Engadget News + Next
Each weekday morning we bring you the tech news you need today, and then in the afternoon we showcase stories about the technology, science, and culture that will influence tomorrow, all brought to you by Engadget.
Apple is reportedly planning a visual refresh of the entry-level MacBook Pro next year
Next spring could be a fiesta of new iPads, MacBooks and iPhones.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Donald Trump bought a bunch of tech stock the same day he announced his AI Action Plan, Threads' ubiquitous Mr Beast spam is part of a massive crypto scam network, Cloudflare will filter out web crawlers that serve AI companies
-Without a doubt, it was the most personally profitable period of any president's term in office, personally netting him a figure north of $2 billion.
-According to an analysis from Zach Edwards, a staff security researcher at Infoblox, the person or group behind these accounts is running more than 10,000 malicious "crypto casino" websites.
-Cloudflare has announced plans to automatically block mixed-use web crawlers that index websites for search engines and act as AI agents and trainers at the same time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Layoffs looming, Xbox union members argue for transparency and good-faith bargaining
"We're done paying for executives' failures," one Xbox developer said.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI reportedly wants all AI companies to give the US government a stake in their businesses, Amazon is ready to deploy the Leo satellite broadband service, and X is making a fresh push for live video with new creator payouts
-OpenAI's Sam Altman has reportedly been in talks with the US government to ensure his company's path towards achieving its goals remains free of political hurdles.
-A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket left for space in the early hours of July 2, bringing 29 Amazon Leo satellites with it.
-X launched a live streaming command center called Live Studio, with tools creators need to go live more easily, along with new payouts to incentivize them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google's Gmail Live AI feature is now available in beta
You can use Gemini to quickly search your inbox with natural language.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A UN report says policymakers are struggling to keep pace with AI development, Meta is putting rate limits on its smart glasses' Conversation Focus feature, and Netflix used AI to put Gene Wilder's voice into a new reality show
-In its report, the panel discussed how quickly AI capabilities have evolved over the past few years. The complexity of tasks AI models can accomplish has been doubling every few months.
-Conversation Focus, in particular, is only accessible at no cost for three hours per month. If you want to use it for longer than that, you'll have to pay for a $20-a-month Meta One Premium plan.
-Netflix has worked with ElevenLabs to develop a recreation of Gene Wilder's voice for use in an upcoming unscripted reality show inspired by Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and...
WhatsApp introduces usernames so you can chat without phone numbers
You'll be able to reserve the username you want starting this week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sensitive iPhone supplier details were part of last week's data leak, SCOTUS restricted use of geofence warrants, and Tidal will not pay people who upload it
-Reuters reported that the documents posted on "the dark web" allegedly show information about both components and their suppliers for the iPhone 18 Pro.
-The US Supreme Court just issued a ruling that limits geofence searches by law enforcement agencies, which could have major ramifications for privacy rights across the country.
-Tidal is still allowing tracks made with AI on its platform, but will slap a tag on anything that's 100 percent AI-generated so its users are aware.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Volkswagen reportedly plans to cut 100,000 jobs
The workers' union plans to fight the cuts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Lab bought a satellite company to go up against Starlink and Leo, Google capped Meta's use of Gemini AI for coding and another reminder that you don't own digital content
-Rocket Lab announced it's buying Iridium Communications in a deal worth $8 billion to compete with SpaceX's ever-growing Starlink network
-According to the Financial Times, Google was forced to cap Meta's use of its Gemini AI model after Mark Zuckerberg's company exceeded its computing capacity.
-Sony has notified customers in a handful of European countries that they'll soon lose access to some movies that they've purchased through the PlayStation Store due to the upcoming expiration of a licensing deal with Studio Canal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices<...
IBM says it has created the world's first sub-1 nanometer chip
The company's new "nanostack" architecture could lead to far more efficient chips.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI will initially only release ChatGPT 5.6 to government-approved customers, California launched a tracker for AI-related job losses, and the most popular Grok feature is exactly what you think
-OpenAI plans to stagger the release of its new AI model, and the first users will only be parties that are approved by the federal government.
-According to the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, it's meant to serve as an "early warning system" for widespread job cuts due to artificial intelligence, allowing the government to proactively determine where interventions may be needed the most.
-NSFW activities account for "well over half" of Grok's traffic. That includes using Grok to generate actual porn, as well as "adult role-play chats" and "huge volumes of requests for...
