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

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

🔬 Anthropic gives METR employee-level access to independently assess its models.
🤖 Meta releases Muse Spark Open, an open-weight AI model built for Macs.
📈 Fed’s Warsh is upbeat on U.S. economy but quiet on rate path.
💰 Ramp raises $1.85B at $60B valuation as it doubles down on AI.
🛰️ Sources say White House ordered limits on Ukraine’s Starshield satellite service.

TECHNOLOGY

• Anthropic gives METR researchers employee-level access to independently assess its models (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: CNBC, CNA, Reuters}}

  • Anthropic gave six METR researchers employee-level access to assess its models, safety practices, and risk management.

  • The team gets company laptops, office space, and internal tools, mirroring how regulators embed examiners in big banks.

  • METR will publish its own findings, and Anthropic can’t veto them, only redact narrow categories like customer data.

• Meta releases Muse Spark Open, an open-weight AI model built for Macs (WSJ)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, Engadget, The Guardian}}

  • Meta launched Muse Spark Open, an 816B-parameter model it calls the “most capable” open-weight AI in the U.S.

  • Built for coding and agentic tasks, it runs locally on Macs with at least one terabyte of RAM.

  • Meta showed it fixing a Mastodon client and editing DaVinci Resolve footage, with API access available now.

• Bluesky’s AI-powered Attie app now lets anyone build websites & games (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • Bluesky announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 that Attie now lets users build websites, games, quizzes, and polls.

  • Originally built for custom AI-powered feeds, Attie aims to let everyday users create what once required developers.

  • CEO Toni Schneider, who recently took over from Jay Graber, called the feature “vibe coding for your community.”

BUSINESS

• Fed’s Warsh is upbeat on U.S. economy but quiet on rate path (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: WSJ, Bloomberg, Economic Times}}

  • Speaking in Bangkok, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh voiced optimism about U.S. economic strength and global resilience.

  • He said central banks worldwide face surging prices and have tightened policy together, leaving “no free riders.”

  • Warsh cited September’s rate hike but didn’t preview next steps, even as U.S. inflation rose faster than expected.

• Ramp raises $1.85B at $60B valuation as it doubles down on AI (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • Ramp raised $1.85B at a $60B valuation, just four months after raising $750M at $44B.

  • Annualized revenue topped $2B, up from $1.5B in June, while customers grew from 70k to 85k.

  • Ramp is embedding AI agents across its products and recently launched Glass, a workspace for sharing AI automations.

• SK Hynix ties U.S. factory plans to chip equipment shipments to China (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Tom's Hardware, TechCrunch, The Verge}}

  • SK Hynix’s Solidigm is seeking U.S. approval to ship American chip equipment to its factory in Dalian, China.

  • The approval is reportedly a condition for building a U.S. NAND flash factory, possibly in upstate New York.

  • SK Hynix denies plans to expand Dalian capacity, saying the U.S. government authorized the installation.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Sources say White House ordered limits on Ukraine’s Starshield satellite service (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Japan Times, Business Standard}}

  • Two U.S. officials and a Western official say the White House ordered a slowdown of Ukraine’s Starshield service.

  • Ukraine says the restrictions disabled receptors on fast-moving objects, hindering strike missions and interceptor drones.

  • Receptors now work only up to 100 mph, while a U.S. official says Trump didn’t request the curb.

• Black Sea drone strikes spark fears Russia is testing NATO’s resolve (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC, NY Times, Seattle Times}}

  • Drones struck at least seven Black Sea cargo ships this month off NATO members Romania and Bulgaria.

  • The attacks killed two people, left at least 25 missing, and threaten a key global shipping route.

  • Romanian President Nicușor Dan said “there will be a reaction” but didn’t say whose drones hit the ships.

• Singapore to investigate firms behind Indonesian fires causing weeks of haze (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Japan Times, Straits Times}}

  • Singapore PM Lawrence Wong vowed to investigate firms behind the fires, warning culpable ones could face legal action.

  • Wong said Singapore may act under its Transboundary Haze Pollution Act and explore joint action with other countries.

  • Indonesian wildfires worsened by El Niño have blanketed Singapore and Malaysia in the worst haze since 2015.

FUTURISM

• Volvo deepens NVIDIA partnership to power automated driving in future cars (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: The Verge, Yahoo!, Investing.com}}

  • Volvo is expanding its nearly decade-long NVIDIA partnership to build automated driving for city streets and highways.

