Anthropic Releases Claude Code to iOS & the Web; iPhone 17 Line Outselling Last Year’s Models; SpaceX Launches 10,000th Starling Satellite; Update of This Morning’s AWS Outage
Posted: October 20, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, News, technology Leave a commentLast winter, Anthropic announced Claude Code. Now, the AI company is making it easier for developers to use Claude Code in more places by putting up a new web interface to access the agent. Engadget.com reports that Anthropic is also releasing a preview of the agent inside its iOS app. The company has given users a warning that the mobile version is an early integration, which will be quickly refined based on user feedback. Pro and Max users can start using Claude Code on the web today. Anthropic notes any cloud sessions share the same rate limits with all other Claude Code usage.
The new iPhone 17 models are a hit for Apple. This year’s models around outselling last year’s iPhone 16 series by 14% in the first 10 days of availability in both the US and China. According to macrumors.com, this is new sell-through data from Counterpoint Research. The firm said the overall uplift is being led by stronger upgrades to the standard iPhone 17, particularly in China, and by higher uptake of the iPhone 17 Pro Max among U.S. carrier customers based on enhanced subsidy plans. In China, the base iPhone 17 nearly doubled compared to the iPhone 16 based on the same initial period. The 17 Pro Max is ahead of the 16 for the initial period, in no small measure due to the big three carriers increasing maximum subsidies by about $100.
SpaceX has notched a major milestone. They have launched the 10,000th Starlink satellite. Arstechnica.com notes that the benchmark came when two Falcon 9 rockets took off from spaceports in Florida and California Sunday afternoon, adding 56 more satellites to SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. Actually, now there are 10,006 in orbit…including a few dozen demo satellites. Starlink passed 7 million global subscribers in August.
There was a huge outage early this morning for Amazon Web Services. Geekwire.com says the outage took down several major sits and services. Thankfully it was not due to a cyberattack, but an internal issue within the cloud giant’s infrastructure. Facebook, Coinbase, Amazon, and even check-in kiosks at LaGuardia airport were affected. Amazon pinned the outage on a failure of an “underlying internal subsystem responsible for monitoring the health of our network load balancers.” Tech experts say that this outage indicates that many sites have not adequately implemented the redundancy needed to fall back to other regions or other providers in the event of AWS outages.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple Bows New M5 Chip & MacBook Pros; US Charges Cambodian in Huge Crypto Scam; Microsoft Rolls Out Image Generator; ‘Pixnapping’ Hack for Android
Posted: October 15, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, laptop, Mac, Tech, technology Leave a commentApple has introduced its latest greatest system…the M5 chip, with their next generation GPU. The new system will be the brains of the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro goggles. Macrumors.com reports that the new chip has 10 cores with a ’Neural Accelerator’ for each individual core…which enables GPU based artificial intelligence workloads to run dramatically faster. Apple claims graphics performance up to 45% higher than the M4 chip. It is worth noting that the new 14 inch MacBook Pro doesn’t really have any new major features, besides the more robust chip. The higher end 14 inch and 16 inch MacBook Pro models with M5 chips are yet to come…expect them in early 2026.
A Cambodian executive masterminded a huge crypto scam, but now is on the run and the US government has seized more than $14 billion in Bitcoin, and indicted him. According to NPR, Chen Chi and his Prince Holding Group have been charged with wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. The US and British authorities have also placed sanctions on his company, which has operated in real estate development, financial services, and some other businesses. Chen is accused of sanctioning brutal violence against workers, authorizing hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to foreign officials and using his other businesses, such as online gambling and cryptocurrency mining operations, to launder illicit profits. He is on the run and at large. He is a native of China and has gone by the alias of ‘Vincent.’ He had compounds in Cambodia, where workers were held captive and beaten, while they were forced to contact thousands of victims through social media or online messaging platforms, build rapport and entice them to transfer cryptocurrency with hopes of big investment returns. The money was just stolen from them.
