2014 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix (13712612095) — Habeed Hameed, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
DRIVER MARKET
Verstappen’s Red Bull Exit Clause Mathematically Certain to Activate This Summer
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull exit clause is now mathematically certain to activate before the summer break, following the four-time champion’s crash out of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Seventh in the drivers’ standings, Verstappen cannot reach second place by the Hungarian Grand Prix — the deadline for the performance-based clause in his contract. Multiple sources report that Verstappen’s management has held talks with McLaren over a potential 2027 move, though McLaren CEO Zak Brown dismissed the reports: “They’re rumours? No conversations.” Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies acknowledged the team must convince Verstappen he should not switch teams, with the Dutchman openly furious after his latest retirement.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Hamilton Closes to 32 Points of Antonelli as F1 Title Race Intensifies
Lewis Hamilton has closed to within 32 points of championship leader Kimi Antonelli after the Italian failed to score at the British Grand Prix. Antonelli led the Silverstone race before a front brake duct failure on lap 41 forced two additional pit stops, dropping him out of the points after a post-race track limits penalty. Hamilton finished third, with George Russell second, cutting Antonelli’s advantage further. Russell now trails Antonelli by just 25 points, making the championship a genuine three-way fight. Mercedes lead Ferrari by 78 points in the constructors’ standings, though Ferrari have won two of the last three grands prix.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Wolff Warns Antonelli Against Complacency as Hamilton Threat Grows
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has publicly cautioned Kimi Antonelli against complacency as Lewis Hamilton’s title challenge intensifies. Wolff told Italian outlet Gazzetta that while Antonelli has exceeded expectations, the 19-year-old must stay grounded. “He won five races, so let’s let him grow,” Wolff said. Antonelli had built a championship lead of 68 points after five consecutive victories between the Chinese and Monaco grands prix, but has scored only 23 points in the three races since. Hamilton’s Ferrari team have won two of the last three rounds, putting the championship battle in flux with 13 races remaining.
DRIVER MARKET
Webber Calls Piastri Exit Reports “Nonsense” Amid Verstappen-McLaren Rumours
Oscar Piastri’s manager Mark Webber has rejected reports that the McLaren driver is “agitating to leave” the team, dismissing the speculation as “nonsense.” The rumours emerged amid suggestions that Max Verstappen may join McLaren for 2027, with Piastri widely discussed as a candidate to fill a vacated Red Bull seat in a driver swap. Piastri stated “I’ve got a contract in place” and said the team has been “very happy” with him. McLaren CEO Zak Brown has also denied any talks with Verstappen’s camp. Former F1 driver David Coulthard described the situation as a “good problem” for Red Bull, who could theoretically gain access to either driver.
DRIVER MARKET
Red Bull Faces New Setback as Lambiase Reportedly Set to Join McLaren
Red Bull faces a fresh obstacle in its bid to retain Max Verstappen for 2027, with race engineer GianPiero Lambiase reportedly set to join McLaren following a period of gardening leave. Lambiase guided Verstappen to all four of his world championships. Multiple paddock sources indicate McLaren and Verstappen’s representatives are in advanced negotiations, despite public denials from both parties. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies stated the team must prove its commitment to the Dutchman, while acknowledging Verstappen’s frustration. Verstappen’s rear wing failed twice in successive weekends — at Austria and Silverstone — an issue the Dutchman described as “dangerous” and which directly triggered his British GP retirement.
TECHNICAL
Mercedes Reveals Incremental Upgrade Plan Ahead of Belgian GP
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has outlined the team’s strategy of bringing smaller, regular performance updates rather than matching the large upgrade packages deployed by Ferrari and Red Bull. Speaking on the “Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show,” Shovlin said: “We haven’t done a massive kit like some of our competitors. But every week, we’re trying to bring performance to just keep ourselves ahead.” George Russell confirmed no significant upgrades are planned before the summer break, while Toto Wolff has publicly questioned whether rivals can sustain such large development costs within the cost cap. Mercedes lead the constructors’ standings by 78 points.
TECHNICAL
Alonso Warns Spa’s Energy Demands Could Leave Cars With “Less Power Than F2”
Fernando Alonso has warned ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix that Spa-Francorchamps’ energy demands could expose a fundamental limitation of Formula 1’s 2026 hybrid regulations. The two-time world champion, whose Aston Martin has scored just one championship point in nine races, said drivers risk exhausting battery deployment before completing the circuit’s most demanding sections, describing the potential scenario as running with “less power than an F2 car.” Alonso also warned reporters that the team’s expected B-spec upgrade cannot be their “last step,” calling for continued development through the European leg of the season.
