Airtel Money grows, GPT-5.6 deletes files, $23B in DC power costs

Researcher Cereblab found SpaceXAI Grok Build CLI was packaging and uploading entire code repositories to a Google Cloud Storage bucket, including files the tool was told to ignore and committed secrets like API keys and credentials. The privacy toggle had no server-side effect. xAI disabled upload server-side after disclosure but has not issued a formal statement. For any team that tried Grok Build, the implication is blunt: your entire source code including .env files and private configuration may have been exfiltrated to xAI infrastructure without your knowledge.

A Fortune analysis by energy economists finds data center electricity consumption has added approximately $23 billion to US electricity bills passed to consumers and businesses. A single PJM Interconnection power auction will add another $6.3 billion in charges, per the New York Times, driven entirely by data center demand projections. The costs are structural: once grid upgrades and capacity payments are locked in, reversing them is nearly impossible. For anyone outside the industry, this is the direct monthly cost of the AI buildout hitting your power bill, and regulators in data center hubs are starting to feel the political heat.

Microsoft July 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 622 CVEs, more than tripling June previous high of around 200. Two zero-days are under active attack: CVE-2026-56164, an unauthenticated SharePoint Server RCE needing no credentials or user interaction, and CVE-2026-56155, an Active Directory Federation Services privilege escalation flaw. CISA added both to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and urged SharePoint hardening. The update also includes a Kerberos RC4 deprecation that could break service account authentication. For any organization running on-premises SharePoint or AD FS, this is a patch-today scenario.

Google and Epic Games jointly withdrew their legal fight, clearing the final hurdle for Google to carry third-party app stores inside the Play Store starting July 22. The March 2026 settlement converted the US injunction into a global agreement running through June 2032. Google will allow rival stores to access the Play Catalog for app distribution, and developers can use alternative payment systems without paying the 30% cut. For Android users, this means real app store competition for the first time. For Google, the walled garden door is now open.

Windows 11 July 2026 Patch Tuesday, build 26200.8875 (KB5101650), ships a redesigned Windows Update pause that lets users hold off updates for up to 35 days, replacing the previous 7-day cap. It also introduces Point-in-time Restore, a system recovery tool that lets you roll back to a specific state before a problematic update. For anyone who has been burned by a Windows update breaking drivers, workflows, or rebooting at the worst moment, this is the feature Microsoft should have shipped years ago. The update also enforces the final Kerberos RC4 deprecation phase.

Oratomic, which emerged from stealth in March 2026, has raised a $300 million Series A to develop a utility-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer using reconfigurable neutral-atom qubits. The company claims its approach needs only 10,000 to 20,000 qubits to reach practical quantum advantage, far fewer than competing approaches. The funding came just months after the company public debut, reflecting intense investor appetite for quantum. Competitors like QuEra Computing pursue similar architectures, but Oratomic aggressive fundraising timeline targets 2030 for utility-scale operation.