Four Top Google AI Minds Leave for Startup; Foldable Smartphone Sales to Grow 20% with Apple iPhone Ultra in Mix; SpaceX Earnings Report Spooks Investors; Desktop Linux Exceeds 10% Market Share
Posted: August 5, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, finance, Google, SpaceX, technology Leave a commentTalk about brain drain…four of Google’s top AI whizzes are jumping ship to launch their own AI startup. Wired.com reports that one is Jeff Dean, who co-founded Google Brain and has been chief scientist of Google DeepMind and Google Research. Colleague Sanjay Ghemawat and two others will join him in the fledgling AI company. It is worth noting that Google will have a stake in the new company….but it is still a blow to have so much AI brainpower off on its own. The new firm is called Discovery Loop. The other big brains founding the new AI startup are Quac Le and Oriol Vinyals. Discovery Loop is aiming for making superhuman advances in a variety of fields, including chip design, biology, drug discovery, and material design.
With Apple about to enter the fray with the upcoming iPhone Ultra folder, worldwide folding smartphone sales are expected to be 20% higher than last year. According to macrumors.com, this is despite the tight supply of logic chips and price increases on memory chips due to all the AI data centers gobbling that silicon up. Folders have been around for about 8 years now, with Samsung really driving the category almost single handedly for a good share of that. Apple plans to ship some 10 million folding phones this year…not a big number compared to the total number of iPhones, but a big boost to the folding phone sector.
SpaceX’s first earnings report as a publicly traded company were out yesterday, and the company beat expectations with revenue of $7.8 billion, while analysts looked for $6.82 billion. Arstechnica.com notes that SpaceX had a net loss of about $541 billion, better than the $2.12 billion expected. Even so, shares took a 10% dump after the firm reported capital expenditures of about $16 billion on AI, double last quarter and far more than Wall Street’s expectations…AND SpaceX indicated that spending level would continue for at least 2 more quarters. SpaceX shares have lost about half their initial value from the initial public offering. Worrisome to investors…the majority of their AI revenue has come from leasing excess data center capacity to rival AI firms like Anthropic and Google.
It may not have crossed your mind, but Linux…an operating system favored by gamers and hobbyests…has now passed 10% market share on the desktop. Zdnet.com reports that StatCounter gives the OS 10.65% of the North American market now. Almost all the growth can be blamed on the intrusive Windows 11 from Microsoft. In 2025, Linux only had about 5% of the market. ChromeOS has a bit over 2% of the desktop…and it is a so-called Linux distro. If you add that in, Linux as 12.72%. Windows is at about 60.8% in North America, while the MacOs has about 12%…roughly the same as Linux. (It should be noted that the MacOS is built on a base of Unix, as is Linux.) Linux is free and easy to install. It resembles Android in a way….infinitely customizable, and a plus is no one is pushing their AI on you if you use it.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Minn. ‘Nudification’ Ban in Effect; Ford CEO-Chinese EVs in US Next 5 Years; Apple Smart Glasses Aim at Health; Samsung Bans Smart TV Apps That Share Your Internet Connection with Strangers
Posted: August 3, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, EVs, Ford, Samsung, science, Tech, technology Leave a commentDespite Elon Musk’s xAI going to court to stop it, a judge has allowed Minnesota’s ‘nudificaiton’ ban to go into effect. xAI had filed an emergency motion, claiming urgent harm. The harm is actually to the people who are the victims of so-called ‘nudification,’ really. The term refers to using software to create nude images of people…something that has become more rampant and realistic with AI. You can take a photo of a person, and tell the software to create a nude photo of the person based on the clothed one and it does it. Mashable.com reports that Minnesota’s law also bans advertising or promoting services or software that can nudify images of people.There is a hefty civil penalty of $500,000 per unlawful access, download, or use…enforceable by the attorney general. A private right of action is allowed so people can sue the perpetrators.
Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, told employees this week that Chinese electric vehicles could be showing up for sale in the US in the next 5 to 10 years. According to thenextweb.com, there are several layers of protection right now shielding the US market from the Chinese made EVs. Stiff cumulative tariffs for 125 percent, and a connected vehicle rule banning sharing of data back to China are two of the protections. The market will have to open soon…Canada has made a deal to allow up to 49,000 Chinese vehicles a year at a reduced tariff, and Mexico has permitted in Chinese EVs…which now make up about a quarter of Mexican EVs. Ford has its Universal EV Platform coming out in 2027, with a midsized pickup aimed at a $30,000 price tag…which would compete nicely with the Chinese EVs.
We’ve reported that Apple plans to show its smart glasses at WWDC next June, with them going on sale later in 2027. Now, 9to5mac.com says that Apple has some plans down the road for the glasses that move away from identifying things, and other typical smart glasses functions. Apple is aiming to have the smart glasses ultimately be more of a health platform. Fitness will be a major offering…perhaps a version of Workout Buddy will run on them. Cameras and sensors on the glasses could help guide you to better form, and alert you when you are doing something wrong. This might be a cool thing so long as the glasses are a Workout Buddy and not a Workout Nag!
It’s been some time since we reported on this, but as noted in the past, smart TVs can be porous with your information. Some makers even had to take action to make sure cameras and mics that could monitor what you were doing were…or could be shut off. Now, TechCrunch.com notes that Samsung is banning some smart TV apps that share your internet connection with strangers. The bad apps are kind of a shell with just a small amount of code….but contain software that funnels outsiders’ web traffic through ordinary home and office internet connections, known as residential proxy networks (or “resproxies”), which are increasingly being linked to cybercrime. When opened, apps with resproxy code can turn the smart TV into an always-on tunnel for outsiders to funnel their web traffic through, known as an exit node — even when the app is no longer open. Samsung says besides the ban, they are working to remove all apps that are available at their app store that have these nefarious components.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified,’ definitely not ‘nudified’ for now.
Samsung Unpacks Their Latest; Jack Dorsey’s Buzz Goes After Slack; Apple Lease to Buy Program; OpenAI Agent Breaks Loose-Hacks Competitor’s AI System
Posted: July 22, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Samsung, Tech, technology Leave a commentSamsung bowed their latest and greatest today, and the star of the show probably has to be the Galaxy Z Fold 8. 9to5google.com reports that the Fold 8 has a 5.5 inch outer screen and a big 7.6 incher inside when it’s unfolded. The handset is actually a good deal shorter, wider and a tad bulkier than the Fold 7. Even though a bit thicker, the phone is lighter, which is cool. It doesn’t only have 2 50MP cam sensors…no true zoom, just a 10 power digital zoom. The battery is 4800 mAh, bigger than the Fold 7, and it is a silicon carbon battery, not lithium ion. The fold 8 will start at $1900, $100 less than the Fold 7. There is also the Galaxy Z fold 8 Ultra. The Ultra is $2100, and has a sharper, brighter display. It is powered by a 5,000 mAh battery. If neither folder appeals…or you aren’t ready to drop that kind of cash, there is the Z Flip 8. The new 8 is slimmer and lighter than the 7. Otherwise, it is pretty well the same as the 7 feature-wise. The Flip 8 is $1200, which is up from the 7’s price.
Jack Dorsey is best known for co-founding Twitter and also Block. Now, he’s at it again with a new app called Buzz. According to TechCrunch.com, Buzz is positioned as a competitor to Slack and GitHub…a group chat platform for the workplace. Buzz does put humans AND AI agents in the same conversation. Dorsey said in a statement that Buzz is “model-agnostic, decentralized, self-sovereign, and open source.” Buzz’s utility is that it merges several different workflows into one workspace. It looks a lot like Slack, but with native AI agents and the ability to manage GitHub projects all from the same window. Buzz’s free desktop app is available now for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and the code for the app has been uploaded to GitHub.
