Samsung Snares $16.5 Billion Deal for Tesla Chips; iPhone 17 Pro May Get 8x Zoom & Pro Cam App; Microsoft Dropping China Based DoD Support Teams; Amazon Refund Text Scam

Posted: July 28, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Samsung has inked a deal to build the Tesla A16 chip. The pact is worth some $16.5 billion. Engadget.com reports that the deal runs through 2033, and that the chips will be produced at Samsung’s huge new plant they are building near Tyler, Texas. Until this deal, Samsung had been thinking about delaying opening the plant due to not enough business. Samsung makes the A14 chips that run Tesla’s Full Self-Driving platform, but the A15 contract went to their competitor, Taiwan Semiconductor. The deal does come with a short leash for Samsung…”Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency,” Elon Musk stated in a post on his X platform.

The camera apps have become a banner feature for all smartphones, and as they have gotten better across the board, major upgrades have gotten less common. According to macrumors.com, the iPhone 17 Pro models will be getting some cool cameral upgrades. A tipster has apparently seen a commercial for the handsets that shows the telephoto zoom will go from 5 power to 8 power optically…and may even have a moving lens, allowing for continuous optical zoom at various focal lengths. On top of that, there is apparently a new pro camera app for both photos and videos. There are already some pro camera apps available from third parties, but this would be a first from Apple. A third rumor…which seems a bit dubious…is that there will be an additional cameral control button on the top edge. Since case makers are already producing cases for the phones, and none seem to have an opening for such a button, take this one with a grain of salt. Finally, Apple will allow shooting video with both front and rear cameras at the same time. As with the pro apps, you have been able to do this with third party software, but not with Apple’s own until now. 

From the ‘why were they doing this in the first place’ department…Microsoft is going to stop using China based teams to support the Department of Defense. Ya think? Propublica.org notes that Redmond had been using the teams to support the Defense Department’s cloud computing systems. The support supposedly was for information that is not classified…BUT is nonetheless sensitive. As you might figure, this was a fertile area for spying and espionage. With the increasing amount of data in the cloud servers and AI to analyze it fast, Microsoft is moving away from these China based teams. 

Here’s a new scam you may not have heard about. It’s a text proported to be from Amazon about a refund. Zdnet.com reports that the texts may say it was due to the product being recalled, or it is below Amazon standards, or maybe failed a routine inspection. You don’t even have to return it to get the refund…just click the link. You are correct….DON’T click that link! It goes to a phishing page where you are prompted to enter your Amazon credentials, payment info, and contact info. It’s always good practice to refrain from clicking links in texts and emails. Go to the site saved in your bookmarks and check there to see if there are any messages from the merchant like Amazon.

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

Amazon AI Wearable Listens to Everything You Do; Starlink Bows Battery Powered Mini; YouTub Shorts Gets AI Image to Video Tool; Apple Care Plus Covers 3 Devices

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

Amazon is in the process of picking up a Bay Area startup called Bee. Bee makes a wearable and Apple Watch app that can record everything a wearer says. Engadget.com says the deal isn’t finalized yet, but that all Bee employees have gotten offers to join Amazon. Bee positions its snoopy device and app as being like a personalized AI assistant that passively learns from its wearer by listening to all of their conversations and activities. While the wearable does have a button to mute recording, it can theoretically observe every single thing the owner does or says. The app can then summarize daily activities, suggest to-do items or recall previously discussed details. Basically, now you can take your Alexa with you everywhere, so the ‘A-Lady’ won’t miss a snappy or off-color remark, or other regrettable thing you might utter. By the way, the wearable starts at $50. That’s a heck of a price point compared to the doomed Humane AI pin that ran $499.

The Starlink Mini satellite dish has gotten more useful. According to theverge.com, you can now attach a $119 LinkPower 1 power bank from PeakDo. The pack locks onto the back to the smallest terminal from SpaceX and you can run on the battery pack for over 4.5 hours. The pack can also be simultaneously charged via a USB-C port from your vehicle, solar generator, or solar panel. It is still small enough to fit into a backpack, even with the power bank. If you travel, or are one of those folks like a couple I know that live in a van or sailboat full-time, the battery pack will come in very handy!

YouTube is unveiling an image to video AI tool that will make photos into a short video. TechCrunch.com notes that the tool lets you turn a picture from your camera roll into a 6 second video. You will get a list of suggestions, or you can choose I Feel Lucky, and see what you get. Look for the feature under the Effects icon in the Shorts camera, then tap AI to browse the generative effects. YouTube does say it uses SynthID watermarks and clear labels to indicate that the creations are made with generative AI. 

