Tech News Roundup — July 26, 2026 (AM)

The Q2 2026 PC shipment numbers from Counterpoint Research confirm what the rumor mill has been warning for months: the AI-driven memory crisis is finally breaking the back of the consumer PC market, with global shipments down 4% YoY and only ASUS and Apple coming out ahead. Ubuntu Touch picks up a much-needed hardware-compatibility update, Fedora takes a step toward formalising conflict-of-interest disclosures, and Google makes the inevitable Pixel 11 price hike official. Microsoft ships its largest-ever Patch Tuesday while gamers get a long-awaited rework of the Euro Truck Simulator base maps.

Hardware & Memory Crisis

• Global PC shipments fell 4% in Q2 2026 as the RAM crisis reached consumers. Counterpoint Research’s latest numbers put worldwide shipments at roughly 65 million units for the quarter, ending a growth run that had held since Q1 2025. The decline lines up with IDC’s earlier forecast of an 11.3% full-year drop and a possible 20% Q4 plunge. OEMs are choosing between raising consumer prices and eating the component-cost hit, and most have reached for the former. ASUS was the only Windows OEM to grow (+4% YoY), while Apple surged 13% on the back of the budget MacBook Neo. The takeaway from Counterpoint’s David Naranjo: “the memory shortage is no longer just a short-term supply problem — it has become a key factor changing the direction of the PC industry.” Windows Central

• Google officially confirms the Pixel 11 is getting a price hike. Google’s VP of Devices and Services, Shakil Barkat, told 9to5 Google that the next Pixel will cost more than the Pixel 10, citing the same RAM supply pressure that has pushed Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Roku to raise prices in 2026. “We’ve shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible,” Barkat said, “but the economics have fundamentally shifted and we’re not immune to that.” The confirmation lines up with earlier reporting that the Pixel 11 could see a meaningful price bump. [The Verge]

Linux & Open Source

• Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 ships with notch and rounded-corner support. Following last month’s beta, the latest Ubuntu Touch feature release is now available for select smartphones and tablets. The headline additions are display-cutout and rounded-corner handling, which bring the mobile OS in line with current device hardware and finally let apps render properly around notches and punch-holes. It’s an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS-derived update, so the underlying stack stays on the LR cycle. Phoronix

• Fedora is drafting a formal Conflict of Interest policy. A draft posted this week aims to identify, disclose, and manage actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest within the Fedora Project. The policy is still in the working-draft phase, but the topic has been gestating on the Fedora Council mailing list for months and the project is moving toward a formal text. Once adopted, the policy would apply to maintainers, Council members, and anyone with commit access to the distribution. Phoronix

Microsoft

• Windows Central’s Mauro Huculak rounds up the 10 Windows 11 features Reddit users call “life-changing”. The list covers the small workflow improvements that users actually open every day: Clipboard History (WIN+V), the Snipping Tool’s hidden screen-recording and OCR, the new End Task right-click on the taskbar (under Settings > System > Advanced), Windows Sandbox as a Hyper-V-free test environment, the winget package manager, Snap Layouts (WIN+Z), the multi-monitor WIN+Shift+Arrow shortcut, the WIN+H Voice Typing entry point, the Reliability Monitor (perfmon /rel), and a reminder that many monitors ship at 60Hz even when they’re capable of more. The common thread: Microsoft’s most useful features are also its least promoted. Windows Central

• Microsoft pressures LG into killing unwanted McAfee ads. LG’s pre-installed software on a batch of Windows PCs was pushing McAfee subscription prompts that included a Windows-incompatible firmware updater and aggressive auto-renewal notices. After Microsoft got involved, LG committed to removing the offending bundle. The story is another example of Microsoft tightening the leash on OEM bloatware after years of user complaints. [The Verge]

Google & Android

• Gemini is failing on Android Auto and forcing users back to Google Maps. Google’s push to bring Gemini into Android Auto has hit a rough patch, with the assistant reportedly falling back to standard Google Maps search in many real-world driving scenarios. The breakage is intermittent but widespread enough that Pplware is reporting it as a usability regression, not a one-off. The fix is presumably server-side, but Google has not yet pinned a release date for a stable Gemini-on-Android Auto build. Pplware

