Technology News 2 July 2025

Why Everyone’s Talking About Character.AI in 2025 – Major Updates, New CEO & Controversy

In June 2025 Karandeep Anand, formerly Meta VP, was named CEO of Character.AI, succeeding co-founder Noam Shazeer, and he pledged a 60-day plan to improve memory, filters, and creator features. In 2025 Character.AI launched Scenes, AvatarFX, Streams, and memory tools, with Chat Memories available in May 2025, AvatarFX live on web in June, and Streams rolling out in summer 2025. Google’s 2024 licensing deal valued at about $2.5–$3 billion gave Google a non-exclusive license to Character.AI’s LLM, bought out early investors in a reverse acquihire, and kept Character.AI independent. By early 2025 Character.AI had about 20 million MAU and over

3 July 2025

Internet Access in the Netherlands: 2025 Status and Outlook

By early 2025, fiber is available to over 7–8 million of about 9.3 million Dutch households, roughly 75–85% coverage. Fiber take-up reached about 3.2 million lines by end-2024. DSL is rapidly being phased out as KPN replaces copper with fiber and piloted copper network shutdowns in areas where fiber is live. Cable networks cover roughly 89% of homes with DOCSIS 3.1 in 2022, and Ziggo passes about 90% of homes. Ziggo plans to implement DOCSIS 4.0 by mid-decade, enabling multi-gigabit speeds up to about 8 Gbps on cable. Many fiber networks offer open access wholesale, allowing numerous ISPs to provide

3 July 2025

2025 · Internet · Netherlands · Technology · Trends

Drone Laws in Paris

Paris is governed by the permanent LF-P 23 no-fly zone, which covers the city from ground level up to 6,500 feet (about 1,981 meters) within the périphérique. To fly a drone in Paris, operators must obtain written authorization from the Paris Police Prefecture, with applications now due at least 10 working days before the flight as of April 2025. Under EU rules, drone operations are Open, Specific, or Certified, and in central Paris most urban flights fall under the Specific category requiring DGAC authorization, with STS options available for some operations. Drones weighing 250 g or more or with a

3 July 2025

Drones · Laws · Paris · Regulations · Technology

The Global AI Surge: Disruption, Opportunity, and the New World Order / Updated: 2025, July 3rd, 12:00 CET

In 2025, Chinese AI models like DeepSeek and Alibaba’s language models gained global traction, with DeepSeek reportedly priced at 1/17th the cost of leading US models and adopted by HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Saudi Aramco. US tech giants increased AI infrastructure spending in 2025, with Microsoft committing $80 billion and Meta $68 billion to data centers, chips, and cloud capacity. OpenAI agreed to lease 4.5 GW of data-center power from Oracle as part of the $500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure project. Ford CEO Jim Farley predicted that AI will literally replace half of all white-collar jobs in the US. A

3 July 2025

Artificial Intelligence · Disruption · Global Trends · NASDAQ:ASML · NASDAQ:META · NASDAQ:MSFT · NASDAQ:NVDA · NASDAQ:ORCL · NYSE:BABA · NYSE:F · NYSE:HSBC · NYSE:SAP · Technology · World Order

Space News Roundup: July 2025 / Updated: 2025, July 3rd, 12:00 CET

Europe launched its first geostationary atmospheric sounding satellite, MTG-S1, as part of the Meteosat Third Generation program, equipped with a hyperspectral infrared sounder and Copernicus Sentinel-4 for air-quality monitoring, with a 9–12 month commissioning phase. Russia’s Kosmos-2558 approached the U.S. reconnaissance satellite USA-326, with a sub-satellite ‘Object C’ displaying high maneuverability and potential anti-satellite capabilities. MethaneSAT, an $88 million climate satellite launched in March 2024 by EDF, Google, and SpaceX, lost contact after 15 months, creating a gap in global methane-emissions monitoring. SpaceX marked its 500th Falcon 9 launch, deploying Starlink satellites as the booster landed successfully and its overall

3 July 2025

Astronomy · NASDAQ:AAPL · NASDAQ:GOOGL · NASDAQ:NFLX · Science · Space · Space News · Technology

AI in July 2025: Superintelligence, Talent Wars, and Societal Shifts / Updated: 2025, July 3rd, 00:01 CET

Meta launched its Superintelligence Labs, led by Alexandr Wang (ex-Scale AI CEO) and Nat Friedman (ex-GitHub CEO), with reports of offers up to $300 million over four years to recruit talent from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and DeepMind. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticized Meta’s talent tactics as distasteful and OpenAI countered by offering staff a one-week break and considering salary increases to retain talent. Microsoft laid off about 9,000 employees (nearly 4% of its workforce) as it expands AI and cloud capabilities, with GitHub Copilot now generating 20-30% of internal code and 2025 capital spending planned at $80 billion. Amazon deployed

3 July 2025

Artificial Intelligence · Future Trends · NASDAQ:AMZN · NASDAQ:GOOGL · NASDAQ:META · NASDAQ:MSFT · NYSE:NET · Society · Talent · Technology

