Apple-Working on More iPhone Satellite Features; Spyware ‘Landfall’ Was on Samsung Phones for a Year; AI Isn’t Replacing Jobs-AI Spending Is; Lawyers- Not Checking AI Writing Means Bad Legal Briefs

Posted: November 10, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Satellite features have been pretty limited on phones to now. Apple’s iPhones have really only been able to send a call for emergency help or send messages via satellite when a cellular connection is unavailable….like at the beach, or hiking in the woods. Now, engadget.com reports that Mark Gurman says Apple is planning on adding to their satellite feature offerings. Personally, I’m betting this is ahead of making satellite connection a paid monthly charge, adding to Apple’s quiver of monthly charges that give them a nice cash flow! Right now, you can send and receive texts via the Messages app over satellite when you are out in the boonies. Now Apple is looking to let you send photos, too. They are also aiming to enable 5G NTN support. That allows cell towers to get a coverage boost by tapping into satellites. For anyone who needs directions in a remote area without a cellular or Wi-Fi connection, Apple reportedly has plans to introduce satellite connectivity to Apple Maps. Boy, I could have used that a few times! In a really cool possible upgrade, Apple is working on ‘natural usage.’ That would mean you won’t have to hold the phone up and point it towards a spot in the sky to connect to a satellite. They are working to make it possible to stay connected even without a clear view of the sky or indoors. All this could be a couple years away…and some features no doubt will be needing the latest greatest iPhone hardware. As a friend of mine frequently says, ‘That’s how they getcha!’ 

It has reportedly been patched as of last April, but for over a year, a very sophisticated spyware called ‘Landfall’ was making the rounds on Samsung Galaxy phones. According to arstechnica.com, it was one of those nasty ‘zero-click’ hacks, which can get into your phone without your direct involvement. The spyware was picked up by Researchers at Unit 42, the intelligence arm of Palo Alto Networks. They only found it because of a couple of similar bugs found in Apple’s iOS and on WhatsApp. The hack involved images. The attackers used modified DNG files, which are a modified type of file based on the TIFF format. They imbedded ZIP archives with the bad programs in them. The hack basically gave the bad actors pretty complete access to user information on the phones. It is pretty tough to remove, too. The good news…the hack was mainly confined to Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Morocco. If you didn’t travel to those countries, you are probably fine, but these zero-click hacks are pretty scary. 

Lately, there has been a pretty substantial number of layoffs across industry. A good deal of them have been blamed…at least partially, on AI. As it turns out, that isn’t exactly accurate. AI itself isn’t replacing jobs, so much as spending on AI. Fastcompany.com notes that an MIT Media Lab study has found that 95% of generative AI pilot business projects were failing. Another survey by Atlassian concluded that 96% of businesses “have not seen dramatic improvements in organizational efficiency, innovation, or work quality.” Still another study found that 40% of the business people surveyed have received “AI slop” at work in the last month and that it takes nearly two hours, on average, to fix each instance of slop. In addition, they “no longer trust their AI-enabled peers, find them less creative, and find them less intelligent or capable.” What IS sucking up money that had been going to salaries is the massive amount of money being poured into spending on AI infrastructure. Just Amazon…which chopped some 14,000 last month with another 14,000 jobs to go in January…has increased capital spending from $54 billion in 2023 to $118 billion in 2025! Meta is working to lock up at $27 billion credit line to build data centers. Oracle will borrow $25 billion a year the next few years to cover its AI contracts. Financial stress…especially in the tech sector makes the C Suite folks look for some easy cuts…it’s always headcount…the employees that take it in the tail. 

A bit more AI-related news. Attorneys have been using AI to more quickly turn out legal briefs, and the stories continue to come out about those who aren’t double checking the work of the AI bots, and ending up with the likes of fake case citations. Gizomdo.com reports that more courts are levying fines or the like. Now, some lawyers have started a tracking system to compile information on cases involving AI misuse. A French attorney is presently in the forefront of this with a website…Damien Charlotin has listed some 509 cases so far. At this point, sadly, no bar association has meted out any punishment for the sloppy briefs, only some courts.

