Good morning. In this edition:

• 📺 AI-generated TV ads
• 👁️ Vision-restoring eye drops
• 🍬 “Sugar-rush” myth

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.67-minute read (975 words).

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"The world only exists in your eyes – your conception of it. You can make it as big or as small as you want to."

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

TV commercials could soon look a lot like ads in your Instagram and TikTok feeds: weirder, cheaper, and a lot more personal.

Roku, one of the leading streaming gateways for millions of US viewers, is experimenting with ways to open your TV screen to more advertisers with the help of AI-generated ads.

The plan: The company this month announced plans to expand access to AI-generated commercials to small and midsize businesses, instead of just the company’s top ~200 advertisers. Roku is aiming for ~100,000 advertisers to make AI video ads for its streaming service, the Roku Channel, according to CFO and COO Dan Jedda.

• By providing access to thousands of smaller advertisers, Roku hopes to make streaming ads more personalized and competitive.
• The company also aims to cash-in on small- to- medium-sized businesses, who typically spend their marketing dollars on web search and/or social media ads.

Where Roku goes, others will likely follow

Other major streamers (as well as Shrimp Jesus and Bigfoot’s agent) are watching with bated breath, since the performance of Roku’s new advertising push will likely serve as a bellwether for the industry.

• As The Verge notes: “If you want to know where TV is going, it’s a good idea to closely watch Roku. It’s a public company with a singular focus on smart TVs and streaming, which forces it to be a lot more transparent about its numbers than, say, Amazon or Google.”
• Roku is also a market leader in the US. Its OS devices currently account for ~21.4% of all Americans’ TV viewing time, while Roku TVs and streaming devices are now in 50+% of all US broadband households.

Big picture: A handful of media conglomerates—including Comcast, Universal Ads, and Britain’s Channel 4—are also developing AI tools and self-service platforms to make streaming-TV ads affordable for small and midsize businesses.

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A new Alzheimer’s blood test aims to go where Elizabeth Holmes only dreamed. Scientists at University College London are launching a first-of-its-kind trial that aims to sign up 1,000+ patients for a blood test that aims to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.

• The blood test measures the presence of two rogue proteins that silently build up in the brain decades before symptoms of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, begin to show.
• Early studies suggest it can diagnose the disease with accuracy above 90%, at a price tag of just $110, with results expected within three months.

Why it’s a big deal

Previously, the only way to confirm an Alzheimer’s diagnosis was with specialist PET brain scans, which run between $5,000–$8,000 in the US, or a lumbar puncture to extract cerebrospinal fluid, a painful procedure with a price tag north of $1,000.

• Recent surveys show only a third of Americans with dementia felt their experience of the diagnosis process was positive, while many reported being afraid of receiving a diagnosis.
• Experts say the results indicate many patients never get a clear diagnosis until it’s too late for meaningful treatment.

Closer to home: US regulators in May approved a similar Alzheimer’s blood test, called Lumipulse, that costs between $500–$1,200, with results delivered in just a few days. Insurance coverage is still being sorted out, but experts hope it will soon be more widely available.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📲 US and Chinese negotiators reach a framework deal to divest TikTok from Chinese owner ByteDance and shift the social media app into US-controlled ownership. | Chinese regulators accuse Nvidia of violating antitrust law with 2020 acquisition of Israeli networking firm; China’s action is reportedly aimed at providing President Xi Jinping with political cover for the US TikTok deal.
• 🏛️ Senate confirms Stephen Miran, President Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Miran will attend the Fed’s highly anticipated next meeting that starts today.
• 💰 Alphabet becomes the fourth company in history to reach a $3 trillion market cap. | Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals ~$1 billion purchase of company stock on the open market, his biggest such purchase ever by value; shares close up 3.6%.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Dunhill Travel Deals

• 📰 Penske Media—which owns Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety—sues Google over its AI summaries in Search, citing a recent drop in site traffic and revenue.
• 👀 The Emmy Awards drew 7.4 million viewers on Sunday night, 8% higher than last year and the biggest figure since 2021.
• 🏈 Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow reportedly sidelined for at least three months due to Grade 3 turf toe injury, which requires surgery. | Two CFB coaches fired: UCLA let go of DeShaun Foster and Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry after 0-3 starts; players on those teams can now enter the transfer portal.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 👁️ Special eye drops could restore near vision lost to aging and replace the need for reading glasses, per new study; in trials, one dose improved sight within an hour and sustained results for years with minimal side effects.
• 🐙 Classic “rubber hand” illusion—where participant is tricked into experiencing a fake arm as their own—works on octopuses, per new study; until now, only some mammals like mice and humans were known to be susceptible.
• 🌌 First-of-its-kind measurement uses gravitational waves to determine the recoil imparted as two black holes collide; it allows 3D reconstruction of the collision, which is billions of light-years away, using only ripples in spacetime.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🎙️ Vice President JD Vance hosted an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show yesterday, following the assassination of the podcast’s namesake last week.
• 💥 US military yesterday attacked a second vessel in international waters that was allegedly transporting illegal narcotics to the US; three people were killed.
• 🤖 California lawmakers approve landmark AI safety bill setting new transparency requirements for large companies; it now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to sign or veto.

☝️ The Babich family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, earlier this month broke the 10-year-old world record for tallest sunflower ever, per Guinness World Records. Their skyscraping plant measured 35 feet, 9 inches high from the base of its stem to the tip of its highest flower.

🤔 Did you know? Scientific research has consistently shown that there’s no such thing as a “sugar rush,” where sugar is directly responsible for sudden bursts of hyperactivity (often in kids). A potential alternate explanation is that sweets are often bestowed on special occasions, when children are already excited and prone to energetic outbursts.

📰 Worth a read: Why we should treat caffeine like the brain-altering drug it is

🖱️ Clickbait: The 10 best countries to retire abroad

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Yesterday we covered new Gallup polling that found the perceived importance of a college degree among US adults has fallen to a new record low.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, how important is a college education today: very important, fairly important, or not too important?

• Very important: 34%
• Fairly important: 41%
• Not too important: 25%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 1,412 votes and 152 longform responses.

❓Trivia: Which sector of the economy is driving record US electricity demand in 2025?

🎓 True or false? The Great Wall of China is visible from the Moon with the naked eye.

🤡 Riddle me this: I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I?

👗 Manhattan fashion designer Evan Hirsch is combating waste in the fashion industry with an entire collection of thrifted outfits from Goodwill as part of New York Fashion Week.

❓Trivia: Data centers dedicated to AI

🎓 T/F: False

🤡 Riddle: A joke

*DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso's Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving the ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.