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

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

📲 Google's Android 17 makes switching from iPhone to Android even easier.
⚖️ Teen drops Meta addiction lawsuit days before second 'bellwether' trial begins.
☁️ Booming cloud growth helps Google justify its massive AI spending bet.
🤖 Travis Kalanick's robotics company Atoms raises $1.7B in a16z-led round.
🚀 Iran strikes on CIA raise questions about possible Russian involvement.

TECHNOLOGY

• Google's Android 17 makes switching from iPhone to Android even easier (MacRumors)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Digital Trends}}

  • Android 17 adds a built-in migration tool that wirelessly transfers more data types from iPhone without a separate app.

  • The upgrade now supports transferring passwords, Wi-Fi credentials, and eSIMs, alongside photos, contacts, and messages.

  • It's rolling out on select Pixel devices and Samsung's new Galaxy Z Flip8 and Z Fold8, with wider support coming soon.

• Teen drops Meta addiction lawsuit days before second 'bellwether' trial begins (CNN)
  ^{_{More: BBC, TechCrunch, The Guardian}}

  • A Florida teenager dropped his addiction lawsuit against Meta on Wednesday, days before trial was set to begin.

  • R.K.C. sued Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Snap in 2023, alleging 'addictive design' caused sleep deprivation and suicidal thoughts.

  • He recently settled with the other three platforms, leaving Meta as sole defendant, but dropped its case without payment.

• Yope raises $12.3M to build a private, algorithm-free, ad-free social network (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, NewsBreak}}

  • Yope raised $12.3M led by Northzone to build private social networking with no algorithms, ads, or public content.

  • The app centers on 'micro communities,' small private groups where friends and family share photos, videos, and messages.

  • Accounts are private by default with no algorithmic feed; revenue comes from premium subscriptions rather than advertising.

BUSINESS

• Booming cloud growth helps Google justify its massive AI spending bet (NY Times)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, AOL, TechCrunch}}

  • Google Cloud revenue surged 82% year-over-year to $24.8B, driven largely by enterprise AI adoption and infrastructure.

  • The cloud growth beat Wall Street's $22.46B expectation, while the company's contract backlog climbed to $514B.

  • Alphabet's profit jumped to $112.1B from $28.1B a year ago, with overall revenue up 24% to $119.8B.

• Travis Kalanick's robotics company Atoms raises $1.7B in a16z-led round (Tech in Asia)
  ^{_{More: PYMNTS, TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • Kalanick's robotics company Atoms raised $1.7B led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Ben Horowitz joining its board.

  • Uber joined the round, reconnecting Kalanick with the company that pushed him out as CEO in 2017.

  • Atoms rebrands Kalanick's Cloud Kitchens project and folds in Pronto, the automation firm run by Anthony Levandowski.

• OpenAI's infrastructure spending spree balloons to $750B through 2030 (WSJ)
  ^{_{More: Tech in Asia, TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • OpenAI will spend $750B on infrastructure through 2030, 25% above earlier estimates, as its Stargate project stalls.

  • The first project is a $20B Georgia data center campus, Project Camellia, drawing 3.2 gigawatts of power.

  • OpenAI will cover infrastructure and electric-service costs, and Georgia Power says it can cut power draw during peak demand.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Iran strikes on CIA facilities raise questions about possible Russian involvement (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Business Standard, Japan Times}}

  • Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf prompted U.S. analysts to probe possible Russian assistance.

  • Officials are investigating whether Russia provided targeting information or advanced drone technology, but haven't reached firm conclusions.

  • The strikes' precision and Russia's broader technical support for Iran during the war fuel suspicion of involvement.

• Houthis claim strikes on Saudi oil tankers as Iran conflict widens (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian}}

  • Yemen's Houthis said they struck two Saudi Arabian oil tankers with drones and missiles in the Red Sea.

  • The attack allegedly targeted tankers violating the Iran-backed group's newly announced naval blockade against Saudi Arabia.

  • U.S. Central Command reported completing a 12th consecutive round of strikes against Iran overnight.

• India's Adani weighs new airline launch that could reshape market (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Business Times, Yahoo!}}

  • Gautam Adani's group is considering launching a new airline, sources say, despite earlier denying interest in aviation.

  • The move could reshape India's airline market, currently dominated by IndiGo and Air India with 90%+ share.

  • Adani operates eight airports, including two in Mumbai, as part of an $11B expansion, with government encouragement to enter aviation.

