Google I/O Underway; Apple WWDC Dates & Predictions; Nintendo Using Samsung Chips for the Switch 2; The Take It Down Act Signed into Law
Posted: May 20, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Google, News, Nintendo, switch-2, Tech, technology Leave a commentGoogle I/O- The keynote by Sundar Pichai kicked off the event at 10 Pacific this morning. The CEO jumped right in to AI, summarizing Gemini 2.5 progress and developer adaption. 9to5google.com reports that Pichai is claiming that Google Search is bringing AI to more people than any product in the world. Project Starline 3D video conferencing has been renamed Google Beam. The CEO touted Google Meet speech translation, saying it is like having a human interpreter on a call. Google says Gemini Live Camera and screen sharing is coming to iOS. As with Microsoft and others, Gemini is getting an Agent Mode. It’s all about the AI agents at the moment. For Gmail, Google is going to give us personalized smart replies starting later this summer. There’s much more, but with a 2 hour keynote, some of it will have to wait!
Apple has released the dates for this year’s WWDC It will be June 9th to 13th with the tag line ‘On the Horizon.’ According to TechCrunch.com, we should see the usual teases of the updated operating systems, and a lot about Apple Intelligence. Apple is also planning to update the look of its screens in the operating systems for the first time in years. Look for refreshed icons, menus, apps, window, and system buttons…with the emphasis on simplifying navigation and control. Apple will have online group sessions at WWDC for the first time this year.
Nintendo is using Samsung to produce the primary chips for the Switch 2, including an 8 nanometer processor custom designed by NVIDIA. Engadget.com notes that this is a move away from Taiwan based TSMC, which has built the chips for the original switch since 2017. Nintendo has been buying flash memories and displays from Samsung. The word is, they will build enough chips for Nintendo to ship some 20 million or more Switch 2s by March 2026.
The president has signed the Take it Down Act, which beefs up federal protections for victims of revenge porn and AI generated sexual images. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Senator Amy Koobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota and Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas. It makes it illegal to “knowingly publish” or threaten to share nonconsensual intimate imagery—whether real or generated by artificial intelligence—without the person’s consent. It also requires tech platforms to remove such images within 48 hours of being notified and to take steps to eliminate duplicate content. Up to now, federal law only banned the creation or distribution of realistic, AI-generated explicit images of children, while protections for adults varied by state. As a result, laws differed in how the crime was classified and penalized, leading to inconsistent criminal prosecutions. Some victims also struggled to have images taken down from websites. This legislation, which garnered overwhelming bipartisan support, marks the first federal law aimed at protecting adult victims.
I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
GOP Wants to Tax EV Drivers $200 a Year; Meta’s Standalone ChatGPT Competitor; Wikipedia Will Use AI, but Not Replacing Humans; Waymo & Toyota Partner on Self-Driving Vehicles
Posted: April 30, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Alphabet, autos, ev-tax, finance, Toyota, writing Leave a commentThe present Republican party seems determined to hate on, and fight against electric vehicles at every turn. Now, arstechnica.com reports that they have tucked into their proposed tax bill a new $200 per year tax on battery EVs. Hybrids will be dinged for $100. How about gas guzzling pickups, SUVs, and performance cars? Oh, they will pay a measly $20 per year…and even then only after October 1, 2030! Before that, nothing. Commercial vehicles are exempt, too. An argument the GOP makes is that EV drivers don’t pay any gas tax, and hybrid owners pay less gas tax than internal combustion engine vehicle owners. Of course, the EVs aren’t belching smog into the atmosphere either…to the climate change deniers, this tax is a win-win if it passes. This is a big ripoff for EVs and hybrids, as 39 states already charge EV drivers a registration fee and 28 states charge hybrid drivers. DISCLOSURE: I drive a hybrid, and have for the past 7 years…so yes, I have already been paying the gas tax…this is just an added tax penalty from the party that allegedly hates taxes.
Meta has its standalone ChatGPT competitor, which is pretty much the same as what you get with actual ChatGPT…but with an added feature. According to theverge.com, you can type to or talk with the app, generate images, and get real-time web results. The new wrinkle is that it has a Discover feed…which gets you a feed of interactions with Meta AI that other people…including, of course, your friends on Facebook and Instagram…have chosen to share on a prompt-by-prompt basis. Naturally since it is a meta product, you can like, comment, share, or remix the shared AI posts on your own feed. OpenAI is planning a social feed to ChatGPT, and Musk’s X is pretty intertwined with his Grok. Worth noting…Meta actually is using much of the View companion app for the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses to underpin the freestanding Meta AI app.
