WHAT’S INSIDE:

👇️ Todays’ Feature: Amex’s New App and the Rise of the Travel Superapp

• CyberSUV, Volvo erEVs, Zoox, Perplexity Assistant, Depop, MediaTek

• Arts and culture news, intersection of tech and entertainment

• Latest food and dining and food technology news

• The latest sports news and sports tech

• Futurism, the latest in future concepts and cutting edge deep tech

• Latest news in wellness and wellbeing tech, biotech, medtech and more

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TOP CONSUMER TECH NEWS:

EV Updates — Tesla explores Cyber SUV and a more compact version of the Cybertruck, + Amazon's Zoox seeks approval for driverless robotaxis, + Volvo shifts strategy to U.S.-made extended-range EVs (erEVs) with backup gas engines.

Gemini — Gemini is now integrated into Google TVs, starting with TCL units. Enables AI interactions for show search, summaries, and educational content. More devices to come. Google Play Store also gets AI enhancements for Apps + Games.

Perplexity's AI Email Assistant — Perplexity introduces an AI email assistant for Max subscribers. Supporting Gmail and Outlook, it manages tasks like scheduling and drafting without training on emails. Priced at $200/mth, it adapts to users' styles.

Fashion Collages — Depop launches "Outfits," a styling tool for creating shoppable fashion collages with customization options. The feature aims to attract Gen Z users while Etsy, its parent company, reports significant growth in sales.

WEEKEND CRYPTOGRAM:

Cash App's BNPL Success — Block's Cash App has attracted 1 million users to its BNPL feature, offering $2 billion in loans. Targeting young users, it plans to integrate with Square merchants and manage lending through its own bank.

ASTER's Record Surge — ASTER token hit an all-time high of $2.26, jumping 41% in one day and 2,000% since launch, driven by Binance listings and token migration, though concentrated ownership makes it volatile.

FEATURE ARTICLE

Amex’s New App and the Rise of the Travel Superapp

By Sam Elyaszadeh

For decades, American Express has sold itself not just as a payment tool but as a passport into a certain kind of life: airport lounges, platinum cards slipped across marble hotel counters, the promise that membership means access. Its new travel app takes that branding and makes it literal. What was once a patchwork of booking portals, reward dashboards, and scattered loyalty logins is now condensed into a single screen, where the line between financial services and lifestyle experiences disappears.

Browse, Book, Behavioral Capture

The app lets cardholders browse hotels, book flights, redeem points, check Centurion lounge wait times, and even collect a digital “passport” of stamps from past trips. It is less about unlocking new inventory than about collapsing the friction of fragmented travel planning. The value lies not in what is offered, but in how seamlessly it’s delivered. That shift toward bundling and controlled ecosystems has been playing out across industries. Travel just happens to be one of the most emotionally resonant arenas for it.

For consumers, the attraction is obvious: one place to dream, plan, and purchase. But the subtler move here is behavioral capture. Every booking inside the Amex app reinforces loyalty to Amex’s orbit, not to the airline or hotel. The card network becomes the operating system of travel. It echoes what superapps in Asia have already demonstrated: that once you become the hub for a user’s essential routines, you can layer on infinite adjacencies.

From Credit Card >> Curated Experiences

The timing matters. The biggest credit card issuers are all jockeying to become not just wallets but gateways into curated experiences. Chase and Capital One are expanding airport lounges, Visa has quietly tested travel perks, and now Amex is asserting itself with a polished consumer product that folds content, commerce, and community into one app. Travel is the spearhead because it’s aspirational, but the logic can extend further—into dining, events, maybe even mobility.

The battleground is shifting to who owns your journey as a customer. If Amex succeeds, a trip might no longer begin with Google Flights or Expedia. It might begin with the same company that manages your credit line and knows your spending patterns down to the last coffee. That is both convenient and a little claustrophobic.

The real question is whether travelers will accept this trade. Do we value the ease of one-stop ecosystems more than the optionality of searching the open web? Will consumers trust that Amex’s app is showing the best deal, or just the best deal within its curated walls? As more financial players tilt into lifestyle territory, those choices will define the next phase of consumer tech.

TECH IN ARTS & CULTURE:

Trump Lawsuit Dismissed — A federal judge dismissed Trump's $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times and Penguin Random House due to procedural issues, impacting his legal strategy against the media.

Celeb AI Holographs — Whitney Houston's estate is using AI technology to create a symphonic tour featuring her voice and Proto Hologram and Kartoon Studios unveiled an AI hologram of Stan Lee at the LA Comic Con.

RIAA Sues Suno — The RIAA is suing Suno for allegedly illegally using YouTube songs to train AI models, citing Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations.

AI Music Artist — Hallwood Media signed AI artist Xania Monet to a multimillion-dollar deal, marking a significant shift toward AI in music.

Spotify — Announced updates to its AI policy, including labeling AI-generated music and implementing a spam filter to curb unauthorized content. Adopting the DDEX standard for AI disclosures, targets transparency and fraud prevention.

FTC vs. Ticketmaster — The FTC and seven states sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for illegal ticket resale practices, impacting consumers with inflated prices and deceptive tactics.

