Tech Roundup: Fox Buys Roku, Microsoft Launches Snapdragon X2 Surface, iOS 27 Beta Unveiled

Major Acquisitions and Mergers

Fox acquires Roku for $22 billion — Fox is buying Roku, a deal that could bring big changes to Roku TVs and streaming devices. Read more.

New Hardware Launches

Microsoft launches Surface Pro and Surface Laptop with Snapdragon X2 — The 13-inch Surface Pro starts at $1,499 with up to Snapdragon X2 Elite (12-core), OLED option, and Wi-Fi 7. The new Surface Laptop offers up to 23 hours of battery life. Read more.

Steam Machine benchmark leak signals approaching launch — Leaked Geekbench 6 scores show a 'Valve Fremont' device with a six-core Zen 4 CPU and Navi 33 GPU. Valve expects upscaled 4K gaming at 60 FPS with ray tracing. Read more.

Commodore unveils Callback 8020: a $499 flip phone that blocks social media — Powered by Sailfish OS, this nostalgia-driven phone runs Android apps but uses DNS-level blocking to prevent doomscrolling. Features a removable battery, T9 texting, and Commodore SID ringtones. Read more.

Logitech G3 Series makes pro-level gaming gear more affordable — Logitech G's new G3 Series brings high-performance sensors and polling rates to a lower price point. Read more.

Software & OS Updates

Apple's iOS 27 beta brings powerful Visual Intelligence and built-in drawing tools — iOS 27 integrates Visual Intelligence directly into the Camera app with a new Siri Mode. Users can identify objects, split bills, import contacts, and more. The update also adds hand-drawn messages with full Apple Pencil support. Meanwhile, iOS 26.6 Beta 2 focuses on security enhancements. Read more | Drawing tools | iOS 26.6.

KDE Plasma 6.7 launches with performance boosts and UI polish — The update brings improved HDR/ICC profile support, per-screen virtual desktops, and a new Union theming system. Read more.

Linux 7.2 finally drops support for a 44-year-old graphics card — After decades of compatibility, the Linux kernel removes support for the Intel 82786 graphics chip. Read more.

AI & Data Centers

China plans $295 billion national data center grid — Powered by domestically made silicon, this initiative aims to outperform the US in AI infrastructure. Read more.

Research shows AI model collapse can be prevented with tiny amounts of real human data — New findings suggest that even small fractions of human-generated data can stop AI from degrading itself when training on synthetic content. Read more.

ChatGPT's user base exceeds 1.1 billion but market share drops below 50% — For the first time, ChatGPT holds less than half the AI chatbot market, as Gemini (27.7%) and Claude (10.3%) gain ground. Read more.

Wearables & Smart Glasses

Sharp's first smartwatch estimates calorie intake without logging — The Karada Mate Watch uses bioelectrical impedance to read fluid and sugar shifts, offering a new way to track nutrition. Read more.

Snap beats Apple to consumer AR glasses with pricey SPECS — Snap's SPECS augmented reality glasses are now available, offering advanced AR features but at a high cost. Read more.

Google's Gemini app gets major mic upgrade for multilingual users — The voice input now supports 70 languages and can mix languages in a single command. Read more.

June Pixel Watch update makes Raise to Talk more reliable — Alongside Wear OS 7, the update redesigns the Contacts app and improves gesture detection. Read more.

More Noteworthy News

iPhone 18 to get 12GB RAM for new Siri AI features — The rumor suggests the iPhone 18 will boost RAM from 8GB to 12GB, enabling advanced on-device AI. Read more.
Foldable iPhone Ultra reportedly not delayed — Leaker Fixed Focus Digital claims the foldable iPhone Ultra will launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro in September. Read more.
GM enters energy storage with sodium-ion batteries — GM teams up with Peak Energy to develop sodium-ion batteries for utilities and data centers. Read more.