Wikipedia is jumping into the AI game, but it stresses that artificial intelligence won’t be used to replace the community of editors and volunteers. Techcrunch.com says Wikipedia will use AI to build new features that “remove technical barriers,” allowing editors, moderators, and patrollers tools that allow them to accomplish what they need to do, without worrying about how to “technically achieve it.” Amid concerns that AI could eventually impact jobs held by people today, especially in terms of content creation, Wikipedia indicates that it intends to use AI as a tool that makes people’s jobs easier, not replace them.
The Waymo division of Alphabet and Toyota have announced a preliminary partnership to explore bringing robotaxi tech to personally-owned vehicles. “The companies will explore how to leverage Waymo’s autonomous technology and Toyota’s vehicle expertise to enhance next-generation personally owned vehicles,” the two companies announced. The companies said they aim to use the partnership to more quickly develop driver assistance and autonomous vehicle technologies for personal vehicles. Toyota is the world’s largest automaker by sales. Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said the strategic partnership could also result in the Google-owned company incorporating Toyota’s “vehicles into our ride-hailing fleet.”
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Amazon-Tariff Cost Display ‘Not Happening’; iPhone Fold on Track for 2026; Android Gets Separate Showcase Week; ChatGPT Adds Shopping Features to Search
Posted: April 29, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, digital-marketing, marketing, technology Leave a commentThe White House went ballistic this morning with a report that Amazon was going to start posting the added costs of the Trump tariffs on items…calling it a ‘hostile and political act.’ Now, geekwire.com reports that Amazon has stated that this is not going to happen. An Amazon spokesman, Tim Doyle, said “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen.” On the other hand, China owned Temu is now adding ‘import charges’ of about 145%…that according to CNBC. One place you will see tariffs impact Amazon pricing…that’s from the third-party sellers, which make us some 60% of the company’s store sales.
Apple appears to be on track to release its first folding iPhone in the second half of 2026. According to 9to5mac.com, it will come with a premium price of between $2100 and $2300…a couple hundred less than has been suggested previously….but still a ton of money. Folding phones had been growing by some 40% per year until 2024, when they are just up about 5%, and now they are expected to see a sales decline in 2025, so Apple entering the market will be a real boost. As we have reported, Ming-Chi Kuo predicts the apple folder will have an inner 7.8 inch display, with a 5.5 inch display outside, and no dreaded crease on the inner screen. It will be a book style like the Samsung Fold series. Some predictions are for less cameras, due to the thinness of the device, and also no Face ID..they will have Touch ID on a button. The iPhone Fold is predicted to be skinny at 4.5 mm unfolded and 9 mm folded.
Google has enough going on with Android that they are going to give the mobile system its own showcase a week prior to Google I/O. Engadget.com notes that this is the first time they have done so. Google says it has “so many new things to share” regarding Android, hence this edition of The Android Show. The presentation will feature Android Ecosystem president Sameer Samat. Android will still be featured at I/O, where Google is promising to reveal “even more special announcements and surprises.” Multiple Android keynotes are scheduled for the event. The Android Show: I/O Edition will air on May 13 at 1PM ET. Google I/O takes place a week later, starting on May 20.
ChatGPT is adding shopping features to let users look for products and then purchase them from a merchant websites after a redirect from ChatGPT. According to arstechnica.com, the feature resembles Google Shopping. When you click on a product image, ChatGPT will serve you multiple retailers like Amazon and Walmart on the right side of the screen, complete with buttons to finish the purchases. Unlike Google’s algorithm-based approach to product recommendations, ChatGPT reportedly attempts to understand product reviews and user preferences in a more conversational manner. If someone mentions they prefer black clothing from specific retailers in a chat, the system incorporates those preferences in future shopping recommendations. One key distinction between ChatGPT shopping and Google Shopping involves how products appear in results. While Google often includes sponsored product placements, OpenAI’s product results merely come from search—for now. Chat”GPT search product lead Adam Fry says “They are not ads…they are not sponsored.”
