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. 

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.

October Amazon Prime Day(s); TikTok in America Framework; YouTube Bows New AI Tools for Shorts; OpenAI Plans AI Auto Age Verification for Teens on ChatGPT

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

Didn’t we just have Prime Day…for about a week? Amazon has announced its next Prime Day. Zdnet.com reports that this one will only be a 48 hour long Prime Day, starting on Tuesday October 7th, and running through October 8th. Expect the usual crazy deals on all sorts of stuff, particularly Amazon’s own. With the Amazon hardware event coming up on September 30th, deep discounts on the older model Kindles, Echo speakers, and Fire TVs are likely. As usual, expect ‘early deals’ between September 30th and the start of Prime Day.

The US and China have been continuing trade talks in Europe, and it looks like we may finally…finally see an actual deal with a US owned version of TikTok. According to gizmodo.com, the plan is to have it be owned by several American investors, but it would continue to rely on the Chinese algorithm running the platform. That is the main sticking point, by the way. The highly addictive algorithm is something China has been unwilling to give up, and it is a main draw for the platform. It now appears that the Trump administration has agreed to a licensing deal with ByteDance retaining the intellectual property rights but that Chinese company would “entrust the operation of TikTok’s U.S. user data and content security.” Negotiations are ongoing, so it isn’t quite a done deal yet.

YouTube has unveiled new generative AI tools for Shorts creators. TechCrunch.com notes that YouTube is getting a custom version of Google’s text-to-video generative AI model…Veo 3…to Shorts. In addition, Shorts will get a new remixing tool, and ‘Edit with AI’ feature, and more. This will make it the first time that Shorts creators can make video clips with AI with sound. The update is being pushed out now in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. YouTube will be distributing the functionality to other areas in the upcoming months. 

In the aftermath of a teen suicide, Open AI is working on a system aimed at automatically identifying teen users of ChatGPT, and restricting their usage. Engadget.com says that the teen restrictions would include a block of graphic sexual content, among other things. “In cases of acute distress,” the system will also have the capability to contact law enforcement to ensure user safety. In scenarios where ChatGPT can’t definitively estimate the age of a user, it will default them to the new gated experience. OpenAI will provide a way for adult users to verify their age and unlock ChatGPT’s full capabilities. This is an iffy game…Google is at it as well, as are some British companies. Critics point out that AI doesn’t have great accuracy at this sort of thing so far, and that having to prove you are of legal age exposes more of your private identity documentation and proof that could be used to steal your identity…not that that isn’t already a big problem. OpenAI hasn’t disclosed when they will be taking the teen identifying system live. 

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

Anthropic Endorses California AI Transparency Bill; Google-‘Open’ Web in Rapid Decline; Nintendo Wins Suit Against Switch Modder; Signal Bows Free & Paid Backup Plans

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

A programming note— we will post a little later tomorrow, in order to report on the new iPhones and other devices revealed at the Apple event. The event is scheduled to start at 10 AM Pacific time. 

In a win for actual open artificial intelligence, Anthropic, makers of the Claude AI large language model, have endorsed SB 53, the so-called AI Transparency bill. Theverge.com reports that the bill would require leading AI companies to publish safety frameworks with details about how they manage “catastrophic risks,” as well as provide certain whistleblower protections. Anthropic’s support comes after weeks of negotiations with the AI industry on the bill’s specifics.

Google has continued to claim for months that the web is ‘thriving,’ and that AI isn’t hosing traffic, and that its search engine is sending people to a wide variety of websites…wider than ever. Well, that’s what they are saying publicly. According to theverge.com, Google admitted in a court filing last week that “the open web is already in rapid decline.” Keep in mind that Google wants to appear weaker and less monopolistic in court, but a number of  digital publishers and independent website owners have reported experiencing a decline in traffic following changes to Google Search’s algorithm and the rise of AI chatbots. The net net is, that people are ‘less likely’ to click on links when presented with Google’s AI Overview. Google still insists that it continues to ‘send billions of clicks to websites every day.’ 

Nintendo has just won a big battle in court, scoring $2 million in a lawsuit against Modded Hardware. Engadget.com notes that the site was known for selling devices that allowed users to get around Nintendo’s piracy protections, including the popular MIG Switch flashcart that lets buyers play official Nintendo games without the need for a physical cartridge. The court win also requires Ryan Daly to shut down the website and forfeit the domain to Nintendo. Nintendo had previously settled a similar suit against the makers of the Yazu emulator. They extracted $2.4 million from them. 

