Apple unveils new Apple Foundation Models: two on-device models, including a 20B-parameter multimodal model called AFM 3 Core Advanced, and three cloud models (Apple Machine Learning Research)

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Vinyl Equity, an SEC-registered transfer agent that has launched a payments platform earlier this year, raised a $20M Series A led by Jump Capital (Ryan Lawler/Axios)

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Decentralized lending protocol Morpho raised $175M led by Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, and a16z Crypto in a token sale valuing Morpho at up to $2B (Ben Weiss/Fortune)

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French government warns that hackers used a hijacked user account to breach Tchap, its encrypted messaging app for civil servants with 300,000+ monthly users (Sergiu Gatlan/BleepingComputer)

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New York-based Standard Bots, which wants to make AI-powered robotic arms in the US, raised $200M led by General Catalyst and Robostrategy at a $1B valuation (Bloomberg)

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The EU says Apple decided not to roll out Siri AI in the EU after it had unsuccessfully requested to be exempted from interoperability obligations for the tool (Inti Landauro/Reuters)

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Sources: Taiwan considers restricting AI chip sales to all Chinese customers, rather than only blacklisted entities like Huawei, to align with US measures (Bloomberg)

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Sources: Microsoft laid off 200 to 400 Azure unit employees in Beijing and Shanghai, at least its third round of downsizing in China in two years (South China Morning Post)

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The UK is conducting a full review of its NHS contract with Palantir, amid growing pressure to terminate the deal in 2027 over reliance on US tech companies (Sam Tabahriti/Reuters)

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Beacon Software, which acquires niche software businesses and transforms them with AI, raised a $225M Series C, bringing its total funding to $550M (Sarah Klearman/Wall Street Journal)

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France-based Alta Ares, which is building AI-powered air defense systems to counter drones and missiles, raised a €50M Series A led by Air Street Capital (Daphné Leprince-Ringuet/Sifted)

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In a UK online safety consultation, the US urges the UK against an under-16 social media ban, saying it would place a "disproportionate" burden on US Big Tech (Dan Milmo/The Guardian)

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Sources: China is drafting plans to spend $295B over the next five years on building AI data centers, sourcing 80%+ of tech from local suppliers like Huawei (Charlie Zhu/Bloomberg)

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A group of Chinese tech companies, including Alibaba and CXMT, launches a ~$577M PE fund to boost China's "hard tech" sectors amid tightening US export curbs (Ann Cao/South China Morning Post)

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IT management platform NinjaOne raised $400M in a secondary share sale at a $12.3B valuation, up from $5B in February 2025, and says its ARR has hit $600M (Rebecca Torrence/Bloomberg)

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Finland-based Iceye, whose small satellites help countries with real-time location monitoring, raised a €1B Series F led by General Atlantic at a €10B valuation (Ingrid Lunden/Resilience Media)

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Report: US colleges now offer 74+ AI majors and 89+ minors, and at least a dozen schools are set to add AI majors this year; only five had AI majors in 2021 (Alan Blinder/New York Times)

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In an interview, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says that the company is planning its IPO for 2028, regardless of how well the IPOs for Anthropic and OpenAI go (Arjun Kharpal/CNBC)

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The US FCC waives its deadline for Amazon to deploy half of its Leo satellites by July; Amazon is still required to launch all 3,232 satellites by July 30, 2029 (Michael Kan/PCMag)

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Apple overhauls the App Store with subscription options for groups, businesses, and schools, retention messaging to reduce churn, bundled IAP reviews, and more (Andrew Orr/AppleInsider)

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The first developer beta of iOS 27 offers the clearest signs yet of Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone, with references to folding hardware and flexible displays (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)