Epic Games Store's new webshops feature allows developers to open webshops to offer players out-of-app purchases to circumvent fees from Apple and Google. The company will not take a cut from the first $1 million each game earns annually starting in June. Epic is bringing Fortnite back to the iOS App Store - it will incentivize users to buy digital goods through Epic directly with cheaper prices.
Aurora Innovation is the first company to deploy driverless, heavy-duty trucks for commercial use on public roads in the US. The company began running freight this week between Dallas and Houston and has completed 1,200 miles in a single self-driving truck without a driver so far. It plans to build more trucks and expand to El Paso and Phoenix by the end of the year. The company is working with Volvo Trucks and Paccar to develop self-driving trucks for high-volume manufacturing, with plans for a launch in 2027 or earlier.
Aetherflux is a company that aims to harvest solar power in space and beam it back to Earth via laser. It plans to launch a demonstration of its technology in 2026. A solar farm in space would receive sunlight all the time, enabling it to harness more power than on Earth. Aetherflux plans to use infrared lasers to send solar energy from an array of small satellites to a series of small ground stations. The US military might be the first recipient of Aetherflux's space-based power, but the company wants to be a commercially viable operation that can provide clean, affordable power to Americans everywhere.
Hyperparam addresses the lack of a user-friendly, scalable UI for exploring and curating massive datasets in the machine learning ecosystem through a suite of open-source tools that tackle different aspects of data curation. It aims to empower ML practitioners to create the best training datasets for the best models. The tools include Hyparquet, a lightweight, pure-JS library for reading Apache Parquet files directly in the browser; Hyparquet-Writer, which provides a way to write or export data to Parquet format in JavaScript; HighTable, a React-based virtualized table component for viewing extremely large tables in the browser; and Icebird, which extends Hyperparam's reach into data stored in Apache Iceberg format.
Redis 8 is now generally available. It has many new features and more than 30 performance improvements. The release adds eight more data structures and five probabilistic structures to help developers solve their current use cases better and build for the next generation of fast and real-time apps. It comes with a new license (AGPLv3) that makes Redis open source again.
Apple VP of Finance Alex Roman allegedly lied to the court to maintain the belief that evidence of internal discussions about a 27% commission fee on some purchases linked to the App Store was real. The company had presented evidence of internal discussions that were tailor-made for litigation instead of what actually happened. Apple has also been accused of other deceptive practices. The accusations may result in punishment for Apple and Roman - the case has been referred to US attorneys, who will investigate whether to pursue criminal contempt proceedings.
Oxide struggled to hire four years ago, so it published a blog explaining the company's approach to compensation. The blog got a lot of attention, both positive and negative, and it resulted in a surge of new people interested in working at the company. The company now has over three times the employees it previously had and a shipping product. This article looks at the lessons the company has learned over the few years of working with its compensation model, which has been essential for building a mission-focused team.
Claude now connects to third-party apps, Google Workspace, and web search, enabling long-form research and globally accessible web search for paid users.
The Allen Institute has released OLMo-2-1B, a small, transparent model backed by full training data and logs, furthering open research in language models.
AI companies might not prioritize alignment bootstrapping when they have human-level AI, mirroring their current focus on advancing capabilities with human researchers over safety efforts. This trend could lead to a dangerous disparity where AI capabilities significantly outpace alignment, increasing existential risks. To avert this, AI companies should already be emphasizing safety over capabilities to prove their commitment to responsible development.
Generative AI, like GitHub Copilot and Claude, is set to transform software development by enhancing productivity and automating routine tasks. While AI tools promise efficiency gains, they won't replace human developers, who are crucial for creative vision, quality assurance, and understanding complex requirements. Developers should embrace these tools to augment their skills and keep pace with technological advancements.
AI agents can be your next hyperproductive employees — but without correct orchestration, things can go haywire. Camunda's latest whitepaper reveals how to control your business's orchestration logic for AI agents that remain compliant while going above and beyond. Get the whitepaper [11], or book a demo to see how you can operationalize AI with Camunda [12].
An overview of how Google's AMIE now analyzes medical images during chat-based diagnosis, improving its ability to suggest accurate treatments like a real doctor would.
OpenAI plans to launch a freely downloadable open AI system this summer, aiming to outperform competitors like Meta and DeepSeek. This model may feature a "handoff" capability to connect with larger cloud-hosted OpenAI models for complex queries. OpenAI hopes this integration might drive more open source community engagement with its premium services.
Australian Radio Network's (ARN) CADA station faced backlash for using an AI-generated host, Thy, without disclosure. The show ran for six months before a writer revealed Thy wasn't real. Critics argue ARN should have been transparent about its AI use.
Perplexity's CEO Aravind Srinivas discusses Perplexity AI's plan to launch its own browser, Comet, which aims to serve as a platform for AI agents. Despite challenges with Google, Perplexity secured a pre-installation deal with Motorola's new Razr phones. Srinivas sees browsers as crucial for AI as they offer opportunities for deep integration and interaction with third-party services.
AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity accurately determine locations from photos and bird songs based on visual and auditory clues, even without metadata.
Charles Schwab plans to introduce spot crypto trading within the next year, marking a significant expansion into the digital asset space. The move follows a broader trend of traditional financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, entering the crypto market amid growing investor demand and anticipated regulatory clarity.
Galaxy Digital plans to list on Nasdaq on May 16 to expand its U.S. footprint and attract a wider investor base amid rising interest in crypto and AI sectors following strong April performance among crypto-related stocks. CEO Mike Novogratz views the listing as a key step toward making digital and AI asset exposure more accessible.
Aztec Network has released a public testnet for its Ethereum-based Layer 2, enabling developers to build decentralized applications with programmable privacy while maintaining Ethereum's transparency. This milestone paves the way for a mainnet launch and broader adoption of privacy-focused blockchain infrastructure.
Tools for Humanity plans to launch the World Card later this year, allowing verified humans to spend digital assets from their World App wallet anywhere Visa is accepted with seamless crypto-to-fiat conversion. The card will also offer unique AI-era rewards, including incentives for AI subscriptions, and aims to make WLD usable in everyday transactions globally.
Rain has joined Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot, enabling 24/7, 365-day USDC-based settlement for its Visa-issued cards and fully tokenizing its credit card receivables for improved capital efficiency and transparency. This partnership demonstrates how Rain's onchain infrastructure can power global, real-time payments and unlock credit access in underbanked markets through stablecoin-based financing and smart contract automation.
Despite earlier claims that memecoins were “dead,” Solana memecoin trading remains active, with Pumpdotfun generating $1.5M–$2M in daily volume. Around 150,000 wallets engage in daily memecoin trading, with 20,000–40,000 token launches and a graduation rate of 0.4–0.8%. Combined, major terminals facilitate over $100M in daily volume and 1–2 million transactions. Pumpswap, Pumpdotfun's native AMM, generated $25M in fees in its first month.
The original promise of cryptocurrency—financial sovereignty—has been eclipsed by an emphasis on infrastructure over native monetary design. DeFi has gravitated toward dollar-denominated stablecoins and institutional adoption. Lacking mechanisms for supply, stability, and credit management, tokens like BTC and ETH have ceded ground to traditional financial models. Layer-1 tokens are increasingly commoditized, risking long-term value erosion. Reviving the crypto revolution requires building tokens with complete monetary systems rather than simply creating better rails for existing money.
Stablecoins are rapidly becoming commoditized utilities as issuers compete to distribute yield to users and incentivize partners. Leading players like Tether—backed by deep liquidity—are expected to pass on yields as competitive pressure increases. Meanwhile, payment-optimized chains will generate returns through validator fees and custom protocols. Over time, apps and exchanges will abstract stablecoins under a “USD” label, auto-routing funds to the best-yielding source. As platforms evolve into full-service payment providers, they are expected to internalize margins and capture more global payment volume.
Abstract, a consumer-focused Layer 2, has onboarded 1.31 million unique wallets, processed 51.3 million transactions, and secured $46.66 million in Total Value Locked. With 500–700k daily transactions and 50–100k daily active wallets, Abstract issues each user a smart-contract wallet and offers a Consumer Portal with streaming, swaps, quests, and discovery tools. Its vertically integrated design—eliminating MetaMask, seed phrases, and gas fees—creates a self-reinforcing flywheel of adoption and engagement.
Google has added AI Studio's image editing to the Gemini app, letting users tweak AI and personal photos with tools like background swaps and object edits. Step by step editing blends text and visuals, like illustrated stories. Images get invisible SynthID watermarks, with visible ones in testing. Rollout will begin gradually in over 45 languages and most countries.
Snap is scrapping its “Simple Snapchat” redesign after losing 1 million North American users. It will retain the five-tab layout preferred by engaged users, blending Stories, Spotlight, and Snap Map for better navigation. Despite the user dip, Snap saw a 14% revenue rise, and the number of daily active users worldwide reached 460 million.
Atomic Keyboard revealed the MDR Dasher Keyboard, inspired by the show Severance, and is gathering community feedback through an interest form. It has a unique 70% layout based on the vintage Data General Dasher 200, but users can vote for a more standard option. Early bird pricing may be under $399, though tariffs on China could impact the final cost.
Simple design promotes focus, ease of use, and purpose, making products more intuitive and appealing. However, as products expand to meet broader needs, simplicity can become limiting, risking usability and clarity. The challenge is to evolve while keeping the clarity of simple design, a balance few achieve.
Design has evolved constantly, from reactive graphics in the 1990s to today's AI-powered agent experiences. Tools change, but the designer's role remains: setting intent, guiding systems, and ensuring human values shape the outcome. Programming is becoming more expressive, but meaning and empathy still rely on human judgment.
Redesigns can stir mixed feelings, particularly when previous work is replaced. Some accept it as part of the creative cycle, while others feel discouraged. It's helpful to reflect on the reasons for change, stay focused on new opportunities, and recognize that branding is inherently temporary.