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. 

Rumored iPhone ‘Air’ May Be Slimmest iPhone; DOJ Will Try to Break Up Google; Microsoft Makes $349 Hardware Device for Secure Cloud Connection; Door Dash App-Can Import Grocery Lists Now

Posted: November 19, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Jony Ive may be long gone, but apparently Apple’s fetish for thinness isn’t. Macrumors.com reports that Apple Analyst Jeff Pu agrees with a recent rumor saying the upcoming ‘iPhone 17 Air’ will be around 6 mm thick. If that turns out to be accurate, it will be the thinnest iPhone ever. Note that no one knows what the handset will be called, but most are dubbing it the iPhone Air. Up to now, the thinnest iPhone has been the iPhone 6 at 6.9 mm. The iPhone Air would be about 3/4 as thick as any of the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro models. It is expected to have a 6.6 inch display, A19 chip, and the dynamic island, but only one rear camera. 

We’ve been waiting to see what the Department of Justice had in mind as far as its antitrust action against Google. now we have a better idea. According to theverge.com, the DOJ wants Google to sell off its Chrome browser. This after the judge ruled Google had maintained an illegal search monopoly. Chrome is the world’s most widely used browser. Other DOJ requirements include Google separating Android from Search and Google Play…but they don’t intend to make them sell off Android. It remains to be seen what the incoming DOJ will do with regards to keeping or changing these demands after January 20th. 

Microsoft has announced the Windows 365 Link. The gadget  “enables desk-based users to work securely on a familiar Windows desktop in the Microsoft Cloud with responsive, high-fidelity experiences.” Engadget.com notes that the 365 Link is a small, lightweight device that Microsoft claims can immediately wake from sleep, boot up in seconds and locally process video conferencing solutions like Microsoft Teams. It doesn’t store local data or apps, has security baseline policies enabled and doesn’t allow for individuals to disable security features. Plus, logging in requires Microsoft Entra ID along with the Microsoft Authenticator app or USB security keys. The box should be available in what they are calling ‘select areas’ in April 2025 for $349. Kind of sounds like a larger, more expensive but more secure dongle to me!

Door Dash’s app is now able to import your grocery list for faster shopping. Techcrunch.com reports that you just choose a store where you want to shop and select the button Create a list or Import a list. With the create, you can copy and paste from anywhere on your phone. Import only works with Reminders on iOS at the moment, but Android support is coming. You can also now search for an item across different merchants, displaying prices and estimated delivery times all in one place. 

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

Microsoft Enters Book Biz; Samsung Making XR Glasses Similar to Meta’s Ray-Bans; Some Bluesky Tips; Trump Names Project 2025 Contributor to FCC Chair

Posted: November 18, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft is jumping into the book business with their own imprint, 8080 Books. Geekwire.com reports that Microsoft is aiming for the sweet spot between the speed of social media and the lasting impact of books…planning to bring new titles to market much faster than traditional publishing allows. In the charter for the new venture, Microsoft says the goal is “to publish original research, ideas, and insights at the intersection of science, technology, and business, and in doing so, help advance the discourse and debate.” Normally, a publishing house takes 6 to 9 months to get from manuscript to market…Redmond is shooting for 90 days. By the way, why 8080 Books? If you see the logo it’s a hint…it is a hat tip to the 8080 Intel processors that  the first Microsoft software ran on.

Samsung has some new XR glasses coming out…looking at the second half of 2025 for a release date. According to 9to5google.com, they are being developed in partnership with Google, and they will share some of the specs with the popular Meta Ray-Ban glasses. OK, sorry about the specs/glasses pun! Samsung expects to sell 500,000 of the smart glasses. They will feature a 12MP camera and 155 mAh battery, about like Meta’s. What is unclear at this point is whether they will have a display or not. We do expect them to use Google’s Gemini AI, however. 

Millions have jumped to Bluesky and abandoned X. I cancelled X last week after 14 years on Twitter/X. Find me at clarkreidsf.bsky.social. The fledgling platform has ballooned from 9 to 15 million users just since the election. A lot of it looks like old Twitter…direct messages, ability to pin post and even videos up to 60 seconds. One thing I like is you can basically choose your own algorithm or moderation tools. They have a discover feed, but you can make a Following feed, a Popular with Friends one, and Mutuals…reposts by people you follow. I love the Following feed…it’s just a classic feed of accounts you follow in chronological order. What’s so hard about that, other platforms? It’s what most people want. You can also easily mute and block trolls, and there are these ‘packs’ people have built of accounts you might like to follow. You can pick those accounts a la carte, or choose them as a bundle to bulk up your Following feed quickly. Check it out.

