The Amped Journal

Google DeepMind unveiled "Predicting the Past," a new skill in Google Antigravity, the company's AI development platform, that grounds Gemini in two specialized models, Aeneas and Ithaca, letting historians study ancient Greek and Latin inscriptions using plain English instead of custom code. DeepMind partnered with researcher Thea Sommerschield on three case studies to demonstrate the approach, saying it removes the need for custom analysis, cross-source pattern mapping, and coding skills.

In a thread titled "A Stargate for Data," an OpenAI researcher named DePue argued that AI scaling laws require data to grow alongside compute, but high-quality public text will fall short at around 300 trillion tokens. He predicted labs will need to spend more than $100 billion annually on data by 2030, tapping sources like proprietary company knowledge and physical-world tasks. Companies like Mercor are already scaling fast using expert human labelers, he noted, while critics who favor algorithmic efficiency counter that some needed knowledge simply doesn't exist online yet.

Anthropic is circulating strategies for using its flagship Claude Fable 5 model on a budget by pairing it with the cheaper, faster Claude Sonnet 5. One pattern uses Sonnet as the main executor that calls Fable sparingly for advice; another uses Fable as an orchestrator dispatching routine tasks to Sonnet workers. Benchmarks on coding and web research tasks show both patterns hit 92-96% of Fable 5's standalone performance at 46-63% of the cost, as developers race to adopt them while free-tier access winds down.

Pieter Levels (@levelsio), a prolific indie founder behind products like Nomad List, said he had Claude Code build a basic iOS app entirely in Swift using an unusual pipeline: Claude ran on his Hetzner cloud server, then SSH'd into a rented MacinCloud Mac Mini in a data center to compile the app in Xcode and send back a screenshot link to check the result. He called it "very basic but a great" proof that AI coding agents can now orchestrate cross-machine build pipelines, including the Mac-only tooling Apple requires for iOS development.

Vercel, the web hosting and deployment platform, announced that Bereket Tsegaye and the team behind Better Auth, an open-source authentication library, are joining the company. Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch said the goal is auth built for both humans and AI agents, developed in the open. The move extends Vercel's push into tooling built specifically for AI agents, following its recent work embedding evaluation tools directly into its agent framework.

ZML, a French AI infrastructure startup, released a free product designed to speed up inference across a wide range of AI chips, according to TechCrunch. The tool adds to a growing field of software aimed at squeezing more performance out of AI hardware as compute costs remain a major constraint for AI companies.

The European Union is pushing forward, for a sixth time, with a proposal often called "Chat Control" that would allow scanning of private messages, photos and emails without a warrant, according to entrepreneur Pieter Levels. Previous versions of the legislation have been rejected multiple times by EU member states, but the measure keeps returning for another vote.

Figma's latest research shows growing overlap between design and engineering roles: the share of designers participating in development doubled to 41% over the past year, while the share of developers doing design work rose from 44% to 60%. The company said 76% of respondents now do at least half their work on the design canvas.

Pieter Levels said he got tired of manually ordering groceries on UberEats and instead had Claude Code install Playwright, a browser automation tool, and log into UberEats once on the web. After that one-time setup, he said he can simply tell the agent "order bananas" and it completes the purchase, noting that UberEats' iOS app is itself just a web wrapper, which made the browser-based approach straightforward.

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department's attempt to subpoena the names of 2020 election workers in Georgia's Fulton County, the Associated Press reported. The ruling blocks DOJ access to the workers' identities as part of its review tied to the 2020 election.

A new AP-NORC poll finds support for Israel has fallen sharply among Democrats, while younger Republicans are also less supportive than their older counterparts. The survey found most Jewish American adults disapprove of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and about three in ten say Israel has committed genocide in its conduct of the war.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long backed Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, joined the growing chorus of Democrats recommending Platner step aside from the race, the AP and Fox News reported. The call follows a new assault allegation against Platner from a Maine woman, which led his campaign to cancel events this week.

President Trump arrived at the NATO summit as the alliance works to keep him engaged with billions of dollars in arms deals, the AP reported. The move reflects allies' continued efforts to accommodate Trump's long-running push for member nations to raise defense spending and share more of the alliance's burden.

Denise Nataly Migliore, an Australian national living in the United States, was charged with voting in federal elections despite not being a US citizen. She allegedly claimed to be a US citizen when registering to vote. The case adds to renewed attention on citizenship verification in voter registration, an issue at the center of the proposed SAVE Act, a federal bill that would require proof of citizenship to register.

Gov. Josh Stein signed North Carolina's new state budget into law Tuesday, directing significant funding to the Wilmington area. Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, said it puts more than $17 million into local addiction treatment and recovery organizations, nearly $11.5 million into storm protection for Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, and more than $29 million into UNCW's campus. It also creates a $45 million fund to help utilities address PFAS contamination and bars new water transfers out of the Cape Fear River basin.

The Justice Department, EPA and West Virginia regulators announced a proposed $450 million settlement with Chemours over PFAS pollution from its facilities, including in North Carolina's Cape Fear River basin. The deal includes a $22.5 million civil penalty and up to $90 million for further emissions reductions or alternative drinking water relief. Gov. Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson criticized it as "a backroom deal" that excluded North Carolina from negotiations.

NextBoat Inc., a Wilmington-based pre-owned boat marketplace, announced a partnership with MarineMax, one of the world's largest recreational boat and yacht retailers. Under the five-year deal, MarineMax becomes the first enterprise dealer group to route a significant share of its trade-in inventory through NextBoat's AI platform for evaluation, marketing and sale to wholesale buyers. MarineMax generates more than $2.3 billion in annual revenue across 120 locations, including a Wrightsville Beach dealership.

Treeline Companies secured a $10 million permanent loan from United Bank to refinance The Yard, its 80-acre industrial park off U.S. 421 North, after the project's first phase stabilized. That phase included rehabbing a 115,000-square-foot building and selling two lots. The New York-based developer bought the park in 2022 for $4.75 million and has since invested millions upgrading its infrastructure.

Signature Autosports, a high-end custom vehicle build and restoration company, moved into a nearly 30,000-square-foot building at 1301 S. 13th St. this spring after outgrowing its 16,000-square-foot Castle Hayne location. Owner Aaron Richardet bought the building for $2.3 million in January and renovated it to include a 4,500-square-foot showroom that can hold about 20 vehicles. Restorations at the shop typically run $200,000 to $500,000 and take about six months.

New Hanover County's new Northchase Library at 4400 Northchase Parkway West opens to the public next week, with a ribbon-cutting set for 1 p.m. July 9. The 19,941-square-foot branch is the library system's fifth and includes a teen multimedia and gaming room, a children's story time pavilion, study rooms, and shelving for about 50,000 books. It's the county's second new library to open in less than a year, following the Grace District's Main Library in October 2025.

The Gourmet Market, a longtime market and convenience store in downtown Wilmington, reopened Tuesday at 143 N. Front St. after two decades at 27 N. Front St. General manager Donna Stamm said the new space is double the size, allowing for more shelving, a bigger walk-in cooler, and an expanded selection of produce, frozen meats sourced from a Castle Hayne farm, and international grocery items.