Signal, the messaging app that claims to give you serious privacy is ruling out a feature for storage. One of the selling points of the app has been that it didn’t let users store any type of backup of conversations on the platform. Well, that was then and this is now. TechCrunch.com reports that Signal will now give users a free tier of 100 MB of storage for text messages and the last 45 days worth of media. They store the messages after compression, so that amount of storage will handle quite a number of messages. For users that want to store more than the last 45 days worth of media, there is a $1.99 a month paid plan, which gives up to 100 Gigs of storage. Signal is using zero-knowledge technology to secure its backups, so they’re not linked to a particular user or a specific payment method. Users will receive a 64-character recovery key that is generated on the device to unlock their backups. Amid Signal rivals, WhatsApp offers end-to-end backup through an optional feature that users have to enable. Still…you are trusting your supposedly secret messages to their cloud storage, so buyer beware. There is probably already software out there or will be soon that can tie you to your messages.

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

Target & Walmart Tariff Price Hikes Leak Online; TikTok Blocks ‘SkinnyTok’; Google Delays Release of ‘Ask Photos’ Feature; Meta & Yandex Break Android Browser Anonymity to Track You

Posted: June 4, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Trump tariffs…they’re up, they’re down, they’re off, they’re postponed, they’re on again. Trump’s hangup with tariffs is making a mess of international commerce. Now, mashable.com reports that price hikes based on what the tariffs have been…or may be…have crept into places like Walmart and Target…and employees have started leaking some online. Examples can be found on Reddit’s r/Walmart subreddit. One example has an 8 ounce jar of cocoa powder that was $3.44 and has now been re-priced up to $6.18..and 80% price jump. A Jurassic World T-Rex toy has been bumped from $39.95 to $55, a 38% hike due to the tariffs, and a fishing reel that was formerly $57.37 is now $83.26. As Walmart CFO John Rainey told CNBC last month, “We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb. It’s more than any supplier can absorb.” A 2023 Reuters report said that 60% of Walmart’s goods were sourced from China between January and April of that year. Since then, Walmart has started shifting part of its supply chain to India, as is true with a number of electronics makers like Foxconn, that supplies Apple’s iPhones. 

TikTok has stopped showing search results for the hashtag #SkinnyTok. According to engadget.com, critics have complained that videos with this label promoting disordered eating and other unhealthy or risky diet behaviors. France’s Ministry of State for Digital Affairs was a leading critic of this, and it has also been on the radar of the EU regulators since April. It is likely that determined users will come up with a work around, but this will stop the most blatant abuse. in 2020, TikTok had put restrictions on ads that might “promote a negative or harmful body image,” such as fasting apps and weight loss supplements. TikTok began a partnership with the National Eating Disorder Association in 2021 to offer more resources for users with eating disorders. Later that year, it also introduced a new approach to the For You page in an effort to reduce the impact of watching too many repeated clips on a negative topic.

Google has had to hold off on the rollout of its ‘Ask Photos’ AI search feature for a couple of weeks. TechCrunch.com says that they have had issues with latency, quality and user experience. Some users already have the feature, but an updated version will be sent out correcting the problems in the next two weeks. The feature uses Google’s Gemini AI to let users search their Google Photos libraries using natural language prompts. 

Meta and Russia-based Yandex have figured out how to abuse legit internet protocols to de-anonymize website visitors and secretly send unique identifiers to native apps stored on Android devices. Arstechnica.com reports that the tracking, via the Meta Pixel and Yandex Metrica trackers, let them bypass core privacy and security protections that are in the Android OS and browsers that run on it. Yandex has used this bypass to track people since 2017, and Meta picked up on it last September. It allows them to pass cookies or other identifiers from Firefox and Chromium based browsers to native Android apps for Facebook, Instagram, and various Yandex apps. Then…presto…they can tie the browsing history to the account holder….YOU…that is logged into the app! So far, the tracking hasn’t shown up on Apple’s iOS. It may be technically possible, but iOS has tighter controls on local host communications and background executions of mobile apps. Although Orwell wrote that Big Brother is watching you…which is more true than ever now, he never imagined a Big Tech that was watching you even more, and using your data to make more money for themselves. 

