Lucinda Shen / Axios: Source: crypto payments and settlement startup Mesh is raising funding led by Binance at a ~$2B valuation, six months after raising $75M at a $1B valuation  —  Binance is set to lead Mesh's funding round that will value the crypto payments and settlement company at up to $2 billion, Axios Pro has learned.

Just for kicks, I took a look at Jersey Mike's IPO documents. Surely a sandwich shop would have no need to mention AI. But lo and behold.

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch: Travel app Hopper agrees to a $35M FTC settlement over allegations the company misled users by imposing hidden fees and misrepresenting the total costs  —  Hopper, the travel app known for its AI-driven flight and hotel price predictions, has agreed to a $35 million settlement following …

The discovery underscores the increased effort being poured into Mac infostealers.

Grace Kay / The Information: Internal memo: Tesla plans to impose a $200-per-week limit for staff's AI spending beginning July 6; the tally excludes beta versions of xAI products  —  Tesla told employees last month it would impose a $200 per week limit for staff's AI spending beginning July 6, according to an internal memo …

<p><strong>Release:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/releases/tag/0.1a0">llm-coding-agent 0.1a0</a></p> <p>Another Fable 5 experiment. Now that my <a href="https://llm.datasette.io/">LLM library</a> has evolved into more of an agent framework it's time to see what a simple coding agent would look like built on it.</p> <p>I started a <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/tree/2466fa03ba8e5122c3bfa93d52167d33bce40ac6">new Python library</a> using my <a href="https://github.com/simonw/python-lib-template-repository">python-lib-template-repository</a> GitHub template repository, then ran these two prompts (here's the <a href="https://claude.ai/code/session_01TEUBvBbMipbFSoqjMiJ7ha">Claude Code for web transcript</a>):</p> <blockquote> <p><code>Write a spec.md for this project - it will depend on the latest “llm” alpha from PyPI and implement a Claude code style coding agent complete with tools for reading and editing files and executing commands</code></p> </blockquote> <p>Then:</p> <blockquote> <p><code>Commit the spec, then build it using red/green TDD in a series of sensible commits (each with passing tests and updated docs) - occasionally manually test it using the OpenAI API key in your environment</code></p> </blockquote> <p>Here's <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/blob/0.1a0/spec.md">the spec</a>, the <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/blob/0.1a0/README.md">resulting README file</a>, and the <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/commits/0.1a0">sequence of commits</a>.</p> <p>I've shipped a slop-alpha to PyPI, so you can run the new agent like this:</p> <pre><code>uvx --prerelease=allow --with llm-coding-agent llm code </code></pre> <p>It's pretty good for a first attempt! Here's the (Fable-authored) <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/blob/0.1a0/README.md">README</a>, which lists recipes like <code>llm code --yolo</code> and <code>llm code --allow "pytest*" --allow "git diff*"</code>.</p> <p>It also presents <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/blob/0.1a0/README.md#codingagent">a Python API</a> based around a <code>CodingAgent(model="gpt-5.5", root="/path", approve=True).run("Fix the failing test in tests/test_parser.py")</code> class which I didn't ask for but I'm delighted to see implemented.</p> <p>Here's the suite of tools <a href="https://github.com/simonw/llm-coding-agent/blob/0.1a0/llm_coding_agent/tools.py#L22">it implemented</a>, listed using <code>uvx ... llm tools</code>:</p> <blockquote> <p><code>CodingTools_edit_file(path: str, old_string: str, new_string: str, replace_all: bool = False) -&gt; str</code></p> <p>Replace an exact string in a file.</p> <p>old_string must match the file contents exactly (including whitespace) and must identify a unique location unless replace_all is true. Returns a diff of the change so it can be verified.</p> <p><code>CodingTools_execute_command(command: str, timeout: int = 120) -&gt; str</code></p> <p>Run a shell command in the session root directory.</p> <p>Returns combined stdout and stderr followed by an Exit code line. timeout is in seconds (maximum 600); on timeout the whole process tree is killed.</p> <p><code>CodingTools_list_files(pattern: str = '**/*', path: str = '.') -&gt; str</code></p> <p>List files matching a glob pattern, newest first.</p> <p>Skips hidden directories, node_modules, __pycache__ and (in a git repository) anything covered by .gitignore. Returns at most 200 paths relative to the searched directory.</p> <p><code>CodingTools_read_file(path: str, offset: int = 0, limit: int = 2000) -&gt; str</code></p> <p>Read a text file, returning numbered lines like cat -n.</p> <p>Paths are relative to the session root. Use offset (0-based first line) and limit (max lines) to page through files too large to read in one call.</p> <p><code>CodingTools_search_files(pattern: str, path: str = '.', glob: str = None, max_results: int = 100) -&gt; str</code></p> <p>Search file contents for a regular expression.</p> <p>Returns matches as path:line_number:line, capped at max_results. Use glob (e.g. "*.py") to restrict which files are searched.</p> <p><code>CodingTools_write_file(path: str, content: str) -&gt; str</code></p> <p>Create or overwrite a file with the given content.</p> <p>Parent directories are created as needed. Prefer edit_file for modifying existing files.</p> </blockquote> <p>I tried it out by running <code>llm code --yolo</code> and then prompting:</p> <blockquote> <p><code>mkdir /tmp/demo and then in that folder create a simple swiftui CLI app for telling the time in ascii art</code></p> </blockquote> <p>Here's <a href="https://gist.github.com/simonw/750009007050124cd1b390cfe8488e41">the transcript</a>, in which GPT-5.5 reasoning notes that "SwiftUI isn't suitable for a true CLI" and then builds an app that outputs this on <code>swift run AsciiTime</code>:</p> <pre style="font-size: 9px"> █ █████ ████ █ █ ███ ██ █ █ █ ██ █ ██ █ █ █ ████ ███ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███ █████ </pre> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/projects">projects</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llm">llm</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llm-tool-use">llm-tool-use</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/coding-agents">coding-agents</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/claude-code">claude-code</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/claude-mythos-fable">claude-mythos-fable</a></p>

