What’s up, Tech Squad? Today’s issue is a tour through tech’s favorite magic trick: making physical things feel increasingly theoretical. GTA VI’s “physical” copy is a box with a code, Faraday Future is trying to robot its way out of car-company purgatory, and Apple is putting Siri in the Camera app so your iPhone can finally judge your lunch with confidence.

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GTA VI’s Physical Box Has Entered Its “Just Vibes” Era

Rockstar finally put a price on Grand Theft Auto VI - $79.99 ahead of its November 19 launch - but the bigger plot twist is what won’t be in the “physical” edition: a disc. The box will only include a download code, which is less “collectible media” and more “receipt with branding.”

Why collectors are gripping the controller

• Digital games are convenient, searchable, and couch-friendly.

• But they’re harder to resell, lend, preserve, or rescue if a storefront disappears.

• Account bans or licensing weirdness can turn a library into a very expensive mirage.

Zoom out: GTA VI is big enough to bend the release calendar, so if Rockstar’s code-in-a-box strategy works, other publishers may see permission to make “physical games” increasingly theoretical.

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Faraday Future Pushes Further into Robot Sales

Faraday Future, the EV startup whose car-delivery numbers have historically looked like a group chat headcount, has a new pitch: buy its robots. The company is now showing off a lineup that includes a humanoid, a quadruped, and an industrial robot arm - because when Plan A is hard, sometimes you add legs.

Meet the Robo-roster

• All-New Futurist: FF’s full-size humanoid robot, pitched for more advanced embodied-AI use cases.

• FX Navi: a smaller quadruped robot aimed at education and learning, priced at $1,990.

• Master Mini: a smaller humanoid concept previewed as part of FF’s broader robot lineup.

• Nova: another smaller humanoid concept, also previewed during the launch.

From the event floor: I was at Faraday Future’s El Segundo launch event, where the company introduced four new EAI devices: the full-size All-New Futurist humanoid, the FX Navi quadruped, and two smaller humanoid concepts called Master Mini and Nova. The core pitch was that FF can take the AI and software work it has done for cars and extend it into robots for homes, schools, factories, and public spaces. It was an ambitious reset for a company still trying to prove it can ship at scale - and a reminder that in 2026, every mobility company eventually finds its way to robotics.

The awkward bit: Faraday said in January 2025 it had sold “15 or 16” vehicles. Now it expects over 100 robot shipments in June and says first-half shipments should top its 220-unit target. That’s not a comeback story yet - but it is a very expensive side quest. I’ll be keeping my eye on this one.

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Siri is Moving into Your Camera App

Apple is giving Siri a new place to hang out in iOS 27: right inside the iPhone Camera app. The new “Siri” camera mode sits alongside Photo, Video, Portrait, and the usual suspects, turning visual intelligence from a hidden-ish feature into something you can swipe to like any other camera mode.

What it can actually do

• Point at a restaurant to pull up reviews, hours, and Maps info.

• Scan a flyer and add the event to Calendar.

• Translate text, identify plants, check nutrition, split receipts, or search similar images.

Why it matters: Apple’s AI story has often felt like a lot of tiny tools scattered across the couch cushions. This makes one of the most useful ones feel obvious: point your camera at the world, ask a question, get something done.

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QUICK BITS

Wear: Meta launched a cheaper line of AI smart glasses starting at $299, minus the Ray-Ban/Oakley branding. The company appears to have discovered that the fastest way to normalize face computers is to make them cost less than a weekend wedding trip.

Listen: Google’s new $99.99 Home Speaker is built around Gemini for Home and starts hitting shelves June 25. Translation: the smart speaker is back, and this time it wants to understand “turn on the cozy lights, not the dentist-office ones.”

Create: Facebook is testing a standalone AI companion app for creators, with recommendations based on content style, performance, audience engagement, and goals. Finally, an app that can say “post more Reels” with the confidence of a manager named Chad.

Restructure: Oracle disclosed it cut 21,000 jobs over the past year as AI reshapes its operations and spending priorities. The AI boom continues to be marketed as “efficiency,” which is corporate for “the vibes are expensive.”