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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Samsung Hikes Prices before Prime Day; Getty Images Makes Deal with OpenAI, Polymarket Allegedly Paid Creators to Post Bets They Didn’t Make; Valve-Steam Machine Starts at $1049

Posted: June 22, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The price pressure due to AI data enters gobbling up memory like Pac Man is now getting to consumers. Apple has warned that they will have to raise prices and can’t absorb the increased cost of memory any longer. Now, Samsung has announced that it will bump prices on its Galaxy line. Androidpolice.com reports that most Galaxy smartphones will get an $80 price hike just ahead of Prime Day. The entry level phones will be hiked by $40.  Tablets will get bumped up from $100 to $280 depending on memory configuration. Your old phone as a trade in can ease the pain. Samsung is offering up to a $720 credit towards a Galaxy S26 ultra. Some carriers are doing even better…Verizon is offering up to $1300 in promotional billing credits for customers trading in a qualified tier-one phone and signing up for a new unlimited plan…though you will be locked in for 36 months. 

After fighting AI firms in court vigorously over the use of its stock photos, Getty Images has now inked an agreement with OpenAI to allow its pictures inside ChatGPT. Getty’s licensed content libraries will appear across the search and discovery features of ChatGPT, so that when a user asks the chatbot something that calls for an image, the visual it gets back can be a licensed Getty photograph rather than a synthetic approximation. Interestingly, neither side disclosed financial terms, a revenue split, and nothing about whether or not Getty’s images can be used to train future OpenAI models. Getty is still fighting with other AI firms over the use of its copyrighted stock photo library. 

There has been plenty of controversy about Polymarket, and now we have more. Techcrunch.com says that Polymarket has been paying online creators to post deceptive videos that show them making lucrative bets on the prediction market. The Wall Street Journal analyzed over 1000 videos about Polymarket, and uh, oh. Many of those videos were reportedly filmed on “near-perfect copies” of the Polymarket website, while featuring trades and winnings that were not real. The creator videos were then amplified by a “social-media army” deployed by a marketing contractor. Polymarket said it is “committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets” and plans to conduct an audit of its promotional content.

Valve has finally announced that the long-awaited Steam Machine..its living room PC gaming box…will go on sale June 29th starting at $1049. Theverge.com reports that you can put your name in to register, and get on the wait list. The Steam Machine will have 4 configurations, running from the base model at $1049 up to the most tricked-out version with a bundled Steam Controller for $1428. The two higher priced models come with 2 swappable faceplates…’red fabric’ and ‘solid walnut.’ The Steam Machine is a pricy device compared with the Microsoft Xbox or Sony PS5. The big selling point over the gaming platforms is that the Steam Machine is also a powerful Linux computer, too. 

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

Consumers Iffy About AI in Brand Messaging; New Google Smart Speaker with Gemini; Android 17 Rolls Out to Pixel Phones & Watches; White House App Will Auto-Install on Homeland Security Devices

Posted: June 17, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Techcrunch.com notes that a new report out from WordPress VIP indicates that 60% of consumers say that brands that use “AI” in their messaging are a turnoff, and 86% don’t fully trust AI and still want to explore original sources. Notably, 42% of consumers said that AI-generated answers without clear attribution are trusted less than airline fees, confusing privacy policies, and medical bills. Almost 3/4 of those surveyed said the internet feels ‘less human’ than it did 10 years ago. The report is based on a survey of 2,000 respondents conducted in April, comprising 800 enterprise decision-makers and CMOs and 1,200 U.S. adults.

Google is about to release the first new Google Home Speaker in years. The launch for the new $100 speaker is June 25th. According to mashable.com, Google is bragging that this will be the first smart speaker in its stable that was made with Gemini AI commands in mind. The new little speaker is available in Hazel, Porcelain, Jade, and Berry. Google claims that with Gemini, the speaker will be able to respond to natural language commands and complex commands. Sounds like a great deal for $99, right? Oh, but there’s a catch. If you want to take advantage of all the new tricks the Google speaker can do, you have to drop $10 a month for a Google Home Premium subscription. If you already subscribe to Google AI Pro or Ultra, you will automatically get access at no additional cost. 

