Meta is expanding its push into AI-powered content creation with the launch of Pocket, a new app that allows users to generate interactive apps and games using simple text prompts.

Turning Ideas Into Interactive Experiences

Described on Google Play as “a creative platform for making and sharing gizmos,” Pocket enables users to create small interactive experiences from written prompts and share them with others. The app also features a discovery feed where users can browse and play creations from the wider community.

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Based on screenshots published on Google Play, Pocket closely resembles Gizmo, the AI-powered gaming platform Meta acquired earlier this year. Like its predecessor, the app focuses on turning text prompts into lightweight games and interactive experiences.

A Quiet Launch Following The Gizmo Acquisition

The app was first spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who shared screenshots from the Google Play listing on X. According to app intelligence firm Appfigures, Pocket became available on both the App Store and Google Play on June 29, although it is still too early to determine whether it has attracted meaningful downloads.

Meta has not officially announced the app or responded to requests for comment.

Another Step In Meta’s AI Strategy

Pocket fits into Meta’s broader effort to bring AI-powered creative tools to a wider audience. Over the past year, the company has introduced AI image generation through Meta AI, video creation tools in Vibes, AI features across its social platforms and new creator capabilities in its Edits app.

By extending those tools into casual gaming, Meta is expanding beyond images and video into interactive content, allowing users not only to generate media but also to build playable experiences with AI.

Early Days, But Clear Direction

While Pocket appears to be in the early stages of its rollout, the launch offers another glimpse into Meta’s long-term AI strategy. Rather than positioning artificial intelligence solely as a productivity tool, the company is increasingly using it to help consumers create, share and discover content across different formats.

That strategy may already have a foundation. According to Appfigures, Gizmo has generated an estimated 635,000 lifetime installs across iOS and Google Play, with a 98% positive sentiment score. If Pocket is the next evolution of that platform, Meta is betting that AI-assisted game creation could become another pillar of its growing creator ecosystem.

Wizz Air is expanding beyond its traditional low-cost airline model with the launch of Wizz Holidays, a new AI-powered platform that allows travellers to book flights, accommodation and airport transfers in a single transaction.

The move reflects a broader shift in the travel industry, where airlines are increasingly looking to capture more of the customer journey by offering integrated holiday packages alongside flights.

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A Simpler Way To Book Holidays

Built around artificial intelligence, Wizz Holidays is designed to simplify trip planning by combining multiple travel services into one booking. Rather than arranging flights, hotels and transfers separately, customers can organize an entire holiday through a single platform.

One of its key features is support for multi-city and multimodal itineraries, allowing travellers to include several destinations within the same trip. The platform also uses AI-powered keyword searches to recommend destinations based on broader interests, such as beach holidays, city breaks or skiing, without requiring users to specify every travel detail.

For those with flexible plans, Wizz Holidays includes an “Anytime Anywhere” discovery tool that highlights available deals across the airline’s network, reflecting the growing demand for travel inspiration rather than destination-specific searches.

Expanding Beyond Flights

Wizz Air says holiday packages will include exclusive bundled pricing, giving customers access to lower combined rates than booking flights, hotels and transfers separately.

The launch also reflects a wider commercial strategy. As competition intensifies across the airline industry, carriers are increasingly relying on higher-margin ancillary services to diversify revenue, making the overall travel experience just as important as the flight itself.

AI At The Centre Of The Strategy

“Today we are celebrating more than just the launch of WIZZ Holidays – we are introducing a smarter way to travel,” said Silvia Mosquera, Chief Commercial Officer at Wizz Air.

“By pairing our extensive low-fare network with AI technology, we have removed the friction from trip planning and help create unforgettable travel experiences,” she added.

Under the slogan “Unpackage Yourself,” the airline says the platform is designed to give travellers greater flexibility while making it easier to build multi-destination trips.

For Wizz Air, the launch signals a broader ambition to evolve from a low-cost airline into a more comprehensive travel platform. For customers, it offers a simpler booking experience built around convenience, flexibility and AI-driven recommendations.