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

Softbank, Others Drop on AI Jitters; Tesla Euro and Chinese Sales Tank; Cloud Streaming Here for Playstation Portal; Google Maps Gets Gemini-You Can Chat Conversationally

Posted: November 5, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Japan’s Softbank shares were down 10% on Wednesday, which was a loss of $23 billion in market capitalization. Cnbc.com reports most of the drop was due to investor worry about what most observers are calling the AI bubble. Billions have been pumped into AI, but at this point, no one is making any kind of real money from it. Softbank has a controlling stake in ARM Holdings, which designs mobile processors and AI processors. Softbank also has money in OpenAI, and a few other AI application level startups. Other Asian stocks are also down, including Samsung Electronics, which was down 4.1% and Taiwan’s TSMC, the biggest contract chip maker on earth, was down 2.99%. The declines come after U.S. software company Palantir dropped about 8% overnight, even after topping expectations for the third quarter. Some analysts say valuations of AI companies increasingly resemble the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, with share prices soaring far ahead of credible profit expectations. Hey, my son and I have been saying this for over a year, and we aren’t even analysts!

Yet another speed bump in Elon Musk’s quest for his trillion dollar, 10 year pay package from Tesla. Just ahead of the shareholder vote tomorrow, too. According to arstechnica.com, new car registrations in Europe show Tesla sales down anywhere from 89% in Sweden to 34% in Spain. France was the outlier…Tesla sales were up 2% year over year there. In China, sales were down 9.9% in October, year over year. Anti-Musk sentiment aside, there is now a much wider selection of electric vehicles from a number of manufacturers. Tesla’s line is pretty stale, with the sales-leading Models 3 and Y barely getting a facelift…a slight change in the rear, and light bar in the front like the Cyber Truck. Over the weekend, Musk teased on a major podcast that a much delayed roadster was coming, and said it would have cool features like every James Bond car ever, and might even fly. It may be that HE was flying a bit on that one…heavy batteries have made electric planes a tall order, and his roadster will be no different. 

Cloud streaming is officially rolling out to Playstation Portal. There has been a beta running of it since last year. Theverge.com notes that Premium Plus members will be able to stream select titles from their own library without the need to connect to their PS5 console. The device also has a newly updated menu, with three tabs to swipe through for Remote Play from your PS5, cloud streaming, or search. Over 2,000 games are available for cloud streaming at launch. As with so much on the web, the update is a rolling one, so expect it to take a few weeks to get to everyone. 

Google is now including Gemini in Google Maps for both Android and iOS. Zdnet.com says the update is rolling out this month, and with it updated, you can use Talk to Google Maps to find your destination. You can also use Lens to learn more about your present location. You could ask if there is a steak house nearby that doesn’t require reservations, for example. With directions, instead of ‘turn right in 300 feet,’ you can hear ‘turn right after the Starbucks on the corner.’ With Lens, you can ask in a conversational manner for Maps to tell you more about a place like a restaurant…like if the food is worth a few minutes of wait time, or if it is noisy. 

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

OpenAI Cuts Training Deal With Amazon; Microsoft AI Head Says Only Biological Beings Can Be Conscious; Apple Will Upgrade Siri with Google Gemini; Neural Net Finds Enzyme That Can Break Down Polyurethane

Posted: November 3, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

OpenAI has made a deal for some $38 billion for AI training with Amazon. Theverge.com reports that Amazon Web Services that will give the AI giant access to “hundreds of thousands” of Nvidia GPUs to power its AI models. The seven-year partnership comes as Microsoft continues to loosen its grip on OpenAI, dropping its status as its exclusive cloud provider and losing the first right of refusal to host its AI workloads. In a press release, OpenAI said it will “immediately” start using AWS compute to train its AI models, with “all capacity targeted to be deployed before the end of 2026, and the ability to expand further into 2027 and beyond.”

The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, has come out and said what a lot of us have believed to be true….that only biological beings are capable of consciousness, and that developers and researchers should stop pursuing projects that suggest otherwise. According to CNBC.com, he told a conference in Houston,  “If you ask the wrong question, you end up with the wrong answer. I think it’s totally the wrong question.” Suleyman says it is particularly important to draw a clear contrast between AI getting smarter and more capable versus its ability to ever have human emotions. “Quite simply, we’re creating AIs that are always working in service of the human,” he said.