GRID NEWS
Newey Admits Aston Martin “Neglected” Alonso During Nightmare 2026 Season
Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey has admitted the squad “neglected” Fernando Alonso as it struggled through the opening phase of the 2026 season. The legendary designer acknowledged the team failed to give Alonso the tools he needed while development resources were directed elsewhere. Alonso has scored just one championship point in nine races, leaving Aston Martin second from last in the constructors’ standings above Cadillac. The admission came amid reports of a B-spec upgrade expected at either Belgium or Hungary, which Alonso has cautioned cannot represent the team’s final development step as it seeks to recover from a catastrophic start to the new-regulations era.
AI-en-wikipedia-source — Trebol6, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
AIINDUSTRY
AI Faces $3 Trillion Revenue Test as Infrastructure Spending Hits $1.5 Trillion in 2026
The AI industry must generate $3 trillion in annual revenue to justify the $1.5 trillion projected to be spent building AI infrastructure in 2026 alone, according to Sequoia Capital partner David Cahn. Cahn argues the math is unavoidable: compute infrastructure must ultimately pay for itself. Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok warns that a sustained shortfall in hyperscaler cash flows — driven by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta — could trigger a broader macroeconomic recession. The analysis comes as data center construction, GPU procurement, and large-scale power capacity deals continue accelerating worldwide with revenue returns still lagging behind investment.
REGULATIONAI
Apple Sues OpenAI Alleging Trade Secret Theft Tied to Hardware Push
Apple filed suit against OpenAI in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, alleging trade secret theft connected to OpenAI’s hardware ambitions. The complaint names Tang Tan, OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer and a 24-year Apple veteran, accusing him of coaching departing employees to evade Apple security measures and sharing confidential product codenames during recruiting. A second defendant, Chang Liu, a former Apple senior systems electrical engineer, allegedly downloaded confidential documents and never returned an Apple laptop. Apple sent a formal letter in February 2026 with no response before filing suit. OpenAI is building its first consumer device following a $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive’s io design firm.
HARDWAREINDUSTRY
Nvidia Shares Down 15% Since May as DRAM Displaces GPUs as the AI Bottleneck
Nvidia shares have fallen roughly 15% since May as AI infrastructure capital shifts from GPUs to memory chips. DRAM prices have risen approximately 10 times since summer 2025, while Micron Technology shares have nearly tripled over the same period. The trend reflects a market view that the acute GPU shortage has eased, replaced by memory bandwidth as the binding constraint in large AI training and inference clusters. H100 spot instance prices peaked near $3.20 per hour before declining. Wayne Nelms, CTO of cloud-infrastructure analytics firm Ornn, is among industry observers tracking the shift. Meta, Google, and Amazon are accelerating custom silicon development to reduce merchant GPU dependence.
HARDWARE
Meta’s Custom MTIA AI Chip Enters Mass Production at TSMC in September
Meta will begin mass production of its custom MTIA AI inference chip at TSMC in September, after completing approximately six weeks of testing, the company announced. The chip was co-designed with Broadcom; Samsung supplies DRAM and Sandisk provides storage. The MTIA rollout is central to Meta’s plan to deploy 7 gigawatts of AI compute capacity, funded by a capital expenditure budget of $125 billion to $145 billion this year. Meta joins Microsoft, Google, and Amazon in accelerating custom silicon development to bring inference costs in-house and reduce dependence on Nvidia GPUs as AI workloads continue to scale.
ROBOTICSAI
Robot.com Launches R-noid Humanoid for High-Turnover Commercial Settings
Robot.com has launched the R-noid, a humanoid robot aimed at repetitive commercial tasks in sectors with acute turnover problems. Quick-service restaurants, one primary target, average 130% annual staff attrition. The company offers the robot under a robotics-as-a-service subscription model, with deployments taking 8 to 12 weeks from site assessment to full operation. The R-noid addresses five task categories across six verticals, covering 19 defined workflows. The robot runs on the π0.7 motion model from Physical Intelligence and uses an Nvidia Jetson platform with Nvidia Isaac Sim for simulation and training. Robot.com positioned the launch around addressing burnout-prone roles rather than broad workforce displacement.
SECURITYAI
FORT Robotics Joins Nvidia Halos Ecosystem to Bring External Safety Layer to Physical AI
FORT Robotics has joined the Nvidia Halos for Robotics ecosystem, integrating its Outside-In Safety Blueprint with Nvidia’s physical AI safety platform. Unlike onboard safety systems, FORT’s approach uses external infrastructure sensors and visual AI agents to monitor robotic environments in real time. The integration runs on Nvidia IGX Thor hardware with Holoscan Sensor Bridge. Nvidia simultaneously announced the world’s first ANAB-accredited inspection laboratory for physical AI systems — the Nvidia Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab — with FORT among the first qualified partners. CEO Samuel Reeves described safety as “the precondition for scale” in physical AI deployments, framing the external safety layer as essential to broad commercial robotics adoption.
