Tech Updates

How Diffusion Models Create Images from Text
How Diffusion Models Create Images from Text

Google is launching a new AI feature called "Web Guide" to organize search results, which is now entering beta testing. Microsoft's AI Chief, Mustafa Suleyman, discussed plans to allow customization of the Copilot assistant's appearance and age. In transportation, Lyft is partnering with Holon to develop self-driving urban shuttles. Broader discussions around AI question whether the technology is making people less intelligent and argue for an "AI-First" rewrite of software development.

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/rkv6vm8uxx
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/googles-new-web-guide-will-use-ai-to-organize-your-search-results
https://www.theverge.com/news/713949/lyft-self-driving-shuttle-buses-holon-urban
https://jasonmperry.com/2025/07/24/development-needs-an-ai-first-rewrite
https://www.theverge.com/news/713715/microsoft-copilot-appearance-feature-age-mustafa-suleyman-interview
https://www.theverge.com/news/713351/google-ai-search-results-web-guide-labs-beta-test
https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/hjj00kiaugl

OpenAI's next-generation GPT-5 model may be released this summer. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella has announced company layoffs. Apple has released public betas for its next-generation operating systems, including iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 Tahoe. The updates bring significant multitasking improvements to the iPad, making older hardware feel new, and introduce several lesser-known features to macOS.

https://www.theverge.com/notepad-microsoft-newsletter/712950/openai-gpt-5-model-release-date-notepad

https://www.theverge.com/news/713162/microsoft-satya-nadella-layoffs-memo

https://www.theverge.com/hands-on/712266/you-can-actually-multitask-on-an-ipad-now-and-its-the-best-new-feature-in-15-years

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/public-betas-of-ios-26-macos-26-ipados-26-and-other-oses-now-available

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/ipados-26-preview-the-rare-software-update-that-makes-most-old-hardware-feel-new

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/six-lesser-known-features-to-like-in-the-macos-26-tahoe-public-beta

Alphabet's CEO is focusing on AI following the company's Q2 2025 earnings. Apple is reportedly planning a single AppleCare subscription to cover multiple devices and will feature AI-powered notification summaries and a "Liquid Glass" design in its iOS 26 beta. In other updates, Netflix defended its use of generative AI in a new series, Spotify introduced a 15-hour audiobook add-on, TikTok added a music tab with features for songwriters, Slack unveiled new AI tools for summaries and writing assistance, and WhatsApp replaced its Windows web wrapper with a native app. In AI research, a new study has upended concepts of AI safety, while Anthropic researchers found that making AI models "think" longer can make them dumber.

https://www.theverge.com/news/712638/alphabet-google-earnings-q2-2025-ceo-sundar-pichai-ai

https://www.theverge.com/news/711972/apple-applecare-one-subscription-multiple-devices

https://www.theverge.com/news/709693/spotify-audiobook-15-hour-add-on

https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/711975/a-new-study-just-upended-ai-safety

https://www.theverge.com/news/709863/netflix-generative-ai-the-eternaut

https://www.theverge.com/news/708611/tiktok-songwriter-features-music-tab

https://www.theverge.com/news/711678/apple-ios-26-beta-ai-notification-summaries-news-liquid-glass

https://venturebeat.com/ai/anthropic-researchers-discover-the-weird-ai-problem-why-thinking-longer-makes-models-dumber

https://www.theverge.com/news/708820/slack-ai-message-context-canvas-writing-assistant

https://www.theverge.com/news/710509/whatsapp-windows-app-web-wrapper-changes

• OpenAI is developing new AI agents, including one capable of playing video games like Donkey Kong and another, called "Operator," designed for deep research within ChatGPT.
• Microsoft detailed its vision for AI in Windows 11, centering on its Copilot assistant.
• Google is integrating AI-generated video into its YouTube Shorts and Google Photos platforms.
• Adobe's Firefly AI will be able to generate sound effects for video.
• Amazon has acquired the AI wearable company Bee AI.
• Netflix is using generative AI in its first show, signaling a future trend for television and film.
• Other articles discuss an update on coding with LLMs, a new law for managing Facebook and TikTok accounts after death, and a $100 million funding round for Armis Security.

https://www.theverge.com/installer-newsletter/710157/donkey-kong-bananza-openai-chatgpt-agent-installer

https://www.theverge.com/news/708798/adobe-firefly-ai-generate-sound-effects-video-composition

https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/07/ai-video-is-invading-youtube-shorts-and-google-photos-starting-today

https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/709158/openai-new-release-chatgpt-agent-operator-deep-research

https://www.theverge.com/news/711621/amazon-bee-ai-wearable-acquisition

https://www.theverge.com/news/711797/windows-11-microsoft-ai-features-copilot-vision-launch