Google says it'll soon be easier to use TSA PreCheck Touchless ID via Wallet
You'll no longer need to manually add your ID details for each airline.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After successfully selling over 15 cars, Faraday Future would now like you to buy its robots
-As part of its latest revamp, Faraday Future, the embattled electric car company, is now pitching a lineup of robots, including humanoids, quadrupeds and a robotic arm.
-OpenAI has updated GPT-5.5 Instant, the model you interact with the most when you use ChatGPT, to be better at understanding context and adapting to queries as you alter them to add more conditions or clarifications.
-And do you really need AI to check your spelling and grammar?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix's new horror game taps into your phone for deeper immersion
Unhinged, which is from Oxenfree developer Night School, stars Zoë Kravitz, Sadie Sink and Troy Baker.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Superhuman acquired AI authenticity service GPTZero, Meta reportedly dipping its toes into the prediction market space, and Sorry, Slackbot. Claude is taking your job
-Superhuman offers services such as hallucination and plagiarism detection as well as a nifty little tool that displays how much of the internet is artificial intelligence.
-Mark Zuckerberg has directed Meta to create a prediction markets app, that reportedly goes by the name "Arena" and could eventually compete with platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi.
-Anthropic has announced Claude Tag, which is currently in research preview, and could eventually take over Slackbot's job.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI signs deal to show Getty's images in ChatGPT results
Getty already struck a similar deal with Perplexity AI.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI's Daybreak initiative will help open-source projects fend off bugs, China took back top spot in latest supercomputer ranking, and the Oversight Board says Meta needs to do more to protect regular people from sexualized deepfakes
-OpenAI has launched Patch the Planet, a new initiative part of its Daybreak cybersecurity program, which was designed to serve the open-source community.
-China's LineShine from the nation's National Supercomputer Center hit 2.198 Exaflops of performance, beating the previous champ El Capitan
-Meta's Oversight Board has called on the social media company to strengthen its protection for ordinary people targeted by sexualized deepfakes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adobe brings its Firefly AI Assistant inside of Premiere, Photoshop and Illustrator
The company is also previewing an upgraded creative AI studio experience.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Has Polymarket been paying creators to post fake betting videos? Norway is imposing broad restrictions on AI for school kids, and Chinese-style EV battery swap stations coming to Europe
-The Wall Street Journal has found that the company is paying social media creators to post misleading content promoting the prediction market.
-Norway is imposing a strict ban on the use of generative AI tools by elementary school kids.
-Octopus Energy, the UK's largest energy provider, has teamed up with CATL, the world's biggest EV battery maker, to bring Chinese-style battery swap stations to Europe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summer Game Fest 2026
The year's biggest gaming show had plenty of titles worth playing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon is investigating 3 employees who spoke out against building more AI data centers, one UK government department is done with X, and Rivian faces a class action lawsuit over self-driving in its early vehicles
-Five members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice previously testified at Seattle city council meetings about AI data centers. Now, three of them are apparently under investigation by the company.
-Richard Hermer, the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland, has reportedly told his department to stop posting official updates on X.
-Rivian has been sued on allegations that it made misleading statements about the self-driving capabilities of its R1T truck and R1S SUV.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
The all-new Google Home speaker has finally arrived for $100
Upgrades include 360-degree audio and deeper integration with Gemini.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo recalled over 3,800 robotaxis, NASA is sending an orbiter to Mars with Eric Schmidt's Relativity Space, and Tim Cook says that Apple price increases are 'unavoidable'
-Waymo told Engadget that it identified an area of improvement regarding performance around freeway construction zones, adding that the company voluntarily restricted freeway operations last month.
-Relativity Space will provide spacecraft, rocket and cruise operations to deliver the agency's science instruments to Mars.
-Apple's outgoing CEO Tim Cook all but confirmed that higher prices are on the way for the company's products, saying "price increases are unavoidable.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX is buying AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion
The all-stock acquisition concludes an agreement the two announced in April.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Commodore made a social media-banishing flip phone, WhatsApp is testing read-once disappearing messages, and The White House app will reportedly be auto-installed on Homeland Security staff’s device
-The recently resurrected Commodore is getting back into phones, but rather than taking on the likes of Apple and Samsung at their own game, the Commodore Callback 8020 is a proudly non-conformant flip phone that wouldn't have looked out of place in the '90s.
-WhatsApp is finally offering what most of its contemporaries already have: disappearing (view-once) texts.
-The White House app is reportedly coming to all devices managed by the Department of Homeland Security, whether the user wants to download it or not. GovExec that it was a "cause for alarm," as any app...
