SpaceX Acquires xAI; French Cops Raid X Office in Paris; Amazon “just Walk Out’ Tech Will Survive; Firefox Will Have AI Off Switch

Posted: February 3, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

xAI has officially been acquired by SpaceX. Both companies are owned by Elon Musk. Techcrunch.com reports that at least on paper, this creates the world’s most valuable private company. xAI and X…formerly Twitter…have been bleeding cash. It is thought that Musk will eventually try to merge this new private company into Tesla. More immediately, Musk wants to create data centers in space, and launch a stunning number of satellites into space. As for revenue, xAI has been burning through a billion a month, and presently, SpaceX generates up to 80% of its revenue from launching its own Starlink satellites. 

X and its Grok AI chatbot are the bad boys of online platforms, having become a swamp of deepfake nudes and explicit images of minors. Now, benzinga.com notes that French police have raided the Paris offices of X. This is part of the ongoing criminal investigation into whether Grok was used to generate and distribute illegal content, including explicit deepfakes and Holocaust denial. The investigation into Grok AI began last month due to a rise in explicit deepfakes, including those involving children. Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino have been summoned for “voluntary interviews” scheduled for April 20. As reported by the outlet, X has not yet released a statement regarding the raid.

We reported last week that Amazon is shuttering all its grocery stores except for Whole Foods. They had some pretty cool tech, including the ‘Just Walk Out’ feature…no check stands. According to geekwire.com, the ‘Just Walk Out’ tech will survive the closures…minus the palm-scanning. Independent stores that have used Just Walk Out will now need to use a card or tap a phone to pay instead of scanning their hand. Amazon has licensed the Just Walk Out tech to some 360 locations in 5 countries. The palm scanning had been dinged by many as being too intrusive. We use biometrics on our own phones…which allegedly stays in a secure enclave on the phone…but palm scanning in various stores seemed creepy to many. 

What day would be complete without some new story about AI, the golden tech topic of the moment? Well, if you aren’t crazy about AI, or just feel…as I do…that it is not ready for prime time yet, but is being shoved at us by companies who have invested wild amounts of money into it…one organization is giving you an out. Mashable.com reports that Mozilla’s Firefox browser will be launching an AI off switch! If you have been bugged by AI ‘enhancements,’ or even actually bugged by the likes of Chrome with a pop-up imploring your to take advantage of AI in some task you don’t need any help with, this will be a real plus. In a post, Mozilla says that the AI controls will give Firefox users the ability to “block current and future generative AI features.” Starting Feb. 24, users will be able to toggle a setting called “Block AI enhancements.” Mozilla has a video out showing how the AI controls work. The Cliff’s Notes version is that you can control the AI settings for: translations, alt text in pdf’s, AI enhanced tab grouping, link previews, AI chatbot in the sidebar, and more. AI hallucination free browsing…what a concept! 

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

Samsung Galaxy Trifold-Out This Week; Google-Go From AI Overviews Right to AI Mode; Amazon Closing All Fresh & Go Stores; AI Hitting UK Jobs More Than Jobs in Other Major Countries

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

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Trifold goes on sale the end of this week, January 30th. Engadget.com reports that the price, expected to be $2000-$2500 has blown right past that…it will cost a rather astounding $2900! It is thicker, but gives you basically a tablet sized screen when fully opened…so the thought is, you will only need one device, and that allegedly takes some of the sting out of the high price. If mass production can bring the price down, and the screen creases have really been eliminated, this could be pretty cool in the future. By the way, like Henry Ford’s famous Model T, you can have any color you want, as long as it’s black. The Z Trifold has 512 gigs of storage. 

Google is bowing a new feature that will allow users to ask follow up questions directly from the AI overviews that now top all searches. According to techcrunch.com, users will be able to jump into a conversational back-and-forth with AI Mode. Google also announced that it is making Gemini 3 the new default model for AI overviews globally. Google says its testing shows that users prefer an experience that flows naturally into a conversation and that asking follow-up questions while preserving context from AI Overviews makes Search more helpful. 

