Meta Platforms to Test ‘Community Notes’; Google Gemini Can Personalize Answers Based on Your Search History; Euro Sat Firms Compete to Replace Starlink in Ukraine; EPA Dumping Higher Fuel Economy Regs

Posted: March 13, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Starting in just a few days, on March 18th, Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will begin testing Community Notes. According to engadget.com, notes won’t appear publicly on posts right away. The company wants to make sure the writing and rating system is working as intended before the notes start showing up for everyone. If this Community Notes bit sounds familiar, that’s because it is a pretty clear ripoff from X…which Meta even admits. They are saying it will bring extra context to posts that could use more explanation, clarity or perhaps a correction. In fact, Meta will initially base its ratings system on X’s open-source algorithm. “This will allow us to build on what X has created and improve it for our own platforms over time,” the company said in its announcement. Considering the way Community Notes has sometimes worked on X, I would expect extra chaos…as some contributors post bs alleged ‘clarifications’ that slant things towards their political views. Hey, they are free platforms…remember always that YOU are the product!

Google Gemini will now be able to personalize answers based on your search history. Of all the things Google has going that sets it apart from every other platform, your search history has to top the list. Now, theverge.com reports that ‘the Google’ will be using this muscle to give you highly personalized responses.If you activate the personalization, Gemini will automatically analyze your query to see if referring to your search history can ‘enhance’ its response. Gemini will also connect in the future to your YouTube and Google Photos, enabling it to really drill down to personalize responses. By the way, you can disconnect your search history from Gemini at any time, and Google is providing a ‘clear banner’ with a link to do so. 

Ukraine may not have to worry about on-again, off-again access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites for info they need in fighting off the Russians. European Union governments are in talks with 4 different satellite companies about providing service to Ukraine. Thenextweb.com says European leaders are increasingly concerned about relying on Starlink — fears stoked by a Reuters report that US officials had threatened to cut off the system in Ukraine if the country didn’t meet their demands on sharing its mineral wealth. It should be noted that Musk himself said this wasn’t the case. Nonetheless, the UK’s Inmarsat, Luxembourg’s SES, and Spain’s Hisdesat — told the Financial Times they were also discussing with governments and EU institutions about how to provide back-up connectivity to Ukraine. 

The Trump administration’s EPA is wasting no time in killing off the higher fuel economy requirements that were set to go into effect in 2026 through 2032. According to arstechnica.com, this takes the gas off the pressure on carmakers to sell more electric vehicles. The corporate average fuel economy target now drops from 54.5 mpg to 40.4 mpg. 

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

Microsoft & Amazon Quantum-Race to Protect Encryption; Russia ‘Grooms’ Public AI Models With Propaganda; Threads Tests ‘Interests’ in Profiles; Most AI Voice Cloning Tools-Little Protection Against Stealing Voices

Posted: March 10, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Quantum computing is pretty exciting…it will allow humankind to do things never before possible, even with banks of supercomputers churning away for years. We just reported recently about Microsoft’s new Majorana 1 processor chip, and Amazon and Google have also made advancements. We may see quantum computing in daily use in years not decades, now. That’s all cool…what is scary is that a quantum computer can break encryption that would take years for a regular supercomputer in seconds. Geekwire.com reports that there is essentially a parallel race on the develop ways to implement newer, more powerful encryption created by quantum computing that can’t be easily broken, and get that encryption out to companies…and particularly financial institutions before quantum computing is out in the wild and available to bad guys. Let’s hope that the so-called ‘DOGE’ that Elon Musk is using to wholesale chop government agencies doesn’t hit the National Institute of Standards and their Post-Quantum Cryptography Project! It will take years to deploy quantum created encryption to businesses and the public.

