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

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

📱 Android 17 adds new multitasking tools as Google expands its Gemini.
🏛️ DOJ backs Musk's xAI, asking a court to toss NAACP's pollution suit.
📍 Fed Chair Warsh expected to withhold his 'dot' from the rate outlook.
✂️ Rivian is cutting under 2% of its workforce in a profitability push.
☢️ The interim U.S.-Iran deal leaves the thorniest issue unresolved.

TECHNOLOGY

• Android 17 adds new multitasking tools as Google expands its Gemini features (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Firstpost, Yahoo!, XDA}}

  • Google released Android 17 and Wear OS 7 on Tuesday, landing first on Pixel via a Pixel Drop.

  • A new multitasking 'bubble bar' speeds app-switching, while AI models like Lyria 3 and Gemini Omni headline updates.

  • The Pixel Watch gains emergency detection, auto-contacting services if it senses a crash, fall, or missing pulse.

• Apple's Hide My Email update could expose users relying on anonymous addresses (Firstpost)
  ^{_{More: PCMag, TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • Apple told developers it will change the domain used by Hide My Email, its iCloud+ anonymous-address tool.

  • The tweak could let websites recognize anonymized addresses and potentially deny access, though the feature itself stays.

  • Critics worry the change weakens a key privacy tool that masks personal inboxes from marketers and apps.

• DOJ backs Musk's xAI, asking a court to toss NAACP's pollution suit (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!, TNW}}

  • The DOJ asked a Mississippi court to dismiss the NAACP's lawsuit against Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX.

  • Its motion accused the NAACP of threatening U.S. national, economic, and energy security by cutting power for AI.

  • SpaceX's data centers in and around Memphis, Tennessee, are powered by methane gas-burning turbines.

BUSINESS

• Fed Chair Warsh expected to withhold his 'dot' from the rate outlook (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: France24, Reuters, Yahoo!}}

  • The Fed's policy committee releases its 'dot plot' Wednesday, showing where individual officials expect interest rates to head.

  • Most Wall Street watchers expect new Chair Kevin Warsh to skip it, feeling unready or disliking the tool.

  • Warsh objects to the grid and other forward-guidance methods, believing they limit the Fed's decision-making capabilities.

• Rivian is cutting under 2% of its workforce in a profitability push (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: CNBC, TechCrunch, InsideEVs}}

  • Rivian is cutting under 2% of staff to scale profitably, hitting its service and customer teams.

  • The company, with 15,232 employees in December, no longer expects to hit its 2027 adjusted core profit target.

  • The cuts follow April's R2 SUV launch and an October round that eliminated over 600 jobs, or 4.5%

• Payments startup Flutterwave hits a $3.2B valuation with Ripple backing (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, TechCrunch}}

  • African payments firm Flutterwave announced a Series E round Tuesday valuing it at $3.2B, with Ripple investing equity.

  • Flutterwave withheld the round's size but says it has now raised over $500M, with Ripple targeting African expansion.

  • It recently bought banking startup Mono and launched stablecoin tools with Polygon Labs in October 2025.

MARKETS

WORLD

• The interim U.S.-Iran deal leaves the thorniest issue unresolved: Tehran's nuclear program (AP)
  ^{_{More: Boston Globe, Economic Times}}

  • The interim U.S.-Iran deal opens a two-month window to address the adversaries' core dispute: Tehran's nuclear program.

  • Trump cited blocking Iran's bomb when he launched February's war with Israel, but little time remains to negotiate.

  • The deal, signed Friday in Switzerland, reopens the Strait of Hormuz and opens 60-day nuclear talks.

• India temporarily blocks Telegram over cheating fears before a key medical exam (BBC)
  ^{_{More: CNA, Reuters, Al Jazeera}}

  • India temporarily blocked Telegram over cheating fears, days before millions retake the NEET-UG medical exam on June 21.

  • The testing agency welcomed the curb, but activists called it a "band-aid solution" to deeper exam-fraud problems.

  • May's exam, taken by 2.28M at over 5k centers, was scrapped over leak claims after widespread protests.

• HSBC partners with Google Cloud in a multi-year push to expand AI (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Bloomberg, Straits Times, HSBC}}

  • HSBC announced a multi-year Google Cloud partnership Wednesday to build AI tools, gaining access to the Gemini model.

  • The deal targets wealth advice, financial-crime risk, and frontline decisions, adding 200 AI tasks over two years.

  • Google Cloud and DeepMind teams will identify projects each promising over $100M in revenue gains or efficiency improvements.