Europe’s highest court has delivered a decisive blow to Google, upholding a nearly €4.1 billion antitrust fine linked to the company’s Android business and bringing one of the European Union’s biggest competition cases to a close.

A Final Loss For Google

On Thursday, the European Court of Justice dismissed Google’s appeal against the European Commission’s 2018 ruling, leaving the company with no further avenue of appeal.

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“The Court of Justice dismisses the appeal brought by Google and Alphabet… thereby confirming the penalty imposed on them… for their anticompetitive practices relating to the Android operating system,” the court said.

Alphabet shares slipped about 1% in premarket trading following the ruling.

Why The Case Matters

The Commission found that Google had used Android’s dominant position in the smartphone market to strengthen its own ecosystem by requiring manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and other proprietary apps. Regulators argued the practice restricted competition by making it harder for rival services to reach users.

Although the original €4.34 billion penalty was reduced by a lower EU court in 2022, the key findings remained unchanged.

Google has consistently defended Android, arguing it promotes consumer choice and supports manufacturers, developers and businesses across Europe.

“Android provides more choice for everyone and supports thousands of businesses,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC, adding that the company had already updated its agreements after the Commission’s original decision in 2018 and remains focused on innovation.

Part Of A Broader Crackdown

The Android ruling is one of several major competition cases brought against Google over the past decade. Last year, the Commission also imposed a €2.95 billion fine over the company’s advertising technology business.

At the same time, Brussels has increasingly shifted from lengthy antitrust investigations to enforcing broader legislation such as the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act, giving regulators wider powers to oversee major technology companies.

“The decision… represents the end of what might be termed the European Commission’s ‘first stage’ battle with big tech,” Alex Haffner, a partner at Fladgate, told CNBC, adding that the EU’s focus has now shifted toward its newer digital regulations.

Pressure On Big Tech Is Unlikely To Ease

Europe’s approach has repeatedly drawn criticism from President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials, who argue that heavy regulation and multibillion-euro fines risk undermining innovation.

For Google, Thursday’s judgment closes one of its longest-running legal battles in Europe. For the EU, it reinforces a clear message: dominant technology companies will continue to face close regulatory scrutiny, with competition enforcement now increasingly complemented by the bloc’s broader digital rulebook.

The European Union has begun applying a temporary customs duty of €3 per item on small parcels valued at up to €150 imported from third countries, in a move designed to curb unfair competition and tighten safety checks on e-commerce products.

A Temporary Measure Ahead Of A Wider Customs Overhaul

The levy, which took effect on 1 July, will remain in place until 2028, when the EU expects to complete a broader reform of its customs system. The policy primarily affects purchases from major Asian marketplaces such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress, although it may also apply to orders from other non-EU markets, including the United States and the United Kingdom, depending on the supplier.

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How The Duty Is Calculated

The €3 charge is applied per product type within each parcel. In practical terms, that means a single order containing different categories of goods is taxed separately for each category.

For example, a parcel containing a shirt and a pair of shoes would face a total duty of €6. If the package contains multiple units of the same item, however, the charge remains €3 for that product type.

In another case, a parcel with four different products could incur €12 in duties alone. Larger baskets with multiple item categories could therefore see the final bill rise significantly before value-added tax is added.

Why Brussels Is Acting Now

The measure is aimed at the rapid growth in small cross-border e-commerce shipments arriving from outside the EU. In recent years, these flows have surged into the billions of parcels annually, with the majority originating in China.

According to the European Union, the previous regime of zero customs duties on parcels worth up to €150 created unfair conditions for European businesses, while also limiting the ability of authorities to carry out effective safety and compliance checks.

Officials also warn that many parcels entered the market with inaccurate value declarations or without sufficient scrutiny, increasing the risk of non-compliant or potentially dangerous products reaching consumers.

What It Means For Consumers And Platforms

Consumers should expect higher total costs on online purchases, particularly for low-value orders. A €20 basket, for instance, could easily climb above €25 or €30 depending on how many different products it includes.

In some cases, additional handling fees may be introduced later as part of the EU’s wider customs reform. For now, the main question is how platforms will respond: they may either absorb the cost or pass it on to shoppers.