There are real plusses on AI models that are open, but there is a dangerous down side to them, too. One is that the Russians are working overtime to feed disinformation and Russian-slanted propaganda to them. According to gizmodo.com, picking up on a NewsGuard report, a propaganda network called Pravda produced more than 3.6 million articles in 2024 alone, which it found are now incorporated into the 10 largest AI models, including ChatGPT, xAI’s Grok, and Microsoft Copilot. It should be noted that the ‘Pravda’ network is not connected with the infamous Russian newspaper that was one of the two main propaganda arms of the Soviet Communist Party. It certainly picks up where that paper can go to disseminate propaganda, though. NewsGuard discovered in their audit that chatbots operated by the 10 largest AI companies collectively repeated false Russian Disinformation narratives 33.55% of the time, gave a non-response 18.22% of the time, and a debunk 48.22% of the time. NewsGuard refers to this as ‘AI grooming.’ By spinning up websites under seemingly legitimate-looking websites, the models are ingesting and regurgitating information they do not understand is propaganda. Couple this with ‘hallucinations,’ from AI and you can see the wisdom of always double checking what an AI model produces for you. Hey, you have the time…the AI generates its product in seconds!

Threads is test-driving adding ‘interests’ to profiles, in order to connect users and drive more engagement. This is no-doubt in response to Bluesky’s having a ‘description’ right under a user profile that allows people to say a little about themselves, and give their interests as well as disinterests! TechCrunch.com says Threads hopes to pick up more disgruntled X users. Along with custom feeds, they also hope to slow the fast growth of Bluesky. The Bluesky system works…I have 2200 followers there just since the election, and only 334 on Threads! Some of this is due to a number of people not wanting to use a Meta platform, but I think a lot of it is that you can quickly vet a request on Bluesky, and accept if their interests are similar, or block them if…for example…they appear to be a troll, or they just have pics showing off their body and list an Only Fans account.

There are a number of tools or apps out in the wild that do an amazing job of cloning a voice with only a few seconds of sampling of the actual voice. For those of us in the business and for famous actors, this is a huge issue that was part of the big SAG-AFTRA strike last year. But more than that, it can also mean scams, fraud, and the like for just normal folks going about life. Zdnet.com reports that Consumer Reports checked out 6 of the most widely known platforms…Descript, ElevenLans, Lovo, PlayHT, Resemble AI, and Speechify. Their tests found that four of the six…namely ElevenLabs, Speechify, PlayHT, and Lovo…didn’t have the technical ability to prevent cloning someone’s voice without their knowledge, or to limit the AI cloning to only the user’s voice. The so-called protection consisted of checkboxes and a consent statement. One of them…Descript…had the user read and record the consent statement and used that audio to create the clone. For non-professionals, the most common scam is one you have no doubt heard of. It  involves cloning the voice of a family member and then using that recording to contact a loved one to request that money be sent to help them out of a dire situation. Because the victim thinks they are hearing the voice of a family member in distress, they are more likely to send whatever funds are necessary without questioning the situation. Again, if you get a call from a relative needing money right now, don’t bite. Use another means to try to contact like email, text, etc…and then you can utilize knowledge that only you or that family member would have to verify. 

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

Apple Bows Fresh Air-MacBook Air Models; New Mac Studio Ultra; YouTube Premium Lite; Google Search gets ‘AI Mode’; Trump Tariffs on Mexico May Stifle Game Disc Production

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

No big, glitzy dog and pony show, but this week Apple continues to introduce refreshed hardware. Yesterday, we saw upgraded iPad Air models. Today, macrumors.com reports that the expected MacBook Airs with M4 chips are in the spotlight. Besides the newer, faster chips, Apple is offering a new ‘Sky Blue’ color…which will join Midnight, Starlight, and Silver. The new Air models also get a 12MP ‘center stage’ camera that keeps you centered in frame as you move around in front of the computer…handy for Zoom meetings. The new Air has a lower base price…it’s $999…with education pricing starting at $899. The Air can be preordered today and is out March 12th. 

If you are all about max power for creative work, Apple also rolled out a freshened Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips. The Mac Studio starts at $3999 with the M3 Ultra, but if you really want to go nuts, and configure it with all the whistles and bells, expect to drop a bit over $14,000! By the way, the M3 Ultra is more powerful than the M4 Max…and Apple said that not every computer will have an Ultra version available. Confusing? Yes. Like the MacBook Airs, the Studios can be preordered now and will be out March 12th.

YouTube is launching YouTube Premium Lite at $7.99 a month. According to 9to5google.com, it will make ‘most’ videos ad-free. Standard YouTube Premium stays at $13.99 a month, nearly double the price of the new tier. A couple of notable changes with Lite. For one thing, YouTube Music is removed. You will see ads on music videos. You also can’t download videos or music for offline use. Besides that, Background play is not available. Lite starts out as a pilot program in the US, and will also be dropping in Thailand, Germany, and Australia, then to other countries. 