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

Amazon-Tariff Cost Display ‘Not Happening’; iPhone Fold on Track for 2026; Android Gets Separate Showcase Week; ChatGPT Adds Shopping Features to Search

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

The White House went ballistic this morning with a report that Amazon was going to start posting the added costs of the Trump tariffs on items…calling it a ‘hostile and political act.’ Now, geekwire.com reports that Amazon has stated that this is not going to happen. An Amazon spokesman, Tim Doyle, said “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen.” On the other hand, China owned Temu is now adding ‘import charges’ of about 145%…that according to CNBC. One place you will see tariffs impact Amazon pricing…that’s from the third-party sellers, which make us some 60% of the company’s store sales. 

Apple appears to be on track to release its first folding iPhone in the second half of 2026. According to 9to5mac.com, it will come with a premium price of between $2100 and $2300…a couple hundred less than has been suggested previously….but still a ton of money. Folding phones had been growing by some 40% per year until 2024, when they are just up about 5%, and now they are expected to see a sales decline in 2025, so Apple entering the market will be a real boost. As we have reported, Ming-Chi Kuo predicts the apple folder will have an inner 7.8 inch display, with a 5.5 inch display outside, and no dreaded crease on the inner screen. It will be a book style like the Samsung Fold series. Some predictions are for less cameras, due to the thinness of the device, and also no Face ID..they will have Touch ID on a button. The iPhone Fold is predicted to be skinny at 4.5 mm unfolded and 9 mm folded. 

Google has enough going on with Android that they are going to give the mobile system its own showcase a week prior to Google I/O. Engadget.com notes that this is the first time they have done so. Google says  it has “so many new things to share” regarding Android, hence this edition of The Android Show. The presentation will feature Android Ecosystem president Sameer Samat. Android will still be featured at I/O, where Google is promising to reveal “even more special announcements and surprises.” Multiple Android keynotes are scheduled for the event. The Android Show: I/O Edition will air on May 13 at 1PM ET. Google I/O takes place a week later, starting on May 20.

ChatGPT is adding shopping features to let users look for products and then purchase them from a merchant websites after a redirect from ChatGPT. According to arstechnica.com, the feature resembles Google Shopping. When you click on a product image, ChatGPT will serve you multiple retailers like Amazon and Walmart on the right side of the screen, complete with buttons to finish the purchases. Unlike Google’s algorithm-based approach to product recommendations, ChatGPT reportedly attempts to understand product reviews and user preferences in a more conversational manner. If someone mentions they prefer black clothing from specific retailers in a chat, the system incorporates those preferences in future shopping recommendations. One key distinction between ChatGPT shopping and Google Shopping involves how products appear in results. While Google often includes sponsored product placements, OpenAI’s product results merely come from search—for now. Chat”GPT search product lead Adam Fry says “They are not ads…they are not sponsored.” 

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

Apple Pre-Shipped High End Devices to Beat Tariffs; Google Messages Makes Clearing Spam Texts Easier; Samsung Ballie Robot Out This Summer; Instagram Improves Search to Compete with TikTok 

Posted: April 9, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple took extra pains to avoid the pain of the new Trump tariffs. Macrumors.com reports that Cupertino urgently requested suppliers to ship as many premium devices as possible to the United States by air freight, especially those priced above $3,000. Besides Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo rushed to accelerate shipments before the tax went into effect today. Trump has now put a total US tariff on Chinese exports of 104%**…that’s the 20% existing tariff, plus the 34% he added last week, and the 50% tacked on after Beijing refused to withdraw a retaliatory tariff on US goods. For its part, Apple will be sourcing more iPhones from India now…maybe accounting for as much as 50% of US iPhone demand this year. **Minutes after recording this, Trump paused all tariffs for 90 days, EXCEPT on China, which he has now jacked up to 125%!

Google Messages is now making it much easier to get rid of automated spam texts. According to androidcentral.com, they have added an ‘Unsubscribe’ button. A new prompt shows up at the end of spammy messages, letting you unsubscribe with a tap. You can then pick a reason for opting out. Afterwards, you will see a ‘request sent’ notice and a ‘start’ button…should you change your mind…yeah, go ahead and laugh…like any of us will change our mind and want spam texts back from some sender. By the way, the opt-out reasons include:  “not signed up,” “too many messages,” “no longer interested,” “spam,” or “other.”

