Apple AI Glasses Bow at WWDC ’27; Discord & Meta Sued as Products Not Publishers; Hugging Face Calls for ‘Radical Transparency’ After OpenAI Hack; NVIDIA Launches ‘Open Secure AI Alliance’

Posted: July 27, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Word is that Apple will show off its long rumored AI glasses at WWDC27 next June…with the specs becoming available later in 2027. 9to5mac.com reports that several things are going on at Apple as it heads towards releasing the product. One is privacy…something that has dogged smart glasses ever since the original Google Glass and the infamous ‘Glassholes,’ who were banned from restaurants and bars as people feared being videoed secretly. Apple apparently hasn’t decided whether to include cameras on the glasses…or if so, whether to limit them to just seeing and identifying things for the wearer using AI, or another alternative…having full video, but limiting where it works via software. The glasses from Cupertino won’t have any displays…at last initially, but should have the ability to capture photos, listen to music, talk to Siri, take phone calls, and more. Apple is also expected to have more stylish and attractive glasses than Meta or others. 

This seems to be a novel legal theory that may get around Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as a shield against accountability. According to thenextwb.com, a woman suing Meta and Discord is not suing for defamation or publication, as she claims she was coerced as a minor into sharing sexual images. The wrinkle in this suit is that she is alleging negligence in operation, design, and failing to warn…basically using a products liability claim against the platforms. This legal theory has been used since the dawn of products liability back with McPherson vs Buick, but it is certainly novel to use it against online platforms. At this point, neither Meta nor Discord will comment on the suit, but you can be sure their legal eagles are digging in to try to fend off this unique claim. 

In the aftermath of the OpenAI advanced model escaping a walled garden and hacking Hugging Face to get the answers to queries it was assigned, the CEO of Hugging Face has called for ‘radical transparency’, asking OpenAI to  “release the traces from the ‘rogue’ agents so the entire research community can study what happened.” TechCrunch.com notes that the Hugging Face CEO, Clem Delangue, also calls for “more capabilities for defenders,” demanding that OpenAI commit $100 million worth of computing power “to help the Hugging Face community build powerful cyber defenses with the best open and closed models.” Except for Elon Musk still claiming that large language models will be super intelligent in the next 5 years, most actual AI experts don’t see that happening…but this escape has really been alarming. The OpenAI model even left notes for future versions to use to hack out of the walled garden and into the internet and then onward into other systems.

NVIDIA has put together the Open Secure AI Alliance, with the goal of strengthening cybersecurity. Engadget.com reports that there are 27 founding members, including Microsoft, SpaceX, Dell, The Linux Foundation, and of course NVIDIA. The group argues that to best defend against attacks in the age of AI models like Anthropic’s Mythos 5, security researchers need access to both open and closed frontier models. As a prime example, NVIDIA cited OpenAI’s recent rogue attack on Hugging Face. Hugging face first tried to use closed commercial frontier models to find and repel the hack, but its requests triggered safety guardrails and were refused. It then switched to open source models and managed to stop the attack. The group is also calling on governments to work with companies on shared open AI infrastructure investments.

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

Google Frozen Chip-Gemini Baked In; TSMC is Hastening Arizona Factory Build; YouTube Clarifies AI Slop Policies; Apple Genius Bar-Now with AI Summary for Customers

Posted: July 20, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Google is trying something a bit radical. They are baking Gemini right into chips. The chip is the ‘Frozen V2’, at least internally. Thenextweb.com reports that up to now, AI firms have just loaded their models on to general purpose chips. With Gemini baked in, the Google chips could be 6 to 10 times more efficient than their latest custom AI chips…at least measured by tokens served per unit of power. Google plans to have the chips in use by 2028. The chips will be faster, more efficient, and that will reduce cost. There is a big caveat, though….chips with today’s Gemini AI baked in may be pretty dated by 2028, if AI keeps moving at the speed it has up to now. 