Android 17 is starting to roll out to Pixel phones, and Wear OS for Pixel Watches is being pushed out, too. Arstechnica.com notes that Google no longer uses an unmodified version of Android on its phones—the Pixel build includes numerous features that are distinct from Android 17 itself. Other device makers will include versions of some of these features when they eventually update their phones, but for now, Google’s Pixel phones are the only way to experience Android 17. A notable feature is the Bubbles system. You can long press on any app icon to open the apps a floating window. When minimized, the bubbles stay on top of otters apps. Google says this interface is ideal for quick multitasking or chatting with Gemini while looking at other content. Other smartphones will get it besides Pixels later. It is worth point out that Samsung has had a floating app framework for years and Google itself has had a similar feature for a while now. 

In a truly Trump intrusive fashion, the White House app will now be installed on all devices managed by the Department of Homeland Security…whether the user likes it or not. Engadget.com reports that the installations may be extended to all federal agencies’ phones in the future. The app is described as  “a convenient way to access official White House communications, including announcements, executive actions, speeches, livestreams, videos and other updates.” In other words, it is pretty much a propaganda app.

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

SpaceX IPO May Exceed Goal; EU Orders Meta-Stop Blocking Rival Chatbots on WhatsApp; Google Makes Move on AI Subscriptions; Anthropic-Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 Upgrades for Cyber Partners

Posted: June 10, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s hard to tell what of this is hype and what’s not, but we will find out on Friday. Benzinga.com reports that SpaceX has allegedly attracted some $250 billion in investor demand, well above the $75 billion it was aiming to raise. That means it could be oversubscribed by 3-1/2 to 4 times the planned size. The company is expected to raise roughly $75 billion at a valuation of about $1.75 trillion, making it one of the biggest public offerings ever. The IPO pricing is likely to be announced on Thursday afternoon.

The EU has ordered Meta to quit blocking rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp. According to engadget.com, the EU is proceeding to investigate the messaging app’s owner over potential antitrust violations. Meta introduced a new policy in October 2025 that banned third-party AI chatbots from the WhatsApp for Business API, making Meta AI the only chatbot that can access the service. Before the ban, companies could send notifications through WhatsApp, such as order alerts, using other AI assistants. The EU warned that it may take interim steps against Meta while the investigation is ongoing. Meta will appeal the decision. 

Some are calling it the AI price wars…as AI companies are getting ripped on and cancelled for high costs in enterprise. Uber burned through their entire budget in a quarter! Now, techcrunch.com says Google has announced it is cutting its monthly price for Google AI Plus from $7.99 to $4.99 and doubling the storage on the included tier form 200 gigs to 400 gigs. This update will be out to users in the next few days. Features include video generation via Omni Flash; the creative studio Google Flow; and NotebookLM, Google’s AI research assistant. If you want more, Google has AI Pro and AI Ultra with the expected higher prices and storage limits. Google notes that in the past, digital has seen things commoditize very quickly, and they expect that with AI…and want to get ahead of competitors. 

Anthropic has pushed out a couple of new AI models called Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5. Wired.com reports that they have greater capabilities than the Mythos preview released in April. The initial limited release will only go to a limited set of industry partners. Anthropic says is it coordinating with the US government on the rollout. Fable 5 is basically the same underlying model as Mythos 5, but has stronger guardrails that will block the model from answering many user questions related to cybersecurity, biology, and chemistry. These requests will instead be rerouted to an older AI model, Claude Opus 4.8. If Anthropic suspects a user is trying to conduct distillation—training a smaller AI model off a larger AI model’s responses—on Claude Fable 5, those requests will also be rerouted to Claude Opus 4.8, the company says. Time will tell how these safeguards actually hold.

