YouTube Launches Likeness Detection Tech; Judge Rules Zuckerberg Must Testify in Trial About Social Media Effects on Young Users; Amazon DNS Problem Knocked Out Half the Web; Amazon Plans More Mass Automation 

Posted: October 21, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

YouTube’s likeness detection tech has officially rolled out to eligible creators in the YouTube Partner Program, after a pilot run. Techcrunch.com reports that the tech identifies and manages AI-generated content featuring the likeness of creators, such as their face and voice. It is designed to prevent people from having their likeness misused, whether for endorsing products and services they have not agreed to support or for spreading misinformation. There have been plenty of examples of AI likeness misuse in recent years. On its Creator Insider channel, the company provided instructions on how creators can use the technology. Creators can make a removal request or a copyright request. Creators can also opt out of the tech if they want to.

A judge has ordered Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify at the first trial about the adverse effects of social media on younger users. According to CNBC.com, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Instagram’s Adam Mosseri will also have to testify at the trial slated to start in January. It is alleged that social media companies failed to warn users of features created to ‘be addictive’ and ‘drive compulsive’ behaviors in minors. Meta has moved to stop Zuckerberg and Mosseri from testifiying, and Snap argues that Spiegel testifying would be an ‘abuse of discretion.’

The saga of Amazon Web Services’ huge outage Monday continues. Arstechnica.com notes that it was the biggest outage since last year’s CrowdStrike event. More than 28 AWS services were disrupted, possibly causing billions in damages. Snapchat, Signal, and Reddit went dark. Flights got delayed. Banks and financial services went down. Massive games like Fortnite could not be accessed. Some of Amazon’s own services were hit, too, including its e-commerce platform, Alexa, and Prime Video. Ultimately, millions of businesses simply stopped operating, unable to log employees into their systems or accept payments for their goods. “The incident highlights the complexity and fragility of the Internet, as well as how much every aspect of our work depends on the Internet to work,” Mehdi Daoudi, the CEO of an Internet performance monitoring firm called Catchpoint, told CNN. “The financial impact of this outage will easily reach into the hundreds of billions due to loss in productivity for millions of workers that cannot do their job, plus business operations that are stopped or delayed—from airlines to factories.”

In other Amazon news, Amazon is planning to sell twice as many products by 2033…but the some half million humans that would require may be out of luck. The online giant intends to scale up its robotics operations, and would thereby avoid hiring some 600,000 people! Engadget.com reports that the huge robotics department at Amazon would help it automate 75% of all operations. That will save them a whopping 30 cents on each item packed and delivered to consumers. Ok, to be fair, that 30 cents for all those items does add up to real money. In the short run, Amazon plans to hire 250,000 people for this holiday season.

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

Meta to Sell Targeted Ads Based on Your AI Interaction; Google-Gemini for Home Replaces Assistant; Microsoft Redoes Xbox Game Pass Plans; Disney Lost 1.7 Million Subscribers over Kimmel Suspension

Posted: October 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As if they didn’t have a big enough trove of information on all of us that can be used to sell targeted ads, now Meta will sell targeted ads based on data in your AI chats. You may have noticed the push for AI in Messages and Facebook…it’s right there like it was a person on your friends list. TechCrunch.com reports that if you ask the Meta AI about hiking or camping, you will see ads for appropriate gear for those activities. Of course the targeting will work across platforms. If you are logged in to both Facebook and Instagram, you will get targeted ads that are based on AI interactions with either platform. Meta did say it has no immediate plans to put ads directly in the AI products. Wow, that’s a real relief. 

Google has bowed new hardware, and along with that, they have replaced Google Assistant with Gemini for Home. According to 9to5google.com, there are 10 new voices, with what is touted as more natural pacing and intonation. With the new Gemini, commands no longer have to follow a specific structure to work. You don’t have to remember device names now, and you can string multiple instructions together and it will process all of them. Google is claiming you can now talk to Gemini for Home as if it was a person. New AI cameras are supposed to be able to tell you what’s happening…for example, you can asked if a critter ate your plants outdoors, or if a family member got home. Google says their redesigned app runs faster, too. 

