Switch 2-Fastest Selling Console Ever; X Threatened Lawsuits to Get Advertisers Back; Disney & Universal Sue Midjourney Over Copyright Infringement; New Suit Claims Costco Free Shipping Isn’t Free

Posted: June 11, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

A big win for Nintendo! It’s official…the Switch 2 is the fastest selling game console of all time. Theverge.com reports that Nintendo says it sold more than 3.5 million Switch 2’s in just the first 4 days, passing up records it had set previously with systems, but also others. Niko Partners notes that it took Sony 16 days to sell 2.1 million PS4 consoles, and six weeks to reach 4.2 million units. The Switch 2 has also easily passed up the PS5 launch sales. It took 7 weeks…admittedly during the pandemic…to move 4.4 million units. Will Nintendo be able to continue this torrid pace? No one knows, but they are off to a hell of a start!

It is apparently lawsuit day for this report! According to a story picked up by mashable.com, Elon Musk, his stand-in CEO Linda Yaccarino, and X threatened  several major advertisers with inclusion in their suit against the World Federation of Advertisers where X has accused the group of orchestrating an industry-wide boycott of the social media platform. This all dates back to 2022 when Musk took over Twitter and almost half the major advertisers headed for the exits. Some brands returned, but others didn’t. Now, the alleged message from X’s leadership is explicit: advertise with us, or risk becoming a defendant. Having come from the world of radio, I have to shake my head…I can’t remember anyone in the business threatening to sue an advertiser to get their business. Stay tuned, as they say!

Disney and Universal have sued Midjourney, claiming AI-related copyright infringement. Techcrunch.com says the platform has allegedly trained its art-generating and editing models on their content without permission. In the suit, the plaintiffs have included numerous examples of the studios’ copyrighted characters…like Homer Simpson and Darth Vader. Tech companies including OpenAI have pushed for legal cover to train on publicly available works, including copyrighted works, without having to ask creators for authorization or compensate them. In other words, they want to build their businesses on theft of other folks’ intellectual property. I think Midjourney will lose this…and it should be a warning to others like OpenAI. Disney…never mind Universal…has probably the toughest intellectual property legal department on earth!

A suit filed this week claims Costco misleads online shoppers…by implying free shipping, while the big-box retailer quietly inflates product prices to cover delivery costs. Geekwire.com notes that the suit says Costco displays “$0.00” for shipping during online checkout, leading customers to believe delivery is free when the cost is actually embedded in the product price. Costco acknowledges on its support pages that online prices may include shipping and handling, sometimes leading to higher prices online than in the company’s warehouse stores. However, the lawsuit argues those disclosures are buried in FAQ sections, not presented during checkout or on product pages. I would look for a vigorous defense…Costco can argue that customers know this. People know that ‘free shipping’ on Amazon with Prime isn’t free…nor covered by the membership…the shipping is simply built into the price! The same goes for Costco’s website.

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

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

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. 

Sony-Making Handheld Console; Amazon-Another $4 Billion to Anthropic; Power Phone Off Once a Week-NSA; Researchers Find Way to Grow Plants Without Light

Posted: November 25, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Sony is working on a handheld gaming console that will let users play PS 5 games anywhere. Theverge.com reports that this will put Sony into the fray with Nintendo, Microsoft, and The Valve Steam Deck. That’s all well and good, but the reporting has the portable ‘years away from launch.’ Not so good for Sony. While Sony fiddles, Nintendo will have a next gen successor to its very popular Switch console next year. Microsoft is developing its own Xbox prototype…but that also may be a few years out, as with Sony. This doesn’t leave the market entirely to Nintendo…Valve has already put out a second generation Steam Deck that plays its games. 

