EVA Tech BriefIT/DevOps

2026-07-16 - 7:30 PM PKT

Frontier LLMs

Thinking Machines releases Inkling open multimodal model

Thinking Machines introduced Inkling as its first open-weights multimodal language model release, with Latent Space describing the flagship as a 975B-parameter mixture model with 41B active parameters and a smaller 276B-parameter variant. The release strengthens the open-model field for teams that want customizable multimodal AI without depending only on closed APIs.

GPUs and Silicon

Cloud and Infra

Pakistan Tech

Security

Google Gemini CLI abused as hacking agent and botnet controller

BleepingComputer reports that a Russian-speaking threat actor used Google's open-source Gemini CLI as an automated hacking agent and to help operate a small botnet. The case is a practical warning that developer-focused AI tools can be folded into malware workflows when exposed to attacker prompts and automation.

Zoom patches critical Windows account takeover flaw

Zoom issued fixes for CVE-2026-53412, a critical improper input validation bug affecting Zoom Workplace for Windows, Zoom VDI Client for Windows, and the Windows Meeting SDK. The Hacker News reports the flaw could enable account takeover, so Windows Zoom clients and SDK integrations need fast patching.

Dev Tools

OpenAI releases Codex Micro hardware for its coding workflow

The Verge reports that OpenAI launched Codex Micro, a compact block of programmable buttons designed to work with its Codex coding platform. The product is separate from OpenAI's broader consumer hardware plans and signals Codex is getting dedicated workflow hardware.

Claude gains 1Password browser integration for credential-backed tasks

1Password launched an integration that lets Claude access approved saved credentials so the agent can complete multi-step web tasks without users manually entering logins. The feature points to a more practical agent workflow, but also raises the need for clear authorization boundaries around credential use.