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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Prime 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

AMD 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.

Meta to Sell Targeted Ads Based on Your AI Interaction; Google-Gemini for Home Replaces Assistant; Microsoft Redoes Xbox Game Pass Plans; Disney Lost 1.7 Million Subscribers over Kimmel Suspension

Posted: October 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As if they didn’t have a big enough trove of information on all of us that can be used to sell targeted ads, now Meta will sell targeted ads based on data in your AI chats. You may have noticed the push for AI in Messages and Facebook…it’s right there like it was a person on your friends list. TechCrunch.com reports that if you ask the Meta AI about hiking or camping, you will see ads for appropriate gear for those activities. Of course the targeting will work across platforms. If you are logged in to both Facebook and Instagram, you will get targeted ads that are based on AI interactions with either platform. Meta did say it has no immediate plans to put ads directly in the AI products. Wow, that’s a real relief. 

Google has bowed new hardware, and along with that, they have replaced Google Assistant with Gemini for Home. According to 9to5google.com, there are 10 new voices, with what is touted as more natural pacing and intonation. With the new Gemini, commands no longer have to follow a specific structure to work. You don’t have to remember device names now, and you can string multiple instructions together and it will process all of them. Google is claiming you can now talk to Gemini for Home as if it was a person. New AI cameras are supposed to be able to tell you what’s happening…for example, you can asked if a critter ate your plants outdoors, or if a family member got home. Google says their redesigned app runs faster, too. 

Microsoft has rejiggered their Xbox Game Pass plans and surprise….there’s a price hike, too! Theverge.com notes that as of today, Game Pass Ultimate will jump from $19.99 a month to $29.99 a month! That’s up 50%! Xbox Game Pass Core is being rebranded Game Pass Essential, and the standard plan is now Game Pass Premium. Microsoft says all 3 plans are getting bigger libraries and unlimited cloud gaming. 45 new games are out for Ultimate as of today. 

Boycotts work! Engadget.com reports that The Handbasket is saying Disney lost more than 1.7 million subscribers to their paid streaming plans from September 17th to the 23rd. If you figure most were being dinged for about $20 a month, I calculate that this is a hit of around $400 million a year for the House of Mouse. THAT more than anything, is what brought Kimmel back. Money talks, and bullshit walks…as we used to say in the car business.

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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon 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. 

EA is Going Private; ‘Vibe Working’-Microsoft Agent-Powered AI; Samsung President Practically Confirms 2026 iPhone Fold; Trump Energy Dept Bans Staff from Saying ‘Climate Change’

Posted: September 29, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Game Maker Electronic Arts is being taken private, in a deal valued at $55 billion. Gizmodo.com reports that Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund are spearheading the deal. It also includes some cash from investment firm Silver lake. The deal will pay shareholders $210 a share in cash. Saudi’s Public Investment fund already owned 10% of EA prior to this deal. They are aiming to get more into where younger gamers are…mobile and free to play hit games such as Fortnite and Roblox…as opposed to the expensive franchise-driven EA titles the company has been known for like Madden NFL and FIFA, The Sims, and more. 

Microsoft is rolling out Agent Mode in Excel, and they are dubbing their approach ‘vibe working.’ This is new jargon for having Copilot analyze data, generate visualizations, and iterate on results across multi-step tasks. According to geekwire.com, Microsoft is keen to have ‘vibe working’ catch on. Redmond sees ‘vibe working’ as collaboration between people and AI agents inside its productivity apps. Instead of giving a one-time response, the updated Copilot AI tools generate, test, and refine content while users steer the direction, more like a dialogue. Microsoft says its Office Agent in Copilot runs on AI models from Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI chatbot. This is part of their continuing move to rely less on OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

The president of Samsung Display, Lee Cheong, has announced that they are ramping up preparations to produce OLED foldable smartphones. Appleinsider.com notes that Lee told reporters the displays would be made for a ‘North American client.’ Considering how few North American smartphone makers there are, this pretty well seals the rumors that Apple will be releasing a folding iPhone next year, most likely in the third quarter. 

