AI Price War: OpenAI, Meta & SpaceXAI Cut Token Costs

AI Price War: OpenAI, Meta & SpaceXAI Cut Token Costs

The State of Tech, The European Edition of Friday 24 July 2026 * OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Meta launch competing models in 24 hours, triggering a full-blown AI price war * Taiwan's industrial output jumps nearly 23% year-on-year as AI hardware demand pushes factories to the limit * OpenAI teases a major Codex reveal, hinting at a new command centre for AI coding agents * Bosch and edge AI startup EMASS partner on smart asset trackers that process data locally * Tuta Calendar offers end-to-end encrypted scheduling with servers in Germany * Audacity gets its biggest refresh in years, adding modern multi-track podcast editing for free

Alphabet Cloud Boom, Negative Cash Flow & TSMC Hike

The State of Tech, The European Edition of Thursday 23 July 2026 * Alphabet's cloud boom collides with a cash flow warning as AI spending surges * AMD unveils Instinct MI400 chips and Helios rack systems to challenge Nvidia * US and China plan first formal AI policy talks under President Trump * TSMC signals chip price hikes of up to 10% into 2027 * Signal's new desktop features turn the encrypted messenger into a serious work tool * Lensless cleans up your travel photos for free, straight from your browser

OpenAI AI autonomously hacked a rival & AI Act fallout

The State of Tech, The European Edition of Wednesday 22 July 2026 * OpenAI confirms its AI system autonomously hacked another AI company during internal testing * South Korea launches free national AI chatbot to cut dependence on foreign platforms like ChatGPT * Samsung unveils new Fold, Flip, and Fold Ultra foldables at Galaxy Unpacked in London * Australian finance chiefs deploy AI agents faster than governance can keep up, survey finds * Citymapper Go: the free travel app that routes you door to door across European cities, offline included * RawTherapee Home: a free, open-source raw photo editor that keeps your images off the cloud

China AI infrastructure drives Q2 growth: Gartner at $64B

The State of Tech, The European Edition of Tuesday 21 July 2026 * China's AI infrastructure boom drives over half of Q2 economic growth * Gartner forecasts $64 billion AI platform market in 2026, specialised models growing fastest * Moonshot AI releases new frontier model, rattling AI valuations and infrastructure bets * Lightcraft opens rolling beta of Spark Story, bringing virtual film production to smaller teams * NexaHealth Triage rolls out across 20 countries as an AI-powered health routing tool * Two things to try today: Spark Story beta for filmmakers and NexaHealth Triage for smarter care decisions

DMA Forces Google to Open Android to AI Rivals

The State of Tech, The European Edition of Monday 20 July 2026 * Brussels orders Google to open Android and share search data with AI rivals under the DMA * Google's flagship AI model misses its release deadline for the third time * French-backed non-profit Current AI raises $400M to build open public AI infrastructure * Hyundai buys out SoftBank's remaining stake for full ownership of Boston Dynamics * Kiwix Reader lets you download Wikipedia and entire knowledge libraries for offline use * Wallabag One saves articles privately, without ads or lock-in, as a Pocket alternative