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

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

🚗 Uber increases its Delivery Hero stake in a $318M deal.
🥽 Meta raises Quest 3 & Quest 3S prices amid memory chip shortage.
📉 TSMC & ASML beat earnings but still saw their stocks sink.
🗣️ Trump says Iran war should end soon as weekend talks loom.
🤝 Macron & Starmer lead global summit to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

TECHNOLOGY

• Uber increases its Delivery Hero stake in a $318M deal (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, Bloomberg}}

  • Uber is buying an additional 4.5% of Delivery Hero shares at €20 per share.

  • Prosus is selling the shares, generating gross proceeds of around €270M ($318M).

  • European regulators required Prosus to reduce its Delivery Hero stake to proceed with the Just Eat acquisition.

• Bluesky is experiencing outages following a denial-of-service attack (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MSN, AOL}}

  • Bluesky's site and app have been struggling since a denial-of-service attack early Thursday morning.

  • Service issues began around 2:42 a.m. ET, with outages and error messages continuing since then.

  • Users face slow load times and 'Rate Limit Exceeded' errors when switching between app feeds.

• Meta raises Quest 3 & Quest 3S prices amid memory chip shortage (CNET)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, The Verge, Tom's Hardware}}

  • Meta is raising the prices of its Quest headsets by $50–$100 starting April 19 due to chip costs.

  • The Quest 3S rises to $349.99 and $449.99, while the Quest 3 climbs to $599.99.

  • Meta joins Samsung, Microsoft, and Sony in hiking prices amid a global RAM shortage.

BUSINESS

• TSMC & ASML beat earnings but still saw their stocks sink (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: MSN, Investing.com}}

  • Despite strong earnings this week, both TSMC and ASML saw their stock prices decline.

  • Sky-high investor expectations continue to weigh on chipmakers, even after beating earnings forecasts.

  • Both companies reported robust, ongoing demand for AI chips across their businesses.

• Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is stepping down from the board (WSJ)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, TechCrunch, CNN}}

  • Hastings is leaving Netflix's board after his term expires in June.

  • He is stepping down to focus on philanthropy and other personal pursuits outside Netflix.

  • Hastings credited his legacy to building a culture of 'member joy' and long-term success.

• AI traffic to U.S. retailers surged 393% & boosted their revenue (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MSN, Yahoo!}}

  • Adobe data shows AI traffic to U.S. retail sites rose 269% over 12 months.

  • In Q1 2026, AI-driven traffic surged 393% compared to the same period last year.

  • AI visitors convert better, engage more, and drive higher revenue per site visit.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Trump says Iran war should end soon as weekend talks loom (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: CNBC, Bloomberg}}

  • Trump expressed confidence that a deal to end the Iran war could be reached very soon.

  • The U.S. and Iran may meet this weekend, with a ceasefire extension also on the table.

  • A 10-day truce between Lebanon and Israel took effect as Hezbollah was urged to stand down.

• Macron & Starmer lead global summit to reopen the Strait of Hormuz (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC, Boston Globe, Financial Times}}

  • France and the U.K. are gathering dozens of nations to push for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

  • Iran shut the Strait after the war began on Feb. 28, blocking a fifth of the world's oil supply.

  • The U.S. is excluded from the initiative, which Macron described as 'strictly defensive'.

• China's economy grew 5% in Q1, shrugging off the Iran war impact (BBC)
  ^{_{More: AP, NBC, CNN}}

  • China's economy expanded 5% year-on-year in Q1 2026, beating economists’ expectations amid the Iran war.

  • Growth accelerated from 4.5% in Q4 2025, with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1.3%.

  • Economists warn that the Iran war could still hurt Chinese exports and global demand over time.

FUTURISM

• Physical Intelligence's new robot brain solves tasks it never learned (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz}}

  • Physical Intelligence's new model, π0.7, directs robots to perform tasks they were never trained on.

  • The model uses 'compositional generalization,' combining learned skills to solve entirely new problems.

  • Researchers say π0.7 could signal a major inflection point for general-purpose robotic AI.

• Robotic exoskeleton legs help elderly Hong Kong fire survivors return home (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Straits Times, SCMP, Business Standard}}

  • Over four months after a deadly blaze, survivors are preparing to retrieve their remaining belongings.

  • Resident Fanny Mok, 59, is using robotic exoskeleton legs to climb to her 13th-floor apartment.

  • Former residents can return from April 20 to May 4, with each household given a three-hour window.

• DeepL expands beyond text & launches real-time voice translation tools (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MSN, Yahoo!}}

  • DeepL released a voice-to-voice translation suite covering meetings, mobile, and group conversations.

  • An API lets developers and businesses build custom voice translation tools, such as for call centers.

  • DeepL's CEO says real-time voice translation balances low latency and maintains high accuracy.

• Launch your company's website site lightning fast with Framer*

  • Speed without chaos: ship pages and updates faster without turning the site into a fragile set of one-off hacks

  • Reduce dependency: shift routine brand and marketing work out of product engineering queues.

  • Production-grade foundation: Run real marketing systems (CMS, SEO, performance optimization) with governance and collaboration.

CONTENT

• A habit expert explains why to-do lists hurt your productivity (My First Million)

  • Sam Parr speaks with Charles Duhigg about transforming your life through better habit systems.

  • Duhigg argues that productivity depends on systems and habit loops, not just task lists.

  • The conversation also covers 'supercommunication,' journaling, and lessons from famous speeches.

• Francis Fukuyama on liberal democracy, U.S. politics & global order (Sam Harris)

  • Sam Harris speaks with Fukuyama about liberal democracy, ethno-nationalism, and the Iran war.

  • They discuss how identity politics and neoliberalism have each pushed politics toward self-defeating extremes.

  • Fukuyama also addresses Trump's second term, the future of Israel, and rising antisemitism globally.

• Robotics is finally having its own GPT moment right now (Y Combinator)

  • Physical Intelligence is building a foundation model to control any robot for any task.

  • Its cross-embodiment approach now performs tasks zero-shot that once required hundreds of data hours.

  • Co-founder Quan Vuong discusses cloud-controlled robots and a coming explosion of robotics startups.

EXTRAS

• Canva's AI assistant now builds full designs using multiple tools (Engadget)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, The Verge, Yahoo!}}

  • Canva's updated AI assistant lets users create editable designs through simple text prompts.

  • The assistant automatically calls the required tools and presents users with several design options.

  • Designs are built in layers, giving users the flexibility to tweak and customize the final output.

• AI-rendered Val Kilmer appears in 'As Deep as the Grave' trailer (AP)
  ^{_{More: Seattle Times, ABC, CBC}}

  • The first look at the AI-recreated Val Kilmer debuted at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

  • Kilmer, who died last year at 65, is portrayed as Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and spiritualist.

  • The use of generative AI to recreate Kilmer has been a controversial topic since its announcement.

• Google lets users connect personal photos to Gemini for personalized images (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: Mashable, MSN}}

  • Google announced personalized image generation by allowing users to connect their photos to Gemini.

  • Users can prompt Gemini to generate custom images featuring themselves and their family members.

  • The feature signals Google's push toward greater personalization across its AI products and tools.

AND MORE

• Apple's iPhone shipments in China surged 20% in Q1 2026.

• Google is using AI to fight back against AI-powered spam & scams.

• Explore all the tools and more here to outperform the competition.*

• Age verification is a mess but we’re doing it anyway.

• The Cybertruck of e-bikes is here to replace your car.

• Starlink outage disrupted drone tests & exposed Pentagon's SpaceX reliance.

• Microsoft’s new Xbox chief Asha Sharma starts making her mark.