Alvagante Infrastructure, AI, and the wider world — curated daily.

Daily digest

2026-07-31

← All digests

2026-07-31 08:10:59 +0000

2026-07-31

100 items
OpenAI News Jul 31 Score 0.9750000000000001

Advancing responsible AI across Europe

OpenAI shares how its safety, security, transparency, and provenance practices support responsible AI governance in Europe. The work will continue as the EU AI Act advances.

AI aiopenaimodels
Krebs on Security Jul 30 Score 0.9493901027777779

Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick

Security experts have been sounding the alarm for years about the risks of using generic TV boxes that promise unlimited content streaming for a one-time fee, warning that they secretly rent the user's Internet connection out to strangers. But a groundbreaking

Security securitycybercrimebreaches
OpenAI News Jul 30 Score 0.9213621976851852

How avatarin built a 24/7 retail agent with GPT-Realtime

avatarin uses OpenAI’s GPT-Realtime to give Yamada Denki shoppers 24/7 multilingual support. In two weeks, 30,000 people used the agent and 92% of survey responses were positive.

AI aiopenaimodels
Simon Willison's Weblog Jul 30 Score 0.886325985648148

Advancing the price-performance frontier with GPT‑5.6

Advancing the price-performance frontier with GPT‑5.6 Huge price drop from OpenAI today: GPT-5.6 Terra got a 20% reduction, and GPT-5.6 Luna got a massive 80% drop. OpenAI credit 5.6 Sol with enabling this: in How GPT‑5.6 fuses frontier intelligence with front

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Jul 30 Score 0.8858477449074074

Investigating three real-world incidents in our cybersecurity evaluations

Investigating three real-world incidents in our cybersecurity evaluations It happened again! This is turning into something of a pattern. Last week OpenAI accidentally exploited Hugging Face when one of their frontier models broke out of a sandboxed container

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Jul 30 Score 0.8844759856481481

llm 0.32rc2

Release: llm 0.32rc2 Hot on the heels of RC1 , this fixes a dependency issue and also adds two neat new features: The default model for users who have not set their own default is now GPT-5.6 Luna . It was previously GPT-4o mini . Luna is a much better and mor

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Foreign Policy Jul 30 Score 0.8832460634259258

Is the U.S.-Iran War Expanding?

Violence is escalating, but it also follows familiar trends.

Geopolitics geopoliticsforeign-policyanalysis
Foreign Policy Jul 30 Score 0.8810733782407406

NATO Says Russian Missile Violated Polish Airspace

Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned that Moscow’s “reckless” actions risk spreading the Ukraine war.

Geopolitics geopoliticsforeign-policyanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Jul 30 Score 0.8770685782407407

Quoting Bruce Schneier

The writing assignments I give my students are gym tasks, not work tasks. I ask them to write policy memos not because the world needs more policy memos. I assign them because the very act of writing, which includes thinking and outlining and drafting and edit

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Foreign Policy Jul 30 Score 0.8765150449074073

Lindsey Graham’s Parting Gift to Ukraine

The late senator’s long-stalled Russia sanctions bill is on its way to becoming law.

Geopolitics geopoliticsforeign-policyanalysis
Foreign Policy Jul 30 Score 0.8759905078703702

Zaidi’s Militia Dilemma

Iraq’s new prime minister faces a familiar challenge in confronting Iran-backed groups.

Geopolitics geopoliticsforeign-policyanalysis
Simon Willison's Weblog Jul 30 Score 0.8725639481481481

llm-chat-completions-server 0.1a0

Release: llm-chat-completions-server 0.1a0 A key goal of the new content-addressable logs in LLM 0.32rc1 was being able to support OpenAI Chat Completion style requests where each incoming message extends the previous conversation, like this: curl http://local

AI aillmsengineeringanalysis
Schneier on Security Jul 30 Score 0.864738273611111

Should You Use AI for a Task? Here’s a Simple Way to Decide

This essay originally appeared in The Guardian . I teach public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Munk School at the University of Toronto. And it will come as no surprise to you that my students regularly use AI to complete their writing assignment

Security securitycryptographypolicy
The Economist — Finance & Economics Jul 30 Score 0.8305939259259258

Oil prices remain highly flammable

As tensions flare in the Gulf, triple digits could return in a flash

Economy economyfinancemacroeconomicsanalysis
The Economist — Finance & Economics Jul 30 Score 0.8242217037037036

Japan pursues an ill-timed fiscal stimulus

Takaichi Sanae’s economic agenda bears little resemblance to her mentor’s

Economy economyfinancemacroeconomicsanalysis
War on the Rocks Jul 31 Score 0.8238863319444445

The (Un)importance of the Battle of Tours

Editor's note: This is the first article in a new occasional series featuring battles that just didn't matter, that looked important in isolation but had negligible strategic or political effect, or were absurd, anticlimactic, or structurally irrelevant to the

Geopolitics geopoliticsmilitarystrategy
BBC News — World Jul 31 Score 0.8237789518518519

AC Milan and Italy great Baresi dies aged 66

AC Milan and Italy great Franco Baresi has died at the age of 66, the Italian club announces.