INDUSTRYROBOTICS
STMicroelectronics Takes Stake in Oversonic Robotics, Maker of Italy’s First Certified Cognitive Humanoid
STMicroelectronics has acquired a minority stake in Oversonic Robotics, an Italian company that developed RoBee, described as the world’s first certified cognitive humanoid robot. The investment round also includes Fondazione ENEA Tech Biomedical, Italy’s national energy and technology research foundation, and SpotInvest. Oversonic plans to use the capital to expand into the United States. STMicroelectronics, a major European semiconductor manufacturer with broad embedded systems and IoT product lines, enters the humanoid space through investment rather than direct development. The deal reflects a trend of semiconductor companies positioning within physical AI supply chains as humanoid robot commercialization accelerates globally through 2026.
Donald Trump poses for a photo with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, July 28, 2025 — The White House, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Monday, July 13, 2026
This week: John Deere’s FTC right-to-repair settlement, Raspberry Pi’s industrial SPE HAT, MicroPython on SNES, DOOM on the Casio Loopy, a 4-axis CNC foam cutter, a clay ceramic printer, and the first new WW2 Jeep since 1945. Plus Makers’ Pulse: Modos Flow, QuadRF, and Teardown 2026.
INDUSTRYHARDWARE
Software-Defined Vehicles Are Closer Than the Auto Industry Admits
The automotive industry is shifting from fixed-function silicon to modular software-defined platforms, separating safety-critical workloads from everything else and enabling over-the-air feature updates at scale. This mirrors what happened in mobile computing: hardware becomes a substrate; software becomes the product. The era of the truly programmable car is approaching — faster than most carmakers expected, and with deep implications for embedded systems engineers.
PROJECTSOFTWARE
MicroPython Comes to the SNES — With a Little Help From Claude Fable 5
Fabian Kübler used Claude Fable 5 to port MicroPython to the 3.58 MHz SNES processor — and it actually works. The port passes 430 of 468 core tests, boots in about 20 seconds, and runs at a blistering 0.8 FPS. What it lacks in speed it makes up for in sheer audacity, proving that AI-assisted porting can tackle genuinely tricky embedded targets. Source code on GitHub.
PROJECTHARDWARE
DOOM Runs on the Casio Loopy — and It Prints Screenshots on the Sticker Printer
The Casio Loopy — a 1995 Japanese girls’ console with a Hitachi SH-1 processor and a built-in sticker printer — now runs DOOM, courtesy of Throaty Mumbo. The port uses a FloopyDrive cartridge and fully supports the printer for hard-copy kill screens. Classic evidence that DOOM will eventually run on everything, including hardware that was never meant to play first-person shooters. Source code on GitHub.
HARDWAREELECTRONICS
Inside a 1997 BBC Ceefax Generator: MS-DOS, a 486, and a Teletext ISA Card
Nathan Dane cracked open a 1997 BBC Ceefax inserter — the box that generated the UK’s pre-internet news service — and found a 486-class industrial PC running MS-DOS 6.22. The key component is an ISA card carrying a TI TMS34010 graphics CPU that encodes teletext signals directly in analog, with no digital conversion required. A rare window into the broadcast infrastructure that shaped a generation of British viewers.
3D PRINTINGPROJECT
Clay Extruder Enables Printable Pottery — Including a Fired Ceramic Chain-Mail Mesh
Joshua Bird built a working ceramic 3D printer using an air-pressure-fed clay extruder with a stainless steel auger — because clay rapidly destroys plastic nozzles. His polar motion system handles the geometry; the real challenge is clay rheology: soft enough to extrude, stiff enough not to collapse before kiln firing. The results include a double-walled cup, decorative vessels, and an astonishing chain-mail mesh in fired ceramic.
PROJECTELECTRONICS
GeoLupe: A Robotic Arm That Shows Satellite Imagery Where You Point on a Paper Map
GeoLupe is a two-link robotic arm that tracks where a pointer rests on a paper map and instantly displays the corresponding satellite or street-map imagery on an M5Stack CoreS3 screen — entirely offline from an SD card. Fourteen-bit MT6701 magnetic encoders and least-squares forward-kinematics calibration deliver 2 mm positioning accuracy. An inspired blend of analog and digital map exploration, built around a fictional Doraemon gadget.
