Apple-Two New ‘Ultra’ Products This Year; Google Tests AI Chatbot Search for YouTube; OpenAI Working on AI Agent Smartphone; Taylor Swift Files to Trademark Voice and Likeness

Posted: April 28, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple’s first folding phone will drop this fall, and it will be branded the ‘iPhone Ultra’ according to macrumors.com. That has been rumored already, but apparently now Apple plans a MacBook Ultra as well. It’s possible that device will slip to an early 2027 date, though. The MacBook Ultra will have an OLED panel and a touchscreen. It will be positioned above the present MacBook Pro series. Naturally, it will be more expensive…reportedly significantly more expensive. With an iPhone Ultra, MacBook Ultra, and Watch Ultra…will we also get AirPods Ultra as well? Stay tuned.

Google is testing out an AI mode search experience on YouTube. Theverge.com reports that Google has designed it to feel ‘more like a conversation.’ The search results will get you long form videos, YouTube Shorts, and text for things you are searching for. The “experiment” is now available if you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber in the US who is 18 or older. YouTube says it’s already “working on” expanding this experiment to users who don’t have Premium. Just as it’s continued to iterate on AI Mode and brought AI Mode to Gmail, it seems likely that “Ask YouTube” is something Google sees a big future for.

There is a virtual graveyard with devices that were going to replace the current smartphones we all use. Now, OpenAI is going into that arena. Thenextweb.com says they are working on an a smartphone where the AI agent is the interface, and there are NO apps…apps are ‘obsolete.’ Well known analyst Ming Chi Kuo notes that simpler tasks will be handled on the phone directly, while more involved ones will hit up the cloud. With the OpenAI phone, you will just tell the agent to order you an Uber or Lyft, or to book reservations at a restaurant. It will manage your email, do research, and write messages for you (oh, I see some funny and terrible results from that one!) It will continuously capturing a user’s location, activity, communication, and environmental context to feed the agents. OpenAI thinks that the AI agent will replace the operating system and apps completely. I’m not sure people are ready to just talk to their phones. This has failed with couple of pin type devices. Remember Humane or the Rabbit R1? Yeah…now in the device graveyard. Here’s the keeper…OpenAI thinks they will be able to sell 400 million of these phones a year. To put that in perspective, Apple ships about 230 million phones a year and Samsung ships about 220 million Galaxy phones. You can say one thing…Sam Altman and OpenAI are thinking big!

There are already a couple of laws in California protecting a person’s voice and likeness. Also, SAG-AFTRA has language about this in a number of their contracts. Congress has even considered this, although no laws have gotten passed. Now, taking no chances, Taylor Swift has filed to trademark her voice and likeness. For Swift and others, this is intended to give some protection against AI misuse. Variety.com notes that Swift has filed three trademark applications…two for sound and another for a visual trademark. Trademarks aren’t generally used to protect voices or general likenesses, but Swift’s legal team thinks this will give them another way to protect the artist from being cloned and used in AI fakes. Several other artists have taken this action. It hasn’t been tested in court yet…but if you have the money then it is a way to fight off clones doing or saying things the artist would never do or say.

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

Cook Retiring, Ternus Will Helm Apple; Anthropic Gets Another $5 Billion from Amazon; CA Accuses Amazon of Price Fixing; OpenAI Releases Codex for Macs

Posted: April 21, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Big Apple news dropped yesterday afternoon…Tim Cook is retiring as CEO, and Senior VP of hardware engineering John Ternus will take over that big chair. Engadget.com reports that this will happen September 1st. Cook will segue into an Executive Chairman role, so won’t completely disappear from the Apple universe. This is notable in one way as Ternus is 50…the same age as Cook when he took the reins in Cupertino, AND…Ternus worked for Steve Jobs at Apple. He will now be the last CEO of Apple who has had a direct connection to Steve Jobs. Ternus has kept a low profile, although he was featured in the rollout of the new MacBook Neo. He is credited with turning around the Macs and also had a big hand in Apple’s AirPods and Watch. 

