Apple Unveils MacBook Neo at $599; Motorola Razr Fold is Coming; TikTok-No End-toEnd Encryption on DMs; Playstation 1st Party Games Again Playstation Only-No PCs

Apple has unveiled the brand new, entry-level MacBook Neo. No, it can’t dodge incoming like ‘Mr. Anderson’ in the Matrix, but it does start at $599…which is quite a bit less than previous Apple entry level notebooks. Appleinsider.com reports that The bottom line model is powered with an A18 Pro chip, the one used in the iPhone 16 Pro, and not a M-series Apple chip like the other MacBooks have. That said, the laptop is still able to perform about like the M1 chip…which powers the several year old MacBook Pro I wrote this on. The entry level machine also has only 256 gigs available (512 on the pricier model) and the base machine doesn’t have Touch ID either. For another $100, you get the 512 Gigs and Touch ID. The Neo strangely has a USB 3 and a USB 2 port…one on each side…so the one has a slower transfer rate. There is no Thunderbolt port. It does have a 13-inch display, and can drive one external monitor. You do get a FaceTime HD camera. The Neo can be preordered today and is available March 11th. It comes in Silver, Blush, Citrus, and Indigo. Again, the cheapie is $599, and for $100 more you get 512 gigs capacity and Touch ID. 

Motorola is set to roll out their Razr Fold before long…we don’t have a date yet, but now we have some specs and a price point. According to Mashable.com, The Fold has 3 50 MP cameras…a main, a telephoto, and an ultra wide. When open, there is a 32 MP internal selfie cam. You also get a 20 MP external selfie cam to use when it is closed. The outer display is 6.6 inches, and the opened display is 8.1 inches. That makes it even bigger than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It runs on Qualcomms most powerful chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, and runs moto ai, Motorola’s AI feature set. It can be had with up to a terabyte of storage and 16 gigs of RAM. The battery is a hefty 6000mAh. The Motorola Razr Fold is 4.6mm thick open, 9.9mm thick closed. It will be priced with a stylus in Europe at 1999 Euros. No separate price available yet. That’s $2327 with the smart stylus if the pricing holds in the US when it is released. 

A number of messaging platforms offer end-to end encryption now. Whether you’re talking Signal and WhatsApp, or the likes of Facebook Messenger, Google and Apple Messages…most want users to feel secure in using their apps. TechCrunch.com says that TikTok isn’t going to follow suit. The social media giant says end-to-end encryption would make users less safe, as it believes the technology would prevent police and safety teams from accessing messages when necessary. This seems like gobbledygook since with end-to-end encryption, only the sender and recipient of a direct message can view its contents. TikTok claims their DMs are still protected with standard encryption such as Gmail uses. This does mean that under specific circumstances, law enforcement can request to see messages. TikTok further claims this will protect younger users. 

Sony has flip-flopped and won’t be releasing first party games for PCs. Engadget.com reports that upcoming first party titles will stay PS5 exclusive. This is in contrast with Microsoft, which will launch first-party titles such as Fable and Forza Horizon 6 on Xbox, PC and PS5 at the same time later this year. It would see Sony return to a more Nintendo-like approach, with the latter famously (and extremely successfully) holding firm on console exclusivity for the likes of Mario, Zelda and Pokémon. Sony has reportedly had poor sales of PC 1st party games, so it won’t affect their income much…but could long term piss off gamers.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Apple Freshens MacBook Pros; ChatGPT Uninstalls up 295%-DoD Deal; Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 on New Razr Fold; Wild Lenovo Legion Go Fold

The Apple multi-day rollout of new devices continues. Macrumors.com reports that Cupertino has dropped new 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pro models. The latest Pros are powered by the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. They are also underpinned by a new Fusion Architecture that bonds two 3rd gen 3 nanometer dies into a single chip. They have 18 core CPU-6 ‘super cores,’ which Apple claims give a 30% faster pro workload compared to the M4 machines. The new Pros come in either space black or silver. The 14 inch MacBook pro with M5 Pro starts at $2199, and the 16 inch starts at $2699. Preorders start tomorrow, with availability on March 11th. 

More fallout continues from the government blacklisting Anthropic’s Claude, and signing with OpenAI. OpenAI claimed that it got a deal that Anthropic couldn’t assuring that ChatGPT wouldn’t be used for mass surveillance of US citizens or for operating completely autonomous weapons. The language in the contract doesn’t support this. Just today, Sam Altman said that they got an amendment to the contract that disallows such use. That may or may not be true, but the fallout is. According to techcrunch.com, ChatGPT uninstalls have surged 295% since the DoD deal was cut. That data comes from market intelligence provider Sensor Tower. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s Claude saw a 37% increase in installs on Friday and 51% on Saturday. Consumers showed their displeasure with OpenAI with app ratings, too…1 star reviews for ChatGPT jumped 775% on Saturday, then 100% more on Sunday. Five star reviews dropped 50% over the same period. 