Apple has of late being using ChatGPT to answer more detailed queries that Siri gets, buy handing off to the large language model…but first asking you if it is ok if your prompt leaves the Apple private server system. Now, a change is afoot. 9to5mac.com picked up a report from Mark Gurman that says starting this spring, Apple will use a bulked up version of Siri, backed by Google Gemini models. Here’s the difference, though. The Gemini models will run on Apple’s private servers, giving the user much more privacy than with the old system. The new Siri setup will have three distinct components; a query planner, a knowledge search system, and a summarizer. Google Gemini models will run on Apple’s servers and provide planner and summarizer capabilities. It should be able to do much more personalized questions, like ‘What was that book Mom recommended?’ This setup is similar to what Samsung does with its Galaxy phones. Many Galaxy AI features are really Google Gemini with a light Samsung coat of paint on them.

With the continuing issues around plastic pollution, here’s a bit of a ray of sunshine…A neural network has found an enzyme that can break down polyurethane. Arstechnica.com notes that the plastic is often found in the soles of shoes…which get thrown out when worn and the plastic remains for the ages. The enzyme can break the plastic down into useable chemicals within 12 hours! The new enzyme is compatible with an industrial-style recycling process that breaks the polymer down into its basic building blocks, which can be used to form fresh polyurethane. This may help reduce the some 22 million metric tons of polyurethane that was made in just 2024! 

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

Nvidia Breaks $5 Trillion Barrier; Samsung-Ads on Smart Fridges Coming; OpenAI Finally Moves from Nonprofit; Westinghouse-New Nuke Reactors Deal for More US Electricity

Posted: October 29, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

https://youtu.be/q7icACPfq50

No more than a day after I reported about Apple getting into the $4 trillion valuation club, and mentioned that Nvidia was the first member of that elite group…things have changed. Cnbc.com reports that Nvidia has just pierced the $5 trillion valuation mark. The stock was up 3% Wednesday, which gets them across the line. The latest move higher comes shortly after CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia expects $500 billion in AI chip orders and announced plans to build seven new supercomputers for the U.S. government. The stock price, which closed up 5% in the previous session, has climbed nearly 50% year-to-date.

I am pretty happy with my ‘dumb’ fridge, and have friends and neighbors that are as well. Meanwhile, appliance makers are forging ahead with more ‘smart’ refrigerators…and now comes the inevitable…Samsung has fridges with integrated displays. If you guessed that they are going to start serving ads on the displays, you aced the test! According to macrumors.com, Family Hub refrigerators in the US are getting a widget that shows ads. Samsung is calling it a ‘pilot program,’ and says the promotions and curated advertisements will be ‘offered’ to some fridge owners. Family Hub refrigerators start at $1899, but go up to $3499. They come with 21.5 and 32 inch screens….hey, that’s bigger than my monitor I use with the computer I do these videos on! The initial ads will just be for Samsung products. The ads are opt out…but you know a lot of people won’t be able to figure out how to do that, or won’t take time to try. Oh, boy. I’ll be keeping my old, dumb fridge for a while longer!

This is a big non-newsy story. It finally happened, but the battle over it has been going on for over a year. OpenAI has finally announced that it completed its recapitalization, and is becoming a for-profit corporation. Gizmodo notes that this is in spite of one of the company’s co-founders, Elon Musk. Of course, Musk has his Grok, integrated with the X platform that is AI and definitely not non-profit! Back to OpenAI…the new structure will have 2 separate entities….the OpenAI foundation, which will remain a nonprofit and which will have partial control over OpenAI Group, which is the new ‘public benefit’ corporation. Under the new structure, OpenAI Group will be able to do things that a for-profit entity can (and a non-profit can’t), like raise more money and acquire companies. It will also get its own board of directors, which the Foundation will appoint. OpenAI Foundation will own 26% of the now for-profit OpenAI Group, valued at around $130 billion, and will continue to be granted shares of the company as it grows. Microsoft will hold a 27% stake in the for-profit arm, which is currently valued at about $135 billion. Microsoft also announced that, as a part of this shift, it will continue to hold intellectual property rights to OpenAI models and future products through 2032. The remaining 47% of the company’s stock will be held by other investors and the employees of OpenAI Group.

