Daily Tech News Show

In a market where 2.5″ notebook drives have been supplanted by SSDs and NVMe, WD releases a new 6TB 2.5″ line. What are they thinking? Patrick Norton explains. Plus LG stops making the Signature OLED R TV that rolls down and hides within a stand. And the latest helping of OpenAI news.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Patrick Norton, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

OpenAI and Google both had LLM announcements this week. But which offered more compelling and consumer-ready products? Plus the joint sports streaming venture between Disney, Fox, Warner Brothers Discovery has an official name: Venu Sports. More importantly, what does this service entail?

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Predictive AI is making its mark in the world of gambling. How does AI integration into slot machines and sports betting benefit everyone involved? Plus Apple announces new accessibility features coming to iOS and iPad OS. And OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever announces he will be leaving the company.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

It’s Google I/O 2024 ! We go over all the big announcements from Google's developer event. Plus Comcast will offer a Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+ service bundle at a reduced price. Are bundles back?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

OpenAI announces their latest LLM GPT-4o. What does it mean for the LLM space and its competitors? Plus US and Chinese officials will meet in Switzerland Tuesday to discuss AI security concerns. And a new study by the Oxford Internet Institute suggests a high correlation between Internet access and use with positive wellbeing.

Starring Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

We have a full wrap-up on this week's RSA conference from CISO series podcast producer, David Spark. Plus OpenAI plans to announce Google search competitor on Monday. And Jack Dorsey the former Twitter CEO feels that decentralized social network BlueSky is repeating all the mistakes of Twitter.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, David Spark, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Voice ID is a popular security measure some banks use but has generative Voice ID made it a security risk? Plus TikTok announces it will start adding an “AI-Generated” label to watermarked third-party AI-generated content. And chaos at Xbox as it closes three subsidiaries with plans to absorb a fourth.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Shannon Morse, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Scott gives us an artist’s take on Apple’s latest iPad announcement. Plus Micron is shipping upgradable memory modules called LPCAMM2 which promises the convenience of user-upgradeability of traditional SODIMM with the power efficiency of solder on memory modules. And the US Department of Commerce confirmed to the Financial Times that it has revoked “certain” export licenses to Huawei.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

We analyze Apple’s newly announced iPads including a new iPad Pro powered by the all new M4 processor. Plus Amazon launches an online shopping service in South Africa. And a roundup of the latest Open AI news including a tool to let content creators opt-out of their work be used in AI training models.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Nica Montford, Terrance Gaines, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

PlayStation relents on forcing PC gamers playing the Steam version of “Helldivers 2” to log into the PlayStation network to play. Plus we share the latest Apple and Android including the TRT for Apple’s event tomorrow. And we examine the complaints surrounding “Vera AI” claims that it lets users create copies of “your friends or family members”.

Starring Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Antartica is the most remote continent on the planet. So how's the internet connection? We find out from a person actually living there at McMurdo Station. We breakdown Apple's Q2 2024 earnings announcement. And Seattle based Hubble Network has successfully established a Bluetooth connection directly to a satellite.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Craig Porter, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Amos

Show notes here.

Universal Music Group and TikTok have ended their standoff over royalty payments and AI policies. Plus DOJ records show Google paid Apple $20 Billion to be default search engine in 2022. And French economist, Yann Coatanlem, believes Europe needs more flexible labor markets to compete against China and Europe in tech. Is he right?

Starring Sarah Lane, Justin Robert Young, Amos, Roger Chang

Show notes here:

Apple's May 7th event is being billed as "a different kind of Apple Event" we speculate on what that means. Plus prices are used Apple Vision Pros are unexpectedly low. And Android Faithful's Mishaal Rahman details what he discovered about the Rabbit R1 personal assistant. 

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Eileen Rivera, Mishaal Rahman, Amos, Roger Chang

Show notes here.