Microsoft has rolled out its own image generator, and Redmond claims it is faster than rival generators. Bgr.com notes that the clunky named MAI-Image-1 is better than OpenAI’s Sora2 and Google’s Nano Banana. Both those apps raced to the top of app stores, with Sora being the most downloaded app on iPhone in less than a week. Microsoft hasn’t released the generator yet, saying it will take into account feedback from early users before releasing it in Copilot and Bing Image Creator.
A new kind of hacker attack for Androids. Mashable.com reports that it lets bad guys snag your private chats, text messages, emails, and even two-factor authentication codes. It has been named ‘Pixnapping’, and it can be used to grab info from any data displayed on your screen. The victim has to have downloaded a malicious app. After that, the screen grabs can happen without any permissions or without being noticed. Google released an early patch for it already, but there is a work around to evade the patch. Pixnapping was uncovered by a group of researchers collaborating from University of California, Berkeley, University of Washington, University of California, San Diego, and Carnegie Mellon University.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Walmart Partners with OpenAI-Buy Right in ChatGPT; Satellites Leaking Personal Data & Secrets; CA Law-Big Fines for Deepfake Nudes and Restricts Bots Advising Kids; Windows 10 Support Ends Today-But You can Extend It
Posted: October 14, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, openai, technology Leave a commentWalmart has cut deal with OpenAi to let shoppers make faster purchases within AI chatbot ChatGPT. CNBC.com reports that Walmart said in a statement that the AI feature will be “multi-media, personalized and contextual,” adding that Walmart is “running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future.” The news release didn’t say when customers could start buying goods from Walmart using ChatGPT. Last month, OpenAI announced Instant Checkout, that allows purchases such as those from Walmart. Initially, the feature just supports single item purchases from Etsy sellers. Besides Walmart, the feature will work for Shopify soon. No details on the cost, but OpenAI has said it will charge companies a fee for transactions made using ChatGPT.
We have stories weekly of data leaks…I could report on nothing else and not even scratch the surface. Here’s a new wrinkle, though…data beamed from satellites has been grabbed by researchers at UC San Diego and the University of Maryland…using an $800 off-the-shelf satellite receiver system! According to wired.com, the researchers found that almost half of geostationary satellite signals, including many carrying sensitive consumer, corporate, and government communications, have been left entirely vulnerable to eavesdropping. They picked up T-Moble users’ calls, airline passengers’ Wi-Fi browsing in-flight, and communication of utility companies, as well as US and Mexican military and law enforcement communications…which revealed location of personal, equipment, and facilities. It’s time for satellite using companies…and governments to tighten up and encrypt data bounced to and from satellites!
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the first-ever US last regulating companion bots in a move to protect kids. Arstechnica.com notes that the law will attempt to shield kids from companion bots and deepfake porn. California will require any companion bot platforms—including ChatGPT, Grok, Character.AI, and the like—to create and make public “protocols to identify and address users’ suicidal ideation or expressions of self-harm.” In an effort to stop kids from being cyber-bullied with deepfake nudes, the new law has vastly increased fines…up to now, they ranged from $1500 to $30,000. Now, a victim can go for up to $150,000 for a malicious violation. Not only that, any victims…including minors… can seek that level of damages. Here’s hoping other states get on board and protect children from malicious use of bots and chat apps.
Windows 10 support officially ends today. If you have a computer that can run Windows 11, you may want to update to that for free. If you don’t like the Recall feature or have a box that won’t run 11, you can still sign up for Extended Security Updates…and you should. Engadget.com reports that first off, update the computer. Next, be using an administrator account. You will have to verify if you can upgrade to Windows 11…do so if you want and you’re done. If not, sign up for ESU by selecting Update & Security from the Settings menu. Click on ‘Enroll now.’ You will again be pestered to sign up Windows 11 of course. With the Extended Security, you have an extra year to either update to 11 or if your computer won’t run 11, replace the computer….or put Linux on it!