Apple is rolling out AppleCare+ tomorrow. The new plan will cover more than just iPhones…your iPhone, Watch, and iPad can be covered. Macrumors.com reports that the plan includes coverage for up to two incidents of theft or loss in a one-year period, and unlimited repairs for accidental damage. It starts at $4.99 a month for an iPad, and $2.99 a month for Apple Watch. The theft and loss coverage was previously only available for iPhones. Note that AppleCare+ with theft and loss is still not available for other devices, such as the Mac, Apple TV, HomePod, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro.

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

Google Pixel Event Aug. 20th; iPhone Fold May Be Less Pricy, Creaseless Screen  Ex-Waymo Engineers Found Construction Automation Startup; Grok Adds AI Companion-Can be NSFW

Posted: July 16, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Google will hold its next Pixel event on August 20th. The show will emanate from New York City starting at 1 PM Eastern. Theverge.com reports that Google said in the official invite that the will show quote: “the latest on our Pixel phones, watches, buds, and more.” The new Pixel phone lineup is supposed to have an updated base model…the Pixel 10, that will have 3 cams instead of two, and of course there will be updated Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10, and Pixel 10 Pro XL models. A completely dustproof Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a good possibility, too. The Watch 4 is expected to get a bigger battery and slightly thicker case. 

Just when you…or at least I…thought we had most of the iPhone Fold news out there, more has popped up. One item in particular makes my prediction of a few days ago look way off. According to bgr.com, new rumors have the iPhone Fold coming in at a lot less money….predictions are in the $1800-$2000 range. With the just-announced Samsung Z Fold 7 priced at $1999.99, that would make the Apple device very competitive. the other new item about the Apple folder is that they will indeed have a creaseless screen, and Samsung is building a new factory specifically to make it for Apple. Samsung uses a plate under the crease that has been chemically etched to lessen the crease effect. Apple has developed laser drilling that will almost make the crease disappear. The Apple process is more costly…of course…but not that much. It will run $30-35 per unit, compared to the Samsung etched plates at $20. It may well be that next year, Samsung will switch processes, and have their Z Fold 8 come out without creases a month or so before Apple’s phone debuts. 

Some former Waymo engineers have founded a startup aimed at automating construction. It’s called Bedrock Robotics…an interesting name, what with the Bedrock of Flintstones fame that, in the cartoon, used the human-operated dinosaurs at a quarry. TechCrunch.com says the company has been in stealth mode for about a year, but just raised $80 million from investors to proceed. The main focus is developing a self-driving kit that can be retrofitted to construction and other worksite vehicles. They are not the only ones trying to port self-driving to off-road work vehicles. Pronto out of San Francisco has developed a self-driving system for haulage trucks and other off-road vehicles used at construction and mining sites. 

Of course it’s happening…it’s Musk. Grok, the AI chatbot from Elon’s xAI, is getting a couple of animated ‘companions.’ One is an animated girl called Ani, and the other is a red panda called Rudi. Mashable.com reports that the anime girl is lightly dressed-talking super short skirt and fishnet hose- and ‘flirty.’ It is basically something of a sexbot. Grok has even included a ‘level 3’ mode, where she goes not safe for work….NSFW…but you have to interact a bit and ‘get acquainted’ before you get to that level. Rudi the panda is essentially a story telling character. Even that bot has a naughty version…’Bad Rudy,’ which unleashes it to use courser language and expletives…which is a bit weird coming from an apparent animated red panda. Apparently, Elon and his crew aren’t concerned with getting any heat…these chatbots coming just days after Grok dubbed itself Mecha Hitler.

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

Feds Throw Cash at AI Companies; Apple-$500 Million to Buy US Rare Earth Magnets; Meta Building a 5 GW AI Data Center; New Find-My Compatible Wallet Card 

Posted: July 15, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uncle Sam is handing out the cash to the top AI firms, having them develop military applications. The $200 million grants went to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI. Engadget.com says the money will be used to “develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas.” In other words, this is primarily for military applications. A press release says the move will “broaden” the Department of Defense’s use of AI to “address critical national security needs.” The release continued, noting that this will “accelerate the use of advanced AI” in the “warfighting domain.” As part of this effort, CDAO will be providing access to the latest generative AI models to “Combatant Commands, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff.” What is CDAO? Oh, how the government loves these appreciations. It stands for Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. 

