ED Notice To Google And Meta: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued notices to tech giants Google and Meta as part of its ongoing investigation into online betting app cases. Both companies have been summoned for questioning later this month on July 21. This development marks a major escalation in the probe, which has already brought several celebrities and influencers under scrutiny for endorsing suspected illegal gambling platforms.  

NHAI’s New AI-powered Digital Platform: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has released its second sustainability report, highlighting how the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly improved its operations. NHAI has launched an AI-powered digital platform called Data Lake 3.0, which compiles all project-related information in one place and helps in faster decision-making. This technology has made project management smarter and more transparent.  AI Leads to Rs 25,680 Crore In Savings This digital transformation directly helped NHAI resolve 155 long-pending disputes. Settling these cases led to savings of approximately Rs 25,680 crore in public funds — a major achievement. The report also mentions that NHAI has not just embraced technology, but has also taken major steps for the safety and health of its employees. An Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Framework has been implemented at workplaces. Moreover, due to efforts to promote diversity and equality, not a single complaint of discrimination was reported in the past year. FASTag Impact Visible Nationwide According to the report, FASTag coverage in the country has now reached 98.5%. This has had a direct impact at toll plazas — long queues have reduced, vehicles pass through without stopping, resulting in fuel savings and reduced pollution. NHAI also stated that it now prioritizes sustainable policies like greenery, solar energy, and waste management in its construction activities. The aim is to ensure rapid development while minimizing environmental impact.

Dimensity 8350 Vs Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 Specs: As the smartphone market continues to evolve in this increasingly technological world, mid-range chipsets are becoming more powerful and closing the gap with premium flagship processors. Among the most notable contenders in this segment are MediaTek’s Dimensity 8350 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. Both chips are manufactured using TSMC’s advanced 4nm process and are designed to deliver flagship-like performance at more accessible price points. While the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 launched in late 2023, MediaTek followed up with the Dimensity 8350 in 2024, introducing several key improvements. In this article, we will explore their CPU, GPU, AI performance, memory support, camera capabilities, and connectivity to determine which one truly leads the pack. Dimensity 8350 Vs  Snapdragon 7 Gen 3: Features The MediaTek Dimensity 8350 and Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 are both built on TSMC’s 4nm process node, but the Dimensity 8350, launched in November 2024, is a newer chip compared to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, which debuted in November 2023. In terms of CPU configuration, the Dimensity 8350 features a higher-clocked setup with one Cortex-A715 core at 3.35 GHz, three Cortex-A715 cores at 3.2 GHz, and four Cortex-A510 cores at 2.2 GHz. This offers a notable performance edge over the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, which comes with one Cortex-A715 at 2.63 GHz, three at 2.4 GHz, and four Cortex-A510 cores at 1.8 GHz.On the GPU front, the Dimensity 8350 uses a Mali-G615 MP6 GPU and includes MediaTek’s HyperEngine Adaptive Gaming Technology, whereas the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 comes with the Adreno 720 GPU, supported by Snapdragon Elite Gaming features. For AI tasks, MediaTek integrates its NPU 780, while Snapdragon uses the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, both aiming to boost performance in AI and ML workloads. In memory support, the Dimensity 8350 again leads with LPDDR5x RAM at 4.2 GHz, compared to Snapdragon’s LPDDR5 at 3.2 GHz, though both support UFS 4.0 storage. For camera capabilities, the Dimensity 8350 supports up to 320MP camera resolution with its 14-bit MediaTek Imagiq 980 HDR ISP, outpacing the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3’s 12-bit Spectra ISP which supports up to 200MP. Both support up to 4K video recording. Connectivity also favors the Dimensity 8350 slightly, offering a peak download speed of 5.17 Gbps via its MediaTek 5G modem, compared to 5 Gbps from the Snapdragon X63 5G modem. Both chips include Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4. Overall, the Dimensity 8350 offers improved performance across CPU, memory speed, camera resolution, and connectivity, making it a more powerful and efficient choice for premium mid-range devices in 2025. Dimensity 8350 Vs Snapdragon 7 Gen 3: AnTuTu Score The MediaTek Dimensity 8350 outperforms the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 across all major AnTuTu benchmark categories. The Dimensity 8350 achieved a total AnTuTu score of 1,352,732, significantly higher than the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3’s 819,655. In CPU performance, the Dimensity scored 289,855, while the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 trailed slightly at 269,334. The difference is even more striking in GPU performance, with the Dimensity registering 513,784 compared to the Snapdragon’s 256,584. In the memory category, the Dimensity reached 278,071, more than doubling the Snapdragon’s 129,961. Finally, for UX (user experience), the Dimensity 8350 scored 271,022, outperforming the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3’s 163,776 by a wide margin. This data highlights the Dimensity 8350’s overall edge in performance, making it a strong contender in the mid-range chipset segment. 