Microsoft has rejiggered their Xbox Game Pass plans and surprise….there’s a price hike, too! Theverge.com notes that as of today, Game Pass Ultimate will jump from $19.99 a month to $29.99 a month! That’s up 50%! Xbox Game Pass Core is being rebranded Game Pass Essential, and the standard plan is now Game Pass Premium. Microsoft says all 3 plans are getting bigger libraries and unlimited cloud gaming. 45 new games are out for Ultimate as of today. 

Boycotts work! Engadget.com reports that The Handbasket is saying Disney lost more than 1.7 million subscribers to their paid streaming plans from September 17th to the 23rd. If you figure most were being dinged for about $20 a month, I calculate that this is a hit of around $400 million a year for the House of Mouse. THAT more than anything, is what brought Kimmel back. Money talks, and bullshit walks…as we used to say in the car business.

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

Meta Connect 2025; Google Brings Gemini Button to Chrome; ICE Signs Deal For Phone Hack Software; Nvidia Will Put $5 Billion into Intel for New Co-Developed Chips

Posted: September 18, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The Meta Connect keynote was last night, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the predicted smart glasses with a display. Theverge.com reports they are called Meta Ray-Ban Display…I know, really creative naming here…but they do have a full-color, hi-res screen in the right lens. You can see messages, take video calls, read live captions, see walking directions, and preview pics you plan to take with a built-in 12 megapixel cam. The display is controlled with a wristband. Meta says the glasses can run up to 6 hours with ‘mixed use’ on a charge, and you can get up to 30 hours with the collapsable charging case. The new Display glasses start at $799, and come in black or brown…same colors for the wrist band. They are available in the US starting September 30th at Best Buy, LensCrafters, and Ray-Ban stores. 

Google is rolling out new features for Chrome. The biggie, according to them, is a new button that launches the Gemini chatbot…be still my heart. According to wired.com, there are new tools for searching, researching, and answering questions with AI. On Android, you can already use parts of Gemini within the Chrome app, and the AI features are coming to iOS Chrome users ‘soon.’ 

In a chilling move, ICE has signed a $3 million dollar contract with the company that makes Graykey, the phone hacking and unlocking device that is already in use by many governments and police agencies. TechCrunch.com notes that the deal covers the HSI…Homeland Security Investigations unit of ICE. The Graykey box was originally developed by Grayshift, but Magnet Forensics merged with them in 2023, and they operate under the Magnet Forensics name now. This isn’t shocking, but just one more tool besides face recognition software from Clearview AI and cell phone spyware from Paragon that ICE is now using.

Nvidia will pump $5 billion into Intel, to co-develop new server and PC chips. Arstechnica.com says this will give Nvidia approximately 4% of Intel. Apparently, the chips will be custom x86 chips that Intel builds to Nvidia’s specifications. Nvidia will then integrate the CPUs into its AI infrastructure platforms, and offer them to the market. 

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

China Blocks Sale of Nvidia AI Chips; Meta Connect is Tonight; Waymo Finally Gets SFO Permit; Apple MacBook Pro With OLED Display & Touch Screen Coming

Posted: September 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The trade war continues, now with China’s Cyberspace Administration telling companies this week…including ByteDance and Alibaba…to stop testing and ordering Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D AI chips. The verge.com reports that the chips were just introduced a couple months ago, and are specifically designed for China. China appears to be pressing Chinese tech companies to stop relying on Nvidia and utilize Chinese made chips, on order for China to compete better with the US in the AI race. 

Meta Connect launches this evening with a keynote from Mark Zuckerberg. According to engadget.com, we should get a pretty detailed update on Meta’s smart glasses…including the rumored ones with built-in displays, which have been code named ‘Hypernova’ internally. Zuck may give a timeline for introducing the next gen glasses, and even pricing. Right now, it doesn’t appear that there will be any update to the latest Quest VR headsets, which were just rolled out last year. The keynote is at 5 PM Pacific, and is available on stream at the Meta Connect 2025 site. 