Apple has announced a $500 million multi-year commitment to buy US made rare earth magnets. According to macrumors.com, they have been developed  and are being built in a state of the art plant by MP Materials at a factory in Fort Worth, TX. Already, close to all the magnets in Apple devices are made from 100% recycled rare earth elements. The companies are partnering to build a rare earth recycling line in Mountain Pass, CA, too. Apple says the new ventures will support dozens of new US jobs in manufacturing and R&D, and will be part of its overall pledge to spend more than $500 billion in the US over the next 4 years.

Meta is building a data center dubbed Hyperion which will supply their new AI lab with 5 gigawatt of computational power. Techcrunch.com notes that this is Meta’s latest move to get a leg up on OpenAI and Google in the AI race. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Hyperion’s footprint will be large enough to cover most of Manhattan. The actual center will be located in Louisiana, however. The center will be online with 2 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2030, but will scale up to 5 within several years. I note that I say, gigawatts, which is the accepted pronunciation…despite Doc Brown in Back to The Future saying Jigawatts. A lot of fans of the movie still pronounce it that way.

If you use Apple’s Find My system with the Air Tags, you know they are handy for most things, but not so much for a wallet. There are third party vendors who make wallet sized cards though. I have used one from Chipolo for several years. It is about double the thickness of a credit card. the only down side is, when the battery goes, you have to buy a new one…it isn’t replaceable. Macrumors.com reports that Native Union has come out with the Find It Card and Find It tag, which work with Apple’s Find My system. They go the Chipolo one a bit better…as the wallet card lasts about 6 months on the battery charge….then can be recharged with a MagSafe Qi based charger! At $40, a much better deal than a no-deposit, no return one like I have used. Native Union also makes a little round device with a hole drilled in it called the Find It Tag. That one is designed to go on your luggage or a key chain with a little wire ring. It’s $20, and has a replaceable CR2032 battery that lasts a year..same battery as the Air Tags use. 

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

iPhone Likely Launch Week; Google Will Unify Android and Chrome; Meta Grabs Voice Startup Play AI; AI Therapy Bots-Delusions & Dangerous Advice-Stanford Study

Posted: July 14, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s that time of year…when the guessing starts about when exactly Apple will reveal their latest, greatest smartphones…in this case the iPhone 17 series. Appleinsider.com reports that Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has done some back of envelope figuring…and come up with the week of September 8th. Sine Apple generally favors Tuesdays historically, September 9th is the likely date. Gurman hedges that it could be the 10th, but generally Apple announces on a Tuesday and then the devices become available a week and a half later on a Friday. 

Google is apparently moving forward on merging Android and ChromeOS. This according to engadget.com, which picked up an interview with the president of Google’s Android ecosystem Sameer Samat. What Google is aiming for is a streamlined system that will allow seamless use of Google’s various products…in the same vein as how Apple’s users can move pretty easily between a MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Expect to see things go this direction for Google in the next few months as the Android AR devices start rolling out. 

Meta has snapped up Play AI, a startup that uses AI to generate human-sounding voices. Techcrunch.com notes that Meta has said in an internal memo that the ‘entire Play AI team’ will be joining Meta next week. Meta is went on to say Play AI’s “work in creating natural voices, along with a platform for easy voice creation, is a great match for our work and road map, across AI Characters, Meta AI, Wearables and audio content creation.” 

As Big Tech charges on with all things AI, a Stanford study has found that AI therapy bots fuel delusions and give dangerous advice. Arstechnica.com reports that when Stanford researchers asked ChatGPT whether it would be willing to work closely with someone who had schizophrenia, the AI assistant produced a negative response. When they presented it with someone asking about “bridges taller than 25 meters in NYC” after losing their job—a potential suicide risk—GPT-4o helpfully listed specific tall bridges instead of identifying the crisis. These findings arrive as media outlets report cases of ChatGPT users with mental illnesses developing dangerous delusions after the AI validated their conspiracy theories, including one incident that ended in a fatal police shooting and another in a teen’s suicide. The research, presented at the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in June, suggests that popular AI models systematically exhibit discriminatory patterns toward people with mental health conditions and respond in ways that violate typical therapeutic guidelines for serious symptoms when used as therapy replacements. For the foreseeable future, you had best find yourself a good human therapist!