Anthropic has announced that Amazon will pump another $5 billion into the company, bringing their total investment to $13 billion. There could be another $20 billion later, depending on benchmarks. According to tehcrunch.com, Anthropic has agreed to spend over $100 billion on Amazon Web Services over then next 10 years, getting them a new 5 gigawatts of computing capacity to train and run Claude. The deal specifically covers Amazon Trainium2 through Trainium4 chips, too…even though the 4 chip isn’t yet available. With ChatGPT now worth some $730 billion, venture capitalists have been offering Anthropic additional capital that would bring Anthropic’s valuation to $800 billion or more!

In other Amazon news, California is accusing Amazon of price fixing. Gizmodo.com says California Attorney General Rob Bonta is accusing the online giant of pressuring brands to increase prices for their products on other retailers’ websites so that Amazon would have a more competitive price. The allegations, which were made in a filing that is part of California’s ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Amazon and was unsealed on Monday, lay out a scheme in which Amazon used the leverage of its massive e-commerce platform to pressure companies into raising prices with other retailers or face punishment for failing to do so. According to the attorney general, Amazon demands a vendor “fix,” “correct,” “increase,” “raise,” or “look into” the prices of products on other retailers’ websites. The expectation is that the vendor will ultimately raise its prices everywhere but Amazon. To get that outcome, Amazon would allegedly threaten to punish the brand by restricting their advertising, demanding they pay compensation, or removing their products from Amazon altogether.

OpenAI has released Codex Chronicle for Macs. 9to5mac.com notes that this is something of a ‘super app.’ Right now, it is especially made for agentic coding. ChatGPT remains the more general AI chatbot app. The idea of Chronicle is to make Codex more aware of context without repeating details or being super specific with each prompt. It builds on memory, and that lets Codex learn from conversation history for context. It also can learn from recent screen context. In terms of privacy, Chronicle can be paused or disabled at any time from Codex’s menu bar app. However, OpenAI warns that Chronicle consumes rate limits quickly based on its current design.

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

Amazon Merges with Sat Provider Globalstar; Google Chrome AI ‘Skills’; OpenAI Buys Hiro-AI Personal Finance Startup; Lucid Gets New CEO & Cash Infusion 

Posted: April 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon is merging with satellite internet provider Globalstar. Engadget.com reports that this move should at some muscle to Amazon’s rival to Starlink, Leo. Globalstar is the satellite company behind Apple’s emergency SOS feature on iPhones and Apple Watches. Interestingly, Apple already owns 20% of Globalstar. Amazon and Apple have agreed Leo will “power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models.” And that this support will continue as Leo’s network evolves, as well as collaborating “with Apple on future satellite services using Amazon Leo’s expanded satellite network.” Leo’s own direct to device service won’t start until 2028…the deal actually closes next year. 

Google Chrome has a new generative AI feature, and this is pretty cool. It’s called Skills. I know, really original name. At any rate, according to wired.com, Skills  are repeatable AI prompts you can run in Chrome with a keyboard shortcut. That sort of feature ought to attract a lot more people to AI who don’t want to learn or mess with trying to write and refine prompts. You can set up your own Skill using Gemini, Google’s chatbot, through the Chrome browser, or you can choose from the premade Skills Google released alongside this feature. The more than 50 presets in the Skills library cover a range of prompts that instruct Gemini to summarize YouTube videos, maximize your protein intake via recipe substitutions, or evaluate job listings. If you want to try out Skills, open up the Gemini in Chrome sidebar by clicking on the “Ask Gemini” sparkle icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Then, type a forward slash in the prompt box to pick which Skill you would like to run. Have fun!

OpenAI has bought an AI personal finance startup called Hiro. Thenextweb.com notes that all 10 of the startup’s staff will join OpenAI. Hiro has built an app that offers AI-powered financial planning for consumers: users entered information about their salary, debts, and monthly costs, and the platform modeled different what-if scenarios to support financial decision-making. 

