Good morning.

It’s Thursday, May 7. Everything is blooming, glowing, thriving, and even people who were emotionally unavailable all winter suddenly have hobbies and opinions. Everyone is outside romanticizing their life like it’s a movie. Long walks, iced drinks, soft smiles. Give it a few weeks — humidity will humble us all back into reality. But for now, let’s pretend we’re better, happier, and maybe even a little bit productive.

Enjoy the illusion. And the sunshine. Have a good read.

Today’s stories:

Stocks rallied Wednesday after reports suggested the U.S. and Iran might finally be getting closer to ending the war — and markets wasted absolutely no time celebrating.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%, while the Nasdaq jumped 2%, with both indexes hitting fresh record highs. The Dow Jones added more than 600 points, closing just shy of the 50,000 mark.

According to reports, the U.S. and Iran are nearing a potential agreement that could include limits on nuclear enrichment, while Iranian officials confirmed they are reviewing a U.S. proposal.

Translation: markets heard “possible peace deal” and immediately switched back into risk-on mode.

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GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen made a $56B unsolicited offer to buy eBay, because aiming small is clearly not the vibe. GameStop quietly built a ~5% stake and is offering $125 per share, about a 20% premium, split between cash and GameStop stock, backed by up to $20B in financing and a lot of confidence. Cohen says he can turn eBay into a “hundreds of billions” company and seriously compete with Amazon, while cutting costs and leaning into shared categories like collectibles, which is corporate speak for “we both sell the same nerd stuff.” eBay responded politely, saying it will review the offer with a focus on shareholder value, including whether GameStop stock is actually worth taking and whether GameStop can even deliver a real, binding deal, which is a very corporate way of asking “are you serious.”

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DeepSeek jumps to $45B and enters the big leagues. DeepSeek is raising its first money ever and casually flirting with a $45B valuation. A few weeks ago it was $20B. The lab blew up in 2025 by building strong AI models using way less compute than the usual giants like OpenAI and Anthropic. Founder Liang Wenfeng owns most of it and didn’t even want investors. Then competitors started stealing talent. Suddenly, funding sounded like a great idea. China is backing it hard, with state money and tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba circling. The models are optimized for Huawei Technologies chips, because relying on the U.S. is so last season.

Samsung hits $1T and keeps climbing. Samsung Electronics just crossed a $1T valuation after its stock jumped more than 15% in a single day, because AI is still the hottest word in finance and everyone wants a piece. It’s now the second Asian company to hit that milestone after TSMC, and yes, the rally is doing the absolute most. The numbers help: profits surged more than eightfold last quarter, revenue hit record highs, and somehow one quarter already beat its entire 2025 profit, which feels slightly aggressive but here we are. There’s also buzz that Apple is exploring working with Samsung and Intel to make chips in the U.S., because relying on one supplier is so last cycle. Meanwhile, SK Hynix stock jumped too, and the Korean market hit fresh highs, because when AI runs, it really runs.

Your Biscoff just got cancelled. Delta Air Lines is cutting free snacks and drinks on shorter flights starting May 19. If your flight is under 350 miles, congrats — you get vibes and eye contact. No Biscoff, no ginger ale, no tiny moment of joy. Delta says it’s about “consistency.” So less stuff, same ticket price. Flights over 350 miles still get snacks and drinks. First class stays untouched, obviously. Everyone else can enjoy the full minimalist experience.

Met Gala raises $42M before the night even starts. The Met Gala just pulled in $42 million before anyone even touched the red carpet. Yes, before the outfits, before the photos, before the dramatic stairs moment. That’s a jump from last year’s $31M, because apparently fashion + billionaires = exponential growth. Big names like Lauren Sánchez, Jeff Bezos, Venus Williams and a full lineup of designers were already in the building celebrating the number like it’s part of the show. The event funds the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has quietly turned into the most successful museum fundraiser in the world. What started as a 1940s dinner is now a global spectacle where art, fashion, and very large checks come together for one night of cultural flexing.

Uber is adding hotel bookings to the app. Over 700,000 listings, powered by Expedia Group. Vacation rentals are next, thanks to Vrbo. Because one app clearly wasn’t doing enough already. The app will remind you to book rides, push food delivery like “room service,” and save you from the horror of opening a second app. Meanwhile, Uber One keeps growing. $9.99/month for credits, discounts, and just enough perks to make leaving feel like a bad financial decision. This isn’t about convenience. This is about making Uber the place you never leave.