TSMC is pushing to accelerate capacity at its Arizona factory as the firm continues to see what they are calling a ‘multi-year mega trend’ from customers. According to cnbc.com, Taiwan Semiconductor will pump an additional $100 billion in to aggressively expand its US chipmaking footprint. This will put TSMC’s total investment in the Arizona plant at some $265 billion. 

YouTube is cracking down more on AI slop, clarifying its policies on how content on the platform can be monetized. TechCrunch.com notes that the idea is to discourage creators from using AI and other tools to make low quality content. YouTube’s new policy describes three types of videos under the broad category of ‘inauthentic content’ that can’t be monetized. YouTube says the 3 buckets are…one—generic, repetitive, or template-based content, two—off-putting or distressing content, and thirdly— any content where AI personas are used to discuss sensitive topics, like health and finance. YouTube is trying to make things a bit clearer than just ‘you’ll know it when you see it,’ as has been a long-time rule for adult content. Any YouTube channel that has too much of any of the three types of content will not be able to monetize. 

This really doesn’t seem like a big jump into AI, but Apple has stated recording and AI summarizing conversations at its Genius Bars. Gizmodo.com reports that the new pilot program is called ‘Live Notes,’ and it is being positioned as a time-saving tool for the store employees. Right now, it is just in a limited number of stores. What happens is that a recording of a conversation between an Apple employee and the customer is auto-transcribed and summarized. It is then stored in the ‘record of repair session’ on the Genius Bar employee’s work iPad. Some Apple employees are worried that this could be used for monitoring and evaluating employees. It does kind of smack of keystroke monitoring software and the like, but time will tell. More and more invasive monitoring can make a workplace pretty unbearable to employees when it is misused…which is pretty much always.

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

Google Will Allow 3rd Party App Stores; Stripe Makes Offer for PayPal; Apple bumps AppleCare+ Prices on Macs & iPads; Suit-Meta Layoffs Used AI to Fire Workers with Disabilities 

Posted: July 15, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Google will be opening up Android phones to third party app stores in the US soon. Engadget.com reports that Google has launched a dedicated page for its Play catalog Access Program. Third party US Android app stores will be able to access the Play store’s catalog of apps beginning on July 22nd. App downloads through the third-party stores will still be completed through Google Play. The company’s service fees will also apply to apps downloaded through the external stores. Google said in its announcements that it’s implementing the change to comply with a court order, which came from its lengthy legal battle against Epic Games.

Stripe has laid on the table a $60.50 per share bid to buy PayPal. That is a 28% premium over the price at close Tuesday, and amounts to some $53 billion to buy the company. According to benzinga.com, an earlier offer in April went unanswered, but this time, the buyers are pushing for an agreement by the end of July. This would connect two components of a payment ecosystem…the merchant back end structure Stripe dominates, and PayPal’s consumer-facing wallet. PayPal has 439 million active accounts. Some tech finance watchers don’t think there will be a deal for less than $80 a share, and a few are saying it ought to be as much as $115. If this deal does happen, expect it to one way or another cost you more as a consumer…but on the flip side, it will make it all the more frictionless as the expression goes to make purchases. 

Apple is goosing the price for AppleCare+ a bit on new iPads and Macs. 9to5mac.com says that…effective today…prices are up by 50 cents a month or $5 per year. If you have an older Mac or iPad and are on the plan, your price won’t go up…for now. That is good to know…this report was written on a first generation MacBook Pro with the original Apple silicon. Looks like I’d better be ready for not only a higher price for the replacement computer but also for the AppleCare Plus plan, too. My wallet is crying out with pain…

A class action suit against Meta alleges that in the AI powered layoffs of some 8,000 employees targeted workers with disabilities and those who took protected medical or family leaves. The suit alleges quote: “Meta did not assemble the termination list through the considered judgment of managers who knew the work. Instead, Meta used a constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems—including a system referred to internally as ‘Metamate,’ employee-trained ‘second-brain’ agents, keystroke- and activity-monitoring data, AI-token-usage dashboards, and algorithmically assisted performance ranking and calibration—to score, rank, and select employees for inclusion on the list.” Meta, for its part, says that people made the layoff decisions, and that the claims ‘lack merit.’ This will be interesting as it is truly a case of what the law calls first impression. Stay tuned.

