WeWard’s “Walking Mode” (launched July 8, 2026) lets users lock chosen apps like TikTok or Instagram until they hit a customizable daily step goal—3,000 is one example. Backed by Venus Williams, it has 30M users in 29 countries (4M US) and says it boosts walking time by nearly 25%.
Paris AI startup ZML launched ZML/LLMD in July 2026, a free inference server for open-source LLMs that runs on Nvidia, AMD, Google TPU, Apple Metal, and Intel Arc to reduce vendor lock-in. It’s not open source, following a 2024 ML inference framework updated in March, and ZML will only consider paid tiers after analyzing usage.
Meta announced in 2026 that it will update its smart glasses with a feature that automatically disables the camera if the device detects tampering with or destruction of its built-in privacy LED…
Meta’s Superintelligence Labs launched Muse Image in July 2026 for Meta AI, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It lets users @ mention Instagram accounts in prompts so Meta AI can use public photos for generated likenesses (with controls), plus transforms and edits—starting with 30 new Instagram Stories AI effects in the US.
Joshua Achiam, OpenAI’s chief futurist, notified colleagues in July 2026 that he will leave the company later this month after nearly nine years. Achiam told staff his departure was not driven by any…
X added an in-app video recorder/editor to its iOS app in July 2026, after product head Nikita Bier said many videos from top accounts are “simply stolen,” sometimes 5 years after going viral, and make up close to half of impressions. The update brings trimming, multi-language auto-captions, and green-screen backgrounds from camera-roll photos, as X tackles content recycling by redirecting impressions from programmatic reuploads and cutting payouts for stolen reposts/clickbait.
Figma’s July 2026 acquisition of Bud (formerly Orchids) goes beyond expansion into app prototyping: both platforms will shut down July 18, 2026, and users must migrate. It also follows BBC reporting earlier this year on Orchids-made apps’ cyberattack exposure.
Microsoft is moving some Excel and Word prompts from OpenAI/Anthropic to its in-house MAI models, Bloomberg reported July 7, 2026, citing rising AI service costs. At last month’s Build, Microsoft unveiled seven new MAI models, including an agentic coder and text-to-image generator, while Amazon, Uber, Meta, and Accenture cut AI spend too.
Anthropic expanded access to its Claude Cowork platform on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, making it available on mobile and web for the first time. Previously, Cowork was only accessible through the Claude…
Microsoft has released a fix for a Windows 11 bug that caused a system file to consume several gigabytes — and in some cases, hundreds of gigabytes — of storage space on affected devices.
The patch…
Bidbus raised $15M in a July 2026 Series A to expand its real-time used-car auction where dealers get only a few hours to submit competing bids, with offers averaging $2,000–$3,000 more than Carvana even after Bidbus’s cut. Led by Ibex Investors with Mucker Capital, FJ Labs and others, the Los Angeles startup previously operated only in California and Texas.
On July 7, 2026, Norm raised a $120M Series C led by Khosla Ventures, valuing the nearly three-year-old AI law firm at $1.2B. Norm Law uses human-supervised AI agents for enterprise work and charges by outcomes, not hourly. Other investors include Bain and Fenwick LLP.
