Tech Roundup: Apple Liquid Glass, Google Snapseed Update & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• The French government announces plans to ban social media access for children under 15 within "a few months" if it is not done at the European level.
• Microsoft rolls out a beta version of Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered assistant integrated into the Xbox mobile app for iOS and Android; launches Copilot Vision for Windows 10 and 11 users in the U.S. to "help when you're lost, provide insights, and answer your questions as you go."
• Apple urges Australia not to follow the European Union in mandating iPhone app sideloading, warning that such policies pose serious privacy and security risks, and opens the door for malware, fraud, scams, and other harmful content.
• Apple releases new research stating popular AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic and DeepSeek "face a complete accuracy collapse beyond certain complexities" and that their reasoning ability "increases with problem complexity up to a point, then declines."
• Apple gives its operating system numbering a refresh by switching to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS 26; releases a unified software design paradigm called Liquid Glass, as it unveils a new third translucent display appearance option called "Clear Look" and a dedicated Games app; adds Journal app to iPad and Mac; brings Mac-like Windowing and Menu bar to iPad (along with supporting the ability to open multiple instances of the same app!); revamps Spotlight in Mac to access clipboard history to Spotlight and take actions like playing music and sending emails; integrates a live translation feature across Messages, FaceTime and Phone apps; debuts a dashboard for Live Activities in CarPlay and project video from their phones onto the CarPlay screen through AirPlay; and lets developers tap into its offline AI models.
• Apple says macOS 26 Tahoe will be the last release of macOS that supports Intel Macs, with future macOS versions only available to Apple Silicon Macs; unveils Xcode 26 with ChatGPT integration for coding and doc generation, and says devs can use API keys to add AI models from other providers
• OpenAI says it hit $10 billion in annual recurring revenue, less than three years after launching its popular ChatGPT chatbot; updates ChatGPT's Advanced Voice mode with more natural-sounding speech.
• Google adds the ability to generate live and editable charts in Google Sheets using Gemini and rolls out new Gemini AI features for Workspace that make it easier to find information in PDFs with summary cards as well as summarise Google Forms responses; says it is testing Audio Overviews for certain Search queries for Labs users in English in the U.S.
• PayPal partners with hotel payment provider Selfbook to let users search for and book hotels within its app.
• Meta gives a peek inside Aria Gen 2, its experimental smart glasses designed to serve as a testbed for research about augmented reality, AI and robotics; says it offers "enhanced features and capabilities that cater to a broader range of applications and user needs" when compared to its predecessor, including superior wearability, high dynamic range of 120 dB, improved field of view, better exposure control, contact microphone to capture audio in noisy environments and a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor to estimate heart rate.
• Google's YouTube loosens its content moderation policy, doubling its threshold for removing misinformation from 25% to 50% of a video, for content that's deemed popular enough; says it has taken down 220 million videos since 2018 and that its ecosystem created 490,000 jobs and added US$55 billion to the U.S. GDP in 2024.
• Microsoft tests a new feature for its Edge browser that adds an AI-powered search to browsing history, allowing users to find websites using a phrase, synonym, or even a typo.
• Salesforce restricts third-party companies like Gleans from long-term indexing and storing Slack messages.
• Amazon says over 1 million people now have access to Alexa+, up from "hundreds of thousands" in May, and plans to "make it even more broadly available over the summer," as it plays catchup to rivals.
• Google rolls out Android 16 to Pixel devices with live lock screen notifications, AI-editing features in Google Photos, and a new education hub to help users advance their photography skills; also adds new Emoji Kitchen stickers and the ability to personalise RCS group chats.
• Snap plans to ship lightweight augmented reality glasses called Specs in 2026, which is touted to be lighter than its current developer-facing smart glasses, Spectacles 5 glasses, but with many of the same capabilities; launches a new Lens Plus subscription tier for US$ 8.99/month that offers access to a wider selection of lenses and augmented reality experiences.
• Meta-owned Threads debuts direct messages within the platform as part of limited tests in Hong Kong, Argentina and Thailand; launches a generative AI video editing feature in the Meta AI app, allowing users to edit short-form videos using preset AI prompts.
• Google announces plans to discontinue Android Instant Apps, which let users launch parts of apps without having to install them to improve discovery, in December 2025 after launching it in 2017, citing low usage and engagement.
• Experimental dating website Browser Dating allows users to match with potential partners based on their internet browsing histories rather by installing a Chrome or Firefox extension that exports and uploads their recent search data.
• Meta files lawsuit against Hong Kong-based Joy Timeline HK Limited for running ads on Facebook and Instagram to advertise an app called CrushAI that lets users create non-consensual, sexualised images of others using AI. (In January 2025, it emerged that Crush AI ran 8,010 ads on Facebook and Instagram by setting up dozens of advertiser accounts and frequently changed domain names to evade the company's ad review processes.)
• Google unveils a major design update for its Snapseed photo editing app in years, but only for iOS and iPadOS devices; comes with a simplified icon and a major user interface overhaul that makes editing photos even easier.
• Meta debuts new Instagram updates that will allow users to re-order posts in their grid, "quietly post to your profile without broadcasting it to everyone's feeds," and to stream songs from Spotify directly to your Instagram Notes.
• Reddit rolls out new features that lets users share comments as posts, see comment insights and save draft versions of comments.
• Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of 23andMe, regains control of the bankrupt genomics company after TTAM Research Institute, a non-profit she controls, outbid Regeneron Pharmaceuticals with a US$ 305 million offer; comes as 23andMe says 1.9 million people, or about 15% of its customer base, have requested their genetic data be deleted from the company's servers since it filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2025, as it gets sued in the U.S. by more than two dozen stats challenging the sale of its customers' private data without their consent.
• Apple adds the iPhone XS to the vintage products list on its website.
• Meta announces a US$ 14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, a company that provides data labeling and model evaluation services, and hires its CEO Alexandr Wang to help oversee the company's AI efforts.
• Music streamer Spotify the lets premium subscribers remotely download playlists to secondary devices.
• Russia plans to introduce a new digital identity super app that will combine messaging, government and private services, e-signatures and digital IDs; to come pre-installed on smartphones, tablets and other devices sold in Russia as of September 1st, 2025.
• Coinbase announces its first branded credit card, in partnership with American Express, for Coinbase One U.S. users, and creates a lower-cost Basic subscription.