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

Samsung Deletes Health Data If You Don’t Let Train AI; LAPD Lets Flock Contract Expire; Apple Stock in Record Territory-Traders Souring on AI; 200 Experts Urge Action Re AI Effects on Jobs

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

In a move that smacks of extortion, Samsung will delete your health data if you refuse to let it use your data to train its AI. Androidpolice.com reports that there is a new option in Samsung Health settings…it lets you turn off Samsung’s ability to use your data to train its AI models. That’s a good thing, BUT…there’s always a but…If you turn it off, then a warning pops up, informing you that turning this option off will delete your existing Samsung Health data and stop any further syncing with Samsung’s servers. It is pretty distressing that the largest smartphone maker by market share is using its might to hold your data hostage to their hungry AI model training program. They are no doubt betting that most people will just say ‘Oh, well,’ and go ahead and let them. A few will opt out, and their health data will go ‘poof.’ This is really not cool. 

A number of municipalities are growing more and more uneasy about the intrusiveness of Flock cameras, as people have raised concerns…and hell at public meetings…over the invasion of privacy of the intrusive cameras. Now, the Los Angeles police will let a contract with Flock expire. According to TechCrunch.com, LAPD’s Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas said in a statement “This contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data that is being collected from these cameras. The LAPD had to make a difficult decision, in this case discontinuing using Flock services until we can get those data, privacy, security and sharing concerns ironed out through a contractual relationship.” As the third-largest police department in the U.S., the LAPD is one of Flock’s largest government customers to date. Flock has a network of at least 80,000 cameras around the U.S. that scan license plates and allow police and federal agencies to track vehicles. 

Apple stock is up 15%, adding nearly $600 billion in value since June 25th…putting them back in record territory. Macrumors.com notes that the uptick has come as investors grow uneasy about the mind-boggling sums of cash continually being poured into the AI data center buildout, despite there being no obvious indicator for when investors will get a return on their investment. Apple’s decision to sit out the data center spending spree and instead pay Google for access to its frontier AI models is being increasingly seen by traders as an asset rather than a liability. Apple is using Google’s Gemini to underpin the revamped version of Siri and new Apple Intelligence features across its platforms.

Over 200 researchers and economists, including 15 Nobel laureates and also researchers at AI companies Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI are urging governments and tech leaders to immediately put polices in place and set up institutions to address the economic impact of AI. Reuters.com reports that the group signing on to the statement are warning that the economic transformation could exceed the Industrial Revolution and do so in a ‘vastly shorter’ time frame…affecting workers, companies, and public institutions. “Steam, electricity, and computers ​each gave societies decades to adapt. AI may give us only a ‌few ⁠years,” said Anton Korinek, professor at the University of Virginia. He  continued “We cannot improvise our strategy and institutions in the middle of the transformation; waiting for certainty means arriving ​too late.”

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

Gemini Personalized AI Generation Free to All; Meta Contractors Posed as Teens to Check Competitor Chatbots; Apple May Have to Allow 3rd Party App Payments in Britain, South Korea-Spending A Trillion on Memory Chip Production Boost

Posted: June 30, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Gemini’s personalized Nano Banana-powered personalized image generation feature is now free for all eligible users in the US. TechCrunch.com reports that up to now, Google has only made it available to Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers. The Google Gemini Personal Intelligence feature allowing users to create images that reflect their unique interests. This means that images can be generated based on Gemini’s understanding of your likes and preferences without you having to specify them in your prompt. Gemini utilizes data from your Google account connections— such as Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube, and Search—to achieve this. It can also pull actual images from your Google Photos…so you don’t have to manually upload the pics. Google notes that the Gemini AI chatbot exceeded 750 million monthly active users earlier this year. That’s way more than a niche. 

