• Political campaign managers and consultants are using AI to analyze voter data, create campaign materials, and more; survey: 87% of campaigners use AI daily (Stuart A. Thompson/New York Times)
• Five Chinese tech and advanced manufacturing companies launched Hong Kong listings today to raise up to $5.6B, led by Apple supplier Luxshare's $3.15B offering (Reuters)
• Sources: Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo told suppliers they will again cut 2026 shipment targets, with Xiaomi cutting 30% to ~95M units (Nikkei Asia)
• Source: the Trump administration has talked with SpaceX about donating shares to Trump Accounts, which provide children with tax-advantaged savings accounts (Semafor)
• Nebex, a fintech startup aiming to act as a broker platform connecting US space tech suppliers, foreign governments, and investors, raised a $30M seed led by GV (Bloomberg)
• Australia's ACCC sues Amazon for allegedly introducing ads to Prime Video under unfair contract terms and forcing existing subscribers to pay more to avoid them (Peter Vercoe/Bloomberg)
• OpenAI teases a device it is launching in partnership with keyboard maker Work Louder on July 15, saying "Your favorite Codex shortcuts are getting an upgrade" (Emma Roth/The Verge)
• Sources: AI video startup Higgsfield is in talks to raise $300M to $500M at a $5B pre-money valuation, more than 4x its valuation in a January 2026 round (The Information)
• The UK FCA unveils the updated version of its crypto regulatory framework, after softening proposed rules that critics said risked holding the UK back (Financial Times)
• AI coding startup 8090 raised a $135M Series A led by Salesforce Ventures; founder Chamath Palihapitiya announces that he will lead the company as CEO (Julie Bort/TechCrunch)
• Marc Andreessen is appointed to the DOD's Defense Policy Board, a committee tasked with giving strategic advice to the defense secretary and other top officials (Nick Wadhams/Bloomberg)
• AI leaderboard provider Arena says it hit $100M in annualized run-rate revenue eight months after launching AI Evaluations, which offers performance analytics (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
• Google says the Gemini app now offers personalized Nano Banana image generation, previously limited to Plus, Pro, and Ultra users, to eligible US users for free (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
• Sources: hundreds of Meta contractors posed as minors to probe how competitor chatbots responded to prompts involving suicide, sex, and other high-risk subjects (Wired)
• Tidal adopts an AI policy that blocks wholly AI-generated music from earning royalties and removes AI-generated music that impersonates artists (Murray Stassen/Music Business Worldwide)
| • Meta Contractors Posed as Teens to Prompt Rival Chatbots About Suicide, Sex, and Drugs
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| • Sensitive iPhone supplier details were part of last week's data leak at Tata Electronics
• There's now an OpenClaw app for iOS and Android phones
• Uber is no longer offering Waymo rides in Phoenix
• Google expands personalized intelligence to Gemini app image creation
• Layoffs looming, Xbox union members argue for transparency and good-faith bargaining
• The US Supreme Court restricts use of geofence warrants
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• MacBook Ultra rumors: What to expect including the touchscreen, chips, release date and more
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• Tidal isn't banning AI music, but it won't pay people who upload it
• Dbrand's Companion Cube case for the Steam Machine was a lie
• Half of social media child safety features don't work, report claims
• WhatsApp introduces usernames so you can chat without phone numbers
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• Comcast spins off NBCUniversal as it exits media entirely
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• Rocket Lab buys satellite company Iridium to go up against Starlink and Amazon's Leo
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