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July 21, 2026, 2:00 PM
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WeSmirchTop News
| Tulsee Doshi / Google: |
Google launches Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber, and says it has started its “most ambitious pre-training run yet” for Gemini 4 — Our newest Gemini models deliver the efficiency, latency, and reliability to build AI agents at scale.
More: The Information, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, Thurrott, Benzinga, Reuters, Search Engine Land, The New Stack, New York Times, Constellation Research, The Decoder, Artificial Analysis, Mashable, Google AI for Developers, RuntimeWire, Wccftech, Neowin, Business Insider, The Deep View, iPhone in Canada, LinkedIn, and NPowerUser
X: @officiallogank, @googleai, @shakeelhashim, @elonmusk, @elonmusk, @artificialanlys, @artificialanlys, @artificialanlys, @joshwoodward, @kimmonismus, @_anshulr, @arena, @koraykv, @officiallogank, @jeffdean, @officiallogank, @lyalindotcom, @patloeber, @osanseviero, @officiallogank, @google, @googleai, @bdsqlsz, @thehackersnews, @stockmktnewz, @justingorya, @shakeelhashim, @lentils80, @synthwavedd, @testingcatalog, and @umesh__digital
Bluesky: @sungkim and @isolyth.dev
Forums: Hacker News, r/Bard, and r/GeminiAI
| Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
Google prices Gemini 3.6 Flash lower than 3.5 Flash, at $1.50/1M input tokens and $7.50/1M output tokens; Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is priced at $0.30 and $2.50 — As we wait for 3.5 Pro, Google today announced Gemini 3.6 Flash and 3.5 Flash-Lite, while providing updates on what comes next.| MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: |
Google says Gemini 3.6 Flash delivers better coding, knowledge work, and multimodal performance while reducing output token usage by up to 17% vs. 3.5 Flash — Alphabet is releasing three new Gemini models on Tuesday, including its clearest answer yet to Anthropic's lead in cybersecurity … | Emma Roth / The Verge: |
Google says Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber is a “cost-efficient and highly capable alternative” to models like Mythos, available first to governments and some partners — Gemini 3.5 Flash integrates into CodeMender, allowing it to identify and patch vulnerabilities.| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Apple plans to launch Apple Upgrade, a leasing program for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, in partnership with Klarna in the US next week — Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce Apple Upgrade, a leasing program that will mark one of the biggest-ever changes to how the company sells devices.
More: AppleInsider, Gizmodo, Benzinga, Thurrott, The Verge, Macworld, Reuters, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Finimize, Dexerto, Cult of Mac, Apple Must, Android Authority, Digital Trends, Blockonomi, The Straits Times, Dow Jones Newswires, MacDailyNews, and Notebookcheck
X: @manan, @markgurman, and @markgurman
Forums: r/apple and MacRumors Forums
| Financial Times: |
Sources: China is weighing tightening AI and chip export controls and is consulting leading domestic AI companies, in a bid to slow advanced tech acquisitions — Chinese regulators are considering tightening export controls on artificial intelligence and semiconductor technologies …
More: Tom's Hardware, Reuters, Implicator.ai, Capacity, Unite.AI, The Wire China, Benzinga, and Reuters
X: @emollick, @denisewu, @teortaxestex, @kyleichan, @mkwitzke, @garymarcus, @andrewcurran_, @zijing_wu, and @rohanpaul_ai. LinkedIn: Maria Lourdes Cabaletti. Forums: r/neoliberal
| Ashley Capoot / CNBC: |
More: Bloomberg, The Information, The Hill, TechCrunch, International Business Times, and Business Insider
X: @bgurley, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, @edludlow, and @sarthakgh
Forums: r/China and r/worldnews
| Nathan Lambert / Interconnects AI: |
Kimi K3 marks the arrival of frontier open-weight models; the core Kimi team has incredible culture and a freedom to express it within a GPU-limited environment — The global implications on the AI ecosystem. … Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade.| Philippa Wain / BBC: |
UK PM Andy Burnham abolishes the Department for Science, Innovation, and Tech and elevates UK AI Minister Kanishka Narayan, who oversees AISI, to attend cabinet — The AI Minister, Kanishka Narayan, will be given a seat at the top table of government but the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has been scrapped.
