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👋 Good Morning. Spotify’s finally got sound on your Insta Stories (welcome to 2017), Congress wants AI rules to come from one chef not 50 cooks, and NASA’s launching satellites and content deals.

Meanwhile, Meta wants to rummage through your camera roll and AI agents still can’t tie their own shoes. Welcome to July — hot, chaotic, and weird in all the right ways.

Let’s make sense of it all. Without melting.

(As always, send tools, hot takes, or memes — I’m all ears.)

What’s Merging Today:
• 📱 Instagram adds actual music to Stories
• 🧠 Congress says “chill” to state-level AI laws
• 🚀 NASA teams with Netflix for orbital content
• 🛠️ New AI tools to analyze, automate, and scale you
• 🔒 Meta wants photo access
• 👟 Nike crushes Q4

MERGE MINDBLOWERS

🧪 You glow... a little
Humans emit a faint visible light, 1,000 times weaker than our eyes can detect. It's called biophoton emission, and it’s tied to our metabolic cycles.

🧠 You have a backup brain
Your gut contains ~500 million neurons—nicknamed the “second brain”—and it can operate independently of your actual brain in many ways.

🌌 A spoonful of neutron star weighs as much as Mt. Everest
If you could scoop a teaspoon of matter from a neutron star, it would weigh around 6 billion tons—more than all of Earth’s buildings combined.

🐜 Ants don’t sleep—but they take power naps
Ants never truly sleep. Instead, they take hundreds of micro-naps throughout the day, adding up to just a few minutes of rest.

📦 The average Amazon order travels more than 1,000 miles
Thanks to Amazon’s complex fulfillment web, your "next-day" package likely made pit stops in 3–5 cities across multiple states before arriving.

TODAY IN AI

Congress wants to press pause on state AI laws—for five years

In an increasingly AI-obsessed world, Congress just said: let’s chill. A new bipartisan bill aims to block all state-level AI regulations for five years, creating a single federal runway while the U.S. gets its policy act together. Think of it as a “national timeout” to prevent 50 different versions of Terminator law.

The proposal would form a government-wide task force to study risks, and mandate a public AI registry for any federal AI usage—kind of like an ingredients label for algorithms.

Why it matters: Tech giants are grinning. One national rulebook is easier (and cheaper) to follow than 50 state-shaped minefields. But civil rights groups and watchdogs are yelling “regulatory capture” louder than ChatGPT after a Red Bull. The big fight? Centralization vs. accountability—do we want smart regulation, or just smooth sailing for Big AI?

TODAY IN TECH

Instagram finally lets you share Spotify songs—with actual sound

After years of muted disappointment (literally), Instagram Stories now support 30-second audio snippets directly from Spotify—letting you flex your music taste and your vibes. No more silent album covers and no more pretending your Story soundtrack is in your head.

Apple Music is joining the party too, but let’s be honest—Spotify got there with the aux cord first.

Why it matters: Instagram’s turning into a one-stop culture shop. This update makes music discovery seamless, sticky, and scrollable. For Spotify, it’s distribution crack. For Meta, it’s a fresh jab at TikTok, whose music integration still leads the field. For you? It’s one less excuse for posting Drake lyrics with no context.

TODAY IN BUSINESS

NASA launches climate satellite…and a Netflix binge

NASA just blasted a climate satellite into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9—but the real launch? Its reality debut on Netflix. This marks the agency’s first official mission to be co-produced as a docuseries, bringing together orbital science and streaming drama in full cinematic glory.

The satellite, part of the PACE mission, will monitor Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and climate cycles with brutal precision—while Netflix captures every tense engineer whisper and Mission Control fist-bump.

Why it matters: NASA knows data doesn’t go viral—but astronauts might. In an age where science funding competes with reality TV budgets, storytelling is strategy. Pairing rocket launches with streaming deals isn’t just savvy—it’s essential. Expect more missions to come with behind-the-scenes b-roll, custom graphics, and yes, theme music.

MERGE TOOLS

AI tools worth your time

📚 Remio
Turn chaos into clarity. Auto-capture and organize key takeaways from messy docs, convos, or research with this personal AI knowledge hub.

🔍 CASi Scout
Say goodbye to content creator’s block. This AI scout surfaces rising trends before they peak—so your takes always hit early and hard.

🎬 Freebeat AI
Remix your media. Upscale photos, fix blurry videos, and transform visuals with just a few prompts—great for creators and marketers alike.

📚 Collate
Offline, private, and powerful. Summarize and search your PDFs, without logins or internet. It's like having ChatGPT for your doc folder.

🤖 ARIA by Skymel
Why choose one AI when you can have them all? ARIA blends responses from GPT, Claude, Gemini, and more—so every answer is consensus-level smart.

📬 Beehiiv 
Launch and grow your newsletter like a pro.
→ Your audience gets a 30-day free trial + 20% OFF for 3 months.

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

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WHAT ELSE IS MERGING

Beyond the feed

👟 Nike stock pops 10% after surviving brutal quarter
Despite a 12% year-over-year revenue dip, Nike beat expectations and forecasted a rebound. New tariffs will cost ~$1B, but strong Q4 signals pricing power and supply chain agility.

📸 Meta wants to scan your camera roll with AI
Meta is asking some users for permission to analyze unposted photos using Meta AI. While pitched as helpful, the move raises new privacy concerns—especially around intent and consent.

🧠 Why most AI agents crash and burn in production
HackerNoon breaks down why AI agents fail in the real world (think memory, hallucinations, and flaky APIs), and shares a framework for building agents that actually hold up under pressure.

📹 This AI ad trailer is too realistic
A jaw-dropping fan-made trailer for Terminator Zero went viral—and it’s 100% AI-generated. From pacing to visuals, it’s scary good…and it raises real questions about future film production.

🧪 Google Doppl: virtual try-ons, now in Labs
Google officially released Doppl into Labs—an AI app that lets you upload a selfie and preview how clothes look on you. It’s part fashion, part future tech, and full of retail implications.

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Until next time,

Matt & The Morning Merge team.