🧠 Breaking News

Hearts Grown Inside Pig Embryos!

In a recent article by Nature, one of the world’s most prestigious science journals, researchers have managed to grown a human heart inside of a pig’s embryo. An embryo is an unborn/unhatched offspring in the early stages of development. This major breakthrough was done through planting humans cells inside of pigs. Major accomplishments such as these set the stage for even more advanced medical techniques in the future, potentially saving more lives!

Original: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01854-x-

📡 Week in Tech

Changes here and there

Mundane news here and there

• iPhones dodging tariffs?!

  • Foxconn’s iPhone Exports from India

    • Exported $3.2B worth of iPhones from India (Mar–May 2025)

    • 97% of those exports went to the U.S. (vs. 2024 avg. of 50.3%)

    • Total Jan–May 2025 exports to U.S.: $4.4B (vs. $3.7B in all of 2024)

    • May 2025 exports: nearly $1B

    • March 2025 saw record exports: $1.3B

  • Shift in Strategy

    • Apple is focusing exports from India to U.S., cutting shipments to countries like the Netherlands, Czech Republic, and UK

    • Goal: bypass high U.S. tariffs on China-made products

  • Tariff and Political Pressure

    • Trump announced 55% tariffs on China (pending approval)

    • India faces a baseline 10% tariff and potential 26% reciprocal levy (paused)

    • Trump criticized Apple for moving production to India

      • Quote: “We are not interested in you building in India... we want you to build here.”

    • Apple’s Tariff Workarounds

      • In March, Apple chartered planes to ship iPhones (13, 14, 16, 16e) worth ~$2B to U.S.

      • Apple pushed to reduce customs clearance time at Chennai Airport from 30 hours to 6 hours

    • India’s Role in iPhone Production

      • 25–30% of global iPhones expected to be made in India by 2025 (up from 18% in 2024)

      • Tata Electronics exported 86% of iPhones to U.S. (Mar–Apr 2025)

      • Tata began exports in July 2024 (52% to U.S. that year)

    • Market Context

      • Apple sells 60M+ iPhones annually in the U.S.

      • Historically, ~80% of those were made in China

• Nintendo Switch 2 sets records!

  • Nintendo Switch 2 set a new U.S. gaming industry record

    • Over 1.1 million units sold at launch (week ending June 7, 2025)

    • Excludes sales from the My Nintendo Store

    • Surpassed the previous U.S. launch record held by PlayStation 4

  • Projected first-week U.S. sales: 1.3–1.35 million units (not fully confirmed)

  • Top-selling physical Nintendo Switch 2 launch games:

    • 🥇 Mario Kart World (purchased by 79% of U.S. Switch 2 buyers)

    • 🥈 Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition

    • 🥉 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch 2 Edition

  • Nintendo confirmed:

    • Switch 2 is the company’s fastest-selling hardware ever in the U.S.

    • Achieved highest global four-day sales for any Nintendo platform

• Gemini summarizes PDFs now!

  • PDF Summarization in Google Drive

    • Gemini can now summarize PDFs directly when opened in Google Drive

      • Shows summary cards with clickable actions like:

        • “Draft a sample proposal”

        • “List interview questions based on this resume”

      • Available in 20+ languages

      • Started rolling out to Workspace users on June 12, 2025

      • May take a few weeks to reach all users

  • Google Forms Summarization

    • Gemini will now summarize Google Form responses

      • Applies to short-answer and paragraph questions

      • Summaries reference:

        • Form title, description, questions, and responses

      • Appears in the Responses tab when there are 3+ replies

      • English only for now

      • General rollout starts June 26, 2025

  • ”Help Me Create" Feature in Google Forms

    • Gemini can now generate Forms based on user prompts

      • Can pull context from linked Docs, Sheets, Slides, or PDFs

      • Example: Use a product catalog PDF to auto-generate a quote form

    • Will provide example prompts to help users get started

    • Available in English

    • Starts rolling out to regular Workspace domains July 7, 2025

🌐 Around the Web

Cool Finds & Trending Content

• Cool Find: Motion Sickness Glasses

  • These innovative glasses use a built-in system to reduce motion sickness by stabilizing visual input. Ideal for travelers or those prone to nausea during movement.

• Trending Content: Khaby Lame's Viral Videos

  • Known for his silent reactions to absurd life hacks, Khaby Lame continues to dominate TikTok with his humorous takes on everyday problems.

