Cosmo covers wearable tech, Reddit sues Anthropic, Deel vs. Rippling (again)

Right now I'm taking an Amtrak from New York, in the middle of the city's Tech Week, to Maryland for my brother’s engagement party. All my siblings, our partners, and a few friends are staying at my parents' place, and I have a virtual podcast recording tomorrow… Please send good vibes to their Wi-Fi. 🙏

Work and home life are fully overlapping, and the theme in the news this issue feels pretty similar: everything is blending. Tech is turning into energy. Media is crossing into finance. AI is showing up in places no one asked for. From lawsuits between former partners to brain implants and politically branded crypto funds.

Lines are starting to disappear.

- Rachel

Culture

• Speaking of things disappearing, the term SkinnyTok might finally be off your feed. SkinnyTok is gone. After pressure from European regulators and growing scrutiny in the US, TikTok banned the hashtag worldwide. Searches now lead to mental health resources instead of videos. It's a win for moderation, but similar trends still slip through under new names. (The Cut)

• Cosmopolitan launched a new column called Locked In, focused on wearable tech like smart rings, with the latest story featuring model Alice McNally, daughter of Balthazar’s Keith McNally. (Cosmopolitan)

  • I just read Keith's new book I Regret Almost Everything and it was great. His relationship with Alice is mentioned in it. Very good writing, very interesting personality.’

• The Tribeca Festival launched its UP NEXT creator program to spotlight digital storytellers like Public Opinion and Eric Jeng. (Tribeca Film)

  • A16Z had a dinner fro New Media, which included creators and newsletter writers. Seems like more and more industries are warming up to this sector of independents. (X)

• Trump Media is backing a new Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, with NYSE Arca filing to list it on a public exchange. The fund would track the price of bitcoin and offer an easier, regulated way to invest without using a crypto wallet. It brings together politics, media, and finance in a way we haven’t seen before and shows that Trump’s media company is looking to grow beyond social platforms. What could possibly go wrong when you combine partisan branding and cryptocurrency?(Bloomberg)

• I think we are going to see ChatGPT show up in every aspect our lives. Just when you thought you couldn’t give anymore of your information to it, you can now connect it to tools like Outlook, Google Drive, Gmail, and more. It also has a new Mac feature to record and summarize meetings. Custom connectors and extras like Dropbox are available for Team and Enterprise users. (X)

Corporate Moves

• Reddit is suing Anthropic for accessing its site over 100,000 times after saying it had stopped, even though Reddit has licensing deals with OpenAI and Google. (Reuters)

  • Reddit also now lets people hide their post and comment history in their profiles. (Reddit)

• EY just launched Studio+, a new marketing and design unit with 7,000 staff that's also exploring how to use AI in customer-facing tools. (EY)

  • Is AI helping your career, or taking it? The unemployment rate for recent college grads is 5.8%, which The New York Times says is unusually high, possibly because AI is starting to replace entry-level jobs. (New York Times)

• Deel just filed a lawsuit in June 2025 accusing Rippling of corporate espionage, claiming a Rippling employee posed as a customer for six months to steal internal data and copy product features. (Semafor)

  • Background: In March 2025, Rippling filed its own lawsuit against Deel, claiming Deel paid a Rippling employee, Keith O'Brien, to leak confidential information like sales leads and internal messages. Rippling uncovered the scheme using a honeypot trap, and O'Brien admitted to spying after trying to flush his phone to hide the evidence.

Meta Roundup

• Meta signed a long-term deal to power its AI operations using nuclear energy from a plant in Illinois starting in 2027. This gives Meta a stable and clean energy source as it scales its AI efforts, and shows how tech companies are starting to secure their own power supply. (Meta)

  • I think it’s wild that the interest form is a Google form… idk feel like this doesn’t looks super professional.

  

• Meta is reportedly teaming up with Hollywood studios to create exclusive content for its upcoming premium VR headset. It signals a shift toward making VR a platform for movies and shows, not just games, and could help Meta stand out in the next wave of entertainment. (Sheerwood)

• Meta shared new details about its smart glasses, including design, sensors, and on-device computing. (Meta)

Innovation

• I just thought this was so cool…. Neuralink rival Paradromics completed its first human implant of the wireless Connexus brain-computer interface at the University of Michigan. Implanted during epilepsy surgery, the device recorded brain activity using over 400 hair-thin electrodes! The 20-minute procedure showed the system works with standard surgical techniques and this whole thing puts Paradromics ahead in the race to bring brain-controlled tech to people with paralysis, offering detailed, wireless communication between the brain and machines. Wild. (Michigan)

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