FUTURISM

• Self-driving supplier Mobileye plans to launch a U.S. robotaxi service in 2027 (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • Self-driving supplier Mobileye Global announced plans to launch its own robotaxi service in the U.S.

  • The company plans to deploy an initial 100-vehicle fleet into a major U.S. city by 2027.

  • Mobileye aims to scale the fleet to roughly 17k vehicles over the next five years.

• Snap finally debuts its long-awaited Specs AR glasses at a steep $2,195 (Engadget)
  ^{_{More: The Verge, CNBC, TechCrunch}}

  • At Augmented World Expo, Snap unveiled its $2,195 AR Specs, calling them a new era in computing.

  • The redesigned Specs are far lighter than 2024's pair, with a wider field of view and four-hour battery.

  • A two-chip Qualcomm Snapdragon setup powers a browser and contextual AI assistance, built with OpenAI and Google partnerships.

• Qualcomm wants to power your smartphone's successor & just unveiled two products (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MSN}}

  • CEO Cristiano Amon said Tuesday Qualcomm is building over 40 AI wearables, betting the phone isn't computing's future.

  • It unveiled two products: Snapdragon Reality Elite, a platform for mixed-reality glasses, and the START developer toolkit.

  • Reality Elite lifts GPU, CPU, and NPU performance and runs a 3B-parameter model at 45 tokens per second.

• Hunting for AI roles eats hours across careers pages, internal referrals, group chats, and a dozen overlapping boards*

  • The Athyna AI Job Board does the watching for you and matches openings to your profile in the background.

  • When a role hits a 75% matching index or higher, we notify you with details and a direct apply link.

CONTENT

• Former Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein reveals what he does with his money (My First Million)

  • Former Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein joins Sam Parr to discuss money, day trading, and what feeling rich means.

  • He breaks down his portfolio, shares advice for young investors, and recalls a handshake deal with Warren Buffett.

  • Blankfein also reflects on his biggest mistakes, family finances, scarcity, and treating anxiety as a personal superpower.

• How Clay's CEO took an unusual path to building a multi-billion-dollar company (Invest Like The Best)

  • Clay co-founder Kareem Amin joins Patrick O'Shaughnessy to explain building a software company from 'wholeness' rather than 'lack.'

  • He argues true capitalism rewards genuine risk-taking and stresses optimizing for self-respect and courage above all else.

  • Drawing on meditation, music theory, and magic, Amin floats a 'death doula' for companies that fulfilled their purpose.

• Ada Palmer explains why Machiavelli is history's most misunderstood political thinker (Dwarkesh Patel)

  • Historian Ada Palmer returns to discuss Machiavelli, the Florentine diplomat who closely studied Europe's most powerful rulers.

  • In 1513, the Medici retook Florence and, suspecting a coup, fired, tortured, and exiled him to the countryside.

  • There he wrote The Prince, dedicating his power lessons to the very Medici regime that had tortured him.

EXTRAS

• Sales data suggests Anthropic's latest feud with Trump may actually help it (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, RocketNews}}

  • Anthropic capped May by topping OpenAI in business spending share and raising $65B at a $965B valuation.

  • On Friday, the Trump administration demanded Anthropic block non-Americans, including its own employees, from its top models.

  • The directive forced Anthropic to pull Mythos 5 and Fable 5, though its true rationale remains unclear.

• FBI says it foiled a plot targeting a White House UFC event (NBC)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, BBC}}

  • The FBI said Tuesday it foiled a planned attack on a White House UFC event, arresting five.

  • Conspirators allegedly planned explosive-laden drones to strike the building, herding fleeing attendees toward snipers waiting at an exit.

  • Trump and senior Republicans attended the event, which proceeded safely; suspects reportedly followed anti-government conspiracy theories.

• China's central bank hints at shifting toward an overnight policy rate (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: WSJ, Business Times}}

  • China's central bank signaled a possible shift to an overnight policy rate, bringing it closer to global peers.

  • Governor Pan Gongsheng said the PBOC will refine short-term rate adjustments and expand its overnight reverse repo operations.

  • The shift could replace the seven-day repo benchmark, giving the PBOC tighter control and sharper monetary-policy transmission.

AND MORE

• SpaceX will acquire Cursor for $60B in stock, days after its IPO.

• Three Iranian tankers cleared the U.S. blockade, a first in months.

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

• This startup's super metals could soon reach drones, watches & chef's knives.

• Japan's May exports rose at their fastest in three years on chips.

• Plaud's software business topped $100M in ARR after shipping over 2M notetakers.

• Apple details what's new for Visual Intelligence in its iOS 27 release.

• Threads adds personalization & community features as it hits 500M monthly users.