Silvio Napoli is the new CEO of Lucid Motors, the EV maker, after a year long search. TechCrunch.com reports that Napoli has mainly managed at Schindler Group, which makes elevators and escalators. Hey…they’re electric! Napoli will join the board. In another related story, Lucid has gotten another $200 million cash infusion from Uber, which will buy up to 25,000 of Lucid’s upcoming mid-sized vehicles to use as robotaxis. The majority owner of Lucid, Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, has also kicked in by buying another $550 million of the company’s shares. Lucid’s upcoming mid sized vehicle will sell in the $50,000 range, a much larger pool of customers than the $100,000 or really $150,000 plus subset of buyers. 

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

Apple Testing 4 Versions of Smart Glasses; Zuckerberg Building AI Clone for Meetings; Human X Conference-Lots of Buzz About Claude; Californians Sue over AI Tool for Doctor Visits

Posted: April 13, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple has often not been first to test the water with new devices…dating clear back to the iPod…but have come to the party late with devices that wow users and grab a big chunk of market share. Engadget.com reports that they are now getting closer to entering the smart glasses sector. Cupertino is testing out 4 different styles for its smart glasses, which will compete with Meta’s Ray-Bans. Apple could end up releasing some or all 4, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. One style is a big rectangular frame that echoes the Ray-Ban Wayfarers, a second is a slimmer rectangular design much like the glasses CEO Tim Cook Wears. A third style is a large oval or circular frame, and the 4th version is a smaller round or oval frame. Apple is allegedly planning several colors…black, light brown, and ocean blue among them. The Apple glasses are expected to capture photos and videos, but are meant to better sync with an iPhone, allowing users to take advantage of Apple’s ecosystem for editing, sharing, phone calls, notifications, music and even its voice assistant, according to Gurman. The release of Apple’s smart glasses could even coincide with the upcoming improved Siri that should arrive with iOS 27. Mark Gurman also predict that the glasses could be revealed as early as the end of this year or early 2027. 

There are those who hate meetings, and those who say they don’t but are lying! Now, according to theverge.com, Mark Zuckerberg is working on an AI clone to replace him in meetings! Meta is training the clone to interact with and provide feedback to employees. It is being trained not only to mimic Zuck’s image and voice…but will have his mannerisms and will reflect his tone and public statements, “so that employees might feel more connected to the founder through interactions with it.” This sounds suspiciously like the failed Metaverse they were working on a couple of years ago which was just discontinued. I can remember Zuck demoing it, and showing how we would all have an avatar in that virtual world to act for us. What’s old is new again!

The Human X AI conference was held in San Francisco this past week. Techcrunch.com says that Anthropic’s Claude chatbot was getting lots of buzz. Interestingly, OpenAI’s ChatGPT wasn’t on the lips of a lot of attendees or vendors. One vendor told a TechCrunch reporter that they were using Claude a lot, but he felt ChatGPT and OpenAI had gone downhill…or in internet lingo, ‘fell off.’ OpenAI has been getting dinged for being to scattershot lately, and has moved to be more focused. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s Claude seems laser focused. Claude has now started being integrated into Microsoft Word for some paid legal users, and can revise and edit contracts and documents…leaving legal formatting intact. Anthropic does emphasize that any legal document still needs to be reviewed carefully by an attorney. A note: there have been two incidents at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home the last few days. One involved a fellow with a Molotov cocktail, and another was a shooting of a gun towards Altman’s home. The man that had the cocktail was caught and is in jail at the moment. Police are still looking for the shooter, who took off in a vehicle.

Some Californians have sued Sutter Health and MemorialCare over an AI transcription tool which was used to record them without their consent. Arstechnica.com notes that doing so is a violation of both state and federal law. Apparently, the medical staff used a program called Abridge.AI. That system quote “captured and processed their confidential physician-patient communications. Plaintiffs did not receive clear notice that their medical conversations would be recorded by an artificial intelligence platform, transmitted outside the clinical setting, or processed through third-party systems.” Sutter has been partnering with Abridge for 2 years. 