Amazon has pumped another $4 billion into AI maker Anthropic, the people that make the Claude large language model that is the biggest competitor for OpenAI’s ChatGPT. According to arstechnica.com, this will bring Amazon’s stake to $8 billion…but they do remain in a minority investor position at that level. One key behind the deal…chips. While Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market with customers that include most major tech companies, some cloud providers like Amazon have begun developing their own AI-specific processors. Under the agreement, Anthropic will train and deploy its foundation models using Amazon’s custom-built Trainium (for training AI models) and its Inferentia chips (for AI inference, the term for running trained models). The company will also work with Amazon’s Annapurna Labs division to advance processor development for AI applications.

We have previously reported that iOS 18 and later updates make it harder for hackers…as well as governments…to get into your phone. Now, none other than the NSA…the National Security Agency…warns that you should turn your phone on and off at least once a week. Why? Zdnet.com says the government spy agency indicates that doing so will make it harder for hackers to steal info from your phone. The feds also say to update your apps, and update your operation system regularly. You also ought to avoid public networks…just use cellular unless you have a VPN for your phone. 

In one of the wilder stories I’ve seen, some researchers have figured out a way to grow plants without sunlight. Bgr.com reports that they are doing so through what they call electro-agriculture. Simply put, they leverage electricity to power plant growth, bypassing the need for photosynthesis. The scientists have engineered plants capable of thriving in total darkness, feeding off acetate instead of sunlight, making it possible to grow plants without sunlight. And the implications of this breakthrough are absolutely staggering. Some researchers believe that it could lower the land needed for agriculture by as much as 90 percent. Imagine freeing up vast tracts of farmland for reforestation or conservation while growing crops in vertical indoor farms closer to urban centers. Combined with the ongoing success of lab-grown meats, we could be on the verge of a food industry revolution.

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

Google Leak Reveals AI That Web Surfs for You; Nintendo’s Next Gen Switch-Backward Compatible for Gaming; EU Will Fine Apple For App Store DMA Violations; Amazon Kicks off Drone Deliveries in Phoenix

Posted: November 6, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

We reported about Google’s next iteration of its AI, called Jarvis, last week. Now, bgr.com is reporting that a leak has given us more information about it. Apparently the AI Chrome extension will be able to “take over” your Chrome browser, performing tasks on your behalf like booking a flight or purchasing a product. Apparently, Google accidentally posted an internal preview of the product on the Chrome extension store. Listed as a “helpful companion that surfs the web with you,” Google quickly took it down. Apparently, some Chrome users did download it, but it didn’t work…as the prototype lacked some specific access permissions it needed. Honestly, if you are on the web, and can’t book a flight or buy something without help, I’m not sure AI is the answer for you….even if it ends up being called Jarvis. 

We know Nintendo is planning a newer version of the Switch, but don’t have a date or name…but now, thanks to their mid year policy briefing, we know that it will be able to play current Switch games, and have carryover for your Nintendo Switch Online services and account. According to theverge.com, Nintendo said that there was a drop of 31% in Switch sales the last 90 days…with some 4.72 million sold. Still, Nintendo crowed that ‘More software has been played on Nintendo Switch than on any other Nintendo hardware.’ Backward compatibility is a big issue, because systems haven’t tended to be 100% on it…although Xbox Series X and the Sony PS5 are mainly backward compatible. The Switch 2 or whatever they name it will be out before March 2025, according to Nintendo. 

Apple did not make changes that allowed developers to steer users to cheaper prices outside of the ‌App Store‌. Macrumors.com says the EU is now planning to fine Apple. I know…hard to imagine Apple not directing users to other, cheaper alternatives besides them! Apple did make some changes in August, but it apparently wasn’t good enough for European regulators. The fine amount hasn’t been disclosed, but the EU fined Apple $2 billion for anticompetitive behavior against third party music services earlier this year so that kind of gives us an idea. They could be fined up to 10% of their global annual sales. 