Apple is supposed to be preparing to launch ‘Apple Upgrade,’ a program of releasing new hardware. The launch date is planned for July 28th. Theverge.com notes that it is intended to replace the current iPhone Upgrade Program and standard financing for new iPhones. This Apple Upgrade program will offer 24 month leases for iPhones and Apple Watches, and 36 month leases for iPads and Macs. The less expensive devices like the base iPad, Apple Watch SE, and MacBook Neo are apparently not included. Klarna will be Apple’s financial backer for the new program, which will require a soft credit check to sign up. It looks like Apple is at least in part aiming to soften the price increases due to the rising chip costs.
Whether you like or hate AI, or remain a bit skeptical like myself about it becoming ‘superintellegent,’ this ought to scare you. Benzinga.com reports that one of OpenAI’s most advanced autonomous AI agents broke out of a highly isolated testing environment, accessed the internet and hacked AI platform Hugging Face while attempting to complete its assigned evaluation objective. Hugging Face is an AI platform where developers build, share, test and deploy AI models, while OpenAI uses the platform to make some of its models available to the broader developer community. Hugging face and OpenAI cooperated on investigation of this…and Hugging Face says it was “driven, end to end, by an autonomous AI agent system.” As you might think, this revelation has intensified concern over cybersecurity risks increasing because of more and more powerful AI systems. Matt Suiche, an engineer at agentic AI cybersecurity company Tolmo, said the incident demonstrates that frontier AI models are rapidly approaching the capabilities of elite human hackers, while noting that similar attacks are already possible using technologies available outside leading AI labs. OK, are you a bit freaked out now?
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Google Frozen Chip-Gemini Baked In; TSMC is Hastening Arizona Factory Build; YouTube Clarifies AI Slop Policies; Apple Genius Bar-Now with AI Summary for Customers
Posted: July 20, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, Google, technology, YouTube Leave a commentGoogle is trying something a bit radical. They are baking Gemini right into chips. The chip is the ‘Frozen V2’, at least internally. Thenextweb.com reports that up to now, AI firms have just loaded their models on to general purpose chips. With Gemini baked in, the Google chips could be 6 to 10 times more efficient than their latest custom AI chips…at least measured by tokens served per unit of power. Google plans to have the chips in use by 2028. The chips will be faster, more efficient, and that will reduce cost. There is a big caveat, though….chips with today’s Gemini AI baked in may be pretty dated by 2028, if AI keeps moving at the speed it has up to now.
TSMC is pushing to accelerate capacity at its Arizona factory as the firm continues to see what they are calling a ‘multi-year mega trend’ from customers. According to cnbc.com, Taiwan Semiconductor will pump an additional $100 billion in to aggressively expand its US chipmaking footprint. This will put TSMC’s total investment in the Arizona plant at some $265 billion.
YouTube is cracking down more on AI slop, clarifying its policies on how content on the platform can be monetized. TechCrunch.com notes that the idea is to discourage creators from using AI and other tools to make low quality content. YouTube’s new policy describes three types of videos under the broad category of ‘inauthentic content’ that can’t be monetized. YouTube says the 3 buckets are…one—generic, repetitive, or template-based content, two—off-putting or distressing content, and thirdly— any content where AI personas are used to discuss sensitive topics, like health and finance. YouTube is trying to make things a bit clearer than just ‘you’ll know it when you see it,’ as has been a long-time rule for adult content. Any YouTube channel that has too much of any of the three types of content will not be able to monetize.
This really doesn’t seem like a big jump into AI, but Apple has stated recording and AI summarizing conversations at its Genius Bars. Gizmodo.com reports that the new pilot program is called ‘Live Notes,’ and it is being positioned as a time-saving tool for the store employees. Right now, it is just in a limited number of stores. What happens is that a recording of a conversation between an Apple employee and the customer is auto-transcribed and summarized. It is then stored in the ‘record of repair session’ on the Genius Bar employee’s work iPad. Some Apple employees are worried that this could be used for monitoring and evaluating employees. It does kind of smack of keystroke monitoring software and the like, but time will tell. More and more invasive monitoring can make a workplace pretty unbearable to employees when it is misused…which is pretty much always.
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 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, anthropic, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, EVs, Google, llm, technology Leave a commentNew 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.