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Meta AI Chatbots-Sex Convos with Minors; Temu and Shein Goose Prices Over Tariffs; Tesla Robot Production Stopped-Short of Chinese Rare Earth; California Revising Self-Driving Regulations
Posted: April 28, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, deep-seek, Tech, technology Leave a commentMeta AI chatbots have been caught with their pants down, metaphorically speaking. Engadget.com reports that they have been caught having sexual role-play conversations with accounts labeled underage…some of them are celebrity voice chatbots, too! In test conversations conducted by WSJ, both the Meta AI official chatbot and user-created chatbots would engage in — and even steer towards — sexually explicit conversations. The fantasy sex conversations continued even if the users were said to be underage or if the chatbots were programmed as minors, according to WSJ. Some of the voices were from the likes of Kristen Bell and Dame Judi Dench. Meta says it has now taken “…additional measures to help ensure other individuals who want to spend hours manipulating our products into extreme use cases will have an even more difficult time of it.”
A couple of bargain basement sites used by a lot of folks are getting some hefty price hikes due to the Trump tariffs. Temu and She-in are seeing some items get bumped up in price by up to 377%! According to cnet.com, She-in’s beauty and health products are up an average of 51%, with kitchen goods up around 30% on average. There are, however, some big jumps…a kitchen towel that was $1.28 is not $6.10..up 377%, and a meat shredder has gone from $2.91 to $9.02…up 219%. This may be moot to an extent…the Port of Los Angeles is seeing 33% less shipping containers from China, and Seattle says none are in the pipeline for that port right now.
Of late, Elon Musk has really been putting a lot of emphasis on his Optimus robots…which he claims will revolutionize factory production and give us in-house robot servants like Rosie from The Jetsons. Well, technewsday.com says it may be a while longer than anticipated now. There is a shortage of a rare earth from China needed for the magnets used in the robots compact actuators. China produces the entire world’s supply of heavy rare earth metals, from ore mined in China and Myanmar, and 90% of magnets made with these metals. Analysts warn that the tightened controls on these essential materials—used in everything from electronics to defense systems—will be difficult to bypass or replace quickly. Musk had wanted to build thousands of the robots by the end of this year, but now it looks like that will be delayed…the Trump tariffs strike again.
California is re-tooling its rules for testing and deployment of self-driving vehicles. CNBC reports that the California DMV has announced that it is now seeking public comment on proposed regulations that would apply to self-driving vehicles from light-duty robotaxis like Waymo’s to heavy-duty driverless trucks like those from Plus.AI. The state is taking comments from now to Jun 9th, then will schedule a public hearing before rolling out new regulations. Personally, I am hoping they don’t allow any vehicles without steering wheels and a brake pedal in event of emergencies. Neither people nor computers are infallible!
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
EU Slaps Apple & Google with Big Fines; Google Messages Can Now Blur Unwanted Nudes; Tesla Profits Down 71%; OpenAI Wants to Buy Chrome
Posted: April 23, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, business, technology, Tesla Leave a commentThe European Union strikes again under its Digital Markets Act, fining Apple $571 million and Meta $228 million for breaches of the act. CNBC reports that the EU says Apple failed to comply with so-called “anti-steering” obligations under the DMA. Under the EU’s tech law, Apple is required to allow developers to freely inform customers of alternative offers outside its App Store. The tech giant was ordered by the EU to remove technical and commercial restrictions on steering and to refrain from perpetuating its non-compliant conduct in the future. As for Meta, the EU Commission found that the social media group illegally required users to consent to sharing their data with the company or pay for an ad-free service. This was in response to Meta’s introduction of a paid subscription tier for Facebook and Instagram in November 2023. Both companies will appeal.
Google Messages is getting a useful new feature…the ability to blur unwanted nudes. Now, if some clown sends you an unsolicited picture of his equipment, Google will blur it out and give you a Sensitive Content Warning on Android. According to arstechnica.com, the option isn’t live on all Androids yet. If you are an adult, you will just get the warning, and then can peek if you like. If it is a supervised teen’s phone, the feature is enabled, and can’t be disabled on the child’s device. Only the Family Link administrator can do that. The detection of the nakedness is done on device. Google says the feature is a part of its Android System Safety Core. Apple just calls their version of this feature Sensitive Content Warning. Google’s should be available soon on all devices running Android v. 9 or higher.