After ending its drone delivery experiment in Southern California, Amazon has kicked off deliveries in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area. Techcrunch.com reports that people will be able to order relatively small stuff including household, beauty, office, health, and tech supplies. By relatively small, we’re talking 5 pounds or less…but that does include some 50,000 items Amazon sells. Most deliveries will be at your location in an hour or less. Note that these deliveries are only going to be available during daylight hours and ‘favorable’ weather conditions…no heavy winds or heavy rain. Amazon has been testing prescription deliveries for over a year in College Station, Texas, and now they will expand to products like are being offered in the Phoenix area. 

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

iPad Pro OLED May Get M4 Chip; FTC Calls Out Amazon for Using Signal to Hide Comms; Switch 2 May Play All Original Switch Games; TikTok Ban-Minimal Impact on Creator Economy

Posted: April 29, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In about a week, we expect to see new iPads, and here’s a late breaking rumor. The OLED screen iPad Pro may be powered my a next generation M4 chip, instead of an M3 as widely expected. Engadget.com picked up the word from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On Newsletter. Gurman wrote “I believe Apple will position the tablet as its first truly AI-powered device — and that it will tout each new product from then on as an AI device.” If this is the case, expect big announcements at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in June. New AI features have already been predicted for iOS 18 and the upcoming iPhone models…with some features expected to also work on the current crop of iPhones. 

It’s never a good thing when the government tells you to keep communications around for an investigation, and then they find out you are deliberately hiding them. That is what the Federal Trade Commission is accusing Amazon of doing. According to mashable.com, the FTC has accused former top Amazon execs…including former CEO Jeff Bezos…of using Signal, and its automatic message deletion feature to hide communications…and doing so after the FTC ordered it to keep messages around as it was investigated for antitrust violations. No word about what kind of a spanking the FTC will give Amazon, but it’s never good to willfully disobey and order from an agency that can cause your business some pain.

A new rumor would be great news for portable gamers. Nintendo has been pretty vague about whether or not the Switch 2 will run original Switch games. MobaPad, which makes controllers and carrying cases says it is “in the process of developing the next-generation console controller” for the Switch 2 and has “acquired a lot of first-hand information” about the console as a result. the biggest takeaway from MobaPad’s blog post is that “the cartridge slot of the Switch 2 will support backward compatibility with physical Switch game cartridges, ensuring compatibility with players’ existing game libraries, including digital versions.” Game cards designed specifically for the Switch 2, on the other hand, “may not be compatible with the first-generation console.” Backward compatibility is a big deal, as many gamers have significant investments in games, and it is always a great good-will thing when a company allows for backward compatibility. The Switch 2 is expected in early 2025.

As the TikTok ban looms over the next 9 months, some analysts are saying that it will likely have minimal effect on the creator economy. TechCrunch.com reports that the reasoning behind this thinking is that former President Trump already tried banning it in 2020, and since then established creators have diversified to other platforms. The groups that might be affected though are live streamers who monetize via the TikTok Shop…which has a richer feature set than YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. This is particularly true of political content…which was a good deal of the point of the legislation banning the platform unless the Chinese government and related organizations divest ownership in the next months.

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

EU Opens TikTok Investigation; Patent Office Denies OpenAI Trademark for ChatGPT; Switch 2 Bumped back to 2025; Apple May Get Dinged for a $538 Million Fine by EU

Posted: February 19, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The US has been scrutinizing TikTok, and now it is joined by the EU, and the European Commission has announce a formal probe into the social platform’s compliance (or lack thereof) with the Digital Services Act. The act, which was approved late last year and went into effect on Jan. 1, exists to legislate against things like illegal content, disinformation, and targeted advertising. Mashable.com reports that some of the things the EU is looking at include TikTok’s potential use of algorithmic systems to encourage addictive behavior, or what it calls a “rabbit hole effect.” In other words, they’re worried about if TikTok does too much to force you to keep looking at it. Other points of concern include privacy and safety for minors, advertising transparency, and proper age verification for users. If TikTok is found to be in violation of any DSA policies, it may have to fork over as much as 6 percent of its annual turnover. TikTok says it will cooperate with the investigation.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued two separate decisions denying OpenAI’s applications to trademark ‘ChatGPT’ and ‘GPT.’ According to geekwire.com, the AI company can appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal board within 90 days. The PTO wrote in their decisions that ‘Internet evidence shows that “CHAT” means “a synchronous exchange of remarks over a computer network.” Further, the evidence of record also establishes that “GPT” is a widely used acronym that means “generative pre trained transformers.” OpenAI’s partner Microsoft has applied for trademarks for their version, Copilot, as well as variations on Copilot in conjunction with other brand names. 