In an announcement that was a bit light on details, Westinghouse announced it has a deal with the Trump administration to build $80 billion worth of new nuclear reactors for power generation. Arstechnica.com reports that the government has also indicated it has finalized plans with GE Vernova and Hitachi to build the reactors. During Trump’s Japan visit, it was announced that “Japan and various Japanese companies” would invest “up to” $332 billion for energy infrastructure. This specifically mentioned Westinghouse, GE Vernova, and Hitachi. Westinghouse claims the $80 million will be enough to build out 8 reactors, but it is only enough for 5 larger sized reactors. The deal mentions some smaller modular reactors, but right now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hasn’t approved that type of reactor. 

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

Australia Sues Microsoft-365 Pricing; Gemini Can Create Presentations Now; Apple iPhone Wallet Getting Passport; AI Being Used to Fake Expense Reports

Posted: October 27, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia has sued Microsoft over AI linked subscription price increases. Reuters.com reports that the suit claims that Microsoft has mislead millions of users into paying more of its Microsoft 365 product after bundling it with AI tool Copilot. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says about 2.7 million users were affected, as they were led to believe they had to move to higher priced Microsoft 365 personal and family plans that included Copilot. The price increase with Copilot per year was a fat 45% more for the personal plan and 29% for the family plan. According to the suit, Microsoft didn’t clearly explain that people could use the cheaper ‘classic’ plan that omitted Copilot. A Microsoft spokesperson says they are reviewing the legal action.

A number of new features are out with the October update to Google’s Gemini. According to bgr.com, you will now be able to create presentations with the AI chatbot. Essentially, you will be able to drop any source into Gemini, and it will use that to create slides for a presentation. If you aren’t satisfied with the output, you can export them to Google Slides, and then edit and refine the idea further. 

A number of state driver licenses can be saved in the iPhone Wallet, and can be used for some things…not for police stops, though. Now, Apple is going to add a digital version of your passport to the Wallet. Apple VP of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet Jennifer Bailey said the update will be coming later this year. She didn’t specify if it would be with an iOS update or just something Apple will do server side. You will be able to show the digital passport to the TSA in select US airports if you are flying domestically. If you are going to fly internationally or cross a border, you will still need a physical passport. You will also be able to use the Digital ID for age and identity verification in apps, online, and in stores. 

 Workers with expense reimbursement are getting crafty. Some are using image-generating AI to fake expense reports! Financialtimes.com reports that models from both OpenAI and Google are cranking out the fakes. Software provider AppZen says fake expense reports added up to about 14% of those submitted in September…that compares with none last year. The realistic fakes sometimes even have wrinkles in the paper, a coffee stain, detailed itemization, and even signatures! Some systems can detect metadata and toss the fakes, but savvy employees can easily remove that info. No Photoshop skills are needed, just write a prompt. This is going to be a serious issue for companies starting now. 

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

Samsung Galaxy XR Takes on Apple Vision Pro-at Half the Price; OpenAI’s New Atlas Browser; GM Looks other Launch Eyes-Off Driving with Google AI; Netflix ‘All In’ on Generative AI

Posted: October 22, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

While Apple never planned on the Vision Pro headset being a mass consumer item, Samsung may have other ideas. The Galaxy XR is Samsung’s answer to the Vision Pro, at a much more marketable $1800..about half the price of Apple’s offering. The Samsung headset runs Google’s new Android XR platform, and heavily emphasizes AI and Gemini based voice controls. It actually looks much the same as Apple’s Vision Pro, dow to the connector wire to its external clip-on battery pack. One big difference…the Galaxy XR doesn’t have an outward facing display, so you won’t be able to project your face onto the outside of the headset…which is a bit creepy anyway. The Galaxy is not only less money, it’s lighter, coming in at 1.2 lbs, compared to the new M5 Vision Pro at 1.6 lbs. The Galaxy XR is available now at samsung.com for $1800.00.