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/h1fyugcixe

https://antirez.com/news/154

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/netflixs-first-show-with-generative-ai-is-a-sign-of-whats-to-come-in-tv-film

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/bj5hp468gl

In AI developments, Google announced new photo and video tools for YouTube Shorts, while a separate report raises privacy concerns about its ability to read WhatsApp messages. Amazon introduced its new 'Alexa Plus' AI, and the company Aidoc raised $150 million with participation from Nvidia, even as another article questions the immediate future of AI agents. For its part, Microsoft is enhancing Windows 11 with performance improvements in version 25H2 and a new self-healing recovery feature. In other news, Apple has filed a lawsuit over alleged trade secret leaks, and a cyberattack leveraging SharePoint reportedly breached the U.S. nuclear weapons agency.https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/rkm3qza8ge

https://www.neowin.net/guides/google-can-now-read-your-whatsapp-messages-heres-how-to-stop-it
https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/rkasjga8xe
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07
https://www.theverge.com/news/709550/apple-jon-prosser-lawsuit-michael-ramacciotti-ios-26-trade-secrets
https://www.theverge.com/news/712217/google-ai-photo-video-youtube-shorts
https://utkarshkanwat.com/writing/betting-against-agents
https://www.theverge.com/news/710535/microsoft-windows-11-performance-improvements-25h2-version
https://www.theverge.com/hands-on/710035/amazon-alexa-plus-ai-agent-features-hands-on
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/new-windows-11-build-adds-self-healing-quick-machine-recovery-feature

To be a better programmer, write little proofs in your head

https://the-nerve-blog.ghost.io/to-be-a-better-programmer-write-little-proofs-in-your-head

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas on the future of AI search and competing with Google.

https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/708256/perplexity-ceo-decoder-aravind-srinivas-comet-browser-ai-search

ChatGPT's new AI agent can browse the web and create PowerPoint slideshows. In a separate incident, a company built a product feature that ChatGPT had fabricated. Meanwhile, Google hid a secret message within the list of 3,295 researchers on an AI paper.

In other AI news, a human defeated an AI model in a world coding championship, and the technology is being blamed for making the traditional résumé obsolete.

Cybersecurity reports cover several threats: nearly one million browsers have been turned into website-scraping bots via malicious extensions, GitHub has been abused to distribute malware-as-a-service payloads, and hackers tied to Israel are reportedly waging cyberwar on Iran’s financial system.

In tech commentary, author Gil Duran discusses "The Nerd Reich" and the authoritarian tendencies of tech billionaires.

• https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/07/why-it-takes-3295-people-to-write-one-google-ai-paper
• https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/07/browser-extensions-turn-nearly-1-million-browsers-into-website-scraping-bots
• https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/exhausted-man-defeats-ai-model-in-world-coding-championship
• https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/07/chatgpts-new-ai-agent-can-browse-the-web-and-create-powerpoint-slideshows
• https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/707010/gil-duran-the-nerd-reich-tech-billionaires-authoritarianism-dictator
• https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/06/israel-tied-predatory-sparrow-hackers-are-waging-cyberwar-on-irans-financial-system
• https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/the-resume-is-dying-and-ai-is-holding-the-smoking-gun
• https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/07/malware-as-a-service-caught-using-github-to-distribute-its-payloads
• https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/chatgpt-made-up-a-product-feature-out-of-thin-air-so-this-company-created-it

In the AI sector, ChatGPT is threatening Google with 2.5 billion daily queries. A related half-trillion-dollar AI venture involving OpenAI's Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son is delayed due to disagreements. Meanwhile, Anthropic's Claude is being recognized as a game-changer for coding. The AI market is also seeing significant M&A activity, with at least three young Israeli companies in acquisition talks and the company Octup raising $12 million to optimize logistics centers.

In other business news, Datadog is considering a billion-dollar acquisition of Appwind. Cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, once the star of a major IPO, is now facing challenges and is viewed as a potential acquisition target.

In entertainment and gaming, Netflix requires more than high viewership for its series to survive. Xbox Cloud Gaming has introduced a new feature that shows a user's play history across both PC and console.

A new startup from the Unistream 2025 competition, created by teenagers from Afula, aims to turn every student into a teacher.

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/rk3avt38xe

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/byqb722ugx

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/rkzs003ige

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/hyqciohuel

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/sydyianlxl

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/h1v11cqiel

https://probably.co.uk/posts/claude-code-is-a-game-changer

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/b1c3uh6lxg

https://www.calcalist.co.il/calcalistech/article/syiullhixg

https://www.theverge.com/news/710764/xbox-cloud-gaming-roaming-pc-console-play-history-feature