iPhone 17-Small Price Hike; VPN Use Way Up in UK; YouTube Bows Age Estimation Tech; Google Will Sign EU’s AI Code of Practice

Apple is apparently planning a $50 across the board price hike for all iPhone 17 models. macrumors.com reports that this is to offset rising component costs and the China tariffs. The news came in an investor note from Jefferies analyst Edison Lee. Actually, with Trump’s China tariffs, Apple is eating a lot of the cost increase, but has decided to pass at least some of it on to consumers. Cupertino will try to position the increase as worth it due to new features and design changes, and won’t blame the hike on the tariffs…not wanting to anger the thin-skinned Donald Trump. 

The Online Safety Act just went into effect last Friday in the United Kingdom. That’s the law that requires porn platforms and other adult content sites to implement user age verifications. Not shockingly, the use of VPNs…virtual private networks, has spiked already. According to wired.com, experts had expected such a surge. Besides VPNs, apparently users are also trying a video game called Death Stranding that has a photo mode to take a selfie of a character and submit it to the age-gated forum content. What the Online Safety Act requires is that websites hosting porn, self-harm, suicide, and eating disorder content implement “highly effective” age checks for visitors from the UK. These checks can include uploading an ID document and selfie for validation and analysis. On the up side for the UK regulators, over 6,600 pro websites have introduced age checks so far. I am still processing the fact that there are that many porn websites. I don’t think I’ve ever visited even close to that many websites of any kind in my life! 

There is a good deal of resistance and skepticism about age verification online…as in our story yesterday about an app designed to protect women from bad dates that got hacked and their driver’s licenses were compromised. Now, techcrunch.com says YouTube is taking a different approach, rolling out age-estimation tech to identify US teens so they can apply additional protections for the kids. The company says it will use a variety of signals to determine the users’ possible age, regardless of what the user entered as their birthday when they signed up for an account. When the platform marks someone as a teen, it introduces new protections and experiences, which include disabling personalized advertising, safeguards that limit repetitive viewing of certain types of content, and enabling digital well-being tools such as screen time and bedtime reminders, among others. These are the same safeguards as are in effect already for those who have identified as teens…now YouTube will use their system to check. If someone is flagged as a teen and isn’t, they have the option to verify their age with a credit card, government ID, or selfie. DON’T give them your driver’s license! 

Google has announced that it will sign the European Union’s AI Code of Practice. Engadget.com notes that the Act was passed in 2024, but many parts of it have yet to go into effect…they will take months or even years. The Code is a non-binding, voluntary pact. Meta has said it won’t sign on, calling the Code ‘over-reach.’ The EU’s AI Act is the first of its kind from a major regulator and is comprehensive in its approach. Meanwhile, the United States is in the earliest stages of determining its approach to AI regulation Obligations under the EU AI act start kicking in on August 1st of this year, with all AI models to be fully compliant by August of 2027.

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


Samsung Unveils Latest Folders; Google’s Wear OS Watches Get Gemini; Meta Buys 3% Stake in Ray-Ban Parent

Samsung has unveiled their latest, greatest folding phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 at their Unpacked event today. 9to5google.com reports that the 7 is noticeably thinner, and features a bigger screen. The Z Fold 7 is only 8.9 mm thick when closed…that’s down from 12.1 mm for the 6. The thickness open is a mere 4.2 mm. It has shed weight, dropping from 239 grams to 217. The inside display is an 8 inch one now, and the outer one is larger and wider than last year at 6.5 inches. The outer display now has the same aspect ratio as a normal smartphone. On thing missing…no S Pen support on the inner screen. Samsung says this contributed to making the screen more durable. The Z Fold 7 has a 200 MP core camera with 12 MP sensor for the ultra wide and 10 MP sensor for telephoto. It comes in Jet Black, Silver Shadow, Blue Shadow, and Mint…which you can only get by ordering direct from samsung.com. It’s up for preorder now. How much? It’s a penny under a cool $2 grand….up $100 from last year’s folder. 

At the Unpacked event, Samsung also showed off the Galaxy Flip 7, which now sports a bigger battery and is thinner than last year’s model. According to engadget.com, the 7 has a 4.1 inch super AMOLED Flex Window, which is the biggest external display on a Z Flip so far…as had been rumored. The main display is 6.9 inches when unfolded, and Samsung claims the Armor FlexHinge is thinner than earlier models, and has better durability and will fold more smoothly. The handset has a 50 MP Wide and 12 MP Ultra Wide lens for both selfies and scenic pictures. It starts out at $1100, comes in Jet Black, Blue Shadow, and Coral, and is open for preorder now…for July 25th availability.

