👋 Good morning. If your gas station stop this morning brought tears to your eyes, consider raiding your child’s toy box. A handyman in Georgia installed a two-gallon, one-piston power washer engine into a pink Power Wheels Barbie Dream Camper. Less than four feet tall, the battery-operated toy car does the trick for quick errands as gas prices continue to soar, though it does require a dirtbike helmet to ride.
NEWS FLASH
🍕 Pizza problems: Chaac Pizza Northeast, a franchisee that operates 111 US Pizza Hut locations, is suing Pizza Hut over Dragontail, an AI-powered management system that it claims it was forced to adopt, leading to a $100m+ loss. Without Dragontail, Chaac says it delivered 90% of pies within 30 minutes, a figure that dropped to 50% after using the software, largely because DoorDash drivers could see real-time kitchen info and intentionally waited to stack orders.
â›” Bet on this: Minnesota has banned prediction markets, making it illegal to host or advertise markets in the state beginning in August. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US agency that regulates derivatives markets, is now suing to block the law. While Minnesota is the first state to ban prediction markets, 14 other states have introduced related bills, with two, Hawaii and North Carolina, also seeking full bans.
🍻 Pour one out: Pabst Brewing Co. is discontinuing Schlitz beer after 175+ years of production. Schlitz, which began as a tavern brewery in Milwaukee, was once America’s largest brewer and was acquired by Pabst in 1999. As a final farewell, Wisconsin Brewing Co. will produce one final 80-barrel batch using Schlitz’s 1948 recipe, when the brand was at its peak, to send it off with “dignity and respect.”
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
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Gaming, but ergonomically: Herman Miller built its first standing desk for gamers. The Gaming Coyl has a more minimalist aesthetic than most gaming furniture, cable storage options, and a dial to fine-tune height. It starts at ~$1.1k.
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Against the grain: GrainFlow uses AI to coordinate deliveries at grain facilities, where there’s often a surprising amount of gridlock. It’s preparing to pilot the tech and prepping for a pre-seed round.
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More Murdoch media: James Murdoch is acquiring roughly half of Vox Media — including New York magazine, Vox.com, and its podcast network — for $300m+.
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Turning to tech: 41% of US adults say they sometimes feel lonely, according to the 2025 Social Connection in America Report, and cope by watching TV or movies (54%), listening to music (54%), sleeping (44%), and using social media (38%).
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT MINDSTREAM
Bumble swipes right on AI
The dating app is breaking up with the swipe.
The company, which saw a 21% dip in paid users, is hoping that AI will save the day as it has for Hinge and Tinder.
But why is Bumble’s CEO getting dragged for the decision?
THE BIG IDEA
The startup rethinking returns
Shaniqua Jones-Williams initially founded SendBack as a consumer-facing platform to coordinate returns, inspired by her own “mountain” of unwanted items, but soon realized that the problem began with the “inefficiencies of the supply chain,” she told The Hustle.
Even if customers had a platform to coordinate returns, retailers would still sometimes just tell them to keep items, which doesn’t solve clutter issues. Products would still end up unnecessarily in landfills, with return costs passed to consumers via restocking fees or higher prices.
“If we work directly with the retailers and logistics partners to streamline the reverse logistics and returns, we actually create greater impact,” she said.
How it works
SendBack integrates into retailers’ order, return, and management systems to monitor item-level data in real time.
- When a customer initiates a return, SendBack’s AI system determines the most efficient routing option — e.g., the warehouse, a liquidator, a resale channel, or, because SendBack knows the makeup of garments and other items, a recycling partner.
- SendBack’s fraud detection partner can flag suspicious returns for retailers to review.
- SendBack can also see if stock is low or if an item is frequently returned, helping retailers make smarter inventory choices.
SendBack doesn’t physically move goods yet, but Jones-Williams envisions a future in which it offers end-to-end solutions for retailers and customers. For now, shoppers can use SendBack’s app to keep track of their own returns.
Rethinking returns
Jones-Williams met a woman who ordered a $3k wardrobe that the retailer’s movers dinged when setting it up. The retailer responded by sending an entirely new wardrobe. This time, the movers damaged the woman’s floor.
For Jones-Williams, this highlights another issue: the assumption that a return is the only solution.
“Imagine if they gave you a repair plus a discount or a gift card? These are completely acceptable options — and they’re cheaper,” she said.
And now… a little history
Jones-Williams references the “Black logistics pioneers” who built the industry before her, celebrating “the incredible experience of standing in the middle” — looking back on everything they’ve done and her ability to open doors for future generations.
She specifically mentioned Mary Fields, AKA Stagecoach Mary, the first Black woman to hold a US Post Office star route contract. Fields delivered mail by stagecoach in Montana, carrying two guns to fend off thieves and wolves. That’s your badass fact of the day.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Good gates make good neighbors: Here’s how gated content grew one HubSpot team’s daily leads by 79%.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Length, in weeks, of “The Agentic Self,” a course on AI taught by William Adams, AKA Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am, who is now a professor at Arizona State University.
Yes, you read that right, and no, it’s not as random as it seems — though the rapper is better known for 2000s chart toppers like “I Gotta Feeling,” he’s also a long-time tech investor and inventor who has gotten in early on companies like Tesla and OpenAI, discussed AI’s impact at the Vatican, and created gadgets including an AI-powered “rolling office,” per The Wall Street Journal.
Ironically, despite having performed live in front of millions of people, it was lecturing that reportedly gave him stage fright when he first started in January.
AROUND THE WEB
đź“… On this day: In 1881, the American Red Cross was founded.
🌝 Wow: NASA released 12k photos from Artemis II, including these stunning shots.
🗞️ Newsletter: Your next startup idea is a click away. Subscribe to Half Baked.
🧓 Game: Grandpa does his best to play that new-fangled Pokeyman game.
🦌 Aww: Please enjoy this extremely relaxing video of deer among the cherry blossoms in Japan’s Nara Park.
SHOWER THOUGHT
The memory of an embarrassing moment is often more embarrassing than the moment itself. SOURCE
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