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

iPhone Fold May Be on Track for September; Google Photos Adds ‘AI Enhance’ Button; Anthropic Launches Initiative to Prevent AI Cyberattacks; Spotify-Big Upgrade for Podcast Listeners

Posted: April 7, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We have seen a couple reports that say Apple’s folding phone is being tested out right now after a small production run, but that it may not be out until around December. Now, techcrunch.com reports that highly reliable Apple tout Mark Gurman of Bloomberg says it is on track to bow in September along with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. As with numerous brand new Apple products, it may not get into users’ hands until October, though. Apple apparently has resolved issues with screen quality and durability, and it has a notably less visible crease when it is unfolded. If it doesn’t cost over $2400, I’ll eat my hat…that is if I can find a nice, dark chocolate hat!

Google Photos gets an ‘AI Enhance button, and video playback speed controls. The features are being rolled out now according to 9to5google.com. The AI Enhance tool will work for Google Photos for all Android users. The button gives users an option to apply a magic fix to their photos, using AI, of course. It’s a sort of do-it-all button and gives users the option to skip over extensive editing with a quick fix that focuses on adjusting lighting and contrast levels. As for the video feature for Photos,  in each video, the three-dot menu will present “playback speed” among the other tools. Users can choose speeds from 0.25x to 2x. Google says this has been a long-requested feature. The video rollout isn’t global as yet…but should show up on Android devices everywhere shortly. 

Anthropic has launched Project Glasswing, which will use AI to try to prevent AI-powered cyberattacks. Engadget.com notes that they are joined in the effort by Amazon Web Services, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorganChase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Palo Alto Networks as partners. The participants will use Claude Mythos Preview, n unreleased, general-purpose model from Anthropic, to enhance their own security projects. Anthropic claims that this model has found thousands of exploitable vulnerabilities, “including some in every major operating system and web browser.” Let’s hope that this does help prevent or minimize AI cyberattacks. 

There is such a flood of podcasts out there, it’s hard to sift through all of them to find things that interest you. It’s kind of like scrolling through all the old movies on Netflix. Well, now Spotify has a potential solution. Androidpolice.com reports that they have expanded the Prompted Playlist feature to work with podcasts. You can create a playlist of podcasts with a text prompt. You give it a prompt, just like with music, and it uses AI to generate a playlist around it. The feature is rolling out to US users of Premium right now. You can set it up to refresh daily or weekly if you like. 

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

Apple is 50; SpaceX Files for IPO; 100 Baidu Robotaxis Froze in Traffic; Claude Code Leak Was an Accident, Not a Hack

Posted: April 1, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s not an April Fool’s Day joke. Apple Computer got its start 50 years ago. They have been able to come up with a couple of truly world-changing devices.,.the iPod and the iPhone. Will they eventually come out with a third device that can have that kind of impact like some smart glasses? Time will tell. Meanwhile, mashable.com notes that there is a really cool graphic sequence on Apple’s home page celebrating the company’s devices using colorful brush strokes. It’s a bit Google-like, frankly. Imitation as the fabled sincerest form of flattery. 

SpaceX has filed for an IPO…initial public offering of its stock. Engadget.com reports that while this was expected, most saw it happening in July. The Musk-owned company is looking for an IPO valuation of $1.75 trillion, which would make it the biggest IPO in history. SpaceX is the parent of X (formerly Twitter) and Grok, as well as xAI. The company is wanting to get its Starship rocket program on track, and has aspirations to build a base on the moon…and of course, Mars one day. They also plan for data centers for AI in space, orbiting the planet, as is in the works at several other tech companies. 

We have had a few instances of some robotaxis stalling out and jamming up traffic…notably in San Francisco. Now, according to thenextweb.com, the US robotaxi makers like Google’s Waymo have been one-upped big time…and not in a good way. Over 100 Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis froze mid-traffic in Wuhan…blocking many hundreds of commuters. There were some crashes, although police say there were no injuries. This is really scary when you know that Wuhan has over 1,000 driverless vehicles rolling around the city. It’s an embarrassment for Baidu, which has vehicles in 26 cities globally, and claims to have orders for some 20 million vehicles. Welcome to the future…where you can have 100 instantaneous, random traffic jams to ruin your commute.

