👋 Good morning. Can’t remember the last time you took your meeting notes on paper? Your 5th grade teacher would be so disappointed. Cursive was dropped from the Common Core educational standards in 2010 so schools could prioritize typing skills, leaving many kids without knowledge of how to perfect their John Hancock. Luckily, the lost art is still kickin’ — Pennsylvania just joined 25+ states that are requiring grade-school kids to learn cursive. We also hope that ‘S’ that everyone drew on their binders is still around.
NEWS FLASH
🌊 Roomba for the ocean: California-based startup Clean Earth Rovers is deploying autonomous boats to collect trash from the Port of Los Angeles. Since January, the tidy bots have removed ~1 ton of debris from the water — that’s 200-400 pounds of trash per day. While the boats are cleaning, they’re also tracking data on weather and learning when and where trash appears.
🤖 And the award goes to… a bot? An AI Personality of the Year contest is awarding a total of $90k to the best virtual influencers, and the “creative talent behind” them since, ya know, AI influencers can’t fill a venue. The contest — a joint venture between AI creator platform Fanvue and generative AI studio OpenArt, backed by AI voice company ElevenLabs — follows AI beauty pageants and music contests as the latest in an evolving (and somewhat spooky) industry.
🙄 If you roll your eyes at terms like “growth hacking,” you may be better at your job, per a new study from Cornell University. Workers rated the business savvy of various speakers based on quotes. Some were real, while others were “corporate bullshit,” defined as “semantically, logically, or epistemically dubious” info that’s misleadingly impressive or important. Workers who enjoyed the bullshit also chose the worst solutions in workplace scenarios — but were more likely to experience job satisfaction.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
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Plot twist: Hachette Book Group pulled the novel Shy Girl before its US release this spring due to concerns its contents might have been AI-generated.
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Hiring freeze? Never heard of it: OpenAI is planning to double its workforce to 8k by the end of 2026 across several departments.
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Watch out, Waymo: Uber announced a $1.25B investment in EV maker Rivian with plans to deploy up to 50k robotaxis, starting with San Francisco and Miami in 2028.
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Dónde está el baño? Ask Xoli, the chatbot Mexico City built for 2026 FIFA World Cup tourists — though it’ll remain available via WhatsApp after the event.
WE NEED TO TALK
The manager’s guide to talking when it’s awkward
“Difficult conversations bring risk: the risk of being misunderstood, of upsetting someone, of saying too much or too little. So instead, we delay. We drop hints. We tell ourselves ‘now isn’t the right time.’ And the moment passes.” — Leanne Elliott, Truth, Lies & Work podcast
If you can empathically relate, we wrote you some scripts.
You know that employee who's been showing up late for three weeks straight? Or the one whose passive-aggressive Slack messages are making everyone uncomfortable?
Yeah, we need to talk about that… because every time you dodge one of these convos, you may be costing your company $7.5k.
THE BIG IDEA
Tech innovations are breathing new life into sleep apnea treatment
Sleep, the thing we all do each night, has come to represent a fast-growing industry worth $65B. For a better night’s rest, just about everything is now on offer — from $6k smart mattresses and zzzs-inducing cereals, to sleep coaches, sleepcations, sleep trackers, and more.
But for people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), who perhaps need the help most of all, none of those solutions are enough to replace cumbersome CPAP machines. Luckily, new treatments that can are finally on the way, per Wired.
No rest for the OSA afflicted
Since its invention in 1981, the CPAP has been the gold standard in sleep apnea care, partly due to a dearth of options, but also because they’re highly effective at reducing mortality and cardiovascular risk.
The issue is that few people use them as frequently as they should.
- The clunky contraptions require users to sleep with a mask strapped to their face, which many find claustrophobic and uncomfortable.
- They aren’t the sexiest things to wake up to, either.
Plus, OSA affects 1B+ people globally, the majority of whom are undiagnosed and none of whom share the same anatomy or symptoms. These new treatments provide much-needed alternatives to address that diversity.
Don’t sleep on these new treatments
- ZeusOSA, a device worn under the chin, sends gentle electric pulses to stimulate the hypoglossal nerve, helping to keep the airway open during sleep. Clinical trials begin this summer, though early testing already suggests it could be particularly effective for people with slimmer necks.
- For the CPAP ineligible, there’s the aura6000 System, an implantable device that just received premarket FDA clearance.
Less invasive are new pharmaceutical solutions:
- In 2024, Zepbound, the weight-loss drug, received FDA approval as a treatment for moderate to severe sleep apnea in adults with obesity.
- But the most exciting development might be AD109, a nightly oral pill by biotech startup Apnimed that awakens the brain stem to keep throat muscles from fully relaxing, while letting your actual brain rest.
The company plans to file for FDA approval this year. If successful, the pill could hit the market as soon as 2027, becoming what one Harvard sleep researcher called the “holy grail” of sleep apnea treatments.
Until then, to the despair of many sleepless folks, CPAPs will have to do. But they can rest easy knowing alternative solutions are dreams becoming reality.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Tiny apps… big profit. Here’s how a portfolio of 20 tiny plugins generates one entrepreneur $150k per month.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Views on a TikTok video of a recent Pints & Ponytails class in the UK, where 35 girl dads got together to learn how to style their kids’ hair over beers. The wholesome event series, hosted by Mathew Lewis-Carter and Lawrence Price of The Secret Life of Dads podcast, started in February with just 10 people, and has already inspired copycats across the pond, with lessons priced at $40+.
Driving the trend: surging interest from a growing number of some very involved fathers. Dads today spend 3x as much time on childcare compared to dads in 1965, and 85% of fathers consider parenthood one of the most important aspects of their life, according to two Pew Research Center surveys via USA Today.
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 1943, noted WWII homing pigeon “G.I. Joe” was hatched. The bird completed a 20-mile journey in 20 minutes with a message that British troops had re-secured an Italian village, preventing the Allies from bombing their own men and saving 100+ lives.
⏲️ That’s cool: Timeliner shows which historical figures lived at the same time.
📰 Newsletter: Girlboss Daily feels like your cool boss, dishing out career inspo and intel.
⌛ Chill out: with this falling sand simulator featuring 500+ building materials.
🐕 Aww: Beach day.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Dogs probably measure time by routines, not by hours. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Sara "Nodding off" Friedman.
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