Many large e-commerce providers already operate through the IOSS system, which streamlines the collection of VAT and duties at checkout.

The Next Phase Of Reform

The temporary duty is only one piece of a larger overhaul. The EU is also working to abolish the €150 threshold and replace it with a unified digital customs framework by 2028.

Under the new model, e-commerce platforms would be treated as “deemed importers,” taking on greater legal responsibility for the safety and compliance of the products they sell into the European market.

Aims: Fairer Competition And Stronger Protection

European authorities say the reform is intended both to protect consumers and to create a more level playing field for European companies.

Just as important, it is expected to make customs controls more efficient by reducing the volume of individual low-value parcels and improving the authorities’ ability to identify non-compliant goods at the border.

The Bank of Cyprus has added another milestone to its capital markets track record, securing two honours at the EMEA Finance Achievement Awards 2025 for its €300 million Tier 2 bond issuance. The recognition follows the successful transaction completed in September 2025 and further reinforces the lender’s position in international debt markets.

Third Straight Year Of Recognition

The latest awards mark the third consecutive year that the Bank of Cyprus has been recognised by EMEA Finance, underscoring the bank’s sustained momentum in global capital markets. The publication, which tracks major financial transactions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, awarded the bank for both Best Financial Institution Bond (Mid-Cap) in the region and Best Financial Institution Bond in South Eastern Europe.

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Strong Investor Appetite For The Transaction

According to the bank, the awards reflect the exceptional response to the Tier 2 issuance, which drew interest from more than 100 institutional investors. Demand exceeded €3 billion, more than ten times the size of the €300 million offering, signalling deep market confidence in the bank’s credit profile and strategic direction.

Confidence In The Bank’s Strategy

Commenting on the recognition, Bank of Cyprus Treasury Director Despina Kyriakidou said the awards capture both the success of the transaction and the trust international investors continue to place in the institution.

“We are very pleased that our highly successful €300 million Tier 2 bond has received two awards at the annual EMEA Finance Achievement Awards,” Kyriakidou said.

“The fact that this is not the first time that the Bank of Cyprus has been recognised by a prestigious international institution confirms in practice the confidence shown in the bank by international markets and institutional investors,” she added.

Kyriakidou said the result reflects the bank’s strong financial position, consistent growth trajectory and commitment to long-term shareholder value, while also supporting the Cypriot economy.

Cyprus Housing Costs Continue To Rise As Rents And Property Prices Climb

Cyprus entered 2026 with little sign of relief in its housing market, as both rents and house prices continued to increase during the opening months of the year, reinforcing the affordability pressures facing households.

Rental Costs Keep Moving Higher

New Eurostat data show that rental prices continued their steady upward trend in May. The harmonised index of consumer prices for actual rental payments edged up to 103.95 points from 103.91 in April, extending a pattern of monthly increases that has been in place since the beginning of the year.

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Although the monthly gains have been modest, they point to persistent upward pressure in a rental market where supply remains tight and affordability continues to deteriorate.

House Prices Extend Their Upward Trend

Property prices also continued to rise, although at a more moderate pace than in several other European Union countries.

House prices in Cyprus increased 1.6% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the previous three months, following a flat fourth quarter of 2025. On an annual basis, prices were 3.4% higher than a year earlier. While that represented a slowdown from the 6.0% annual increase recorded in late 2025, it nevertheless confirmed that the market continues to trend upward.

The longer-term picture highlights the scale of that appreciation. Using 2015 as the base year, Cyprus’ house price index reached 150.89 in 2025, up from 144.46 in 2024 and 134.60 in 2023. The figures illustrate how residential property values have risen steadily over the past decade despite periods of slower growth.

Cyprus Lags The Fastest-Growing EU Markets

Although prices continue to rise locally, Cyprus remains below the pace seen in many other European markets.

Across the EU, house prices increased 5.1% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, while rents rose 3.0%. Compared with the previous quarter, house prices advanced 1.2% and rents 0.7%. In the euro area, house prices climbed 4.7% from a year earlier and 1.0% from the previous quarter.