Amazon is closing all its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, which amounts to 72 stores nationwide. Geekwire.com says that the online giant will focus on its Whole Foods Market stores and grocery delivery from amazon.com. The Go and Fresh stores have been something of a 10 year long experiment, with the draw of ‘just walk out,’ avoiding check stands and the wait. The Go and Fresh stores will close after February 1st. Some Fresh stores will ultimately reopen as Whole Foods locations. Amazon says it will likely come up with new retail experiments in the future. The company has reported that it is now one of the top 3 grocers in the US, which over $150 billion in sales and 150 million customers shopping for groceries per year. 

Some new research shows that AI is causing more job losses in the United Kingdom than in other major countries. Theguardian.com reports that the study was commissioned by investment bank Morgan Stanley. It shows that net job losses in the UK the last 12 months were minus 8%…and that British businesses reported an average 11.5% increase in productivity. The US businesses reported similar productivity, but actually had an increase in job creation. The jobs most likely to be cut were early career jobs…Gen Z workers are most concerned for their jobs, while end of career baby boomers seemed less concerned…and appear to be in safer positions due to knowledge and experience. The AI related job reductions have hit white collar jobs most…finance and creative industries, and professional services like law, accounting, consulting, and marketing. 

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.

Apple-5 All New Products Coming; Musk Aiming to Take SpaceX Public; YouTube Working to Curb ‘AI Slop’; OpenAI Will Ship 1st Hardware in 2026

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

It’s unusual for Apple to release more than one new product in a year, but this year will be a banner one for Cupertino. The Apple folks are reportedly going to bow 5 all-new products this year. Macrumors.com reports that most of these have been rumored for some time. At any rate, they include a smart home hub with screen (honestly, mockups look like a HomePod with an iPad attached), a FaceID doorbell, a cheaper MacBook with an A18 chip borrowed from the iPhone line, a folding iPhone, and…this one seems like the fabled ‘one more thing’ of the Jobs era…augmented reality glasses. While the latter may not make it out until 2027, Apple will likely show them off this year. It’s expected they will be similar to Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses…and like the latest of those, they will have in-lens display. 

We just reported that Anthropic, makers of Claude, plans an IPO this year. Now, Elon Musk has flipped, and will try to do an IPO of SpaceX this year, with the specific intent to beat Anthropic’s public offering, and also Google, which wants to build space based data centers. According to engadget.com, this rush has to do with Musk wanting to build AI data centers in space. Google recently announced it was looking into putting a data center in space, with test launches scheduled for 2027. Musk reportedly wants to beat his rival to the punch, but SpaceX would need the billions of dollars in capital that an IPO would deliver. Putting a giant center in space isn’t cheap. Musk wants to complete the IPO by July. 

Right now, over a million YouTube channels are using AI tools daily. Now, variety.com says that YouTube’s chief Neal Mohan has announced that the platform is taking steps to minimize the spread of low-quality AI content — aka “AI slop.” Mohan did note that later this year, “you’ll be able to create a Short using your own likeness,” as well as produce games with a text prompt and experiment with music. The YouTube chief continued, writing  “Throughout this evolution, AI will remain a tool for expression, not a replacement.” 

OpenAi is apparently getting set to ship their first product this year, and it will likely be ear buds. You may recall that we reported earlier that OpenAI had acquired Jony Ive’s startup io. Well now, techcrunch.com reports that the hardware may ship in the last half of this year. We do know that the device won’t have a screen and will be pocket sized. For now, the gadget is code-named ‘Sweet Pea.’ It is expected the design will be quite unique compared to most existing ear buds. They will run on a custom 2 nanometer processor and handle AI tasks locally instead of sending requests to the cloud. OpenAI has talked to both China’s Luxshare, and also to Taiwan’s Foxconn. They plan to ship 40-50 million units of the gadget.

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

Post AI World- Rant Clark Reid Tech Report Commentary

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

A subscriber commented that I do a lot about AI and much is— or seems repetitive. I replied to him…’no kidding’  I have touched on this here, but will elaborate a bit more now. My son in IT and I have had many conversations about AI. Both of us think it is an enormously hyped bubble. 

