Today’s AI Tools, Social Trends, & Google Breakouts (July 3, 2025)

Every day you lose out on opportunities because you don't keep an eye on search spikes, viral trends, or new AI tools. Keeping up is exhausting, so here is your July 3 roundup, which includes all of the important insights in one place.

As we step deeper into July 2025, AI is driving rapid change across creative, coding, and business operations. Here are the tools you should keep your eye on right now.

With its sophisticated AI integrations, Figma remains a leading design platform. The purpose of these AI-powered features is to automate tedious design work so that designers can focus on originality and imaginative problem-solving. Unmatched layout granularity is provided by Figma's new Grid system, which also seamlessly integrates with features like autoflow and guarantees design integrity across a range of screen sizes.

"Figma Sites," which enables designers to create fully responsive websites straight from Figma with component libraries and future CMS features, is a particularly innovative addition. The deployment of interactive prototypes and marketing websites is significantly accelerated by this feature. Additionally, Figma's color picker now incorporates a new built-in accessibility checker, which simplifies accessibility testing and encourages more inclusive design practices right from the start. In 2025, Figma will be a vital tool for UI/UX designers worldwide thanks to complementary AI plugins like MagiCopy, which generates text using AI, Automator, which automates tasks, and Magestic, which creates icon sets using AI.

Figma can be found at https://www.figma.com/.

With a focus on scalability and performance, Cline is a potent open-source AI coding assistant designed for writing, debugging, and refactoring intricate software projects. This clever VS Code addon integrates cutting-edge AI capabilities right into the developer's workflow. With its dual "Plan" and "Act" modes, Cline is able to create a thorough plan for a request and then carry it out with precision, implementing extensive changes throughout a whole codebase.

It functions as an embedded AI development team by reading entire projects, searching within files, and running terminal commands. Remarkably flexible, Cline enables users to connect to a variety of language models through a designated API, including well-known choices such as Google Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's GPT-4, and even locally hosted models. This offers vital cost and data privacy control. Through integration of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), Cline becomes more than just a coding partner; it becomes a full-fledged development ecosystem that can manage Git operations, run tests, update documentation, and communicate with project management tools—all while preserving deep project context for precise recommendations and faster development.

Visit Cline to learn more: https://cline.bot/

Gamma is a cutting-edge AI-powered tool that transforms content creation by enabling users to turn straightforward prompts into intricate documents, captivating websites, or expertly polished presentation decks. It is a great tool for educators creating interactive lesson plans, marketers needing to quickly create engaging pitch decks, and creators exhibiting their portfolios. The time spent creating traditional slides is greatly decreased by Gamma's user-friendly interface, which also allows for the smooth embedding of rich media like spreadsheets and videos.

Some of the key features are "One-Click Restyling," which allows for instant aesthetic changes without compromising content, "One-Click Polish," which turns rough drafts into polished, professional-quality outputs, and flexible templates, which allow for quick creation and adaptability. Effective teamwork is made possible by real-time collaboration features, and integrated analytics monitor audience engagement to allow for ongoing presentation or website enhancement. Gamma is a flexible solution for anyone wishing to quickly create high-quality visual communication because of its multi-device compatibility, which guarantees that content is universally readable.

With its sophisticated multi-step reasoning, Cosine presents itself as a fully autonomous AI software engineer that can handle complex frontend and backend development tasks. "Genie," the company's flagship AI agent, is made to mimic the operational methodology of human software engineers. Genie can collaborate in real time or asynchronously, retrieve data on its own, create solutions, run and thoroughly test code, and more. It easily fits into current team workflows and can branch, implement changes, conduct tests, submit Pull Requests, and accept tasks straight from project management platforms like Jira or Linear.

Cosine emphasizes how Genie can decipher and alter any frontend code in both new and old projects, proving that it can handle intricate codebases in a manner similar to that of a human engineer. As the "world's most human-like autonomous AI software developer," Genie upends development teams by managing repetitive tasks and freeing up human engineers to concentrate on more complex ideas, according to Cosine, who highlights its human-like reasoning and ongoing learning from real-world engineering examples.

Visit https://cosine.sh/ to learn more about cosine.

Cursor is a fast-growing AI code editor that was carefully tailored for developers and constructed as a stable fork of Visual Studio Code. By supporting collaborative AI agents and offering real-time AI chat assistance, it significantly improves coding efficiency. Cursor has queued messages for easy follow-up instructions and sophisticated agent planning that breaks down long-horizon tasks into structured to-do lists. Throughout coding sessions, contextual understanding is greatly enhanced by its "Memories" feature.

The capabilities include semantic search driven by improved embeddings, PR indexing and search, and even AI agents that can resolve intricate merge conflicts. Cursor is excellent at providing quick, context-aware code recommendations, allowing for refactoring and file edits right within the editor. In 2025, it will be a top option for teams that value an AI-first coding experience and reliable, real-time AI support since developers can write code using natural language instructions and the editor can index a whole codebase for thorough natural language queries.

