NerdNews

Nvidia's stock has risen 22% since the start of 2025, driven by demand for AI hardware. The company's data center GPUs excel at performing matrix multiplications necessary to train and run neural networks. Nvidia's valuation surpasses Apple's previous record of $3.8 trillion, making it the most valuable publicly traded company in history.

Perplexity has launched Comet, an AI-powered web browser with a built-in AI search engine and assistant. The browser aims to challenge Google Search and provide users with a more streamlined experience. Comet's AI agent can summarize emails, manage tabs, and navigate web pages, but its effectiveness varies depending on the task complexity.

Google announced the rollout of Gemini to Wear OS watches, replacing Google Assistant. Gemini allows users to ask questions, complete tasks, and remember important details. Additionally, Google introduced AI Mode to Circle to Search, enabling advanced reasoning and follow-up questions.

Nvidia has become the world's first company to reach a $4 trillion market capitalization, driven by its dominance in the AI chip sector and strong financial performance. The company's GPUs are crucial for complex AI calculations, making it an indispensable part of the AI infrastructure boom.

McDonald's AI hiring chatbot, built by Paradox.ai, had a security flaw that exposed the personal data of millions of job applicants. The flaw was discovered by security researchers who found that they could access the data by guessing a weak password, '123456'. The exposed data includes names, email addresses, and phone numbers of applicants.

Wayve CEO Alex Kendall will discuss the future of autonomous AI at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. Kendall's company is pioneering embodied intelligence for self-driving systems, and he will share insights on commercializing autonomy at scale.

Authenticator apps and SMS codes can be phished, giving users a false sense of security. Token Ring and Token BioStick offer biometric hardware authentication as a secure alternative, eliminating trust from the equation and providing phishing-proof protection.

Anubis is a CAPTCHA-like system that uses proof of work to prevent Large Language Model (LLM) bots from crawling websites. It works by requiring browsers to solve a cryptographic problem, which is computationally expensive for bot farms but negligible for human visitors. This approach aims to make web crawling prohibitively expensive for companies trying to feed their LLM bots, thereby protecting websites from excessive scraping and potential intellectual property theft.

Perplexity's Comet AI browser is now available for $200 per month. It uses Perplexity as its default search engine and allows users to interact with AI in a sidebar to ask questions, summarize text, and take actions. The browser is built on Chrome's technology and is part of Perplexity's Max subscription.

Anthropic's Claude AI now integrates with learning apps Canvas, Panopto, and Wiley, allowing students and teachers to access materials like lecture transcripts and peer-reviewed journals. The update uses MCP servers and supports Canvas' Learning Tools Interoperability feature, enabling private conversations with Claude.

Isomorphic Labs, a Google-backed company, is using AI to design new medicines. They are about to start human clinical trials for cancer drugs designed entirely by AI, raising hopes and concerns about the role of AI in medicine.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7, and Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, along with three new smartwatches: Galaxy Watch Ultra, Galaxy Watch 8, and Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. The new devices feature improved designs, larger displays, and enhanced specs. Preorders are now available, with shipping starting on July 25th.

ZeroEntropy, a startup founded by Ghita Houir Alami, has raised $4.2M in seed funding to develop a next-generation AI search platform. The company's API manages ingestion, indexing, re-ranking, and evaluation of data, making it easier for AI systems to retrieve relevant information. ZeroEntropy's technology has the potential to improve the accuracy and efficiency of AI-powered search applications.

Samsung's newest foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, feature deep integration with Google's Gemini AI. The AI powers features like Circle to Search and Gemini Live, which can help with tasks like product comparisons and event planning. The integration is so deep that it feels like the phones are as much Google devices as they are Samsung ones.

OpenAI has finalized its deal with Jony Ive's startup, io, in a reported $6.5 billion merger. Ive's design studio, LoveFrom, remains independent, while io's co-founders and around 50 employees have joined OpenAI. The companies are working on a family of AI products, with their first device expected to be unobtrusive, portable, and aware of its surroundings.

The European Union has launched a Quantum Strategy to develop region-wide quantum secure communications and data sharing infrastructure, aiming to become a global leader in quantum by 2030. The strategy addresses cybersecurity risks posed by future advances in quantum computing and includes initiatives such as the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) and the Quantum Internet initiative.

Waymo has started offering teen accounts for families in Phoenix, allowing teenagers aged 14-17 to order their own rides and share trip status with parents, expanding its user base and providing a safer mode of transportation via robotaxis.

The UK government has partnered with Google Cloud to upskill 100,000 civil servants by 2030. The goal is to make 1 in 10 public officials 'tech experts' to implement civil service reform. Google's DeepMind AI subsidiary will also work with the government to deploy emerging technologies and drive efficiencies across the public sector.

Blok, a startup, uses AI-powered personas to simulate real-world app usage, allowing developers to test and improve their apps before release. The company has raised $7.5 million and is working with initial customers in finance and healthcare.

YPlasma has developed a plasma actuator that can cool chips in data centers using electrical forces, with no moving parts. This technology has the potential to save companies money and time, and could also be used in other applications such as vehicle aerodynamics and wind turbines.