Netflix used AI tools for the first time in one of its TV shows, for a VFX sequence; Ted Sarandos says the VFX costs would have been too high otherwise (Osmond Chia/BBC)

Osmond Chia / BBC:
Netflix used AI tools for the first time in one of its TV shows, for a VFX sequence; Ted Sarandos says the VFX costs would have been too high otherwise  —  Netflix says it has used visual effects created by generative artificial intelligence (AI) in one of its original TV shows for the first time.

The EU issues guidelines to help AI models with systemic risks comply with the AI Act, after criticism from some companies about lack of clarity (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU issues guidelines to help AI models with systemic risks comply with the AI Act, after criticism from some companies about lack of clarity  —  The European Commission set out guidelines on Friday to help AI models it has determined have systemic risks and face tougher obligations …

A Russian lawmaker regulating IT warns WhatsApp to "prepare to leave the Russian market"; Moscow recently approved development of a state-backed messaging app (Reuters)

Reuters:
A Russian lawmaker regulating IT warns WhatsApp to “prepare to leave the Russian market”; Moscow recently approved development of a state-backed messaging app  —  WhatsApp should prepare to leave the Russian market, a lawmaker who regulates the IT sector said on Friday …

The US FCC aims to introduce a ban on companies that use certain Chinese tech and equipment from building submarine communication cables connecting to the US (Demetri Sevastopulo/Financial Times)

Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times:
The US FCC aims to introduce a ban on companies that use certain Chinese tech and equipment from building submarine communication cables connecting to the US  —  New rule aims to end vulnerability in communications infrastructure after attack on American telecoms

CrowdStrike: Chinese hacking attacks on US targets were up 2x from 2024 to 330+ incidents in 2025; US officials say China has shifted to "hacking-for-hire" (Joseph Menn/Washington Post)

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
CrowdStrike: Chinese hacking attacks on US targets were up 2x from 2024 to 330+ incidents in 2025; US officials say China has shifted to “hacking-for-hire”  —  American officials say new economic model for offense has fueled spying attacks by government agencies that have more than doubled.

In Beijing, Jensen Huang says Nvidia would "accelerate the recovery" of its China chip sales and he expects US export licences "to come through very shortly" (Eleanor Olcott/Financial Times)

Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times:
In Beijing, Jensen Huang says Nvidia would “accelerate the recovery” of its China chip sales and he expects US export licences “to come through very shortly”  —  Jensen Huang tells Beijing press conference it takes nine months to restart supply chain

Researcher: a DOGE staffer inadvertently published a private API key for xAI on GitHub on July 13, exposing access to 52+ LLMs, including "grok-4-0709" (Brian Krebs/Krebs on Security)

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Researcher: a DOGE staffer inadvertently published a private API key for xAI on GitHub on July 13, exposing access to 52+ LLMs, including “grok-4-0709”  —  Marko Elez, a 25-year-old employee at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been granted access …

Malaysia says individuals and companies must get a permit 30+ days before exporting AI chips, effective now, signaling it is clamping down on China chip exports (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Malaysia says individuals and companies must get a permit 30+ days before exporting AI chips, effective now, signaling it is clamping down on China chip exports  —  Malaysia will now require permits for exports of high-performance US artificial intelligence chips, suggesting the government …

Republican House leaders anticipate passing the GENIUS Act along with considering two other crypto bills, as the House kicks off a regulatory Crypto Week (Yash Roy/Bloomberg)

Yash Roy / Bloomberg:
Republican House leaders anticipate passing the GENIUS Act along with considering two other crypto bills, as the House kicks off a regulatory Crypto Week  —  Republican House leaders anticipate passing an industry-friendly stablecoin regulatory bill this week, sending Congress's …

Jensen Huang says Chinese military is unlikely to use Nvidia's AI chips, citing the risk of the chips being "limited at any time" due to US export restrictions (Ian King/Bloomberg)

Ian King / Bloomberg:
Jensen Huang says Chinese military is unlikely to use Nvidia's AI chips, citing the risk of the chips being “limited at any time” due to US export restrictions  —  Addressing the largest concern Washington has cited in placing increasing restrictions on US technology exports to the Asian nation …

YouTube and Netflix are increasingly locked in a battle over TV in the US; Nielsen: YouTube accounted for 12.5% of all TV viewing time in May and Netflix 7.5% (John Koblin/New York Times)

John Koblin / New York Times:
YouTube and Netflix are increasingly locked in a battle over TV in the US; Nielsen: YouTube accounted for 12.5% of all TV viewing time in May and Netflix 7.5%  —  The two giant video companies have far different strategies, but the same goal: controlling your TV set.

With Tim Cook likely to lead Apple through this decade, a look at Apple's executive succession challenges as many of Cook's direct reports near retirement age (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
With Tim Cook likely to lead Apple through this decade, a look at Apple's executive succession challenges as many of Cook's direct reports near retirement age  —  Also: The company is scaling back the iOS 26 Liquid Glass revamp; a look at upcoming devices; and Meta poaches Apple's top AI models executive.

Portola, which develops the Tolan app featuring AI companions, raised a $20M Series A led by Khosla Ventures; the app has 3M+ downloads and 100K+ paid users (Kurt Schlosser/GeekWire)

Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Portola, which develops the Tolan app featuring AI companions, raised a $20M Series A led by Khosla Ventures; the app has 3M+ downloads and 100K+ paid users  —  GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene.  Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter …

A look at Xiaomi AI Glasses, launched in China on June 26 with a starting price of ~$278, featuring a 12MP ultra-wide camera and powered by Qualcomm's AR1 chip (Ben Jiang/South China Morning Post)

Ben Jiang / South China Morning Post:
A look at Xiaomi AI Glasses, launched in China on June 26 with a starting price of ~$278, featuring a 12MP ultra-wide camera and powered by Qualcomm's AR1 chip  —  The Xiaomi AI glasses are handy for hands-free photography and videography, which is ideal for situations like cycling

Pump.fun raised $500M via a sale of PUMP tokens, which sold out in 12 minutes; it offered 12.5% of its total token supply at a fully diluted valuation of $4B (Zack Abrams/The Block)

Zack Abrams / The Block:
Pump.fun raised $500M via a sale of PUMP tokens, which sold out in 12 minutes; it offered 12.5% of its total token supply at a fully diluted valuation of $4B  —  - Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun raised $600 million through its public sale of PUMP tokens, which fully sold out in just 12 minutes.