Expect more compressed patching cycles from Apple going forward, as attackers leverage artificial intelligence to reduce time to exploit.

Smartwatches may transform blood sugar tracking, but today’s advances depend on CGMs, AI, and regulated health tech integrations. The post The Smartwatch Blood Sugar Revolution, Explained appeared first on TechRepublic.

Bloomberg: Sources: ElevenLabs held early talks with investors on a secondary share sale for staff that would value the startup at ~$22B; it was valued at $11B in February  —  ElevenLabs has held early talks with investors to let employees sell shares in a secondary offering that would value …

AI has made it a lot harder for tech companies like Amazon and Google to deliver on their net-zero pledges.

After gaining a foothold in thousands of Fortinet firewalls, the attackers are starting to monetize that access, and are also piling on a Nextcloud zero-day bug.

AWS's $1 billion investment in embedded AI engineers reflects a broader shift as enterprises focus less on choosing models and more on putting AI to work.

Cate Lawrence / Tech.eu: UK-based StirlingX, which develops secure data intelligence systems for defense and critical infrastructure, raised a $20M Series A, following a $11M seed  —  The UK company, which develops secure data intelligence systems for defence and critical infrastructure, will use the funding …

Meta has quietly launched Pocket, an experimental AI app that lets users generate and share interactive mini games using text prompts.

Hopper will pay $35 million to settle FTC allegations that it used deceptive “dark patterns” to hide fees and mislead travelers about the costs and benefits of services.

The news comes about a week after OpenAI announced its own custom AI chip in a partnership with Broadcom.

One of Kalshi’s most prominent traders tells WIRED he’s swearing off Spotify-related markets until the issue is resolved.

<p><strong>Research:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/simonw/research/tree/main/dspy-datasette-agent-prompts#readme">Using DSPy to evaluate and improve Datasette Agent&#x27;s SQL system prompts</a></p> <p>One of this morning's AIE keynotes covered <a href="https://github.com/stanfordnlp/dspy">dspy</a>, which reminded me I've been meaning to see if it could help me improve the system prompt used by <a href="https://agent.datasette.io">Datasette Agent</a> - so I fired off an asynchronous research task in Claude Code for web using Claude Fable 5:</p> <blockquote> <p><code>Pip install the latest Datasette alpha and datasette-agent and dspy - then figure out how to use dspy to evaluate and improve the main system prompts used by Datasette Agent for the feature where it can execute read only SQL queries to answer user questions about data.</code></p> </blockquote> <p>Fable chose to test using GPT 4.1 mini and nano, and identified several promising looking directions for improvements. I particularly like this one:</p> <blockquote> <p>The schema listing gives only table names; the "don't call describe_table if you already have the information" advice caused column-name guessing (page_count, o.order_id, first_name) and error-retry loops in baseline traces. Either include column names in the prompt's schema listing or soften that advice.</p> </blockquote> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/datasette">datasette</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/evals">evals</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/dspy">dspy</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/datasette-agent">datasette-agent</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/claude-mythos-fable">claude-mythos-fable</a></p>

See what you missed in Daily Tech Insider from June 29–July 2. The post AI Oversight, Security Flaws, and Industry Shifts Define This Week in Tech appeared first on TechRepublic.