Google is rolling out a new ‘AI Mode’ experimental feature in Search that will compete head on with Perplexity AI and OpenAI’s ChatGPT search. TechCrunch.com says that the new mode will allow users to ask complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups to dig deeper on a topic directly within Google Search. AI Mode will be available to Google One AI Premium subscribers starting this week, and it’s accessible via Search Labs, Google’s experimental division. It is powered by Gemini 2.0. As with everything AI, Google warns it isn’t perfect and is subject to ‘hallucinations.’

With the 25% Trump tariffs on Mexico, most think of big ticket items like vehicles, vehicle parts, appliances, etc. Here’s something that may have slipped under your radar…video game software and hardware. Arstechnica.com notes that physical game discs are overwhelmingly produced in Mexico these days. Ars says this may mean that some publishers will move to an all-digital strategy. This has been a trend for some time, but the tariffs appear poised to accelerate it. Game makers that do keep burning physical discs will probably pass all or most of the 25% tariff on to you, the consumer…just like every other sort of goods subject to tariffs. Another issue: around 75% of all game consoles are made in China, which is just now seeing tariffs go up from 10% to 20% under the new Trump rules. If you are waiting on a new Nintendo Switch 2, you may be ok, though. Over half of those are produced outside of China. This could let Nintendo just ship the units built outside of China to the US and they could hold the line on price increases.

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

Apple-New iPads; Google Drops New Android Features; Researchers-Less Educated Areas Adopting AI Faster; TSMC to Put $100 Billion into US Chip Production

Posted: March 4, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple had teased some new product, and now we have some. Today, they dropped a freshened iPad Air powered by an M3 chip. Appleinsider.com reports that the form factor has stayed the same on the iPad Air, but the new chip gives it a 35% improved clock speed over the M1 chip version, and it also has a better Neural Engine. The new iPad is available in 11 and 13-inch versions, which are both the same size as the last models. Both continue to use Touch ID as opposed to Face ID…accessed via the top button. The 11 inch model starts at $599 and the 13 inch size is $799, and both are pre-order able now, and will be out March 12th. We still may see upgraded MacBook Airs yet this week.

Google has bowed new features for Android devices. According to Androidauthority.com, one is Scam Detection on the Google Messages App. A 2nd feature allows you to share your location with family or friends using Find My Device. They have also rolled out some new shopping features on Chrome for Android. Scam Detection for Messages uses AI to identify patterns commonly associated with scams to warn you in real time if it suspects a scam is happening. You can then either choose to ignore the warning or block and report the conversation. Scam Detection for calls remains in beta, but the beta has been expanded and it now covers all English-speaking Pixel 9 series owners in the US. As for the location sharing, you can let friends or family see where you are on a map now…that will be handy for, say, picking someone up at the airport. You have control over who can see your location and for how long. The shopping with Android for Chrome now lets you stay up to date on a product’s price history, track price drops, and compare prices. 

Here’s an interesting AI wrinkle: researchers have found that people in less-educated areas are adopting AI writing tools more quickly than those in more highly educated areas. Arstechnica.com says Stanford researchers analyzed some 305 million texts, to get this surprising result. They analyzed texts to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the study. By using a statistical detection system that tracked word usage patterns, the researchers found that roughly 18 percent of financial consumer complaints (including 30 percent of all complaints from Arkansas), 24 percent of corporate press releases, up to 15 percent of job postings, and 14 percent of UN press releases showed signs of AI assistance during that period of time. regions with lower educational attainment used AI writing tools more frequently (19.9 percent compared to 17.4 percent in higher-education areas). The researchers note that this contradicts typical technology adoption patterns where more educated populations adopt new tools fastest. The scientists note that the AI help seemed to ‘equalize’ things in written communications…bringing up the level of the communications from less-educated areas closer to parity with more highly educated places. 

