Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
DoorDash launches Zesty, a standalone AI-powered social app for users to find nearby restaurants, in public testing in San Francisco and New York  —  DoorDash Inc. is experimenting with a standalone artificial intelligence-powered app for users to find new restaurants, expanding its reach beyond its flagship food-delivery service.

OpenAI:
OpenAI launches FrontierScience, a benchmark to measure models' expert-level scientific reasoning with 700+ questions, finding GPT-5.2 is its strongest model  —  We introduce FrontierScience, a new benchmark that evaluates AI capabilities for expert-level scientific reasoning across physics, chemistry, and biology.

The Information:
A look at Apple's iPhone roadmap; sources say the iPhone 18 Pro lineup will get under-screen Face ID, and the front camera will move to the top-left corner  —  The iPhone family is growing again.  Over the next two years, Apple is planning a major expansion of its smartphone product line …

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:
Meta launches prompt-based sound separation model SAM Audio in its Segment Anything Playground, letting users isolate individual sounds from complex recordings  —  Meta Platforms Inc. is bringing prompt-based editing to the world of sound with a new model called SAM Audio that can segment individual sounds …

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Instagram unveils its first TV app, initially available on Amazon's Fire TV as a test with plans to expand to other TV platforms  —  Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram unveiled its first dedicated TV app, which lets users watch the short-form video feature Reels on a larger screen.

Andrew McCalip:
Orbital solar data centers' cost-per-watt of compute is $51.10/W, far above $15.85/W for terrestrial sites; SpaceX is uniquely positioned to try orbital  —  It might not be rational But It might be physically possibleBefore we get nerd sniped by the shiny engineering details, ask the only question that matters.

Ryan Lawler / Axios:
Sequence, which builds AI agents to automate B2B companies' revenue operations, raised a $20M Series A led by 645 Ventures, bringing its total funding to ~$40M  —  Sequence, which builds AI agents to automate revenue operations for B2B companies, raised $20 million in Series A funding, CEO Riya Grover tells Axios exclusively.

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Q&A with Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe on founding Rivian in 2009, production challenges, the VW partnership, autonomy, AI, EVs, chips, CarPlay, and more  —  Today's Stratechery Interview is with Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe.  Last week Rivian held their Autonomy and AI Day …

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Adobe adds a prompt-based video editor to its Firefly app that uses Runway's Aleph model, and adds image and video models from Black Forest Labs and others  —  Adobe is updating its AI video-generation app, Firefly, with a new video editor that supports precise prompt-based edits …

David Pierce / The Verge:
Mozilla appoints Anthony Enzor-DeMeo as its CEO, after years of its for-profit arm juggling layoffs, restructuring, its Google dependence, and the AI landscape  —  Anthony Enzor-DeMeo says he thinks there's room for another browser, even an AI browser — as long as you can trust it.

Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal:
Databricks is raising a $4B Series L at a $134B valuation, up from $100B in September and $62B in December 2024, and had a $4.8B annual revenue rate in October  —  The data-analytics and AI software company is raising over $4 billion and crossed $4.8 billion in annual revenue rate

Emily Mason / Bloomberg:
Visa says it will allow US banks to settle transactions using Circle's USDC stablecoin over Solana, the US' first full deployment of a stablecoin settlement  —  Visa Inc. is opening its US network to stablecoin settlement, expanding crypto-linked products and services enabled …

New York Times:
Elizabeth Warren and two other Democratic senators write to Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and others about AI data centers' role in rising electricity bills  —  Three Democrats are seeking information from tech firms about the growing energy use of data centers and the utility bills of individuals and other businesses.

Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
Sources and a memo: Amazon plans to cut 370 jobs, or ~8.5% of its 4,370 employees, at its European HQ in Luxembourg, the country's biggest layoffs in 20 years  —  Amazon.com Inc.'s decision earlier this year to ax 14,000 employees around the globe is reverberating at the company's European headquarters in Luxembourg.

Gregory Schmidt / New York Times:
VW plans to end vehicle production at its Dresden plant, which opened in 2001, and convert it into a research hub focused on AI, robotics, and chip design  —  The auto giant stopped making cars at the plant in Dresden, which opened in 2001, as it faces weaker demand and steep U.S. tariffs.

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
As Europe rearms, Anduril is trying to break through in the UK by co-funding major programs, cutting manufacturing deals, and billing itself as “Anglo-American”  —  As Europe rearms, the US weapons maker is trying to break through in the UK by co-funding major programs …

Rest of World:
Analysis: of the 8,808 global data centers in October 2025, ~7,000 are in areas outside the optimal 18C to 27C temperature range; 600 are in areas above 27C  —  In 21 countries, all data centers are located in climates that are too hot.  —  On paper, Singapore is a terrible location for a data center.

Reuters:
China approves two Level 3 autonomous cars from state-owned Changan Auto and BAIC Motor, the first such approvals; the cars can drive in Chongqing and Beijing  —  China's industry regulator on Monday approved two Chinese cars with level-3 autonomous driving capabilities …

Counterpoint Research:
Global smartphone shipments in 2026 are set to shrink 2.1% due to rising memory costs, led by Chinese OEMs; DRAM prices could further raise costs by 10% to 15%  —  - Global smartphone shipments in 2026 are expected to shrink 2.1% due to rising memory costs.

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
How the rise of AI has divided Hollywood: some oppose all AI use while others like director Timur Bekmambetov say they are exploring ways to utilize AI tools  —  While finishing Mercy, his upcoming film starring Chris Pratt, Timur Bekmambetov decided to make a new movie almost entirely generated by artificial intelligence.