Gaming

• Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator are getting major base-map reworks — just in time for their console release. SCS Software has confirmed rework projects for both games’ oldest regions: Nevada in American Truck Simulator and the UK in Euro Truck Simulator 2. The Nevada rework rebuilds existing locations and adds Fallon plus missing sections of US-95; the UK rework adds Inverness, Stonehenge, Leeds, and an upgraded EuroTunnel. Both rewrites are designed to bring the base maps up to the quality standards of the newer DLCs (Illinois, Nordic Horizons) — and they’re arriving around the same time as the long-awaited Xbox and PlayStation versions of both games, which were revealed at last year’s Gamescom. SCS is at Gamescom 2026 with its biggest booth yet and partnerships with Thrustmaster and Volvo. Windows Central

AI / ML

• ChatGPT helped police intercept an alleged plot to kill a child in Brazil. A 36-year-old man in Espírito Santo was arrested after ChatGPT surfaced evidence of an alleged murder plan that the suspect had reportedly researched through the chatbot. The case is being held up as an example of AI tools being useful in criminal-prevention pipelines, not just the more frequently publicised privacy-and-surveillance failures. Investigators have not disclosed what queries triggered the alert, and the case is currently moving through the Brazilian courts. Pplware

• Humanoid robots have performed live surgeries on animals for the first time. A research team used remotely-controlled humanoid robots to carry out surgical procedures on live animal subjects, with sufficiently positive outcomes that the approach is being taken seriously as a path toward telesurgery in humans. The combination of low-latency remote control, modern vision models, and improved robot dexterity is doing the work that traditional laparoscopic systems can’t. The full paper details the procedures and success rates. Pplware

Self-Hosting & Infrastructure

• Dockhand Docker hits 1.0.38 with beta container backups. The Synology & UGREEN-friendly Docker management UI has shipped a new release adding beta container/stack backups (gated behind the FEAT_BACKUPS_ENABLED flag), a read-only compose YAML and dependency-graph view for Git-managed stacks, and DNS_RESULT_ORDER=verbatim for IPv6 fallback on outbound traffic. The release is a stepping stone toward a stable 1.1 line. Marius Hosting

• NetBox is the documentation backbone for medium and large networks. Pplware’s primer walks through how NetBox handles IPAM, equipment racks, cabling, and circuit inventory in a single source of truth — the de facto standard for network documentation in any infrastructure that has grown past the “spreadsheet in someone’s Dropbox” stage. The piece is in Portuguese but the screenshots and architecture diagram translate well. Pplware

In Brief

• A Tesla “sees” people in an empty cemetery — a viral video, allegedly showing the car’s vision system flagging pedestrian-shaped objects in a graveyard, has reopened the conversation about how the FSD vision pipeline handles unusual surroundings. Pplware
• Stellar Jockeys has announced Brigador Killers, a continuation of the cult isometric vehicular combat series, with on-foot combat, vehicles, and an insurgency-themed campaign. Pplware
• The “Oh-My-God” particle — a single ultra-high-energy cosmic ray detected more than three decades ago — is still the most energetic subatomic event ever recorded, and it remains unexplained. Pplware
• Meta is rolling out a free Facebook verification seal that requires only a short video selfie — a noticeably lower-friction alternative to the paid Meta Verified subscription. Pplware
• Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Amazon, accusing it of systematically poaching employees in breach of non-solicit and non-compete agreements. [The Verge]
• Teenage Engineering’s unique music machines — including the OP-XY and the rest of the K.O. II / Pocket Operator line — are 30% off through the company’s summer sale. [The Verge]
• Synth historian Oli Freke will spend big on a good bicycle — a profile piece on the Sound on Sound and Quietus contributor who has carved out a niche covering electronic-music deep cuts. [The Verge]
• A Southeast Asian country has banned the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from June 1, 2026 — only electric vehicles are now allowed onto the new-car market. Pplware
• iPhone users can now set any MP3 file as a ringtone directly from the Files app — no longer requiring iTunes or a third-party tool. Pplware
• JLab’s Epic Wireless Keyboard is a budget-friendly ergonomic keyboard that punches above its price class — recommended by TechRadar and now by Windows Central. Windows Central

Roundup compiled from the TTRSS Tech feed. 19 articles from 5 sources summarized across 8 sections.