Waymo has finally scored a permit to start testing robotaxis at San Francisco International Airport. CNBC.com notes that Waymo will partner with the airport to roll out the service in phases…starting with employee testing, and then moving on to riders from the general public. The taxis will start out with human safety drivers aboard, but eventually will operate as a driverless ride hailing service. 

Apple is apparently planning a major upgrade to the MacBook Pro next year. Bgr.com reports that the upcoming MacBook will not only have an M6 chip, but also may get an OLED screen…and get this…analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will have a touchscreen like an iPad. That would be a huge move for Apple. It also, as Kuo notes, blurs the line between iPads and MacBooks. Personally, I think a MacBook with a touchscreen could be a big help with productivity…being able to use a keyboard or touch screen could really make work intuitive and faster. The laptop is also rumored to be thinner and have cellular connectivity built in.

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

Made by Google Event; PlayStation 5 Gets Price Hike; 370K Grok Chats Public-No Consent; Meta Reshuffles AI ‘Superintellegence’ Lab-AGAIN

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

The Made by Google event was earlier today. The Pixel phones all got some upgrades. The Pixel 10 gets a telephoto lens…that means all the phones in the series now have 3 cameras. 9to5google.com reports that the new lens is a 10.8 MB 5X telephoto with 20 times Super Res Zoom. There is also a new 48MP wide lens replacing the 50 MP one, which has ‘improved’ image stabilization. The ultra wide drops from 48 MP to 13, but records 10 bit HDR by default. The Pixel 10 runs on a Tensor G5 chip with 12 Gigs of RAM. The Wi-Fi drops back to 6E from 7, but the phones get Bluetooth 6 now. The 10 is available in Obsidian, Frost, Lemongrass, and Indigo starting at $799. The Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL get some minor refinements. The 6.3 inch model gets a 4870 mAh battery and 15 Watt Qi2 charging. The 6.8 inch phone gets a whopping 5200 mAh battery and 25W Qi 2.2 charging. Both are supposed to run over 30 hours without a charge. The Pro starts at $999 and the Pro XL at $1199. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold gets an upgraded wide camera, and has 16 gigs of RAM…and you can get up to a terabyte of storage. The Fold starts at $1799.

We have heard rumors about the upcoming iPhone line getting a $50 price bump in September. Now, here’s a firm $50 price hike…this one to the Sony PlayStation 5. According to gizmodo.com, Sony posted that it was in  “a challenging economic environment,” which is common code for steering the ship around supply chain and manufacturing issues caused by Trump’s obsession with import taxes. The price raise kicks in tomorrow, August 21st. Rival Microsoft already boosted its digital Xbox Series X console prices up to $550 back in May…also in response to the Trump tariffs. 

Grok has published over 370,000 AI chats on its website to the public, without getting permission from the users first. 9to5mac.com notes that xAI, the Elon Musk company that makes Grok, also published photos, spreadsheets, and other uploaded documents. Grok has a share button which creates a unique URL, allowing users to share the conversation with someone else by sending them the link. However, those links were made available to search engines, meaning that anybody could be given access to chats rather than just those who were sent the link. Users were given no warning that the contents one their chats would be available to the public. 

Meta is at it again, with another revision of its so-called Superintellegence Labs. Techcrunch.com reports that this iteration will be helmed by Alexandr Wang, who joined Meta in June as Chief AI Officer. The main part of the AI organization is the TBD Labs, which will focus on Meta’s Llama large language model. As we have reported previously, Meta has dumped crazy money into attracting top AI talent in an effort to keep in the hunt with rivals Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

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

Jury-Meta Violated CA Privacy Over Flo Data; VPN Use Up Dramatically in the UK; Former Taiwan Semi Staff Arrested-Stealing Chip Trade Secrets; Google New AI Model-Creates Video Game Worlds in Real Time