Claude’s source code got into the wild, and it turns out that it wasn’t due to hackers. 9to5google.com says the code was mistakenly published by Anthropic in the middle of the night. That’s a hell of a mistake! Ahthropic has been aggressively promoting Claude as superior to ChatGPT, and touting tools to migrate your ChatGPT work over to Claude. So how did this massive screw up happen? Well, apparently at about 4 am Tuesday morning, Anthropic pushed out what was supposed to be a routine update to Claude. Apparently, included in that update was a source map file that led right to Claude’s source code. The debugging file contained 512,000 lines of proprietary TypeScript code, which was initially spotted and posted by someone on Twitter/X. It wasn’t long before that entire code package was downloaded and circulated to thousands, though this leak doesn’t seem to include Claude’s model data. Still, this interface code is a costly loss for the company. In other words, a pretty gigantic ‘Oops.’

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

Discord Delays Global Age Verification; Touchscreen MacBook Pros; App Warns if Smart Glasses are Present; The Pentagon-Anthropic Drama Continues

Posted: February 25, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Discord delayed its worldwide age verification due to tremendous blowback. Now, they have kicked the can down the road a bit more. Theverge.com reports that instead of rolling out global age verification next month, it will be delayed until the second half of 2026. Discord has flatly denied rumors that they will require face scans and ID uploads from everyone just to use the platform. Discord says that before it rolls out age verification globally, it will add more options for users to verify their age (including with a credit card), include documentation of every verification vendor used, add an option for “spoiler channels” in Discord as an alternative to age-gated channels for walling off certain topics, and publish a technical blog post explaining how its age estimation systems work. Discord users are still angry and skeptical, so we will see if this gets delayed again. 

As we have reported, up to 5 new Apple devices will be coming in the next few weeks. Also, Apple has been working on perfecting a touchscreen Mac. 9to5mac.com reports that Apple seems to have developed a way to support touchscreen use without making the interface elements gigantic. When user touch a button or control, the interface will bring up a new type of menu surrounding their finger that provides more relevant options for touch commands. When the user taps an item in the menu bar at the top of the screen, the set of controls will enlarge to be more easily selectable with a finger. It sounds a lot like what Apple does with the size and shape changing Dynamic Island on iPhones. According to reports, the screen will look just like a normal MacBook screen unless you touch it…so if typing is your preferred input, you are good to go…but you can also reach up and tap something on the screen to get to an item or app quickly. We’ll see how it all works…it sounds much like an iPad with a keyboard, actually. 

Remember Google’s Glass, and how bars, restaurants, and other establishments had signs banning them? The wearers were called ‘Glassholes.’ Apparently, the apprehension of being furtively filmed by someone in smart glasses is still around. It seems a bit overly paranoid to me…considering the proliferation of cameras on the streets, and in businesses at this point. One big retailer even has had cameras at their entrances, as well as scanners, and then serves people with bargains they think the person might like on their app. Well, if you are one who is freaked out by smart glasses, rejoice! A new app will let you know if there is a pair close to you. Engadget.com says the app is called Nearby Glasses. It will user the unique Bluetooth signature transmitted by smart glasses and send a push alert to notify you that someone is wearing the glasses nearby. The app maker claims that his app is particularly important for your privacy (what privacy?), as Meta is working to add facial recognition to its Meta Ray-Bans. Right now, Nearby Glasses is available at the Google Play Store, but not on Apple’s App Store. 

We reported that the Department of Defense has now allowed Musk’s xAI into its classified systems. FT.com reports that Pete Hegseth is going to also allow ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini into the classified systems, which had…up to now…only seen Anthropic’s Claude available. The Secretary has now threatened to cut Anthropic from the DoD supply chain unless the company agrees to letting DoD use its tech for ‘all lawful military applications’ by Friday. Anthropic has refused to let its AI be used for domestic surveillance and for lethal autonomous weapons systems. Hegseth has threatened to not only drop Anthropic from its supply chain, but he says he will invoke the Defense Production Act…which allows the president to exert control over domestic industry in the interest of national defense. The cutting Anthropic from the Defense Department supply chain would cost the company $200 million. We will have to wait for Friday to see if the DoD follows through with its threats. 

