Tech News — 2026-07-08#

Story of the Day#

OpenAI is finally rolling out its highly anticipated GPT-5.6 suite—including the Sol, Terra, and Luna models—to the global public this Thursday. The release was previously stalled but is now moving forward after the Trump administration lifted its security restrictions following further testing.

Top Stories#

Apple pledges to buy $30 billion of Broadcom’s US-made chips · Engadget Apple announced a massive multiyear agreement to spend more than $30 billion on custom wireless connectivity components designed and manufactured in the US by Broadcom. This aggressive investment is part of Apple’s broader $600 billion pledge to diversify its supply chain and modernize domestic manufacturing hubs, particularly in Colorado.

Apple loses legal fight over its App Store ‘gatekeeper’ status in Europe · Engadget Europe’s General Court has completely dismissed Apple’s challenge against the European Union’s designation of its App Stores and iOS as “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act. The ruling effectively kills Apple’s walled-garden defense in Europe, forcing the company to allow alternative app stores, halt internal service favoritism, and support deep interoperability with rival platforms.

John Deere agrees to 10-year right-to-repair deal in FTC antitrust lawsuit · Slashdot After a brutal, decade-long fight with farmers and right-to-repair advocates, John Deere settled antitrust claims with the FTC, agreeing to a 10-year, federally supervised mandate. The agricultural giant is now legally required to provide independent repair shops and tractor owners with the exact same software, diagnostic tools, and resetting capabilities available to its authorized dealers.

Meta is reportedly working on smart glasses that would be recording all the time · The Verge Meta is testing prototype “super sensing” AI glasses that continuously record ambient audio and snap photos every few seconds to build always-aware contextual AI. Anticipating intense privacy backlash, the company is simultaneously rolling out firmware that will permanently disable the camera if the device detects someone tampering with or taping over the external recording LED.

AI chip maker SambaNova raises $1B at $11B valuation · TechCrunch SambaNova Systems just locked down $1 billion in new funding, propelling the AI hardware challenger to an $11 billion valuation. The massive capital injection proves venture markets are still aggressively hunting for alternative infrastructure plays to break Nvidia’s monopoly, coming just months after rumors circulated that Intel tried to acquire SambaNova for a mere $1.6 billion.

Microsoft’s Xbox reset is pivoting Obsidian to make Fallout instead of Avowed · The Verge Microsoft’s Xbox division is undergoing a bloodbath, cutting 3,200 jobs and forcing major internal realignments to salvage a “not healthy” hardware and subscription business. As part of the pivot toward guaranteed hits, Obsidian Entertainment’s planned Avowed sequel has been scrapped, with the studio officially redirected to build a new Fallout title to capitalize on the soaring popularity of the Amazon television show.

ChatGPT’s upgraded voice mode is better at shutting up · The Verge OpenAI is completely overhauling ChatGPT’s voice mode with “GPT-Live-1,” an upgraded model that can listen and speak simultaneously without frustrating delays. Designed to mimic natural human conversation, the model interrupts less, waits politely during pauses, automatically hands off complex reasoning to GPT-5.5, and can execute real-time language translation.

Also Worth Knowing#

• Blue Origin reportedly raising $10B at $130B valuation: Jeff Bezos’s aerospace firm is bringing in private capital for the first time, seeking $10 billion to aggressively scale its heavy lift rockets and satellite megaconstellations against SpaceX.
• Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos In AI Images: Meta’s newly launched “Muse Image” generator defaults to allowing anyone to generate AI content using the likeness of users with public Instagram profiles, forcing concerned account holders to manually opt out.
• Judge approves $1.5 million SEC-Musk settlement over Twitter investment: A federal judge approved Elon Musk’s $1.5 million fine to end an SEC lawsuit over his failure to legally disclose his aggressive 2022 stock accumulation in Twitter.
• Waymo will soon go fully autonomous in four more cities: Alphabet’s robotaxi division is ditching its human safety supervisors to launch fully autonomous commercial operations in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Denver.
• SpaceXAI releases Grok 4.5, which Elon describes as an ‘Opus-class model’: Built in partnership with AI startup Cursor, SpaceXAI’s new model is reportedly highly optimized for coding, finance, and legal tasks as Musk attempts to close the gap with Anthropic