In an interesting bit of something resembling corporate espionage, Meta had hundreds of contractors pose as minors online and probe how competitor chatbots responded to prompts involving suicide, sex, eating disorders, and other high-risk subjects, according to internal documents and five people familiar with the project. According to wired.com, the effort targeted OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Character dot AI. The contractors were asked to create dummy under-18 accounts, send written prompts and images to rival chatbots, and copy the responses into spreadsheets. Some of the images contractors sent included pills, knives, nooses, and a medical diagram of a gynecological procedure. Out of nearly 4,000 prompts reviewed by Wired, hundreds focused on suicide and self harm, and there were about 240 involving sex or romance. There were a number that involved drugs, profanity and racial slurs. Meta has cast the effort as routine safety testing. Wired had a couple of attorneys look at the spreadsheets, and they opined that at least the work violates the terms of service of the competitors…and at worst could amount to anti-competitive practices. 

The Brits are considering following what the Europeans have done..that is, forcing Apple to allow 3rd party app payments as well as Apple Pay rivals. 9to5mac.com notes that the British antitrust regulator has proposed forcing Apple to allow developers to link to third-party payment options to purchase apps and subscriptions outside of the App Store. The proposal would specifically ban Apple from using the same forms of “malicious compliance” it has tried in both the US and EU. The EU required Apple to permit third-party app stores, while a US court ruled that developers have the right to direct iPhone users to third-party payment platforms for app purchases and subscriptions. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is now proposing to apply this latter rule in the UK. The CMA also proposes to force Apple to allow third-party rivals to the Apple Wallet app for contactless payments. This would enable competitors to Apple Pay.

The South Korean government and big tech companies are ponying up to the tune of a trillion dollars for several flagship mega-projects that could boost the global memory chip supply…something badly needed what with AI server centers gobbling up a big share of the chip supply. Arstechnica.com reports that the firms include giant Samsung and SK Hynix as well. Hyundai Motor Co is also hustling to build out humanoid robots via its Boston Dynamics subsidiary. South Korean President Le Jae Myung said in a speech “We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country.” Between the South Koreans, China, the US, and others…the race is on!

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

Snap Bows AR Glasses; OpenAI Losing Billions; Apple 20th Anniversary iPhones-2 Sizes; Qualcomm Rolls Out Snapdragon Reality Elite for MR Headsets

Posted: June 16, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Snap has revealed Specs, its long-promised consumer smart glasses. TechCrunch.com reports that they will be available today for preorder, with a $200 refundable deposit, and are expected to ship this fall in the US, UK, and France. So you think they will be priced around the cost of a pair of Meta’s Ray-Bans? Good luck with that. They are $2195! While that is a far cry from Apple Vision Pro, the headset with f breathtaking price of $3500, it’s still quite a leap from $350 or $600 to $2195! Specs look pretty much like a fattened up regular pair of glasses. They may look a bit dorky, but here’s the deal…all the computing takes place on device, there’s no tethered puck to have to keep in a pocket or in hand. Specs run two Snapdragon processors, and they claim 4 hours of continuous battery life. You can pop them back into a case, and with case-recharging, you can get a total of 20 hours of use. Right now, they work for multiplayer games between two players with Specs, and they have a 51 degree field of view. You can surf the web with them, and they do have contextual AI. You can look at an object and asked about it, and the glasses will pull up info about what you are looking at. Specs will ship in two sizes…a 47 mm model and a 52 mm model. At 4.6 ounces and 4.7 ounces respectively, they are noticeably heavier than Meta’s Ray-Bans…the first generation Wayfarers weigh less than an ounce. Still, the almost 5 ounce weight is way less than an Apple headset that is a chonky 26.4 ounces.