Eurostat said house prices rose faster than rents in 19 member states when comparing the first quarter of 2026 with the annual average for 2025. Portugal recorded the strongest increase at 10.3%, followed by Bulgaria at 9.4% and Slovakia at 9.1%, while France and Finland were the only countries to register declines.

Rental markets showed a similar pattern of broad-based growth. Croatia posted the largest increase at 21.9%, ahead of Bulgaria (6.4%) and Greece (5.0%). Only Slovenia and Finland did not record rental growth over the period.

Looking at annual house price growth in the first quarter of 2026, Portugal again led the bloc with a 17.8% increase, followed by Bulgaria (14.8%) and Slovakia (14.4%). Finland was the only EU member state to record an annual decline.

For Cyprus, the figures point to a market that continues to move in one direction. While house price growth has moderated compared with last year, both property values and rental costs remain on an upward trajectory, offering little relief for households facing an increasingly expensive housing market.

Index Rises, But Financial Pressure Persists

Cyprus recorded an improvement in financial wellbeing in 2025, but the latest research suggests many households continue to struggle with rising living costs, financial stress and uncertainty over retirement.

The Financial Wellbeing Index for Cyprus climbed to 54.6 points, up by about four points from 2024, according to research published by the Financial Wellbeing Institute and cited by the Finance Ministry on Thursday. The ministry said all 14 components of the index improved, pointing to a broad strengthening in households’ financial position.

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Government Credits Tax Relief And Pension Reform

Responding to the findings, the Finance Ministry said the results reflect measures introduced to support disposable income, while acknowledging that inflation, energy costs and pension adequacy remain key concerns for many households.

Recent initiatives include revised income tax brackets, a higher tax-free threshold and additional tax reliefs for different categories of taxpayers. The government is also pursuing pension reforms aimed at improving the system’s long-term sustainability, strengthening retirement income and rebuilding confidence in pension provision. Alongside those measures, the ministry identified financial literacy as another priority, arguing that better budgeting, saving and financial planning can help households build greater resilience.

Many Households Continue To Struggle

Despite the overall improvement, the research shows that financial wellbeing remains uneven across the population. According to the survey, 38.4% of Cypriots fall into the two lowest categories, with 15.4% classified as financially vulnerable and 23.0% as financially struggling.

By comparison, 27.7% of respondents were considered financially adequate, while 20.8% were financially secure. Only 13.1% were classified as financially thriving, suggesting that relatively few households feel they have achieved lasting financial stability.

That picture is reflected in the index’s individual components. Financial stress remained the weakest area, scoring 48.8 points and staying below the 50-point threshold.

Almost half of respondents, or 49.5%, said financial issues cause them stress and anxiety, while 45.1% reported difficulty making ends meet. Rising living costs were identified by 26.1% of participants as the biggest threat to their financial stability.

Retirement Concerns Remain High

The survey also highlighted continued uncertainty about retirement. Nearly half of respondents said they do not expect to maintain their current standard of living after leaving the workforce.

Participants estimated that the state pension would replace 52.3% of their final salary, while Social Insurance Fund data put the actual replacement rate closer to 42%. The gap suggests many households may overestimate the level of income they are likely to receive once they retire.

Taken together, the findings indicate that Cyprus has made measurable progress in improving financial wellbeing, but many households have yet to feel that improvement in their day-to-day finances.

Tesla delivered stronger-than-expected second-quarter vehicle shipments, comfortably beating Wall Street forecasts as the electric vehicle maker looks to regain momentum after a prolonged sales slowdown.

Deliveries Top Expectations

Tesla reported 480,126 vehicle deliveries and 451,758 vehicles produced during the second quarter. Analysts had expected about 406,600 deliveries, according to StreetAccount, while Tesla’s own consensus estimate stood at 406,024.

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Deliveries increased 25% from a year earlier, when Tesla shipped about 384,000 vehicles, and 34% from the first quarter of 2026, when deliveries totaled 358,023.

Despite the stronger results, Tesla shares fell about 6% on Thursday, highlighting investors’ continued focus on the company’s longer-term growth prospects rather than a single quarter of improved deliveries.