Quick Hits:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/1/24146205/lastpass-independent-company-security-breaches

https://www.theverge.com/24145849/batman-arkham-shadow-trailer-vr-meta-quest-3-exclusive

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/1/24145983/anthropic-claude3-model-mobile-app-team-plan

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/30/24145259/walmart-health-centers-close

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/30/screenshots-suggest-tiktok-is-circumventing-apple-app-store-commissions/

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/30/screenshots-suggest-tiktok-is-circumventing-apple-app-store-commissions/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-americans-see-tiktok-chinese-influence-tool-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2024-05-01/

Top Stories:

https://www.androidauthority.com/rabbit-r1-is-an-android-app-3438805/

https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/05/01/gms-carplay-replacement-doesnt-work-well-and-has-a-long-road-ahead-of-it

Join the Discord: https://www.patreon.com/dtns

Discussion Story:

https://9to5mac.com/2024/04/30/apple-may-7-different-kind-event/

https://shows.acast.com/apple-vision-show

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/27/24142810/apple-vision-pro-ebay-low-prices

https://swappa.com/listings/apple-vision-pro

Today’s guest:

Eileen Rivera

https://applevisionshow.com

@eileentv

Next guest:

Justin Robert Young

https://justinrobertyoung.tv

https://shows.acast.com/worlds-greatest-con

https://werenotwrong.fireside.fm

http://freepoliticalnewsletter.com

@JustinRYoung

Show Links:

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http://www.cordkillers.com

http://awordpodcast.com

Anthropic announces Team enterprise offering, Walmart ditches its health centers, is TikTok skirting Apple's App Store commission fees? 

Show Notes

Pittsburgh's Aurora Innovation plans to operate 20 self-driving semitrucks between Dallas and Houston this year. And we go over a trio of TikTok news including a possible ban in the EU. Plus Instagram is making changes to its algorithm to recommend smaller creators. 

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Amos, Roger Chang

Show notes here:

Quick Hits:

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/04/apple-poaches-ai-experts-from-google-creates-secretive-european-ai-lab/

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/30/microsoft-openai-lawsuit-copyright-newspapers-alden-global

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/google-to-pay-up-to-6-million-to-news-corp-for-new-ai-content-report/articleshow/109734472.cms

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/30/24145198/beats-solo-4-headphones-buds

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/30/24144183/arc-browser-windows-launch-features-availability

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-30/ses-agrees-to-buy-intelsat-in-3-1-billion-satellite-deal-deal

Top Stories:

https://www.politico.eu/article/tiktok-ban-in-eu-is-not-excluded-von-der-leyen-says/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/29/tiktok-capcut-ban-impact/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-30/tiktok-shop-tops-500-000-us-sellers-after-2023-e-commerce-launch

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/30/instagram-is-updating-its-ranking-systems-to-surface-more-content-from-smaller-original-creators/

Subscribe to Apple Vision Show: https://applevisionshow.com

Discussion Story:

https://apnews.com/article/trucks-selfdriving-highways-automation-driver-083409631158f54d806d75309c4764e2

Next guest:

Eileen Rivera

https://applevisionshow.com

@eileentv

Show Links:

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http://knowalittlemore.com

http://dtns.bigcartel.com

http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/support

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https://twitter.com/sarahlane

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Default guessable usernames and passwords on IoT devices are now banned in the UK. Noyb, a European privacy rights group, has filed a complaint against OpenAI for violating the GDPR. And we share tips on how to travel with tech you need for an event. 

Starring Tom Merritt, Scott Johnson, Brian Ibbott, Amos, Roger Chang

Show notes here:

Quick Hits:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/29/ipados-dma/

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/28/24143526/apple-oled-ipad-pro-11-13-inch-m4-ai-tablet

https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2024/report-apple-and-openai-reopen-iphone-ai-talks/

https://wccftech.com/apple-vision-pro-successor-not-expected-until-end-of-2026/

https://www.androidpolice.com/google-play-store-simultaneous-downloads-wider-roll-out/

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/12/23914177/google-pixel-8-everything-need-know-news-announcment-review

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/29/elon-musk-china-self-driving-approval

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/29/24141869/financial-times-licensing-deal-openai-news

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/us-post-office-phishing-sites-get-as-much-traffic-as-the-real-one/

Top Stories:

https://9to5mac.com/2024/04/29/weak-passwords-for-smart-home-devices-to-be-illegal-in-europe/

https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/28/chatgpt-gdpr-complaint-noyb/

Discussion Story:

https://kokoon.io/en-us/products/philips-sleep-headphones-with-kokoon 

Today’s guest:

