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Cybersecurity

Allianz Life Customer Data Exposed in Social Engineering Attack

Hackers breached Allianz Life and stole customer Social Security numbers along with other personal data.

The breach occurred on July 16 and compromised the customer relationship database through a social engineering attack.

Affected data includes names, dates of birth, postal addresses, and Social Security numbers of a majority of 1.4 million customers.

Allianz Life is notifying affected individuals starting August 1 with specific details about the compromised data.

This breach is part of a recent increase in cyberattacks targeting insurance companies using social engineering tactics.

Artificial Intelligence

Meta's AI Strategy Shift: Balancing Open Source with 'Superintelligence'

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlines a vision for 'personal superintelligence,' hinting at a shift in AI model releases.

While emphasizing shared benefits, Zuckerberg acknowledges novel safety concerns and suggests careful consideration regarding open-sourcing advanced AI.

This signals a potential departure from Meta's historical focus on open-source models like Llama, raising questions about future AI monetization strategies.

Meta plans to deliver 'personal superintelligence' through devices like AR glasses and VR headsets, indicating a move towards closed models for advanced AI.

Despite this shift, Meta maintains its commitment to open-source AI, planning to release leading open-source models alongside training closed-source ones.

Social Media

Germ Introduces Encrypted Messaging for Bluesky via App Clips

Germ, a startup, has launched end-to-end encrypted DMs for Bluesky in beta, offering a more secure messaging option than Bluesky's existing DMs.
Germ leverages Messaging Layer Security (MLS) and the AT Protocol, integrating with ATProto to allow users to chat securely with friends on Bluesky and other open social web apps.
Users can control who can initiate chats and block users across Germ, Bluesky, and other ATProto-powered apps.
Germ utilizes Apple's App Clips for quick chats via a 'magic link' in a user's Bluesky bio, allowing immediate conversations without a full app install.
The startup, founded by Tessa Brown and Mark Xue, aims to provide private communication and may introduce a premium subscription with advanced services in the future.

Artificial Intelligence and Software Development

PlayerZero Secures $15M to Fortify Codebases Against AI-Generated Bugs

PlayerZero, founded by Animesh Koratana, has raised a $15 million Series A led by Foundation Capital to combat AI-generated bugs in software. The startup's AI agents are trained to identify and fix problems before code reaches production, functioning as an immune system for large codebases. Koratana developed PlayerZero at Stanford DAWN, with early backing from Matei Zaharia (Databricks) and support from investors like Drew Houston (Dropbox) and Guillermo Rauch (Vercel). PlayerZero is gaining traction, including with customers like Zuora, for its focus on safeguarding complex code, especially in billing systems.

Technology

Meta's Edits App: A Comprehensive Guide to the CapCut Competitor

Meta has launched Edits, a new video editing app aimed at competing with ByteDance’s CapCut. Edits, initially previewed in January, provides creators with tools for short-form video editing, offering features such as green screen, timeline adjustments, captions, audio library access, and AI-powered animation.
The app is available on both iOS and Android, requiring users to log in with their Instagram account. Edits includes tabs for Ideas, Inspiration, Projects, Record, and Insights, helping creators manage their video creation process. Key features include timeline frame rate selection, alignment guides, beat markers, filters, transitions, teleprompter, restyle, keyframes, cut silences, audio import from files and clip preview.
While both Edits and CapCut are useful for editing short videos, CapCut currently offers more advanced editing options and a more extensive music library. Edits is currently free but may include paid features in the future, as indicated by Instagram head Adam Mosseri. Unlike CapCut, Edits is currently mobile-only.

Finance

Ramp's Valuation Skyrockets to $22.5B in Just 45 Days

Ramp, the expense management startup, has secured $500 million in a new funding round, elevating its post-money valuation to $22.5 billion.

The round was led by Iconiq Growth, with participation from Founders Fund and D1 Capital Partners, and arrives only 45 days after a previous $200 million raise that valued the company at $16 billion.

Ramp's CEO, Eric Glyman, envisions an AI-driven future for finance, with Ramp launching its first AI agent and planning more to come.

The company has now raised a total of $1.9 billion and reports being cash-flow positive since earlier this year, with 40,000 customers.

Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI Apps Surge in Popularity and Revenue in H1 2025

Generative AI applications experienced significant growth in the first half of 2025, according to a Sensor Tower report. Downloads reached 1.7 billion, a notable increase from the 1 billion in the latter half of 2024. In-app revenue doubled, totaling $1.87 billion, compared to $932 million in the previous period.

Users spent over 15.6 billion hours on these apps across 426 billion sessions. Asia emerged as the fastest-growing market, capturing 42.6% of downloads, driven by India and Mainland China. While Latin America showed the highest growth in in-app purchases, North America maintains the lead in market share with 40%.

ChatGPT remains the top app for in-app revenue in most countries, excluding China, where DeepSeek leads in downloads. Users are dedicating more time to AI assistants, with ChatGPT averaging over 12 days of usage per month. The usage patterns of ChatGPT are increasingly resembling those of primary search tools like Google, extending beyond work-related tasks.

The term "AI" is now prevalent in app descriptions, appearing over 100,000 times in both the App Store and Play Store. Apps incorporating AI-related terms have seen a boost in downloads, reflecting the growing interest in AI-powered applications.

Social Media

YouTube Updates Profanity Rules for Monetization: Creators Get More Leeway

YouTube is updating its profanity rules, allowing creators to monetize videos with swearing within the first seven seconds. This change follows previous adjustments in November 2022 and March 2023, which initially restricted or limited ad revenue for videos with early or frequent profanity. YouTube's head of monetization, Conor Kavanagh, explained that the changes align with evolving advertiser expectations, as they now have more control over ad targeting based on profanity levels. However, videos with profanity in the title or thumbnail may still face limited monetization.

Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI Apps Surge: Downloads and Revenue Double in H1 2025

Generative AI apps experienced significant growth in the first half of 2025, with downloads reaching 1.7 billion, a substantial increase from 1 billion in H2 2024. In-app revenue doubled to $1.87 billion, compared to $932 million in the previous period.

Users spent over 15.6 billion hours on these apps across 426 billion sessions. Asia emerged as the fastest-growing market, leading in downloads with 42.6% market share, driven by India and Mainland China. Latin America saw the highest growth in in-app purchases, while North America maintained the lead in market share with 40%.

ChatGPT remains a dominant app, showing impressive user engagement, comparable to platforms like X and Reddit. Its usage patterns are increasingly resembling those of primary search tools. The term 'AI' is now prevalent in app descriptions, boosting downloads for apps that include it in their names or descriptions.

Aviation Technology

AIR Secures $23M to Expand eVTOL Production and US Presence

AIR, an Israel-based eVTOL startup, raised $23 million in Series A funding to scale production and expand to the U.S. The company develops both crewed (AIR ONE) and uncrewed eVTOLs for personal/commercial taxi and cargo/defense applications, respectively. With over 2,500 pre-orders for AIR ONE and plans to ship 15 cargo eVTOLs this year, the funding will support facility expansion and hiring. AIR's dual-purpose design allows for cross-platform upgrades, simplifying development and scalability. The eVTOLs feature a folding-wing mechanism, enabling operation from flat surfaces and parking in garages.