HARDWAREPROJECT
A $5 AliExpress Desk Toy Gets Custom Firmware — and Becomes a Proper Desktop Notifier
The GeekMagic SmallTV is a cheap ESP8266 or ESP32-C2 desktop display that ships as a Bitcoin ticker. A new community firmware by Giovi321 adds stock tickers, an ADS-B aircraft tracker, and a Claude AI token-usage gauge — all delivered over Wi-Fi. The modular code structure makes it straightforward to point at any data source, turning novelty e-waste into a genuinely handy desk gadget.
1 – Tokyo Shaking – Filmmaking (2020) — Roussels, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
BOX OFFICE
Disney’s Live-Action ‘Moana’ Sinks With $43M Opening, Facing Projected $100M-$125M Loss
Disney’s live-actionMoanaopened to a disappointing$43 milliondomestically and $95 million worldwide this weekend, despite a$250 millionproduction budget and an estimated $145 million global marketing spend. Sources project Disney will lose$100–$125 millionin the film’s first cycle. Marketing analytics firmRelishMixflagged mixed-negative audience sentiment pre-release, citing online criticism of Dwayne Johnson’s wig design and CGI-heavy visuals. Industry analysts primarily blame the release date — arriving less than two years after the billion-dollar Moana 2 — and heavy competition from Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters in the same family market slot.
INDUSTRY
Meta Disables AI Image Generator Within Days of Launch After CAA and SAG-AFTRA Force Reversal
Meta’s Muse Image tool — which allowed anyone to tag public Instagram accounts to generate AI images of them without consent — was disabled Friday after a rapid backlash fromCAAandSAG-AFTRA. The opt-out-only default meant any public profile could be referenced to generate likenesses permanently. CAA stated that no one’s “name, image, likeness, voice, or creative work” should be used without “clear, documented consent.” SAG-AFTRA called the feature “unwise” and urged members to opt out.CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s company admitted the feature had “missed the mark” and removed Muse Image from Instagram within days of its launch.
STREAMING
Micro-Budget Horror ‘Obsession’ Sets July 17 Peacock Date After $407M Global Run and Awards Campaign Launch
Curry Barker’s debut featureObsessionwill stream on Peacock beginningJuly 17after a 63-day exclusive theatrical window, having defied all expectations with a$407 millionglobal gross on an original production budget of just $750,000. The Blumhouse and Focus Features romance-horror opened to $17.1 million domestically in mid-May and multiplied to $249.5 million domestic via a 14.6x box-office multiple driven by an A− CinemaScore and word-of-mouth momentum. Universal offshore territories contributed $127.6 million. Focus Features has simultaneously announced a full awards campaign for the film, adding an Oscar push to an already extraordinary marketing story.
BOX OFFICE
‘Evil Dead Burn’ Opens at $13.7M on Modest Budget, Affirming Horror’s Box Office Efficiency
Evil Dead Burn, directorSébastien Vaniçek’s entry in New Line Cinema’s franchise, opened this weekend to$13.7 millionfrom 3,004 theaters, landing at number four on the domestic chart behind Moana, Minions & Monsters, and Toy Story 5. The film carries a reported production budget well below its opening weekend gross, meaning the theatrical debut alone nearly covers production costs — a model horror studios have exploited successfully for decades. The cast was reportedly warned about the film’s “relentless” physical demands during production, and one scene was trimmed to avoid an NC-17 rating. Evil Dead Burn is the third standalone entry in the franchise.
AWARDS
Emmy Nominations 2026: Broadcast Television Hits Historic Low as Streamers Claim All Major Categories
The 2026 Emmy nominations mark broadcast television’s steepest decline yet: justseven live-action scripted primetime showsearned nominations across all categories, withAbbott Elementarythe sole broadcast entry in any major drama or comedy race. The result is shaping ongoing Television Academy negotiations with ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC over a new licensing deal as the current “wheel deal” expires. In a pointed irony,The Late Show With Stephen Colbertearned a series-bestnine nominationsthe same cycle CBS cancelled the top-rated program.Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show also earned nine nominations — the most ever for a halftime broadcast.
Dallara IndyCar Factory in 2017 — NaBUru38, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
DRIVER NEWSCHAMPIONSHIP
2027 Silly Season: At Least 10 of 25 Full-Time Seats Still Open
The 2027 NTT INDYCAR SERIES silly season has already exploded into action with at least 10 of 25 full-time seats still unresolved. Team Penske has confirmed that Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and David Malukas will all return. Arrow McLaren announced its full 2027 lineup of Pato O’Ward, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist. Meyer Shank Racing re-signed Marcus Armstrong. Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 9 car remains unannounced. AJ Foyt Enterprises, Juncos Hollinger Racing and Dale Coyne Racing all have open seats as the second half of the 2026 season gets underway.
