New surgeon general nominee cofounded “biowearables” startup with DOGE operative

Before she was chosen as Donald Trump's latest nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Casey Means came from the world of healthcare startups - and cofounded one with a tech entrepreneur who's now a key DOGE operative in charge of dismantling the IRS. In 2019, Means…

The Verge

Figma’s CEO on his new approach to AI

Tech event season is in full swing. This week, Stripe and Figma gathered thousands of people in downtown San Francisco for their respective conferences. I caught up with Figma CEO Dylan Field after his opening keynote at Config, where he announced the most si…

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There are no good billionaires in new trailer for HBO’s Mountainhead movie

Succession creator Jesse Armstrong has never been subtle with his commentary on the rich and powerful, but the new trailer for his HBO feature Mountainhead spells out exactly what makes its central characters people you shouldn’t be rooting for. Set in a remo…

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Facing a Changing Industry, AI Activists Rethink Their Strategy

As power over artificial intelligence concentrates in a handful of companies, a new report urges advocacy groups to expose the technology’s connection to broader economic struggles.

Wired

Epic showed off Unreal Engine 5 with an impressive Witcher 4 tech demo

An ongoing tradition at Epic’s big keynotes is a gorgeous tech demo that shows off what its game engine is capable of. For this year’s State of Unreal, the company turned to The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red. This new demo a beautiful gl…

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PayPal launches iPhone NFC payments in Germany after EU forced Apple to open up

German iPhone users are starting to report that they’re now able to use PayPal’s tap-to-pay feature at in-store payment terminals, according to German tech site iPhone Ticker. The new capability, which PayPal announced earlier this month, is a result of the E…

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Summer blockbuster season is here

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 84, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading abou…

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Puma Says It Made the Fastest Running Shoe Ever. We Put It to the Test

Puma claims its latest Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 hi-tech shoe will boost efficiency for all runners. WIRED compared it to the leading competition to separate the facts from the marketing jargon.

Wired

DOJ asks court to split up Google’s ad tech empire

The US Department of Justice filed a plan in court to make Google divest its advertising marketplace and ad management platform, part of a proposal to address the company’s “decade-long campaign of exclusionary conduct,” which a judge has declared violates an…

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