Est. MMXXVI No. 67 ◆ Archive ◉ RSS ⌁ Free Models
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U.S. robotics barriers may fragment the global market rather than isolate China — techcrunch.com
Grindr bets on AI-powered EDGE tier and a 'gayborhood in your pocket' as it chases the everything-app play — techcrunch.com
Enormous 12TB Steam leak includes abandoned Half-Life 2: Episode 3 assets — theverge.com
Liux bets sustainability can set its microcar apart from Chinese rivals — techcrunch.com
Texas governor freezes state funding for Flock surveillance cameras — theverge.com
U.S. robotics barriers may fragment the global market rather than isolate China — techcrunch.com
Grindr bets on AI-powered EDGE tier and a 'gayborhood in your pocket' as it chases the everything-app play — techcrunch.com
Enormous 12TB Steam leak includes abandoned Half-Life 2: Episode 3 assets — theverge.com
Liux bets sustainability can set its microcar apart from Chinese rivals — techcrunch.com
Texas governor freezes state funding for Flock surveillance cameras — theverge.com
Editor's note — Light news day — fewer fresh items than usual.

Physical AI 2.0

XPENG rolls out VLA 2.0 physical AI stack spanning cars and humanoid robots

XPENG's updated physical AI platform adds 4D temporal perception via Infini-VLA, streaming inference and X-Foresight predictive reasoning, running on in-house Turing chips rated at 750 TOPS each — up to four per vehicle. The update rolls out to Ultra and Ultra SE models in September alongside continued development of the IRON humanoid program.

Tools & Startups

04

Free Models

24

Free means $0 per token today, not unlimited or unconditional: both platforms rate-limit free use and require a free API key, some OpenRouter free endpoints may train on your prompts unless you opt out in account settings, and the roster changes daily. Verified against each provider's own pricing data at generation time — but pricing changes without notice, so confirm it's still free on the provider's own page before you rely on it.

In Brief

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