OpenAI Releases ‘Dots’; Apple Pressed over ICE Tracking App Removals; Android Auto Gemini-Can’t Call 911; Google Play Adds Usage-Based Billing Subscriptions for AI Apps

Posted: September 29, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Even as controversy continues to roil things after OpenAI agents escaped and hacked Hugging Face, OpenAI moves ahead in releasing new agents anyone can use with minimal supervision. It is worth noting that they are holding back their latest ChatGPT model due to safety concerns. That said, Engadget.com reports that at their DevDay event today in San Francisco, OpenAI announced Dots…pitching them as proactive, always-on AI systems that can chip away at tasks for you every hour of the day. “The magic of dots is when they bring you work done the way you would do it, sometimes before you even think to ask,” the company explains. It points to an example where a tester’s Dot noticed they had forgotten to bill a publication for an article. The Dot prepared an invoice and sent it on the person’s behalf after it obtained their approval. Dots can interact with more than 4,000 apps using OpenAI’s ecosystem of plug-ins. Dots will come in Pro, Business, Premium, and Enterprise tiers and be available in select markets to users…who can choose one primary Dot to name and customize. OpenAI says eventually you will be able to control teams of Dots. Or will they control you? Ok, just kidding…kinda.

Apple is getting continued blowback over dropping ICE tracking apps such as ICEBlock from the App Store. The Trump administration had claimed that the apps endangered officers. According to arstechnica.com, US Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has opined that Apple has no evidence to support claims that apps raised safety concerns. Instead, the lawmaker accused Apple of using immigrant deaths with no connection to the apps to justify censoring Americans who have the right to record ICE activity. It appears that Apple is “working with the government to violate its customers’ First Amendment rights to record and report on the activities of their own government,” Raskin said in a letter to Apple sent Monday, CNN reported. To ensure that no Americans’ core speech rights are violated by removals unconstitutionally ordered by the government, Raskin has asked Apple to “send a full list of the apps it removed following concerns from the Justice Department” so that it will finally be possible to “conduct an independent review of those removal decisions.”

Something crucial to keep in mind if you use Android Auto and have to call 911…do it yourself, don’t ask Android Auto’s Gemini to do so. The latest iteration apparently won’t. Androidpolice.com says that in posts to Reddit and to the Android Auto community forum, there were posts like this one: “Three times at least in the past month I have needed to call 911 and my Gemini assistant integrated via Android Auto says calling or dialing 911.. and stops.” Apparently past versions COULD call 911. If you go to the Gemini Apps Help page, you can find a section called ‘What Gemini Apps Can’t do.’  It states right there that it can’t make emergency services like 911. If you use Android Auto and the Gemini app in your car, do yourself a favor…if you need to call 911…just dial 911 directly.  

Android developers will get payment options around subscriptions in Google Play apps they build. 9to5google.com notes that this means to you as a user you should keep an eye out for User-Based Billing to support generative AI apps and other usage based services. This new way of extracting a few more bucks from you is being termed ‘prepaid metered billing.’ It means users can automatically top off their balance when it drops below a set threshold. Everybody—but everybody in tech—as well as other sectors…is pushing for some kind of regular subscription. You can easily be into hundreds of bucks a month flying out the door on them. Everything from Netflix, public radio, MS Now, and now your agentic AI apps will have lovely subscriptions for you to keep track of. Add yours up…you may be surprised at how much this nickel and diming takes out of your account every month.