OpenAI has released the MacOS version of its new Atlas web browser. According to arstechnica.com, the browser includes Agent Mode preview to ‘use the internet for you.’ OpenAI is hoping the Atlas browser will be as big as success for them as Chrome was for Google. The Atlas browser will let users ‘chat with a page,’ helping ChatGPT become a core way that users interact with the place ‘where a ton of work and life happens,’—online. At least that is the vision of CEO Sam Altman. A Windows and mobile version are due to come out quote ‘as quick as we can.’

General Motors CEO Mary Barra was at the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything conference, and said that the General is targeting a suite of new software initiatives for its vehicles over the next three years, including an in-vehicle artificial intelligence assistant from Google and a driver-assistance system that can largely control the vehicle without human interaction or monitoring. CNBC.com notes that the CEO said conversational Google Gemini AI will begin launching in its vehicles next year, followed by the new driver-assistance system, which will allow drivers to be hands-free and take their eyes off the road under certain circumstances, in 2028. Remember the old slogan about driving ‘Watch Out for the Other Guy?’ Well now, you’re going to have to watch out for the other vehicle…the other guy might be literally asleep at the wheel in 2028!

Many in the entertainment industry are skeptical about using generative AI in filmmaking, but not Netflix. Techcrunch.com reports that while Netflix isn’t planning to use generative AI as the backbone of its content but believes the technology has potential as a tool to make creatives more efficient. CEO Ted Sarandos said in an earnings call “It takes a great artist to make something great.” He did say quote “We’re confident that AI is going to help us and help our creative partners tell stories better, faster, and in new ways. We’re all in on that, but we’re not chasing novelty for novelty’s sake here.”

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

Anthropic Releases Claude Code to iOS & the Web; iPhone 17 Line Outselling Last Year’s Models; SpaceX Launches 10,000th Starling Satellite; Update of This Morning’s AWS Outage 

Posted: October 20, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Last winter, Anthropic announced Claude Code. Now, the AI company is making it easier for developers to use Claude Code in more places by putting up a new web interface to access the agent. Engadget.com reports that Anthropic is also releasing a preview of the agent inside its iOS app. The company has given users a warning that the mobile version is an early integration, which will be quickly refined based on user feedback. Pro and Max users can start using Claude Code on the web today. Anthropic notes any cloud sessions share the same rate limits with all other Claude Code usage.

The new iPhone 17 models are a hit for Apple. This year’s models around outselling last year’s iPhone 16 series by 14% in the first 10 days of availability in both the US and China. According to macrumors.com, this is new sell-through data from Counterpoint Research. The firm said the overall uplift is being led by stronger upgrades to the standard ‌iPhone 17‌, particularly in China, and by higher uptake of the iPhone 17 Pro Max among U.S. carrier customers based on enhanced subsidy plans. In China, the base iPhone 17 nearly doubled compared to the iPhone 16 based on the same initial period. The 17 Pro Max is ahead of the 16 for the initial period, in no small measure due to the big three carriers increasing maximum subsidies by about $100. 

SpaceX has notched a major milestone. They have launched the 10,000th Starlink satellite. Arstechnica.com notes that the benchmark came when two Falcon 9 rockets took off from spaceports in Florida and California Sunday afternoon, adding 56 more satellites to SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. Actually, now there are 10,006 in orbit…including a few dozen demo satellites. Starlink passed 7 million global subscribers in August.

There was a huge outage early this morning for Amazon Web Services. Geekwire.com says the outage took down several major sits and services. Thankfully it was not due to a cyberattack, but an internal issue within the cloud giant’s infrastructure. Facebook, Coinbase, Amazon, and even check-in kiosks at LaGuardia airport were affected. Amazon pinned the outage on a failure of an “underlying internal subsystem responsible for monitoring the health of our network load balancers.” Tech experts say that this outage indicates that many sites have not adequately implemented the redundancy needed to fall back to other regions or other providers in the event of AWS outages. 