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Salesforce Announces Agentforce 360 at Dreamforce; OpenAI Making own AI Chips-Partnering with Broadcom; Holiday Hiring Same as Last Year; Slack Making Slackbot into AI Assistant
Posted: October 13, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, business, chatgpt, technology Leave a commentSalesforce’s Dreamforce convention opened in San Francisco today, and the company announced Agentforce 360 as their next generation AI agent. Techcrunch.com reports that the new version of Agentforce includes new ways to instruct AI agents through text, a new platform to build and deploy agents, and new infrastructure for messaging app Slack, among others. A feature they touted is Agent Script, which will be released in beta in November. Agent Script gives users the ability to program their AI agents to be more flexible and better respond to “if/then” situations. This allows AI agents to be programmed to be more predictable in less rigid situations like customer questions.
OpenAI is moving at warp speed into the future, even if that means some real stumbles along the way…like the disastrous ChatGPT 5o, which had to be backed out. According to engadget.com, the AI firm is designing ‘AI accelerators’ and systems. Partner Broadcom will start deploying racks of these systems the latter half of 2026. The companies are shooting for a completed rollout by the end of 2029. The deal is for 10 gigawatts of chips and it’s worth “multiple billions of dollars.” It was reported last month that OpenAI and Broadcom were making custom chips together.
With the Trump tariffs and other moves throwing the US economy into uncertainty, a number of retailers are backing off on staffing up for the holiday season. The AP notes that part of the issue is the changes by the administration and then the government shutdown that have limited or delayed economic data retailers and wholesalers rely on. Job placement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas forecasts that hiring for the last quarter of the year will drop under 500,000 positions.
My joy knows no bounds…Slack is turning Slackbot into an AI assistant. Theverge.com says with the update, Slackbot can create custom plans tailored to your workspace, sift through a mountain of messages, gather information from a range of Slack channels, and more. For now, it will be a pilot program. Slackbot will appear as an icon next to the search bar at the top of the workspace. Clicking into it will open a DM-like panel on the right side of the screen where you can enter prompts like “What are my priorities for today?” or “Find the latest updates on a project.” The new Slackbot will draw from your conversations, files, and workspace to provide personalized assistance. We can only hope Slack isn’t as pushy about trying to get you to use this as Microsoft is with Teams, or Meta is with their AI assistant. In all of these cases, to be frank…you have to be completely clueless to need the AI assistants to help you with a task, and honestly…so far anyway…it takes as much time as it does for you to just do it yourself.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Bank of England Warns of AI Bubble; Pew Report on Kids’ Screen time; Amazon Pharmacy-Rx Kiosks at Dr Offices; Musk Settles Twitter Exec Severance Suit
Posted: October 8, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentFor a couple years, my techie son and I have been talking about how the whole AI ecosystem seems like a bubble, and is not unlike the great ‘dot com’ bubble of the early 2000’s. Now, the Bank of England has warned that there is a growing risk of a “sudden correction” in global markets as it raised concerns about soaring valuations of leading AI tech companies. Theguardian.com reports that “On a number of measures, equity market valuations appear stretched, particularly for technology companies focused on artificial intelligence. This … leaves equity markets particularly exposed should expectations around the impact of AI become less optimistic.” Faith in the AI boom has recently been rattled by research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which showed that 95% of organizations are getting zero return from their investments in generative AI.
Pew Research has released a report on kids’ screen time use. According to Pew, 90% of kids 12 and under watch some TV, 68% use tablets, 61% are on smartphones, 50% use a gaming device, 39% use a desktop or laptop. Interestingly, only 8% of the kids use AI chatbots. A quarter of parents say their under 12 child has a smartphone. When it comes to 11 and 12 year olds, 57% of those kids have a smartphone of their own. 51% of kids watch videos on YouTube every day!
It is always a stressful hassle and time suck to have to go to the pharmacy and pick up a prescription after visiting your doctor. Now, geekwire.com says Amazon Pharmacy is moving to eliminate the wait and hassle by putting kiosks in at doctor’s offices that can quickly dispense medications to patients after their doctor visit. At first, they will be in offices of One Medical, Amazon’s primary healthcare company in the greater Los Angeles area. Expansion to other cities is expected soon after. The kiosks will be stocked with a wide range of commonly prescribed medications…including antibiotics, blood pressure meds, and inhalers. No controlled substances or meds that require refrigeration will be available. Patients use the Amazon app and a QR code to scan at the kiosk…the meds are then delivered in minutes with a custom label like at the pharmacy. Cameras inside let an Amazon pharmacist see the meds live and review before they are dispensed. They are also available for a phone or video consultation for new meds.