Notre Dame Towers — French President Emmanuel Macron reopened Notre Dame's towers, marking a significant step in the $1B econstruction post-2019 fire.

Disney+ Price Hike — Disney will increase Disney+ and Hulu subscription prices by $2 to $3 starting October 21, following subscriber cancellations over programming.

FOOD & DRINK TECH:

ShopRite's Smart Cart Launch — ShopRite introduces AI-powered Caper Carts at three NJ locations (Flemington, Clinton, Greenwich Township), enabling seamless scanning, digital coupons, and checkout-free shopping.

Amazon Pivots — Amazon is closing all Amazon Fresh stores to pivot to online grocery delivery, shuttering 14 and converting five into Whole Foods Market stores.

Burnt AI Secures Funding — Steph Curry's PennyJar Capital leads $3.8M seed funding for Burnt, whose AI agent Ozai automates 80% of manual order entry in food distribution, targeting inefficient supply chains with industry-focused solutions.

Magnum's AI Partnership — Unilever's Magnum teams with NotCo's AI to develop reformulated and plant-based ice cream products, addressing consumer demand for healthier, sustainable options amid rising costs.

SlimFast Changes Hands — Heartland acquires SlimFast to boost its health portfolio following Glanbia's struggles with the brand, navigating weight-loss market trends despite challenges from GLP-1 drugs.

Shrimp Shell Fertilizer — Argentinian startup Unibaio develops fertilizer additive from shrimp shell waste that enhances nutrient absorption, launching in 2026 for farmers in NY, NC, and Argentina.

SPORTS & TECH DESK:

MLB's Robo-Umpires — Major League Baseball will use robot umpires in 2026, integrating Hawk-Eye technology for strike call challenges. This hybrid system enhances accuracy while preserving human oversight, marking a pivotal tech shift.

AI Ballers — The Oakland Ballers use of an AI system to manage a game sparked fan backlash over reduced human connection. The project highlighted that community acceptance of the tech is still in question.

FTC vs. Ticketmaster — The FTC sues Live Nation and Ticketmaster for deceptive pricing and violating the BOTS Act. The lawsuit may reshape ticketing, impacting fan affordability and sports organizations' reputations, with pricing, resale changes.

Ryder Cup Showdown — The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black features a strong U.S. team, favored with seven top 10 golfers, including Scottie Scheffler. Europe aims for 14 points to retain, while the U.S. needs 14½ to reclaim the cup.

US Track Triumph — The U.S. achieved a record 16 golds at the World Track and Field Championships boosted at the end by Sha’Carri Richardson and team's relay win and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden's triple gold.

SailGP Expansion — SailGP has doubled its teams in five seasons and plans further expansion. The league is enhancing competitiveness and audience engagement by refining logistics, testing new racing formats, and improving training facilities.

Ballon d'Or Triumphs — Ousmane Dembele and Aitana Bonmati clinched the Ballon d'Or for their stellar performances. Dembele scored 35 goals in PSG's treble season, while Bonmati won her third straight title. PSG and Arsenal won Club honors.

Genius Sports Acquisition — Genius Sports acquires Sports Innovation Lab to bolster its media offerings by merging fan insights with game data. This move aims to enhance fan engagement, uncover sponsorship opportunities, and improve targeting.

FUTURISM:

AI Disrupts Capitalism — Emad Mostaque predicts capitalism's end within 1,000 days due to AI devaluing human labor and elevating digital assets, urging income diversification.

Reviving the Dodo — Colossal Biosciences raises $120M, reaching $10.3B valuation, to resurrect the dodo bird within seven years using lab-grown pigeon cells.

Emotive Robotics Unveiled — AheadForm creates humanoid robot head with lifelike facial expressions powered by AI, aiming for natural human-robot interactions within a decade.

Tiny Optics Revolution — Multi-layer metalenses breakthrough creates lightweight optics for phones and drones using metamaterials, enhancing performance and enabling industrial scaling.

Space Race Tensions — Experts warn NASA may fall behind China as SpaceX's lunar mission delays continue, raising concerns about Artemis 3 timeline and prompting calls for backup plans.

WELLBEING AND HEALTH TECH:

Trump's Autism Claim — President Trump suggests Tylenol use during pregnancy may link to autism, though Kenvue and some experts claim no clear evidence exists and say rising rates attributed to broader definitions and genetic factors.

Vaccine Autonomy Update — ACIP allows personal choice for COVID-19 vaccines without prescription requirements; new hepatitis B guidelines include testing pregnant women while mRNA safety research continues.

AI-Powered Blood Pressure Alerts — Apple Watch Series 11 uses AI to notify users of potential high blood pressure with FDA approval, aiming for early hypertension detection across 150+ countries.

Neuralink's Speech Trial — Elon Musk's Neuralink plans to test nonmedical brain implants to restore speech for paralysis patients, targeting innovative communication solutions.

GlyTR Breakthrough — UC Irvine researchers develop GlyTR compounds, a new class of immunotherapeutics targeting cancer-associated glycans. Promising against solid tumors and leukemia, this approach could enter human trials soon.

AI Healthcare Showdown — Doximity and OpenEvidence battle over trade secret theft and misinformation; potential legal outcomes may set precedents for AI trade secrets in healthcare.