WordPress 7.0, new Divi modules, AI generated content, agentic SEO, Google Pics, Reddit and whole hog pitmaster. I always dread the weeks when a new major version of WordPress is released. For me, there are rarely new features that are of interest and there are a lot of potential problems. Two sites I manage have been updated from WordPress 6.9.4 to 7.0 and there have been no issues. I’ll likely wait until a maintenance release is issued before updating any more sites. Just glad that the two that updated went smoothly. Check out the rest of this week’s news in the stories below.

For those of you in the world of Web design, I invite you to join our new Divi Unleashed Facebook group.

• Liquid Web Consolidates WordPress Software Portfolio, Retires Standalone Brands Including Kadence and StellarWP
• DreamHost Requests Court to Keep Documents Under Seal in WP Engine v. Automattic Case
• The Great Replatforming: WordPress Is Training Its Own Replacement
• WordPress 7.0 Is A Winner: Here’s What You Need To Know
• WordPress 7.0 Launches With Native AI Integration
• WordPress 7 Put Your AI API Keys in One Place. Should You Be Worried?
• WordPress 7.0 Faces Security Concerns Over AI API Keys
• WordPress 7.0 “Armstrong” Ships With AI Infrastructure, Modernized Dashboard, and New Design Tools
• James LePage and Felix Arntz Step Down as WordPress AI Team Co-Reps, LePage Leaves Automattic
• Automattic’s Radical Speed Month Wraps Up With Podcast, Payment and Publishing Tools Among 400+ Projects
• WordPress 7.1 Planning Kicks Off With August 19 Release Date During WordCamp US
• What 8 Years of Building Dynamic WordPress Websites Taught Us
• From Azeroth to WordPress: How Warcraft Tavern Uses Beaver Builder
• JetMessenger: Chat Plugin for WordPress Marketplaces & Booking Portals
• Closing a chapter at Automattic

• What Google’s UCP Tells Us About Agent-Ready Websites
• Mt. Stupid Has A Pricing Page
• Can A 300,000-Influencer Network Built On AI-Generated Content Work?
• Nearly half of online articles are now AI-generated: Study
• Mailchimp Review: Top-Tier Email Marketing Powered by Useful AI Tools
• Why AI adoption may look bigger than it really is: Data
• What’s a visitor in the age of AI?
• No Easy Walkaway: Skechers Must Face Email Marketing Claims
• Digital PR Hasn’t Changed – AI Search Just Made The Fundamentals More Important
• All You Need To Know About Cloudflare’s Agent Readiness Score

• The 5-layer framework for measuring GEO performance
• SEO/GEO audits with AI fail without these 3 essentials
• Google’s new intelligent Search box – its biggest change to the search box in 25 years
• Google Search now powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash
• Google lets you build your own app within Google Search with agentic coding
• How AI may increase the value of SEO expertise
• How to build custom SEO reports with Claude Code and Google Search Console
• Google’s llms.txt Guidance Depends On Which Product You Ask
• Google adds llms.txt check to Chrome Lighthouse
• What Is Agentic SEO? And How to Get Started This Week
• Google Search as you know it is over
• The search everywhere optimization pyramid: How to build visibility before search

• Content creator angst: You can engage yourself broke.
• Microsoft’s “ironic” GitHub Copilot logo sparks controversy
• Creating ‘Non-Commodity’ Content That Cuts Through The Noise
• Google Pics Makes AI Image Generation Way Less Annoying
• Google’s new app icons were desperately needed
• Google Pics Lets You Use AI to Edit Specific Parts of an Image
• Adobe Illustrator Review: The Vector Illustration Victor
• Wikipedia’s most underrated logo finally gets the love it deserves
• What Is Content Engineering, and How Do You Do It?
• “The future is one person making a whole film,” says director of “first AI movie at Cannes”
• How the em dash got caught in the crossfire in the war on AI writing
• Bob’s Red Mill rebrand is the Cracker Barrel logo controversy all over again
• Mascots are back, but not as you know them

• YouTube Will Help You Find Videos Featuring Your AI Clone
• YouTube Expands AI Creation Tools With Gemini Omni And Conversational Search
• Reddit’s AI search influence goes beyond training data
• Meta Launches Forum, a New Reddit-Like App for Facebook Groups
• Meta Joins Snap, TikTok, YouTube in Settling Social Media Addiction Case
• Reddit CEO: LLMs ‘Would Not Exist’ Without Reddit Data

• Ivrea’s Battle of the Oranges Is Raucous, Sticky Fun
• 7 Discontinued TV Dinners That Defined the Microwave Era
• The Original Caesar Salad Was Finger Food
• Chickens without eggs? De-extinction company creates artificial egg.
• The World’s Northernmost Town Toasts the Sun With Mangosteens
• Meet the Rocket Scientist Who’s Also a Whole Hog Pitmaster
• The 19th-Century Recipe That Created a Fish-Cookout Craze

If you see some important news that you feel we should share with our readers, please let us know and we’ll consider including it in our next post.