7 Days: Agentic AI hacks AI platform, Pixel price hike confirmed, and Galaxy Unpacked #2

A week of Garmin taking on Fitbit Air, Google facing a massive fine, Apple Maps on Ford cars, calls for an AI kill switch.

7 Days is a weekly roundup of picks of what's been happening in the world of technology - written with a dash of humor, a hint of exasperation, and an endless supply of (black) coffee.

This week's highlights include Xbox classics coming to PC, Google facing a massive fine, Facebook going down globally, and updates from Samsung Galaxy Unpacked. Let's get started.

You can check out the recent issues of the 7 Days weekly roundup.

AI hacks AI platform

A recent incident speaks to the horrors of AI getting smarter. Hugging Face, which hosts AI models, reported that it was hacked during an unusual attack fully carried out by an agentic AI. The AI gained unauthorized access to a limited set of internal datasets and to several credentials that are used by its services.

OpenAI later revealed that its GPT-5.6 Sol and a more capable, unreleased model were behind it. They were being tested inside an isolated environment but later found a way to the public internet and exploited vulnerabilities to access Hugging Face.

While being tested on a benchmark suite called ExploitGym, the models reasoned that the answer key might be hosted on Hugging Face. OpenAI eventually shut off access to the internal models involved.

Galaxy Unpacked

Samsung made several headlines this week with its second Galaxy Unpacked event of the year. The South Korean giant unveiled several new foldable devices, including Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip8.

The global RAM shortage led to a $100 increase in the base price of the Fold8. You can read our detailed specs comparison to see how it compares to the Fold7. Samsung also unwrapped the Galaxy Watch9 and Ultra 2, and unveiled two smart glasses from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.

Pixel price confirmed

Google's VP of Devices and Services, Shakil Barkat, confirmed that all Pixel models will see a price hike (more details around the Pixel 11 launch in August). Barkat acknowledged in a statement that Google is impacted by the global shortage and price surge. While it tried to shield the customers, "economics have fundamentally shifted and we’re not immune to that."

According to Morgan Stanley, the cost of 1GB RAM has jumped from $2.80 last year to $12 in 2026. Meanwhile, credible leaks from the past suggest the entry-level Pixel model will likely cost $100 more than its predecessor.

Our Features

Our coffee-powered team published a platter of editorials, opinion posts, and guides. Check them out:

• Welcome to the end of budget smartphones — thanks to AI
• How to install apps on your Windows 11 PC with Windows Package Manager (winget)
• Windows clipboard is more capable than you think, here's how to get the most out of it
• Giveaway: Enter to win an AutoFull M6 Ultra 2.0 gaming chair that cools, heats and vibrates
• What data AI chatbots collect from you, and what you can actually do about it

This week in software news

Catch up on some of the latest software news updates that arrived throughout the week:

Firefox adds HDR support: Nearly a decade after Microsoft and Google, Mozilla has finally added HDR support on the Firefox browser with version 153. You can play HDR content on YouTube, Netflix, and other platforms if you have an HDR-compatible display.

New Ventoy update: The popular Rufus alternative released Ventoy 1.1.17 with optimizations for the Secure Boot process, without sharing the exact details. It's believed to address the recent patching of a Secure Boot-related flaw that went unnoticed for 10 years.

NVIDIA's new hotfix: A new driver fixed a long-reported freezing issue for Path of Exile 2. It also targeted stability issues with the Halo: Campaign Evolved seen by 610.xx drivers on RTX 50-series graphics cards.

New app from Elon Musk's company: X launched an overhauled app for Android this week, with claims of being faster, smoother, and way more reliable. However, the company has planned more upgrades, including hosting Spaces and performance improvements for older devices.

Linux 7.2-rc4: The latest release arrived with critical fixes for Wi-Fi, car systems, and gaming handhelds like ASUS ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion. The Linux 7.2 update is now expected to arrive after the usual seven release candidates.

Adobe Project Indigo: The experimental camera app got updates with new image editing features, powered by the Google Nano Banana model. Project Indigo 1.1 introduced remove distractors, add a shallow depth of field, apply photographic and artistic styles, change the lighting, and more.

This week in hardware news

Catch up on some of the latest hardware news updates that arrived throughout the week:

Garmin takes on Fitbit Air: Garmin has entered the screenless fitness bands market with the CIRQA Smart Band, which doesn't require a recurring subscription. It can continuously monitor heart rate, stress, blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and Garmin’s Body Battery energy score.

