Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🔞 Age verification for app stores
• 💥 US launches new strikes on Iran
• 🌭 Pringles hot dog buns

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.31-minute read (880 words).

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Kelsey Pfendler, the subject of yesterday’s picture in Tidbits, is the fastest person to row solo from California to Hawaii (43 days and ~18 hours), not just the fastest woman.

Thanks to reader Lauren for writing in.

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."

–Ronald E. Osborn (1917-1998)

On Monday, the Supreme Court allowed Texas to begin enforcing a law requiring app stores to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent before anyone under 18 can download a majority of apps.

How it works: The Texas App Store Accountability Act requires companies like Apple and Google to use "commercially reasonable" methods to determine a user's age, though the law does not specify how that would be enforced.

• Minors' accounts must also be linked to a parent or guardian account, which receives notice of an app's age rating and must approve all downloads and in-app purchases.
• There are a handful of exceptions, including emergency services and college entrance exam apps.

Striking a safe balance

Texas lawmakers say the law is designed to give parents greater oversight of their children's online activity, and to protect minors from harmful content, privacy risks, and data collection.

AG Ken Paxton's office has argued that children with unrestricted access can download apps that expose them to inappropriate material, or allow companies to collect personal information without a parent's knowledge.

But for other groups, the law goes too far. Some industry trade associations, privacy advocates, and student activist orgs argue that Texas’ measure violates the First Amendment by creating barriers to lawful online content, including news, educational resources, and other protected speech.

They also note that age verification would force both adults and minors to hand over personal information simply to access app stores, raising broader privacy concerns.

Texas is part of a broader trend: Utah, Louisiana, and Alabama have also approved similar app store age-verification laws, while Congress has recently considered imposing federal online child safety measures.

Looking ahead…SCOTUS’ ruling doesn’t address the Texas law's constitutionality, but simply allows it to be enforced while a legal challenge proceeds in lower courts. The Fifth Circuit is scheduled to hear the case on an expedited basis in August, when it will consider whether the law should be permanently blocked.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you support or oppose Texas’ new state law requiring age verification and parental consent for users under 18 to download most apps?

• Support
• Oppose
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🛒 Walmart announces plans to lower prices on thousands of items to increase affordability; price cuts include ground beef (-12%), Coca-Cola (-33%), cherries (-50%), and more.
• 🤖 Leading public AI models—ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.—shouldn’t be used as a final authority for financial advice, per new research; study shows AI can provide inconsistent, inaccurate, or demographically biased advice.
• 🚗 Stellantis says it has opened US orders for its small Fiat Topolino EV; starting at $13,995, the quadricycle functions more like a golf cart, with a 19 MPH top speed.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚽ World Cup quarterfinals are now set, after Argentina comes back late from two-goal deficit to stun Egypt 3-2, and Switzerland beats Colombia 4-3 in a penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw.
• 🎤 Dolly: A True Original Musical, Dolly Parton’s biographical Broadway play, announces premiere date on the singer’s 81st birthday in January.
• 🏆 Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU star and executive producer, to host the 78th Emmy Awards in September; she’ll be the first woman to host since Jane Lynch in 2011.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ⚒️ Humans and Neanderthals likely had a shared material culture for thousands of years, per new cave study that found both species used similar tools.
• 🤖 Anthropic says it’s identified an internal workspace that its Claude AI model uses to hold and manipulate ideas without putting them into words; Anthropic says it resembles how humans consciously access thoughts.
• ☄️ Japanese spacecraft captures images of two-headed asteroid ~62 million miles away in one of the closest-ever high-speed asteroid passes.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 💥 Iran war: US launches fresh airstrikes along Iran’s coast and revokes license allowing Iran to sell oil on the open market; moves come in response to a series of Iranian attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz this week, including three yesterday.
• 🏢 Manhattan high-rise building under construction near Grand Central Terminal saw two structural support beams start buckling yesterday morning, forcing street closures and evacuations of nine neighboring buildings amid warnings of a possible collapse.
• 🇬🇧 Nigel Farage, head of the UK’s poll-leading Reform Party, is stepping down as a Member of Parliament amid a gov’t probe into an undisclosed ~$6.7 million donation from a crypto billionaire; Farage will now run for re-election for his same seat, saying he wants voters to decide his fate in a by-election.

☝️Archivists in London discovered an unknown, rare copy of the Declaration of Independence buried among other papers in Britain's National Archives. The so-called “Exeter printing” is one of just 11 original copies to exist, and the only one identified outside of the US.

🤔 Did you know? Most mammals have reproductive cycles and continue to be fertile until late in their lifespan. Humans and a small handful of whale species, however, are the only confirmed species to experience menopause.

📰 Worth a read: Is friendship the new influencer flex?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• This summer’s tiniest villain
• Pringles turns popular flavors into hot dog buns
• Europe is hot as hell. Why doesn’t it want A/C?

⚽🏆 Upsets and surprises shake up the World Cup race… $470m+ has already flowed into Kalshi’s World Cup winner market as traders react to results, injuries, standout performances, and shifting tournament paths. What’s your prediction? Trade $10, claim $10 at Kalshi.

Can you name the last three winners of the men’s FIFA World Cup? (Bonus points for naming the host cities)

(keep scrolling for the answers)

⛺️ "Gramping" is an activity that's recently grown in popularity, helping grandparents and their grandkids connect over campfire stories, s'mores roasting, and the great outdoors. 

1. Argentina, 2022 (Qatar)
2. France, 2018 (Russia)
3. Germany, 2014 (Brazil)

Source

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