Corning’s Gorilla Glass is used on all top line smartphones, and over the years, the iterations of it have gotten more and more accident proof. Now, Corning bows Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 on the upcoming Motorola Razr Fold. 9to5google.com says that Ceramic 3 is designed to handle repeat drop for years, and stay intact. For those who tend toward the clumsy side or are just careless, this will be great. Corning claims Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 can stay whole and not crack or break over ‘at least’ 20 repeated one-meter drops onto asphalt or concrete surfaces. Time and drops will tell if this proves out for regular users. Honestly, if you tend to drop your phone over 20 times while you have it…get an Otterbox!

Mobile World Congress is on, and lots of new hardware is out. One of the most interesting…and really wild…devices is the Lenovo Legion Go Fold. Engadget.com notes that it is a concept folding gaming hand held. It has a flexible display, that can open up to a huge 11.6 inches…or be folded in half to be used as a 7.7 inch display. Controllers attach on each side, and not only that, there are multiple ports so you can use it in landscape or portrait mode. It also has a laptop mode and can connect to a wireless keyboard. In that mode, the right gamepad can act as a mouse. Will we see this released into the world as a product? Who can say right now, but what a concept! 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Apple Bows iPhone 17e & M4 iPad Air; OpenAI Caved to Pentagon; Homeland Security Contracts Revealed by Hacktivists; Jack Dorsey’s Block-Big Layoff Due to AI

Apple had announced that they would be rolling out new products this week, in advance of a live show on March 4th, and they have, indeed. Engadget.com reports that two of the headline products bowed today are the iPhone 17e and the M4 Powered iPad Air. So  what’s new on the entry level iPhone? Well, for me, the biggest deal is Qi2 wireless charging with charging speeds up to 15 watts….that is double what the 16e has. Speaking of double, the 17e gets double the base storage as the 16e at 256 gigs. The phone is unchanged as far as its design, but it does have better scratch resistance for the screen with Ceramic Shield 2. Preorders start March 4th, and it will be available March 11th in black, white, or soft pink. The best news? The price stays at $599. 

The other hardware rolled out today by Apple is the new iPad Air, powered by Apple’s M4 chip. This is a nice boost in processing, but basically keeps it a year behind the pricier iPad Pro. As engadget.com notes, f you only use an iPad for casual tasks like watching shows, web browsing, email and so on, the M4 will be more than powerful enough. It will be more adept at handling resource-intensive tasks like video editing than previous iPad Air models too. The RAM has ben goosed up to 12 gigs from 8 on the prior model. The 11 inch iPad Air with M4 starts at $599, with the 13 inch model coming in at $799. Both have 128 gigs of storage. Like the iPhone 17e, you can preorder March 4th, with availability March 11th. Colors include blue, purple, starlight, and the venerable space gray.

After initially agreeing with Anthropic’s position that got them cancelled from all government contracts…the position that the AI couldn’t be used for mass surveillance of US citizens or to power totally automated weapons systems…Open AI, maker of ChatGPT, caved and agreed to the Pentagon’s demands. According to the verge.com, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI continued to say that the company would not cross those red lines…but the actual contract says the AI can be used for ‘any lawful use.’ That is the exact language that caused Anthropic to walk away and get blacklisted. OpenAI’s former head of policy research, Miles Brundage, said on X that “in light of what external lawyers and the Pentagon are saying, OpenAI employees’ default assumption here should unfortunately be that OpenAI caved + framed it as not caving, and screwed Anthropic while framing it as helping them.” Interestingly, over the weekend, Anthropic’s Claude was the most downloaded software by government people! 

A hacktivist group calling itself ‘Department of Peace’ has apparently hacked the Department of Homeland Security, and published online contracts between DHS and specifically ICE and around 6,000 companies. Techcrunch.com says the companies include defense contractors like L3Harris and Raytheon, as well as surveillance firm Palantir, and even Microsoft and Oracle. There was no immediate response from Homeland Security or ICE when asked to comment. The information leaked shows the name of the contractors, the amount of money they were awarded, and contact information. 

There have been rumblings for several years about AI replacing peoples’ jobs. Now, Jack Dorsey’s Block has moved to do so. Mashable.com reports that the financial firm, which owns Square and Cash App, has sent pink slips to 4,000 of its 10,000 employees. Dorsey made the announcement on X, formerly Twitter which he previously founded. Dorsey said in his post “I’d rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome.” Block will give employees their salary for 20 weeks plus one week per year of tenure, six months of health care, and $5,000 in cash, among other benefits,

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.