In the parade of appointees Donald Trump has announced…most to the horror of those politically to the left and center, a new one is FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr as FCC Chairman. Engadget.com notes that Carr was the author of the FCC portion of Project 2025, and that he has previously argued in favor of punishing TV networks for political bias and regulating big tech firms like Google and Apple. The appointment doesn’t require the usual senate approval, since Carr has sat on the Commission since 2017.  The incoming president always gets to appoint a person from his party as Chairman. Here is a taste of what might be ahead from a post by Carr on X last week: “The censorship cartel must be dismantled. Broadcast media have had the privilege of using a scarce and valuable public resource — our airwaves. When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation.” It is worth pointing out out that unless Congress changes some law, the FCC can’t regulate the internet like Carr would like to.

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

Google Getting Supervision by CFPB; AI Companies Scuffling to Build Newer AI Models; Meta’s Threads Getting Ads in 2025; Tesla Cybertruck Recall-This One’s Physical

Posted: November 14, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is moving to put Google under formal federal supervision…something that could hit the company with the same inspections the government does on major banks. Techcrunch.com reports that the CFPB has been in talks with Google for months about the supervision order, which hasn’t yet been made final. Now that a second Trump term is coming up, it may be that his administration will put the brakes on the CFPB, or even stop it somehow from proceeding against Google.

AI companies are hitting a wall of sorts in their rush to build out newer AI models. According to macrumors.com, OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are facing what they are calling ‘diminishing returns’ for their expensive efforts to build out the new models. Over at Apple, they are using what they are calling a ‘phased rollout’ of Apple Intelligence. OpenAI’s Orion, their latest and greatest, is falling short of their performance expectations. Google is also feeling headwinds with their next iteration of Gemini, and Anthropic has delayed its release of Claude 3.5 Opus. According to Bloomberg, the problem is attributed the challenges to the increasing difficulty in finding “new, untapped sources of high-quality, human-made training data” and the enormous costs associated with developing and operating new models concurrently with existing ones.

Meta is planning to start ‘monitizing’ Threads, with a plan to begin running ads as soon as January 2025. Engadget.com says Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg  had previously claimed making money off the app would be a ‘multi-year’ effort. Meta plans a slow rollout…just a ‘small number’ of advertisers will start appearing in January. Threads now has 275 million monthly users, and is getting over a million new sign ups a day according to Zuck. The much smaller Bluesky app, which is now #1 at Apple’s App Store, got a million new users just in the last week. They have grown from 9 to 15 million users in a very short time. Bluesky has said it may experiment with subscription based features instead of ads. Read between the lines…a premium service for subscription, and they’ll do ads in addition!

Tesla’s Cybertruck has now put out the 6th recall this year. Arstechnica.com notes that only about 2431 are affected, but this recall can’t be fixed by pushing out a software update. Those trucks have a faulty drive unit inverter. At least 5 trucks have had a failure of the part, and Tesla says the problem was a bad batch of inverters made between November 6, 2023 and July 30, 2024. Owners will have to take the trucks in to have a technician work on the recalled trucks.

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

Microsoft Notepad Getting AI Editing; Gemini Drops Utilities Extension for Android Phones; Pixel 9 Sales Improve; Zillow up 17%

Posted: November 7, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Like an invasive species, AI is getting into everything. Now, Microsoft is adding AI powered text editing to Notepad, the venerable, bare-bones text editor that dates back to 1983! Theverge.com reports that the feature is called Rewrite, and Redmond has released a preview to Windows Insiders that will let you use AI to “rephrase sentences, adjust tone, and modify the length of your content.” To use it, just hi light the text you want the AI to alter, right-click, and select Rewrite. The dialog box pops up and will show you 3 rewritten versions you can use if you wish. Note that Rewrite is cloud based, so users have to be signed into their Microsoft account. 