Model 3 And Model Y Remain The Core Business

Tesla said its Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV accounted for 467,762 deliveries, or about 97% of the total, underlining the continued importance of its two highest-volume models even as the company expands into autonomous driving, robotics and energy storage.

Although deliveries are widely viewed as the closest proxy for sales, Tesla does not report regional performance or model-specific sales figures in the same detail as traditional automakers.

Competition Remains Intense

The stronger quarter comes as Tesla works to reverse consecutive annual declines in vehicle sales. The company has faced growing competition from Chinese manufacturers including BYD, Nio and Xiaomi, while also competing with Hyundai Motor Group and European automakers such as Volkswagen Group.

Demand has also been affected by the removal of a U.S. federal EV tax credit and by backlash against CEO Elon Musk’s increasingly polarising political profile.

To support sales, Tesla has introduced lower-priced versions of the Model 3 and Model Y while expanding availability of its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system in selected European markets. Those initiatives reflect the company’s broader strategy of protecting its leadership in electric vehicles while preparing for a future centred on autonomy, robotics and software.

Energy Business Continues To Grow

Higher gasoline prices during the conflict involving Iran also encouraged some European consumers to consider electric vehicles, providing a temporary boost to EV demand before oil prices eased.

Tesla’s Energy division also continued to expand. The company deployed 13.5 gigawatt-hours of energy storage and solar products during the quarter, up from 9.6 gigawatt-hours a year earlier and slightly above analysts’ expectations of 13.3 gigawatt-hours.

Focus Shifts To Earnings

Looking beyond vehicle sales, Musk continues to position Tesla around products including the Cybercab, Tesla Semi and Optimus humanoid robot. The company has previously said it expects volume production of both the Cybercab and Semi to begin this year, while factory capacity previously used for the Model S and Model X is being repurposed for Optimus production.

Investors will get a clearer picture when Tesla reports second-quarter earnings on July 22. Alongside margins and profitability, markets will be looking for greater clarity on what drove the stronger delivery numbers and whether the momentum can be sustained in an increasingly competitive global EV market.

Cloudflare has drawn a sharper line between traditional search and artificial intelligence.

Beginning September 15, 2026, the company will change its default settings to block so-called mixed-use crawlers from pages that run ads, unless a site owner chooses otherwise. The policy applies to new Cloudflare customers, new sites created by existing customers, and all current free customers.

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A Clearer Divide In Web Access

The shift could materially reshape how AI companies collect web data for model training and agentic products. Cloudflare’s central argument is straightforward: most publishers want their content to remain visible in search and accessible through certain AI services, but they do not want that same material repurposed without compensation.

In Cloudflare’s view, the problem is not crawling itself. It is the blending of three different functions: search, agentic use, and training into a single bot that makes it difficult for website owners to set meaningful boundaries.

The Google Question

Cloudflare pointedly referenced the “world’s largest search engine,” an unmistakable nod to Google, arguing that it has access to roughly twice as much information as rival AI companies because it makes it harder for customers to stay discoverable without also being used for AI.

Google has disputed that framing. The company offers Google Extended, a crawler setting that lets publishers opt out of having content used for training and AI products such as Gemini apps and Vertex AI, without affecting visibility in Google Search. At the same time, Googlebot still crawls for Search and for AI-powered features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Publishers Want Reach, Not Exploitation

Matthew Prince, Cloudflare’s co-founder and chief executive, said the company is moving quickly because the internet is now dominated by machine traffic.

“Now that the majority of traffic on the Internet is non-human, we must go further and act faster so that a sustainable ecosystem can emerge,” Prince said, referring to the recent milestone in which bots surpassed human traffic online sooner than expected.

Prince added that Cloudflare’s tools and partnerships are designed to give publishers more visibility and commercial leverage, while also rewarding AI companies that are transparent about how they use content.

From Pay Per Crawl To Pay Per Use

Cloudflare has increasingly positioned itself as a gatekeeper for publishers looking to assert control in the AI era. The company already offers tools to block AI bots, along with a marketplace called Pay Per Crawl, which lets websites charge AI systems for scraping.