I have read a number of other folks who report on AI who think the same. There is a serious dot com bubble vibe to all this. Billions…maybe into the trillions…have been pumped into generative AI, and so far the returns have been puny. This may be the year…or maybe next year…that the big money people decide to pull the plug. We just reported a few days ago how some large PC makers are really disappointed about sales of AI capable PCs. The public just doesn’t see all that much value in it.

Can it be useful? Certainly. I have a granddaughter that is halfway through engineering school who uses it. She built a resume with ChatGPT, then had it do mock interviews with her. She got a good summer internship that will probably lead to a good job when she graduates. Her Mom uses it in her work a bit, but it’s just a tool that can do some things more quickly so far. Those are good uses, indeed. Some lawyers are finding it useful in drafting pleadings quickly. Most use Anthropic’s Claude. A few early on found out the hard way that the generative AI sometimes makes up cases or statutes, so even if it drafts a petition or response in 2 to 5 minutes…you will need to spend an hour or two double-checking the citations. It still saves a ton of time in this case. Now, Lexis has introduced an AI product for attorneys…I just got a snipe ad from them.

Super intelligence? One of the creators of Large Language Models left OpenAI to start his own startup. He has been joined by Jeff Bezos as Co-CEO. We reported on this here recently. He said upon leaving that generative AI is a dead end and he is going to try to figure out another way to get to super intelligence. The head of Meta’s AI has just left, too…and he also said AI isn’t going to become super intelligent and is a dead end. 

So the net is, in my view, generative AI will be a good tool and can be a time saver for people…but as for it being embedded in robots that will displace millions of jobs…nope. It isn’t going to have that capability, no matter how much Big Tech tries to will it to do so. Perhaps the next big thing will do those things…time will tell. Meanwhile, citizens, workers, bosses, and politicians had better be figuring out a way to pay a good living to all the people in the country after the next big thing and robotics displace much of the workforce. The folks in power love having more money and power, and are fine with regular people having next to nothing…BUT…a number of them understand that they don’t want to be on the receiving end of modern day mobs with pitchforks and torches coming for them. The time is now to figure out how to make this work. Even Elon Musk…who is no genius, except at buying up companies that are going somewhere and convincing the masses that he is a rocket scientist…when actually he just employs them…understands that people can’t just be displaced. He has said that in the future, no one will have to worry about money to live on…but has offered no specifics. Again…time to get thinking about this, billionaires and politicians.

I’m Clark Reid, and you aren’t ‘Technified’ now, but perhaps stimulated to ponder our post AI and robotic inhabited world. 

Gemini Personal Intelligence for Email & Photos; YouTube Bows Way for Parents to Block Kids from Shorts; Amazon Testing Superstore; Tesla Self-Driving Switches to Subscription

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

Big Tech’s AI continues to push into all aspects of our computer lives, and now Google’s new Personal Intelligence will scan your email, photos, and apps to gain context for answers…IF you let it. Zdnet.com reports that the Personal Intelligence system is off by default. Personal Intelligence is new branding, but Google’s Gemini 3 is the core of it all. If you switch it on, it will pull details from your email and photos that could be useful in answering a question. Apple Intelligence does much the same…and IT will now have Gemini to help it to bulk up and do better at answering questions. 

YouTube is adding to parental controls. Now, Moms and Dads will be able to block kids from watching Shorts, or just limit the amount of time. According to TechCrunch.com, parents will also have the capability to set custom Bedtime and Take a Break reminders for their kids. In addition, since is can be a hassle to switch from your adult account to the kid account, YouTube says it will update the sign-up experience within the app to make it easier for parents and kids to toggle between their accounts with just a few taps… of course, that requires the parent or child to actually remember to make the switch.

Amazon has experimented with small stores and heavy automation, including just walk out pay systems that allow a person to pick up the goods and go…with their card being charged as they leave. Now, Amazon is going for Walmart, with a planned superstore in the Chicago area…it’s 229,000 square feet. Geekwire.com notes that Amazon says the store will offer fresh groceries, household essentials, and general merchandise, making it convenient for customers to shop a broad selection of items in one trip. That very much sounds like a Walmart super store or a Costco. Even with all the online shoppers Amazon has, data indicates that some 93% of their online customers still shop at a physical Walmart. 

