Buy a Car from Amazon?; Instagram Bows ‘Trial Reels’; Samsung Galaxy S25-Qi2 Charging; OpenAI Launches Sora Video Generation Publicly

Posted: December 10, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

There are everything stores and then there are everything stores. Costco has everything, including caskets. Now, Amazon is adding cars! Yep, you can add a car to your cart…specifically, a Hyundai. Wired.com reports that Amazon had announced that cars could be coming in 2024, and now you can buy one with a click. Amazon has announced that it will ‘roll out’…ok sorry about that…services with other dealerships and manufacturers in 2025. Right now, go to Amazon Autos, and search for the make and model you want, then you can find matching vehicles at nearby dealerships that have them. You can also get an estimate of your trade in value. Amazon says is is working with an ‘independent third party’ to determine trade values. At check out, you can pay in full (like many Hyundai buyers do that) or get help getting financing. Most paperwork can be e-signed on Amazon. After that, just schedule a pickup at the Hyundai dealer. Yeah, sorry…no next day delivery…or shipping at all!

Instagram has launched a new feature for video creators. Now, you can publish a ‘trial reel’ for non-followers to see, and test it out before revealing the video to followers. According to engadget.com, the feature is in direct response to feedback from creators who “feel nervous” about posting videos that may not perform well. Meta said the new feature is meant to make it easier for creators to experiment with different genres and “easily get a gut check on how your content might perform.” After 24 hours, creators can revisit the video and see how the metrics look before releasing it to followers or not. 

It looks like Samsung will be adding Qi2 charging to the Galaxy S25 phones. 9to5google.com notes that the standard has been out for a couple years, but only one Android phone has gotten it so far, and that’s the little-known HMD Skyline. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhones have the faster charging via their magnetic ring connection. There had been a rumor that Google’s Pixel 9 phones would get it, but nope. A reliable Samsung leaker says the Galaxy S25’s will have it though. We won’t have long to wait to see if that turns out to be true…they’re due out in January.

OpenAI has launched Sora video generation publicly. Arstechnica.com reports that Sora Turbo text-to-video generation is available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers via a dedicated website. The model can create videos of up to 20 seconds long with resolutions up to 1080 pixels from a text or image prompt. Right now, it is available in the US and much of the world, but not in Europe yet. OpenAI is limiting generation of videos of people for the time being to prevent deepfakes. The company notes that there are limitations as it is an early version. The model reportedly struggles with physics simulations and complex actions over extended durations.

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

Google Bows Amazing Quantum Chip; Apple-Playstation Support for Vision Pro & Cellular for Macs; Diamond Battery Could Run Low Power Items for Eons; TikTok Asks Appeals Court for Temp Block of Sale-or-Ban Law

Posted: December 9, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Google has just revealed its latest quantum computing chip…Willow. Gizmodo.com reports that Google claims the new chip can perform calculations in five minutes that would take the world’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years. For reference, the universe isn’t even 14 billion years old—a fraction of a fraction of that timescale. Quantum computers operate and calculate in a manner that is fundamentally different from regular or so-called classical supercomputers. They won’t be a desktop or portable item any time soon or ever though….quantum computing requires a lab environment with temperatures near absolute zero to work! Google sees some commercial applications for their quantum computing as being within the next 3 to 5 years now instead of decades away.

Apple has some interesting things in the works, according to 9to5mac.com, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. One is that they are planning to support VR game controllers, and have approached Sony about supporting PlayStation games on the headset. You would still need third party controllers, although th field of view in the Vision Pro would be amazing. Apple is also looking at bring cellular to the Mac for the first time. As they move to their now modems and away from Qualcomm, the Mac might join iPhones and iPads, as well as Watches with their own cellular connection. This could reportedly happen by 2026. 

British scientists have successfully created the world’s first carbon-14 diamond battery…which could run low energy devices like satellite communication equipment for over 5,000 years. Thenextweb.com notes that the battery is made of the radioactive isotope carbon-14, encased in a thin layer of synthetic diamond. As the carbon-14 decays it emits electrons. The diamond acts like a semiconductor, converting these electrons into electricity. Since carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,700 years, scientists expect the battery to last for millennia. Besides satellites, the diamond batteries could power pacemakers, hearing aids, watches, computer chips — any low-power device in environments where frequent battery replacement isn’t feasible. Shortwave radiation from the decaying carbon-14 doesn’t pose a risk — it is fully absorbed by the diamond casing, the researchers said. The battery can also be recycled at the end of its life — if anyone is still around by then!