Geopolitics geopoliticsbbcworld-news
Foreign Affairs Jul 31 Score 0.8180289120370371

Why a Weaker Russia Keeps Fighting

Putin sees little need to negotiate.

Geopolitics geopoliticsforeign-policyanalysisjournals
BleepingComputer Jul 31 Score 0.8129573546296297

Anthropic's Claude breached 3 orgs, uploaded PyPI malware during tests

One of Anthropic's Claude models built and uploaded a malicious Python package to PyPI during a botched security evaluation, where it ran on 15 real systems and stole credentials from a security vendor. It was one of three incidents affecting real companies. [

Security securitymalwarevulnerabilities
Wired Jul 30 Score 0.8101888222222223

How the FCC’s New Rule Will Affect Robot Vacuums

A new restriction on foreign-made mobile robots affects robotic vacuums, pool cleaners, and lawn mowers. Here’s what it means for the bots already in your home—and the ones you may never get to buy.

Technology technologyculturesociety
The Verge Jul 30 Score 0.8088549800925927

Tim Cook hints at iCloud Plus tier for AI power users

Apple may allow users to pay to increase their AI usage limits. During an earnings call on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he believes people will want to use Apple Intelligence and the upcoming Siri AI "a lot," adding that "we will have some kind of up

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
BleepingComputer Jul 30 Score 0.8088207805555556

South Korea fines telco giant KT $39 million for customer data breach

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has fined telecommunications giant KT Corporation KRW 53.979 billion ($39 million) over data protection violations. [...]

Security securitymalwarevulnerabilities
The Verge Jul 30 Score 0.8083123875000001

Xbox CEO lays out priorities in memo after major 'reset'

After a massive Xbox "reset" that laid off thousands of employees and spun off four studios, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wants to get Xbox back to growth. In a memo obtained by The Verge, Sharma told staff by the end of fiscal year 2027 (which runs through next June)

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
BleepingComputer Jul 30 Score 0.8080712435185186

JetBrains warns of critical TeamCity remote code execution flaw

JetBrains is warning of a critical authentication bypass vulnerability affecting TeamCity On-Premises that could be exploited to achieve remote code execution. [...]

Security securitymalwarevulnerabilities
The Verge Jul 30 Score 0.8060711837962964

Apple's iPhone and Mac sales keep growing despite RAM shortages

Apple's iPhone and Mac sales are on the rise even as a global memory shortage squeezes device makers. In its third-quarter earnings report released on Thursday, Apple revealed that iPhone sales jumped 22 percent to $54.25 billion and Mac sales increased 29 per

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
The Verge Jul 30 Score 0.8059846097222223

The loss of Situational Awareness

I am not by any means an expert at finance but I think I do now have some advice for people who are: Do not name your hedge fund anything that will be hilarious if it blows up. Don't use a name like "Long-Term Capital Management" or "Amaranth Advisors" (named

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
The Verge Jul 30 Score 0.8030285912037037

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 9 is $40 off at Costco and comes with over $50 in freebies

The Galaxy Watch 9 launches on August 7th, and not only does Costco have the best preorder incentives we’ve seen so far, the watch is also discounted. The deal includes the 40mm Watch 9 in cream or graphite, two wireless fast chargers for the watch, and a $50

Technology technologygadgetsconsumer
BleepingComputer Jul 30 Score 0.8013860583333334

VMware fixes three critical flaws allowing auth bypass, VM escapes

Broadcom has released security updates to fix five vulnerabilities in VMware vCenter, ESX, Workstation, and Fusion, including three critical flaws that allow attackers to bypass authentication, execute arbitrary code, or escape from a virtual machine to the ho

Security securitymalwarevulnerabilities
MIT Technology Review Jul 30 Score 0.7999730212962963

Montana’s plan to become an experimental medical hub just pushed forward

As of this week in Montana, any biotech company with an experimental drug has a clear path to selling it to consumers. Companies whose drugs have been through preliminary testing—sometimes in as few as 10 healthy people—can pay $12,500 to apply to a newly esta

Technology technologyresearchsociety
Microsoft Research Blog Jul 30 Score 0.7996952921296296

