Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

👽 Perplexity offers $34.5B for Chrome, promising open source.
🎮 Epic secures court victory to restore Fortnite on iOS in Australia.
🧤 RBA trims rates to 3.6 percent amid slowing growth.
⚔️ Russia captures territory ahead of Trump-Putin talks.
🐕 India’s Supreme Court orders relocation of stray dogs from Delhi.

TECHNOLOGY

• Epic says Fortnite is coming back to iOS in Australia

  • A partial legal ruling allows Fortnite and the Epic Games Store to return to iOS in Australia with an unspecified date.

  • The court found Apple and Google misused their dominance to restrict app distribution and in-app payments, limiting competition.

  • Epic celebrates a win for developers and consumers while Apple and Google disagree and may pursue appeals.

• Waze will end updates for older Android devices soon

  • Waze’s latest beta now requires Android 10 or newer, ending future feature updates for devices running Android 9 or earlier.

  • Users on older versions can continue using Waze, but will no longer receive updates or new features going forward.

  • The requirement change may roll out to the stable release soon, likely within a week or two after beta testing.

• iOS 26 beta 6 adds new ringtones, snappy app launches, and more

  • Beta 6 includes six new variants of the ‘Reflection’ ringtone, including the popular ‘Dreamer’ tone, drawing social media buzz.

  • Apple reverted the Camera swipe direction to its previous default and removed the toggle introduced in earlier betas.

  • App open and close animations now sport iPad-style genie effects, plus a refreshed startup onboarding experience.

BUSINESS

• Musk says xAI to take legal action against Apple over App Store rankings

  • Elon Musk accuses Apple of unfairly boosting OpenAI in App Store rankings, harming other AI competitors’ visibility.

  • He says xAI will pursue legal action against Apple for what he considers blatant antitrust behavior.

  • Musk criticized Apple for omitting X and Grok from its Must Have section despite their strong popularity.

• Perplexity makes $34.5 billion bid for Google Chrome

  • Perplexity offered $34.5 billion in cash for Chrome, aiming to position it for antitrust-driven divestiture.

  • The offer pledges to keep Chrome’s source open, retain staff, keep Google default, and invest $3 billion.

  • Perplexity’s bid surpasses its own ~$18 billion valuation and serves as a strategic visibility move.

• Kodak warns of 'substantial doubt' over its future

  • Kodak says there is substantial doubt it can survive due to debt obligations and limited financing.

  • The company disclosed it lacks funds to meet nearly half a billion dollars in upcoming debt repayments.

  • Kodak is weighing cost cuts, including reducing pension obligations, to ease financial pressures and remain operational.

MARKETS

WORLD

• RBA cuts interest rates, signals more easing if needed

  • The Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.6 percent to support growth.

  • Policymakers signaled they could implement further cuts if inflation eases more quickly and labor market conditions weaken further.

  • Core inflation is projected to gradually move toward the 2-to-3 percent target midpoint over the coming quarters.

• Russia advances deeper into Ukraine days before Trump-Putin summit

  • Russian forces captured additional territory near Dobropillia just days before scheduled peace talks between Trump and Putin.

  • European leaders warned new Russian gains could distort upcoming negotiations and weaken Ukraine’s leverage at the table.

  • Ukraine deployed reserves, reclaimed villages, and sought to fortify positions against further incursions before the summit began.

• India’s Supreme Court orders removal of stray dogs from Delhi streets

  • India’s Supreme Court instructed Delhi authorities to relocate all stray dogs into shelters within eight weeks.

  • The directive included mandatory sterilization, vaccination programs, and monitoring to ensure animal welfare standards are maintained.

  • Critics labeled the ruling impractical and inhumane, saying it ignores effective long-term methods of controlling stray populations.

CONTENT

• 2025 AI productivity stack: top 10 AI tools I use weekly to get more done

  • Olivia Moore uses Comet as a central AI-powered browser for managing email, calendars, and integrated work tasks.