In a completely petty, silly move, the Trump Department of Energy has issued a list of banned words. TechCrunch.com reports that they include ‘climate change’ and ‘green.’ Additional banned words are decarbonization, energy transition, sustainability, sustainable, subsidies, tax breaks, tax credits, and carbon footprint. That ought to show those libs and tree huggers. If you can’t use the words, climate change won’t happen, right? The world turns on meanwhile…global investment in renewable energy hit a new record in the first half of 2025. 

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

Google Bringing Android to PCs; Instagram Hits 3 Billion Monthly Users; Disney Raising Prices on Disney+ & Hulu; AI Boom Unsustainable Without Crazy Money Investment

Posted: September 24, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

With Apple blurring the lines between the Mac operating system and iOS, this was probably inevitable, but Google is now teasing bringing Android to PCs. Androidpolice.com reports that Google is working on a Snapdragon powered Android desktop. With a lot of folks not thrilled with Windows 11, and the prospect of Windows 12 becoming subscription like Office 360, an Android desktop might be a great alternative for folks who don’t like Apple and the Mac, and aren’t technically inclined enough to run Linux. There is also a rumor that Valve is working on bringing out a version of  the Steam gaming system as a PC alternative. Google’s Android, however, would be familiar with many millions more people than the others, and could be a serious contender for taking desktop and laptop PC business from Microsoft. 

Instagram has hit a huge milestone. According to engadget.com, Mark Zuckerberg has posted on Threads that the platform has passed up 3 billion monthly users. That’s up a billion since 2022. Facebook hit 2 billion daily in 2023, WhatsApp got to 2 billion in 2020. With the world population at about 8.3 billion, Instagram is reaching over a third of the people on the planet every month!

In perhaps one of the great examples of poor timing we’ve seen in a while, Disney…following the mess with the Jimmy Kimmel suspension, is raising prices on Disney+ and Hulu. TechCrunch.com notes that the Disney+ stand alone plan with ads will be bumped up $2 to $11.99 a month, while the ad free Premium plan is boosted $3 to $18.99 a month. The Premium annual plan goes up $30 to $189.99 a year. For Hulu, the standalone plan goes from $9.99 a month to $11.99 with ads. The ad free Hulu stays at $18.99 a month. ESPN Select goes from $11.99 to $12.99. What about bundles? Disney+ and Hulu with ads goes up $2 to $12.99, and Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select with ads increases by $3 to $18.99 a month. This may put off a lot of the people who cancelled Disney+ and Hulu protesting about Kimmel…kind of tough to sign back up and get a substantial price bump. That mouse sure wants a lot of cheese!

The AI boom may hit a wall, in a report from Bain. Fortune.com reports that AI won’t be able to generate enough revenue to sustain the computing power it needs to build. Citing the Bain report, “Two trillion dollars in annual revenue is what’s needed to fund computing power needed to meet anticipated AI demand by 2030. However, even with AI-related savings, the world is still $800 billion short to keep pace with demand.” Fortune also notes “It may not be an exaggeration to write that NVIDIA – the key supplier of capital goods for the AI investment cycle – is currently carrying the weight of US economic growth. The bad news is that in order for the tech cycle to continue contributing to GDP growth, capital investment needs to remain parabolic. This is highly unlikely.” The “growth is not coming from AI itself but from building the factories to generate AI capacity.” Not mentioned is the amount of electricity needed to power all those server farms. Microsoft is even having the Three Mile Island nuclear plant restarted to run servers. They will use an amount of power that could run 900,000 homes!