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

OpenAI Announces IPO; China Bows Wind Powered Underwater AI Data Center; FCC Lifts Deadline on Amazon Leo Satellites, Judge Blocks Trump’s $100 Grand H-1B Visa Fee 

Posted: June 9, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT, has filed for its initial public offering. Benzinga.com reports that the AI firm decided to announce as the information was going to be leaked anyway. OpenAI plans on evolving ChatGPT into something of a ‘Superapp,’ which they say “…will transcend the actual surface…  what we’re building towards is where you have your own personal agent that is capable of helping you… across everything in your life, be it personally or at work.” OpenAI plans to give the US government early access to its new AI models. President Trump, meanwhile, has said that the government will take stakes in the AI companies like OpenAI. 

China has launched the first wind-powered underwater data center. According to the guardian.com, the 24 megawatt facility is a joint project of HiCloud Technology and China Communications Construction, a company owned by the Chinese government. The plant is 6 miles off the coast of Shanghai, and is powered by a nearby offshore wind farm. The natural cooling from the ocean saves a vast amount of power. On land, anywhere between 25% and 40% of the total electrical demand for AI data centers comes from the need to pipe chilled water around the servers to keep them from overheating. This setup solves the problem of data centers syphoning off water for family and agriculture use, as well as that of the centers pushing up power costs for consumers. It should be noted that Microsoft did a pilot underwater data center project off the coast of Scotland in 2018, but that project stalled out. China admits the US firm was first. “Microsoft was earlier in proving the concept, while China moved further on commercial deployment because it was able to bring together market demand, industrial capability, marine engineering and policy support more quickly into a commercial project,” said Dr Hanjiang Dong of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 

The clock had been ticking, but now the FCC has kicked the can down the road for Amazon. Arstechnica.com says that a deadline had been coming for Amazon to get half its system of Leo satellites in orbit by the end of this July, but now has given them until July 30th, 2029 to get half of its some 3232 satellites in orbit. Right now, Amazon is the only company that can realistically get satellites in orbit to supply a broadband service that competes with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. The FCC considers it it the public interest to have a competitor for Starlink.

A court has blocked Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee scheme. Thenextweb.com reports that US District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled yesterday that the fee is an unlawful tax and must be vacated. The court noted that Congress has not delegated the power to levy such a tax to the executive branch. It already costs several thousand dollars to get an H-1B visa, which is generally paid by a sponsoring employer. The tech industry and other sectors have used these visas for years to bring in cheaper engineers and scientists. At present, there is a cap of 85,000 visas per year. 

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

Google Will Let Publishers Opt Out of AI Mode; Zuckerberg Wants AI Agents to ‘Run Your Whole Business’; Amazon’s Ring-Pay Americans for Scanning Faces; Microsoft Bows Scout-OpenClaw Clone

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

As we’ve covered here and others have as well, Google continues to make search more AI driven. A lot of people have complained about the ‘AI Overview,’ and how links are placed under it. 9to5google.com is reporting that Google is introducing a new opt-out toggle in the Search Console to determine whether a site appears in and is used to help ground generative AI features. Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from AI Overviews, AI Mode, or AI Overviews in Google Discover, but will otherwise continue to appear in regular Google Search results and the Discover feed. There is a big caveat…this doesn’t apply to the Gemini app. Google is giving website publishers new generative AI Search stats in Search Console. Insights include impressions metrics, which pages appear in AI responses, and in what countries. 

In the latest earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg intimated that Meta had major plans for AI agents. Now, there’s some movement in that direction. According to engadget.com, they have launched AI agent tools for businesses that rely on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta Business Agent will let business owners delegate many daily tasks, like interacting with customers and booking appointments. Meta even claims that the agent will have the ability to ‘close sales’ and recommend products. Meta does note that the human business owners can jump into interactions at any point. Zuckerberg says the ultimate goal is for the agents to ‘eventually help you run your whole business.’ It’s a freebie, right? Well, not for long. Meta will place the feature into one of its subscription offerings ‘in the coming months.’