EA created an entire division to push more in-game ads
Branded content and ad campaigns, it’s in the game.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India temporarily blocking Telegram to prevent exam fraud, Google Earth's flight simulator is now available, and millions of songs were used for AI music training
-The government recently annulled the results of a key medical school entrance test because it said that the answers were leaked ahead of time on Telegram.
-The Atlantic has published four searchable databases of music that has been used to train AI models. The scope is pretty staggering, with 12 million tracks in one database, 9 million in another, and the two final ones each containing about 100,000 songs.
-Google Earth has a flight sim mode of its own, and it can now be accessed by anyone globally via their browser.
Learn more about...
Google sues Chinese scammers using Gemini AI for fraud
The company is also promoting legislation to fight the potential of AI to create 'massive' scams
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fox is buying Roku for $22 billion, Trump threatened a 100 percent tariff on French wine over the country’s tech tax, and the UK will ban social media for children under 16
-The Fox Corporation announced it will be acquiring Roku, best known for its streaming device ecosystem for about $22 billion for Roku, or $160 per share.
-Ahead of the G7 conference in France, Donald Trump is once again threatening massive tariffs on France if it doesn't remove its three percent digital tax on US tech companies.
-The UK is banning young people under 16 from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Artemis III's life support: How a spacesuit keeps astronauts alive on the moon
The astronaut wears Prada.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple says Siri AI won't suck up to you, Textiles that can produce drinking water from the air, and the Trump phone is practically the same as an HTC handset
-Apple designed Siri to put up and maintain boundaries, so to speak. "Siri really wants to say, 'Listen, that's not what I'm here for, right? I'm here to help you. I can help you get things done.”
-A special textile to create a jacket capable of atmospheric water harvesting used a special fabric designed to collect moisture from the air and gather it in detachable harvesting units rather than simply having the textile absorb the water.
-A teardown of the Trump Mobile T1 revealed that it's basically the same as an HTC handset. iFixit concluded th...
Snap will no longer allow younger teens' Spotlight videos to be publicly viewable
Maybe it wasn't a great idea to let 14-year-olds post videos to Spotlight in the first place.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic backtracked on its policy that 'sabotaged' researchers' work, Bluesky will a Reddit-style communities this year, and Deezer will now help you find AI music on other streaming platforms
-Anthropic is walking back a policy that discreetly hamstrung researchers using its new Claude Fable 5 LLM to create competing AI models.
-Bluesky said that communities will be smaller spaces inside the one big space that Bluesky provides, where you can find and talk to people who are interested in the same topics you are.
-Deezer made its AI-detection tool available to other streaming companies in an effort to stem the rise of AI slop and fraudulent streams.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The UK is investigating Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery
The first phase of the CMA's probe into the $110 billion deal could last for two months.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo made a virtual human driver to improve its robotaxis, Seattle will impose a year-long ban on large data centers, and Kalshi will require employment info for some bets
-Waymo's ReD is based on a neuroscientific concept called active inference, which posits that people are always trying to minimize surprise.
-The Seattle City Council has unanimously approved a moratorium on the construction of new large AI data centers for one year.
-Kalshi will require users to disclose where they work.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple reintroduces the AI-powered Siri it announced at WWDC 2024
Say hello to Siri AI.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta quietly removed facial-recognition code from its smart glasses app, WhatsApp says spyware maker NSO Group is still targeting its users, and the UK will review its NHS contract with Palantir
-Wired uncovered the dormant tool that contained algorithms which would have converted photos of faces into biometric identifiers stored on-device and cross referenced with each new facial scan.
-Meta is once again asking a court to intervene in its long-running battle against spyware maker NSO Group.
-The UK government is reviewing its National Health Service partnership with US data firm Palantir to decide if it will end the contract early.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The University of Cambridge says it successfully tested a vaccine with an AI-designed antigen
The “super-antigen” could provide long-term protection against a wide range of diseases spread by humans.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI reportedly has a major ChatGPT overhaul in store, Axiom revealed its Prada-designed spacesuit inner layer for NASA, and astronomers measured the mass of a dormant black hole
-A redesigned ChatGPT would encourage users beyond just chatting and towards using "coding tools, image generation and applications built by partners such as Canva and Booking.com."
-NASA tasked Axiom Space and Prada to create new, high-tech spacesuits.
-Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have measured the mass of a dormant black hole 10 billion light-years away.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