Google has added its Gemini AI to the Wear OS watches, after teasing such a move on May. Techcrunch.com notes that Google is also adding Circle to Search capabilities by integrating its AI Mode search experience directly into the feature and adding support for gaming-related queries. The ubiquitous Gemini AI will now be showing up on watches running WearOS 4+ …and not only on Google’s own Pixel, but also Samsung, OPPO, OnePlus, and Xiaomi over the next few weeks. To use Gemini, watch wearers can just say “Hey, Google,” then press and hold the side button on the watch, or tap the Gemini icon on the screen. 

Meta has bought around 3% of EssilorLuxottica, the maker of Ray-Ban glasses, and a number of other lines of specs. Reuters.com reports that Meta is considering further investment that could bring their stake up to 5%. As we have reported, Meta has also teamed up with Oakley, an additional EssilorLuxottica brand, for a second line of its AI powered smart glasses. The glasses maker plans to expand production capacity for smart glasses, and would like to grow its partnership with Meta to ‘smarten,’ if you will, more of its glasses brands. 

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

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.


Pixel 10 Leak; Salesforce Buys Hiring AI Tools Startup Moonhub; Microsoft Reveals Bing Video Creator; Instagram for iPad-Coming This year…Finally

A leaked prototype of the Google Pixel 10 has produced several reveals. 9to5google.com reports that the handset appears to have a thicker oval-shaped camera bar which is also wider…it comes very close to the edges of the phone. In addition, there are some smaller visual changes….the cutouts at the bottom on either side of the USB-C port are identical in size. It is expected that one is the speaker and the other is for the microphone. Google has moved the SIM card tray to the top left edge. The prototype has 16 gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage. 

Salesforce has somewhat stealthily snapped up a startup that is making AI tools to vet and hire talent. According to techcrunch.com, the company is Moonhub, and the entire crew, based in Menlo Park, will join Salesforce. Moonhub was just started in 2022 by an ex-Meta engineer. They make a number of tools designed to help companies recruit, evaluate, and hire job candidates. Moonhub’s AI can automatically identify candidates for roles, reaching out and assisting with tasks such as onboarding and payroll management. 

As it does whatever it can to attract people to Bing, Microsoft has rolled out Bing Video Creator. Geekwire.com says Creator is a new generative AI tool for creating videos from text prompts. It is based on Sora, the video model that came out in December from OpenAI. Microsoft is a rather heavily invested partner in OpenAI. You can use text prompts to make 10 videos up to 5 seconds long each with Bing Video Creator. After that, you will need Microsoft Rewards points for additional creations. Expect to see more AI-generated silly stuff on social media soon. 

Meta dropped the iPad version of WhatsApp last week. If it seems like it’s been a while for this, it has…2 years. Now, bgr.com reports that Meta employees are testing out Instagram for iPad, and we may see it out later this year. For those that don’t use apps like these, let me get on my soapbox. What you get is an iPhone-sized app sitting in your screen with nothing in the space around…in other words, it is just like using an iPhone app, and wastes the larger screen and abilities of the iPad. Meta’s Threads has the same format,,,I hope they will get an iPad version of that out soon, too. Meta says they have been concerned with how the square pictures in Instagram would look on the iPad. They may have that worked out, and with in increase in time on Reels from 90 seconds to 3 minutes, those videos will look nice in landscape if they have that figured out.  It is not just Meta, by the way. I use Bluesky, and they have the same deal….a little iPhone screen in the middle of a vast area of wasted screen on iPads. Come on, people!

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


Open AI Snaps Up Jony Ive Startup; Google XR Glasses-Interesting ‘Glasshole’ Wrinkle; Amazon Further AI-Enhances Shopping; Meta Boosts Startups Use of Their Llama AI

In a very interesting pickup, OpenAI has just bought Jony Ive’s AI startup..called io. Appleinsider.com reports that they are dropping $6.5 billion in stock on the startup by the former Apple head of design, who was responsible for the look and feel. some of Apple’s most iconic products. OpenAI will add 55 new employees, including hardware engineers, software, developers, and manufacturing experts. Both OpenAI Sam Altman and Ive referred to something they are calling ‘the device,’ some hardware they plan to release sometime next year. It could just be a better box with an AI voice assistant, but coming from Ive, who was the futurist right hand of Steve Jobs, it might be something quite amazing. It’s worth noting that before this purchase, Job’s widow…Laurene Powell Jobs had invested in io through her Emerson Collective. 

In the slew of announcements yesterday during Google I/O, many of which had to do with AI, Google did show off a prototype pair of its XR smart glasses…and even let some of the media test out pairs briefly. According to engadget.com, the glasses…which have a heavy black frame reminiscent of something Clark Kent would have worn in the 50’s as the not terribly secret identity of Superman, actually are lighter than Meta’s Orion prototype or Snap’s Spectacles. One thing that struck me is that the display is only on one side…the right lens. It has a narrow field of view, but you can see notifications and the like overlayed in that lens. They are more just something for a glance, not really immersive. To me, as someone who was around San Francisco at the time, there is a funny connection to Google Glass and the ‘glassholes.’ Those had a little prism that was on the right side. Could Google have just added code to the old Google Glass code and some AI? Ok, probably not, but it made me laugh. 

