EP-32 Starship Heat Shield Test 🔥, Amazon’s Drone Delivery Expansion 🚁, Google’s $2b Malaysia Move 💼

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for friday, may 31st.

• spacex starship launch: spacex is gearing up for its fourth orbital flight test on june 5th, focusing on testing a reusable heat shield. ceo elon musk highlights the challenges, aiming for a controlled reentry and splashdown in the indian ocean, pending faa approval.
• amazon drone delivery expansion: amazon secures faa approval to extend its prime air service beyond ground spotter range, planning to enlarge its delivery area in texas and expand to more u.s. cities by 2025 with a goal of 500 million packages annually by drone.
• google invests in malaysia: google announces a $2 billion investment for its first data center and cloud region in malaysia, projecting a $3.2 billion contribution to gdp and creating 26,500 jobs by 2030. this move aligns with malaysia's 'cloud first policy' and mirrors similar investments in southeast asia.
• apple siri ai update: apple plans a significant ai update for siri in ios 18, enabling voice control of specific app features and automatic activation based on user activity. set to start with apple's apps and expand to hundreds of commands, improving user experience with multiple task handling.
• spotify car thing backlash: spotify faces backlash and a class-action lawsuit following the decision to discontinue its in-car streaming device. users frustrated by the device's end of functionality on december 9, 2024, prompt spotify to offer refunds amid ongoing controversy.

that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow.