Kite, a company building the foundational trust infrastructure for the agentic web, announced that it has raised $18 million in Series A funding, bringing total cumulative funding to $33 million. The round was led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst. Formerly known as Zettablock, Kite leverages years of experience in distributed infrastructure systems to bring forth a new architecture purpose-built for the agentic web. The company recently launched Kite Agent Identity Resolution, or “Kite AIR” – a pioneering solution that enables autonomous agents to authenticate, transact, and operate independently in real-world environments. The system delivers programmable identity, native stablecoin payment, and policy enforcement on a blockchain optimized for autonomous agents. Kite AIR includes two core components: Agent Passport, a verifiable identity with operational guardrails; and Agent App Store, where agents can discover and pay to access services such as APIs, data, and commerce tools. It is live now through open integrations with popular commerce platforms like Shopify and PayPal. Using publicly available APIs, any PayPal or Shopify merchant can opt in through the Kite Agent App Store and become discoverable to AI shopping agents. Purchases are settled on-chain with full traceability, using stablecoins and programmable permissions. Kite is also actively building additional integrations across commerce, finance, and data platforms. “Solutions like virtual cards provide only short-term workarounds. Latency, fees, and chargebacks further complicate things. Kite bridges this critical gap by providing stablecoin-based, millisecond-level settlement with low transaction fees and no chargeback fraud risks. This enables new economic models such as agent-to-agent metered billing, micro-subscription, and high frequency trading,” said Alan Du, Partner at PayPal Ventures.
Cognigy conversational and agentic AI will be enriched with NiCE’s purpose-built CX AI models to make agents smarter, deployments faster, and outcomes more impactful
NiCE announced the successful closing of its acquisition of Cognigy, following receipt of all required regulatory approvals. This brings together two AI industry leaders, each with a proven track record of market leadership, innovation, and customer impact to accelerate AI adoption in customer experience across the front and back office. By bringing together Cognigy’s AI and NiCE’s award-winning CXone Mpower CX AI platform, organizations of all sizes will transform how they deliver AI-powered customer experience. Cognigy conversational and agentic AI will be enriched with NiCE’s purpose-built CX AI models leveraging decades of CX intelligence, making agents smarter, deployments faster and outcomes more impactful. With this unified power, organizations can scale agentic and conversational AI at speed across CXone Mpower, delivering seamless, intelligent experiences across every customer touchpoint, from the contact center to enterprise-deep workflows. Scott Russell, CEO, NiCE, said, “With the completion of this acquisition, we are bringing together two AI market leaders to redefine the future of customer experience. Together, we are accelerating AI adoption and value realization for global enterprises by delivering one of the industry’s most powerful and comprehensive customer experience platforms leveraging CX models and agentic and human agents powered by decades of CX purpose-built data and insights.
Neobank Dave rolls out an upgraded cashflow AI underwriting engine trained on 7M matured cash advance loans for sharper risk ranking and higher approval amount along with zero tips/no express fees monetization structure
Fintech Dave continues to focus on the fintech sector with its advancements in AI-driven financial services, shareholder initiatives, and steady financial performance. As mentioned in the update from neobanking platform Dave, the company announced the full implementation of CashAI v5.5, an upgrade to its cash flow underwriting engine, alongside an expanded $125 million share repurchase program and steady second-quarter financial results. The introduction of CashAI v5.5 marks a pivotal advancement in Dave’s mission to level the financial playing field for everyday Americans. This latest iteration of its AI-driven underwriting engine nearly doubles the feature set of its predecessors, incorporating a broader range of data inputs to optimize credit outcomes. Trained on over 7 million matured ExtraCash originations, CashAI v5.5 demonstrates enhanced risk-ranking accuracy, resulting in higher approval amounts, improved conversion rates, and reduced delinquency and loss rates compared to Q2 2025 performance. By leveraging its massive cash flow dataset and advanced machine learning, CashAI v5.5 enables Dave to offer more accessible and profitable credit solutions. This upgrade aligns with Dave’s new fee structure, which eliminates optional tips and express fees for its ExtraCash product, enhancing monetization while maintaining strong member retention. Early results suggest that CashAI v5.5 will expand access to ExtraCash, improve credit performance, and drive gross profit growth.
Apple’s Liquid Glass is drawing mixed reviews; critics complain about slow animations, poor readability, and a childish appearance, while supporters praise its modern feel, fluid animations and a more vibrant UX
There are a long list of complaints about Liquid Glass, from the impact on readability to lag caused by animations. Here are some of the main critiques: Animations run slow, and the interface feels sluggish on older iPhones. The constantly changing colors, shapes, and shading are distracting. The animations make no sense. It looks like a Barbie phone with battery wasting features. Basic actions require too many taps. The bubbles and floaty icons are cartoony. The contrast is awful. Some app icons look blurry. The design is inconsistent, and some things are flat while some are glass. Highlights on UI elements are inconsistent. It’s hard to read things like notifications. The effects are too subtle for the system overhead costs. Not everyone hates Liquid Glass, and there are also many positive comments from people who prefer the new design. Some of that sentiment: It makes the iPhone feel faster. It feels modern and clean, and makes a boring smartphone a little more fun. It’s bright, bouncy, and just plain cool to use. Getting notifications is satisfying, and the Lock Screen keypad is like bubbles. It’s fresh and easy to get accustomed to. iOS 18’s flat UI was depressing, so iOS 26 is an improvement. It’s technologically impressive with the light refraction and diffusion of chromatic aberration. The icons are slick and it harkens back to the OG Apple UI design.
Mortgage lender Rate launches first fully-integrated Spanish app processing 20,000+ digital applications, targeting 60 million Latino users with native language loan processing and bilingual professional connectivity
Mortgage lender Rate launched the Rate App in Spanish, which the company says makes it the first U.S. lender to offer a fully integrated mobile mortgage experience entirely in Spanish. The app allows users to search for homes, apply for a mortgage, track loan status, connect with bilingual professionals and access educational content entirely in Spanish. Rate says the launch underscores its commitment to removing language barriers and expanding access to homeownership. Rate CEO Victor Ciardelli said, “Now with the Rate App in Spanish, we’re giving Spanish-speaking buyers the same high-performance mobile experience that’s helped millions of homeowners, because language should never be what holds someone back.” Unlike partial translations, Rate’s in-language platform covers applications, servicing, interface and communication, loan disclosures and now mobile. Spanish-speaking users can download the Rate App from the App Store and Google Play. They can immediately access the Spanish version by updating their phone settings to Spanish. Rate expects to generate more than 30 million impressions as part of this broader effort to engage the 60 million Latinos in the U.S., who represent one of the most powerful economic engines in housing today.
Samsung preps for TriFold launch this month as Galaxy Z Fold 7 popularity explodes; nearly 30% of Fold 7 purchases are coming from Galaxy S Ultra models
Samsung is planning to unveil the TriFold at the APEC summit at the end of this month, set to take place in Gyeongju on October 31st and November 1st. It’s unclear if this would be a proper launch from Samsung, or if the device could be unveiled at a separate event before being showed off at APEC. We also still don’t know if Samsung plans to launch its tri-folding device outside of its home region of South Korea and the hotly-contested market of China, where Huawei has already launched two rival tri-fold smartphones. The Galaxy Z Fold SE gives precedent here, having arrived as a more premium iteration on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 this time last year. That device only went up for sale in South Korea and China, though much of its marquee features — its slimmer chassis, larger display, and removed S Pen support — made their way to a global audience on this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. Considering how well the Fold 7 is selling in the US, though, it might be worth Samsung giving its TriFold a shot in North America. According to a new report from the company, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is performing beyond expectations following its overhaul in July. Nearly 30% of Fold 7 purchases are coming from Galaxy S Ultra models — perhaps suggesting that the S Pen isn’t nearly as essential a tool as some Samsung fans would have you believe. Samsung’s success didn’t end with its impressive pre-order period, either, as the company reports sales of the Fold 7 continue to exceed that of the Fold 6 by 50%.
Orchestra AI’s analytics platform for mid-market businesses detects and categorizes AI agent traffic across major platforms in real-time and measures how AI mentions translate to actual website traffic
Orchestra AI announced the launch of Spyglasses, the first analytics platform designed specifically for mid-market businesses to track and optimize their visibility across AI search platforms. Spyglasses detects and categorizes AI agent traffic across major platforms including ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. The platform provides businesses with crucial metrics including AI conversion rates, brand mention frequency across AI responses, and visibility share compared to competitors. Spyglasses utilizes advanced detection algorithms to identify AI agent traffic patterns while providing businesses with actionable insights about their AI search performance. The platform’s analytics dashboard reveals which content AI systems access most frequently, how often brand mentions occur in AI responses, and whether AI-driven awareness translates to website visits and conversions. The platform provides: Real-time AI Agent Detection: Identifies visits from AI systems across all major platforms; AI Conversion Tracking: Measures how AI mentions translate to actual website traffic; Competitive AI Intelligence: Shows how often competitors appear in AI responses; Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) Insights: Provides actionable recommendations for improving AI visibility; Multi-platform Integration: Works with WordPress, WebFlow, Shopify, Next.js, Ruby, Python, and more.