Elon Musk has finally agreed to settle with 4 former top Twitter execs he canned after buying the company in 2022. Theverge.com notes that they had sued for over $128 million in unpaid severance. The settlement amount has not been disclosed, and is dependent on ‘certain conditions’ that must be met in the near term. The execs are the former CEO, CFO, chief legal officer, and general counsel. The lawsuit will resume on October 31st if the settlement terms are not met.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Prime Day in Full Swing; ChatGPT-Multiple Acts Inside It Now; California Law Cuts Volume on Netflix, Others; Deloitte Refunds Australia for AI Lie-Ridden Report
Posted: October 7, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, Prime Day, technology Leave a commentPrime Day is here…and if you weren’t already up at midnight buying your favorite stuff at big discounts, some may be sold out by now. That said, there are still a huge number of deals to be had the rest of today and tomorrow. Engadget.com reports that as usual, deep discounts are available on Amazon’s own hardware…all the Alexa-related devices. Besides Amazon’s gear, though, there are other bargains. A 4 pack of Apple AirTags can be picked up for $65, which is 34% off…and unheard of bargain. You can get an Anker Nano 5K ultra slim power bank that is Qi2 and 15 watts for $40…that’s $15 off and is a Prime exclusive. A Google Pixel 9a midrange smartphone is just $349, which is a whopping $150 discount. Also, A Dyson V8 Plus cordless vac is $300…that’s $219 off. It’s not the top line Dyson, but I’ve been using one myself for several years, and it works well and runs 40 minutes on a charge. I hope your place isn’t so big that you need to vacuum for more than that! If it is, maybe you can have a maid service come in.
ChatGPT can now interact with a number of third-party apps right inside their conversations. According to macrumors.com, initial partners include Spotify, Canva, Zillow, Expedia, Booking.com, Coursera, and Figma. Users can activate the app by name. You can, for example, ask Spotify to make you a new playlist. OpenAI says additional apps are coming later this year, including from DoorDash, Instacart, Uber, and AllTrails. Like so many internet products, OpenAI would love to Make ChatGPT into a walled garden that you rarely leave, getting them a piece of revenue from every app you use inside.
Governor Newsom has signed into law a bill that eliminated a loophole in the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act. The new California law bans loud commercials on video streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max. At the time of the original bill, streaming was not much of a factor…but now about 83% of adults use streaming services. The FCC is also looking at rule making to deal with loud commercials on streaming services. The California law requires that streamers “not transmit the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content they accompany.” Unfortunately, the law doesn’t take effect immediately, but in July 2026. Perhaps by that time, the FCC will pick up on California’s law, and make it the rule nationwide.
Yet another AI lying scandal…or as that industry has dubbed it…’hallucinations.’ Consulting/accounting firm Deloitte is coughing up a partial refund for a report that was full of fake citations. The firm had used ChatGPT-4o in creating the report. Arstechnica.com reports that the so-called ‘Targeted Compliance Framework Assurance Review’ was finalized in July then published by a government department in August. The Aussies had paid $440,000 in US dollars for it. It centered around a framework the government there uses to automate penalties under the country’s welfare system. An official from Sydney University noticed multiple citations to papers and publications that didn’t exist. the report was updated by Deloitte, and only 127 of the original 141 references in the ‘Reference List’ remain. The other 14 were fakes made up by ChatGPT 4o.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
AMD Partners with OpenAI; ICE Wants to Build 24-7 Social Media Surveillance Team; Discord User IDs & Data Compromised; Tesla Insurance Division Accused of ‘Egregious Delays’
Posted: October 6, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Cybersecurity, News, security, technology Leave a commentAMD is partnering up with OpenAI, and will provide the AI firm with 6 gigawatts worth of processors for its AI data centers…something that poses a direct challenge to Nvidia’s AI chip market dominance. Theverge.com reports that the deal is a 5 year agreement which will aim to help OpenAI bulk up its infrastructure to meet the growing computational demands for its AI apps like ChatGPT. The first wave will be a gigawatt worth of AMD GPUs coming in the 2nd half of 2026. No dollar amount has been announced, but it is safe to say it will be in the tens of billions of dollars.