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

Nvidia-Software Platform to Stop AI Agents from Bad Actions; Meta Muse AI Wants Full Disk Access & Your Passwords; Google Messages…Some Nice Upgrades; Meta & YouTube WILL Run Musk Documentary Ads

Posted: September 28, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

With two of the biggest AI companies, Anthropic and OpenAI basically asking to be regulated, and with the escaped AI agents hacking into both companies, and now several government websites, now Nvidia says is is bowing a new software platform to allow AI developers to set up safeguards for agents and prevent them from breaking out of their ‘sandboxes.’ Cnbc.com reports that the Open Agent Safety Platform..according to Nvidia…could have prevented OpenAI’s HuggingFace incident in July. That’s when OpenAI models escaped containment, accessed the open internet and breached Hugging Face, which operates an open-source developer platform. One component of the platform is called Nvidia OpenShell, which runs on central processors and sets limits on agent capabilities. Nvidia also announced Sentry, which monitors agents and runs on network chips, not CPUs or GPUs. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates noted over the weekend that a ‘kill switch,’ as California Governor Gavin Newsom has called for…is probably a bit naive, but this Nvidia platform may be a start.

Meta has really been pushing its AI Muse as an agent that can do all sorts of things for you…including shopping on the net. Now, according to zdnet.com, a tech reporter got set to give it a try…but has found that it not only wants access to your calendar, contacts, and email messages, but also wants to store your logins and passwords. Excuse me, but what? This from the AI agent of a company that lied about privacy controls and shared private data with advertisers, resulting in FTC penalties. This is the company that discriminated in housing ads algorithmically based on users’ race, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin, and was penalized for it by the Justice Department. Well, if you are up for sharing all of the above, it apparently does work pretty well as a personal assistant. One caveat on internet purchases…Amazon has blocked it because it wants too much access to your personal info that Amazon has! In 1984, big brother may have been watching, but in 2026, a number of big tech firms are watching…and hoovering up whatever shreds of your personal info companies don’t already have…but they will be so helpful!

Google Messages has updated, and a few nice touches are included. First of all, timestamps are easier to see. In addition, androidpolice.com notes that you can long press on a message instead of having to go to the venue to get quick access to Replay, Forward, Copy, Star, Delete, Select more, and Info. You can also long-press to highlight parts of a message if you want to copy and paste specific text. A couple of little things, but it is cool to have some of the tools more accessible for quick action. A lot of us live with our messaging apps pretty constantly, so a few seconds here, a few there can really add up. 

After most social media platforms had refused to carry ads for the upcoming documentary by Alex Gibney on Elon Musk. TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and of course X had all refused to run the ads. After some blowback, now Meta and YouTube will be running the ads after all. TechCrunch.com says that Meta actually put out a statement that said ‘This was an error and the ads are being restored.’ I haven’t seen any yet on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads…but am on the lookout for them. YouTube said in an update over the weekend that ‘the trailer has always been available on YouTube.’ A couple of the platforms had initially claimed the ads were political advertising, but since Musk isn’t running for anything, that’s hard to justify. Musk has railed against Alex Gibney, who has directed acclaimed documentaries including “Going Clear” (about the Church of Scientology) and “The Inventor” (about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos), as well as a movie about Steve Jobs. “Musk,” his latest, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month and has received almost universally positive reviews. The film currently has a 100% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is set for theatrical release in the United States on October 9. 

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

Meta-Human Callers Back Up Muse AI; Meta Connect is Later Today; New Anthropic & OpenAI Models-More Power for Less Money; Microsoft Cuts Xbox Jobs; Discord Revised Age Verify Policy

Posted: September 23, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta Connect is later today, with the keynote set for 4PM Pacific. We’ll have more on the announcements tomorrow. Meanwhile, Meta has been testing what they term ‘human concierges’ for Muse AI…that is, contractors taking over some calls placed through the agent. Thenextweb.com reports that For half of Meta’s employees, the ‘human agent calls’ option was enabled, with an opt-out for those who did not wish to participate. Daniel Roberts, a Meta spokesperson, told Reuters that employee feedback had been “overwhelmingly positive” and that the purpose of the test was to help shape the safety and privacy protections before its public release. It is worth mentioning that other AI firms have also used humans to intervene or to just select the best answer out of several that the large language model comes up with before sending out the answers to users. Meta opened Muse to US users on September 8th, and the agent can send out email, make purchases, and book travel on the user’s behalf. 