A class action suit has bee filed against Amazon which looks for damages for millions of Americans whose faces may have been recorded by Ring cameras since the Familiar Faces feature was rolled out late last year. Arstechnica.com notes that the suit lists $5 million in damages, but that is just the legal threshold…and the plaintiffs will seek far more. What is the uproar about? Ring’s Familiar Faces feature is designed to identify people who appear at one’s door and provide alerts to the owner of the camera. Amazon says Familiar Faces is not enabled by default but that owners of Ring cameras can turn it on. Ring camera users can create a “personal directory of up to 50 familiar faces” so they can be alerted when one comes to the door. A personal note here…I have a Ring, and while the feature isn’t on by default, the app pesters you each time you check it to activate the feature. The lawsuit claims that the feature ‘violates basic notions of consumer privacy.’ Besides money damages, the suit seeks an injunction against Amazon, praying for the court to change Amazon’s behavior with regards to the Familiar Faces feature. Amazon has not commented on the suit so far. 

OpenClaw, which has stormed into computers as an AI assistant, has gotten a lot of attention from the AI and tech communities. After OpenAI scooped up the founder of OpenClaw, techcrunch.com reports that Microsoft has dropped their own AI assistant…which operates similarly. Microsofts’s Scout is designed to bring what they are calling ‘power and flexibility’ to the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. It is an always-on agentic assistant, and it’s intended to work alongside the user, mimicking the user’s style and identity. Scout is available through Microsoft’s Frontier program, which if for early adaptors. It requires an GitHub Copilot subscription to use. Microsoft claims Scout will come with a built-in “policy conformance system” that will continuously check whether the system is operating according to set guidelines, and each conformance check will produce its own audit trail.

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

LinkedIn Policing ‘AI Slop’; Discord Bows End-toEnd Encryption on Voice and Video Calls; FBI Wants Real-Time Access to License Plate Cans Nationwide; GitHub Breached-3800 Repositories Exfiltrated

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

LinkedIn has had more than its share of AI slop. Now, they are moving to reduce the reach of posts that have hallmarks of AI-generated slop. Engadget.com reports that LinkedIn’s changes will target everything from outright engagement bait, to recycled “thought leadership” and other “generic” content that “lacks the authenticity and originality.” The company is also taking aim at posts and comments that have obvious signs of AI construction like “it’s not X, it’s Y,” phrasing. It would be great if Facebook would follow suit. I frequently see lengthy, verbose posts about someone famous or a historical figure that are obviously written by AI. LinkedIn notes that they aren’t going to take down the AI posts, they will just make sure they don’t appear in other users’ recommendations. The posts will still appear on the poster’s wall, and will be viewable by their direct connections and followers. This is really a good move, as LinkedIn positions itself as a more professional platform. Again…I hope other platforms will follow their lead. 

The online platform Discord is rolling out end-to-end encryption on all voice and video calls. If you aren’t familiar with Discord, it started as a gamer platform initially, but now has all sorts of communities…creators, businesses, and interest groups in addition to gaming. According to bleepingcomputer.com, Discord claims 690 million registered users and over 200 million monthly active users worldwide. I have some younger family members that have set up their own group of family and friends, and use it to chat and communicate frequently. 

In a giant overreach, the FBI wants immediate access to license plate cams nationwide. Talk about casting too wide a net, as the legal expression goes. Arstechnica.com says the feds will pay vendors to help it teach and search of vehicles in near real time. In a statement, the FBI says this is “To evaluate and manage threats to personal safety, property, and law enforcement, the FBI requires professional service firms that can provide License Plate Readers (LPRs) for tracking subjects on roads and highways over the US and its territories.” Flock and Motorola have the cams, and will likely bid on this contract. Flock has deals with over 12,000 cities, towns, counties, and business partners. Some cities have voted to remove the intrusive cams, as they pick up everyone driving past. Motorola sells license plate reader cams that can be installed on busy roadways or even on police cars. Some of the cam data has been handed over to ICE. Flock points out that sharing with the feds is off by default, and that cities and the like have to grant access. They claim that the data from the cams is the property of the agencies that own the cameras. More than ever, Big Brother is Watching!