TikTok and parent company ByteDance have filed an emergency motion with a federal appeals court asking it to temporarily block the law that would ban the app in the US unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership by January 19. The companies are asking for the hold in order to give the Supreme Court a chance to assess the case. Techcrunch.com reports that more than 170 million people in the US are on the app monthly or more. As a back up, TikTok is also appealing to president-elect Trump, who had promised voters he would save the app if elected. 

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

Microsoft Copilot Vision Launches in Preview; Apple Expands Password Autofill to Firefox; Pixel 9 May Get Automatic to-do Lists From Call Summaries; Meta Expands ‘Strike Removal’ Feature to Avoid Facebook Jail

Posted: December 5, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft has started a limited US rollout of a preview version off Copilot Vision, that tool they have touted as being able to read things on your screen, and then respond to questions you might have when looking at a website on your screen using Edge. Techcrunch.com reports that in order to use the preview version, you have to have a $20 a month subscription to Microsoft’s Copilot Pro plan. Besides answering questions, the AI can summarize and translate text, and spot discounted products on a site. Microsoft stresses that the system deletes data after every session. In addition, processed audio, images, or text aren’t stored or used to train models.

A really useful feature Apple has had for a while was expanded into what is essentially a stand-alone app in the latest iterations of software…iOS 18 and MacOs 15 Sequoia. Passwords saves all your passwords (with your permission) to the app, and then it auto-fills on websites, using your biometrics…either FaceID or TouchID to verify that it’s you. I find this terrifically handy, but so far, it has only worked on Safari, Apple’s own browser. According to arstechnica.com, that has now changed. Apple is now officially supporting the Passwords extension in Firefox if you are running macOS. As of this moment, the extension only supports macOS Sonoma and Sequoia, not older versions. It also doesn’t work on Windows or Linux yet. Apple has had a Chrome extension since 2023, and has also worked with Edge but it hasn’t used the Passwords extension…both those have relied on the cloud…so your passwords are possibly at risk more. It does appear that Apple will be extending official Windows support down the line, too. 

If you are a habitual list maker…and I have done a bit if that in my life…and you have a Pixel 9, you may really like this. Androidpolice.com says a feature on the phone may be getting a cool expansion. The 9 already has a Call Notes feature that automatically generates call summaries. Well now, Google is apparently working on something added…the software will extract actionable items from the call summaries and turn them into to-do lists. The lists will include titles and allow users to copy, edit, and share them directly from the Phone app. Call Notes and the list feature are entirely on-device using Gemini Nano, so they don’t rely on the cloud. No official word on when the to-do feature will be live, but it looks like it will be soon. 

Meta is expanding its so-called ‘strike removal’ feature to all Facebook users and to Instagram. Engadget.com reports that what this is… is a ‘short educational program’ that helps users avoid a ‘strike’ on their account or Facebook jail. Think of it as going to driving school to get a point taken off your license if you got a speeding ticket. It will only be available once in a 12 month period for most first-time offenses. Sounds like a nice step, but it won’t eliminate their sometimes confused algorithm from taking action in the first place on a post that really doesn’t violate their community standards…it just may be language that the algorithm doesn’t understand. 

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

Samsung’s Upcoming Smart Glasses; Apple HomePod with Smart Display Late ’25; 12 Days of ‘Shipmas’ from OpenAI; Amazon Unveils New Nova AI Models

Posted: December 4, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Along with their latest, greatest Galaxy smartphones to be shown in January, reports have Samsung at least teasing their first smart glasses. Zdnet.com reports that they will look a lot like Meta’s Ray-Bans, but a bit thicker and heavier. They will come with the expected voice assistant and audio playback, but also are expected to have additional features like gesture recognition and the ability to make payments. They won’t have a built in augmented reality display, though…and it’s unclear if they will feature cameras. an official launch is expected in July. 