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

DOJ Wants to Break Up Google Ad Biz; Facebook Getting AI Dating Assistant; Uber Launches Prepaid Passes; WhatsApp Adds Built in Translation

Posted: September 23, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Department of Justice wants to break up Google’s ad business as the antitrust case against the search giant rolls on. Arstechnica.com reports that US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has already ruled that Google operated an illegal monopoly in digital advertising, and now we address the remedies that may apply. Google’s had mixed luck with antitrust rulings lately. The DOJ is asking the court to force Google to spin off Google Ad Manager, the marketplace through which advertisers buy ads on Google’s platform. The government was able to convince the court that Google’s control of Ad Manager gave it an unfair advantage that boosted its own services, but is a breakup the proper remedy? That will be the issue for the court to eventually rule on.

As if the myriad of dating apps wasn’t enough, now Facebook is bowing an AI dating assistant. According to TechCrunch.com, the chatbot is supposed to help users find matches that are more closely tailored to what they are looking for. You can put in parameters like location, job or social interests, and so forth…then ask the AI to help refine things. Meta has also rolled out Meet Cute, which gives users a weekly ‘surprise match’ based on its algorithm. Facebook Dating matches are up 10% they say for people 18-29 year over year. They have ‘hundreds of thousands’ of users. That’s a bunch, but Tinder has about 50 million daily active users!

Uber is launching prepaid passes, which let you pay a discounted price in advance on frequently taken trips. Cnet.com reports that the passes are available in bundles of 5, 10, 15, or 20 rides. The bigger the bundle you buy, the bigger the discount. The discounts run 5 to 20%. You do have to select a 1 hour request window, and Uber will display a countdown so customers know how many passes they have left. The feature is available in75 cities. 

WhatsApp has rolled out built-in text translations on iPhone and Android. Theverge.com says that it is a gradual rollout, starting today in 1 to 1 chats, groups, and Channel update messages. You turn the feature on by long pressing down on messages and touching the ‘Translate’ option to pick the language you want to translate to or from. Support for English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic will initially be available for Android users, while iPhone users can translate messages into more than 19 languages at launch. Android users can also enable automatic translation for entire chat threads to apply the feature to all incoming messages.

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

US TikTok Algorithm to Be Retrained; Nvidia-$100 Billion into OpenAI; Tesla Robotaxi-3 Crashes 1st Day in Austin; Blue Origin Gets Contract for Lunar Rover to Moon’s South Pole

Posted: September 22, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The TikTok saga continues, but it sounds like things are getting close for a US version of TikTok managed by US interests. 9to5mac.com reports that the latest iteration of the deal, ByteDance would lease a version of their algorithm to a consortium of US investors, and Oracle would recreate and provide security for the algorithm. In addition, the US version would be retrained ‘from the ground up.’ Besides Oracle, Fox is reportedly one of the investors, so that makes one wonder how exactly the thing would be retrained…if it might somehow end up like X. 

Nvidia will drop some $100 billion into OpenAI and provide it with data center chips, the companies said today in a joint statement. According to Reuters.com, Nvidia will be delivering the chips as soon as late 2026. Nvidia will invest in OpenAI for non-controlling shares. OpenAI just signed a non-binding deal with investor Microsoft which allows for OpenAI to restructure as a for-profit company. 

Not exactly the kind of start Elon Musk would have hoped for…as Tesla launched its robotaxis in Austin, Texas, they had 3 crashes the first day! Arstechnica.com notes that the testing started on July 1st, and that later that month, the Teslas had only logged some 7,000 miles of testing. For comparison, Waymo logged only 60 crashes in over 50 million miles of driving. Waymo is not up to 96 million miles. All the crashes happened with a safety operator aboard. Musk has been saying for nearly 10 years that Tesla Full Self Driving is capable of driving coast to coast unaided. A couple owners made an attempt. They planned to go from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida in a Model Y. After just 60 miles, they crashed into road debris, and the car’s suspension broke! 

Blue Origin has scored a major NASA contract to ferry a lunar rover to the the South Pole of the moon. Techcrunch.com reports that the VIPER…which stands for ‘Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover’ will eventually see the surface of the moon. The program was in a bit of limbo last year due to delays and cost overruns. The contract with Blue Origin is about $190 million. They hope to have it land by late 2027.