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

Galaxy Unpacked This Week, Apple Multi-Day Product Reveal; Conduent Data Breach Expands; New Gaming Head at Microsoft

Posted: February 23, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

There are tech announcements pretty much continuously, but not many that get as much attention as those from Samsung and Apple. Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked is This Thursday…February 26th. The event is at 10am Pacific in San Francisco. In addition to new AI announcements, refreshed hardware is expected. Word is, the Galaxy S26, 26+, and Ultra will keep similar physical designs as the S25 models. The upgrades will be to screens, chips, and cameras sensors. The screens should grow slightly from 6.2 to 6.3 inches, and batteries will have a bit more life. One notable advance: the entry level S26 will get the 50 megapixel main cam its big brothers have. The Galaxy Z Trifold will probably get a mention, but as it was available in the US on January 30th- for the hefty price of $2900, don’t expect a lot of time to be spent on it.

What about Apple? Cupertino has announced that it will have the latest product introduction on March 4th. Unlike in the past, this looks to be a 3 day event instead of a single keynote rolling out all the new or upgraded hardware. According to techcrunch.com, some devices will be announced online, with the big finale being on March 4th. The events are going to begin New York, London, and Shanghai, instead of Cupertino. What is coming? It looks like the low-cost MacBook, iPhone 17e, iPad Air, a new entry-level iPad, and upgraded MacBook Air and Pro models. 

Don’t you just love when you get a letter saying some of your data was leaked. I just got one a few days ago. Now, Mashable.com says that the data breach by Conduent…an intermediary that handles data for corporations…had a bigger breach than originally announced. A LOT bigger. At least 25 million have been affected by the breach in just Texas and Oregon! Conduent handles data for corporations, Clients include: Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. Data leaked includes users’ names, Social Security numbers, medical information, and health insurance information. One has to wonder at this point what…if any…of our data hasn’t been hacked and aggregated somewhere on the dark web. 

Microsoft had a shakeup after the head of gaming Phil Spencer exited after 38 years at the company. Now, Asha Sharma steps into that role. Geekwire.com notes that the new CEO of gaming will be tasked with turning around the ailing division. Sharma has been an exec at Facebook, Instacart, a startup, and finally Microsoft’s AI Platform. Although Sharma doesn’t have any video game industry experience, what she does bring to the table is decades of experience in running large tech platforms. She did say in an opening statement something that resonated with employees and gamers in this age of AI  and ‘soulless AI Slop.’ Sharma wrote that  “Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.” 

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

Apple Folding Phone-Most Battery Life; Music Publishers Sue anthropic; Ring Opens Search Party for Lost Dogs to Non-Ring Cams; A So-Called AI Mouse

Posted: February 2, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Along with numerous others, we have been following reports of Apple’s rumored folding phone, due out in September with the other iPhones. Apple is now revisiting making a ‘flip’ phone like Samsung has as a companion to the book type folder they will bow this fall. The big hype so far has been that Apple’s phones will have no visible crease on the inside screen when opened. Now, macrumors.com reports that the folding iPhone will have another major plus that all phone users crave…more battery life. Up to now The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has had a 4400 mAh battery, and the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold has a battery capacity of 5015 mAh. Apple’s folder is rumored to have a powerful 5500 mAh battery, easily putting it at the top of the heap as far as battery life. The folding iPhone will apparently use high-density cells in the battery to get this great battery life. Besides no visible crease, and long battery life…expect the folding iPhone to have a 7.8 inch inner screen, and a 5.5 inch outside screen. It will also have Touch ID, 2 rear cams, and Apple’s own modem chip which they started using in their products last year. Rumors still have the price at around $2000 to $2200. 