Up to now, we have known that OpenAI was only taking in a relatively minuscule amount of revenue compared to operating expenses or capitalization. Now, leaked figures show expenses really do dwarf revenues. According to arstechnica.com, OpenAI’s revenue went from $3.7 billion in 2024 to a hair over $13 billion in 2025. Research and development expenses in 2024 were $7.81 billion, and in 2025 ballooned to $19.18 billion. In the ramp up to going public, OpenAI’s operating loss is shrinking as a percentage of revenue, but they are quite a ways from actually generating a profit. It is worth noting that many tech startups operate in the red for several years before turning a profit. OpenAI continues to raise money…another $122 billion in a round in March. They are presently valued at $852 billion. 

For the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, Apple will sell two sizes of the devices…similar to the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max that are due out in just about 90 days. That would make them around 6.3 and 6.9 inches. Macrumors.com notes that most rumors point to and edge-to-edge display with curved glass on all sides, giving the visual effect of practical no borders. There should also be a 2nd generation foldable iPhone. All will be powered by a 2 nanometer A21 chip. 

Qualcomm has bowed Reality Elite,  a mixed reality chip platform with substantially improved AI processing for headsets and tethered glasses. In addition, they announced START, a white-label toolkit that gives eyewear makers a nearly complete smart glasses design that they can brand, customize, and ship without building the tech stack themselves. Thenextweb.com reports that Qualcomm is working on over 40 different wearable devices from jewelry to earbuds with cams, to pins and watches. CEO Christiano Amon in fact told CNBC that the single unifying principle is “something that you wear, something that is with you all the time, something that can see the world around you.” Back to Reality Elite. It is built to power two categories of gadgets. The first is standalone video-see-through headsets that overlay digital content on a camera feed of the real world, the approach used by devices like the Meta Quest. The second is lightweight, tethered optical-see-through glasses that blend digital imagery directly into the wearer’s field of view. It would seem a lot of tech companies are working hard on making an everyday carry device that is not a smartphone. Apple, Samsung, and Google certainly are!

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

Apple WWDC Keynote 2026 Recap

Posted: June 8, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

MacOS-the next version…MacOS 27 is called Golden Gate

Adjust Liquid glass from clear to tinted with slider. Sidebars now expand to left edge of window. App Icons are sharper and better defined.

Under the hood, a lot of tweaks have speeded up loading of apps and pictures on Macs and iPhones.

For WiFi when you are moving around, you won’t have to manually switch to cellular and back to disconnect from like an airport or coffee shop WiFi or the pestering Xfinity general WiFi that always tries to auto-connect

Index has been improved…which it desperately needed….so search will work better. Email search is also improved. 

This is kinda cool…you can share photo albums with Android and Windows, and they can contribute to an album for say…a group or family trip. 

Trust and Safety features- Child safety features have been expanded. Apple says they have conferred with a number of groups who specialize in child development. 

Making the kid a Child Account blocks certain adult sites and enables parental controls. The kid can’t download an app without parental approval. Also, a new addition is ‘ask to browse,’ which works for kids under 13. 

You can limit a child’s screen time. Apple calls this Time Allowances. They are based on the child’s age. Social medial is not allowed by default, but the parents can override this (you know kids will figure a work around instantly for this.) 

Apple is launching a new website for parents to use the kid tools.

===============

AI and Apple

The real meat and potatoes of today’s keynote was all about the new, improved SiriAI. It was promised 2 years ago, but it is now here…at least for developers. The rest of us will have to wait until fall when the new operating systems are released. Apple’s Tim Cook says truly helpful AI must be centered around the user not just for its own sake. 

Apple Claims the new Siri AI will be much more responsive and deeply integrated. Apple is being clear they have partnered with Google and their Gemini. They are trying to do as much as possible on device for privacy. 

Higher accuracy dictation, and better language understanding are a welcome addition. I have gotten some pretty hilarious messages that Apple’s dictation mangled.

Personal context understanding…you can find items just by asking for them. Naturally, it can search the web, then boil down the info into an overview for you. 

Privacy first…Apple is emphasizing how AI privacy is on by default…data is either on device or on Apple private cloud, where even Apple can’t see it.