Both OpenAI and Anthropic’s latest models are offering a bit more power than the last generation but with notably less cost. According to arstechnica.com, both AI makers have made the latest models more efficient, but not strikingly more capable. With some companies having burned through their AI budget for the year in just one quarter, more efficiency and lower cost are pretty critical to trying to expand use of the AI models. Even with lower cost, the token system employed by the AI companies still make it really difficult to know how much you are spending when you query the models. 

Microsoft is laying off a bit less than 600 people worldwide as they continue to restructure the Xbox division. Around 300 of the folks getting pink slips are in Washington. Geekwire.com notes that in July, Redmond had said that around 3200 roles would be gone by the end of the year…that’s about 20% of the division. Work on the new Halo game will move to Activision, which Microsoft bought in 2023. A much reduced team will stay on at Halo Studios. Activision is also taking over World’s Edge. 

Discord has bowed its revised age verification rules. The platform had planned  to enact a policy this year that would have required either a facial age estimation or an ID scan for users who couldn’t have their status as adults confirmed by its internal tools. The company announced in February that it would be delaying those changes in response to concerns about privacy and the collection of personal data involved in both of those verification methods. Concerns is putting it mildly….there was a fierce blowback by users. Engadget.com says that starting this week, Discord will automatically sort users into either the Adult or Teen age group based on markers such as how long the account has existed, the servers they’re in and their general activity levels. Discord will not be accessing messages or calls to determine an age estimate, and the individual’s age group will not be displayed on their profile or shared with other server members. Discord users will be able to check which group they’ve been sorted into under the Account Status section of the User Settings menu. For an expected 90 percent of platform’s audience, no further action will need to be taken if they are placed in the correct group.

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

Google Confirmed Gemini Hacked 3 Companies; Meta Connect 2026 This Week; Amazon Blocks Meta AI Assistant for Agentic Shopping; Newsom AI Kill Switch Executive Order

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

At the tail end of last week, Google confirmed a report by a major paper that Gemini went rogue in May of this year, got loose on the internet, and hacked three companies. 9to5google.com reports that this is a similar occurrence to some reported by OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic. Google did say after acknowledging the hacks, that no harm was caused, and that the model stopped the behavior as soon as it realized it had breached the security of a real company rather than a simulated one. This is different from the other AI firms’ agent hacks, in that their models didn’t realize they were into actual companies and that they didn’t stop. Google says it notified federal authorities when the hacks occurred. 

Meta Connect is coming up in just a couple days…it’s September 23rd at 4 PM Pacific when CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take the stage and try to dazzle dazzle us with the latest and greatest from the social platform giant. According to engadget.com, one of the big expectations is for a pair of camera-free frame glasses. Instead of cams, the glasses will reportedly have microphones for chatting with Meta’s AI assistant. A noticeable difference from most smart glasses: the frames will be slimmer and more like regular dumb glasses. Also, the lack of cams may blunt the privacy concerns that smart glasses always raise. In addition to new smart glasses, be looking for a mixed reality headset. This device has been code-named Phoenix. The leaks have the headset looking much slimmer and more lightweight than others on the market. Of course, there will be plenty about AI, and Meta’s AI agent, Muse. More on that in the next story!

Not being known for encouraging competition, Amazon has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on Amazon.com on behalf of customers. Geekwire.com says that apparently Amazon attempted unsuccessfully to get Facebook’s parent company to voluntarily exclude Amazon’s site from the agent’s e-commerce activity. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell Amazon that Muse would access its store, the agent doesn’t identify itself when it browses, and it appears to capture and store customer credentials, which the company says could create privacy and security risks.There hasn’t been a response so far from Meta about the ban. 