Samsung Deletes Health Data If You Don’t Let Train AI; LAPD Lets Flock Contract Expire; Apple Stock in Record Territory-Traders Souring on AI; 200 Experts Urge Action Re AI Effects on Jobs
Posted: July 13, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, flock, Privacy, Samsung, technology Leave a commentIn a move that smacks of extortion, Samsung will delete your health data if you refuse to let it use your data to train its AI. Androidpolice.com reports that there is a new option in Samsung Health settings…it lets you turn off Samsung’s ability to use your data to train its AI models. That’s a good thing, BUT…there’s always a but…If you turn it off, then a warning pops up, informing you that turning this option off will delete your existing Samsung Health data and stop any further syncing with Samsung’s servers. It is pretty distressing that the largest smartphone maker by market share is using its might to hold your data hostage to their hungry AI model training program. They are no doubt betting that most people will just say ‘Oh, well,’ and go ahead and let them. A few will opt out, and their health data will go ‘poof.’ This is really not cool.
A number of municipalities are growing more and more uneasy about the intrusiveness of Flock cameras, as people have raised concerns…and hell at public meetings…over the invasion of privacy of the intrusive cameras. Now, the Los Angeles police will let a contract with Flock expire. According to TechCrunch.com, LAPD’s Chief Information Officer Dean Gialamas said in a statement “This contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data that is being collected from these cameras. The LAPD had to make a difficult decision, in this case discontinuing using Flock services until we can get those data, privacy, security and sharing concerns ironed out through a contractual relationship.” As the third-largest police department in the U.S., the LAPD is one of Flock’s largest government customers to date. Flock has a network of at least 80,000 cameras around the U.S. that scan license plates and allow police and federal agencies to track vehicles.
Apple stock is up 15%, adding nearly $600 billion in value since June 25th…putting them back in record territory. Macrumors.com notes that the uptick has come as investors grow uneasy about the mind-boggling sums of cash continually being poured into the AI data center buildout, despite there being no obvious indicator for when investors will get a return on their investment. Apple’s decision to sit out the data center spending spree and instead pay Google for access to its frontier AI models is being increasingly seen by traders as an asset rather than a liability. Apple is using Google’s Gemini to underpin the revamped version of Siri and new Apple Intelligence features across its platforms.
Over 200 researchers and economists, including 15 Nobel laureates and also researchers at AI companies Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI are urging governments and tech leaders to immediately put polices in place and set up institutions to address the economic impact of AI. Reuters.com reports that the group signing on to the statement are warning that the economic transformation could exceed the Industrial Revolution and do so in a ‘vastly shorter’ time frame…affecting workers, companies, and public institutions. “Steam, electricity, and computers each gave societies decades to adapt. AI may give us only a few years,” said Anton Korinek, professor at the University of Virginia. He continued “We cannot improvise our strategy and institutions in the middle of the transformation; waiting for certainty means arriving too late.”
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple Cuts Deal to Buy $30 Billion in US-Made Broadcom Chips; OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Gets Public Release; Bezos’ Blue Origin Taps Outside Money; Browser Extension- Hides Knock-Offs on Amazon
Posted: July 8, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, finance, technology Leave a commentApple has inked a deal with Broadcom to buy $30 billion worth of wireless chips that are made in the US. Engadget.com reports that Broadcom will design and make custom chips “for a wide range of Apple products.” Apparently, $1.5 billion of the total will go into upgrading a Broadcom facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, which will be used to make ‘advanced radio frequency components.’ The information about the deal from the two companies indicates that there will be some ’15 billion US-made chips’ produced. Broadcom itself doesn’t have extensive manufacturing resources, and outsources production to various suppliers, including TSMC.
OpenAI is finally bowing its ‘strongest model yet’ this week. GPT-5.6 Sol is now coming out after weeks of delays due to government concerns. According to mashable.com, OpenAI has spent weeks working on “strengthened protections for higher-risk activity, sensitive cyber requests, and repeated misuse.” Arch competitor Anthropic also has had to deal with restraints from the US government on its Fable 5 and Mythos 5. I have to think while wearing my attorney hat that if these large language models are so damned dangerous, the products liability exposure ought to be massive. We may see a whole new army of lawyers coming after these firms before long with some enormous class action suits.