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

Walmart Partners with OpenAI-Buy Right in ChatGPT; Satellites Leaking Personal Data & Secrets; CA Law-Big Fines for Deepfake Nudes and Restricts Bots Advising Kids; Windows 10 Support Ends Today-But You can Extend It

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

Walmart has cut deal with OpenAi to let shoppers make faster purchases within AI chatbot ChatGPT. CNBC.com reports that Walmart said in a statement that the AI feature will be “multi-media, personalized and contextual,” adding that Walmart is “running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future.” The news release didn’t say when customers could start buying goods from Walmart using ChatGPT. Last month, OpenAI announced Instant Checkout, that allows purchases such as those from Walmart. Initially, the feature just supports single item purchases from Etsy sellers. Besides Walmart, the feature will work for Shopify soon. No details on the cost, but OpenAI has said it will charge companies a fee for transactions made using ChatGPT.

We have stories weekly of data leaks…I could report on nothing else and not even scratch the surface. Here’s a new wrinkle, though…data beamed from satellites has been grabbed by researchers at UC San Diego and the University of Maryland…using an $800 off-the-shelf satellite receiver system! According to wired.com, the researchers found that almost half of geostationary satellite signals, including many carrying sensitive consumer, corporate, and government communications, have been left entirely vulnerable to eavesdropping. They picked up T-Moble users’ calls, airline passengers’ Wi-Fi browsing in-flight, and communication of utility companies, as well as US and Mexican military and law enforcement communications…which revealed location of personal, equipment, and facilities. It’s time for satellite using companies…and governments to tighten up and encrypt data bounced to and from satellites!

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the first-ever US last regulating companion bots in a move to protect kids. Arstechnica.com notes that the law will attempt to shield kids from companion bots and deepfake porn. California will require any companion bot platforms—including ChatGPT, Grok, Character.AI, and the like—to create and make public “protocols to identify and address users’ suicidal ideation or expressions of self-harm.” In an effort to stop kids from being cyber-bullied with deepfake nudes, the new law has vastly increased fines…up to now, they ranged from $1500 to $30,000. Now, a victim can go for up to $150,000 for a malicious violation. Not only that, any victims…including minors… can seek that level of damages. Here’s hoping other states get on board and protect children from malicious use of bots and chat apps. 

Windows 10 support officially ends today. If you have a computer that can run Windows 11, you may want to update to that for free. If you don’t like the Recall feature or have a box that won’t run 11, you can still sign up for Extended Security Updates…and you should. Engadget.com reports that first off, update the computer. Next, be using an administrator account. You will have to verify if you can upgrade to Windows 11…do so if you want and you’re done. If not, sign up for ESU by selecting Update & Security from the Settings menu. Click on ‘Enroll now.’ You will again be pestered to sign up Windows 11 of course. With the Extended Security, you have an extra year to either update to 11 or if your computer won’t run 11, replace the computer….or put Linux on it! 

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

Salesforce Announces Agentforce 360 at Dreamforce; OpenAI Making own AI Chips-Partnering with Broadcom; Holiday Hiring Same as Last Year; Slack Making Slackbot into AI Assistant 

Posted: October 13, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Salesforce’s Dreamforce convention opened in San Francisco today, and the company announced Agentforce 360 as their next generation AI agent. Techcrunch.com reports that the new version of Agentforce includes new ways to instruct AI agents through text, a new platform to build and deploy agents, and new infrastructure for messaging app Slack, among others. A feature they touted is Agent Script, which will be released in beta in November. Agent Script gives users the ability to program their AI agents to be more flexible and better respond to “if/then” situations. This allows AI agents to be programmed to be more predictable in less rigid situations like customer questions.

OpenAI is moving at warp speed into the future, even if that means some real stumbles along the way…like the disastrous ChatGPT 5o, which had to be backed out. According to engadget.com, the AI firm is designing ‘AI accelerators’ and systems. Partner Broadcom will start deploying racks of these systems the latter half of 2026. The companies are shooting for a completed rollout by the end of 2029. The deal is for 10 gigawatts of chips and it’s worth “multiple billions of dollars.” It was reported last month that OpenAI and Broadcom were making custom chips together. 