Google is rolling out a Gemini Utilities Extension that can ‘control your Android mobile device and apps.’ According to 9to5google.com, here are some things it can do for you when using Gemini right from your lock screen: Set and quiet alarms, set and stop timers, turn Flashlight, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, and Battery Saver on or off, check your device’s volume and battery level, turn off or restart your phone, shoot a picture or take a screen shot, and control media…like pausing or replaying videos. Have fun seeing how accurately Gemini really does all these things!

Year after year, Apple and Samsung dominate the smartphone market. Meanwhile, Google’s Pixel phones are gaining a bit of ground. Android Police notes that it isn’t enough to worry the big boys yet…Google only sold 10 million Pixels in 2023 while Apple sold 235 million iPhones and Samsung was close behind Apple. That all said, Google has recored its highest quarter ever for Pixel sales. StatCounter found that Pixel users now account for almost 15% of the US market. That is not an insignificant number! Google may not catch or pass up Samsung or Apple, but if they can become a strong number 3, that’s a pretty big success story.

Zillow group beat estimates for third quarter, with Revenue of $581 million and adjusted earnings of $127 million. Geekwire.com says the rentals business was up 24% year over year and mortgage revenue grew 63%. If you are one of those folks, like me, that just check it to see where prices of your property and others are, it’s kind of a surprise that they are doing that much actual business. Thanks to all those folks…who generate enough Zillow revenue for the rest of us to check prices for free!

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

Boston Dynamics Atlas Robot Picks Parts Autonomously; Apple Bows New MacBook Pros with M4 Pro Chips; AI Now Writes 25% of Google’s Code; Reddit Shows First Ever Profit With 100 Million Daily Users

Posted: October 30, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

While Elon Musk showed off robots that had to mainly be operated by people behind the scenes, Boston Dynamics plows ahead with their electric version of the Atlas robot. Now, techcrunch.com reports that “The robot is able to detect and react to changes in the environment (e.g., moving fixtures) and action failures (e.g., failure to insert the cover, tripping, environment collision) using a combination of vision, force, and proprioceptive sensors.” This puts Boston’s robot out ahead by a ways form those of Figure, Apptronik, and Tesla. The machine was used to pick parts in an automotive setting. This is logical, since Boston is now owned by Hyundai. Hyundai has also done a deal with Toyota’s research wing, so they are all in on robotics. Large robot units have been used for decades by the auto industry. I can remember in the 1980’s, the CEO of Daimler-Benz (now just Daimler) saying that they used robots to save backs, not replace hands. Even Jelly Belly has robots (one of which tends to leak hydraulic fluid…one of the reasons Boston Dynamics switched Atlas from hydraulic to electric.) Boston claims that Atlas has been improved, and can move accurately and quickly cutting down on unneeded motions as it completes its tasks autonomously. 

Continuing with their week of announcements, Apple today rolled out new 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. Cupertino also showed an entry level 14 inch MacBook Pro rocking the M4 chip. According to Macrumors.com, the new M4 Pro and Max laptops come with 24 gigs of Unified memory…up from 18 gigs of the prior models. They both have 3 Thunderbolt 5 ports, which has 3 times the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt 4. The M4 Pro has a 14 core CPU, and the Max a 16 core CPU. All 3 new models have an HDMI port…the Pro and Max machines can drive up to 3 monitors. Both have SDXC card slots and Mag Safe charging, as well as a headphone jack…just like my seemingly old M1 MacBook I wrote this on. They are available for preorder now, and will be available Friday, November 8th… starting at $1599.

Google is now using AI to write over a quarter of its new code. That’s what Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai says. PCmag.com notes that all that code has to be reviewed then accepted by engineers…but Google claims it allows engineers to do more and move faster. It is worth mentioning that using a generative AI model to write code isn’t exactly a new idea…an earlier form of it has bene going on for years. One knotty issue…using AI to write code could pose copyright issues or create security flaws if it’s trained on licensed or old code. And some companies using AI-crafted code have already reportedly experienced outages and cybersecurity problems as a result, primarily due to a lack of adequate human oversight. Alphabet’s stock price is up about 2% in the last day, and 36% in the past year, partly based on the promise of AI.