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving option is no more as a purchase. Elon Musk announced on X that from now on, it will strictly be subscription beginning February 14th. Engadget.com reports that no pricing was announced…although up to now the subscription has been $99 a month or $999 a year. The shift could be advantageous for buyers, particularly if they decide to dump their new Tesla or trade it in. It will also allow prospective owners to hedge their bets, as Tesla has overpromised on the feature since it was first announced. Even the name is hype…it has never been, and isn’t now really ‘full self-driving.’

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

Google Gemini Will Power Apple’s Siri; Amazon-97% of Its Devices Run Alexa+; Anthropic Bows Version of Coding AI for Regular People; Meta will Cut 10% of Reality Labs

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

We have reported on this for months…Apple has been shopping around, but mainly talking to Google…as they plan to drop ChatGPT which hasn’t worked well to beef up the ailing Siri. Now, it’s official…Macrumors.com reports that Cupertino has signed a multi-year deal with Google which will have Gemini help power a more personalized version of Siri, and also support a range of Apple Intelligence features that are in the pipeline. Note that everything will still run on Apple’s Private Cloud servers or your local device, so you won’t have more of your info basically uploaded to the world. The upgraded Siri should be out in March or April…about a year later than Apple originally promised. I don’t have high expectations about a more personalized Siri…I’d just like it to actually work decently…with any luck, adding some Google AI brainpower will make Siri at least somewhat competent.

Backwards compatibility is a beautiful thing…it’s a big pain …to say nothing of expense…when tech companies put out something and it won’t run on any of your gear. According to techcrunch.com, Amazon says its Alexa+ AI platform will run on 97% of the devices they have ever shipped. That is a lot of devices…about 600 million! Alexa+ offers more expressive voices, access to world knowledge similar to other AI assistants, and AI agents that perform tasks on behalf of the customer — like calling an Uber or ordering food. The company has been steadily rolling out access to the AI platform, with more than 1 million Alexa customers gaining access by last June, and now, “tens of millions” can opt in to upgrade to the AI assistant. Amazon hasn’t given an exact timeline for when it will be open to everyone…right now they are focused on making it available to all Prime members. 

Here’s a concept…a coding AI made for ‘regular people.’ That’s what Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI says they are putting out. Engadget.com says Anthropic is calling the feature Claude Cowork, and they claim it is “a simpler way for anyone — not just developers — to work with Claude.” After you give the system access to a folder on your computer, it can read, edit or create new files in that folder on your behalf. As examples of what it might do for you, they say you could ask Claude to organize your downloads folder, telling it to rename the files contained within to something that’s easier to parse at a glance. Another example: you could use Claude to turn screenshots of receipts and invoices into a spreadsheet for tracking expenses. Cowork can also navigate websites — provided you install Claude’s Chrome plugin. Anthropic touts the fact that “Cowork is designed to make using Claude for new work as simple as possible. You don’t need to keep manually providing context or converting Claude’s outputs into the right format,” the company said. “Nor do you have to wait for Claude to finish before offering further ideas or feedback: you can queue up tasks and let Claude work through them in parallel.” 

Meta is going to whack its Reality Labs division, cutting about 10% of the some 15,000 staffers there. Geekwire.com notes that this is the division that Mark Zuckerberg dumped a fortune into in creating the Metaverse…a virtual, imaginary space where your avatar could live and work. That has been a big dud, but the Reality Labs folks do also work with the VR headsets, so there could be some effects felt there by the layoffs. Meta employs about 78,000 worldwide. 

