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Giant Leaps in Space, Gigantic Gadgets & Shocking Breaches – Tech News Roundup (July 25–26, 2025)

Giant Leaps in Space, Gigantic Gadgets & Shocking Breaches – Tech News Roundup (July 25–26, 2025)

Consumer Electronics & Gadgets Computing & Chips Software & Operating Systems Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Telecommunications & Infrastructure Biotech & Health Tech Space & Aerospace Sources: Official corporate announcements, government releases, and reputable tech media were used in compiling this report. For more details, see NASA nasa.gov nasa.gov, Space Insider spaceinsider.tech spaceinsider.tech, Wired wired.com wired.com, Reuters reuters.com reuters.com, PCMag/CNET graphics-unleashed.com graphics-unleashed.com, Business Insider businessinsider.com businessinsider.com, and other sources as cited above.
26 July 2025
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AI Revolution Roundup: Meta’s Secret Weapon, China’s Global Gambit & Breakthrough Tech (July 25–26, 2025)

AI Revolution Roundup: Meta’s Secret Weapon, China’s Global Gambit & Breakthrough Tech (July 25–26, 2025)

On July 25, 2025, Meta hired Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4, as chief scientist of its new “Superintelligence Lab.” The Superintelligence Lab will consolidate Meta’s LLaMa models and long-term AGI work, operate separately from FAIR, and Zuckerberg has said it aims to build “full general intelligence” as open source. OpenAI launched ChatGPT Agent and introduced Customize ChatGPT, making these features available to all ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team subscribers after a trial period. Alibaba open-sourced four new generative AI models in a single week, including the 235-billion-parameter Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 (Qwen3-Thinking-2507), which scored 92.3 on AIME, 74.1 on
26 July 2025
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Munich Drone Laws 2025: 10 Surprising Rules & No-Fly Zones You Must Know

Munich Drone Laws 2025: 10 Surprising Rules & No-Fly Zones You Must Know

The Open category rules cap drone altitude at 120 meters and require no special permit if you meet the Open-category conditions (weight, VLOS, no dangerous goods). Online registration with the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA) is mandatory for operators of drones 250 g or heavier, or any drone under 250 g with a camera or data sensor, with a single e-ID valid for all your drones. There are two EU certificates: the A1/A3 ‘small drone license’ and the A2 ‘large drone license’, both valid for five years and available to pilots aged 16 and up. Open-category sublines include Category A1 for drones up
26 July 2025
Mach 2 Marvels: The Epic Saga of Dassault’s Mirage Fighter Jets

Mach 2 Marvels: The Epic Saga of Dassault’s Mirage Fighter Jets

In 1958, the Mirage III became the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in level flight. The Mirage IIIC entered French service by 1961. The Mirage F1 first flew in 1966 and could land about 60 knots slower than the Mirage III. The Mirage 2000 first flew in 1978 and introduced fly-by-wire control with the Snecma M53-P2 engine delivering 64 kN dry and 95 kN with afterburner. The Mirage 4000 first flew in 1979 as a twin-engine “Super Mirage” with canards and a potential load up to 8 tons, but only one prototype was built and it
25 July 2025
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Miami Drone Laws 2025: The Ultimate Guide to Avoid Fines and Fly Safe

Miami Drone Laws 2025: The Ultimate Guide to Avoid Fines and Fly Safe

In Miami, any drone weighing more than 0.55 pounds (250 grams) must be registered with the FAA before flight, costs $5 online, and the ID number must be clearly marked on the drone. Remote ID is required for all drones that must be registered (over 250 g or used under Part 107), with compliance via built-in Remote ID, an external module, or by flying in FAA-recognized identification areas (FRIAs); enforcement began on March 16, 2024. During major sports events, the FAA imposes a stadium TFR of 3 miles radius up to 3,000 feet AGL, while the City of Miami also
25 July 2025
Wall Street Shocked by AI Surge: What Happened on July 24–25?

Wall Street Shocked by AI Surge: What Happened on July 24–25?