Visit Cursor to learn more: https://www.cursor.com/

With the official release of its first AI video generation model, V1, Midjourney—which is renowned for its ability to produce stunning cinematic visuals—has greatly broadened its creative horizons. With just basic text inputs, creators can now produce stunning videos and graphics thanks to this ground-breaking invention. V1, which is mainly available through Discord with a paid subscription, lets users turn still photos into brief video clips that start at five seconds and can be extended to twenty-one seconds.

It gives you fine-grained control over subject interactions and camera movements with both automatic and manual animation modes. Although Midjourney's initial focus was on developing AI images, the release of V1 places it squarely in the same league as other major players in the quickly developing field of AI video generation, including Google's Veo and OpenAI's Sora. This calculated action highlights Midjourney's overarching goal of creating models that can perform complex, real-time open-world simulations, making it a vital tool for digital artists and visual storytellers who are pushing the limits of artistic expression.

Visit Midjourney at https://www.midjourney.com/.

Perplexity AI is a cutting-edge AI-powered search engine that combines data from various online sources to deliver conversational, real-time responses to user queries. Research is made quicker and more effective for professionals, students, and regular users alike with Perplexity AI's direct, thorough answers and clear citations, in contrast to traditional search engines that frequently return a lengthy list of links. To guarantee excellent accuracy and relevance, it makes use of a variety of state-of-the-art AI models, such as GPT-4, Claude 3, Google Gemini, and its own exclusive Sonar models.

Key features include "Focus Modes" to target particular content types (e.g., Academic, Reddit, YouTube), "Pro Search" for more thorough, in-depth research, and the ability to upload and analyze a variety of file types, including PDFs and images. Additionally, Perplexity AI offers a new "Max" subscription tier ($200/month as of July 2025) that grants priority access to sophisticated AI models, early access to experimental features like the "Comet" AI-powered browser, and unlimited use of its "Labs" feature for creating spreadsheets and reports. For academic studies, market research, current events, and any other task requiring quick, validated information synthesis, this tool is invaluable.

Visit Perplexity AI to learn more: https://www.perplexity.ai/

In just three hours, more than a million searches were made for this celebrity trial, which sparked intense debates on numerous platforms around the world.

How to use it: This trend shows that people are very interested in news about celebrities and cultural relevance. Themes of public image, media influence, and the wider effects of well-known court cases on public opinion and corporate strategy are all available to content producers.

A wildfire incident in the Los Angeles area prompted over 100,000 searches during this event. It draws attention to the growing interest in content about crises, climate change, and infrastructure.

How to utilize it: This trend can be used by journalists, niche content producers, or groups that specialize in news commentary, public safety, environmental sustainability, or disaster preparedness. It can be very pertinent to provide localized updates, professional analysis on preventing wildfires, or conversations about the effects of climate change.

In less than an hour, Microsoft's decision to stop developing the "Perfect Dark" game and "Everwild" prompted more than 5,000 searches.

How to utilize it: For industry analysts, gaming journalists, and tech reviewers, this is a crucial time. They can release in-depth articles, reaction videos, or opinion pieces addressing the effects of such cancellations on particular developers, player communities, or the gaming industry.

Significant headlines were generated by the announcement that Del Monte, a grocery chain that has been in business for 138 years, had filed for bankruptcy protection.

How to utilize it: This subject can be studied by analysts, financial specialists, and business historians. Analyzing the difficulties faced by established brands, the effects of price pressures in the grocery industry, or chances for brand reinvention in the face of market changes could be the main topics of content.

After Microsoft announced a 9,000-person layoff, its largest reduction since 2023, this news prompted over 20,000 searches.

How to use it: For content producers who are interested in career advancement, tech employment markets, and the nature of work in the future, this trend presents a significant opportunity. Discussions of how AI will affect job roles, methods for preparing for the future of careers, or more general examinations of corporate reorganizations in the tech sector could all be topics.

Perplexity AI has launched its most advanced subscription level, Perplexity Max, which costs $200 a month or $2,000 a year. This high-end product is for professionals, content creators, business strategists, and academic researchers who want AI to work as hard as possible and have instant access to the newest features. With Perplexity Max, you can use Perplexity's "Labs" feature as much as you want. This is a powerful workspace for making web apps, spreadsheets, dashboards, and presentations with advanced orchestration tools. Subscribers also get to try out new products before anyone else, like "Comet," Perplexity's new AI-powered browser that is meant to be a smart thought partner for web interactions. Perplexity Max also gives you priority access to top-of-the-line advanced AI models like OpenAI's o3-pro and Anthropic's Claude Opus 4. As these models get better, new frontier models will be added. You will also have exclusive access to premium data sources and priority customer support. Perplexity says it handles 780 million queries a month, which is more than 20% more than the month before.

Check out Perplexity Max at https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-perplexity-max.

TikTok has started a new round of layoffs in its TikTok Shop US division. This shows that the platform is still having trouble with its ambitious plans to grow its e-commerce business in the US. Reports say that this is the third time since April that the TikTok Shop US team has had to lay off workers, but the exact number of jobs lost has not been made public. According to reports, the company told employees about "organizational and personnel changes" after a "careful analysis of how to create more efficient operating models for the team's long-term growth."