The improved Siri includes personal context understanding and understands what’s on your screen. There is a new dedicated Siri App. It appears in the little bubble Apple calls the Dynamic Island at the top of the screen… which expands to present the answer. 

You can have a picture on your screen, and ask Siri what and where it is and it will tell you. 

The Dedicated Siri App lets you sync chats with different Apple devices. You can start a conversation on iPhone and continue on iPad or your Mac. 

Camera gets a Siri mode…so you can aim cam at something and ask Siri what you are seeing…like foods, or use it on a restaurant ticket to split the bill. 

You can ask Siri to generate a document, then go into that document and type. It automatically proofreads and will do so systemwide in real time no matter what app you are using. 

A useful AI feature for Safari-it can organize your tabs into topics to make it easier to stay organized. Notify Me will monitor a site and bring that tab back when say, a product is back in stock. 

The clean up feature in photos can let you shift perspective and move people around…like if you didn’t get the person or people centered in a pic. The item remove feature has been improved, too.

Siri AI will be launched later this year in Beta. It won’t be available in the EU or China at first, until Apple works things out with those governments. 

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

Prime Day (Week) in June; User-Replaceable Batteries; Microsoft Surface Ultra-Their 1st MacBook Pro Competitor; Florida Sues OpenAI & Sam Altman

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

Amazon has moved summer Prime Day up a month to June…June 23rd, specifically. Now, zd.com notes that Prime ‘Day’ has ballooned to 4 days…up from two the last few years. Amazon has Prime Big Deal Days in October, and Big Spring Sales in March…but the summer sale is their biggest. They will offer Big Deal Drops at 12 am, 8 am, and 1 pm Pacific…with generally up to 50% off on brands like LG, Ninja, and Stanley…as well as others. Amazon will also have 60% off on Alexa devices, and up to 65% off on Kindle, Echo, Ring, Fire TV, Blink, and eero devices. 

The US government has been very hands-off on this, but the Europeans have been steaming right along, passing regulations on electronic devices that benefit consumers. Think of USB charging ports..which even made Apple give up their proprietary charging ports. Now, Theverge.com says the EU is stepping things up on reparability. New rules go into effect on February 18th, 2027. Users have to be able to remove and replace batteries with basic tools, or specialized tools that are provided with the product for free, and compatible spare batteries must be sold for at least five years. The tool requirement means swapping the battery doesn’t need to be as simple as popping off a clip-on cover, but can’t be much more complicated than removing a few standard screws. The regulation applies to headphones, e-readers, portable game consoles, laptops, and more. If it’s got a battery, it’s probably covered. There are two huge exceptions. Smartphones and tablets. They are covered by other laws. As a lot of phones are water resistant or even waterproof, the requirements only mandate that batteries must be replaceable by professional repair shops…but the batteries must be available to them to do the repairs. This is a real win against the ‘planned obsolescence’ the tech gadget manufacturers have borrowed from auto makers.

With the New Nvidia RTX Spark we just reported on, the upcoming Microsoft Laptop Ultra, which bows later this year, is expected to be Redmond’s first laptops that will really be able to compete with Apple’s MacBook Pro line. According to arstechnica.com, the new Ultra will be priced above the other laptops Microsoft sells, and will have plenty of accessory slots…USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, and also an SD card slot and headphone jack. For comparison, the MacBook Pro I write these reports on is several years old. It has Apple silicon, and besides a charging port, it rocks 3 USB-C ports, headphone jack, HDMI port, and and SD card slot. I use 3-4 of these slots regularly, so I think Microsoft has something here…all the slots you need, and a very powerful processing system that will run AI apps right on the machine. For those that are in the PC world and don’t love Macs, but need the power…the Ultra may be just the thing. 