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

A California jury has found that Meta violated California privacy laws, by surreptitiously collecting FLO users’ menstrual health data. TechCrunch.com reports that the info was collected without user consent and it was used for ad-tracking purposes. The plaintiffs, claiming to represent millions of Flo users, had accused Flo and Meta of collecting private health data, like their period dates and fertility goals, via Flo’s app without permission, therefore violating California Invasion of Privacy Act. Besides Flo and Meta, the 2021 suit also named ad analytics companies AppFlyers and Flurry as defendants. Attorneys for the lead plaintiffs said in a statement “Companies like Meta that covertly profit from users’ most intimate information must be held accountable. Today’s outcome reinforces the fundamental right to privacy—especially when it comes to sensitive health data.”  Meta understandably disagreed with the verdict, and is exploring legal options. 

The United Kingdom is pressing ahead with their Online Safety Act, which is intended to bring ‘age assurance,’ so that kids can’t view pornography or health-threatening sites like ones that lionize dangerous thinness. Now, according to techdirt.com, the use of VPNs, virtual private networks, has spiked dramatically. One, Proton VPN, reported an 1800% increase in UK sign-ups. Five of the top 10 free apps on Apple’s UK app store in the United Kingdom are VPNs. A heck of a lot of people don’t want to upload a government ID or selfie to get past the invasive age verification systems. Ah, the law of unintended consequences. A law supposedly designed to protect children now requires victims of sexual assault to submit government IDs to access support communities. People struggling with addiction must undergo facial recognition scans to find help quitting drinking or smoking. The UK government has somehow concluded that access to basic health information and peer support networks poses such a grave threat to minors that it justifies creating a comprehensive surveillance infrastructure around it. Even Wikipedia is threatening to limit access in the UK, saying the law is unworkable. 

Industrial espionage never rests. Three people, including a couple former employees of Taiwan Semiconductor, have been arrested from allegedly stealing proprietary tech from Apple’s chip partner. This all according to appleinsider.com, citing Taiwanese prosecutors. The theft dealt with TSMC’s 2-nanometer production process. Tokyo Electron may be involved, but prosecutors declined to say if a search of that firm was carried out. Apple, a major…or THE major client of TSMC, is expected to be among the first to get chips using the 2-nanometer process…and that could happen as soon as later this year. Just to refresh how small things are getting in chips…a human hair is 80,000 to 100,000 nanometers wide!

Google DeepMind has revealed a new iteration of its AI ‘world’ model, Genie 3, and it can generate 3D environments that users and agents can interact with in real time. Theverge.com reports that users are going to be able to interact with the worlds for a lot longer and the model will remember where things are when you look away from them. so far, the model is only launched as ‘a limited research preview’ which is open to ‘a small cohort of academics and creators’. Google hasn’t announced when it might be out to the general public.

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

Feds Throw Cash at AI Companies; Apple-$500 Million to Buy US Rare Earth Magnets; Meta Building a 5 GW AI Data Center; New Find-My Compatible Wallet Card 

Posted: July 15, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uncle Sam is handing out the cash to the top AI firms, having them develop military applications. The $200 million grants went to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI. Engadget.com says the money will be used to “develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas.” In other words, this is primarily for military applications. A press release says the move will “broaden” the Department of Defense’s use of AI to “address critical national security needs.” The release continued, noting that this will “accelerate the use of advanced AI” in the “warfighting domain.” As part of this effort, CDAO will be providing access to the latest generative AI models to “Combatant Commands, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff.” What is CDAO? Oh, how the government loves these appreciations. It stands for Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. 

Apple has announced a $500 million multi-year commitment to buy US made rare earth magnets. According to macrumors.com, they have been developed  and are being built in a state of the art plant by MP Materials at a factory in Fort Worth, TX. Already, close to all the magnets in Apple devices are made from 100% recycled rare earth elements. The companies are partnering to build a rare earth recycling line in Mountain Pass, CA, too. Apple says the new ventures will support dozens of new US jobs in manufacturing and R&D, and will be part of its overall pledge to spend more than $500 billion in the US over the next 4 years.

