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South Korea Exports Jump 52% July 1-20

South Korea’s exports for July 1–20 rose 52.3% year-on-year to $54.9 billion, led by a 180% surge in semiconductors, while passenger-car shipments fell about 10.6%, and exports to China and the United States grew strongly. Imports climbed 20% to $42.7 billion, producing a $12.2 billion trade surplus, with the period marking a record high though daily averages suggest volatility as global demand and energy prices influence flows.

14 sources

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Samsung Galaxy Card debuts in US

Samsung, in partnership with Barclays and Visa, is launching the Samsung Galaxy Card as its first US credit card integrated into Samsung Wallet to streamline payments and financing for Samsung devices, with no annual fee and tiered cash back including 5% on Samsung purchases plus bonuses for using Samsung Wallet and streaming services. The rollout, timed around Samsung’s Unpacked event and set to begin July 22, expands digital-wallet native cards in the US and marks Barclays’ continued foray into such partnerships.

14 sources

Photo: U.S. Air Force / Trevor Cokley / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

X Rebuilds Android App After Year-Long Overhaul

X released a rebuilt Android app after nearly a year of work, built from scratch to significantly improve loading, scrolling, and notifications, and it now coincides with the launch of standalone X Money and X Chat apps. While most core improvements are in place, some features remain under development—such as Spaces support and optimization for older devices—with ongoing plans to roll out additional features to Android to expand global reach.

10 sources

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AppleCare+ Price Increase Hits New Mac, iPad Plans

Apple has raised AppleCare+ prices for new Mac and iPad subscribers by 50 cents per month and $5 per year, while existing customers keep their current rates; the changes apply to Macs and iPads and come amid broader anticipated hardware price increases, with iPhone pricing expected later. The move follows ongoing adjustments in Apple’s service and product pricing strategy to offset rising costs.

9 sources

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Thinking Machines Inkling Open-Weights AI for Enterprise

Thinking Machines Lab unveiled Inkling, a 975-billion-parameter open-weight model led by Mira Murati, designed for enterprise customization with downloadable weights and a Tinker platform for fine-tuning; it uses a mixture-of-experts architecture to balance efficiency and task-specific performance while signaling uncertainty. The company positions Inkling as a flexible alternative to closed models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, and as a competitive option against Chinese open models.

16 sources

Switch plans $10B IPO with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan

Switch is lining up an IPO that could raise up to $10 billion and value the company at about $80 billion including debt, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase as lead underwriters and a potential fourth-quarter listing. The move highlights robust demand for AI infrastructure and data-center capacity, as Switch serves major clients and expands its role in the AI compute ecosystem.

8 sources