Echoverse: Deep, evolving environments for computer-use agents

Computer-use AI agents struggle with multi-step workflows like email and customer support. Echoverse trains agents in realistic environments rather than simply providing more training tasks, helping them improve as the tasks, tests, and environments evolve. Th

AI aimicrosoftresearch
Microsoft Research Blog Jul 30 Score 0.798028625462963

EvoLib: Turning experience into evolving knowledge

LLMs do not get smarter just by remembering more. EvoLib turns experience into evolving knowledge, taking reusable skills and insights that help models learn and adapt across tasks long after deployment. The post EvoLib: Turning experience into evolving knowle

AI aimicrosoftresearch
MIT Technology Review Jul 30 Score 0.791639687962963

The Download: tricking LLMs, and reviving geothermal plants

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. A fundamental flaw leaves LLMs strikingly vulnerable to attack It is impossible to make large language models fully secure

Technology technologyresearchsociety
CISA Cybersecurity Advisories Jul 30 Score 0.7913623578703705

NASA Core Flight System (cFS) Health & Safety (HS) Application

View CSAF Summary Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to cause a denial-of-service condition. The following versions of NASA Core Flight System (cFS) Health & Safety (HS) Application are affected: Core Flight System (cFS) Heal

Security securitycisaadvisoriesvulnerabilities
MIT Technology Review Jul 30 Score 0.7884540398148149

A fundamental flaw leaves LLMs strikingly vulnerable to attack

It is impossible to make large language models fully secure against hacks because of a fundamental flaw in how they work, a team of researchers argue in a paper presented at the International Conference on Machine Learning, a top AI conference, this month. The

Technology technologyresearchsociety
GamesIndustry.biz Jul 31 Score 0.7870004990740742

Roblox Q2 revenue rises 36% to $1.5bn

Roblox has announced its second-quarter financial results, highlighting substantial year-over-year revenue growth, despite a minor shortfall in net bookings. Read more

Gaming gamingindustrybusinessdevelopment
GamesIndustry.biz Jul 30 Score 0.7546079064814816

Gamesight: Creators are best predictor for a game's success, not viewership

The number of active creators and streamers after launch is the clearest predictor of success for player-versus-player first-person shooter games, rather than the total hours watched, according to new data. Read more

Gaming gamingindustrybusinessdevelopment
Quanta Magazine Jul 27 Score 0.7508340032407407

A New Way That a Cow’s Inner World Shapes Earth’s Atmosphere

An organelle discovered inside a microbe inside a cow’s gut helps explain how livestock burps contribute to warming our planet. The post A New Way That a Cow’s Inner World Shapes Earth’s Atmosphere first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Science sciencemathematicsphysicsbiology
New Scientist Jul 31 Score 0.7496953425925926

Why full-fledged quantum computers might always be five years away

To predict when we’ll have a truly useful quantum computer, we need to know precisely what one is. Columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan finds that’s harder to pin down than you might think

Science scienceresearchsociety
Econbrowser Jul 31 Score 0.7467553300925925

Business Cycle Indicators at July's End

Following up on Jim's GDP asssessment, here're NBER BCDC indicators plus alternatives. Consumption growth remains strong, Figure 1: NFP employment (bold blue), civilian employment with smoothed population controls (bold orange), industrial production (red), pe

Economy economymacroeconomicsenergyresearch
NASA News Jul 31 Score 0.7431680037037037

APOD: 2026 July 31 – NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 July 31 – NGC… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featur

Science sciencenasaspace
NASA News Jul 31 Score 0.7430568925925926

Destructive Fires Char Western Europe

Raging wildfires disrupted summer in Spain and France amid sweltering heat waves and prolonged drought.

Science sciencenasaspace
Econbrowser Jul 31 Score 0.7390294041666666

GDP continues modest growth

The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that seasonally adjusted U.S. real GDP grew at a 1.5% annual rate in the second quarter. That is about half of the historical average growth of 3.1% and continues a record of slow growth over the last three quart

Economy economymacroeconomicsenergyresearch
Platformer Jul 30 Score 0.7363438245370371

This AI notetaker won't sell surveillance to your boss

Granola CEO Chris Pedregal on invisible AI bots, the coming fight over who sees your transcripts, and why he turns down the companies that ask for them

Technology technologysocial-mediaplatformsnewsletter
NASA News Jul 30 Score 0.7307217074074074

Students Take on Airborne Field Research with NASA

The gusty wind didn’t make it easy to hold tight to a balloon so large. The balloon, a scientific instrument called an ozonesonde, was about to be released into the atmosphere above the Texas Gulf Coast by students from NASA’s SARP (Student Airborne Research P