That framework is now expanding into Pay Per Use, which Cloudflare says will allow publishers to charge AI companies when content creates value, not merely when it is fetched. In practical terms, that shifts the economics from extraction to monetization.

Cloudflare says the move may also reduce waste. Its data suggests more than half of crawl traffic from AI bots is spent revisiting pages that have not changed, consuming bandwidth and compute without adding fresh value for either side.

Early Partners Signal The Commercial Model

To launch the new system, Cloudflare is working with Ceramic.ai and You.com. Under the opt-in model, publishers can be paid when their content appears in Ceramic’s AI search results or when You.com accesses premium material.

Cloudflare says other AI companies can adapt the model to fit their own products. The broader message is clear: the era of unrestricted crawling is giving way to one in which access, attribution, and compensation are increasingly negotiated rather than assumed.

AOL is back on the public market — in a way. Its owner, Bending Spoons, the Italian software company known for acquiring and rebuilding struggling internet brands, debuted on Nasdaq on Thursday at a valuation above $18 billion before its shares surged 40% by the close.

A Long-Term Approach To Acquisitions

Founded 13 years ago in Milan, Bending Spoons has built a business around acquiring well-known digital brands, including Meetup, Eventbrite, Vimeo, WeTransfer and AOL. Unlike many private equity firms, however, the company says its goal is not to buy, cut costs and sell.

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“We want to place ourselves as an operator that takes beloved brands and makes them much better,” co-founder and Chief Product Officer Matteo Danieli told TechCrunch.

AI Is Accelerating Growth

The company’s acquisition strategy has attracted criticism, particularly over workforce reductions following takeovers. Even so, Bending Spoons says revenue has continued to grow, with artificial intelligence playing an increasingly important role.

“In the past year and a half, we’ve witnessed an incredible acceleration in the pace at which we were able to ship new features and create value for users,” Danieli said.

That focus is reflected throughout the company’s IPO filing, which describes AI as a capability it had been developing long before the technology became mainstream.

Turning Failure Into A Strategy

Before founding Bending Spoons, Danieli and his co-founders built Evertale, a startup that used machine learning to automatically create a digital diary of users’ lives. Although the business failed, it shaped the philosophy behind Bending Spoons.

“It sparked a reflection around the fact that you don’t always find perfect correlation between how talented entrepreneurs are and the success they have,” Danieli said. “Luck is a very big component of that equation.”

Rather than relying on finding the next breakthrough product, the founders focused on building a business centred on operational excellence. As the company states in its SEC filing, “luck plays a big role in finding product-market fit,” but “luck is irrelevant when pursuing operational excellence.”

Data, Pricing And Product Improvement

That philosophy drives how Bending Spoons manages the businesses it acquires. The company relies heavily on analytics, experimentation and pricing tests to improve products and monetisation. While some pricing changes have drawn criticism from long-time users, Danieli said customer retention has remained “remarkably stable.”

Evernote has become the company’s most closely watched turnaround. Danieli described it as Bending Spoons’ most satisfying acquisition, pointing to the AI-focused v11 update and saying the company ultimately won back many users, including Evernote co-founder Phil Libin.

A Different Kind Of Public Company

The company’s model was initially met with scepticism from investors, who struggled to classify a business combining software operations with an acquisition-driven growth strategy. Over time, however, confidence grew. Before its IPO, Bending Spoons had already reached an $11 billion private valuation and attracted backing from prominent investors across technology and entertainment.

Its emphasis on talent has also become a competitive advantage. According to the company’s SEC filing, revenue per full-time employee increased from $1.12 million in 2023 to $2.57 million in 2025, before reaching $0.97 million in the first quarter of 2026, partly reflecting productivity gains from AI.

To mark its stock market debut, Bending Spoons brought its entire workforce to New York for the listing ceremony. Danieli said the IPO provides another source of capital to support the company’s acquisition strategy, but added that the focus remains unchanged.

“From a buyer’s perspective and as a company that grows through acquisitions, that’s actually a great opportunity and moment to deploy capital,” he said.