After an employee device was compromised with what is being called a poisoned VS Code extension, GitHub has confirmed that cybercrime group TeamPCP has exfiltrated around 3800 internal repositories..such as customer enterprises, organizations, and repositories. Thenextweb.com notes that Microsoft-owned GitHub is the world’s largest code-hosting platform. The bad guys want $50,000 or they will leak the proprietary source code and internal organization files. The company moved quickly once it detected the intrusion, isolating the compromised device, removing the extension, and rotating critical credentials within hours. GitHub stressed that the activity involved exfiltration of internal repositories only and that it had found no evidence of impact to customer data, enterprise accounts, or user-hosted repositories. If a platform built on code review and version control can be penetrated through a rogue extension, the implications for less security-mature organizations are sobering.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Google AI Searches Will Quote Reddit; Apple Settles for $250 Million Over Siri AI Delay; Pennsylvania Sues Character.AI-Chatbots Posing as Doctors; Tech Biggies Bet Big Money on Ocean Based AI Data Centers

Posted: May 6, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Now, more than ever, when you do a Google search…scroll down and look for ACTUAL sources! Theverge.com is reporting that Google AI with Gemini…the first thing you see now with a Google search…will give you the usual summary, but will also give ‘a preview of perspectives’ from firsthand sources like social media, Reddit, and other web forums, effectively linking your search queries with online conversations around similar topics. I don’t know about you, but I would trust information from the Mayo Clinic about a medical issue over some Redditor’s opinion! By building these features into its AI Search tools, Google is trying to encourage more users to try them instead of manually hunting through traditional web results in Google Search. Google says it’s also adding additional context to these new AI response links, such as the creator’s name, handle, or community name, to make those conversational sources easier to quickly identify. These firsthand sources are presented as “Expert Advice” in AI-powered Search results, and can point users to specific, specialized forums and subreddits they may wish to explore further. Again…go with the actual experts…doctors, lawyers, and other highly educated people rather than some individuals on social media when you are Googling an important topic. If you want an opinion on some musical act or sports team, then go for it and rely on social media!

Apple is settling a class action suit over its marketing of AI features before the launch of iPhone 16. According to techcrunch.com, the suit alleged that Apple exaggerated the breadth of features Apple Intelligence would bring, which included a significantly upgraded version of its assistant, Siri. We all know now that Siri is as dumb as ever…and in fact, Apple has partnered with Google to beef up Siri with Google’s Gemini AI. Apple will have to pay out $250 million, which won’t exactly dent their massive cash flow and valuation…but it is embarrassing to one of the worlds’s biggest corporations…and one that has prided itself about being more user friendly and on delivering more than expected normally. 

This is a scary thing to write and tell you about…Pennsylvania is suing AI startup Character.AI for offering chatbots that pretend to be licensed doctors. Governor Josh Shapiro announced the lawsuit on Tuesday, and Pennsylvania and its Board of Medicine are seeking an injunction that would force Character.AI to stop violating a state law governing the practice of medicine. Engadget.com notes that other states, including Texas, have investigations going concerning Character.AI and chatbots they host that masquerade as mental health professionals. The difference in the Pennsylvania suit is that it is aimed at the willingness of the company’s chatbots to claim to have a medical license, even going so far as offering a fake license number. This is chilling…just do what you need to do to see a real, in the flesh doctor. It’s great to have quick access and get medical help on demand…bur at this point, a chatbot is no substitute for a real doctor. The same goes for any other professional…you are much better off seeing a real psychologist, dentist, or attorney. Maybe a few hundred years from now, we will have robot doctors like in Star Wars attaching robot hands like Luke Skywalker got…but for the present time…see a human!