The restructuring comes after reports that TikTok Shop's US e-commerce business didn't meet its internal transaction volume goals. The layoffs come after reports of confusion among leaders and a trend of replacing US-based staff with leaders from China. This is because TikTok wants to bring its Asian e-commerce success to the Western market. This change happens while regulators are still looking into TikTok and there is still uncertainty about what will happen to the app in the US.

According to Bloomberg (through Economic Times), https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/shop-stop-employees-of-tiktoks-ecommerce-business-face-layoffs/articleshow/122198126.cms

Terra CO2, a company in Colorado that makes building materials with low carbon emissions, has raised $124.5 million in Series B equity funding. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Eagle Materials, GenZero, and Just Climate are all leading this big investment. Barclays Climate Ventures, Cemex, and Siemens Financial Services are also making strategic investments. This money will help build Terra's first commercial-scale advanced-processing facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, which will process 240,000 tons of material per year.

The money will also help the team and site grow, as well as the creation of more commercial-scale cementitious projects. Terra CO2 is a leader in building technology that will greatly reduce the carbon footprint of concrete. Their first product, OPUS SCM (Supplementary Cementitious Material), is ready for businesses to use and can replace up to 50% of regular Portland cement, cutting carbon emissions by 70%. Their second product, OPUS ZERO, is currently being tested and is supposed to completely replace Portland cement. The cement industry is a major source of carbon emissions around the world, so this funding will have a huge impact on speeding up green infrastructure around the world.

To learn more about Terra CO2, go to https://www.finsmes.com/2025/07/terra-co2-raises-additional-124-5m-in-series-b-funding.html.

Microsoft has said that it will cut about 9,000 jobs in July 2025. This is the company's second big round of layoffs this year. This most recent cut affects less than 4% of the company's global workforce. In May, there was a cut of 6,000 jobs. When you add up all of these actions, Microsoft's total number of employees will have dropped by more than 15,000 by the middle of 2025. The company is restructuring even though it has good financial results in order to make operations more efficient, cut down on management layers, and move resources around.

Microsoft's huge investment in artificial intelligence is a big reason for these layoffs. For example, the company plans to spend $80 billion on AI in fiscal year 2025 alone, mostly to build and upgrade data centers to support its growing AI models. These cuts raise important questions about the future of the tech industry, the growing use of AI and automation to replace traditional jobs, and the overall adjustment of tech companies after they grew quickly during the pandemic. Gaming, Sales, Marketing, and a number of middle management roles are among the teams that will be affected.

Microsoft's official blog (via Economic Times): https://m.economictimes.com/tech/technology/microsoft-to-lay-off-up-to-9000-employees-report/articleshow/122208111.cms

Volkswagen Group gave Rivian Automotive, Inc. $1 billion in equity on June 30, 2025. This investment is part of a $5.8 billion technology joint venture deal between the two car companies that was first announced last year. The money comes at a price of $19.42 per share, which is 33% more than Rivian's 30-day volume-weighted average stock price. This strategic partnership is likely to make Rivian a major player in the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Volkswagen gets Rivian's advanced electrical architectures and software knowledge in return for a lot of money. The head of software at Rivian has confirmed that Rivian's software, including zonal architecture, will be used in future Volkswagen electric vehicles. The goal is to improve the "end-to-end user experience" in Volkswagen's software-defined vehicles. This partnership lets both companies take advantage of Rivian's technological expertise and speed up the shift to zero-emission transportation around the world.

Rivian Investor Page (via Business Wire): https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250702664045/en/Rivian-Releases-Q2-2025-Production-and-Delivery-Figures-Announces-Funding-of-%241B-Volkswagen-Group-Investment-in-Rivian-and-Sets-Date-for-Second-Quarter-2025-Financial-Results

Australian airline Qantas has confirmed a cyber incident at one of its contact centers that affected customer data. This shows how important it is for the entire aviation sector to improve its cybersecurity. On July 1, 2025, a cybercriminal attacked a third-party customer service platform used by a Qantas contact center and got into it without permission. The breached platform holds service records for about 6 million customers, but Qantas' main operational and safety systems are still safe.

A first look shows that the data that was accessed includes the names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and frequent flyer numbers of some customers. The airline has made it clear that credit card information, personal financial information, and passport information were not stored in this system and were not accessed. There was no breach of frequent flyer accounts, passwords, PINs, or login information. Qantas has apologized to the customers who were affected, set up a special support line, and is working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and the Australian Federal Police to find out if the incident was a crime.

Qantas Pressroom: https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-cyber-incident/

The digital current moves quickly. The world of marketing and technology is always changing, from cutting-edge AI tools like Cline and Perplexity Max to viral social trends like "You Look Happier."Are your plans really in line with the tools and searches that people are using right now? Now is the time to use these insights before they disappear. Use them in your short-form content, improve the SEO of your blog, and make your product positioning better.Push yourself: Try out one new AI tool this week. Make a trending moment work for your niche. In your next piece of content, use a popular Google search term.What you do today, not what you know, will determine your success next month. Be flexible, keep learning, and give yourself the tools you need to grow.