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Mobile App Updates

Google Play Store Overhaul: AI Integration and Personalized Experiences

Google is updating the Play Store to enhance personalization and engagement for its users. Key changes include:

Redesigned Apps Tab: Features curated spaces with seasonal and interest-based content, leveraging content from multiple apps.
AI-Powered Search: Guided Search allows users to find apps by describing a goal instead of the app name.
New 'You' Tab: A centralized hub for tracking subscriptions, rewards, recommendations, and updates, with personalized content suggestions.
Enhanced Gaming Experience: A dedicated Games tab centralizes stats, achievements, and community features. The AI-enabled Play Games Sidekick (powered by Gemini Live) offers real-time in-game assistance.
Game Detail Pages: Enhanced pages provide information on events, updates, and a Q&A section for gamers.
Google Play Games on PC: Officially exits beta, bringing over 200,000 titles to Windows desktops.

Productivity

Goodnotes Expands Beyond Education with Collaborative Tools and AI Assistant for Professionals

Goodnotes is introducing new features aimed at professionals, including a collaborative whiteboard, document creation, and an AI assistant. The AI assistant supports various input methods and can summarize meetings, create visuals, proofread text, and generate templates. The company acquired a South Korean startup specializing in meeting and video summaries to enhance these AI capabilities. Goodnotes is also launching Goodnotes Essentials ($11.99/year) and Goodnotes Pro ($35.99/year) plans, offering features like AI for Q&A, Google Calendar and OneDrive integration, and AI-powered content suggestions. While still supporting students, Goodnotes aims to become a comprehensive notetaking app for all users, with over 25 million monthly active users.

Technology

Sila Launches First Large-Scale Silicon Anode Factory in the US

Sila, a battery materials startup, has commenced operations at its new factory in Moses Lake, Washington. The facility aims to produce enough silicon anode material for 20,000 to 50,000 electric vehicles initially, with potential for expansion to supply 2.5 million vehicles. Sila's silicon anodes promise to improve lithium-ion battery energy density by up to 50%. The company has agreements to supply Panasonic and Mercedes-Benz. While other companies like Group14 and Amprius are also developing silicon anode materials, Sila's Moses Lake factory is the first auto-scale silicon anode plant in the U.S. The location was chosen for its access to cheap hydropower, abundant land, and a nearby raw material supplier.

Sila plans to use the initial material produced at the factory to demonstrate consistency to customers. In the future, Sila anticipates that batteries made with its material will be cheaper than those using graphite anodes from Western suppliers, while also reducing the need for expensive materials like nickel. The company plans to expand to Europe and Asia in the future.

Artificial Intelligence

ChatGPT Go Expands to Indonesia, Offering Budget-Friendly AI Access

OpenAI is expanding its ChatGPT Go subscription plan, initially launched in India, to Indonesia. The plan costs Rp75,000 ($4.50) per month and offers users 10 times higher usage limits compared to the free version.

ChatGPT Go is a mid-tier option between the free version and the $20/month ChatGPT Plus, providing better memory of previous conversations for more personalized responses.

Since launching ChatGPT Go in India, OpenAI has seen its paid subscribers more than double. This expansion puts OpenAI in competition with Google's similarly-priced AI Plus subscription plan in Indonesia.

Sports Technology

AI-Managed Baseball Game Sparks Debate Among Oakland Ballers Fans

The Oakland Ballers, an independent baseball team, experimented with AI management during a game, partnering with Distillery to use AI software trained on baseball data. The AI made similar decisions to the human manager, Aaron Miles, who only intervened once due to a player's illness.

Despite the smooth execution, the AI experiment sparked backlash from fans, who viewed it as prioritizing technology over baseball tradition and community. This reaction highlighted a broader debate about the role of AI in sports and society. The Ballers do not intend to repeat the AI experiment in the future.

Artificial Intelligence

Nvidia and OpenAI Forge Strategic Partnership with $100B Investment

Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to build massive data centers for AI model training and deployment. The companies intend to deploy 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems to power OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure. This deal could reduce OpenAI's reliance on Microsoft. OpenAI will collaborate with Nvidia as a preferred strategic compute and networking partner for its AI factory growth, complementing existing partnerships with Microsoft, Oracle, and SoftBank.

Cybersecurity

Unit 221B Secures $5M to Combat Emerging Cyber Threats from Young Hackers

Unit 221B, a New Jersey-based security company, has raised $5 million in seed funding to combat the growing threat of young, English-speaking hackers involved in cybercrime, child abuse, and extremism. The funding, led by J2 Ventures, will be used to expand and improve its eWitness threat intelligence platform, which helps law enforcement and government investigators track and arrest malicious hackers. Unit 221B has been instrumental in securing key arrests of high-profile hackers associated with groups like Scattered Spider and The Com. The eWitness platform collects threat intelligence from trusted sources, including police, journalists, and security researchers, to help investigators identify and track threats, build cases, and share information. The platform is also used by private companies to track threats to their brand and industry.

Health Tech

Oura Ring's Valuation Soars to $11B with $875M Series E Funding

Oura Health Oy, the company behind the Oura health and fitness ring, is reportedly raising $875 million in a Series E funding round.

This new round values the company at approximately $10.9 billion, nearly doubling its previous $5 billion valuation from December 2024.

Oura has sold 5.5 million rings to date and anticipates generating over $1 billion in revenue this year, doubling the $500 million made in 2024.

The company plans to utilize the funding to scale production, expand internationally, and invest in further product development.

Recent growth has been attributed to female consumers, retail store sales, health savings account purchases, and international market expansion.

Space Exploration

Blue Origin Secures NASA Contract for Lunar Rover Delivery

Blue Origin has been awarded a $190 million NASA contract to transport the VIPER rover to the lunar south pole using its Blue Moon Mk1 lander, scheduled for late 2027. This decision reinstates the VIPER mission, which was previously canceled due to cost overruns and delays. VIPER, a golf cart-sized rover, will spend approximately 100 days mapping water ice deposits using its drill and spectrometers, which is crucial for NASA's future lunar science goals and potential long-term human presence on the moon.