Although Taiwan Semiconductor has been furiously building chip-making plants in the US…notably Arizona…and has put billions into the project, it is apparently not enough for the Trump administration. Now, under threats of more tariffs from the US, TSMC will pump another $100 billion into its US chipmaking. How fast this happens or how much really happens is anyone’s guess. Both Apple and OpenAI have pledged to invest some $500 billion each into nebulous plans…apparently in an effort to avoid pissing off Donald Trump….who has threatened to not only put on stiff tariffs, but to trash the CHIPS Act, which has helped get chipmaking back to the US. Of course, since that is a Joe Biden deal, Mr Trump doesn’t like it. 

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

Apple, Google, Meta-Share More Data With US Gov Than Ever; Major Brit Investigation into Online Child Protection; Google Gemini-Now Query Via Videos & Your Screen; Apple Intelligence Breakthroughs—Maybe 2027

Posted: March 3, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

We should all know by now that nearly everything concerning us that makes it online is shared. Now, thenextweb.com reports that Swiss software company Proton claims that Apple, Google, and Meta comply with between 80-90% of US government data requests. The trio has handed over info on 3.1 million accounts the last 10 years. Requests by government officials over that period for data on individuals has jumped by over 600%! Meta’s data sharing is up 675%, Apple’s 621%, and Google’s 530%. Data requests were up in Germany, France, and the UK, but were vastly higher in the US. Proton, the Swiss firm, markets themselves as a privacy-first alternative to others with their ProtonMail, ProtonVPN, and ProtonDrive. Proton itself saw data requests go up amazingly…they had 13 in 2017, and by 2024 got 6,378 requests! In their case though, Swiss privacy protections….like Swiss bank accounts…are kept pretty tight, so most of the requests were denied by Proton. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom has announced a ‘major investigation’ into the child protection measures of three popular apps: TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur. According to 9to5mac.com, the agency is looking at both age verification processes and at whether the apps break the law in the way they use the personal data of children. Last year, the ICO had required a number of other apps to improve protections for kids under 18. X just stopped serving ads to users under 18 and took away the ability for youngsters to opt in to geolocation sharing. Send, Dailymotion, and Viber made commitments to drop geolocation info and cut personally targeted ads. TikTok said in a statement that it operates under  “strict and comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teens”. Please try not to laugh. Reddit said to BBC via a spokesperson that 95% of its users are adults, but that they “have plans to roll out changes this year that address updates to UK regulations around age assurance”.

Google is adding a couple features to Gemini. Now you will be able to ask it questions using video and content on your screen in real time. Google showed off the features at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona. Techcrunch.com notes that Google had teased these features at Google I/O last year. They say the features will roll out to Gemini Advanced users on the Google One AI Premium plan on Android later this month. 

 Apple Intelligence had a major feature drop planned for early April that has now been delayed to May. On top of that, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is now saying in his latest Power On newsletter that it looks like it will be 2 more years before Apple Intelligence gets to where ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot are right now. Apple is being dinged for having lost the AI race. I think it is important to note how many times Apple has come from way behind and eaten the competition’s lunch. Remember the Microsoft Zune? How about the Blackberry? Apple made those eat their dust when they finally geared up. Also…having only messed with the likes of ChatGPT a little…it seems to take a lot of cleaning up after it to get something actually useable. There are still too many ‘hallucinations,’ in other words, it just makes crap up. I expect when Apple’s AI is really ready, it will be a whole lot more accurate. It had better be!

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

Amazon Bows AI Alexa Plus; Zillow Alums Launch HouseWhisper for Agents; VW ID.4 #3 EV in US; Apple Fixing ‘Trump’ Racist Dictation Bug

Posted: February 26, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon is rolling out its generative AI version of Alexa. Theverge.com reports that if things go as planned, it should make it easier to control your smart home or get info quickly with less hassle. Some of the new abilities coming to Alexa Plus include doing things for you — you’ll be able to ask it to order groceries for you or send event invites to your friends. Amazon says it will also be able to memorize personal details like your diet and movie preferences. You will still activate Alexa Plus with the same wake word…Alexa. (For those who are watching this and I just activated your A-Lady…sorry about that!) The plus version has vision capabilities…it can take pictures and analyze images, as well as read a study guide and test you on answers. Amazon first teased this Plus version about a year and a half ago. Amazon is counting on getting their generative AI into their smart speakers before any of their competitors…there are plenty of those now, but not really on smart speakers yet. Apple is still wrangling with upgrading Siri with AI, and Google has yet to launch a Gemini powered assistant on their smart speakers. 

