The AI skills gap is emerging as power users pull ahead, while Google unveils TurboQuant AI memory compression and Lyria 3 Pro music generation, with Melania Trump suggesting AI for homeschooling and Sanders and AOC proposing a data center construction ban, as Meta pushes AI adoption for entrepreneurship and shopping and Kleiner Perkins invests heavily in AI, despite Disney canceling its OpenAI partnership.

• The AI skills gap is here, says AI company, and power users are pulling ahead — TechCrunch -
• Google unveils TurboQuant, a new AI memory compression algorithm — and yes, the internet is calling it ‘Pied Piper’ — TechCrunch -
• Melania Trump wants a robot to homeschool your child — TechCrunch -

• Google's TurboQuant AI-compression algorithm can reduce LLM memory usage by 6x — Ars Technica -
• Bernie Sanders and AOC propose a ban on data center construction — TechCrunch -
• Google launches Lyria 3 Pro music generation model — TechCrunch -
• Harvey confirms $11B valuation: Sequoia triples down — TechCrunch -
• Granola raises $125M, hits $1.5B valuation as it expands from meeting notetaker to enterprise AI app — TechCrunch -
• Meta launches new initiative to support entrepreneurship, drive AI adoption — TechCrunch -
• Meta turns to AI to make shopping easier on Instagram and Facebook — TechCrunch -
• Disney cancels $1 billion OpenAI partnership amid Sora shutdown plans — Ars Technica -
• With $3.5B in fresh capital, Kleiner Perkins is going all in on AI — TechCrunch -

Reddit mandates human verification for suspicious accounts, while Meta and Google face landmark social media addiction trials, with Meta losing court battles over child safety and Apple implementing age checks in the UK, as DeleteMe acquires Block Party for social media security, and X temporarily pauses creator revenue-sharing changes.

• Reddit will require "fishy" accounts to verify they are run by a human — Ars Technica -
• Meta, YouTube must pay $3M to woman who got hooked on apps as a child — Ars Technica -
• Supreme Court rejects Sony's attempt to kick music pirates off the Internet — Ars Technica -

• Jury finds Meta and Google negligent in landmark social media addiction trial — TechCrunch -
• DeleteMe acquires social media security tool Block Party — TechCrunch -
• Reddit takes on the bots with new ‘human verification’ requirements for fishy behavior — TechCrunch -
• How soap opera-TikTok hybrids became a billion-dollar business — TechCrunch -
• Meta loses trial after arguing child exploitation was “inevitable” on its apps — Ars Technica -
• Apple begins age checks in the UK with latest iOS update — Ars Technica -
• Elon Musk pauses changes to X’s creator revenue-sharing program after backlash — TechCrunch -
• New Mexico just handed Meta its first courtroom defeat over child safety, and the rest of the country is watching — TechCrunch -

BRINC introduces a new police drone with Starlink and high-speed capabilities, and Waymo's self-driving cars sometimes require police intervention, while NASA plans to send Gateway to Mars and discusses Moon base construction, as Lucid Bots sees demand for window-washing drones and Amazon acquires a humanoid robot startup, with ex-SpaceX engineers bringing rocket software to factories and Arinna addressing space power challenges.

• BRINC's new police drone uses Starlink, carries Narcan, chases vehicles at 60mph — Ars Technica -
• Who’s driving Waymo’s self-driving cars? Sometimes, the police. — TechCrunch -
• Here is NASA's plan for nuking Gateway and sending it to Mars — Ars Technica -

• We got an audience with the "Lunar Viceroy" to talk how NASA will build a Moon base — Ars Technica -
• With Sift, two ex-SpaceX engineers are bringing the software that helped launch rockets to the factory floor — TechCrunch -
• Arinna raises $4M seed round to solve the space power problem — TechCrunch -
• Lucid Bots raises $20M to keep up with demand for its window-washing drones — TechCrunch -
• A former Thiel fellow’s startup just launched a drone it says can replace police helicopters — TechCrunch -
• Amazon just bought a startup making kid-size humanoid robots — TechCrunch -

**VITL secures $7.5M for cash-pay clinic prescribing, Meta cuts several hundred jobs, and Apple overhauls its app developer platform, while Glimpse raises $35M from a16z and Lululemon invests in Epoch Biodesign's plastic recycling enzymes**.

• Riding the GLP-1 boom, VITL lands $7.5M to overhaul cash-pay clinic prescribing — TechCrunch -
• Meta is cutting several hundred jobs — TechCrunch -
• Apple overhauls its app developer platform with 100 new metrics, more tools — TechCrunch -

• After pivoting, Y Combinator grad Glimpse raises $35M led by a16z — TechCrunch -
• Lululemon bets Epoch Biodesign can eat its shorts, literally — TechCrunch -

A convicted spyware chief hints at Greek government involvement in phone hacks, Russia arrests the alleged owner of cybercrime forum LeakBase, and Google accelerates its 'Q Day' deadline to 2029 for quantum-safe encryption transitions.

• Convicted spyware chief hints that Greece’s government was behind dozens of phone hacks — TechCrunch -
• Russia arrests alleged owner of cybercrime forum LeakBase, report says — TechCrunch -
• Google bumps up Q Day deadline to 2029, far sooner than previously thought — Ars Technica -

Sony and Honda abandon their joint EV project, with Honda canceling plans for its Afeela electric vehicles, while Harbinger explores hybrid emergency vehicles, and Audi bids farewell to its 2026 RS6 Avant.

• Sony and Honda give up on their joint EV project — TechCrunch -
• Honda cancels the two electric vehicles it was developing with Sony — Ars Technica -
• Harbinger’s next product will be hybrid emergency vehicles — TechCrunch -

• So long, farewell: Saying goodbye to Audi's best car, the 2026 RS6 Avant — Ars Technica -

A study links antibiotic resistance to droughts, Trump staffs a science and technology panel with non-scientists, Arbor Energy secures a large order for rocket turbine tech on the power grid, chemists discover how to turn bourbon waste into supercapacitors, and RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine ally resigns from a CDC panel.

• Antibiotic resistance among germs swells during droughts, study suggests — Ars Technica -
• Trump staffs science and technology panel with non-scientists — Ars Technica -
• Arbor Energy just landed a billion-dollar order to bring rocket turbine tech to the power grid — TechCrunch -

• How chemists turned bourbon waste into supercapacitors — Ars Technica -
• "The last straw"—RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine ally angrily quits CDC panel after spat — Ars Technica -