Tesla’s earnings call was yesterday, and the headline is everywhere that their profits dropped 71% on weak sales…due in no small part to people angry at Elon Musk’s meddling in the government. TechCrunch.com says the electric car maker reported $409 million in net income on $19.3 billion in revenue. They sold nearly 337,000 cars first quarter. First quarter of last year, Tesla did $1.4 billion in profit. The thing is, even the $400 million wasn’t due to car sales! Tesla made about that much on interest from investments, and made another $595 million by selling zero-emissions tax credits to other car makers. According to its earnings report — without those, it would have posted a loss. Elon Musk is now promising to put out the formerly cancelled cheaper Tesla yet this year, and has put off the robo-taxi vehicle to next year. He also promised to only spend one or two days a week at DOGE for what he said was as long as the president wants him.
With the Department of Justice vs Google trial continuing, and the government set on breaking up Google if they prevail, now a new twist has emerged. OpenAI is throwing its hat into the ring to buy Chrome, should Google be forced to sell it. Arstechnica.com notes that while OpenAI is in bed with Microsoft and their lousy Bing, they are eyeing Chrome. Of course there are other suiters too, but OpenAI would look to make it a fully AI first browser. Chrome with its 4 billion users and 67% market share would be a gigantic boost. Google has said that Chrome can’t make it on its own, but that is still another alternative….making it a free-standing company. With Google Ad placement and others, it likely could survive…but it is a fascinating thought that OpenAI could end up with it…with ChatGPT search instead of Google’s Gemini AI.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Automatic Leveling Coming to YouTube Music; 3 Big Siri Upgrades in iOS 19; OpenAI o3 Model-Fudging on Benchmark; Nintendo Switch 2 Preorders Start Thursday
Posted: April 21, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, science, technology Leave a commentHere’s a feature I can really get behind, and plead for all others to follow suit…consistent volume on songs! YouTube is apparently going to bring automatic audio leveling to YouTube Music. This has been something radio has had for decades. Who wants to keep turning the volume up and down all the time…whether at home or in the car? Arstechnica.com reports that the automatic gain control…or ‘normalizing,’ in more recent computer audio lingo, won’t just make the songs all the same volume throughout…so you can still have the normal soft passages you would expect…but at least the average level between the songs will be consistent. I hope that the folks over at Apple will follow suit! It is ridiculous in 2025 to have to manually go for the volume control so you don’t get your eardrums fried when a new song comes on!
Apple has been known for years to wait in the wings, then come out with hardware that leaps past competitors. That certainly isn’t the case with Siri, which is a poor excuse for an also-ran of an assistant. According to 9to5mac.com, after delaying promised upgrades that should be out now, Apple will roll out improvements in Siri this fall…in iOS 19. What can we look for? For starters, personalization. You might ask ‘When is Mom’s flight landing?’ It will supposedly scan your texts, calendar, contacts, and email and pull the info, then hit the web and check flight tracker to give you the touchdown time. Another feature will be actual hands-free computing. Up to now, you could set timers, turn things on and off, and so forth…but that’s about it. The upgrade will let you do things across apps. You could tell Siri to add a photo to one of your notes, for example, and it will find and pull the pic, and drop it into the note described, without opening either app. Thirdly, it should get onscreen awareness…you might get a text from a friend with a new address. You can just ask Siri to add it to that person’s contact card. My big complaint about this and all the ‘assistants,’ whether Siri, Google, or Alexa…is that hands-free computing will be annoying in public or on public transit. We already have those nuts who hold their phone in front of them on speaker mode and talk loudly into them. Use your earbuds! Actually, I rather prefer the quiet and privacy typing brings!
We just reported on how Meta had exaggerated their latest AI model…and now along comes OpenAI with their newest o3 model and surprise…there’s a discrepancy between first and third party benchmarks! More fudging, it seems. To me, this seems silly as hell since no regular people outside the world of AI makers and those who test them has any idea about these benchmarks, but here we are. Techcrunch.com says in December, OpenAI claimed the model could answer just over a fourth of questions on FrontierMath, a challenging set of math problems. That score blew the competition away — the next-best model managed to answer only around 2% of FrontierMath problems correctly. As it turns out, Epoch AI, the research institute behind FrontierMath, released results of its independent benchmark tests of o3 on Friday. Epoch found that o3 scored around 10%, well below OpenAI’s highest claimed score. That’s a bit more than a rounding error! In OpenAI’s defense the 25% was the ‘upper-bound’ score, and the ‘lower-bound’ score for version o3 was around 10%. This reminds me of the ‘stereo wars’ of the 70’s, when some makers claimed a big number of watts for their rigs…and then it turns out that that was driving only one channel at a time…they were way less powerful when running music through both channels…you know, like the way people actually listen to the things! Do better, AI makers…you don’t need to BS us on how magical your large language model is.
