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- ⚖️ Epic wins again! Google must open Android
⚖️ Epic wins again! Google must open Android
+ More tech updates from Microsoft and Apple
Roni Rahman
August 01, 2025
In partnership with
Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:
☀️ On this day: On August 1, 1989, Microsoft bundled Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single suite for the first time, launching Microsoft Office. This move standardized productivity software and marked the beginning of Microsoft’s long-standing dominance in office applications.
What’s happening:
📱 Court rules Google app store is a monopoly
🧠 Deep Think is here and it's scary smart
🗨️ ChatGPT gets smarter with new Study Mode
🚀 Microsoft hits $4T market cap milestone
🍎 Apple loses 4th AI expert to Meta in a month
+ 📊 Daily poll and results
+ 📈 Trending tools and resources
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Hand-picked news:
📱 Court rules Google app store is a monopoly ↗️LINK
What: Epic Games secured another major legal win as the Ninth Circuit upheld the 2023 jury verdict that Google’s Play Store and billing system are illegal monopolies. A stay has been lifted, reactivating a permanent injunction that forces Google to allow rival app stores and billing systems on Android.
Why: Evidence revealed Google struck secret deals to suppress competition and maintain dominance in Android app distribution and payments. The court ruled that these practices violated antitrust laws.
Impact: Google must now support third-party stores and billing on Android for at least three years. This ruling could reshape the Android ecosystem and set a precedent for antitrust enforcement in digital markets.
🧠 Deep Think is here and it's scary smart ↗️LINK
What: Google has rolled out Deep Think, its most advanced Gemini 2.5 model, to AI Ultra subscribers for $250/month. The model uses parallel thinking for faster, more complex reasoning and supports text, image, and sound inputs.
Why: After testing with select users, Google optimized Deep Think for speed and practicality. While not as powerful as its gold-medal variant (still in research), it surpasses OpenAI’s o3 and xAI’s Grok 4 in key benchmarks.
Impact: This marks a leap in AI capability—but also in cost. Deep Think sets a new high bar for premium AI tools, signaling a growing divide between everyday users and cutting-edge AI access.
🗨️ ChatGPT gets smarter with new Study Mode ↗️LINK
What: OpenAI has launched Study Mode in ChatGPT, a feature designed to encourage critical thinking by prompting students with questions instead of providing direct answers. It's now available to Free, Plus, Pro, and Team users, with Edu accounts coming soon.
Why: With millions of students using ChatGPT, OpenAI aims to shift usage from passive answer-seeking to active learning. Research shows that relying too heavily on AI can hinder brain activity and comprehension.
Impact: While promising, the tool lacks enforcement mechanisms—students can switch it off at will. Still, it's a notable step toward integrating AI responsibly into education and reshaping how young people learn.
🚀 Microsoft hits $4T market cap milestone ↗️LINK
What: Microsoft has surpassed a $4 trillion market valuation, becoming the second public company after Nvidia to do so. The milestone follows a strong quarterly report with $76.7 billion in revenue and, for the first time, a full disclosure of Azure’s $75 billion annual revenue.
Why: The transparency around Azure’s earnings has boosted investor confidence. Microsoft is also pouring $30 billion into AI infrastructure next quarter, aiming to expand its cloud capabilities with new data centers and GPUs.
Impact: Microsoft’s growth underscores the accelerating demand for AI and cloud services. Its massive investment signals a long-term strategy to lead in the AI infrastructure race.
🍎 Apple loses 4th AI expert to Meta in a month ↗️LINK
What: Apple has lost a fourth researcher, Bowen Zhang, from its foundational models group to Meta’s Superintelligence Labs in just one month. The wave of departures includes high-profile talent like Ruoming Pang, whose hiring package at Meta is reportedly worth $200 million.
Why: Meta is offering significantly higher compensation to attract top AI talent for its advanced projects. Apple, meanwhile, has only marginally increased pay for its AI team, failing to compete with rivals’ aggressive recruitment.
Impact: The talent drain threatens Apple’s competitiveness in foundational AI development and underscores the intensifying battle for top researchers in the AI arms race.
🧠 Keep your mind sharp with these newsletters!
Want to stay on top of the latest trends and discover new resources? Here are a few of my favorite newsletters that I think you'll find valuable:
Today’s Poll:
Would you switch to a non-Google app store on Android if given the choice? |
Vote and find out about the result tomorrow.
Yesterday’s Poll Result:
Do you think wearing AI glasses in public will feel normal soon?
A) Yes – Like AirPods, people will get used to them - 73% 🏆
B) No – It’ll still feel awkward or invasive - 27%
Reader’s opinion:
“It's bad enough when people seem to be talking to themselves with pods in their ears, but the added distraction of visual stimulus will cause havoc in the walking world. ”
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