Amazon continues to add more AI to their shopping app, to lure more of us to spend even more money! Geekwire.com notes that the generative AI powered feature is called “AI shopping experts.” Amazon says it analyzes product details, customer reviews and information from across the web to allow customers to simply hear key information. “It’s like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier, even if you’re multitasking or on the go,” wrote Rajiv Mehta, vice president of Search and Conversational Shopping at Amazon, in a blog post about the release on Wednesday. Right now it is only available on a select group of products to what they are calling a subset of US customers…but of course, they plan to expand to all in the next few months. 

Meta is rolling out a new program of incentives to encourage startups to use its Llama AI models. Techcrunch.com reports that the program will provide companies ‘direct support from the Llama team, and will even include funding in some cases. Companies that are accepted into the program can get up to $6000 a month for up to 6 months to help offset costs of building and enhancing their generative AI solutions. Meta says that the Llama models have been downloaded over a billion times now. 

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


Google I/O Underway; Apple WWDC Dates & Predictions; Nintendo Using Samsung Chips for the Switch 2; The Take It Down Act Signed into Law

Google I/O- The keynote by Sundar Pichai kicked off the event at 10 Pacific this morning. The CEO jumped right in to AI, summarizing Gemini 2.5 progress and developer adaption. 9to5google.com reports that Pichai is claiming that Google Search is bringing AI to more people than any product in the world. Project Starline 3D video conferencing has been renamed Google Beam. The CEO touted Google Meet speech translation, saying it is like having a human interpreter on a call. Google says Gemini Live Camera and screen sharing is coming to iOS. As with Microsoft and others, Gemini is getting an Agent Mode. It’s all about the AI agents at the moment. For Gmail, Google is going to give us personalized smart replies starting later this summer. There’s much more, but with a 2 hour keynote, some of it will have to wait!

Apple has released the dates for this year’s WWDC It will be June 9th to 13th with the tag line ‘On the Horizon.’ According to TechCrunch.com, we should see the usual teases of the updated operating systems, and a lot about Apple Intelligence. Apple is also planning to update the look of its screens in the operating systems for the first time in years. Look for refreshed icons, menus, apps, window, and system buttons…with the emphasis on simplifying navigation and control. Apple will have online group sessions at WWDC for the first time this year. 

Nintendo is using Samsung to produce the primary chips for the Switch 2, including an 8 nanometer processor custom designed by NVIDIA. Engadget.com notes that this is a move away from Taiwan based TSMC, which has built the chips for the original switch since 2017. Nintendo has been buying flash memories and displays from Samsung. The word is, they will build enough chips for Nintendo to ship some 20 million or more Switch 2s by March 2026. 

The president has signed the Take it Down Act, which beefs up federal protections for victims of revenge porn and AI generated sexual images. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Senator Amy Koobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota and Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas. It makes it illegal to “knowingly publish” or threaten to share nonconsensual intimate imagery—whether real or generated by artificial intelligence—without the person’s consent. It also requires tech platforms to remove such images within 48 hours of being notified and to take steps to eliminate duplicate content. Up to now, federal law only banned the creation or distribution of realistic, AI-generated explicit images of children, while protections for adults varied by state. As a result, laws differed in how the crime was classified and penalized, leading to inconsistent criminal prosecutions. Some victims also struggled to have images taken down from websites. This legislation, which garnered overwhelming bipartisan support, marks the first federal law aimed at protecting adult victims.

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


Android Risk of Sideloading-According to Google; Amazon No-Shock New AI Search Angle-Suggesting Products; Rivian Births Micromobility Startup; Military Vehicles Getting Mixed Reality Windshields

Google has dropped a number on the risk of side loading Android apps, and it is a bit jaw-dropping. Androidpolice.com reports that Google says apps downloaded from places outside the Google Play Store are 50 times more likely to contain malware than apps from the Play Store. Google says its ‘stronger privacy policies’ and ‘AI-powered threat detection’ has prevented some 2.36 million suspicious apps from getting into the Play Store. Sometimes you can get some really cool apps from outside Google….or even by skirting Apple’s App Store…which Apple makes much more difficult. As always, just be extra careful of the source when you do so. 