ADATA warns about RAM: Chairman Chen Li-bai said that memory and electricity will be the two most scarce resources in the world over the next decade, and even ramping up production may not satisfy the rising market demand. He doesn't expect top DRAM manufacturers to adopt a large-scale expansion strategy to meet demand.

Ten-finger touch for $80: The new Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 launched in a 10-inch avatar, with a higher screen resolution, 85-degree viewing angle, and 10-point multitouch. It works seamlessly with other devices from the Raspberry Pi ecosystem.

New ASUS servers: ASUS unwrapped its new server lineup powered by the AMD EPYC 9006 processors. Its new portfolio features dual-socket ASUS RS700A/720A for extreme compute density and the single-socket ASUS RS500A/520A for better space efficiency and deployment flexibility.

More art on your TV: Samsung is bringing 34 new artworks from the Louver Museum in Paris to its Art Store. The artwork collection will be available on compatible Samsung Art TVs, such as The Frame.

This week in Google News

Catch up on some of the latest Google news updates that arrived throughout the week:

Friendship with Reddit: It was reported that Reddit is thinking about not renewing its $60 million data licensing deal with Google due to AI Overviews. While Reddit is a treasure trove for AI companies, the rise of AI Overviews has resulted in a sharp drop in web referrals, and fewer visitors are coming to websites.

More AI muscles: Google announced three new lightweight AI models: Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cuber to target mainstream workloads. The search giant is trying to keep people hooked, but it's still working on the Gemini 3.5 Pro frontier model.

Sign in with a selfie: Turns out passwords aren't enough. That's why Google now lets you sign in by recording a selfie video. Google promises that your video data is "encrypted" and locked away safely. It is testing hand gesture verifications under reCAPTCHA to protect account logins.

Alphabet crunching money: The Google-parent reported strong performance in Q2 2026 earnings, with revenue of $119.8 billion, up 24% from $96.4 billion during the same period last year. Much credit goes to the success in Google Cloud's AI infrastructure business.

Europe puts massive fine: The European Commission put a massive fine of €890 million ($1.015 billion) on Google for breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA). According to the Commission, the search giant favored its own services on Google Search and prevented alternative purchase channels on Google Play.

This week in Apple News

Catch up on some of the latest Apple news updates that arrived throughout the week:

New on iOS 27: Apple seeded the iOS 27 Beta 4 release for developers and early testers this week. The iPhone-maker continues to refine Siri AI, security features, first-party apps, and more. You'll see bug fixes across Siri, CarPlay, Messages, Photos, and Safari. The latest beta also contains hints of the foldable iPhone.

Concerns over Live Notes: Apple's opt-in AI note-taking feature has raised concerns among retail employees that Live Notes may be used to coach workers or for performance reviews. Apple has "indicated" otherwise, that they won't be forwarded to managers.

Powered by Apple Maps: The Cupertino giant has started a new partnership with Ford to embed Apple Maps directly into its upcoming Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform. The first Ford cars with the said integration are said to arrive in 2027.

A year-old problem: It took Apple an entire year to fix a flaw in its Hide My Email feature. Last year, EasyOptOuts co-founder Tyler Murphy found that a flaw made it possible to uncover the true identity of people using Hide My Email and alerted Apple several times.

New Voice Assistant: While the iPhone has Siri AI, Apple's recent policy update for the App Store suggests that an AI shopping assistant could be on the way, which can personalize chats and share anonymized data.

This week in Meta news

Catch up on some of the latest Meta, WhatsApp, and Instagram updates that arrived throughout the week:

Facebook went down: The social network suffered a major outage this week that affected users globally. It spread across Facebook's website, app, and Messenger before recovering gradually. Instagram was down too for many users.

Ditching classic feed: We've come a long way from the Facebook wall. Now, Meta is testing a "reimagined experience" for Facebook, which is basically a TikTok-like full-screen video feed for users when they open the app. Users will get an option to switch back to the classic feed.

WhatsApp gets new powers: WhatsApp now has a native PDF reader, which means you can open PDF files directly inside the app. Among other updates, it's also available natively on CarPlay, and you can now share music from Apple Music or Spotify directly to your WhatsApp status.

Facebook Marketplace: Meta rolled out a new Seller app to mark the tenth anniversary of its marketplace. As the name suggests, it's specifically designed to manage a Marketplace business.