Scott Johnson

http://frogpants.com

https://frogpants.substack.com

@scottjohnson

@scottjohnson@mastodon.sdf.org

Brian Ibbott

https://www.coverville.com

https://www.frogpants.com/tms

@Coverville

Show Links:

http://dailytechnewsshow.com/ntx

http://knowalittlemore.com

http://dtns.bigcartel.com

http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/support

http://dtns.tv/wiki

http://sarahlane.com

https://twitter.com/sarahlane

https://medium.com/@sarahlane

https://masto.ai/@sarahlane

https://havesuchagoodday.com

http://tomsnewbook.com

http://swordandlaser.com/store

http://www.cordkillers.com

http://awordpodcast.com

Is the Chips Act a success? The author of "Chip War", Chris Miller, believes it and we go over his reasons for his belief. Plus Engadget's Sam Rutherford argues that it doesn't matter if Apple only sold 400,000 Vision Pros. It's still making money. And we go over Alphabet's earnings.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Molly Wood, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the show notes here:

Quick Hits:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/25/snap-snap-q1-2024-earnings-.html

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/25/24139988/microsoft-q3-2024-earnings-revenue-profits-windows-xbox-gaming-surface

https://9to5mac.com/2024/04/26/apple-pulls-multiple-ai-nude-image-apps-from-app-store/

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/25/intel-intc-earnings-report-q1-2024.html

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openais-sam-altman-and-other-tech-leaders-to-serve-on-ai-safety-board-7dc47b78

Top Stories:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/25/alphabet-set-to-report-first-quarter-results-after-market-close.html

https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/youtube-q1-2024-revenue-alphabet-earnings-1235982528/

https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-pause-ads-3437531/

https://www.engadget.com/it-doesnt-matter-how-many-vision-pro-headsets-apple-sells-ming-chi-kuo-production-numbers-143112470.html

Check out Tom’s Top Five: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHN12N7TXUyeSz1XWNVjwDvdzpAycENQi

Discussion Story:

https://www.christophermiller.net

https://www.ft.com/content/26756186-99e5-448f-a451-f5e307b13723

https://www.popsci.com/environment/chips-ira-climate-change-policy/

Mailbag:

https://laevmobilecharging.com

Today’s guest:

Molly Wood

https://www.mollywood.co

https://mollywood.substack.com

https://www.everybodyinthepool.com

@mollywood

@mollywoodpro@mastodon.social

Next guest:

Scott Johnson

http://frogpants.com

https://frogpants.substack.com

@scottjohnson

@scottjohnson@mastodon.sdf.org

Brian Ibbott

https://www.coverville.com

https://www.frogpants.com/tms

@Coverville

Show Links:

http://dailytechnewsshow.com/ntx

http://knowalittlemore.com

http://dtns.bigcartel.com

http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/support

http://dtns.tv/wiki

http://sarahlane.com

https://twitter.com/sarahlane

https://medium.com/@sarahlane

https://masto.ai/@sarahlane

https://havesuchagoodday.com

http://tomsnewbook.com

http://swordandlaser.com/store

http://www.cordkillers.com

http://awordpodcast.com

Why are people getting tired of on-demand video streaming and what does that mean for streaming services? Plus as TikTok faces legislative action in the US, regulators in Europe are turning a more skeptical eye to the social media platform. And will Rabbit’s R1 AI personal assistant device avoid the fate of the Humane AI pin?

Starring Sarah Lane, Nica Montford, Charlotte Henry, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

What does Meta hope to achieve by opening up their Meta Horizon OS to third party hardware developers? And Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X Plus which the company aims to put on more Windows laptops. Plus Apple releases small, open source AI models designed for on-device usage called OpenELM.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Amos, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Adobe announces that Photoshop will get the ability to generate images from a text prompt in the app. Plus Ray-Ban’s Meta Smart Glasses now have multimodal AI support. And Apple has an announcement set for 10 AM Eastern time May 7th.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

The US House passed another bill on Saturday, that would require ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US arm within 9-12 months of being ordered to do so. We explore what happens next. Plus is subscribing to a service to watch a specific show and then canceling the new way we watch TV? And Swedish company Embracer Group is splitting into three companies.