DRIVER NEWS
Scott Dixon Breaking New Ground With Seismic Late-Career Move to Arrow McLaren
Scott Dixon is winding down the most successful driver-team pairing in INDYCAR history. The six-time champion, who spent most of 25 seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing winning 58 of his 59 career victories, was confirmed this week to join Arrow McLaren for 2027. Dixon, who turns 46 on July 23, sits second all-time in wins behind only A.J. Foyt’s 67. He has led laps in 17 of his 24 Indianapolis 500 starts, with a combined 709 laps led — both records. The move draws comparisons to Will Power’s departure from Team Penske for Andretti Global, but Dixon’s singular 25-year team association makes it historically unprecedented.
CHAMPIONSHIP
FOX Mid-Ohio Viewership Up 73 Percent; Season Average Approaching 2 Million
An audience of 1,344,000 viewers watched Pato O’Ward win the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on FOX on July 5, a 73 percent increase over the 775,000 who watched the same race in 2025. The broadcast peaked at 1,541,000 viewers near the end of the race. Through 11 races, INDYCAR on FOX is averaging 1,979,000 viewers this season, an 18 percent increase over the same point in 2025, when the network averaged 1,678,000 in its first year as the series’ television partner. FOX’s next INDYCAR broadcast is July 19 at Nashville Superspeedway.
OVALSTRATEGY
McLaughlin Tops Milwaukee Mile Test at 161 mph; Andretti and Meyer Shank Run Strong
Scott McLaughlin paced a near-full-field test at the Milwaukee Mile on July 8, posting a best lap of 161.189 mph in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, nearly 1 mph faster than Rinus VeeKay’s 160.271 in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet. The test prepared teams for the Aug. 29–30 Snap-on doubleheader. Andretti Global placed all three cars in the top seven: Marcus Ericsson third (160.067), Will Power fifth (159.942) and Kyle Kirkwood seventh (159.563). Meyer Shank Racing put Felix Rosenqvist fourth (160.032) and Marcus Armstrong sixth (159.706). Championship leader Alex Palou ran 246 laps and was 10th.
TECHNICAL
IndyCar and iRacing Studios Announce First Standalone Video Game in More Than Two Decades
INDYCAR and iRacing Studios have announced INDYCAR Racing The Game, a standalone video game launching in early 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox and PC via Steam. The title will be the first standalone INDYCAR game in more than two decades. IndyCar Chief Marketing Officer Alex Damron and iRacing president Tony Gardner are quoted in the official announcement. iRacing Studios, the game-development arm of the iRacing online simulation platform, is the title’s developer.
Drivers’ Championship
- 1. Alex Palou — 404 pts
- 2. Kyle Kirkwood — 348 pts
- 3. Christian Lundgaard — 339 pts
- 4. David Malukas — 338 pts
- 5. Pato O’Ward — 310 pts
- 6. Josef Newgarden — 270 pts
Kin Wikipedia 25 Anthem 15" 16×9 — Wikimedia Foundation; see #Attributions for for full credits in the collapsed table below this infobox., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
WECRESULTS
BMW M Team WRT Claims São Paulo 6 Hours to Ignite Hypercar Title Fight
BMW M Team WRT's #15 of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor won the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, claiming BMW's second Hypercar victory of the 2026 FIA WEC season. Starting fourth on the grid, the trio contested the lead with the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P for much of the race before a fuel strategy advantage proved decisive. Carrying more fuel, the BMW ran almost twelve minutes longer before its final stop, returning Vanthoor to the front. He crossed the line 2.254 seconds ahead of the Ferrari; the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota completed the podium. Toyota's manufacturers' lead now stands at just five points over BMW.
WECRESULTS
Toyota Endures Double Penalty Blow at Interlagos, Surrenders Drivers' Lead
Toyota Racing's São Paulo campaign unravelled through race-day penalties and a significant pace deficit. The championship-leading #7 GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries received infringement penalties for a start violation and a Full Course Yellow breach during the race, falling to twelfth place and finishing a lap down on the winner. The team surrendered the drivers' championship lead it held entering the weekend. A separate incident involving the #8 Toyota—suspension damage from contact with the #17 Genesis—left Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa classified seventeenth. Despite the double setback, Toyota retains its lead in the manufacturers' standings with four rounds remaining.
WECDRIVER
Vanthoor Battles Illness in Final Stint to Secure BMW's São Paulo Victory
Dries Vanthoor faced a significant personal challenge in the decisive final phase of the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo after entering the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 feeling unwell. The Belgian immediately reported the illness over team radio and needed to control his breathing while simultaneously managing the car, racing traffic and pressure from James Calado's pursuing Ferrari. A brief off-track excursion during the penultimate hour had handed the virtual lead to the Ferrari before BMW's superior fuel load allowed Vanthoor to run longer and re-emerge ahead from the final pit stop. He maintained his composure to complete the stint and bring the car to victory 2.254 seconds clear.