There has been plenty of buzz about Apple bringing out a smart home display. Right now, it looks like this will happen in the third quarter of 2025, with a reveal at WWDC in June. According to macrumors.com, there have been several versions tested by Apple…one we reported on was a 6-7 inch display on a robot arm, and another was a wall mountable iPad-like display. It is entirely possible that both these form factors could come out. A new HomePod smart speaker will have Apple’s A18 processor and will support Apple intelligence. My gen two HomePods use an Apple Watch processor like the first generation had, so no chance of those running Apple Intelligence…which I could care less about, since I only use them to play music and control home automation like lights, cameras, and outlets. Apple is going conservative on these HomePod units….only about 500,000 units are planned.

In one of the dorkiest marketing moves in a long time, OpenAI has announced the 12 Days of ’Shipmas.’ I have a former colleague who worked with Sam Altman years ago, and this now confirms what he said about Sam being a dork. Theverge.com notes that the announcements will include OpenAI’s long-awaited text-to-video AI tool Sora and a new reasoning model. The days start tomorrow, December 5th. One holiday related announcement may be a new Santa-inspired voice for ChatGPT. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Shipmas, boys and girls.

More from the hype-o-sphere surrounding all things AI…Amazon CEO Andy Jassy took the stage yesterday at the AWS re:Invent get together, and announced a new set of AI foundation models called Nova. The Nova models represent one of the biggest attempts yet by the tech giant to make its mark in AI. The company is seeking to overcome the perception that it was slow out of the gate in the early days of the generative AI revolution. Geekwire.com reports that the Nova family includes: 

* Amazon Nova Micro, a text-only model that delivers low-latency responses at low cost.

* Amazon Nova Lite, a low-cost multimodal model for processing image, video, and text.

* Amazon Nova Pro, a multimodal model that combines accuracy, speed, and cost for a wide range of tasks.

* Amazon Nova Premier, which Amazon describes as “the most capable of Amazon’s multimodal models for complex reasoning tasks and for use as the best teacher for distilling custom models.” Premier will be available in the first quarter of next year, according to Amazon.

* Amazon Nova Canva for image generation

* Amazon Nova Reel for video generation.

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

China Limits Chipmaking Materials to US; Meta-Less than 1% of Election Misinfo Was AI Generated; US Consumer Agency Proposes Rule Blocking Data Brokers’ Sale of Sensitive Personal Data; Some Names Make ChatGPT Grind to Halt

Posted: December 3, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

China has established new limits on the sale of gallium, germanium, antimony, and other key minerals with potential military applications to the US to safeguard their national security. Theverge.com reports that the nation will also closely scrutinize the export of graphite. This all came down after the US Department of Commerce introduced new rules on Monday to “further impair” China’s ability to produce semiconductors for AI and weapons systems. The rules put new limitations on the equipment and software used to manufacture semiconductors, along with high-bandwidth memory chips. It also began barring exports to 140 new Chinese companies. This could be just a prelude if Trump imposes new tariffs on Chinese goods. 

There was plenty of misinformation about recent elections, but according to engadget.com, Meta claims AI-generated content only amounted to less than 1% of the false information on its platforms….or at least that election related misinformation that was caught an labeled by fact checkers. The Meta crew looked at misinformation regarding elections in the US, UK, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, France, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil, as well as the EU’s Parliamentary elections. Meta’s own AI image generator blocked 590,000 requests to create images of Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, JD Vance and Tim Walz in the month leading up to election day in the US.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a new rule that would block data brokers from selling personal and financial information on Americans, including their Social Security numbers and phone numbers, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. TechCrunch notes that in proposing the new rules, months after President Biden signed an executive order to curb the sale of Americans’ private data, the U.S. consumer protection agency said it aims to “rein in” data brokers, who sidestep federal law by claiming that they are not subject to the FCRA’s legal provisions. According to the CFPB, the proposed rule would treat data brokers the same as credit bureaus and background check companies, or any other company that sells data about income or credit scores, histories, and debt payments, which are already subject to the FCRA. 

Some names apparently cause OpenAI’s ChatGPT to clam up. Recently, people recovered that the name ‘David Mayer’ would cause the AI to break down. Arstechnica.com reports that additionally, ‘Jonathan Zittrain’ and ‘Jonathan Turley,’ as well as ‘Brian Hood’ would make the large language model stop in its tracks. The AI will say ‘I am unable to produce a response’ or the like. The names are apparently filtered due to lawsuits or complaints about ChatGPT’s tendency to confabulate erroneous responses when lacking sufficient information about a person. As we continue to learn, it will be more than a little while before AI assistants are really reliable…so count on our own noggin, and check things yourself…always keep in mind that AI models have completely fabricated legal cases, for which lawyers that didn’t check the citations were fined by courts.