You may not use or be all that aware of Reddit, but a heck of a lot of people are. Reddit just turned its first ever profit, reporting $29.9 million on $348 million in revenue…that’s up 68% year over year. Reddit has been around for 20 years, and never made money, but is now up to nearly 100 million daily users the last few months…exceeding 100 million on a few days. Reddit just went public earlier this year. 

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

Apple Intelligence is Live-Oh Yay; Google Working on an AI Agent for Chrome that Does Everything-Project Jarvis; Microsoft Accuses Google of Astroturfing them in Europe; Lucid Gravity Electric SUV Orders Open Next week

Posted: October 29, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

With iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, as well as iPadOS 18.1, we now have some of the features of Apple Intelligence. After messing with it a bit yesterday afternoon, I am a bit underwhelmed so far, but they noted in the pop ups that it is not nearly complete yet. The one feature I tried out that actually did what was claimed was in editing an email. I wrote a verbose fake email to send to another of my accounts and asked AI to make it more concise. It did fine at that. I tried using it in Text Edit, which I use all the time, but got a not supposed message. Today, I see the little logo, so will have to try it later. The picture editing…like removing unwanted items, works ok, but Android’s is better. I will try to have more later as they activate more features. By the way, there is a wait list to get Apple Intelligence. I signed up…while I was downloading the update to an iPad, I was accepted…the wait was only about 15 minutes!

Google has a Project Jarvis, a hat tip to Tony Stark of Iron Man fame. Androidcentral.com reports that it is supposed to automate simple tasks in Chrome while you are browsing the web. A limited test of Jarvis may be out in December, in conjunction with Google’s rumored release of Gemini 2.0. The Jarvis AI bot apparently can respond to a user’s commands by taking screenshots of their screen. It supposedly does this in order to ‘interpret’ what a user is doing before taking action. For example, Jarvis might click a button for you or fill in text fields with the requisite information. So far, reports have it that Jarvis ‘operates relatively slowly.’ In other words, it is light years away right now from working like Tony Stark’s fictional one in the Marvel movies!

Microsoft has accused Google of funding a proxy campaign designed to discredit it in the eyes of regulatory authorities and policymakers in the European Union and beyond. Engadget.com says this came in a blog post from Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel. Microsoft claims Google has gone to “great lengths to obfuscate its involvement, funding and control” of the Open Cloud Coalition, a group of “cloud service providers, industry leaders and stakeholders” that says it’s committed to advocating for a “fair, competitive, and open cloud services industry across the UK and EU.” Redmond claims that Google has hired a lobbying agency in Europe to create and fund the organization. The accusations come after Google had reportedly attempted to derail an antitrust settlement Microsoft had negotiated with the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE). In July, Bloomberg wrote that Google had offered the group €470 million to go forward with litigation against its rival, an overture CISPE ultimately rejected.

Lucid’s Air electric sedans are sure head turners, and are selling decently for a start up. Now Lucid has said they will start taking orders next week..November 7th specifically… for their flagship electric SUV, the Gravity. According to electrek.co, the base price will still be below the promised $80,000, but you won’t be able to get that lower priced model initially. The less pricy Touring model at $79,900 won’t be available until late 2025. The Grand Touring one, which you can order next week, will set you back $94,900. There will eventually be a high performance Sapphire model, but no date given for that one yet.

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

EU Whacks LinkedIn for Ad Tracking; Apple AI Editing Tools-Not As Good By Design; Cops Can Track to Abortion Clinics-No Warrants; Tesla Will Launch Cheaper EVs Next Year

Posted: October 24, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

While the US the last few years has been less aggressive with tech firms, the European Union has stepped in aggressively. Techcrunch.com reports that the EU has fined LinkedIn $356 million for tracking ads and privacy breaches. LinkedIn had claimed ‘consent,’ ‘legitimate interests,’ and ‘ contractual necessity,’ based on legal bases for processing peoples’ info…but the Irish Data Protection Commission…under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, wasn’t buying any of it. The complaint against LinkedIn originated in France in 2018. The EU has given them 90 days to bring their EU operations into compliance. LinkedIn said in a statement that while they believed they were in compliance all along, they will work to make sure they are under this new ruling by the deadline.