Florida is suing OpenAI and Sam Altman personally over the safety of ChatGPT. Thenextweb.com reports that there will likely be other states that will be suing OpenAI and Altman. This suit accuses OpenAI of violating product liability laws, engaging in deceptive trade practices, and releasing ChatGPT while knowing it was harmful to users. The state is seeking civil penalties and a court order blocking the company from collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent. This is the first government action that names Altman personally…seeking to hold him liable for what Florida calls “reckless and willful conduct” and “utter disregard for the risk to human life.”  Stay tuned, there will be more of these filed by other states. 

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

Microsoft Lets You Uninstall Copilot; Next Year’s iPhones-‘Radical’ New Design; SpaceX Pressed Pentagon to Pay More for Starlink; Google Smartglases Xreal Thinks It Has Cracked Smartglasses Code

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

After only getting about 3.3% of users to pay for Copilot, Microsoft is finally letting users and administrators fully uninstall the Copilot app from Windows 11. Thenextweb.com reports that the April 2026 update is the one that allows this. The removal is a bit complicated for IT admins, but for home users, just go to Settings, then Apps, then Installed Apps, search for Copilot, and tap Uninstall. Microsoft notes that it can be reinstalled later from the Microsoft Store if you should ever want it. 

There have been rumors for months about next year’s 20th anniversary iPhones getting something of a major facelift…including a curved display on all 4 sides, and under-display FaceID. Now, according to 9to5mac.com, the rumors have come into better focus. Earlier reports had an iPhone 20…or whatever they end up calling it…would be a brand new model. Now, supply chain reports indicate that the whole iPhone line will get the so-called ‘quad-curved screen’. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg had originally reported that the redesign would only apply to the iPhone 19 Pro and Pro Max. It does look like there will be a second generation iPhone Ultra…the folding phone…if hinge issues can be worked out, as well as a new iPhone Air coming in 2027 in addition to the iPhone 19 Pro models.

SpaceX has reportedly been using its market leverage to push the Pentagon to spend more on satellite internet. Reuters.com notes that weeks after the US military began its campaign against Iran, SpaceX executives reportedly met with Department of Defense officials to talk about pricing. The message from Elon Musk’s company was essentially: You’re paying about $5,000 per Starlink terminal monthly, but you’re using it like a higher-tier aviation subscription that costs $25,000 per month. Time to upgrade. After some haggling, the Pentagon caved, and now it has nearly doubled the cost of using LUCAS kamikaze drones. A DoD spokesperson told Reuters that the agency is shopping around for Starlink competitors…but the pickens are slim…with almost 10,000 satellites that account for about 60% of the global total in orbit, SpaceX has the upper hand…for now.

Smartglasses are about to replace smartphones…we’ve been hearing that for years now. TechCrunch.com reports that Google’s partner on smart glasses…Xreal…believes it has mastered what’s needed to do the trick. The thought is that some lightweight smart glasses could pull people away from staring at their smartphone screens, and just get the info they want or need by looking at the glass they are already wearing. So far, ‘everybody’s losing money,’ according to Chi Xu, the founder and CEO of Xreal. Major issues have been thought to solve with glasses…they are most all large, bulky, and need either an outside computer like a smartphone, plus an outboard battery pack…not exactly svelte. Xreal has solved part of the problem…the glasses aren’t thick and ugly, but Xreal’s newest model Aura is wired smart glasses that have OLED displays embedded within them, meaning that you can watch high-resolution videos within the frames themselves. Somewhat awkwardly, Aura comes tethered to a “puck” — essentially a phone-shaped mini-computer that powers the experience behind the glasses. When using it, you can ostensibly just slip it into your pocket. The glasses are available for developers now, and should be out to the public later this year. Xu thinks they may actually be able to break even on them next year.

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

Apple Announces WWDC, New Features & Watch Ultra; Google I/O News; Musk Loses in OpenAI Suit & Will Appeal; Iran Wants $ From Big Tech to Use Hormuz Undersea Cable

Posted: May 19, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple announced their World Wide Developers Conference today. It will start June 8th. Besides that, macrumors.com reports that the next Apple Watch Ultra is getting a new high blood pressure notification feature. It isn’t clear how this differs from the Hypertension Notifications they already have, but whatever it is…is under FDA review, so it might actually be able to give you blood pressure readings. The new feature uses the optical heart-rate sensor to analyze how blood vessels respond to each heartbeat. Apple is still working on blood-glucose monitoring. The actually had this a couple years ago, but the working model is too big to fit into a watch…and they need to shrink it down to fit…so not surprising that it is taking a while. 

