| Earth may be trapped inside a gigantic cosmic void. | Some astronomers think the Milky Way sits in an unusually empty patch of the Universe, which could explain why measurements of cosmic expansion keep disagreeing. | Imagine spending decades fighting over the maths only to discover our galaxy has one bar of signal. | What’s in store: | China is making the benchmark table crowded. Patreon finally gives AI scrapers consequences. Mindstream Picks: Your new LG monitor might install software without asking first. Get our prompts for making money!
| Read Time: 5 minutes |
|
| | | AI MODELS | | | Chinese AI companies Moonshot and Alibaba have unveiled new models they claim can rival the best systems from OpenAI and Anthropic at a much lower cost. | Moonshot’s Kimi K3 reportedly beat most leading US models in the company’s own tests. | Alibaba followed with Qwen3.8, which it described as one of the strongest models available. | Unlike many top US systems, both are expected to be released with open weights, allowing developers to download, adapt and build on them. | Here’s what you should know: | Both companies claim their models can rival top US systems The models are expected to be open-weight Independent testing will show how strong they really are
| Open weights, open warfare | The claims have not yet been independently tested. | Moonshot plans to release Kimi K3’s full weights on 27 July, while Alibaba says Qwen3.8 will follow soon. | The launches add fresh pressure to the US-China AI race and suggest America’s lead may be getting rather crowded. | Does this mean my tokens will get cheaper now? - MV | How convincing are the claims? | | Vote for live results + see results and opinions from yesterday at the bottom of the email. |
|
| | | MAKE MONEY | | | This is not about productivity. This is about getting paid. | Our searchable library of 250+ AI prompts spotlights 8 core revenue playbooks — leads, offers, launches, outreach, and more. Pick your first problem and begin: | You’re always undercharging You’re scrounging for leads Your outreach and launches fall flat You’re selling your time, not a system You want passive or partnership income
| No fluff, only prompts that make you money. | |
|
| | A salesperson earns a $400 base salary plus 6% commission. They sell $8,500 worth of goods. What's their total pay? | Find the answer at the bottom of the email! |
|
| | They used AI to rebuild the Pelé goal no camera ever caught | Google DeepMind worked with Pelé’s family, historians, journalists, and football legends to recreate one of the most famous goals never caught on camera. Pelé’s “Gol da Rua Javari,” scored in 1959, only lived on through eyewitness memories for decades, so the team used thousands of archival images, interviews, and stadium records to piece it back together. | Then they used AI tools to turn that research into a mini-documentary, rebuilding the stadium, the crowd, the weather, and Pelé himself to show what the goal may have looked like. It’s a very wild use of AI, not to invent some fake football moment, but to bring back one that was real and just missed the camera. |
|
| | | PATREON | | | Patreon is using Cloudflare technology to stop AI companies from scraping creators’ work for training without permission. | The platform previously relied on robots.txt files, which tell automated bots how they are allowed to use a website. | The problem is that these instructions are voluntary, and some AI crawlers appear to have ignored them. | Patreon is now using Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control tools to actively block bots that collect content for AI training. | During testing, attempts from individual crawlers reportedly dropped from thousands per week to zero. | In brief: | AI training bots will now be actively blocked. Search crawlers that send users back to Patreon can still operate. Patreon says creators should have more control over how their work is used.
| Robots.txt was decorative | Bots that index pages for search and help users find Patreon content will still be allowed. | The stricter rules mainly target crawlers that copy creators’ work to train AI models. | Patreon said creators should be able to grow their audience without automatically giving AI companies permission to use their content. | AI crawlers treated robots.txt like terms and conditions, only with considerably more audacity.- MG |
|
| | Health: A 10-year NHS study found focal therapy treats prostate cancer as effectively as surgery or radiotherapy while significantly reducing the risk of long-term side effects.
Gaming: Gearbox has surprise-released Borderlands Dead ECHOs, a new official audio drama that expands the series' universe with original characters and returning fan favourites.
Movies: Masters of the Universe will begin streaming on Prime Video from 22 July, just a month after its cinema release, following strong reviews but a disappointing box office run. | Don’t Miss: A new report claims Windows 11 is automatically installing LG software when certain UltraGear monitors are connected, without notifying users. The app has also been linked to pop-up promotions and raises privacy concerns due to the permissions it requests. |
|
| | | | “Can AI make a fair layoff call?” | Yes, with meaningful human oversight. - 26% | No, people aren’t just data points. - 74 ✅ | Your Views: | “Meta claims human-involvement?! my eye!!!” - parke | “Same reason why AI cannot make a fair hiring call” - siddhis | “Both choices are bad. Spreadsheets can't document business relationships, but managers are more likely to promote their drinking buddy than the best qualified” - relle | Submit your opinions in our polls to be featured! |
|
| Number Crunch Answer: $910. | #1147
This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. |  | | | |
|