Apple Intelligence features are going to be out to a lot of folks imminently…although you have to sign up and go on a waitlist after the final version of iOS with the features drops next week. Apple has been getting some heat from users of the beta over their photo editing tools not being as good as Android’s. Now, according to bgr.com, Apple’s head of software, Craig Federighi, has said in an interview that this is by design. He keyed on the Clean Up tool. He noted that while many AI tools try to generate new parts of the photo, Apple has chosen not to. “People view photographic content as something they can rely on as indicative of reality,” Federighi said. “It’s important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy.” 

There is all kinds of software and hardware to track people in the world today. Here’s a scary one…it is a tool law enforcement agencies now have called Locate X. Mashable.com says the software, from data surveillance company Babel Street, has ben known since 2020. What’s new is that police agencies in states like Alabama…which has completely outlawed abortion… have been able to track women traveling out of state for abortions. One tracked a woman from her home to a big box retailer, then to church, and finally to an abortion clinic in Florida…where the software indicated she stayed for 2 hours, before returning to her Alabama residence. A word to the wise to any woman in  a state where the procedure is outlawed now…turn off your phone, or take a burner phone with you out of state. 

Yes, you have to take things Elon Musk promises with a grain of salt…or sometimes, an entire salt mine. With that disclaimer, I turn to engadget.com’s story that Tesla has said in its 3rd quarter disclosure report that it is making preparations for ‘more affordable models,’ ‘its lowest level ever’ at $35,100. Tesla goes on to say they will start production in the first half of 2025, and that “These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up.” Tesla did have a decent 3rd quarter, finally ending a 4 quarter streak of missed earnings targets.

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

M4 Mac Launch Soon; Google Messages-New Spam Detection; Anthropic New AI Can Control Your PC; Blade Runner 2049 Producer Sues Musk

Posted: October 23, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The latest from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman points to Apple dropping its M4 Macs next week. Macrumors.com reports that it will likely be an online event like what Apple did with their ‘Scary Fast’ rollout last October 30th. Most Apple watchers are looking for a 14 inch entry-level MacBook Pro with M4 chip and one more Thunderbolt port than the present model. Also, 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pros with M4 Pro and Max chip options. A freshened iMac is expected in the mix, too. Most of these new units won’t be in customer hands until November…as is typical for an Apple introduction…generally it is a week or 2  before the devices actually ship.

More and more spam and phishing has moved from email to messaging. Now, Google Messages is bowing new features to fight through all this crud. According to androidpolice.com, the new spam detection should help combat dangerous links, there’s a privacy upgrade for international messages, sensitive image warnings, and contact verification, too. Any message that Google Messages thinks might be scammy will give you a warning or automatically move the message into the spam folder. Besides the spam filter, they will block messages or send them to spam if they are from unknown senders and contain links. Google tested this system out in India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, before rolling the feature out worldwide…which will happen over the next couple months. “Sensitive Content Warnings for Google Messages”  will blur potentially sensitive images before viewing, and there will also be a new warning message when such images are being shared or forwarded. Like Google’s other protections, these scans all happen on-device, which means your privacy is ensured.

In a somewhat unsettling bit of news, Anthropic’s new AI model reportedly can have some control over your PC. Techcrunch.com notes that this was teased last spring, and now the latest upgrade of Claude 3.5 Sonnet can understand and interact with any desktop app. By way of a new ‘Computer Use’ API, which is in open beta, the model can mimic keystrokes, button clicks, and mouse gestures…basically emulating a person sitting at a PC. This is not an entirely new concept…it has been done for decades to an extent….but Anthropic is taking it to a new level entirely. Anthropic is not calling this an ‘agent,’ like Microsoft, Salesforce, or OpenAI….instead dubbing it an ‘action-execution layer.’ 

Previously, Elon Musk had asked the producer of Blade Runner 2049 about using imagery from the film…but he was turned down. Now, producer Alcon Entertainment is suing Elon for using what they call “AI-created images mirroring scenes from Blade Runner 2049, including one featuring a Ryan Gosling look-alike.” Engdget.com reports that the images were used in a slide presentation during Musk’s Cybercab event earlier this month. Alcon says in their complaint that the copied scenes made Elon’s event ‘more attractive to a global audience,’ and that he misappropriated “the Blade Runner 2049 brand to help sell Teslas.” One can imagine that if this suit gets into trial, we will see some interesting imagery in the court exhibits!

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

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