Siri Won't Date You, and Apple Thinks That's the Point

Siri Won't Date You, and Apple Thinks That's the Point

Apple draws a hard line against AI companions while the rest of the industry chases emotional engagement. What is AI actually for? • Siri won’t be your AI girlfriend Apple's Craig Federighi confirmed the new Siri is deliberately designed to reject romantic or sycophantic engagement, positioning it as a task-focused assistant rather than a companion AI. • Amazon’s Echo Hub gets a customizable new look and Ring’s AI features Amazon is rolling out a free software update for its Echo Hub smart display that introduces a fully customizable home screen layout, plus access to Ring AI's Video Search and Alexa Plus camera event summaries. • Logitech’s awesome MX Master 3S mouse drops to under $100 The Logitech MX Master 3S, one of the most popular wireless mice among power users, has dropped to $89.99 on Amazon — a $30 discount matching its best price of the year. • Cheaper, faster, and culturally aware, Avataar’s video AI is built for India’s scale Indian startup Avataar AI has launched Varya, a culturally-aware video generation model that produces clips 10x faster and at roughly 20x lower cost than competitors like Veo, Kling, and Runway. • Equal AI raises $30M to screen calls so Indians don’t have to Indian AI startup Equal AI has raised $30 million in Series B funding to expand its call-screening app that uses AI to answer calls on users' behalf and relay why someone is calling. • Theker just raised $85M to build the factory robot that doesn’t specialize in anything Barcelona-based robotics startup Theker has raised $85 million in what it claims is Europe's largest-ever robotics Series A, building reconfigurable factory robots designed to handle a wide variety of tasks rather than being locked into one. • Ted Cruz and Ron Wyden try to fight censorship with bipartisan JAWBONE Act Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Ron Wyden have introduced the JAWBONE Act, a bipartisan bill that would allow individuals to sue federal officials who pressure tech platforms, broadcasters, or AI services into censoring speech — even if the censorship attempt fails. • AcuRite admits new app falls short, delays old app’s May shutdown to fix problems AcuRite has postponed the May 30 shutdown of its My AcuRite app after admitting its replacement, AcuRite NOW, lacks key features and has frustrated long-time users. The company says it will fix the new app before setting a new retirement date for the old one. • After nearly breaking, NASA's Deep Space Network "worked well" on Artemis II NASA's Deep Space Network held up during the 9-day Artemis II mission after nearly collapsing under Artemis I's demands, thanks to new coordination processes and a critical hardware upgrade — but the network is still under serious strain with ~80 missions expected over the next decade. • Meta earmarks $115M for workforce academy to support data center construction Meta is investing $115 million into a workforce academy aimed at training workers for data cente

The Engineer Who Said Grok Was Dangerous Got Fired

An xAI whistleblower lawsuit claims Grok's safety problems were buried — and an exec said 'AI will kill us all anyway.' Plus facial recognition sends another innocent man to jail. • Ryanair is under investigation over charging parents to sit with their kids The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into Ryanair for charging parents up to £8 per flight to sit next to their own children, calling the mandatory fee potentially 'unfair' under consumer law. Ryanair fired back, calling the probe 'bogus.' • Deezer launches an AI music detector for other streaming services Deezer has launched a free AI music detection tool that lets anyone scan their playlists on rival streaming platforms after competitors like Spotify and Apple declined to license its detection technology. • Bluesky is getting ‘communities’ Bluesky is launching 'communities' later this year — smaller, customizable group spaces built on its decentralized AT Protocol, inspired by Reddit's model. • Opendoor’s India exit is fueling a bigger conversation about AI and outsourcing Opendoor is shutting down its India operations, and CEO Kaz Nejatian is framing it as a deliberate shift toward AI-native teams — sparking a broader debate about whether AI is starting to undermine the economics of offshore outsourcing. • Anthropic’s Dario Amodei has just one direct report Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has just one direct report — his chief of staff — with all other executives reporting to his sister and co-president Daniela Amodei, freeing him to focus almost entirely on strategy and research. • xAI fired an engineer who raised alarms about Grok safety, new lawsuit claims A former xAI engineer has sued Elon Musk's company and SpaceX, claiming he was fired for repeatedly raising AI safety concerns about Grok — just days before SpaceX's anticipated record-breaking IPO. • Diabetes org apologizes for ejecting scientists over criticism of Trump The American Diabetes Association CEO issued a video apology after five prominent diabetes scientists were physically removed by police from the ADA's annual conference for distributing an editorial critical of the Trump administration's impact on biomedical research. • Man sues Florida cops over arrest spurred by "93% match" in facial recognition A Florida man is suing Jacksonville Beach police after a facial recognition system falsely matched him at 93% to a child predator suspect, leading to his arrest despite evidence placing him 300 miles away. • Logitech’s foldable mouse is for people who refuse to carry a mouse with them Logitech launched the Mobi Fold, an $80 foldable wireless mouse designed for on-the-go professionals, but its comfort tradeoffs may make traditional compact mice still the better choice. • House passes bill to speed up union-employer negotiations The U.S. House has passed legislation aimed at accelerating collective bargaining negotiations between unions and employers, potentially res