AI-Generated Music Is Exploding in 2025 – Inside the Revolution Shaking the Music Industry

A viral AI deepfake song titled “Heart on My Sleeve” mimicked Drake and The Weeknd and racked up millions of streams before Universal Music Group demanded its removal. In June 2024, the RIAA and the Big Three labels (UMG, Sony, Warner) sued Suno and Udio for alleged en masse copyright infringement, seeking up to $150,000 per infringed work. Google opened public access to MusicLM via its AI Test Kitchen in mid-2023, and MusicLM was trained on about 280,000 hours of music. Meta released MusicGen under the Audiocraft project in 2023, trained on 20,000 hours of licensed music and able to

2 July 2025

AI · Innovation · Music Industry · NASDAQ:GOOGL · NASDAQ:SPOT · NASDAQ:WMG · NYSE:SONY · Technology · Trends 2025

Drone Laws and Regulations in Russia (2025 Comprehensive Overview)

Since a 2015 amendment to the Air Code, Russia classifies all drones as aircraft under civil aviation law, with oversight by the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia). Drones are regulated by use category: hobbyist, commercial, and government, with separate licensing and registration for each. Drones over 150 grams and up to 30 kg must be registered with Rosaviatsia, a threshold lowered from 250 g in 2022. As of end-2023 over 93,000 civilian drones were registered; by end-2024 the total exceeded 116,000, with about 70–80% owned by individuals. Commercial drone pilots must obtain an Unmanned Aircraft Operator Certificate (UAV operator certificate)

2 July 2025

Drones · Law · Regulations · Russia · Technology

Internet Access in Kuwait (2025 Comprehensive Report)

Kuwait had approximately 4.29 million internet users, about 99% of the population, as of early 2024 per DataReportal. The country had around 7.89 million cellular mobile connections in 2024, equating to 182% of the population due to multiple SIM usage. Zain Kuwait launched 5G in 2019, becoming the first to roll out 5G among the three major operators, with 5G coverage reaching about 97% of the population by 2020. In July 2024, the Ministry of Communications announced the shutdown of copper services in several districts of Kuwait City and suburbs, encouraging customers to switch to fiber via ONTs. By 2022,

2 July 2025

Connectivity · Internet · Kuwait · NASDAQ:GOOGL · Reports · Technology

The State of Artificial Intelligence in 2025: Breakthroughs, Challenges, and the Road Ahead / Updated: 2025, July 2nd, 12:03 CET

The global AI market is valued at $391 billion in 2025, with a projected CAGR of 35.9% and an expected reach of $1.81 trillion by 2030. AI is now a business foundation, with over 6% of global startups and nearly 10% of unicorns AI-powered. 83% of companies say AI is a top priority, and daily AI use in office work has surged by 233% since late 2024. Meta launched its Superintelligence Labs led by Alexandr Wang and reportedly offered up to $300 million over four years to lure OpenAI researchers, with all 11 hires being immigrants. Microsoft’s AI Diagnostic Orchestrator

2 July 2025

2025 · Artificial Intelligence · Challenges · Innovations · NASDAQ:AMZN · NASDAQ:GOOGL · NASDAQ:META · NASDAQ:MSFT · Technology

Edge Computing Global News & Trends Roundup (June–July 2025)

Verizon Business launched the Edge Transportation Exchange, a 5G MEC-based V2X platform enabling real-time data sharing among vehicles, infrastructure, and pedestrians, piloted with Volkswagen, state transportation departments, and universities across Arizona, Delaware, and New Jersey. Rockwell Automation introduced OptixEdge, an on-site industrial gateway that processes factory machine data locally and integrates with FactoryTalk Optix, reducing cloud reliance and addressing the 44% of data currently used effectively in manufacturing. 1623 Farnam completed a major expansion of its Omaha, Nebraska data hub, adding 1.5 MW capacity to support surging Midwest edge traffic and lower-latency services. Mimik Technology partnered with AMD to integrate

2 July 2025

Cloud · Edge Computing · Industry News · Innovation · Technology

Global FinTech Developments – June–July 2025

Revolut will integrate the European Payments Initiative’s Wero wallet into the Revolut app for customers in France, Belgium and Germany, a system launched in 2024 that already has over 40 million users and aims to add e-commerce payments by late 2025 (announced June 26, 2025). Lunar, the Nordic digital bank, announced in June 2025 partnerships with Visa-owned Pismo for card issuing and with Wise Platform for global transfers, making Lunar the first Nordic bank to deploy these cloud and platform solutions. In the UK, Visa launched a new pay-by-bank A2A service in early June 2025 that uses real-time Faster Payments

2 July 2025

Finance · Fintech · Global Trends · Innovation · NASDAQ:DLO · NYSE:DB · NYSE:MA · NYSE:V · NYSE:WU · Technology

Technology News 2 July 2025 - 3 July 2025