On July 24, 2025, the S&P 500 rose 0.07% to a fresh record close, its fourth consecutive such close. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.18% to its own all-time high on July 24, 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% on July 24, 2025. <liAlphabet (GOOGL) posted a strong Q2 beat and announced a $10 billion boost to its 2025 capital expenditure budget, now $85 billion, to expand AI chips and data centers. Alphabet’s cloud division revenue jumped about 32% in the quarter. Nvidia rose 1.7% on July 24, 2025, providing the biggest lift to the S&P 500. Intel unveiled
25 July 2025
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2025–2026 Smartphone Mega-Preview: Flagships, Foldables, Gaming & Future Phones

2025–2026 Smartphone Mega-Preview: Flagships, Foldables, Gaming & Future Phones

Apple plans the iPhone 17 lineup for September 2025, including iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and the new iPhone 17 Air, with a 3nm A19 chip and 120Hz ProMotion across all models. The iPhone 4 SE (SE 4) is expected in Spring 2025 as a 6.1-inch OLED budget iPhone with an A18 3nm chip, Face ID, possibly an in-house 5G modem, and a price around $499. Samsung released the Galaxy S25 Ultra in January 2025, featuring a 6.8-inch display, Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy SoC, a 200MP main camera, and S‑Pen support, priced about $1,199. Samsung also rolled
25 July 2025
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Internet Access in Gabon 2025: Fiber, Mobile Networks, and the Satellite Revolution

Internet Access in Gabon 2025: Fiber, Mobile Networks, and the Satellite Revolution

Gabon’s internet usage reaches about 72% of the population in January 2025, with roughly 1.84 million internet users out of a ~2.57 million population. Over 91% of Gabon’s population is urban, yet about 1,253 villages lacked any mobile coverage as of early 2024, with 200 additional villages planned for Phase 2 in 2024. Moov Africa Gabon Telecom and Airtel Gabon dominate the mobile market in 2025, each with roughly half the subscribers, offering 2G/3G/4G nationwide and no commercial 5G yet. CanalBox FTTH from Group Vivendi Africa (GVA) launched in 2017, with Libreville fiber passing over 130,000 homes and businesses and
25 July 2025
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Starlink Coverage in 2025: Full Global Map, Reviews, and What’s Coming Next

Starlink Coverage in 2025: Full Global Map, Reviews, and What’s Coming Next

By early 2025, Starlink was available in over 100 countries across every inhabited continent. In the past year, Starlink launched in 42 new countries and territories and surpassed 6 million active customers worldwide. In the United States, the standard Starlink plan costs about $90 per month with a $599 equipment kit. SpaceX added about 2,300 satellites in the past year, bringing the total in orbit to over 7,000. By early 2025, Starlink was adding about 5 terabits per second of capacity per week to the constellation. Starlink typically delivers 50–200 Mbps download speeds, with the US median peak around 200
25 July 2025
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SpaceX Wins $81.6 Million U.S. Space Force Deal to Launch WSF-M2 Weather Satellite in 2027

SpaceX’s Action-Packed 48 Hours: Starlink Outage Shakes Users, Satellite Phone Service Debuts, Launch & Starship Updates

From July 24 to July 25, 2025, Starlink endured one of its largest outages, knocking tens of thousands offline with more than 60,000 outage reports before service largely returned in about 2.5 hours. Starlink’s outage was attributed by VP of Engineering Michael Nicolls to a failure of key internal software services that operate the core network, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk publicly apologized on X. Starlink now serves over 6 million users across roughly 140 countries. On July 24, 2025, T-Mobile launched T-Satellite, a satellite-to-cell texting service, after a six‑month beta with nearly 2 million participants and up to 30,000
25 July 2025
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Crypto News Roundup (July 24–25, 2025): Bitcoin Nears $120K, U.S. Stablecoin Law Signed, Exchange Hacks & More

Crypto News Roundup (July 24–25, 2025): Bitcoin Nears $120K, U.S. Stablecoin Law Signed, Exchange Hacks & More