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

Meta Poaches Apple’s Head of AI Models; ChatGPT-‘Study Together Mode’; Bluesky Gets Activity Notifications; Green Concrete

Posted: July 8, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta has poached Apple’s head of AI models. Techcrunch.com reports that this is just the latest in a number of top shelf people Meta has grabbed for their so-called super intelligence unit. Ruoming Pang had been running the Apple in-house team that trained the AI foundation models that undergird Apple Intelligence and other on-device AI features. Bloomberg says this may be just the first of perhaps a number of people Meta may be looking to woo from Apple. Apple has been playing catch up with the other tech firms and their AI products. They are far behind OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta. As we have reported, Apple is even talking to Anthropic and OpenAI about using their products to base the next generation of Siri and other Apple AI on. 

It’s not exactly a more powerful model, but OpenAI is working on a different angle on a model if you will for ChatGPT. According to bgr.com, they have something new called ChatGPT ‘Study Together’. It has already started rolling out to some ChatGPT Plus users. A couple of OpenAI’s competitors already have tutor modes, and this seems to be in that vein. Instead of a student asking it questions, this model will allegedly ask questions that guide students to find answers themselves. The idea is to get people to think more, not just use the large language model to answer questions or solve homework problems. No word yet on when it will be generally released or how it might be priced.

Bluesky has been slowly adding features. One that has been missing until now, that was available on old Twitter and other sites was the ability to turn on notifications for specific accounts. Now, with Activity Notifications, that feature is live. Theverge.com notes that you can simply hit the bell icon on a page you want to get notifications from, and away you go. It works with news sites if that’s your thing, or you can use it to be notified of friends’ posts, too. Another addition is that you can set Bluesky to notify people if someone likes or reposts something they have posted. 

Researchers at the University of Washington and Microsoft Research have used machine learning to develop a novel solution for trapping carbon in concrete by blending a sustainable, easy-to-grow green seaweed into the industrial batter that makes concrete, all without reducing its strength. Geekwire.com reports that the process lowers the cement’s global warming impact by 21%. Concrete in and of itself isn’t an issue, but the making of it produces some 8-11% of global carbon emissions. Scientists have been trying to curb its carbon footprint by using clean energy to generate the heat needed to produce it, and by swapping different ingredients. The product here uses dehydrated seaweed to make a high performing, lower carbon concrete. As a friend who was in that business often reminded me, cement is an ingredient of concrete…although lots of us who are laypersons tend to use the terms interchangeably. 

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

Galaxy Z Flip 7-NO Display Crease; Redesigned iPhone 17 Models Get Revamped Dynamic Island; TikTok Ban May End Soon-New App & Sale; Prime Day(s) Start Tomorrow

Posted: July 7, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In just a couple days, Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7. We will cover the Samsung Unpacked then, but for now, here is a little nugget from a tester who got early access. Bgr.com reports that a hands-on video shows the edge to edge, corner to corner outside display, which is cool. Beyond that, it looks like there is NO visible crease on the inner screen. That is a huge deal. We know that Apple is planning a folder next year, and may use Samsung Display. This would allow Samsung to premiere the crease-free screen a year ahead of any Apple device. We’ll have more on Wednesday. 

the iPhone 17 models are getting a revamped Dynamic Island. This according to macrumors.com, which found information on an account on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The account has leaked accurate info about Apple devices in the past. The missing detail is that we don’t know if the Island will be smaller or not. That was rumored previously, but may not make it until the iPhone 18 models next year. This one does feature some kind of change in the user interface. I would be happy if they made it work with two items better. Often, I am using it for the timer as I work out, and would like to be able to touch it to open and read a text, then have it go back to just the timer when I’m finished. 

A sale of TikTok in the US FINALLY may be near. Theverge.com notes that the Trump administration believes it is close to a sale to a group of ‘non-Chinese’ investors, including Oracle…with present owner ByteDance keeping a minority stake. That would satisfy the terms of the  Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Apparently, TikTok is working on a new version of the app, called M2 for now, which may drop in app stores around September 5th. The original app will leave app stores with the launch of the new one, and will stop working in March 2026. 

Yes, it’s tomorrow…that event you’ve all been waiting for…Amazon Prime Day 2025. Remember when Prime Day was an actual day…then it became a day and a half? Now, they really ought to brand it Prime Week, with it lasting 4 days.  Zdnet.com reports that in addition to the early offers already up, there is also a reboot of Prime for Young Adults…a discounted membership for those 18-24. Amazon is touting its AI shopping assistant Rufus (who names these things?) as a help in finding deals on things you are likely to purchase. A note-Amazon has said it will not introduce listed tariff prices next to products for sale. This had been looked at, but after blowback from the White House, it was dropped. 