Apple has also updated accessibility features to use Apple Intelligence. VoiceOver, Magnifier, Voice Control and Accessibility reader will all get the beefed up AI help. VoiceOver Image Explorer gives more detailed descriptions to the user….and lets you ask questions about what the camera viewfinder sees. Voice Control has natural language input, so you can describe onscreen elements conversationally. Accessibility Reader has added support for articles with multiple columns, images, and tables. It will also give on-demand summaries to you. This is a wild feature for those few users who have Apple Vision Pro headsets…power wheelchair control. The headset’s precision eye-tracking system can be used to control the chair for users who can’t use a joystick! Expect most of these features in the fall when iOS27 etc roll out. 

The Google A/I 2 day developer conference got underway this morning, with a flood of announcements. First off, it’s Gemini 3.5, a new family of models. According to theverge.com, Gemini 3.5 Flash is now the default model for the Gemini app and AI mode in Search. The Pro version will be out next month. A new family of models is also out…Gemini Omni. This will be in the Gemini app, Google Flow, and YouTube Shorts. Omni Flash will be able to generate video clips from prompts that include a variety of inputs including text, photos, video, and audio (unlike Google’s Veo model, which is only text to video). Google also rolled out Spark, their response to the very popular OpenClaw. The always-on agent can write emails, make study guides, and watch for hidden credit card fees. Google AI Studio lets you build Android apps using prompts. 

There was more, but in the spirit of a Steve Jobs ‘one more thing,’ Google showed an updated version of its Project Aura smart glasses. The refreshed compute puck has a fingerprint sensor, and has a lanyard so you can wear the puck and the glasses. Continuing on the glasses topic, there were 2 new pairs of Android XR glasses shown off…one from Warby Parker and another from Gentle Monster. Like the base Meta Ray-Bans, these glasses are audio only…no display…so not quite a return of the old Google Glass. Google has also launched Universal Cart. You can add products to it from YouTube, Search, Gemini, and Gmail. Google says this “intelligent shopping cart” works across different merchants and services, like Nike, Target, Walmart, Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Wayfair, and Shopify. So, you could add products from Nike and Target to your Universal Cart and check out from both at the same time. It will also spot and includes perks and loyalty discounts. 

As you have no doubt heard, Elon Musk lost his suit against OpenAI yesterday. The jury only took 2 hours to bring the verdict. Cnbc.com notes that the primary issue was that the case was brought too late to make it in under the statute of limitations. Musk had claimed that OpenAI execs had ‘stole a charity’, with the change by the company to allow part of it to go public and be for-profit. It apparently wan’t lost on the jury and the court that Musk has a rival company in xAI, which is a for-profit entity…although it hasn’t turned any profit yet. OpenAI is now planning to move forward with its IPO stock offering this year. Musk is expected to appeal to the Ninth Circuit, as his attorneys say he lost on a technicality. It seems unlikely that the Court will buy that argument since the statute of limitations has long passed. 

Not satisfied with trying to extract fees for ships getting through the Strait of Hormuz, now Iran is demanding that Big Tech pay fees for the undersea internet cables in the Strait. Arstechnica.com reports that the Iranians have specifically named Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. They want to extract what they are calling license fees for use and maintenance of the cables. Tech firms are already looking at alternatives. Iran has intimated that they might damage or cut the cables if they don’t get their way. Cables do get damaged anyway, as some ships accidentally drag their anchors, or trawlers using weighted fishing nets do damage as they fish the sea floor. Te4ch companies are looking to bypass this extortion by using over land fiber optic cables. With huge data centers planned in the Middle East, more of those will need to be run, and soon.

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

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