Tech Giants Push Boundaries While Struggling With Basics

A ride-hailing app now lets people book hotel rooms. Uber added 700, 000 hotel listings through a partnership with Expedia, plus plans to include over a million vacation rentals later this year. The company wants to become an “everything app” where users can handle travel, food delivery, and groceries all in one place. Their goal? To save customers time and money by reducing app switching. But with a $9. 99 monthly membership, users get extra perks like a 20% discount on certain hotels and 10% back in ride credits. Meanwhile, oil prices hit wartime highs after supply disruptions in the Persian Gulf. Gasoline in the U. S. now averages $4. 23 a gallon, a 42% jump since the conflict began. Diesel prices rose even faster, climbing 50% to $5. 64. Investors worry that stalled U. S. -Iran talks could keep energy supplies tight for weeks or months, pushing prices even higher.Social media giant Meta faces fines in Europe for failing to block kids under 13 from Instagram and Facebook. Regulators say Meta’s age-checking system is weak—users can easily lie about their birth year, and reporting underage accounts is a hassle with up to seven steps. Even after reports, enforcement is inconsistent, with many underage users staying on the platforms. Meta calls age verification an “industrywide challenge” and claims it’s working on better tools. In court, Elon Musk admitted he was “a fool” for funding OpenAI, saying its founders misled him about its nonprofit status. Testifying in a lawsuit, he argued OpenAI was always meant to stay nonprofit, but the company later became an $800 billion business. His combative tone even drew a judge’s interruption when he compared a legal question to an abusive scenario. OpenAI’s lawyer pushed back, suggesting Musk wanted too much control, which may have led to his 2018 exit. The case highlights tensions over who should oversee AI development.