More: Financial Times, Bloomberg, Variety, Silicon Republic, The Quantum Insider, The Register, Tech Funding News, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, UKTN, and ITPro
X: @kanishkanarayan, @mrjkilcoyne, @theobertram, @smyth_chris, @jamestitcomb, @ollygough98, @rowlsmanthorpe, @alexvoica, @10downingstreet, @discoplomacy, @sanjushdalmia_, @sebjohnsonuk, @joebambridge1, @lawhsw, @shakeelhashim, @shakeelhashim, @shakeelhashim, @ameer_kotecha, @danny__kruger, @shakeelhashim, @dc_lawrence, @smyth_chris, @matthewclifford, @thomascollinge, and @ed_bithell
| Dom Cooke / Colossus: |
A profile of Sarah Guo, Greylock's youngest GP before she founded Conviction in 2022, which has since backed six of the 21 AI-native companies now worth $10B+ — The investor closest to the AI frontier is betting against the ambitions of its biggest companies
X: @zoink, @ivanhzhao, @rronak_, @datarade, @stanine, @itsalfredw, @domcooke, @colossusmag, @motwanisuhas, @patrick_oshag, @gradypb, @tuhinone, @anmolm_, @joshua_xu_, @winstonweinberg, @scottwu46, @saranormous, @tonyzzhao, @swyx, @zebriez, @trace_cohen, @datarade, and @ashleymayer. LinkedIn: Sangeen Zeb. Forums: Hacker News
| Zac Hall / 9to5Mac: |
Meta quietly releases StoryKit, a new mobile app that uses AI to create personalized children's stories, including illustrations and original music, in Mexico — Meta has quietly released a new iPhone app that uses AI to create personalized children's stories, complete with illustrations, narration, and original music.| Scott Stein / CNET: |
Meta adds the Xbox Game Pass starter edition to its Horizon Plus plan, which costs $60/year or $8/month; the starter pass allows 10 hours of gaming per month — Meta's throwing Xbox cloud gaming Into Its Horizon Plus Quest subscription, and converting its controllers to work with it. — Editor at Large
More: Meta, Reuters, XBOX Wire, Thurrott, Android Central, DayOne, and Pure Xbox
Forums: r/XboxGamePass and r/xbox
| Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: TSMC plans to hike advanced and mature node prices 5% to 10% in 2027, plus a 10% to 15% premium for advanced chip orders exceeding customers' forecasts — TAIPEI — TSMC is set to raise prices for both advanced and mature chip production services by up to 10% in 2027 to reflect rising costs …
More: Bloomberg, Reuters, MobileSyrup, Motley Fool, GSMArena.com, PC Gamer, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, Tom's Hardware, iPhone in Canada, Blockonomi, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Benzinga, Dow Jones Newswires, Tech in Asia, and MacDailyNews. Forums: MacRumors Forums
| Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal: |
Microsoft and Mistral sign a multibillion-dollar deal to build European data centers and integrate Mistral models into Foundry, Copilot Studio, and Azure Local — ‘Multibillion-dollar’ pact will support Mistral data centers in Europe, helping the French company sell its AI models, and Microsoft its cloud and AI services| Vittoria Elliott / Wired: |
Memo: the Army CIO reinstates limits on Army members' AI token usage; docs show the DOD's Ask Sage tool can access 100M tokens via an annual “enterprise pack” — Members of the Army received an email informing them that they were rapidly depleting their AI tokens, and needed to limit use.
Bluesky: @verbalprimate.com and @telliotter. Mastodon: @hrbrmstr@mastodon.social. Forums: r/BetterOffline
| Joseph Cox / 404 Media: |
Apple says it fixed a vulnerability in its Hide My Email tool that let anyone see a user's real email address; researchers first reported the issue in June 2025 — For a year, Apple knew that an issue in its Hide My Email feature was exposing customers' real email addresses.
