Category: Biz Tech

Samsung Electronics has unveiled three new foldable smartphones, including a wider passport-sized model, while raising prices on two devices as higher memory-chip costs add pressure to its mobile business.The Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip8 were introduced at the company’s Galaxy Unpacked event in London on Wednesday. Samsung is expanding its foldable portfolio at a time when the wider smartphone market is shrinking and competition in premium devices is set to intensify.The standard Fold8 adopts

Google has released CodeMender in public preview as a managed artificial intelligence security agent designed to find, verify and repair software vulnerabilities while keeping developers in control of final code changes.The service is available through the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform and can also operate as a component of Google AI Threat Defense. It marks the transition of CodeMender from a Google DeepMind research project into an enterprise product that can be integrated with development tools and software delivery pipelines.CodeMender differs

The 2026 FIFA World Cup altered internet use across time zones, with match schedules, streaming behaviour and short breaks in play producing sharp shifts in global online activity throughout the tournament.An analysis of HTTP traffic across more than 120 countries found that kickoff times were among the strongest influences on digital behaviour. Matches played between midnight and 8am local time frequently pushed internet activity well above normal levels as supporters stayed awake or rose early to watch. Traffic more than

The European Commission has fined Alibaba-owned AliExpress €550 million, or about $629 million, for failing to control the sale of illegal, unsafe and counterfeit products on its online marketplace.The penalty, announced on July 20, is the largest imposed under the European Union’s Digital Services Act and marks a significant escalation in Brussels’ enforcement campaign against global technology and e-commerce platforms. Regulators said AliExpress had not adequately identified or reduced systemic risks facing consumers despite operating one of Europe’s largest online

Employees’ growing use of unauthorised artificial intelligence tools is making it harder for companies to calculate returns on technology spending while exposing confidential information to systems outside corporate control.Businesses that invested heavily in generative AI are now confronting a widening gap between formal deployment plans and how staff use the technology. Workers are often turning to free consumer platforms or personal accounts because approved systems are slower, restricted or poorly suited to the task at hand.This informal adoption, widely described

London Stock Exchange is preparing to open a near-continuous weekday trading venue designed for algorithmic systems and AI-enabled trading, extending access to its markets across Asian, European and American time zones. The new platform, London Stock Exchange 24, or LSE 24, is scheduled to enter client testing by the end of 2026. Exchange-traded products will become its first asset class during the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval. LSE 24 will operate separately from the exchange’s Main Market. Trading is

Google has launched three lower-cost Gemini artificial intelligence models, including a cybersecurity system designed to detect and repair software vulnerabilities, as the technology group seeks to improve efficiency while its next flagship model remains under development. The lineup comprises Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber. Google is positioning the releases for organisations that need faster responses, predictable operating costs and the capacity to process large volumes of requests without relying on the most computationally demanding systems. Gemini

SpaceX is approaching its first major post-listing share release, with stock worth about $116 billion becoming eligible for sale after the rocket and satellite group publishes its maiden quarterly results as a public company. The release could sharply expand the number of SpaceX shares available to investors and test demand following a volatile first month on the Nasdaq. Employees and some early shareholders will be permitted to sell about 911.5 million shares on the second trading day after the results announcement,

US stocks rose on Monday as chipmakers recovered from last week’s sell-off, reassuring investors that artificial intelligence remains perfectly capable of generating profits, provided nobody asks where the profits are.The S&P 500 gained about 0.6%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced roughly 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a smaller rise as traders concentrated on semiconductor shares, corporate earnings and the comforting possibility that another expensive computer might solve everything.Nvidia climbed around 1.5%, joining Advanced Micro Devices, Intel,

Telegram has introduced a rich text editor that allows users to publish structured, article-length content directly inside chats, groups and channels, marking a significant expansion beyond conventional instant messaging.The editor supports headings, tables, numbered and bulleted lists, quotations, code blocks, mathematical formulas and media embedded within the body of a message. Users can compose posts of more than 32,000 characters, removing the need to divide detailed announcements, reports or explainers across multiple messages or link readers to an external publishing

The entrepreneur and strategist argues that the debate around AI and creativity has been captured by the wrong questionTORTOLA, British Virgin Islands —The conversation about artificial intelligence and creative work has been dominated by a single, persistent question: will AI replace human creativity? Alessio Vinassa thinks this is the wrong question, asked at exactly the wrong time, by people who fundamentally misunderstand what creativity is."Creativity is not a skill set," Vinassa said. "It is a form of output that emerges

Anthropic has extended inclusive access to Claude Fable 5 for paying subscribers until July 19, delaying a planned shift towards usage-based charges as speculation mounts over another advanced Claude model appearing inside the Cursor coding platform.The company said Fable 5 would remain available on Pro, Max, Team and eligible Enterprise subscriptions for up to half of each user’s weekly allowance. Claude Code customers will also retain weekly usage limits that are 50 per cent higher until the new deadline, set