Meta AI more useful: The assistant is being upgraded to plan, research, create, and handle tasks with less back-and-forth-prompting. For instance, when decorating a room, it can learn your preferences, automatically browse Facebook Marketplace within your budget, and build a mood board.

This week in AI news

Catch up on the latest artificial intelligence news updates that arrived throughout the week:

AI Kill Switch Act: Arriving days after the Hugging Face hack, two US Congressmen drafted a new bill that gives DHS sweeping authority over major AI developers to shut down or slow operational models during emergency threat events.

They don't like it: Reports suggest that the US government is alarmed by the recent advancements shown by China's Kimi K3 model. There are chances it could lead to possible US restrictions on Chinese AI platforms over security fears. Speaking of which, major tech and AI companies warned the US government against curbing open-weight AI models.

Cisco's affordable model: Cisco announced a low-cost family of security-focused small language models, called Antares, to find code vulnerabilities. They are Antares-350M, Antares-1B, and Antares-3B, and the number at the end represents the number of parameters.

Health in ChatGPT: OpenAI removed the waitlist, and ChatGPT Health is available to everyone in the US (18 and older). It supports Apple Health integration and medical records from US hospital systems, One Medical, and Function Health.

Claude Opus 5: Anthropic's latest frontier AI model is designed for complex coding and agentic workflows. The AI giant claims the Opus 5 can offer better performance and is closer to Fable 5 at half the price.

This week in Microsoft News

You can check out Ivan's freshly baked Microsoft Weekly roundup to catch up on all the interesting stories this week. This week's issue talks about upcoming Windows 11 features, Azure outage, Xbox news, and more.

This week in science news

Catch up on some of the latest science and out-of-this-world updates that arrived throughout the week:

• Nature's Camouflage: UC San Diego scientists are engineering bacteria to produce xanthommatin. It's the natural pigment found in cephalopods, where it helps them quickly change the color of their skin by altering how light is absorbed and reflected. By linking pigment production directly to bacterial survival, they boosted yields one thousand times.
• Why do we even exist? Major experiments in Japan and the US combined neutrino data for the first time to precisely measure particle changes, helping scientists explain why matter survived the Big Bang.
• Cosmic Gold Theory: First computer simulations of neutron star mergers show that transforming neutrinos significantly alter ejected matter. Researchers found this process could increase the cosmic production of heavy elements like gold tenfold.

The week in gaming

The latest issue of Pulasthi's Weekend PC Game Deals curates several exciting games on sale this week. Epic Games Store has a fresh title for you: a copy of Foretales. Meanwhile, Xbox Free Play Days is now offering For Honor, Bleach: Rebirth of Souls, Tides of Tomorrow, and more.

That said, here are some more stories from the gaming world:

• Activision locks in Modern Warfare 4 beta dates for August, here's how to play
• Xbox classics come to PC, Microsoft unveils new Backward Compatibility program
• Steam wishlists and gifting just got a massive upgrade
• Nvidia GeForce NOW gains support for nine more games this week, including Dino Crisis
• Amazon is bringing games to Prime Video at no extra cost

From the review corner

This week, Steven got his hands on the GEEKOM GeekBook M16, a premium Intel Ulta 9 laptop with a 99.9Wh battery and a price tag under $750. The device comes in an all-metal unibody design, a great 16-inch FHD display, Windows Hello fingerprint, Dual USB-C (1x USB 4), and a 5-in-1 Dock. On the flip side, the camera doesn't support Windows Hello, the display goes black when you remove the charging cable, and the fingerprint sensor is hit or miss.

Steven also reviewed the NV1000 M.2 NVMe SSD that was published earlier today, finding that it boasts incredible PCIe Gen5 x4 speeds with very little to complain about. It actually beat the more premium Z540 in some tests.

Halo: Campaign Evolved

Pulasthi published his review of Halo: Campaign Evolved, which marks the 25th anniversary of the popular franchise. This Unreal Engine remake delivers more than just visuals with important reworks for 25-year-old designs, short but sweet new levels, fantastic new cutscenes, and voice acting on point. However, the backtracking in levels is still a pain, there is a lack of multiplayer, it needs a Chromatic aberration toggle, and it could be buggy at times.

Upcoming tech events

• Made by Google (Pixel Event) (August 12)
• iPhone launch event (Predicted September 9)

So, these were some of the biggest tech news and other updates from this week. There will be more issues of our 7 Days series in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing to extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option.

Have a great weekend!

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Monday 27 July 2026 at 8:16 am AEST (my time).

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