Starring Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

What options does Meta in operating in the EU if they can't offer a free version that allows them to collect user data or a paid version that charges for the service? Plus in the age of AI powered services is the term “user” outdated? And Netflix announced its Q1 earnings report on Thursday. How well or not did they do?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Nate Lanxon, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe, 

Link to show notes.

How can learning about how bacteria swim help us stop infections and make more agile nanobots? Plus will Google’s latest reorganizing really help bring AI to all of its products? And the latest Meta AI roundup.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Dr. Niki Ackermans, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

We evaluate the leaked specs for Sony’s upcoming PS5 Pro. Plus power demand from data centers is holding back AI development. What are the solutions? And US cybersecurity firm and Google subsidiary Mandiant said Wednesday that a hacking group with ties to the GRU was behind the January cyberattack that caused a tank at a water facility in Muleshoe, TX, to overflow.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

How is YouTube expanding its efforts to stop ad blocker use on YouTube? Plus we take a closer look at why Humane AI pins have been poorly received. And we explain the buzz around the audio based social media platform, Airchat.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Adobe is integrating generative models for Adobe Premiere, its video editor. Plus after Apple made changes to its App Store policy allowing emulators, the company booted off its first emulator iGBA. And Samsung has taken its crown back as the leader in global smartphone shipments.

Starring Tom Merritt, Nica Montford, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Tech layoffs have been a common occurrence over the past several months. But what is it like after you’ve been laid off and where do you go from there? Plus OpenTable is informing members that all reviews on the platform will now show members’ profile pictures and first names starting May 22nd. And a roundup of the latest Chatbot stories.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Nicole Lee, Veronica Belmont, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

The first round of reviews for Humane’s AI Pin have been published. We parse out what reviewers had to say. Plus Instagram announced a new safety feature that will automatically blur out nude images sent via direct message on the platform. And how is anti-deepfake porn legislation bringing together lawmakers from across the political spectrum.

Starring Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Microsoft has plans for new Xbox hardware. Plus Blizzard announces its games will return to mainland China in summer 2024 after signing a new deal. And after EU legislation forced Google, MS, and Apple to make it easier for users to switch to rival browsers, independent browser companies have seen a spike in users.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Android’s enhanced Find My Device network was rolled out yesterday. What can it do and what do you need to use it? Plus we share the big news from Google’s Next conference in Las Vegas today.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Ron Richards, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Ford delays its EV rollout and refocuses on hybrids as public interest in EV ownership wanes. What’s going on? Plus Apple’s new app guidelines allows for game emulators and in the EU music apps can take users to an external website.

Starring Sarah Lane, Chris Ashley, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Google Podcasts is no more. What are your options? Plus OpenAI CTO Mira Murati wouldn’t confirm if its Sora model was trained on any data from YouTube, Instagram or Facebook. And Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC that the company will begin its password-sharing crackdown in June.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Tasia Custode, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

We share long time supporter Craig Porter’s insight into the connectivity and internet situation in the Antarctic. Plus Social Media service X is doling out free blue checks to users that have more than 2500 premium followers. And how do you determine if you actually need a VPN? Patrick Norton is here to explain.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Patrick Norton, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Microsoft is testing an AI chatbot for Xbox support services, but has bigger plans for the technology. Plus Stable Audio 2.0 now lets users upload their own audio samples to create text-prompt AI-generated songs. And we discuss what impacts yesterday’s earthquake in Taiwan has on chip production and why Threads is suddenly so popular in the island nation.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Scientists from Trinity college Dublin published a paper in the journal PLOS ONE that found that some people perceive more images per second than others. Plus Yahoo and Artifact jointly announced Tuesday that Yahoo will buy Artifact, an AI-generated news aggregation and recommendation app. And why does the New York Times consider games like World and Connections new classified section?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Microsoft and OpenAI are jointly working on a data center featuring an AI supercomputer named “Stargate”. Plus what’s the current status on that legislative bill to force ByteDance to sell TikTok or block its use in the US? And a backdoor was found in a widely-used compression program called XZ Utils for Linux and Unix-style OSs by Microsoft developer named Andres Freund.