A trio of alums from Zillow Group have kicked off a new startup that will focus on using AI to help ease the administrative overload that weighs some agents down. According to geekwire.com, the three are CEO Luis Poggi, who was VP of product and engineering at Zillow, Spencer Rascoff, former CEO and co-founder of Zillow, and Alex Kutner, a former Zillow engineering leader. The startup is called HouseWhisper, and it came out of stealth mode this week after hauling in $10 million in funding. According to the trio, HouseWhisper is a conversational AI that acts as the ultimate 24/7 personal assistant, helping agents stay organized with help on following up with clients, scheduling, CRM updates and more. Agents can call, text or send a voice memo to a number and interact with HouseWhisper’s AI as they would with any human assistant. The system has been in beta for 8 months, and is being tested out by some 4,000 agents around the country. 

After a fumble last year that stopped delivery for a while due to faulty door handles, the Volkswagen ID.4 has roared back. Electrek.co notes that sales dropped 55% last year after the door handle disaster, but now, VW sold almost 5,000 ID.4 models last month, up 653% year over year for January…and vaulting it to the #3 selling EV in the US…only trailing the Tesla Model Y and Model 3. If VW stays on this pace, they should sell about 60,000 ID.4 EVs this year. By the way, the Honda Prologue was the #4 selling EV, and the Tesla CyberTruck was fifth. Overall, EVs amounted to 102,000 models sold in January, that is up 30% over January 2024. 

A bug in Apple’s built-in dictation feature on iPhones showed up over the weekend. When a person spoke the word racist, the phone briefly interpreted it at ‘Trump.’ The name showed up in the text of the Messages app momentarily, before being corrected to the actual word that was spoken….racist. Macrumors.com reports that the name didn’t show up every time, but it did show up more often than other words. There are videos of the bug on TikTok and other platforms. Apple claims that the issue is due to a phonetic overlap between the two words, even saying that ‘racist’ and ‘Trump’ do have similar sounds. Riiiight. Former Apple Siri team member John Burkey said ‘This smells like a serious prank.’ I agree with that! At any rate, Apple is working on a fix. 

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

Apple to Invest $500 Billion in US Due to Tariffs; Microsoft Quietly Cancelling Data Center Leases; Grok 3 Briefly Censored Disparagement of Musk and Trump; Gmail to Drop SMS Codes for QR Codes

Posted: February 24, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Apple has announced that it plans to invest over $500 billion in the US the next 4 years. Arstechnica.com reports that Apple claims this is the ‘largest ever’ spending commitment in the US, and that if supports a ‘wide range of initiatives,’ focused on artificial intelligence, chip manufacturing, advanced research and development, and worker training. About 20,000 jobs will be created over those four years…of which the vast majority will be focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.” Most analysts see the initiative as a way for Apple to avoid the heavy tariffs the Trump administration is putting on China and other nations.

Something interesting is going on at Microsoft. According to gizmodo.com, on Friday, TD Cowen noticed that the partner to OpenAI seemed to be cancelling data center leases. Reportedly, Redmond felt it had an ‘oversupply problem.’ TD Cowen published its quick take on February 21 and said its research into Microsoft’s data center business had turned up something interesting. “Our channel checks indicate that [Microsoft] has 1) cancelled leases in the U.S. totalling ‘a couple of hundreds [megawatts]’ with at least two private data center operators, 2) has pulled back on the conversion of [statements of qualification] to leases, and 3) has re-allocated a considerable portion of its international spend to the U.S.” Microsoft is still promising to spend around $80 billion on US data centers as of this past January. 

Mr Totally Open With No Censorship Elon Musk apparently doesn’t mean it when it comes to himself…or Donald Trump. Techcrunch.com notes that Grok 3, the latest flagship large language model from xAI, when it was introduced in a live stream last Monday, was presented as a ‘maximally truth seeking AI’ by Musk. Well, maybe not so much. Grok 3 was briefly censoring unflattering facts about President Donald Trump — and Musk himself. Over the weekend, users on social media reported that, asked “Who is the biggest misinformation spreader?” with the “Think” setting enabled, Grok 3 noted in its “chain of thought” that it was explicitly instructed not to mention Donald Trump or Elon Musk. The chain of thought is the “reasoning” process the model uses to arrive at an answer to a question. By Sunday morning, the Grok 3 model was again allowing mentions of both Musk and Trump in the misinformation category. 