ICE is moving to connect with private vendors to run a multi-year surveillance program out of its two little—known targeting centers. According to wired.com, ICE plans to hire almost 30 contractors to sift through posts, photos, and messages—raw material to be transformed into intelligence for deportation arrests and raids. The contractors would be located at ICE facilities in Williston, Vermont and Santa Ana in Southern California. They would pore over Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms converting posts and profiles into fresh leads for enforcement raids.
A third party customer service provider for Discord has been infiltrated, and the hackers were able to gain access to user information. Engadget.com says the breach occurred on September 20th. Discord claims that the compromised data includes a “small number” of government IDs like driver’s licenses and passports, which some users may have submitted to verify their ages. To be clear, Discord itself wasn’t hacked, and you would only be affected by the data breach if you’ve ever communicated with the messaging service’s Customer Support or Trust & Safety teams. That also means the bad actors didn’t get access to your messages within the service, just whatever you may have communicated with customer support. Affected users are getting emails notifying them. They have cut ties with the provider.
The California Department of Insurance has slapped Tesla with an enforcement action for routinely denying or delaying customer claims despite years of warnings from that state regulator. Techcrunch.com notes that Tesla’s insurance arm along with partner State National Insurance Company, engaged in “willful unfair claims settlement practices” including “egregious delays in responding to policyholder claims in all steps” of the process and “unreasonable denials,” CDI wrote. This has allegedly caused “financial harm” and “distress to policyholders.” The state insurance department first warned about the issues in 2022, and now says things have only gotten worse. Tesla launched the in-house insurance back in 2019.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Amazon Redesigned Echo; YouTube Settles with Trump for $24.5 Million; Newsom Signs California AI Safety Bill; Amazon Partners With FanDuel- Offers Personalized NBA Bet Tracking
Posted: September 30, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, openai, technology, YouTube Leave a commentAmazon has bowed new hardware today, as expected. One thing Amazon has been dinged for is sound quality, even in the so-called Echo Studio. Apple’s HomePods blow them away sonically. Well today, engadget.com reports that the upgraded Echo Studio is out…and it can handle immersive Dolby Atmos and double as a home theater speaker. It features new drivers, a new chip, and new design. The Studio has 3 full-range drivers plus an excursion woofer for maximum bass. The new chip will run Alexa+ on the Studio, and it has advanced speech and audio processing. The design is a change…no longer a large cylinder..the new Studio is a spherical shape. The blue light ring for Alexa is now on the front instead of the top. It is 40% smaller than the old model. The new studio is available for preorder today for $220, and it ships October 29th.
Another company has caved and paid off on a lawsuit Donald Trump filed against them. According to arstechnica.com, Alphabet, parent of Google, has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle the suit. The suit was over Trump’s YouTube account being suspended after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6th. Trump will have the money contributed on his behalf to the Trust for the National Mall..which includes support for construction of his monstrous 90,000 square foot ballroom on the White House property.
Governor Newsom has signed the first-in-the-nation AI safety bill that sets new transparency requirements on large AI companies. TechCrunch.com notes that the new law requires large AI labs – including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google DeepMind – to be transparent about safety protocols. It also ensures whistleblower protections for employees at those companies. In addition, it creates a mechanism for AI companies and the public to report potential critical safety incidents to California’s Office of Emergency Services. Companies also have to report incidents related to crimes committed without human oversight, such as cyberattacks, and deceptive behavior by a model that isn’t required under the EU AI Act. Anthropic backed the bill, while Meta and OpenAI lobbied against it.
Amazon is partnering with FanDuel to offer personalized bet tracking and Odds View for their “NBA on Prime” streamed basketball games this season. Geekwire.com reports that offerings from Prime Sports also includes fully-customizable multi view offering, AI-driven highlights on demand, live stats, the ability to shop within the game, and more. The ability to shop within the game? Of course…it’s Amazon after all!
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
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