Bitcoin briefly spiked to $120,000, retraced about 2%, and triggered liquidations of over 176,000 positions totaling more than $500 million in losses. On July 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, creating the first federal framework for stablecoins and requiring issuers to obtain federal or qualifying state licenses with reserve and monthly disclosure standards. CoinShares became the first European crypto firm to secure a MiCA license from France’s AMF, enabling passporting across all 27 EU countries. Kitabo Inc. added Bitcoin to its balance sheet as a strategic reserve asset. Coinbase announced on July 22, 2025 that BankrCoin (BNKR),
25 July 2025
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Space Race Heats Up: Russia’s 21-Satellite Launch, Amazon’s $140 M Bet, and a New Artemis Ally

Space Race Heats Up: Russia’s 21-Satellite Launch, Amazon’s $140 M Bet, and a New Artemis Ally

On July 25 at 1:54 a.m. ET, a Soyuz-2.1b from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome lofted 21 satellites into orbit, including two Ionosfera-M space weather satellites, Iran’s Nahid-2, and 18 rideshares. The four Ionosfera-M satellites will provide three-dimensional near-Earth space coverage to study solar wind effects on radio communications and satellites, with the first two launched in late 2024. Amazon announced a $139.5 million investment to accelerate Project Kuiper, including a new 100,000-square-foot payload processing facility at Kennedy Space Center that opened in April. Senegal joined the Artemis Accords on July 24, becoming the 56th signatory to commit to peaceful, transparent space
25 July 2025
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Ukraine’s Sky Guardians: From MiG-29s to F-16s – Every Fighter Jet Defending Ukraine’s Skies

Ukraine’s Sky Guardians: From MiG-29s to F-16s – Every Fighter Jet Defending Ukraine’s Skies

The MiG-29 Fulcrum is described as agile, capable of speeds over Mach 2.25, with a roughly 700 km internal range, six external hardpoints, and a typical loadout of up to 4 R-73 and 2 R-27R missiles, plus the notable HARMs SEAD capability. The Su-27 Flanker serves as Ukraine’s heavyweight air superiority fighter with speeds over Mach 2.3, ferry range over 3,500 km, a combat radius around 1,500 km, 10 hardpoints, and has been observed carrying HARMs and conducting long-range strikes. The Su-24 Fencer is a swing-wing bomber capable of Mach 1.35–1.6, ferry range 2,700–3,000 km, combat radius ~600 km, eight
25 July 2025
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AI Revolution Unleashed: GPT-5, Global Showdowns, and Tech Turmoil (July 24–25, 2025)

AI Revolution Unleashed: GPT-5, Global Showdowns, and Tech Turmoil (July 24–25, 2025)

OpenAI plans to release GPT-5 as early as August 2025, merging multiple specialized “o-series” models into a single versatile AI that can utilize all available tools. Ash, Slingshot AI’s therapy-focused AI, launched publicly after 18 months in beta with $93 million in funding and clinical advisers including a former NIMH director. Unitree Robotics unveiled the bipedal humanoid robot R1 priced at ¥39,900 (~$5,600), weighing 25 kg, and equipped with a multimodal LLM for vision and speech. The Trump AI Action Plan, a 28-page blueprint with about 90 recommendations and three executive orders, aims to roll back environmental constraints and expand
25 July 2025
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OpenAI’s Meteoric Rise: Breakthroughs, Billions, and Backlash in 2025

OpenAI’s GPT‑5 Could Drop as Soon as August—Here’s What It Means for the Future of AI

GPT-5 could debut as early as August, according to Reuters, and will fuse several distinct systems rather than ship as a single monolith. The Verge reports mini and nano variants will launch alongside the flagship to offer tiered pricing and lower-latency or on-device use. Early testers say GPT-5 will be multimodal and agentic, able to mix text, images, audio and file manipulation inside task-running agents. There are rumors of a million-token context window with persistent memory baked into the core, enabling handling entire projects. Leaks indicate GPT-5 includes a safety and biosecurity focus with internal ‘BioSec Benchmarks’ to harden against
24 July 2025
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Inside Vanuatu’s Digital Leap: How Satellite Internet Is Transforming Island Connectivity

Inside Vanuatu’s Digital Leap: How Satellite Internet Is Transforming Island Connectivity

