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

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

🤖 Microsoft’s Satya Nadella is choosing chatbots over podcasts.
⚠️ Grok expresses skepticism about Holocaust death toll blames ‘programming error’.
💰 Cybersecurity firm Cyera valued at $6B in funding round.
🏛️ U.S. lawmakers have concerns about the Apple-Alibaba deal.
🛰️ China begins assembling its supercomputer in space.

TECHNOLOGY

• Microsoft’s Satya Nadella is choosing chatbots over podcasts

  • While Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says he likes podcasts, he might not actually be listening to them anymore.

  • Nadella said that instead of listening to podcasts, he now uploads the transcripts to Copilot, then talks to Copilot about the content.

  • In addition, Nadella, who jokingly described his job as ‘email typist,’ said he relies on at least 10 custom agents developed in Copilot Studio.

• Grok expresses skepticism about the Holocaust death toll, blaming a ‘programming error’

  • Grok also answered a question on Thursday about the number of Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II.

  • Grok says that “historical records, claim around 6 million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945.”

  • However, Grok then said it was “skeptical of these figures without primary evidence, as numbers can be manipulated.”

• Cybersecurity firm Cyera is valued at $6B in funding round

  • Israeli cyber unicorn Cyera is raising hundreds of millions of dollars at a valuation of at least $6 billion.

  • In its most recent funding round last November, a $300 million Series D, the company was valued at $3 billion.

  • That round was led by Accel and Sapphire Ventures, with participation from existing investors including Sequoia, Coatue, and Redpoint.

BUSINESS

• NJ Transit reaches deal with striking engineers’ union

  • The union representing engineers has reached a tentative labor agreement that would bring an end to the three-day strike.

  • A spokesman for NJ Transit said that the trains were not expected to run until Tuesday because of procedures that need to be followed.

  • The agreement still needs to be ratified by the majority of rank-and-file members for the threat of a resumption of the strike to be put to rest

• Nvidia's Huang set to showcase latest AI tech at Taiwan's Computex

  • Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is set to open the Computex trade show in Taiwan on Monday.

  • He is expected to discuss the company's advancements in artificial intelligence server systems, cloud computing products, and robotics.

  • Earlier this year, Nvidia unveiled a new line of graphics chips at the CES show in Las Vegas.

• U.S. lawmakers have concerns about the Apple-Alibaba deal

  • The Trump administration and congressional officials are scrutinizing a deal between Apple and Alibaba.

  • It was said that this deal would bring Alibaba-powered AI features to iPhones sold in China.

  • White House officials and members of the House Select Committee on China have asked Apple executives directly about the deal.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Pro-European candidate defeats far-right politician in Romania

  • The mayor of Romania’s capital of Bucharest, won the country’s presidential election,

  • This win places a staunch pro-European politician in power and capping months of political instability.

  • Nicusor Dan, a centrist, claimed victory in Sunday’s election over a far-right candidate, George Simion, with 54% of the vote.

• Russia unleashes one of its largest drone barrages of the Ukraine war

  • Ukraine says Russia has launched its biggest drone attack since the full-scale invasion began, targeting several regions, including Kyiv.

  • The barrage came just a day before a scheduled call between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  • Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years on Friday in Turkey, agreeing on a new prisoner swap deal.

• Warsaw Mayor to face populist in Polish presidential runoff

  • Warsaw's liberal mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, won a narrow victory in Poland's presidential election, according to an exit poll.

  • However, a second-round run-off with conservative historian Karol Nawrocki will be required to decide the country's next president.

  • Trzaskowski, a deputy leader of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform party, won 31.1% of the vote in the second exit poll.

CONTENT

• Who's coding now? - AI and the future of software development

  • In this episode of the a16z AI Podcast, a16z infrastructure partners discuss how generative AI is transforming software development.

  • They explore why coding has become one of AI’s strongest use cases, how tools like code assistants are evolving for the future.

  • They argue that while AI will enhance how we code, understanding core abstractions and structured programming will remain essential.

• If you aren’t prototyping with AI, you’re doing it wrong with Aparna Chennapragada

  • Aparna Chennapragada, Chief Product Officer at Microsoft, shares how AI is transforming product development from using prompt sets.

  • She highlights how AI agents must be autonomous, capable of handling complexity, and naturally conversational.

  • She also offers a roadmap for traditional enterprises looking to adopt AI responsibly, and a framework for identifying breakthrough product bets.

• Scott Galloway’s warning and moving 75% of his investments outside the US

  • In this episode, Scott Galloway shares some of his wildest investment returns, like turning $2.5M into $75M with NJOY.

  • He warns of a potential 15-year downturn in the U.S. market, and highlights European markets as the next $1B opportunity.

  • Scott also delivers hard-hitting life and career advice for men in their 20s and 30s, including building competence and confidence.

FUTURISM

• China begins assembling its supercomputer in space

  • China has launched the first 12 satellites of a planned 2,800-strong orbital supercomputer satellite network.

  • The satellites will be able to process the data they collect themselves, rather than relying on terrestrial stations to do it for them.

  • The satellites are part of ADA Space’s ‘Star Compute’ program and the first of what it calls the ‘Three-Body Computing Constellation.’

• A robot inspired by an octopus can autonomously decide how to grip objects with accuracy

  • The soft robot can use suction flow not just to stick to things, but also to sense its environment, just like an octopus.

  • The said robot was developed by researchers from the University of Bristol’s Faculty of Science and Engineering.

  • Researchers revealed that a single suction system enables the robot to grab and sense without needing a central computer.

• This soft robot needs only Physics and air to spontaneously sync and scoot at top speeds

  • A Dutch robot with neither hardware nor software can reach incredible speeds with its soft legs powered only by air and simple physics.

  • Able to walk, hop, and swim without the aid of electronics or AI, its top speed will see it cross a distance equal to 30x the length of its body.

  • ‘Soft robotics’ has seen major advances of late in creating controllable units with minimal or zero electronic or mechanical components.

EXTRAS

• Heybike’s Alpha step-through e-bike is an affordable, all-terrain dreamboat

  • The Alpha is Heybike’s first with its made-in-house Galaxy eDrive system, which uses a 500W Mivice mid-drive motor.

  • The Alpha’s UL-certified batteries allow for up to 60 miles of range on a single charge.

  • It comes with a rear rack that is more than sufficient to strap three packed bags of groceries.

• Amazon claims it’s ‘constantly inviting’ new customers to Alexa Plus

  • Alexa Plus is Amazon’s generative AI-updated version of Alexa, is free to Amazon Prime subscribers or $19.99 a month otherwise.

  • Reuters does quote an analyst who said, ‘There seems to be no one who actually has it.’

  • Amazon started rolling out its early access program to a few customers at the end of March.

• Apple is trying to get ‘LLM Siri’ back on track

  • Gurman has reported in the past that Apple is working on what it’s internally calling ‘LLM Siri’.

  • Apple software chief Craig Federighi was ‘reluctant to make large investments in AI.’

  • Another executive told Gurman that Apple Intelligence ‘wasn’t even an idea’ before ChatGPT launched in late 2022.

AND MORE

• Japanese beer chief blames social media, gaming for falling sales.

• Epic asks judge to make Apple let Fortnite back on the US App Store.

• Laser-powered fusion experiment more than doubles its power output.

• Join founders who've transformed anxiety into action—take the Entrepreneur DNA Test.*

• Crypto elite increasingly worried about their personal safety.

• Samsung SDI cuts pricing of new shares by 17% amid tariff-driven sell-off.

• If your current provider is too slow, get compliant with Delve.*

• Telegram founder says he rejected a Western request to silence conservative voices in Romania.