Today’s menu 🍽️👇️ 

Length: 5 minutes ⏰ 

• This decision could cost Meta another billion 💰

• Windows 11 update could finally win over users 💡 

• How Perplexity quietly built an edge over OpenAI 💥

• The most brutal AI deal of the year 🧠

• The death of native apps starts with WhatsApp 🌍

• Turn ideas into full-stack apps 🛠️

• Prompt of the week 💬

• Top AI tools of the week ⚒️

FRESH AI NEWS

Inside Meta’s rebellion against global AI rules 💸

Meta has declined to sign the EU's voluntary AI Code of Practice. They called the guidelines "overreach," creating legal uncertainties beyond the AI Act's scope 📢

• The social media giant expressed worries that the voluntary guidelines create unnecessary legal uncertainties 📄

• The guidelines asked companies to regularly update documentation about their AI tools, avoid using pirated content for training, and honor content owners’ requests to exclude their works from datasets 📚

• On the other hand, OpenAI stated in a blog post on July 11 that it plans to sign the code if it gets formal approval. This puts Meta at odds with other major AI companies willing to comply 🤝

Why You Should Care: Meta’s refusal to sign the EU’s AI code could lead to a regulatory clash as the AI Act starts enforcement next month. After being fined nearly $1 billion in Europe, Meta risks isolating itself while other AI giants move toward cooperation. This could escalate tensions and change how AI is governed in the EU.

Windows 11 finally feels fast in 2025⚡

Microsoft is rolling out specific performance improvements in Windows 11 updates. Recent builds include optimizations for File Explorer, faster archive extraction speeds, and bug fixes that address "slow or sluggish" user experiences 🔁

• Recent Windows 11 builds now extract .7z and .rar files faster. They also improve the speed of copying and pasting large files, addressing long-standing performance issues in daily tasks 📁

• The new 25H2 version speeds up the File Explorer home tab and introduces specific bug fixes for better navigation and responsiveness 🧑‍💻

• The company says it is collecting user feedback to tackle slowdowns. It is focusing on improving core performance instead of adding new features in future updates 📣

Why You Should Care: Microsoft is finally addressing years of user frustration by focusing on fixing real speed issues in Windows 11 instead of just adding flashy features. With dedicated update cycles aimed at improving responsiveness, this could be a long-overdue turning point for users who are still relying on Windows 10 for stability.

India is becoming AI’s most important battleground ⚔️

Perplexity is stepping around OpenAI's stronghold in the U.S. by focusing on India's 1.4 billion people 🚀

• Perplexity has teamed up with Airtel India to provide 12 months of free Pro subscriptions to over 360 million Indian users 👤

• India is already the second-largest market after Indonesia, making up 22% of Perplexity’s user base. This indicates that Perplexity’s focus on non-Western audiences is starting to pay off 📈

• Instead of competing in the U.S., Perplexity is quietly establishing a strong presence in Asia’s largest internet markets 🔁

Why You Should Care: Perplexity is changing the AI landscape by focusing on distribution rather than disruption. While OpenAI concentrates on the West, Perplexity’s ambitious expansion into India may provide it with a first-mover advantage over the next billion AI users.

Windsurf’s collapse reveals the dark side of acquihires 👥

Windsurf's interim CEO Jeff Wang described the company's chaotic 72 hours. During this time, a $3 billion deal with OpenAI fell apart. In the end, Cognition stepped in to acquire the abandoned workforce and the $82 million ARR business 🧩

• Interim CEO Jeff Wang noted the emotional toll on employees. Many were “in tears” after Google’s $2.4 billion licensing and hiring deal resulted in over 250 staff being left behind 😔

• While top execs like CEO Varun Mohan were hired, the rest of the workforce received no compensation, unlike traditional acquihires 🚫

• Cognition has waived vesting cliffs and ensured that 100% of Windsurf employees receive financial participation. This decision offers stability and recognition to those who were abandoned during the Google exit 🛟

Why You Should Care: The Windsurf collapse reveals a harsh truth about today's AI deal-making. Tech giants can take talent and leave others in the dust. Future buyers may need to consider not only intellectual property and founders but also the survival of entire teams.

WhatsApp’s update is a big step back for Windows ⏪

WhatsApp is stopping support for its native Windows UWP app. Instead, it will use a Microsoft WebView2-based wrapper that mainly imitates the web experience 🤖

• The change impacts Windows users numbering in the millions who will lose such features as integration of system notifications, quicker start times, and more memory-efficient use that were included with native UWP architecture 🪟

• The beta now ditches native UI components for a shell based on Chromium, having it appear and function less as a Windows application and increasingly like the web version grafted onto the desktop 🔁
  

• While the new version introduces Channels and better Status/Community tools, it's clear Meta is prioritizing cross-platform uniformity over OS-specific performance or visual polish 📦

Why You Should Care: WhatsApp's regression from native to web-wrapped represents a broader trend of tech companies abandoning platform-specific optimization for easier cross-platform maintenance. Meta’s move is less about what works best for Windows users, and more about speeding up feature delivery across all platforms, even if it means performance trade-offs.

FULL STACK WEB APPS WITH AI

Build full-stack web apps with Firebase Studio 💻

Skip complex setup and let AI handle the heavy lifting. With Google’s Firebase Studio, you can design, test, and launch powerful web apps. You don’t need to write a single line of code.

Here’s how to get started 👇️ 

1. Visit Firebase Studio and sign in with your Google account.
   

2. Describe your app idea. In the “Prototype an app with AI” section, explain your app. Include its features, layout, and the users it aims to reach.

   Use a prompt like: “Create a personal finance tracker that allows users to log daily expenses, categorize them (food, rent, travel, etc.), view monthly summaries in a dashboard, and receive budget alerts when they overspend. Include user authentication and dark mode.”

   

3. Customize your AI-generated blueprint. Edit the app’s structure, colors, and components to match your brand or vision. Then hit prototype this app.

   

   
   

    

4. Preview the working app, tweak anything you need, then hit Publish to go live.

   

Pro tip: Connect your Gemini API key. Upload sketches, wireframes, or screenshots to guide the AI for better output. For developer-level control, hit “Switch to Code” and edit manually.

Check out Firebase Studio HERE 👈️

PROMPT OF THE WEEK

LLM adoption in education 🎯

Simply paste this prompt:

“Analyze how generative AI tools are being adopted in the education sector. Focus on use cases like automated tutoring, assignment grading, curriculum generation, and plagiarism detection. Include ethical concerns, regulatory responses, platform comparisons, and adoption by grade level or geography. Visualize usage over time and student outcomes.”

🔧Pro tip: Ask for “region-wise heatmap of usage” to uncover growth markets or funding gaps.

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TOOLS OF THE WEEK

These AI tools are going VIRAL 🐝 

60secsite - Create a customized landing page in just 60 seconds for your SaaS, product, or Shopify app 💻

Magic Animator - Animate your Figma designs in seconds with AI 🪄

Kimi K2 - Designed for code generation and agentic problem-solving 🔁

Pulse - Create and share Wikipedia-style articles on any topic ✨