Infoblox has agreed to acquire network observability specialist Kentik, bringing together core internet infrastructure data and real-time traffic intelligence as enterprises seek greater control over increasingly complex digital operations.The companies announced a definitive agreement on July 8, with completion subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed. Kentik will continue operating under its existing contracts, pricing, account teams and support arrangements while the transaction moves towards completion.The deal combines Infoblox’s strengths in Domain Name System

Apple has sued OpenAI and two former employees, accusing them of stealing trade secrets to accelerate the ChatGPT maker’s push into consumer hardware.The lawsuit, filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, marks a sharp escalation in tensions between companies that began working together two years ago. Apple alleges that OpenAI systematically obtained confidential product, manufacturing and supplier information by recruiting staff who had worked on some of its most closely guarded technologies.OpenAI

OpenAI and Google have supplied advanced artificial intelligence services to overseas subsidiaries of major Chinese technology companies identified by the Pentagon as having links to China’s military, exposing a gap in Washington’s technology controls.The services were provided through entities in Singapore connected to Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent. Transactions involving the subsidiaries were permitted under existing US rules, even though their parent groups appear on a Department of Defense list of Chinese military companies.The arrangements have intensified debate over whether restrictions

Space42 and Skylo Technologies have successfully tested two-way satellite text messaging and emergency alerts on standard Android devices in the UAE, moving direct-to-device connectivity through the Thuraya-4 satellite closer to commercial launch.The test linked an ordinary Android smartphone with a satellite messaging device, allowing SMS and SOS communications to travel in both directions through Space42’s next-generation mobile communications satellite. The companies said the connection required no additional hardware on the smartphone.Commercial introduction of the messaging services is targeted for the

Microsoft Corp. is moving more artificial intelligence work inside its own systems, replacing some OpenAI and Anthropic models in products such as Excel and Outlook as pressure grows to reduce the cost of running generative AI at scale.The shift marks a notable change for one of the technology industry’s biggest AI spenders. Microsoft has relied heavily on OpenAI’s models to power Copilot features across its software portfolio, while also adding Anthropic technology for selected Microsoft 365 functions. The company is

Enterprise AI agents are moving from pilot projects into business software faster than many security teams can rework the systems that decide who, or what, is allowed to log in.The main obstacle is no longer only model performance. Deployment is being slowed by multi-factor authentication prompts, short-lived session tokens, bot-detection systems, consent screens, delegated permissions and audit requirements built for people using keyboards, not software agents acting across several applications. The gap has become more visible as companies try to

G42 and Microsoft have deepened their artificial intelligence alliance through a new collaboration linking Inception42’s Catalyst agentic AI platform with Microsoft Copilot, a move designed to shift AI agents from limited trials into day-to-day government and enterprise operations.The agreement, announced on Monday, allows organisations to build, govern and monitor AI agents on Catalyst while making them available through Microsoft 365 applications including Teams, Outlook and Word. Agents developed within Microsoft Copilot will also be able to flow back into Catalyst,

Parrot OS 7.3 has been released with a clear emphasis on faster execution, cleaner images and smoother daily use, marking a refinement-led update for the security-focused Linux distribution rather than a broad expansion of its tool catalogue.The update rebuilds every edition of the operating system and targets two areas that matter to security researchers, penetration testers, developers and privacy-focused users: better performance on modern hardware and a less cluttered desktop workflow. The release follows Parrot 7.2, which arrived in May,

Opera has rolled out Paste Protect, a built-in browser defence designed to stop malicious clipboard commands before users can paste them into terminals, run boxes or other command-line tools.The feature, launched on 2 July 2026 and switched on by default in Opera’s desktop browsers, targets a fast-growing class of social engineering attacks known as ClickFix. These scams usually begin with a familiar-looking prompt: a failed video player, a broken verification page or a CAPTCHA that asks the user to copy

Aflac Life Insurance Japan has disclosed a major cyber incident affecting about 4.38 million customers, with personal, policy and some banking information exposed after unauthorised access to its customer portal and related systems.The breach, announced on June 30 and updated on July 1, involved systems including Aflac Yorisou Net, a policyholder website used for checking contract details and carrying out account changes. The company said the intrusion was detected on June 25 after abnormal system activity and that related systems

by Alexandra GovorukhaBetween 70% and 95% of digital transformation efforts fail. That’s not a technology problem. Boston Consulting Group research reveals roughly 70% of challenges in AI projects stem from people and process issues, not technical ones.Yet most organisations continue to treat transformation as a deployment challenge, not a communications one.My Executive Master’s in Digital Transformation and Innovation Leadership from IE Business School gave me a front-row seat to how transformations are architected. Studying Strategic Communications at LSE showed me why

