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👋 Good Morning. Apple just splashed AI across iOS 26, Microsoft wants an Xbox that fits in your backpack, and Disney shelled out nearly half a billion dollars to lock down Hulu once and for all. Toss in robots baking 25 K pizzas a month and Nvidia building Europe’s next mega–supercomputer, and you’ve got a Tuesday worth scrolling.

If you ever have feedback, spot a great story, or want something added in the newsletter — shoot me an email. I read and reply to every single one.

What’s Merging Today:
• 🍎 iOS 26 splashes AI everywhere
• 🎮 Microsoft unveils Game Pass handheld
• 🎬 Disney fully owns Hulu after buyout
• 🤖 Robots bake 25K pizzas per month
• 💻 Nvidia plots Europe’s next supercomputer

MERGE MINDBLOWERS

🧴 Phone vs. Toilet Seat
That shiny slab in your pocket can host 10× more bacteria than a household toilet seat — yet we disinfect it a tiny fraction as often.

📲 Thumb Olympics
The average person taps, swipes, or types on their smartphone 2,617 times per day — more than the number of breaths you take while awake.

🛒 Grocery Store GPS
A typical supermarket’s layout is designed so 90% of shoppers only ever see 40% of the products. Aisles and end-caps literally steer your cart like a real-life maze.

☕ Coffee Time Warp
Caffeine doesn’t “boost” energy — it blocks the chemical that tells your brain you’re tired. That’s why the crash hits the moment your liver clears it.

🐝 Tiny Workforce, Big Spoonful
It takes roughly 12 bees their entire lifetimes to make a single teaspoon of honey — so that squeeze bottle on your shelf represents thousands of tiny commutes.

TODAY IN AI

Apple’s iOS rumors that came true

Apple’s WWDC keynote delivered on (almost) every rumor:

• Name reset: The company is ditching version numbers — iOS 19 is now iOS 26, matching the release year. The same treatment rolls out to iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and friends. techcrunch.com

• Liquid Glass UI: Think Vision Pro vibes on your phone—translucent panels, circular icons, and a design system that bleeds into CarPlay.

• AI everywhere:

  • Workout Buddy personal-coach chatbot pulls live Health-app stats to bark real-time motivation.

  • Messages auto-translate incoming texts on the fly and suggests instant polls for group chats.

  • Siri upgrades are still MIA, but “Apple Intelligence” now handles in-chat language tricks.

• New Gaming app: A single hub merges Apple Arcade and App Store titles with leaderboards and achievements.

Why it matters: Cupertino finally stapled AI to the heart of the OS—not a separate app, but a layer. If the gamble sticks, your next upgrade decision hinges less on camera megapixels and more on how smart the phone feels.

TODAY IN TECH

Microsoft’ first “portable Xbox” is..

Meet the ROG Xbox Ally, a rebadged Asus ROG Ally dressed in Xbox green. Revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase, it’s still running full Windows 11 under the hood, but Microsoft is marketing it as the go-to Game Pass handheld. Key notes:

• Ryzen Z1 silicon for 1080p handheld gaming.

• Direct-to-Game Pass launcher, plus xCloud streaming baked in.

• Holiday 2025 launch window; price TBD (expect Ally-like ~$800). pcworld.com

Why it matters: Valve’s Steam Deck kicked the door open, but Microsoft owns the house—Game Pass, Windows, and now a branded handheld. If it clicks, the line between console and PC gaming gets blurrier than ever.

TODAY IN BUSINESS

Disney writes Comcast a $439M check

After months of appraisal mud-wrestling, a third-party arbiter has pegged Hulu’s fair-market value at $29 B. That forces Disney to write one last check — $438.7 M — to scoop up Comcast’s remaining 33 % stake and become Hulu’s sole parent by July 24.

Why it’s a blockbuster deal

📦All-in synergy play: Full control lets Bob Iger fuse Hulu’s 55 M-subscriber catalog with Disney+ and ESPN’s upcoming stand-alone stream, creating a three-tier “super-bundle” to chase Netflix’s scale.

💸Price reality check: Comcast had shouted “$40 B or bust.” The $29 B ruling lands much closer to Disney’s low-end estimate, signaling that Wall Street is cooling on pure-play streaming valuations.

🔄Comcast’s reload: NBCUniversal walks away with almost $10 B in total Hulu proceeds — fresh ammo to shore up Peacock, sports rights, or whatever comes after cable.

📈Margin makeover: Disney can now collapse duplicative tech stacks, unify ad-tech, and stop paying out minority dividends — a tidy boost to its streaming P&L heading into FY 2026.

Big picture: The Hulu saga started as a 2007 anti-piracy side project and ends as a $29 B chess piece in the streaming wars. Disney gets consolidation clarity; Comcast pockets a war chest — and the rest of the industry just got a new benchmark for what a mature streamer is really worth.

MERGE TOOLS

AI tools worth your time

🗺️ Mapify
Quickly turn lengthy texts, charts, and recordings into dynamic mind maps, complete with AI chat and visual enhancements.

📚 remio
Auto-capture, organize, and retrieve key details from messy information with an AI-powered personal knowledge hub.

✈️ MagicTrips
Plan perfect trips with custom, AI-generated itineraries tailored to your exact preferences.

📱 EditApp AI
Edit photos on mobile with AI that swaps backgrounds, tweaks details, and creates unique images in seconds.

🔒 Privatemode AI
Chat with AI confidently using end-to-end encryption that keeps your data private and secure.

🛠️ Want More? Check out our Top 50 AI Tools.

PRESENTED BY THE RUNDOWN AI

Learn AI in 5 minutes a day

What’s the secret to staying ahead of the curve in the world of AI? Information. Luckily, you can join 1,000,000+ early adopters reading The Rundown AI — the free newsletter that makes you smarter on AI with just a 5-minute read per day.

Sign up to start learning.

WHAT ELSE IS MERGING

Everything else worth a quick scan today

💰 OpenAI Hits $10B Revenue Run Rate: OpenAI says annualized sales have crossed $10 billion, fueled by enterprise subscriptions and API usage. The AI gold rush is still on.

🎧 Apple Supercharges AirPods: New firmware adds “studio-quality” lossless audio, head-gesture controls, and a remote camera shutter.

🍕 Robot Pizza, Anyone?: xRobotics’ countertop bots are now cranking out 25,000 pizzas a month for convenience stores and arenas, slinging a fresh pie every 90 seconds.

🦠 New COVID Variant Spreads in India: The XFG strain has pushed active cases past 6,500, with three deaths in 24 hours, triggering fresh monitoring.

🖥️ Nvidia + HPE Build German Supercomputer: The duo will deploy a new AI-focused machine in Germany, stacking Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs to power European research and LLM training.

QUICK POLL

PRESENTED BY 1440 MEDIA

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Until next time,

Matt & The Morning Merge team.