Starring Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

In a recent study China pulls ahead of the US when it comes to developing AI talent. What is AI talent and what skills do you need to become one? Plus The Drive reports the Old Westbury Police Department in NY state is using GPS trackers embedded in foam darts with sticky glue on them fired from special launchers on police vehicles. Four school boards in Ontario, Canada are suing Meta, Snap and ByteDance for $4.5 billion, alleging their products negatively affect children.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Andrea Jones-Rooy, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Is a recent half-a-billion plus donation to Future of Life Institute, an AI think tank, set the stage for AI regulation? Plus why are Intel’s and Microsoft’s idea of what constitutes an AI PC confusing? And Google announced it’s rolling out an update to its Search Generative Experience (SGE).

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe

Link to the Show Notes.

What does Microsoft’s Phil Spencer think is happening to the video gaming business? Plus Disney officially adds Hulu as a category inside of Disney+. And why are Apple users getting dozens of password reset notifications?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

We discuss the emergent capability of generative video LLM as a world simulator. What does it mean and what can it do? Plus we examine David Pierce’s The Verge article called “Here’s why AI search engines really can’t kill Google.” And online design company Canva will acquire professional design software company Affinity.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Andrew Mayne, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

How are game microtransactions infuriating game players and why might we see more of them in the future? Plus Spotify is testing a fourth category of content alongside music, podcasts and books; online courses. And did Microsoft’s Phil Spencer hint about a future handheld Xbox?

Starring Tom Merritt, Trisha Hershberger, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Are robotaxis facing a losing war in gaining broad public acceptance? Nicole shares her experience riding in them and what she thinks needs to be done. Plus seven US researchers have identified a new side-channel attack called “GoFetch” that impacts Apple M1, M2, and M3 processors. And OpenAI pitches its technology to film studios and directors.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Nicole Lee, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Microsoft announces new Surface PCs for Business with Copilot integration. Plus Neuroscience startup Neuralink live-streamed an interview Wednesday with 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, the first person to be implanted with Neuralink’s brain-computer interface. And the US Department of Justice files a lawsuit against Apple for monopolistic behavior.

Starring Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Unity’s 2024 Unity Gaming Report notes an increase in multiplatform game development. What’s behind this trend and is it good for the industry? Plus Meta’s Peter Cottle shows off a brief demo of how users can eventually connect their accounts and posts to the Fediverse through Threads. And Ubisoft revealed at GDC that it has been developing an NPC that uses Large Language Models to have more realistic conversations with players.

Starring Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Patrick Beja, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Meta is reducing the fee for EU users to €5.99 a month plus €4 for additional accounts to assuage regulators' concerns about economic coercion. Plus we share the highlights from Nvidia’s keynote at its GTC developer conference.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

How has GDC 2024 pivoted to meet the needs of laid off game developers. Plus why has Sony paused the manufacture of its PlayStation VR2 headset? And Bloomberg reports sources say Apple and Alphabet are in negotiations to use Google Gemini for some AI services in a future version of iOS.

Starring Tom Merritt, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Ars Technica posted a story on Thursday called “Hackers can read private AI-assistant chats even though they’re encrypted.” Which Chatbots are affected and what should users do about it? Plus Walmart begins selling Macs for the first time! And The US Supreme Court will hear the case of Murthy vs. Missouri on Monday. At issue is whether it is a violation of free speech protections for the US government to directly call out social media posts it thinks are harmful or misinformation.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Will the US Congress pass a bill forcing the sale of TikTok? How is Google’s artificial intelligence-powered search engine, Search Generative Experience, impacting publisher’s ad revenue? Hugo Barra, former VP of Android and head of Meta’s phased-out Oculus headset brand, has some thoughts about Apple’s Vision Pro.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Sea of Thieves briefly took the top spot for PS5 game pre-orders Monday. Is this that Microsoft’s new Xbox strategy is paying off? Plus Google DeepMind researchers trained a model that’s learned to play multiple 3D games like a human. And a team of researchers at the University of Chicago say they’ve figured out a way to hack into Meta Quest headsets without the user knowing.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Ray-Ban’s Meta glasses has updated the visual search feature to recognize landmarks and describe them. Plus a startup called Empathy is looking to simplify the process of closing a deceased person’s affairs. And a nurse in the UK used an Apple Vision Pro during a spinal surgery to identify instruments and processes as a double check on accuracy.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Covariant launched RFM-1 (Robotics Foundation Model 1) a “large language model (LLM), but for robot language.” Plus did the Princess of Wales, aka “Kate” photoshop a picture of herself with her three children? And why are tablet sized handheld gaming machines rising in popularity?

