Tech News Roundup — July 2, 2026 (PM)

The afternoon’s tech news is dominated by Microsoft and Sony, both signalling major platform shifts: a leaked video of a Copilot-native Windows codebase called Win3, and Sony’s confirmation that PlayStation physical discs are being phased out from 2028. Linux desktops get a security wake-up call with a sandbox-escape in KDE Plasma, while Intel moves to upstream ACE AI extensions into GCC. On the industrial side, Honda is quietly redirecting its electric-car battery production toward data-center customers.

Microsoft & Windows

• Microsoft Copilot OS revealed in leaked video. A three-minute clip that first surfaced on the BetaWiki Discord shows a Microsoft exploration project codenamed Aion — a lightweight Windows codebase called Win3 built on web tech, with Copilot baked into the shell as a multi-modal agent. The narrator describes it as “a web-based agent OS that natively builds Copilot into the core of the shell”, and the demo shows a Taskbar-style desktop with a Start menu powered entirely by Copilot. Microsoft has not commented, but the build is described as real, early working code, not a mock-up. Windows Central

• Xbox “Project Helix” rethink amid RAM crisis. Xbox’s Matthew Ball says the team is “working very hard to rethink everything that we can about Helix” as the AI build-out drives memory prices to record highs. The low-powered Xbox Series S is effectively sold out, and the entire next-gen console range is exposed to inflated memory costs. Windows Central

Gaming

• Sony axes PlayStation physical discs from 2028. Sony has confirmed it will stop manufacturing physical PlayStation discs starting in 2028, citing the transition to a fully digital market. The decision puts pressure on game preservation and the second-hand market, and the move is widely seen as the first domino ahead of an industry-wide discless shift. Pplware

• Sony revokes digital licenses, Xbox hints at a discless future. A Windows Central op-ed laments the death of physical software as Sony begins revoking digital licenses and Xbox is widely expected to follow PC gaming’s lead and ditch discs entirely. The author frames it as a farewell to midnight launches and second-hand game savings, calling the shift “a sad farewell to physical software”. Windows Central

• Onimusha: Way of the Sword moves release date to September 4. Capcom has pulled Onimusha: Way of the Sword forward by three weeks — to September 4, 2026 from the original September 25 — to give it room in a “stacked month” of high-profile releases. The game still ships on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. Windows Central

• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV gets 15-minute gameplay demo. KING Art showed off a 1v1 multiplayer skirmish between Space Marines and Orks in the first proper gameplay reveal of Dawn of War IV, the first mainline entry since 2017’s Dawn of War III. The series’ distinctive small-unit, base-light RTS design is intact. Windows Central

Linux & Open Source

• KDE Plasma “Open New Window” can be abused for arbitrary code execution. A yet-to-be-patched security disclosure reveals that the Open New Window action in KDE Plasma can be tricked into running attacker code, breaking out of the sandbox. The issue affects a wide range of KDE Frameworks versions and is rated high-severity. Phoronix

• Intel posts initial GCC patches for ACE AI extensions. The x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group — led by Intel and AMD — has firmed up the AI Compute Extensions (ACE) spec, a successor to Intel’s AMX for matrix-heavy machine learning on x86. Intel engineers have now posted the first GCC patches in the compiler-support series. Phoronix

• Linux to retire a number of old ARM platforms in early 2027. Following the i486 removal, a new proposal will deprecate and drop several outdated ARM platforms and features from the Linux kernel starting in early 2027. The list is targeting SoCs that have been unmaintained for years. Phoronix

• FFmpeg gains Vulkan APV encoder. Six weeks after adding Vulkan-accelerated decoding for the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, FFmpeg has landed a matching Vulkan encoder, completing the round-trip and matching the ProRes-on-Vulkan pattern. Phoronix

• Box3D debuts as a new open-source 3D physics engine. Erin Catto — the original author of Box2D — has forked his 2D work into Box3D, a new open-source 3D physics engine aimed at games and simulation. Phoronix

• Rusticl OpenCL driver improves hardware utilization in Mesa 26.2. Red Hat’s Karol Herbst has landed another optimization round for the Rust-based OpenCL driver, focusing on better hardware utilization across Gallium3D drivers. Phoronix

• JPEG-XL libjxl 0.12 brings more performance optimizations. A new reference release of the JPEG-XL codec ships with image-encode and decode performance improvements, continuing the format’s quiet revival. Phoronix

• Vibe-coded Rust X11 server YSERVER 1.3 adds Xinerama, FreeBSD support. YSERVER, the modern X11 display server written in Rust with significant help from Claude Code, has reached version 1.3 with Xinerama multi-monitor and FreeBSD support and a long list of smaller additions. Phoronix

AI / Industry

• OpenAI floats giving the US government a 5% cut of the AI boom. CEO Sam Altman has reportedly pitched the Trump administration on giving Washington a 5 percent equity stake in OpenAI, arguing the public deserves to share in AI’s upside. [The Verge]

• Amazon Leo has enough satellites to launch its Starlink competitor. Amazon says it now has 396 Leo (Project Kuiper) satellites in low-Earth orbit, “enough to support continuous service across initial latitudes” — on track for the mid-2026 commercial-launch target. [The Verge]

• BitTorrent turns 25. A retrospective on Bram Cohen’s 2001 protocol and the messy, litigious history that turned a one-line release into the backbone of decentralized file-sharing. [The Verge]

Hardware & Mobility

• Honda pivots EV battery production to data centers. The Japanese automaker is shifting its electrification strategy — after cancelling several EV programmes, Honda is now routing its battery production toward data-center customers, taking advantage of the AI-driven power boom. Pplware

• Portugal: used-car market grows 5.5%, diesel in historic decline. Portugal’s used-car market rose 5.5% with 860,000 used light vehicles sold, while new-car diesel sales fell to historic lows and electric vehicles picked up the slack. Pplware

• OPPO Reno16 series lands in Portugal. The new line-up — Reno16 Pro, Reno16, Reno16 FS and Reno16 F — is officially on sale in Portugal, with content-creator camera tuning as the headline feature. Pplware

• Alpine and Lacoste team up on a “crocodile” A290 Rallye edition. A clothing capsule and a single A290 Rallye special mark an unusual fashion-automotive crossover between Alpine and Lacoste. Pplware

In Brief

• Apple “Hide My Email” not actually hiding anything. Researchers say Apple’s privacy feature is exposing user data it shouldn’t. Pplware

• Portugal’s Volta deposit system: why some packages can’t be crushed. The operator of the 10-cent bottle-and-can deposit scheme answers the most-asked questions about what can and can’t go through the reverse-vending machines. Pplware

• Etna erupts again, lighting up Sicily with lava rivers. Europe’s most active volcano is back in action with a spectacular — but currently non-threatening — eruption. Pplware

• Portugal’s Social Security app adds the annual “Prova Escolar” check. Parents can now complete the school-attestation step needed for family allowance, study grants and survivor’s pensions on their phone. Pplware

• Silo’s showrunner gets confused too. A long Apple TV interview with Graham Yost about directing the final seasons of Silo — even he admits he has lost track of which scenes were shot when. [The Verge]

Roundup compiled from the TTRSS Tech feed. 27 articles from 4 sources summarized; Pplware and Marius Hosting posts left unread for downstream processing.