🕳️ Drone pipe dreams

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👋 Good morning. Say it back — you wouldn’t want us to think less of you, right? Turns out many professionals are worried about what their colleagues think: 17% of workers say they turn to AI more than human co-workers out of “fear of human judgment,” according to a 2025 Microsoft report. We get it, a chatbot would never judge you for sending an email without the attachment.

🎧 On the pod: Why is protein-everything invading the snack aisle, and is it paying off for companies?

NEWS FLASH

🛻 No paint, no back seat, no problem: Bezos-backed startup Slate introduced its Truck, an EV pickup that costs $20k after federal incentives. The truck, which starts production next year, has two seats, a compact bed, and 150 miles of range. The minimalist price point means minimalist design and features: It only comes in gray, has no speaker system (you’ll need your phone and a Bluetooth speaker), and its body panels are molded plastic instead of metal. While no paint might sound radical, it simplifies production, cutting down costs and time, and allows for customization; Slate plans to offer DIY vinyl wrapping kits, SUV kits, and battery pack add-ons.

📦 Never mind: One week later, DHL is again shipping packages worth $800+ to US customers. Per a post on the shipper’s website, the decision follows a conversation between DHL and the US government that resulted in shipments worth $800-$2.5k being allowed to enter customs under an “informal” process involving less paperwork. DHL warned there may still be some delays due to its backlog.

🖥️ 4chan is partially back online after hackers brought the forum site down on April 14 and leaked data, including a list of moderators. Per a post on 4chan’s blog, the hack was traced to someone using a UK IP address who accessed its servers with a “bogus PDF upload.” It also blamed the hack on a lack of skilled man-hours and funds due to advertisers, payment providers, and service providers who won’t work with the platform due to the controversial content it allows.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

This sounds familiar: IBM announced a $150B investment in the US over the next five years, including $30B+ in R&D for its mainframes and quantum computers.
A Titanic survivor’s letter sold for $400k at an English auction. The letter, penned by first-class passenger Col. Archibald Gracie, was dated April 10, 1912, the day the ill-fated ship set sail from Southampton, England.
Etsy is offloading Reverb, the music gear platform it bought for $275m in 2019, to an investor group led by former SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor and Fender parent company Servco. Reverb will operate as a standalone business and says users should notice no disruptions.

BOOST YOUR RESEARCH

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THE BIG IDEA

The world’s coolest drones survey sewage pipes

Drones have been doing our dirty work for so long that the Smithsonian has a nearly decade-old article about how drones helped rescue Capt. Richard Phillips in 2009.

But there’s a difference between dirty jobs and dirty jobs.

Meet the poop drones

The Public Works Office in Michigan’s Macomb County has embraced the tech to manage its sewer lines, per Wired.

Rather than sending workers into tight, stinky tunnels to look for damaged pipes, they use Flybotix’s Asio X drone.

It has a shell-like cage and is equipped with a powerful lighting rig, 4K camera, and lidar to navigate and create 3D models of pipes.
It collects data that the county sends to SewerAI, where an algorithm can automatically identify defects.
It’s cheaper, safer, and easier than using human inspectors, and no one has to crawl through a poop-filled tube (we’re assuming the robot is fine with it).

It also looks pretty badass.

The three Ds

As the Smithsonian notes, there are “3 Ds” to drone jobs: dangerous, dull, and dirty.

That basically means any job that humans don’t want to do — like crawling through a toxic tunnel full of sewage, or rescuing Capt. Phillips.

Of course, drones are also becoming increasingly common for deliveries, which either means we need to add a fourth D or accept that food delivery is simply too dangerous for humans.

🔗

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

The median pay for top US CEOs in 2024.

That eye-watering sum is a 7.5% increase from the previous year, according to a study of 320 S&P 500 CEOs by ISS-Corporate.

That’s compared to the $59.2k median annual salary for American workers.

Stock grants were to thank for many of those staggering payouts: Axon CEO Patrick Smith took home $164.5m in 2024, up from $40k in 2023, thanks to a healthy stock distribution. Union Pacific CEO James Vena received $17.6m in 2024, up from $2m the year prior.

Was your bonus a branded mug and a pizza party? Cool — just checking.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 2011, Great Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton married in front of ~1.9k guests while 1m people gathered in London’s streets and ~2B watched on TV.

✉️ How to: write a letter. Yeah, an old-school one. On paper.

🗞️ That’s cool: The Follow Up is a twice-weekly newsletter that will make you a better salesperson.

🧩 Game: Lo-fi checkers.

🐻 Aww: Bear spa.

QUOTE OF NOTE

Last week, British crypto exchange BitradeX announced that it had raised ~$16m in a funding round led by Bain Capital via Business Wire — except Bain Capital, when approached by Axios Pro Rata, said it had never even heard of the company.

BitradeX’s explanation? N/A.

Neither BitradeX nor Business Wire responded for comment — though the latter did quietly delete the release, “possibly out of embarrassment” — per Axios, which suggested that lying startups at least make up better lies.

SHOWER THOUGHT

Grape soda is always purple, which completely ignores the existence of green grapes. SOURCE

Today’s email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Sara Friedman, with help from Sam Barsanti, Singdhi Sokpo, and Kaylee Jenzen.
Editing by: Ben “The CEOs made what now?!” Berkley.

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