More: 9to5Mac and MacRumors
Bluesky: @josephcox. Mastodon: @EthicalProfessor@mstdn.social. Forums: Hacker News, r/apple, and MacRumors Forums
| Block: |
Block launches Buzz, an open source collaboration workspace on Nostr protocol for humans and AI agents to share messages, code repositories, workflows, and more — Open Source, Decentralized Technology, Developers, AI, Technology — TODAY WE'RE RELEASING Buzz, A FREE …
More: The New Stack, RuntimeWire, and Forbes
X: @jack, @extensivegrowth, @benkraus, @himuglamuh, @behrendtio, @marinusklasen, @thepaulosophy, @eriklocalhost, @bensenescu, @_tombrow, @brij, @morganmartn, @almmaasoglu, @bobscully, and @ajrgd. Bluesky: @caseynewton
| Blake Brittain / Reuters: |
University of Tennessee Research Foundation sues Anthropic in Delaware for allegedly infringing neural network patents, the first such case against Anthropic — The research arm of the University of Tennessee has sued artificial-intelligence giant Anthropic in Delaware federal court …
Bluesky: @artisny
| Kate Conger / New York Times: |
How Google's AI Search is endangering the open web; Cloudflare says that from June 2025 to April 2026 human traffic to many businesses' websites fell nearly 40% — When Google prepared to go public in 2004, Larry Page, a co-founder of the company, wrote a letter to shareholders describing …
More: Ad Age, MediaPost, John Battelle's Search Blog, Gizmodo, VC Cafe, WeRSM, eMarketer, and Search Engine Roundtable
LinkedIn: Glenn Gabe. Bluesky: @rustybrick.com, @mattrosoff, @davidrlurie.com, @tryangregory, and @jeffjarvis
| Samantha Kelly / Bloomberg: |
Samsung plans to launch its AI-powered Samsung Health Assistant and new heart metrics tools like Vitals for overnight metric tracking in beta in August — Samsung Electronics Co. is rolling out a new AI-powered assistant that acts as a virtual health companion, joining a growing number … | Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg: |
OpenAI says it now has 10M people using Codex and ChatGPT Work, nearly doubling usage from earlier this month when the company announced ChatGPT Work — OpenAI has seen a sharp uptick in demand for its artificial intelligence agents since its recent release of ChatGPT Work …
More: 9to5Mac, OpenAI, Implicator.ai, and Unite.AI
| AI Security Institute: |
Analysis: every frontier AI model tested in cybersecurity evaluations attempted to “cheat”, led by GPT-5.4 at 14.1% of tasks; Mythos cheated the least, at 7.8% — Can you trust an AI model to do what you intended? This is a central question both for those deploying AI systems … | John Velasco / Tom's Guide: |
Samsung debuts the Samsung Galaxy Card, a Visa card issued by Barclays that offers 5% cash rewards for purchases directly from Samsung, its first US credit card — You get 5% rewards when you buy stuff directly from Samsung — With Galaxy Unpacked 2026 set to kick off in a matter of days …
More: Samsung Newsroom, Reuters, How-To Geek, Moneycontrol, Barclays, Wired, PaymentsJournal, GSMArena.com, Mashable, Digit, Quartz, TechSpot, Ubergizmo, T3, SamMobile, The Indian Express, THE INVESTOR, Android Police, Phandroid, Neowin, PYMNTS, AppleInsider, Digital Trends, Notebookcheck, and The Fast Mode
| Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk: |
Augustus, which is building a federally chartered “AI-native” clearing bank designed around stablecoins, raised $180M led by Tiger Global at a $1B valuation — Augustus, a startup building a federally chartered clearing bank for fintechs and financial institutions …
More: Augustus, The Block, FinTech Global, PYMNTS, and FinSMEs
| Tracey Tully / New York Times: |
NJ Governor says a software error at DMV led to the improper voter registration of ~6,600 noncitizens between June 2023 and June 2024; 400 of those cast ballots — A software glitch in 2023 at the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles led to roughly 6,600 noncitizens being registered to vote …
More: Axios, Election Law Blog, Bloomberg, NewsMax.com, Politico, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Washington Times, and The Post Millennial. Bluesky: @hunterwalk.com
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