Plus: France has become the first EU country to ban social media for under-15s.
July 22, 2026
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.
11:32 AM PDT · July 16, 2026
OpenAI’s Sora may have shut down, but Google apparently thinks there’s still interest in a tool that lets you star in your own AI videos. On Thursday, the tech giant announced an update to Google Vids that will allow you to create a custom digital avatar that looks and sounds like you based on a selfie and a voice recording you upload.
Continue Reading »
SpaceX proactively deorbits Starlink satellites, which burn up in the atmosphere.
SpaceX Starlink
SpaceX recently submitted the semi-annual report for its satellite constellation to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), revealing that it deorbited 260 Starlink satellites over the course of six months. From December 2025 until May 2026, it brought down 176 first-generation Starlink satellites and 84 of its bigger second-generation ones.
Continue Reading »
Roblox announced Thursday a new feature called “Build,” allowing users to design games from their mobile devices using AI.
The Build feature lets anyone turn simple text prompts into a basic game without any programming experience. For example, if a user types, “Let’s make a cozy adventure game set in a dense forest,” the new feature will generate an initial version of the game, which users can then modify and share with friends.
Continue Reading »
Spotify announced on Wednesday that it’s bringing parent-managed accounts for kids to its free tier. Families in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, and the Netherlands can now create a “Managed Account” for their child, a feature previously available only to paid subscribers.
Continue Reading »
10:45 AM PDT · July 14, 2026
In an X post on Tuesday morning, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis called for the creation of a new regulatory body to oversee frontier model releases. Titled “A Framework for Frontier AI and the Dawning of a New Age,” the post makes the case for a “standards body” modeled after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which could test frontier models and develop best practices for their release.
Continue Reading »
Governor Kathy Hochul just signed an executive order barring the state from approving data centers using 50MW or more.
Kena Betancur/Getty Images
Continue Reading »
A coalition of 12 state attorneys general is filing a lawsuit to block the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), alleging that the deal would harm movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and audiences.
Continue Reading »
Quick question: Do you want AI to be so well trained, it could help husbands (or wives, for that matter) plan the perfect murder of their spouses?
Just as a gut reaction, that feels like a no for me. I wouldn’t even think it was a particularly hard question.
Continue Reading »
A more robust smartwatch than its Wear OS rivals.
Daniel Cooper for Engadget
RATING : 8.2 / 10
A lot of companies are happy to shrug off concerns about battery life in favor of aesthetics and vibes. Not Oppo, which equipped the Watch X3 with a cell nearly twice as big as the one found in Samsung's Galaxy Watch 8. But a long life is nothing if you can't enjoy things along the way, and it's here that the X3 comes into its own as one of the best Wear OS 6 devices going. It's got a few flaws, and I'm not entirely sold on its fitness tracking bona fides, but I'd happily use it as my daily driver.
Continue Reading »