🚗 Waymo expands robotaxi coverage: Waymo is adding another 10 square miles to its robotaxi service area to include cities surrounding Los Angeles and San Francisco. Waymo has been pushing to add more territory and reach more customers in a bid to scale its commercial operations and eventually become profitable — although that goal is still out of reach. Read more
📱 Dare we say "super app"? X appears to be making progress on its upcoming payments system, bringing it closer to Elon Musk's vision of turning X into an "everything app." Read more
🧐 Imagine a web without Google: Now that Google has been found to be operating an illegal monopoly, Natasha Lomas ponders an internet without Google Search, Chrome, Gmail, Maps and so on. But would such a change have implications for utility — or something else? Something bigger? Read more
🚀 Rocket take flight: Dawn Aerospace's rocket-powered aircraft soared to new heights in its latest test campaign, as the company looks to build what could be the highest-performance aircraft to take off from a runway. Read more
💻 Hacked! A cyberattack on Mobile Guardian, a U.K.-based provider of educational device management software, has sparked outages at schools across the world and has left thousands of students unable to access their files. Read more
🦾 Made by Google is coming: Google's next big hardware event is set for August 13 at 10 a.m. PT. That's roughly a two-month head start for the Made by Google event, which has traditionally occurred mid-fall. It also, notably, will find the company announcing its latest flagship, the Pixel 9. Google hasn't given justification for the shuffle, but we speculate it's to get some space between it and the other big thing happening in the fall. Read more
🏠 Speaking of Google: Google is giving Nest an AI makeover that will include the fourth generation of its Learning Thermostat. It features thinner and sleeker hardware, and the always-on display is more customizable, launching with a choice of four faces that offer more contextual information once someone comes closer. Each features a combination of time, temperature and air quality. Read more
🎙️ Getting realistic about AI's potential with Nick Frosst from Cohere: Enterprise AI is booming, so it's no wonder that as companies figure out how to implement it, the industry of AI infrastructure is emerging. This week, Becca and Dom talk to Nick Frosst from Cohere, the AI company building natural language models for enterprise customers. They discuss why Frosst thinks the AI boom isn't built in a bubble, whether AI companies are building toward a "digital god," and how AI regulation could be a good thing. Listen here
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
🧀 Plonts puts the "stink" in plant-based cheese: Among plant-based alternative proteins, plant-based cheese continues to have a function and taste problem. That's where Plonts comes in. Company founders Nathaniel Chu and Josh Moser say microbes give cheese its distinctive stink. Why microbes? Because they have much to do with flavor and texture development, a more nutritious option — aka more protein — and better health benefits in the final product. Read more