Did you love BB-8, the cute little ball-shaped robot from Star Wars? Boy has Samsung got a deal for you! Engadget.com says Samsung will be rolling out…sorry…a cute little robot called Ballie the summer. Not only is it cute and round, but Ballie will come with Google’s Gemini AI model. Samsung claims the robot has multimodal abilities, which means it can process voice, audio, and visual data from its sensors. It can manage your smart home devices, and even offer health and styling recommendations. Samsung isn’t pricing the little roll-bot yet..what with the Trump tariffs now in effect, but will need to do so before the device hits shelves this summer. 

Instagram is putting more into bulking up their search function, after admitting that they were not competing with TikTok well on this. Techcrunch.com reports that Instagram head Adam Mosseri and his team realize that younger Generation Z users frequently turn to apps like TikTok for answers, in lieu of using actual search engines. Instagram is focusing on content search, not account search. Even mighty Google, the 800 lb. gorilla of search, noticed in 2022 that social apps like TikTok and instagram were getting into their metaphorical drawers when it comes to Search and Maps. Even playing catch up with TikTok, Instagram tops Google Search and other rivals as Gen Z’s preferred search engine. HerCampus research found last year that 51% of Zoomers used TikTok over Google Search.

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

Apple Bows New M4 iMac; Google Working on Tensor Chip for Pixel Watch; Meta Developing AI Search Engine; Police Shut Down Big Info Theft Operation

Posted: October 28, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Last week, Apple teased an ‘exciting week of announcements,’ and they didn’t mess around…a new M4 iMac was unveiled this morning. 9to5mac.com reports that the freshened iMac not only runs the more powerful M4 chip, but it has new color choices, as well as a nano-texture display option. The base model has 16 gigs of ram, doubling the former model. It can have up to 4 Thunderbolt ports, and comes in new colors…new shades of green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and blue…and of course, silver. With the M4 chip, and the 16 gigs of ram, the all-in-one Mac will have no problem running Apple Intelligence. The base model starts at $1299 with 16 gigs of unified memory. Preorders are open now, with availability starting Friday, November 8th.  

Google is working on a new custom Tensor chip for the Pixel Watch. The present Watch has been running on off-the-shelf chips from Samsung and Qualcomm. According to 9to5google.com, the Watch 2 and Watch 3 have both been running Snapdragon W5+ chipsets. This chipset from Qualcomm has dramatically improved battery life over the outdated Exynos chip that ran the original Pixel Watch. The Tensor powered Watches could come in 2026. 

Meta is reportedly working on an AI search engine to cut reliance on Google and Microsoft. Theinformation.com says that Meta is designing the search engine and web crawler to return conversational answers about current events to folks using its Meta AI chatbot. Meta currently supplies news, sports and stock info to users that is provided by Google Search and Microsoft’s Bing. Meta may be concerned that either Google or Microsoft may want to pull out of these arrangements, and hopes the AI search engine/chatbot will be able to take their place. 

A coalition of international law enforcement agencies have managed to disrupt two very prolific information thieves that have stolen data from thousands. Techcrunch.com reports that the Dutch National Police, the lead agency, gained full access to the servers used by the Redline and Meta info stealers. Infostealers are a kind of malware designed to extract sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card data, search histories, and the contents of cryptocurrency wallets, from an infected system. Redline has been widely used by crooks, while Meta is a relatively new info stealer (not to be confused with the company of the same name that owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. 

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

EU Whacks LinkedIn for Ad Tracking; Apple AI Editing Tools-Not As Good By Design; Cops Can Track to Abortion Clinics-No Warrants; Tesla Will Launch Cheaper EVs Next Year

Posted: October 24, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

While the US the last few years has been less aggressive with tech firms, the European Union has stepped in aggressively. Techcrunch.com reports that the EU has fined LinkedIn $356 million for tracking ads and privacy breaches. LinkedIn had claimed ‘consent,’ ‘legitimate interests,’ and ‘ contractual necessity,’ based on legal bases for processing peoples’ info…but the Irish Data Protection Commission…under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, wasn’t buying any of it. The complaint against LinkedIn originated in France in 2018. The EU has given them 90 days to bring their EU operations into compliance. LinkedIn said in a statement that while they believed they were in compliance all along, they will work to make sure they are under this new ruling by the deadline.