After a delay in both the US and Canada, Nintendo will open preorders for the new Switch 2 on Thursday. The base price is $450, according to engadget.com. This price is unchanged even in the face to the Trump tariffs. If you actually want a game though, it will be $500 for Mario Kart World in a ‘bundle.’ I love how it’s now a bundle…at least on the original Nintendo you got one cartridge game so you could play the damned thing. Nintendo did warn that it may adjust the price of Switch 2 accessories due to ‘market conditions.’ It should still be available June 5th. This was a topic of discussion at a family lunch over the weekend. You might just want to wait until another game or two drops for the Switch 2.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now
Meta Will Resume AI Training on Public Content; Meta Antitrust Trial; Nvidia To Start Chipmaking in Arizona and Texas; Tariffs-On Again, Off Again-Apple Increases Non-China Production
Posted: April 14, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, business, finance, investing, stocks Leave a commentMeta announced today that they will start using publicly available content from European users to train its AI models…something it paused last year after an outcry about data privacy. The training will be on public posts and content shared by adult users in the European Union. Meta says it will not use private messages, but noted to the EU regulators that it will be doing nothing different from Google and OpenAI. The social giant said it will begin notifying users in the EU about the training…and will include a link to a form where they can object at any time. Meta says “We’ll honor all objection forms.”
In other Meta news, the big antitrust case the FTC has brought against Meta is under the gavel in Washington, D.C. According to NPR, it comes after a 6 year investigation over whether the social media giant broke competition laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp. It would put quite a dent in the $1.4 trillion dollar ad business, if the government prevails and makes Meta spin off those series into separate companies. It is being compared as a corporate breakup to the one that the government forced on AT&T some 40 years ago. The trial before Judge Boasberg is expected to last up to 8 weeks. Meta is expected to present a vigorous defense.
Nvidia has announced it has commissioned over a million square feet of space to build and test AI chips in Arizona and Texas. Techcrunch.com says production of its Blackwell chips has already started at TSMC’s plants in Phoenix, and Nvidia is building ‘supercomputer’ manufacturing plants in Texas…partnered with Foxconn in Houston and Wistron in Dallas. Mass production should ramp up in the next 12-15 months, and within 4 years, Nvidia is aiming to make as much as a half trillion dollars worth of AI infrastructure in the US. The plants in Arizona were started by the Chips Act under the Biden Administration.
Another roller coaster on tariffs over the weekend. First, a cave, exempting smartphones, and computers, and processors from the 145% tariff on Chinese imports. After that, it was just a temporary pause on SundayThen, yesterday, 9to5google.com, among many others, reports that Trump flip-flopped again, and said no exemptions. This is playing havoc with tech companies. Apple, for one, began ramping up production in India, and now makes 20% of iPhones there. They also increased production in Vietnam and Thailand. Look for other electronics makers other than do likewise to avoid the ridiculous tariffs Trump is trying to impose on China. For its part, China is not caving, and is putting on matching tariffs on imports from the US.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Samsung Galaxy Edge Launch Imminent; OpenAI Image Generator Now Available to Everyone; Google Messages-Group Chat Upgrade; France Fines Apple For Excessive Rejection of Tracking!
Posted: April 1, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, chatgpt, openai, Tech, technology Leave a commentThe Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge could be unveiled soon. Androidpolice.com reports that a European retailer, NieuweMobiel, claims the slim profile phone will launch in Europe on April 15th. We don’t know for sure when the phone will actually get into user’s hands. An earlier report from Korea said May. That could still hold…although both Samsung and Apple tend to open preorders on the day devices are shown, with availability coming around a week later. As Samsung is notoriously leaky, we expect the Galaxy S25 Edge to have 256Gigs as base memory, and come in Silver, Black, and Blue. Expected base price should be around $1294. The initial run is only about 40,000 units, so it will probably only be available initially in Korea, parts of Europe, and the US.
