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Welcome back to Forests Over Trees, your tech strategy newsletter. It’s time to zoom-out, connect dots, and (try to) predict the future.

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Zoox Launches Vegas Robotaxis

Plus: Nasdaq tries crypto; Reddit wants news

⚡ Tech News Takes ⚡
(4 stories)

1. Zoox Launches Vegas Robotaxis

• What's up: Amazon's Zoox launched its first public robotaxi service in Las Vegas with free rides to anyone with the app.

  • Service operates to five destinations including Resorts World and Luxor, with rides up to 3 miles carrying up to four passengers.

  • Zoox will charge prices comparable to Uber and Lyft once the free promotional period ends.

• So what: Zoox trying to catch Waymo in self-driving reminds me of Kuiper trying to catch Starlink in satellite internet — bold move but not a bad move! Waymo is already in five cities (SF, LA, Phoenix, Atlanta, Austin) and has 100M miles on public roads under its belt. It’ll be interesting to see how different players differentiate and compete (Zoox, Waymo, Tesla’s Robotaxi, etc.).

2. Reddit Plays Nice with Publishers

• What's up: Reddit launched free tools for publishers to track article performance and get AI-powered sharing suggestions.

  • Features include article insights, RSS feed syncing, and AI recommendations for targeting specific communities.

  • Company alpha tested with The Atlantic, The Hill, NBC News, and Associated Press.

• So what: This is smart on so many levels. First, publishers are desperate to claw-back lost traffic from AI summaries, so this helps. Second, Reddit has already cultivated communities, so publishers can leverage those for engagement/growth vs. investing in their own comment section (which is typically a ghost town). Third, Reddit’s users benefit from higher quality reporting, to balance out the sometimes endless stream of memes, clickbait, and trolling.

3. Opendoor Shakes up Leadership

• What's up: Opendoor named Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian as CEO after retail investors forced out previous leadership.

  • Stock jumped 12% in after-hours trading and is up more than 250% this year from a low of 51 cents.

  • Company is bringing founders back to the board and emphasizing AI integration.

• So what: The best part of Kaz’s new strategy? Timing. Opendoor got burned (in part) by having too much inventory when mortgage rates spiked and housing markets stalled a few years ago. Now, they’re probably going to have declining rates and a thawing market to take advantage of. No matter what operational changes they actually make, things should get better. And because the stock already reached meme status, we shouldn’t be surprised to see it have several pops (not financial advice, obviously!).

4. Nasdaq Wants to be Young Again

• What's up: Nasdaq filed with the SEC to offer blockchain-based trading of stocks starting in Q3 2026.

  • Token holders would receive full shareholder rights including voting and liquidation privileges.

• So what: This is fascinating, and an obvious reaction to fintech startups. Back in July, we saw Robinhood launch tokenized trading for 200+ stocks, ETFs, and private co’s like SpaceX. Then Kraken and Gemini did the same thing. Tokenized trading became an immediate advantage, because it let those startups offer extended trading windows (ex. 24/5) and — in the case of Robinhood — access to private companies. While those startups didn’t offer voting rights alongside the tokenized shares, most users seemed not to care. Incumbents like Nasdaq have to tread carefully with regulators and move slowly…

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