Apple Intelligence features are going to be out to a lot of folks imminently…although you have to sign up and go on a waitlist after the final version of iOS with the features drops next week. Apple has been getting some heat from users of the beta over their photo editing tools not being as good as Android’s. Now, according to bgr.com, Apple’s head of software, Craig Federighi, has said in an interview that this is by design. He keyed on the Clean Up tool. He noted that while many AI tools try to generate new parts of the photo, Apple has chosen not to. “People view photographic content as something they can rely on as indicative of reality,” Federighi said. “It’s important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy.” 

There is all kinds of software and hardware to track people in the world today. Here’s a scary one…it is a tool law enforcement agencies now have called Locate X. Mashable.com says the software, from data surveillance company Babel Street, has ben known since 2020. What’s new is that police agencies in states like Alabama…which has completely outlawed abortion… have been able to track women traveling out of state for abortions. One tracked a woman from her home to a big box retailer, then to church, and finally to an abortion clinic in Florida…where the software indicated she stayed for 2 hours, before returning to her Alabama residence. A word to the wise to any woman in  a state where the procedure is outlawed now…turn off your phone, or take a burner phone with you out of state. 

Yes, you have to take things Elon Musk promises with a grain of salt…or sometimes, an entire salt mine. With that disclaimer, I turn to engadget.com’s story that Tesla has said in its 3rd quarter disclosure report that it is making preparations for ‘more affordable models,’ ‘its lowest level ever’ at $35,100. Tesla goes on to say they will start production in the first half of 2025, and that “These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up.” Tesla did have a decent 3rd quarter, finally ending a 4 quarter streak of missed earnings targets.

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

YouTube Goes After TikTok With Longer Shorts; Google Lens Now Lets You Search With Video; Tesla Dropped its Cheapest Model; Amazon to Hire Quarter Million for Holidays

Posted: October 3, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

YouTube has expanded the length of YouTube Shorts. So maybe now they are YouTube Bermuda Shorts? Ok, enough with the snark. Shorts will now be able to be up to 3 minutes long. Techcrunch.com reports that YouTube is hoping to be more competitive with TikTok now. TikTok, though, already allows videos of up to 10 minutes when recording, and uploads of up to an hour. It also makes participating in trends easier for users. YouTube says the new Shorts player is designed to streamline the look of these short videos, making the creator’s content stand out by placing it front and center in the user interface. The addition of templates by YouTube will allow creators to more quickly jump on trends. You will be able to tap a ‘Remix’ option in a Short, then choose ‘Use this template’ to make your own video. The race continues to be trendy. Hey, these tech reports are on YouTube and they are generally short…but trendy….nope…I’m afraid I missed the boat on that! I’ll just try to keep YOU up on tech trends!

Google Lens is now letting you search with video. Previously, you could search with just a picture. In addition, you can use your voice to ask about what you are seeing. According to theverge.com, the new feature will bring up an AI Overview and search results based on the video’s contents and your question. It is rolling out in Search Labs on both Android and iOS today. This is a feature Google promised and previewed at I/O in May. Google Lens is also updating its photo search feature with the ability to ask a question using your voice. To try it, aim your camera at your subject, hold down the shutter button, and then ask your question. Note that the voice part is only available in English for the time being.

With Elon Musk’s lates hype fest coming right up…with more on the robotaxis that have been promised for several years…Tesla has dropped its entry level car. The EV maker has stopped selling the Model 3 Standard Range Rear-Wheel Drive. Engadget.com notes that it had had a price of $39,000. Now, the cheapest Tesla will be the Model 3 Long-Range Rear-Wheel Drive version at $42,500. Tesla gave out their third quarter numbers yesterday, delivering 462,890 units between July and the end of September. This was short of analyst expectations of 469,000 vehicles. 

As brick and mortar stores do for the holidays, and as online retailers also have done for a number of years now, Amazon is gearing up for the holidays….and planning to hire a whopping 250,000 workers. Geekwire.com says this will at least match their hiring effort for the holidays last year, so they expect a robust holiday selling season. The online giant has also announce a buck and a half boost in pay to $22 per hour for US hourly workers, and for seasonal workers, the rate will be $18 an hour or more.  Full time seasonal workers will have health care benefits from day one on the job. Amazon claims that seasonal work is often a path to long-term employment…although long term is relative. Amazon is known for a strong ‘churn’ of employees leaving due to the conditions in the warehouses.

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

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