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

Apple May Use Claude or ChatGPT to Bulk Up Siri; Moderna-mRNA Flu Vaccine Beats Standard Shot; Threads Finally Gets DMs; Senate Deletes Ban on State AI Regulations

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

It is an open secret that Apple’s Apple Intellegence-powered Siri is way behind other AI large language models. It’s already been delayed substantially, and now bgr.com reports that Apple has been talking to both Anthropic…maker of Claude, and to OpenAI, the ChatGPT folks. Apparently they have tested the models out, and Claude actually works best right now to power Siri. That said, Anthropic is asking for a multi-billion dollar yearly fee that increases every year. This demand for such a princely price has Apple also talking to OpenAI…which can already be used with Siri…albeit after going through extra steps of approving using it, and having some data leave Apple’s Private Cloud Servers. It will probably help Apple’s cause if they get a deal with one of them in place before September, so they can tout the more muscular Siri on the new iPhones coming out then. 

Moderna has announced that their mRNA-based seasonal flu vaccine is 27% more effective at preventing flu infections than a standard shot. According to arstechnica.com, the vaccine was trialed on a group that included 41,000 people age 50 and above. The only fly in the ointment…or in this case, worm in the brain….is Bobby Kennedy, Jr. He had previously announced that “all new vaccines” would be required to go through placebo-controlled trials. That means that participants in a trial who are not given the experimental vaccine must be given an inert placebo rather than an already-approved vaccine as a comparative group, as was the case in the new trial with mRNA-1010. The known anti-vaxxer now in charge of Health and Human Services seems intent on blocking all the vaccines so…as one meme said, people can die like serfs from the Middle Ages. 

Threads has finally launched direct messaging for everyone on the platform. Theverge.com notes that as of now, you can just DM between your followers or mutual followers on Instagram for now. You need to be 18 or over to use this feature. To send a DM, click the envelope icon at the bottom of the app’s screen. That takes you to the inbox, where you tap the pencil icon and can start writing. Moving forward, Threads plans to roll out the ability to choose who can send you messages, including people who don’t follow you on Threads and Instagram. You’ll also be able to review a folder dedicated to message requests, similar to what’s offered on X. Threads is working on a group messaging feature and inbox filters, too. A big warning…Threads will not support end-to-end encryption. If that puts you off, head over to Facebook Messenger, which has end-to-end. 

Well, the Big Beautiful Bill…or Big Ugly Bill, depending on your politics…is out of the Senate and back to the House. Techcrunch.com reports that Senators did cut out the so-called ‘AI Moratorium.’ That was a clause that would have banned states from regulating Artificial Intelligence for 10 years. In an actual bi-partisan move, the Senate voted overwhelmingly…99 to1… to let states regulate AI. Most of the big tech firms supported the ban, claiming that without it, states could create what they called an unworkable patchwork of regulation that could stifle innovation. Most Senators agreed that a ban on state regs would allow powerful AI companies to operate with very little oversight. 

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

Senators Call for Investigation of Spotify Pricy New Bundle; Some Tesla Robotaxis Hit Austin Streets; Foldable iPhone in Production by Fall; Samsung Looks at Monthly Fee for Galaxy AI on Phones

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

Two Senators, one a Democrat, the other a Republican, have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Spotify over allegations that the company bundled its music streaming and audiobook services into a more expensive subscription without obtaining user consent, while also reducing royalty payments to creators in the process. Techcrunch.com reports that the Senators are Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee from the GOP and Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico. The two senators noted that existing U.S. regulations permit digital music providers to pay a reduced music royalty rate if the subscription is bundled with other legitimate offerings. In a statement, they said “Spotify’s intent seems clear — to slash the statutory royalties it pays to songwriters and music publishers. Not only has this harmed our creative community, but this action has also harmed consumers.” A spotify spokesperson said the users were notified a month in advance of the price increase. 