Vanuatu is a Y-shaped archipelago of roughly 80 islands with a population of about 330,000, of which nearly 74% live in rural areas. A 7.3-magnitude earthquake in late 2024 severed Vanuatu’s sole international submarine cable, the Interchange Cable Network (ICN1), causing a nationwide internet outage. The ICN1 is a 1,280 Gbit/s submarine fiber cable connecting Port Vila to Suva, Fiji, and its 2014 launch expanded national bandwidth by more than 200x. A second international cable, SMART TamTam, is under development to link New Caledonia to Vanuatu and is expected online around 2025, providing redundancy and climate-sensor capabilities. Since the 2014
24 July 2025
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China’s 2025 Drone Export Crackdown: DJI Grounded in the West While Russia Still Flies

China’s 2025 Drone Export Crackdown: DJI Grounded in the West While Russia Still Flies

In 2025 Beijing imposed sweeping new limits on drone exports, halting or sharply reducing sales to Ukraine, the United States, and Europe while shipments to Russia appear to continue. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “Chinese Mavic is open for Russians but is closed for Ukrainians,” referencing DJI’s Mavic drones used in the war. On September 1, 2024, China’s export controls took effect, banning exports of all unregulated civilian drones that could serve military uses and adding high-end infrared imaging gear, laser rangefinders, and precision inertial navigation units to the export-control list. Under the new rules, exports of drone parts
24 July 2025
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HP Spectre vs MacBook, XPS, Yoga & Surface – The Ultimate 2025 Laptop Showdown

HP Spectre vs MacBook, XPS, Yoga & Surface – The Ultimate 2025 Laptop Showdown

HP Spectre x360 (2024 refresh) uses Intel’s 13th/14th-gen Core “Ultra” CPUs, delivering strong productivity performance and AI acceleration. In benchmarks, the Spectre x360 with an Intel Core i7 outpaced Dell XPS 13 in most tests thanks to a higher-wattage processor. The MacBook Air (M2) is fanless and achieves strong performance per watt, with PugetBench Premiere Pro showing the MacBook Air scoring about 50% higher than an Iris Xe Spectre in CPU tasks. Apple’s MacBook Pro 14/16 with M2 Pro/Max chips remains in a performance league of its own for demanding content creation, outperforming Windows ultraportables. Dell XPS 13 Plus (2023)
24 July 2025
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This Common Phone Feature Could Land You in Jail Abroad: Inside the Global Crackdown on GPS and Satellite Phones

This Common Phone Feature Could Land You in Jail Abroad: Inside the Global Crackdown on GPS and Satellite Phones

India bans unlicensed satellite communication and navigation devices, including Thuraya and Iridium phones and Garmin InReach, under the Indian Telegraph Act (1885) and Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933), with penalties up to three years in prison or ₹5 million in fines, and limited DoT licensing for Inmarsat devices. The 2008 Mumbai attacks involved a Thuraya satellite phone, prompting India’s tougher crackdown on civilian satphones. In March 2025 at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, three American travelers and one Australian were booked under Indian telecom laws for carrying Garmin GPS units and an Iridium satphone. Between January 2020 and September 2021, Karnataka
24 July 2025
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Stock Market Today

KLA stock price jumps 8% as chip rebound lifts KLAC — what to know before Monday

KLA stock price jumps 8% as chip rebound lifts KLAC — what to know before Monday

8 February 2026
KLA Corp shares surged 8.4% to $1,442.95 Friday, leading gains in chip-equipment stocks after Amazon announced a major increase in capital spending. About 1.6 million KLA shares traded as the PHLX semiconductor index rose 5.7%. KLA’s board declared a $1.90 quarterly dividend, payable March 3 to holders as of Feb. 17. Applied Materials and Lam Research also rallied sharply into the close.
CBA share price: Commonwealth Bank stock steadies after ASX selloff as earnings loom

CBA share price: Commonwealth Bank stock steadies after ASX selloff as earnings loom

8 February 2026
Commonwealth Bank of Australia closed Friday down 0.23% at A$158.91, outperforming a 2.03% drop in the S&P/ASX 200. Investors await CBA’s half-year results on Feb. 11 and commentary from CEO Matt Comyn. The Reserve Bank’s recent cash-rate hike to 3.85% and upcoming mortgage repricing are in focus. CBA flagged A$68 million in provisions and A$53 million in non-recurring income items.
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