ChatGPT’s built-in image generation feature is now available to everyone. According to engadget.com, OpenAI made the feature available to free users over the weekend. What this means is you can generate images from within ChatGPT and without having to switch to OpenAI’s DALL-E generator. Prior to its rollout to the free tier, the tool was only available to Plus, Pro and Team subscribers. Do be aware that for the freebie users, you have a limit of three images a day. One of the tool’s most popular uses is the creation of Ghibli (Jib’ lee)-style images using real-life photos. These are in the style of a Japanese anime studio of the same name. Users simply have to upload the photo they want to use and then instruct ChatGPT in natural language to create a Ghibli-style version of it.
Google Messages is considering an update to group chats that could be a biggie. A major feature will be the ability to “join this group with this unique link or QR code.” So…they are taking a page out of Zoom’s book, it would seem. 9to5google.com notes that the group link and QR code automatically expires after a few days. Also, the USP can be reset at any time. That gives the ability to set a custom group icon, and makes it possible to delete sent messages ‘for everyone.’ No time frame on when or even if the features might drop.
From the ‘You’ve Got to Be Kidding Department,’ France has fined Apple 150 million Euros over ‘excessive’ pop-ups that let users reject tracking! Arstechnica.com reports that France’s Competition Authority says Apple’s requiring what amounts to double consent harms “smaller publishers in particular since, unlike the main vertically integrated platforms, they depend to a large extent on third-party data collection to finance their business.” The agency does note that Apple’s own data collection is obtained with a single pop-up. Ok, duly noted France…but what user in their right mind wants to be tracked…ever? Too bad about companies who rely on income from taking and selling my data. Get a better business model!
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Amazon Rolls Out Nova Act AI Agent; Apple-MacBook Pro Refresh This Fall, “Overhaul” Next Year; Google Bows Gemini 2.5 Pro to All Gemini App Users; DOGE to Quickly Rebuild Social Security Databases-Eeek
Posted: March 31, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, Machine Learning Leave a commentAmazon has rolled out Nova Act, a general purpose AI agent that can take control of a web browser and independently perform some simple actions. Techcrunch.com reports that Nova Act will also power major features of the upcoming Alexa Plus upgrade. The version out now isn’t a bit less ready for prime time…Amazon calls it a ‘research preview.’ What it can do, according to Amazon, is automate basic actions on behalf of users, such as ordering salads or making dinner reservations. With the Nova Act toolkit, developers can pull together tools that allow an AI agent to navigate web pages, fill out forms, or pick dates on a calendar.
This Fall’s MacBook Pros will just get a refresh it looks like. Apple will upgrade the laptops to their new M5 chip. According to 9to5mac.com, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claims in his PowerOn newsletter that there will be a larger overhaul of the MacBook Pro in 2026. That update will bring the M6 chip, an OLED display, and a thinner design. Having dealt with the ’thinner design’ concept in an earlier MacBook Pro myself…and hassled with the infamous ‘butterfly’ keyboard, I am a bit less excited about the 2026 model than I might have been. I still have the old rig as a backup…and it is always a challenge to use it and see if I will get no letter when I hit a key or 11 repeats of that letter. Great for entering passwords!
Google announced over the weekend that it is rolling out the latest Gemini 2.5 model…which is experimental…to all free Gemini app users. 9to5google.com notes that this is the one that integrates thinking capabilities rather than offering it as a separate variant. It is currently in the “experimental” phase, but has support for a number of features. Previously, Google had just made it available for Gemini Advanced subscribers, with Google One AI Premium at $19.95 a month…but the decision was made to push it out to all Gemini users.
The Department of Government Efficiency…so-called, is getting a team to work on trying to migrate Social Security’s computer systems completely off COBOL in the next few months. If that doesn’t scare you after they didn’t understand the dating system and thought there were 200 year old recipients getting checks, I don’t know what will! Wired.com reports that normally a migration of this size and scale…some 65 million peoples’ accounts involved….should take much longer. One technologist told Wired “one of the big risks is not underpayment or overpayment per se but [it’s also] not paying someone at all and not knowing about it. The invisible errors and omissions.” In 2017, Social Security got funding to try to move off COBOL, calculating it would take 5 years…but when COVID-19 happened, they took the foot off the gas on that to focus on helping people by phone and web, since offices were closed for a bit.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
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