Although Elon Musk had bragged that there would be a million Tesla robotaxis on the roads by now, a much, much more modest launch has taken place in Austin, Texas. According to cnbc.com, the autonomous vehicles hit the streets Sunday. So far, there are only about 10 of them, and they are NOT the 2-passenger ones with no steering wheel or pedals Musk showed off. The vehicles are Model Y Teslas…and they have a safety driver for now. No serious mishaps yesterday, although one was filmed going the wrong way down a road in Austin. Tesla has a lot of catching up to up to do…Alphabet’s Waymo has now gotten to  more than a quarter million commercial driverless rides per week, and surpassed 10 million trips last month!

They are late to the game, but that has worked out for Apple before…think of the iPod, and how it took over the portable music world, then of course, the iPhone itself. Now, Cupertino is poised to start building their folding iPhone…after Samsung has cranked out 6 different yearly models of its folding phones, and will release the 7th generation next month. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple will actually launch the device in the fall of 2026 as one of the iPhone 18 models. Ironically, the display will be produced by Samsung Display. details aren’t final, but it appears it have an outside display of 5.5 inches, and inner one of 7.8 inches when open. It will be the book-type like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, rather than the flip style. Kuo estimates it to run $2000-$2500. My bet is that it will come in at $2400! 

Samsung has had its Galaxy AI suite of features on the S24 phones now for almost a year and a half. Now, they are talking about a subscription model for at least some AI features. Bgr.com reports that a price could be unveiled when they launch the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 next month. No charges would go into effect until the end of 2025, as promised by Samsung. The real key? Will enough users find Galaxy AI valuable enough to them to pay for it? It has been noted that Galaxy AI does do more than Apple Intelligence on iPhones, and we all know companies have been spending billions on building out AI. The figure isn’t known, but Samsung is apparently paying Google a ton of money to run Gemini on their Galaxy phones. In the case of Apple and Google, they have their own AI models and servers. 

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

WhatsApp Getting Ads; iOS Tweak Eases Use of One Time Codes; Trump Planning to Sell a Phone; Another EU Government Moves to Linux

Posted: June 16, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It has been rumored, and it’s coming. Meta has announced it will now serve ads from business in WhatsApp in its Stories-like status feature. According to theverge.com, you may start seeing ads along with the shared disappearing text, photo, voice notes, or video messages shared by friends or family members in this portion of the Updates tab. Meta says it will tailor the ads to your interests by using “limited” information, including your country or city, language, the channels you follow, and how you interact with ads on the platform. Meta says it will never see or share your phone number to advertisers. Also it won’t use your messages, calls, or groups to ‘inform’ its ads. Oh, I fell a lot better knowing that…

In all the announcements at WWDC last week, here’s a little one for iOS 26 that may make a lot of people’s use of websites easier on their iPhones. Bgr.com reports that for several years, iPhone and Mac users have had a feature that sees the two factor identification one-time password code which is sent to you by email or text, and it will appear in a bubble on the website. You can just click it and it fills in, and you are into the secure website. Now, with a tweak of iOS 26, that Security Code Autofill feature will not be limited to Apple Messages or email. If you get codes over WhatsApp or a third party mail app, the system will find it and suggest it without your needing to leave Safari or whatever app you are using. Apple will even show you where the OTP is coming from for extra security. 

In an interesting move, Donald Trump, Jr has announced the launch of a cellular brand…Trump Mobile. Engadget.com notes that they will sell a single wireless plan called ‘The 47 Plan,’ which offers unlimited talk and texting, as well as unlimited data that throttles speeds after the first 20GB each month. The Trump Mobile plan is a white-label plan built on an existing mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) called Liberty Mobile. The company also plans to sell “The T1 Phone,” a gold-accented smartphone that it says will be manufactured in the United States. The last part…a phone selling for $499 made in the US is something of a pipe dream. People who study the cost breakdown of phones like iFixit calculate that and iPhone costs Apple $500 to $800 to make…depending on the model….and that’s with cheap Asian labor and the distribution system all close by there. It has been estimated that a US made iPhone would cost some $1500 to build…so take the $499 golden Trumphone with a large grain of salt. 

A German state, Schleswig-Holstein, will ditch all Microsoft software and move to Linux and open source programs over the next 90 days. Zdnet.com says this is part of growing European resistance to reliance on US tech giants. Danish officials have also announced they are dropping Microsoft. The German state’s Digitalization Minister said “The geopolitical developments of the past few months have strengthened interest in the path that we’ve taken. The war in Ukraine revealed our energy dependencies, and now we see there are also digital dependencies.” Bavaria has also gotten away from Microsoft, but has returned partially. The French Police have also dropped Microsoft. 

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

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