Jul 17, 2026 · 3 min listen · Last updated July 17, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief for July 17th. Quick one from Theo — five tech stories from overnight, ordered by how much they made me sit up. Let's get into it. First, from SiliconAngle. EU orders Google to share search data with rivals, broaden Android feature access.
Listen · storyflo · tech
Daily Tech Brief · July 17th
0:00-2:47
Pick your daily storyteller
Subscribe to match with Theo, Jessica, Chloe, Mason, Brock — your voice, every brief.
Audio pre-rendered by Storyflo · cached + delivered from the edge
EU orders Google to share search data with rivals, broaden Android feature access
So, the EU just dropped a new set of rules on Google, essentially forcing them to share search data with their competitors. This is a big deal because it's been super hard for other search engines to get their foot in the door, and now they'll have access to the same data Google uses to power their own search results.
The EU's also telling Google to open up Android to other companies, so they can integrate their own features and services into the operating system. This is a huge shift because, up until now, Google's had pretty tight control over what gets added to Android. It's not clear yet how this will play out, but it's definitely a significant change under the hood.
The European Commission's using this new legislation, called the DMA, to enforce these changes. It's designed to prevent big tech companies from abusing their market power, and this is just one of the first big tests of how it'll work in practice.
New York State just hit pause on the AI data center boom
As AI use ratchets up, demand for data center capacity is higher than it’s ever been. But New York State is telling the industry: Not so fast.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul this week signed an Executive Order described as the “nation’s first moratorium” on new hyperscale data centers, massive factories that typically comprise thousands of servers devouring tens or hundreds of megawatts of power.
During this up to one year pause, the state will halt issuance of environmental permits for data centers as it develops a regulatory framework to protect ratepayers, the energy grid, the environment
At the end of June, I opened a tech conference in my hometown of Palm Springs by asking a few hundred people to make some noise if they felt dread about the future.
The room got loud.
Then I asked who felt excited. The room got just as loud.
That is the moment we are in: emotionally stretched, confused, and toggling between hope and horror at the speed of a fiber-optic connection.
Should We Lock Our Clocks? | The Shortcut Live Ep. 50
As part of his anything-but-genuine campaign for Mayor of New York, Matt shares his take on the Sunshine Protection Act. For those of you tuning in for actual tech news, we're also previewing Galaxy Unpacked and giving you The Shortcut Skinny on what to expect.
Thanks to MemoMind for sponsoring The Shortcut Live! Learn more about MemoMind One here.
Stories from this episode
New York State just hit pause on the AI data center boom
As AI use ratchets up, demand for data center capacity is higher than it’s ever been. But New York State is telling the industry: Not so fast.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul this week signed an Executive Order described as the “nation’s first moratorium” on new hyperscale data centers, massive factories that typically comprise thousands of servers devouring tens or hundreds of megawatts of power.
During this up to one year pause, the state will halt issuance of environmental permits for data centers as it develops a regulatory framework to protect ratepayers, the energy grid, the environment
Frame: A New X11 Server Implementation Written Entirely In x86_64 Assembly
Previously we covered YSERVER as an X11 server written in the Rust programming language with the help of Claude Code. A Phoronix reader wrote in today to share an even more esoteric X11 server implementation that has come about and again written in large part by AI/LLM usage: Frame is an X11 server written in pure x86_64 Assembly...
Welcome to another edition of AI by Aakash. I follow all the AI news so you don’t have to.
This week, the big news is out of OpenAI. GPT-5.6 feels like, for the first time in a long time, OpenAI has come out with a better model than Anthropic. And it shipped with a new harness too.
So that’s today’s deep dive. But first, a word from our sponsor.
Founders keep telling the Viktor team the same thing. One: "If you compare this to a VA or an employee it's not even a conversation.
10 AI Guides That Helped Readers Build Real Systems
The articles that travelled furthest over the past few weeks all left something behind on the reader’s computer.
A vault.
A Markdown file.
A working agent.
A reusable skill.
A loop that checks its own work.
An app built from an idea.
A local model running under the desk.
That pattern tells us where practical AI is heading.
Access to a powerful model is only the beginning.
This mini PC with a Ryzen 7 8845HS, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and OCuLink expansion for $689 is just too good to pass up
RAM and storage prices have gone through the roof, making this powerful gaming mini PC worth every single penny right now. It features an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS and 32GB DDR5 RAM. That last detail should catch your eye because the components value alone sits at or over $350 at the moment if you buy it on its own.
OpenAI admits GPT-5.6 occasionally deletes files – but it's an 'honest mistake'
OpenAI has confirmed reports that GPT-5.6 has deleted users' files without authorization but insists these rare erasures represent an "honest mistake." Following the release of OpenAI's GPT‑5.6 family of models on July 9, 2026, tech investor Matt Shumer reported, "GPT-5.6-Sol just accidentally deleted almost ALL of my Mac's files." A few days later, software engineer Bruno Lemos said, "GPT-5.6 Sol just deleted my whole production database. That's it. Not a joke. This had never happened to me before, with any other model, ever.