A lot of people have been itching to get a Nintendo Switch 2, but now it looks like that itch won’t get scratched until next year. Bgr.com says that a Brazilian game Journalist has heard from 5 separate sources that Nintendo now plans to launch the next version in early 2025. Previously, rumors had the Switch 2 coming out in the fall of this year in order to take advantage of the lucrative holiday selling season. Nintendo also plans to launch their switch 2 games early next year, which makes sense in light of the system coming out then.The original Switch is the third best selling video game console of all time, and it launched in March of 2017…so it’s definitely due for a refresh. 

The EU is considering a 500 euro fine…or $528 million over Apple Music’s treatment of competitors. Appleinsider.com reports that the European Commission is nearly finished with its investigation of whether Apple broke antitrust laws following a 2019 complaint from Spotify, and is on the verge of levying punishments. The official announcement may come in March. Along with the fine will come a ruling that Apple broke EU laws with its App Store anti-steering rules. Apple could be banned from preventing music streaming services from advising customers that they could get a better deal elsewhere than the App Store and the In-App Purchases system. These will apparently be referred to by the EU as “unfair trading conditions.” 

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

Switch Online Launches in September; Owl Auto Security Cam; Google Issues Router Fix; Amazon Hand Tracker Patent

Posted: February 1, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nintendo’s Switch online service, which had been delayed from last year, is now scheduled to be activated in September. Theverge.com says it will cost $3.99 a month, or $19.99 a year. Besides online play, the subscription will give players access to classic games, and features like leaderboards and multiplayer. The hot Switch has already outsold its predecessor Wii U…more than 14 million have been bought since it was launched.

An ex-Apple manager who helped develop the iPod has a startup that is making what they call the 1st security cam for your car. According to 9to5mac.com, the Owl security cam is always connected over AT&T’s LTE system, and it’s powered by the OBD (on-board diagnostics) port every modern car has. Owners can access 24 hours of video footage with a companion app. It has LED lights on either side for theft deterrence, and a 2.4 inch display. Since its always on, it is able to send alerts if activity is detected. The cam is $299, with cellular service for $10 a month, but at launch, a special bundle price of $349 includes the cam and 1st year of cellular service. Preorders are open today at owlcam.com, with delivery expected by the end of the month.

We reported earlier about a bug from Google Play Services that was causing routers to crash when Google Home or Chromecast devices were awakened. 9to5google.com reports that Google has rolled out a fix to all users. It’s version 11.9.75, and should be downloadable from the Play Store if it hasn’t updated your devices already on its own.

In what may be a useful tech that can’t outrun its creepy factor, Amazon has patented wristbands that track where warehouse workers’ hands are. The idea is to make sure they are reaching the right shelf or cubby to grab an item to be boxed and shipped out. Geekwire.com notes that not every patent actually makes it into use, and this one that has the wristbands which emit ultrasonic sounds or radio pulses to help guide the employees’ hands to the right bins may never see actual use. They seem extremely intrusive and super creepy!

10 Most Searched for Consumer Tech Products

Posted: December 27, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Because we all love lists, and anyway….it lets me channel my inner Casey Kasem, what were the most searched for consumer tech products this past year? According to Google’s Year in Search report, here are the top 10 hottest items people were looking for:

10- The Samsung Galaxy Note 8…even with the firey demise of the popular Note 7, the Note 8 was widely anticipated by fans of the 7.

At #9, the Apple Watch 3…mainly propelled by the addition of cellular connectivity and improved health and fitness tracking.