Starring Tom Merritt, Shannon Morse, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Patrick is here to explain what you should expect to pay for your next GPU upgrade. Plus what will a solar eclipse mean for solar power? And what effect did the pandemic have on Netflix and the increase in the number of comedy specials?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Patrick Norton, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

What does the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” mean for TikTok and other foreign owned social media platforms? Plus Robinhood, a commission-free investment platform has partnered with sports agency Klutch Sports to expand its reach into sports, entertainment and media.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Scott goes over all the games revealed at Xbox’s partner showcase. Plus, Apple terminated Epic’s developer account thwarting its plans to bring a third-party App Store to iOS in Europe. What happens next? And OpenAI published an open letter Tuesday in response to Elon Musk’s legal claims that OpenAI reneged in its non-profit mission to help humanity. Is this just drama or is something else afoot?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

We explain the changes Google announced to bring its products and services in compliance with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. Plus, Instagram announced a new feature this week that allows users to edit direct messages up to 15 minutes after sending them. And we explore the reasons why Li-Ion batteries don’t charge as well in colder climates and what can be done about it.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Why is Apple Card drawing the ire of UK banks? Plus how Nigerian Fintech company Moniepoint is making inroads with consumers in the country. And how do LLMs do the things they do?

Starring Tom Merritt, Nica Montford, Roger Chang, Joe.

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As large social media sites and platforms make deals to provide training data to AI operators will users be negatively impacted? Plus Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman saying they have violated the company’s founding agreement. And Spotify is adding 15 hours of free audiobooks listening to its subscription plan.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Jason Howell, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Stack Overflow is partnering with Google to provide AI assistance to users while Google Cloud will integrate Stack Overflow’s knowledge base into Gemini for Google Cloud. Plus complaints from consumer rights groups target Meta’s switch last year to charging users in the European Union for an ad-free subscription for access to Facebook and/or Instagram. And U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s communications when he was fired and then quickly rehired as CEO late last year.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We discuss how the Video Game History Foundation’s efforts to preserve video game culture marks a new chapter in video game preservation. Plus we examine the controversy over Wendy’s new dynamically adjusted pricing menu boards. And Swedish fintech firm Klarna says its AI assistant does the work of 700 people after it lays off… 700 people.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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How can the ribbontail stingray teach us how to make better less invasive coloring agents? 404 Media’s Emanuel Maiberg has a report on ghost kitchens using generated images in their menus. And According to data from Appfigures, Meta’s Threads now sees triple the daily downloads of X (formerly Twitter) on iOS globally, and sometimes more than triple the number of installs on Google Play.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Dr. Niki Ackermans, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Mobile World Congress starts this week. We look at the big announcements from Samsung, Xiaomi, HMD, Honor, and Lenovo. Plus we look at OnePlus’s latest smartwatch and why the company seems to be having a renaissance.

Starring Tom Merritt, Ron Richards, Roger Chang, Joe.

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What happens when your Instagram or Threads post is labeled political? Molly Wood details her experience. And what type of reaction has Reddit received after files to go public? Plus Tom explains the two cases the Supreme Court will hear Monday that could and their ruling which will impact online speech.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Molly Wood, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Is OpenAI’s text-to-video tool, Sora, a threat to the business of making TV shows and films? Plus, Google is pausing Gemini’s generation of people in images so it can adjust the model to produce more historically accurate results. And AT&T has been dealing with widespread service issues for more than ten hours affecting millions of subscribers across the US.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Charlotte Henry, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Intel reveals its Foundry Business roadmap. Plus Apple will add PQ3 cryptographic protocol to its messaging service, which Apple believes is resistant to future attacks from quantum computers. And Apple announces a free, standalone app called Apple Sports.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Walmart announced that it will acquire TV maker Vizio in a deal valued at $2.3 billion. Plus we detail the big redesign changes YouTube is rolling out to creator channels. And what makes the iPad mini a better choice than the iPad Pro?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Lamarr Wilson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Bose has new earbuds that sit outside the ear canal instead of inside it. Plus, it turns out OpenAI’s Sora video-generating model can render video games too. And passkeys will eventually supersede passwords for digital security. What should you know about using it in daily life?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Patrick Norton, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Why is Meta clamping down on political posts and cutting back on funding for fact checking? Has the web evolved beyond the usefulness of robot.txt files to allow web crawlers? And why are people returning their Apple Vision Pros to the store?