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

SpyLoan Malware-Infected 8 Million Androids; GoBlue’s New App-Track Your Bluesky Stats; Apple Touts Privacy But Allegedly Spies on Own Staff; Intel CEO is Out After 3 Years and No Turnaround 

Posted: December 2, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s rare, but sometimes a bad app will get into the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store. Androidpolice.com reports that McAfee has spotted issues with SpyLoan apps. These shady loan apps use social engineering tricks to target Android users worldwide. So far, 15 of these apps have been found, going after people in South America, Southern Asia, and Africa. They all share similar code and systems, stealing data and sending it to command-and-control (C2) servers. Most of these apps hide behind fake names and logos that look like real financial institutions. Some of the apps have been promoted on social media platforms. Google has removed most for the moment, and thankfully, none are big US financial institutions. Generally, they steal as much personal info as possible, they try to extort or blackmail users. Stick with your mainstream bank or credit union, and don’t fall for any come ons from emails or ads on social media!

Bluesky is ramping up remarkably fast considering the flood of users that have signed up. They have expanded staff, and are rolling out features, but don’t have quite the tools you might want to track your following. A new app called GoBlue is stepping in to fill the gap. According to techrunch.com, the app has a simple interface for tracing your own Bluesky analytics in an iOS dashboard. Right now, GoBlue just offers some basic tools to track metrics like new followers, comments, likes, and reposts. They show up as bar charts on the app’s home screen, and you can track by day, week, month, or year. If you want full access using the app, it’s a one time fee of $19.99 or a monthly fee of $3.99 a month or annual for $14.99 a year. 

Apple is famously secretive about upcoming products and services, and has always bragged about the level of privacy they offer users. That privacy level is not extended to employees, however. Appleinsider.com says an Apple employee is suing the company, claiming that it forces staff to give up personal privacy, and demands that it be allowed to use surveillance even when they are at home. The employee, Amar Bhakta, works in ad tech at Apple, and has been with them about 4 years. Once they use a personal device and personal iCloud account as part of their work, Apple allegedly requires employees to agree to the company monitoring everything.”If you use your personal account on an Apple-managed or Apple-owned iPhone, iPad or computer, any data stored on the device (including emails, photos, video, notes and more), are subject to search by Apple,” the lawsuit claims Apple’s policies state. While there may be elements in the full suit that have yet to be made public, everything listed so far is common practice — even if it sounds draconian. Every place I’ve worked in the last 25 years has been able to track your info on company-issued devices or look at anything you stored on a company server. I think Mr. Bhakta is going to have an uphill battle trying to win this against Apple. 

Intel’s board has apparently showed its CEO of less than 4 years the door, after he failed to turn the company around. Arstechnica.com reports that Pat Gelsinger is stepping down. Intel CFO David Zinsner and Client Computing Group Head Michelle Johnson Holthaus will share the title of interim CEO while the board does a search for new CEO. Gelsinger has also left his board seat. Gelsinger had worked at Intel since he joined the company at age 18.

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

New Nvidia AI Audio Model Synthesizes Never-Heard Sounds; Threads Tests Users Choosing Own Default Feed; iPhone 17 Slim-Too Thin for SIM Tray; Raw Milk in CA Recalled-Bird Flu Virus

Posted: November 26, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In some respects, AI has stalled out right now, but there are still discoveries and advances being made. Arstechnica.com reports that Nvidia has a new AI audio model that can synthesize sounds that have never existed. A couple included a ‘screaming’ saxophone, and an ‘angry’ ‘cello. The AI can also mix voices and sounds together in a new mashup. The model, called Fugatto, isn’t available for public testing yet, but Nvidia has a sample-filled website that shows off some possibilities for you. They describe the audio AI as a ’Swiss Army knife for sound.’ 

