☕️ Snap bets on post-smarphone future

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In today's Techpresso:

👓 Snap bets on post-smarphone future

🤝 US and Europe discuss ‘trusted partner’ AI pact

👀 Apple's next AirPods could have cameras

🙅 'AI' branding turns off most US shoppers

💰 Amazon's $68B ad business is in the FTC's crosshairs

Plus: 🎁 15 other news you might like, 🧰 6 tools, and 📚 4 papers.

👓 Snap bets on post-smarphone future LINK

Snap is wagering that people are so tired of staring at phone screens that they will pay more than $2,000 for augmented reality glasses called Specs that place digital visuals inside the wearer's field of view.

CEO Evan Spiegel debuted Specs on Tuesday at $2,195 with a $200 refundable deposit, more than 15 times the price of Snap's $130 camera-only Spectacles from 2016, with shipping expected later this year in the U.S., U.K. and France.

Spiegel dismissed audio-only smart glasses from rivals as a phone accessory that does little, but Snap faces well-funded competitors like Meta and Google while it has lost money every year since going public.

🤝 US and Europe discuss ‘trusted partner’ AI pact LINK

The United States and Europe are talking about a possible AI pact that would give trusted allies priority access to the most capable AI models, an idea set for discussion in Evian-les-Bains, France.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick raised the concept with European diplomats at the G7 summit, just days after Washington blocked Anthropic from selling its Mythos and Fable models abroad over national security concerns.

European Commission official Henna Virkkunen urged the US to clarify its reasoning and avoid "discriminatory" measures, while the SIIA, whose members include Apple, Amazon and Google, criticized the restrictions on frontier AI models.

👀 Apple's next AirPods could have cameras LINK

Apple is reportedly working on new AirPods with built-in cameras that would give an upgraded Siri "visual context" about your surroundings, and they are currently on schedule for a late 2027 launch, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

The earbuds would have cameras mounted in their stems and lights to show when data is being uploaded to the cloud, and they are being tested internally with next year's iOS 28 update, Gurman says.

Apple is said to be planning these camera-equipped AirPods before it eventually releases its first pair of smart glasses, signaling how the company wants to add cameras to its wearable products over the next few years.

🙅 'AI' branding turns off most US shoppers LINK

A new report from WordPress VIP finds that 60% of US consumers say brands using "AI" in their messaging are a turnoff, even as companies push to appear in AI search results.

The survey of 2,000 people found 86% don't fully trust AI and want original sources, while 42% trust AI answers without clear attribution less than airline fees, privacy policies, and medical bills.

Despite this wariness, AI referrals are climbing: 60% of enterprise respondents reported more traffic from AI search engines over the past year, and 74% called AI discoverability and attribution a main priority.

💰 Amazon's $68B ad business is in the FTC's crosshairs LINK

Amazon could face a lawsuit from the US Federal Trade Commission over claims it failed to give advertisers clear information about how some of its advertising products, which earned $68.6 billion last year, were priced.

The FTC's consumer protection division is examining Amazon's advertising auctions, focusing on whether the company clearly told customers about "reserve pricing," the minimum amount advertisers must pay to secure certain ad placements.

Several state attorneys general are also involved in the investigation, which could end with a settlement or a formal lawsuit as early as this summer, exposing Amazon to civil penalties.

Other news you might like

• Android 17 launches with new multitasking tools as Google expands Gemini featuresLINK

• US holds off blacklisting China's DeepSeek, more than 100 firms deemed security risksLINK

• US approval of Paramount/Warner Bros. deal surprised DOJ lawyers, report saysLINK

• Exclusive: Binance set to lose permission to operate in EU, sources sayLINK

• Jeff Bezos says AI will cause “labor scarcity,” not job lossLINK

• Exclusive: PayPal winds down venture arm as fintech giant restructures under new CEOLINK

• Microsoft might put China’s DeepSeek inside Copilot to tame its AI billsLINK

• Intel begins production of most-advanced chip, inching closer to possible Apple dealLINK

• Rivian cuts hundreds of workers after R2 deliveries startLINK

• OpenAI prepares major ChatGPT voice upgrade with GPT-Bidi-1LINK

• Nvidia reveals AI robots that taught themselves to install GPUs into motherboardsLINK

• Google’s new CAPTCHA asks users to wave hand at camera, users fear privacy trade-offLINK

• Why is Meta destroying its engineering organization?LINK

• Bug in FIFA World Cup internal system gave anyone ability to modify TV streamLINK

🧰 Trending tools

Swytchcode CLI: a command-line tool that connects AI agents to 2,000+ APIs with built-in auth, retries, idempotency, and policy enforcement so integrations don't break in production.LINK

Daemons by Charlie Labs: autonomous AI agents that monitor your PRs, issues, CI, and Sentry errors continuously, reducing manual follow-up across GitHub, Linear, and Slack.LINK

Dopami: an ADHD-friendly chore assistant that suggests household tasks based on your energy, time, and room context to eliminate decision fatigue.LINK

Typerino: a dedicated screenwriting app that auto-formats scripts for film, TV, and stage without markup syntax, available on Mac and Windows.LINK

Cilantro: a read-only finance tracker that monitors bank accounts for unusual charges, bill increases, and spending changes without requiring manual budgeting or tagging.LINK

Snapchat SPECS: ephemeral photo and video messaging app that adds AR filters, Stories, and Discover content for casual social communication.LINK

📚 Trending papers & reports

The 2026 AI progress report finds that governments, schools, and oversight systems are falling dangerously behind the pace of the technology, even as AI delivers growing economic value and reshapes jobs and science.LINK

Superintelligent machines more capable than entire large organisations of humans may arrive via four routes, scaling, paradigm shifts, self-improvement, or vast networks of cooperating systems, though key bottlenecks remain genuinely uncertain.LINK

Interactive video world models can now generate long, controllable, consistent virtual environments at up to 16 FPS, letting users navigate scenes, revisit earlier locations, and trigger events across realistic and game-style settings.LINK

Astrophysics as a human pursuit is worth defending even as chatbots can now run entire research projects, because the field's value lies in people, curiosity, and trust, not just outputs.LINK

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