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Mobile Technology

X App Faces Android Download Slump and Subscription Revenue Challenges

New data reveals a significant decline in X app downloads on Android devices, with a 44% year-over-year drop in new installs via Google Play in July 2025. This decline is impacting X's overall mobile downloads, leading to a 26% decrease year-over-year. The company is aware of the issues, with plans to rebuild the Android app. Subscription revenue is also down, with a decrease from $18.8 million in March 2025 to $16.9 million in July 2025, potentially due to users migrating to Grok for AI features. The iOS app, however, saw a record week in installs, offering a slight counterpoint to the Android struggles.

Business & Finance

Substack Leverages App Store Change for Web-Based Subscriptions

Substack is now utilizing the U.S. App Store's option allowing users to make purchases outside of Apple's in-app system, a change resulting from Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit. This enables Substack to offer web payment options, potentially leading to reduced pricing for consumers. Writers can adjust iOS app prices to account for Apple's fees or disable this feature, while Substack continues to take its 10% fee. Migration tools are available to move subscribers off Apple's payments system. Early tests have shown a boost in paid sign-ups. The change impacts new subscriptions, and Substack is considering expanding this to the EU and U.K.

Technology

Linktree Inaccessible in India: Cause Unknown

Linktree, a popular link-in-bio service, has been inaccessible in India for several days. The reason for the outage is currently unknown, even to Linktree itself.

The issue affects all major networks in India, with users reporting error messages and the Linktree app being inaccessible.

India is Linktree’s fifth-largest market, accounting for 3.5% of its global traffic, or about 7.3 million visits in July.

Linktree is investigating the issue but has not confirmed any communication from Indian authorities regarding a potential blockage.

The outage is not limited to a specific internet service provider, impacting all major networks.

Linktree's top markets are the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, and the U.K.

Finance

Perplexity Enhances Finance Dashboard with Live Transcripts for Indian Stocks

AI startup Perplexity is expanding its Finance dashboard to include live transcriptions of Indian public companies' quarterly earnings calls and a calendar for post-results conference calls.

The enhanced dashboard will provide market summaries, stock exchange charts, top-performing stocks, and tools for creating watchlists and tracking sector and cryptocurrency performance.

Previously, the dashboard only supported U.S. stocks. This update aims to add significant value to Indian equity markets research.

Data Security

Workday Confirms Data Breach Affecting Customer Relationship Database

Workday, a major HR technology provider, has confirmed a data breach in one of its third-party customer relationship databases. Hackers stole an unspecified amount of personal information, including names, email addresses, and phone numbers.

The company stated that there was "no indication of access to customer tenants or the data within them." The stolen information may be used for social engineering scams.

The breach was discovered on August 6 and follows similar attacks targeting Salesforce-hosted databases used by companies like Google, Cisco, Qantas and Pandora.

Workday has not provided details on how many individuals were affected or the specific customer data exfiltrated. The company's blog post disclosing the breach contained a hidden "noindex" tag, making it difficult to find via search engines.

AI Writing Tools

Grammarly Unveils New AI-Powered Interface with Enhanced Features

Grammarly has launched a redesigned document-based interface, leveraging its acquisition of Coda. The update includes an AI assistant and various AI tools for students and professionals, such as an AI grader, proofreader, and citation finder. The new interface uses a block-first approach, allowing users to insert tables, columns, and rich text blocks. The AI assistant can summarize text, answer questions, and provide writing suggestions. Grammarly has also added tools to detect plagiarism and AI-generated content. The company raised $1 billion in May to support acquisitions and marketing efforts.

Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI Fine-Tunes GPT-5 for Friendlier Interactions After Initial User Feedback

OpenAI is updating GPT-5 to be more approachable after user feedback indicated a preference for the previous GPT-4o model.
The update includes subtle changes to make the model feel warmer, such as using phrases like 'Good question' or 'Great start.'
OpenAI assures that these changes do not increase sycophancy compared to the previous GPT-5 personality. Executives acknowledge the rocky launch and are working to improve user experience.

AI & Education

Duolingo CEO Clarifies AI-First Strategy Amid Criticism

Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn addressed the criticism following his announcement that Duolingo would become an 'AI-first company,' stating his comments lacked context. He clarified that the company's intention was not solely for profit or to lay off human employees.

Von Ahn emphasized that Duolingo has never laid off full-time employees and has no plans to do so. While acknowledging a reduction in the contractor workforce based on fluctuating needs, he maintained a positive outlook on the potential of AI, with Duolingo dedicating time for experimentation with the technology.

Artificial Intelligence & Toys

Doubts Raised Over A.I. Plushies as Child Companions: Replacing Human Interaction?

The New York Times' Amanda Hess expresses reservations about A.I.-powered plush toys like Curio's Grem and Grok, questioning their role as replacements for parental interaction rather than upgrades to traditional toys.

Hess argues that while marketed as screen-time alternatives, these toys may actually encourage children to seek answers and curiosity within technology, potentially isolating them.

Despite initial reservations, Hess allowed her children to play with Grem after removing the voice box, indicating a preference for imaginative play over A.I. interaction.