Amazon…like all Big Tech…is going full bore on AI. They even have an AI assistant they call Rufus in the Amazon app now. Well, geekwire.com says now Amazon is using generative AI for a new feature called “Interests” that turns natural language queries into product recommendations — and updates shoppers when new items match their prompt. If you thought Amazon was really ‘sticky’ before as far as getting you to spend time on their platform and buy more, just wait! At present, the feature is only available to a small subset of US users on the website and mobile, but the online giant plans to roll it out to more people in the coming months. If that isn’t enough…well, according to CNBC, they are also testing a new chatbot for health and wellness questions. 

Rivian has spun off a division that has been something of the CEO’s baby since before he even founded the auto company in 2009. The focus will be on so-called ‘micro mobility.’ According to TechCrunch.com, the new firm is called Also. The team comes from Apple, Google, Specialized, Tesla, REI, and Uber. Although they haven’t been totally specific, the ‘micro mobility’ vehicle admittedly has a bike-like profile. Rivian’s CEO Scaringe will serve on the new spin off’s board, and Rivian holds a minority stake in the company. They plan to leverage Rivian’s tech, retail presence, and economies of scale. They hope to have a flagship product in production by next year. Scaringe has made it clear that they want to make a micro mobility product at affordable prices. The vehicle will have a screen, computers, and a battery. He has complained that nice e-bikes can run $6-8,000, or even $10 grand. It looks very much like they are aiming to make an e-bike or similar vehicle with top shelf performance for a fraction of the price, leveraging Rivian’s tech. 

A Finnish startup called Distance Technologies has come out of stealth with a tech it says can turn any transparent surface into a Mixed Reality Display. Thenextweb.com notes that the startup has the deep-pocketed backing of Google. Further, they are partnering with Patria to try out the tech on that defense firm’s armored vehicles. The partners will jointly develop a heads-up display for Patria’s six-wheel drive armored personnel carrier. The system will display 3D tactical data, terrain mapping, and AI-driven military insights directly onto the windshield, allowing military personnel to see in low-visibility environments like darkness and smoke. While Mixed Reality windshields on military 6 wheeled vehicles may not excite you, the thing is…this sort of tech always finds its way into commercial civilian use. With actual self driving still years away (and always promised within months…for at least the last 10 years), think about this tech making it easier to drive at night or through thick fog…hopefully not smoke, like on a battlefield! An unique feature of the display is that it isn’t static like on your car- if it has one. This tech tracks the user’s eye movements and then displays the correct light field to match where they are looking! The system is allegedly capable of ‘infinite’ pixel depth…that should mean indistinguishable from natural light.

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


Apple Announces WWDC 2025; Google Bows Next-Gen AI Reasoning Model; Europe Goes for Alternatives to US Cloud Services; Napster…Napster! Sells for $207 Million

Apple has announced WWDC 2025. The dates are June 9 through the 13th at Apple Park in Cupertino. 9to5mac.com notes that the event will be ‘entirely online’ and that it’s free for developers. There will, however, be an in-person special event at Apple Park on June 9. Space for that in-person event is limited, and details on how to apply to attend can be found on the WWDC25 website. As usual, we should see previews of all the next wave of operating system updates: iOS19, MacOS 16, and all the rest. We have already reported that the word is that iOS 19 will be “one of the most dramatic software overhauls” in Apple’s history. The update will reportedly refresh the design of icons, menus, apps, windows, and more. It will also simplify how users navigate and control their devices. 

Google has rolled out Gemini 2.5 and a new family of AI reasoning models that they say pause to ‘think’ before answering a question. The question is, will they answer questions correctly? We’re going to find out. According to techcrunch.com, the new family of reasoning models include Gemini 2.5 Pro, Experimental, a multimodal, reasoning AI model that the company claims is its most intelligent model yet. This model will be available on Tuesday in the company’s developer platform, Google AI Studio, as well as in the Gemini app for subscribers to the company’s $20-a-month AI plan, Gemini Advanced. In the future, Google says all its new AI models will have reasoning capabilities baked in. 

With all the disruption coming from the present Trump administration, European companies and governments are looking for alternatives to the big US cloud Services…like Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services. Days ago, the Dutch House of Representatives just passed eight motions requiring their government to reduce reliance on US tech companies and move to European alternatives. A few days prior to that, over 100 organizations signed an open letter to European officials calling for the continent to become “more technologically independent” and saying the status quo creates “security and reliability risks.” Another example of this administration costing US companies money because our allies no longer trust us. What will the next 3 years bring? Hard to tell, but buckle up!

Napster…do you even know a single soul who uses Napster…just sold for $207 million. Engadget.com reports that a company called infinite Reality is the buyer. They say it will be used for marketing in the ‘metaverse.’ The company intends to create virtual 3D spaces for music fans to attend concerts and listening parties…and also to build a sales platform for musicians and labels to sell merch. Will it work…maybe, but $207 million for a circa 1999 platform? All I can say is ‘wow.’

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