OpenAI has begun a tightly controlled preview of GPT-5.6 Sol, a new flagship artificial intelligence model with stronger cybersecurity, coding and scientific capabilities, restricting access to vetted partners while it works with US authorities on safeguards for frontier systems.The rollout covers three models under the GPT-5.6 family: Sol, the most advanced tier; Terra, a lower-cost model designed for everyday work; and Luna, a faster and cheaper option for high-volume use. Access during the preview is limited to selected organisations through

Anthropic has restored limited access to Claude Mythos 5 for selected U. S. organisations involved in protecting critical infrastructure, easing a two-week suspension that had disrupted cybersecurity work across major companies and public-sector partners.The decision allows more than 100 vetted organisations to resume use of the company’s most advanced cyber-focused artificial intelligence model. The approved users are understood to include major enterprises, government-linked agencies and institutions responsible for defending networks in sectors such as energy, finance, healthcare, transport and communications.Access

Cybersecurity researchers have shown that popular AI-powered browsers can be manipulated into leaking credentials after being drawn into a fabricated game scenario, raising fresh concerns over the security of agentic web tools that operate inside authenticated user sessions.The technique, named BioShocking by LayerX Security, was tested against five agentic browsers and one browser-based AI plugin: ChatGPT Atlas, Perplexity Comet, Fellou, Genspark Browser, Sigma Browser and Anthropic’s Claude Chrome plugin. The company said all six systems failed to recognise the final

ByteDance is exploring a $20 billion offshore loan as the TikTok owner seeks fresh financial firepower for artificial intelligence infrastructure, in what would be the company’s largest global borrowing if completed.The Beijing-based technology group has opened preliminary discussions with banks on a facility that could run for three years, with an option to extend the maturity to as long as five years. The size, pricing and lender group have not been finalised, and the talks may still change before any

OpenAI has expanded its Daybreak cybersecurity programme with Patch the Planet, a new initiative aimed at helping open-source maintainers find, validate and fix software flaws before attackers can exploit them.The project, built with security research firm Trail of Bits and supported by HackerOne, Calif, researchers and maintainers, shifts the focus from simply discovering vulnerabilities to landing tested patches in widely used software. It comes as artificial intelligence tools accelerate bug hunting, creating both opportunities for defenders and a heavier workload

Upscale AI has secured $190 million in fresh financing, lifting its valuation to $2 billion as investors intensify their hunt for companies solving the networking bottlenecks inside artificial intelligence data centres.The Santa Clara, California-based company said the Series A-1 extension brings its total funding to $500 million, less than a year after it emerged with a seed round of more than $100 million. The latest round was led by Premji Invest and drew new backing from Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Seligman

Brussels is preparing to intensify its child-safety case against Meta Platforms, widening pressure on Facebook and Instagram over allegations that their design and recommendation systems keep children engaged in potentially harmful ways.The European Commission’s investigation is focused on whether Meta has done enough under the Digital Services Act to assess and reduce risks to minors, including so-called rabbit-hole effects, addictive design features and weak age controls. The case has become one of the most closely watched tests of the EU’s

A short Reddit comment can push AI research agents towards fake products, fraudulent services and invented businesses, exposing a fresh weakness in systems that increasingly mediate consumer choices online.Cornell Tech researchers Tingwei Zhang, Harold Triedman and Vitaly Shmatikov found that a crafted snippet of about 13 words, planted in user-generated content, could manipulate deep-research systems that gather web material, synthesise it and present confident, citation-backed answers. The technique, named WARP, or Web Agent Retrieval Poisoning, does not require hacking an

Apple is set to work with Intel on designing and manufacturing chips in the United States, President Donald Trump said, signalling a potential breakthrough for Intel’s foundry ambitions and a fresh shift in Washington’s effort to bring advanced semiconductor production closer to home.The announcement, made through Trump’s social media account, has not yet been publicly confirmed by either Apple or Intel. Both companies have declined to give detailed comment, leaving open questions about the scale, timing and type of chips

Amazon Web Services has unveiled AWS Continuum, an AI-powered vulnerability management platform designed to discover, prioritise, validate and remediate code security flaws as enterprises struggle with rising software risk and expanding backlogs.The platform, announced on June 17, 2026, is available in gated preview and begins with code vulnerabilities, covering first-party and third-party code before AWS expands it to other areas of security. It uses multiple frontier AI models, assigning different models to tasks where they perform best, rather than relying

Brussels has narrowed its artificial intelligence infrastructure plan by opening the way for smaller and phased data centre projects, signalling a more cautious approach to Europe’s bid to compete with the United States and China in advanced computing.The European Union’s tender framework for AI gigafactories now allows bidders to propose facilities that can grow in stages rather than committing immediately to the largest scale originally envisaged. The shift reflects mounting concerns over electricity supply, grid connections, financing gaps and the