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

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How did Nvidia go from gaming company to AI darling worth a total market cap just behind Apple and Microsoft? Plus how did a South African based company dethrone Netflix as top streamer on the African continent? And Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a video of his views comparing the Vision Pro to the Meta Quest 3.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Nvidia demos Chat, an AI chatbot, running locally one of the company’s RTX series GPU. Google Meet announces, “Companion Mode” which helps you reach your teammates when dialing in on mobile devices. And Memorizer is an iOS app that combines a bit of Goodreads with a bit of Trakt and some Yelp.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We do a rundown of the top four launch bugs on Samsung’s S24 smartphone. Plus the IEEE Spectrum has a report on how piezoelectric transducers can use a phone’s screen for both haptic feedback and a speaker. And Funimation announces that subscriber’s digital copies of shows and movies will go away after April 2nd.

Starring Tom Merritt, Shannon Morse, Roger Chang, Joe.

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How does a small business navigate social media? How does Sam Altman plan to reshape the global semiconductor industry? And why is X pivoting towards video?

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Ant Pruitt, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

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ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros/Discover have agreed to a deal for a mega sports streaming service coming this Fall. Plus Singapore-based Brilliant Labs announced a pair of lightweight AR glasses called Frame, with a multimodal virtual assistant named Noa. And Google is changing the name of its AI-powered chatbot formerly known as Bard and its sister model Duet to Gemini.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Why is Xbox looking to bring some of its exclusive titles to other platforms? And Apple and scientists at UC-Santa Barbara released an open source multimodal large language model that can let users edit images using natural language.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Some owners of the Apple Vision Pro report forgetting their passcode which can disable the headset if a passcode is entered in too many times. Plus Forbes is reporting High school applicants that utilize ChatGPT for personal essays, often hire human editors to de-AI them. And Mozilla introduces a privacy monitoring service, called Mozilla Monitor Plus for $8.99 a month.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Allison is here to explain everything you need to know about wireless charging standards. Plus Amazon and Reach, the UK’s largest publisher, reach a deal to allow access to customer data for targeted advertising. And Meta’s Oversight Board ruled that a maliciously edited video of US President Joe Biden can stay on Facebook but recommends changes to the site's rules on manipulated content.

Starring Tom Merritt, Allison Sheridan, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We get hands on time with the Apple Vision Pro and share our thoughts. Plus Apple releases big numbers in its Q4 earnings call. And what happened to all the music on TikTok?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Nica Montford, Terrance Gaines, Len Peralta, Eileen Rivera, Roger Chang, Joe.

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What is the Kids Online Safety Act and why is it such a contentious issue? Plus Google is bringing generative AI to Google Maps. And why is Tim Cook betting so much on the success of the Apple Vision Pro?

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Blizzard gets a new president, Johanna Faries. Scott explains what her appointment means in a newly merged Microsoft Activision Blizzard company. Plus Universal Music Group, says negotiations have broken down with TikTok over royalties. And US lawmakers grill social media CEOs over the use of their platforms for facilitating child sexual abuse online.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Is Netflix’s pivot to more traditional TV fare like dramas and reality shows a threat to traditional linear TV? Plus Apple Has Sold Approximately 200,000 Vision Pro Headsets. And TikTok’s effort to separate US data from China by putting it and a US-version of TikTok’s algorithm in an Oracle-run data center is running into issues.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Charlotte Henry, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Chris Ashley shares his thoughts you need to be aware of before you invest in a power generator for emergency situations. Plus Amazon gives up on acquiring Roomba-maker iRobot. And the Browser Company has a new iOS app out, called Arc Search.

Starring Tom Merritt, Chris Ashley, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Explicit deep fake images and videos of Taylor Swift have flooded X, raising questions about a legal framework around deep fakes and issues with X’s current explicit content filtering system. And Google updated the Pixel 8 Pro this week to allow for a new body temperature sensor feature. Plus Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 in China but instead of using Google’s Gemini models, it’s using Baidu’s Ernie.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Shannon Morse, Roger Chang, Joe.