WECRESULTS
Vosse Hails 'Faultless Race' as WRT Celebrates São Paulo Double Podium
BMW M Team WRT principal Vincent Vosse praised a 'faultless race' after the WRT organisation celebrated a double podium at the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo. The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor won the Hypercar class, while the No. 69 WRT BMW secured second place in the LMGT3 category. The #20 BMW of René Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde also recovered from the rear of the Hypercar grid to finish sixth in class. The result reflected a comprehensive performance for WRT across both the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories at Interlagos, with all three cars completing the race.
WECGT3
TF Sport Corvette Claims LMGT3 Class Honors at Interlagos
Racing Team Turkey's #34 TF Sport-run Corvette C8.R of Peter Dempsey, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc claimed the LMGT3 class victory in the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo at Interlagos. The team deployed a carefully structured driver order, placing Silver-rated Yoluc at the wheel for the opening phase and saving Bronze driver Dempsey for the middle stint, a sequence that kept the Corvette consistently at the front of the class field. Eastwood and Dempsey both posted competitive lap times in their stints to ensure the car came home cleanly. The victory was the team's second LMGT3 win of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
IMSARESULTS
Dillmann and Clarke Win IMSA LMP2 Race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke won the IMSA Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Inter Europol Competition, the team's second LMP2 victory of the 2026 season. Clarke started from pole—setting a new LMP2 lap record during qualifying—and led the opening phase before handing to Dillmann for the final stint. With around 70 minutes remaining, Dillmann made a decisive pass on the leading Crowdstrike by APR ORECA into Turn 2 during heavier lap traffic and held on to take the win. After the final pit stop cycle, Inter Europol ran unchallenged to the chequered flag, building on the team's strong qualifying form at the Bowmanville circuit.
IMSAGT3
Hawksworth and Barnicoat Score Back-to-Back GTD Pro Wins for Vasser Sullivan Lexus
Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat gave Vasser Sullivan Lexus back-to-back IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD Pro victories at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, taking the chequered flag in their #14 Lexus RC F GT3. The team maintained firm control through the race and pit stop cycle to deny the championship-leading #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi a points-extending result. Verhagen had claimed GTD Pro pole position with a lap of 1m14.382s, but the starting advantage did not convert into victory. The result keeps the GTD Pro title race competitive heading toward the Road America endurance round later this month.
IMSAGT3
Ward and Ellis Make Winward Racing First GTD Double Winners of 2026
Russell Ward and Philip Ellis scored their second GTD class win of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, making them the first GTD entry to claim two victories this season. Ellis made the decisive move just before halfway, passing defending CTMP race winner Trent Hindman's #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini down the Andretti straight to take the class lead. After the final pit stop cycle with approximately an hour remaining, Winward ran unchallenged to the chequered flag. The winning margin over second-placed Vasser Sullivan Lexus was 1.886 seconds.
Align Technology logo — Align Technology, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
CYBERSECURITY
AI Tools Are Putting Healthcare Vendors in Hackers’ Crosshairs
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had logged 351 major health data breaches in 2026 as of this week, affecting nearly 20.7 million people — with third-party business associates linked to 41 percent of incidents and about 9.94 million of those affected. Security experts warn that rapidly advancing AI tools capable of generating exploit code, automating reconnaissance and identifying vulnerabilities will intensify those attacks. AI-aided attackers can impact an organization within 27 minutes of initial access. The concentration of risk around third-party service providers is expected to grow further as vendors handle progressively larger volumes of protected health information.
POLICY
Federal Regulators Delay HIPAA Security Rule Overhaul Until Mid-2027
The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights has pushed back a sweeping overhaul of the HIPAA Security Rule until at least July 2027, abandoning a May 2026 target after receiving nearly 5,000 public comments. Healthcare industry groups argued the proposed changes — which would convert previously optional safeguards including multifactor authentication, data encryption and network segmentation into mandatory requirements — were too costly and difficult to implement on the proposed timelines. HHS moved the rulemaking to “long-term actions” on Reginfo.gov, signaling a final rule is more than a year away. OCR still plans to finalize updates to the HIPAA Privacy Rule in August.
CYBERSECURITY
Medtronic Begins Notifying 3.8 Million Patients of April Data Breach Claimed by ShinyHunters
Medtronic began notifying approximately 3.8 million patients that their personal information was compromised in an April data theft attack claimed by ransomware gang ShinyHunters. An unauthorized party accessed certain Medtronic corporate IT systems from April 13 to April 19, with the company noting that products, manufacturing operations and hospital customer networks were not affected. ShinyHunters claimed to have stolen more than 9 million records. State attorney general filings confirmed tens of thousands of affected residents in Massachusetts, Vermont and Texas. The company is offering 24 months of complimentary credit monitoring, dark web monitoring and identity theft restoration services to affected individuals.
