(Volvo is also majority-owned by Geely, but it was able to secure a legacy exemption that upstart Polestar was not.)<\/p>\n
Our condolences to the hardworking folks staffing the dozens of soon-to-be-shuttered Polestar dealerships across the U.S., though we hear Volvo\u2019s hiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More tech news below. \u2014Andrew Nusca<\/p>\n
Want to send thoughts or suggestions to\u00a0Fortune Tech?\u00a0Drop a line\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The first known \u2018agentic ransomware\u2019 has arrived MGM<\/p>\n From the Dept. of Keeps You Up at Night: Researchers believe they\u2019ve identified the first example of agentic ransomware in the wild.<\/p>\n Dubbed \u201cJadePuffer,\u201d the operation was conducted entirely by a large language model agent, according to security firm Sysdig<\/a>. That\u2019s a big change from a type of attack that has always required a human at a keyboard.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most striking characteristic, however, was the LLM’s behavior,\u201d wrote threat director Michael Clark in a memo. \u201cJadepuffer’s own payloads were self-narrating. They contained natural language reasoning, target prioritization, and the kind of detailed annotations that human operators don\u2019t often write but LLM-generated code produces reflexively.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Clark added, the agent \u201cadapted in real time, retrying failed steps within refined parameters. In one sequence, it went from a failed login to a working fix in 31 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n Delightful!<\/p>\n The actual observed attack involved a since-fixed vulnerability in Langflow<\/a>, a popular open-source framework used for building LLM applications. But the ramifications are not to be understated, Clark warned.<\/p>\n \u201cJadepuffer is a warning sign,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s a marker of where extortion tradecraft is heading. An autonomous agent reasoned about its targets, harvested and reused credentials, moved laterally, established persistence, and destroyed a database, narrating its own intent the entire way.\u201d<\/p>\n None of the techniques were novel or sophisticated, he added, but the capability to string them together into a complete operation makes ransomware available to anyone who can afford to run an agent.<\/p>\n \u201cDefenders should expect the volume and breadth of such campaigns to rise as agentic tooling matures,\u201d Clark wrote. Suit up, security pros. \u2014AN<\/p>\n Apple\u2019s foldable iPhone availability may slide, report says<\/p>\n If the long-rumored foldable iPhone indeed becomes real, just how many is Apple prepared to sell at the launch of its next-generation iPhone 18?<\/p>\n According to a recent survey by TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, none\u2014and that\u2019s less a comment about its potential appeal or cost than it is one about how Apple is wading through an extraordinary situation for its supply chain.<\/p>\n \u201cMy latest industry survey indicates that assembly shipments for the foldable iPhone in 2H26 will be roughly 7\u20138 million units, with 3Q26 shipments at 0.5\u20131 million units, or about 10% of the total,\u201d Kuo writes<\/a>. \u201cBy comparison, estimated 3Q26 shipments of the iPhone 18 Pro \/ Pro Max total roughly 20\u201322 million units, significantly higher than the foldable iPhone and already meeting the inventory requirement for an official launch.\u201d<\/p>\n What that ultimately means is that the so-called iPhone Fold may repeat the launch cadence of the difficult-to-manufacture iPhone X in 2017, wherein it\u2019s announced at the same time as the iPhone 18 models but doesn\u2019t sell or ship until substantially later. (It took Apple an extra six weeks after the sales date of the iPhone 8 before it would accept reservations for the iPhone X.)<\/p>\n Even at a rumored price of around $2,000\u2014double the price of today\u2019s iPhone 17 Pro\u2014Kuo believes demand will be strong through the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe foldable iPhone could sell out immediately after pre-orders open, with delivery lead times quickly stretching to 4\u20136 weeks or longer and remaining there through December,\u201d he writes. \u201cScarce initial supply, a highly recognizable design, and an innovative user experience should all support a short-term resale premium; resale prices 50\u2013100% above the official price would not be out of the question.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As they say in Vegas: hold \u2018em or fold \u2018em. \u2014AN<\/p>\n Blacklisted entities handled $100 billion in crypto in 2025<\/p>\n It shouldn\u2019t surprise you to learn that the favorite targets of U.S. economic sanctions\u2014Iran, Russia, North Korea, etc.\u2014are leaning into the use of virtual currencies as a way to get around the penalties.\u00a0<\/p>\n What might: The amount of money flowing through those channels has topped $100 billion, according to new estimates, aided by a willingness by those entities in creating their own tokens and exchanges to facilitate transactions.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s eight times as much as 2024, by the way.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal digs into the phenomenon in a new report<\/a> showing that the target nations are using digital currencies to buy fuel and weapons, pay smugglers, and otherwise evade traditional banks that are better positioned to police such activity.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting a firm grip on the market is nearly impossible,\u201d the Journal writes, \u201cbecause much of the industry isn\u2019t regulated, and transactions can be done anonymously, making them hard to trace.\u201d<\/p>\n The usual cat-and-mouse game continues, albeit in new environments. In May, the U.K. blacklisted the crypto exchange HTX on allegations of ties to Russia\u2019s government. In June, the U.S. sanctioned Iran\u2019s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, and seized $1 billion in crypto from the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it\u2019s getting more difficult\u2014in part because of the sanctions in question.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Iran, dozens of crypto exchanges have popped up in recent years,\u201d the paper writes, \u201cdriven in part by demand from everyday citizens who need ways to transfer money and build savings amid a weakened rial currency and Western sanctions.\u201d Ah, well. \u2014AN<\/p>\n More tech<\/p>\n \u2014Europe\u2019s \u201csmart border\u201d tech<\/a> was supposed to catch criminals but it\u2019s mostly delaying passengers.<\/p>\n \u2014Tesla rolls out robotaxi service in Miami<\/a>, its fifth city.<\/p>\n \u2014Alibaba and ByteDance disable humanlike agents<\/a> before China’s anthropomorphic AI interaction rules take effect.<\/p>\n \u2014Foxconn reports a 40% jump in quarterly sales<\/a>. The Apple and Nvidia supplier said the growth was bigger than expected thanks to AI sales.<\/p>\n \u2014R.I.P. Amazon\u2019s Mechanical Turk<\/a>, which will no longer accept new customers from July 30.<\/p>\n \u2014Alibaba gets a reprieve on a de facto U.S. lobbying ban<\/a> tied to a Pentagon blacklist.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2001-space-odyssey-hal-9000-scrn-wide.png\"\/)
<\/a>A frame depicting the rogue, artificially intelligent computer HAL 9000 from the 1968 film, \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n