Threads is feeling the heat from quickly growing upstart Bluesky. Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg posted that Threads is testing the option to let users choose their own default feed…like Bluesky. In fact, you can have multiple feeds on Bluesky…I have a default of people I follow and 3 others. According to theverge.com, Threads will let you choose from For You, Following, or any custom feed that you have set up. Right now, they are still testing it out, but Zuck said they will make the choice ‘more visible’ in the app soon. 

New details about the upcoming iPhone Slim…or Air, or whatever they end up calling it. Appleinsider.com says it will be so slim, it won’t be able to have a tray for SIM cards. This is not an issue in the US, where all iPhones use eSIM, the no-card alternative to a physical SIM card, but in a number of countries they still use physical SIM cards. One of those countries is China, which uses a name-registration system. eSims don’t allow the same verification level as China requires. It remains to be seen if this becomes a problem for Apple. The slim phone also will use Apple’s in-house 5G modem instead of a Qualcomm one, and it will have a smaller battery. 

Not tech, but science…or an ignoring of it. Bird flu virus has been found in a batch of raw, unpasteurized milk sold in California. Arstechnica.com reports that so far, no illness has been connected to the contaminated milk, which came from Raw Farm LLC in Fresno County. A lab in Santa Clara County detected the virus, and it was confirmed by the state lab. There is a reason Louis Pasteur came up with the pasteurization process…lots of people used to get sick and even die from raw milk. Science and medicine…hey, they can keep us alive!

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

Sony-Making Handheld Console; Amazon-Another $4 Billion to Anthropic; Power Phone Off Once a Week-NSA; Researchers Find Way to Grow Plants Without Light

Posted: November 25, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Sony is working on a handheld gaming console that will let users play PS 5 games anywhere. Theverge.com reports that this will put Sony into the fray with Nintendo, Microsoft, and The Valve Steam Deck. That’s all well and good, but the reporting has the portable ‘years away from launch.’ Not so good for Sony. While Sony fiddles, Nintendo will have a next gen successor to its very popular Switch console next year. Microsoft is developing its own Xbox prototype…but that also may be a few years out, as with Sony. This doesn’t leave the market entirely to Nintendo…Valve has already put out a second generation Steam Deck that plays its games. 

Amazon has pumped another $4 billion into AI maker Anthropic, the people that make the Claude large language model that is the biggest competitor for OpenAI’s ChatGPT. According to arstechnica.com, this will bring Amazon’s stake to $8 billion…but they do remain in a minority investor position at that level. One key behind the deal…chips. While Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market with customers that include most major tech companies, some cloud providers like Amazon have begun developing their own AI-specific processors. Under the agreement, Anthropic will train and deploy its foundation models using Amazon’s custom-built Trainium (for training AI models) and its Inferentia chips (for AI inference, the term for running trained models). The company will also work with Amazon’s Annapurna Labs division to advance processor development for AI applications.

We have previously reported that iOS 18 and later updates make it harder for hackers…as well as governments…to get into your phone. Now, none other than the NSA…the National Security Agency…warns that you should turn your phone on and off at least once a week. Why? Zdnet.com says the government spy agency indicates that doing so will make it harder for hackers to steal info from your phone. The feds also say to update your apps, and update your operation system regularly. You also ought to avoid public networks…just use cellular unless you have a VPN for your phone. 

In one of the wilder stories I’ve seen, some researchers have figured out a way to grow plants without sunlight. Bgr.com reports that they are doing so through what they call electro-agriculture. Simply put, they leverage electricity to power plant growth, bypassing the need for photosynthesis. The scientists have engineered plants capable of thriving in total darkness, feeding off acetate instead of sunlight, making it possible to grow plants without sunlight. And the implications of this breakthrough are absolutely staggering. Some researchers believe that it could lower the land needed for agriculture by as much as 90 percent. Imagine freeing up vast tracts of farmland for reforestation or conservation while growing crops in vertical indoor farms closer to urban centers. Combined with the ongoing success of lab-grown meats, we could be on the verge of a food industry revolution.

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

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Will Regulate Apple Pay, Venmo, and Others; Amazon Shows Huge Echo Show; Over 200 Companies Now Support Passkeys; A Mother Lode of Rare Earth Elements in Spent Coal

Posted: November 21, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has had the task of regulating banks, is now expanding. Engadget.com reports that the CFPB will now supervise Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, and other payment apps and digital wallets. The Bureau proposed regulating the apps in 2023, but now the supervision will actually go into effect…with refined policies…in 30 days. 