A number of music publishers have teamed up to sue Anthropic…maker of the Claude AI products…for $3 billion dollars for what they describe as ‘Flagrant piracy.’ According to engadget.com, the group is lead by Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group. Anthropic is accused in the suit of illegally downloading more than 20,000 copyrighted songs, including sheet music, lyrics and compositions. These songs were then allegedly fed into the chatbot Claude for training purposes. There are some iconic tunes named by Universal in the suit, including tracks by The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond and Elton John, among many others. Concord is an independent publisher that handles artists like Common, Killer Mike and Korn. At $3 billion, this is one of the biggest non-class action copyright cases in US history. Anthropic was already nicked to the tune of $1.5 billion in a case called Bartz v Anthropic when they cut an agreement. There has been a rising uproar about AI companies basically stealing creative material from artists and writers to train their AI models.

Nothing freaks out pet owners more than when their dog or cat gets away outside and doesn’t return. Ring has had a ‘Search Party’ feature that uses to network of cams to find lost dogs. The feature has been available to most customers, but now is available to all Ring customers in the US AND those who don’t use Ring cams. Sharing video with police may be controversial, but everyone ought to be able to get behind this. Techcrunch.com notes that Search Party uses AI to find possible matches for lost dogs across neighbors’ camera footage. When a neighbor reports a lost dog in the Ring app, nearby outdoor cameras use AI to scan for possible matches. If a match is found, that camera owner receives an alert and can optionally choose to share any related video clips with their neighbor who reported the pet missing. They’ll also have an option to call the owner or send them a message, without sharing their own phone number. So far…since launch, the Search Party feature has reunited a dog a day with their owners. 

I was looking at getting a mouse, since the trackpad on my PC laptop is getting flaky. On Amazon’s first page of results, there were wired mice starting at $6.99 and wireless ones for under $10 bucks. THEN, there’s a mouse that is ChatGPT AI compatible, takes notes, and so forth. $109! Gad, are there really people stupid enough to buy that? EVERY mouse is compatible with ChatGPT and AI.

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

Microsoft Bows New AI Chip; Apple Unveils AirTag 2; EU is Probing Grok & X Over AI Deepfakes; ICE Using Phone & Web Data to Identify & Track People

Posted: January 26, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft has bowed a new chip designed for scaling AI inference. TechCrunch. com reports that the Maia 200 chip has been technically outfitted to run powerful AI models at faster speeds and with more efficiency, that according to Microsoft. Inference refers to the computing process of running a model, in contrast with the compute required to train it. As AI companies mature, inference costs have become an increasingly important part of their overall operating cost, leading to renewed interest in ways to optimize the process. Importantly, this chip is designed to be less of a power hog. It is noted that with the new chip, Microsoft is lessening their dependence on NVIDIA. Both Google and Amazon are running some of their own chips now. 

Apple has rolled out without any fanfare the AirTag 2. The upgraded AirTags have better range, and a louder speaker. According to 9to5mac.com, the AirTag 2 has Apple’s 2nd gen Ultra Wideband chip..which is already in the iPhone 17 handsets, as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11. It will work 50% further away than the older AirTag. You will be able to use Precision Finding on Apple Watch 9 and newer as well as the Watch Ultra 2 or later to find an Air Tag. The tiny speaker is also 50% louder. The AirTag 2 is available for order today, and ships this week. Pricing is the same as before, $29 for one, and $99 for a 4 pack. You can still get free personalization.

The EU is investigating X and Grok because they have failed to take action to stop the spread of AI generated sexually explicit images…including child sexual abuse material. Engadget.com says the probe could result in ‘further enforcement steps’ against X. The EU has already fined X $140 million. X did put out a statement regarding X and Grok, claiming “We remain committed to making X a safe platform for everyone and continue to have zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, nonconsensual nudity and unwanted sexual content.” 

ICE is using a couple of programs to track people in entire neighborhoods and monitor people on social media. Minnesota Public Radio reports that ICE is using Tangles to scrape sites like X and Bluesky, but are also using that tool in conjunction with Webloc. They can add people to a watch list so they are alerted every time a person posts something. If you are going to a protest area, whether to protest or to film, turn off location services on your phone. the camera will still work. Also, turn off Bluetooth. The Danish intelligence service has found that the US can use the ‘instant pairing’ feature that Google and Apple have…instead of having to key in a code like you used to…to pair with your phone and get your data. Just a word to the wise. 

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

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