Google AI Pro Plan For Students: Google is offering free access to its premium Google AI Pro plan to Indian college students aged 18 and above for 1 year. The company’s new move gives students access to Google’s advanced AI tools, including Gemini 2.5 Pro, Deep Research, and enhanced NotebookLM features. The Google AI Pro plan is priced at Rs 19,500 per year, making it one of the most expensive AI plans among competitors. The offer is valid until September 15, 2025. Google AI Pro Plan: Benefits The Gemini app now offers users access to the powerful Gemini 2.5 Pro model and Deep Research capabilities. Subscribers can also explore limited access to Google’s advanced video generation model,Veo 3 Fast. Adding further, users can leverage Google’s AI filmmaking tools and creative video solutions like Flow with Veo 3 and Whisk with the Veo 2 mode. The upgraded plan enhances the functionality of NotebookLM, a smart research and writing assistant, with increased usage limits. Gemini is also seamlessly integrated into key Google apps including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Chrome, and more, providing AI-powered assistance across the ecosystem. As part of the Google AI Pro plan, users will receive 2TB of cloud storage shared across Google Photos, Drive, and Gmail. Google AI Pro Plan: How Students Can Claim For Free Step 1: Ensure you are 18 years or older, a resident of India, and currently enrolled in a college or university. Step 2: You must have a valid college email ID, a personal Google Account, and an active Google Payments account. Step 3: Make sure you do not have an active Google One subscription, as existing subscribers are not eligible for this offer. Step 4: Go to the official Google AI Pro Plan student offer page and follow the on-screen instructions to begin registration. Step 5: Submit all required details before the offer ends on September 15, 2025. 

New Delhi: Chipmaker Nvidia Corporation, which recently touched a $4 trillion market cap mark, was the most traded US stock by Indian investors, topping both buy and sell lists in the April-June period (Q2 2025), a report said on Wednesday. Nvidia captured 6.4 per cent of total buy volumes and 8.3 per cent of total sell volume, reflecting both profit-booking and buying interest, Vested Finance’s ‘Global Investing Behaviour Report’ showed. Meanwhile, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, stood out with the highest net inflows and a 113 per cent rise in unique investors during the same period on the Vested platform. Tesla, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Apple were among the innovation-focused names that gained traction in the period as well. Duolingo saw a 2,255 per cent jump in investor base, while healthcare giants like UnitedHealth Group and Novo Nordisk witnessed over 500 per cent growth in investor count. As per the Report, retail investors in India responded to the US tariff shock and a volatile S&P 500 by doubling down on global investing in Q2. The platform recorded a 20.47 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase in buy volumes, while assets under management (AUM) surged by 35.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 140 per cent year-on-year (YoY). The second quarter of the year saw strong traction in ETFs as well. “Investors leaned into diversification through funds like Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM), iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which saw investor count rise by 131 per cent, 101 per cent, and 47 per cent, respectively,” the report stated. Small-cap ETFs saw explosive growth iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) rose by 622 per cent, and the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR) by 222 per cent. There was also a clear tilt toward geographic diversification. As the US dollar weakened and central bank policies diverged, Indian investors explored opportunities in Europe, China, and Brazil via ETFs, as per the report. The report highlighted that Q2 wasn’t about chasing momentum; it was about disciplined re-engagement with the market. Indian investors are creating conviction-driven portfolios rather than merely responding to news headlines as industries like healthcare, semiconductors, small-caps, and artificial intelligence (AI) gain prominence and global exchange-traded funds (ETFs) gain traction.

OpenAI’s ubiquitous AI chatbot ChatGPT saw a widespread service disruption that affected thousands of users around the world on Tuesday, July 15. The mass outage left people without access to their chats, unable to load previous conversations, or access other OpenAI offerings such as Sora and Codex. Reports swamped outage monitor DownDetector, with more than 3,400 users reporting at first. Users commonly got “unusual error” messages and were locked out of their chat history. DownDetector said most of the complaints (82%) were directly about ChatGPT being down, with less reported for the site (12%) and app (6%). OpenAI Confirms Outage, Looking Into Cause OpenAI quickly admitted the issue on its official service status page. The firm affirmed that “users are seeing high rates of errors” impacting ChatGPT and other related services. Although a root cause wasn’t explicitly given, OpenAI said that its team was “actively investigating the issue” and was in the process of deploying a mitigation to bring back full functionality. This is the second major outage in July for OpenAI’s services that has left users and developers concerned who use these tools for everyday work. The outage seems to be a global one, as reports are emerging from users based in the United States, India, Europe, and other regions of Asia. What Users Can Do During The Outage While OpenAI addressed the technical issues, individuals who rely on AI tools to perform their work can turn to a number of alternatives: Claude (Anthropic): Famous for its conversational tone and capability to respond to longer and more complex answers. Gemini (Google): Connected with Google apps, this AI can perform complex reasoning, summarising, and coding. Microsoft Copilot: Present in Microsoft software such as Word, Excel, and the Edge browser, taking advantage of GPT-4 powers. Perplexity AI: Web-search-based AI assistant that gives fast, cited responses by aggregating information from the web. YouChat (You.com): Chatbot integrating conversational AI and current web search results.  Users are encouraged to check OpenAI’s official status page or DownDetector for live updates on service return. It is usually best to refrain from repeatedly trying to log in, as this may occasionally result in temporary account locking.