🌍 World Culture

Doll sells for over $170,000 at Beijing auction!

This (lucky) doll life-size figure sold in China for a price more than $170,000 at the world’s first auction. Auction event organizer Yongle Auction states that the PVC doll is one of a kind.

⁉️ Analysis!

China’s Dynastic Cycle and European Colonization

Introduction

A man’s village burns around him as he flees into the mountains, attempting to evade the foreign invaders as he prays to the Buddhist goddess Guanyin, hoping for safety. During times of strife in China, many turned to religion for some solace from the chaos and death that surrounds them. It is during this time that religions philosophies such as Buddhism and Confucianism took hold, cementing themselves forever. Over the years, they slowly mixed, intertwining themselves in the webs of each other. Now present-day, they can be found throughout daily life in China, even without the strife that came with the dynastic cycle and colonization.

The Dynastic Cycle

 Like a snake eating at itself, China also faced a similar predicament. The Dynastic Cycle is a political theory that has afflicted China for hundreds of years. As China is prone to natural disasters due to its unfortunate position on the place where tectonic plates meet. This circumstance, paired with the creation of the “Mandate of Heaven” set the scene for years of chaos and pain to come. In 1027 BCE, the “Mandate of Heaven” was created by the Zhou Dynasty in an effort to establish power and control over China. The mandate was a belief that a Chinese emperor had the right to rule due to the approval by the heavens. The cycle begins when a new dynasty establishes order, prosperity, and peace while claiming that it has been given the “Mandate of Heaven.” As generations pass, weak rulers and ineffective bureaucrats cause the dynasty to weaken. Then, as natural disasters strike, many begin to believe that the dynasty has lost the approval of the heavens, and China plunges into chaos as factions vie for power. An example of this phenomenon is seen with the Tang Dynasty. The Tang had initially seized power in 618 CE after the fall of the Sui. Its initial emperors ruled well, but over the course of generations, slowly became weaker. That was paired with corrupt and ineffective government officials, which caused the government’s collapse and fall of the dynasty in 907 CE.

European Colonization of China and the Effect on the Dynastic Cycle

The dynastic cycle’s wheel turned without issue, until the interference of foreign powers, which kept the dying dragon alive until the 20th century. Throughout Chinese history, many rebellions arose. Most toppled the ruling government, such as the Red Turban rebellion led by Zhu Yuanzhang, who later became the Hongwu emperor after the success of his rebellion and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. It was the dynastic cycle’s clock turning, until the presence of foreign colonizers, that is. The Ming had turned China isolationist, but after its overthrow and the arrival of growing western influence in the area, forced the Qing to begin to open up, being humiliated by westerners and having the 18th century become its “Century of Humiliation.” European colonization was nothing new, the Kingdom of Kongo is an example of such an event. After the Portuguese arrival on its lands, the nation was slowly stripped of its humanity, being enslaved by the Portuguese. It was not long until Asia fell victim too. In 1511 CE, the Portuguese captured the Sultanate of Malacca, a country located in Southeastern Asia. It was the first European foothold in Asia, then came the first British trading post established in Macau, a port of China. Though, European missionaries did arrive earlier, in the 13th century. The Qing attempted to limit foreign control with the canton system, which forced foreign companies to trade with merchant collectives rather than the people directly, which had no large effect on limiting foreign influence. As trade grew, so did the trade of opium, a drug. Government officials attempted to fight the drug, but ultimately caused the Opium Wars that began in 1838 CE. Regardless, China at this point in time has become a playing ground for European trade, and the foreign powers were not going to allow such a vital economic trading point to fall. In 1850 CE, a man known as Hong Xiquan started the Taiping Rebellion after his failure on the Civil Service exam. It very well could have been the downfall of China as the Qing had been weakening through the years. However, China survived as the Europeans favored the Qing, and the Taiping fell after the death of 20 million. A second example of such interference was during the Boxer Rebellion, a group formed of those who opposed Christianity and foreigners. Eleven nations sent forces to put down this rebellion, and forced China to sign the humiliating Boxer Protocol, which allowed foreign forces in Beijing. The wheel of the dynastic cycle had been forcefully stopped, and the dragon lies a mess, kept in a miserable existence by those who siphon its blood.

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🗣️ Quote of the Day

believe in yourself.

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle." -Christian D. Larson

That’s it for the week!

Thanks for reading this week’s Pingker Newsletter.

-The Pingker Team

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