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Flying taxis want to replace your JFK commute. A flying taxi is being tested as a shortcut to John F. Kennedy International Airport. It’s called an eVTOL. Electric, vertical takeoff, very “I’m better than traffic.” Built by Joby Aviation, it looks like a giant drone and carries up to four people. It takes off like a helicopter, flies like a plane, and lands wherever space allows. Quieter too, allegedly. Best part: a two-hour drive turns into a seven-minute flight. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is already on board. 

Chrome finally stops oversharing your location. Google Chrome on Android now lets you share an approximate location instead of your precise one. Basically websites no longer need to know your exact couch position just to show you the weather. Precise location is still there for things that actually need it, like delivery or navigation. Everything else gets a vague “somewhere around here.”

Kids are beating age checks with fake mustaches. Age-verification systems are being outsmarted by… eyeliner. A report from Internet Matters found that about half of kids say age checks are easy to bypass. One method: draw a fake mustache and let the algorithm do its worst. It works. Repeatedly. Other hacks include pointing the camera at older-looking video game characters or just making weird faces until the system gives up. Meanwhile, governments keep rolling out stricter age laws, asking users to upload IDs and trust random databases with their personal data. Tech companies are scrambling to comply with uploads, AI guesses, and general digital guesswork.

The ocean is now part of the AI strategy. Panthalassa just raised $140M with backing from Peter Thiel and a lineup of billionaire names, because nothing says “future” like AI floating in the ocean. The startup is building wave-powered systems that look like giant floating orbs, generating energy while running AI and sending data via satellites. Very calm, very normal. They’ve been working on this for years, blending clean energy, autonomous tech, and computing into one ambitious “let’s put it in the sea” concept. A pilot facility is coming near Portland, with real-world deployments starting soon and a commercial rollout planned for 2027. Thiel is calling it opening the “ocean frontier,” which sounds impressive until you realize we now have AI in the clouds, on land, and apparently drifting in the water too.

Nvidia brings data centers to your backyard. Nvidia is teaming up with Span to put mini AI data centers on the side of your house, because apparently the cloud now needs curb appeal. The idea is simple and slightly unhinged: install a small box outside your home that uses spare electricity to power AI computing, while companies tap into it like a neighborhood-sized data center. These “nodes” could replace large centralized data centers, which currently eat as much electricity as small cities, and instead spread the load across thousands of homes. Homeowners get a flat energy setup, Wi-Fi, and some compensation for letting AI quietly hum next to their HVAC unit. You get passive income. Your house gets a side hustle. They’re already testing this with new home developments, promising faster deployment and lower costs than building massive facilities.

The Met Gala leaned hard into “fashion is art” this year, and celebrities took it very literally. Think Heidi Klum dressed like a veiled Vestal virgin and Ciara channeling a gold-covered Nefertiti statue, because subtlety does not get invited to this event. The whole night marks the opening of the Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, curated under the watch of Anna Wintour, where the dress code is essentially “be iconic or stay home.” If you want the full breakdown of looks and their art inspirations, go check the link. It’s worth it.

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The beach town NYC couldn’t leave alone. A new luxury hotel, Offshore Montauk, is opening where a budget motel used to be. The old Sands Motel is gone. In its place: spa, pool, rooftop, and vibes starting at $700 a night. Holiday weekends hit $2,000, because of course they do. The property was bought for $23.5M and fully redone. Now it’s all wellness, aesthetics, and pricing that suggests you’re doing very well in life. Montauk continues its transformation from laid-back beach town to “hope you brought a budget.”

Man uses drone show to guide delivery drivers home. A homeowner in Linden, California went viral for using a full drone light show to guide delivery drivers to his house, because normal directions clearly weren’t dramatic enough. After signs, map fixes, and basic logic failed, he upgraded to glowing sky messages like “Wrong driveway. Back up” and “Over here,” basically turning every delivery into a guided performance. The drones literally direct the driver step by step, then end with a smiley face and a “Thank you,” because customer service matters, even from the sky.

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TikTok of the day: watch here

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