customers find them.
Small businesses uniting over a viral recipe that calls for ingredients made in-house? We love to see it.
And if you’re chill with straining all those raspberry seeds, here’s the at-home version.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Want to crack the social media code? Following someone whose strategy generated 65m organic social impressions could be a good start.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Minutes it took for a “Date my Mate” event in London to sell out. All 150 tickets were quickly scooped up by eager singles looking for a pint and… PowerPoint presentations? The concept sounds odd but is pretty straightforward: hopeful singles gather in a bar and watch people present a two-minute pitch on why someone should date their friend.
Inspired by similar live dating events in the US and Australia, which have taken off as young people sour on dating apps, organizers told Reuters they’re aiming to expand it to one event a week across the UK.
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 1912, Harriet Quimby — the first US woman to receive a pilot’s license — became the first woman to fly alone across the English Channel.
😴 That’s interesting: How to find your best sleeping position.
📰 Newsletter: Daily Tech Insider is your no-nonsense guide to IT news, security updates, and compliance shifts.
⚔️ Game: Fight monsters in this quick deckbuilder.
🍂 Aww: This looks fun, actually.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Certain superheroes should be okay to drive without seatbelts. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Sara "Always caffeinated" Friedman.
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