Tech News — 2026-07-24#

Story of the Day#

Payments giant Stripe is currently in talks to acquire AI model marketplace OpenRouter for a staggering $10 billion. The potential megadeal underscores the exploding value of the infrastructure layer that provides developers with seamless, unified access to both proprietary and open-weight AI models.

Top Stories#

Anthropic launches Opus 5 · TechCrunch Anthropic released Claude Opus 5, a model that nears the capabilities of its flagship Fable 5 but at half the price. The release features improved coding and scientific research performance, while intentionally loosening its cybersecurity guardrail interventions by 85 percent to allow for legitimate research use.

Qualcomm Plans to Increase Its Prices by Double Digits · Bloomberg Qualcomm warned customers it will raise processor prices by “double digits” starting September 1 due to ongoing component shortages. The aggressive hike is expected to send a ripple effect across the consumer electronics sector, inevitably driving up the cost of next-generation smartphones.

Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta Warn Against ‘Premature Restrictions’ of Open-Weight Models · Slashdot A broad coalition of tech heavyweights signed an open letter urging US policymakers not to impose sweeping bans on open-weight AI models. The industry pushback comes as Washington debates restricting access to foreign and domestic models to combat the rise of Chinese AI competitors like Kimi K3.

Paramount/WBD merger delayed for months as states’ lawsuit moves toward trial · Ars Technica Paramount Skydance agreed to delay its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery until June 2027, or until after a ruling on a multi-state antitrust lawsuit. The concession freezes the mega-consolidation while state attorneys general argue the deal would severely damage competition in theatrical and cable markets.

SpaceX launches new V3 Starlink satellites but suffers another booster failure · TechCrunch SpaceX completed its 13th Starship test flight, successfully deploying a payload of 20 next-generation V3 Starlink satellites into orbit. Despite suffering another booster relight anomaly, the flight advances Elon Musk’s aggressive timeline for scaling the company’s satellite communications empire.

Roku raises streaming stick prices by up to 60 percent · Ars Technica Roku is drastically hiking prices across its streaming hardware lineup, blaming memory and component shortages driven by the AI data-center boom. The entry-level Streaming Stick jumps from $30 to $40, while the flagship Roku Ultra increases from $100 to $150.

Astronomers May Have Discovered First Moon Outside Our Solar System · Slashdot Scientists studying the CD-35 2722 system 73 light-years away believe they have detected an “exosatellite.” The discovery is forcing a rethink of planetary classifications, as the massive, gaseous object orbits a brown dwarf—a failed star—rather than a traditional planet.

Also Worth Knowing#

• US Accuses American of Allegedly Wiping His Phone Using a ‘Duress’ Password During Border Search (Slashdot): In a first-of-its-kind case, the Justice Department is prosecuting an individual for entering a specialized GrapheneOS wipe code instead of an unlock PIN during a Customs and Border Protection search.
• Trump threatens EU with new tariffs in response to Google fine (Engadget): The European Commission slapped Google with a nearly $1 billion fine for Digital Markets Act violations over search ranking, prompting immediate tariff threats from the Trump administration.
• Midjourney bought the astrology app Co-Star (The Verge): Expanding beyond its roots in AI image generation, Midjourney has acquired the wildly popular, AI-infused personalized horoscope app.
• The quest to keep organs alive outside the body (MIT Technology Review): Researchers achieved a landmark breakthrough in organ preservation by supercooling pig kidneys to -4 °C (25 °F) for days without ice damage and successfully reimplanting them.
• Facebook considers giving up and becoming TikTok (The Verge): Meta announced an upcoming experimental interface that will drop Facebook users directly into a full-screen, algorithm-driven video feed the moment they open the app.