EHR/EMR
Epic Expands Four Executives’ Roles as President Sumit Rana Steps Down in August
Epic CEO Judy Faulkner tapped four senior leaders to take on expanded responsibilities following President Sumit Rana’s decision to leave the company. Rana announced in an email to Epic’s 14,000 employees on July 3 that he would step down on August 14 after more than two decades with the company, citing family responsibilities following his father’s death. The four executives stepping up are Seth Howard, executive vice president of research and development, and senior vice presidents Mark Lipsky, Erv Walter and Garrett Adams. Epic did not name a replacement president. Rana had been widely viewed as a potential successor to Faulkner, who is 82.
AI/ANALYTICS
AI Hallucinations Are Forcing Healthcare CIOs to Rethink Governance and Trust
As generative AI embeds itself across clinical workflows, healthcare chief information officers report that the central challenge has shifted from deploying new tools to ensuring those systems remain accurate, transparent and accountable in practice. Hallucinations — plausible AI outputs that contain false or unsupported information — are surfacing in clinical documentation and other healthcare applications, forcing CIOs to rethink governance, validation and trust frameworks. Many organizations cannot confidently answer a fundamental question: where exactly is AI influencing patient care? Success, CIOs say, will be measured not by speed of deployment but by whether systems remain transparent, auditable and clinically trustworthy throughout their operational life.
CYBERSECURITY
AdaptHealth Discloses Patient Data Stolen Through Social Engineering Attack on Third-Party Contractor
AdaptHealth, a supplier of home medical equipment, disclosed that a threat actor gained unauthorized access to cloud-based company systems through a social engineering attack on a third-party contractor’s account, exfiltrating patient health information and stored passwords associated with insurance billing. The company determined on June 27 that the incident was material and filed an 8-K disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 2. Accessed systems included internal patient management platforms and document storage. AdaptHealth said it does not collect Social Security numbers in the affected systems. The company promptly disabled the compromised account and implemented additional access controls.
INTEROPERABILITY
Linux Foundation Launches Open Health Stack Software Foundation With Google and WHO
The Linux Foundation announced Thursday plans to launch the Open Health Stack Software Foundation, a vendor-neutral, community-governed initiative designed to address the fragmented state of digital health infrastructure that impedes interoperability and limits health system adoption of emerging technology. Google, the World Health Organization and other contributors are backing the effort, which centers on three technical pillars including AI Commons — a model-agnostic space for safe, effective and verifiable AI in global health developed jointly with WHO. Google provided a $3 million grant to support long-term development. The foundation aims to provide developers and health organizations with shared, standards-based, open-source tools.
WORKFORCE
Health Systems Shift to Long-Term IT Workforce Investments to Meet AI and Cybersecurity Demand
Health systems across the United States are making longer-term investments in their technology workforces in 2026, shifting away from reactive hiring toward building sustainable talent pipelines, leadership structures and internal expertise as digital transformation accelerates. The push is driven by growing pressure to implement AI tools, strengthen cybersecurity defenses and compete for specialized talent in an increasingly tight labor market. Smaller and rural health systems may struggle to match the resources larger organizations can devote to workforce development and AI leadership expansion. In February, Care New England announced a partnership with Rhode Island College to train healthcare IT professionals in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and Epic EHR systems.
PXL 20231118 150122002 — Voluntour, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
POLICY
Trump’s Proposed Grant Rules Spark Outcry From Nonprofit Sector, Draw 100,000 Comments
The Office of Management and Budget has proposed rules that would overhaul how more than 100,000 nonprofits receive federal grants. The changes would prohibit awards to groups that support DEI programs, undocumented immigrants, or people who are transgender, and would install a political appointee at each agency to ensure grants advance the president’s priorities. Agencies would be free to terminate grants for any reason. The public comment period, ending July 13, drew more than 100,000 responses. Critics warned the rules would make it easy for political appointees to blacklist disfavored grantees, while sector advocates said essential services including early childhood education and health care could be jeopardized.
REGULATION
Florida’s Sweeping New Nonprofit Governance Law Takes Effect, Prompting Bylaw Reviews
A comprehensive modernization of Florida’s nonprofit law took effect July 1, prompting legal experts to urge all organizations incorporated under the Florida Nonprofit Act to conduct governance reviews. The legislation, enacted as HB 797, materially affects nonprofit governance, member rights and procedures, officer standards of conduct, and the statutory framework governing mergers, restructurings, and other fundamental transactions. The updates apply not only to charitable nonprofits, but also to trade associations, professional organizations, and community associations. Florida nonprofits should anticipate the need to review and potentially revise their articles of incorporation, bylaws, governance policies, member procedures, and transaction documentation to ensure alignment with revised statutory defaults, according to attorneys at Polsinelli.
