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👋 Good morning. Hope you’re already enjoying a snack of discounted Easter candy. In the US, it’s likely that you’re munching on a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg, the most popular treat, according to Instacart data. Customers spent an estimated $3.3B on candy this year, up from $3.1B in 2024, and 62% of surveyed adults said they would love to receive an Easter basket for themselves. We didn’t know that was an option… Noted for next year.

🎧 On the pod: Why the multibillion-dollar frozen pizza industry loves a recession.

NEWS FLASH

📦 Waiting on that splurge purchase from overseas? You might be waiting a while. DHL Express stopped US-bound shipments valued above $800 as of yesterday. Why? Packages worth up to $2.5k could previously enter the country with little paperwork, but that threshold was lowered alongside tariff changes. DHL said the change caused a surge in formal customs clearances, and that the pause will be in effect “until further notice.” If you think you’re safe with your budget-conscious purchases, think again: The White House is expected to apply the regulations to all packages starting May 2.

🍿 Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s 1930s-era vampire movie, finally ended A Minecraft Movie’s box office reign, taking in $48m domestically and $63m internationally — but only some audiences saw the film as intended. Coogler shot the movie for IMAX 70mm — which boasts better color and detail than other formats — but it’s rare, with only eight US theaters offering such screenings. If you’re not a serious cinephile, that may not matter to you, but a Cinemark spokesperson said that in 2023, people traveled abroad to visit theater locations with IMAX 70mm capabilities for Oppenheimer.

🎮 A real throwback: Nintendo released a new commercial for its forthcoming Switch 2 starring actor Paul Rudd, 34 years after Rudd starred in a 1991 commercial for an SNES ad. In the new version, Rudd wears the same outfit and plays “Mario Kart World” with friends over the platform’s new GameChat feature. Preorders for the Switch 2 were delayed due to tariffs, but will open on April 24. Its $450 price tag remains the same, but Nintendo said it would adjust accessory prices to “market conditions.”

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

New hue: Scientists say they’ve discovered a new color by stimulating participants’ retinas with a laser. The color, dubbed “olo,” is said to be a supersaturated blue-green. Don’t try to see it at home.
The Vitamin Shoppe has a new owner. PE firms Kingswood Capital Management, which also owns Cost Plus World Market, and Performance Investment Partners will acquire the retailer from Franchise Group for $193.5m, with plans to upgrade its stores and digital platform.
Meta is using AI to ensure users under 16 are sticking to their Teen Accounts and not lying about their age to bypass restrictions. The company says it has enrolled 54m+ teens into protected accounts so far, and that 97% of young users have remained in those accounts.

SCALE FASTER

Please… let AI do more of the legwork

This is 100% not the time for you to be some gung-ho, against-the-grain, anti-AI/innovation stan.

The latest bots are honestly boons (especially if you’re building by yourself). Here are 150+ prompts for squeezing good scripts and doing less soul-sucking stuff.

Options for marketing/sales/service/strategy all included. Save the spread for tons of simple tricks.

Cut-paste-chop-chop

THE BIG IDEA

A person in a grey T-shirt waves in front of an orange background, accompanied by a robot with a metallic body, blue eyes, and a red helmet, also waving.

The puzzle of proving you’re a person

Increasingly difficult captchas used to prove that a person on the internet was indeed a person.

But now it’s not as straightforward as retyping a string of illegible letters. (Is that a “g” or a “q”?)

Allow the Orb to see you

Tools for Humanity’s Orb is a reflective sphere designed to replace easily beatable verification systems like captchas, per CNN.

It scans you and decides whether you’re human (but, like, in a cool way).
It’s so strict that a CNN reporter’s contacts triggered a failure.
It generates a “WorldID” for individuals that, in theory, could be used to verify your humanity across the web.

There are some catches: The Orb only works if WorldID is widely adopted, and it’s not even available in the US yet.

But that’s OK, because international users on the World app can (what else?) buy and sell “Worldcoin” cryptocurrency — which seems like the real point.

Other startups…

… are putting the humanity back in digital interactions, like the aptly named Human.org (a hell of an SEO win there).

Human.org has raised $7.3m to develop a “trust infrastructure” for AI.
It includes separate blockchain-backed “digital passports” for humans and AI.
There’s also an app, naturally, but this would also depend on widespread adoption in order to mean anything.

Until this all gets nailed down, let’s operate on the honor system. If you’re a human reading this, say “I am human.”

🔗

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Frozen pizza revenue in 2020, up from $5.8B in 2019.

While that pandemic spike was good for frozen pie purveyors, it seems to spell bad news for the economy.

Another time frozen pie sales soared? In 2009 during the Great Recession, when frozen food sales grew by 3.1%, per Business Insider.

And frozen pizza sales have remained well above pre-pandemic levels: In 2024, the US frozen pizza industry generated $6.5B in annual revenue, according to IBISWorld.

So keep an eye on how much ’za is left in your grocery store’s frozen aisle — it could be yet another recession indicator. Plus, it could make for a tasty dinner.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 1978, the fictional Blues Brothers made their first appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”

⌨️ Useful: Like Google Docs, but for coding.

💸 How to: make money with AI agents.

🕺 That’s interesting: The history of “The Hustle.” No, not this newsletter — the dance.

🦙 Aww: The coolest llama you’ve ever seen.

QUOTE OF NOTE

Kevin Hart is a funny guy, but even he knows that AI adoption is serious business — especially for, well… businesses. That’s part of the reason why his Coramino Fund is offering hands-on AI training to its upcoming grant recipients, per Fortune.

The other part? To fill the AI adoption gap among businesses run by entrepreneurs from marginalized communities, which is exactly who the fund is targeting for its latest round of $10k grants (applications for which are open through April 23).

SHOWER THOUGHT

Why are they called “potstickers” and not “panstickers”? 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 “Unfortunately a human” Berkley.

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