  • The system combines Volvo’s safety engineering with NVIDIA’s Hyperion hardware, Alpamayo software stack, and Halos safety layer.

  • Volvo didn’t disclose the deal’s value or first vehicle, though NVIDIA says over 650k developers have downloaded Alpamayo.

• Tesla unveils flying Roadster with SpaceX thrusters, set for 2028 production (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!, FOX}}

  • Tesla unveiled its second-gen Roadster near Waco, Texas, where SpaceX thrusters lifted it over five Tesla vehicles mid-drive.

  • Musk says production begins in 2028, with three trims offering 300 miles of range and speeds over 230 mph.

  • Reservations cost $50k for Performance and $250k for Thrust, while the one-seat Rocket trim is invite-only.

• Rivian CEO says future cars will run third-party AI agents like Anthropic’s (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!}}

  • At TechCrunch Disrupt, CEO RJ Scaringe said Rivian’s cars will eventually run AI agents from companies like Anthropic.

  • Rivian’s in-house agentic framework routes voice requests to local or cloud models, depending on their complexity.

  • Scaringe gave no timeline, but Rivian pointed to its AI & Autonomy Day event in December for details.

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CONTENT

• Jensen Huang on whether AI revenue justifies capex & 2027’s biggest bottlenecks (Bg2 Pod)

  • NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang joins BG2’s Brad Gerstner and Clark Tang to discuss whether AI revenue justifies spending.

  • Huang covers 2027’s AI bottlenecks, including power and compute, plus whether SpaceX could put data centers in orbit.

  • He also explores open vs. closed models and explains why he’s 99.99% optimistic about the decade ahead.

• Josh Tyrangiel argues Jeff Bezos cares more about space than Amazon (The Prof G Pod)

  • The Atlantic’s Josh Tyrangiel joins Scott Galloway to discuss the space rivalry between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

  • He explains why SpaceX pulled ahead of Blue Origin and how space-based data centers could reshape the AI race.

  • Tyrangiel also calls America’s reliance on Musk a national security risk and outlines how Washington can encourage innovation.

• What happens to payments when AI agents start spending your money? (a16z)

  • VGS’ Terry Angelos argues agentic commerce needs new payment infrastructure that keeps consumer protections intact.

  • He joins a16z’s Alex Rampell to discuss the emerging ‘wallet wars’ and how agentic tokens could secure purchases.

  • They also explore merchant resistance, AI’s impact on card rewards, and who owns customer relationships when agents buy.

EXTRAS

• Google launches Universal Cart in the U.S. to track products across retailers (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: CNET, TechCrunch, 9to5Google}}

  • Google’s Universal Cart, previewed at I/O in May, now lets U.S. users save products from Search and Gemini.

  • The cart works across multiple retailers and sends alerts when prices drop or out-of-stock items return.

  • It also factors in credit card perks, surfaces promo codes, and handles checkout through Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol.

• Amazon-owned Bee debuts two personal AI devices with prices from $75 (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!, CBS}}

  • Amazon’s Bee unveiled the Bee Frontier and Bee Eclipse, its first new products since last year’s acquisition.

  • The Frontier is worn on the wrist or clothing, while the card-sized Eclipse magnetically attaches to smartphones.

  • Priced at $74.99 and $99.99, respectively, they undercut rivals like the $159 Plaud Note and $129 Pocket.

• Citizen Lab says government ‘zero-click’ spyware is spreading through malicious online ads (NBC)
  ^{_{More: WIRED, The Verge, TechCrunch}}

  • Citizen Lab says Israeli ad firm Discover-Tech lets spyware makers target specific people worldwide through online ads.

  • Zero-click spyware makers Candiru and Bindecy used the platform to infect devices without victims clicking anything.

  • Candiru’s spyware hit at least 45 Al Jazeera computers via ads, though the governments responsible remain unknown.

AND MORE

• Chinese households’ healthcare spending nears U.S. levels as a share of income.

• Taiwan will curb AI chip exports to China under U.S. trade deal.

• Athyna: Hire vetted LATAM engineers and save up to 70% on salary costs.*

• CoreWeave’s credit default swaps reach distress levels as AI debt fears grow.

• Indonesian stocks post biggest drop in 28 years after MSCI downgrade warning.

• Figma unveils new features defining how AI agents work on its platform.

• Teen kills four at Oregon elementary school before a witness shoots him.