  • Julius outperforms ChatGPT for spreadsheet and data workflows, while Happenstance expands professional networking beyond LinkedIn.

  • Tools like Granola, Gamma, Willow, Overlap, Krea, and ChatGPT streamline meetings, presentations, creative projects, and research.

• Anthropic vs OpenAI & why open source is a national security risk with China

  • Martin Casado predicts AI market consolidation will mirror cloud oligopolies, concentrating value in a few dominant providers.

  • He argues open-source AI poses U.S. security risks by accelerating China’s access to advanced model capabilities.

  • Discussion covers investment trends, vertical market value concentration, job impacts, and strategies for picking winners.

• Why does uncertainty bother us so much?

  • Adam Kucharski explains how humans’ need for explanations shapes trust in science and susceptibility to misinformation.

  • He explores why uncertainty triggers discomfort, fear of technology, and belief in conspiracy theories.

  • The talk emphasizes improving science communication to build trust and resilience in the face of uncertainty.

FUTURISM

• Sam Altman is right and wrong about the future of photos

  • Sam Altman argues that processed smartphone photos blur the lines between real and AI-generated content as society adapts.

  • The author partially agrees, noting phone images still capture actual moments, whereas AI fabricates entirely from nothing.

  • They caution that if AI content floods platforms indistinguishably, users may lose trust and disengage from social media altogether.

• Nvidia unveils new Cosmos world models

  • Nvidia introduced Cosmos Reason, a 7-billion-parameter reasoning vision-language model built for physical AI applications like robotics.

  • It also released Cosmos Transfer-2 for efficient synthetic data generation from 3D simulations, plus a faster distilled version for speed.

  • These tools and libraries support robotics development by enabling physics-aware modeling and synthetic environment creation for training.

• Meta makes a conservative activist an AI bias advisor following a lawsuit

  • Meta appointed Robby Starbuck as an advisor on ideological and political bias in its AI chatbot.

  • This role aligns with efforts to reduce misrepresentation in AI systems and improve fairness ahead of upcoming elections.

  • Starbuck, known for challenging DEI policies, will collaborate with Meta to mitigate skewed outputs and enhance neutrality in AI tools.

EXTRAS

• Why Cannabis and THC Drinks Failed to Become the Next Big Thing

  • Complicated state regulations and alcohol restrictions limit THC drink availability, hindering distribution, marketing, and broader adoption.

  • Hemp-derived loopholes spurred early growth in some states, but enforcement crackdowns and higher taxes are slowing expansion.

  • Poor taste, inconsistent dosing, higher prices, and unclear settings for use keep many consumers loyal to alcohol.

• Seoul-based Datumo raises $15.5M to take on Scale AI

  • Datumo raised $15.5 million, led by Salesforce Ventures to grow its automated LLM evaluation tools and challenge Scale AI.

  • Its Eval platform builds tests to detect unsafe, biased, or incorrect outputs for compliance and safety teams.

  • Clients include Samsung, LG, and Hyundai, with 2024 revenue of $6 million and over 300 enterprise contracts.

• Big Tech Pledged Billions for New Housing

  • Meta, Google, and Apple pledged billions for housing since 2019, but many projects suffer delays and changing priorities.

  • Apple spent $1.6 billion on over 10,000 units, while Meta and Google lag behind original commitments.

  • Permitting and zoning barriers stall California progress, though Microsoft and Amazon show stronger results in the Seattle region.

AND MORE

• U.S. and China extend tariff truce for 90 days, staving off major duty spike.

• Wall Street edges higher as moderate July inflation data raises Fed rate-cut hopes.

• Explore Zoho CRM and transform the way you work!*

• Canada’s TSX hits record high amid growing optimism over U.S. rate-cut expectations.

• Software stocks in Europe fall sharply as investors fear AI safety risks.

• Japan’s Nikkei surges to a record high, led by SoftBank and a tech sector rally.

• The Philippines voices strong concern over dangerous Chinese manoeuvres around Scarborough Shoal.

• Investors double down on expectations for a September Fed rate cut after CPI report.

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