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

UK Regulator Investigating X and Grok; AI PC’s Aren’t Selling; Google Pulls AI Overviews from Some Medical Questions; Walmart Expands Drone Deliveries

Posted: January 12, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

British regulator Ofcom has opened an investigation into X under the Online Safety Act. Engadget.com reports that this stems from the Grok AI chatbot on X being used to create and share undressed or skimpily dressed images of people…including sexualized images of children that it says may amount to child sexual abuse material. A couple of Asian countries including Malaysia have already banned Grok for the same reasons. If Ofcom deems that a company has broken the law, it can “require platforms to take specific steps to come into compliance or to remedy harm caused by the breach.” The regulator can additionally impose fines of up to £18 million ($24.3 million) or 10 percent of “qualifying” worldwide revenue, whichever of the two figures is higher. It can also seek a court order to stop payment providers or advertisers from working with a platform, or to require internet service providers to block a site in the UK. The UK government has said it would back any action that Ofcom takes against X.

A lot of us have played a bit with generative AI, and it is actually useful for some things. The problem is, the big tech firms behind AI are pretty determined to get us to use it for all sorts of things…things that we may be unwilling to use it for, or for which the learning curve is too high…or it’s too much of a pain to clean up after the wrong answers it gives out sometimes. Microsoft is in the thick of trying to get users to upgrade hardware in order to us their Copilot…which they are now touting as an AI-powered ‘agentic OS’ living within Windows 11. According to zdnet.com, Dell Vice Chairman Jeff Clarke spoke at CES and noted that the company had “an expectation of AI driving end-user demand, but it hasn’t quite been what we thought it was going to be a year ago.” Customers just aren’t seeing the value of AI PCs, and aren’t upgrading…some…particularly gamers…are not just refusing to upgrade from Windows 10 to the more intrusive Windows 11, but are ditching Microsoft all together for Linux. The agentic AI OS in computers may just not be quite ready for prime time yet. 

Google has pulled the AI overviews from some medical questions. Techcrunch.com says that after an investigation by The Guardian  which found that Google AI Overviews offered misleading information to certain health-related queries, the overviews disappeared. One of note was when users asked “what is the normal range for liver blood tests,” they would be presented with numbers that did not account for factors such as nationality, sex, ethnicity, or age, potentially leading them to think their results were healthy when they were not. After investigators tried several other queries, the AI Overviews were also gone. As has been noted before, it’s best not to just consult ‘Doctor Google,’ but to check with your actual physician when you are concerned about medical issues.

Walmart is adding to its on-demand drone delivery service. An added 150 stores will be making drone deliveries available, bringing the total to 270 locations…that Walmart says cover about 10% of the US population. Mashable.com notes that the drones come from Wing, which is a division of Google’s parent Alphabet. Walmart says it has completed over 150,000 successful drone deliveries since they started offering the service. 

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

Samsung-Google Gemini AI to 800 Mil. Galaxys; Alexa Plus Website Now Open to All; Kodiak Incorporates Bosch Tech for Self-Driving Semi-Trucks; Anker Smart Lock Uses Face ID

Posted: January 5, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

A big announcement from Samsung Co-CEO TM Roh at CES…and not about a specific device. Androidheadlines.com reports that the CEO says the company will double the number of Gemini-powered mobile devices it makes this year, bringing the total to 800 million. Samsung is adding these features to TVs and home appliances as well. The “Galaxy AI” brand is known by 80% of consumers. But there is a global memory chip shortage that could cause prices for smartphones and other electronics to go up in 2026. With the majority of Samsung smartphones featuring Google’s Galaxy AI, and with Apple now going with Google as well, that means about 80% of smartphones will be running Google’s Galaxy AI. This should send shock waves through the halls of OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, Anthropic…maker of Claude, and at Microsoft too. I will go out on a limb and say I won’t be surprised if an antitrust suit gets filed by Google’s competitors over this. Apple can point out that they have used ChatGPT and find Google to be better…will that fly? We won’t know for a while…but if a suit is filed, I called it.

A few users have already gotten Alexa Plus, but now it is officially available to anyone under an early access program. According to theverge.com, you can sign up at alexa.com and start using the new web interface for Amazon’s new AI chatbot. The Plus is baked in on all new Echo devices and as an update to older ones. As with a number of AI tasks, it is still much easier and faster to use a keyboard and mouse or trackpad to the task than trying to get the chatbot to do it via voice commands. Here’s a cool feature though. You can upload documents, email, and images to the Alexa Plus website, and the AI will pull out important info for you. It can automatically add appointments to your calendar, or spit out your kids’ activity schedules or grocery lists. 