Elon Musk has bet Tesla's future on its Cybercab robotaxi and Optimus humanoid robot. Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images Tesla just scored a mega sales beat, but it didn't stopped its stock from getting punished by investors. Shares dropped 8% despite deliveries rising 25% year over year. The company's EV business is still going strong, even as Musk bets on robotaxis and humanoid robots. Tesla's deliveries show sales are bouncing back — but investors still dumped the stock on Thursday. Shares of Elon Musk's EV maker dropped as much as 8% on Thursday despite the firm blowing past Wall Street's delivery estimates for the second quarter. If the losses hold, it'll mark Tesla's worst single-day loss in a year. (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); Tesla delivered 480,126 EVs in the second quarter, up 25% year-over-year. The figures handily beat Wall Street's expectations, given the consensus estimate for 396,466 EVs for the quarter, according to Bloomberg. A separate company-compiled consensus suggested deliveries would reach 406,024 vehicles. The latest figures are a sign that Tesla sales have largely recovered from a wave of anti-Elon Musk backlash in 2025 and a steep decline in the wider US EV market. Shares ticked higher 2% in early morning trading before sinking into the red in the afternoon. The stock, which has weathered a volatile few years amid Musk's growing involvement in US politics, is down 10% year-to-date. Like many of its rivals, Tesla has been battling a so-called "EV winter" in the US following the end of the $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles in September. Total US electric vehicle sales fell 27% in the first three months of the year, according to data from Cox Automotive, and a wave of electric vehicle models has since vanished from the market as automakers roll back ambitious EV targets amid weak demand. However, a spike in gas prices due to the war in the Middle East appears to have given the industry a shot in the arm. Data from Kelley Blue Book, an automotive research firm, estimates EV sales in the US topped 85,000 in May, the highest since the EV tax credit was scrapped in September 2025. In February, before the war began, average US gas prices were just under $3 per gallon. They peaked in May at about $4.56 per gallon, according to AAA. Stephanie Valdez-Streaty, Cox Automotive's director of industry insights, told Business Insider that Tesla's second-quarter sales have been boosted by high gas prices. That boost mainly came from markets like Europe, which have seen an EV sales boom in recent months, Valdez-Streaty said. Meanwhile, she added, growth of alternative fuel vehicles in the US has been focused on hybrids — which Tesla doesn't sell. "If you think about the European market and the Chinese market, Tesla definitely benefited from those high gas prices," she said. In a June note, analysts at Goldman Sachs wrote that they expect EV adoption to accelerate in the coming years, ultimately pushing oil prices down. All eyes on robotaxis For Tesla, the latest figures show that its underlying EV business remains strong, even as the company pivots away from it. In January, Musk said Tesla would end production of its premium Model S and X vehicles to free up factory space for its Optimus humanoid robot, which is set to start production this summer. Tesla is also ramping up production of its Cybercab, a gold-colored robotaxi that doesn't have a steering wheel or pedals. The company's wider robotaxi rollout has been sluggish so far, however, with only a few dozen vehicles operating in Austin, Houston, and Dallas a year after the service began. The Tesla Cybercab is key to Tesla's robotaxi ambitions. Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images The EV pioneer has been eclipsed in recent weeks by Musk's other public company, SpaceX, which raised $85 billion in a record-breaking IPO and is now valued at almost $480 billion more than Tesla. SpaceX's stock market surge has led some Tesla investors to suggest that the two companies should merge. Speaking before SpaceX went public, the rocket maker's president, Gwynne Shotwell, didn't rule it out. "That might make Elon's life a little easier, actually," she said. "There's no question that there's synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures, definitely, there's a convergence of a kind of what we're all trying to accomplish in the future," Shotwell added. Read the original article on Business Insider