When you are one of the richest people on the planet, you can run a space company out of your wallet. Jeff Bezos has been doing that with Blue Origin, but now, he is turning to outside funding. Thenextweb.com notes that Bezos has bankrolled the company for the last 25 years, but now is closing a $10 billion round of funding. The deal values the rocket company at about $130 billion. It is not lost on tech observers that this is happening just as Elon Musk’s SpaceX has completed that biggest IPO ever. While Blue Origin trails SpaceX right now, the blast of cash may help them change that.
They are sometimes clever, and other times blatantly copy name brand goods. You have no doubt run across these sketchy items. Now, bgr.com reports thee is a browser extension that will filter them out. It is just called Knockoff—Amazon Brand Filter, and it eliminates “pseudo-brands”. The extension runs inside either Google Chrome or Firefox. They claim to check bands against a list of some 5,000 approve names. You can also customize it by blocking or trusting any brand on the results page. A handy plug in for Amazon shoppers.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Google Pixel Event August 12th; Meta Bows AI Image Model-Muse Image; Startup Gets Dealers to Bid Against Each Other for Your Used Car; FCC Drops Biden Era Rule for ISPs to Disclose All Fees
Posted: July 7, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, gemini, technology Leave a commentGoogle will hold an event for Pixel 11 and Pixel Watch 5 on August 12th. According to 9to5google.com, The event will be in New York City for the second year in a row. In the invite, you can see the gold, shiny metal frame of a Pixel. Google ie expected to roll out the Pixel 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro XL and 11 Pro Fold. The designs are predicted to stay pretty well the same, except for a reported ‘Pixel Glow’ indicator. The Watch 5 will be presented, and possibly an update Pixel Buds Pro.
Meta has rolled out Muse Image, its first gen AI image model built by its Superintelligence Labs Division. According to thenextweb.com, the model is first bowing inside the Meta AI chatbot, and it will also be embedded across Instagram and WhatsApp. Users can generate images from text prompts or modify existing photos. The headline feature lets users create images featuring friends or creators based on their publicly available Instagram posts. For users who won’t want their content reused or remixed by AI, Meta has an opt out in the settings menu. All AI images will have an invisible watermark, and Meta says there are safety precautions to prevent violations of its terms of service…including protections for children. Totally obvious…advertisers will soon have access to the model for creating marketing materials.
Turnabout is fair play, it looks like. For many years, a lot of large car dealerships used what had been called ‘the turnover system’ or ‘Go System’ to bounce buyers between the salesman and managers, in a system designed to extract more money out of buyers. One of the managers would be the used car manager that bids your trade in, and tells the salesperson how much they can allow for your car. (Disclosure: I ran my family’s small car dealership for 10 years…but we didn’t use such a system…only my Dad and I sold new cars…the old fashioned way…our word on the phone was the price. Back to the story, though. Now, techcrunch.com says there is a startup that pits dealerships against one another to bid on your used car. BidBus is the startup, and they claim with their digital marketplace, getting multiple dealers to bid on your car, you can get an average offer that is about $2,000 to $3,000 more than what Carvana offers, for example. Right now, Bidbus is just in California and Texas, but they have raised another $15 million in backing, and are planing to move into other states. If you are planning to trade cars or buy a new one in the near future, it would definitely be worth your while to check out Bidbus. Two to three grand is real money…and going into your pocket or reducing the cost of your new car.
The administration rolls on, dropping more consumer friendly rules. This time, it’s the FCC…axing a rule from the Biden administration that forced ISPs to list all their fees. Arstechnica.com reports that the providers will no longer have to list all of their so-called ‘passthrough’ fees on an easily accessible broadband price label. The FCC may also vote to make the price labels themselves harder to find. ISPs routinely advertise prices much lower than those actually charged to consumers on their monthly bills. One method of raising monthly bill prices above advertised rates is to tack on fees that, ISPs claim, are used to offset charges imposed by local governments. Expect more so-called ‘junk fees’ and hidden charges on your cable bill.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
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