The 8th biggest search item was Google’s own Pixel 2 smartphones. The model 1 had a shakey start, but the Pixel 2 looks like a big hit for Google.

At #7, the Super NES Classic…the $80  pint-sized version of the original Super NES that plays 21 built-in games.

The 6th most searched for consumer tech item was the iPhone 8 Plus…which has better internals than the 7 Plus and wireless charging in Apple’s biggest handset.

Holding down #5, and a bit of a surprise…the Razer phone. The maker of gaming computers and accessories touts the Razer’s incredibly smooth visual images in their first phone, priced at $700.

The fourth most searched item was Samsung’s hot selling Galaxy S8 smartphone, with its beautiful wrap around screen and wireless charging.

#3 was the Nintendo Switch, which has been a runaway smash hit for Nintendo. The Switch has sold over 10 million since March.

The #2 spot was taken by Apple’s widely anticipated all glass iPhone 10, or X as some people call it. The thousand dollar hero phone with no home button was eclipsed by Apple’s own iPhone 8…which was the #1 most searched consumer tech item of 2017.

Apple iMac Pro Out This Week; AmEx Drops Signatures; Switch Passes 10 million in As Many Months; Clapboss Wins the Irritating War

Posted: December 12, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As Jobs used to say, ‘One more thing’…yes, Apple kicked the HomePod down the road into next year, but today announced that the iMac Pro will go on sale Thursday. Businessinsider.com reports that the pricey and powerful (starting at $4999) iMac sports a 27 inch Retina display, and can be upgraded (pushing up the nosebleed price even further) to 128 gigs of RAM, 4TB of storage, and an 18 core Intel Xeon processor. The Pro is really made for pros…audio and video pros who need all that power. Unlike the MacBook Pro, which has irritated Pros with only USB C ports and not even a Mag Safe connector, the iMac Pro rocks 4 USB ports, 4 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, and a wired ethernet port. Did I mention it starts at almost 5 grand? My eyes are still watering!

American Express has announced that it will stop requiring signatures for purchases. Engadget.com notes that in the last few months, both MasterCard and Discover had announced the same, but only in the US and Canada starting in April. AmEx is dropping signatures globally. All say that tech advances have made signatures obsolete. In some regions people will still have to sign where required by law. This should move lines at check stands faster and increase the spread of cardless transaction systems like ApplePay.

Gaming is more than alive and well! Nintendo has announced that it has pumped out 10 million Switch consoles in 10 months! Variety.com says they are on track to pass up the Wii U soon, which took 5 years to sell 13.6 million! Three games account for over half of game sales: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2.

If you’ve ever been irritated by thos obnoxious TV ads with the guy clapping to turn lights and Christmas trees on and off…or worse, been to Grandma’s and she actually bought and uses one, get ready for the ultimate annoyance….the Clapboss! Techcrunch.com says it’s a net connected dongle that lets you clap to turn things off and on. The Kickstarter is $39, and the irritating little dongle…which has a smug, smiley face on it…will be $80 retail. It supports 6 different clap patterns so you can turn on and off 6 different devices….and annoy the hell out of anyone living with you nearly to the point of justifiable homicide.

iPhone X Production Now Stabilizing; Nintendo Switch Chasing All-Time Sales Record

Posted: October 30, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Supply constraints on the iPhone X and it’s complex TrueDepth camera system are opening up. Macrumors.com has picked up a report by KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In addition to iPhone X production ramping up, Kuo says he expects all iPhones next year to have Face ID like the iPhone X, with Apple dropping Touch ID.

After the flop of the Wii U, Nintendo needed a hit, and it’s got a big one. According to businessinsider.com, the Switch is poised to sell some 14 million systems this year. That compares to just over 13 million EVER for the Wii U, which was on the market for 5 years! Next year should look good for the Switch too, with new games from the Pokemon, Yoshi, and Kirby franchises on the way. Nintendo is promising better Switch availability for the holiday season too.

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