Skip to content

Sam's News — tech — 2026-07-28

TL;DR

World

Japan earthquake in Kumamoto causes mall collapse with feared trapped victims

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan on July 28, 2026, triggering a mall collapse and dozens of injuries, with 20-30 workers feared trapped.

  • Quake registered shindo 7, Japan's highest intensity level, at 10km depth
  • Aeon Mall in Kashima Town partially collapsed after an explosion
  • ~40 injured treated in Yatsushiro, ~50 in Kumamoto city
  • At least 12 buildings collapsed; cargo train derailed; fires reported
  • Kumamoto Castle (built 1607) sustained wall damage
  • No issues reported at nearby nuclear plants, including Sendai

Sources: Newsweek Research, NPR Research, The New York Times RSS, Hacker News (front page) RSS

Security

Hugging Face models found generating non-consensual deepfakes

Researchers found that the majority of image editing models on Hugging Face can be used to create non-consensual deepfakes of women and children.

Sources: Engadget RSS, The Verge RSS, Wired RSS

General

New HIV vaccine shows unprecedented preclinical success

New research demonstrates unprecedented success in preclinical trials for a novel HIV vaccine.

Sources: Hacker News (front page) RSS

WhatsApp enables calling through web app

WhatsApp's web app now supports calling with features like screen-sharing and reactions.

Sources: TechCrunch RSS

Elon Musk's X Money app rolls out in US

The X Money app from Elon Musk's platform is now available to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers in the United States.

Sources: TechCrunch RSS

Apple launches 'Upgrade' device leasing program

Apple introduced a leasing program allowing customers to upgrade iPhones, Macs, iPads, and Apple Watches with monthly payments starting at $11.99.

Sources: TechCrunch RSS, The Verge RSS, Engadget RSS

Lyft and Baidu begin robotaxi testing in London

Lyft partnered with Baidu to start testing Apollo Go autonomous vehicles in London through the Freenow mobility platform.

Sources: Engadget RSS, TechCrunch RSS

Markets

PayPal beats earnings expectations, remains open to takeover offers

PayPal reported stronger-than-expected Q2 results and signaled openness to acquisition deals that create shareholder value.

Sources: TechCrunch RSS

Funding

Fish Audio raises $52 million seed funding

Fish Audio closed a $52 million seed round with over 8 million users and $21 million in annual recurring revenue from AI voice models.

Sources: TechCrunch RSS

Recursive Superintelligence signs $410 million compute deal with Amazon

Recursive Superintelligence committed $410 million to Amazon compute services, representing the bulk of its fundraising to date.

Sources: TechCrunch RSS