Self-driving truck company Kodiak AI is partnering with Bosch on a system of hardware and software that can be fitted to standard big rigs and give them autonomous driving capabilities. TechCrunch.com notes that Kodiak has already developed and designed a self-driving system with redundant systems for braking, steering, sensors, and computers. In January 2025, Kodiak’s self-driving trucks began making driverless deliveries for Atlas Energy Solutions in the oil-rich Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico. So far, Kodiak has delivered 8 self-driving trucks out of an order of 100 to Atlas. The Bosch deal is intended to turn semi trucks — regardless of manufacturer — into driverless ones. Bosch will supply Kodiak with a variety of hardware components, including sensors and vehicle actuation components such as steering technologies. 

A flood of new items and announcements flowing out from the CES…Consumer Electronics Show this week. Macrumors.com reports that Anker has dropped a number of new products under its Eufy and Soundcore brands. One of interest is a $300 Matter-enabled smart lock…the E40. Now, there are plenty of smart locks, and some that use your fingerprint or your nearby smartphone to unlock your door. This one integrates with Apple Home, and uses a cam for a face scan using Apple’s Face ID. The cam also doubles as a security camera, and has night vision and wide-angle coverage. I haven’t upgraded my smart lock in years, but this one is tempting.

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

Google’s Gemini 3 Flash-Pro Level Performance; Amazon in Talks to Pump $10 Billion into OpenAI; Trump Administration Wants to Break Up Climate Research Center; Bluesky Bows Privacy-Focused ‘Find Friends’ Feature

Posted: December 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Google has rolled out Gemini 3 Flash for consumers and developers. 9to5google.com reports that Google says this brings pro level performance with it. They are also claiming it will bring “frontier intelligence built for speed at a fraction of the cost.”  Google says that Gemini 3 Flash surpasses 2.5 across the board, and 3 Flash is comparable to 3 Pro, even beating it in some areas. Gemini 3 Flash will be available in the model picker as two options: “Fast” for quick answers and “Thinking” for complex problems. Gemini 3 Pro will appear as “Pro” for advanced math and code prompts. 

As tech giants continue to pump unimaginable amounts of cash into artificial intelligence. Now, Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion in OpenAI and supply its Trainium chips. According to engadget.com, this deal would push OpenAI’s valuation over $500 billion but is likely to raise more questions about the company’s circular investment agreements involving chips and data centers. The new deal would require OpenAI to use Amazon’s Trainium AI chips and rent more data center capacity from Amazon Web Services (AWS). That’s on top of the $38 billion that OpenAI has already committed to renting servers from AWS over the next seven years. As has been reported widely…and caused a lot of concern…OpenAI has thus far lost more money than it makes.

The Trump administration’s head of the Office of Management and Budget…and key author of Project 2025…Russell Vought…has moved to break up a major climate research center. Arstechnica.com says it’s the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This is what has been termed a crippling blow to climate research in the US and is being widely decried by scientists.Vought has called it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” He apparently isn’t intelligent enough about climate change to understand that we are at or near a hair on fire stage of climate change. Vought wants to further target what were termed “green new scam research activities.” It is rather amazing and terrifying that one person or a small group of people may be able to bring about the end of humanity…although they will comfortably not live long enough to see that spiral really gain speed. Good luck, humans.

Bluesky has rolled out a friend-finding feature that they say respects privacy. TechCrunch.com notes that there is a rub people may not care for: to use the feature, the app matches you with friends from your saved contacts in your phone’s address book…but only if both people have opted in. “Contact import has always been the most effective way to find people you know on a social app, but it’s also been poorly implemented or abused by platforms,” the company explained in its announcement. “Even with encryption, phone numbers have been leaked or brute-forced, sold to spammers, or used by platforms for dubious purposes. We weren’t willing to accept that risk, so we developed a fundamentally more secure approach that protects your data.” That’s great. I love Bluesky, and trust them more than other platforms…but I never have and don’t intend to willingly upload my contacts list! If you want to…have at it!

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

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