Top News | Meet the new Apple boss: Cupertino shocked the world this week, and saw JCal’s prophecy from earlier this month fulfilled, announcing that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO of Apple and taking on the role of Executive Chairman. Senior VP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus will take over the top job. Cook remains on as CEO through the summer, working on a maximally smooth transition to the Ternus regime. Bloomberg suggests that Apple insiders see Ternus as heralding a “renewed emphasis on products.” While Cook’s highest-profile releases — such as the Apple Vision Pro headset — were greeted with less enthusiasm than the Apple debuts of yore, Ternus gets credit for not just releasing steady upgrades to Apple’s core line-up, but championing rare breakouts like the new MacBook Neo. On TWiST, Jason noted that Apple products under Cook were uninspiring. Still, the New York Times points out that it was not an unprofitable period for the company. Under Cook, Apple’s market cap rose from $350 billion to a healthy $4 trillion. Google falls behind on coding: Reports from inside Google suggest that many members of the team, particularly on the DeepMind side of things, are concerned that they’re falling behind when it comes to AI coding assistants. As Anthropic’s models become the go-to amongst developers, with Chinese open source alternatives increasingly filling in the gaps, Google has perhaps missed an opportunity to define its own contribution to the “AI Coding Tools” marketplace. (One issue Bloomberg spots: Google’s Gemini suite of tools are spread out across many different products with different brand identities. Their report also suggests that many Googlers prefer to use Claude Code for their projects, which is never a good sign.) According to The Information, co-founder Sergey Brin has also raised the alarm on the need for coding focus this week, releasing a memo ordering all Gemini engineers “to use internal agents for complex, multi-step tasks.” New York sues crypto exchanges: New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suits against Coinbase and Gemini, arguing that their prediction market offerings violate state gambling laws. The suit notably excludes standalone prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket, which are contesting similar legal battles in other states. The Wall Street Journal suggests the New York ruling could become a bellwether for other states seeking to regulate prediction markets. The federal government currently maintains that prediction markets are overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which has taken a broadly favorable view toward the concept.
| TWiST 500 | Speaking of Kalshi… | The T500 favorite is reportedly expanding into crypto trading, bringing it into direct competition with Coinbase and Gemini in a new niche. | Kalshi has filed for the right to offer perpetual futures trading, a form that’s widely used on offshore exchanges like Binance and Hyperliquid, but has so far been unavailable to US investors. CFTC chairman Michael Selig confirmed last month that the agency is likely to open up more avenues for perpetual futures trading on US markets. | Robinhood has already demonstrated the value of having crypto exchanges and prediction markets living side-by-side. Now we’re starting to see a race to flood the market with competitors. | There’s also been some movement on the whole Anthropic “supply chain risk” declaration this week. President Trump told CNBC on Tuesday that “it’s possible” the Department of Defense/War could reach an agreement with the AI company, that would re-open Claude access for federal employees and the US military. “We had some very good talks with them, and I think they’re shaping up. They’re very smart, and I think they can be of great use,” POTUS added. | This of course comes hot on the heels of Anthropic’s covert release of Claude Mythos Preview to other tech companies and some federal agencies. It seems likely that the intensely powerful new model, which apparently comes with chilling implications for cybersecurity, is just too tantalizing for the Pentagon to pass up, and gave the AI giant some additional leverage. – Lon | A message from Render | Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers. | This Week in Startups | E2278: Jason and Lon greet Eragon CEO Josh Sirota, who argues that companies are giving away too much proprietary data to model companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Instead, his company trains custom models for companies based on all of their documents, which they own and control. Plus we’ve got IONA Drones founder Etienne Louvet discussing why his company is licensing their aviation delivery tech to logistics operators rather than going direct to customers (like rival Zipline). | E2277: Jason Ballard of ICON joins the show to talk about how 3D printing homes can not just help us solve the housing crisis, and help humanity colonize the cosmos, but could also lead the way to a more beautiful and aesthetically pleasing future. Plus Jason and Lon chat with Seby Rubino of Resi Labs about designing the “oracle,” which can guess the price of any home with 98% accuracy. Is this a potential Zillow Killer? | E2276: Jason and Lon kick off the show with Albert and Boris for Nanogram, an app that’s essentially TikTok for mobile games. People create casual mini-games with AI and then share them on an endlessly scrolling feed. It’s pretty addictive! Then, Alex chats with 1X Technologies CEO Bernt Børnich about building NEO, a safety-first 66-lb humanoid robot designed specifically for the home. Find out why Bernt says households are an even trickier workspace for robots than a factory floor or warehouse. | TWiST Partner Offers | Quo: Quo (formerly OpenPhone) gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free and get 20% off your first 6 months at quo.com/TWiST. Vanta: Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 reports fast. Get $1,000 off for a limited time at http://www.vanta.com/twist. Pilot: Focus on your product, let Pilot handle your bookkeeping. Pilot provides the most reliable accounting, CFO, and tax services for startups and small businesses. Head to https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.
| LAUNCH Accelerator 36! | Our 36th LAUNCH Accelerator cohort has kicked off. If you’re an early stage investor and want to take a look at this cohort first-hand during an exclusive pitch session, please email bianca@launch.co! | Our Favorite Tool | If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off! | SF Live-Work Space Now Available | Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details. | The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker. |
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