Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Google just lost a major antitrust case after a federal judge ruled it illegally monopolized the digital advertising market — siding with the Justice Department in a case that could break up the company.

The timing couldn’t be worse. With Meta, Apple, and Amazon also facing antitrust challenges, has Big Tech finally reached its day of reckoning?

In today’s tech rundown:

• Google loses key antitrust case

• Archer’s electric air taxis in NYC

• FDA clears Precision’s brain implant

• Scientists find clues to extraterrestrial life

• Quick hits on other major tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

GOOGLE

⚖️ Google loses key antitrust case

Image source: Ideogram

The Rundown: A U.S. federal judge ruled on Thursday that Google illegally monopolized online advertising technology markets, dealing a massive blow to the tech giant in an antitrust case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The details:

• Google was found to have illegally controlled both publisher ad servers and the ad exchanges that allow marketplaces to connect publishers with ads.

• By tightly integrating and tying these tools together through contracts and technology, Google was able to exclude competitors and extract high fees.

• In a 115-page ruling, the judge said that Google’s dominance “substantially harmed” publishers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, the consumers.

• The ruling marks Google’s second major antitrust defeat in less than a year and opens up the door for prosecutors to seek the breakup of its ad business.

Why it matters: This highly anticipated verdict has the potential to not only reshape Google but also the entire online ad business that website publishers depend on to monetize their content. It also highlights the U.S. government's ongoing efforts to rein in Big Tech’s anticompetitive practices.

ARCHER AVIATION

✈️ Archer’s electric air taxis in NYC

Image source: Archer Aviation

The Rundown: Archer Aviation, in collaboration with United Airlines, is planning to launch an electric air taxi network in New York, ferrying passengers from vertiports in Manhattan to nearby airports in minutes.

The details:

• The startup announced that its proposed air taxi service would allow United Airlines passengers to add on an Archer ride to their airline tickets.

• Archer is still waiting on the FAA’s approval for its aircraft—Midnight, a five-seat eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle)—before testing routes.

• One of Archer’s longstanding partners is Stellantis, which holds exclusive rights to manufacture its eVTOLs at a newly completed facility in Georgia.

• Techcrunch reports that United will help with aircraft storage, maintenance, charging setup, and setting up vertiports at airports.

Why it matters: Archer aims to start with five eVTOLs in NYC before reaching its goal of flying hundreds of aircraft across cities in a few decades. The startup says it will build 650 Midnights a year by 2030. Its rival, Joby Aviation, also has plans to launch in NYC—but both startups need the FAA’s nod before making that happen.

PRECISION NEUROSCIENCE

🧠 FDA clears Precision’s brain implant

Image source: Precision Neuroscience

The Rundown: Precision Neuroscience received FDA clearance for a core component of its brain impact system, a minimally invasive brain implant that the startup hopes will eventually help paralyzed patients regain speech and movement.

The details:

• The approved piece of the system is the Layer 7 Cortical Interface, which is thinner than a human hair and contains 1,024 electrodes.

• It is designed to sit on the brain’s surface and record, monitor, and stimulate neural activity for up to 30 days.

• The implant can be inserted through a sub-millimeter incision without penetrating brain tissue—making it a reversible surgical procedure.

• Rivals in the space include Elon Musk’s Neuralink and Synchron, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Why it matters: This is a major win for the four-year-old company, with the long-term goal of helping paralyzed patients regain functions such as speech and movement by translating neural signals into digital commands. Also, Precision’s approach is notably less invasive than that of Neuralink, which penetrates the brain’s cortex.

NASA/UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

🔭 Scientists discover clues to extraterrestrial life

Image source: NASA, CSA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI)

The Rundown: Scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) identified “the strongest evidence yet” of potential biological activity beyond our planet, marking a pivotal moment in the search for extraterrestrial life.

The details:

• JWST found signs of at least one of two life-associated molecules—dimethyl sulphide or dimethyl disulphide—in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b.

• The telescope’s advanced instruments are optimized for exoplanet transit spectroscopy and wide-field surveys of faint galaxies.

• Since these gases are produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria on Earth, scientists think K2-18b could be teeming with simple life.

• The quantity of these gases also appears thousands of times higher than that on Earth, suggesting the gases are being replenished.

Why it matters: Even though K2-18b is 700 trillion miles away, JWST is powerful enough to analyze its atmospheric chemistry by studying light filtered through the red dwarf it orbits. It’s a thrilling breakthrough—but scientists urge caution until more evidence emerges.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Perplexity is reportedly set to debut as a built-in voice assistant on the upcoming Motorola Razr foldable smartphones—to be unveiled on April 24.

Tesla may face a class action lawsuit alleging that it intentionally accelerates vehicle odometers so they fall out of warranty faster and get excluded from free repairs.

Tech company Infinite Reality, which just purchased Napster, agreed to acquire agentic AI startup Touchcast for $500M, hitting a valuation of $15.5B.

OpenAI is reportedly developing a social network prototype, with a strong focus on integrating ChatGPT’s image generation capabilities into a social feed.

Alphabet is spinning off its moonshot project Chorus, which develops AI-driven tools and sensor tech to provide real-time visibility into business supply chains.

Fitness platform Strava purchased the popular UK-based running app Runna for an undisclosed amount.

OpenAI is in talks to buy Windsurf, the maker of a popular AI coding assistant, for $3B, according to Bloomberg.

Deezer, the global music streaming platform, reports that 18% of all new music uploaded to its service is fully AI-generated.

Instagram launched a new feature called Blend, designed to create a personalized, shared Reels feed between you and your friends directly within your DMs.

Smashing, an AI-powered reading curation app by the founder of Goodreads, is shutting down due to its inability to scale.

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team