Meta is building a data center dubbed Hyperion which will supply their new AI lab with 5 gigawatt of computational power. Techcrunch.com notes that this is Meta’s latest move to get a leg up on OpenAI and Google in the AI race. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Hyperion’s footprint will be large enough to cover most of Manhattan. The actual center will be located in Louisiana, however. The center will be online with 2 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2030, but will scale up to 5 within several years. I note that I say, gigawatts, which is the accepted pronunciation…despite Doc Brown in Back to The Future saying Jigawatts. A lot of fans of the movie still pronounce it that way.

If you use Apple’s Find My system with the Air Tags, you know they are handy for most things, but not so much for a wallet. There are third party vendors who make wallet sized cards though. I have used one from Chipolo for several years. It is about double the thickness of a credit card. the only down side is, when the battery goes, you have to buy a new one…it isn’t replaceable. Macrumors.com reports that Native Union has come out with the Find It Card and Find It tag, which work with Apple’s Find My system. They go the Chipolo one a bit better…as the wallet card lasts about 6 months on the battery charge….then can be recharged with a MagSafe Qi based charger! At $40, a much better deal than a no-deposit, no return one like I have used. Native Union also makes a little round device with a hole drilled in it called the Find It Tag. That one is designed to go on your luggage or a key chain with a little wire ring. It’s $20, and has a replaceable CR2032 battery that lasts a year..same battery as the Air Tags use. 

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

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

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

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

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. 

Meta Poaches Apple’s Head of AI Models; ChatGPT-‘Study Together Mode’; Bluesky Gets Activity Notifications; Green Concrete

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

Meta has poached Apple’s head of AI models. Techcrunch.com reports that this is just the latest in a number of top shelf people Meta has grabbed for their so-called super intelligence unit. Ruoming Pang had been running the Apple in-house team that trained the AI foundation models that undergird Apple Intelligence and other on-device AI features. Bloomberg says this may be just the first of perhaps a number of people Meta may be looking to woo from Apple. Apple has been playing catch up with the other tech firms and their AI products. They are far behind OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta. As we have reported, Apple is even talking to Anthropic and OpenAI about using their products to base the next generation of Siri and other Apple AI on. 

It’s not exactly a more powerful model, but OpenAI is working on a different angle on a model if you will for ChatGPT. According to bgr.com, they have something new called ChatGPT ‘Study Together’. It has already started rolling out to some ChatGPT Plus users. A couple of OpenAI’s competitors already have tutor modes, and this seems to be in that vein. Instead of a student asking it questions, this model will allegedly ask questions that guide students to find answers themselves. The idea is to get people to think more, not just use the large language model to answer questions or solve homework problems. No word yet on when it will be generally released or how it might be priced.

Bluesky has been slowly adding features. One that has been missing until now, that was available on old Twitter and other sites was the ability to turn on notifications for specific accounts. Now, with Activity Notifications, that feature is live. Theverge.com notes that you can simply hit the bell icon on a page you want to get notifications from, and away you go. It works with news sites if that’s your thing, or you can use it to be notified of friends’ posts, too. Another addition is that you can set Bluesky to notify people if someone likes or reposts something they have posted. 

Researchers at the University of Washington and Microsoft Research have used machine learning to develop a novel solution for trapping carbon in concrete by blending a sustainable, easy-to-grow green seaweed into the industrial batter that makes concrete, all without reducing its strength. Geekwire.com reports that the process lowers the cement’s global warming impact by 21%. Concrete in and of itself isn’t an issue, but the making of it produces some 8-11% of global carbon emissions. Scientists have been trying to curb its carbon footprint by using clean energy to generate the heat needed to produce it, and by swapping different ingredients. The product here uses dehydrated seaweed to make a high performing, lower carbon concrete. As a friend who was in that business often reminded me, cement is an ingredient of concrete…although lots of us who are laypersons tend to use the terms interchangeably. 

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

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