Amazon is supersizing Echo Show, introducing a new 21 inch model for smart home control, organization, and entertainment. According to geekwire.com, the Echo Show 21 smart display features built in Fire TV and Alexa. The screen comes with wall mounting hardware, for $399. If you prefer a counter stand, Amazon will sell you one of those for another $99. The 15 inch Echo Show has also gotten an upgrade with better audio quality. The 15-incher is $299.

We are finally…finally moving to a passwordless future. Now, 9to5mac.com says over 200 major companies are supporting passkeys. For those unfamiliar, passkeys were introduced two years ago, and they replace traditional passwords with more secure authentication using a security key or biometrics. The technology was developed by FIDO Alliance in partnership with companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Passkeys can use biometrics…like Apple’s FaceID and TouchID, freeing you from having to manage a massive list of passwords…or even using an app like 1 Password. It can’t happen soon enough!

It’s a kind of one person’s trash is another person’s treasure story. Dailykos.com picked up a report from the International Journal of Coal Science and Technology, and apparently there are rare earth elements in coal ash. The amounts are tiny…ordinarily not worth much, but there is a huge supply of the chalky coal ash in the US…maybe 11 million tons of accessible rare earth elements are in that coal ash. That is 8 times what the US has in domestic reserves. Most of our rare earths right now…about 75%…come from China. Ukraine also has a good supply, but this could make the US self-sufficient on these elements that go into batteries, solar panels, magnets, and other energy technologies. It’s likely that some entrepreneurs are active as we write this, looking at ways to efficiently extract those 17 rare elements.

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

Lower Priced Galaxy Flip Rumor; Bluesky Passes 20 Million Users; GrayKey Police Hack Having Trouble With iOS 18; Starlink Back to Waitlisting Some Places

Posted: November 20, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Folding phones are growing more popular, especially with a less noticeable crease on the screens, but they are still really expensive. Now, bgr.com reports that we may be seeing a relatively cheap Samsung Galaxy Z Flip FE sometime in 2025. In addition, Samsung is reportedly working on a thin Z Flip 7 SE. If the rumors are true, Samsung may field 4 Galaxy Z foldable in 2025: the regular Flip 7 and Fold 7, and the cheaper Flip SE, and ultra-thin Fold 7 SE. If they keep making the crease less visible, and can drop prices, folding phones may become relatively mainstream. Since Apple is reported to be working on a folder, you can expect they will join the party just as that mainstreaming occurs!

Bluesky, the app that would replace old Twitter, has now blown past 20 million users. It is now gaining on Meta owned Threads, as well as X, which continues to bleed users. TechCrunch.com notes that Threads still has a massive lead at 275 million monthly active users, but up to the election they had 5 times more daily users than Bluesky. That has not been cut to 1.5 times! Even with the recent exodus from X, the Musk-owned app still has 10 times the users of Bluesky for now. Bluesky has been #1 at the US Apple App Store since the election, while Threads is now #4, and X has ominously dropped to #41!

You may have heard of Graykey…we’ve reported on it here…it’s something law enforcement and government agencies can use to break into locked iPhones. Now, macrumors.com says officials are having issues trying to hack into phones running iOS 18 and 18.01. Apparently, the product can ‘partially’ unlock some phones…in fact iPhone 11 models can be unlocked in full. Newer iPhones are more hack proof. Magnet Forensics, maker of Graykey, had no comment, but Israel-based Cellebrite reportedly can’t unlock iPhones running iOS 17.5.1 and later. Apple has said that the idea is to make the phones worth less and less of a theft item since a locked phone you can’t hack into is not worth much. For some, the fact that governments and police agencies can’t get in either is a plus. 

Only about a year after dropping waitlisting, Starlink is back to ‘sold out’ in parts of the US. Arstechnica.com reports that the areas you’ll be waiting in include the areas around Seattle, Spokane, Portland, San Diego, Sacramento, and Austin, Texas. There are also some sold-out areas in parts of Colorado, Montana, and North Carolina. Worldwide, there is still little availability in Africa. If you are so inclined, you can jump the wait list by subscribing to the pricier Starlink Roam tier. Be aware though, that they may block Roam service in specific areas due to lack of capacity. 

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

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