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What kind of tech do you need if you want to be a fulltime Van Lifer? Plus in response to the EU’s DMA, Apple will allow alternative app stores for the iPhone and iPad. And Google announced Lumiere on Tuesday, an AI video generator it’s calling “a space-time diffusion model for realistic video generation”.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Kevin Pereira, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Why is Palworld so popular with gamers and why has it stirred so much controversy? Plus we analyze a recent FT article on Apple's AI strategy. And Amazon will its policy of allowing police to ask for Ring footage publicly instead requiring a search warrant be submitted instead.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Netflix and the WWE announce a 10-year deal to bring Monday Night Raw to the streaming service. Plus HP’s CEO gives a curious reason as to why it blocks third-party ink cartridges. And is China doing a U-turn on its videogame addiction crackdown?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

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A new MIT study suggests that the number of jobs AI steals is far fewer than originally projected. Plus what’s Japan’s plan with their Slim Moon lander with its solar panels pointed in the wrong direction. And Dr. Niki Ackermans is here with an explanation of the experiments aboard the Axiom-3 mission.

Starring Tom Merritt, Dr. Niki Ackermans, Roger Chang, Joe.

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AI co-hosts? Gavin Purcell from the “AI For Humans” show details the steps they use to generate their weekly AI co-host. Plus pre-orders from Apple’s Vision Pro started today and by all accounts went smoothly, but what does it say about the headset’s potential popularity?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Gavin Purcell, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Is podcasting actually a declining industry or is it just going through a market correction? Plus is Microsoft’s Copilot adding value and market share to its Bing search business? And Reddit announces plans to launch an initial public offering by the end of March.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We sift through all the big announcements from Samsung’s Unpacked Event. Plus Amazon agrees to invest in Diamond Sports, allowing them to provide access to Diamond’s content via Prime Video. Research from Leipzig University, Bauhaus-University Weimar, and the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence show a general reduction in the effectiveness of search engines.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Huyen Tue Dao, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Peacock’s AFC Wild Card game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins was the most live-streamed event in U.S. history. We explain the UK’s Post Office Horizon IT scandal which led to the false arrest, financial ruin, and imprisonment of more than 700 Post Office branch managers. And we examine a survey from PwC released at the World Economic Forum in Davos about the impact of generative AI on employee numbers.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

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It's the final day of CES. Robert Heron is on to share the home theater highlights from this year’s show and what you should be looking for in your next TV. Plus we explain what you need to have before you plop down money for Apple’s Vision Pro. And we look at this year’s Best of CES winners.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robert Heron, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

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It’s Day 4 of CES and we continue our coverage of the electronics trade-show. Plus we examine how Microsoft recently surpassed Apple in market capitalization. And Shannon shares her new favorite laptops from this year’s CES.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Shannon Morse, Roger Chang, Joe.

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It's Day 3 of our CES 2024 coverage. We detail the latest news from the event. Plus the SAG-AFTRA union and Replica Studios have come to an agreement over licensing voice actor voices for use by generative AI. And Trisha Hershberger shares her favorite products and innovations from the show!

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Trisha Hershberger, Roger Chang, Joe.

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It's Day 2 of CES 2024. We cover all the news and announcements on the first official day of the event.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Molly Wood, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We cover all the big announcements right before CES 2024 opens. Plus we have Allison Sheridan’s highlights from Sunday’s CES Unveiled media event.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Allison Sheridan, Roger Chang, Joe.

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What sets Suno.AI apart from other generative AI music efforts? And can Android’s default assistant be changed to something other than Google Assistant? Plus what does the future look like for Substack?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Tristan Jutras, Len Peralta, Mishaal Rahman, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We explain what’s behind the lawsuit between OpenAI and NY Times and Justin shares his thoughts on the entire matter. Google is moving forward with cookie-less browsing. And Microsoft is adding another dedicated key for Copilot.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Square Enix plans to aggressively leverage AI in its business, Chris Ashley gives us a BBQ masters look at the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker, and what Facebook wants with its new “Link History” feature.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Why are automakers pulling back on their EV plans? And is Apple still committed to the iPad? Plus Mickey Mouse is going to the public domain. What does it mean for IP moving forward?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Nica Montford, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.