FUTURISM

• Science Corporation's vision-restoring PRIMA chip wins EU regulatory approval (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Financial Times, Yahoo!, Crypto Briefing}}

  • Science Corporation won European approval to sell PRIMA, a chip that restores vision lost to macular degeneration.

  • The device also received an FDA designation, a first step toward expedited review for two rare blindness types.

  • Patients get a chip implanted in the eye, then wear camera glasses that transmit images to it.

• Substack's new tool reveals which newsletters are actually written using AI (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Mashable, Yahoo!}}

  • Substack integrated AI-detection software Pangram, letting users scan posts to estimate human versus AI-written content.

  • The move could expose newsletters that aren't fully human-written, risking trust in the platform's content ecosystem short-term.

  • Long-term, the feature could curb "AI slop" and help readers understand when content wasn't written by a person.

• Striking workers halt Hyundai factory production over humanoid robot deployment (Futurism)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, MSN}}

  • Korean Metal Workers' Union members are striking after Hyundai announced plans to deploy over 25k humanoid robots.

  • The partial strike, four hours per shift, could disrupt production of about 5k cars and cost $135M.

  • The union may escalate to a full or prolonged strike, marking an early labor clash over humanoid robotics.

• Stay ahead of AI at work*

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CONTENT

• Paul Copplestone explains how a Firebase migration sparked his open-source project (Y Combinator)

  • Supabase CEO Paul Copplestone shares how a frustrating Firebase migration led to launching an open-source side project.

  • The conversation covers Postgres, targeting YC startups early, and the risky choice of going fully open source.

  • Copplestone also discusses AI's impact on developer tools, agents becoming users, and advice for founders today.

• Travis Kalanick discusses lessons from Uber & founder-led company values (a16z)

  • Kalanick, Ben Horowitz, and Erik Torenberg reunite to reflect on Uber's early days and a near-missed investment.

  • They discuss why Kalanick spent nearly eight years quietly building Atoms before returning to the spotlight.

  • The conversation covers industrial AI, robotics, mining, and Kalanick's vision for digitizing the physical world.

• Kathryn Paige Harden discusses behavioral genetics, moral luck & the blame problem (Sam Harris)

  • Sam Harris speaks with psychologist Kathryn Paige Harden about behavioral genetics, moral luck, and the problem of blame.

  • They discuss her book Original Sin, the Charles Murray and Ezra Klein controversy, and why behavioral genetics remains taboo.

  • The conversation also covers heritability, psychopathy as a continuum, embryo selection, and a hypothetical cure for evil.

EXTRAS

• Monday.com lays off 630 staff in restructuring to refocus on AI (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Business Insider, Yahoo!}}

  • Monday.com is cutting 20% of its workforce, about 630 employees, to build a leaner, AI-focused operating model.

  • The company pivoted hard this year, redesigning its product around AI agents working alongside enterprise customers' employees.

  • It joins a wave of tech firms cutting jobs to fund AI; over 122k roles cut in 2026.

• India's Modi vows fast-track courts as exam leak protests continue (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Financial Times, France 24}}

  • Modi announced fast-track courts to prosecute exam paper leak offenders, his first response to days of youth protests.

  • Protesters and opposition figures continue demanding the education minister's resignation, with fresh violence reported at protest sites.

  • Clashes erupted in New Delhi on Wednesday night, with police firing tear gas, and 16 metro stations closed.

• House Republicans pass $95B package for Iran war & Trump priorities (AP)
  ^{_{More: CBS, Washington Post}}

  • The House passed a Republican-only $95B budget proposal to fund the Iran war and White House priorities.

  • The vote was 216-214, with two Republicans and one independent joining Democrats in opposition.

  • Democrats argued the money should instead go toward lowering costs for Americans at home.

AND MORE

• IBM insists AI isn't killing the mainframe after a shocking quarter.

• China resumes issuing robotaxi licenses after a long regulatory freeze.

• Hire vetted LATAM engineers in as little as five days, and save up to 70% on salary costs.*

• Arcee, a U.S. open source AI lab, says Chinese models aren't dangerous.

• Hair loss from GLP-1 drugs is rare but real, studies find.

• OpenAI's human mistake led to an AI-powered hack on Hugging Face.

• Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall in Louisiana, moves toward Texas.

• Treasury threatens sanctions after Moonshot allegedly distilled Anthropic's Fable model.