• A look at Chinese state-owned investment bank CICC, which sponsored multibillion-dollar listings of China's tech champions, including CXMT and Zhongji Innolight (Financial Times)
• As PC makers start using CXMT RAM chips, Apple is testing them too, but it needs a custom version for its devices, and US rules block Apple from sharing designs (Wall Street Journal)
• In-depth look at OpenAI's model training, dangerous decisions, and cluelessness before the HuggingFace hack; despite delaying Astra, OpenAI still doesn't get it (Zvi Mowshowitz/Don't Worry About the Vase)
• A look back at "Move 37", a watershed AI moment from AlphaGo's 2016 Go victory, as math witnesses similar breakthroughs where AI makes surprising discoveries (Ben Cohen/Wall Street Journal)
• Google's AI shakeup suggests it may be prioritizing AI diffusion over frontier-model leadership, betting on AI compute as a bigger economic opportunity (Tim O'Reilly/Asimov's Addendum)
• Rights groups warn Turkey's new cybersecurity law, which took effect in July, gives the presidency sweeping powers over online services operating in the country (John Paul Rathbone/Financial Times)
• Cape Town-based Moment, a provider of digital payments and billing tools for businesses across Africa, raised a $22M Series A, taking its total funding to $55M (FinTech Global)
• Data Insight: Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries, which owes Russian banks $10B+ in loans, has lost as much as $5B in inventory to Ukrainian attacks (Wall Street Journal)
• Anthropic says auto mode will be the default in Claude Code for Pro, Max, Team plans, starting on Aug. 14, claiming it's good enough at catching harmful actions (Simon Willison/Simon Willison's Weblog)
• A look at "Spiralism", a quasi-spiritual movement that grew in 2025 from human-AI conversations after sycophantic GPT-4o updates and expanded ChatGPT memory (Hayden Field/The Verge)
• A profile of Russia's A7, a payment network that helps Russia bypass Western sanctions, handling ~20% of payments in Russian foreign trade, or $100B+ annually (Alexander Osipovich/Wall Street Journal)
• Amazon is backing a 7.65 GW gas plant for an off-grid TX AI data center, potentially the largest single US emissions source, at odds with its 2040 net-zero goal (Hiroko Tabuchi/New York Times)
• South Korea's AI-driven chip industry boom is reordering the country's society, changing expectations around fairness, careers, and even culture and dating (Bloomberg)
• How Amazon and Gilroy, California, quietly negotiated a $2B data center project that AWS applied to build in 2020, without any public meetings or votes (Zusha Elinson/Wall Street Journal)
• A profile of Tatyana Kim, founder of Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries, which has lost an estimated third of its warehouse space to Ukrainian attacks (New York Times)
| • The Complicated Case of Passing On Your Digital Estate
• 4 Best Compression Boots: Therabody, Hyperice, and More (2026)
• Meetily Lets You Transcribe and Summarize Meetings Without a Subscription—Here’s How
• TCL Note A1 Nxtpaper Review (2026): A Hybrid Tablet for Taking Notes and Watching Video
• The 12 Best Anime to Watch if You Think You Hate Anime
• 8 Best Workout Headphones & Earbuds: Beats, Bose, Apple (2026)
• These AI Barons Are Ready to Give Away Their Fortunes
• Census Proposal Would Stop Counting Undocumented Immigrants—and Ignore Race and Sexual Orientation
• The Sharpest Image Ever Taken of the Sun Reveals a Hidden Phenomenon
• Here Are the First Images of the Crater Left on the Moon by SpaceX’s Rocket
• The Excellent HP OmniBook 5 Is $550 Off Its Retail Price Today
• Best Gaming Laptops (2026): Razer, Asus, Dell, and More
• Xteink X4 Pro Pocket E-Reader Review (2026): Fun but Limited
• Flock’s Plans for Rideshare Dashcams and Coaching Police, Revealed
• How to Disable Gemini in Gmail and Google Docs
• Sensitive Info Goes Into ‘No Reply’ Emails Constantly. This Guy Sees It All
• Hairmax LaserBand 82 ComfortFlex Review: Putting Down New Roots
• Spokane Shows What the New Era of Wildfires Looks Like
• WhatsApp Gets a Handy @all Feature for Group Chats
• Best Solar Generators for Off-Grid Trips, RVs, and Home Backup
• The Chinese Philosopher Americans Can’t Stop Fighting About
• The 7 Best TV Shows to Stream This Month
• Zohran Mamdani’s NYC Tech Team Is What DOGE Should Have Been
• Scientists Used AI to Create 16 New Viruses
• Our Favorite Fans Are on Sale to Help With Summer Heat Waves (2026)
• Best Webcams (2026): My Honest Take After Testing the Best
• The 5 Best Laptop Power Banks I've Personally Tested (2026)
• 3 Best Cheap Gaming Laptops (2026): Lenovo, MSI, Alienware
• Ranking the Best Smart Glasses: Meta, Viture, & More (2026)
• The ‘Manosphere’ Isn’t a Movement. It’s a Multibillion-Dollar Grievance Industry
• The Hottest New AI Chatbot Is Just a Guy Answering Your Questions
• Ratio vs. Simply Good: Which Plastic-Free Coffee Maker Is Best?
• Surfshark Promo Codes: 87% Off | August 2026
• Google Workspace Promo Codes: 14% Off for August 2026
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• Uber Eats Promo Codes: $15 Off│August 2026
• Nike Promo Codes and Discounts: 30% for August 2026
• 50% Off DoorDash Promo Code | August 2026
• B&H Photo Promo Codes and Deals This August 2026
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• LG Promo Codes and Coupons for August 2026
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• Dyson Promo Codes: 25% Off in August 2026
• One of China’s Most Powerful AI Models Has Also Escaped Containment
• Hackers Stalked Me by Hijacking a Smartwatch for Kids
• Why Normal People Aren’t Using AI Agents
• Flock Highlighted Police Departments Using Its Tech. Now 4 Face Allegations of Misuse
• ICE’s DNA Collection Increases, SpaceX’s Rocket Crashes Into the Moon, and the AI Backlash Grows
| • How to use Claude's voice mode
• Here's how to format a USB drive on Windows
• How to use ChatGPT's new, more natural Voice Mode for conversations
• How to hide and unhide an app on your iPhone or iPad (and why you may want to)
• The downsides of switching from iPhone to Android
• The pros and cons of the switch to digital games
• How to connect your retro GameCube to a modern TV
• How to get the best battery life from your retro handheld game console
• Wired vs. wireless CarPlay: How are they different & which is better to use?
• Claude Vs ChatGPT: How These AI Assistants Differ
• Your phone's USB-C port does a lot more than just charge - Here's what else it can do
• Mario Kart 64 in VR is not for the queasy
• The Apple Watch heart rate feature you probably didn't realize existed
• Supernatural's head of fitness on rebooting the VR exercise app after leaving Meta
• Big Walk, retro electronic repairs and other new indie games worth checking out
• X is replacing revenue sharing with a new original content rewards program
• Framework customer information was accessed as part of a data breach
• One of NASA's Mars rovers could find itself promised to the moon instead
• Sony might be rebooting its 2020 flagship headphones
• Static Hour challenges you to be the arbiter of truth and fear
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