With the Trump tariffs and other moves throwing the US economy into uncertainty, a number of retailers are backing off on staffing up for the holiday season. The AP notes that part of the issue is the changes by the administration and then the government shutdown that have limited or delayed economic data retailers and wholesalers rely on. Job placement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas forecasts that hiring for the last quarter of the year will drop under 500,000 positions. 

My joy knows no bounds…Slack is turning Slackbot into an AI assistant. Theverge.com says with the update, Slackbot can create custom plans tailored to your workspace, sift through a mountain of messages, gather information from a range of Slack channels, and more. For now, it will be a pilot program. Slackbot will appear as an icon next to the search bar at the top of the workspace. Clicking into it will open a DM-like panel on the right side of the screen where you can enter prompts like “What are my priorities for today?” or “Find the latest updates on a project.” The new Slackbot will draw from your conversations, files, and workspace to provide personalized assistance. We can only hope Slack isn’t as pushy about trying to get you to use this as Microsoft is with Teams, or Meta is with their AI assistant. In all of these cases, to be frank…you have to be completely clueless to need the AI assistants to help you with a task, and honestly…so far anyway…it takes as much time as it does for you to just do it yourself.

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

Prime Day in Full Swing; ChatGPT-Multiple Acts Inside It Now; California Law Cuts Volume on Netflix, Others; Deloitte Refunds Australia for AI Lie-Ridden Report

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

Prime Day is here…and if you weren’t already up at midnight buying your favorite stuff at big discounts, some may be sold out by now. That said, there are still a huge number of deals to be had the rest of today and tomorrow. Engadget.com reports that as usual, deep discounts are available on Amazon’s own hardware…all the Alexa-related devices. Besides Amazon’s gear, though, there are other bargains. A 4 pack of Apple AirTags can be picked up for $65, which is 34% off…and unheard of bargain. You can get an Anker Nano 5K ultra slim power bank that is Qi2 and 15 watts for $40…that’s $15 off and is a Prime exclusive. A Google Pixel 9a midrange smartphone is just $349, which is a whopping $150 discount. Also, A Dyson V8 Plus cordless vac is $300…that’s $219 off. It’s not the top line Dyson, but I’ve been using one myself for several years, and it works well and runs 40 minutes on a charge. I hope your place isn’t so big that you need to vacuum for more than that! If it is, maybe you can have a maid service come in. 

ChatGPT can now interact with a number of third-party apps right inside their conversations. According to macrumors.com, initial partners include Spotify, Canva, Zillow, Expedia, Booking.com, Coursera, and Figma. Users can activate the app by name. You can, for example, ask Spotify to make you a new playlist. OpenAI says additional apps are coming later this year, including from DoorDash, Instacart, Uber, and AllTrails. Like so many internet products, OpenAI would love to Make ChatGPT into a walled garden that you rarely leave, getting them a piece of revenue from every app you use inside. 

Governor Newsom has signed into law a bill that eliminated a loophole in the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act. The new California law bans loud commercials on video streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max. At the time of the original bill, streaming was not much of a factor…but now about 83% of adults use streaming services. The FCC is also looking at rule making to deal with loud commercials on streaming services. The California law requires that streamers “not transmit the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content they accompany.” Unfortunately, the law doesn’t take effect immediately, but in July 2026. Perhaps by that time, the FCC will pick up on California’s law, and make it the rule nationwide. 

Yet another AI lying scandal…or as that industry has dubbed it…’hallucinations.’ Consulting/accounting firm Deloitte is coughing up a partial refund for a report that was full of fake citations. The firm had used ChatGPT-4o in creating the report. Arstechnica.com reports that the so-called ‘Targeted Compliance Framework Assurance Review’ was finalized in July then published by a government department in August. The Aussies had paid $440,000 in US dollars for it. It centered around a framework the government there uses to automate penalties under the country’s welfare system. An official from Sydney University noticed multiple citations to papers and publications that didn’t exist. the report was updated by Deloitte, and only 127 of the original 141 references in the ‘Reference List’ remain. The other 14 were fakes made up by ChatGPT 4o. 

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

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