FUNDRAISING
U.S. Fundraising Salaries Rose 0.9 Percent in 2025 as Rising Benefit Costs Emerge as New Challenge
Fundraising salaries in the United States rose 0.9 percent in 2025 to an average of $97,280, while Canadian compensation increased 6.2 percent to $104,442, according to the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy’s 2026 Compensation and Benefits Study. Based on responses from nearly 2,700 AFP members, the report found 43 percent of U.S. and 28 percent of Canadian respondents reported increases in health insurance premiums. Women in the U.S. reported an average salary of $93,753 compared with $118,038 for men. Only 18 percent of respondents said they were actively seeking employment elsewhere, suggesting mission alignment and workplace culture remain strong retention factors alongside compensation.
PHILANTHROPY
Strategic Philanthropy Urged to Invest in HBCUs to Close Sarcoidosis Research Gap for Black Americans
A strategic philanthropy analysis argues that investing in historically Black colleges and universities could jumpstart sarcoidosis research. Sarcoidosis is a rare but serious inflammatory disease affecting approximately 150,000 to 200,000 people in the United States, disproportionately impacting Black Americans. Despite this disparity, Black people make up as little as 5 percent of clinical trial participants across interstitial lung diseases. HBCUs, representing just 2.3 percent of U.S. medical schools, have produced nearly 10 percent of all Black physicians. The Milken Institute and the Ann Theodore Foundation have directed over half a million dollars toward a clinical study on a promising therapeutic, offering a model for targeted philanthropic investment in underserved communities.
ANALYSIS
Choreographer Argues Reparations Movements Need Cultural Investment, Not Just Policy, to Reach the Public
A choreographer argues that reparations movements have a narrative problem: policy alone cannot create the emotional conditions required for the public to receive repair. Writing in NPQ, Christopher Rudd says his work WITNESS, previewed at New York’s Apollo Theater, moves audiences through scenes of American slavery, criminal justice, and collective healing, creating spaces for what he calls “collective witnessing.” Philanthropy has spent decades funding policy conversations and “dramatically underfunding the cultural conditions” required for the public to engage emotionally with them, Rudd argues. His company, RudduR Dance, is expanding WITNESS into a civic convening in Harlem this fall pairing performance with structured public dialogue.
ANALYSIS
Boston Reparations Commissioner: Gen Z and Millennials Are Positioned to Lead Structural Repair of Racial Inequity
The co-director of the Repair America Collective argues that Gen Z and millennials are uniquely positioned to demand structural repair. “We did not design the racial and economic fault lines that run beneath this country,” writes Harison Mitchell Clark, a commissioner on the Boston People’s Reparations Commission. “But we have arrived at the crossroads, and the burden of repair … has been placed at our feet.” Clark argues his generation has the tools to reckon with history, the will to name harm, and increasingly the coalitions to hold power accountable. Liberation Ventures offers a framework he finds clarifying: reckoning, acknowledgment, accountability, and redress.
FUNDRAISING
Fundraising Consultant Rhea Wong: Summer Is the Sector’s Biggest Strategic Advantage, Not a Slow Season
Summer may appear slow for nonprofits, but fundraising expert Rhea Wong argues the quiet months are the sector’s biggest strategic advantage. “Donors don’t disappear in the summer. Fundraisers do,” Wong writes in NPQ’s Ask Rhea column. Major gifts that close in December are built in July, she notes: fundraisers who wait until October to cultivate are begging on a deadline. Wong recommends three summer strategies—a portfolio review to cut stalled relationships, booking fall donor meetings before September, and stewardship with no-strings-attached gratitude. She encourages fundraisers to take vacations but to distinguish rest from disappearance, blocking mornings for calls while leaving afternoons free.
IMPACT
Vietnamese American Artist Pursues Permanent Boston Memorial Marking 50 Years of Refugee Diaspora
A Vietnamese American artist and cultural organizer argues that Vietnamese refugee histories remain much harder to encounter in public memory, particularly in Northeastern states, and that public art matters because “it gives displaced communities a visible place to remember.” Ngoc-Tran Vu, lead artist of “1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Memorial” in Boston’s Little Saigon Cultural District, describes the project as a grassroots effort to mark 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War and the beginning of mass Vietnamese displacement and diaspora life. A temporary installation in Dorchester’s Town Field Park in 2025 drew significant community engagement; Vu is now seeking a permanent site, public land access, and financial support.