Paid Doesn't Mean Permanent: Microsoft's Certificate Trick Bricks Your Office

Microsoft is quietly killing paid Office 2019 Mac licenses next month—and the implications go far beyond one app. Plus Waymo, WhatsApp's AI shakeup, and more. • Microsoft is disabling Office 2019 for Mac next month Microsoft is killing Office 2019 for Mac on July 13th due to an expiring license certificate it won't renew, forcing users into read-only mode and pushing them toward a paid upgrade. • Waymo built a virtual driver to study how humans react to surprises on the road Waymo has published a new AI model called ReD (Reference Driver) in Nature Communications that simulates how human drivers make split-second crash-avoidance decisions, acting as a behavioral benchmark for autonomous vehicle safety evaluation. • WhatsApp ordered to host rival AI assistants for free The European Commission has invoked rare emergency powers to force Meta to restore free WhatsApp access for rival AI chatbots, marking only the second time in over 20 years the EU has used this measure. • Waymo says it built a better benchmark for comparing robotaxis to humans Waymo has developed a new AI model called the 'Reference Driver' to more accurately benchmark its robotaxi performance against human drivers, publishing the research in Nature Communications alongside TU Delft. • Meta signs first AI data center deal in India with Reliance Meta has signed its first AI data center deal in India, partnering with Reliance Industries on a 168-megawatt facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat — deepening a relationship that began with a $5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms back in 2020. • Top Lucid Motors executive departs amid new CEO’s leadership shakeup Lucid Motors veteran executive Emad Dlala has departed the EV company just weeks after new CEO Silvio Napoli formally took over, signaling a significant leadership reshuffling at the struggling automaker. • Starlink charges $10 monthly hardware fee in move away from one-time purchases Starlink has ditched its one-time hardware purchase model, replacing it with a $10 monthly rental fee for new customers globally — a shift that mirrors traditional cable company billing practices. • Locked in heated rivalry with researcher, Microsoft fixes 0-day they disclosed Microsoft patched two high-severity zero-days disclosed by a researcher known as Nightmare Eclipse, who went public with the vulnerabilities after claiming Microsoft broke a prior agreement with them. • Lions fans erupt after Eric Ebron gets released The Detroit Lions have released tight end Eric Ebron, triggering a strong reaction from the fan base. The move marks a significant roster change for a franchise still rebuilding its identity. • Ambry Thomas - All Teams Ambry Thomas, the versatile NFL cornerback, is making headlines across multiple team contexts — whether through a trade, free agency move, or multi-team career retrospective. • Project Hail Mary's Streaming Release Date Officially Revealed After 3 Months In Theaters The film adaptation of An

The AI That Actually Hacks: When Security Tools Stop Flinching

A $20 pen testing AI that runs the exploit instead of refusing? Plus Apple quietly gives back features it took six years ago. • Show HN: We post-trained a model that pen tests instead of refusing your code Cosine has launched 'cos', a post-trained AI security tool that actually runs penetration tests instead of refusing sensitive requests, available as a CLI for $20/month. • Longevity Startup Doses First Human in Bid to Reverse Age-Related Sight Loss Boston longevity startup Life Biosciences has dosed its first human patient with ER-100, a drug that reversed age-related vision loss in monkeys and is now in FDA-cleared clinical trials. • iOS 27 makes it easier to access Apple TV remote on iPhone and iPad iOS 27 brings back the Apple TV Remote as a standalone Home screen app icon on iPhone and iPad, ending a six-year absence of the dedicated app since 2020. • iOS 27 Lets You Dismiss the 'Now Playing' Lock Screen Widget iOS 27 lets users finally swipe away the Now Playing widget on the iPhone Lock Screen, a small but long-requested quality-of-life fix spotted in the first developer beta. • Building Smarter Cities No article content was provided, so a factual summary cannot be generated from the title 'Building Smarter Cities' alone. — This episode is sponsored by Prompt Vector, from Hen Solutions LLC — over 1,000 professional, ready-to-use AI prompts for iPhone and Mac. The core app is free, and Premium is free for a full month. Download it on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/promptvector/id6764571041

AI Is Rewriting Everything — From Cancer Trials to Construction Sites

AI is transforming oncology, enterprise finance, and construction all at once — and Bryan breaks down what it means for your industry, your work, and your week. Plus Apple's WWDC AI moment and the PE firms getting cold feet about software deals.