Sales of EssilorLuxottica and Meta’s Ray-Ban AI glasses rise more than 200% in the first half of the year; upcoming versions to include Ultra HD 3K recording, open-ear speakers incorporated into the frames and eight hours battery life
EssilorLuxottica, which partners with Meta on artificial intelligence (AI) glasses, reported that the sales of those Ray-Ban Meta glasses were up more than 200% in the first half of the year. The designer, manufacturer and distributor of vision care products, eyewear and MedTech solutions also highlighted new and upcoming smart glasses and MedTech products. The designer, manufacturer and distributor of vision care products, eyewear and MedTech solutions also highlighted new and upcoming smart glasses and MedTech products. EssilorLuxottica said that the Oakley Meta AI glasses announced in June will be available later this summer. The first product from this brand, Oakley Meta HSTN, will include Ultra HD 3K recording, open-ear speakers incorporated into the frames to deliver music and podcasts, and enough battery life to power up to eight hours of typical use and up to 19 hours on standby. The company also highlighted its rollout of Nuance Audio in the United States and Italy in February and its subsequent expansion to France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. Nuance Audio is a MedTech solution that incorporates hearing aid software into smart glasses
PlayerZero’s AI agents can find and fix the AI-generated bugs before they are put into production by deeply understanding large code bases and studying the history of an enterprise’s bugs, issues, and solutions
As Silicon Valley races toward a future where AI agents do most of the software programming, a new problem is created: finding the AI-generated bugs before they are put into production. Startup PlayerZero has created a solution: use AI agents trained to find and fix problems before the code is put into production, the startup’s CEO and sole founder, Animesh Koratana said. Koratana created PlayerZero while he was at the Stanford DAWN lab for machine learning under his adviser and lab founder, Matei Zaharia. Zaharia is, a famed developer and the co-founder of Databricks. PlayerZero trains models “that really deeply understand code bases, and we understand the way they’re built, the way they’re architected,” Koratana says. His tech studies the history of an enterprise’s bugs, issues, and solutions. When something breaks, his product can then “figure out why and fix it, and then learn from those mistakes to prevent them from ever happening again,” Koratana says. He likens his product to an immune system for large code bases. PlayerZero is already gaining traction for its emphasis on large codebases. While it was conceived for a world where agents are the coders, it is currently being used by several large enterprises that use coding co-pilots. For instance, subscription billing company Zuora is one of the startup’s marquee customers. Zuora is using the tech across its engineering teams, including to watchdog its most precious code, its billing systems, it said.
Samsung’s Galaxy S26 to feature a second NFC antenna to the top of the device in addition to the existing NFC coil near the rear camera, to improve user convenience for in-person payments
Samsung’s Galaxy S26 is reportedly making a hardware change to the benefit of mobile payments, with a second NFC antenna reportedly being added to the top of the device. Most Android phones have their NFC antennas roughly halfway down the device. This generally works well enough, but it can lead to occasions where trying to tap your phone for a payment doesn’t work until you move it around. Anecdotally, it’s also a pain for using your phone as an NFC reader for in-person payments through apps like Square, as it’s a lottery trying to get the scan going unless you know exactly where the NFC antenna lines up. Samsung, with its Galaxy S26 series, is apparently looking to clear up NFC confusion by looking into Apple’s playbook. Samsung is adding a second NFC antenna to the Galaxy S26 series which is placed at the top of the device. This would be in addition to the existing antenna which, on the Galaxy S25 series, is found near the camera lenses. The report says: “Samsung Electronics’ next-generation smartphone, the Galaxy S26 series, scheduled for release in the first half of next year, will reportedly feature a design that adds Near Field Communication (NFC) recognition to the top of the device. While retaining the existing NFC coil next to the rear camera, a new NFC antenna will likely be added to the top of the device to improve user convenience.” Apple has implemented this in iPhones for some time, but most Android phones have not. Apparently, that may be due to patents, with Samsung taking “a considerable amount of time to technically circumvent them.”