I can see pros and cons to this, but some powers in Silicon Valley like Peter Thiel…who started Palantir…are dumping big money…like a couple hundred million so far…into building AI data centers utilizing wave power in the middle of the world’s oceans. Arstechnica.com reports that $140 million has been pumped into a company called Panthalassa to build a pilot manufacturing plant near Portland, Oregon. Instead of sending renewable energy to a land-based data center, the floating nodes would directly power onboard AI chips and transmit inference tokens representing the AI models’ outputs to customers worldwide via satellite link. It doesn’t sound like much downside, but keep in mind that Panthalassa says in a statement “Ocean-based compute might offer a massive cooling advantage because the ambient temperature is so low. Land-based data centers use a lot of electricity and fresh water for cooling.” Obviously, a handful of these floating data centers would be no issue…but hundreds or thousands could warm the ocean just enough to effect climate change. Big tech is also looking to space for AI data centers…with the ultra low temperatures there for cooling plus lots of continuous solar power, there may be little down side. Lag time getting signals back to earth and the difficulty of repairs are the only two I can think of off hand.

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

Gamestop Offer to Buy eBay; Musk Tried to Settle with OpenAI; An AI LLM Beat ER Docs Diagnosing Patients; You Can’t Ask Jeeves Anymore-Ask Closes

Posted: May 4, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In something of a David and Goliath move, Gamestop…through its parent company…has made a $56 billion dollar bid to acquire eBay. Gizmodo.com reports that GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen told The Wall Street Journal that together the two companies “could be a legit competitor to Amazon.” He added, “EBay should be worth—and will be worth—a lot more money. I’m thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars.” Cohen sent a letter to eBay Chairman Paul Pressler on Sunday offering to buy the company for $125 per share in a deal split between cash and GameStop stock. Part of the pitch includes GameStop’s some 1600 storefronts as a network of authentication and fulfillment sites. The employees of the stores, who already inspected and grade gaming hardware and trading cards…could also verify collectables sold on eBay according to Cohen. The stores could be drop off and shipping centers for sellers. eBay has said it is looking over the offer. Cohen does have a track record. Before Gamestop, he started the online pet food site Chewy. 

While the so-called Musk vs. Altman & Brockman trial continues in Oakland, it has now come out that Elon Musk texted OpenAI’s Greg Brockman two days before the trial was set to start, to determine his interest in settling the case. According to cnbc.com, this text was just disclosed in a filing late Sunday. Apparently, “When Mr. Brockman responded with a suggestion that both sides drop their respective claims, Mr. Musk shot back: ‘By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be,'” the filing says. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, sued the company, Brockman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2024, alleging they went back on their commitment to keep the artificial intelligence company a nonprofit and to follow its charitable mission. It probably isn’t helpful at this point that Musk has xAI, which is a competitor with OpenAI. xAI is part of Musk’s SpaceX rocket company, which is not a nonprofit, either. 

Researchers at Harvard and Boston’s Beth Israel have tested a special advanced large language model AI against a couple of attending doctors in their performance diagnosing emergency room patients that come in at the triage stage. Gizmodo.com says the AI model…based on OpenAI’s first so-called ‘reasoning’ model o1-preview…got the correct diagnosis in 67.1% of 75 actual emergency cases, while two actual human doctors only hit 55.3% and 50% accuracy respectively. The diagnoses were what the researchers called ‘exact or very close’ diagnostic accuracy. The co-author of the study, Arjun Manrai, said “I don’t think our findings mean that AI replaces doctors, despite what some companies are likely to say.” Manrai did, however, describe the team’s results as evidence of a “really profound change in technology that will reshape medicine,” one that would require rigorous testing to verify their utility in actually making patient outcomes better.

Sometimes a business fades away, and you are surprised that it was still around. That’s how it seems to me with Ask.com. I can remember being at a radio station in the 90’s when Ask Jeeves…as it was known then…sent around a guy in a full butler tuxedo to promote the service. In fact, I may still have a Jeeves water bottle somewhere. At any rate, techcrunch.com is reporting that Ask.com, as it came to be known, is closing down. It is striking to me that they made it some 30 years and change. I don’t really know anyone who used Ask.com, and didn’t just Google things they had questions about. Now, we are at a point where Ai chatbots are spreading like weeds in your garden, and there are even AI powered robots on the horizon. Maybe they can be dressed up like butlers…’AI Alfred, get the Batmobile ready for me!’

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

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