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

Meta Connect 2025; Google Brings Gemini Button to Chrome; ICE Signs Deal For Phone Hack Software; Nvidia Will Put $5 Billion into Intel for New Co-Developed Chips

Posted: September 18, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The Meta Connect keynote was last night, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the predicted smart glasses with a display. Theverge.com reports they are called Meta Ray-Ban Display…I know, really creative naming here…but they do have a full-color, hi-res screen in the right lens. You can see messages, take video calls, read live captions, see walking directions, and preview pics you plan to take with a built-in 12 megapixel cam. The display is controlled with a wristband. Meta says the glasses can run up to 6 hours with ‘mixed use’ on a charge, and you can get up to 30 hours with the collapsable charging case. The new Display glasses start at $799, and come in black or brown…same colors for the wrist band. They are available in the US starting September 30th at Best Buy, LensCrafters, and Ray-Ban stores. 

Google is rolling out new features for Chrome. The biggie, according to them, is a new button that launches the Gemini chatbot…be still my heart. According to wired.com, there are new tools for searching, researching, and answering questions with AI. On Android, you can already use parts of Gemini within the Chrome app, and the AI features are coming to iOS Chrome users ‘soon.’ 

In a chilling move, ICE has signed a $3 million dollar contract with the company that makes Graykey, the phone hacking and unlocking device that is already in use by many governments and police agencies. TechCrunch.com notes that the deal covers the HSI…Homeland Security Investigations unit of ICE. The Graykey box was originally developed by Grayshift, but Magnet Forensics merged with them in 2023, and they operate under the Magnet Forensics name now. This isn’t shocking, but just one more tool besides face recognition software from Clearview AI and cell phone spyware from Paragon that ICE is now using.

Nvidia will pump $5 billion into Intel, to co-develop new server and PC chips. Arstechnica.com says this will give Nvidia approximately 4% of Intel. Apparently, the chips will be custom x86 chips that Intel builds to Nvidia’s specifications. Nvidia will then integrate the CPUs into its AI infrastructure platforms, and offer them to the market. 

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

China Blocks Sale of Nvidia AI Chips; Meta Connect is Tonight; Waymo Finally Gets SFO Permit; Apple MacBook Pro With OLED Display & Touch Screen Coming

Posted: September 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The trade war continues, now with China’s Cyberspace Administration telling companies this week…including ByteDance and Alibaba…to stop testing and ordering Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D AI chips. The verge.com reports that the chips were just introduced a couple months ago, and are specifically designed for China. China appears to be pressing Chinese tech companies to stop relying on Nvidia and utilize Chinese made chips, on order for China to compete better with the US in the AI race. 

Meta Connect launches this evening with a keynote from Mark Zuckerberg. According to engadget.com, we should get a pretty detailed update on Meta’s smart glasses…including the rumored ones with built-in displays, which have been code named ‘Hypernova’ internally. Zuck may give a timeline for introducing the next gen glasses, and even pricing. Right now, it doesn’t appear that there will be any update to the latest Quest VR headsets, which were just rolled out last year. The keynote is at 5 PM Pacific, and is available on stream at the Meta Connect 2025 site. 

Waymo has finally scored a permit to start testing robotaxis at San Francisco International Airport. CNBC.com notes that Waymo will partner with the airport to roll out the service in phases…starting with employee testing, and then moving on to riders from the general public. The taxis will start out with human safety drivers aboard, but eventually will operate as a driverless ride hailing service. 

Apple is apparently planning a major upgrade to the MacBook Pro next year. Bgr.com reports that the upcoming MacBook will not only have an M6 chip, but also may get an OLED screen…and get this…analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will have a touchscreen like an iPad. That would be a huge move for Apple. It also, as Kuo notes, blurs the line between iPads and MacBooks. Personally, I think a MacBook with a touchscreen could be a big help with productivity…being able to use a keyboard or touch screen could really make work intuitive and faster. The laptop is also rumored to be thinner and have cellular connectivity built in.

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

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