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Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:
☀️ On this day: On August 14, 1940, Iowa State College physics professor John Vincent Atanasoff finished the paper describing the machine he and graduate student Clifford Berry were building, a 700-pound device with over 300 vacuum tubes that stored data as binary charges in capacitors. He wrote it in his spare time that spring and summer, partly to support a patent application, and Iowa State never completed the filing. That paper became evidence in Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, the 1973 case that ruled Atanasoff, not the ENIAC team, invented the electronic digital computer.
What’s happening:
🍎 Apple proposes 15% fee on purchases outside the App Store
🖼️ Google lets users turn off visible Gemini watermarks
🛡️ WhatsApp tests AI that warns you about scams
🧹 Microsoft deletes the Copilot features nobody used
🚁 Trump puts a 100% tariff on imported drones
+ 📊 Daily poll and results
+ 📈 Trending tools and resources
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Hand-picked news:
🍎 Apple proposes 15% fee on purchases outside the App Store ↗️LINK
Apple asked a federal judge Thursday to approve a 15% commission on purchases made through external links in iOS apps, with 5% for small businesses and 10% on subscription renewals.
The Supreme Court rejected Apple's bid to pause the lower court case that same day, forcing the filing. Apple argues the fees recoup its investment in App Store tools and services.
Apple collects nothing on link-outs right now after the 2025 contempt ruling, so 15% marks a jump up from zero. Epic says the rates sit far outside Ninth Circuit bounds.
🖼️ Google adds a setting to remove AI watermarks ↗️LINK
Google is rolling out a Media Watermark toggle that strips the visible sparkle logo from images, videos, and songs made with its Nano Banana, Omni, and Lyria models.
Invisible SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata stay embedded either way, so Gemini and Search can still identify AI content. Gemini VP Josh Woodward announced the change on X Friday.
Users in India, South Korea, and Vietnam need a paid AI Ultra plan to switch it off, and work or school accounts cannot. Clean exports apparently carry a price.
🛡️ WhatsApp tests AI that warns you about scams ↗️LINK
WhatsApp began a limited beta of Scam Alert on August 12, an opt-in tool that runs a small AI model on your phone to flag suspicious messages from people outside your contacts.
The model learned from scam conversations users reported and judges linguistic patterns locally. Flagged chats show a private warning, and you can block, report, continue, or mark the chat as trusted.
Meta will publish the model weights so researchers can check it only hunts scams. That transparency matters, since the FTC counted $425 million in WhatsApp scam losses during 2025.
🧹 Microsoft deletes the Copilot features nobody used ↗️LINK
Microsoft is folding its consumer and business Copilot apps into one and retiring Group Chats, Podcasts, Deep Research, Copilot Labs, and the Mico mascot starting August 18.
Group Chat threads and saved podcasts disappear completely, so users must copy anything they want first. Deep Research returns as Researcher, but only Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers can generate new reports.
Microsoft frames the cleanup as groundwork for a Copilot super app arriving around September. Mico lasted less than a year, which is still longer than most Clippy successors manage.
🚁 Trump puts a 100% tariff on imported drones ↗️LINK
Trump signed a proclamation Thursday hitting imported drones over 55 pounds or carrying thermal imaging with a 100% tariff, while smaller drones and most components face 25%. Rules start September 3.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick found the US leans too heavily on foreign drone suppliers, mainly China. Allies including the EU, Japan and Taiwan get 15%, and UK-made drones pay just 10%.
Drone stocks jumped, and Unusual Machines led the pack, climbing as much as 28%. Donald Trump Jr. joined its advisory board in 2024 and still holds shares and warrants.
Today’s Poll:
Vote and find out about the result tomorrow.
Yesterday’s Poll Result:
Do you think letting an AI agent click around your Chrome tabs is more helpful or more risky?
A) Helpful - 29%
B) Risky - 71% 🏆
Reader’s opinion:
“Yet another premature move in the wholesale unleashing of AI.”
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