Science sciencenasaspace
New Scientist Jul 30 Score 0.7263620092592593

Smallpox DNA in ancient Inca mummies shows virus came from Europe

The mummies of two people who lived in Chile more than 400 years ago carry DNA from smallpox, providing the first molecular evidence that the virus was brought to the Americas from Europe

Science scienceresearchsociety
New Scientist Jul 30 Score 0.7263620092592593

The genome of a long-extinct ancient human is hiding within us

We all have bits of DNA from a long-lost “ghost ancestor” inside us – and by putting all the different bits together, we might be able to reconstruct their genome

Science scienceresearchsociety
GitHub Blog Jul 30 Score 0.7255396171296297

Stacked sessions and pull requests in the GitHub Copilot app

Learn how I modernized an old codebase of mine using stacked sessions and pull requests in the GitHub Copilot app. The post Stacked sessions and pull requests in the GitHub Copilot app appeared first on The GitHub Blog .

IT itgithubdevelopment
NASA News Jul 30 Score 0.7233536518518519

NASA Assigns Astronaut Deniz Burnham to First Space Station Mission

NASA astronaut Deniz Burnham will embark on her first mission to the International Space Station, serving as an Expedition 76 flight engineer. Burnham will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-30 spacecraft with cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov

Science sciencenasaspace
Econbrowser Jul 30 Score 0.7231770893518519

Real Yields Surging

TIPS 30 year yields up 55 bps since the War's start; 10 year up 69 bps. Figure 1: TIPS 30 year yield, % (blue). Green shading denotes US-Iran War. Source: Treasury. Figure 2: TIPS 10 year yield, % (blue). Green shading denotes US-Iran War. Source: Treasury.

Economy economymacroeconomicsenergyresearch
New Scientist Jul 30 Score 0.7213620092592593

Woolly mammoths butchered by humans were mostly female

Genetic tests of mammoth remains have found a stark contrast in the sex ratio between sites where the animals died naturally and those associated with humans, offering hints about how our ancestors hunted

Science scienceresearchsociety
NASA News Jul 30 Score 0.7203661518518518

Starburst Galaxy Centaurus A

In this July 6, 2026, image, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals the nearby galaxy Centaurus A, exposing the dusty structures and hidden activity that shape this unusual system. Centaurus A is 11 million light-years away

Science sciencenasaspace
InfoQ Jul 30 Score 0.7194171643518519

Presentation: Parting the Clouds: The Rise of Disaggregated Systems

Murat Demirbas discusses the shift toward disaggregated cloud database architectures driven by cloud economics. He explains how decoupling compute from storage enables elastic scaling, cost efficiency, and fault isolation. He shares how classical Paxos roles f

IT itengineeringarchitecture
ScienceDaily — Top Science Jul 30 Score 0.7186831884259259

What if the brain does not create consciousness?

Christof Koch is taking on one of science’s deepest mysteries: how the brain creates conscious experience, or whether it creates it at all. He argues that materialism has yet to solve this “hard problem” and will explore puzzling phenomena such as near-death e

Science scienceresearchdiscoveries
Martin Fowler Jul 30 Score 0.7181395495370371

The Economic Benefit of Refactoring

Giles Edwards-Alexander does an experiment to see if decomposing a large function helps reduce token costs, suggesting that is may now be possible to measure the economic benefit of refactoring more…

IT itarchitecturepatterns
FRED Blog Jul 30 Score 0.7180285509259259

The oldest US data series in FRED

FRED has not only current data series but also historic data series, some of which are very old. As we've mentioned on this blog, the oldest series in FRED is population data for the United Kingdom, dating back to 1086! … Continue reading →

Economy economydataindicatorsfederal-reserve
Marginal Revolution Jul 31 Score 0.7106239240740739

An unprecedented weapon?

I wonder if England had a "pause" movement back then: Trebuchets reached the peak of their development in medieval times, probably the most famous example being Edward I's massive machine, Warwolf. This terrifying device was over sixty feet (18 meters) high an

Economy economyeconomicscommentaryblog
Lobsters Jul 31 Score 0.7073552152777777

A question about a factorial operator

I wrote an assembler that supports floating point values. One of the operators I implemented was factorial because a lot of Taylor series seem to use it to define various constants. So right now, I have .float -((2*3.14159265)**11)/11! I found a bug in the par

IT itprogrammingsystemscommunity
Marginal Revolution Jul 31 Score 0.7072753129629629

The wisdom of Eli Dourado

How do "international efforts" work? Unlike most of the signatories of the letter, I have been a State Department advisor and have participated in multiple treaty negotiations. I have also been a member of technical committees for UN technical agencies. The in

Economy economyeconomicscommentaryblog
Lobsters Jul 31 Score 0.7045709560185184

Correlated RNG

Comments

IT itprogrammingsystemscommunity