Google is planing to ditch SMS codes for two factor identification and start using QR Codes. Androidauthority.com reports that Google sees SMS codes as being Phishable, and at any rate, people might not always have access to the device where the codes are sent. In addition, they rely on the carrier’s security practices. No hard dates yet, but it will be simple enough to use…you will just scan the QR code with your camera app.

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

Microsoft’s Big Quantum Breakthrough; Google Pulls Gemini from Main iOS Search App; AI’s Fake Cases-Getting Lawyers Fired; Another New Chip Coming from Apple

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

In what may turn out to be a much bigger deal than any AI, Microsoft has announced a huge breakthrough in quantum 

computing. Microsoft says it has developed a new quantum processor based on a novel state of matter, giving it a clear path to achieve quantum computing’s long-term promise of solving some of the world’s most difficult problems. “We believe this breakthrough will allow us to create a truly meaningful quantum computer not in decades, as some have predicted, but in years,” wrote Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a LinkedIn post about the news. Redmond has been working on quantum computing for almost 20 years…in fact, that program is the longest-running R&D program in the company. Microsoft’s work produces much more accurate quantum computing than others. They have placed eight topological qubits on a chip dubbed Majorana 1, after the Italian physicist who proposed the particles back in 1937!

Google has pulled Gemini from its main search app on iOS. According to TechCrunch.com, the aim is to get users to download the standalone Gemini app instead, which would allow Google to more directly compete with other consumer-facing AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity. However, the change could also risk reducing Gemini’s reach as Google’s app is already used by millions, and many are not motivated enough to download other new mobile applications. A lot of people aren’t excited about having to use the additional app, but one benefit is that you can have live conversations with the AI assistant via Gemini Live. 

Last year, there was a flap in legal circles as an attorney used AI to write a brief he submitted to the court, and the artificial intelligence came up with ‘artificial cases’ to support his position. The court and opposing counsel noticed the fake cases, and he was fined and dressed down. Arstechnica.com notes that now we have a situation with Morgan and Morgan, which bills itself as ‘America’s largest injury law firm.’ Morgan was involved in a suit against Walmart over a claimed defective hoverboard toy…which caused a house fire. The lead attorney from Morgan, Rudwin Ayala, submitted a filing, and Walmart’s attorneys couldn’t find any trace of eight cases cited in it…except on ChatGPT! The attorney was removed from the case, and Morgan ended up paying Walmart’s attorneys for wasted time chasing down the fake cases. Some attorneys have been fired over this sort of use of AI. I recently took a couple of continuing legal education courses, and they stressed quite strongly that you have to look up any cases AI presents in a legal filing you intend to use…and make damned sure they are actual cases, and not some imagined ones from ChatGPT, Claude, or other AI models!

Yesterday, along with the iPhone 16e, Apple bowed its new C1 modem chip…making the entry-level iPhone the first to run on Apple’s in-house designed modem. Now, 9to5 mac.com reports that analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is predicting another new Cupertino-designed chip, and he says it will be in all the new iPhone 17 models. Apparently, besides their C-1 modem, which is allowing Apple to ditch Qualcomm, Apple has been working on their own Wi-Fi chip to replace the Broadcom ones the present iPhones use. Even though all the new iPhones will have this new Apple Wi-Fi chip, only the so-called ‘slim’ iPhone 17 will use the C-1 modem that just debuted in the iPhone 16e. Analyst Kuo says the Apple Wi-Fi chip should ‘enhance connectivity across Apple devices.’ He didn’t clarify if that just meant from one Apple device to another, or also to your router and other devices. It looks like within a year or 2, Apple will be running iPhones on nearly entirely their own silicon…with the exception of memory chips. 

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

Newest Member-Apple Family Tomorrow; AI Can Replicate Itself-With Help; Phone By Google Call History Filters; Meta Announces 1st Generative AI Developers Conference 

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

Apple plans to introduce its ‘newest member of the family’ tomorrow. That’s the tease from CEO Tim Cook. Engadget.com reports that we don’t really know if this is just the rollout of the iPhone SE…which was delayed, or new AirTags, or possibly the rumored new home device. Whatever it is, we’ll have a recap about it all tomorrow right here. 