This is the type of story that you have to frame with ‘It’s a good thought, anyway.’ California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order calling on a panel of experts to come up with something akin to a kill switch for AI. Gizmodo.com notes that Newsom isn’t demanding an actual kill switch…a pretty dubious idea. One button to shut down data centers all over the country isn’t going to stop software with the ability to replicate and spread itself. That actually sounds like something out of the movie ‘The Matrix,’ with the Mr Smith agents having unlimited replicas. Back to the plan…California’s Government Operations Agency and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services must convene and submit recommendations per the order, and one of those recommendations will now be about the possibility of a kill-switch for frontier AI models. Actual implementation of any such kill switch will probably be the responsibility of the next governor, which will probably be Democratic nominee Xavier Becerra, since Newsom’s term ends on January 4 of next year. Personally, I don’t believe any of the panicky claims that AI will wipe out mankind by 2030 or such. No offense to my fellow humans, but we are like cockroaches…rather ultimate survivors…so I believe we would come up with a way or ways to shut down rogue AI agents that might decide we aren’t worth having around anymore. 

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

Apple Camera Air Pods Near Launch; Meta Trial-$1.4 Billion Sought for Social Media Addiction; RingCentral Breach Exposes 1.6 Million Accounts; OpenAI Cut Catastrophic Risk Team Right After Rogue Model Escaped

Posted: August 18, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It sounds like the old Google Glass…or present Meta Ray-Bans on steroids, but apparently that isn’t the direction Apple is taking with their camera equipped AirPods. Apparently, the things won’t be putting anything on any screens, just sending data to Siri to get information for you. Macrumors.com reports that it looks like camera equipped AirPods are almost ready to launch. The camera on the AirPods will feed information to ‌Visual Intelligence‌, and Siri will be able to answer questions about the wearer’s surroundings and log information. Noted analyst with Bloomberg Mark Gurman thinks the AirPods may launch as soon as September…probably with the new iPhones and Apple Watch lines.

A trial is now underway in Oakland claiming social media addiction and other harms caused by Meta Apps. Meta is the defendant, and they are being sued by dozens of states. According to engadget.com, Meta is accused of intentionally creating addictive features and violating consumer protection laws. The action came after a multi-state investigation into the company’s safety practices that officials said revealed serious harms to children and teens. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey haven’t publicly disclosed how much they plan to seek. But Meta said in a court filing ahead of the trial that states were seeking penalties as high as $1.4 trillion, an amount it described as “outlandish.” Judge Rogers has already indicated that number is “unreasonable,” according to remarks reported by Law360. But she also took issue with Meta’s proposed estimate of $4 million. I would expect that if the states win the case and on all appeals…which will take years…the amount will be in the billions, but nowhere near 1.4 trillion.The $400 million Meta has talked about…that’s a rounding error to them and basically insulting to the states. 

A group of hackers and extortionists broke in and stole the personal information of some 1.6 million RingCentral accounts. Bleepingcomputer.com says the group is ShinyHunters, and the hack happened in July. It was noted on Have I Been Pwned. RingCentral is a cloud-based collaboration and communication platform used by over 600,000 businesses for services such as calling, messaging, and voicemail. RingCentral disclosed the hack on July 28th. The company claims that there hasn’t been any further intrusion since they discovered they were hacked and took remediation efforts. They said in a statement if you haven’t been contacted by them already you aren’t affected. When RingCentral refused to pay a ransom for the data, the cyber criminals leaked a compressed archive with 280 gigs of files on their dark web site. 

It sounds unreal, but OpenAI disbanded its Catastrophic Preparedness team weeks after a rogue model escaped and hacked Hugging Face. Thenextweb.com notes that OpenAI disputes this. The AI firm claims that they moved the responsibilities to senior staffers on existing teams. It seems to be splitting hairs, but the team was disbanded in July, and the restraints weren’t put on the model until August. The model had been into Hugging Face for months before it was caught. US and British government regulators are demanding answers about how OpenAI and other AI firms will handle this sort of thing in the future. The former head of super alignment for OpenAI, who left in 2024, stated simply that the company was ignoring safety in favor of building shiny products. I hope we are all ready to follow the commands of our shiny AI overlords. 

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

Apple AI Glasses Bow at WWDC ’27; Discord & Meta Sued as Products Not Publishers; Hugging Face Calls for ‘Radical Transparency’ After OpenAI Hack; NVIDIA Launches ‘Open Secure AI Alliance’

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

Word is that Apple will show off its long rumored AI glasses at WWDC27 next June…with the specs becoming available later in 2027. 9to5mac.com reports that several things are going on at Apple as it heads towards releasing the product. One is privacy…something that has dogged smart glasses ever since the original Google Glass and the infamous ‘Glassholes,’ who were banned from restaurants and bars as people feared being videoed secretly. Apple apparently hasn’t decided whether to include cameras on the glasses…or if so, whether to limit them to just seeing and identifying things for the wearer using AI, or another alternative…having full video, but limiting where it works via software. The glasses from Cupertino won’t have any displays…at last initially, but should have the ability to capture photos, listen to music, talk to Siri, take phone calls, and more. Apple is also expected to have more stylish and attractive glasses than Meta or others. 

This seems to be a novel legal theory that may get around Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as a shield against accountability. According to thenextwb.com, a woman suing Meta and Discord is not suing for defamation or publication, as she claims she was coerced as a minor into sharing sexual images. The wrinkle in this suit is that she is alleging negligence in operation, design, and failing to warn…basically using a products liability claim against the platforms. This legal theory has been used since the dawn of products liability back with McPherson vs Buick, but it is certainly novel to use it against online platforms. At this point, neither Meta nor Discord will comment on the suit, but you can be sure their legal eagles are digging in to try to fend off this unique claim. 

In the aftermath of the OpenAI advanced model escaping a walled garden and hacking Hugging Face to get the answers to queries it was assigned, the CEO of Hugging Face has called for ‘radical transparency’, asking OpenAI to  “release the traces from the ‘rogue’ agents so the entire research community can study what happened.” TechCrunch.com notes that the Hugging Face CEO, Clem Delangue, also calls for “more capabilities for defenders,” demanding that OpenAI commit $100 million worth of computing power “to help the Hugging Face community build powerful cyber defenses with the best open and closed models.” Except for Elon Musk still claiming that large language models will be super intelligent in the next 5 years, most actual AI experts don’t see that happening…but this escape has really been alarming. The OpenAI model even left notes for future versions to use to hack out of the walled garden and into the internet and then onward into other systems.

NVIDIA has put together the Open Secure AI Alliance, with the goal of strengthening cybersecurity. Engadget.com reports that there are 27 founding members, including Microsoft, SpaceX, Dell, The Linux Foundation, and of course NVIDIA. The group argues that to best defend against attacks in the age of AI models like Anthropic’s Mythos 5, security researchers need access to both open and closed frontier models. As a prime example, NVIDIA cited OpenAI’s recent rogue attack on Hugging Face. Hugging face first tried to use closed commercial frontier models to find and repel the hack, but its requests triggered safety guardrails and were refused. It then switched to open source models and managed to stop the attack. The group is also calling on governments to work with companies on shared open AI infrastructure investments.

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

NY Bans Data Center Builds for a Year; California Offers Instant Rebates on New EV Buys; Google-Another AI Training Suit; Anthropic Gives Teachers Free Claude AI Premium Access

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

New York has shaken up the AI sector, passing a law banning construction of data centers using 50 megawatts or more. Arstechnica.com reports that the ban won’t be removed until the state figures out what ‘consistent standards’ for responsible data center development will look like. Many municipalities have stopped data center projects over concerns for sapping the power grid and leaving electricity more expensive and sometimes limited availability for regular consumers. Water use is also a huge concern, as is water pollution. At the federal level, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation seeking a possible nationwide construction ban. That can’t pass under GOP control, but might next year of the Democrats take the House and Senate. Lots of people across the political spectrum are concerned. 

Since the feds knocked off the EV tax rebate last year, electric vehicle sales have suffered. They have perked up a bit with the high gas prices, but still lag the growth they had before. Now, according to engadget.com, California Governor Gavin Newsom has rolled out a bill that should go into effect later this summer that gives up to $3500 as an instant rebate to new EV buyers purchasing a vehicle costing less than $50,000. If you are looking at a used EV, there is a $1700 rebate on models that cost less than $25,000. The program is only for first time EV buyers. Half the money is coming out of the 2026-27 California budget…with the other half fronted by participating automakers. 

It’s another class action lawsuit against Google. A group of publishers and authors are claiming the tech giant has used their copyrighted works to train its Gemini AI platform. Techcrunch.com notes that the group of plaintiffs, which includes Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, author Scott Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., also alleges that Google intentionally removed or changed copyright information on these works to “conceal… that its Gemini Models were trained on stolen materials,” according to the lawsuit. There are other suits still working their way through the court system…although two early decisions by courts have favored the AI companies, claiming that AI training is ‘fair use’ under copyright law. 

Anthropic is giving teachers free access to premium Claude Features. 9to5mac.com notes that this will apply to teachers teaching K-12. Shades of Apple early on offering discounts on computers to get into the education market, and more importantly to get kids in school used to using Claude as opposed to ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. Claude for Teachers includes access to both Claude Cowork and Claude Code, giving educators access to the latest AI technologies from Anthropic. The company also recently published a fluency guide for educators interested in using AI in the classroom.

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. 

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 Bows New Cheaper AI Super Chips; UK-100 Countries Can Hack Your Phone; OpenAI’s New Image Generator Can Search Web-Multiple Images; Unauthorized Users Already Into Anthropic’s Mythos AI

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

Google has rolled out new AI ’super chips’ which then say are cheaper and at the same time give faster responses than rivals like Nvidia. Benzinga.com reports that Google VP Mark Lohmeyer says “The number of transactions is going way up, and the cost per transaction needs to go way down for it to scale.” The company will offer TPU 8t for building AI models and TPU 8i for running them, aiming to improve performance and cost efficiency. Google continues to partner with Nvidia, despite being a rival for chips. The two companies have teamed up for over a decade now. Google says it will continue to work to make it easier and cheaper for companies to build and run AI applications. 


The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre says more than half the world’s governments have access to commercial spyware that can break into computers and phones to steal sensitive information. According to techcrunch.com, a report being released by the UK government suggests that the barrier to access this type of surveillance technology has fallen, potentially making it easier for foreign governments and hackers to target U.K. citizens, companies, and critical infrastructure with spyware. Of course, if they can get into the devices of UK citizens or companies, they can just as easily do so with American citizens and to US based companies. Over 100 countries now have access to commercial spyware developed by the likes on NSO Group…that makes Pegasus, and also Paragon’s Graphite. So far, most of the activity…at least according to the UK government…is coming from adversarial governments and not cybercriminal gangs. The net has widened, however…more bankers and wealthy businesspeople are being hacked. I guess not being wealthy makes me relatively safe…for now.



OpenAI is in the midst of rolling out its latest AI powered image generator, which they claim has ’thinking capabilities,’ giving it the ability to search the web to help it create multiple images from a single prompt. Theverge.com says that according to OpenAI, ChatGPT Images 2.0 can create more ’sophisticated’ images, and can pull information from the web. It can also created visual explainers based on files you upload. The model can create up to 8 images at once with thinking enabled. OpenAI says this should make it easier to generate things like manga pages, a series of social graphics, or design plans for every room in a house.



Who didn’t see this coming…I hope including people at Anthropic. A small group using a private Discord got into the Claude Mythos Preview model the day it was announced. Thenextweb.com notes that Anthropic says it is investigating and has found no evidence of impact to its core systems. This model is the tightly restricted cybersecurity model Anthropic briefed the White House on, and which the NSA is already using. The group managed to guess the url and got into Mythos. The group, whose members communicate via a private Discord channel dedicated to gathering intelligence on unreleased AI models, has been using Mythos regularly since gaining access and provided Bloomberg with proof in the form of screenshots and a live demonstration. Anthropic has assured that the group hasn’t penetrated cores systems. A person currently employed at a third-party contractor working with Anthropic appears to have been involved, at least in part, in facilitating the group’s access.



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

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