In an absolutely nerve-fraying study from China, they have been able to reach a so-called ‘red line’ with artificial intelligence. According to bgr.com, some Chinese scientists were able to get AI to replicate itself. The researchers ran 10 trials, at the end of which two AI models were able to create separate and functioning replicas in 50% and 90% of cases. Bear in mind that the researchers gave the AI what they call an ‘Agent scaffolding, comprising tools, system prompts, and a thinking model that enabled the LLM to interact with the operating system.’ Without all the assistance, they note that the AI models would not have been able to replicate. At least for now, you can’t just instruct AI to reproduce itself. An international statement about AI safety was signed by many countries last week…but the US, UK, and China refused to sign. 

Google has added some call history filters to the beta of Android. 9to5google.com notes that these should be pretty handy. You can now select from all, missed, contacts, non-spam, spam. What do you bet when it is fully released, most people will leave the filter in non-spam all the time! 

Meta has announced LlamaCon, its first generative AI dev conference. Techcrunch.com reports that the event is scheduled for April 29th. The LlamaCon moniker comes from Meta’s Llama family of generative AI models. Meta said that it plans to share “the latest on [its] open source AI developments to help developers […] build amazing apps and products.” Meta several years ago embraced an “open” approach to developing AI technologies in a bid to grow an ecosystem of apps and platforms. They were caught off guard when the Chinese released their open AI model that reportedly could outperform the next version of Llama…expected to be released soon. Meta is budgeting up to $80 billion on projects revolving around AI this year. 

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

Google Announces Date for I/O; iPhone Owners Back to Replacing Phones Faster; Thomson Reuters Wins 1st Major US AI Copyright Case; Anthropic CEO Warns of Race To Understand AI

Posted: February 12, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The next Google I/O will be coming up on May 20th and 21st at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. 9to5google.com reports that the keynote will be as usual by CEO Sundar Pichai, and it starts at 10 am Pacific time. The event will be streamed both days. We should see a lot of information and no shortage of hype about Gemini and other AI, in addition to new details about Android 16. In the announcement, Google highlights ‘Android, AI, Web, Cloud, and more.’ Online registration starts today…and it’s free. 

In a report at least I didn’t see coming…after years of holding on to iPhones longer, Apple users have swung back to upgrading more often. According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, more iPhone users retired their phones in a shorter period of time than had been the trend before. In December 2024 compared to 2023, 36% of buyers had owned their prior iPhones for 2 years or less…that’s up 31%. Fewer users kept their phones for 3 years or longer. CIRP didn’t research the ‘why,’ but it could be due to the hype around AI, or perhaps due to more aggressive carrier pricing. It will be interesting to see if this is really a trend back to more frequently trading up, or just a one-time bump.

Media and tech giant Thomson Reuters has won the first major AI copyright case in the US. Wired.com says the suit was against legal AI startup Ross Intelligence. Thomson Reuters claimed the AI firm reproduced materials from its legal research firm WestLaw. Today, a judge ruled in Thomson Reuters’ favor, finding that the company’s copyright was indeed infringed by Ross Intelligence’s actions. Legal publication houses are very aggressive about protecting their intellectual property, but this is a first as we move to more and more AI. The judge found in favor of Thomson Reuters on the issue of fair use. The fair use doctrine is a key component of how AI companies are seeking to defend themselves against claims that they used copyrighted materials illegally. The idea underpinning fair use is that sometimes it’s legally permissible to use copyrighted works without permission—for example, to create parody works, or in noncommercial research or news production. The court found that Ross failed the 4 pronged test for fair use…the reason behind the work, the nature of the work (whether it’s poetry, nonfiction, private letters, et cetera), the amount of copyrighted work used, and how the use impacts the market value of the original. 

Anthropic’s CEO has warned of the ‘race’ to understand AI as it becomes more powerful. Techcrunch.com reports that Dario Amodei…who has been a neuroscientist…is concerned that our understanding might not keep up with our ability to build things. He said he wasn’t just harping about safety issues, but emphasizing that failing to keep up with understanding what we are building with AI might cause us to lose great opportunities. Anthropic makes the Claude AI product…which some people prefer over OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

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

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →